zeal in persecuting the Church Act. 22. 3. and out of conceit he did God good service Rested satisfied We know the Scribes and Pharisees who were the most Zealous for Sabbaths and prayer and other points of Worship yet they make it their Rest but come to our daies and see if we swarme not of the same only seeming professors of God who are very Zealous for the same things and from their very Zeal are made to Rest with high thoughts of their condition But how far this zeal which is most commonly led with more affection then Judgement will bring man into a form of Truth First It will leade man into a whole conformity to what it doth conceive to be truth that it shall according to what it hath serve God in all good conscience Acts 23. 1. and according to the Law to be unblamable and untaxable Then his conversation shall bee very strict in the observation of what the Law requires and hee shall act the same with much vehemency of spirit taking all opportunities for the doing of the same Secondly It will carry the soule on to suffer cheerfully what he may meet withall in this very particular Thirdly he may by Zeal afflict his body sore 1 Co. 13. 3. with fasting and mourning under pretence the one to honour and obey God the other for dishonour brought to God So as he may be almost spent in body and spirit and estate in prosecuting the things of God according to his light Farther hee may out of Zeal come to Gospel precepts and may be Zealous for that light in externall formes which is there required to be obeyed so as he may gather Churches and may suffer much in the conforming to and practising with so much vehemency the Ordinances coÌ„monly practised by the Churches in the Apostles and our daies so as his Zeal may lead him out to teaching and helping forward that worke studying night and day to finde out matter to furnish himselfe for edification so as for paines in the Churches and for Zeal to observe the severity of those formes and any thing required to bee practised in the said Churches so as now it will have communâ—on in Ordinances with none but those of his own stamp judgement being mightily carried forth to judge and pity those who are opposers of that light Now this soul through Zeal may goe thus farre yea to act up to the highest things the Scriptures doe require in matters of visible practise and yet be not at all taught in the Spirit neither got into the life and power of what he doth professe but meerly zealous for shadowes and wants the power so as he is commanded by the form and not the forme by the power dwelling within him Now grant farther That such a soule did act in truth according to this dispensation yet notwithstanding in this particular there were no cause of Rest for nothing visibly seen flowing from the Creature ought to be its Rest but some invisible flowings into the Creature which is being and substance from which and unto which a Soule through Zeale for God acts Also a Creature thus zealous Rests not at home but reformes abroad also beginning with his own family and so goes abroad to others and labours for a reformation and practises the same with much Zeal so as he can not endure the visible appearance of any sinne in himself or others He may help with much Zeal the purging of Cities and Nations of drunkennesse or swearing or any open prophanesse he may be for punishing of evil doers in this particular with much severity and seeming to be much troubled at the neglect of it he may rejoyce much in this practise and may help forward this work in a Nation very much and yet this no Rest at all also he may be zealous yea mad of Zeale for the worship of his God in reference unto others not only taking all opportunities to inform them in the same but using all Coercive powers for confirming them thereunto so as he may be an instrument to bring families and most part of Cities into this outward conformity to the matters of worship and here hee lookes upon an action done of great moment and weight and partly makes this an evidence of his true enjoyment of God by Reason of his zeale for God and the effect thereby produced which is the good of many Now the cause of a Souls thus Resting partly flowes from want of the information in judgement of the great deceite of the heart in putting man by zeal upon such publique actions and then to cause it to Rest and further it conceiving it's Zeale for God and from a principle of God not being acquainted with a Pharisaicall Zeale to be seâ—n of men or to get a name amongst men or that Zeal which men have but not according to knowledge or the Zeale Paul had before conversion which excels both for vehemency and downrightnesse is the Zeal of many a Professor who are at Rest in our daies Now a poor Creature because he is made to suffer freely and to hazard life and liberty in the prosecution of his Zeale he is much puffed up under these considerations 1. That now this is a suffering with and for Christ and therefore he shall reign with him and enjoy much from him 2. That this is a parting with all for Christ and a great point of self-deniall and so an evidence of a disciple of Christ when indeed the Soule is in himselfe and hath not at all attained that estate to forsake himselfe Therefore let every heart though never so Zealous for God take notice that his heart may deceive him in his Zeale and his affection may blinde his judgement and so it proves blinde zeale Or