Exod. 28.30 where thou oughtest to enquire but thou hast still enquired of BAAL and ASHTEROTH and of Wizzards and familiar Spirits and the Counsels of thine own heart otherwise all thy high conceits had been laid low but thou goest out to Sorcerers and Southsayers to ASHDOD or any thing and consultest with them and they tell thee of a thousand Devils but themselves and they will tell thee thou art a wise a godly a holy man who more holy nay that thou art a Saint and all others especially such and such are Devils to thee this man sees every thing naught and evil and out of order but in his own heart And what deep and desperate Witchcraft and Lyes are these when all these are in himself But when Christ comes then the mind is quite turnd altered and changed then he sees that HIS heart is deceitfull above all things then he is amazed to see those unspeakable deceits that are there how loathsome and vile he is then he wonders that Christ should descend so low as Hell to bring his soule out thence then he sees how all those things which before he would never beleeve to be in him they are now laid open and now he sees that Christ is Hee alone that hath led Captivity Captive Secondly this Doctrine notes out unto us the vanity of the minds of all men while they are anywhere exercised but within themselves in their own hearts for all good and evil comes out of the heart and 't is that which cometh out thence which defileth the man And again a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth good things Mat. 12.35 but an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things Therefore the maine of all is to know a mans selfe for a man to have high and great thoughts of himself and in the mean time to be no other but a Devil a Wizzard a Sorcerer to be an enemy and a deluder to himself to think himself to be in light when he is in thick darknesse to call in himself evil good and good evil darkness light and light darkness This is one of the Devils great Delusions Exo. 10.21 Esa 5.20 and Witchcrafts in man to carry him still out of himselfe even in point of Religion to look abroad and meddle with this man and the other man and neglect himselfe other mens faults are heynous but he neither sees nor once finds fault with his own Some men also are much carried out in company and are full of talk and high discourses and curious notions and these they trade withall and think to be Somebody and get themselves a name and all these things tend to this main end to make man seem to be what he is not something when he is nothing as the Apostle speaks Gal. 6.3 and to cover and hide these Devils these Witchcrafts these Sorceries these Inchantments from his own and others beholding If the Devil can but hide himselfe that he be not known to be as he is he knows he shall rest secure enough then the soul is quiet enough and thinks all is well and so the man sleeps in the Devils arms and knows nothing of his own misery until he lie down in sorrow and condemnation with the Devil for ever and this is that which the Divel labours to do in man with all his might This hiding and eovering and deluding is meerly the work of the Devil Now the work of Christ is to undermine and to Counter-work all this viz. by discovering and laying open all these mischiefs and deceits and by letting man see his own folly delusion and misery for the Devil would by no means be discovered least he should be cast out Therefore he cannot abide that man should dwell at home and be over busie with his own heart to see the Inchantments and cheatings that are there For there it is the Prince of Darknesse rules and fits as King of the Bottomlesse pit and he knows he can delude and deceive and be too hard for all the men in the world except Jesus Christ undertake to uncover and unmask his delusions But when Christ will discover him in thee then thou shalt see thy selfe to be all these things that we have spoken and that all those lying Divinations are in thee then all thy deceits and lyes shall lie under the sentence of condemnation then and never before canst thou discover or bear witnesse against Antichrist and the Prince of Darknesse then thou shalt come to know whether thou art indeed a member of Jesus Christ viz. by finding these discoveries to be made in thee Mat. 16.17 for then thou canst witnesse that flesh and blood never revealed these things to thee Then thou shalt see experimentally what it is to be in captivity what it is to be in Egypt in Babylon and that thou wast in such cruel bondage once and bound with such strong fetters as no hand could deliver thee but onely the hand of the meer mercy of God and that it is that onely which maketh thee to differ and not any power wisdom or watchfulnesse of thine own nothing but that Almighty hand hath delivered thee from the Witch and the Deluder and the Sorcerer and destroyed the Destroyer and all this out of meer mercy and good will to thee And then also this will follow if thou hast found these things done and acted in thy self thou canst not chuse but pitty and pray for all those who are yet under the same Inchantments When thou beholdest them thou canst not chuse but say alas poor-soules I know full well that there is none but only the hand of Jesus Christ that can help and deliver them I was in the same condition what was I more then they that so much mercy hath been shewed to me and in seeing their misery thou canst not but remember thine own and so thou seest thy self in seeing them This the Apostles did when they beheld others they confessed that they were by nature Children of wrath as well as others 'T is onely the mercy of God that pulls thee as a brand out of the fire Eph. 2.3 Zach. 3.7 Jude 23. while others are burning there still And t is onely his infinite and undeserved goodnesse that hath delivered thee from all those great Deluders and Inchanters from the Devil and from Antichrist for thou hast truly seen and found that the same principle of Hell and Darknesse is in thee that is in any other and that there be none that do good Psal 14.2 none that seek after God though they pretend never so much to him All this considered and seeing it true in thy own heart who art now set at liberty Mark 5.9 and knowing all these LEGIONS of Devils cast out of thee thou wilt be so far from insulting and upbraiding any in this condition that thou wilt pitty them in thy very soul from a fellow-feeling
as to hold it out so to others that the hearers cannot discern by the teaching an Hypocrite from a true Beleever notwithstanding all his positions It seems the poor man thinks the mystery and the history all one and makes a conclusion from no man can tell what premises he hath laboured to prove which was not denied him that learning may bring one to know and understand the Letter and the History and now he would make a flourish as though he proved that humane learning could per se ex propriâ naturâ understand the mystery it selfe the contrary to which he hath confessed in his 16. chap. pag. 131. that many under the light of the Gospel fulnished with the helps of human learning are strangly unacquainted with the knowledge of Christ crucified and yet now hath forgot it and vaunts that to be clear which neither he nor any else can perceive visible and so equivocally shuffles in these words So apprehend the mystery so hold it out to others which he dare not expresse nor shew wherein or in what precise respect and so holds forth an absolute untruth that the hearers cannot discerne by the teaching an Hypocrite from a true Beleever If hee mean of such hearers as himself I suppose it to be true that they cannot truely know the voice of Christ but if he mean that no hearers can I deny it and so doth the record of truth for though there come many false Christs and false Prophets that may delude many yet it is impossible and they cannot deceive the Elect And the spiritual man judgeth all things Mat. 24.24 yet he himself is judged of none And those that are the true sheep of Christ follow him and know his voice 1 Cor. 2.15 Joh. 10.4 5. but they neither follow nor know the voice of strangers He proceeds still in the same order saying that unlesse I prove that a man by the help of learning cannot attain to such a knowledge as to be able to make an outward profession that I prove nothing The Apostle did not prove that men by humane learning could not attain to such a knowledge as to be able to make an outward profession but granted that by it they might 2 Tim. 3.5 Having a form of godlinesse but having denyed the power thereof creeping into houses leading away captive silly women laden with infirmities 2. Tim. 3.5 and yet did he prove nothing when he said The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him 1 Cor. 2.14 neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Because HE proves nothing he imagins that neither the Holy Ghost nor any else can or doth prove anything so wilfully blind and ignorant is hee In the next place he repeats my Objection and the Solution and saith First to this we say That the habit of sin is destroyed c. now the habit of learning is not in the least diminished much lesse destroyed Good Mr. Armiger do you know what an habit is or is sin nothing but an habit who taught you this the School-men that were as blind as your selfe Is not an habit that quod crebris actionibus acquiritur and is sin nothing more what do you deny original sin or hath sin no inherency in our corrupt natures Ps 51.5 as we proceed from the loynes of lost Adam Are we not conceived in sinne and brought forth