Mat. 5.15 He is the light set upon the Candlestick giving light to all that are in the House and Hee is the Hidden Manna to nourish us to eternal life Col. 1.19 2.9 and it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell even the fulness of the Godhead bodily Oh Beloved He is that true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man From this Tabernacle must the soul expect all its leadings all its teachings and not from the wisdom of man or the ordinances of man for here they are all taught of God and they shall no more teach every one his Brother Heb. 8.10 11. saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest And whosoever is not led by this light and by this Star onely to behold the Lord Jesus Christ as his only and true Guide if he look any other way he does the same thing that the Prophet said of old to them that followed the Tabernacle of Moloch and the Star of their god Remphan and followeth after lyes and the inventions of their own evil Adulterous hearts Acts 7 42 Amos. 5.25.26 figures which they have made to worship saith the Holy Ghost in the fifth Chapter of Amos and the twenty fifth and twenty sixth verses Now then you may hence see and take notice that until the cloud be removed by the Lord himself there must be no journying no going forward by any of the sons of men and t is the Lord and not man can remove it the children of Israel must wait the Lords time when he pleaseth man he is alwayes furnished and ready your time is alwayes ready saith our Saviour Joh. 7.6 but my time is not yet There are certain days and times while the Cloud is upon the glory of this Tabernacle and till the Lord remove it man can do nothing but wait he must sit still in his Tent And that is when all things are in darknesse in man both within him and without him and he sees himself lost as to all his own wisdom power endeavours in this case t is in vain for man to arise and think to create a light and a wisdome and a power to himselfe for then he goes on in his own power and light and not in the light and power of God Ye know the fire in the Tabernacle never went out there was alwayes light there Lev. 6.13 but if there be a Cloud upon it and thou canst not see it and yet wilt be journying and doing and acting this will be thy fall and stumbling and a curse will be upon thee and not a blessing and thou shalt not prosper When that fire kindled the word in the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet then that word was a light to them a command to depart out of their Captivity and to return to their own land till then the cloud was upon their way and they were as in a waylesse wilderness where no man passed a land of desarts and of pits a land of drought and shadows of death where no man dwelt Jer. 2.6 as in that second chapter of Jeremiah While man is in this condition and in this night of blindnesse and darknesse and land of death and drought he knowes not his way until the Lord shew him a light till He remove the cloud there is no finding the place of rest nor any feeding on the Hidden Manna nor drinking at the Wells of Salvation Esa 12.3 When man is in this dark night how can he arise but if he sit still as to all his own powers really seeing his own weaknesse and utter inability then this light in due time will shine forth and if he ever stir before this day he arises and works and walks unto his own ruin and destruction It may be this Doctrin may seem harsh and very unwelcome to most men That they shall not be doing and going on and journying Phil. 2.12 and working out their own Salvation many are hereat much offended at which I do not wonder for they not being able to see the Mystery of the Scripture onely rest in the Letter and know not the teachings of the spirit and think they must do something by way of condition or else all is nothing And herein is the great mistake of most men who though never so highly esteemed by themselves and others Luk. 6.39 yet herein are no other but blind leaders of the blind and both fall into the ditch But those who are acquainted with these things in their own experience know and feel this mysticall interpretation to be the truth and all other in the Letter to be but resemblances and shadows under which the truth is hid and covered from all save onely such to whom it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdome Mat. 13.11 but to others in parables that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may bear and not understand As in that seventh and eighth Chapter to the Hebrews where the Apostle speaking of the Law and of many particulars appertaining to that Priesthood he shews that the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh unto God and so there by several arguments he proves that Jesus Christ alone was the true Priest and the true ORDINANCE Now in the first verse of the eighth chapter Heb. ch 7. 8. he applyes all that he had before spoken to Jesus Christ alone that perfect high Priest Ch. 7.19 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the summe And so he goes on and applyes it to Jesus Christ that true high Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man which things serve but unto the example and shadow of Heavenly things Ch. 8.1 c. he having obtained a far more excellent ministry by how much he is made the mediatour of a better covenant and established upon better promises he is not a high Priest of a Temple or contained in any Temple made with hands 2 Chron 6.18 but he is such a one whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain And he offers not sacrifices but himself his own body And He and all his members are the true Tabernacle wherein the Lord is served and well pleased for the Law made High Priests which have infirmitie Heb. 7.28 saith the Apostle but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who only is consecrated for evermore But what shall we say then of all those things wherein Moses was commanded to be so exact and to make all things according to the pattern and here he calls Christ the true Tabernacle what was theirs a false one I Ibid. 8.2 it was in regard of Christ who is the
the things which are purified with better things then the blood of Bulls and Goats nothing could purchase nor purifie these things but onely the blood and the death of the Son of God Here the soule comes to fee clearly and to handle and experiment and tast the Heavenly things themselvs which were from the beginning 1 Joh. 1.1 which we have heard and which we have seen with â—ur eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life Then the soul truly falls in love with Christ then it eyes him and surveys him then it magnifies and adores him then it loses it selfe in him and dotes upon him then is he all beauty and all perfection to it and then it loseth self-seeking and self-interest and self-glorying and the like and sees him onely to be the Lord of life life alone glory alone riches alone mercy alone light alone pretious alone and nothing in Heaven or earth to be desired but him alone Then it can say experimentally and feelingly with David and not complementally as most professours do Psal 73.25 26. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none in the earth that I desire in comparison of thee And my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever This soule is indeed the Temple of God and hath in it the true light Majesty and Glory of God but all other men do but play with shadows and are but exercised about the patterns of these things which are to come and have not the things themselves notwithstanding their confidences and strong conceits And now this light being in thee this is to be thy guide this is to be thy teacher thy Master and no other can be till this come in the Scriptures themselves nay Christ in the flesh and all things whatever ye can name are but Dark lanthorns without these divine teachings for he is only a light and a guide a Master and Ruler unto spiritual men and he is only Riches Peace Power Love Glory onely unto these men 't is not those that can talk much of him and who have high notions and speculations of him that can love or adore him truly but onely those who thus enjoy him He that walks by any other light or any other guide then by the light of the Tabernacle Esa 5.11 he walks in his own light and in the sparks of his own kindling and they never did Esa 5.1 nor never can receive other at the Lords hand but to lie down in sorrow But this is to lean upon the highest and purest wisdom to depend and rest on him who is only Alsufficient this is to be taken off all other things all other sufficiencies which are so to other men They can really see there is nothing in man nothing in the world but that all are full of emptiness and vanity and deceit this man sees and really knows all this other men talk much of them as if they were to them the onely excellencies and that all below them are nothing but shadows and delusions but secretly in their hearts they do not think so and their practices tell us otherways their eager seeking them their close holding and hugging them plainly declares that they lye with their tongues Psal 78.36 and dissemble in their hearts And they teach to others that which they never yet touched with one of their fingers And to them the things themseles to act in them to live by them Luk. 11.46 are those heavy burdens which the Pharisees laid upon other men shoulders but not touched them themselves He that is guided by any other light or by any other teachers he forsakes the light the life and glory of Christ and goes down into Emptinesse Darknesse Misery Sin and the delusions of his own heart He that thinks the Scriptures to be a light and a teacher or a rule or a guide without this Heavenly and Divine Teacher in him he depends upon that which can never teach nor guide aright without him and therefore when men talk so much of the Scriptures and misse this light they are but in darknesse and meerly delude themselves and others While Adam in the state of innocency beheld this light in him he adhered to it alone he saw no other light no other fire no other guide this was the Tree of life to him this was Riches Glory Fulnesse Gen. 3. all in all but he casting his eye upon the tree of knowledge of good and evil this false light misled him and led him down into darkness death blindness irrecoverable misery and never to return to the tree of life and this was by following the counsels and teaching of his own heart and indeed this is the condition of all the sons of men not one excluded no not one can return for there is a flaming cherub turning every way to keep the way of the tree of life And there is none can remove this Cherub but only the Son of God man with all his wisdom and power can do nothing in it he with all his excellencies is gone down for ever into the pit of Darkness Job 10.21 never to return Now only Jesus Christ is the new and living way the gate to life the true Teacher the only guide the only VNDERTAKER for all those that shall return He alone saith to Adam Where art thou hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee thou shouldest not eat Gen. 3.9 and in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Jesus Christ alone is he that discovers man to be naked to see himselfe undone and miserable by following his own will and wisdom he alone can set up a light in the soule to shew man his folly and madnesse he alone can set before him Hell Death the Curse Damnation and Destruction And if man goe about to return in his own light or by his own wisedome he sets himself but more into misery and darknesse and even Publicans and Harlots shall sooner return then these men Mat. 21.31 Ibid. 23.15 who in their own and others eyes are the wisest of men the highest the holiest of the sons of men And these men for all they take so much pains and are so strict over themselves as they would be thought to be and require it of others yet they are no other but those Pharisees and Hypocrits which compass Sea and Land to make if possible ONE Proselyte and when he is made Gen. 2.25 they make him two-fold more the child of Hell then before While Adam lived in that state wherein he was created in the Light of God and in the Glory of God in the Wisdom and Life of God man was not ashamed though he was naked for the glory and light of God was in him which was his life excellency and glory but when he went hence and followed other Counsel Ch. 3.6 the whispering
