fade It is before this Newness of Christ at it secretly beames forth into the Creation that Old things shake and fal away Thirdly Jesus Christ comes first in his Desirablenesses to beleevers to those among the Nations who desire him This seemes to be signified by that expression The desire of al Nations shal come He shal come under that formality as the Desire of the Nations The Saints in every Nation stand for the whol Nation in the esteem of God they being the Corn in the heap the rest of the nation as the Chaffe Esa. 43. 4. The Lord saith to his people Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honorable and I have Loved thee therefore wil I give men for thee and people for thy life or as it is in the Margin for thy person Those whom the Lord loves in a Nation are the only Figures there the rest are Cyphers which signifie nothing of themselves James 1. 14. The Children of God are said to be a Kind of first fruites of his Creatures So are they the first fruits of every Nation As the first fruits were presented to God every year at the Tabernacle or Temple by the hands of the Preist in the stead of the whol Lump so the beleevers are presented to God in the spirit by Jesus Christ as filling up the place of the whol Nation Upon this account when the prophet hath said The desire of al Nations shal come he adds He shal fil this House with his Glory Under the Gospel and in the spiritual truth which answers the Judaical Tipe the Saints are the House of God 1 Corin. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God When the Lord comes to work his wonders in the world he first comes into his Church into the spirits of his Saints fills them with that spiritual Glory shining from his own person which is the sign of his outward commings forth before he comes and the inside of them when he is come From hence as from his Temple he shines forth by degrees upon the world from these as the first fruites he sends forth a blessing to the whol Lump of the Creatures Fourthly When these shakings begin to break forth from the Spirits of the Saints into the World they are swift and spreading Yet a little while And I wil once more shake Heaven and Earth As when a stone fals into the Water the Circles in the Water made round about it do in a moment Multiply and as they Multiply grow wider each than other So when Jesus Christ comes with the Newness of a spiritual Glory into his House which is the heart of a Saint from thence he spreads himself in the newness of his Power and mighty works over the Nation round about from thence enlargeth himself in a wider Circle to the Neyghbouring Nations so he goes on til he ouerspreade with his Changes not the Earth only but also the Heavens and al this in a very little space as fire catcheth or the lightning flyeth Now let us look home Our Changes since the beginning of these times have truely been so quick and thick that they may wel appear one continued shaking You then in this Nation whose Souls love the Lord Jesus is your Desire come while others as Cyphers do bear the empty shadow of the outward work in these new and Extraordinary Motions is his presence his person his operation precious and of great value to you Doth he fil you who are his house with the freshness of his light and Glory while others stand without at a distance seeing a throng of changes and wonders but know not what is the matter Where then are your cryes of Joy The voyce of our beloved Behold he comes leaping over the Hils passing with swift changes over the powers of this world he comes consuming al old things the old Heaven and Earth with the heat of his presence but changing his own and al things unto them into the newness and Immortality of the Spirit making them new together with a New Heaven and a New Earth round about them Thirdly The freshness of our Changes Prov. 25. 4 5. Take away the dross from the Silver there shall come forth a Vessel for the finer Take away the wicked from the King and his Throne shal be established in Righteousness The former of these verses is an Allegory explained in the latter Both have a Mystical sense pertayning to every Saint and Typical concerning Jesus Christ Take away the Dross of Corruption out of the Heart from the Silver of Grace and the Saint wil be a King in the Spirit upon a Throne of Glory founded on the Righteousness of God and his Spirit in Jesus Christ this King wil be a pure Silver Vessel for God the finer to set on his table and fil with the Treasure of his Divinity Take away the dross of Corruption from the Silver of the Divine Image in the Creature then wil the whol Creation be a Vessel of honor for the Father to fil with his Wine then wil it be a Throne founded on the Eternal Rock on which Jesus Christ shal sit down as a King This extends it self to Nations and Priuciples also Let us take a view of our selves in the Glass of this Truth If we