these are Varieties only in thee It is thy self thy Person besetteth compasseth comprehendeth me and my way in them all O Believers when you see Jesus Christ in the least glance of His Person with the same Eye of Light and Love as David saw him with do not you also meet with wonders of Delight and Glory which are too great for your Hearts Affections or Understandings to take in Do not the lowest and least things seen in him appear to you as Divine Wonders with such a height of Light in them as no created Eye can reach But David caught up into the view and Embraces of Jesus in his Heavenly Form proceedeth in his Rapture Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence Face or Person v. 7. The Spirit and the Presence or Person of Christ are here both one to teach us that this Person and Presence of our Saviour in which he is the same yesterday to day and for ever in His Appearances to the Saints under the Law under Grace in Glory is entirely Spiritual a pure Spirit If I ascend up into Heaven thou art there if I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there v. 8. Hell in Hebrew and Greek signifies no more 〈◊〉 the Grave or the State of the Dead It is added in Hebrew Behold Thou These words art there are put in by the Translatours as you may see by the Change of the Letter If I take the wings of the Morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Sea v. 9. even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me v. 10. If I say the Darkness shall cover me even the Night shall be light round about me v. 11. Yea the Darkness hideth not from thee but the Night shineth as the Day the Darkness and Light are both alike to thee v. 12. These last words too are added to thee Go thy wayes O Believer O beloved Spouse of this Heavenly Lover say to him with the same tongue in the same language of Light and Love as David doth Wherever I fly or fall I am ever encompassed with ever wrapt up in thy Spiritual and Glorious Person as my Heaven as the Air of my Life O my Beloved If I fly it is in the face of these Brightnesses If I fall I lie in the Bosom of these Beauties When I ascend up into Heaven behold thou art there Heaven is as a great Room of State and Pleasure in the Divine Building of thy Person The Light of this is all the Glory the Love and Loveliness of this are all the Treasures and feasts of Joy there The several Appearances of those Distinct Varieties in thy Person shooting forth themselves like Beams with a Divine Lustre Warmth and Life make all the Angels in Heaven The Assembly of Glorified Saints is the Fruitfulness and Fulness of thy Person first thy Birth and then thy Bride like Eve to Adam in Paradise the Heavenly Eve to the Last Adam in the Heavenly Paradise thy self multiplying it self that it may have a meet Help for it self to be the Object of all its Loves the Subject of all its Joys the Mother of all Living What have I in Heaven besides thee Ps. 73. 25. Thy Person filleth all those shining and smiling Forms of things in Heaven They are all the Beauties in thy Face the smiles in thine Eye If I die behold thee Death itself is first an extasie of Love in which thou overshadowest me in a moment snatching me out of the Light of this world into the sweet and everlasting Light of a far greater and more Blessed world thy Person Then is it an extasie of Joy to find the same Jesus cloathed with the same white and shining Rayment in the Grave as I beheld him in Heaven The Grave becomes a Bed and that Bed thy Bosom Luke 16. 22. The Begger died and was carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosom the rich man also dieth and is buried That which the Grave is to the rich man that to the Begger to the poorest Saint is the Bosom of Jesus figured by Abraham in whom he lay hid as the Seed of Eternity Ere I was aware my Soul made me as the Chariots of Aminadab Cant. 7. Aminadab is my Princely People a Chariot of Angels of Glorious Spirits This is the manner of the Death of Christs Spouse Ere she is aware her Soul setteth her upon or rather itself becometh to her a Chariot of Angels where she sitteth upon a Golden Throne of Love encompassed with Curtains of Light and so is transported in the twinkling of an Eye into the Arms of her Beloved her whole way itself lying in the same embraces which are the end of her way and those Angels being the varieties and the movings of those Fulnesses of beauties in the Bridegrooms Person which is the same Spring and Rest of love in them all Go on then believing Soul with David and say to thy Saviour but the time may come when I shall neither rest on thy bosom as