life perisheth and man returneth to his Earth to his very corruption again yea and taketh unto himself seven Devils worse then the former For the higher that man is raised by this breath from the Lord the lower he falls when this breath is withdrawn It is the spirit of corrupt man getting or advanced by the Lord into the purest ways and forms of Religion which bringeth forth the filthiest abominations 4. In the result of this corruption and evil will befall you in the latter days Sin most naturally brings forth death Corruption or putrefaction is a degree of and a direct passage unto death And it will break forth and appear in the latter days Man must have a time to corrupt in which he is to be let alone but in the latter days when his end draws nigh death hastens apace his corruption then begins to open it self and to discover the death which lay hid in it Then that evil which man hoped all this while to secure himself from will begin to manifest it self to be in the nature of his own spirit or in the nature of that sin and corruption which he hid within the nature of his spirit He hath hid his destruction in his own bowels he hath hugged it in his bosom in the midst of all his designs to escape it and in the latter days when it is grown ripe and strong thence it will start seize upon him and devour him When the Lord hath throughly tryed the spirit of man and when man hath throughly corrupted himself then will he lay the ax to the root of this tree and cut it down that it may cumber the ground no longer He hath cut down the Iews already Their latter days wherein evil did befall them have overtaken them and he will also cut down the Gentiles The Iews were not the seed for after the death of Moses they did corrupt themselves and discover that they like the rest of the world were but flesh Neither are the Gentiles the seed for they also after the death of that life which did flow from the Spirit into Christ and his Apostles did also corrupt themselves The uncircumcised and unclean spirit of man did enter into this Temple and Worship as well as into the former Therefore the Lord will both cut down the spirit of man and will also down with all that into which the spirit of man can enter and then will he bring forth his own Truth his true Temple his true Worship his true Worshippers 5. In the ground of this death and destruction to man because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the works of your hands All the motions of man anger God All the works of his hands are filthy and corrupt in themselves and provocative to the eye of his nature and spirit All mans knowledg all his life all his ways of Worship Faith and Obedience in every kind every thing that suits the eye and judgment of his spirit and wherewith he thinks to please God is lothsom to God This lothsomness stirreth up in God his indignation which causeth him in the proper season thereof to bring death upon man and to bring him to Judgment after which cometh the second death Then it shall be known who have been led by the Lord and who have truly followed him though the spirit of man now laughs at all who walk not with him in his way of understanding Then shall all see and know who are righteous and be forced to confess from their very hearts saying Verily there is a reward for the righteous a competent reward a full reward unto them for all the sufferings and misery which have attended them in their way and passage hither Blessed is he whom the Lord leadeth by the proper cross attending every dispensation through trouble and death into life But excessively miserable is that man whose fleshly spirit remaineth in any dispensation or who passeth from dispensation to dispensation with his life unslain therewith feeding upon the Ordinances duties enjoyments or any other holy or spiritual things of God and thereby fattening and fitting himself for death and destruction against the great and terrible day of the Lord God Almighty according as the spirit of Christ in David speaketh Psal. 94.12 13. with a gloss whereupon I shall draw towards a conclusion Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law That thou mayst give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked There is a pit digging for the wicked into which when it is finished when it is every way made large and deep and piercing enough the whole wicked spirit of man shall either fall or be cast or partly fall and partly be cast into it Till this pit be digged it is a troublesome time to the seed but a quiet time with man The spirit of man is now at ease He can serve he can please he can enjoy himself in his whole course both of nature and religion yea and he can also secure himself from future danger from danger at the last He hath made a covenant with death and with Hell is he at agreement When the overflowing scourge passeth it shall not come near him It is for unbeleevers for sinners for persons who know not God or obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ to fear death and Hell or eternal destruction But when this pit is digged the Spirit of the Lord with his light will search out the spirit of man under all his disguises and what ever hath not the true breath of life in it shall be cast into and dye in this pit There are persons also to whom God will give rest from the days of adversity Those who have all along been persecuted by all sorts of enemies and afflicted with all sorts of miseries that spirit which hath been hunted wounded grieved distressed all the day long by the cruel spirit of man and Satan shall be rescued from the jaws of each and be refreshed Those who are leavened with the life of Gods most holy Spirit who are so new-changed by it that they have none of that life none of that spirit left remaining in them which the Lord cometh to destroy the Lord will give them rest When the Lord cometh forth to hunt take and devour the spirit of man those in whom that spirit is already dissolved shall not be in fear or danger of his severity but shall find the abundance of love sweetness peace and rest administred to them by the same hand which will then so eagerly and fiercely prosecute the spirit of man Then they who have hitherto been at ease shall be troubled and they who have hitherto been troubled shall have ease And to you who are troubled rest with us When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed c. 2 Thes. 1. The ways whereby God leadeth his to this rest are
They who are truly dead with Christ are freed by that their death from their former husband the law The life which was married to it died and hath been laid in the grave and there is no marrying or giving in marriage any more even in this sence in the grave or after the Resurrection The life having dyed in that state and dispensation wherein it was brought forth and placed that it might fulfil it and dye and having slain the man also with it yea the very root and spirit of his life If either or both rise up any more they rise up free They can rise no more under the law of that dispensation to which they were slain So that the life in liberty is as it were a Lord over all the dispensations of God which as they are of an inferior nature to this life so it is their proper place to be in subjection to it He in whom the life lives reigns may in or out at pleasure use them or leave them as the light and pleasure of the nature of this life directs him He may take any of them and seem bound under them though in himself he is still free he may leave them off again and manifest his own freedom when he sees his time All things are lawful for me saith the Apostle but all things are not expedient as if he had said I can do any thing I can use any thing but yet withall I know my time My spirit which knoweth the greatness the largenes of my liberty knoweth also how to manage it And he shews as much in his practise for though at one time he could shave himself and enter into the Temple in a way of legal purification yet at another time when certain crept in to espy out his Liberty he would not give place by subjection no not for an hour but would maintain his Liberty in the very face of them He could make use of circumcision himself by vertue of this Liberty for he circumcised Timothy though he tells the Galathians that if they were circumcised Christ would profit them nothing Nor is this Liberty restrained to the life in it self but sinks with the life into the man All things were made for man All Creatures all Ordinances all Laws all Institutions and Commandments not man for them as Christ saith particularly concerning the Sabbath The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath and when man comes to his right place he shall be above them all and they shall all be subservient to him for whose service use and discipline they were made It is true Man in his present estate is a servant under them and enslaved by them yea the life it self though by the right of its own nature it be far more free yet for a season it may lie under greater bonds then man in his condition of slavery hath yet tasted but when the Son groweth up to his freedom he becomes free indeed yea and that man whom he maketh free is free also But it is a great vanity for any to dream of and to think to make use of and live according to this freedom before it be truly brought forth in them It is not by having the cleer notions and apprehensions of Liberty or by taking scope to themselves according to these notions that men become free but it is by the nature growth and advancement of the true life in them from and according to the true light and Power of the Spirit of the Lord. The former is but poor mans aspiring into a state into which he is not rightly led which tends to greater bonds The other is a fair passage through and from under bonds to which that person who is once set free by the truth shall never be reduced For the Lord will maintain that Liberty unto which his own Spirit Life and Power exalteth This is the First thing wherein Liberty consists a disobligation fâ—om all Laws and Ordinances inferior to the nature or life which is bound by them 2. Liberty consists in an exemption from all powers of a Superior nature If Satan may be supposed to be stronger then the life as he is compared with the life in its weakness though he that then stands by the life and taketh care of it is stronger then Satan yet the life shall be free from him The life which deserves to be called free must be out of the reach or fear of his claws The life is not free which Satan may interrupt or at least not while he may interrupt it Satan must down when the life springs up God will trample down Satan before the presence of the life nay under the feet both of man and the creature when the life appears in them The God of peace will tread down the troublesome spirit of Satan under the spirits yea and under the flesh too of all his Saints in the day of their freedom Nay the very Power of God so far as it was dreadful to Christ and to his Saints for they have always complained of that as the most terrible thing which they have had to deal with and indeed it is that that chiefly afflicteth and slayeth them in the hour of their sickness and death though all the time of their life it was their chief support I say this power they must be secured from too in the day of their Liberty God will not now interpose any more with his exercises as he formerly did in his time of nurturing the life but henceforth there issueth nothing from him but what answereth the nature and desire of the life 3. Liberty lyeth and that most of all in the cleerness strength and perfection of life in the temper of the spirit in the nature life and growth of the spirit If the spirit were never so free from all Laws on the one hand and from all powers on the other hand yet if it failed of cleerness strength or perfection of life it could not be perfectly at liberty If it want either light or strength of life to move with it cannot but fall short in its motions and though it were never so free in other respects yet it would still be bound up in the darkness weakness and imperfection of its own nature If mans reason were free from all Laws and bonds whatsoever yet if it were not full in its own nature if it wanted either light or strength in its kind man could not be free either in the exercise or enjoyment of his natural principle And this holds also in the spiritual principle Its Liberty lies in the perfection of its nature therefore though he may have a taste of it before yet he cannot be fully free until he be brought forth in perfection There must be a cleer spirit within a cleer course and passage for the spirit cleer light about the spirit and full strength and vigor in the spirit or there cannot be a through freedom If the spirit have any clouds
afterwards how loftily did they look upon the rest of the world and scorn them even as dogs Neither were the converted Gentiles altogether free from this snare but they were apt likewise to boast not only over the rest of the world but over the Iews also Rom. 11. 2. The flesh will also take advantage hereby to corrupt it self in its Rest. There is a rest for the people of God a rest from all the toilsome motions of the humane spirit which the flesh will lay hold on to neglect what it should do and the doing whereof doth not contradict or interrupt this rest but floweth from it The flesh by this liberty will be apt to think it is become its own and may neglect any duties or ordinances duties of love and service ordinances of worship c. as it shall think good whereas the flesh hath no more liherty in this respect then as it is drenched into and truly led by the spirit The spirit of the Lord is free and so far as our spirit yea and as our flesh also is taken into the spirit of the Lord it partaketh of this freedom But the flesh which is in part thus advanced must know its place and distance It must know as well how to descend stand and walk in its present place relation and order as to ascend and maintain fellowship with the Lord. But this the flesh till it be throughly mortified cannot learn to do but will be continually seeking its own honour and ease and abusing all the light life and liberty of the spirit therefore the Lord hath great reason to keep the flesh very short even in his choicest ones 3. The flesh will also think it hath liberty to do what it pleaseth and so will make use of this liberty to glut it self with all manner of vanity and sensuality The flesh which naturally longeth to take its fill of the delights of the flesh doth as naturally incline to take all advantages and will not stick to bend aside the very light life and liberty of the spirit thereunto O what draughts of vanity will it now swill down when once it feels it self fenced from the fear of that danger which was its only curb Now will every fleshly spirit take its swindg according to its temper and inclination some in more gross and sensual some in more refined and spiritual pollutions Thus that wherein the breath life and spirit of the Gospel lieth An holy Temper an holy Rest and holy Motions the flesh getteth into and corrupteth and thereby eateth out all the excellency and vigor of life which was let out in the dispensation destroyeth that precious savour and leaven which it had from the life conceiveth with some new seed of spiritual filthiness and at last bringeth forth a more unclean filthy birth of the flesh then its womb was capable of before But by love serve one another Man would have liberty to reign He would have every thing serve him He maketh use of his Light his Life his Liberty to serve himself and to make every thing else serve him But the life in Christ and his seed which floweth from the Love of the Father and dwelleth in love delighteth to serve It will be serviceable to every thing but especially to that nature which is the same with it self This nature teacheth it not only self-love which every nature teacheth but also to love its neighbor here as it self Christ though he was a King and had a Kingdom yet he came not here to reign but to serve And all his seed who partake of the same life follow him who is their guide in the same steps As they have the same nature of love with him so the same nature guideth them to the same service of love The love that is in Christ and the love that is in the Saints maketh their humane spirit with all the life liberties and enjoyment of it which it either hath in it self or receiveth by the Gospel to serve both the life of their own spirits and the life in one another and that under all the weaknesses in which it is sown or can grow up It is more pleasant and natural to Christ and his seed to deny their Liberty and enter into bonds for the advantage of others then to enjoy it for their own satisfaction The Liberty of their natures the Liberty of their spirits they cannot lose and as for the Liberty of any outward practise it is not of so much value as to be maintained to anothers prejudice Liberty can exercise and enjoy it self as much in the forbearance as in the use nay it is direct bondage not to be able to wave it in such a case He is a slave he is in bonds he hath not a large and free spirit who can only reign but cannot serve who cannot deny himself with the same ease and content wherewith he observeth himself He is bound up in his Nature he is restrained in his Liberty He is free but in part he hath not arrived at the compleat temper of the life for the life can do both and hath a time and season for both XI Of the low Ebb which the Lord Christ was brought to by his Death and Sufferings PSAL. 22.6 But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people THis is the state and condition of Christ in the time of his Death This is his dying sence or his sence when he is dying of his own state and posture therein In the midst of his life while the Power of God rested in him and the Glory of God shone upon him he was a God and no man He was one with the Father one in substance one in life one in motion operation and enjoyment But now in the season of his Death in the time of his desertion and affliction while that life fails and gives up the ghost for want of the presence and influence of God and by the power and force of the enemy as he was before lifted up far above the state of man so now he falls far beneath it I am a worm and no man That excellency which is in man that excellency which may yet be found in man even in his broken state Christ is stripped of when his own life dies so that in truth he is not a man not so much as a man This is not an hyperbolical or passionate expression but the expression of a true sense from a true understanding Which will appear more cleerly if we consider these things which are most eminent in man as his Beauty his Majesty his Wisdom his Strength his Intercourse with God all which Christ was stripped of in the time of his Death in all which respects he was more like to a worm then a man 1. For the Beauty of man Man is evidently the most lovely the most comely piece of the whole Creation He is as it were the extract the quintescence of the Creation
