when Christ rises we shall be sure to rise with him so that there is a sweet truth in that Scripture where it is said That the day of a mans death is better then the day that a man is borne For better it is for a man to die spiritually then to live naturally And so none of us liveth to himself or dyes to himself but whether we live or dye all is in the Lord and he is glorified in the death as well as in the life for our life is hid with God in Christ as the Apostle saith to the Collossians though we be dead as he saith and nothing appeares of life to our selves or others yet we need not fear for the life is hid with God in Christ And when Christ our life shall appear and so appear as to be our life and happinesse then shall we appear glorious but it is in him when Christ rises so spiritually and gloriously to subdue and destroy the fleshly being which is the death and causes death for no sooner did sin enter but death entered with it then doth Christ the spirituall being and life triumph And then is death swallowed up of life and mortality of immortality That is flesh is swallowed up of spirit and death the fleshly being is swallowed up of life the spirituall being And then shall be brought to passe that saying O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory But thanks to God for it is he that gets the victory again as it is in the naturall so it is in the spirituall This Resurrection is set forth by the resemblance of the graine of Corne and it holds out a lively resemblance of the spirituall life and death and of the spirituall Resurrection of the naturall for as the graine of Corn dyes before it lives and in this death there is life hid so in this spirituall death there is spirituall life though it be hid and lye buried in the grave of earthly and carnall apprehensions as God gives the one a Body and is himself the substance and Body and the life so doth the spirituall Body the inward and spirituall life which is God rise to more glory then ever he did appear in in the earthly and outward forme and as the fleshly appearance dyes and ceases and as in the death there is life so God when he ceases to live in flesh he lives and rises with much more glory in the Spirit And yet it is true till the fleshly and outward form or formall Being suffers the Divine cannot reigne and therefore in the midst of death there is life and God doth but dye in weaknesse to rise in power Not that God is weak but he is buried and hid in the carnall sense and life to rise with more strong and glorious appearances of himself which is the spirituall Resurrection which is further illustrated by the terrestriall Bodies and the heavenly Bodies which doth but further confirm the spirituall rising of Christ For though there be a glory in the terestriall and outward dispensations and manifestations of God in them so when God is pleased to uncloath himself and to let out himself in pure and heavenly dispensations when these come and appear and that God puts on the heavenly clothing then is the corruptible swalled up of the incorruptible For it is true that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God nor corruption put on incorruption but when there shall be a change and of naturall we become spirituall and when the last Trump shall blow that is when God shall gloriously sound forth his one praise nothing but spirituall power appears Then shall the dead hear the voice of the Sonne of God and live and the dark and carnall appearances of God shall give way to the more pure and spirituall and then shall God gloriously triumph over Sin Death and Hell and live without any vaile in his own pure and divine glory The consideration of which is sufficient to perswade me to be stedfast and to abound in the work of the Lord knowing that though my labour be in vaine as to self or flesh yet it is not in vaine in the Lord he being the end and summe of all Thus have I as briefly and plainly as I could gone over the substance of the whole Chapter though much more might be spoken being conscious to my own spirit that I have not hid or concealed any clause which might serve to speak for a carnall Resurrection or for a rising of the body after its dissolution here in any visible form or shape But that as the light is in me so have I manifested it out to others and do onely referre my self for tryall to that light which manifests all things leaving other men to their own darke and carnall apprehensions of a carnall Resurrection and conclude that the Resurrection is from the carnall to the fleshly Christ from Christ living in the flesh to his living in the Spirit which is that I call the Resurrection and if time and mens patience would suffer I could easily prove that whatsoever Christ as man was or did from his Birth to his ascension in his life and death in the flesh they were but all Types and shadowes of what he would be and work in his glorious coming in the Spirit and so they are applyed all along if men wil let the Scripture speak in the very Letter but I let it passe at present And further to gratifie mens weakness I shall proceed to another Scripture