this pardon is it not sweet yes saith the sinner sweeter then the honey or the hony-combe O saith a poore soule I blesse God more for this then if he had made me the greatest prince in the world Fourthly it is called a city for her privilidges no city but hath its charter and privilidges at least some distinct from towns and villages O Ierusalem city of our God thy privilidges excell all the worlds who may be compared to thee for privilidges yea peculiar privilidges which no nation but thee can lay hold on nor people in the world neither all the people in the world are Gods by creation but Ierusalem by purchase all the world he feeds and cloaths O Israel who is a people like unto thee shielded by the great God fed by the Manna and watered by the rocks and sheltred by a cloud by day and a pillar of sire by night God in a way of providence keeps all creatures but man especially but Israel and Jerusalem above all who are his choice pieces of silver yea his treasure and jewels now treasure you know men will keep choicer then that which is but ordinary parents will let farthings and counters lie about for their children to play with but who will leave jewels carelesly here and there in common places no men are wise and will lay up their precious stones in choice cabbenets and so doth God he layes his up in his cabbenet of providence and charges his Angels with these jewels or sons of Sion more precious then jewels or choice silver either and in this particular he is said to keep them as a man keepeth the apple of his eye and is as tender over them as a father so saith David as a father pittieth his children so pittieth the Lord them that fear him O happy and blessed people pittied saved and kept by God I will keep thee every moment yea every moment in the den yea every moment in the furnace and every moment in all houres and seasons night and day death and judgement in times of troubles warres and judgement yea closset them in raines I house them like Noah in the Arke and in famine feed them like Elisha by the raven yea what shall I say I will be a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day yea a sun and shield as David speaks and sure defence too And now who art thou that forgettest the Lord thy maker and fearest the man or the son of man who is as the grasse of the field and shall die But in the fifth and last place the Church is compared to a city because the Spirit is as a river feeding of it O saith David He feeds me in green pastures and leads me by the still waters this he speaks of concerning the Spirit if the foundation be removed what can the righteous do There is a river the streames thereof shall make glad the city of God Psalm 46.4 O this Spirit streaming in and by thee presents Christ over and over to thy soul in all his lovelinesse and this must needs make glad the city a people of God Nothing is the Spirit oftner compared to then the waters when the poor and needy seeks waters I the Lord will heare and open rivers in the tops of the mountains this is a prophesie of the Spirits powring out to poore and thirsty who do apprehend themselves farre from the water of consolation I will powre out my Spirit saith God by the prophet Ioel and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie that is they shall be enabled to open the Scriptures mysteries But now why is it called a holy city The Scripture speaks of a two fold holinesse First a holinesse of things Secondly a holinesse of persons First a holinesse of things in foure or five respects First things are said to be holy by way of dedication or consecration so the bowls of the temple are said to be holy and all the vessels of the temple too Secondly things are said to holy by way of simulation or figure so was the Arke the brasen serpent Aarous rod and the Manna which did figure and similie out Christ Thirdly things may be said to be holy by way of calling so was the Priests office it was a holy calling be holy ye that beare the vessels of the Lord. Fourthly things may be said to be holy by way of rule or precept so the word of God the law of God is holy as Paul saith though I be sinfull yet the law is holy and just and good though I be carnall Fifthly things may be said to be holy by way of comparation so Ierusalem is called the holy city because the holy God was worshipped in it though it were in it selfe a sinfull city But secondly persons may be said to be holy likewise And first by way of creation so the fallen Angels were made holy and Adam too in his first creation God created man upright but he found out many inventions Secondly persons may be said to be holy by way of calling so the Priests Prophets Apostles and Patriarchs O saith Paul the holy men of God spake as they were inspired by the holy Ghost in them Thirdly men may be said to be holy by the inherent holinesse of God in them having the holy Spirit of God in them purifying of them and now they may be well said to be holy in these respects first comparing themselves with themselves formerly they walked in darknesse and lived in sin and nature but now in light by the Spirit who tels them they are none of their own but redeemed of Christ to whom they live as Paul saith if I live I live to Christ and if I die I die to Christ O happy change from sin and Satan to God and Christ Secondly men may be said to be holy comparing themselves with others whose lives lies and wallows in all pollution Paul speaks of some who were drunkards covetous filthy unclean sinners and such were some of you but now you are washed and cleansed Lastly and chiefly men may be said to be holy by way of imputation having the holines or righteousnes of God imputed to them he was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be the righteousnesse of God in him 2. Cor. 5.21 And in this sence the whole church of God is holy having the holinesse or righteousnesse of Christ imputed to her and in this sence she is said to be holy even as Christ is holy But thirdly why is this Ierusalem called new Ierusalem for three or four reasons First in respect of creation Secondly in respect of declaration Thirdly in respect of reparation First in respect of creation so you call a thing new that is newly made what is so a building is called new because it is newly set up in this respect Ierusalem is called new Ierusalem because God hath set it up for a building for himselfe or habitation for his owne glory where he will