look to the great Parliament from the beginning of it was there not a Silver there a precious Mettal of excellent principles and Eminent persons But this Silver was mingled with the Dross of much Carnality and Corruption Hath not every change since that time been as a fire to take away the Dross from the Silver Hath not every succeeding form of things when it hath come first out of the fire of the fore-going Change bin as a Vessel for the finer with a greater Preciousness Purity Beauty Lustre Life and usefulness unto God How then is that day of the Lord risen upon us which is to try al things How should our mouths be filled with laughter and praises for this New thing which God doth this New day which God bringeth forth from Heaven Say now to Hypocrites Woe to you But say to the Righteouss It shal be wel with you For the Beams of this day are a Manifesting light a Refining fire to al but they are withal to the Saints a covering gloy and a Cherishing Love Our King is come forth into our Land not only to march through it with his troupes but to establish his throne here in righteousness and to sit down upon it O Dross Dross melt away before the presence of the Lord For his Eyes are a flame of fire They are stil Kindling fresh Furnaces of Change Fourthly The Life in these Changes from which they flow Rom. 12. 11. you have the knot of a three-fold Precept held forth Not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord This is likewise a Divine Character upon the Newness of extraordinary Times Works and Persons When the Lord hath any fresh
to the world for the Churches sake I come now to the Uses Use 1. The first Vse is of Thankfulness God makes it his delight and praise to go new and extraordinary waies with his Church and with the world in order to his Church Let us then raise our delights and his praises from the sense of those new and extraordinary paths in which the Lord hath walked forth before our Eyes in the midst of al the nations round about us for our sake That the Newness of the divine footsteps in our dais and in our Land may leave the deeper print upon our spirits let us consider it in these Six Particulars 1. Our Changes 2. The Quickness of our changes 3. The Freshness upon our Changes 4. The inward Life whence our Changes spring 5. The Seal upon our Changes from their Living Principle 6. The Spirit of Grace evidencing it self as the Principle and the Seal First The Changes Which have been upon us shew the Newness of the Lords way with us Jerem 48. 11. The Lord complains Moab hath been at ease from his youth and he hath setled on his Lees and he hath not been emptyed from Vessel to Vessel therefore his tast remained in him and his sent is not changed How often hath England been changed from Peace to Warr from one Warr to another from one form of Government to another from Extremities to Enlargements from Enlargements to Extremities again These Changes have been as so many Vessels out of which and into which we have been emptyed Are we stil upon the Lees of Carnality and Corruption If we discern not God in a new Glory if we discern not Jesus Christ with his new name if we discern not the Newness of the Operations of the Spirit in al these things then doth our Earthly tast hitherto remain and our fleshly sent is not changed O for a refinedness of Soul now from the Lees of Earth to a pure wine of spirituality O for a heavenly tast a heavenly sent How should we rellish this feast of new delicacys which the Lord sets forth for us How should we love Jesus Christ for the Savor of his new and good Oyntments in which he powrs forth himself into the midst of us Revel. 6. 12. We reade of the Sun turning black as Sack Cloath of Hair the Moon as blood vers. 13. Stars of Heaven fel unto the Earth even as a Fig-tree casteth her untimely Figs being shaken by a mighty winde Verse 14. Heaven departed as a Scroule rolled together Verse 16. The reason of al this i. e. The Face of him that sits on the Throne and the wrath of the Lamb Many times over in this our little world of these divided Islands we have seen the Sun of our Religious Formes our Church-state becomming black as a Sack-Cloath of Hair which is a mourning weed the Moon of our Civil affayres as Blood Nay al Blood we have seen the Heaven of the Supream power pass away as a scrol of Parchment roled up and laid by our Eminent Persons which were as Stars in the Heaven of that Power shining with a Lustre and ruling with an Influence of universal Authority yet on a soden falling from this Heaven to the Earth of a common rank and obscure condition Do we not thorow al this perceive the Face of God sitting upon his Throne among us a Throne of most exalted Grace and loving kindness to his people but of the most exalted vengeance and wrath to his enemy observe those two things the Face and the Face of God sitting upon the Throne What unvailings of new and extraordinary glorys do these Expressions speak forth Are not these the Seal to which these Nations as Wax are turned and changed Blessed are they that stand within these Wheels to be carryed a long by them and move together with them Over others who see them not these Wheels pass and break them to pieces Joel 2. 