which is as carnally urged as the former to prove a carnall Resurrection and that is in Matthew concerning Christs reasoning with the Sadduces they denying the Resurrection And Christ proving it to them by saying That he was the God of the living and not of the dead and so that though Abraham Isaack and Jacob were dead long agoe yet they lived But to open this Scripture we must know what Resurrection the Sadduces denyed and what Resurrection Christ proved I affirm that it was the spiritual Resurrection which they denyed and that appeares plainly by that in the 23 of Acts 8. where it is said that the Sadduces deny the Resurrection or Angell or Spirit but there is no mention of the Resurrection of the Body And so it is clear that Christs argument to them was to prove a spirituall Resurrection and so it holds a full proof of what we affirme and a fâ—ll answer to the Sadduces For God is not the God of the dead but of the living not of flesh but of Spirit And so Abraham Isaack and Jacob. they did really and spiritually live in God though they were dead in the flesh So that I conceive and it is clear to me that a spirituall and Angelical appearance of God is that Resurrection which is held forth and which should be and they are the Sadduces that deny this spirituall Resurrection Another Scripture which is alledged to as little purpose is that in Iob
was no Temple nor needed any Sun or Moon which as I apprehend was but that there should be such glorious and spiritual dispensations and discoveries of God in the Saints and that they should enjoy such a life as that they should not worship in any outward external way or forme And should not need to be taught by men or meanes or of any outward Administrations or Ordinances But that the Lord God and the Lamb should be their light and they should be immediatly taught by him and therefore it is said there was no Temple in it the Lord and the Lamb being the light glory Temple and all which condition is glorious and cannot but be Heaven to him that doth enjoy it and into which I know some are brought and have received the accomplishment of all those promises and Prophesies which are spoken of in Scripture and have received that new name which none know but they that have it And thus have I shewed you Heaven as it appeares in my spirit and for my part I see no otherwise of it however men judge I am willing to let fall any carnall apprehension of a visible or corporeal enjoyment of God or any expectation of a happy condition out of God after this life and dayes are ended being willing to resigne and give up to God what he is in me in flesh that so God may be all and advanced above all in the spirit And for my part I see the Lord so framing my spirit that I am content to be nothing that he may be all though I must confess when I think seriously of it there is nothing so grievous to flesh and blood in me as to think that all the glory and happiness that I expected to have had in a corporal and sensible enjoyment must be terminated in God onely This I am sure of that if there be any such thing I shall have my share among the rest which for the present I think ridiculous to looke for onely this I wait what the Lord will do in my spirit for the present And being sweetly refreshed in the spirituall Disovery of himself in me which is to me Heaven Concerning the Angels FOr the Angels I see the world as much mistaken in them as in the former for I really see that man lives in the Angelicall nature and that the Angels are also Spirituall and in man and herein man is honoured in that God tooke humane nature and not the Angelicall For had he confined his own glory in himself he had missed one of his opportunities of magnifying himself and therefore he took the humane nature and so was God manifest in flesh as well as seen of Angels and as the divine nature is in man so is the Angelicall and as the one acts so doth the other for may we not see the Angels of God ascending and discending in man Are not the motions of mans spirit here and there in a moment cannot man ascend into the hights and discend into the depths Are not the motions of a mans spirit at one end of the World at one time and at another end of it instantly again Doth not God make his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flame of fire Is not every spirit of illumination and spirituall discovery of God an Angell of God to convey some light and influence to the Creature whence is it that all those sweet and spiritual assistances and consolations are flowing in the spirit but by the power and presence of these Angels It is said the Devill left Christ and Angels came and ministred to him and comforted him In which I really see every spirituall support and comfortable appearance of God is an Angel of God How do the Angels pitch their Tents about them that fear the Lord which is no other but that all providences and passages watch about them and administer comfort unto them I do not as I have conceived that they are created spirituall substances distinct from God and waiting upon God as serving men about their Lord to see what his pleasure