their rule and speakest them fair thou pleasest them well to smooth them thus up by laughing and saying and doing as they I say thus far happily the world may not slight thee but esteeme thee though Christ be grieved by thee but still I say so farre as you make Christ your rule his word your law his work your pleasure and service your delight not at all caring who be pleased or displeased so Christ be honoured and obeyed this I say will make the world hate you and so it did Christ Well the world slights thee and shufes thee so far as they see Christ appearing in thee doe not thou be troubled Christ will one day take thee and embrace thee as a man doth his lover O thou shalt sit and sup with Christ Rev. 3.20 thou shalt sit at his table and stand by his side yea cut on his trencher and feed on his dainties which is the feast of fat things God speaks of in Esaiah Behold I will make in this mount a feast of fat things of marrow and of wines well refined Isa 25. v. 6. O this mount is Christ and the feast Gods discovery to a Saint in Christ this feast is sweet yea sweeter then honey or the honey-combe though it comes far short of that which God shall make for the Lamb and the Lambs wife Rev. 19.9 Which is called the Lambs supper of which it is said blessed are all they that are called to it yea blessed indeed that ever they were borne to come to this Supper O this God and Christ familiar presence with you will be a feast and supper to you here is Christ the tree of life and God the river of life eat and drink abundantly yea I mean now O precious christian by beleeving what is a comming O I would a poore Saint should feast his soul with expectation of what Christ hath promised and will then make good in that day when they shall sit in his throne and feed at his table and drink of his wine at this feast of Gods own making for his sons and daughters now married to Christ and brought to his presence to live in his sight and feast at his table It is said when the King sits at his table his Spiknard sends forth a fragrant smell as in Solomons songs This is spoken of Christ sitting in a Saints heart O but what a smell shall there be then when a Saint shall sit as I may so say in God and Christs heart at supper in their loves by feeding on divine delights O friends this is the sweet Manna that Christ promised to feed his Saints with Rev. 2.17 Christ tels his disciples he will drink no more of the fruit of the vine till he drink it new in his fathers kingdome with them the Vine was a tipe of Christs blood and Christs blood a type of Christs love and Christs love a merit and manifestation of the Fathers love when ye come to sit down in the glory of God and Christ full cups of this shall go round from Saint to Saint Fourthly this sitting down in Christs kingdom or throne and Gods glory it denotes familiarity we usually bid friends sit down to enterchange discourse with them O friends in that day God will tell thee over and over againe his transactions in respect of decree and purpose O when God shall tel thee how he rould thee in his thoughts and carried thee in his purpose and had thee in his eye intending thee for glory it is sweet to think how Gods delight was with the sons of men before the foundation of the world as himself speaketh Pro. 8. and then in that day shall Christ tell thee over his travels troubles and pains too for thee his Spouse It is said in a fablish story that Dido the queen wept when Aeneas prince of Troy cold her of his ten yeares wars I will not say thou shalt weep when thy deare Saviour shall tell thee these true things but I dare say thy soule shall even melt as it were to think what paines and labour what care and cost what griefe and sorrow thy soule did cost thy dear Saviour besides the slights and scornes and jeares which the vilest of men did cast upon him which he contentedly did beare for thee from day to day his whole life long And then at last still for thy sake his back his belly his hands his feet his head his side his heart his heart blood too and all for thee that thou mightest know how much he loved thee O friends I am perswaded that Christ will in that day tell you over and over such true stories that it shall even melt you hearts and soules to thinke how much he loved you how deare he bought you but then Christ shall ask his Saints what they suffered for him to which they will answer O sweet Jesus why dost thou ask us this question seeing thou knowest all our sufferings were but fleabites to thine thine O deare Saviour the most we suffered was but jears and scorns and such slight things nay my children ye were whipp'd and stripp'd and killed too for mee my sake O Christ doe not speake of that were it to do again ten thousand lives should not be deare for thee thy sake O dearest Christ to whom our soules are so engaged O Christ we now Wish we had done when time was and sufferd ten thousand times more then we did O Christ it even now grieves us to think we never did nor suffered any thing for thy sake to any purpose O Christ that we had now an opportunity to show our love as once we had for squibs and scorns for stripes and prisons we would not stand nor yet our lives nay souls and all to honour thee O sweet O dear O precious Christ and then Christ being taken as it were with these expressions of his Spouse shall stroke her saying O my love my dove my dear thou sufferedst enough to testifie thy love to me But now my love my dove the winter is over all stormes past singing rejoycing is now at hand come along come along my love from Lebon come let us to my fathers wine-seller who shall then say bring them in and set them down in my throne and glory they are my sons and daughters Friends what a privilidge will this be to sit by God and Christ in glory like children round about a fathers table Mary once sate at Christs feet pondering Christs sayings and it was a great privilidge for a sinner to sit so neer a Saviour but thy privilidge is farre greater who shalt sit by God and this Saviour who is far ascended above all principalities and power and is set down in glory on the right hand of God as the Apostle speaks This is a greater privilidge then Marys bearing Christ barely considered the disciples had a great priviledge to wait on Christ a greater to sup and dine with Christ but what are all to the sitting