in iniquity or dare you deny the plain words of the Apostle who saith and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others now I never knew that that which is by nature could be an habit for habits arise from acquisitions and acts yet this is the great Learning of the Armiger and in such like stands the whole strength of his Arguments In the same page he saith it will be more manifest if we consider learning in it selfe to be indifferent either good or evil according as it is used or abused now is sin so Here is a very bold affirmation that learning is an indifferent thing either good or evil but where is the proofe of it not one word to make it good withall surely must his ipse dixit serve for an Argument well I must tell him once againe that humane learning is not by me taken in an abstract consideration but in a concrete as it is the Action and product of corrupted nature and so it is laid down in my definition of it which was obvious enough if he had not been wilfully blind but according to the proverb There is none so blind as he that will not see If I had considered it abstractively and separate from the subject of inhaesion which in my discourse had been improper and unprofitable then I had consider'd it precisely quatenus scientia and then the word HUMANE had been cut off and been left out and so perhaps I should not stick in a Physical or moral respect with Aristotle to have asserted that omnis scientia est de genere bonorum But it is cleare that what I argue of it is in a Theological respect and is so plaine that none but ignorant persons could mistake my drift and expressions This man would make it an indifferent thing as though some actions of sinful and wicked men were indifferent and not sinful Prov. 21.4 when the Scripture saith the plowing of the wicked is sin And therefore I will give him an answerable argument or two Every tree that is evil hath also all its fruit evil But every man by nature is an evil tree Ergo every man by nature hath also all his fruit evil The Major is grounded upon the words of our Saviour A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit Mat. 7 18. neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Luk. 6.45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil I suppose the Minor needs no proofe we are all born in sin and conceiv'd in iniquity Rom. 3.23 Psal 14.3 In Adam we all die all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God And there is none that doth good no not one And that humane Learning is the fruit of the flesh is manifest because it is laid down in the definition to be all that science or knowledge that is or may be acquired by naturall Power Capacity and Industry Again whatsoever is foolishnesse in the esteem and account of God is sin But the wisdom of the world is foolishnesse in the esteem and account of God Ergo it is sin I suppose no wise man will deny the Major and the Minor is made out of the Apostles words For the wisdom of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3.19 is foolishnesse with God And that humane Learning is the wisedome of the world is clear
lead him and bring him unto salvation but this is the condemnation Joh. 3.19 that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil I make no question but are all here pretend at least to be seekers of God Now enter into thy owne heart and tell me what is the end of all thy Religious actions are they not done for this purpose that thereby thou mayest gain and get a good opinion to and of thy self that thou hast served God in a way he commands and when thou hast done thinkest thou now art accepted is this thinkest thou the free-will offering that is in Jesus Christ wherein we serve him not as Slaves or as Servants but as Sons Sons that are begotten out of love and out of love serve him without fear all the dayes of our life Now I say Luk. 1.74 when thy Religious actions are onely made use of to hide over thy sin and to get a good opinion of thy selfe this is not the work of the spirit of God this is not a drawing to God but from God this is a drawing into thy selfe to depend on flesh and to feed on the dead ashes of thy own heart Esa 44.20 and not to know that there is a lye in thy right hand But now if thou didst but see thy owne sinne and thy owne evil heart thou wouldest not dare to speak of God but with much trembling but know if thou speak of him or of Divine things thou speakest as vainely and as dissemblingly as wickedly and hast nothing of Divine nature more then another then the world of men for all thy many words and large professions thou wilt not say We see for then thy sin remaineth But if thou goest out mourning and weeping over thine owne misery and over thy cursed heart to thee I say the Lord will draw thee and lead thee in the everlasting power so that thy own carnal heart and all the power of hell shall not be able to keep thee from Christ but thou shalt understand and find that it is the power of the Father onely that draws every man unto Christ And he will cause thy captivity to return as the streams in the South Psal 126.4.6 and thou shalt find that he that goeth forth weeping shall doubtlesse come againe with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him that so thou mayest rejoyce and magnifie him alone utterly renouncing thy selfe and all the power of man as having no hand in His Almighty work THE CLOUD taken off the TABERNACLE that the ISRAEL of God might journey Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street EXOD. 40.36 37 38. And when the Cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle then the Children of Israel went onward in all their journeys But if the Cloud were not taken up then they journeyed not until the day it was taken up For the Cloud of the Lord was upon the Tabernacle by day and the fire was on it by night in the sight of all the House of Israel throughout all their journeyes THis Book out of which we have taken these words is called EXODUS that is the Book of the goâ—ng out or the Book of the goings forth for it shews the manner of the going forth of the children of Israel out of Egypt being brought out thence by a strong and mighty hand But Beloved if we look on the things contained in this Book of the goings forth or going out onely as an History of the Jewes going out of that Land of Egypt wherein they were inslaved in their cruel bondage we fall farre short of what the Holy Ghost intends For their going out is the type and representation of all the people of God in all generations and of their going forth from under the bondage of spiritual Pharach and out of the Kingdome of Darknesse When Moses as you may see had obeyed the command of God he shewing him the form of the Tabernacle and Moses setting up all things therein according to the pattern then 't is said Heb. 8.5 Ver. 34.35 in the preceding verses when Moses had finished the work then a cloud covered the Tent of the Congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle so that Moses was not able to enter in for the glory thereof Which Tabernacle was alwayes to be carried before the children of Israel and if the cloud was not taken up from off the Tabernacle then they journeyed not but sate still but if it was taken up then they were to arise and goe on upon their journey this rule they must observe and this was to be their Leader and their Guide in all their journyings Thus it is in the History and this is the Letter now if there were no more in it then so what advantage is it to us but onely to deduct and raise some moral observations and directions which every carnal man may do and be never the nearer the meaning of the Scriptures or to eat of the tree of life and of the Hidden Manna or knowing the mind of God and having no more we have but the Letter that kills Gen. 3.3 and is no other but the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil whereof God hath commanded ADAM that is whole ADAM all Mankind not to eat thereof For to think that that eternal infinite and most spiritual and divine wisdom should have no greater depth nor no farther wisdom to imploy it self in then in relating Histories of an outward Tabernacle and of silken blew and purple curtains and of the Pot of Manna and of outward sacrifices and washings what depth of wisdom answerable to that infinite wisdom in the Almighty Jehovah were this in him To tell of Solomons State 2 Chro. 9. and his Throne and his Majesty of his Gold and Silver and of the magnificent stately Temple that he builded of the workmanship and great cost and the like what were all this if there were not more in it then the Letter and what every man by his study and reason and learning can finde out but without all question there is that Mystery and depth of wisdom and knowledge hid and covered in all these things which none can find or know with all their utmost endeavours unlesse we be anoynted with that holy anoynting which teacheth all things 1 Joh. 2.27 Mat. 19.11 neither can we ever know them except they be given us from above that so these things may be spoken out onely by that divine teaching in us And for that History for which this Book is called Exodus that we are now upon the Book of the goings forth without all question and to be briefe Satan in us is that true Pharaoh which keeps the true Israel in bondage which is here held forth by that external Pharaoh for what is that Pharaoh to us except we find in our selves all those things acted and done And Egypt there to us is no other thing
