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A86053 Refreshing drops, and scorching vials; severally distributed to their proper subjects, according to the wisdom given that precious servant of the Lord, Mr. Christopher Goad. Sometimes Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge, and Batchelor in Divinity, as men speak: but before his translation, became a disciple and learner again, sitting at the feet of Christ and his Spirit, where he took a higher degree, and now sits with Christ in heaven. Goad, Christopher, 1601-1652.; Sprigg, Joshua, 1618-1684.; Worsley, C.; J. N. 1653 (1653) Wing G896; Thomason E698_12; ESTC R207013 170,841 273

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earth if I have told you earthly things and ye believe not saith Christ how will ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things There are higher and there are lower administrations wherein God appears Are we acquainted with them Do we know them God speaks on earth from Mount-Sinai and he speaks from heaven at Mount-Sion he spake from Mount-Sinai and he was refused yet there was a shew of entertaining All that the Lord saith unto us will we do but O said the Lord that there were such an heart in this people that they would obey my voice They said they would obey but their hearts turned back again to Egypt God speaks on earth and who doth hear who doth not refuse he speaks with a loud voice on earth he manifests his glory and every one seems to hear seems to stoop and bow before him but they are all lyars God speaks from heaven he speaks in the spirit he speaks in a low and still voice as it were afar off in a far Country and from this far Country he sends to his Subjects to see if they will own him but they say We will not have this man to reign over us God comes in a full manifestation of himself and then every knee stoops and bows to him some sincerely others feignedly and lyingly as it is said Thine enemies shall be found lyars When God shall make us Mount-Sion when he shall awaken the spiritual man when he shall quicken the new man that lieth as it were dead in us then we shall hear then we shall obey There is nothing so much concerns us as to know the voyce of God to hear him speak My sheep hear my voyce and the voyce of a stranger they will not hear John 10. God speaks and God gives an ear to hear him speak He that hath an ear to hear let him hear Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened then said I Lo I come in the volumn of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will Psal 40. 6 7. God is speaking and the Devil is speaking happy are they whose ears God hath opened that can distinguish that know the voyce of God from the voyce of a stranger See that ye refuse not him that speaks There is nothing in man but what refuseth to hear God speak but what refuseth God himself whether he speaks from earth or from heaven That man doth hear God speak that doth know the voyce of God it is the spiritual man the new man that is born of the Spirit The carnal man the natural man cannot possibly hear God speak he refuseth God The wisdom that is in him is enmity to God He is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be But they that will not know his voyce they shall know it They that will not yield to it shall be broken by it it is a terrible voyce When he shall come and speak from heaven those whose hearts are not brought to a compliance with him shall be destroyed by his presence He will come in flaming fire to render vengeance to them that obey not the Gospel Next we may take notice of the effects of this voyce whose voyce then shook the earth but he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the earth only but heaven also When you meet with shakings and violent motions then know what the matter is Why the Lord is speaking Heaven and earth are shaking at this time Do we see the Lord and hear the Lord We are fallen into shaking times His voyce once shook the earth but now it shakes not only earth but heaven Haggai 2. This Scripture shews what is to be expected the shaking of heaven and earth and then the desire of all nations What is that Why it is Christ he is called the desire of all nations All nations desire him though they do not know him and when he is come he shall fill Sion and Jerusalem he shall fill his Saints and people the City and the house built of living stones shall be filled with Glory he will fill all things Eph. 4. 10. When Christ came forth in flesh there were shakings in heaven and earth When Christ came forth in Spirit upon the Apostles and primitive Christians what a shaking was there then of heaven and earth What strange workings were there in the hearts of men through the light and evidence and demonstration of spirit that went abroad That was the beginning of this last shaking after that God was pleased to draw in and to retire that the wicked one might return again to shew what he was that Antichrist might appear and set up his trade under the name of the Spirit and when the man of sin is fully revealed then the Lord will come forth again and by the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming will he utterly destroy him and that will be a terrible shaking indeed Yet once more I shake not earth only but heaven This shaking is begun Are we sensible of it What