unworthy spirits amongst you tell such from me their doom is coming your bloud is dear your money dear but how dear Dearer to you then Christ then Christ will trample upon both Christ is lavish because we are nigardly he spoils all money goods bloud because men have no heart to offer all to bring him in all to this blind land yet this men will not do this men cannot do till better qualified in heart The heart must have precious principles ere it will part with its bloud like Christ to bring great favours into the world for others How noble spirited was Christ he had principles which if you labour after will make you as he ready and able to part with your bloud to bring more of truth into the world he onely eyed and magnified the truth of God and the glory of God he sought not his own will nor his own glory and therefore so easily parted with all that was his own to bring in God and his love to us let him be your pattern in this and you will do likewise Coloss 1.14 Even the forgivenesse of sinne THe essence of Christianity and the foundation of all felicity providence now puts me plainly to speak of to you This last clause of the verse is an application of the former what is first borrowedly is here properly expressed if you understand not spirituall redemption 't is forgivenesse of sinne In whom we have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of sinne Forgivenesse notes two things and so doth sinne which shall be touched in their order Forgivenesse necessarily notes transgression and therefore are they here both joyned together forgivenesse of sinnes Sinne is transgressio legis man out of his way his action is trespasse he eats forbidden fruit his life is disallowed by truth and his person abhorred by God Man in his best state was an inferiour inferiority is minority and hath alwayes some observation upon it to speak it out to beholders the will of God was mans law and his felicity the observation of this was was the acknowledgement of his distance and yet his fellowship with God and his heaven upon earth The state of inferiority though so blessed yet disliked man would be no inferiour but equall another god Dislike of condition made transgression the soul did sinne as that expression in Ezekiel is as well as the body the eye changed its object and carried the heart with it fruit forbidden was looked upon and then pleasant to the eyes and to be desired to make one wise That heart which had the will of God perfectly written upon it and the glorious presence of God as the daily majesty of it broke out against both to the prosecution of its own private will as such an absolute being venturing its prerogative to raise or ruin his condition which made Adams transgression without similitude as the Apostle speaks who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression Our transgression is the transgression of the law written in books his was the transgression of the law written in his heart sinnes of the latter sort the Apostle did mean here forgivenesse of transgression against the externall written word of Christ Sinne notes transgression and it notes guilt sin is an abiding thing the act dies as soon as done but the obliquity of the act lives as long as the soul is Miscarriage of the hand in making a blot that 's over presently but the blot abides as long as the paper is Now you say We see therefore your sinne remains saith Christ These words materially considered died assoon as spoken but the wickednesse of these words lives remains Where upon record in the breast of God which is beyond all record to meet the man when he goes out of this world Sinne hath two things in it obliquity and obligation transgression of truth and obligement to wrath God layes sinne to heart and keeps it there though we do not Trespasse makes debt obligation to Gods displeasure is the debt of sinne this is bloud upon the man that shed it the spots of the bloud sticking fast upon the murtherer to detect him and bring him to the gallows His bloud be upon us said they that is whatsoever it obliges to in this world or in the world to come let that fall on us Sinne in the text notes three things act obliquity obligation and forgivenesse takes off all these and I will now tell you what that is Forgivenesse notes remission which is the term in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remissio remittere quasi retromittere which signifieth the sending of a thing back again from whence 't was taken the unravelling and undoing of a thing misdone the nullifying of a disallowed and unlawfull action As sinne makes void the law and nullifies it so doth forgivenesse nullifie and make void sinne obliquity and obligation not onely nullified but the very act that bare these all nullified by forgetfulnesse and therefore is forgivenesse called forgetfulnesse I will remember their iniquities no more Iniquity notes the crookednesse of the action and the incongruity of it to rule and this is as if it had never been remembred no more And not onely iniquity is blotted out but the very act that bears this obliquity therefore as you read of subduing so of destroying the work of the devil and therefore is pardon elsewhere called blotting out iniquity as a cloud a cloud is by superiour power of the heavens nullified neither form nor matter to be found not any circumstance like it to note that ever such a being was and this is our state in Christ we are remitted we are retromissi sent back again to our first condition as when we were in Paradise no more mentioned nor no more thought os rhen of Adam before his fall What we were in our own person then that we are now in the person of Christ which lived and died for us Forgivenesse notes reconciliation reconciliation notes acceptation to favour and acceptation to favour notes peace of conscience joy in the holy Ghost and fruition of glory as many blessings as heaven and earth can hold as many blessings as a God can hold which is greater then heaven and earth Sinne separates God and man are out and God-man interposeth with his life and gives up this wholly to the last drop of bloud in this quarrell and in this is justice satisfied and all truth fulfilled and Christ as a generall person designed so to act in the person of many and so hath reconciled two in one body God and man and hath slain the enmity that was between them And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the crosse having slain enmity thereby Ephes 2.15 16. that is Jews and Gentiles one unto another and borh unto God by the expiration of such a noble life in such a cursed death as the Crosse The summe of all is this Forgivenesse of sinne is an act of God putting