exactly formed As Christ is exactly formed to be the beloved of God so Man is exactly formed to be the beloved of Christ. And as the Godhead pleaseth it self in the beauty and loveliness of Christ so Christ and in him the Godhead pleaseth himself in the loveliness of man God saith to Christ and Christ saith to man Thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee Long before this world was both the delight of God and of Christ was in and about man Before the mountains were settled c. While as yet he had not made the Earth nor the fields c. Then was I by him Rejoycing in the habitable parts of his Earth and my delights were with the sons of men Prov. 8.25 26. 30 31. 2. There is a Majesty in man God who appointed man to be his Vicegerent set a stamp of his own Majesty upon him And this is yet to be seen in man there are the reliques of it yet in his nature and a sense thereof in the nature of the Creatures There is a stamp of subjection upon all the creatures and a stamp of dominion and Majesty in man 3. There is Wisdom in man Man is as it were the head of the wisdom of the Creation Man hath a light in him beyond the Creature whereby he can comprehend it mannage it and make it to serve him He hath a great root and principle of wisdom in him whereby he knoweth both God himself and the creature and can effect strange things He can foresee and provide for good and against evil He can search out what he wants yea and make use of what he finds Look upon the wisdom which man yet hath and ye shall find that he is as it were a God and liveth like a God in compare with the rest of the Creation 4. Man hath Strength too Strength sutable to his estate Take him with that addition which his wisdom adds to his strength and he can doe great things Take him with his engines and he is stronger then any other part of the Creation nay then all the rest of the Creation put together What can he not do what can he not suffer The Spirit of a man will beare his infirmities All the infirmities which ordinarily befall man nay all the infirmities proper to man there is strength in the spirit of man to graple with Indeed when God doth break man when God doth wound him then he groweth weak but otherwise man hath a great deal of strength yet remaining The Egyptians are men and not God and their Horses flesh and not spirit when the Lord shall stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall down and they all shall fail together O what a weak thing is man in the midst of all his strength when God comes to deal with him But set God aside and who knoweth his strength What buildings would man raise what defences would he make for himself what would he be what would he do what would he suffer did not the Lord provide a worm to gnaw at the Root of his spirit 5. Man hath a kind of intercourse with God He is yet neerer to God and hath yet more converse with him then the residue of the Creation His relation is of it self closer and his Communion more intimate God speaketh more directly to him provideth more directly for him Gods voice to and care over things is in a great degree in reference to him and for his sake And he knoweth God loveth God trusteth in God calleth upon God in another way and after another manner then the rest of the Creatures can There is yet a touch left there yet remains a wilde portraict of the glorious work of God upon man This is in part a taste of the excellency of man this is his nature this is his life this is his estate still in some degree though fallen exceedingly short of its own glory truth and fulness But now The life of Christ is far beyond the life of man He exceeds man further then man doth the creatures The Beauty of Christ wonderfully exceeds the beauty of man Christs beauty is of a deeper a purer a more inward nature The very rayes and lustre of the inward spirit of the divinity dwell in him and shine from his face There is wonderful beauty in the nature visage and in all the motions of the life and spirit of Christ His faith his love his sweetness meekness patience c. O how resplendent All that is beautifull in man he hath in him after a much more lovely manner and a peculiar beauty of his own besides And so his Majesty is also far greater Man in all his Majesty cannot but admire at and bow before the Majesty of Christ in his person words and gestures He appeared like one of another region He spake with another manner of spirit and in such a way as was sutable to the Majesty of his own spirit He taught as one having authority And though he was exceeding full of love and tenderness yet his Majesty kept his disciples so in awe that they durst not ask him any question but very humbly and with great fear and reverence The Wisdom also of Christ did far transcend the wisdom of Man The root thereof was of a better kind planted in better earth deeper rooted more carefully attended and of a better growth Christ was able by the skill and vertue of his nature to contrive spiritual designs to manage spirituall affairs to provide for spirituall good and against spirituall evil yea far more skilfull was he in his spiritual estate then man in his naturall A very wise and understanding shepheard able to walk himself and guide all his sheep through all danger distractions oppositions intricacies and deaths into the full truth and substance of life And the Strength of Christ is great too What cannot Christ do what cannot Christ suffer The Life of Christ can better dye its death then man can his It can goe through weakness better It can endure to be far more weak and in that weakness dye a far more bitter death It can run through all conditions all duties all afflictions all dispensations with ease and delight I know how to want saith Paul and how to abound yea I can do all things through Christ strengthening me And in another place he instanceth in the worst and hardest things expressing at what an height he felt his life able to maintain it self in the very midst of them Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake for when I am weak then am I strong 2 Cor. 12.10 Lastly Christs intercourse with God how sweet how full is it He is ever conversing with God God is ever conversing with him He eyeth God in every thing in all spiritual motions in all natural motions In spiritual motions he hath to do with nothing
but him in natural motions he hath to do with him chiefly He is the chief thing which God eyeth and God is the chief thing which he eyeth in every thing I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Psal. 16.8 Mark There is a mutual conjunction a natural union between God and Christ for this posture of each here floweth from it and pointeth at it they place themselves by one another they mind one another they stand by and to one another Christ seteth God before him and God placeth himself by Christ standeth at his right hand and this is their mutual content delight and safety They are well secure and perfectly at hearts-ease while they are together All misery from the begining to the end ariseth from their separation and distance and will soon vanish when the whole course of that is perfectly over Thus Christ is in his life But now in the death of Christ it is far otherwise Christ in his death falls not only beneath this Glory but also beneath the glory of man God when he breaketh Christ breaketh him more terribly then he hath yet broken man leaveth not so much excellency in him as he hath yet left in man but he beholdeth himself and who ever can look upon him shall find him more in the condition of a worm then a man There is no more beauty in him then in a worm no more majesty in him then in a worm no more wisdom or strength in him then in a worm He hath lost all his light and all his strength in the things of God He knoweth not how to beleeve hope pray or do any thing which requireth life and assistance from God and yet his nature cannot but do these things in a very vehement manner though not after the same rate of understanding and life which he possessed before nor with the aid of so powerful an influence But in what ever he is or does or what ever befals him God regards him not God takes no more notice of him then of a worm Christ who served God with the strength of his life all the days of his life what a stranger is God unto him in the time of his death Call he may again and again in his extremity for relief for support for somewhat to stay his fainting spirit but no news no return no regard from God no more then the worm has that crauls upon the ground My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night and there is no silence to me Psal. 22.1 2. I am a worm and no man A reproach of men That is somewhat more Man is pitied by man in his broken estate but Christ is reproached To have been high and then to fall low is a matter of reproach especially where a further ascent was spoken of and asserted Christ and the people of God talk of neerness to God and further advancement by God yea of perfection in God therefore when they are thus forsaken as they are really and perfectly forsaken in that fleshly dispensation wherein they are at first brought forth and for a season assisted and owned and their life broken and slain they become a grievous reproach Man cannot forbear upbraiding Christ when he beholdeth him dying When man feels his own life which Christ so disdained and still testified against I say when man feels this so far above the Life of Christ as it appears to be and indeed is when Christ is dying he cannot but reproach Christ. Christ is such a proper object of scorn to the spirit of man in the time of his death as cannot but draw forth scorn from him For man to see and feel himself alive and free from that death wherewith he was threatened and the death to fall upon Christ who threatened it even such a death as concludes his death for ever to mans eye and secures man from all that danger which might accrue to him from the Power of Christs Life and which man might stand in some feare of this cannot but stir in man the spirit of derision and cause him in his very heart to reproach Christ. A reproach of men And despised of the people Christ in his death is not only a reproach to man but to the very people of God also The fleshly people of God cannot but then despise this life As they cannot but in some degree honour it when they see the sweet and powerful shining forth of it Never man spake like this man He hath done all things well c. So they cannot but despise it when they see it declining Such is the temper of fleshly Israel and such the way of Christs appearing that the truth and glory of his life is more hidden from them then from the world and their despite of him in his death is greater O how they please themselves in their fleshly zeal and devotion when they find the spirit and life of Christ dying in and passing through his flesh All they that see me laugh me to scorn There is nothing feels greater contempt nor more universal then Christ in his death The eye of man universally contemneth him yea the whole heart of man laughs at him with the greatest derision and disdain that can be High low rich poor Jew Gentile and every sort and sect among each loath Christ in this state He is now become the abhoring of all flesh They jeer at him they trample upon him with the greatest laughter and scorn and without the least regret They spit in his face they buffet him they shoot out the lip they shake the head He is a worm and no man with them too He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him This is one expression of the great contumely in their spirits This is the man that trusted on God for deliverance This is that great and glorious life which came from God which so depended upon God which was so sure to be secured by God The wisdom of man should fall the strength of man should fall but he should be preserved and delivered by God He would not walk in the way of man nor he should not come to the end of man God loatheth man in the midst of all his wisdom righteousness and excellency but this is the beloved of God the delight of God Behold now what he is Behold now where he is Now let God arise and save his choyce one his beloved one He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him if he delight in him O foolish man Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into his Glory If Christ will reap the great Glory and riches of the increase of his life ought he not to reduce it into a seed and to sow that seed in a
womb of death sutable to the nature of it O vain man never wast thou more deceived Thou seemest to have the foundations of thy life secured while Christ is dying but discernest not how the foundations of thy death and of his Life and Glory are hereby laid Use. Observe the difference between Christ and the people of God in the time of their life and in the time of their death Christ dyed and the People of God must dye too They that have life from Christ must dye with Christ. As Christ laid down that life which he received from the Father in his flesh so must the People of God also lay down or sacrifice that life which they receive from Christ. Every Disciple of Christs must taste of his cup drink of his baptism They that have lived with him and tasted the strength and glory of his life must also drink of the bitterness of his death for that is their way to enter into glory as well as his The same life in them as it tends to the same end so it requires the same passage And how lovely soever they were in their life how great soever the majesty wisdom and strength of their life how sweet and familiar soever their converse with God c. yet all these will run low enough in the time of their death They will be weak enough and foolish enough and blind enough not being able either to chuse the good or refuse the evil O how glorious is a Christian in the time of his life how he flourisheth with leaves and with fruits of several kinds But he is bare enough of all in his death Then he can be nothing then he can appear nothing Then he can do nothing Then he can bear nothing He knoweth not how to subsist nor which way to turn him But of this more under the next Head XII Of the low Estate which the Seed of Christ are reduced unto by their Death and Sufferings PROV 30.2 Surely I am more brutish then any man and have not the understanding of a man THis is the voyce of them in whom the life of God is sown in their broken state When that life springeth up growing and flourishing in them then they are exalted far beyond man then they have a deeper understanding and fuller enjoyment then man is capable of That life that glory which then shineth in them man cannot but vail unto But according to their exaltation is their humiliation for when that life is shattered they fall far beneath man They have not that wisdom that strength that righteousness that excellency which is in man Surely I more brutish then man and have not the understanding of man Man is very brutish man is very shallow He is brutish in his desires and affections shallow in his comprehension Very little knowledg very little understanding hath man so little it is that it can hardly distinguish him from the brutes yea he is so brutish or rather worse that he doth not follow the guidance of that little he hath Man that excellent Image of the Almighty is become like the perishing beasts His knowledg his affections his motions his course his end are just like theirs as is observed by the wise Searcher into the nature of things Eccles. 3.18 19. Man is not at all like God or like himself he hath not a quick understanding or sense in the ways or things of God but in his springing up growth progress and behavior in the world as also in his passage again out of the world is just like a brute But the child the heir in his broken state falls beneath this brutish state of man Man falls below the creature man loseth that sense and knowledg in his kind which the very creatures retain in their kind The Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Masters crib c. and the life in the seed falls below man Great is the death of the common creature Greater is the death of man but O how deep how deadly is the death of the seed How deep in their grave How low do they sink into the bowels of the great Abyss All things which the Lord hath as yet brought forth he causeth to pass through the jaws of death And their death is proportionable to the condition and degree of their life None tasted of such a life as Christ None also of such a death save his seed who drink of his Cup and are baptized with his Baptism O how low was Christ brought in his broken state when he was forsaken of his God! He was not inapprehensive himself of it what ever we now judg it when he cryed out I am a worm and no man I am not a man I have not the knowledg of a man the life of a man the excellency of a man the defence of a man I can find nothing fit to compare my meanness and misery unto but the most contemptible of the creatures a worm which hath no understanding no excellency no ability no manner of loveliness in it Now the servant is no better then his Master The members have the same nature course and condition with the head The life in them must be broken They must be brought low They must also be stripped of God and then the vessel which was exalted hereby will feel pain shame and misery Then they will become more brutish then man and want that common understanding of man the greatest tincture and excellency whereof they now so much despise Well may they now flourish and be brisk over man but seasons of death will overtake them and then their spirits will be flat and low enough This condition of theirs is made up of these three things A throughly broken state in it self A through sense of it in themselves and a through sight and contempt of it by the world 1. A throughly broken state in it self As the life and nature of Christ and his seed is true and through so is also their breaking There is a double breaking of them A breaking of the liquor and a breaking of the vessel There is a breaking of the seed or inward life or of the heavenly part and there is a breaking of the outward nature or earthly part wherein it was sown and which was transformed and made happy by it There is nothing of the new life no nor yet any thing of the old nature left whole when this death is perfected This quick spirit This quickened nature each are become nothing in themselves but only like a lump of dead clay fit to be made any thing by any thing which hath skill and vertue to form This poor Land which was once the pleasant habitation of God is made empty desolate and ruined This is the true state of Christ and his seed in their death And though man seem to himself both to desire and in some measure to attain this condition yet he is as far off from the true nature of either as he