a Throne of Grace in Heaven nor as a Bed in the Grave in the Fellowship of thy Death I may be hurried to the uttermost parts of the Sea to that State where storms of malice and wrath rage most in the midst of the blackness of Darkness But when it is so even then thou risest upon me and sweetly breakest like a lovely morning in the Beauties of thy Person round about me Thou takest me upon thy Divine Beams as upon Silver Wings with Feathers of Gold in which the Glories of the Divine and Humane Nature are united As thou in thy course circlest thorow all the infiniteness of differing Beauties within thy self thou carriest me upon these Wings of thine to the extremities of this Sea of Darkness and Tempests Even here also as in Heaven itself thy hand which is thy self thy Spiritual Person thy Divine Life in Act the Activity and Appearance of thine inseparable Glories lead me as my Strength within my guide and way before me my light round about me Yea even here thy right Hand which is thy Person in the sweetest fullest Act and appearance of Love Beauty Majesty and Power holdeth me at once bearing me up in itself encompassing with itself Thus the Sea and Tempests are still thy Person in the same Lovely and Eternal Form opening new Wonders of Beauty and discovering greater Riches of vaster varieties within the bright Bound of its own Spiritual Fulness Yea if I sink so low that I begin to faint and say now the Darkness will cover and overwhelm me now the night will seal up my Eyes from the sight of my Beloved and hide him from me then the Night it self becomes a bright Sun round about me in the Heaven of thy Person where every spot of Darkness as well as Beam of Light is a shining Point or line of Beauty and all so many several Suns set thick one by another Can.
and then feeding their Spirit from thine who gave thee all these The secret of the Almighty was with thee 2. Principle The Removal of the Divine Presence is the Root of all Bitterness in this Life When God withdraws he draws in all his Blessings as the Sun often goes in and gives up the Sky and Day to dark Clouds What wilt thou do when like wretched Saul The Philistines are upon thee and God hath forsaken thee When Perplexity shall take hold of thy Spirit when there shall be no Counsel or Comfort left because God hath forsaken thee What then can all thy Pleasures or Honours do Will they not be as miserable Comforters as the Witch of Endor to Saul presenting thee with Devils under God-like forms ill-boding foretelling thy death and Ruine When our dear Saviour was on the Cross he did not cry out O my Disciples why do ye fly from me or deny me O ye Iews my Brethren why do ye wound so bloodily my Feet Hands and Head No but he cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me This broke his heart David complains in Psal. 30. 7. Thou hast made my Mountain strong but thou didst turn away thy face and I was troubled Place a man in a Wilderness of Horrours in a Sea of Flames let the Secret of God be with him and he will fear he will feel no Evil. Plant a man on a Mountain where he may not only with Christ see but possess all the Delights and Glories of this World let God be gone and you may call them all Ichabod where 's the Glory Where 's the Delight The whole Mountain will moulder into Melancholy and crumble away into Griefs O! Fear to estrange this God from you by a neglect of him on whose Presence all your present Joyes depend Fear to put out his Light in your Souls by your Lusts fear to chase away by your hardnesses and Rebellions that God who when he removes his Glory from off any Person or Place gives up all to ruine and leaves a Hell behind him This is the first Persuasive 2. Persuasive Fear the lâ—ss of Divine Enjoyments after Death Is there any thing any where more moving more full of sweetness than the language of the Apostle 1 Thes. 4. 18. Then we shall be for ever with the Lord. Comfort ye one another with these words I will present your Spirits with the force of this place in three short Propositions 1. Proposition Thâ—re is a Lord over all a supream Principle or Power which makes maintains manages all the Creatures a Spirit of Strength and Wisdom which governs the affairs of the whole World Thus St. Paul speaks 1. Cor. 8. 6. To us there is one God the Father of whom are All one Lord Jesus by whom are All. 2. Proposition This Lord is the best of all things As he is over so he is above all 1 Cor. 2. 