ye shall time out of minde suck for thirst and thirst by sucking because of sweetnesse divine time and age outlasting sweetnesse Tenthly it may be called new Ierusalem in respect of her safety thy safety O Ierusalem was but men and walles and creatures strength but thine O new Ierusalem is God in thee and his salvation round about thee is the safety of thee Salvation will God appoint for walles and bulwarks Isaiah 46.5 In the midst of her the Lord doth dwell she shall no whit be moved Psal 48.8 As we haue heard so have we seen in the city of our God our God will establish it for ever and ever Isaiah 65 21. They shall build houses and inhabit them plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them Paul speaks of a city sure and stable which cannot be shaken or moved but for old Ierusalem it was shaken and ransact too and so shall all the cities in the world first or last but thou O new Ierusalem city of safety city of rest blessed city everlasting joy and safety is in thee Againe in respect of her inhabitants in thee O Ierusalem was clean and unclean circumcised and uncircumcised many were called Iewes which were not Iewes but were the very Synagogue of Satan Revel 3.9 But for thee O new Ierusalem no unclean thing shall come into thee God and Christ will keep out of thee every uncircumcised sinner I say Christ will see who comes into thee O new Jerusalem Friend where is thy wedding garment bind him hand and foot cast him out I will not have any unclean thing here saith Christ in any wise Revel 21.27 He is unclean that was never washed in the fountaine of Iudah and Jerusalem which stands open for sinners therefore saith Isaiah henceforth shall come no more into thee the uncircumcised and unclean Again in respect of her temple in thee O Ierusalem was Solomons temple but it was but a typicall temple but in thee O new Jerusalem is the true temple indeed Rev. 21.2 I saw no temple there saith John for the Lord God and the Lambe was the temple of it Ah! blessed temple God and Christ who would not worship here One thing saith David have I desired of the Lord that I might dwell in his house all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord. O David here is thy wish and more for thou shalt not onely dwell in his house but dwell in himsef for God will now dwell with his Ierusalem and be her temple O thou needest no other temple now to offer thy sacrifices for here shall all thy sacrifices of thanksgiving be continually offered unto the Lord and unto the Lambe for he is thy temple now where thou and all thy fellow Saints must offer their sacrifices and sing their thankfulnesse for evermore But I shall now hint at the last of these words I saw her comming down from God out of heaven prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband First I conceive she may be said to come from God as being borne of God Christ speaks of some in the first of Iohn which were not borne of man nor the will of man but of God a thing is said to be borne of that of which it had its first being O Ierusalem in this sence thou mayst be said truly to be borne of God and to come downe from God for where hadst thou thy first being surely in God yea there thou hadst a being long before all beings there wast thou begotten indeed begotten in his purpose and in his love yea borne from everlasting and therefore art thou Melchisedek-like without Father or Mother and hadst thy being only in the purpose of God O how admirable it is to thinke how long as I may so say God did travaile with his Ierusalem a woman travailing but a few months is in paine and longs for deliverance But O God thou didst with thy Ierusalem not for a few months or yeares but a time longer yea farre more longer then a thousand yeares to a single moment from everlasting was thy travaile But O God was there not a longing in thee or was it else a pleasure to thee it was both it was both O my deare Ierusalem For first It was a pleasure to mee in all the time I bare thee my pleasure was I had thee my pleasure was I bare thee yea a satisfying pleasure or if thou wilt delight for I tooke solace in compassing the earth and my delight was in the sonnes of men O God seeing thou hadest many Angels why couldst thou not be satisfied I wanted sonnes and daughters that they might be my heires we are now the sons of God and if sons then heires yea joynt heirs as the Apostle speaks But ah Lord thou hadest a sonne and heire before but I had not sonnes and daughters to make me a Ierusalem where I might shew my glory O Lord hadst thou not ten thousand times ten thousand Angels Cherubims and Seraphims Yea but all they were not halfe enough for me to shew my glory too therefore I appointed as many more Ephes the 1.14 That they should be to the praise and glory of my grace And so likewise in the 5. vers He hath predestinated us saith Paul through Iesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will that we might be to the praise and glory of his grace as well as Angels But were not all man kinde appointed to set forth his glory Yea they were so But shall they see his glory No no But why not Because God will have mercy on whom he will Rom. the 8. But doe not question no further about this but returne backe to the question which was Whether there was not a longing in him to see his sonnes and daughters with whom he travailed though that too were a pleasure Alas he could not but long to see them whom he had so long borne in his purpose and nature it selfe will answer this Doth not the Mother long to see the Childe shee bare Surely yes the Parent longs to see his Childe so doth God his People too Yea how can he but long to see them seeing they are his own from everlasting begotten in his purpose and brought forth by his providence into this world where he a while nurseth them amongst the vulgar people of this world though they be Princes in respect of his eternall thoughts towards them yet I say they are nurst as it were and hardly kept for a few yeares til he send for them home by death and angels who indeed did alwayes tend those Princes from the womb for they have a charge with his sonnes and daughters to keep them in all their wayes whilst they live tend their soules whilst they die and surely no Ladies are readier to receive a Princesse into this world to present it to the King its Father then Angels are the soules of his Children when they dye the Angels mind the very bodies of these Children