honour or praise or the like nor to the Religion of the world nor of the Nation as ye know many usually do and if that will not do then they fly higher and they will be of the strictest sort of the Pharisees and joyn themselves with men of Learning Gravity and Religion and men esteemed Orthodox and sound in the Faith and he will follow their ways in hearing and reading and praying and walking without offence and the like but all these do but sow to the flesh Gal. 6.8 and of the flesh can reap nothing but corruption Do but examine thy selfe although thou hast joined thy selfe here and there and gone from one Church-society to another and put thy neck under the yoak of such a form and such a religion what was the cause was it not thy fears thy terrors within or was it not that thou mayst cover thy filthy and corrupt heart from the sight of others hast thou not for all this conformity the same heart the same nature still though thou hast hid and covered it by these inventions and when the fire hath still broke out and thy misery and undone condition would not be concealed hast not thou said within thy self is there not some other way some better remedy is there no better Physitians then these I have joind my self to the Presbyterians and I have found their way too short that would not do I have come over to the Independents and thought that way seemed before a better and more refined way yet it is too narrow I cannot wrap my self in that covering well sayes thy heart is there no other nor no better Physitians so I could but secure my self and prevent this fire and this burning I would be content to do any thing and take up every yoak and submit to the strictest forms Then say the Anabaptists come over to us and we shall give thee satisfaction we have the true Baptism according to the word none so near the word of God as we But when thou hast done all these things to find rest and to quench the fire which began to burn and to hide thy deformities from men dost thou think there is any thing of Christ in all this is not this rather to run away and turn thy back upon Christ and to live by thy own wits and inventions and by thy own power meerly to prevent death and destruction and the losing of thy own wisdom and righteousnesse and that thou mayest not come into the light of God least it should discover thy darknesse and blacknesse And now seeing these things are so how dare any of the sons of men boast of these things when they cannot free nor deliver the soul but rather increase their misery and lengthen out their bondage I say dare any man stand forth and call these the Ordinances of Christ as they use them what greater what higher blasphemy an Ordinance of God is a thing of another nature wherein the wisdom and power of God is effectual to bring in the heart to cause man to renounce his own wisdom power c. to empty him of all his power and goodnesse and to cause the soul to submit to the righteousnesse of faith else t is but an ordinance of man and the word is but a dead Letter and t is no more but the word of man Matth. 7.29 2 Cor. 10.5 Psa 50.16 except it come with authority and power upon the heart bringing every high thought and every imagination into the obedience of Christ What hast thou to do to take my word into thy mouth and yet hatest to be reformed Truly friends there are many pretenders to Christ and the world makes a great noise of serving and worshipping him and there is great talk everywhere of fearing God in notion and opinion and delusion For who else more persecute and crucifie Christ and hate and oppose the true power of godlinesse and the teachings of the spirit and the work of Christ in redeeming and delivering the soule then these men Therefore Beloved these things that men so much cleave to and magnifie cannot be the rest of a Christian nor the Ordinances of Christ as used by them but of Antichrist because they may be used and lived in and admired and prized and yet they are without any power they let those that use them and live in them to be carried away with divers lusts 2 Tim. 3.6 2 Pet. 2.19 they pretend liberty but themselves are the servants of corruption and enemies to the power of Christ and the life of Christianity and are acted by Antichrist who as God sitteth in the Temple of God 2 Thes 2.4 shewing himself that he is God Though he be a Devil and Antichrist yet he would not be known all his policy is to conceal himself and be thought to be righteous and pure and to be the very Christ the son of the living God May not one be dipt and receive water baptisme and yet be a Sorcerer Yes was not Simon Magus so Acts 8 12. May not one be at breaking of bread with Christ and yet be a Devil Mat. 26.23 Yes for so was Iudas though he was not there when Christ gave them his body to eat and his blood to drink which was himself which he gave to all the rest yet he was at supper with him at the Paschal Lamb and externally brake bread with him May not a man be full of good words and make great professions of strictnesse and yet be far from the Kingdom of of Heaven Yes Mat. 23.14 for so were the Pharisees they were the only Learned men and the Interpreters of the Scriptures and used much and long praying and uttering many outward good words sweet and smooth in their carriage and were very strict as to the outward command and were generally taken for the holiest and the gravest and the soberest men if any lend to them they would lend to them again yet you know what Christ saies of them Ibid. v. 27. they were but painted Hypocrits and compares them to lothsome stincking Sepulchres As the Apostle saith concerning charity though a man go never so far in actions of love though he give his body to be burned 1 Cor. 13.3 and have not true love all is nothing Men may come so far as to burn for Religion and yet have nothing of Christ at all Therfore these outward external actions of men do not truly declare a Christian whether he act from the power of Christ in him for he may do the same acts by way of imitation that a true Saint may do Therefore Beloved it lies us very much upon to discover and find out wherein the truth lies how we may know it from all forms shadows pictures patterns to know that which is true real unchangable and cannot deceive for there can be no true peace nor no real satisfaction but where Christ is an indweller in the soul where all of man
to him why because there is a vail upon them the Covering of all Nations some things more or lesse excellent some righteousnesse some holinesse some duties some reformation some forms some shadows and These are the Covering by reason of which he neithr sees nor tasts death nor hell nor destruction In Christ there is all life all rest all peace all discovery of good things but if man remain in himself and dwel in his own mountain there is all darknesse and all deformity nothing but death trouble bryars thorns but it never appears so till but death trouble bryars thorns but it never appears so till the vail be taken away till then man is never stript of himself never turned outward but all is under this Covering and while so he blesses himself and saith I am safe all is well there is no death nor hell can come neer me I am a reform'd man I walk exactly I presse after the strictest rules of the word I am under the purest Ordinances here now Gen. 3.6 man eates death and tasts of the forbidden tree and the tree is sweet to him and to be desired But now when Christ comes into the soul really all these thoughts are cursed damned thrown to hell and the man becomes vile abominable in his own fight instead of seeing himself an heir of glory as before his thoughts are clean altered the vail the Covering is removed and he now sees himself an heir of hell a poor deluded undone creature He sees THE ASSE the flesh must not goe up into the mountain with Abraham but must be left below let that bear the burden as fit and meet it should let it bear the wrath of God it must be destroyed it must be condemned it must goe to hell All the glory of man all the excellency of nature all the holinesse of man the wisdom of man all must be left below with the Asse the flesh at the bottom of the hill and there must be a going out of our selves a loosing of our selves that we may goe up to the mountain and there be feasted and there see visions there see strength there see glory there see power there see riches righteousnesse and all good things then man shall see how he called evil good and good evil Esay 5.20 darknesse light and light darknesse there he shall be feasted with all delights there he shall see how wisdom hath furnished her table Prov. 9.2 there the scales are removed here he beholds Jacobs ladder here is the valley of Achor here he enjoys his hopes here he sees visions and the third heavens opened and here he feeds upon the hidden Manna c. But know this Rev. 2. that all these thing are not done at once but by degrees as man leaves the Asse behind so he ascends the mountain as man goes out of himself so he enjoyes Jesus Christ and is made one with him as man is made nothing so Christ comes to be made all man becomes all in Christ and nothing in himself so far as man utterly denies himself so far he eats of these fat things when he see himself oppressed with sin or wrath or hell he presently runs to this mountain when he is parched with drought he runs to this rock to this fountain of living waters Jer. 17.13 below in the valley in himself he can find no comfort nothing but wrath and death and darkensse and destruction there 's is nothing but the bottomless pit there 's nothing but madness and folly nothing but lies and vanity there 's nothing but fears and frights horrors and amazements and the smoak of the bottomlesse pit he now cries out Wo is me Rev. 9.2 did I so much delude my self to think my self to be wise holy c. when as there was nothing but folly and an infiniteness of madnesse And now he sees that there is in him Antichrist indeed the beast with seven heads and ten horns and himself bearing the mark and image of the beast And all this the soul sees by faith for faith is the souls eye when Faith goes up from its self and looks upon Jesus Christ there it sees all riches all glory all wisdom all unchangeableness all purity all life all rest all in all in a word it sees him to be unutterable unspeakable and in him things not able to be uttered not fit to be uttered but only to such as are admitted into the same condition for others cannot comprehend these words they are paradoxes and riddles They see themselves to be nothing but sin and horrour and there is the bottom or the foot of Jacobs Ladder and they see also Jesus Christ with all his riches glory power wisdom righteousness there is the top of the Ladder these things are only to be seen in this mountain When Saints by faith look down into what they are in themselves they see there is a bottomlesse pit of smoak and darkness blackness of darkness darkness that may be felt Exod. 10.21 and they see the smonk covers the face of the whole earth there he sees in this valley such a bottomless depth of sin and Misery that he is ashamed of himself and ashamed that others should see him to be so Now while the vail is untaken away all the endeavour all the wit all the power of the naturall man is to keep on this covering to keep it from being rent he would by no means have it removed he would upon no terms see himself as he it to see himself undone to be nohing but emptiness and misery this kindles the fire of hell in him what he that thought himself so holy so full of goodnesse now to see himself to be so far deluded as to be all sin and all darkness and all hell he that thought himself to be a lover of God and a lover of righteousnesse to be no other but a hater of God and a bater of true holines and a hater of the truth Oh now by all means he would cover and hide this monstrous Image from himself and others he would not for all the world see himself nor have others see him thus vile and thus miserable but the contrary to admire himself to magnifie himself as good excellent and holy but when Jesus Christ comes he wil in despight of all mans wisdom and cunning and power discover him to himself he shall whether he will or no behold his own shape see himself in his own colours Then he cries out Ob miserable man that I am who shall deliver me â—â—m 7.24 Lord help me I am undone I am a man of polluted lips and with Peter Lord help or I perish I shall fink for ever into this bottomlesse gulph from whence there is no redemption He sees now the vail rent and himself lost for ever and that such is the bottomlesness of this gulph that he is in that nothing can redeem him thence but only the blood of
if I do not discover my self and make their folly and madnesse and their misery appear they are running on confidently never to return Therefore I will go down and confound their Language I must bring to naught all their works wisdome confidence and inventions that I may save man from destruction Now the work of the Lord is to pull down ruin and destroy all this stately building of mans erecting and to lay it all flat and to let man see that whatever he plants is in vain Every plant which the Father planteth not Mat. 15.13 must be rooted up whatever man hath wrought by his own power and in his own wisdom must be brought to confusion Luk. 21.6 and be made Babel and not a stone left upon a stone Though the Temple which the Sons of men have set up be never so glorious and precious in their beholdings yet all must be destroyed and they and all their works and endeavours all their forms and inventions turned into a ruinous heap Esa 17.1 25.2 And the Lord will not onely say this but he will also do it vers 8. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the Earth and they left off to build the City When men is once convinced of his miserable condition and sees himself and all the sons of men thus deluded and befooled and begins to see that all their confidence is madness and all their works sin Ibid. 64.6 and all their duties as menstruous rags and all their forms and inventions no other but Babel and destruction then and not before they leave off to build this City for then they see themselves as it were swallowed up in death and misery and that their best actions are but dung and drosse and abominable things and that there is no stability in any of the sons of men and this is the Lords work alone this man hath no hand in t is the Lord that saith and doth it Ezek. 22.14 to confound this Language and scattereth men from this building so that they can now no more contribute their wisdome or counsel their strength or endeavours to this City of Confusion Vers 9. Therefore is the Name of it called Babel because the Lord did there confound the Language of all the earth All that is of man from the power wisdome excellency righteousnesse of man let it be never so beautiful and never so esteemed all is meer BABEL but a City a Temple a refuge of confusion And the Lord will scatter and confound every builder therof that is he will commix confound their language they shall be all amazed confounded to behold what the Almighty hath done to see their strong mountains so removed and their strong City of refuge ruined and blown down My Friends so far as the Lord hath declared to me this is the Mystery and the living sense of this portion of Scripture Mat. 11.10 19.12 He that hath ears to hear let him hear and he that hath eyes to see shall see he that can receive it let him The truth and things of God carry light power and demonstration in themselves he that thinks by his own power or by his own wisdom or his own light or his own learning to discover them he is still in darknesse he is to this day raising Babel and the Lord is not yet come down to confound his Language and the truth is hid and sealed up from him Now that I may come to make a little farther application of these things to our selves The first Use let it be this Vse 1 from what hath been spoken we may conclude that all the sons of men the whole race and