Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	bread_n	eat_v	show_v	5,537	5	5.6290	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96143	The judgement set, and the bookes opened. Religion tried whether it be of God or of men. The Lord cometh to visit his own, for the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God. To separate the sheep from the goats. and the precious from the vile. And to discover the blasphemy of those that say, they are apostles, teachers, alive, rich, Jewes, but are found lyars. Deceivers. Dead. Poore, blind, naked. The synagogue of Satan. In severall sermons at Alhallows Lumbard-street, by John Webster, a servant of Christ and his church.	Webster, John, 1610-1682.	1654 (1654)	Wing W1210; Thomason E805_13; ESTC R207390	257,953	337

him the corruption and rudiments of men their rules and their formes and their precepts these and these things they must do if they will be perfect and so joyne man with Christ and so make Christ and his Crosse of no effect Nay the Apostle he did so magnifie and set up and adore Jesus Christ and esteemed him so full so rich so large so all in all that he not only abhorred the rudiments and the inventions of men but the Ordinances and the very law of God as kept by men to come in competition with Jesus Christ for never any man observed the the law in the least tittle It was only Jesuch Christ and them in whom he is conceived and borne and in whom he workes For verily the law was not given to tell man what he should do to get peace and life but to condemne him to disable him to slay him to convince him that he is miserable and weak and cursed And therefore in vaine did those false Apostles or any other in any generation put men upon doing this or that by way of condition to enable man to act or do any thing on his part by his own power to please God But every true believer is a man lost and destroyed in himselfe and he is borne anew of this Divine seed and he is setled not on himselfe by his own doings 1 Sam. 2.2 but on the Rock of Ages And he harknes to this spiritual counsell given here by the Apostle To stand fast in this liberty whatever men say And will not suffer himselfe to be bewitched by the plausible techings of men tickling the flesh with acting and doing that by themselves which shall bring peace but which tends to no other end but to keep men in bondage and to hold them under the old Jerusalem because that 's very pleasing to man for there are many glorious forms and worships and man shewing out himselfe to be something which things please the outward man and the flesh and this is that man esteemes highly of and much prides himselfe in And indeed all this is nothing but to seek life in death and for the living to seek to the dead Esa 8.19 as the Prophet speakes all tends to death to bondage and to remaine under the Curse But that which the Apostle here holds forth is the truth the the power the life the inheritance the resurrection the glory and shewes that there is no other power life glory inheritance peace rest but only here there is no other spirit no other Baptisme no other breaking of bread he alone is The true bread which came downe from heaven John 6 51 and he alone can give it And he alone is the meanes the only Ordinance by which we receive it he is the way and he is the do●re this bread is given down from heaven as Christ shewes at large in John 6.31 c. He gave them bread from Heaven to eate Moses himselfe could not give them that bread Your Fathers have eaten Manna and are dead Vers 49. That bread which Moses gave could not keep them from death but for all they eate of that bread which came down from the elementary Heaven yet they are dead But my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven for the bread of God is he which commeth downe from Heaven and giveth life unto the world I 'am the bread of life V. 57 58. and he that commeth unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst So that you see The Apostle here sets the opposition between the intanglements of men and the yoake of Bondage against the pure free and full liberty by Jesus Christ whatever it be but this liberty given us by Jesus Christ that gives the least joy the least peace the least rest to the soul of man but purely Jesus Christ he is intangled in the yoak of bondage for the liberty of Christ consists not in any thing below himself in any Ordinances as men call them in any duty in any form in any mode whatsoever but only in himself all things else are too low too poor too meane too base to stand in the room of Christ they cannot give the true bread but only Jesus himself who is The Bread There are but two principles from which all men work either from Christ or Antichrist either from the bondwoman or the free woman Jam. 3.15 either from the wisdom that is above which is pure peaceable gentle easie te be intreated full of mercy and good works without partiality without hypocrisie Or else t is from the wisdome which is from beneath which is earthly sensual and divelish which is full of envying strife and confusion and every evil work And though this wisdom of the world will undertake to shew us Christ and the true bread and they cry Loe here and loe there he is in our way sayeth every several separation But if they say he is in the wilderness or he is in the secret chambers goe not after them Mat. 24.26 for the Kingdom of Christ commeth not with observation who ever shall say he is in this outward form or in that way of washing or breaking bread believe them not goe not after them for know Luk. 17.20 The Kingdom of God is within you All men that think to