simply considered never ceases they in heaven do Gods will and are proposed as our pattern on earth they are so exact in the observation of it but the painfull observation of Gods will which is by reason of corruption within us and wicked spirits without us this ceases as soon as we step out of this vile body but not before They move to Christ above as Christ doth to them with the same spirit of freedome joy triumph and glory That they may be one as we are There is no sighing and groaning mourning dying to accomplish Gods will above all move there as the Angels with delight every one milks out love from the breasts of Christ and sings over the Pail to behold how full 't is and how free it comes and yet though it cost all these to obey any truth of God here we are not to cease our course Every childe is brought forth with pain but some with more then others it costs life to bring forth some yet it 's horrible wickednesse for any to strangle the birth to prevent the pain Benjamin must be born though it cost Rachel her life She was a shadow of the Church which must bring forth Christ in all his will though we die in travell if you abide throughly of the faith Vse You see how heaven bears break truth and break your back and what groaning will that make no groaning so sad to do as that which is by not doing Gods will Heaven and Gods will are linked together break the link if it be but one link and the jewel falls and is lost Heaven is a Jewel hanged in a golden chain break one link of the golden chain and you lose the Jewel 'T is nothing to desperate souls to make void Gods Law I wonder at them Is it nothing to lose heaven to untwist the golden chain upon which your eternall treasure hangs Transgression stupifies this is the killing quality of sin Sinners mind not what they do when they throw off the will of Christ any part of the will of Christ you throw away your life Heaven lies wrapt up in truth in that truth which you will not submit to Would something would work upon wicked hearts upon the desperate wicked hearts of this age that sin might abate amongst us or else the sword of Gods wrath is like to eat us out Alas for us all I know not what hand of God is upon us wrath findes a great deale of matter among us to work upon and we can finde none When we presse love to Christ and observation of his will every man washeth his hands I do it saith one and I do it saith another Will you lie before the face of the Judge of all the world now he sitteth upon the bench upon the life and death of the kingdome Men are worst which think themselves best if there be any plague that kill thee England 't will be thy Laodicean temper that thou thinkest thou art clean and art not washed from thy filthinesse that thou needest nothing and yet observest nothing Euangelically that looks like a lovely State Our point sets us too high a great deal to speak to this generation it calls for exact observation and we are by the hand of God upon us cast into the quite contrary a generation that had a little conscience but now have none Loosnesse and lewdnesse overspread the multitude brawniness and benummedness the more ingenious good men become bad bad stark naught and stink above ground 'T is worse then blood and death to heare and see in every place where one comes what mire and dirt our troubled waters cast up as if war were a ticket under Gods own hand to dispence with all wickednesse O the oaths the execrations whoredoms oppressions outrages of all sorts that the very highwayes and villages are filled with where ever one comes The stink of your camps enough to kill a good heart at a great distance 'T is sad that the blood and bodies of the dead should taint and poison the living that we should die swearing and blaspheming If there be any tender hearts among you carry these things home and mourn for I am fearfull what they presage The work of this point is not only to winde you off from prophanenesse but wind you up to exactnesse to through walking with Christ We halt the fruit of it is upon us the hand of God will not yet cure it what it may Christ only knowes The heart must have its latitude 't is every ones saying this To hit the white is not needfull one may shoot well that doth not this But can one shoot well that aimes not at this I presse towards the mark I forget what is behinde if by any means I may obtain the resurrection Here is the property of grace in life it owns nothing but perfection makes at nothing else 't is in aim and industry all Christs Men are charmed with their own unsoundnesse the heart secretly sinfully ingaged aim and industry are really correspondent hereunto what ever verball flourish be made to better spirits and persons that stand by here is a man strangling himself in his bed which is a condition that makes little noise every thing is so artificially managed to destruction yet alas it is the common profession of this time How far will these times beare with a profession of Gods will How far will Christs honour and mine consist Here the soul wasts its strength If there