wars and rumors of wars are there What overturnings Let us see whether we be not under the appearance of this shaking shaking of earth shaking of heaven shaking of Forms of Religion of Churches All that is earthly shall be shaken that the earthliness being removed the true body may be brought forth anew in the Spirit How many in these times hove lost their wisdom and their righteousness that they looked upon as great gain was ever such confusion as there is at this day Yet once more I shake not the earth only but heaven It is certain we are come to it but are we sensible of it God is shaking us out of fleshly and formal Religion out of mans Religion and mans Righteousness he is destroying the old man and bringing forth the new man he is destroying the old earth and heaven and bringing forth a new earth and heaven wherein righteousness shall dwell He hath promised saying yet once more This terrible shaking cometh forth in a promise It is a mercy a blessing a deliverance It is the Redemption of the people of God Lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh When Paul and Silas were in Prison and in the Stocks at Midnight there was an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and that became their deliverance How many of the Saints will lie in Prison and in the Stocks at midnight till this earthquake come and shake them out Then shall come the desire of all nations By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our salvation How will God answer us Why saith he I must remove all this corruptible frame I must create a new heaven and a new earth I must shake the Civil Estate and the Religious Estate I must shake off old Adam I must shake out Antichrist Christ must go away in his appearance in flesh that he may return again
in the Spirit That which is earthly and carnal must be shaken and removed that that Kingdom which cannot be moved may remain We wonder what God meaneth when he is pulling down and destroying Why he meaneth to plant and to build and when we see his design we sit down and are still It is a sad thing to a childe to hear that the time shall come when all his Rattles shall be taken from him What a sad thing is it while we are childish Christians to have our Religion as it is of man shaken It hath a great excellency and glory in it but it is to be shaken that that which is excellent indeed may come in its place To know the state of Christ risen from the dead was that which Paul was making after The Resurrection of the dead Before we can come to this the Cross of Christ must crucifie all the glory of flesh And that is to be taken notice of That the last shaking shall be the most terrible shaking God will shake all nations no nation shall escape nor man in it shake them in their earth shake them in their heaven God need to shake but once and shake all to pieces certainly he will shake once more and we may think after this shaking to settle again but all that is shaken shall be done away that which is natural shall be done away that that which is spiritual may take place Are we sensible of these shakings it is only the spiritual man that is sensible of it the carnal and natural man eats and drinks till the flood comes and sweeps all away The Apostle expounds those words Yet once more And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made All fleshly forms of Religion all mans Righteousness all this outward frame of things are things that are made and therefore must be done away that those things which cannot be shaken may remain T is true the spiritual man is made but as he is taken into God and in union with God he is not made the new creature is not made T is one thing to make another thing to create It s said the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us that is the Word was for a while vailed or covered with flesh he took flesh upon him Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same Heb. 2. 14. but the spiritual man in union with God is taken into God and carried into Mount Sion The Apostles inference or conclusion is Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear When we come to the Kingdom to that Kingdom that is spiritual Let us have grace We are come to grace let us make use of it to serve God with reverence and godly fear Here is freewil the right freewil freewil in Christ and in the Spirit This new man sits at the fountain and draws water out of the wells of Salvation this new man hath freedom to work out his salvation he hath grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Do ye see what the Kingdom is that cannot be moved Why it is to serve God Here is the Kingdom a natural free complying with God When we shall have the minde of Christ it shall be our joy and delight to serve God and this service shall be with reverence and godly fear The nearer we come to God the more awe the more fear but it is a fear with love and joy with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire The Saints do glorifie God in the fire in the flames which consumes all flesh God is a consuming fire that consumes death and hell to the new man that is one with him that knows him and therefore rejoyceth in those flames glorifies him in the fire and when his bones are burnt then he walks with the son of God as the three young men in the fiery furnace We are saved yet so as by fire