8. St. Paul calls him the Lord of Glory The Heathens teach us that the God of the Sun is the God of Musick because he tempers with his Beams and tunes all the visible world This Lord our Lord is the God of Light Beauty Musick the God of all Sweetnesses Glories Blessednesses For he tunes both the visible and invisible World to a happy Harmouy 3. Proposition All good Spirits are the Friends all evil Spirits the Enemies of this Lord. Each pure lightsome peaceful Spirit comes from this Jesus and goes to him again when it goes off the Stage of this Earth as a Beam darted from his Glory and drawn up to him again Each dark unclean disorderly Spirit is cut off and cast out from him One is every where in Scripture stiled His Child His Brother The other is thus spoken to by him Depart from me ye cursed Now what joy is it when a man in all the troubles of Life can comfort himself with these words and say This Life will quickly end then shall I be ever with the Lord my Lord the Lord of Blâ—ssedness Who can express the Peace and Pleasure of that Soul within which lies upon its Death-bed and in the last moment of its abode in the World comforts itself with these words Now I must be uncloath'd of all Being or Appearance among men on Earth for ever But it is that I may be for ever in the naked Embraces of the Eternal Spirit of Life and Beauty I go from hence for ever but I go to be for ever with the Lord. I had faintâ—d saith David if I had not hoped to see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living Who can tell those fainting fits in the midst of highest Pleasures those bitter Soul-turning Qâ—aulmes in fullest Glories which those men have that have no hope to see the Goodness of the Lord after this Life Many pangs many pangs of remorse and anguish pangs far beyond the pangs of a natural Death hath that dying Soul which hath no hope to live with God after Death Fear then this Loss so great so irreparable Fear to be prophane like Esau to sell your Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage to fell your hopes of Heaven for a short Satisfaction to your sensual Appetite 3. Persuasive Fear what God can do What cannot he do to make you miserable who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh He can let forth Five Spirits upon you 1. Spirit of Diseases 2. Spirit of Folly and Falshood 3. Spirit of Melancholy 4. Spirit of Ruine 5. His own Spirit 1. Spirit of Diseases God can send a Spirit of Diseases into thy Body to strike thee with Worms with some foul and sharp sickness till thou dye a loath'd and horrid Death Thus he did to King Herod in the Acts. Can all thy Physicians then cure thee 2. Spirit of Folly and Falshood God can send into thy Breast a Lying Spirit that shall carry the on to foolish Counsels that thou mayst perish Thus he did with King Ahab Can thy Wisdom foresee or prevent this 3. Spirit of Melancholy God can let forth upon thee a Spirit that shall sit upon thy Brain and Heart like a black Cloud distilling poyson upon both This shall be thy inseparable Companion at Table and Bed in society in solitude to vex thee perpetually This shall make thy sweetest Delights thy dearest Relations a Burthen and a disease to thee This shall make thy surest Strengths and firmest aids a matter of continual Suspicion and mortal Jealousy to thee Thus he did with King Saul What delights or businesses can now divert thee 4. Spirit of Ruine God can let upon thee as upon Job a Spirit like a devouring Sea or Storm This shall take away from thee thy whole Estate from thy Children their Life from thy Wife and wisest Friends their Affection and Tenderness This will fill thy Skin with Noysomness thy veins with Fire thy Bones with Pains thy Head with black vapours This shall take away all rest from thy Sleeps filling them with affrighting
O glorious Victory O Saints more than Conquerours in the Resurrection of your Saviour The World is faln before you it is no more The old things of Vanity Darkness Sin Sorrow Death are passed away in His Death Thus you are conquerours But in His Resurrection the World is raised again in a Form of Eternal Love and Glory for you All things are come again and are made New All things appear again the second time Immortal Spirits shining in the Loveliness burning in the Love of the God-Head for you opening all things past present and to come in themselves as Beautiful and Sacred Mysteries of Divine Love to you which ever is Delighting it self in You sporting with you preparing Joys Glories for you Thus you are more than Conquerous through Him who hath loved You. Live then in Him Joyfully gloriously Triumphantly I have done with the first Part of my last Use the Sweeâ—ning and Sanctifying Life in this World 2. Part. To sweeten and sanctifie Death by the Knowledge of Christ in Glory I shall lay down three Principles to this End 1. Principle Every Saint standeth â—compleat in Glory in the Glorified Person of Christ above even while he is living or dying here below Ye are compleat in Him who is the Head of all Principality and Power Col. 2. 