thy comfort when I have learnd them this lesson I do give them back their estates again with interest twenty in the hundred and so I do their parts with the same advantage but O Christ wilt thou do so by mee if I give thee my whole estate gifts and parts Friend I alwayes do so trust me try mee prove mee O Christ I will I will well friend let me tell thee as I am Christ thou shalt never lose by it but shalt have the light of life and glory to the bargain O but what doe ye meane by Christs slow knocks I mean all the good purposes he puts in your soules as to read a chapter go to prayers in the sence of his goodnesse to hear a sermon to lead a new life to serve God better and therefore friends as you vallue Christs company or your own souls looke to these knocks of good purposes by Christs knocking in your hearts Many soules are damnd in the yeare for neglecting these purposes O saith one I was going for to open but I think I was bewitched by my old companions and I too saith another but there came some to buy commodities and kept mee in my shop and I too saith another but my friends began to jear and said I would not now turn fool would I to open unto Christ all the world would but laugh at me to minde him so soon before the worlds profits pleasures which every one almost feekes first of all and then Christ when they die which was one Mr. Carefulls speech to his son Worldling many yeare agoe which I thinke all his sons did very much mind and ever since have practised but Zacheus a convert by Christs knocking at his heart and inviting of himself to dinner But thirdly what do you mean by Christs slow knocks evening meditations telling thee of death and eternity the vanity of the world the emptinesse of the creature the necessity of himself O saith Christ the world is vain by knocking at the soule Solomon hath found it so and all the sons of wisedome too One said it would not satisfie the soule of any man no more then mitigate the paines of the body another said it was changeable like the Moon and weather sometimes in Eclins sometimes clear again not a moneth constant all the yeare about but altering mens conditions who live below the Sun sometimes into sear sometimes into care seldome out of trouble all the yeare about which are so strong in many that they can scarcely sleep either day or night and still after the world which changes like the Moone O happy were it for these soules if Christ would knock or tell them they are dead and buried in cares of the world and so raise them up to live in himself and minde the other death and eternity beyond O death and eternity who mindes yee and yet thou kilst and hourds up all yea all high low rich poore young and old in thy two garners of hell and heaven but the Saints onely there which Christ fetcheth in by his serious knocks Fourthly I mean by Christs slow knocks his night knocks of affliction such as straits wants sicknesse reproach and disgrace O friends Christ knocks at the door of your hearts by all these blessed and for ever blessed is such a soule that heares Christ by these kinde of knocks But what doe you meane by Christs sweet knocks I meane by Christs sweet knocks his telling thee of thy Fathers love the strength and length of this love with thy interest in it O saith Christ my Father so loves thee that he thinks nothing too dear for thee God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son yea and more he could not give for in him he gives himself and all we have and all we need and therefore saith the Apostle Seeing he hath given us his Sonne how shall be not with him give us all things life pardon heaven happinesse and salvation and therefore Christ is called The Guift of God John 7. Hadst thou known the Guift of God saith Christ to the woman of Samaria and indeed to this Guift all is nothing If a Prince should give his favour what was that to Christ If he should give thee houses mannours lordships what was that to Christ If he should give thee crownes and kingdomes what was that to Christ honours mannours lordships crownes and kingdomes are but nothing unto Christ the Gift of God to a poore sinner well might Paul say O the height depth and breadth of this love which he acquaints the soule with by his sweet knocks and of his interest in it too O saith Christ to the sinner It is firmely set upon thee and cannot be removed mountaines may be moved but my Fathers love cannot though the mountaines should be removed yet my loving kindnesse will I not remove Men cannot Devils cannot move it sinne cannot move it If my Children forsake my Law yet my loving kindnesse will I not take away saith God by David Mark my loving kindnesse will I not take away I will onely visit them with a rod O saith Christ once beloved and ever men may love and hate but God cannot he is unchangeable Mal. 3. and so is his love too his love is grounded in his Son and spread in all relations to shew the greatnesse of it the Friend loves as a freind the Bridegroome as the Husband the Father as the Parent but Gods love is all at once yea all and more then all ten thousand times over and over againe to that And therefore saith the Apostle Behold what manner of love is this how great how sweet how deare how neare is this Father Friend and Husbands love As a Bridegroom rejoyces over his Bride so will I rejoyce over my People to doe them good saith the Lord by his Prophet Isaiah Well Friend Christ acquaints the soul of this love by his sweet knocks which even melts it like the Suggar in the Wine But secondly I meane by Christs sweet knocks his acquainting thee of the Fathers glory thy interest in this glory Gods glory make the heavens heaven and fils the heavens too and makes them heavens indeed to Saints and Angels and all that doe dwell there Paul had once a glimps of this glory and it was unutterable Moses with the very conceit of it forsook Pharohs court and chose rather to be afflicted with the People of God then to live in his court and glory and be the Sonne in law to that great King of Egypt Paul having once a glimple of it desires to dye and be dissolved that he might enjoy it David cries out saying It is wonderfull yea it fils Heaven and Earth saith he in his Psalms And so it shall thy soul too saith Christ by his sweet knocks at the heart O saith Christ I will fill thee with this glory and wrap thee in this glory and cloth thee head and foot and thou shalt be like Solomon yea like