every particular person is equally in one and the same condition they are all of one masse of one Lump not one wise and another foolish one righteous and another sinful not one earthly and another heavenly not one in light and another in darknesse not one carnal and another spiritual bue the whole earth is of one language They all even the best the righteousest they act nothing but sin and rebellion death and emnity Jer. 2.13 Psal 1413 they are all carnal all departed from the fountain of living waters they are all gone astray and become abominable and not one that doth good no not one every one of the sons of men are under wrath with ALL their works and righteousness every one is no other but a child of hell and a son of perdition and confusion And there is no good that any of them can appropriate or lay the least claim to for there is no wisedome but the wisedome of God nor no righteousnesse but the everlasting righteousnesse of that only ONE and Alsufficient Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ He that sayes there is any good thing in man any righteousnesse wisedome power any endeavours after any good or the like he is no other but a most abominable blasphemer And this conceit and presumption the Lord hath cursed and will confound Mat. 12.33 for can an evil tree bring forth good fruit Either make the tree evil and his fruit evil or else make the tree good and his fruit good can man be evil and wholly evil and yet bring forth any thing that is good or is there any good or any holiness but what is from the fountain of good for any to dare to say otherwise is high blasphemy to God and Jesus Christ to take that which is proper and peculiar to the ever blessed God and to ascribe it to a sinful nothing empty creature for any man to take the Crown from off the head of Jesus Christ and to set it upon his own head and say this is his what greater indignity what higher blasphemy then to say that which is crooked is strait Esa 5 20. Job 38.2 and to call darkness light and evil good Who are these that darken counsel by words without knowledge From what principle think you cometh all the religion of this nature and from whence cometh this kind of teaching That man must be something and MAN must do and HEE must act and HEE must beleeve and HEE must repent and there is something required of him to doe by way of condition or else the grace of God is frustrate Certainly these men are no other but Babel builders they never yet knew the confusion of Languages in themselves they were never yet undone made nothing nor stript of their own power wisedome righteousnesse nor convinced of the vanity and nothingness of all their power and endeavours they never yet saw that these things were alone proper to Jesus Christ but they must work and they must doe and they must act These certainly whatever they say never yet were convinced that man was a lump of sin and weaknesse never yet saw where the bottomless pit is never yet cryed out misery and shame upon themselves but think they have some goodnesse and some power and
that horrible Pride Robbery Blasphemy Arrogancy and Infidelity that is in the heart of man to think he will do that which none can do but the hand of God And 't is Infidelity to think God will not do that he hath promised to do to the ends of the earth and robbery in that it takes away Gods honour and wisdom and power and this mans Arrogancy in assuming them to himself One while the Magistrate he will take upon him to remove the Cloud and he saith he is the great man to propagate the Gospel which is onely and properly the propagation of the Son of God and he must plant the Ministers of the Gospel And it may be perhaps there are some would have them go with the sword and blood to plant this in other Nations surely the fruit must needs be good that springs from such a root The Gospel you see is a Tabernacle that God plants and pitches and not man but ever and anon they will be taking upon them to do this and then it must be their care to know and distinguish of blasphemies and errours and heresies and this they do meerly out of that principle of errour and blasphemy that is in their own hearts for this shewes their Infidelity that God is not able to carry on his own work And do we say we are Christians and believe in him and when we have so done tell him a lye to his face Esa 9.6 for he saith Esa 9.6 that the government shall be upon Christs shoulders And Saith the Magistrate He hath the government upon his shoulders and yet when we have made great profession in words we trample him under the feet of men Mat 5.13 for if he cannot do his own work without the power of man then he stands in need of man and then must be weaker then man Then comes another and saith The Churches they must do this they must send out and they must remove the Cloud from off the Tabernacle and that darknesse that is in several corners of the Land the Harvest is great but the Labourers are few And our Saviours counsel is when he tells us Mat. 9.37 38. Joh. 4.35 that the Harvest was white even to reaping saith hee pray to the Father that he would send faithful Labourers He doth not bid you go to the men of Power or Patrons or Magistrates And truly then it were needlesse to pray to the Lord of the Harvest when men can send them forth now is not this pride infidelity and arrogancy for any of the sons of men to think to do it Obj. But you will say if that men should not do it men would become Heathens and Mahumetans or Atheists and of no Religion Answ Thinkest thou so is Religion Planted by men I thought it had been such a thing as the Text saith every plant that the Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Mat. 15.13 May man then root up and plant at his pleasure For the truth is mans Ministry and Ministers may send out men and plant Churches that is they may make PROSELYTES and they may make them worse but can never make them better as the Pharisees taking great pains that way to furnish men as to imitations notions actions and external performances Rom. 2.28 29. but to bring the heart to be a Jew inwardly whose Circumcision is of the Heart and not of the Letter this is that plant that is alone of the Heavenly Fathers planting and shall abide but what plant either the Magistrate or Churches either by exclusion or inclusion have planted shall be rooted up But what the Lord plants what Tabernacle he pitches among poor creatures the sons of men that are neither cal'd by the Magistrate or Churches that is the Church that shall abide being founded on the Rock of Ages and shall stand for ever Nay further they will themselves remove the Cloud of the Tabernacle which God must do and not man and to do this they will lay heavy burthens upon other mens shoulders Mat. 23.4 c. and to this end they will bring forth a Doctrine to put men upon it teaching that men have Free will and may believe if they will and repent unto life that so man may be perswaded he is not fallen so low as some say that he need but wipe or throw off a little the dust off his own eyes which he got by his Fall and then he may see presently and using but his utmost industry he may work out his own salvation Alas this is but a delusion of Satan to make a poor blind man rub his own eyes and be afterward a great deal worse No this is not the way 't is the Lord removes the Cloud and not Man therefore till the Lord cause the soul simply to go out by beleeving there is still a cloud upon the Tabernacle and upon all those Mysteries that concern Jesus Christ Eph. 4.21 and they cannot see the truth as it is in Jesus Alas these soules look not at God but man the truth is all men in their Religion talk of God but their hearts are far from him Esa 29.13 This people saith God draw too neer me with their lips but their hearts are removed far from me Yet more though all mens Religion talk of God yet you that have eyes to see may see plainly their Hearts are on man and the creature they talk of God of Christ of grace of gaining knowledge of acting by grace and yet do but follow the point home in practice and application and ye shall find these are all laid upon man and in effect they say man must remove the Covering off the Tabernacle and he must by his study and pains bring down light and life and the like So I say though they say it with their mouths their hears are far from God So that when once man really sees there is a Cloud upon the Tabernacle then he looks not to the right hand nor to the left Psa 121.1 thinking that man should remove it but alone to the hills from whence his help and salvation comes for when a man thinks his own zeal performances duties belief repentance and the like be the way to remove the Cloud thinking surely I shall remove it presently I will goe pray and hear and watch over my selfe and keep close to those rules I have chosen and then I shall have light and peace and joy and so remove the Cloud presently and so he is bragging and boasting thereof in himselfe and throwing dirt and mire upon all others that are short of him as he conceives and so poor man is feeding upon the dead ashes of his own heart Esa 44.20 and knows not that there is a lye in his RIGHT HAND his very light is darknesse and his goodnesse sin and his riches beggery and his life death and that he holds in his right hand is a lye And if the light
he shall look upon all things in himselfe as nothing but darknesse and man will then no longer call light darknesse nor darknesse light but he will say Woe is me verily I thought my righteousness my holinesse my performances and duties and worshippings of God I thought these to be BRIGHT THINGS but now the Lord hath appeared upon me I see that all my goodness is as the morning dew and as the cloud that passeth away And he alone is my help my deliverer my holinesse my Sanctification and my Redemption He alone is my song and my salvation and of him alone will I make my boast THE SECRET SOUTHSAYER OR Hidden SORCERER discovered By Mr. Jo. WEBSTER Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street MICAH 5.10 11 12 13. And I will cut off the Cities of thy Land and throw down all thy strong holds I will cut off Witchcrafts out of thine hand and thou shalt have no more Southsayers Thy graven Images also will I cut off and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands BEloved there is in all the sons of men a spirit of hatred and opposition against the wisdom power and righteousnesse of God ever since their going out and departing from the presence of the Lord having forsaken him their rock and their stay they have turned down into their own wisdom and power and having chosen that for their God and their guide they will not by any means be turned back to the Lord to forsake themselves their own wisdom and righteousnesse power and parts but they use all their study and endeavours to goe on with all confidence after the gods of their own hands which they have made and chosen and man never returns to that love peace and amity with the Lord but by the Almighty hand of the Lord by the very same power and no other but only that which can raise the dead out of their graves Rom. 4.24 ch 8.11 Jer. 2.13 and the same spirit that raised Jesus-Christ from the grave And ever since this departing from the fountain of life to the broken and empty Cisterns of the creature there are but only two Leaders two Guides two Masters two Teachers which all the sons of men follow there are but only two seeds Gen. 3.14 15. ch 4.2 1 John 3.9 the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent There are but only two Brethren Cain and Abel the Immortal and perfect seed of God which is holy pure and undefiled which cannot sin and that wicked cursed hellish seed of Satan which never did nor never doth nor never shall doe any thing else but sin rebel and fight against the wisdom light and power of God There is no middle seed between these two All actions all thoughts all industry all inventions all Religions are either from the wisdom which is from above Jam. 3.15 17. 1 Cor. 15.47 48 49. or else from that earthly and humane wisdom which is from man and from below As the one is from Heaven Heavenly so the other is from the earth earthly the first man is of the earth earthly the second is the Lord from Heaven heavenly And as are the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have born the image of the earthy so shall we also bear the Image of the heavenly The one of these Guides is light and truth and glory and leads to rest peace fulnesse satisfaction the other leads to darknesse misery and destruction and yet pretends to light and truth and wisdom but the waies thereof goe down to the chambers of death This earthly guide alwaies draws downward to seek rest in the creature Pro. 7.27 in something either without man or within him and so drawes and deludes away the poore soule of man from that Eternal Al-sufficient JEHOVAH to sit down satisfied with the empty and broken comforts and helplesse Idols that the inventions of men have made and set up and say These be thy Gods O Israel Exo. 32.4 which will bring thee out of bondage and give thee possession of the land of Canaan the one is the true light and the true vision the true URIM and THUMMIM which never can mislead or deceive Ibid. 28.30 the other is the spirit of darknesse ignorance deceit witchcraft sorcery a lying and a familiar spirit And it pretends to seek after God and after holiness and after peace and rest but t is meer Sorcery and Witchcraft This is that Jannes and Jambres that alwaies will withstand Moses for they pretend to imitate Moses but they are no other but Wizzards Southsayers and deceivers they pretend for the truth and yet withstand the truth and saies the Apostle As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so doe these also resist the truth 2 Tim. 3.8 being men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed no farther for their folly shall be made known unto all men as their also was They shall be found to be no other but Deceivers Magicians Southsayers These words we have now read they shew us what man is and what all men doe before they come to the light of God they shew that he is blind in himselfe 2 Tim. 3.13 deceiving and being deceived that he is confident in his own power in his own wisdom and that he chuseth to himselfe Horses and Chariots for his defence and preservation and he will have a Captain and a Leader of his own chusing whom he will follow And he useth all his inventions to secure himselfe against all that shall oppose him Esay 30.16 Jer. 2.23 he hath builded himselfe Forts and Castles and Strong-holds and Bulwarks and he hath the Charitos of Egypt and swift Dromedaries as the Prophet speaks to secure and deliver him on which he rests trusts and depends and on which he rides and thinks that those things shall defend and deliver him And the truth is so great and so deep and so subtily contrived are all his witchcrafts that all the wisdom of all the sonnes of men is never able to discover them to be so but only the wisdom spirit of God and that onely can discover these seeret and close and fine contrived inchantments like Pharaohs Magicians how did they act and imitate and doe the same things Moses did for a long time as if they had wrought by the same power Moses did Exo. 7.11 22 c. when as they were no other but Deceivers and Enchanters and Magicians In the same way doe Magicians worke in all ages Whatever the Saints and people of God doe by the power of God they can contrive and imitate the same in all their spirituall inchantments they have their Temples and their Worship and their Groves their forms and inventions Mark 13.21 and cry loe here and loe there when these are