be helped by cleaving to this Church or that Fellowship and are still going out of themselves to finde Christ they are deceived but if any man direct you to finde Christ anywhere but within in his own heart he is deceived all these waies are ensnarements and delusions if men think to be helped by any thing in heaven or earth but only by the pure perfect and alsufficient righteousnesse of Jesus Christ which is onely manifested in thy heart by his own spirit for if thou thinkest that Jesus Christ Externall in the flesh as dying at Ierusalem will help thee thou art utterly deceived t is Christ Onely who is begotten within thee all other waies of mens devising are meer lyes delusions and ensnarements In the words for order sake onely take notice of these foure things 1. That the state of a believing soule is a state of liberty 2. That believers are onely made partakers of this liberty by Jesus Christ 3. That the safety of standing is only in abiding in this liberty and freedom 4. That when any man goes out from this liberty and freedom by Jesus Christ to any thing else whatsoever he goes out to be ensnared and entangled and it cannot be otherwise For the two first t is cleare that there is a state of freedom and liberty belonging to the people of God and that Christ only is their deliverer He who is delivered by Jesus Christ he onely hath true freedom and he is the true free man all other however they talk of freedom and boast of freedom if Christ doe not set them free they are still bondmen they

nothing else but their own Idols and Groves and Images the inventions and works of mens hands And when they have decked and trimmed their Idols gloriously they not onely fall down themselves to them as Nebuchadnezzar did Dan. 3.11 but enjoyn this Idol-worship to all others and he that will not fall down to what they say is truth and Religion Him they persecute and brand with those odious names of Hereticks Sectaries Schismaticks Familists and the like But in the day when the Lord will appeare to make all these Magicians and Southsayers to be lyars which day they hate and hide themselves from because they hate the light John 3.20 Neither come they to the light lest their deeds should be made manifest and declared that they are not wrought in God but are acted in the power of man by the wonderful working of Antichrist in all power and signs and lying wonders and in all deceivableness of unrighteousnesse 2 Thes 2.8 10. And the Lord when he shall rise wil discover and consume them with the breath of his mouth and with the brightnesse of his comming and all those glorious Images and fine contrived modes and forms and lying wonders wherein they trusted in so much that all the world wondred after the beast Rev. 13.3 as if that these were the only religious men But when God appeares with his light all these shaddows deceits and delusions all these Inchantments and Sorceries wherewith men have cloathed themselves shall be cut off These Cities that the sonnes of men have builded for their safety security and preservation they shall all be cut off from their hands Now of all things in the world these men hate nothing more then this light and this day of the Lord. These Sorcerers use all the means they can to keep away this light and to darken this glory by their reproaches slanders lyes and scandals And they will tell you all this is false light why because it discovers their Inchantments and delusions And they will tell you that all these prophesies concern other things they were onely literally fulfilled when the people of Israel were carried captive into Babylon and there can be no such Mystery in them And so for the promises they will tell you are to be fulfilled externally and litterally or at the most they will carry out the prophesies to be fulfilled onely in the Great Messiah who was born at Bethlem and was crucified at Ierusalem yet indeed know him not And he that shall goe farther then thus is with them a deceiver which sense is no other then those low poore and carnall thoughts and expectations which the Jewes had of him expecting an outward and externall deliverer and all things to be fulfilled in a litterall way As if the holy and divine spirit of the Lord onely busied it selfe about shadows and forms and external worshippings bodily exercises which profit nothing carnal ordinances and things of the world and that he had no higher aym then what every one may come to act and doe when indeed and in truth his main end is to declare the Kingdom of Heaven and set forth the new Ierusalem Rev. 21.2 comming down from God out of Heaven and to shew that his Kingdom is not of this world and consisteth not in meats and drinks touching tasting Rom. 4.17 or handling or any thing the outward man can be exercised in but that his Kingdom consists in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Yet some yea most men who pretend very much in the knowledge of Christ yet carry all prophesies of him no higher then his appearing in the flesh and therein say all Scriptures were fulfilled As that prophesie here exprest in the second verse of this chapter The virgin of Israel is fallen Amos 5.2 she shall no more arise she is forsaken upon her Land and there is none to raise her up some say this concerned Israels captivity when all her glory departed from her and she was stript of all her beautiful attire and virgin rayments to which it may be applicable I deny not but that is but in an outward literall and externall way but the spirit of God hath a far higher aym then this viz. That outward and externall glory when men trust to that and professe themselves to be the Israel of God because of that then the Lord threatens that the pride of all their externall forms shall all be forsaken and no man shall regard them and there shall be none to raise them up And that place in Micah chap. 5. vers 2. they say is the promise of the restauration of the Church Micah 5.2 and that she shall be restored and her Rulers But some who would seem to goe further carry it to the highest interpretation as they conceive to Jesus Christ his comming in the flesh and they have referred to this place and cited it in the margin in Matth. 