it is stronger then all sinne death men or devils and as long as strong it was from eternitie to eternitie from eternitie intentionally to all eternitie reallie but it is more sweet saith the Spirit then strong or long O the sweetnesse of all unions is but glimpse of this union What is the Father to the Son the husband to the wife but a shadow of Christ to the Soul yea all relations with all the sweetnesse of them and all the sweetnesse in them is but as a drop to this ocean of sweetnesse Christs union with the Saints Fourthly the usefullnesse of Christ to the Soul without me saith Christ ye can do nothing to his Disciples Christ is all in the Soul and all to the Soul A Christian can neither do nor suffer any thing but by Christ by him he can want and abound ye doe all things as Paul speaks through Christ that strengthens him Any work is hard for a Christian in his own strength a difficult work is nothing when the strength of Christ comes in O in his strength will a little David grapple with Goliah and foil him too But as he is strength to the Saints so is he all indeed to them yea all they stand in need of him to be he is a righteousnesse to cover them and an interceder to the Father for them yea what shal I say more he is an everliving faithful high Priest yea our King and Captain our ark where we may safely ride when a world lies round destroyed O Christ O Christ what shall I say of thee our ark our pillar our cloude by day our pillar by night our rock and shadow in a weary land our life our all in all and at all times Fiftly it showes us our advantage by Christ we are justified by his blood wee are sanctified by his spirit and saved by his merit O the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin which the blood of buls and goats could never doe as the Apostle speakes Does Satan lay sin to your charge tell him thou art justified by Christ doth he lay great sins to thee tell him Christ justifieth from all sins of all kinds great and small yea tell him thou art no sinner at all neither doth the father look upon thee as one in his Sons righteousnesse Truely when a poor soule is carried by his power thus to argue with Satan we winde him as a man doth a childe but else he binds and locks us up in bondage fears and darknesse that our very soules are restlesse day and night being filled with doubts and his accusements he is therefore called the accuser of the brethren he accuseth God to man and man to God envying both Sixtly our glory with Christ And first the certainty of it Secondly the greatnesse O saith the Spirit thy glory is sure it s laid and kept too for thy comming but as it is sure and safe laid up by Christ so it is full and large and therefore called by Paul a weight of glory Here we many times admire the light painted shadowes of glory and forget the true substance God hath laid up for us in his Son and heavens Eye hath not seen nor eare heard neither ever entred into the heart of man to conceive saith Paul what God hath laid up for us Eye hath not seen sure the eye hath seen Solomons glory yea all the gloryes of this world too O saith Paul that is nothing these things are nothing but painted shadowes and butterflies after which the fooles of this world runs like little children and for the eare too what hath that heard surely of all that hath been true and as much more too by reports of fained gods and glories in the Poets lying stories but were all these things true yet God hath laid up more glorie for the poorest Saints that walks in rags then all that they have wrought thou heard or thought no thou canst not think saith Paul nor no man living what God hath laid up for them that fear him Surely men might fancie more then hath been seen or heard Well saith Paul fancy all that this world hath seen or heard yea fancie another world too with as many joyes and pleasures of this world as griefs and sorrows yet all short and nothing O Christian little doest thou think and lesse the world what God hath laid up in store for thee and all his servants Fifthly a river is advantagious and usefull so is the Spirit it helps our infirmities wee know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit helpeth us with groanes which cannot be uttered O the Spirits groanings in us are powerfull prayers before God for us the promises are made to the Spirit praying in us and indeed those requests we are denyed of God are not from the Spirit but from flesh and blood and therefore it is that they are lost for the most part but the Spirit who knowes the minde of God never drawes forth a Christian to aske any thing but what is according to the minde of God and this he cannot but grant But thou complainest thou art an ignorant soule true the naturall man knows nothing but the spirituall new man in the naturall man knows all things yea the deep things of God as the Apostle speaks a naturall man is said to be a dead man every where in Scripture and the dead saith Solomon knowes nothing hee knowes not he lyes in the grave of sinne and corruption mouldering as it were into dust call him to come forth from wormes and putrifaction yet he stirres not at all even so the naturall man tell him his condition he believes it not call him to come forth of the grave of nature sinne and death he stirres not nor indeed cannot he is bound up so by the power of the Devil sinne and darknesse Sixthly a river runnes silently and makes little or no noise at all have you never found the Spirit running in a Sermon at a praier in a conference but especially in a meditation with little noise it sweetly turning thy very blood in thy veins making thy heart as it were to wamble I know you have many times Truly when this river runnes trickling up and down the Soul making little noise in the Soul yea dipping and diving of her in Divine delights which many talking Christians are ignorant of Seventhly a river is deep so is the Spirit in its discoveries He discovers the deep things of God and Christ and the Gospel which others cannot reach nor fathom by wit nor Learning no it is out of their element I have heard as wise able men at least so counted and are so sure in civill things in lattine Law or Fathers speaking of this river and the nature of it but as much out of the way as any blind man ever was without his guide The maskd man turns and winds but still beside the way the Sinner does the like following carnall reason to find out Christ and