30. The Lord saith I wil shew wonders in the Heavens and in the Earth Blood and Fire and pillars of smoake Verse 31. The Sun shal be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come There are three daies of the Lords comming First To a Particular Nation Secondly At his Incarnation Thirdly To the last Judgment Al these are Capable of having this Scripture applyed to them especially where the first of these daies the Comming of Christ to a Nation follows after the Second day of his Incarnation and borders upon the Third day of his last comming This Scripture hath been litterally fulfilled in our times in our land What frequent Eclypses of Sun and Moon have we seen What Comets Concussions and Prodigyes in al the Elements Earth-quakes Tydes changing their Courses Meteors of al sorts in the Ayre Devouring Fires Behold the Earth the Air the Waters the Fire the Heavens see the Lord and are troubled shal his Saints be insensible of him shal not they shout and say This is the day which no Created or usual light but the Lord hath made by his shinings forth It is wonderful in our Eyes beyond the whol Course of Nature we wil rejoyce and he glad in it Secondly The Quickness of our Changes This is the Second thing that argues the Newness of Gods way with us I intreate you here to compare 2 Scriptures Hagg. 2. 6. For thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while and I wil shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry land verse 7. And I wil shake al Nations and the desire of al the Nations shâ—l come and I wil fil this House with glory saith the Lord of hosts Hebr. 12. 26. Whose voyce then shook the Earth but he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also the Heaven Verse 27. And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remaine The comparing of these two Texts affords us these Particular Observations First This word Once signifies one continued act of shaking unto an universal and Total Change Secondly That which maks this shaking is the Newness of Christs comming forth in the unchangable Glory of his Father and of the Spirit For the Prophet Haggi seeming to speak of the first comming of Christ in the flesh to fil that present Temple which was then building with the Glory of his Doctrine and Miracles is by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews interpreted of the comming of Christ in Glory as being the truth and the end to which the other comming was only a Type and a Preparation So also that which the Prophet calls The Desire of the Nations is in the Hebrews called Those things which cannot be shaken in opposition to things that are made and to be taken away Both together cleerly describe Jesus Christ in the Newness of a Heavenly Glory which can never
hundred-fold by possessing al even that which was the enemies too by having al after a loss a fight by a victory having al natural joyes heighthned by their Vnion with spiritual enjoyments The deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib is set out in verse 4. by a comparison with the destruction of Midian Thou hast broken the yoke of his burthen and the staff of his Shoulder and the rod of his oppressour as in the day of Midian You may see the story of Midian in the seventh Chapter of Judges It was wholly miraculous and had these Eztraordinary things in it First God divided Gideon's Army from him by one Division upon another until he had lessened it from thirty thousand to three hundred vers. 3. 6 7. Secondly The terror upon the spirit of the Midianites and courage infused into Gideon by a dream verse 13 14 15. Thirdly The manner of the victory on Gideon's part who with his men stood stil breaking their pitchers holding forth their Lamps blowing with their Trumpets crying The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon which were al signs of faith and Prayer of the vertue of the Death Resurrection Glory and Spirit of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel verse 20 21. Fourthly the destruction of the Midianites one by another before that Gideon or his men strik one strok The overthrow of Sennacherib and his Army holds a resemblance with that of Midian in general in the miraculousness of it in particulars First Al the land of Judah was over-run and only Jerusalem left where also was as commentatours tel us from the Scripture a powerful numerous party divided from Hezekiah in a conspiracy to deliver up the City to Sennacherib Secondly Hezehiah's mourning and Humiliation was the breaking of the Pitcher Esaiah's prophecy and message to him