is and yet this I know all accidents that are good or evill crosse or pleasing are of God and are his Angels and do his will These are the Angels on which God rides in triumph by which he plagues the World and doth great things in Heaven and Earth and therefore I looke upon every glorious manifestation of the power and wisdom of God to be an Angell when I read of Gods coming with thousands of his Angels It refreshes my spirit to think that there will be times of more pure and spirituall glory manifested Now there is here and there an Angel or spiritual discovery of God then will the world be full of his glory and all flesh shall see the salvation of God I cannot conceive they have any fleshly forme or shape though it is said Lot received two Angels which is spiritually true for there was something more then ordinary of Gods mind discovered to him And when I read of the Angel of the Lord smiting the Campe of the Assyrians that there fell so many thousands in one night I do not believe there was any visible appearance but that there was an extraordinary appearance of Gods power which is called an Angell And so whereever we read of Angels appearing to this or that Servant of God I cannot look upon them otherwise then some more glorious appearance or manifestation of God and his will and pleasure concerning things or persons And whereas the Scripture speaks of good and bad Angels I see onely this in them that the one is pure discovery of God the other the more impure dark for where as man had a glorious enjoyment of God and lived in Gods light when he left that went to live in a self-being out of God There were Angels Hell and his discoveries of God became dark and confused and so brought him into bondage so that the dark and carnall knowing of God is the evill Angel and the glorious and pure manifestation of God is the good Angel So likewise the providences that fall out in the world that tend to the comfort or well-being of Creatures they are the good Angels the crosse providences occurrences that do afflict and grieve a people or person they are the evill Angells or Angels of wrath and displeasure not that they are so indeed but because the Creature doth misapprehend the mind of God in them for all things whether Angels good or evill principalities powers life or death things present or to come are for good to them that are called of God When I read of Michael and his Angels and the Dragon and his Angels fighting against one another I see nothing there but the fleshly and dark apprehensions of God against the pure and spirituall and as Michael overcame the Dragon so the more pure and spiritual dispensations of God shall over-power the dark and carnall and so those Angels of darkness shall
be cast into their lake and there be reserved to the great judgement day of the Lord within us when he shall sit as a refiner in our spirits then shall the chaffe be burnt up consumed by the brightnes and fire of these Angelical appearances of God this was an Angel of God comforting me against all the aspersions of heresie blasphemy that the people of God lye under at this day and so you see what I thinke of the Angels and what they are And thus have I done with that which I call The light side of God I come now to the dark and shall begin with that first which is called Devill Concerning the Devill I See that which we call the Devill is also in man and yet I cannot apprehend him to be a creature as men generally do For then I must give him a Being and there is nothing hath a Being but God that is formally and properly yet as men speake though improperly there is such a thing as we call Devill which I conceive to be nothing but the fleshly Being or as men commonly speak the corruption of nature or as the Scripture calls it the old Man and this also moves and acts in all those things which we call sinfull So that so far as a man lives in a sinfull being so farre the Devill in him and therefore when Mary Magdelen had 7 Devils cast out of her it gives me to conceive that every sin is a Devill and so far as a man is led aside of his own lusts so far he is led by the Devill and therefore he is called Satan Tempter and Deceiver with divers other expressions And hence it is that whatsoever is hatefull or hurtfull to man we use to say the Devill is in it and so every thing that doth hinder or darken our spirituall comfort and peace that is a Devill in us God is Light and in him there is no darkness and it is as true the Devill is darknesse and in him there is no light at all And so farre as yny man is in that darknesse so farre he is in the Devill so much the nearer he comes to him and therefore it is said You are of your Father the Devill and his workes you do God is the Way Truth and Life and the Devill is falsehood his wayes tend to darknesse and end in death and destruction This is the deciever that would perswade us of a happyness of our own and a glory out of God He is that Mystery of iniquity that man of sinne whom the Lord is continually destroying and for whose destruction God is man'd in our flesh and as the Devill the deciever hath led us