10. In the verse before the Lord Jesus was described as in Him dwelleth all the Fulness or Compleatness of the God-Head bodily v. 9. Then this is added And in Him ye are compleat or full who is the Head of all Principality and Power A Believer is compleat in his Saviour as He hath the Compleatness of the God-Head in him and the Compleatness of all the Angels beneath him His Life then and His Death as they stand in Jesus Christ are more than Angelical They are Divine I shall endeavour to set in lively Figures before your Eyes the Beauty and Sweetness in the Death of a Saint by four Scriptures 1. Script And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Eph. 2. v. 6. What is to be understood by together is plain in the verse before hath quickned us together with Christ It is God who doth all this as is seen v. 4. God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us Four Positions lye clear in this Scripture 1. Pos. A Believer is risen from the Dead He dieth no more He is passed from Death to Life As Abraham is said to have received Isaac from the Dead in a Figure So the Beloved of the Lord dâ—eth onely in a Figure Death is to him a Divine Figure standing in the Resurrection from the Dead His Death is a Flower of Life and Immortality growing up in the Paradise of God which is the Glorified Person of Jesus It beareth indeed the Figure of Death but is full of a Sweetness and Beauty which can never fade or dye Let us all labour for our part in the New Birth This is a Resurrection from the Dead All things after it are Life Pure Life without any mixture of Death Perpetual Life Endless Life without any Sting of Death in the tail of it 2. Pos. A Believer is already sâ—t down in Heavenly places nay more than Heavenly The Word Heavenly is by some translated and so it properly signifieth Supercoelestial more than Heavenly places above the Heavens Here a Saint is made to sit down He is fixed and established He is at rest at home at the end of all his journeyings and changes He is set as a Bride at the Marriage-feast He is set as a Prince upon the Throne of his Kingdom Thus God giveth His Beloved Sleep Rest a Feast a Throne in Death Jesus Christ in Glory is this Sleep this Rest this Feast this Throne which endureth for ever and ever O Christian rejoyce and glory in Death for the Hope of the Joy and Glory of thy Bridegroom there Thy Death hath nothing of Dust or Darkness in it It is a Heavenly Thing nay more than Heavenly It is something Supercoelestial It is a soft Strain and ravishing Touch in the Musick of the Divine and Eternal Rest. It is a savoury Dish such as thy soul loveth at the Feast in the Kingdom of God Solomon had a throne of Gold On the Steps which were the Ascents to the Throne on each side were Lyons of pure Gold Thy Death O Saint is now no more a fierce and devouring Lyon to affright thee It is the figure of a Lyon in Gold in one Glory It is not onely an Ascent to thy Throne O Jedidiah Beloved of the Lord It is One Piece of Eternal Glory with thy Throne It is an Ornament an Embâ—â—llishment of Glory to thy Throne How good is it for those who are born of God to keep themselves pure that they may alwaies see God that they may see all things to them Divine Objects in a Divine Light sparkling Jewels of Divine Love We are ever in the midst of these things which are more than Heavenly in the midst of these Supercoelestials even in the arms of Death While we keep our selves unspotted from this world we see these Supercoelestials and Death itself in the number of them But every sin casteth a mist upon them and covereth us with a Cloud that we see them no more Now the Visions of our Joy and Glory of Light and Truth are hid from our Eyes Now fear and trembling are upon 〈◊〉 Life is full of Trouble and Death full of Terrour 3. Pos. A Saint is set down in Heavenly places together with Jesus Christ. The sweetning and the heightning of all the Joys and Glories of the Gospel is the Union with thy Beloved Bridegroom The work of Grace is a Birth a Resurrection a Marriage all in one The Death of a Saint is an Act of Spiritual Communion between Christ and the Soul a Marriage-Joy The Lord Jesus presenteth himself to the Believer in the Form of Death as in a Heavenly a Supercoelâ—stial Beauty At this sight the Saint is immediately transformed into the same