2 Corin. 12. 2. He tells us of a Man in Christ caught up to the Third Heaven v. 3. Such a Man Paul knew v. 4. This Man heard Un-utterable Words in Paradise v. 5 Of such a One saith St. Paul I will glory Three Distinct Persons are mentioned in this Discourse Yet all these Three prove One. 1. First here is the Person of Christ as it is in the Third Heaven The First Heaven is the Starry Heaven For so we read He called the Firmament Heaven Gen. 1. 8. The nature of Angels makes the Second Heaven So we read Gen. 21. 17. The Angel of God called to Hagar out of Heaven and they are called The Angels of Heaven The Third Heaven seems to be the Natural Image and Presence of God as he is the head of Angels This is called The face of God Psal. 42. 2. Mat. 18. 10. In this Heavenly appearance was Paradise the flourishing State of all the Creatures in the Divine Image This Image was withdrawn at the fall and not brought forth again in its own naked Appearance till Jesus Christ brought it forth to Light after a Spiritual manner in His own Person by His Resurrection from the Dead 2. Secondly here is the Person of St. Paul as it is wholly Spiritual in Union with the Person of Christ Comprehended in One Spirit Ascending and Caught up into One Glory with him 3. Thirdly Here is the Person of St. Paul as it is a Mixt Person partly Spiritual partly Natural This Man as he was spiritual had a fellowship with the Man in Glory knew him did bear that Image and Impression of those Words which were spoken and those Glories which were seen in Paradise But as he was Natural so he could not Utter those Heavenly Words nor Understand that State whether it were the Last Resurrection to the Glory of the Body or the first Entrance and Abod of the Soul naked in Glory at Death Of such an one I will Glory saith St. Paul v. 5. that is of the Heavenly Man the Man of Paradise that is of the Natural Man as it is caught up into the Spiritual Man of the Spiritual Man as it is Comprehended in Christ and together with Him caught up into Paradise Thou mayest Joy and Glory in that Man that Self only which is above a Man above thy self which is compleat in Christ as Christ is compleat in the Glory of God Of Such a One I will Glory saith St. Paul that is of that Man whose Resemblance and Likeness I saw and was taken up and transfigured into it when I had that Revelation fourteen years ago But of my self saith he I will not boast He calls himself the Man in that Mixt State in which he now was on Earth having the Power of Christ made manifest in his Weakness This Rule hath two Parts in it One is Negative the Other is Affirmative 1. Part The First is the Negative Part of this Rule which is This Take not the Rise of your Ioy from Iesus Christ as he communicates Himself to you on Earth The Communications of Christ to us in the Natural Man are 1. Uncertain 2. Imperfect 3. Unsatisfactory 4. Un-safe for an Object of Joy 1. First The Communications of Christ in our Natural Man are Uncertain They are like the Shining of the Sun upon the Earth which is ever and anon cut off by a Cloud comiâ—g between the Earth and the Sun So Sins Temptations Desertions make the Breakin gs forth of Christ upon Us Fleeting and Changeable Jesus Christ complains of his Father forsaking Him Neither is there any Member of Christ that lives in the Body which doth not often find cause to grieve for the Withdrawings of Jesus Christ. The Psalms are the Discovery and History of a Holy Soul in her whole Câ—urse and in all her Tempers How often have ye there Sad mention made of Gods hiding his Face If thou take thy Joy no higher than from the Puttings forth of Christ in thee thou wilt be very Wavering and Unconstant in all thy Comforts Thou canst have no Sure or Setled Joy this way Thou wilt be able to bear no Tryal when thou shalt be carried thorow the Waters of Darkness and Desolation thorow the Fires of Terrour and burning Tribulation The Strength of thy Joy will be Small and thou wilt faint in the Day of Adversity 2. Secondly The Communications of Christ in our Flesh are Imperfect They are Imperfect Two ways 1. In Degree 2. By Mixture 1. In Degree All our Graces are thus Imperfect while we are in This World I count not my Self to have apprehended saith St. Paul Phil 3. 13. I press towards the Mark v. 14. While you look upon your Graces for Comfort you can never have a Full Joy because you have no Grace which doth not in Many Degrees fall short of the Mark in Jesus Christ the Glory of God to which ye are called He that takes his Joy from the Manifestations of Christ in his Flesh is like him that feeds upon Uâ—ripe Fruit which hath a Sowrness in the Taste and a Watâ—rishness in the Nourishment So will this Man have a Bitterness and Weakness in his Dearest Comforts 2. By Mixture This is a Second Way in which the Graces of Christ are Imperfect in us Rom. 7. 21. St. Paul complains I find a Law that when I would do Good Evil is present with me How many sad Throws have we how near are we brought to Despair full many a Time when we go to derive our Joys from what we can discover of Jesus Christ in us If we pitch our Thoughts upon Faith Love Obedience Humility Heavenly-Mindedness we find these only as Weaâ— Inclinations in us We would do good But then Evil is present with us At the same time like Satan in the midst of the Sons of God Unbelief Lust Hatred Pride Worldliness appear together with our Graces and so mingled with them that it becomes very difficult to determine which is the Son that is to abide in the heart and which the Servant that is to be cast out which is the True Predominant Principle in the Soul and which is a Temporary Appearance only Who can tell which are from the proper Will of the Soul as the Children of the Husband which are from Violence as begotten by a Ravisher This Mixture in thee will make that Joy which depends upon any Thing in thy self a Mixt Thing of Hope and Fear of Pain and Pleasure Thy Life will be like an April day which hath far more Showers than Sun-shines in it Thou wilt far oftner with Paul cry O wretched Man than say with him I bless God Rom. 7. 24. As the Hand that gathers a Rose in the midst of Thorns so will thy Heart be while it gathers its Joys from the Beauty of Christ growing up in itself If it do reach any Sweetness it will have with it many a sharp and Bloody Scratch from its Corruptions as from Thorns 3. Thirdly