upon it which was ful of spirituality of Evangelicalness of tryumph which was the Lamps shining forth upon the breaking of the pitcher the Comming down of the Angel by which the Army perished was the sounding of the Trumpet and the cry of the Sword of the Lord Thirdly The Army was overthrown without a fight Fourthly Sennacherib was slaine by his own Sons as the Midianites set every man his Sword against his fellow In the 9. verse the Reason of this wonderful Salvation is given For to us a Child is born to us a Son is given c. This in the letter is expounded of Hezekiah as he was a figure of Christ But the Jews themselves acknowledg this whol Scripture to have a more sublime sense and to relate to the Messiah which is Jesus Christ We may learn this from it First That al the eminent works and wonders of God in the world by which he saves his people or executes vengeance on his enemies are figures and forerunners of the Day of Christ Secondly Some new birth and bringing forth of Christ into the world in his own Person or in his spirit or in some eminent Type or Saint or Dispensation is the ground on which God builds his works of wonder in the world for the good of his Church or the Ruin of wicked men and powers Having thus levelled the ground round about my Text I come to my Text it self which compares the destruction of Sennacherib before Jerusalem with al warres by way of transcendency For every battel of the warrior is with confused noyse and garments rolled in Blood but this shal be with fire and burning of Fuel The difference between every battail and this slaughter of the Assyrians is three fold First There are warriors on both sides here Fire and Fuel meet Secondly There is a confused cry here al is in silence Thirdly There is a plentiful effusion of blood Here no blood is shed An Angel went forth and smote of the Assyrians in one night one hundred fourscore and five thousand Esa. 37. 36. It is frequent in Scripture to set forth the Miraculous Appearances and Works of invisible Powers either of God or of the Angels or of the Holy Ghost by Fire both to the Ear and to the Eye A Pillar of Fire led the Children of Israel through the Wilderness Horses of fire and Chariots of fire carried up Elijah into Heaven and encompassed the Servant of Elishah when he was afraid of an Army of Enemies the Holy Ghost descended in the form of fiery Tongues upon the Apostles The Lord promiseth by the Prophet Esaiah to be a wall of Fire round about his People And John the Baptist tells us in the Gospel of St. Mathew that Jesus Christ shall Baptize his People with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Fire is the most potent and glorious of all the Elements Some say that the Sun the chief and the Golden Head of this visible World is the Element of Fire and that Fire shal at last convert al the other Elements into it self and so give them their Perfection Fire is Burning and consuming only on Earth where it is straitened and meets with resistance But in Heaven it is only vital transparent shining cheering incorruptible In al these respects how proper is it to represent the Miraculous descents of God from above upon the Earth as he shines forth upon his Church or flames forth upon the world by Fire The Doctrine which I shal observe to you from these words and insist upon is this DOCT. God makes it his Delight and Praise to go New and Extraordinary waies with his Church and with the World for his Churches sake I wil give you Two Arguments for the cleering and proving of the Point One from Christ The other from the Spirit Arg. 1. The First Argument is taken from Christ The way of God with his Church and with the World in order to the Church is in Christ I intreat you for the fuller understanding of this and how it makes to the Point in hand to lay three Scriptures together Ephes. 3. 8 9 10. Matth. 28. 8. Ephes. 1. 20. Ephes. 3. 8. You read in the latter end of the verse of the unsearchable Riches of Christ Two things go to make up Riches Preciousness and Plenty The things of Christ are Rarities Precious things such as are no where to be found in the Creature They are the Things of God the Righteousness of God the Wisdom of God the Power the Peace the Grace the Glory of God Now Jesus Christ hath Plenty of these Precious things and this makes him Rich. But the Holy Ghost thinks not that word of Riches enough to express the Excellency and Fulness of Christ Therefore he adds to Riches Vnsearchableness and calls them the Vnsearchable Riches of Christ Vnsearchableness respects the Nature or Number of things The Excellencies of Christ are both waies Vnsearchable Every thing of Christ is Vnvaluable and those Vnvaluable things in Him are Innumerable They are past our Understanding We cannot comprehend the Excellency nor count the Number of them They swallow us up and lose us in Admiration At Verse 9. St. Paul goes on