2.6 Thou Bethlem in the land of Iudah art not the least among the Princes of Iudah Math. 2.6 for out of thee shall come a Governour that shall rule my people Israel That in regard he was the MESSIAH which was then born and given to the world and was to suffer and die and rise again All which things are true in a lower and externall sense but there is more in it then so for Christ is yesterday and to day Heb. 13.8 and the same for ever and his goings forth have been of old from everlasting and therefore cannot he be limited according to the short time he was in the flesh But Christ is the same in all generations and he is chiefly manifested in the spirit and all his words expresse no lesse he still takes our eyes off his fleshly appearance and sayes his Kingdome is not of this World Luke 17.21 Joh. 18.36 John 6.51 Luke 22.20 and his Kingdome is within you and his body is the bread which commeth down from heaven and the cup which he gives is The cup of the New Testament in his blood T is not the eating the bread made by men or wine of grapes in that whcih feeds the soule And so for Christs death and his going away there is more in it then his fleshly dying or the application of that But this is held out he must goe away else the Comforter which shall lead into all truth John 16.7 will not come His bodily presence and our apprehending of his fleshly appearing and fleshly suffering Hee in this sence must depart or else the Kingdome of God cannot come upon us nor the Comforter come Touch me not in this way for I am not ascended to my Father And while ye look upon my fleshly presence I cannot send the comforter Acts 1 11. But that must go away Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven Why do ye gaze upon his External appearing Sayes the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.16 Acts

23.7 c. who love to be called RABBI or by that Blasphemous Title of DIVINE and they must be honoured above other Saints of God and they are The Clergie and others they are but the Layitie of a meaner rank then we say they And how doe they love to have greetings in the market and the uppermost rooms at Feasts and the like well let them look to it God will judge them one day for all their Sorceries and inchantments and for standing up between him and his glory To whom alone all praise is due but to every man misery shame confusion of face blacknesse of darknesse hell and condemnation But hence we may see that it is no new thing to be bewitched by the Sorcerers and Inchanters and Magicians of the World The Galathians themselves were so for there are many Antichrists in the world there are legions gone out from the Prince of darknesse to deceive the whole Earth And if any from Christ speak but the truth he by his cunning devices will disguise it under the shape of Heresie Schisme Familisme or some odious nickname or other that so the truth may not be owned nor known That so men may stop their eares against the Heavenly voyce of Christ which brings down all things adored or loved in or from man and sets up nothing else but the power wisdom goodnesse holiness and Alsufficiency of the Lord alone He cries Mans heart and all the imaginations thereof are onely evill continually and that there is none that doth good Psal 14.3 Rom. 3 10. no not one They are all gone out of the way and every one is become abominable there is none that understands or seeks GOD. And that there is nothing in man of good but all is evill sin death darkness abomination a lye and utter desolation But Satan cries in the mouthes of his Ministers Let man doe something he can pray he can heare and let him follow those rules that we prescribe and they shall bring peace and rest to his soule But if man were but content to heare the voice of Christ and to stand in the light of God he should be convinced that he had no power no goodnesse and that nothing but onely the power of God could carry him out and that he is dead in trespasses and sins Ephes 2.1 and that the voice of Christ alone can raise them from their graves and that no lesse power can quicken or raise but the eternall Almighty power which raised Iesus Christ himselfe from the dead Rom. 8.11 It is not as men say If you will come to us and joyn and walk with us and be dipt with us or break bread with us will give any life any peace to the soule but the standing in the light of God that so man may take to himselfe death and darknesse misery and wrath and here to stand and dwell and that in him is no good thing then this light would also shew him that in Christ is all life liberty fulnesse satisfaction peace and rest and nowhere else If men did but abide in this light it would debase and keep low the lofty thoughts and those great expectations of and from man it would also give Jesus Christ his due it would not suffer him in the least to act against the glory of Christ but man would be dead and buried and Christ would onely ascend and sit upon his Throne There would nothing be esteemed in Heaven or Earth Mat. 19.21 but Christ and he would be content to sell