White Stone with a New Name which none can know but such as receive it They see themselves delivered I and are at rest from themselves They see their owne wisdome their owne power their owne holinesse to be as it is nothing but sin and hell and misery and a delusion And this they rejoyce in to see this Pharaoh overwhelmed in the sea this makes themselves sing the song of Moses and the Lamb and to see all this to be done not by their power nor by their wisdom nor by their watchfulnesse nor by any endeavours of theirs but that the whole work in every part of it was Christ alone that t is he alone that is mighty to save he that is also glorious in apparel Esa 63.1.2 and travelling in the greatnesse of his strength none assisted him no man stood by him but he alone made bare his own arme that so he might have all the glory These things seen and accomblished in themselves is their feast of Fat things their Wine on the Lees their keeping the Sabbath their day of praise and Thanksgiving They have none to praise nor to speak well of but of him alone They find that he alone was their deliverer and he was their Captain and their Conquerer that he alone was their leader their guide their teacher And that all teachers were but Deluders Southsayers Lyars and Deceivers but onely Him they can call no man Master and Father upon earth Mat 23.9 for one is their Master and Father which is Christ alone As Paul saith he received not his Gospel of man or by man Gal. 1.12 but by the revelation of Jesus Christ so they receive not their power not their wisedome nor their teaching of or from man but onely by and from Jesus Christ alone Then also Vse 2 in the next place let us farther make this Use of this point to take notice of the misery and desperate condition of all men by nature what a deluge of destruction is upon them because of the face of the Covering of all people because they seek help and strength and riches and glory and wisdome in other mountains besides this Mountain because they find strength and wisdom and rest and rejoycing and feasting in their own mountains And the more comfort and delight men take in their own wisedome or holinesse or the like so much the more miserable so much the farther from the Kingdom of Heaven when men look upon themselves as being strict or holy more then others because they are under such and such forms such rules and are so comformable to the word and mind of Christ and here solace and feast themselves Luk. 17.21 and cry Loe here is Christ and there is Christ in this form or that fellowship and think therefore they are in a safe condition but it will go ill with all others Esa 65.5 stand farther off I am holier then thou The dangerousnesse of these mens condition I say you may discover from the present point when they make any other thing their rock or their mountain but Christ alone when they think they can guide themselves provide for themselves teach themselves these are in a very miserable condition these are those of which Christ saith go not after them for they are deceivers and deluders Luk. 17.20 for the Kingdome of God cometh not with observation as they say by observing this rule and this form or that fellowship or any way that man hath found out to cover himselfe withall All these are but fig-leaves which will not bear out the wrath of God these are but mens Coverings which cover themselves with a covering as they think from all evil and wrath Esa 28 20 but 't is not the Lords Spirit The Bed is too broad and the Covering is narrow it will not defend them from the Lords fierce wrath These are they that have kindled a fire to warm themselves at Ibid. 50.11 but they shall lie down saith the Lord in the fire that they have kindled and in the sparks that they have gathered together And for all their forms and prayers and duties and ordinances and holinesses and washings and baptizings and receiving the Sacraments and the like yet this is that they shall receive at my hand They shall lie down in sorrow for when you did all these things did you them at all unto me and not unto your selves did you at all fast unto me though ye pretended to seek me early and to seek me daily and did delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did righteousnesse and as if they forsook not in the least the ordinances of their God and take delight in approaching to God yet for all this saith the Lord to the Prophets Cry aloud Esa 58.1 lift up your voices like a Trumpet and shew my people their Transgression and the House of Israel their sins All these things will not deliver thee from wrath but thou rather then any other shalt lie down in sorrow and Publicans and Harlots for all your holinesse and strictnesse shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven before you Mat. 21.31 11.22 And it shall be easier with Tyre and Sydon in the day of judgement then for these that have done these and these things in his name yet for all this will Christ say depart from me I know you not ye workers of iniquity there was nothing but iniquity in your righteousnesse in all your duties in all your forms and professions you of all other I will not know you of all others depart from me you of all others are workers of iniquity you above all shall lie down in sorrow and in the sparks that you have kindled you thought your selves better then others holier then others when you are indeed and in truth the vilest and worst of all others Therefore most desperate and most miserable are these above all in as much as they thought themselves before all when they think because of their holiness because of their conformity because of their moderation because of their abstinence because of their meeknesse because of their gravity therefore they are better then others here is the great and unspeakable delusion of their own hearts For grace and true religion never teacheth any man to think highly of himself but to think highly of Jesus Christ grace debaseth man more and more and brings him to see the Bottomlesse deceit and delusion of his own heart It teacheth men not to think better and better of themselves but worse and worse and makes men not to desire praise or high esteem from others but it would have Christ have all the glory and praise and it selfe to be less and less and worse and worse it its own esteem for the more grace the more light which discovers more and more the infinite and bottomlesse vilenesse and delusion of their own natures Beloved this is the true teaching which comes only and alone from Jesus
the corner it is rejected and laid by even by those that account themselves Master builders and this is the Lords doing and it s marvailous in our eyes Again another ground why the souls of men come not to Christ Reas 3 is because the appearing of Christ in the spirit makes all the hidden things of mans heart lie open even that which man himselfe never saw nor never thought was in him and this man hates and will not abide to see nor behold that depth of pride that selfe-glorying hypocrisie c. and taht bottomlesse pit of misery mans eye never looked into himself into his own heart but in the day of the appearance of Jesus Christ all this is discovered and laid open therefore man would by no means come to Christ because the appearing of Christ discovers his sin and condemnation man loves his own life skin for skin and all that a man hath will be give for his life but he that loseth his life shall find it Job 2.4 Mat. 10.39 John 3.19 therefore our Saviour tells us plainly that this is the câ—ndemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil for he that doth evil hateth the light neither comes to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest that they are evil So here the ground is rendred why the Gospel is Condemnation to the sons of men the Gospel brings light but men resist it hate it Certain it is that the light of Christ is in every creature for he is the true light that enlightens every one that come into the world Joh. 1.9 Mat. 6.23 And if this light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness Here is the condemnation of all the sons of men that they dare not stand in the light of Christ not being able to behold hell in their own hearts but labour by all means to cover it for the light of Christ would shew them that there is no thought action or duty or performance that ever they did that had any thing of purity in it but it was all sin Now man not daring to see his own misery therefore he runs from this light and gets himselfe behinde any tree He runs from the appearance of him that sits upon the Throne and so resolves he will not see his own misery death and condemnation Rev. 6.16 neither will he believe it though he be told it by an Angel from Heaven he will not come to the light lest thereby he may know or be convinced that his deeds are onely evil Againe this is the work of the Father to draw men unto Christ because no lesse then infinitness and Eternity is able to bring God and man together the separation between God and man is so vast and they are at such an infinite distance since his fall that nothing but Infinitness can bring these two infinite ends together for the soul of man in one sin sins against an infinite God in any one sin it goes out and turns away from the infinitnesse of all blessednesse good joy glory and peace and so goes down into the infinitness of nothing for nothing is a kinde of infinitness and he is indeed gone into a far Country Luk. 15. 