God is dealing with the people that are his burning up their hay and stubble their dross and tin and changing them into his image daily And if our God be a consuming fire then here is safety in God there need no carnal weapons to keep those safe that dwell in God For our God is a consuming fire This Scripture that hath been opened to you is a Glass that God holds out to us and sets before us Let us look there and see our faces and the Lord set upon our hearts those discoveries that he makes of himself to us that he makes of himself in us that so they may abide that we may not go away and forget what manner of faces we have That being doers of the Law as well as hearers of it that the Law being written in our hearts and we dwelling in God and God in us may be changed into the same image from Glory to Glory even as by the spirit of the Lord. The Mother of Mischief or the Original of all VVars and Fightings JAMES 4. 1 2 3 4 c. From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not because ye ask not Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God c. THis Epistle is written to the scattered Jews which had scattered their Religion There is a carnal profession of Religion which after a while is scattered and comes to nothing James in this Epistle shews what lusts and evils did lift up their heads and bear sway among this scattered people who notwithstanding that they were under great pressures yet did not amend nor take up as to those evil courses But scattered and afflicted they were therefore James begins to instruct them as touching Afflictions and Temptations My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations in the second Verse of the first Chapter then he comes to discover and reason against many evils which were found amongst them as you may see if you shall peruse the Epistle from the beginning unto this fourth Chapter here he tels them of their brawlings and quarrellings their contentions and fightings one with another The Jews were in Affliction and James he is discovering their sin contention and brawling that is one he mentions here and he is turning their eyes to look into the spring of this From whence comes wars Ver. 1. Here 's wars and fightings brawlings and quarrellings from whence comes these he shews them whence
to Mount-Sion to the City of the living God to an innumerable company of Angels c. Here is the Gospel-state here is the glory of Jesus Christ the glory of God that the Gospel brings us to brings forth in us Are we come hither or no There are some come to it that do not know it There are many of us heirs but we live in bondage we live like servants we know no better portion then Mount-Sinai though of right our portion be Mount-Sion Let us wait till the spirit of God shew unto us the things that are freely given to us of God This glorious state is nothing else but the state of the spirit which we are waiting for We are come unto Mount-Sion the City of the living God Christs work is to bring us to God and so we are no more strangers but fellow-Citizens with the Saints we are set down with Christ in heavenly places we are set down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God We are set down in the same glory that the Apostles and Prophets are set down in we are fellow-Citizens with the Saints and with the General Assembly and Church of the first-born See your glory Christians if you be Christians indeed If you be in the spirit and not in the letter onely If you be free-born if you be born after the spirit and not after the flesh see your glory In the words read you may see a Doctrine and a Use 1 A Doctrine propounded which holds forth the glorious state of Believers It is that which eye hath not seen ear hath not heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what it is but God hath revealed the same to us by his spirit It is in the letter and now our business is that it may be revealed to us by the spirit It may be the fathers good pleasure and his time now to bring forth the inheritance to some that hear me this day that hitherto have been kept under Tutors and Governours little better then servants This we are to try now how God will be with us to take away the vail and reveal our inheritance to us The Doctrine begins at the 18 ver and reacheth to the 25 ver At the 25 ver there begins the Use the Application which is an exhortation 2. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh c. Do not turn away from him that speaketh life and glory Turn not away from him that calleth you to sit down in heavenly places in Christ Jesus The Apostle useth divers Arguments to enforce the exhortation First He that speaks doth not speak from earth but from heaven Secondly from the danger of refusing to hear If they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven Thirdly the Apostle shews the effect of this voice ver 26. Whose voice then shook the earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not onely the earth but also heaven And the evidence the Apostle brings for this is from a Scripture taken out of the prophesie of Haggai Hag. 1. 