is from the true knowledg of himself Man would fain be broken There is an apprehension upon him that the way to life is through death for this which he possesseth he may see he may feel and so may easily be convinced that it is not life and therefore he cannot but long and earnestly desire to pass through it that so he may come at life But this Baptism none can baptize himself with He alone can do it who baptized Christ. It is the Life alone which is capable of this breaking for the outward vessel belonging to the seed or in which the seed is sown hath its capacity in and from the Life and he alone can break it who formed it The Lord alone can build and the Lord alone can destroy this kind of fabrick This wise and accurate destruction requireth the same skill and vertue which issued out and built up the nature and Life of Christ and his seed The Prince of darkness can never attain so much as to administer any degree of this death further then he is inabled instructed and assisted thereunto from the root of all things whose wisdom skill and power goeth along perfectly in every thing though it be not comprehended in or apprehended by any thing Now as all death and brokenness hath affliction and misery in it so this beyond all And as man will aspire after this death so he will fancy that he hath this kind of misery upon him but yet in the midst of all his pangs he knoweth not what belongs to it There are three great scenes in the death of Christ in each of which there are many various strains steps and degrees all which man can imitate very accurately but cannot reach to the truth of any of them 1. There is the death of corruption The life and spirit of Christ cometh forth with power against the corruption of mans nature and with the sword of God slayeth it in so much as he in whom the life of Christ is truly sown and springeth up shall find himself dying unto his sinfull nature dayly This is one scene 2. There is the death of the excellency of mans nature Sin must dye and righteousness must live yea and then righteouseness must dye also When the life of Christ at first breaks forth in man O says he that this filthy nature might be destroyed and that I might be brought forth in holiness and righteousness but little doth he then think that all this holiness and righteousness must come to judgment and dye also The Spirit of the Lord can judge and find fault with the very nature and life of the Image of God not as it is now corrupted but as it was at first planted in the first Adam The same God which sindeth fault with the first Covenant can also find fault with the first creature as it was brought forth under that covenant and can so judge it unto death and destruction 3. There is the death of the Son even of all the excellency of his life and nature as it was brought forth in the flesh Eternal life in the life thus received dyeth Christ thus alive dyeth even to the nature of this his life and to the spirit from whom he received it The Spirit who gave him this life and who kept this life pure in him he slayeth it yea Christ himself offereth up this life without spot to God through the eternal Spirit These are the three parts or stages of death which God mentioned at the beginning upon mans fall namely The death of the Serpent the death of man and the death of the Son Now there are counterfeits of all these Many seem to be dead to their corruptions who are not and many seem to be dead to the excellency of nature when it is but by the skill life and excellency of nature that they attain this seeming death Many also seem to drink very deep into the death of the Son who never yet tasted of that life of his which is to dye This is the first thing whereof this condition consists viz. A throughly broken state in it self 2. To this there is added in the second place a through sense of it in themselves They are not only broken but they feel themselves broken They are not only stripped and left naked but they feel both their stripping and nakedness In other cases a man may be poor and miserable yea blind and naked and yet take himself to be rich and happy c. but it is not so here This kind of breaking is lively and of quick sense in the spirits of them that are broken This is such a death as he throughly feels who dyes Christ felt himself to be a worm and the seed of Christ feel their brutishness and want of understanding Adam was cast into a deep sleep while Eve was formed out of him but Christ is awake and by the quickness of his awakened spirit forms his Church and the vigor of that life in his Church suffers in its death 3. There is also a through sight and contempt of it by the world and of them because of it God carries on the death of Christ and his seed openly in the eye of the world As God kindleth and setteth up this lamp in the view of the world so he putteth it out also in their view The symptomes of this death the symptomes of this breaking are so visible and manifest that it cannot be hid That life that power that activity that stirring of God in their spirits words behavior whole course c. is put out and gone They as manifestly appear all this season in the world without it as formerly they did with it And the world now despiseth them That which gained esteem and glory from the world being gone they cannot but despise them and so much the more by how much they began to honour them There is such a lustre and glory in the life of Christ when at any time it discovers it self within mans center as man cannot but acknowledg and subject himself with all his life and excellency before but when man sees all this fallen and himself still standing where he was This which made such an appearance above him being fallen beneath him Christ being dead and he alive how can he now but despise this appearance of the life and lustre of Christ and so much the more because of its former glory The exceeding low fall of the highest glory is most contemptible Never man spake as Christ spake and never man did as Christ did even to the eye and in the sense of the world He hath done all things well c. What Power and Authority did he bear in the very spirits and consciences of his greatest adversaries How did he every where so take with the people that his malicious and unjust enemies durst never meddle with him But in his death in his broken state he lost all He was not only a worm and no man when he
was forsaken of his God in the truth of his estate and condition but he also felt it and he did not only feel it himself but his enemies saw it too yea it was palpable to the common eye of the people and to all that beheld him All that see me laugh me to scorn they shooâ— the lip they shake the head saying He trusted in God th the would deliver him c. Is this the man that had so much interest in God Is this the man in whom the Power of God did so appear and who could do such mighty things by the Power and Vertue of God Is his Doctrine and Miracles his great Union and Communion come to this They shake their heads as at a deceit as at a delusion as at a piece of vanity they mock they spit upon him they buffet him c. They crown him in derision They reproach yea they abhor in their spirits the very power of his life in the day of his death Use. Behold O Christians the death of the life of Christ behold the Baptism of Christ the miserable passage to the Crown If ye will become Christs ye must dye not only to the corruption and shame but also to all the glory and excellency of this world and yet not stop there neither The life of Christ will put out the life of all other things and when it hath done so there is a death for it too The Spirit of Christ in the seed must pass through its own blood into the holy of holies Alas Sirs If there were nothing to pass through but a death to this world what an easie matter were it comparatively to be a Christian What an easie matter were it to despise and trample upon this world by vertue of such an excellent life in the Spirit To have that spirit in the seed broken which delights or may delight in the world it is bitter indeed to man but alas that bitterness is nothing in compare with that bitterness which ariseth from the breaking of the new life in the new spirit Would ye know what this is Why measure it by this by the sweetness of this life Do ye know how sweet it is to taste the true nature of the Life of God! to enjoy and live upon the breath of his Spirit to walk in the light and love of the Lord If ye truly know these things the true sweetness of them then ye may be able to give a guess at what it is to have them broken But as there have been counterfeit Images all along of the Life of Christ so are there also of his Death O what pains do several sorts of men take to find out this Death yea and to meet with the anguish of it but all to no purpose for the Lord alone can light and the Lord alone can extinguish this Lamp I kill and I make alive This holdeth true every where but here most especially The Lord alone can bring forth the next strain of life and the Lord alone can bring into this narrow passage of death XIII The Course and End of Man DEUT. 31.29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt your selves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you and evil will befall you in the latter days because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the works of your hands THis people who were the choyce of God among whom the seed of life was sown was a type of the spirit of man truly representing his nature and state more especially in these five particulars following 1. In his difficulty to be woond up to the mind and will of God in any dispensation There was a great deal of work with this people to bring them to any pass Continual Instructions continual Corrections a mighty current of Power and Providence did God both put forth and maintain to cause them to beleeve and obey both in Egypt and in the Wilderness and yet it proved a very difficult task to winde them up to either Thus it is with the spirit of man God is at a very great expence to bring him to any thing He is fain to let forth of his own Spirit of his own Light of his own Power and batter him out of all his fleshly holds before he can bring him to submit to him and walk with him in any of his dispensations 2. In his sudden backsliding This people did naturally fall from God They were hardly drawn up but did slide down of themselves What a work had God with them to make them beleeve and wait upon him what a many wonderful Works did he shew to draw them up to trust him to follow him to love him c. but alas how soon did they forget his Works and retire back into the fleshly principle and course of the Heathen and this both in Egypt and in the Wilderness and also in Canaan Thus it is also with the spirit of man Let God never so powerfully convince and engage him in the light and life of his spirit yet he naturally slinks back from it He corrupts himself in every dispensation of the Lord seting up his own lusts there serving them and forgetting the Lord his Maker and Redeemer He makes every path and truth either of the Law or Gospel serve his own carnal spirit in so much as though he walk in all the ways of the Lord as he accounts them yet he serves himself in all and not the Lord in any Mans flesh mans reason nay mans vanity and corruption gets into every way of the Lord polluting it self there and prophaning all the holy things of God It turns out of that which is indeed the way and walks in that which though it still calls it the way yet is not but only a way of its own for the very Ordinances and Institutions of God after the spirit of man hath entered into them and molded them to his own bent God will no longer own them but terms them his ways and inventions 3. In the season of mans corrupting himself which is after Moses his death after the death of the Witnesses after the departure or death of that life in him which seized upon him overcame him and as it were forced him into the ways of God When the light of God cometh down upon man and overbeareth his spirit he cannot but follow it but when that light is gone he returneth to himself again He turneth from the life from the purity of that into which he was led retaining only so much as will serve the ease quiet content and satisfaction of his own corrupt spirit There are gales of the Spirit of God which descend upon this earth the spirit of man Where these blow strongly man is hugely changed He hath as it were a new spirit in him whereby he is after a sort naturally led to follow the Lord. But when the Lord withdraweth this breath his
in Scripture as in Cain and Abel Isaac and Ishmael Esaiâ— and Iacob the Iews and Gentiles the Gentiles again a spiritual seed and the Jews or natural seed for none of these were the truth it self but several shadows and representations of it under which the truth lay and through which it did sometimes a little start up and peep forth Adam was not the humanity but an Hierogliphick of it his body was not the body nor his Spirit the Spirit but an Hierogliphick of each and the poor weak shadow in coming forth is lost but the substance being safe recovereth its shaddow again The great Lord hath his stay and his Comedies and Tragedies with there several Acts and Scenes He bringeth forth his great principle of good and his great principle of evil and these have Powers and opperations and circuits sutable to themselves and sutable to him whose they are and they act their part in all their limits upon this stay Now of this the Scriptures treat bringing forth first God the principle of light with his Creation then Satan the principle of darkness with his destruction and so the seed of both and the contest of both to the end with the several salvations and destructions appertaining to each Now mark God hath two seeds the natural the spiritual the outward the inward the humanity the divinity Both these were sown in Adam Both these were covered with darkness Both these are recovered and restored by that which is the substance of each neither whereof was in Adam but only the Image and that a natural one too for the spiritual was reserved for Christ in whom the substance was to dwell He was an heavenly man in his make and production as an Adam was an earthly This was again written over in Abraham through whom God produceth and embraceth both the seeds both the natural and the spiritual yet suffereth them both to go into their proper Egypts to go into Captivity to be slaves to be in bondage in the land of darkness and thence again he redeemeth them by his own out-stretched Arm by the substance of his own life and Power out of Egypt have I called my Son Answerably the Devil hath two seeds he hath a spiritual and a fleshly seed as well as a spiritual and fleshly wickedness which he hath sown every where throughout the whole Creation and it is the meeting of these with the seeds of God which maketh such Earthquakes their very natures opposing clashing and fighting like fire and water and there will never be any quietness till both be taken into their places These seeds I mean each of darkness and each of light for there is the outward and inward seed of both are the one of them the wicked the ungodly the sinners the children of darkness whose principle is darkness whose estate is darkness whose course is darkness and whose end is death and destruction And the other are holy righteous the children of light whose principle estate course and end is life and salvation And this is it which was pointed at in all the shadows which were chosen to signifie it in the Scriptures The different constitution and condition of these seeds is such that the one thriveth and flourisheth in his sin and wickedness the other fainteth and almost perisheth in his righteousness only he hath somewhat in hopes somewhat to hope for in the end which to the other is dismal Mark the perfect man and behold the upright the end of that man is peace There is one thing further which would be well observed or it may occasion great mistakes which is this God though he be light yet he hath his proper darkness wherewith he covereth himself he clouds himself with thick darkness and so he doth also his seed And the Devil though he be the principle of darkness yet he hath also his light wherewith he clothes himself and his off-spring But this darkness of God and his seed is light in the root and the light of the Divil and his off-spring is darkness in the root There is a mighty mistery in this in Gods excercising each of his seeds towards salvation under that which cannot save them and yet both think they are in the direct and certain path of salvation under each Thus did the Iews or natural seed in their day and thus did the Gentiles or spiritual seed in their day But the Lord breaketh each of these ways of administration and bringeth about his salvation unto each in a way that they are not aware of The seed whether or natural or spiritual may be dashed and broken in all the pathes of every administration wherein the spirit of man may be broken and yet come safe to harbor at last for the life which is in the seed or root in respect of all its shootings up through the natural spirit and all the motions opperations and several sorts of fruit which it beareth there whereby it shineth so gloriously in the view of man may retire or be driven back into the seed or root yet remaining there it is safe in respect of the substance of the promise though it should lye equally open to the same loss with the spirit of man in all dispensations which depend upon the motions and exercise of life That promise which dependeth upon the nature of the thing cannot be lost where the nature remains but all those promises which depend upon the qualifications motions or opperations of the thing must needs fail where those qualifications motions and operations cease Thus there is none at a greater loss then the seed for there is none besides them have that to lose None besides themselves have that true life that true sweetness and communion with God to lose which they have and yet none in their loss are in so great safety and at so great certainty for that which they lose being substantial is not perfectly lost but retired shrunk back into its root where it cannot but strengthen it self and so spring up again with advantage Now what children are we in understanding all our knowledg being but about a dispensation nay but about the shadow of a dispensation and yet how short are we in that how little of truth do we know there III. Of Radical or Original Knowledg THe Root Spring or Original of all things is perfect unity and being perfect unity is also perfect variety comprehending all things in it self in intire oneness how vastly different or contrary soever they appear when they come forth out of it All the varieties and contrarieties in this world came out of one common mass All the differences and distinctions of Nature out of one common nature He who could look upon them there how closely knit in oneness would he find them notwithstanding their great diversities and antipathies here but if any could look into the root how much more one should he find them there In this root there are too other roots as I may so say