13. as the Prodigal was now therefore nothing but the infinite powers and infinite wisedome and strength that is in the Lord is able to bring life out of death something out of nothing therefore there is nothing to bring the heart of man out of that far country wherein to it is gone and out of that bottomless pit into which is is fallen nothing can do it but infinitness and eternity 2 Cor. 4.14 nothing but the same spirit that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead can quicken our mortal bodies there is nothing I say able to do it but the same spirit to bring a poor soul from hell and condemnation and make it one in unity with the spirit And therefore the Apostle witnesses Eph. 2.13 you that were aliens hath he made nigh by the blood of Christ Eph. 2.13 and you that were sometimes afar off hath he made near by the blood of Christ So now I hope this appears a truth to you and I hope the Lord will make it so in you by experience till then it is not a savour of life unto life for except you have the Scriptures made good in the power thereof in your own hearts what are the Scriptures to you And I have alledged them for that very end that you may finde and say These things are all fulfilled not only among the Jewes and at Jerusalem but really and truely in my selfe So then I hope some of you see it is the alone power of the Father that draws the soules of men unto Christ otherwise no man can come unto him But give me leave yet a little farther for the clearing it and explaining it by the way What this power of the Father is or how the Father doth draw or bring the soules of men unto Christ God is said to be a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Joh. 4.23 God is nothing but life glory and power spirit and immortality and whatsoever thing we could have a notion or similitude of that is able to set out strength and life and glory and wisdom yet all these come infinitly short of setting out the strength and power of the Lord of Hosts the great Jehovah who is Psal 121.5 he that keeps Israel Psal 121.5 he that keepes Israel neither slumbreth nor sleepeth so that is is to be cleared what power it is that brings the spirits of men unto Jesus Christ Certainly there is nothing but the same eternal spirit that was in Jesus Christ it is the same immortal and immediate hand and power of God that doth ever raise up the soule of man and bring it unto Christ and nothing but that spirit only and therefore from hence is that of the Apostle that no man can so much as say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 Joh. 3.5 and except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God for t is all one and t is wrought by one and the same Almighty Spirit to say that Jesus is the Lord by the spirit and to be born of the spirit for man to say confess so ten thousand times if he do not feel him to be the Lord and the Almighty in him all his confessions in words are nothing And by one spirit saith the Text ye are all baptized into one body even the whole body and they all testifie one and the same thing that there is but one spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 Eph. 4.4 one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all Eph. 4.4 and they have all been made to drink into
it is onely the immortal Word of the Lord that draws the soul and it is the power of eternity which works all and it is from mercy and great condiscension on his part to speak out these things by such fraile Instruments but it is so 1 Cor. 1.29 That no flesh may glory in his presence And that the praise may be of God and not of the Vessel or of man And know farther It is the Spirit of the Father the same Eternal power of the Father even the same that is God for it is the same God though the manifestations be diverse and though there be the manifestations of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost yet they are One for they are not Three but One. The next thing I shall explain is what is meant by Christ no man come UNTO MEE By Mee here is not meant the coming to the fleshly presence and body of Christ then must we with Mary seek him among the dead no he is risen he is not here it is not meant of the coming to Christ in the History and Notion and in the Letter so all men making profession are come to Christ 2 Cor. 5.19 Joh. 1.14 the Text saith God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and the Text saith again The word became flesh and dwelt in us what is it to come unto him Certainly then it is to come to the EMANUEL he that is God with us or rather God in us but saith the Apostle to those that are called we preach Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1.24 Christ the power of God and wisdom of God So that to come unto Christ is to come to the power of Christ in us to have him abiding and dwelling in us carrying us and leading us into all truth and therefore he tells you againe Joh. 16.13 Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of Glory and therefore saith the Apostle try your selves know you not that Christ is in you except you be reprobates So that to come to Christ is to come unto the power of Jesus Christ and Christ is the power of God 2 Cor. 13 5. and the wisdome of God Nay it is God in us teaching us and guiding us and directing us he being the sole Master Ruler power and strength in us this is to come to Jesus Christ From whence it being thus explained there is a deduction or two we would draw from what hath beene said First if the immortal Spirit onely draw the soules of men unto Christ that is unto himself Vse 1 for he is the love of the Father made out unto us for Christ was God dwelling in flesh Then if it be so then Man considered as Man cannot be any wayes drawn or driven or can come unto Christ Not any power of man as man or the power of the whole Creation is able to draw man unto Christ but onely the power of the Father Let men say what they will there is no power of man or any actions or disciplines of man are able to bring man unto Christ for he is weak and cannot wilfull and will not guilty and dare not come to Christ he dare not appear before him But this is a drawing whether the carnal mind will or will not though it murmur and repine yet it draws him out of this spiritual Egypt and bondage Then this shews how false all their pretences are which the world so much admires and cries up Every man thinks he can goe to Christ and he can bring others to Christ by arguments and perswasions and the like and for this purpose are all the forms of Religion set up under pretence of comming and bringing and going to Christ and going on to the Heavenly Canaan and to the New Jerusalem But did they but look into their own hearts they would see this was but going from the Lord instead of going or comming to him all these devices are but to cover over the iniquity of their own hearts For every several way and form will say they are journying to Christ and to find him when alas where is the man that minds him but onely seeks himselfe his own rest and to quiet his own heart and to cover the smoak and the cry and the guilt that lies upon him and to get comfort to himself and then he is safe and he thinks he is gotten neer to Jesus Christ And when he wants peace then he bethinks himself of walking more close and stricter to those forms and rules that quieted his conscience before and thus he runs in a round and makes himself his works and duties his Saviour For if thou askest thy own heart seriously what is the reason of thy praying and going into this form or the other form is it not because thou thinkest God therefore accepts thee and loves thee And is not this to deny this truth that there is nothing but the power of the Father can draw thee that there is nothing able to draw thee but the immortal seed and Almighty hand of God and to say that something else is sufficient to draw thee unto Christ But here now lies the depth of this deceit thou drawest in a Religious way and hast gotten a covering and a profession and such and such actions into thy hands and here thou restest and what follows thou gatherest together and heapest up all Nations to make thy self strong and secure Hab. 2.5 but thou coverest not with the covering of the Lord and so thereby layest sin upon sin thou coverest indeed with a covering that thereby the Condemnation Esa 30.1 Hell and Guilt in thy own heart may not be made manifest in thee Now consider whether ever thou canst come at Jesus Christ who is the Rock of Ages that goest not in the leadings of the Father But if thy heart did apprehend that thou wert that child which Ezekiel speaks of cast out into the open field Ezek. 16. and hadst no hand to help thee nor no eye to pitty thee if it were so with thee then he would appear in thee and lead thee if thou thoughtst thou wast the ignorantest creature in the world if thou wast but blind enough and bad enough in thy own sight but the misery of the world lies herein Joh. 9.41 because they think they see therefore their sin remains for there is no difference among all the sons of men for All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Thou mayest Rom. 3.21 and I know doest think so that there is a difference in some but truth hath witnessed it that every man hath sinned and is at an infinite distance from the Lord God of mercy and there is no salvation nor no power but in the hand of the Allmighty and that he alone is able to make peace and bring together those two Infinite distances and to make them One. Now judge whether this or the way of the world brings the greatest inconveniency and
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