to shew That the Mystery of these Riches in which al Saints and Holy Spirits have an immortal Fellowship one with another as in a retired Paradice is that secret Wheel hidden in God on which the whol Creation is turned from the beginning to the End And to make al men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world is hidden in God who created al things by Jesus Christ Verse 10 We are taught that the intent of God in the Riches of Christ is that the Angels themselvs who rule the whol world as the Heads of al Created Beings Power and Operations even the highest of them and that in the midst of their Heavenly Glories should have new Discoveries of the Wisdom of God in the variety of its Wayes and Contrivances by the workings of God according to Christ in the Church and from the Church upon the World To the intent That now unto the Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places may be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God Verse 11. According to the Eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord The only Rule and Line by which God walks and works is the eternal Draught or Platform in the Person of Christ Let us now lay to this Scripture that of Matt. 28. 18. All Power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth They are the words of our Savior being risen from the dead The word Power as it is in the Greek signifieth Eminency Authority Magistracy Rule Heaven and Earth have Four Senses which are all intended here First These Heavens and Earth which we see with our Eyes Secondly Things Visible and Invisible Thirdly Grace and Nature or the things of God and of the Creature Fourthly The Church and Common-wealth Civil and Religious Affairs if this be a distinct Sense from that before it You see by this Scripture what use Jesus Christ hath for those Vnsearchable Riches mentioned in the former Scripture and to what imployment he puts them even to rule All in Heaven and in Earth among Spirits Angels and Men in Grace and Nature in Church and Common-wealth I intreat you now to make a stand for a little while and to look back upon the joynt sense of these two Scriptures the Riches and the Rule of Christ that we may see how they make for our present purpose for the opening and proving of our Point that God â—â—lights to go new waies with his Church and with the World as also that we may be affected with them in our own hearts The Lord saith in the Gospel That a good man out of the good Treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things We know that if a man speak who is full and hath much to say he speaks quick passeth with a freshness from one thing to another and is still saying new things What Rarities then what great what new things may we expect every day in the Affairs of the world for the Interest of the Church when as the Person who hath the Government of All is Hee who hath in himself Vnsearchable Riches What Comforts is this to afflicted ones what allurement to sinners what ground of Hope and rejoycing to Beleevers what Light and Direction to States-men what Humiliation in themselves what Exaltation in Christ unto all It is Jesus Christ who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth in Spiritual Civil and Natural things who rules them all according to the Vnsearchable Riches which he hath in himself of Mercy Righteousness Holiness Life Joy Glory Wisdom and Power Let every one now that is weary and heavy laden with any burden of sin guilt wrath sickness or sorrow cry out O the Preciousness of the Love and Vertue of Christ how unvaluable are they O the Plentifulness of those Precious Loves and Vertues how are they more for number than the Sand on the Sea-shore or the Stars in Heaven I will no more look down upon the Darkness of mine own condition nor round about for Help or Happiness from the Creature I will wait upon him for visits every morning for influences every moment upon my Soul Body Relations Affairs and those Great above my Understanding or Expectation New without Number or End There is a third Scripture which concurrs so fully with these Two mentioned before which so comprehends the sence of them both which gives so much light and strength to our present buisness that I may not omit it Ephes. 