ever in Christ in Christ risen from the Dead a quickning Spirit in the Glory of the Father with the fulness of the God-Head and all fulness dwelling in him Now is the Body also of a Saint at rest in a sweet rest in a living rest For such is the rest of sleep It is in an immortal and glorious rest in a rest of Divine Love and Joys which though it bears the similitude of Death to Carnal Sense yet in truth is above all the degrees and delights of life here For such is the sleep in Christ. But I will open this Proposition to you more clearly and fully by that twofold relation which the Scriptures attribute to the Body of a Believer 1. Of a Member of Christ. 2. The Temple of the Holy Ghost Both these are affirmed by the Holy Apostle and the Blessed Spirit with an assured confidence as truths known to all and undeniable by any 1 Corin. 6. 15. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ 19. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1. The Body of a Saint is the Member of Christ. This relation of Membership implyeth three things 1. Union 2. Communion 3. Proportion or Suitableness 1. There is an union between the Body of a Believer and Jesus Christ an Union of Membership But to what Christ is the Body of a Believer united To Christ risen from the Dead to Christ in Glory So you shall read Rom. 7. 4. You are dead by the dead Body of Christ that you might be Married to another to him who is risen from the Dead Marriage and Membership are two distinct expressions of the same union between Christ and a Saint which for its dearness nearness entireness and inseparableness is unexpressible in as much as it comprehends the sweetness and vertue of all unions among the Creatures either Men or Angels and transcendeth them all But you have these two unions of Membership and Marriage between the Body of a Saint singly and expresly and the Lord Jesus joyned together by St. Paul who founds that of Membership upon that of Marriage 1 Corin. 6. 15. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ Then he makes good that thus v. 16. 17. It is said those two shall be one Flesh But he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit The days of Christs life on Earth are called the days of his Flesh. He hath the name of a Spirit given to him as he is risen from the Dead as he is in the Heavenly Image and in Glory So St. Paul calls him in one place the Lord that Spirit in another place the quickning Spirit St. Peter saith of him he was put to death in the Flesh and quickned in the Spirit Thus the Body of a Saint is married to Christ is a Member of Christ. By this union it becomes a Spiritual Body a Spirit one Spirit with Christ. There is a threefold band of this union of Membership the same Spirit the same Life the same Image 1. The first band of Union in this Membership between the Body of a Believer and Jesus Christ is the same Spirit St. Paul saith 1 Corin. 12. 13. We all by one Spirit are Baptized into one Body The Unity of the ever-blessed Spirit is the sure and sweet band which tyeth one to another the glorious Head and all the blessed Members in the Body of Christ. But what sweetness lies in the universality of that expression we all are Baptized by one Spirit into one Body As the Soul of Man is all in the whole Body and all in every part of it so is that ever-blessed Spirit which is in the whole Heavenly Body of which the Holy Angels Glorified Saints Christ and the Father are Fellow-members one and the same whole and entire in every part of this Body of thine O Believer which in its lowest and most broken State is a Member of Christ. This union is so much more close full and sweet between the Members by how much more Spiritual the Body is by how much the more high and divine the Unity is in this Body by how much the more high and divine the unity of that blessed Spirit is in which the Father of Lights the Heavenly Bride-groom Glorified Saints all the Elect Angels dwell together in one 2. The same Life flowing from this one Spirit is the second band of this Union We read from St. Paul Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him which raised Christ from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit dwelling in you This expression shall quicken signifieth not only an effect at a distance at the last day but a present effect immediately flowing from the indwelling of the Spirit in us For the union between the Spirit and our Bodies by which he dwelleth in them also as well as in our Souls is a vital union an union from which Membership springs This expression then shall quicken your mortal Bodies is like that of St. Paul in the same Epistle Sin shall not have dominion over you if you be not under the Law but under Grace Shall there expresseth an effect immediately and inseparably flowing from its cause a freedom from the dominion of Sin by being under Grace not under the Law The Spirit of Christ findeth our Bodies Natural and Mortal but by its enterance into them and inhabitation in them maketh them immediately Spiritual and Immortal by their union with Christ and by the pouring forth of his Life and Immortality into them 3. The band of union in this Membership is the same Image All the Members of every Body make up one Image in which each several Member bears a part As we have born the Image of the Earthly Man so shall we also bear the Image of the Heavenly So far O Saint as thy Body is a Member of the Heavenly Body of Christ it bears the same Heavenly Image This is the first thing in Membership the union 2. There is in Membership a Communion We read the 1 Corin. 12. 24 25 26. God hath tempered the Body together having given the more abundant honour to that part which lacked that there should be no Schism in the Body but that the Members should have the same care one for another and whether one Members suffer all the Members suffer with it or one Member be honoured all the Members rejoice with it There is a threefold Communion in the Body of Christ. A Communion of Cares a Communion of Sufferings a Communion of Joy and Glory 1. There is a Communion of Cares All the Members have the same care one for another As it is in the Natural Body the Head the Heart the Eye the Hand all are set on work for every other part for the little Toes as for themselves to defend or cherish it upon every occasion so is it in the Body of Christ. O