Secondly Consider that though it be such Zeale as is good and to be approved of in it's dispensation yet not at all to be Rested upon nor to be an evidence of any true enjoyment of God though he pretend God in the fore-front as Jehu did The fifth false Rest THe next Rest of a Soule though I might not have spoken of it because I have partly given it forth yet that things may be the more opened it s the Creatures Righteousnesse or sanctification and outward holinesse wherein both in carriage and words he doth most sweetly in probability savour of high enjoyments of God This is to be a testimony of the same to others though not to himselfe yet notwithstanding his Rest is to him a high evidence of the true and reall possessings of God when alas it is continually a vanishing Rest and evidence and when the Creature stands in need of it it is taking its wings and flying away and proves a miserable comforter in the saddest straits of a Soule But first Let us consider that true holinesse of a person made manifest in actions flowes from the justification of a Soule made manifest in the Spirit so that the truest holinesse or outward sanctification
here or joyne one with another witnesse their crosnesse of spirit what a smell of false principles this of Rests appears withall and truly argues much deceit and unpossessed like with God If one either hath attained higher or live in the use of Ordinances waiting for the reall enjoyment of God being lower why should that heart who hath either enjoyed more or lesse of God have such an unlikenesse of any thing of God in him seeing God is love and he that dwels in the lowest enjoyment of God dwels in Love but truly the being bound to formes or bound up in formes and the using of them before we be led unto them by God occasions all this Resting in and condemning of all that doe not in all things walk up into and in the use of these formes and Church relations which the letter of the Scriptures owns to be a dispensation of God But Secondly As this is the cause of and doth much savor to be occasioned either by our being bound up in them or falsly led out to them so also it is occasioned by the want of a divine principle within whereby that principle of God might command our formes and Church relations and not formes and Church relations command the souâ—e so as the Soule onely seeing something in the letter wanting a divine light within to discover unto him either the time place manner or end by this it comes to passe why he is darke in and Rest upon and is commanded by and so bound up in the form repuired in the letter being ignorant of truth in the Spirit but to come more fully to the thing in hand This in my judgement was the Rest of the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. 17. in her concluded riches yea in her insensible poverty and thus it prevailes with many a heart First When especially the Soul hath been much under the Law and hampred by the Law and so kept in a cloude from the view of Gospel truthes and now come to see a clear truth in that which he so much opposed he is so taken up with it as he hath no peace untill he fals in obeying of it so gathers peace comfort and Rest in the same thinking it is now got into a very high estate and the very name of a member of a Church together with the greatnesse of the love of God in bringing this Creature to beleeve and obey who was darke opposite yea a despiser of the same this doth help forward his Rest in this particular Secondly It considers and reasons with it selfe now I am got into the communion of Saints and enjoy now their society which before it wanted fellowship with and also from consideration of the purity of the Ordinances it now enjoyes It before was alive in the use of corrupted Ordinances now it enjoyes them in the purity of them before in and amongst a mixed people or he had fellowship with devils 1 Cor. 10. 20. now with Saints but truly though this be a Laodicea condition yet it is a false Rest for there is no true Rest either in the purest Ordinances or visible relations for these a man may enjoy and be ignorant of the enjoyment of God in them as the wofull experience of many will seale unto and testifie the truth of whatwe are speaking of Thirdly Another cause of Rest in these relations flowes from his continuall growth in Gospel light and his encrease and growth of knowledge and most commonly the whole bent of such a spirit is taken up with labouring after the knowledge of points of judgement and with matters nice and curious things which most commonly pleaseth the fancy and understanding and to know such things it is his continuall study and end of all his labour when still he wants the life and power of Christ in his heart neither doth he know him but either by his profession or by hear-saies not in any true way of experience Fourthly Another cause flowes from his conceived peace and comfort he enjoyes in the same and thus he reasons before I had no peace either in conscience within me or from Ordinances practised by me but now I enjoy much peace in my condition when indeed he may have stopt the mouth of conscience his peace come in from a false ground not spoken from God but drawn forth or Imagined in his particular practise Many a soule feeds upon an imaginary peace when it is ignorant of peace truly manifested in the heart and in this most commonly doe the affections blinde and bribe the judgement