two principles two seeds two fountains of things perfectly one there yet even there being and having that which is the cause of all their distance and difference elswhere and yet perfectly different nay contrary in their springing forth and in their whole course from thence The one is of life the other of death the one of good the other of evil the one of darkness the other of light the one of sweetness the other of bitterness so that from one spring come those two Fountains from the one whereof issue the fresh cleer sweet living waters from the other the putrified muddy bitter dead waters The head of the one of these is called God in which springs up life the power of life the vertue of Creation Preservation Redemption Restoration Salvation c. The head of the other is called Satan because of its enmity to this in its nature productions and operations it striving to swallow up and destroy all the light all the good all the sweetness all the happiness which the other bringeth forth Now both these as they have their rise so they have their strength from the root from which if they were not continually fed they could not continue their vertues or go through their operations The power of life failing in the one and the power of death in the other they would soon grow weak Of such sprouting forth of different and contrary things from one and the same root we see emblems every where dayly How many contrary designs and parts do flow from one and the same principle of wisdom in man which are very evident when he gives them a visible being and bringing forth in a Comedy or Tragedy This name God Iehovah which gave being Iah the preserver of breath Adonai the stay or piller of all things Zur the rock and so all the other names of God are relative referring to the Creature or opening somewhat of him which refers to the Creature and is convenient and necessary for it in its present station and condition They are not any of them proper to the root and spring of all things originally but only in reference to other things for not that knowledg which is most naked and natural but that which is most useful to this present state is alone dispenced yet by this name GOD the Scripture doth not only point at this springing head of Power but at the root it self Now as God is a distinct root from Satan so there is in him life and no death light and no darkness truth and no lye good and no evil And such are all his productions effects and operations such is all the seed which he soweth and all the death and darkness which springs up in any is from the contrary power it is from the enemies seed and of the enemies sowing So that take God thus there is no darkness nothing but light in him no hatred nothing but love in him God is love But now understand under this word God the inmost the utmost the universal Root the root of all roots natures and principles not as distinct from any thing but as comprehending every thing and then it includes death as much as life darkness as much as light c. and excludes light as much as darkness life as much as death Indeed there is neither here but both as much as one No light No darkness No life no death No good no evil No love no hatred but only one thing which cannot be named which comprehendeth all these perfectly and where they all are in such a way as is sutable to the root but not at all as they appear here But of what use is this knowledg now or what certainty is there in it as yet It is of too deep a nature for our present constitution We may make our selves drunk with it and thereby unfit for our present station but we cannot soberly comprehend and manage it Such as think to digest it and thereby to advance themselves above the nature and state not only of men but of the highest Christians are they not in stead thereof thereby humbled not only beneath Christianity but beneath manhood too For my part I profess I would not though I fairly might aspire beyond my present state That knowledg which I allow in my desires is that alone which is proper for me where I am If I were a brute I would not torment and break that my portion of Being in pieces by aspiring after the knowledg of a man Nor as I am do I desire to make my self miserable by grasping at that which I cannot measure Had I but a sufficient light and guidance in the path wherein I am set it would be enough for me at present and I could pass on very comfortably with it Yet let me not injure these things since they have been so freindly to me which I would not willingly do though they had been mine enemies I perceive they did spring up in my spirit with that kind of demonstration which they brought along with them as a necessary guard in some cases and so they have been of some kind of use to me and may to others more then to satisfie any desire I had after them or any delight I could take in them I shall conclude this thus This world is a Stage where several things come forth appear and act their parts Thus we see them But we see not what they were before they were formed for this present act on this present stage nor what they now are in their principle Therefore all our knowledg and experience is vanity Happy is he who can make the best of this present state of things since there is no possibility of proceeding further without turmoiling himself to form it into what it cannot be or to discover that of it which was never intended for nor can be exposed to his eye IV. Of the Word the Spirit and Faith under each Administration both that of the Law and that of the Gospel with an hint at their further tendency 1. Of the Word IN the Word there are two things the letter and the spirit besides a third thing hidden which is the root and substance of both The letter is the outward part the outward description of Truth the shadow or shell which points out and contains the spirit or kernel The spirit is the inward part the truth it self the substance of the shadow the kernel within the shell This appeareth in each Dispensation both of Law and Gospel There was letter and spirit in each spirit in the Law letter in the Gospel The Gospel was couched under the Law and the Law is hid within the Gospel So that as from under the Law-dispensation the Gospel breaketh forth and swalloweth up the Law so under the Gospel-dispensation the Law breaketh out and becometh a vail over the Gospel But here now is the difference between Law and Gospel Though there was letter and spirit in both yet the letter was
by which she is exalted and adorned in her greatest seemingly spiritual glory it is the root of the spirit which begets brings forth and feeds Sion even in her lowest ebb and diminution So that mark now you shall finde the same things in both All that you can finde in Sion you may finde in Babylon there is not any knowledg there is not any practise which the spirit of man cannot take up nay and perhaps go through with better then the seed but yet there is a vast difference they are still of a different nature which difference floweth from the difference of the root Therefore if a man will indeed know his estate and condition it is not to be done so much by considering of any thing that is in him or of any thing that floweth from him barely in it self as to search out thereby and therein the root from which it proceedeth Not so much to conclude I am safe because I repent or beleeve but to find out the true root from whence these flow to seek for the true nature in the things themselvs To make this to be more manifest I shall instance in some things of the greatest consequence and shew that the distinction among them doth arise from the nature of their root as particularly in these 1. In Regeneration 2. In Knowledg 3. In Repentance 4. In Faith 5. In Love 6. In Experience 7. In Liberty All which may grow from each from the root of mans nature dressed and purified and so be fleshly or from a new nature from the new creation of God in Christ and so be spiritual 1. For Regeneration You will say for a man to be born again this is the greatest evidence of life that can be yea but Regeneration it self is according to the nature of the root Mans spirit may enter into the womb of flesh and there be born again so saith Christ here speaking of regeneration speaking of the second birth that which is born of the flesh is flesh A man may be new born in Religion by the flesh that is by the use of his own wisdom and reason of serving and considering the things that are discovered by God in his dispensations especially if they be held out very cleerly and miraculously as the case was here Any man who had been ingenious might have acknowledged what Nicodemus did here That Christ was a teacher come from God and so consequently that there was just ground to receive his doctrine and beleeve in him Now that regeneration which ariseth hence which is from flesh which is from the use of any wisdom reason understanding or power in man it is according to this root it is a change of flesh from flesh into flesh it is all along but a fleshly change it is not the change of a mans spirit into a new nature but only a change of the shape and form of it The man indeed seems mightily changed unto himself new-born new-made he is not what he was but a new thing hath new thoughts of God new desires towards God new hopes a new life and conversation and so it is with him in a kind in a sence he is not what he was he is new but all this newness is but the newness of the flesh it is but the putting on a new garment a new dress on the old man on the old wisdom reason understanding ingenuity and integrity which belongs to the nature of Adam and may easily be found in that nature where it is any thing awakened and polished But now that regeneration which is from God that man who is brought forth again in the womb of his spirit that man who hath a new root from the seed of his life this change is truly spiritual this man is truly spirit cast this man into what shape and form you will he is still spirit The other mans Religion consists in his form which the sweetness and ingenuity of his earthly principle feeds it self in and exerciseth it selfe about so that take away his form and you take away his Religion but this mans Religion consists in the nature of his spirit in the nature of that root from which his spirit came and which it is one with 2. As touching Knowledg Knowledg is the next thing to the new birth when a man is new born in any kinde he is still brought forth into a new light in which he is to live according to which he is to move and act and by which he is to be perfected Now the spirit of man may be brought forth in any kind of knowledg light of every sort is surable to his spirit and according to the breaking of it forth still he can take it in Indeed what can more fully distinguish the Children of light then light and yet what light cannot the spirit of man the Child of darkness transform himself into what truth what mystery can be revealed which the spirit of man cannot suck in Though I had the gift of prophecy saith the Apostle and understood all mysteries and all knowledg c. and wanted love implying the possibility of such a thing There is a rationality in all the things of God which the reason of man may reach especially if it be assisted by God and yet that man not have a divine root in himself for want of which his knowledg cannot be call'd truly divine though it be from above The things themselves may be from above the discovery of them to him may be from above yea he may receive divine help in the receiving of them and yet that in him which receiveth them may be but flesh and may receive but the flesh of them Man receiveth but the rationality but the outward nature but the external knowledg of the things of God not the inward substance So that all his knowledg in heavenly things wherwith he abounds is but fleshly it is not true knowledg it is not the knowledg of the truth it is not true light it is not the light of the Lord it is not the light of a spirit lighted from the Spirit of the Lord but a light of man or if you will a fleshly light of God at which man hath lighted his fleshly spirit All the light which mans spirit is capable of in the things of God doth not argue life doth not argue truth to accompany it because it may be borne of the flesh and so be fleshly nay indeed is and cannot but be so All his knowledg of God of Christ of Sin Death Hel of life salvation and happiness and the way to each c. be it never so cleere and never so full in the heart yet it is all but fleshly because it is in a fleshly spirit proceeding from a fleshly root and can give forth it self but according to its own nature and can be received in but according to the capacity of that which receiveth it As man who receiveth these things into himself springs from a root
of flesh and is flesh so that which he receiveth of the things of God is but fleshly He himself under all his spiritual changes as he accounteth them and with all his spiritual notions is but flesh But now he which is spirit all the knowledg which he hath is spiritual the least degree of his light is spiritual He that is born of the spirit is brought forth into the true light into the light of the spirit where he seeth and discerneth the things of God in their own true nature He knoweth the true God and his very Son Iesus Christ He knoweth the true Death the true Life the true Resurrection and Glory of the Son yea he learneth and knoweth in his own order and place all the truths of God not as they are held forth by each man but as they are in Iesus Let knowledg come never so fleshlily clothed to him he thrusts off all that is flesh of it and receives in nothing but spirit whereas the other let knowledg come never so spiritually to him receiveth in and can receive in only the flesh of it 3. For Repentance which is a dying unto sin which is natural unto him that is new-born and brought into the light This the spirit of man can do too and cannot but do Every change in him from every kind and degree of corruption whereof there is dayly occasion ministered unto him causeth repentance Mans natural spirit opened to see it self cannot but repent it cannot but make him loath himself his own nature his own state his own course his own end What man had he the view of himself of his spirit could forbeare abhorring the nature and state of it There is that in the nature of man which cannot but turne from that corruption which he hath contracted with all the concomitants and effects of it so that were but the nature of man awakened though there were neither Heaven to reward nor Hell to punish he could not but loath sin though this is also true that now by the power of his corruption it is become a new nature to him and so he loveth it and would not be rid of it yet there is the relique of somewhat at the bottom of it which is his first and truest nature which hath a contrariety in it hereunto and which upon occasion of being stirred at any time discovereth that contrariety But for all that the spirit of man doth only repent fleshlily I say this Repentance let it arise never so high and be heightened by never so many fresh discoveries of God and spiritual considerations yet still it is but fleshly for that which the light of God discovers and stirs in the nature of man is but of the nature of man But now That Repentance which ariseth from a true root from a renewed spirit from a spirit changed into the nature of the seed which is sown in it this repentance be it never so low let it be never so thickly deeply and darkly covered with a seeming approbation and justification of sin yet the thing it selfe the repentance it self is spiritual It coming from a spiritual root must needs be spiritual notwithstanding its contrary black appearance as the other notwithstanding all its light brightness and glory is but carnal 4. For Faith which is the new life Mans spirit doth naturally beleeve though his Faith is but occasionlly drawn forth Seeing his danger his misery he cannot but lean upon that which is held out to him as his proper rescue releif and support Let God in Christ be discovered to be the only fortress man cannot but run thither And yet his Faith and all his motions in this kind having but flesh having but self having but his own nature viz. the nature of the first Adam for their root what can they be but fleshly but of his own nature but of the nature of the first Adam Nicodemus here could not but run to Christ acknowledg Christ beleeve on Christ but what saith Christ to him Ah poor Nicodemus that which is born of the flesh is flesh To open this a little further because it is the main thing whereupon all dependeth If either the nature or object of faith be mistaken the miscarriage is most certain therefore there is need of great wariness here Now to make this truth asserted here appear the more evident I shall add this consideration following The nature of man came from the nature of God If you should stumble at this expression and say it came from his Will yet sure you will not deny his will to be his nature And as there was at first so there is still a naturalness between God and man though not so open and manifest God doth naturally take care of man and man doth naturally depend upon his God Were the heart of God but opened we should see there that from which the nature of man did flow and his love unto man and care of him even in his broken estate and were the heart of man but opened we should read there dependance and confidence upon his God It is his very nature though at present he be exceedingly turned out of it by an heap of corruption but let the light and discoveries of God break in upon him they stir up this again in him presently only indeed his corruption is so strong that he cannot come off cleverly in any motion of this kind but his heart and nature stands towards it Now is not this evident That whatever is in the nature of man may be drawn forth and that what is thus drawn forth from the Nature of man is but natural or fleshly It is natural to man to look out for help and as natural to him to trust that which is discovered to him as proper and willing to help him And this faith though it be awakened and stirred nay as it were begotten in him by divine means yet that doth not argue it to be divine That which the spirit of the Lord by his warmth and quickening vertue awakeneth in and draweth out of the fleshly root notwithstanding his divine breathings and influences upon it doth not thereupon become Divine though it is easie for weak man who is not acquainted with such kind of things without much questioning to account it so But now That faith which proceeds from a new nature from a new birth from God John 1.12.13 from a spiritual root that must needs be spiritual I shall not need to insist upon the rest I shall therefore only mention them 5. For Love There is a love in the nature of man which doth naturally flow forth towards that which is lovely to the eye of his nature Now God and his Christ having all the excellency in them that is taking to the eye and heart of man and much more upon the discovery of this unto man how can man chuse but love them yet this arising frō the nature of man upon such a discovery as his nature is capable