to Man 5. Cause The Manages of Providence 1. Cause The Relation of God to Man 1 Tim. 2. 5. There is one God All Mankind all creatures are gathered up into one point of Life which is Love the Unity of Life in God There is one God the Father of all Ephes. 4. 6. God is a Father in Fulness in Sweetness 1. God is a Father in Fulness Luk. 20. 38. Our Saviour speaks thus of God He is not the God of the Dead but of the Living For all live to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things live to God After the same manner with the same force you may reason thus God is not the God of the Dead but the living of the unclean but the pure of the impâ—rfect but the perfect of the miserable but the happy of the fading but the eternal For all things are living pure perfect happy eternal to God So all things have pure happy eternal lives in God These are the Original and Radical Lives the First the Fairest Seeds of all things in the Divine Nature Thus God is All. This is the Fulness of God 2. God is a Father in Sweetness God is Love 1 Joh. 4. 16. God is Love in the Fountain As waters in their Spring so is Love in God It makes him flow into creatures it makes him flow forth in Love upon the creatures and still he pursues he chaseth one Love with another in a Stream till all return to their Original Thus as St. Paul Speaketh Rom. 11. 36. All things are from him thorow him and to him From him as the Fountain of Love thorow him as the Stream of Love to him as the Sea of Love All Cattel are mine upon a thousand bills saith God Psal. 50. 10. As a Father looks upon his Children as his own as Images parts of himself himself multiplied So is God a Father in Sweetness These two the Fulness the Sweetness of God as a Father are the First Ground of Hope and Root of Happiness to the creature The Fulness is that which we call the All-sufficiency of God the Sweetness is that which we call Free Grace These are the Two Pillars in the Temple of Glory Booz strength Jakin He will prepare The Fulness of God is one Sweetness the other 2. Cause The Mediation of Iesus Christ There is one Mediator the Man Iesus Christ 1 Tim. 2. 5. Our Lord Jesus is Mediator two waies He is 1. A Divine Head to the Soul 2. A Divine Seed in the Soul 1. Our Lord Jesus is a Divine Head to the Soul 1 Cor. 11. 3. The Head of every man is Christ. This is the difference between God and Christ God contains eternally all the creatures in one Nature and Person in himself God is One. Jesus Christ comprehends the creature in one Person not Nature together with himself Therefore as in one place he is said to be the Head of Man 1 Cor. 11. 3. So in another place he is called the Man 1 Tim. 2. 5. Our Blessed Saviour is God uniting the different Natures of God and the Creature in One Person and that his Own Person From this Person he communicates the Being of the creature and streams forth immediately into it in a different Nature and Person In this Person he holds the creature in its proper and distinct Being by being annext and united to himself Thus the Lord is a Head to Man And as the Head puts a beauty upon the Whole Body so doth Jesus Christ upon the whole Creation by making himself a Head to it 2. Our Lord Iesus is a Divine Seed in the Sâ—ul He is called the Seed Gen. 3. 16. 19. till the Seed came He is the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3. 15. But what Woman is this He is the Seed of the Earthly Woman Eve For he lies hid in her as in a Womb. He groweth up out of her in the Virgin Mary clothing himself with her Flesh. But there is another Woman besides this which is a Mother and hath her Seed a heavenly Mother of a heavenly Seed St. Paul makes mention of her Gal. 4. 26. The Hierusalem above is free which is the Mother of us all Jesus Christ is a Seed God is the Father this heavenly Woman is the Mother the Spiritual State of the creature He derives himself from both these He unites both these in himself So he lies in the earthly Woman the fleshly Image and becomes her Seed in the second place a Seed thrice over bearing hâ—r abiding in her bringing her forth the second time As every creature hath this Seed in it so it hath lying hid in it the Eternal Beauty of the Divine Nature the Immortal Beauty of the Spiritual Creature which both are wrapt up together in this Seed to grow up together out of it in their Season Thus our Saviour is a Divine Seed in the Soul These two Christ the Head of Man the Seed in Man expound that of St. Paul Ephes. 1. 4. He hath elected us in him We are elected in Christ by a double meaning 1. We are made the Desire and Delight of God in Christ as in our Head 2. We are design'd to be saved by Christ as the Seed of Grace and Glory 3. Cause The manifestation of the Truth 1 Tim. 2. 3. God will have all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth As in Hebrew so in the Greek of the New Testament and hath various significations Sâ—metimes iâ— shews a Cause sometimes an Instrument sometimes a Means or Way so Iob. 17. 3. This is eternal Life to know thee the only true God and that is in or by him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. So 't is here God will have all men to be saved and come that is by coming to the knowledge of the Truth The manifestation of the Truth is One Cause of our Conversion to Holinesâ— and Happiness But what is Truth said Pilate to Christ. Christ had often said of himself I am the Truth We read of him Rev. 1. 5. that he is the Faithful Witness And he is said to reveal the Father No man knows who the Son is but the Father No man knows who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him The First Truth in General and particular is the Life of God and the Life of the Creature in God Jesus Christ is Truth as he is a True Discovery of this Truth He reveals the Father that is he opens the bosom of God he manifests the Life of God as it enfolds the Life of the Creature in it self he manifests the Life of the Creature as it abides in the Life of God and grows upon the same Root with it This is Truth But what is the Manifestation of this Truth in Man No man can come unto me except the Father draw him saith Jesus Christ Ioh. 6. 44. To come to the Truth to have the Truth manifested in us are both the same thing The