from God to live a life of our own so God in us is reducing us againe to live in himself and so the spirituall seed is breaking the head and power of the carnall this Devill is the spirit of envy malice cruelty ever seeking to devoure and rob us of that which is most precious to us Men fear a Devill without them and so fancy him to be terrible in their apprehensions never considering that he is in them and therefore it is said The Devill entered into Judas not but that he was in him before but then was there a more then ordinary appearance of him and so he is that Judas indeed which is ever betraying the spirituall Christ into the hands of self and flesh and is continually crucifying the Lord of life and putting him to open shame and vailing his glory under shadowes making men to take them for substances and so is transforming himself into an Angell of light and so makes men put light for darknesse and darknesse for light exalting himself and perswading self and flesh to have high thoughts of himself and seeking to put out all that spirituall light and glory wherever it appeares in the spirits of men So that however men ascribe a Being and person a Him to him yet there is nothing so neither would I call him any thing but as it is the language of men to expresse our selves to one another about that which wee call Devill And so I shall leave the Devill and speak something of Sinne because that is most like him being of the nearest Kindred to him Concerning Sinne. FOr Sin I cannot tell how to call it any thing because it is nothing I cannot give it a name because it is no substance or creature It is rather Primitive then Positive we call it and give it a Being though indeed in it self it hath none It is no act for then it were visible but Sin is inward and spirituall as that is which we call Grace and Holinesse it is therefore called spirituall wickednesse it is rather the defect of Grace and a deficiency in the Creature then any act as visible to the outward view Further Sin as Sin admits of no degrees for that which we call a great sinne is no more then that which we call the least but because we would not be thought to lessen it while we speake of it we shall give you our thoughts of it in the language of Scripture And therefore we see the Apostle describes it to our hands where he saith We have all sinned and are deprived of the Glory of God So hence I conclude that sinne is a coming short or a deprivation of the Glory of God and so farre as a man is short of that glory or doth not live and act in that divine Being so farre he sins so farre as he is in darknesse and hath this glory vailed in him so far he is sinfull In brief sin is a living out of the will of God for God being the Supream will and having ordered all things and persons to be in such and such a condition this self and carnall Being wills something of its own below Gods Will and so prevaricates from that and â—enteâ—â— in his own will and so sins Hence it is that Nations and perticular persons are grieved and discontented with their condition and set â—ayes times a part as if they could alter the Supreme Will not considering that the Supreme will must be subjected unto and that they must receive evill from the hands of God as well as good and not knowing that all is in the ordering of the Supreme will and so run to this and that outward and formall duty and so are carnall and sinfull while they think they do God good service and yet I do not condemn them in so doing for to them it is their light though they be truely and spiritually in darkness and though men act in darknesse yet God is there vailing his glory and so they must needs sin for sin is properly the dark side of God which is a meere privation of light Further we must consider that God gives not any Law or Rule out of himselfe or beyond his own glory And as himself and his own glory are the ultimate end of all actions and
take the most principall places of Scripture that men look upon which speak of the Resurrection and in the spiritual discoveries of them if there be any thing to strengthen them in their opinion I shall and must give way And we shall begin with that which is the prime piller of their Faith and that is in the 1. of the Corinths 15. from the beginning to the end of it It being the whole subject of the discourse therein to treat of the Resurrection The drift of the Apostle is to prove the spiritual Resurrection of Christ to be as sure and certain as his fleshly and by the same Argument that he proves the one by the same he also proves the other in a spiritual sense And the comparison lies not betwixt the fleshly rising of Christ and the fleshly rising of men as most men imagine but betwixt the fleshly rising of Christ in the humanity and his spiritual rising in the divinity and so all along you shall see the comparison holds betwixt the naturall and the spirituall and not betwixt the naturall and the naturall And that we may see plainly it appears in the 47. verse The first man is of the Earth earthly the second man is from Heaven who is the Lord so that we see he compares the outward