and lose all for him This light would curb every wicked act every desire of the flesh this alone is the means to crucifie and kill thy vile nature and not any outward externall thing by washing or dipping in water or eating such a poore empty carnall thing as a bit of bread or drinking a sup of wine this thing never did nor never will doe it but to eate and drink that which Christ gave which was not a little bread and wine onely but HIMSELFE Joh. 6.56 1 Cor. 11.29 Ibid. v. 20 ch 10.16 and by feeding on him eating his body and drinking his blood this will nourish to eternall life When ye are met together into one place this is not to eate the Lords body For the bread which we break is the Communion of the body of Christ and he that eateth and drinketh unworthily discerneth not the Lords body Object But may I not use these things Object Ans Yea Answ so you think your selves never the better for using them for t is not they can feed or comfort thee nor t is not going on in thy own power nor thy using of means for Christ alone is the way and the means As if you come to a Feast you are not invited to eate the platters or earthern dishes which bring the meat but you are invited to the meat they doe but bring the meat and if thou eate not the meat thou mayst starve and die if thou follow the dreams of thy own heart and thinkest thou eatest and dost not what a horrible delusion and inchantment is this But of these things we may have an opportunity to speak more fully hereafter Thus you see what are those things which the Lord will cut off in that day when he shall come Thy Horses and thy Chariots thy Cities and thy strong holds Thy witchcraft and thy Southsayers Thy graven Images and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee THE SECRET SOUTHSAYER OR Hidden SORCERER discovered By Mr. Jo. WEBSTER SERMON II. Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street MICAH 5.10 11 12 13. And it shall come to passe in that day saith the Lord That I will cut off thy Horses out of the midst of thee and I will destroy thy Chariots And I will cut off the Cities of thy Land and throw down all thy strong holds I will cut off Witchcrafts out of thine hand and thou shalt have no more Southsayers Thy graven Images also will I cut off and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands I Have beloved according to the appearance of God in me shewed the meaning of these words according to the Spirit and the Mysterie declaring that great work which is brought to passe by Jesus Christ when he appeares gloriously in the world in the soules of men and is exalted as Lord and King and then it is when Jesus Christ is exalted in the earth and not when men are exalted or when there is peace and plenty of outward things But all the speakings of the Prophets and of Christ himselfe tend to set out that Kingdome and PERSONALL REIGNE which generally all men know little of and neither wil nor can own for a glorious state because not accommodated with outward power riches and eternall glory But in that day when Jesus Christ will come and arise in power spiritually in the soules of men then is that

Mat. 5.15 He is the light set upon the Candlestick giving light to all that are in the House and Hee is the Hidden Manna to nourish us to eternal life Col. 1.19 2.9 and it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell even the fulness of the Godhead bodily Oh Beloved He is that true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man From this Tabernacle must the soul expect all its leadings all its teachings and not from the wisdom of man or the ordinances of man for here they are all taught of God and they shall no more teach every one his Brother Heb. 8.10 11. saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest And whosoever is not led by this light and by this Star onely to behold the Lord Jesus Christ as his only and true Guide if he look any other way he does the same thing that the Prophet said of old to them that followed the Tabernacle of Moloch and the Star of their god Remphan and followeth after lyes and the inventions of their own evil Adulterous hearts Acts 7 42 Amos. 5.25.26 figures which they have made to worship saith the Holy Ghost in the fifth Chapter of Amos and the twenty fifth and twenty sixth verses Now then you may hence see and take notice that until the cloud be removed by the Lord himself there must be no journying no going forward by any of the sons of men and t is the Lord and not man can remove it the children of Israel must wait the Lords time when he pleaseth man he is alwayes furnished and ready your time is alwayes ready saith our Saviour Joh. 7.6 but my time is not yet There are certain days and times while the Cloud is upon the glory of this Tabernacle and till the Lord remove it man can do nothing but wait he must sit still in his Tent And that is when all things are in darknesse in man both within him and without him and he sees himself lost as to all his own wisdom power endeavours in this case t is in vain for man to arise and think to create a light and a wisdome and a power to himselfe for then he goes on in his own power and light and not in the light and power of God Ye know the fire in the Tabernacle never went out there was alwayes light there Lev. 6.13 but if there be a Cloud upon it and thou canst not see it and yet wilt be journying and doing and acting this will be thy fall and stumbling and a curse will be upon thee and not a blessing and thou shalt not prosper When that fire kindled the word in the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet then that word was a light to