fatherly way unto us O great and wonderfull O mysterie of mysteries who would have thought of such a way as this to have found a blessed God again O Adam lost couldst thou have thought of this way O angels all ye angels could ye have thought of this way no no I dare say no nor all the world besides you it is said by Paul when Angels heard of this mysterie Gods coming down into flesh to find and bring back man lost man again it was such a mysterie to the Angels that they desired to peep into it Oh how farre was Ioseph carried from good old Iacob but yet at last he saw his face again So farre and further yea ten thousand times furthermore were ye sold by Eve and carried by Satan but God like Jacob comes down though not for want yet for his love to bring ye back to your own place it is said when the Israelites were delivered out of Balon they were as men in a dream they had been so long in Captivity and were so suddenly delivered unepxected Psalme 137. But lost man thou lesse expectedst if lesse could be thy great deliverance that God by Christ should bring back thee from Pharaoh in Egypt a strange land to Christ in Canaan where plenty and all fullnesse dwels and now will God again become your God and dwell with you now it may be truly said the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be there God with them Rev. 21.3 Mark this God himself will be with them this being with them denotes Gods familiarity to them where strangenesse is there can be no familiarity but strangenesse now shall be no more for God will dwell with them and they with him O they must needs see his face who dwell in his presence In thy presence O God is fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore so saith David in Psal 36.8 Here is a fullnesse indeed First a feeding fullnesse Secondly a filling fullnesse Thirdly an overflowing fullness First a feeding fullnesse O Christian it shall feed thy very soul to see the face of God and Christ Secondly a filling fullness it shall fill thy heart yea every corner of thy heart and soul too it shall so fill thee that thou shalt be as David said in his Psalm filled with marrow and fatnesse Thirdly an overflowing fullness for thou shalt be so filled with the sight of thy God that thou shalt overflow with delight Here the discoveries of God have an emptiness in the soul that there is still an emptiness in thee but in that day thou shalt be as a vessell brim-full and not so but overflow with the fullness of Gods discoveries to thy soul he shall so immediately discover himself to thee Here Gods discoveries are in a secondary way but then thou shalt have them immediately from himself and not by any hand conveyed but by himself his presence with thee shall be a flowing fatness yea an overflowing fullness in thee and in that day thou shalt know the relations thy soul stands in to God thou shalt know him to be a father indeed he shall so fatherly discover himself to thee Here God carries himself sometimes to his children as Joseph did to his brethren rough and strange but then God shall say to his children O my deare children how do I love you yea I love you more and more I loved you before and now I cannot hide my bowels from you yea I cannot but show my love to you come my deare children for whom I prepared Glory before the world was as Christ speaks John come sit down by me I will tell you over my love I loved you before I had you but now I have you I cannot but embrace you ye were my delight long before the world was I rowled you in my thoughts I had you in my eye and carried you in my purpose and bought you by my Christ O my deare children let me wipe away all teares from your eyes Rev. 21.4 You were wont to mourn but now rejoice and sing and let no man take your joy from you as Christ speaks Iohn 16.20 you wont to grieve but grief shall be no more nor pain nor sorrow nor any such thing shall ever be again I have you now and I will no more nurse you abroad but ye shall live in my presence and because I live ye shall live also as Christ speaks in Iohn 16. O deare children how did I long for this day that I might have you in my presence and dandle you on my knee speak with you and to you the world was wont to snib you Ioh. 20.33 therefore I plagued it the world abused you and mifused you but I said I would reckon with her for that the world knew you not therfore hated you but I knew you and therefore loved you yea loved you more and more I cannot but love ye are my sonnes and daughters my Iewels my preasure my treasure my purchase my lot my inheritance and now what will you that I do for you show us thy face and it sufficeth us John 14.8 O my sons and daughters I will show you my face and glorie my heart and all the secrets of my soul if that will satisfie you O God it is our desire to see thy face thy pleasant face thy glorie thy transcendent glorie but thy heart O God what is that my love my intire love my surpassingand indearing love and for my thoughts I mean my purpose my purpose towards you which was of old as David speaks of old before time yea before time was at all for before the world was no time and then were you in my thoughts and purpose I had a purpose of you and on you of you to make you my sonnes and daughters and a habitation for my glorie that ye in ages to come might know I loved you above all and chose you out of all the Nations of the world that I might show the exceeding riches of my grace to you and for my purpose on you it was to raise my glory by you in shewing it unto you for if you had not seen my face how could you know my glorie but this I will that ye may know how much I loved you carrying you in my thoughts time time all along yea and long before time too Christ and I was contracting your salvation little did you once know my transactions concerning your souls but God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself John 5.19 But now ye see my face and my transactions too all which you do admire and more and more you shall to think how once I made you and after that I lost you yet back again I bought you and now to my self have brought you all this you must admire When Ionas was in the deep and his head wrapped with reeds and rushes little did he think to have ever