living waters This he spake of the Holy Ghost which they that beleive in him should receive The Scripture maketh two resemblances between Waters and Spirits 1. As the Springs of water nourish the Earth and make it fruitful So every fleshly thing hath a Spirit which sends forth its streams upon it to refresh it Psal. 46. 4. There is a River that makes glad the City of our God The Holy Spirit is the River that maintains and renews the life and appearances of God in the Flesh which make the City of God on Earth 2. The Second Resemblance is this 2. Pet. 3. 5. We read of the Earth standing in the Water and out of the Water In like manner we learn Heb. 11. 3. that the things which are seen were not made of things that do appear Some read it thus the things which are seen were made of things that do not appear As the Earth stands in the Water and out of the Water So every Visible Thing stands in a Spirit and stands up out of a Spirit The Tumultuous workings and agitations of these Spirits in us are the cause of all unquietness in our Spirits But when Jesus Christ leads forth our Souls into the Fields of his Excellencies and gives us of his Love He calms all so that every Spirit by which we pass along as by a River side is still and silent The Peace of the Soul dependeth upon the Silencing of a Three-fold Spirit in her 1. The Spirit of Wrath from God 2. The Spirit of the Devil 3. Her own Spirit 1. The Spirit of Wrath from God must be silenc'd in us that we may have peace Iere. 25. 30. You may read of this Spirit of Wrath. The Lord shall roar from above and send forth his voice from his holy habitation He shall roar upon his habitation and cry aloud as they that press the Grapes against all the Inhabitants of the Earth The terrours and troubles of the Soul do not always come from or by some Secundary cause but sometimes they come immediately from God Himself God comes forth into the Soul like a Lyon He sends forth his voice quite thorow the Soul as the roaring of an enraged Lyon He presseth and squeezeth the Souls with his own weight with a cry of Wrath as Grapes are troden This may be the case of any Soul even the most Holy Habitation of the Lord while she is the Inhabitant of an Earthly body What shall the Soul now do that is in this case To what Creature shall she call to help her against the mighty God What course will you take to find rest to this Soul No creature no course can give any rest till it please God to change Himself from a roaring Lyon to a still and quiet Lamb in the Soul He can make this change in a moment and by this change make the Soul though she were but just before as a dreadful Forest to herself now to become a safe and silent Fold that she may lye down quietly and take her rest See what Iob complains of and what he prays for Iob 10. 16. Thou huntest me as a fierce Lyon Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me v. 17. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me Changes and War are upon me v. 20. Cease and let me alone that I may take a little comfort Oft-times God pursues a Soul fiercely and swiftly as if she were some great and mighty creature He hunts her from thought to thought from place to place from creature to creature not suffering her to take her breath He reneweth his Witnesses against her He maketh her guilt her miseries her fears his wrath eternal horrours to appear continually before her in fresh and new Shapes as witnesses against her So he makes himself marvellous upon her in those various and heart-shaking Forms of darkness with which he clothes himself in the midst of her He brings Changes He suffers her not to abide in any temper or state but tosâ—eth and changeth the whole appearance of things to her till she be quite lost in confusion and amazement And poor Soul whither shall she go What shall she do that she may have ease that she may have some comfort though never so little She can have no ease no comfort at all till Gods time be come till his will be to cease and take his plague away from her and silence the Spirit of his wrath within her All that the Soul can do in the mean time is and that by his Strength alone to wait and cry Cease thou from me O God There is a Time to break in pieces and a Time to bind up that which is broken Obj. But some one may say How can God trouble or disquiet a Soul immediately and by Himself Fury is not in Him Es. 24. 4. There is no Principle of Evil or Torment in the Person of God There is no Spirit of anguish or vexation in the Divine nature We read of him Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence is fulness of joy When God brings forth his own presence into the Soul he brings along with it all peace and pleasantness a Fulness of Joy Ans. You must distinguish upon the Appearances and the Person of God Distinct. You must distinguish upon the Appearances of God God puts forth Himself immediately two ways either in his own Appearance or in a strange Appearance 1. First God puts forth Himself immediately sometimes in his own Appearance and then he ever makes peace This Apppearance of God calms quâ—ets and sweetens all in the Soul Es. 4. 5. Upon all the Glory shall be a Defence The Presence of God in his proper Glory the naked Face of God looking froth in the Soul is a Defence from trouble and terrour This is the Holy Mounâ— on which nothing can hurt or spoil This Discovery of God is a Light which hath no darkness in it no trembling or fear Therefore when the Holy Ghost had said Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence is the fulness of Joy He adds for explication At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore The presence of God at the right hand of his own proper Sweetness and Glory which is his Strength this is ever accompanied in the Soul with a Fuâ—ness of Joy and everlasting pleasures 2. Secondly God can put forth Himself immediately in a strange Appearance without the interposal of any Created Substance between God and that Appearance between that appearance and the Soul Joh. 20. 15. Jesus Christ appeared to Mary and conversed immediately with her in the likeness of a Gardâ—ner which made her weep for fear that she had lost her Saviour who was 〈◊〉 under this strange Shape which drew forth her tears So God can set his own Person and presence in our Souls in the Shape of a Stranger of an Enemy of a devouring Tempest of a burning Fire Psal. 18. 11. It is written of God He maketh Darkness his Secret place and thick Clâ—uds of the Sky his pavilion God