6 7. The word that was spoken on earth shook the earth The word that is spoken from heaven shakes earth and heaven also Then the Apostle interprets this word yet once more ver 27. It signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain In ver 28. he further enforceth his exhortation from the advantage that the Saints have by this change Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear In the former administration there was not grace to serve God acceptably in this there is that was leading to bondage this to a kingdom The Apostle concludes with this Argument For our God is a consuming fire of which more hereafter I shall speak of these particulars as time shall give leave Here you see a Gospel state what it is it is a strong state a glorious state a state that cannot be moved a kingdom that cannot be shaken it is strong and it is sweet There was a weak state and that was full of terrour The Law was weak through the flesh It was a weak state a shaking Mountain a Mountain not to be touched If so much as a beast touch the Mountain it was to be stoned or thrust through with a dart That was weak and terrible but ye are come to that which is strong and gracious Ye are come to Mount-Sion to the City of the living God The glorious state of believers is held forth here from the 18 verse to the 25. Our business will be to run over the particulars with some short explication and to set before you one or two parallel Scriptures that hold forth the same things though not so fully and particularly The first Scripture is Eph. 2. 5 6. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus And ver 17 and 18. of that chapter And came and preached peace to you which were afar of and to them that were nigh ver 19 20 21 22. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and forreigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles c. Ye that are Believers are come to Mount-Sion and ye are built up a spiritual house fitly framed together an holy Temple in the Lord In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit The other Scripture is 2 Tim. 1. 7. For God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind We are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and to blackness and darkness No God hath poured out another spirit upon us of power of love and a sound mind Ye are come to the City of the living God to the heavenly Jerusalem and to God the judge of all Now let us briefly run over the words as they lie before us Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched It might be touched and it might not be touched It might be touched but not without danger of death It might not be touched There was such a terrible manifestation that there was no coming to it It was an administration of distance from God It had a spirit of fear that gendred unto bondage There was a terrible manifestation There was blackness and darkness and tempest the sound of a trumpet and the voice of a word Nothing but an outward command a word that could not be obeyed and
take notice that there is continual prayer therefore thou that hast thy times and thy hours and thy forms begin to look higher and be at it continually By him let us offer the sacrifice of Praise to God continually And 't is no more then what is held forth to us in the Prophecy of Isa the last chap. ver 23. And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabboth to another shall all flesh come to worship before me saith the Lord. You that do not know continual Praise if you do praise God in the spirit if you are sincere and true in your makings unto God you shall know what it is They that are strong should bear with the infirmities of the weak and they that are weak should not judge the strong thou that dost not know what continual praise is judge not those that do thou that dost know it do not despise those that do not but go down to them to fetch them out of their weakness for Christ is come down to fetch thee up and let brotherly love continue Continually 'T is that we are designed to by Jesus Christ to be ever with the Lord Let us be making to it let us be looking after the price of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ Let us all know and acknowledge we are making forward not yet perfect By him let us offer c. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name That is the fruit of our lips Here take notice how the tongue and the lips and the fruit thereof is sanctified by Jesus Christ and consecrated to God And this in all those that are sanctified by Jesus Christ The fruit of the lips is a sacrifice acceptable by Christ And therefore the Prophet Hosea Hos 14. 2. Calls the fruit of the lips the Calves of the lips The fruit of our lips by the sanctification of Jesus Christ is made a sacrifice acceptable unto God and not onely the fruit of our lips but the fruit of our hands the fruit of our feet the fruit of all our members The fruit of the earth as 't is said in Isa 4. 