them a command to depart out of their Captivity and to return to their own land till then the cloud was upon their way and they were as in a waylesse wilderness where no man passed a land of desarts and of pits a land of drought and shadows of death where no man dwelt Jer. 2.6 as in that second chapter of Jeremiah While man is in this condition and in this night of blindnesse and darknesse and land of death and drought he knowes not his way until the Lord shew him a light till He remove the cloud there is no finding the place of rest nor any feeding on the Hidden Manna nor drinking at the Wells of Salvation Esa 12.3 When man is in this dark night how can he arise but if he sit still as to all his own powers really seeing his own weaknesse and utter inability then this light in due time will shine forth and if he ever stir before this day he arises and works and walks unto his own ruin and destruction It may be this Doctrin may seem harsh and very unwelcome to most men That they shall not be doing and going on and journying Phil. 2.12 and working out their own Salvation many are hereat much offended at which I do not wonder for they not being able to see the Mystery of the Scripture onely rest in the Letter and know not the teachings of the spirit and think they must do something by way of condition or else all is nothing And herein is the great mistake of most men who though never so highly esteemed by themselves and others Luk. 6.39 yet herein are no other but blind leaders of the blind and both fall into the ditch But those who are acquainted with these things in their own experience know and feel this mysticall interpretation to be the truth and all other in the Letter to be but resemblances and shadows under which the truth is hid and covered from all save onely such to whom it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdome Mat. 13.11 but to others in parables that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may bear and not understand As in that seventh and eighth Chapter to the Hebrews where the Apostle speaking of the Law and of many particulars appertaining to that Priesthood he shews that the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh unto God and so there by several arguments he proves that Jesus Christ alone was the true Priest and the true ORDINANCE Now in the first verse of the eighth chapter Heb. ch 7. 8. he applyes all that he had before spoken to Jesus Christ alone that perfect high Priest Ch. 7.19 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the summe And so he goes on and applyes it to Jesus Christ that true high Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man which things serve but unto the example and shadow of Heavenly things Ch. 8.1 c. he having obtained a far more excellent ministry by how much he is made the mediatour of a better covenant and established upon better promises he is not a high Priest of a Temple or contained in any Temple made with hands 2 Chron 6.18 but he is such a one whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain And he offers not sacrifices but himself his own body And He and all his members are the true Tabernacle wherein the Lord is served and well pleased for the Law made High Priests which have infirmitie Heb. 7.28 saith the Apostle but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who only is consecrated for evermore But what shall we say then of all those things wherein Moses was commanded to be so exact and to make all things according to the pattern and here he calls Christ the true Tabernacle what was theirs a false one I Ibid. 8.2 it was in regard of Christ who is the

not the patterns For saith the Apostle when that which is perfect is come then that that is imperfect shall be done away and again the same Apostle when I was a Child I did as a Child 1 Cor. 13.11 2 Cor. 5.16 I spake as a Child I understood as a Child but when I came to be a man I put away childish things and hence forth saith he know we Christ after the flesh no more Alas the Apostle had as well as other men known Christ by the way of the flesh and in outward conformity and observations and in a low carnal apprehension of him but when Christ was come into him in the Spirit Rev. 21.5 then ALL THINGS were become New Then he would not have a Christian to be judged in respect of a Holy-day New Moons or of keeping Sabbath days and the like Col. 2.16.17 which are but shadows of things to come for the body is Christ But there was a time when they were under the type of breaking of bread which was onely to shew the Lords death till he came 1 Cor. 11.29 but when Christ was come then he rebukes the Corinthians for using that ceremony of of breaking bread and said they did not discern the Lords Body For the eating his Body and drinking his Blood was a thing of a far higher nature And from hence will follow the great miserie of the sons of men seeking rest and life in the patterns and types and not in Heavenly things themselves For if a man have the exactest patterns or pictures of any meat that ever could be drawn in the world or of wine and drink would either of these feed or refresh him when he was hungry or satisfie him when he was thirsty you will say they could not and how then can the patterns of Heavenly things feed any more then they So also it is the true Manna that feeds the soul it is not that Manna that fell in the Wildernesse your Fathers they eat of it and are dead saith our Saviour No Joh. 6.49 50. it is the spiritual Manna whereof if a man eat he shall live for ever Then it must needs be a deceit of the Devil and a woful and sad delusion on the