and so peace remaines onely in the imagination and not enjoyed by any powerfull manifestation But if mens hearts in Church relations may so utterly be deceived then it stands in need of these ensuing cautions 1. Beware of making thy being a member of any Church to be either evidence to thee or ground of peace in thee neither let any conceive better of their conditions because they are in visible fellowships and neither let their joy or peace be the more unlesse they doe uprightly enjoy more of the discoveries of God to them then they did before 2. Beware that thou thinke not thy outward uniting in a visible manner with Saints is a uniting thy spirit more unto God or God uniting himselfe more to thee or that for or in thy present practise thou art got the nigher to God lest thou Rest more secure in thy present condition then before for carnall security doth most commonly follow the most of men in those dispensations 3. Beware thou goe not before God leade thee for most commonly when God leades man into formes when he forsakes them he leades them out of them into that dispensation God will appear in therefore beware that thou be not led by thy owne imaginations then thou shalt not be left in and bound up in formes but shalt continue in them so long as God continues in the same But many who live and make a God of their forms they neither know when God leads or not leads when God is present or not present it s all one if they can enjoy the desire of their hearts and that which speaks peace to them namely Their formes and Church relations It is to them yea its life and happinesse in them But in the next place observe Though God do own all or the most formes and administrations yet it is but for a time untill a higher dispensation appear or the substance of that forme be enjoyed and then God departs from it and seldome or never appears in that forme any more especially if the soul be caught up into God for as the old Testament formes which were of Gods own appointment and God was in them for the time they were to be used so also they were to cease 1. When the substance thereof was come Heb 5. 18. 2. When a more glorious administration was and did appear then did God both depart from them and dis-own them and they no where
whatsoever the day of God in its light and glory doth discover to the soule not to be of himselfe this the day of his Power doth accomplish the same to the full in the soule yea though it â—e tâ—e life of a soule yea though it were its God and happinesse in it yet they all are nothing when God and it stands in competition in the soule whether of them should be advanced 3ly Christ made manifest in a heart and his spirituall coming into the same is like unto a fire which burns up consumes al things that are in the soul of his own which keep the Creature below God therfore saith the Scripture Who may abide the day of his coming or stand when he appeareth And he shews the reason therof for he is like a refiners fire and like fullers sope to refiners fire he is compared the appearance of Christ in the love of the Spirit is like refiners fire to refine purifie yea to burn up and consume in soules what is not of the Spirit and so to bring the creature to a losse though in the fame salvation shall be made manifest as according to the 1 Cor. 3. 13 14. where saith he if any mans work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward but if it burn the creature shall lose thereby yet he must be saved yet it must be by this fire which did consume and burn up his hay and stubble now as mans work shall be revealed by fire so if it be not of God it shall be destroyed by the same which fire is love which is God thus when he brings a soul by his appearing into the greatest losse then is he bringing a soule into the greatest gain so that that which proves destruction of his false Rests is that which brings him to the true Rest and so though it be a losing for the present yet his greatest losse becomes his greatest gain Now I know there is many Rests that are destroyed or dissolved before this day of his coming and as there is one taken away the soule findes and seeks after another and runs from mountain to hill to get ease of a tormenting spirit so as man passeth through many Rests most commonly before this day but now it may be the Creature hath such glorious resembled Rests that it can not be found out before the day of Gods thus appearing then these seeming Rests are they which are discovered upon the appearance of himselfe in the soule But some soules passe through more then we have spoken of some through fewer according as God keeps the soule and alone becomes the leader of him yet many soules that are come thus high have found them by sad experience and others have found some of them and others more yet it is sometimes Gods way to permit the Creature to run out after the waies of his own heart and at last to hedâ—e up his waies Hos 2. 