1. verse 20 21 22. Which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places Farr above al principality and power and every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come And hath put al things under his feet and gave him to be the head over al things to the Church Pray observe some few short Particulars which lye faire in the very outside of the words First The Lord Jesus stands not now in any Root of Nature but upon a supernatural Root in the Resurrection from the dead by the Almighty power of the Father Secondly He is not in the Capacity of his Humane but of his divine Nature He is at the Right Hand of God that is in the Love strength Joy Glory of the God-head As the Left Hand of God is his wrath his strange work his Disguise so his Right Hand is Love his naked Face his proper form where he is seen as he is as the Saints shal behold him Thirdly He is not rank't in any order of the Creatures He is set above al ranks and orders of Created things both men and Angels with their several dignitys and degrees Farr above principalitys and powers Fourthly He is cloath'd with an Image a form which hath no Proportion Similitude or Agreement with any thing of the Creature He hath a Name above every Name that is Named in this world and that which is to come The Name of Christ which is the Image of his Nature is not only above Sun Moon and Starres with al the powers of these Visible Heavens and Living men upon the Earth but also above the Angelical world in its freshest glory as it is that world which is next to be unvailed and come forth upon the stage before the Eyes of men when the Saints shal be as the Angels of God Fifthly Jesus Christ as his Person is thus stated and in this Capacity is made the Head over al things to contrive command work al every where as the Head doth in the body which is the seat of the understanding the fountaine of sence and Motion Sixthly Al this is in order to the Church for the Churches sake He is given to be head over all to the Church that the Propriety the pleasure the Profite in his Person Power and Rule might be the Churches A Miracle is defined to be that which is Supra ordinem totius naturae creatae Above the order of
when he pours out a Spirit of Grace upon his people Secondly He alwaies and more especially when he is seeking the ruine of his enemies joynes these two a Spirit of Grace and of Supplication Are there not many that can testifie by their own experience concerning the works of these times that the Heart of God in a Spirit of Grace hath bin let down into the Bosom of his beloved ones that thus their hearts have bin by a Spirit of Supplication drawn up into the Bosom of God and have drawn forth these deliverances from the Wells of Salvation there These Wells are Deep the Deep things of God his Love his Wisdom his Righteousness his power his Glory as these lie in the very depths of his Essence and Divine Nature But Saints have had their Buckets their Hearts to draw with and a line a Spirit of Supplication long and sure enough to let down their hearts into these deep Wels of Salvation which are in the Heart of God These Wells are stil ful of living Waters and these Buckets are stil going Saints keep your expectiations stil fresh Secondly The spirit of Grace is a spirit of Prophecy Esai 43. 9. God challengeth al the Nations Let them bring forth their witnesses who among them can shew us former things that is things before they come to pass or things before their times before the world by a spirit of Prophesie Verse 12. I have declared and have saved and I have shewed when there was no strange God among you therefore ye are my witnesses saith the Lord that I am God Hath not the Lord many Witnesses in these Nations yea here present I know he hath In the former daies when ye were with him at your Banquets of spiritual enjoyments on your Bed of spiritual Loves then did he by his spirit before hand signifie within you the snfferings of these times and the Glory which hath risen out of them And as he hath declared so hath he saved us by the same Spirit And now tel me ye that are the Lords witnesses when ye are in your holyest seasons when there is no strange God or Love but Jesus Christ alone shines in the midst of your spirit doth he not stil shew you greater things than these which are yet to come Thirdly The spirit of Grace is a spirit of Holiness Ephes. 1. 13. It is called a Holy spirit Ye were sealed with the Holy spirit of Promise Holiness is the Character and Seal of that spirit of Grace which is promised to the Saints Psal. 99. 8. Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wert a God that forgavest them though thou takest Vengeance of their iniquities The Lord testified his presence with the Jews in the Wilderness by his Holiness in taking Vengeance of their Inventions There is a Three fold Vengance which the Lord takes for Sin First On the Persons and this three waies 1. By Casting them off for ever 2. By Cutting of the inward Beams of spiritual Communion between himself and them for a season perhaps for al their life long 3. By Clouding their outward Man with trouble and sorrow God alwaies pardons iniquity to the Persons of his Children in respect to the first of these Vengances He cannot give them over or cease to love them sometimes also in respect to the second and third He continues the sweetness of their Communion with him and the Serenity of their natural comforts un-interrupted Secondly The Second Vengance for sin is on the publike Cause Thus the