escaped from the snare of the Hunter Hast thou really seen thy selfe lost undone made miserable hast thou seen that thy self was in Captivity and that thou wast deaf and dumb and blind and lame that thou wert shut up in darknesse and death and that there was none in Heaven or Earth able to help thee in the least but thou seeing thy selfe so miserable and hopeless that thou wert at thy wits end and no help at all appeared If this have not been thy condition though thou couldst speak never so excellently of the Letter and the History and though thou submittedst to the highest forms and to the soberest and most strict course of life being constant and austere in observing of thy rules for hearing and reading and set times of prayer and constant examining thy self to keep thy selfe up the stricter to thy Rules alas poor soul all this is nothing though thou couldest speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels 1 Cor. 13.1 and pray with such sweet words and language as might ravish all the men on earth If thou doest not finde Christ Jesus in thee breaking every bond and loosing every yoak and that no other in Heaven or Earth could do it but he thou wert never yet delivered but art still under wrath death and bondage The chief thing that every soul is to mind in reading and hearing is to examine whether the same thing be wrought in them whatever we find in the Letter if it be not made good in us what are the words to us we must see how Christ is crucified and buried in us and how he is risen and raised from death in us the chief thing I say is to look into our own breasts All generally that hold forth a profession of Christ they say in words that Christ is the Deliverer but that is not the thing but is he a Deliverer to thee Is that glorious MESSIAH promised Rom. 11.26 and the Deliverer out of Sion come with power into thy soul hath he exalted himselfe there and hath he made bare his arm and been a glorious CONQVERER in thee hath he taken to himself his great power to raign in thee Rev. 11.17 Is he King of Kings and Lord of Lords in thee c. Beloved all preaching and reading and praying and duties is to this end to examine thy inward man and thy spiritual condition Thou joinest thy self in fellowship and walkest conformable to all thy rules and thou art washed and thou breakest bread with them and thinkest herein thou hast obeyed the commands of Christ alas this is nothing if Jesus Christ have not joined thee to himself and made thee a member of him what good doe all these things for by all these outward actings thou dost not discern the Lords body To discern the Lords body is to eat him to be united to him to be made one spirit with him that so he may be made experimentally a Saviour and a Deliverer in thee That he hath taken thy soul out of the mire and clay Ps 40.2 and out of the horrible pit thou canst say experimentally and by feeling that it was an horrible pit and that there thy soul stuck fast and thou hadst no hope ever to get forth and if Christ hath set thee free thou knowest full well no power could do it but only his Eph. 1.19 only the same power which raised Jesus Christ from the grave and no lesse And thou whoever thou art who hast experience of this work thou art in one of these two conditions either thou art set free and delivered by the power of Jesus Christ or else thou seest thy self in the pit in straits in misery in a hopelesse condition and art sighing and groaning for deliverance and waiting when Christ will deliver thee And if thou beest but in either of these two conditions thou art in a safe and good Condition but if thou hast been in this misery and condemnation and thou hast used all means to put this off and sought out deliverance for thy selfe and by thy wisedome and strength and conformity and holinesse hast got thy selfe a covering by any thing under Heaven then Jesus Christ never was a Deliverer to thee but though thou thinkest thy selfe delivered yet thou art for all thy peace and for all thy Coverings under a worse bondage then before Therefore I say I would have every soul before me examine it selfe whether he be a true seeker of Deliverance which is to examine in which of these two Conditions he is in whether he hath been under these Terrors and death in hell and condemnation seeing himself lost and miserable and that instead of seeing any wisdom or power or righteousnesse in himself that he hath seeen and doth still see himself to be a meer sink of sin and a cage of unclean birds and that in him is nothing but weaknesse Rev. 18.2 wickednesse and all abominations And let me ask thee when thou wast in this condition whither wentest thou for help whether to dumb Idols that could not help that have eyes and see not and ears and hear not or to the living God in whom alone is help and deliverance And if thou art at present in this condition and distresse Joh. 5.4 thou art one that lies waiting at the pool till the Angel stir the waters expecting when Christ will put thee in Thou wilt not run to this duty and that form to ease thy self and to allay these Terrors and to quench these flames but if help come not there thou waist and there thou standest and remainest in this condemnation and goest up and down sighing and mourning all the day long and thou seest t is not in the power of all the Ministers under Heaven not in all the forms and rules that can be invented but only in the tender mercy and good will of Jesus Christ All other wayes thou lookest upon but as going out to Asher Hos 7.11 and to Egypt and to seek after dumb Idols that have a picture of eyes and ears and hands promising as though they could help but they can neither see nor hear nor help though to others they appear glorious and goodly things and they blesse themselves in using them yet to thee they are dead cold and helplesse so that now here thou waitest and sittest alone like the Pelican in the Desart Ps 102.6 and there thou mournest and bemoanest thy condition and with David thou hast no rest in thy bones because of thy sins Ibid. 38.3 Try thy self now in which is thy condition if in neither of these thou art in a most sad miserable condition indeed and so much the more sad because thou seest it not Or it may be thou hast cured thy self and healed thy selfe but art not cured nor healed Jer. 6.14 but the Prophets have healed the Daughter of my people slightly as the Prophet speaks have not throughly discovered their iniquity to turn
miserable and undone man If once man come to be thus lost undone and brought down in himself then will Jesus Christ make him a Feast of fat things if once his peace be lost his righteousnes lost his joy lost his help lost his strength lost then will Jesus Christ be all these unto him he will make out a peace for him a righteousnesse for him a glory for him he will be to him a feast of fat things full of marrow and wine on the lees well refined And so as he saith in the next verse I will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the vail that is spread over all Nations That is mans opinion of his own goodnes his seeming righteousnes which was as a covering as a vail that man could not see himself miserable and under wrath and hell and darknesse This is the covering every man naturally hath an opinion of his own goodness he hath something or other to cover himself withall but some have finer and as they conceive richer coverings then others they think they have more holines and more repentance and more love and more good works these are by so much the worse these are at a farther distance from the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 21.31 And Publicans and Harlots and the vilest sinners shall goe into the Kingdom of heaven and they themselves that have so much holiness shall be shut out Luk. 23.45 Here now The vail of the Temple must be rent from the top to the bottom The rock of their righteousness must be rent their shame must be laid open Ibid. 12.3 what they have done in the secret chambers of their own hearts must now be proclaimed upon the house top they cannot conceal it the covering is removed Now they come to see that Jesus Christ is only the rock of their righteousness and that they have none at all all other rocks all other righteousnesses must be rent that so their want their misery their condemnation their hell their horrour their darkness and delusion may be discovered and if men be once brought to this to be content to be miserable as indeed all mankind is by reason of the fall to be content to see themselves undone to be shut up under the wrath of God condemnation sealed upon them and the pit to have shut her mouth upon them having once thus lost all their power wisdom righteousnes then all death hell and darknes shal be swallowed up in the death of Christ Then he wil as it is in the eighth verse Esay 25.8 Swallow up death in victory and the Lord God shall wipe away all tears from all faces In this mountain he will take away all sorrow and the rebuke of their sins all guilt all condemnation all bonds all captivity all strong holds all chains all death all fears griefs terrors and all things of that nature This rock this mountain will swallow up all and so take away the rebuke of his people When a man is brought into this mountain he shal be thus fed with fat things and wine on the lees and all tears washed away nothing left of that nature and this is that day of the Lord this is the Lords resting day and this is the souls Sabbath and resting day when all rebukes all frowns all griefes are removed All other Sabbaths and rests externall are but figures and representations of this true rest And then it follows in the ninth verse And it shall be said in that day Loe Esay 25.9 this is our God we have waited for him this is the Lord we have waited for him he will save us and we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation for in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest c. when Christ hath thus appeared to the destruction of all things in man and hath brought him out of himselfe and hath ruined all his strength righteousnes wisdom c. then Christ wil be all in all to him then will he feast him in this mountain and the soul seeing all these things accomplished in it self then it cannot chuse but rejoyce triumph and sing Even the Song of Moses and the Lamb This is our God that we have waited for This is the Lord in him alone is power and wisdom and righteousnes loving kindnesses and tender merecies Thou O Lord only art worthy to receive honour Rev. 4.11 and glory and power thou alone art our strength and Our salvation all their happines is concentred in this One God and they have no God but him no Saviour but him they have but One God and one faith and one baptisme Eph. 4.4 5 6. One body one spirit one hope One Lord one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in all They rejoyce in this that they see themselves made nothing that they are emptied of themselves of their power wisdom righteousnes they now rejoyce triumph and sing because the vail of covering of the all Nations is removed in their hearts that their high thoughts are brought down that their wisdom is made folly that their opinion of their own glory of their own somethingness of their own holiness is removed and Christ alone is He in whom they enjoy all things From hence ye may conclude upon this point That Christ alone is the Saints strong mountain Doct. and their feast of all good things He is only their mountain of strength he is their joy and their song he hath rent and destroyed the face of the Covering which is upon all people they see that none can remove this Covering but Christ alone and therfore he having done this in them and for them Psal 4.7 this rejoyceth their hearts far more then if he had increased their Corn or their Wine or their Oyle here is their feast here is their day of Thanksgiving here is their Sabbath which shall never end here is their marrow and fatness here their wine and their fat things full of marrow He is their mountain their glory their rock and all this they see is wrought in them by the power only of Jesus Christ And this adds to their rejoycing that they see they had no hand in it they see that they did not chuse him but he chose them that they instead of chusing him ran away from him opposed him fought against him and yet he followed them and never left them till he had conquered them and this now is their joy and their praise and their song and nothing in heaven or earth shall be exalted or magnified by them but only Jesus Christ their strong mountain their feast of all good things These Souls only come to see that there is a vail and that this is the vail of Covering spread over all Nations all those upon whom the vail is see not the vail but he only in whom 't is rent from whom it s removed And all their desire