6. where many soules lies at this day in the wildernesse not knowing what to doe being non-plust in their owne spirits not knowing what God is a doing nor what he will doe what they must doe sit still they cannot act they cannot but in their old Road. Having shewed the many Rests Soules passe thorow and the difficulty of parting with them together with the waies and means God wakes the heart willing that now he may enjoy that true and unchangeable Rest of soules which shall be the next wee shall speak of and that is What this true Rest is which the spirits of a spirituall man must be centred The first description of true Rest AND first of all that Rest of Saints or the description thereof It is something lying naturally out of the Creature or above it not of it selfe attained by it But revealed and made manifest in it who is the Rest which alone is God or Christ First Christ it is cleare he lives out of the Creature for he lay in the heart of God John 1. 18. before we had a being and is discovered and revealed by God within us when we have a being which was purposed by God to be revealed from God and therein to be a center and Rest to that heart who doth enjoy it Secondly It cannot be attained by the Creature his abilities falling short of the doing of any such worke but he was the purpose of Love freely intended by God before time and as freely without the Creature comes to be made manifest by God in the Creature in time For it is nothing which the Creature of himselfe can attain which as a sure Rest in the Creature will remaine but it will faile the soule and prove a broken Reed The second description of true Rest SEcondly It is an unchangeable and unalterable Being seen by the soule after it is revealed to him which cannot be shaken after the Creature is centred in it wherein the Creaure is carried out of himselfe above himselfe to Rest securely above all feares First Christ the eternall Being of Spirits God in God only God he it is that is an unchangeable Being Isa 9. 6. Heb. 13. 8. Mal. 3. 6. which alters not neither is given to change for he was yesterday that is before time he is to day that is in time the same he is for ever that is unto all time Heb. 13. 8. Now if we looke upon Christ as Saints Rest wee must not consider him as he was in any forme or shape for so he altered and changed into divers formes and shapes But we are to consider him as he is God Eternal Blessed yea as he is the power of all powers and so he is the foundation and Rest of Saints For as he was in the flesh he was not to be a Rest but as he was in the Spirit so he is Rest both unchangeable and unalterable In whom there is no variablenesse neither shadow of turning James 1. 17. So that now Saints knowledge of him and their Rest in him is sure and abides And this is that which heightens their assurance to see and know that the Rest of their souls is an unalterable Rest that though dispensations change and hee in those dispensations yet the Center of his soul abides for ever and he kept unshaken in it because he Rests and Lives in and upon an unshaken unchangeable Center Now shall the disquieted and molested soul live in peace safety and quietnesse and none now can make it in this case afraid but it lives above all feares and torments being kept safe in this Divine Spirit and power where there is neither cause of jealousie or feare but being they are removed and the creature firmly establisht so that all stormes do not molest him and all temptations do not un-rest him but he lives Triumphant above them Triumphing upon them by that power in which he is Centred The Third Description of true Rest THirdly It is an unexpressible glorious Center or Being wholly taking up the
he may abhâ—rre and detest not setting them up with Christ and this he may do from a Scripture notionary knowledge onely got in the head where hee is swallowed up with his conception of his enjoyment of Christ and God by beleeving and so may live in a way of Dependency upon Christ as he is declared and set forth to dye for man at Jerusalem from which knowledge beleeving and dependency there is begotten much deadnesse and security in which he may suffer and rejoyce he may dye and live in it exalting God much in word and seeming actions and yet all this time ignorant of the ground and Mystery of faith yea ignorant of the knowledge of Christ which begets the true exercise and living by faith Yet if this which I now say were true yet it were to low an Element for any spirituall heart to make his habitation or Rest but in this same they are to be as men of hope 2. Thes 3. 5. waiting for and hasting unto the Coming of Christ in the Clouds 1. Thes 4. 17. where they shall enjoy and have a Dispensation of Glory and so shall be for ever with the Lord for the Mystery of faith is the pure sight of an un-known un-seen God Isa 33. 17. and the pure sight of God in this great Mystery is from the pure enjoyment of God is the Kingdome of heaven and glory and this must be within and enjoyed by every spiritull heart This is the place of safety where Saints Treasure lyeth and where they are to make their Rest habitation and abode Col. 3. 1. This safe Rest is not procured by neither is it a dependency upon one a heard of Christ but it is a carrying up of a spirituall crucified Spirit into a glorious God who was and now is made manifest to live with to Rest upon and to have a habitation in for Ever and for Ever And here the spirit remaines in safety and in glory triumphing in him and being swallowed up with him is carried up into the light and life of God knowing him in all things enjoying him in all things seeing him to be the light and life of all things being now gathered up into his will is wholly disposed by him and therein with God is satisfied and so Rests whereas mens beleeving is very unsound and if it were not yet it s very unsafe being given to change And being it is but some exercise of something in man yet it being but an effect it is not to be a Rest but man is rather to be carried above it after the possession of him who can give Rest and ease all heavy loades and burthens of the creature Mat. 11. 