Lord did forgive the Israelites in the Wilderness and not take Vengeance on the publike Cause For though they al died in the desert yet the Lord kept his cause a live carryed that Victoriously over Jordan into the Land of Canaan and planted it to grow there for many generations The Third Vengance on the Inventions on the Corruptions and Idols of the Heart In this sense the Lord never pardons any The Spirit which hath bin our guide hath Signally declared it self a Spirit of Grace by its abundant Forgivenesses and a Spirit of Holiness by the Vengance which it hath taken for Sin When any have risen up against him his Purity his Progress from the Enmity of the Serpent he hath made the Earth to open and swallow them up into the darknesses below by a Natural or Civil Death he hath made fire to come down from Heaven a spiritual fire of Divine judgement and wrath by which they have bin so withered dryed and burnt up that they have lost al that Greenness of Religion Honor Honesty Morality Natural light which they seemed before to have and have fallen to open Perfidiousness to ranting Profanenesses to a reprobate Sense a stupid Atheisticalness But when the Children of the Kingdom have transgressed by temptations of Covetousness Ambition Fleshliness Passion Delusions Spiritual Pride have fallen to Murmurings Divisions Sensuality Worldly Designs although this Spirit may have pardoned all this to their Persons hiding them in the cleft of the Rock in the wounds of Christ there preserving their Outward their Inward Life and Peace while he hath passed by yet hath he taken open Vengeance of their Inventions by manifest eminent Disappointments in their Expectations and endless confusions in the way of their Designs Yet all this while hath the Holy Spirit pardoned the sins of all Parties to the Cause He hath not suffered that to fall but hath gone on when it seems to faint renewing its strength carrying it up on high as on an Eagles wing enlarging it in Victory Peace Spiritual Liberties at home spreading its Branches over the Seas and to Forraign far distant Lands breaking the Head of the Leviathan the chief strength of Antichrist in the deep Waters Fourthly The Spirit of Grace is a Spirit of Vnity Ephel 4. 3. Endeavoring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Vnity is the Character the most immediate and inseparable Property of the Spirit The Bond of Peace hath its strength and root in the Vnity of the Spirit as the Sympathy and Vnion of all the Fellow members in the Body arise from and is preserved by One Soul by the Vnity of the Soul There is a Twofold Vnity First of Inward Affection Secondly of Outward Effect As to the Latter of these I had rather much speak in silent Groans to God than by words to men bleed inwardly than breath forth outward Complaints for the Breaches of the Daughter of my People But so far as concerns the First of these the Inward Affection to Vnity let me call forth you who have the Testimony in your selves that it hath been the Spirit in the Living Creatures in the Hearts of the Saints quickened by the Life of Christ which hath been in the Wheels that have turned about and carried on this whol work from the beginning hitherto I appeal to you What are the Meltings the Weepings over the Divisions among the Saints What Yearnings and turnings of Bowels after a
Re-union Do you not in the secret of your hearts in your secret Meetings bleed forth your souls before the feet of your Savior at every breach in his Body as at a Wound or the Cutting off of some Member in your own Body As Jacob lamented over the loss of his Children Joseph is not Simeon is taken away from me you would have Benjamin also all these things are against me So you mourn such Brethren left us at such a change these Saints are not with us in this change and there are others ready to divide themselves from us at the next turn of affairs al these things are against us As the spirit of God spreads it self over the deep of darkness at the beginning of the Creation like a Bird over her naked yong ones till they be hatcht up and fledged to form it to a beautiful and harmonious World Light and Order Do you not after the same manner perceive the Spirit of Vnity on your souls stretch forth it self over all your fellow Members that lie in a Chaos in a Deep of Darkness Division and Confusion As Iesus Christ once wept forth these Words over Jerusalem As a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings How often would I have gathered thee but thou would'st not So he weeps so he speaks the same words in your Souls to all his divided Brethren in these Nations as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wing how long have I called and waited and longed to gather you up into the Vnity of my Spirit that you might not by your scatterings become a prey to the Kite but hitherto you will not Joseph when he thought fit