if thou hadst not the peace of God in these these could be no Blessing thy Soul with them would not thrive it would be but as Pharoah's lean Kine that devoured the fat ones and were still as lean All thy notions and Mysteries would be but a tinkling noise an empty sound vanishing without any profit or lasting pleasure But Herbs the lowest administrations the darkest discoveries of Christ together with peace is a Feast of fat things and Wine upon the Lees which though it have not so clear manifestations yet may have as sweet and strong consolations Obj. But now some good Soul may cry out Alass this shuts me quite out of the Kingdom of God by this I have nothing of the Glory of God or of His Grace in me or of his Blessing going along with me for I have no peace My Tears are my Drink Day and Night Ans. Thou art no good Judge in this cause For thou mayst be deceived two ways and this is the Two-fold Answer which thou art to make to thine own Soul 1. The Kingdom and the Peace of God may both be grown up to a good degree in thee though thou discern them not 2. The Kingdom and the Peace of God may be sown though they be not grown up in thy Soul Ans. 1. First the Kingdom and the Peace of God may be grown up to a good degree in thy Soul though thou discern them not Mar. 4. 27. The Kingdom of God is compared to Corn which while a man Sleeps and Rises Night and Day Spring and Grows up he knows not how The Image and Peace of the Lord Jesus may be springing and well sprung up in thy Spirit while thou sleepest in the Darkness of some Temptation and hast no sense at all of this Spring and Growth though it be continual and flourishing within thee This is hard to believe or understand how it should be Yet thus the Lord tells thee that his Kingdom which is Peace puts forth itself in the Ground of thine Heart and prospers and grows a tall plant there while thou hast no sense of it but sleepest though thou knowest not how Our Saviour distinguisheth this growth of the Kingdom of God in the Soul into a Three-fâ—ld State v. 28. The Earth bringeth forth fruit of herself First the blade then the Ear after that the full Corn in the Ear. The Earth is the Lord Jesus in his Earthly or Fleshly Image as he is the Ground out of which we all Spring forth in our First State or Image He in us of Himself sends forth and shoots up his Kingdom naturally in our Souls as Trees set or planted in Him The full Corn in the Ear the Ear the Blade signify a Three-fold Evangelical State of a Saint on Earth in the Body The First is the Royal or Kingly State of which I am now speaking The other Two are distinct degrees of the State of Sonship or Child hood as it is different from the State of a Servant which hath the Kingdom of God only Sown not yet grown up in him 1. First is the full Corn in the Ear. This is the Royal State in which the Mysteries of the Gospel are displaid the Spiritual Person of the Lord Jesus in all his Proportions is form'd and puts forth himself in the Soul with a fulness a fulness of Spiritual Light Peace Strength and joy Yet all this clearness and fulness is under a vail in the Husk still of Flesh. It is the full Corn in the Ear not thresh't out by Death and winnow'd by a Resurrection but still standing in this World Thou mayst have this State in thee and yet not see the Corn for the Husk but mistake and mis-interpret Christ in thee because thou seest the Flesh still and feelest thy self shaken with Winds and beaten with Storms as being still in the open Field of this world 2. The Second State is the Ear. Thou mayst have the Blessing Grace and Glory of the Lord Jesus running up in thy Spirit to a good height with great store of Sap thou mayst be now near to a kind of perfection in Spirituality Yet all this may be in a form of Darkness Emptiness and Confusion Take heed of judging the State in which thou art the power and vertue in thee by the appearance For so doing thou mayst call Light Darkness because it shines in the Dark Be not like a foolish Husbandman that should look upon his Corn in the Field when it were new Eared and should complain that all his hopes were cast away that he had Straw or Grass instead of Wheat because he yet sees not the Corn formed in the Ear. 3. The Third State is the Blade Do not deny the Kingdom of God with the Peace thereof to be come up in thee because thou canst not discern it It may be truly come up in thee but perhaps 't is yet in the Blade in tender weak low appearances hardly shewing itself above the Clâ—ds of the plowed Earth the trouble of thy broken heart hardly distinguish't from weeds the workings of the Flesh in thee Now take this Three-fold Caution 1. Caut. First take heed of over-seeing or undervaluing the full Corn because it still in the Ear or Husk Do not cast away from your self the Praise of Christ and Joy of Spirit which belong to a strong and reigning Christian because you have Strong and raging Temptations as being still in the Flesh. 2. Caut. Secondly Refuse not to acknowledge Jesus Christ in the Ear because you have not yet the full Corn. 3. Caut. Thirdly Deny not Jesus Christ to have appeared in you because he is as yet only in the Blade or tender Herb. Thus I have discours'd upon the First Answer to a Doubting Soul Ans. 2. The Second Answer is this The Kingdom and Peace of God may be sown though they be not grown up in thy Soul You must distinguish between the Devil's Madmen and God's Mourners 1. The Devil's Madmen are such as throw abroad Swords and Fire-brands in the midst of their own Spirits and say Are we not in Jest They toss Vanity up and down in their Souls and Lives they brandish and blaze their Pride Passion and Lusts. These are their Peace and Kingdom their Pleasures and Glories But they have no sense of the Peace of God and his Kingdom They understand not how they drive these far from their Souls and kindle the Fire of Hell-torments in their Hearts while they roul themselves in carnal security and Fleshly Pleasures Against these this use is directed and the Terrours of God are discovered 2. But Secondly there are God's Mourners holy Souls which can take no Joy in any Worldly thing because they have no sense of the Peace of God in their Spirits These good Hearts are cloth'd with a Garment of Heaviness but that Garment is as a vail only upon the Beauty of Jesus Christ which is of a Truth in their Hearts though as yet it be hid from