but mans bondage and miserable slavery under the Prince of darkness and sheweth what cruelty is exercised upon the true children of Israel and what mighty signes and wonders the Lord is faine to work before the soul can be brought from under this bondage and without question he that hath not found it so in himself was never yet brought out of Egypt he never yet found the true MOSES which is Jesus Christ pleading with spiritual Pharaoh that the soul may depart out thence to serve the Lord for till then man serves but himselfe even in his highest forms and duties And likewise the children of Israels passage through the red Sea and Pharaohs pursuing and their journyings and fightings and meeting with so many enemies in their passage to Canaan what are all these things but the oppositions and dangerous passages of the soul to the heavenly Canaan the pursuing thereof by the Prince of darkness and the god of this world what is this but the violence used by the Prince of the power of the air which continually works in the children of disobedience 2 Cor. 4.4 Eph. 2.2 that is in all the sons of men till they are by a mighty and strong hand brought out of this their Egypt and bondage All this trouble and shaking is that which the Lord promiseth in Heb. 12.26 I will once more shake the Heavens and the earth Heb 12.26 what he did then externally he will once more do that is after the same manner but now spiritually And this is that work and that birth of Christ at which Herod and all Israel is troubled The spiritual Birth of Christ causeth the whole power of the natural man to shake and tremble even those under the purest external forms And when the people of Israel were led a long and tedious passage to Canaan being carried up and down backward and forward what is all this to us and them in the substance and mystery but holding forth mans lost and miserable condition in the way of his own heart in the way of sin shewing the desolations the darkness the forlorn and lost condition of all men by nature that even when the heart of man thinks he is upon the borders of Canaan and he is now in the right way and shal surely by his travel and industry possess that good Land he is for all this deceived and brought back again to the very borders of Egypt Esa 14.15 and is brought down to the very sides of the pit And t is revealed and made known to him for all his fair progress in his religion and for all his forms and inventions that he is still under misery and darkness and sinne and condemnation and that all those things were but things taken up of himself and were no other but shewes and pretences and coverings to delude himselfe and the world because he could not abide to see the internal misery and that bottomlesse gulfe in himself he could not endure to see the smoak of the bottomless pit arise out of his own heart Rev. 9.2 and those innumerable Locusts crawling and covering the whole earth that there are in his heart pride and Lust and Malice and Murder and Covetuosnesse and Idolatry and Witchcrafts and Sorceries and Lyes and every thing that worketh abomination which cannot enter into the new Jerusalem Rev. 21.26 Therefore I say because man cannot abide to see himselfe thus nor that any other should see him thus vile and abominable as indeed he is therefore he gets himselfe a covering for all these things he makes himself Aprons because he knowes he is naked and he would cover himselfe as to himself so to others Gen. 3.17 and from the face and sight of God himself and having done this with all the Art and Cunning he can invent then he thinks he hath covered the gulf he labours having thus seen himself in this gulf to forget what manner of man he is Jam. 1.23 24. he stops the guilt and cry of his own conscience by these aprons coverings and forms and be begins to be secure and he is holy both in his own sight and in the sight of others and he thinks he shall enter and possesse the good Land flewing with Milk and Honey Now for this man to be uncovered and laid open Exod. 3.8 to be emptied of all this goodness and stript of all his forms and holiness and to be brought back to the borders of Egypt and to let him see he is as far from the promised Land as the worst of men nay Publicans and Harlots are nearer then himself this cuts the very caule of his heart this undoes him Mat. 21.31 and he is no more able to abide these words then the Pharisees could the preaching of Jesus Christ who sought in all his Teachings to pull off their coverings and to make them appear as they were and not to be such as they would have the world believe them to be with their holy shewes and pretences Now every man the best of men being in this condition if they could but be content to see themselves so that they are filthy and abominable in all their works and that they were utterly lost and destroyed and confounded in themselves and knew not what to do nor which way to turn themselves then indeed would the Lord come in and shine upon them with light and life and the Tabernacle of the Lord should guide them and it would shew them the way the truth and life and the holy spirit would guide them into all truth Joh. 16.13 Rev. 21.23 The cloud and the darknesse should be taken up and the Lord himselfe would be their Sun their Light and their Guide then they should see experimentally by the teachings of the Father in them Esa 60.19 Heb. 8.2 and not by the outward teachings of men that Jesus Christ is the True Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man as the Apostle applyes all to Jesus Christ in the ninth of the Hebrews at the beginning Ibid. 9.1 c. As the Sanctuary and all things therein contained viz. The Candlestick and the Shewbread and the Golden Censor and the Ark of the Covenant and the Golden pot of Manna and Aarons rod that was alwayes green flowrishing and budding c. The Holy Ghost signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest which were onely figures for that time and could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience which stood in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation But Christ being become an high Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle and not made with hands that is to say not of this building and so he goes on Of which tings I must say as the Apostle doth that of them we cannot now speak particularly Jesus Christ
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
23.7 c. who love to be called RABBI or by that Blasphemous Title of DIVINE and they must be honoured above other Saints of God and they are The Clergie and others they are but the Layitie of a meaner rank then we say they And how doe they love to have greetings in the market and the uppermost rooms at Feasts and the like well let them look to it God will judge them one day for all their Sorceries and inchantments and for standing up between him and his glory To whom alone all praise is due but to every man misery shame confusion of face blacknesse of darknesse hell and condemnation But hence we may see that it is no new thing to be bewitched by the Sorcerers and Inchanters and Magicians of the World The Galathians themselves were so for there are many Antichrists in the world there are legions gone out from the Prince of darknesse to deceive the whole Earth And if any from Christ speak but the truth he by his cunning devices will disguise it under the shape of Heresie Schisme Familisme or some odious nickname or other that so the truth may not be owned nor known That so men may stop their eares against the Heavenly voyce of Christ which brings down all things adored or loved in or from man and sets up nothing else but the power wisdom goodnesse holiness and Alsufficiency of the Lord alone He cries Mans heart and all the imaginations thereof are onely evill continually and that there is none that doth good Psal 14.3 Rom. 3 10. no not one They are all gone out of the way and every one is become abominable there is none that understands or seeks GOD. And that there is nothing in man of good but all is evill sin death darkness abomination a lye and utter desolation But Satan cries in the mouthes of his Ministers Let man doe something he can pray he can heare and let him follow those rules that we prescribe and they shall bring peace and rest to his soule But if man were but content to heare the voice of Christ and to stand in the light of God he should be convinced that he had no power no goodnesse and that nothing but onely the power of God could carry him out and that he is dead in trespasses and sins Ephes 2.1 and that the voice of Christ alone can raise them from their graves and that no lesse power can quicken or raise but the eternall Almighty power which raised Iesus Christ himselfe from the dead Rom. 8.11 It is not as men say If you will come to us and joyn and walk with us and be dipt with us or break bread with us will give any life any peace to the soule but the standing in the light of God that so man may take to himselfe death and darknesse misery and wrath and here to stand and dwell and that in him is no good thing then this light would also shew him that in Christ is all life liberty fulnesse satisfaction peace and rest and nowhere else If men did but abide in this light it would debase and keep low the lofty thoughts and those great expectations of and from man it would also give Jesus Christ his due it would not suffer him in the least to act against the glory of Christ but man would be dead and buried and Christ would onely ascend and sit upon his Throne There would nothing be esteemed in Heaven or Earth Mat. 19.21 