to speak roughly and deal severely with his Brethren with much difficulty concealed his affections was forced to make hast into a private room to weep Hath this been your temper when the wisdom of State or the season hath made it seem necessary to you to handle any one of Christs Flock roughly have your Bowels been turned within you hath it been hard and grievous to you to act this strange part and to hide your affections have you inwardly and privately melted into tears while you have openly thundered out hard speeches Do you not much more contend with God by Spiritual Wrastlings to have the hearts of all his People that differ from you than you do by outward force or policy with them to have the upper hand of them If these things be thus go on and prosper When Esau came with an Army against Jacob his Brother Jacob wrastled with God at Penuel which signifies the Face or Vision of God he conquered his Brother the most excellent way like a Prince in conquering God and carrying away a Blessing by Conquest Esau when he met him instead of drawing his Sword upon Jacob embraced him and offers him those Bands for his Guard which came forth Enemies Could one Jacob thus subdue the Heart of rough Esau and shal not many Jacobs by their strong cries in the Ears of God and tears in his Bosom prevail with God for a Victory of Love over the Hearts of many Jacobs only disguised and concealed under the rough hairy Garments of Esau Yes the hour is coming in which you shall come forth hand in hand in Spiritual Dances and answer one another with Spiritual Songs saying These our Brethren were lost but now are they found in our arms These Brethren were dead one to another but now behold they live together in the Vnity of the Spirit As Joseph and his Brethren so shal you after long Concealments be discovered one to another in a Light of Heavenly Love then shal ye fal one upon anothers Necks and weep for joy then shal you say We meant evil but it was the Lords contrivance who hath turned all to good Thus shal ye receive one another into the Glory of God as Christ hath received you Fiftly The Spirit of Grace is a spirit of love to Jesus Christ It makes his person alone and the Glory of that to be the Mark and Price of our calling Phil. 3. 14. As water wil ascend as high as it first descends so the spirite which is often compared to water is like water in this if it come down from Christ it wil carry the ayme and affections of the soul to Christ That which is the first Principle is the last end If it be Jesus Christ who hath been the first principle of motion in our hearts he wil be our only End we shal terminate and rest no where but in him When Jacob had served an Apprentice-ship of seven years for the Love of beautiful Rachel he was marryed by Laban to bleare-eyed Leah Did this satissie Jacob No He chose to endure the hardship of another service for seven years more to suffer the heats by day and frosts by night in the open fields that he might gain his first Love If it were a Conjugal Love to the person of Christ which moved us to undertake and undergo the hard service of so many years in difficulty danger in a field of warre Blood and Death we cannot now lie down and take up our rest in the Embraces of the blear-eyed Beavty of this World though it be given to us in marriage and be exceedingly fruitful to us No We shal begin another service of as many years more in prayers in conflicts in sufferings of al sorts til he whom our Souls love come and give his own person into our Armes As the Spouse in the Canticles Cant. 3 4. We shal never cease til we hold his glorified person in our Marriage-Embraces never to let him go more until we bring him into our Mothers house into this visible World to make al things new and to raigne here as he doth in Heaven It is not this that a Saint seeks thorow Seas of water and Blood to rob the Nations of their Gold but to communicate to them this God It is not this which is his joy and tryumph to see his enemys drowned in the Floods but to let in the Rivers of Christs blood upon them to over flow them and that they may die the Death of Christ only When Alexander drew neer to Jerusalem with his conquering Army he was met by the High Priest in all his Ornaments his Garment his Girdle his Ephod his Urim and Thummim of Gold Silk Sky-color Purple White all sorts of precious Stones with the most Holy Crown upon his Head which was the Figure of the Glory of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father in Heaven as he is our true High Priest Alexander seeing him said In this very form did that God appear to me in a Dream by night in Macedonia who commanded me to pass over into Asia and undertake this War Upon this account he used the Jews with all Kindness and Honor My end in bringing in this Story is to make this Application of it If we have had any glimpses in our Spirits of our dear