28. 29. The sixteenth false Rest THe next Rest we in order shall speake of Is the great Experiences many have of deliverances given them by God from inward and outward streights making them evidences of his love and matter enough to conclude safety Rest and happinesse and in this particular there is some glosse and seeming cause as afterwards shall be produced And first of all we will come to spirituall deliverances as First Inward conflicts of spirit occasioned either by a discovery of the want of God or of a soules misery without God which occasioneth condemnation and apprehensions of wrath and so sorrow mourning and griefe of spirit in which condition the soul lyeth as in hel being filled with horrour and fear and looking upon God as nothing but a revenging and tormenting God in which torments of spirit he lyes groaning and mourning before God being swallowed up in darkness and bondage attempting all meanes to get freedome and liberty from this his sad wofull and miserable estate wherein soules sometimes get deliverance one of these three waies 1. Either from extraordinary paines and diligence wherein he thinks if he could but do this or that or attain so much humiliation or mourning or repentance then he should be happy and in freedome whereupon in conclusion he attaines in his own apprehension that which before he desired which stopping of the mouth of conscience and a breaking prison before God deliver together with a conceite of a Cure applyed by God when indeed it is a curing the wound of such a soul falsly which in time will break forth to the greater damage of the party Or secondly It is freed by some cunning Sophister of Satan either immediately by himselfe wherein hee labours to apply a false remedy thinking to put the soul thereby into a state of security or else mediately by his instruments in the Ministry wherein they come to daub with untempered morter and so speaks peace to man before God speak peace within man and so doth as the Lord saith Heal up the wound of the daughter of his People falsly and from this have many poore hearts been mistaken when at any time they have been in and under such torments of spirit they have not rested untill they have run unto Ministers to see what they will say some of them putting them upon doing some of them applying cures to them and here a poore heart thinks to bee satisfied where hee never Rests but runnes from one to another from creature to creature seeing if he can get any thing from them sometimes coming away with much peace other times coming away with a lesson of doing and by these means comes soules sometimes to have their deliverances and for a space Rests untill it breake forth againe The third way wherein many others attain deliverances is from God As the children of Israell from their land of bondage tiranny and task-masters which though God himself did free them yet notwithstanding was not to be their Rest but to be their first step toward their Rest So though God do sweetly deliver a Soul from and out of this trouble and perplexity of spirit yet it is not to be a Rest unto him or to be a habitation for him to dwell in but to be as it were the first step to his Rest Now some mens deliverances are of God and some of themselves and some of Satan but none of these are to bee rested upon as they are deliverances seeing they may be true or false which untill a higher dispensation of God cannot inâ—allibly be discerned Secondly A Soul may be delivered from a resolved selfe Murther or Destruction when temptation doth violently attend that way yet not withstanding though hee bee abundantly preserved by God in his inward streight wherein Satan would have him become his own executioner yet it is not any sufficient Center for any spirit Or thirdly If it be a deliverance of the creature from the wrath to come presently lying in the apprehension of the creature yet not to be a Rest or any cause thereof Fourthly If it be a deliverance of the creature from some violent corruption or lust within him so as now God hath as it were freed his spirit from that Lordly power of inward corruption so as now he is freed
from sin which formerly hath both dishonoured God dishonoured Truth and taken away his peace Now sometimes when this comes to be subdued and the soul delivered from the same he Rests upon it and concludes from it great cause of safety and security and as an infallible Testimony of Gods love and here he makes his center when indeed the heart cannot have true Rest in any deliverances wrought for it by God but must be carried up above the same into the Deliverer who is God so as in inwards so in outwards bee it of what nature or quallity soever yet many after the receipt hereof wax the more secure make a God of their deliverances ct so Rest upon them with which though they were in love yet they are not given for that end no more then God delivering the Children of Israel at the Red Sea should afterwards be a stop unto them and a center for them before they came into the land of Promise Or that deliverance of Daniel or of the Three Children or of Jonah none of these were to be a cause either of Security or Center