spirits of men and yet notwithstanding this is that great delusion wherewith Satan is gone forth to feed men as the Prodigal was with the husks and shells of Divine things He desired the husks and no man gave unto him But when the poor man had wasted that portion he had from his Father when that divine portion was gone and he had wasted it among Whores and Harlots that is after his own inventions thinking they should nourish him he saith he could eat Husks But he found they would not satisfie I he should sterve for hunger yet many thousands think and accordingly do could I go into such a Church-fellowship and walk as they walk I should be as well as they and yet for all that there is no man can give unto them had he them to the utmost alas they would not satisfie and fill him But he cannot have that others have he would have their Holinesse and be able to pray hear and speak and have as much freedome and power against sin and the like but it is not given unto him but if he have all these external things yet alas they are but husks and cannot satisfie So that then there is a plain and absolute necessity falls on him and he sees there is no way but to goe home to his Father else he starves and dyes Luk. 15.18 and now he sees his own weakness and poverty then he begins to come to himself and saith I will return to my Father So when the Soul is brought into this condition then it sees that it is not he that hath brought things into any good frame by his good husbandry or by a providential care now nothing will serve his turn no I must to my Father and I will goe to my Father This shews the misery of the spirits of those men that would fain feed upon husks And from hence it comes to pass that they run here and run there from one to another even as a poor creature when it is thirsty and drye and sees many Wells or Vessels thinking there is water He runs to one to see if there be any and then to another but they are all empty So alas a poor hungry soul here it picks and there it feeds and as long as it can find a crum it will never go to God it had rather go to any MOUNTEBANK then come to Jesus Christ the true Physitian One day it will be of this Church another day of the other membership to see if these things will feed them But they whom God intends to bring home finde no satisfaction herein but are ready to starve and the true Reason is because they live by the patterns pictures and resemblances of food Obj. I know thou wilt object Obj. though we are to live by the Heavenly things themselves yet we are to make use of patterns Answ I confesse carnal reason will say so Answ though to me it is not so else those Scriptures must be a lye for saith he 1 Cor. 13 10. when that which is perfect is come then that that is imperfect shall be done away and when the Apostle saith stand fast in that liberty wherein Christ hath made you free and be not entagled again with the yoak of bondage and bids them they should not turn again to the beggerly rudiments of the world Gal. 5.1 and again saith the shadows and patterns of Heavenly things consisted in washing and rudiments and was never able to make the doers thereof and commers thereunto perfect Admit Heb. 9.9 I say that breaking of bread as it is in the External use of it and admit that using of water-Baptism were used by Christ which is hard to prove they were never or could be any thing else but the pattern of the Heavenly things and of the spiritual baptisme else that Text also tells us a lye that saith there was never any but one baptism which is that of the Spirit Now the Letter tells us of divers as the Baptisme of the Children of Israel in the Red Sea and of the Baptisme of John and the Baptisme whereby an unbeliever was baptized and yet the Text saith there was but one Baptisme for these are but the shadows of the spiritual Baptisme Eph. 4.5 and when that that is perfect is come then that which is imperfect is done away 1 Cor. 13.10 If thou didst really find thus thou wouldest not then need to make so much of Outward washing and breaking of bread for to the pure all things are pure but to the unclean all things are unclean and to the impure all things are impure and even their very hearts and consciences are defiled And from hence this shews that thy soul

Pharisees hearing of this they knew he spake of them and being very much offended that he so much reproached them and so much laid them open and took away their glory estimation and high esteem with the people hereupon I say they became greatly bitterly and maliciously offended with him and the Disciples hearing and observing of it they being somewhat troubled in themselves as not seeing so much into them as he did they come to him and tell him Master knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying Vers 12 Now our Saviour presently makes them this answer Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up As if he should say t is true generally all men take the Scribes and Pharisees and it may be you your selves have taken them to be men of great holiness and purity and to be very strict in their lives and indeed they seem to be men of great learning and to be very consciencious and zealous Teachers of the Truth But I would not have you so deceived true Religion stands not in outsides in observing of rites and cerementes in washing of cups and platters and observing outward Ordinances But know these men are no other but Hypocrits and Dissemblers and well did Esaiah Prophesie of them Esa 29.14 saying This people draw nigh unto me with their mouthes and honour me with their lips but their heart is removed far from me Therefore