their Eyes And therefore their Eyes are full of Tears they go on weeping but they carry their precious Seed with them in the Secret of their Souls These are Gods Mourners and these are to apply to themselves that sweet Promise Es. 57. 18. I have seen his ways I will heal him I will lead him also and I will restore Peace to him and to his Mourners the verse before was For the iniquities of his Covetousness I was Wroth with him and smote him I hid me and was Wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his Heart How absolute how sweet how full is this Promise What objection canst thou make against thy self which the Lord doth not here punctually answer 1. Object Thou sayest I have been very sinful and still continue so Mercies Judgments do me no good but make me more wanton or more froward in an evil way Ans. Hark the Lord tells thee that he knows all this He hath seen thy ways the Evil of thy ways and every Aggravation of the Evil in them yet he saith I will heal thee He undertakes to be Himself thy Physician 2. Object But thou â—ryest â—ut I am Sick with my Lusts I am wounded with miseries I am broken with horrours And I have no Strength to recover my self out of any of these Ans. But the Lord Jesus saith I will heal theâ— of all these Evils of thy Sins thy Sorrows and thy Fears I will do it for thee by mine own Right Hand and for mine own Sake 3. Obj. Still thou objectest against thine own Mercies and complainest that thou knowest not Jesus Christ nor the way to Him Or if thou didst thou hast neither Will nor Power to come to him that thou mayst be healed by Him Ans. But what saith the Lord to thee I will lead thee also I will first come to thee I will stretch out my Hand towards thee and take hold of thy Spirit I will draw thee towards my self I will direct thee in the right Paths of my Love I will bear thee up in the way that thou shalt not fall in it nor fall from it 4. Obj. But thy Melancholy Dark and Sullen thoughts still abound in thee and suffer thee to have no Peace These fill thee with Fears and Tremblings that thou canst not take comfort in any thing Ans. But God will restore comfort to thee and to thy Mourners He will bring again that Comfort which thou hadst once in thy Spirit which thou hadst in Paradise It is now but laid aside hid sown in thee God will bring it forth to Light and set it before thee and make it to grow up out of thine own Spirit in the sight of thy Spirit and in the sight of all thy Mourners all those melancholy thoughts which now fill thee with so much heaviness I will restore Comfort Saith God The Comfort the Joy for the want of which thou Mournest is thine already it was thine Eternally it was the Grace given to thee before all times in Jesus Christ as St. Paul speaks to Timothy But as the Trees were first in the Creation and then the Seed and then again the Trees are restored to themselves out of their Seed So thy Comforts have been hid in thine Heart in which they lye in their proper Seed and out of which God will make them to grow up and so restore them to thee and thee to thy Spiritual and Heavenly self Thus much for the Second Answer The Peace and the Kingdom of God may be sown though they be not grown up in thee So I have done with the First Spirit to be silenc'd in the Soul that she may have Peace which is the Spirit of Wrath from God 2. The Spirit of the Devil This is the Second Spirit to be silenced in the Soul for her Spiritual Peace Read those Verses Psal. 46. 2. 3. Therefore we will not fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be carryed into the midst of the Sea Though the Waters thereof roar and the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof Selah In the verse following you read of a River whose streams refresh the City of God This River is clearly the Spirit of God This Sea then which troubles the Earth must be the Spirit of the Devil the Natural Power of Darkness in the Creature which while it kept its own place and order had a Beauty in it but forsaking its own habitation as St. Jude speaketh it brings Confusion You may confirm that sense of the Sea in this place by comparing Two or Three places of Scripture more one with another Gen. 1. 2. That Darkness out of which the Light and Strength of the Creature was first raised is express'd by a Sea Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters Revel 20. 3. The Angel casts the Devil into the Bottomless Pit The Word here which is translated Bottomless Pit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answer in Greek to that in Hebrew Tehôm which is expounded the Deep in that First of Genesis And the Sea is frequently called by this Name thorough the Scriptures Tehâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deep The Devil was cast down into the great Deep of his own Darkness and shut up there Revel 21. 1. I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth and there was no more Sea The Spirit of the Devil and the Power of Darkness was now shut up in itself and no more troubled the Peace and Beauty of the Creature Though there was still Night and Day Darkness and Light yet there was no more Sea the Darkness was as a sweet Calm Stream refreshing the Earth and mingled with the Light of Life This Sea of Darkness and confusion lies at the bottom of the Spirit of every man naturally It encompasseth us on every side This often opens itself upon us and the Mountains of all our Strength Joy or Glory are swallowed up in the midst of it When the Waters of this Sea evil Spirits roar upon our Souls they fill them with Fear amazement and Horrour The Sea is accounted the Cause of Earth-quakes The Earth in a Man all the Foundations of his Life and Joy are violently shaken in him when this Sea swells beneath them What Peace what Establishment can there be to the Soul while this Power of Darkness rageth As the World shall have no Peace till it be bound up in its own Deep so neither can the Soul This is the Second Spirit to be silenced 3. The Spirit of a Man in Himself Before the Soul can have Peace her own Spirit must be silent in the midst of her Psal. 4. 4. We have this advice given us Commune with your own Heart upon your Bed and be still This seems to be a Contradiction Commune and be still But the Selah added points out a more hidden sense Here are Two Terms in this Scripture which have a various Sense Heart and Bed 1.