Image Jesus Christ springeth up into the Believer a Believer springeth up into his Beloved in this Heavenly Form So both are made one in it Thus Death becometh a Love-play between Christ and his Spouse He by a Spiritual Kiss breatheth forth his Spirit of Divine Loves Immortality and Invisible Glories into the Spouse The Spouse ravished sorth from her self again in the same moment breatheth forth her Spirit into the Bosom of her Lord. Thus they die together they die one in another they die one into another In the first of the Canticles there is a Prophetical Song which beginneth at the Resurrection of our Saviour and the Effusion of the Spirit together with the Spiritual Union between Christ and his Church which was as their Heavenly Espousals solemnized and sealed with a Kiss with the reiterated Kisses of his Mouth Then followeth in the process of the first
is one 3. Pillar That one Seed to which the Promises are made is Christ. To Abraham and to his Seed as to One and that one Christ. Isaac was the Seed of Abraham Isaac stood only as a Figure of the Lord Jesus Isaac signifieth Laughter The Lord Jesus is the true Seed of Mirth and Joy When he cometh to us by his Spirit which is his proper his eternal Presence and Appearance he bringeâ—h back our Captivity from the Powers of Sin Sorrow and Death he filleth our Mouths with laughter he maketh us as those that Dream he placeth us in the midst of such glorious Persons and Things he cloatheth our Persons with so much Glory and all this by so â—asy so sweet so sudden so universal so unexpected a change that it seemeth for the greatness of the Glory more like a Dream than Truth But if Isaac here typifie the Son of God then doth Abraham stand in the place of God the Father The name signifieth The high Father of a Multitude or The Father of a high Multitude God the Father maketh the Promises to himself and to his Son Christ. Jesus Christ is the Seed to which the Promises are made and the Promised Seed the Pearl in the Casket of every Promise Thus God is one in the Gospel the Gracious Maker of the Promise the Rich Matter of the Promise the Glorious Heir of the Promise This Unity is the Love of the Gospel in which the Seed is one in the Father in Christ in all the Saints and this one Seed is the Lover the Love and the Beloved God loveth himself in his Son his Son in his Saints God Christ and the Saints lie all wrapt up in one Seed This is the Unity and this Unity the Love of the Gospel One Seed shining out and springing up thorow all into the Fellowship of all Beauties and delights with itself within itself We have set up some Lights in this verse to shew the Glories of Divine Love the more advantageously as they are presented to us v. 20. in those words God is One. Now let us draw nearer to the verse itself the Center of our discourse St Paul raiseth an Objection and answereth it v. 19. Object This is the Objection If the Gospel were before the Law of Eternal Force the only dispensation of Love Life and Righteousness why then was the Law added Ans. St. Paul answereth this Objection by Defining and Confining the Use and Times of the Law 1. St Paul defineth the end Use of the Law The Law was added because 〈◊〉 Transgression There was a fourfold use of the Law until Christ came to discover to restrain to heighten Sin to bring Condemnation and Death upon Sinners 2. The Times of the Law are câ—nfined to the coming of Christ Until thâ— Seed should come Then the Holy Apostle giveth us two Arguments to make it plain that the Law can be no more of force or have any place when Jesus Christ appeareth These two Arguments are taken from two Essential differences between the Law and the Gospel 1. Argum. The Law was ordained by Angels God appeared not under the Law in his own Person nor in that sweet and supream brightness which floweth immediately from his Face He cloathed himself with the created Light of the Angelical Nature and Glory as with a Garment In the Persons of Angels and their Beauties as under a vail he was seen and conversed with Man But when the Seed cometh which is Jesus Christ this is God in Person God in his own Essential Form and Image Now the Scene the Appearance is changed from the diversities of Angels and their Glories to the Divine Unity Now the Angels thorow which as multitudes of little Stars in the night the Light of the God-Head scattered faint glimmerings of itself vanished out of sight They resigned their weak Beams Beauties and Beings to one Sun that one Seed their Fountain the Unity of God in Christ. Here they are New-born they are made perfect they shine again in one Glory The Son of Man cometh now in the Glory of his Father in his own Glory in the Glory of all his Angels When Christ is seen in his Heavenly shape which alone is the Light of the Gospel Angels appear no more singly all Glories are seen united in their Center the Person of God in Christ. Now hear O Israel come forth and O ye Daughters of Sion the Lord your God your Jesus is one This is the first Argument and the first essential difference between the Law and the Gospel 2. Argum. The Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Now a Mediator is not of One but God is One v. 19. 