though they be offended at my speech yet be not you offended let them alone they be blind leaders of the blind And if the blinde lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch And for all their great learning and great shews of zeale and knowledge in the Letter yet Christ saw their inside how there was nothing but impurity blackness and ignorance And indeed men may have and attaine to much strictnesse therein and yet have no saving knowledge of God in the spirit nor of the truth as it is in Jesus Now saith Christ Let them alone Eph 4.21 I know they have a high opinion of themselves and they would by no means lose their glory in the esteem of others but be you not troubled Let them alone they are blind though they will not see it and both the leaders and the led shall both fall together Now upon this account Christ using such cutting cauterizing words can any wonder that they should be offended I and deeply offended Hereupon it is that the Children of the Letter and of the Bond-woman alwayes hate and persecute the Children of the Mystery and the Free-woman Gal. 4.29 As the Children of the New Jerusalem are Heavenly Divine and Spiritual like their Mother for they are born of the Second Adam which is the Lord from Heaven and they bear the very Image of the Heavenly And as is the Heavenly such are they that are Heavenly And as is the Earthy such are they that are Earthy 1 Cor. 15.47 c. They are still carried out very zealously to outward observations and carnall things And if any shall in the least touch them in them they are presently offended raging and mad for ye touch their Absolom their very lives The flesh alwayes lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh Gal. 5.17 for these are directly contrary the one unto the other these two Principles are so directly opposite and contrary one to an other that they can never agree but ever were and shall be at enmity never to be reconciled These Pharisees are alwayes very much offended with the neglect ofo smal matters and of things indifferent which either the doing or leaving undone is no sign of sincerity or insincerity but they can neglect the weighty matters of the Law themselves and suffer others to do so and never be offended As here in the second verse of this chapter the Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem that is they were the chief Preachers of the Nation because they were Preachers at the Chief and Metropolitan City JERVSALEM Yet these Great and Learned and Sage DIVINES as they were esteemed come to Christ And what was the great businesse they had to offer to him Why do thy Disciples transgresse the tradition of the Elders Mat. 15.2 for they wash not their hands when they eat bread Jesus Christ answers them very pertinen tly Why do you transgresse the Commandement of God by your traditions They were more strict in observing the traditions of their Church and of Men then of the Commandements of God and the weighty matters of the Law they were careful in observing washings and constant in outward forms of worship and times of prayer and the like but never minded what was in their hearts as Evil thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Vers 19 Thefts Lyes Malice Falsewitnesse Blasphemies verse 19. These things they neglected and passed by as smal matters they could hate the truth and bely the truth and persecute the true Professours thereof even to the death But they could not endure any should speak a word against their formal and outward worships they could neglect releiving their Father and Mother Vers 5 and shewing love to others and with them this was nothing so they did but bring a small gift to the Temple and call it CORBAN this should excuse them and cut off all other Charity or whatever others might be profitted by them Now Christ throughly discovering their Hypocrisie in their shewing great care of the outside and of that which was obvious and apparent to the sight of men but they had litle or none of their heart and inside upon which the Allseeing eye of God was fixed therefore he applyes to them the words of the Prophet Esay and tells them that they were the men He spake of when he said These people draw nigh to me with their mouthes Esa 29.14 and honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me For these are not the things God looks at or regards and therefore all their worships and all their washings and all their prayings and all their conformity to these things were all in vain and this was no Religion at all nor was no more accepted then the offering up of swines blood or the cutting of a dogs neck Esa 66.3 and he that sacrificed as if he were a murtherer and he that offered incense as if he blessed an Idol They were with him no better then Murtherers and Idolaters for all their fine forms although they were never so curious and exact about them neatified carved or contrived with never so much wisdome yet if they were done meerly by the art wisdom power industry of man and not by the wisdom and hand of Jesus Christ in them all was nothing and they were in all their prayers and duties no other but as sounding Brass and as tinkling Cymbal That which defiles man is not any thing without him but that evil and sinne which is