but Christ and he would be content to sell and lose all for him This light would curb every wicked act every desire of the flesh this alone is the means to crucifie and kill thy vile nature and not any outward externall thing by washing or dipping in water or eating such a poore empty carnall thing as a bit of bread or drinking a sup of wine this thing never did nor never will doe it but to eate and drink that which Christ gave which was not a little bread and wine onely but HIMSELFE Joh. 6.56 1 Cor. 11.29 Ibid. v. 20 ch 10.16 and by feeding on him eating his body and drinking his blood this will nourish to eternall life When ye are met together into one place this is not to eate the Lords body For the bread which we break is the Communion of the body of Christ and he that eateth and drinketh unworthily discerneth not the Lords body Object But may I not use these things Object Ans Yea Answ so you think your selves never the better for using them for t is not they can feed or comfort thee nor t is not going on in thy own power nor thy using of means for Christ alone is the way and the means As if you come to a Feast you are not invited to eate the platters or earthern dishes which bring the meat but you are invited to the meat they doe but bring the meat and if thou eate not the meat thou mayst starve and die if thou follow the dreams of thy own heart and thinkest thou eatest and dost not what a horrible delusion and inchantment is this But of these things we may have an opportunity to speak more fully hereafter Thus you see what are those things which the Lord will cut off in that day when he shall come Thy Horses and thy Chariots thy Cities and thy strong holds Thy witchcraft and thy Southsayers Thy graven Images and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee THE SECRET SOUTHSAYER OR Hidden SORCERER discovered By Mr. Jo. WEBSTER SERMON II. Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street MICAH 5.10 11 12 13. And it shall come to passe in that day saith the Lord That I will cut off thy Horses out of the midst of thee and I will destroy thy Chariots And I will cut off the Cities of thy Land and throw down all thy strong holds I will cut off Witchcrafts out of thine hand and thou shalt have no more Southsayers Thy graven Images also will I cut off and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands I Have beloved according to the appearance of God in me shewed the meaning of these words according to the Spirit and the Mysterie declaring that great work which is brought to passe by Jesus Christ when he appeares gloriously in the world in the soules of men and is exalted as Lord and King and then it is when Jesus Christ is exalted in the earth and not when men are exalted or when there is peace and plenty of outward things But all the speakings of the Prophets and of Christ himselfe tend to set out that Kingdome and PERSONALL REIGNE which generally all men know little of and neither wil nor can own for a glorious state because not accommodated with outward power riches and eternall glory But in that day when Jesus Christ will come and arise in power spiritually in the soules of men then is that
henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 Were the Apostle here among us and should bring such dctrine it would seem very strange to tell us That all our fleshly and external apprehensions of Christ must passe away And if he himself must not be regarded in that kinde For the comforter cannot come except he go away John 16.7 Ibid. 6.63 And the flesh profits nothing it is the spirit that giveth life or quickneth Then much more call your shadowes formes Ordinances washings breaking bread For while you rest in these and esteem of these Christ in the spirit or the comforter cannot come Therefore 't is expedient for you that I go away as to all these things else I cannot send the comforter who shall lead you into all truth I but this doctrine overthrowes the power both of the Magistracy and Ministry Object for we had thought they had been the only men to propagate the Gospel I answer Answ Did Christ ever command you to go to Cesar or to the Ministers to propagate his Gospel He bids you only Mar. 12.17 Give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars viz to yeild them Civil obedience and pay them tribute and afford them your help for carrying on of the publick charge for the preservation of the Nation but it was far from his thoughts to make the Magistrate a Judge in spiritual things How uncertain a way were this And how often are ignorant and blinde men sat up who know nothing in divine things And indeed where shall we finde men fit to Judge or fitly qualified for that businesse If it were so Christ had laid a ground for the setting up the greatest persecution that ever the Sun saw For the Magistrate and too commonly also the Ministers call evil good and good evil Esay 5.20 light darknesse and darknesse light And for the Ministers when did Christ ever or his Apostles send you to them but he saith The Harvest is great and the labourers few Luke 10.2 pray ye the Lord of the Harvest that HE would send forth faithful labourers into the Harvest Is man able to Judge who are fit to be labourers to work in the Lords Harvest If he be blind as most certainly he is he is only fit to lead the blind Indeed 't is true in all ages the Harvest is great and the Labourers few How few are there of those that pretend to be Ministers and Labourers and Pastors and Gatherers of the Lords Sheaves in his Harvest that do so much as know truly the Lords errand but bring things taken up on trust and borrow here and there Jer. 23.21 and yet say Thus saith the Lord when he hath not sent them nor spoken to them but bring forth the dreames and visions of their own heart so leading people on with meer fancies and dreames that they are Christians and they are brought into the Sheepfold when 't is neither so nor so And againe what strange contradicting doctrine do these men bring to say Christ does all and we cannot do the spirits work without the strength of the spirit and without this we are in Bonds and cannot stir one foot and he accepts no service but what comes from himselfe and much to this purpose And yet by and by man must improve grace and he must nourish this plant and cherish it and he must preserve the seed of God in him that it may not dye And he must repent and believe and performe the conditions required on his part to doe and apply the promises and the like doth not all this clearely shew they understand not what they say nor whereof they affirme 1 Tim. 1.7 Is not this to affirme and deny the same thing both at once If this be not to begin at the wrong end I know not what is but this is the course of the world to put men upon getting and doing Whereas the way of God is to strip man of all his power to reduce him to his own nothingnesse to work the work himselfe And he that hath found God in him acting and doing he sees it was none of his work but while men set man thus upon his own doing man comes to be lifted up in his own sight and he glories in himself and in his own power and he thinks himself a forward Christian and he is some body and he is a wise man in his own conceit And those that do not as he does they are ignorant wicked and prophane but a true Christian he finds no power no deliverance no planting but by the band of the Father and he lives on that sap and nourishment which he receives from the root Jesus Christ And though he act or live Gal. 2.20 Esay 26.12 yet it is not he but Christ liveth in him and workes all his workes for him And he finds and knowes if he attempts to doe any thing in his own name or power or thinks that he must do this or he can do that That he in that takes the crown from off the head of Jesus Christ and crownes himselfe therewith Then which to a true Christian nothing is more hateful and he knowes in experience That every plant the Heavenly Father hath not planted must be rooted up And as the Prophet Isai saith 41.29 Behold they are all vainity Esay 41.29 their works are nothing and their molten Images are winde and confusion 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 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 THe Apostle Beloved that he might establish the hearts of the Galathians upon that foundation which is Eternal unalterable and unmovable he useth in this Epistle many arguments to confirme their faith and among many other arguments in the latter end of the fourth Chapter he speaks there of the roots or the two seeds that are in all the sons of men And the one are the children and off-spring of the bondwoman being alwayes in bondage as Hagar was with her children and are not to inherite the blessing but to be cast forth and in the MYSTERY this is that outward Jerusalem wherein the Jew so much boasted viz. of his formes and outward worships and because they were the outward and carnal seed of Abraham and were circumcised and the like all which was nothing for all those things did typifie and hold forth the true seed and the children of the Free woman and the seed of the promise for these also are like their mother which bore them even that Jerusalem which is above which is free and is the mother of us all that is of all the children of the promise and though this mother be a long time barren and beareth no children yet she shall bring forth then it shall be said of her as it is
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