20. Thus we are come home to the verse itself where you shall see all this discourse come home to our mark at which we aim the Fountain of all Evangelical Graces and Loves in the Unity of God We shall best understand these words by a distinction of Mediators There is a Mediator of Distance and of Unity This latter the Mediator of Unity is one with both the Parties between which he mediateth comprehendeth them both maketh both one in himself Such a Mediator Jesus Christ is in the Gospel Such a Mediator the Law hath not this place intendeth not This hath some shadow of itself in the Medium Participationis which Philosophy treateth of The Mediator of Distance is one who standeth between two to keep them apart because they cannot approach one to the other This is here meant The People of Israel said to Moses Let God speak to thee and we will hear thee But let not God speak to us any more least we die God approved of their words They have said well Thus the Law was ordained in the hand of Moses as a Mediator This we may express by the Medium Abnegationis a Mediator of Distance When the Seed cometh this Mediation this Administration the Distance and so the Law ceaseth Now God is One. Christ is the Seed Christ is come Christ hath two Natures in him but he is One Person in both Natures and that One Person the One only God God is the Person the Subsistency the Root out of which the whole Tree with all its Arms and Branches of both Natures Humane and Divine springeth in which it subsisteth from which all operations and fruits proceed to which all denominations belong which is the name to be named in all and to which every name belongeth This is Christ. The one Seed the one Spirit in all the Saints in all the Graces and Comforts of the Gospel is this Christ that one Person which is the only true God Thus God is one in all The Lord Jesus in his Heavenly Spirit and Body is the Glorious Circle of the Divine Unity in which God Christ and all the Elect Saints or Angels liâ— so close so enfolded and wrapt up mutually one in another that no Mediator can come between them that they need no Mediator
he that hath suffered in the Flesh hath ceased from Sin The Holy Ghost clearly relates to the death of the Lord Jesus and of a Saint He speaks of the time perfectly past he that hath suffered in the Flesh that is he that by dying hath compleated and finished his sufferings in the flesh he hath ceased from sin He that dyeth in union with Christ in the vertue of his death and in a conformity to it in the first moment of death ceaseth from all the Evils of Sin the Guilt the Power the Pollution the Punishment and so from Death itself See the inseparable connexion between the Flesh Sufferings Sin and Death All these continue together and cease together O you that hear or read understand these things and lay them to heart This Flesh which is so dear to us which we are so loath and unwilling to part with which we tender as our nearest and dearest self is our only division from our self a bed of Snakes and Enmity It is the root the seat the food the fewel the fruit of Sin and suffering and death This Fleshly Principle and Sense this worldly Light and Image which we account Life and the Sweetness of Life in which we think all the dear Treasures and Joys of Life are comprehended is no other than a deep dark and miery Dungeon where we lie in the midst of the hissings stings and poysons of innumerable Toads and Serpents This Sin which so easily besetteth us and winds itself into our bosoms is that weight which presseth us and sinketh us down that chain of Darkness which tyeth us down and fastneth us here below in the horrible Pit and Dungeon of this Fleshly Principle and Sense this Fleshly this worldly Spirit and Image This Death which seemeth so dreadful to us which we so tremble at and fly from is that dearest Friend come down from Heaven from the bosom of God that beautiful hand put forth from the secret of Eternal Life Love and Glory which taketh off this weight which knocketh off