c. held forth and administred to them whereby they might proceed much further then ever the Jewes could Their state kind and degree of growth in Religion was very great above the Jewes which did arise from the advantage of their dispensation 1. They had thereby a deeper discovery of light then the Jews they had a deeper more inward and spiritual opening of the things of God in them and upon them then ever was dispenced to the Jews Those things which were dark and mysterious in those discoveries of God to the Jewes were manifest and plain in the light held out to them 2. They had a stronger life As that which God held forth to them was spirit so that which God brought forth in them was spirit for so it was in compare with that which was held forth to the Jewes and that which in was brought forth in the Jews They had a life them in and by vertue of that their dispensation fit to receive that strength of life which God held out to them All the life of the Jews was but death to that life which the Gentiles had by the Gospel 3. They had a more abundant power There was a power which did overshadow and accompany that outward people of the Jewes The outward power of the Lord as I may so say did great outward things for them But now There was an inward power of life dispenced to the Gentiles so that they found the very power of the life of the Lord dwelling in them and the Spirit of the Lord the very power of the spirit of the Lord dwelling in that life Nothing was too hard for that power to do which hovered about the Jews Nothing was too hard for that power to do which dwelt in the beleeving Gentiles but a beleeving disciple might be able to do all things through Christ feeding his spirit with life within in the dispensation of the Gospel 4. They had a greater union with Christ and a greater presence of Christ among them Christ was more in them Christ was more with them They were more in Christ they were more with Christ then the Jews were It was the same root into which both were received by its opening to each but the dispensation or manner of receit was far different It was the outward part which opened to receive the Jewes It was the outward part into which they were received It was the inward part which opened to receive the Gentiles It was the inward part into which the Gentiles were received Though this also be true that the Beleevers among the Jews were received into the inner part and those which beleeved not among the Gentiles were received but into the outward part The Jews had a kind of of union with Christ a presence of Christ a participation of Christ as is evident by the Ark among them and by the Manna and Rock in the wilderness which accompanied them which Manna was Christ and which Rock was Christ They did eat of that spiritual meat and drink of that spiritual drink 1 Cor. 10.3.4 They had also a light a life and pover in the Law leading them to Christ All their sacrifices and ceremonies taught them Christ and therein any that were any way skilfull could not chuse but read the Messiah But now in the Gospel there is a cleerer manifestation a fuller union a richer life a more mighty power a more inward and divine light a light of the Spirit of the Lord and a presence of the Spirit in that light Yet this also may be sown and grow up in the spirit of man where having not depth enough of earth for it to sink into and be nourished it must needs wither and dye The light of God sown in the Jews cannot live there for alas it is but the spirit of man there in which it is sown and that cannot feed the mighty life and spirit of the Lord It naturally receiveth in but what is sutable to it self and if any thing more be forced as it were upon it so that it cannot but admit it yet upon advantage of the disappearing of that power or of the increase of its own strength it soon thrusts it out again And the light of God sown in the Gentiles cannot live then neither for that is but the spirit of man also And though the spirit of man be raised a little higher by an higher light communication of God in Christ and thereby become much more changed even into a spiritually glorious estate and condition yet remaining still himself at bottom he will spue up all again at last and return unto himself This new people of God the Gentiles do as naturally slide back from their life from their God from their Christ as ever the Jews did so that this can be the standing people no more then the other It requireth great cost to bring either of these peoples to any thing but with much ease at any time they either of them slide back from that which they were woond up unto by the mighty power and presence of the Spirit of the Lord. So that mark now This converted Gentile This transplanted Gentile must needs fall from the truth He is not entered deep enough into the root nor hath not depth enough in him to receive the root so that this present station of his in the root with the present union and communion between them by vertue of the present dispensation by which he is as it were woond up out of himself and his own nature into this must needs vanish in time The ground which is not prepared by the spirit and nature of the Lord and so made good in it self cannot alwaies retain and give nourishment to the seed of God but must one time or other cast it up again The person who is thus enlightened enlivened how far soever in this way he be assisted and owned though he taste of the heavenly gift and of the powers â—f tbe world to come and be made partaker of the Holy Ghost c. yet for all that cannot but fall away That which is Adam at bottom will return to his own principle in the conclusion how far soever he be exalted beyond it at present by vertue of the most lively dispensation whatsoever 3. There is the spirit of man renewed in God through Christ the spirit of man new made in his own nature by the nature of another root the spirit of man new begotten new born of water and the spirit the spirit of man truly converted and changed into the nature vertue life and power of the Kingdom by the seed and leaven of the Kingdom and this spirit which is thus born of God is so united to the Lord as to become one with him not in this or that outward respect but in his own inmost life and nature This alone is the truth This is the true birth The union of this spirit is the true union when the spirit of a man is so
united to the Lord as to become one with him in his own nature not in the life or power of a present dispensation which to day is and to morrow vanisheth but in the true nature of his own spirit and life which abideth for ever Now whatsoever flowes whatsoever grows up from this spirit is truth All the repentance faith love c. which issue hence are true of the true kind having the true stamp and image of Christ upon them Here you may find the true death of Christ and the true life of Christ the true understanding of Christ the true faith of Christ c. whereas that which is so only in a dispensation whether of Law or Gospel though it may be so in its kind and may serve the present turn yet it is not the abiding truth Mans nature mans life mans power even that which Adam had from God and which is the image of God is but fleshly His inclination and natural ability to beleeve to love to obey it is but fleshly The first man is of the earth earthly take him with all his qualifications and endowments That light and knowledg of God which he had with his capacity of receiving in more was but earthly Adam whom God dashed in peeces was but the earthen vessel of the Potter Yea in every dispensation since all that is of man there is flesh All that is stirred up in man is flesh That power of beleeving of loving and obeying which was raked up in the ruines of mans nature being at any time again rouzed refreshed and assisted by any light or power from God in the midst of all its lively motions and operations is still but flesh But yet there is spirit as well as flesh and there is a spirituall birth as well as a fleshly birth and that which is begotten and born of the spirit is spirit as well as that which is born of the flesh is flesh God doth not only try the spirit of man in his several dispensations but he doth also here and there sprinkle the seed of his one spirit He doth beget and bring forth Isaac the seed of promise his own son under the Law under the Gospel as well as Ishmael Now it is the spirit which begets Isaac which soweth the seed of God in the womb of Sarah and that which is begotten and born of the spirit is Isaac â—hat which springs up from his own sowing out of the wâ—mb of his own spirit is his own seed That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit Therefore Sirs look to your root What I have said unto you hitherto I say unto you still Look to your Foundations If your root be flesh all your glory must down All your spiritual apprehensions and hopes will vanish and leave you in the suds if they be but fleshly in their root If your Foundation be in the sand the higher your building in Religion is the greater will the fall thereof be That which is exalted neerest to Heaven in its present growth and lustre if it prove not right shall be thrown down to Hell with the greatest indignation and sink into the sharpest wrath and misery there The easiest part of Hell is uneasie enough but the darkest chambers of it are reserved for the deepest Hypocrites which they without all controversie are who hold forth the highest resemblance of the life liberty and purity of the Spirit of the Lord and yet have not the true nature of it in them but in whom all this springs from a fleshly Foundation VII Of the true Nature and Vertue of the Kingdom of GOD. 1 COR. 4.20 For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power THere have always been great disputes about the nature and truth of Religion between the Disciples thereof and the Pretenders to it Every one will have their apprehensions their light their way their practise to be the truth Yea many times that which is indeed truth runs low and that which is but vanity swells and makes a great shew appearing as very high pure and spiritual That which is empty makes a great sound drawing the multitudes after it and that which is substantial is cast aside as being in no wise likely to be that life and substance which all pretend to seek after This Dispute is very hot now upon the face of the Earth What sort of Religious persons do not really beleeve and in some way or other contend that they are in the truth and that the Religion of others so far as it differs from theirs is at least erronious This is no new thing for thus it was at the appearing of Christ in the flesh between the Samaritans and the Iews and also among the several sorts and sâ—cts of the Jews Yea likewise in the Apostles times There were those that were puffed up who made slight of all that the Apostles taught and would undertake to deliver that which was more substantial more pure more high more spiritual They would teach the truth the substance of that whereof that which the Apostles taught was but a shadow Now the Apostle sheweth the way which he would take to discover the rottenness and deceit of these persons vers 19. He would apply himself to know not their speech but their power He would not regard the beauty and glory of their speech or of the things spoken which is exceedingly taking to a fleshly eye but the vertue the life the spirit of what was spoken He would search into the nature into the root into the vertue into the truth of the thing and so would he prize it in himself and discover it to others as he found it there and not have any esteem of it because of its flourishes or it s seemingly pure and spiritual lustre And he gives the reason of this his intended course or manner of proceeding in these words For the Kingdom of God is not in word but in power The Kingdom of God consists in the one and not in the other All this great appearance of Glory of Spirituality of Life of Liberty c. may be without the Kingdom therefore what should I regard them for to what end should I look after them This is the way to deceive my self with an appearance with a flourish in stead of truth But where ever the true power is to be sure there is the Kingdom Therefore I will lay aside all consideration of the other and mind how much of that is in them Towards opening of the phrases three things would be enquired into namely First What is meant by Kingdom Secondly What by Word Thirdly What by Power 1. What is meant by Kingdom By the Kingdom of God is meant the new nature the new life yea and also that new inheritance unto which this nature and life leads There is a new nature descending from God this new nature leads a new life here in this world and both
this nature and life hath a promise of a new inheritance in the other world Or if ye will if ye think that may be plainer to you by Kingdom is meant Religion true Religion the Religion which God teacheth his seed the Religion which God writeth in the nature of his seed for there is a Religion also which God writeth in the nature of man and teacheth man but that is not the Kingdom In every dispensation that Truth that Vertue that Light that Life which cometh down upon the seed springeth up in the seed and goeth along with the seed is the Kingdom It is that breath of God from which the new nature or principle came in which the new nature lives and by which it is perfected This it is most properly but in a larger sence it denotes every thing that belongs to the Kingdom and that not improperly neither for every thing belonging to the Kingdom hath the nature of the Kingdom in it and having the nature why may it not partake of the name The Kingdom of Israel took in every thing in their dispensation and the Kingdom of God taketh in every thing in the great dispensation of his life unto his people through the Lord Jesus â—hrist This phrase Kingdom is of very large and full significancy noting out not only the nature and substance of the thing together with the extent and limits of it but also the greatness of it the riches of it the glory of it the perfection of it the presence of God with it its presence and power with God c. 2. What is meant by Word By Word is to be understood any outward form of doctrine any speech notion or apprehension whereby Religion in any part of it is either conceived or expressed As the doctrine of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God the doctrine of self-denyal or going out of a mans self the Doctrine of obedience to the inward spirit or outward commands of the Word the Doctrine of the death of Christ of the Resurrection of Christ c. Word is the outward truth if I may so speak it is the pipe or vessel whereby life is held out to man or whereby it is taken in by man It was in such Doctrines as these forementioned wherein the spirit of life did run as in so many veins in the Apostles times But yet the truth of Religion the Kingdom of God consists not in any of these These do not bring in the Kingdom but the Kingdom will of it self bring forth these where it is The Kingdom of God saith this same Apostle in another place is Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost But it is not the word of any of these it is not a glorious description or apprehension of righteousness or peace or joy in the spirit it lies not in mighty elevations or ravishments of heart through the contemplation of these this is the outward Court which is given to the Heathenish spirit of man which hath this bestowed upon him for the reward of his pains in these things But the Kingdom of God is not in word The outward truths of the Gospel in the most pure naked spiritual acception of them are not the Kingdom and he that receiveth them only receiveth not the Kingdom Man may receive every truth of the Kingdom Man may fall into any way nay into every way of Religion and yet fall short of the Kingdom 3. What is meant by Power By power is meant the inward vertue the vigor the spirit which lies in the nature of Religion In every life there is a vertue or power wherein it consists No life lieth in the outwardness of its form or shape but in the inwardness of its nature The life of man consisteth not in outward knowledg in an outward form of reason but in the inward vertue and spirit of reason Thus it is in the life of Religion There is an inward vertue an inward spirit an inward power in the nature of it whereby it changeth the vessel whereinto it comes subjecting the rational part to it self and advancing it in it self as the rational part doth the brutish So that as in a rational man all the faculties of his mind and members of his body are subject to his reason so in the spirituall man not only the members of the body and faculties of the minde but the very spirit of reason it self is subject to this new spirit or principle of life There is this vertue this life this spirit in every thing of Religion in all the Truths in all the Ordinances Institutions and paths of the Kingdom and this only is Religion It is not the knowledg of all the things of God alas the prophane spirit of man under a form of holiness may be very exact in them but the nature the vertue of the things themselves which is preserved entire for the pure into it no unclean thing can enter So that where there is the least true power there must needs be true Religion but there may be all the outward form or fabrick and yet no true Religion at all There may be all the truths of the Gospel all the Ordinances of the Gospel all the ways of the Gospel and the spirit of man walking very zealously in all these and yet this is no part of the kingdom for the Kingdom consists not in the outward letter of the Light Life or Liberty of the Gospel nor in every power and vertue of it but in the inward spirit of it and in that power and vertue which is peculiar to its own nature To illustrate this a little further Take notice of a threefold power in reference hereunto 1. There may be an outward power concurring with the thing as the power of working miracles the gift of speaking with tongues of healing c. This is demonstrative in its kind and according to its nature for else the Lord would not have made use of it for that end but yet it is not the power here spoken of not the power which the Apostle here resolved to know 2. There may be an inward power forming of the thing which may be either the Spirit of the Lord or the spirit of the Creature working by and according to its creaturely imagination By imagination I mean the reason or understanding of man which though it be no imaginer but a certain knower within its own bounds yet in things of this nature in the things of God in the things of the kingdom it is no knower at all but a meer imaginer Now this inward power of reason or imagination will make strange fabricks in the mind of man especially where it hath any superior principle to set it on work or engines to move it or oyl to set it on going This power this vertue being inward is also of a more inward satisfaction to a man then the former By the former a man is as it were compelled to beleeve yet perhaps