1 2. where the Prophet speaks of the manifestation of Christ in the spirit In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped That is for the spiritual seed the remnant that are taken out of the corruption of the world when he shall come who is the desire of all Nations seven women shall lay hold of him all shall make to him and own him and be one with him then the fruit of the earth shall be glorious then we shall eat our own bread and wear our own apparel we shall no more wear sins nor the devils robes we shall not borrow of sin we shall no more eat of his bread but of our own that which is in our Fathers house and that is Christ And in that day the fruit of the earth every part of us the whole body even the lips that have been full of poyson the tongue that hath had the fire of hell in it shall be filled with the fire of Heaven That that hath been darts and arrows and swords and venome and the sting of Aspes and Dragons even that shall be healing It shall be refreshing and delighting this is by Jesus Christ Christ shall come forth even in our tongues and season them with grace and make them to be a tree of life they shall minister Grace unto the hearers Christ doth recover all that the devil hath carried away as Abraham all that the King of Sodom caried away He recovers it he takes it out of pollution and out of filth There is a dumb Devil a beastly Devil a blasphemous Devil an accusing Devil a pratling and busie body Devil as Peter speaks of such Why Christ shall cast out every one of these Devils all the fruit of the lips shall be a sacrifice of praise there shall be no more of these no backbiting no slandering no going up and down to tell one anothers faults nothing but love and Praise and Thanksgiving Every member shall be restored and the tongue shall be restored I beseech you saith the Apostle as you have yeilded your members servants of iniquity unto iniquity so yeeld them servants of righteousness unto holiness This is by Christ and this is the effect of the spirit when he is poured forth making melody in your hearts which breaths forth nothing to God but love nothing to man but love nothing but praise nothing but joy Christ is a thorow Redeemer a thorow Restorer and therefore body and soul and every member of the body shall be Redeemed The spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies Christ gains the heart to God and out of the abundance of that the mouth speaks He makes the heart a treasury of good things and then comes forth nothing but good at the door of the lips The tongue and the lips are either the great instruments of the Devil or of God of Heaven or of Hell the fire of Heaven and the fire of hell is in the tongue Acts of life and death are in the power of the tongue Here is blessing and here is cursing God promises in the prophecie of Zachary to restore unto his people a pure lip or language and what is this pure language but Praise and Thanksgiving what is it but love but grace but edification they shall call upon the Name of the Lord and serve him with one consent a pure language is not in words and syllables but Christ fills the heart thence the mouth is fill'd as 't is in Psal 37. 30 31. He speaks there of the Righteous man His mouth speaks of wisdom and his tongue of understanding and the Law of God is in his heart This is that which is the New-Testament the Law in our heart and when the Law is in our heart then it will be in our tongue The old administration began in the tongue thou shalt speak of it at all times the New-Testament begins at the heart Thou shalt write it in the heart and then the tongue will speak nothing else The fruit of our lips There is a fruit of our lips that is seeming praise which coming not from the abundance of the heart is the greatest abomination unto God A flattering and deceitful tongue the Lord shall cut it out There is more of the fire of hell in a tongue that speaks to God and not from the heart then in a tongue openly blaspheming Therefore the Apostle Paul could not bear the devil that cried These are the servants of the most high God that shew unto us the way of salvation But Christ in the heart the fire of Heaven in the heart the Altar in the heart and there flaming out at the mouth O 't is
when the people undertook to obey it the Lord pittied them O that there were such an heart in this people that they would obey me It was a manifestation to discover sinfulness and weakness death and the curse and so to usher in a manifestation of life and power But now ye are come to the Gospel state ye are come to Mount-Sion ye are come where God dwells ye are come into a comforting and chearing presence ye are come to the Mount that may be touched without fear or terror It may be touched There are spiritual senses as 1 Joh. 1. 1. That which we have heard which we hame seen which our hands have handled of the word of life that declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and so it s the Mount that may be touched We are come to the City of the living God We are come where God dwells we are come to communion with God and one with another in the spirit we are come where God is in the midst of his people He hath quickned us who were dead in sins and set us down in heavenly places in the heavenly Jerusalem If we are come to the heavenly Jerusalem we are past the wilderness we are come to our rest There remaineth a rest to the people of God and that 's the heavenly Jerusalem of which the earthly Jerusalem and Canaan were but a Type This heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of us all And to an innumerable company of Angels Not onely to be administred unto by Angels as under the legal dispensation but to administer unto Angels for to them is made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God And to the general Assembly and the Church of the first-born We are come to the General Assembly we are above particular Churches though we walk in them yet we are not bound to them nor bound in them We are come to the Church of the first-born who are written in Heaven We are come to those that are in Christ that partake of the divine nature in which God lives and acts and whom God fills who are born of the spirit who are sons and heirs together with Christ Who are written in Heaven There was a first-born written in earth in the letter in flesh Let Israel my son go for he is my first-born said God to Pharoah but this was after the flesh We are come to God the Judge of all We have boldness towards God We are above the judgement of men yea above the judgement of our own Consciences It is a very small thing to me saith the Apostle to the Corinthians to be judged by you or of mans judgement yea I judge not mine own self 1 Cor. 4. 