earthly man and the Lord from Heaven which is the spiritual and shewes evidently that it is not the earthly man that is raised but the spirituall and so Christ after the flesh was but of the earthly man and so must be destroyed and subdued as wel as other things and formes which did accompany that earthly being and as the one vanished out of sight before the Apostles so must the other and that this may not seeme strange to any man that the flesh of Christ must be destroyed as well as other things It is plain in the 28. verse So that it is apparent that the Sonne of man being of the first Adam after the flesh must as well be subdued and perish with the fleshly forms and administrations that did accompany him For certain I am that as he was God or the divine being in him he could not be subdued so that it is very clear that it was the fleshly appearance that must needes come to nothing as well as the fleshly forme in other Creatures and so Christ did cease to live in the flesh that he might more transcendently live in the spirit and so he laid down his humanity to live in the Divinity and so it is true what the Apostle saith in the 20. v. That as Christ is risen from the dead and is become the first fruits of them that sleep and are dead in him so such as are dead in him shall surely rise That is they shall as surely rise to a spirituall condition as they have been spiritually dead in him And so he goes on in the 22. verse As in Adam all dyed so in Christ shall all be made alive Here is still the comparison betwixt the natural and the spirituall that is as sure as the fleshly Adam and outward visible forme dies so it is as certain they that are in Christ or the spititual man shall be made alive and quickened and God shall rise and appear in more power and glory in that life of the spirit then ever he did in the fleshly forme or shape But to go on The first fruits is Christ and then they that are Christs at his coming which is thus that as Christ herein was the first fruits of them that did live in the spirit as he saith a little while and you shall see me and a little while and you shall not see me because I go to the Father that is he was to lay down the flesh to live in the divine and spiritual life in which he appeared after his ascension and so was as good as his word and did come in spirit so it should be as spiritually true that they should partake of the same spiritual life and live in the same spiritual Resurrection as he and live in the Father as he did and therefore he comforted them and told them I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God But yet in the mean time till the Son of man and all fleshly formes were subdued to the Father till men were brought to live in the Father and to live in a spiritual life till then Christ must raigne till then there must be outward formes of Christs death and there must be manifestations of God in flesh and outward Ordinances But when these are subdued then men must rise or rather God will appear to be that spiritually which they before enjoyed onely in an outward manner as is argued by the Apostle in the 25. verse And the last enemy is death And certain it is this death must be destroyed and the dead must rise or else death cannot be destroyed Now this must needes be a little opened that so we may see what the Resurrection is for certainly the dead must arise or else Christ cannot be risen For the opening of which death we shall take the same method as the Apostle doth here to compare the natural with the spiritual Then we say a man is dead when a man is void of all visible sence and motion when he ceases to act or move when the life is departed when the life is departed when the being ceases to live in the flesh that he cannot move to any outward or naturall act And so a man is spiritually dead or dead in Christ when a man ceases to be or act any thing in the things of God but is moved and acted as God is in him when there is nothing of the self-being appearing in a word when to the world he appeares to act nothing do nothing in an outward and formall way so that men think there is no spiritual life in him Then doth he die in the Lord when he wholly resignes up all his grace abilities knowledge of God into God and knowes not what he doth or is or should know ceasing from his own reachings forth after God living and being to any self-enjoyment or expectation of any future felicity life or comfort out of God For it is certain so long as the Creature thinks that he must act or do something to attain salvation or be any thing distinct from God so long he is alive without Gods life and so must needes be miserable and therefore the Apostle saith if in this life our hope was we were most miserable which life is not to be understood of the fleshly Being But in this life that is if our happinesse comforts did depend upon our owne self-actings and on our own being any thing were we most miserable But our hope is that all our felicity and comfort is terminated and centred in God onely And so Christ spiritually in us is the hope of glory which is a mystery and so being dead in Christ