for relations sake O friends there is such a neere relation between Christ and a Christian he is the head and you the members he is the Bridegroome and you the Bride he is the vine and you the branches Christ cannot but bid you wellcome nor the father neither for you are all his children how wellcome is a friend a childe a husband after seven yeares voyage when returned what love what embraces doth then passe between them powring heart into heart as it were How sweetly did Josephs and his brethrens bowels yerne one towards another O friends Christ will one day embrace you in his armes with his rowling bowels like a husband his beloved wife after seven yeares absence and you him with teares and kisses of joy and love How glad was Dide queene of Carthage when she had Aeneas prince of Troy to look on and embrace Well friends time will come when thou shalt have thy Christ to embrace and look on who hath endured more broiles ten thousand times then all Aeneas feigned ones Here Christ to look on is admirable and lovely too in broiles O saith the Spouse Who is this that coms from Bozrah with his garments dipped in blood Isaiah 63.1.2 travelling in the greatnes of his strength Christ the prince and Captain of our salvation comes from the fields of slaughter like some noble champion and hath his bloody armes which doth declare him conquerour so Christ here travels from Bozra a field of slaughter this I take to be the crosse of Christ on which he might be well said and did conquer all the Churches enemies yea naild them to the crosse as Paul speaketh by triumphing over them openly upon the crosse Well in this field Christ slayes the law sinne and death making this saying good O death I will be thy death 1 Cor. 15.55 And now comes in warlick vestures which are dipped in this blood declaring him to be the mighty conquerour Well the Spouse sits and sees him at her window comming from the field which is the Spirit in the soule through which she lookes upon these mighty champions Christ Sinne Death and Devils Well Christ foyls and spoyles all by trampling on all which being done he leaves them dead and comes away to refresh himselfe in glory the Spouse spies him in the way and cries out who is this not that shee did not know Christ well enough but she is taken with Christ in the beholding of Christ thus bravely wins the field which Christ never quited til all foild spoild the day his own Well Is the Soule now so taken with the gallentry of Christ that she cryes out for joy and wonder O then how wilt thou be taken when thou shalt see this Christ againe which heare is promised yea stroak the face of this Champion Christ the Prince of our salvation how will she be taken with him then saying O my deare Christ it was my enemies thou ingaged in Bozra and if thou hadst not conquered my soule and thousands more had been undone for ever but seeing thou didst win the day we will name and stile thee most high and excellent and mighty Conquerour King of Saints Prince and Captaine of our salvation which thou for ever shalt be called by Saints and Angels men and Devils poore drooping sinner what dost thou think of this day and this Christ who is thy Champion thy Captaine and Salvation I say what dost thou thinke O malencholy Christian of this day when thou shalt see the face of this Prince and Saviour wilt thou not make one to sing his prayses to sing his victories over sinne death hell men and devils which Angels now are doing and so shalt thou and this shall be thy reward too a full reward indeed for all thou ever didst or suffredst In the mean time bear up bear up thy head O drooping Christian Christ hath conquered sinne death men and devils and yet it may be thou fearest all O foolish sinner weake in faith men are bound sinne and satan wounded yea death and sinne slaine too and all by Christ in Bozra what meanst thou to be troubled O but Sir Sir me thinks I see sinne alive and Satan loose yea both in me I will not deny but thou mayst think so but all is not true that men doe thinke but grant both these be in thee yet if sinne be wounded and Satan bound one cannot long live nor the other doe much mischeife if sinne be wounded it is to the heart be sure of that And when Christ was wounded there by sinne he straight died well I am sure Christ hath wounded sinne there too and it cannot live long O Sir Sir it is livelier then ever it struggles more then ever O friend that is to me as cleare as the day that sinne is just a dying every thing in nature will doe the like what dost thou see dying willing but a Saint and he I must confesse on this consideration that he shall live with God and Christ and behold the face of God and Christ as in the first words I say on this consideration happily he may with a great deale of willingnesse die But who besides the Saint will will man or beast or fish or foule or any other creature No no the fish yawns and gapes the fowle flutters the beast beats it selfe and yels though bound and musled man mournes and cries alas alas why must I die and leave my hopes my wife my childe my lands and livings nay friends and all fetch the Doctor quickly fetch the Doctor save me if it be possible I faine would live a little longer and thus he mournes to think on death and when it comes and drawes neere to him then he growns and gasps and grinnes and stares still striving with it while breath doth last Well friend the fish yawns and gapes the fowle flutters the beast yels man mournes and cries alas what shall sinne doe nothing it were contrary unto nature if it should die without its throwes in thy soule But stay you said Satan was bound I I did so and so he is in two respects Christ hath bound him up from hurting thee Christ hath bound him up from forcing thee First From hurting thee you know if the most notorious theeving rogue in the world lyes bound in a lone womans house hand and foot there was no ground nor cause of feare he is bound hand and foot what can he now doe but curse and swear well she being a weak woman is troubled and frighted notwithstanding but when her husband comes home her feares ceaseth and are gone Well friends know this Christ hath bound Satan for a thousand yeares yea for ever from mischeiving his Saints and Servants and if he be in thee he is bound O no me thinks he is loose he doth so tempt me and accuse me I doe not know what to doe it may be so he doth tempt and accuse thee I did not say Christ had bound Satans tongue no