3. We are passed from death to life and we are come to God the Judge of all we can stand before God the Iudge of all We are come to the spirits of just men made perfect We are come to see and to acknowledge the spiritual and divine nature whereof through exceeding great and precious promises we are made partakers we are come to see and to be the spiritual man the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness we are come to the holy one born of the Holy Ghost to Christ formed in us who is not tainted with any pollution who sinneth not nor can he commit sin Though he dwell among devils and death yet he partakes not of their filth and guilt but shall overcome and destroy them all And to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant We are come to Iesus to the truth as it is in Iesus to the power and wisdom of God which is Iesus we have the Law written in our hearts We are come to Iesus instead of Moses who is the Mediator of a better Covenant If we be Christians indeed we are not come to a Law that hath onely a sound of words written on stone but we are come to a Law written in our hearts we are come to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant We are come to the efficacy of his mediation And to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel The blood of sprinkling It is an allusion taken from those sprinklings under the Law all which pointed to this We are not come ●● corruptible blood we are come to the blood of sprinkling that is incorruptible That speaks better things c. It speaks and what doth it say It makes intercession for us it makes intercession in us and the Lord he is with us by a word of power speaking and commanding sin and death Satan and Hell out of our souls This is the Doctrine The glorious state which is the true Gospel state it is the state of every true Believer though it may be many do not know it it is a state in the spirit and it is revealed by the spirit This is the Gospel state and therefore if you profess the Gospel do not sit down below it Let us all be making to it let us not stay at Mount-Sinai but let us pass on to Mount Sion Let every one of us look whereabouts we are whether we be under a spirit of fear if we be this is Mount-Sinai or whether we be under a spirit of love of power and of a sound minde if we be this is Mount-Sion Are we in earthly or in heavenly places Take notice that there are three states 1. One is in Egypt under the bondage of sin Satan death and hell 2. Another is leading out of Egypt in the wilderness at Mount-Sinai leading up to Adams perfection to a perfection in nature but there is no resting here This is but a shadow Christ in the flesh came in this natural perfection but he dyed to it and in it and rose again to the life of God 3. A third state is the spirits of just men made perfect Here is rest and stability Here is the kingdom of God do not sit down below this for if you do you sit down at best in natural Reason in a shadow in a lye Some sit down in the filth of nature but do not ye sit down no not in the excellency and perfection of nature Look to the high calling of God in Christ Iesus unto which ye are called But I pass over from the Doctrine and come to the Vse which the Apostle makes in ver 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven God speaks once and twice and we hear him not God is continually speaking He speaks in every creature he speaks in every providence he speaks in every administration do you know his voice He speaks on earth and he speaks from heaven See that ye refuse not him that speaketh God speaks from
of us talk of grace and Salvation If we be partakers of grace and Salvation indeed then we are delivered from worldly Lusts in some degree We are taught by it to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts We are taught by it likeness to God and not to be fashioned to this world To deny ungodliness is to deny every thing that is not like God Not to walk like men the Apostle condemns the Corinthians that they walked like men It may be 't is a strange thing to hear we should not walke like men Like whom should we walk Like the Devil Like beasts So some do No you should walk like God The grace that brings Salvation It doth not bring you to satisfie sensuality to satisfie Lusts nor to follow the creature but it brings in power it brings in and raiseth up the life of God whereby we deny these Lusts whereby we famish these Gods of the Earth God saith he will famish all the Idols And this God doth when he riseth up in us he famisheth in us the Love of the World the