but to be rather accompanied by God to put their spirits out of themselves after him who was to be a Rest unto them and a Deliverer of them so that the common or speciall deliverances of God in these cases are abused and the end thereof dealt deceitfully with and they are made that which God did not appoint them to be viz. Rests and that which satisfies the creature with the receipt thereof yet in the second place I doe not deny this to be one of Gods dispensations and the way he deales with spirits both to discover themselves with the vanity and misery attending the same where mans heart is made a heart of misery preparing for mercy this being the way to Rest and peace happinesse and glory when God comes in the first place to free the soule from this his deliverance though it be of God still as the other is the way to happinesse so his deliverance the way to rest that is the way to make the heart enter into it and be centred in it For though the Rest in this deliverance be discovered yet it may be long before such a heart do enter into it as David saith plainly return unto thy Rest O my soule for the Lord hath delt bountifully with thee Now though God may have dealt bountifully with a soule yet that soule may not be returned nor centred in his true and proper Rest though it be in a further worke then deliverance inward or outward So that in the first place many hearts it may be have been in deep distresse of Spirit in the pit where no water is and now are it may be in such a condition as they are at great freedome and live in much joy yet such a heart it may be freed in his own sense and yet intended by God to be brought into his former bondage and misery because his wound is falsly cured and having not been willing to waite Gods time is faln thereby into carnall and unsafe security therefore soules had need beware of false deliverances 2. Satan that Spirit of deceit may drive on his design in this particular to have a soul delivered by deceit seeing before he could not prevent the cause of the sense of his misery seeing he could not prevent that he labours to deceive the Creature by proposing and working deliverance for it before God deliver it the heart being willing to imbrace and to have deliverance before his time 3. If this be not but that God goes forwards to make such a heart a heart of misery and so prepare it for mercy and worke admirable diliverances for it both within and without yet notwithstanding it is not sufficient the soule Rest here but such a heart is to wait for a higher dispensation of God this being Gods leading way thereto The seventeenth and last false Rest THE next and last Rest which wee shall speake of is by some waited for and by others pretended to be received to wit The extraordinary Gifts of the Spirit whereby both worship without and God within is confirmed and in their apprehension sealed up for truth Now for my own part I look upon both either in the condition of waiting for it or in the pretence of the receiving of it to be un-sound or an un-safe principle 1. In a waiting way there are who are waiting to have the Spirit powred down in such a manner as they shall be able to doe miracles and visibly to cast out devils But I thinke this is a meere mistake for those casting out of devils and visible powers given to the Apostles and Saints was given only as a dispensation of God in that administration the Apostles lived in and not to be any dispensation intended to be given to any other after that administration was confirmed and setled 2. Those visible powers were given them for the confirmation of the Gospel in a visible forme to sâ—ale the truth of that forme of words which was to be left unto all ages Now if we had new Scriptures to write and a new Gospel to declare then I confesse for the establishment of the same it would be necessary to have the same confirmed by visible miracles and powers But 3. It was given to be a figure of the glorious manner of the workings of God in the soule and the casting out of devils and curing sick opening eyes and the like Isa 26. 12. Phil. 2. 13. these were to demonstrate unto us that as the coming of Christ in the form of flesh was attended with these signes and miracles so the coming of him in the Spirit should be attended with inward signes and miracles to wit internall and divine powers the casting out of the many devils within the opening of the eyes of the understanding and the curing the wounds of the soule Luke 24. 45. Eph. 1. 18. Isa 60. 1. Iohn 5. 25. the opening mans eares to hear the voice of Christ within to have a dead Lazarus soule raised up in the Spirit Now the Rest was but as figures though reall of what God did hold forth should accompany the second coming of Christ in the heart Mal. 3. 2. Mat. 25. 12 13. And if soules did waite for this their expectations should not be so much frustrated as it is in the other and shall be And as for the great miracles that shall be wrought must be within and felt by soules when Christ appears in the heart So that these externall powers shall be turned into these sayings The coming of Christ shall be with power and great glory Mat. 24. 30. Now men are deceived I feare who seeke for his coming in any carnall or fleshly way or that he will make that to be the powrings down of the Spirit to wit the casting out of devils c. But it shall be more spirituall and heavenly even the power of the Spirit