Fruit of God Full of God One Spirit with God to thee 2. Secondly if thou know thy self Spiritually thou canst not want Joy A Spiritual Knowledge of thy self holds thee forth to thy self as One Spirit with Jesus Christ. Thou seest thy self there where thou seest Christ. Thou seest Jesus Christ there where thou seest thy self He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit with Him 1 Corin. 6. 17. Dost thou in any Sufferings know that Isus Christ and Thou make but One Spirit in those Sufferings and canst thou forbear to Rejoyce in them Canst thou think of no Glory or Blessedness in Heaven itself but thou knowest that Jesus Christ and Thou make but One Spirit in that Glory and canst thou chuse but Joy in it Hast thou this Knowledge that thy Saviour and thy self run along thorow all Things Twisted into One Spirit undivided in Light and Darkness from the Beginning to the End of Things and hast thou not Joy in all Things A Spiritual Knowledge of thy self teacheth thee to look upon thy self as made in the Image and Likeness of Christ. Jesus Christ saith of Himself Iohn 3. 13. No man hath ascended up into Heaven but He that came down from Heaven even the Son of Man that is in Heaven Jesus Christ had One Part of Himself above in Heaven at the same time that the Other Part of Him was below on Earth As Jesus Christ unites God and the Creature in his own Person his Face being as the Sun shining in the Highest Glory when his Feet are in the Furnace the Fire and Fading State of the lowest Things So the Soul of Man in her Natural State unites the Heaven and the Earth the Invisible and the Visible Part of this Creation Thy Soul in her Top and Supream Part which is her Truest self and substance lives ever Invisibly and Immortally among the Angels She in the mean time subsists here below among these Fleeting Shadows only in her Lower Part in which she is but as a Shadow of herself He that knows this hath this Joy alwaies that the Inconstancies and Tumults of this Life wet but his Feet trouble his Dreams only His Better Part his Waking Part His Life is Constant above these Floods in the Company of Spirits Death catcheth thy Shadow and no more of thee Thy true self is above the Region and Reach of Death Immortal as the Angels But behold A Greater Cause of Joy Thy Soul in her Spiritual State hath a fuller Resemblance of her Saviour That Life which thy Soul hath at the Top of this Creation is yet but a Dream a Show the Feet only Psal. 17. 15. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness Saith David The Soul in this Creation is fallen into a Sleep she hath her Sleeping Part only here and her Life at Highest even in the Angelical State of it is but a Dream The Life the Truth the Waking and Chief Part the Head of thy Soul is above Angels with Christ in God Iohn 13. 9 10. Peter said to Christ Not my Feet only but my Hands and my Head Iesus saith unto him He that is washed needeth not save to wash his Feet but is clean every whit All of thee that comes within the Compass of this Creation thy Immortal as well as thy Mortal Part all is but thy Feet For all that needs Washing Thy Head and thy Hands are above Nature in a Spiritual and Supernatural Glory ever un-troubled un-spotted the same Yesterday to Day and for ever like Christ. Dost thou thus Spiritually discern thy self Thou canst not then but rejoice in the midst of all Changes and Confusions For thou seest thy Life thy True Being thou seest thy self awake in an Unchangeable State with all Contents round about thee as Christ in God 3. Thirdly If thou know this World Spiritually thou canst not want Joy When we look upon this World after a Spiritual manner we see it as a Show Man walks in a vain Show Psal. 39. 6. What Pain have all the Miseries of this World to Him that looks on them as an Empty Show without any Substance of Evil Nay what Peace or what Pleasure do they afford thee when they are as a Tempest in a Picture or a Battel in a Story A Spiritual Eye perceives this World in all the Pieces and Particularities of it to be an Image of Heavenly Glories Rom. 1. 20. The Invisible things of Him are clearly seen by the Things that are made Even His Eternal Power and God-Head The Mind of Man naturally rejoyceth to see a Resemblance of any thing especially of Excellent Things especially of Things Beloved Thou canst not carry a Spiritual understanding with thee thorow the World but thou wilt rejoyce over all the Works of God in the World when thou seest thy God with his Beauties and Blessednesses Imaged forth and brought to thy mind by them all If there be any Thing which is most Dark to thee thou wilt say of that Yet here is something of my God pictured out though I know not what of Him it is This World is a Principal Part of the Mystery of God When the Seventh Trumpet shall sound then shall the Mystery of God be finished Revel 10. 7. This World is indeed a Deep of Darkness yet it hath the Wonders of God in it They that go down into the Deep see the Wonders of the Lord Psal. 107. 24. The Soul sports itself and plays with the Miserablest Things of the World when she perceives herself to be in them as in the midst of the Mystery of God and among his Wonders I have done with the Second Rule by which you see that your Spiritual Knowledge and Joy go Hand in Hand 3. Rule Faith and Joy are ever in an Equal Degree and Activity St. Paul prays for the Romans Rom. 15. 13. Now the God of Hope fill you with all Peace and Joy in Believing Faith Peace and Joy are Companions of equal Stature and Favour in the Heavenly Life Faith and Joy are like the Sun and Light Joy is the Daughter of Faith but ever as old and strong as the Mother There are Three Joyful Things in Believing 1. A Ioyful Prospect 2. A Ioyful Possession 3. A Ioyful Purchase 1. A Joyful Prospect Faith is the Evidence of Things not seen Heb. 11. 1. Faith sets Heaven with all its Angels Spirits Joys Glory Christ and God whatsoever is Excellent and Invisible in thine Eye Faith discovers all these Things to thee with a Conviction and Demonstration of their Reality He that believes hath presented to the Sight of his Mind that Frame of Things in which God lives and that not as a Show or Apparition but in a Substantial manner The Angel of the Lord pitcheth his Camp round about those that fear him Psal. 34. 7. This Camp hath in it all the Powers of the Angelical and Divine Nature These continually encamp about a Saint and encompass him in the midst of