not at all satisfied thereby in the nature of the thing but by this a man is led into Faith Love Obedience and so into every thing that is thus formed in him The things which the fancy or reason of man for here the reason of man is but fancy after its manner comprehendeth are as it were made natural to the man Now though this be a great power and can make mighty changes and do mighty things in the spirit of a man yea and worketh very like the truth insomuch as that which is meer man can very hardly if at all distinguish it from the truth yet this is not the truth neither this is not the power which the Apostle here speaketh of 3. There is an inward power or vertue in the thing whereby it is what it is and whereby it does what it does whereby it is what it most naturally is and produceth its own most natural effects There is a true vertue in truth an inward power in the Death and Resurrection of Christ an inward power in faith in love and in the spirit of obedience which lyeth in the nature of it which it disperseth and leaveneth the lump with where it is sown in truth Now this is it the Apostle here means He will know this power he will distinguish by this vertue the nature and truth of the thing it self From whence this may be observed Observ. That true Religion consists not in notion not in apprehension not in expression but in the true Nature Vertue Life and Power of the thing it self The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power Let a man have the cleerest apprehension of the truths of God and the cleerest expression of them that may be yet this is not Religion If a man have all knowledg with all the effects of Faith Love Zeal Obedience c. which this knowledg can produce in him yet this is not Religion The knowledg of self-denial of resignation to the will of God with all the self-denial and resignation which this knowledg can produce The knowledg of the Death of Christ and of the Life of Christ with all the effects there of in the spirit of a man neither is this Religion Reas. The reason whereof is this because all outwardness is but a garment wherewith Religion may be clothed or not clothed according to the pleasure of God Now ye know a garment neither is the thing nor a certain evidence of the thing All outward buildings which the spirit of the Lord rears the spirit of the Lord may also leave and the spirit of man of Antichrist of Satan may enter into The Lord hath not yet built his everlasting Tabernacle or Temple and therefore those he doth set up being but shadowes his spirit may as well leave as enter into So that whatsoever may come into apprehension whatsoever may be brought forth in notion or expression is not the thing at best it can be but a true garment but a true appearance but a true house for the thing to be clothed with appear and abide in while the Lord pleaseth But now where there is the nature where there is the life where ther is the vertue wher ther is the power there must needs be the thing Where there is the life of a man there must needs be a man where there is the vertue of a renewed nature there must needs be a renewed nature where there is the power of Religion the power of the Kingdom there must needs be Religion there must needs be the Kingdom for this is from it this is â—n it yea this is it What is the vertue and power of God but God what is the power and vertue of any thing but the thing The vertue of Religion the power of the Kingdom that is it in which the very spirit of it is lives goeth forth and resideth Quest. But what is this same nature life power or vertue of Religion wherein Religion consists This is very necessary to be well considered for there is a nature life vertue or power in the Religion of man That which here the Apostle calleth word hath that in it which man calleth power Let a man receive any apprehension into his mind fully let him but receive it seriously as the truth of God it cometh with a great deal of power it bringeth vertue with it to make changes in him changes in his spirit changes in his understanding changes in his will changes in his conversation And yet this is not the power which the Apostle here looketh after all this is with him but word The greatest inwardness of man is but outwardness with the spirit of the Lord. What then is this same power here or what is the nature of this power of this vertue Answ. To this question I shall return this threefold description by way of answer 1. For the general nature of it it is divinely spiritual It is not a birth from the spirit of man no nor yet from the spirit of Satan but from the spirit of the Lord. There is the true nature life and power of God in it It is the seed of God and it brings forth the true nature of God The Spirit of the Lord begetteth that which is spirit The spirit of the Lord bringeth forth a truly spiritual Religion in the spirit of man where he soweth his seed 2. As touching the common properties of it It is both killing and quickening and that both in ones self and also towards others In every truth of the Kingdom in every thing that belongs to the Kingdom there is that vertue which continually kills and quickens where ever it comes It kills the spirit of man and it quickens the spirit of man It layeth flat all the corruption yea all the life and glory of the creature where ever it appears It is like a fire It burns up all the life of every thing it comes neer and it brings along with it that life which alone can live in that fire I know man hath his several waies of killing and quickening by his notions but it doth not do the thing in truth for under all the seeming deaths of the creature the creature is still alive and under all the seemingly renewed life 's of the creature the creature is still dead in its root and principle yea and also in all its motions and operations 3. For the peculiar nature of it That is sutable to every particular truth to every particular thing of the Kingdom to every particular truth we receive from God to every particular thing portion or member of life which is formed in us Thus the severall truths of the Gospel have their own particular natures The death of Christ its the resurrection of Christ its c. So likewise the several tempers and graces in the spirits of disciples have their particular natures self-denial it s faith it s love its and so the rest theirs whereby they are distinct from one another They
or with that reward which belongs to the substance both in respect of its nature and of all the motions of it In every dispensation these things are profitable In the dispensation of the Law to the Jews In the dispensation of the Gospel by Christ In any dispensation now in this thick cloudy darkness which man feels not because he wants senses such kind of motions are of use here and shall have their reward hereafter for God will be just to the nature of man giving it what it deserves but it hath nothing to do with that reward which belongeth to the new life and the motions of it Great is the mystery of the nature of man exceedingly hidden from man are the workings of that wisdom and righteousness which is therein in waies of Religion or devotion towards God The great principle of the life of it was sown and broken in Adam yet among these broken reliques there is a continuall motion progress and regress especially where there comes forth any thing with life and power to quicken and stir them up I do not mean life and power in an extraordinary way though that also hath been and may again be but in such a way as is ordinary to and in the common state of man To make this the better evident even to the eye of man which may see the outward part of this as well as of other truths I shall instance in some few very eminent particulars all which he cannot but acknowledg if he know but himself or have but had experience of himself herein But he that is in the dark and knoweth not neither the life of Christ on the one hand nor of his own nature on the other may very easily mistake the one for the other and confidently bolster up himself in vanity 1. There is in man a strong desire after God fain would he know him fain would he enioy him fain would he worship and serve him If he knew which way to please God he would lay out himself to the utmost he would spare no cost Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God c. Micah 6.6 Man in his very frame was a vessel fitted for God fitted to be a living house for him and cannot but most naturally long for his proper inhabitant He was made to serve worship and honor God other creatures have neither such a capacity nor such an inclination and he can never be well till he come to the thorow use and exercise of this his nature 2. There is also in him a strong sense of his own weak state He knoweth that he cannot come neer God that he cannot converse with God that he cannot enjoy God in this state and capacity wherein now he is He knoweth that he cannot learn the knowledg of God unless God condescend to teach him in a way sutable to his present estate Man is such an intelligent vessel as that he hath a sense of his own broken condition Man after his many shaterings yet hath so much understanding left him as in part to espy out his own brutishness in the things of God He seeth he feeleth his darkness and that he cannot reach that light wherein his life lieth 3. There is a great breathing in his spirit after the teachings of God fain would he hear the true voice fain would he be led by God into light and into life O how he pants O how he breaths after God after the living God! A formal dead knowledg of God will not serve the living nature of man but as the life sown in him is true life in its kind so it must have true life to feed upon Yet all this kind of life is death the whole strength of the natural life is dead before that which is spiritual Those objects which are living objects those motions which are living motions that principle which is a living principle in the region of man are all dead in the light and Kingdom of God So that man lives and moves truly in his way but not in the truth that which is life that which is truth with him is not so before God nor before that eye which is lighted by God in the truth Man The flesh The wisdom of the creature will enter into any way either of life or death that the Lord shall prescribe he will come within the lists of the Law and all that the Lord commandeth him there will he do He will come within the lists of the Gospel and live upon and obey God through Christ. It is natural to man as to feel the want of Gods teachings and to desire them so to follow them Though this is also true that there is a corrupt principle or corruption hanging about his natural principle which maketh him juggle so that he doth not walk evenly with God in any path Yet this is also as true that there is a natural principle which inclineth him to seek God and to be subject to him in every way he shall please to prescribe though through its own weakness and the corruption that hangeth about it it can rise to no great height It doth rise indeed often very high in mans esteem insomuch as he accounteth his devotion very high pure and spiritual but it is not so in the true Light and judgment of God Yea 5 thly The spirit of man will sow all his life and his death so often as he finds any flaw in it If this or that present strain of Religion appear faulty he will throw it away and if the next prove faulty likewise he will throw away that again The flesh seeking that which is substance cannot but part with that which upon search it finds not to be substance This is little thought of how eagerly the spirit of man will into the fire again and again that he may be purified how industriously he will seek out the cross of Christ and pray to God to crucifie him upon it that so he may dye the Death of Christ and live the Life of Christ. So far as the path of Christ is visibly excellent to mans eye and necessary to the end he aims at the nature of man so far as it is it self cannot but pursue it Yet all this profiteth nothing All this desire after God all this sense of himself and his own condition all this breathing of his after the true teachings all this seeking of life and death and all this giving up both of life and death that it may become a new seed losing its old nature form shape and corruption All these motions of flesh all these motions of mans spirit profit nothing It is true All these are very excellent and very profitable in their own place and station but here in this place in reference to this end they profit nothing For first These are not of the right kind What ever of these come from man or grow up in the meer nature of man are not
that passeth not away but purifieth perfecteth and preserveth the vessel wherein it is sown It is a Life which both indures in it self and leads to that blessed enjoyment of life in which the seed and the spirit of man in and through the seed shall settle and abide for ever All Adams nature all Adams excellency all Adams life all Adams enjoyment content and blessedness thereby how soon did it fade but this Nature this Life this Principle with all the glory and blessedness to which it tends shall abide for ever This life was not written in Adams nature or in the command to his nature but in the command to Christs nature and to man through that nature The nature of Adam was led aside from the commandment to death but the nature of Christ is led and is guided safely through this Commandment to life even to that life which alone can satisfie the desire and thirst of his nature even this Life everlasting which is here mentioned 3. What this same knowledg of Christ here is Ans. This knowledg of Christ is the comprehension of his own nature or his comprehending of the thing in his own nature It is the seeing of it with his own eye the measuring it in his own understanding As man measureth natural things within his reach by his natural understanding so Christ measureth spiritual things in spiritual light with his spiritual understanding and what he finds proportionable to the measure of his spirit which is truth he knoweth to be truth As man what he truly measures in the true light of reason with a truly rational understanding he knoweth to be truth there So what Christ measures after his way in this his spiritual Region he knoweth to be truth here Christ the true nature with the true eye saw the true thing in the true light so that his light his knowledg is truth I know c. Man proposeth unto himself vain waies and Satan invents many Devices for him but God who is truth speaketh truth and proposeth only truth unto him He proposeth the letter of truth not only by Moses but by the meanest of his Prophets but by Christ the spirit thereof The words which I speak unto you they are spirit they are Life Christ as he is the truth in an especial manner so he hath an especial ministration of it which he began in his own person and carried on in his disciples and Apostles And both he and they had an especial knowledg of the truth that dwelt in them and which they were chosen out for the service and Ministration of Christ lay in the bosom of the Father before he came into this world There he saw things There he saw this Life and the way to it And when that knowledg which he had in him before springs up here in him in this World he knoweth what it is He is sure it is that truth which he beheld in God in the days of old and which now he receiveth quick lively pure and clear from the Spirit of God in this his new state and station And I know that his Commandment is Life everlasting Let this seem what it will to you let it seem never so contrary to the will of God never so contrary to that dispensation of his by Moses Let it seem never so strange to all the people of God upon the face of the earth yet I know that it is the truth I know that it is the true and the only way to life even to that Life which was promised to the nature of the seed and which the nature of man also so much desireth I know that life is wrapped up in this Commandment and that they that receive it receive Life and that they that follow and obey it in truth in the true nature life and spirit of it cannot miss of life of Life everlasting And I know that his Commandment is Life everlasting 4. What kind of Faith is this what kind of beleeving is this which contains everlasting life in it which draws everlasting life along with it Ans. 1. It is the belief of the spirit of man for that is it which is exhorted to beleeve and that is it which is to be saved The Son cometh not to save himself but to seek and save lost man It is for him he bringeth forth and layeth down his own Life but yet that way whereby he saves him is by that Faith which he receives and acts from the nature of the Son in him 2. Though it be by mans spirit or nature beleeving in the Son whereby he comes to be saved yet this Faith with all the motions of it are comprehended and acted in the holy Spirit Every motion of man that tends to life is performed in the spirit of God As every thing that is spirituall comes alone from the Spirit so it only lives and moves and acts aright in the Spirit All the repentance mourning joy hope prayer c. that are Spirituall as they spring from the spirit so they grow up and come forth in the spirit praying alwaies in the holy Ghost 3. It is from a new Root The faith that saves is from the new birth The faith that saves this old nature springs from a new nature He that is not new Born hath not an eye to see Life nor an heart to desire it nor a foot to walk in the way of it So that though I said in the first place it is the beleef of the man yet that is not primarily and most properly true for it is the belief of the new Life in the man which also needeth salvation in this state wherein it is bred and brought up here in this world from whence it entring into springing up in taking possession of and leavening the man it becometh his also It purgeth out the old nature of the man and infuseth this new insomuch as this is now become the nature and life of the man also So that not only now Christ in the man beleeveth but the man also beleeveth in and through Christ which dwelleth in him and hath changed him into and communicated unto him his own nature The way being thus cleared the Observation it self will now appear more manifest which is this Obser. That Christ held out from true light from certain knowledg that beleeving is the way to Life Christ did not guess at it or imagin it strongly as we do at most of the things we speak of but he knew that his Commandment is life everlasting The certainty of Christ in the things of God ariseth from this four fold ground First From his own nature Secondly From his union with the Spirit Thirdly From his Life and Fourthly from his Light Each of these contribute much towards but all of them together can make up no less then an absolute infallibility 1. From his own nature The nature of Christ is Divine He is not of this Earth but from above He is begotten by God