ceases to act and he made as dead as nothing as emptied to all things in themselves so that they cannot say nor think that they have any Wisdom Power or Goodnesse or that by them they can act any thing toward the worship or acceptance of the Father but are reprobate in themselves to every good work Thou who hast chosen any other Saviour Tit. 1.16 any other Deliverer any other Help but Jesus Christ where wilt thou appear when the Lord shall come to judgment then all thy Saviours will forsake thee and not one stand by thee When thou hast said of thy forms and fellowships and thy Ordinances as thou callest them These be thy gods that will save thee these shall give thee a Rest and peace Exo. 32.4 And though with your tongues you do not say thus yet this is the very end of thy cleaving to them to be rest for thy spirit here and to save thee from the wrath to come What is all this but to rob Christ of his Glory and to set the crown upon thy own inventions And t is true we in words say Christ is all in all yet in practice we must bring in something of man he must act and he must do something else he cannot expect that Christ should do his part how then is Christ all in all how is he the Author and finisher of faith These are therefore those which Christ and the Prophet speaks of Heb. 12.2 that have eyes and see not and cares and hear not and hearts which cannot understand Now if thou wert able I say to stand in this light of God and there rest quiet and sit down under hell and wrath and covered with damnation and the curse as being thy right and thy portion this were the way to come to life this is Christ his way for life alwayes springs out of death and light out of darknesse and fulness out of emptinesse and Alsufficiency out of nothingnesse and this is the great Mystery of the Gospel which the whole world and all litteral and great knowing Professors neither will nor can understand because they cannot endure this light of God to destroy confound and undoe them But they are seeking out any covering to keep them from this discovering light for they must be something in themselves and hate this making nothing and would by no means their deeds should be made manifest nor the foulness of their hearts laid open And know also this light is within thee if thou wouldst let it shine out there is a voice within thee saying This is the way walk in it So that thou needest not say in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Esa 30.21 Rom. 10.6 7. or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring Christ again from the dead but the righteousness of Faith saith the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart and this is the word of faith which we preach But man he is still looking to external actings and thinking he must be doing something to procure peace and life or else he thinks if he can but beleeve on an external Jesus Christ who died at Jerusalem and fetch Christ from the grave or bring him down from above this is his righteousnesse what 's all this but the righteousnesse of the Law which Moses describeth to be on this wise Ibid. v. 5. that the man which doth those things shall live in them And this covenant of works man can never get from under For the Law was given to shew man his weaknesse and inability to do the least and this never works effectually till Christ come in with his light to make man see himself as he is poor and wretched and blind and naked to slay man and to make him miserable to himself for he is miserable and lost and undone but he hates to see it or acknowledge it and by running from this discovering light man thinks to save himself and to avoid hell and wrath and the pit of eternal condemnation when indeed this very thing is his misery and death and condemnation That he must be something in his own esteem and he cannot lose his life yet all this is no other but seeking to make a covenant with death and hell but this Covenant will be broken and will and doth in time break in upon him to his everlasting condemnation and none of all his coverings shelters forms or any of his fortifications nor his strong holds will secure him or keep off the Deluge of wrath and vengeance due unto him Now Jesus Christ being as I said nigh thee within thee in thy mouth in thy heart he by his light Psal 91.11 if thou wouldest hearken to his teaching would direct and guide thee in all thy waies from whence come those secret whisperings and checks within thee when thou thinkst to doe this and that evil and it tels thee no do it not t is evill to wrong or hate thy brother to persecute him no saies this light Doe as thou wouldst be done unto Mat. 7.12 and thou oughtest not to doe the least hurt to any creature because thou wouldst not be hurt thy selfe He did evil thou wouldst verily think if he should doe so to thee and is it not the same in thee this very light in thy own breast is a sufficient judge and teacher if thou wouldst but still mind it and eye it and be guided by what it teacheth in thee This light would bring thee to see how weak thy strength is how much folly is in all thy wisdom what confusion is in all thy peace what rottenness of bones in all thy health what poverty in all thy riches what sorrow and misery in all thy joy and pleasure But this is thy condemnation that thou wilt not be condemned but as this light within discovers darkness thou art stil using thy utmist inventions to cover thy self and make thee seem otherwise namely Good holy wise righteous and worthy of all praise and admiration And this is the epidemicall misery of all the sonnes of men and He cryes out against this light and hates it and persecutes it and those that professe it and hold it forth No blacker divel to men then this light that would shew them themselves And in all ages those whom God hath made instrumentall to hold this light forth in experience they have been still hated and persecuted by the most and greatest professors of Truth no names black enough to smite them with nor no death bad enough for to cut them off by to expresse their unexpressible hatred and bitternesse to them to the utmost of their power what to take away their life their peace their glory their God their goodness nay the very crown of their glory Acts 22.22 away with such a fellow from the earth t is not fit he should live And all this comes from hence that man
did and all was nothing else but sin and abomination in the sight of the Lord. The sons of men are very inquisitive after that which pleases their fancy and their own inventions and seem to press after high things and great questions but they really oppose and desire to be ignorant of the truth as it is in Jesus They speak of Deliverance but they really hate it though they may say whatever thou doest with us reform us and make us holy and the like but the truth is they would not have it so nor they mean not as they say for if Christ should take his own way with them viz. to bring man down in himself and to strip him of his beautiful garments what would become of these mens smooth words and long prayers and seeming devotion would not their hearts give their mouths the lye in all they said and discover themselves to be grosse and abominable Hypocrits and indeed would with the Gergesites rather goe out and beseech him to depart out of their Coasts Mat. 8.34 and withall really pray depart from us Job 21.14 for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways So that when men who were never yet lost undone and confounded in themselves pray for the grace of God and mortification and to be crucified to the world alas alas they pray they know not what And again these men because they can deliver the outward word and the Letter and bring their matter into a handsome form and method they think they have preached the word of God to the people when alas this is nothing for the outward letter is not the word but what is there exprest litterally is only as a witnesse to the word and the truth and of what the Saints of God have found and shall finde in themselves and if Christ be a Delivervr to them they shall find the like things in themselves And there is none can understand the Letter in the Mystery but they in whom the same things are done 2 Cor. 3.15 These only have the Vail taken off the Letter and none but Jesus Christ himselfe can doe this And particularly many Object Obj. What shall we not pray that we may have this Deliverance I Answer No man ever truly prayed Answ but out of a sense of want if you wert brought into a true sense of thy empty naked and lost condition of thy poverty beggery and starved condition then Christ and his spirit would pray in thee with sighs and groans unexpressible Rom. 8 26 then thou wouldest pray indeed and couldst not but cry and pray and groan indeed and this is true prayer prayer is not to get together a many fine smooth words and to collect this fine expression and the other and observing this and that time and that hour but prayer is words or sighs from so deep a sense of misery and want that we verily see we starve and die except we prevail Men if they truly prayed they would not come dreaming out with such beggerly questions what then shall we not pray and shall we not hear and the like these questions shew they never did any duty rightly but only in a way of form or complement or to qualifie the cry of conscience and the like but if men be really in misery in hell in bitternesse they cannot chuse but cry and pray and beg I 'le warrant you you need not bid them for you cannot keep them from it nor will they ask shall we not pray or hear and the like for they pray by the power of the spirit