his spouse this Soul or this Body which he hath spoused as chast Virgins to himself to see Corruption No no my Bride-groom with all his Lights of Glory and the Father of lights in him will accompany this Darling-Soul and Darling-Body his pair of Doves which are to him as his two eyes through Death and the Grave There will he filling all things round about me with his shining Beauties make me to see the Path of Life Immortality all composed of innumerable Angels of Glory or the innumerable Glories of the Godhead as the Milky way in Heaven is said to be composed with innumerable Stars thick set Thorow all the shades of Death shall I behold all pleasantnesses in his Face shining forth upon me with a fresh Glory as a new Sun turning those Shades into a flowry and perfumed Arbour in the Heavenly Paradise I shall be continually at his right hand where pleasures are for evermore without mixture interruption or end Thus is his right hand which is the heighth and Fountain of Life and Pleasures the beginning of my Life my strength and guide in my way my end in Death We have finished the answers to the objection against the Immortality and Glory of the Body of a Saint together with the Soul in Death which was taken from the Body itself and strengthened by the particular consideration of the Body of Christ in Death and in the Grave We have finished the distinction between the two Bodâ—es the Body of Death in a Saint and the proper Body of a Saint which is an insâ—parable Member in the Spiritual and Heavenly Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Ghost as the Soul is We come now to the last objection taken from the resurrection of the Body at the last day which seems to be without any sense if our Bodies become Glorious and Immortal at our Death This Objection is answered by the distinction of three eminent steps or degrees in the resurrection from the Dead I shall take my ground upon which I shall build this answer and distinction from St. John Chap. 11. v. 25. these are the words of our Lord Jesus in that place I am the Resurrection and the Life He that lives and believes in me shall never die He that beliâ—ves in me though he were dead yet shall he live The Lord Jesus is here comforting Martha mourning over her dead Brother He propounds to her the comfort and Joy of his Resurrection Thy Brother saith he shall rise again That which would have been a present and powerful Joy looked upon with a Spiritual eye in a Light of Glory becomes to Martha a faint and far distant Joy while she looks upon the Resurrection a great way off at the end of the World So she answereth the Lord Jesus Yea Lord I know that my Brother shall rise again at the last Day The Lord Jesus scattereth this Cloud of Flesh by shining out upon Martha in the Brightness and Glory of his Heavenly and Divine Person as that Invisible and Eternal Sun which is at once the Fountain and Treasury of all Lights Lives and Forms of things in a state of Perfection and unchangeableness The Lord as he shineth out upon her annointeth the eyes of her mind with his Spirit and the Light of his appearance to see him as he is in the fulness of Glory as the fulness of the Glory of God and of all things dwelleth in him as he is the same and all things in him are the same yesterday to day and for ever I saith he am the Resurreâ—tion and the Life The latter of these is the cause and demonstration of the former It will not seem strange to him who seeth the Lord Jesus to be the Life of all things all things in their most exact distinction to be living perfectly and Eteâ—nally in him in the vast and unbounded Circle of the Unity of his Person and Spirit as in a secret Paradise a Field of Light and bliss above the Heavens and yet invisibly present every where that he should at his Pleasure bring forth things which have disappeared here by Death into new appearances as Resurrections from the Dead and present them again to our eye in the same Forme in which they before conversed with them not as Pâ—antasms or as empty Apparitions but real and Substantial Thus to Martha inlightned by this Spiritual Vision of Christ it was easie to understand that Jesus Christ could give her Brother Lazarus again out of his Grave living into her Arms even at that present time Having thus cleared my ground for my ensuing discourse by the opening of the words I procced to my distinction of a threefold eminent degree in the Resurrection from the Dâ—ad 1. The first eminent step or degree in the Resurrection from the dead is Regeneration which signifieth a new birth a second birth to be born again of God after the Death of that Life which we receive from him by our first Generation as Sons of God by the Creation 2. The Second eminent step or degree in the Resurrection from the Dead is the Natural Death 3. The last eminent step and degree is the Resurrection of the Dead at the last day 1. I shall begin with the first of these that the difference between these thâ—â—e Resurrections may more clearly appear I shall lay it down in the form of a Doctrine Doct. Regeneration is a Resurrection from the Dead St Paul clearly so expresseth it Eph. 5. v. 14. wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light Behold three things here 1. A Sleep 2. The Awakening from this Sleep 3. The cause of Awakening 1. Here is a sleep Thou that sleepest Every man in his Natural state is a divine Spirit an Immortal Soul an Image of God a Son of God in a deep Sleep The Natural Sleep is defined to be a perfect ligation or binding up of all the senses outward or inward But this is an unnatural Sleep into which we are cast by the Enchantments and Power of the Devil It is the Sleep of Sin O man all thy senses and faculties outward and inward which were true pure and divine in the Similitude of God whilst they were awake and at liberty were continually feasted with divine Objects they possessed and enjoyed a Paradise in themselves But how are they now fallen asleep how are they bound up Thou now no more seest hearest tastest feelest understandest enjoyest any sweet beam of truth any thing of the Harmonious Musick of the delicate Relish of the soft Embraces of the immutable all-satisfying Reality and Substance of pure Love pure Light pure Beauty pure Joy pure Goodness Every thing pleasant every thing Real every thing Divine is to thee as if it were not at all Yet is not thy sleep quiet All this which thou seemest to thy self to hear to see to understand to converse with by any of thy senses or faculties