in his own spirit He is the truly natural Son of God Now this nature cannot be deceived because as it floweth from truth alone so it is purely truth in it self and knoweth not how to entertain or admit of any thing but truth It s nature is perfectly shut up against every lye and deceit it naturally turneth from it and thrusteth it away Its nature hath nothing in it to receive any thing of that nature and therefore cannot receive it Now he which is naturally true and cannot take in a lye surely he cannot possibly bring forth a lye Hence ariseth the certainty of all the senses of Christ and of all the motions of Christ Namely from their nature They are of a true of a perfect kind and cannot but act truly according to their kind 2. From his union with the Spirit His nature is not only excellent right and of a perfect kind but it is also in union with the original from whence it sprang Adam might be in union with the root of the flesh but if he were yet that root will not preserve its off-spring therefore he fell But Christs nature is in union with the root of the Spirit therefore he cannot miscarry both because that root cannot but preserve its seed and because that nature cannot but be sucking nourishment from the root There is no nature might in reason be more independent in respect of its own excellency and fulness and yet no natuâ—e is more dependent which ariseth from its constitution and is its wisdom and safety There is absolute certainty in the root and there is no less certainty in Christ for the very same certainty which is in the nature of the root springeth up in him yea his nature being in union with the root hath also communion with it insomuch as he enjoyeth the truth there in the time of his light and is comprehended by it in the time of his darkness 3. From his Life Christ hath a Life in him sutable to his nature A true Life a Spiritual Life a Divine Life His Spirit as it hath the nature so also it hath the Life of the Spirit of God All his motions spring from his own life and so cannot but be as certain unto him in his kind yea much more his life being of a more certain kind as our motions which spring in us from our life are to us in our kind We are not certain about the things of God because our life is not of the same nature with the things of God but he is very certain because his is Our knowledg at best is but revealed it is but given in to our life but his knowledg is natural it floweth from his life Hence it is that every thing every motion unto him is so pleasant and satisfactory namely because it is so natural because it flows from such a power of life Man attains his skil and understanding in divine things by the sweat of his brows by the labor and toyl of his spirit and it troubles him much to bring it forth to defend and manage it Yea his own heart and Soul if it be a little awakened and enlarged cannot but find fault with it but Christs skil and understanding springs up in him and flows forth from him and both in its springing up and flowing forth answers the truth largeness and capacity of his nature 4. From his Light He hath a proper light to see the things of God with He hath the same light with God As he lives in the same Country breaths in the same air hath the same nature spirit and life so he hath the same light He is called the light Ioh. 1.7 Iohn came for a witness to bear witness of the light He himself was not that light but to bear witness of that light verse 8. That was the true light verse 9. The light of men and Angels was a true shadow The light of the Prophets was a true Testimony but he is the substance He is that true light which all other lights did but shadow out and testifie concerning There is an eye proper to every kind of things that is to be seen an eye in every nature sutable to the nature of those things which it is to behold and there is also a light proper to every eye Now Christ having both the eye and the light how can he chuse but see certainly Gather up these together He that hath a true nature which hath a true eye in it He who is in union with the spirit of God which is truth and who himself is truth in him He that hath the true life in him for his motions to spring from the true life to guide his eye with And lastly He that hath the true light to see in how can he chuse but be certain in what he thus views And so his seed having the same nature with him the same Spirit the same Life the same Light how can they miss of the same certainty They cannot but be guided naturally unto the same things and upon the same terms of infallibility But now man Adam take him at his best who never had this nature but was from the beginning the earthly man who never was in this kind of union with the spirit who never had this life or light in him how can he understand these kind of things He may desire to be like God from a sight of the excellency of his nature being and life and fumble about the things of God but he cannot possibly pierce into them He may gather many apprehensions into his mind and approach in his way of reasoning to a certainty but he cannot reach the truth He cannot know eternal Life it is beyond the capacity of his nature He may perhaps reason that there must needs be an eternal Life and a way unto it but he cannot possibly conceive what that eternal Life is nor tread the path that leads to it But the Son or any of the seed cannot miss of it for it is written in their nature That Spirit that Life that Light which guides to it descends of it self upon them springs up of it self in them Use 1. Take heed of contradicting Christ in this Testimony of his which he giveth out upon knowledg Christ â—â—me from God from the light of God bringing the light of God with him He tells you the truth here the true state of things as he saw and knows them to be with God And this is his Testimony that the present state and course of things tends to a future that at the last day Life and Death shall be dispenced and that the only way to life then is by beleeving now Christ testified truly and wisely He understood what he said He spake upon ground He spake what he saw by the light and in the bosom of God Wilt thou from thine own head from a strong fancy or reasoning in thine own mind contradict this and say There is no such thing
1. This is very unworthy If thou wilt overthrow the Testimony of Christ do it fairly do it by that which is equal to it by a light of as deep a nature as his If thou canst not speak upon as good grounds as he do not undertake to contradict him 2. It is very unsafe Suppose before the Lord Christs should prove a truth and thine a conceit what will become of thee It is not the strength of thy apprehension which will then bear thee out The market is yet open for thee wherein thou maist buy wine and milk without mony and without price but by this means thou makest thy self uncapable of making use of thy present opportunity Use 2. Ye who find a need of eternal Life and a desire after it Consider the ground of this truth and so far as it will carry weight receive it Receive it into your natural man and look up to God to sow a new nature in you that so it may give new life to your spirits Nay by receiving it it may become a seed The light we let into our understandings if it be of a spiritual nature is of power to change our understnadings into spirituality We little think what life is wrapped up in the outward seed of the word as it seems to us when God engrafts it into the spirit Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your Souls A principle of spiritual darkness let in by the ear into the heart what strange changes doth it make there and why may not a principle of light be let in the same way and do as much Christ came to save the world verse 47. He spake these words to save he gave out this testimony to save and for this end might he also leave it in writing And who knoweth but in the hearing of this sound Christ may work that faith in him who heareth which may save him It is not worth the being busied about this world though a man were sure to obtain it but it were worth the being busied here though a man were sure to lose his labor for it is noble and excellent to pursue that which is excellent though one should miss of it X. Of the Liberty of the Kingdom which was outward and shadowy in that dispensation of the Gospel by Christ and his Apostles but inward and substantial in the true seed both before then and after that dispensation yea and for ever which Liberty although it be very large yet is limited by the Law of its own Life and Nature GAL. 5.13 For brethren ye have been called unto Liberty only use not Liberty for an occasion to the Flesh but by love serve one another LIberty is the right temper and posture of the new life whereby it both is and enjoys it self It is the breaking all bonds asunder and setting of the heir free It is the investing him with his inheritance and the leaving of him to the direction and dispose of his own understanding and will which he being grown up in the Lord are of sufficient light wisdom and strength to guide him in the Lord. There is in it or by it the removal of all Tutors of all Governors of all Laws of all kind of discipline in every kind which was proper for his nurture and education when his life ran low but is now no way convenient when he is come to his full age and growth Now it is necessary for his life to be free in its nature circuits and motions He being grown up his life being come to it self it is requisite it should have the honor of disposing of it self of becoming a rule and guide to it self nay if it be truly strong and compleat in its nature it can need no rule no bonds no bounds but it self but it s own nature So that this is Liberty when the nature of a thing is not circumscribed by any Laws or limits whatsoever but it hath its full scope to the utmost for the exercise of its nature This I say is Liberty full Liberty compleat Liberty perfect Liberty There is no such Liberty in this Life or flowing from this Life as the corrupt nature of man seeks namely a Liberty to satisfie the corruption of his nature and that this should not be sin nor subject to the lash or censure of any Law nor able to bring any death or danger upon him But this Liberty is pure and holy like the nature and life from which it flows and hath in it that which answers every Law of righteousness in every kind There is no Liberty here not to love God or to neglect any Duty of Love Holiness and Obedience which his nature and will calls for no Liberty to be unrighteous or unmerciful either to man or to the meanest creature but the Liberty of this life is perfectly holy sweet and just It is a Liberty from all manner of corruption and unrighteousness and a Liberty unto all purity and righteousness It is a Liberty like that which is in the Nature of God who can do nothing that is evil nor neglect the doing of any thing that is good Gods Liberty lieth in two things First He is free only to his own nature nothing can incline him any way but his own nature but his own understanding and will which is from and according to his nature or which is his nature Secondly In his own nature is comprehended the accurateness and perfection of all that righteousness holiness and sweetness which any dispenced Law darkly shadows out So that by the presence by the purity of the substance he is freed from the shadow Now the Liberty of the Seed is a true copy of this As their nature is a true extract from the Nature of God so is their Liberty from his Liberty Their nature being thus in with and from God holiness and righteousness being their very nature it must needs be the Liberty of their nature thus to be and thus to act For Liberty of the nature is sutable to the nature not contrary to it All the Liberty which crosseth the nature and truth of Life is but a false appearance how specious soever but is not true Liberty If a man had his reason at perfect Liberty he could do nothing that were irrational nor neglect the doing of any thing that were rational So is it in this Life its Liberty lies in being free in its own state nature and course Not in being free to but in being free from all impurity of flesh and spirit It is the Liberty of the Lord to be free from sin weakness and folly Not in that he can do the same things which sinners do and not sin but his Nature Life and Spirit will not permit any such motions to have any place in him He is free from the root which bears such fruit And when his seed are redeemed they shall perfectly know and enjoy this Liberty with him for neither their spirit nor
any darkness about it self it is not free If there be any rubs in its way it cannot walk freely therefore God promiseth to this life an high way a plain path in the day of its redemption and freedom as Isai. 35.8 If its light be not very full and cleer and its strength absolutely perfect in reference to its own nature and state it will want of its Liberty it will not be able to come forth or walk in perfect freedom So that that Liberty which is perfect and compleat must be of a perfect seed from a perfect root perfectly grown up and scituated in the life and Spirit of the Lord from which alone it proceedeth and groweth up and in which alone it can live and be enjoyed It hath been and still is a great question how far those that are in Christ are freed from the Law and whether their sins be against the Law or no or only against Christ who is their Life and Law In relation whereunto since it falleth so fairly in my way I shall lay down three Conclusions which may occasion the cleering of it in part and the further better right understanding of this Liberty wherewith I intend to conclude the point only adding somewhat concerning the abuse which it is very liable unto as every other spiritual thing also is in the way that hitherto it hath broke forth and appeared and right use of Liberty from the following words The Conclusions are these 1. He that is in Christ cannot sin against the Law because he is not under it and therefore cannot be bound by it nor be engaged to give any account unto it He is under another husband and therefore free from this as the Apostle reasoneth Rom. 7. But yet mark As Christ himself in his fleshly state was under the Law who was the forerunner and pattern so all his seed in their fleshly state are under the Law likewise They may have sometimes a sight of life and a taste of liberty but until they have followed Christ into his grave and are become dead with him yea and risen with him too they shall not enjoy it While the life lives in the flesh it lives under the Law when the life comes to live in the spirit alone it shall be perfectly freed from the Law This is most certain The life of its own nature is not under the Law nor can its nature to speak properly be subjected to the Law though it may act a part of subjection for a season yet in the acting of that part the sparklings of a diviner life and Law which swallow up this weak life with the whole Law of it cannot but now and then appear as they did in Christ in the time of his subjection and servitude But the man in which the life inhabits and through which the life acts is weak and hath only a promise of strength and of redemption with the life after his death and resurrection with it but hath not any full sense or participation of it but is to remain under bondage and to travail up and down in the wilderness of this worldly state with the life until then And though in the Apostles times the Lord did let out both this life and this liberty into the humane nature in his Saints to give a little glimps what they were yet they were let forth but weakly and they were soon clapped in again and the old husband the Law returns and takes universal possession again though under the name of the life and Liberty of the Gospel This then is the sum To all men whatsoever until they be swallowed up into the spirit of Christ the law is still a Schoolmaster and they may find if they observe themselves the Law of nature or the Law of good and evil which is written in their hearts by nature and further revived by acquired knowledg whether from the light springing up in man and so received thence or from the light held forth in the Scriptures continually instructing and discipling of them As a Schoolmaster it exerciseth them as its Disciples and Schollars Yea in the very times of the Apostles though they had attained a strain of freedom which was not attained before yet they were not altogether free but groaned under bondage and panted after Liberty 2. He that is in Christ cannot do that which the Law judgeth to be sin He cannot act against the righteousness that is in the Law He can no more live to sin then he can live to the Law He hath as little to do with any thing which the Law judgeth evil as with the Law it self He can give no offence to any that have any true light in them for he can do nothing against any true light in any kind This is the nature of truth It longeth for it seeketh after it knoweth it embraceth both its own image and its own substance Truth in the image longeth after the substance Truth in the substance comprehendeth acknowledgeth and embraceth the image The righteousness which is in Christ and his seed in its nature motions and actions comprehendeth the righteousness of the Law Indeed it cannot be comprehended by it but it comprehends it and the righteousness of the Law knoweth it and giveth way to it It hath more in it a far higher kind of righteousness then the Law calleth for but it hath that also Every spiritual motion is beyond the nature and excellency of the Law but yet it hath all that excellency that the Law can possibly expect or exact and therfore cannot offend against the life or truth of the Law The life and righteousness that is in Christ most naturally cherisheth the life and righteousness that is in the Law which they who taste of the truth as it is in Iesus are taught to understand 3. If he could possibly do that which the Law judgeth to be sin yet his sin would not be directly against the Law for the Law cannot judg him as a sinner who is not under it but against his own life which is a greater offence and hath more of the nature of sin in it then if it were against the Law He that is in Christ hath a new life in him which is sown in his spirit and his spirit with that life is transplanted into Christ who is his Lord and Lawgiver And what he now is he is in Christ and what he now does he does unto Christ and is not now any longer under that dispensation of the Law in which he was before his transplantation so that he is not henceforth so much as in a capacity of sinning against it This then is the sum They that are in Christ in his Spirit dead and risen with him who are entred into and swallowed up in the newness Vertue Life and Power of his Death and Resurrection are not subject to the Law of any dispensation though they can also fulfil any yea and are to fulfil the Law of every dispensation but