this chain of Darkness and restoreth to us our silver Wings and golden Feathers by which in a moment we fly forth from this Cage of unclean Spirits this Dungeon of the Fleshly Principle and Sense never to return into them any more O Believers fear not fly not from Sufferings Be willing to sacrifice and offer up this Flesh as a whole Burnt-Offering in the Flame of Sufferings unto Death Kiss Death as a lovely Bride as those perfumed Flowers those Beds of Spices the Cheeks of the Heavenly Bride-groom mentioned in the Canticles For the Flesh the fleshly Principle and Sense the Spirit and Image of this Flesh of this World together with the Sufferings Sin and Death end all at once in the Death of a Saint in the very first moment of his Death A Holy Divine when he was dying lay upon his Death-Bed singing this often over Now I shall sin no more We read Isaiah 59. 2. That our Iniquities separate between us and our God our Sins hide his face from us Death is indeed a separation but it is not the separation of the Soul from the Body The separation of the Soul or the Body from God this is Death indeed this alone is Death This world this worldly Spirit and Image is the Curtain or Vail the Partition wall between us and the Face or Bosom of our Heavenly Bridegroom our Lord Jesus So saith St. Paul Our Gospel is hid to those whose Eyes the God of this world hath blinded that they should not behold the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face or Person of Christ. The Fleshly Principle or Sense is the unpassable gulf between us and the unsearchable Treasures of the Divine Nature of the Blessed Persons in the Divine Nature the Father the Eternal Word the Holy Spirit Sin digs up and keeps open this Gulf sin builds up this Partition wall Sin draws this Curtain between us and the Divine Beauties the Divine Blessedness O dying Saints break forth into singings O all ye Saints rejoice and triumph at every thought at every approach of Death Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoyced to see it saith our Lord Jesus in the Gospel The word rejoyce in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he danced a Galliard When the Virgin Mary with Christ in her Womb came to the Mother of John the Baptist the Babe within her sprung for joy Thus O Believers let your hearts spring for joy within you at the approach and presence of Death So Death coming to you as a beautiful and a heavenly Virgin with Jesus Christ in its Womb not after the Flesh but in the Glory of the Spirit to be delivered of him immediately into your Bosoms as a Bridegroom that at once in the same moment appears to you in Glory makes you worthy of himself by being like himself and one Glory with himself makes all things Life Immortality Glory round about you Behold the day of your Death both afar off near at hand as the day of Christ as a day which the Lord Jesus makes rising himself as the true Sun upon you so iurning this Sun into Darkness before the brightness of his own appearance enlightning all within you and without you with another Light infinitely greater infinitely sweeter At the sight of this day as Abraham did so let your hearts spring with a pleasant lightness and dance Galliards in your Bosom Now sing of Death and say in your songs every one of you as you lie upon your Death-beds I shall sin no more I shall be in Flesh no more no more for ever in this Fleshly Principle and sense which hath so long bewitched me and held me by their â—orceries in the House of Whoredoms and of Death I shall be in this world so loathsome and so hateful to me I shall see this world and this Image of things which hath been so long so tempting and tormenting to me no more for ever Farewel for ever all distances all divisions between me and my Jesus my God Henceforth shall I with open face in my Soul and my Body behold the open and unvailed Face of God Henceforth shall I with my naked Soul and Body lie for ever in the naked Bosom of my Glorified Saviour my King and Husband giving him of my Loves drinking in abundantly his Loves and bringing forth continually by him all the Spiritual and Heavenly fruits of Life and Immortality The morning is called Rosy-fingred because the morning Beams as Rosy-fingers seem to open the Curtains of the night and let in day upon us Death is to a Saint of a truth this Rosy fingered morning which by sweet beams breaking forth from on high draws aside the Curtains of this night of Flesh and lets in upon us the Eternal day which at once in a moment overspreads our Souls and Bodies and fills all things to us with its blessed Light making us and