for her husband but what is their grief or loss to thine unhappie sinner thou hast lost a father indeed or at least one that would have beene a Father to thee when time was in Iesus Christ yea a sweet and loving Father for them that have found him have found him so to be yea a Father as farr excelling all relations and Fathers too for sweetness as the universall sweetness does the single Pink. Men may talk of losses by wife and children husbands friends and Parents but all is nothing unto thine O unhappie sinner they have lost pebbles but thou hast lost a Iewell yea a God as farre excelling Iewels Crowns and Kingdomes as they for lustre beautie worth and sweetness love and lovelinesse excell straw and stubble chaffe and vanity Yea and lost it too for nothing which must needs cut the soul and split thy Spirit too when it thinks on it O saith a poore Soul I have lost the heaven of heavens for dust and ashes a few dying creatures saith the worlding and I too saith the wanton for my Dalilah this or that sinne which at the last betrayed me Iudas-like in-into mine enemies hands death hell and Devils where I must lie yea weep and wail and see no God no hope no help nor pity for millions of yeares as that young man the Apothecarie once said to his servant in his despair and horrour And if then too there were but any hopes to see God at last it would be some comfort but this everlasting departure and never seeing more is a hell to hell and a hell in hell to think upon which every carelesse sinner will one day find though he now makes a ship of God and thinks there is no danger of finding him or at least finding him when he needs he is so mercifull that if he crie but Lord Lord in a dying houre God is so near and mercifull that he will be straight found I will not lessen his mercie and say absolutely thou shalt not but friend let me tell thee thousands and ten thousands have found it otherwise witnesse Francis Spira and those despairing Sinners which thou seest daily dying so which would give a thousand worlds might they live a little longer O saith one in his burning feaver would I could live to see God a reconciled God in the face of Iesus Christ I would be contented to lie a thousand yeares in this Feaver and I too saith another in this Gout and I too saith a third with his bowells twisted in his belly which pains are all intollerable yet all would fain live in them to find a God before they die O foolish man O foolish sinner what shall I like thee unto but unto that simple man that built his house upon the sands of peradventure I hope and thinke to finde God when I die for all these Puritans be so stritkt though I take my pleasure and live in my sinnes and doe as my neighbours Mr. Custome and the rest well friend I will take thee at thy word peradventure thou mayst But wilt thou venture thy soule thy deare and pretious soul upon a peradventure O foolish sinner hast thou ever another soule to save if this miscarry dost not thou lose all and for a peradventure which may take and yet it is a thousand to one if it doth But with this parable before mētioned I shal conclude now for thy souls sake hearken to me whoever thou art that readest these lines this little book mind me for it is a truth and shall be so when thou and I am rotten that Christ is the rock yea the rock of ages and whoever builds on him shall stand yea stand and stand firme when the windes blow and whistle and raines fall like hailstones driven by the winde and the stormes beat yet thou shalt stand and stand firme in all these stormes and troubles and afflictions and temptations yea in death and judgement too shalt thou stand where millions yea and millious too shall fall whilst thou stands firme on thy rock Christ thy sure foundation and see the face of God too for thy comfort after all these stormes like the Sunne after an April shower or a haven after many weary leagues by day and night like Paul upon the Seas of Creet Acts 28.38 But how thou must build upon this rock know and let all the world know it is by the mighty power of faith wrought in the heart by the eternall Spirit of the mighty God and not by the workes which we doe or can doe by all created power Here followeth a briefe Exhortation which I gave in my owne house at my wifes Funerall to our friends then present FRiends and Neighbours I am beholding to you all for your love and loving presence at this time I have one request to you yea all of you which I hope no one will be offended at It is to joyn with me to speake a word to God after a word to you and to my owne heart which if I know It is not through pride nor any self-seeking end and could this Corps have beene conveniently longer kept I would have had Mr. Sedgwick whom she loved heard and profited by to have preached her Funerall Sermon But seeing it is as it is and my self am more concernd in this then all the world I take leave from you without any more request to you hoping you will take my meaning to be good where my expressions are short and broken for I had neither time nor a quiet mind but a few houres meditation last night when want of sleep had much besotted me But what improvement shall we now make by this my wife your sister friend and harmlesse neighbour Anne Blakes death And to improve it First see what is your end a grave a coffin wil house you all O call in then your thoughts your wide and wandring thoughts and mind your change with seriousness before it comes which will not be long you may be confident Secondly see what you yea all of you must part with at first or last your friends your nearest dearest sweetest friends your sons and daughters your wives and husbands O this grave and death will have them all which once I little minded but now I must and cannot but mind this death this cruell death which hath so haunted me and will doe you ere it be long but I hope he will not be so quick with none of you a sonne a daughter a loving wife in six weeks space O nimble quick cruell death how hast thou stolen my nearest sweet and dearest comforts Odeath where hadst thou this full and large Commission Was it given thee by chance O no I know it was not thou canst not take by that Commission a bird a sparrow much less a daughter sonne and wife O death this Commission it was from the Lord for he gives and takes Iob the first The Lord gives and the Lord takes and blessed be his name O