are still in snares and lockt fast in their fetters for who else can deliver and set free the soule of man but he that is Lord of all Rev. 1.18 and is subject to none He alone hath the keyes of Hell and death he alone is the soules Captaine and deliverer This is that which all the Saints have experience of when they finde themselves delivered from the bondage of flesh of selfe of the world if they feel this work done within them they know experimentally t is the very finger and power of Christ and that he is only Christs free man that none hath brought it to pass to set them at liberty to knock off their chains and lead them out of prison and set their feet upon a rock but only the Almighty power and meer mercy of the Lord Jesus they know that it hath been he that hath opened their eyes and their eares Psal 40.2 that hath raised them from death and given them feet to walk and there is none know this truly but only those that feele it done in themselves And for proofe of this point though I might prove it by Scripture very pleatifully to shew how many yea all the Saints there spoken of have found it in their own experience that they were delivered from death and from prison by the power of God and by the hand of Jesus Christ yet what is this to thee except thou sinde their experience true in thy selfe else their experience is but notions and riddles to thee and such things whereof thou hast no knowledge except thou see and know thy selfe to be under deth and kept fast in prison and except thou hast found Jesus Christ restoring recovering delivering and redeeming thee from this death And that thou findest that he hath said to thy soule Arise and stand up on the feet Acts 14.10 and hath given thee strength and life to what end is it to bring all the examples in Scripture and in the world if this death and life be no experimented in us Insomuch that thou canst say This word is true to me because done in me as the Apostle saith in Heb. 1.1 2. Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers and by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things Those truths which he spake before by the Prophets he hath now spoken in us by his Son so that we now know them to be the word and speakings of God But as our Saviour saith Mat. 12.39 40. An evil and an Adulterous Generation seeketh after a sign They expect every speaking should be made good by an external word and ye must go no farther so that the truth is never witnessed to in their hearts but as he sayes there There shall no sign be given them but the sign of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly even so shal the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Except you find the same things done in you the same miracles the same death the same lying in the grave three days and three nights except you find Jesus Christ taking thee by the hand and restoring thee to life thou art of an evil and adulterous Generation seeking after an external sign and thou art a meer stranger to these things But I shall for their sakes who feel the work of Christ within them give you two or three places of Scripture being the experience of the Saints of old that you may see how the Saints bear witnesse to each other in experience First Scripture Esa 61.1 2 3. Esa 61.1 2 3. speaking there of Christ being the only deliverer saith The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anoynted me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound c. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes and the oyl of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heavinesse c. Christ only is the breaker open of the soules prison doors he alone gives deliverance to the Captives and he alone brings them forth from prison and sets them free and this he is to his people in all ages for he is yesterday and to day Heb. 13.8 and the same for ever and when the same word appeared in flesh he testifies the same of himself Luke 4.18 Luk. 4.18 21. where he rehearseth the same words and applyes them to himself vers 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears And this was that which he still held forth in all his teachings that there is no other Saviour nor Deliverer but himself never was nor is nor ever shall be to the end of the world Moses was only an outward and external Captain or Deliverer but His leadings and deliverings are spiritual and there is none can be delivered but by him Heb. 12.24 as he is a better Mediator then Moses so he is a better deliverer t is he alone that frees the soul from the pit from death and hell his Kingdom is within us The Jewes and Pharisees they still excepted an outward deliverer and could not own Him as a Prince and Saviour but were blind and saw not what he still held forth in all his teachings They could not see the truth that they were blind and miserable and full of Hypocrisie and were no other but painted Sepulchres glorious outwardly but within were full of rottennesse stench and dead mens bones They could not endure to stand in the light of this truth Mat. 23.27 but hated it and persecuted him to the death for holding it forth What are we blind also what we the learned the wisest the holiest what we that are strict our selves and call upon others to be so this was death to them But now had they but seen this and owned it he would have been their righteousness their deliverer their redeemer to have set them free but because they said we see therefore their sin remained and their fetters and bondage was not taken off And again Christ tells them Iohn 8.31 32. If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free Now these things they could not see nor understand that they were in bondage but answered to him we are Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou ye shall be made free then Jesus answered them Verily verily I say unto you He that committeth sin is the servant of sin the servant abideth not in the House for ever but the son abideth for ever And if the son shall make you