come to enquire after the Lord and these men of all other wil the Lord cut off these men the Lord will answer them by himselfe and will set his face against them and will make a signe and a proverb above all other and will cut them off from the midst of his people Israel I will answer them according to the multitude of their Idols says God and wil not be enquired of at all by them for these are the rebellious house These commit the highest abominations These set up their posts by the Lords posts their thresholds by his threshold which is the highest iniquitie These have daubed up a wall with untempered morter they are the Wall and the Prophets that prophesie peace to them they are the daubers and the sowers of pillows under all armholes that pollute the Lord among his people for handfulls of Barly and for peices of Bread that slay the soules that should not dye and save the soules alive that should not live by their lying to his people that hear and receive their lyes having made the righteous sad Ezek. 8.12 18. Esa 29.15 and strengthened the hands of the wicked that he should not return from his wicked way by promising and shewing him the true way of life These are those of the house of Israel that have set up the Idols of Jealousie in the Chambers of their Imagery and dig deep and think to hide their Counsels from the Lord and these are their Idols and their Gods they worship serve rely upon and sacrifice to Therefore with these will the Lord deal in fury because these wipe their mouths and put the branch to their nose and please themselves in their owne Idols and with the gods that their own hands have made Now men being thus confident in their own righteousnes and thinking this form and that duty and their strict walking shal deliver protect them and they resting secure under this mighty Image then comes the Stone cut out of the Mountains and breaks in pieces this glorious Image Dan. 2.45 It falls upon all their duties upon all their righteousnesse upon all their towers upon all their Idols and crushes them all to peices breaks in peices that stately Image made of iron and clay and brasse and silver and gold and makes all their high opinions of themselves become like the chaff upon the summers threshing floore that the wind carrieth away Ib. 2.35 And then they are brought to see that all their confidence was but an Idol an Image a Lye Vanity wind delusion And then and never before this little stone becomes in them a great Mountain and this fill the whole earth Man being once discovered to be as he is Vanity a Lye Babel Confusion Darknesse Hell Horrour Misery and what not with all his glorious righteousnesses discovering them to be but rags Esai 64.6 and filthy rags when man is brought really and not in words onely for that is part of the Covering to be nothing but sinne emptinesse nothingnesse then is the work begun the foundation laid Thou art Peter upon this rock will I build my Church Matth. 16.18 and the foundation being thus laid the gates of Hell shall never prevaile against it the other building was but upon the sand and cannot withstand when therain fals and the winds and storms blow but the fal therof will be great but when this work is brought about in the soule that man is laid low made nothing emptied of himself this is a foundation upon which building let the rain fall Ibid. 7.25 and the winds blow and the stormes beat yet it shall stand because it is founded upon a rock This rock is onely and alone Jesus Christ that blessed eternal rock of ages upon whom all the Saints from the foundation of the world to its consummation are founded and bottomed as upon mount Sion which shall never be removed All the Patriarcks and Prophets give testimony of this rock to him that is the rock of ages and is that great Mountain that shall fill the whole earth He that shall onely raign and shall be all in all whose Kingdome alone shall be exalted 1 Cor. 10.4 All the Fathers drank of this rock as the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 10.4 they were baptised unto Moses but they all eat the same spiritual meat and all did drink of the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ He is that unspeakable glory power majesty eternity c. that can never be lift up enough never able to be unfolded nor set forth by Men and Angels according to his greatnesse his goodnesse his unchangablenesse his glory his wisdome and infinitenesse He is the wonder of ages the brightness of his Fathers Glory Heb. 1.3 and the express Image of his person He it is that is set forth by all creatures by all Types Metaphors Representations and yet all come infinitly short of him He that once comes into this mountain we have been speaking of he shall be fed with these fat things there is no attaining these high and fat things but in the Lords Mountain t is not mans Mountain nor mans fat things can feast us with these things but this man shall be fed and shall have the Vail rent from the top to the bottom the Covering that is the Covering of the Vaile of all Nations that is more or lesse upon every man But it is He onely in whom mans glorious Temple is destroyed and all of mans building laid flat and not a stone left upon a stone Mat. 24.2 that is not thrown down That we may come and make some use of all we have said and apply it to our selves This discovers Vse 1 that all things that Christ will make use of in his Church must be materials of his own from himself of his own providing that ever it be that man provides that men hew out by their own wisdom or power and frame never such curious Images they are all abominable all must be destroy'd broke to pieces blown away made nothing All fat things are only to be had in this mountain There is no destroying the Vail of the Covering of all Nations no bringing man to see his own misery his own hell his own darknesse but here no shewing man the excellency of the riches and glory of Christ but here no true feast but here all other feasts are but death and poyson what ever feast man provides or takes content in he feeds himself with lies he is but as an hungry man still that dreams he eates and when he awakes he is empty but this Feast of fat things and Wine on the lees Esay 29.8 and fat things full of marrow and wine on the lees well refined is only prepared and given unto us by Jesus Christ Man naturally feeds upon nothing but sin and misery and hell and damnation and these are sweet
Christ no hand can help him but only the infinit bottomlesse mercy of the Son of God He sees now nothing in Heaven or earth no righteousnesse of men or Angels could suffice for his ransom but Jesus Christ alone the Son of God himself must lay down his life to redeem him out of the nethermost hell Now Christ revealing this to him he hereby ascends up into this mountain and there he feasts and there he hath all his wisdom all his power all his life all his meat Jer. 17.13 all his living waters here he now hath all his teachings he now sees Christs mountain exalted upon the top of all mountains above the top of all mans mountains of wisdom power holinesse c. though they have been raised in mans esteem never so high and esteemed as the mountains of the Lord he sees his knowledge now meer folly his wisdom darkness his righteousness sin his power weaknes his glory shame his Heaven Hell this he sees in himself and he can see nothing else but this misery and this blindness upon the face of the whole earth every man is under this darknes is under this Covering the face of the Covering of all Nations Christ went up to the mountain and taught the people Mal. 2.2 The truth is this is that mountain where Christ alone teacheth all other teachings are folly and ignorance till we hear the word at his mouth Here in this mountain the soule beholds visions and receives the manifestations of Christ and the mysteries of the kingdome hereit sees from the bottom to the top of Jacob Ladder Mat. 24.15 here he sees the Abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet that had it not been for the love of Christ the meer power and hand of Christ he had been gon for ever lost for ever swallowed up in a mystery of iniquity but when Christ brings him into this mount then he sees himselfe escaped then he sees Sodom and Gomorah all on a flame all self flesh and al mans wisdom and righteousnes burnt up and the smoak thereof ascend as the smoak of a furnace and then he can say experimentally Jehovah-jireh Gen. 22.14 In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen Saints can testifie of these things because they have seen and felt them done in themselves and t is that which their hands have handled of the word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 they can give testimony to the wisedome of Christ to the power of Christ to the righteousnesse of Christ to the evrlasting and unexpressible goodnesse of Christ as it is expressed and put forth in their hearts they can give no testimony of man of any goodness wisdome power c. in themselves but they know Christ to be all in all he see man and himselfe and all things of man to be nothing but a pit of darknesse a lump of sin a gulf of misery without the least wisdome goodnesse or power but whatever is good or strong or holy in him t is not himself t is not of man but of an from Christ alone he sees experimentally that he hath as of himselfe no power no strength to resist sin no repentance no minde to hate or resist the least sin but the contrary He findes a cursed hellish demned unbeleeving heart full of evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 a heart instead of loving God it fights against God in stead of doing good to his Neighbour really he seeks not his good but his own ends in all he doth that he doth nothing at all for God but himselfe is his supreame and ultimate end so that his highest and best actions are loathsome defiled abominable Now the soule seeing these things to be really thus Then all his strong high towering conceits fall down before the light wisedome power and excellency of Christ and he sees that there is none of all these through all the whol earth but in Christ alone no wisdom at all but his no power at all but his no righteousnes at al but his and no creature to receive any glory but hm alone then he falls down and cryes out O'wretched man that I'am who shal deliver me from that body of death Rom. 7.24 who shal deliver me from this bottomless gulf who shal deliver me from this monsterous fiend my own self Rom. 9.3 he now sees the Locusts of the bottomles pit covering the face of the whole earth every one running after his own ways and following his own laws every man setting up new Gods every man setting up the Image of his Imagery and the abomination of desolation in himself every man making himself his own god and seeking to be somthing and making the eternal glorious God to be an Idol and nothing He sees himself with the whole earth besides saying with the builders of Babel Gen. 11.4 go to let us build us a Tower and a City whose top may reach up to Heaven that we may not be seattered and destroyed they will save and deliver themselves from hell wrath and destruction by their own power by their own wisedome by their own inventions by the brick slime and morter that they have made Now the Lord looking down from Heaven to see what the Children of men are doing and he in himselfe sees how God hath said Let us go down and confound their language God in them hath discovered the evilnesse of their wayes the evil of self-seeking self-glory of their selfe-wisdome selfe-power self-righteousnesse and they in whom or to whom the Lord discovers these things all this contrivance and all this work n them is made BABEL Confusion a heap of Lyes t is all deceit destruction and misery but in Jesus Christ he hath righteousnesse indeed life indeed power indeed heaven indeed And then he can adde and say with the Apostle Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15 54.55 Oh grave where is thy victory then hath this corruptible in him put on incorruption and this mortal put on immortality and then is brought to passe in him the saying as it is written death is swallowed up in victory Herein the Saints finde Jesus Christ to be their joy to be their feast to be their mountain to be their glory to be their All. In this mountain they finde and receive all these good things and are fully satisfied and that they are to be had nowhere else If they look anywhere else they know there is nothing but sin corruption death hell mortality and the grave And they having found this mountain they finde themselves escaped delivered from all those things And now they sit down with Abraham Isaac Mat. 8.11 and Jacob in the kingdome of Heaven They have found Abrahams bosome they have found the tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God they have found the Hidden Manna Rev. 3. they have received the