only to the Law of pure nature Nor can they properly be said to be subject to that for of it self it floweth from their nature and that in a way of subjection to them so that they may be rather said to be Lords over it All the dispensations of God with all the Laws of them flow from that life which is in Christ and his seed from which life they come in which life they are comprehended to which life they are inferior and owe subjection And though the Lord exercise his Son under them for a season so that they are above and he below they Lords and he a Servant under them yet when the heir is grown up to his age understanding and liberty it cannot but be otherwise And this is the right and proper state and posture of things whereas all things are now out of order the first last and the last first when every inferior nature is comprehended in and subject unto the superior When the sensitive part is subject to the rational the rational to the spiritual the spiritual to the divine The creature to man man to Christ Christ to God And when this is effectually sprung up brought forth and perfected then cometh the Kingdom the universal Kingdom the Kingdom both of God of Christ and of man Then God shall reign when he hath pitched his Tabernacle built up his Temple erected his Throne and Kingdom wherein he will reign When he hath taught his Son and his creature perfect subjection to himself then will he reign in them both Then Christ shall reign When he is become perfectly subject when he hath throughly learned obedience by the things that he hath suffered and hath given up his life to the will of the Father and lain in the grave during his pleasure Then will the Lord at length raise him up to the Crown give him the Kingdom set him at his own right hand and he shall reign henceforth in God and with God Yea When man hath learned this lesson from Christ and hath laid down his life also and buried it in the grave of Christ and there let it lie the time of Christs pleasure Then will Christ also at last raise him up in his own life even as God raised up Christ in his life and he shall reign in Christ and with Christ in God for ever and ever And now tell me ye that have skill which is the most Honorable of these Gods reigning in Christ and in man Christs reigning in God and in man or mans reigning in God and in Christ. Surely God will manifest his skill in imparting himself wholly and fully to his Christ and Christ will shew the same skill and will not fall short in it of conveying all to man that God imparts to him If the whole river cannot run intirely and perfectly every where it will not be satisfied in it self it will not be able to satisfie the desire of its nature which is after this manner to empty it self The Lord will sow liberally that he may reap liberally Nor is it any dishonour to him for us to see acknowledg and hold forth the greatness Excellency and Majesty of him in his seed Hitherto the Worshiping even of God by the mouths and in the spirits of most men hath been Idolatry but hereafter ye shall see man worshipped without Idolatry When the Lord clotheth the flesh of his seed with his own Spirit the spirit of man so soon as ever he beholds it shall fall down before it Yea all the Angels of God shall worship him The meanest Life of Christ in the lowest of his seed if any thing here may be termed mean or low shall deserve the greatest worship of the highest Angels Only use not Liberty for an occasion to the flesh The flesh will be entring into all the spiritual things of God but it is only into the flesh of them and to serve the flesh by them This they who are the seed in the true nature cannot do and they who are advanced to be a type or representation of the seed in any dispensation and so have a taste of the nature life and liberty of the seed are carefully to avoyd the doing of it in that dispensation wherein they are placed by the spirit of the Lord. The spirit of life in the seed cannot do thus This is clean contrary to the nature of that life nor the humane spirit neither so far as it dwells in and is comprehended by that life But that which is but spirit in a type or by vertue of a dispensation but is still flesh at root in its own in most nature is very prone to do thus yea as also the flesh which hangs about that which is spirit in truth both which prejudice themselves very much there and therefore should endeavour watch and pray that they might avoyd it Only use not Liberty for an occasion c. Ye may use all your Liberty only do not abuse it If it be in any kind an occasion or advantage to the flesh ye abuse it If ye manage it so as to satisfie any desire any delight of the flesh this is not true Liberty rightly made use of but the Liberty of the Gospel injured The Liberty of the Gospel it sets free the spirit but it is a yoke of bondage to the flesh it binds up the man wonderful-strait in all his nature and motions letting him not one whit-further loose then he is new made in this new life That Liberty therefore which feeds and satisfies the flesh which gives scope to the carnal spirit of man is not the truth And if there be any light which the spirit of man hath by the Revelation of the Gospel whereby he apprehendeth and practiseth such liberty he understandeth not that light he abuseth that light More particularly There are three main ways of abusing this liberty or the flesh is very apt to take occasion by this liberty to corrupt it self and prejudice the life of its spirit chiefly in these three respects In reference to its Temper in reference to its Rest in reference to its Motions What the spirit slays by true spiritual Liberty the flesh getting into the outside of it quickens and what the spirit thereby quickeneth the flesh thereby slayeth 1. The flesh is apt to take occasion by Gospel-Liberty to corrupt it self in its Temper to begin to lift up it self as if it were something The flesh when it s own nakedness is discovered to it and when it is cast into grievous bonds feeling the fetters and shakles of sin death and misery about it it is mightily ashamed but when it feels these fallen off and in stead thereof it finds it self clothed with the life and liberty of the spirit it begins to prick up its ears again and look upon it self as some-body O how low were the people of the Iews both in the eye of the world and in their own thoughts before the Lord clothed and adorned them but
partly Instructions and partly Corrections He breatheth his Spirit into them and by the power and vertue of his rod beareth down and subjecteth their spirits He burneth up their dross aforehand that he may make them fit to be saved and that it may be righteous for him to save them in the day of the worlds destruction He striketh them down he layeth load upon them he humbleth them exceedingly until he hath fitly tempeâ—ed them to hear and then he teacheth them the Law of his Life And thus he reneweth both his knocks and his beams of light as their condition need and capacity requireth O happy happy thrice happy are they whom God leadeth though through a wilderness and the dismal exercises thereof into his land of rest All that severity of Discipline under which they are now nurtured and trained up is nothing to that misery which they shall then escape or to that life and blessedness which they are hereby prepared for I shall close thus They that trust in lying vanities vanity shall be their recompence Yea they that trust or hope in God or in Christ or in God through Christ after the strength of their own apprehensions fastened upon or gathered from the Scriptures and not according to the knowledg and power of the truth as it is in Iesus shall find even these objects vanity to them their faith and expectation upon them vanity also and their end misery when they sink into death and destruction with the world yea and that somewhat deeper then the world But they who in truth are taught and led by the truth to wait and hope under their bondage and misery for the truth how extravagant or rediculous soever they may appear to all the various eyes of the several sorts of Religious persons from the strange exercises of God upon them shall be owned by the truth The root nature yea and all the motions of the spirit of the creature even in all the dispensations of God is rejected for in the true state and nature of things it is not that which the Lord can accept It is dark in all its light dead in all its life a captive and a slave in all its liberty an hater and a rebel in the midst of all its love and obedience and therefore how can the Lord who searching the spirit cleerly knoweth and discerneth this in the spirit but throw it aside notwithstanding its glittering appearances of light and life from him of precious faith and hope in him and of sweet love and obedience towards him But the root nature and motions of the seed under all its disguises in the midst of all its darkness death bonds captivity and estrangedness from God is his delight is his heir it is the heir of his nature and spirit and therefore shall undoubtedly inherit the truth and glory of life in him He that hath ears to hear let him hear the spirit which testifieth the same thing now as it hath done all along the Scriptures O let him who desireth the truth of salvation harken to the voice of the spirit of God in the Scriptures and not give ear to such fictions as his own spirit doth most naturally form out of them XIV The happy End of the holy Nature and Course of the Seed of Life which the Spirit of Life through all the various dark paths of sin death and misery most faithfully guideth it unto or The sweet and happy End of the Righteous PSAL. 37. vers 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace THe perfect or upright man is he who is of an entire stamp or nature and who walketh entirely with God in every dispensation from the Law of this nature The very nature of man is imperfect He is a transgressor from the womb Let him never so honestly and ingenuously dedicate himself to God and to righteousness yet he cannot for his heart walk with him or live righteously But the other cannot but do so And however he may slip from the weakness of his present estate yet his nature still sets him right again Now there is no man more miserable in his present condition then this man The unrighteous the unholy spirit of man can thrive in the world or flourish in any form of Religion but this man not having the spirit of this world cannot seek or enjoy it nor deliver himself from the oppressions and sufferings which are multiplied upon him by it Nay he is persecuted also and grievously afflicted by the powers of darkness which will not spare him in this their hour Yea his God estrangeth and hideth himself from him he hideth his face from the house of Iacob chastisiing him sorely continually Because of that corruption which cleaveth unto him and which his feet are still gathering the holy God which loveth truth and purity is ever and anon casting him into the fire The Lord by his Spirit of Judgment and Burning doth most naturally search try and judg the spirits of his people until he hath purified and perfected them Alas how sad therefore must it needs be with them in the midst of all these The world may live and flourish but they are still withering and dying The world may enjoy the freedom of its natural spirit after a sort but theirs is in bonds The world may laugh and rejoyce because of the contents they find and can reap and enjoy in the things of the world and in their several forms and exercises of Religion but these cannot but weep and lament that they are left desolate and have no Comforter These are the sick ones these are the blind ones these are the lame ones these are the poor ones these are the naked ones these are the peâ—secuted ones these are the oppressed ones whose misery no eye can see no heart conceive no tongue express Any misery that man meeteth with the spirit of man may pity him in but this is a kind of misery which the spirit of man knoweth not and these are the persons whom he judgeth and whom his heart is hardened against But mark the end of this man Look upon all this distress all this misery all this lamentably hard travel in its end For the end of that man is peace There is no knowing of any thing as it now appears under its vail in this dark shadowy world but if you would understand any thing aright keep your eye fixed upon it and observe it to the end In the end flesh when it is stripped of all its seeming glory will appear what it is and in the end spirit when it is unclothed of all its deformed rags will appear what it is If you consider the perfect man without the discerning of his end he will appear the poorest most miserable most contemptible thing that can be but if your eye can truly follow him unto his end you will have another ghess sight of him there for the end of that man
is peace The end of a man is that to which he tends that toward which his nature and all his motions bend their course that unto which he grows that which all his exercises and varieties in all the several dispensations through which God leadeth him contribute to Every thing hath its end There is an end of every dispensation and an end after every dispensation There is an end of all troubles an end of all motions an end of all rest an end of all peace which is known in this world Now there are two great Ends according to the two great Natures which are sown in this world which are Death and Life Ioy and Sorrow Anguish and Ease Heaven and Hell Peace is that quietness of Nature wherein it is and enjoys it self and what it desires Trouble is the disturbance of Nature Peace is its settlement There is trouble and there is peace now to be seen in the world but they are but shadows but the trouble and the peace which is the substance of the thing is to be discovered in the end and then that peace which belongeth to the nature and life of the perfect man shall be dispenced to him All old things all old trouble all old peace shall pass away and this new trouble and peace succeed and take hold of things according to their nature estate and degree But what this Peace particularly is none can apprehend but he who knoweth the nature the spirit and the trouble of the perfect man yet if you desire an outward description of it take it thus It is the perfect serenity and calmness both of the liquor and of the vessel of Life in the Land of Rest Where whatsoever might annoy or disturb is removed and which aboundeth with whatsoever may ease or refresh There is a Peace which passeth all understanding to conceive not only the extent but the very nature of it which is the end of the perfect man or at which the perfect man shall arrive in his end Here his inmost spirit clothed with his natural soul which is also encompassâ—d with an outward bodily garment shall sit down in their proper seat of perfect rest When the holy house or habitation of God is opened into which no unclean thing shall enter but be disturbed by it and suffer from it according to the nature and degree of its evil then shall this holy Child of God be admitted and welcomed into its own place and portion of rest and peace there Take notice also by the way of one great advantage this perfect man hath in any present dispensation of God The world is now very dark and barren and if a little light should break forth it would mightily refresh it But alas man would be lifted up above himself and distempered by it at present and afterwards he would dye again and become more miserable But the perfect man would both enjoy it more truly more fully more substantially at present and also not be in such danger afterward Because it would not be his life but his life would rather be Lord over it and so his chief happiness not depending upon it his chief happiness would not pass away with it Miserable is that man who is only differenced from the rest of the world by a present dispensation but happy is he whose difference lieth in the root of his own nature which changeth not in the midst of the varieties of all conditions or dispensations A lamenting and pleading Postscript HOw deep and true a sense my spirit hath had of my Fathers brethren and kindred according to the flesh understand me aright both of their present sad estate and future misery and what grief and lamentation it hath occasioned in me it so nearly concerning them of whom I once was and whom I always have loved and cannot but love tenderly still the Lord only knoweth Many times in the bitterness of my Soul have I complained in spirit and said unto my God O Lord God Behold how sweetly and comfortably that stands in others which thou hast so forcibly broken down in me If it were of a true substantial enduring nature why was it broken down in me Was I not most naturally formed by thy hand into plainness into simplicity into a low beleeving broken self-denying frame of spirit and this nakedly hanging not upon any worth or excellency in it self but upon the free dispensation of Life from thee of thine own meer grace from which it came and by which it hoped to live O why did the severity of thy hand go forth so bitterly against it How couldst thou find in thy heart to wound trample upon and destroy such a poor worm and no man But if it was of a nature devoted to death and destruction why is it suffered to stand in others Hast thou snatched me as a brand out of the fire O who can either endure to be so snatched out or to undergo the scorching heat thereof when it is once let loose upon his spirit Or how shall I bear the miserable sight of so dreadful burnings as must be kindled upon that which is left behind When thou once kindlest thy fierce flames ah what shall become of the poor dry stubble It is easie now to find a shelter while thy wrath is at a distance but alas what shall cover poor naked Adam for the most religious man which is not truly renewed is no better when thou walkest toward him with the bright piercing flames of thy Light O how tender hath my spirit been of this seduced wandering generation and yet thou hast made me only a stumbling block and not an help unto them Thou hast enforced me among others to give out a testimony against them and several warnings unto them but in such a way and after such a maner as they could not possibly avoyd being offended It is true O Lord Their spirits have not been able to withstand or acquit themselves in thy sight of what hath been testified against them but yet the testimony hath not come forth so as they might be able to consider and receive it It hath been spoken in such strange dialects as they understood not and also accompanied with such strange appearances as might seem rather to become the spirit of Satan then of God Yea Lord Satan hath made such a noise There have been such multitudes of his loud voyces and languages that thy low still voyce might easily be drowned No doubt O Lord but thou wilt be able to justifie thy self in all these things but in the mean time what shall become of these poor Souls Shall they always wander and please themselves this little moment which is their only time with strange invented vanities such as foolish vain man may admire and magnifie but the Spirit of the Lord knoweth not nor cannot own Dear Friends Let me plead a little with you once more from the tender love and pity of my Soul toward you Do ye consider what