love of flesh This grave and hell he starves them both This grace of God that brings Salvation leads up into Heaven into God into the Spirit and satisfies and fills us in the other World And we deny our Lusts after this They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and Lusts They have done it and they are doing it 't is as good as already done for there is that power in them which will do it a greater power then is in the World 'T is the Circumcision in heart by the Circumcision of Christ 'T is dying with Christ and being buried with Christ 'T is dying to this fleshly State to this glory and these contentments It is the consecrating us to God so that he becomes our delight he is our Joy he is our riches We sought them in the flesh we sought them in the World Then we sought Corn and Wine and Oyle now nothing but the light of Gods countenance this is grace and this is Salvation And the world and the flesh which is generally sought after by us it is a vail of death It is a vail upon Christ a covering upon the life of God It is the grave and the prison of the Saints it is Babylon and the Northcountry into which we are carried The North-country far from the Sun far from light far from life When we come into flesh we are buried here we are estranged from our own life which is the life of God And the grace of God appearing that is as it were the Sun drawing nigh When the Sun comes in the Spring and Summer the face of the Earth is renewed We come into the nature of wrath but as grace returnes again so this life appears and comes forth this Sepulcher is opened and this vail is rent and the Earth gives up her dead and no longer covers her slain The flesh and World and glory thereof riches and contentment are a vail and covering upon the life of the Saints For God is life and Salvation union with him that is life indeed and the appearing of this union is life manifested That which the World and natural men do call death is indeed the swallowing up of death as 't is called Isa 25. He shall take away the vail and the covering that is upon the face of all People He shall wipe off all tears and shall swallow up death in Victory The World and flesh is a Vail and is a Vail of tears when this Vail is rent by the comming of that which is called death then life-comes indeed and death is swallowed up in it God who is our life appears Grace and Salvation is not leading us into contentments of the flesh into the abundance of the riches of the Earth 'T is not satisfying of lusts but the killing of lusts 't is bringing forth the Spirit bringing forth the life of God Godly in this present World By this will appear how far Salvation is from most men Salvation is far from the wicked as David hath it because they keep not thy Statutes Little do wicked men think there is no Salvation but in keeping Gods Statutes but that is the truth of it Salvation is conformity to God to be made like to God to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and the love of the World is enmity to God This is Salvation and the same is destruction to wicked men Worldly men they have their life in the Vail their life is in the World and in the flesh When God appears and throws off the Vail there is nothing to be seen by them but death and destruction And what is the second death that the Scripture speaks of but the appearance of God The manifestation of God 't is the second death 't is everlasting destruction to them that know him not that have no life but in the flesh and in the world When God appears here ends their life and here begins destruction they are destroyed from his presence That which is life and Salvation indeed is death hell and destruction to a worldly man and if he speak his heart he will say if this be salvation let me have none of it I know not what it means I know no other life but this in the flesh What saith the Apostle The life I live I live by the faith of the Son of God t is not I live but Christ that lives in me though I live in the flesh yet I do not War after the flesh though I live in the World I am not conformed to the World but transformed On the other hand the life of the World is give me Corn Wine and Oyl ease in the flesh honour in the World the life of the Saints is lift up the light of thy countenance make me after thine own heart form me according to thine own Image fashion me to thy Will teach me to deny my self It is feeding hell and destruction to satisfie worldly lusts it is life and salvation to deny these to crucifie these therefore le ts be acquainted with grace and salvation what it is Le ts not deceive our selves with names of things le ts not call evil good and good evil put light for darkness and darkness for light Le ts not call wrath and destruction grace and salvation Whoever thou art that only looks to the world and flesh and outward things thou dwellest in wrath and destruction Thou hast vexation here and the Gospel makes thee mad for it puls thee from these things and with the more power it comes forth the more hell works within thee Now begin to learn what is salvation it is to have power to deny these lusts to crucifie the flesh to be taken out of sensuality to be redeemed from among men Is this a strange thing to you then salvation is strange and grace is strange 'T is to be conformed to God to know what his good and acceptable