it may not come at them When man is once gone out from God who was his life and his light and his rest and his happiness being not content with him alone Gen. 3.1 nor with the tree o life of which he might eat freely but casting his eye upon the tree of knowledg of good and evil he lusts to eat thereof V. 6. for t is pleasant to look upon man would by no means live upon God and have a dependance out of himself but he will take a secure course and provide for himself he likes well this tree and here he feeds and eats he travailes in this pleasant plain of Shinar and here he begins to bethink himself to dwell and take up his rest here he can sleep quietly under his own labours and sit reposedly under his own vine and here now is the place where all men consult together to raise a Babel This is done by and in every man man having lost himselfe and gone out of his way having no House nor Tabernacle having departed from his house built by God without hands he bethinks himself of building himself a house made with hands by his own study and invention 2 Cor. 5.1 and this shall be his abiding and here he will dwell and here with his own hands he will make himself a shelter from all storms and from all destruction And they say one to another Goe to let us make brick and burn them throughly They say to one another that is not as if men singly spake thus to one another but every man enters into a consultation with himselfe and with the Prince of Darkness And now they having forsaken God the true guide they hearken to the Devil and to the Father of deceit and lyes and take his counsel Joh. 8.44 and him they will follow and his works now they do and not the works of God And what do they And they say one to another Go to let us make brick and burn them throughly That is they think and resolve to act like wise men and make all secure for themselves their building shal be strong and durable and their materials accordingly Bricks throughly burnt which shal not fail and moulder away that is the things that he chuseth shal be things agreeable to his own liking and they must be of his own inventing else he wil put no confidence in them none shal chuse for him whatever it be that wil advance man and make him something and great as to himself and others and things that men esteem highly of those he chuseth Nay and not onely so but he wil have something of his own to trust to to come into the presence of God with and he wil frame to himself a religion and a righteousnesse that shal avail before God which he shal accept and in which himself may put confidence And here now poor man hath deluded himself and they have made themselves aprons Gen. 3.7 and as they think a secure Covering here hath he made himself a shelter and a Tabernacle and built up to himselfe a Tower reaching to Heaven and so shall prevent destruction and condemnation When man begins thus to build he chuseth as he thinks the likeliest and the probablest means for his security and in his conceit builds so strong that no winds nor no storms can shake him nor no deluge overflow his building and so confident he is that he thinks the power of Heaven and Earth can never shake this building for the Top thereof shall reach to Heaven he is so far safe that he is sheltered from the wrath of God and from the frowns of God he hath gotten such a righteousness and such a conformity of the rule and mind of God that he is as it were a perfect man he sees little amisse in him and though he may in words confesse he is a sinner yet let but any one sin be charged upon him and he hath as he thinks a sufficient excuse and wil clear himself from all sin But is this all the end of this strong and stately building no But let us make us a Name least we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth Least we should be in as bad a condition as others are and as the wicked of the world are we wil be wiser and condemn them we wil not be like the Publicans wicked and prophane but we wil forsake sinne and live uprightly and we wil do something that we may get us a Name that we are holier then others Esa 65.5 1. Cor. 3.10 and we wil be no less then Master Builders no such wise man as we no such strict holy men as we and the end of all this is least death and misery and sin hell and condemnation should break forth and seize upon them with the rest of the world But now in all this time what does God doe He beholds their works and their doings and their contrivings vers 5. And the Lord came down to see the City and the Tower which the children of men builded which is not to be understood as if God removed or came down Locally as leaving Heaven to come down to the Earth as men when they remove from one place to another But God came down that is he began to manifest himself to shew himself to the Sons of men before he let them alone and they thought themselves secure and all was right safe and well which they had done now the Lord he begins to appear to confound their thoughts and inventions and to shew all the sons of men their folly vanity and madnesse in all this they were so confident of they think they are securing themselves from ruine when alass poor soules they are running as madly upon their own ruin and destruction as any else in the whole Earth nay are farther from returning then any other in as much as they are more wise more holy and more confident then others Luk. 13.28 And herein is their misery the greater therefore it is high time for the Lord now to come down to scatter this building and to make it BABEL and Confusion Behold the people are one and they have all one Language and this they begin to do and nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do As if he should say all the sons of men are running headlong to their own destruction they are all as one man all do one and the same thing and they have one Name and one Language and all go one way Satan hath almost gotten his full possession and they will be wholly guided by him and follow his counsel they are all departed from me and he is almost quite irrecoverably lost and gone and yet every man thinks he is right and no man considers what he doth nor once thinks of returning for every man is right in his own eyes and nothing will be restrained from them and if I go not down
and say we are the Substitutes of Christ That which we deny him we take to our selves certainly all this is nothing else but hellish arrogancy and the pride of the man of sin and ANTICHRIST within us that exalts himself in us above all that is called God 2 Thes 2.4 that puts us into these wayes and to think that we can draw or we can drive to Jesus Christ when there is none can do this but meerly and solely that only and eternal power and spirit of the Father Thirdly if it be so as we have clearly proved and none dare deny it Use 3 neither can then the wisdome nor power nor strength nor any rules of Fellowships or Church-gatherings or any discipline of man draw nor drive others in but 't is onely the drawing and driving of the eternal power of the Fathers spirit It is true the Sons of Men may do and have done and do compass Sea and Land and what is it to doe to make a Proselyte and what then he is but twofold more the child of perdition then before Mat. 23.15 They may indeed gather men into Fellowships and Churches as they call them But to gather men into the spirit of the Lord Jesus this was never the work of man no strength nor power nor wisedome of man could ever doe it and without question every plant that the Heavenly father hath not planted Ibid. 15.13 shall be rooted up It is true and I grant there was some mention made of the Church and Churches in the times of the Apostles but what Churches were they They were no other but what were called by God himselfe in the power of his spirit and not of or by man Where do we read of this mans Church or the other mans Members but they were called the Church of God and not divided by those distinctions of vain-glorious self-seeking ambitious covetous men as they are in these dayes Nor did they Owne one another or had any relation one unto another in their love or esteem upon that account Note But they looked upon one another in what place soever as but one body and having all but one spirit meerly because thty were all baptized into One body by that One Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 They did not know one another as they were of Paul and of Apollo of Cephas and this mans Church as they now call it But as they were all baptized by one Spirit and into one Body and as they were of one mind and of one spirit and so of one heart Heb. 12.13 and so brought to the general assembly of the Church of the first born And therefore we must conclude there is nothing that gathers or draws in the soul of man unto Jesus Christ but the everlasting power of God We know also men may worship at Jerusalem this way and that way and pretend to honour that Christ who died there and yet they doe but draw nigh to him with their lips Esa 29.13 but not with the spirit in truth but no man can do these things in the power of God nor so much as SAY that Iesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost and by the power of Jesus Christ And be sure that every plant that my heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted up From whence also lastly Vse 4 If the power of the Father only draws the spirit of man unto the Son and unto Jesus Christ then let every man look in and unto his own heart and see whether he doe not resist the drawing of the spirit Behold saith he I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him Rev 3.20 and he with me enter but into thy own Chamber and be still and look into thy own brest and see whether thou be not daily and hourly resisting the Spirit of God that would draw man unto Christ didst thou but look into thy own heart thou shouldst find there was never any thought that did ever arise in thee to check or controle thee in thy evil wayes but that very thought was a light in thee if thou wouldst have heeded or regarded it And that light also did tell thee that all thy best actions were but sin and that all the wayes thou walkest in there is nothing but fear in them and death in them and misery in them And thy best and holiest services are an abomination There is a spirit within thee that is still troubling and checking thee for every proud and for every evil thought and what is this for 2 Cor. 8.2 onely to let thee see that thou art dead and reprobate to every good work and all thy deeds are evil and all that thou knowest thou knowest not as thou oughtest to know It is to let thee know that thou art naked and poor and blind and miserable It is to take away thy false strength and thy false wisedome and riches and to let thee see thy weaknesse and folly and poverty but this is thy onely misery and the general universal misery of all the sons of men that they dare not stand in the light and abide in it To abide in such a light which shewes that man hath not one good thought Psal 73.22 but is as a beast before God That he hath no holinesse nor no righteousnesse at all Now for thee so farre to presume and to think so highly of thy selfe that thou art of such abilities and wisdome and parts as to sit down at the head-end of the Table or because that thou hast gotten in thy own conceit into the best way of Religion for knowledge and practice and performances and therefore thou art Some-body and thou must be magnified and reverenced and for these men now to be brought back to look into their own hearts and see themselves as bad as the rest of the world and to see themselves the worst of men Oh Beloved what a mighty fall must these men have before ever God brings them into this condition which must be if ever they be brought or drawn home to Jesus Christ by the power of the Father And yet to adde to this besides all this thou hast gotten a covering for thy sins and hast wipt thy mouth and said thou hast done nothing when all thy wayes are nothing but resistings fightings and emnity against God Do not men resist him when they seek esteem to themselves and they must be great and respected and honoured what is all this but to rob Jesus Christ of his honour and steal it away to put upon themselves Oh that the power of God would but make men abide in the Center of their own hearts to see that there is nothing there but darkness nothing but folly in regard of God and Christ if man would but dwell and abide here to see himselfe lost and wretched miserable and undone then God would
of the subtile Serpent within him then followed Death Hell Misery and Condemnation then he sees his folly and madnesse in harkning to and giving way to this false Lyar who before told him he should better his condition and he should be like God himself And thus seeing and beholding his nakednesse his folly and misery he being not able to behold it nor live in the sight thereof for he is not able to behold the wrath of God and Hell-fire flashing in his face then he bethinks himselfe of some Covering some Shelter some Cloaths to cover his nakedness he is not able to behold his own condition and he invents a thousand wayes to shelter himself runs to this duty and that rule and he will find out somthing he will do something to quench the fire in him that is kindled by the breath of the Lord. And is not man in this more mad Esa 30.33 and more vain and more miserable For by all these things he doth but adde fuell to this fire for doth he think till one stronger then himself come even to be delivered Alas Luk. 11 22. thus are all the sons of men deluded but when Christ who is the true Mediatour comes when he sets up his light in man then he convinces him of his Emptinesse of his Weaknesse of his Nothingnesse and that he cannot arise Joh. 11.43 nor live without the loud and mighty voyce of the son of God quicked him when this light and life comes upon him then though he be naked in himself yet he is not ashamed but he standing in this condemnation all sin and darknesse and condemnation vanish before the glory of these heavenly things and come to nothing and empty themselves into their own nothingness that so the glory of Jesus Christ may come in the room thereof who is truth and life and fulness and perfection and all things But while man walks by the light of his own fire Esa 50.11 and in the sparks which he hath kindled he is holy and good and pure and excellent and great in his own sight and high in his own wisedome but when once he comes to be guided by the fire and light of the Tabernacle then he is a Miserable Empty Bare Beggerly thing nothing in him of Wisdom Power Glory Riches Goodnesse a meer naked empty and simple thing except he be made happy in the light of God and in the union with Jesus Christ wise in the wisdom of God and holy in the holinesse of God Here sayes the Apostle I permit not a woman to speak in the Church 1 Cor. 14.34 Ibid. 11.16 here let her head be covered that is let not man speak any thing in the Church in the presence of the Lord of his wisdom of his goodness of his upright walking but let Christ be all these in the Church There let all the Weaknesse and Womanishnesse of man come upon him and let him be covered with shame in the presence of this Bridgroom for t is a shame for a woman to speak in the Church let not her shew so much pride but let her ask her Husbad at home let him have all the glory Let not the Bride speak any thing of her riches of her beauty in the presence of her Lord but to see her selfe rich in his riches and glorious in his glory wise in his wisdom let her not meddle herein without her head