and that speaks in them with groans which are unutterable and beyond all expression of words We read of some of the Heathen persecuting Emperors that in a way of cruelty would constrain the Christians though they were under tortures and torments yet they should not cry nor complain if they did they would torture them the more but it is not so in the tortures and torments of the soul they cannot but they must cry out and complain and seek deliverance when the soul is in bitterness it cannot but cry And farther though they have done these things as doing them by necessity yet those that are truly delivered by Jesus Christ that only Deliverer they do not esteem the doing of these things their deliverance or them their Deliverer wherein lies the misery of the most of the sons of men that if their consciences begin to smite them and sin begins to appear and hell looks them in the face sayes the soul I must now look out for a remedy I must do something to quench this fire and to allay this burning and then what do they they then think to reform their lives and they will go pray and hear or join themselves into this and that fellowship and Church-gathering and there they will conform to the use of Ordinances and it may be get into the best reformed fellowship as they conceive and nearest the rule of Christ and here they rest here they are quiet and all is well and wrath is past and they are delivered Alas alas poor souls In this very thing they have turned aside from the true Deliverer and mist their Deliverance But the true way to Deliverance is to stand in thy misery and abide condemned in thy self till Christ himself take pitty of thee and then Christ himself would pray in thee and he would carry thee out to reading and hearing and praying after a spiritual manner for while these works are thine own and thou seekest for to deliver thy self thou art so much the more in bondage for these duties if done rightly are the work of the Deliverer and the fruit of thy deliverance and not the cause of thy Deliverance nor the Deliverer and when he doth them in thee then they are done with power thou prayest from a reall sense of want and thou hearest with a circumcised ear and then thy reading is in the power of the spirit and be awaketh thine ear to hear Esa 50.4 for that is not true or spiritual reading and hearing and praying which every man may doe outwardly though it be never so often and never so constantly and yet men call these DVTIES and ORDINANCES and conformity and holy walking when they are never so except Christ the Deliverer perform them in them by the power of his spirit and otherwise they are not spiritual nor holy duties as men falsly call them for they are but outward and carnal and nothing of the spirit in them but done onely by the power of self and of the carnal natural man And therefore when Christ teacheth Mar. 7.34 35. He openeth the ear and He gives sight to the blind his work is not an empty cold dead thing Joh. 6.63 but his word is spirit and life and he requires an ear in an ear and an eye in an eye He that hath ears to hear Luke 8.8 let him hear and eyes to see let him see
a beast by the Fall or the Creation Did the Devil or God make him a rational creature I thought hee would have asked but one but here 's a multiplication into three well sure the man will not turne his responsions into questions he cannot but know that questio questionem non solvit and besides he makes but a question of that which is doubted of in my Quaery and so askes but what he should answer But I shall returne him the same againe How doth he prove that reason is the specifical difference of man from a beast Is it so because Aristotle said so where is the proof and demonstration of it I returne a plain negative That reason is not the specifical difference of man from a beast and if he affirme it let him prove it affirmanti incumbit probatio To his second I answer Man was distinguished from a beast by the Creation and came to be as a beast by the fall which he might have knowne without asking Man was made in or according to the image of God by Creation but that image was not bestial therefore therein lay the distinction but man in his falne condition though he would be wise is born a wild asses colt and Israel is called a wild asse in the wilderness To his third I answer That God made him in his own Image in a more perfect condition then that of reason and that by following the Devils advice he became as a beast and hath no other guide in that darkened condition in himselfe but the duskie lamps of reason and sense which is common to the beasts I will here but onely urge one thing unto him Was Reason or something else the Image of God in which man was made If reason then no man hath lost that Image for he holds as I suppose that omnis homo est animal rationale yet before he hath said that reason was depraved darkened in the fall and that by the help of learning humane learning I suppose he means it is in some measvre restored Is it not blasphemy to say that any thing restores any jot of that which Adam lost but Christ onely Let all judge how this will be solved And if the Image of God were something else besides reason let it be demonstrated what it is Now let him consider his owne horrid blasphemy in making reason the image of God and consider whether it be a doctrine of devils or not for rationality I deny to be the image of God or the perfection of man In the next place he proceeds to my first Parenthesis but still without any arguments to disprove but onely asking of questions saying If reason doth not distinguish from beasts what doth Shape cannot for so one beast differs from another Neither is it grace for then all but beasts must have grace Excellently argued brave Logick who can refell such unanswerable arguments Can nothing but reason distinguish man from beasts What because the Heathens could finde out nothing else must we be so heathenish to beleeve that nothing else can doe it I have told him before and now reiterate it that the Image of God doth essentially distinguish man from beasts And can he finde nothing but either shape or grace to distinguish them Knows he not that every division is vitious that containes lesse or more in the part then were in the whole less or more in the several species then was in the genus and therefore is this arguing perfect when the division it selfe is imperfect What doth he meane by shape external figure or internal forme If external figure doth not mans shape distinguish him from a bird a fish and a horse surely there is some distinction in it If internal forme doth not that distinguish man from beast how then can rationality be forma hominis or the constitutive and specificall difference To my next he asks another question whether learning hath not exalted and rectified my reason so farre from such and such premises to draw such and such a conclusion c. I aske him whether those which he calls and accounts illiterate do not know and exercise as much as all this without humane Learning but what is this to the question We are not disputing whether Learning exalts and rectifies reason or no but whether they both be not of the fruit of the forbidden Tree and whether man wanted them in his innocency or not unto which he answers not one word but goes on in pittiful railing accusations with the Titles of ignorant and illiterate against some hundreds of persons every one of which doth far precede him both in spiritual and humane Learning Mat. 12.35 but an evil man out of the evil treasures of his heart bringeth forth evil things and men gather not grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles For his terming of them and me Wretches Caytiffs and the like I confesse I am heartily sorry for the ignorance insolence and impudence of the young man who God knows is insensible of his own most miserable and wretched condition and knows not what spirit he is of The Lord in mercy open his eyes and give him to see his own blind and lost condition which yet is hid from his eyes For my making use of humane Learning I detest to set it in the place of that Wisedome that is from above but do look upon it in its best condition as nescience and ignorance in comparison of the other and if I use it against such adversaries it is but only as Paul 2 Cor. 12. to glory in mine infirmities and to manifest that they have cause to glory in the flesh so have I though I know that glory to be vain For even those that object my having or using any would as much triumph and scandalize me for the wanting of it that thereby they might bring an odium upon that truth which God in mercy hath made me an instrument to publish but I wish that they may desire that the thoughts of their hearts may be forgiven them Acts 8.22 And so I leave him in the puddle of his own mire and clay until almost the end of the 116. page The next thing I observe is this he saith If I be not a very JESVITE yet I am the likest one that ever he met with if the tree may be judged by the fruits and that my acts will aloud proclaim me a notorious Jugler well as he may be a moderne States-man so I am confident he is too young a POLITICIAN to discerne or know a JESUITE if he did meet him but I would have him to tell us how many he hath met withall in his time that he is become so quick-sighted to discerne them so easily I believe he dare hardly nominate where or when he hath met and known One it may be he hath met with me but if he did though he writes himself ESQUIRE I am sure I could not descry him by his Coat of Arms nor his