be covered so that she sees she hath nothing of glory nothing praiseworthy nothing beautiful in her but that her head be perfectly covered with the righteousness riches and glory of Jesus Christ All the men in the world be they of what parts learning strength or excellencie can be named are but WOMEN in this respect and are to cover their heads in the presence of Christ in the Church of Christ In thy Temple every one speak of thy glory Psal 26.9 saith David If a Woman offer to speak in the Church this is but weaknesse this is but shame and confusion of face in the CHURCH what 's that think you without question the meaning of the Apostle is not to be taken Litterally of a material Church nor t is not meant of a Congregation of men or women assembled or congregated together as the wisest of men take it for this in the Scripture sense is not called A CHURCH much lesse in a low and vulgar acceptation of a meeting place built of bricks or wood or stone But the CHURCH is the Temple of God the House of God the Body of Christ in which the Lord discovers his Riches Glory Wisdome Bounty and the Treasures of Wisdome and knowledge and his everlasting power and goodness to the soules of Beleevers and in this Church where the Lord is present let not weaknesse discover its pride insolency or vain-boasting for this is the Church and this is the Woman that ought not to speak there Now this fire of the sanctuary is that which discovers all this Weaknesse Darknesse and Blindnesse in the soul when this light of God appears then all shadows vanish then all coverings are removed and all things in and of Man appear as they are to be nothing but Darknesse Deformity Delusion Lyes Confusion and Misery and God appears to the soul to be onely Light Life Happinesse and Perfection Gen. 2.25 and the soule is not ashamed to be thus naked because this makes way that God may have all the glory all the wisedome all the excellency and man may come to be nothing but sin and emptinesse Thus the soule comes with the Apostle to rejoyce in and to glory in his infirmities 2 Cor. 12.5 and that the power and wisedom of God is made perfect in his Weakness and Folly As a good Wife she is not ashamed to be as nothing in the presence of her Husband but rejoyces that He is esteemed and that he is made all in all to her So doth the true Spouse of Christ let her be nothing so He may be all for she acknowledges that she is only rich in her Husbands riches and wise in his wisdom and strong in his strength 1. Pet. 1.7 she sees she lives not by her own care and industry but in the love and care of her Husband and thus she glories not in her selfe but in her Husband This is to become NAKED and yet not ashamed as was Adam in his Innocency Rev. 3.17 2 Cor. 10 5. To have a poor sinner freely to confess to the glory of Christ Time was when I was rich and had high imaginations of my self and I was in my own esteem able to guide and rule and direct my self and all my affairs and I thought my selfe in a blessed and secure condition but I finde now that was nothing but a lye and a delusion But even then the meer love and tender compassion of my Saviour and Redeemer set up a candle and light in my soul whereby I was discovered to
and ORDAINE Ministers and they speak of giving the Holy Ghost but alasse I say all these are but resemblances and shadows they are not the true Ordinances of Christ and notwithstanding mens using of these things with so much appearance of strictnesse and exactuesse yet they have them not For they are in bondage still they were never yet delivered set free indeed nor never Baptized with the Baptisme of Christ never yet fetcht off their own bottoms never taken into Vnion with Christ who will undertake to give the Spirit and the Holy Ghost and yet never had it themselves and therefore all those things that these men use are nothing but shadows Outsides Shels and Carkasses of the true Ordinances of Christ You know many came to Johns Baptisme even of the Pharisees and yet they wre but a Generation of Vipers their consciences told them that John was a true Prophet Mat. 3.7 and they began to smite them and they thought it was a duty they were bound to that thereby they should prevent the wrath to come and they presently take it up as having power of their own to do any thing in Religion and here they thought themselves secure and that they had really prevented the wrath to come But the true Baptisme and the true Ordinanes and the true Worship are things of a farre higher nature There is a HEAVENLY Baptisme and a Heavenly Worship and an Heavenly Ord inance I saith John Baptize with Water but there is one that commeth after me Ver. 11 12. who is preferred before me He shall Baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire I must decrease but HE must increase My Baptisme is nothing I must stand by when he comes I baptize but unto repentance but He gives repentance and the Holy Spirit The Heavenly things are of a far higher nature These are but the pictures and the shadows the shells and the outsides the other the Life and the Power the Holy Ghost and the Fire it self Now they that receive these things are indeed the Children of the Free-Woman and are the true seed of Abraham All other are the Children of the Bond-Woman and are HAGAR who is in bondage with her Children to this very day For as it was with Hagar so is it now and hath been alwayes in all ages and generations The children of the Bond-woman do alwayes exalt themselves and are very sawcy and peremptory toward the children of the Free-woman why because they are Circumcised and submit to Ordinances and think themselves of the seed of Abraham therefore they grow proud lofty and censorious and usurp too much over the Children of the Free-woman even as their mother before the Hagar she despised her Mistress and lifted up her selfe more then was fit for her Therefore this is determined concerning her Cast out the Bond-woman and her Son for the Son of the Bond-woman shall not be heir with the Son of the Free-woman Gal. 4.25 When once the Handmaid who is in the house but by sufferance will exalt her selfe above THE MISTRESSE and her SON born after the flesh begin to persecute him that is born after the spirit then away with her cast out both her and her Sons too And farther know this that when the appearance of the power of Christ comes into the soul that is when the Bond-woman and her son is cast out then the soul doth not as some imagine and teach work out its own liberty nor is it made free by its own power Ibid 5.1 but Christ brings in this liberty with him and from this liberty the soule acts and works The children of the Free-woman do not work to be set free but because they are set free therefore they work freely and cannot but so work And herein lies a broad difference between the children of the Bond-woman and the children of the Free-woman When the sons of the Bondwoman hear of any thing that man is required to do presently they think to work themselves to it by their care watchfulnesse resolution c. But now it is quite contrary with the sons of the Free-woman they having a Principle of Freedom act and work from this the one worships God from an internal Principle in the power of the spirit the other from an outward compulsory cause and not from the power of love So likewise the one doth all his actions out of love to men doing good to all men in the world being willing to serve all out of love Pittying all Counselling all willing to help all so far as lies in them Imitating their Heavenly Father who doth good to all to the good and evil just and unjust Mat. 5.45 and meerly from a Heavenly Principle of mercy pitty and loving kindnesse and bowels of mercy But the other His Religion consists in outward forms in washings and dippings and conformity to Fellowships and whatever they do it is not from the power of love or from the nature of their heavenly fater in them but from some external cause from something without them from fear or hope either to prevent some danger or to procure something which they conceive in a general notion to be good for them to make them happy and the like because Hell they hear is a terrible place and full of Horrour and Destruction and Heaven is a place of peace joy and rest and there they shall live for ever in pleasure which shall never end upon these two grounds most men act and take up the strictest forms of Worship and hereupon they may be very constant and very zealous and sincere as they conceive when alas all these things are nothing at all so nor so for the truth is Hell they love and live in and yet know not that they are in it and that which is true heaven to the soule they hate and run away from as being the place of misery death and torments to them Therefore ye may see what a miserable delusion and cursed vaile is generally upon the Hearts of most men which call themselves Men fearing God and that which they call the Worship of God is no other but inventions of their own as they practice them and WILL-WORSHIP And though they keep a great deal of stirre about Ordinances and breaking of bread yet alas how far they are from the Ordinances of Christ let the effects of their practice and lives declare how little do they feed on Christ as they pretend to do He that feeds on Christ partakes of his nature and Christ in them turns the stock into his own Nature as Peter speaks Luk. 11.28 Ibid. 22.19 and they hear the word and keep it and these truly feed on Christ and do it in remembrance of him But these pretenders to Ordinances and outward duties they in stead of feeding on Christ or being fed by him they are fed indeed but by whom even by Satan himselfe for he makes them live and rest upon these shadows and
are still in snares and lockt fast in their fetters for who else can deliver and set free the soule of man but he that is Lord of all Rev. 1.18 and is subject to none He alone hath the keyes of Hell and death he alone is the soules Captaine and deliverer This is that which all the Saints have experience of when they finde themselves delivered from the bondage of flesh of selfe of the world if they feel this work done within them they know experimentally t is the very finger and power of Christ and that he is only Christs free man that none hath brought it to pass to set them at liberty to knock off their chains and lead them out of prison and set their feet upon a rock but only the Almighty power and meer mercy of the Lord Jesus they know that it hath been he that hath opened their eyes and their eares Psal 40.2 that hath raised them from death and given them feet to walk and there is none know this truly but only those that feele it done in themselves And for proofe of this point though I might prove it by Scripture very pleatifully to shew how many yea all the Saints there spoken of have found it in their own experience that they were delivered from death and from prison by the power of God and by the hand of Jesus Christ yet what is this to thee except thou sinde their experience true in thy selfe else their experience is but notions and riddles to thee and such things whereof thou hast no knowledge except thou see and know thy selfe to be under deth and kept fast in prison and except thou hast found Jesus Christ restoring recovering delivering and redeeming thee from this death And that thou findest that he hath said to thy soule Arise and stand up on the feet Acts 14.10 and hath given thee strength and life to what end is it to bring all the examples in Scripture and in the world if this death and life be no experimented in us Insomuch that thou canst say This word is true to me because done in me as the Apostle saith in Heb. 1.1 2. Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers and by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things Those truths which he spake before by the Prophets he hath now spoken in us by his Son so that we now know them to be the word and speakings of God But as our Saviour saith Mat. 12.39 40. An evil and an Adulterous Generation seeketh after a sign They expect every speaking should be made good by an external word and ye must go no farther so that the truth is never witnessed to in their hearts but as he sayes there There shall no sign be given them but the sign of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly even so shal the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Except you find the same things done in you the same miracles the same death the same lying in the grave three days and three nights except you find Jesus Christ taking thee by the hand and restoring thee to life thou art of an evil and adulterous Generation seeking after an external sign and thou art a meer stranger to these things But I shall for their sakes who feel the work of Christ within them give you two or three places of Scripture being the experience of the Saints of old that you may see how the Saints bear witnesse to each other in experience First Scripture Esa 61.1 2 3. Esa 61.1 2 3. speaking there of Christ being the only deliverer saith The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anoynted me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound c. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes and the oyl of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heavinesse c. Christ only is the breaker open of the soules prison doors he alone gives deliverance to the Captives and he alone brings them forth from prison and sets them free and this he is to his people in all ages for he is yesterday and to day Heb. 13.8 and the same for ever and when the same word appeared in flesh he testifies the same of himself Luke 4.18 Luk. 4.18 21. where he rehearseth the same words and applyes them to himself vers 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears And this was that which he still held forth in all his teachings that there is no other Saviour nor Deliverer but himself never was nor is nor ever shall be to the end of the world Moses was only an outward and external Captain or Deliverer but His leadings and deliverings are spiritual and there is none can be delivered but by him Heb. 12.24 as he is a better Mediator then Moses so he is a better deliverer t is he alone that frees the soul from the pit from death and hell his Kingdom is within us The Jewes and Pharisees they still excepted an outward deliverer and could not own Him as a Prince and Saviour but were blind and saw not what he still held forth in all his teachings They could not see the truth that they were blind and miserable and full of Hypocrisie and were no other but painted Sepulchres glorious outwardly but within were full of rottennesse stench and dead mens bones They could not endure to stand in the light of this truth Mat. 23.27 but hated it and persecuted him to the death for holding it forth What are we blind also what we the learned the wisest the holiest what we that are strict our selves and call upon others to be so this was death to them But now had they but seen this and owned it he would have been their righteousness their deliverer their redeemer to have set them free but because they said we see therefore their sin remained and their fetters and bondage was not taken off And again Christ tells them Iohn 8.31 32. If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free Now these things they could not see nor understand that they were in bondage but answered to him we are Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou ye shall be made free then Jesus answered them Verily verily I say unto you He that committeth sin is the servant of sin the servant abideth not in the House for ever but the son abideth for ever And if the son shall make you
Catechisms and prescribing of Rules in mending this way and the other form and are still in mending and altering and making their ways and forms better and more reformed as they think when alas all this is nothing but man taking upon himself to cut pare and mend the worship of God This man he thinks to cut out a neater way then his neighbour-gathered-church and a another he thinks to mend and make his way more handsome then he and another then both Every one hath a Doctrin a Psalm hath a Tongue 1 Cor. 14.26 hath a Revelation hath an Interpretation none done to the edifying of the body of Christ For all this is but to rend and tear the Seamlesse coat of Christ in that man would fain be something do something by his own wisdom and power and his righteousnesse must not be sleighted nor vilified nor all his glory must not be laid in the dust all these Worshippers and pretenders to Christ they live on the shadow and rely on the shape and form of Christianity but not on the life and power How have men beat their wits and layd their counsels together to form and model Religion to make it passe for currant in the world that they may be accounted Artists and Pastors and Doctors and according to that fine invented word ORTHODOX and some adding that blasphemous title DIVINE and they will prescribe Rules and make Articles of faith for all men to beleeve and receive and conform to and still they are new-modelling to cut it and square it as like the Letter of the Word as may be and then they are pleased and others applaud them as wise Master Builders And yet we may say of them as the Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 2.17 c. 2 Pet. 2.17 18 19. They are those which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam who loved the wayes of unrighteousness These are Wells without water clouds carried with a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever For when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh those who were clean escaped from them who live in error And while they promise them libertie they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage They are alwaies learning and teaching others to do this and do that and yet they themselves are the servants of lust and corruption Therefore be not deceived but if they cry loe here or loe there Go after such a Man and such a Man Luk. 17.23 joyn with this Church or that Fellowship and ye find Christ but go not after them believe them not for they do but deceive they cannot deliver nor redeem themselves And therefore this point is clear that none but Jesus Christ could ever free the soul or deliver it from bondage and this is a truth against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail Mat. 16.18 Therefore we may conclude that whatever spirit goes out any other way or to any other thing to find Rest or Liberty or Redemption by but only by Jesus Christ he is deceived for t is only in Immanuel God with us there is no Redeemer no Deliverer no Saviour but only He All the Saints who have all experience therof in themselvs know this to be true and give out their witnesse that in vain did they run out to any thing else and these only are the true Wayters for the Kingdom of God and the consolation of Israel Mar. 15.43 here was the true Wayting and the true using of Ordinances Oh that men did but know what this waiting upon the Father was that they knew that there was no life but in Christ no power but in him that they had no wisdom nor goodness nor that they could never be delivered but by and in the power light and life of Christ Oh that men knew in experience as they pretend in words and notions Joh. 5.22 that all judgment is committed to the Son And that in him alone was the power of life and death and that he alone had the keys to unlock the Mysteries of Salvation then whether if they were perswaded of this could the heart of man go for relief If it saw its own utter emptiness nothingness and that all Creatures and all Ordinances and forms were broken Cisterns Jer. 2.13 how could they depend and wait on them If then Jesus Christ be the only fulness the only power the only riches the only joy the only treasure then would they sell all to buy this Pearl Mens running out to this thing and to that is because they are unsatisfied Luk. 11.24 and are in want of peace and rest and this makes them go out and walk through dry places to find rest but can find none this want makes them heap to themselves so many varieties of things to give them peace their souls fly to and again from florwe to flowre but cannot rest any where they fly to this duty and tother form but they are all emptie they are no other but dry places Oh wonderful to see how Satan hath deluded the sons of men and all is because they cannot be content to sit down in their own poverty to see themselves naked and miserable and then to wait upon Him who would certainly come in in due time with true Peace Riches Rest Power Righteousnesse Satisfaction Fulnesse and whatever is good But because men are not able to stand in the sight of their own nothingness how doth Satan continually carry them out they cannot endure to stay within to see themselves but either they are carried out to Lust or Luxury or Wantonnesse or Drinking or Company and the like and if that will not hide and cover the pit so that the mouth of conscience will not be stopt then it runs out to Duties and Forms and wayes of Worship and thinks that will do it when alas they are meer delusions and things which the soul hath invented to play withal to get peace and liberty by to make it forget its Misery Poverty and Emptinesse but the end of this peace is death and misery and the end of this liberty is confusion Rom. 6.21 And what fruit have ye of those things whereof ye are now ashamed But oh happy is that soul that can say from experience and not onely in words but really Job 16.2 That they are all miserable comforters and that all below and besides Christ Esa 28.20 all gender to death and bondage and that he hath found the Bed too broad and the Covering too narrow so that he could not wrap himself therein and that he is resolved never to run out to any thing to relieve or stay his spirit but only to the Riches Power and Fulnesse of Christ not to the grosse lusts of men nor to the riches of the world to
not of nor cannot conceive of And therefore all the world whether professing Christ or not they not eating of this Divine food they starve and die and eat nothing else but death the curse and damnation And yet what a noise and a busling there hath been in all ages about the forms and shadows of things and what censuring and condemning each other for not having a uniformity which can never be for they only dwelling in the letter and upon externall things they see not the spirit and the mysterie the life and the true bread 1 Gor. 10.17 But those who eate of the true bread they are one body and one bread for they are all partakers of that one bread with them there is a unity and a uniformity and nowhere else there can be of which men have heard a talk and report and they speak of such a thing but they know not what it means nor how to come by it for none can come at it but those to whom this bread is given and they onely can say experimentally Joh. 6.55 his body is bread indeed and his blood is drink indeed 1 Gor. 10.16 And they only can give witnesse of the True Communion of Saints and know the happinesse and true pleasure thereof and what heavenly sweetnesse is therein All harmonizing and giving testimony to This One alone Great Deliverer and This wonderfull None-such Deliverance No unity like this unity nor love nor peace like this peace which they have in Jesus Christ Their only Deliverer THE SAINTS Perfect Freedome OR Liberty in CHRIST asserted In opposition to all Yokes of Bondage By Mr. Jo. WEBSTER Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street SERMON II. GALAT. 5.1 Stand fast therefore in the libertie wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage WE have already spoke something from these words according as God was pleased to give forth to us The Apostle in the former Chapter having spoken of the difference between the two seeds shewing that the one was the Heir the son of the promise and the seed of the Free-woman and was to inherit all the blessings The other was the son of the Bond-woman who was always in bondage with her Children and was to be cast cut and rejected for the Son of the Bond-woman shall not be Heir with the son of the Free-woman Now the Apostle with these Galathians had taken great pains and he had as it were Gal. 4.19 travailed in birth with them to bring them to Christ and to have him formed in them and they being made children of the Free-woman He comes in this verse to exhort them to stand fast in that deliverance wherewith Christ had made them free and to stand fast under the true obedience of Christ and not to be entangled or to give eare to any other Doctrine for all Doctrine and all other Government was no other but A yoak of bondage And the point we then stood upon was this That Jesus Christ was the only Deliverer from bondage wherein we shewed that every beleever was Christs true free-man Doct. and no man was ever delivered and set free from bondage but only and alone by Jesus Christ And we spake something to shew you how Christ was the Deliverer Esa 7.14 whom I shewed you was IMMANUEL God in us he being manifested and brought forth in us Col. 5.27 then he was the hope of Glory and never till then For man is set free by no other nor no lesse power then the power of the Father even the very same power which raised up Iesus from the grave Eph. 1.19.20 The very same sets every beleever at liberty And was that which freed him from his bondage broke off his shackles loosed him from his chains and delivered him out of prison We shewed hence the folly and madness of all those who went about or had any hope or expectation of freedom by any other way but only by Jesus Christ alone and how vain all the endeavour of man was till Christ was pleased to set him free for where the spirit of Christ is 2 Cor. 3.17 there is liberty and nowhere else This Liberty will abide and men may stand fast in it but all other liberty is but a delusion and will fail and come to nothing whatever peace or power or righteousness is brought into any soul by any other means it will fail and deceive him that puts confidence therein But where Christ has set a man free there is real freedom and his work will abide and shall receive a reward 1 Cor. 3.14 In the next place we shewed that this Deliverer all his works were spiritual they were not wrought in a carnal and fleshly way It was not externall forms nor outward rules nor disciplines nor gathering into fellowships nothing of this nature could set the soul free but onely the infinite power of Jesus Christ himself And having laid these things down we would now come nearer to our selves that every soul here may examine it selfe to see what witnesse it can bear to this doctrine whether they can testifie and beare out their witnesse in experience that Christ hath been their Deliverer or no and whether this deliverance have been wrought in them I doe not here come to ask any what he can say in words or what he hath by notion by reading or hearing or by custom or education but Art thou come to thy Deliverance by the spirit and power of Christ Hast thou found in thy selfe that all thy wisdom power endeavours all thy rules and strict walking could never deliver thy soul from one lust but that thou wert forced to renounce all as weak and abominable being utterly lost and stript naked in thy selfe being made as weak as any other man Judg. 16.17 and that all thy power working acting reforming was but a meer forced thing and nothing therein done by the power of love and by the spirit of Christ in thee that all thy glorious shews of faith and holinesse and strictnesse in conversation was but meer shews and pictures and that thou thy selfe wert but as sounding Brass and as a tinckling Cymbal and all thy profession and religion meer aire apparition 1 Cor. 13.1 emptiness and in truth A Ly and no such thing However thou hast been carried out upon divers considerations and hast had many glorious speculations and high expressions which to thy selfe and others have seemed rare and glorious yet I say except thou canst make these things out as done and acted in thy self by Jesus Christ be assured all thy words and high profession is nothing But hath Jesus Christ been thy Saviour thy Deliverer hath he opened thy eyes and thy ears raised thee from death to life have thy anckle-bones received steength from him Are those miracles spoken of which he did in the flesh done in thee Acts. 3.7 Are thy bones broken Ps 91.3 and is thy soul