be any intense through action now on foot it lies here so to shape the course and posture to the right and left that the man may take in all worldly advantages of both sides along as he â—â—es There is much art in this but 't is all cursed 't were well if the man had lesse policy and more integrity There is much advange in this but it comes to nothing the plague of an hypocrite is upon this condition which will eat a man out if he had all the world There is more of heaven in a plain heart in a moment then this man sees in all his dayes The advantage of through action is this A man gets much of Christ much grace much glory Some mens religion is a principle of jugling with conscience and the world 't is a temptation upon thousands at this day these lose what they seem to have Christ and all grace quite Christ kicks off every Judas quite that kisseth him and kisseth enemies to him too for his own advantage but a soul that cleaves throughly to Christ hath much of him the dispensations of Angels Stephen shined like an Angel owning Christ in the face of deadly and bloody opposers Externall dispensations cannot be stood upon how Christ appears to honour the persons of men that will go to the grave with him is more uncertain they have the face the tongue and the food of Angels when it may do them good and torture devils that vex them Externall concurrence is sure
kingdomes these are they that render one to another as Joseph to his brethren nourishers I will nourish you saith he to his brethren fear not c. Christ hath a scepter he rules not by tyranny but by law which law of his kingdome you have written as the Jews had the laws of their kingdome and not an action of God about the creature but is in reference to the written law all motion of Christ is according to truth Christ doth not his own private will but a joynt will consented to by each person and published which is the meaning of that expression I came not to do mine own will but the will of my Father He came to fulfill one volume another volume is written and he will come and fulfill that too and then 't will be well with us Christ moves so exactly by the word that this and not he shall judge men at the last day Rule makes actions justice or not justice where there is no law there is no transgression The shining justice of all Christs actions shall silence every guilty soul at the last day Christs course was nothing else but a fulfilling what was written his sayings seemed hard and yet he spake but the written word Justice is in the worst word or work you wrangle at his scepter is a right scepter a scepter of righteousnesse his carriage is but the written word organiz'd and made to speak to you still as you are the word made flesh and wrapt up in a mouth of flesh like your own and made to talk to you and to tell you your own which is the scepter of Christs kingdome The summe of all is this Christ doth manage a publick state here a kingdome that is he puts forth a power to the subduing and ordering of many to their felicity and his own glory and to the destruction of all that oppose these two Vse A kingdome speaks subjection of multitudes the ordering of many to the felicitie of all and to the glory of one as head of all What power Christ manages in the world that look after in your selves Untaimed creatures what do you think of your selves truth is of little power to subdue sinne and order the heart and yet men think they are brought into the kingdome of Christ You can talk but the kingdome of God is not in word but in power that is subjection to truth speaks dominion What hath conquered your souls Christs kingdome is obtained by conquest did sinne and your souls ever fight 't is a time of warre how many battells have Sathan and your souls fought you glory to be quiet men and Sathan likes it well he is as unwilling to be troubled as you Many sinners scarce ever gave their sinfull hearts a check and yet cannot but judge well of their condition they so sinfully dote upon themselves nor can they judge well of any else that think not of them as they do Sathan and I have fought many a time saith one we have had many a hot bout together and who is overcome Sathan or thy soul Sathan is expert at his weapons able well to defend himself he is not conquered presently he hath strong holds and a strong art to hold them Know ye his wiles ignorant souls you think you fight with the devil when you set Sathan to cast out Sathan one lust to crosse another Some men can distinguish between humour and reason and can set reason to fight against humour and both to fight against Christ Doth truth carry you against humour and reason both against all that opposeth This speaks the dominion of Christ I consulted not with flesh and bloud saith the Apostle he doth not say I consulted not with Sathan and sinne flesh and bloud speaks reason and yet when this opposeth Christ a soul under his dominion waves it Discretion Some are not farre from the kingdome of God as Christ speaks and yet never come there 'T is an observable expression that of Christ to the scribe When Jesus saw that he answered discreetly saith the text he said unto him thou art not farre from the kingdome of God Mark 12.34 Reason seasonably and forcibly acted is discretion discretion is a course divinity and it consists in squaring action to externall applause and men that can reach this height usually stick there which is deadly and so I fear did that scribe 't was enough that he had so spoken as to winne applause for I heare no more of him in that story Londoners most of you have knowledge enough and many of you can manage it to great applause you are not farre from the kingdome of God and yet rest here and you will never come there I love discretion dearly and yet I have observed many discreet men the most bitter enemies to the power of godlinesse they can honour nothing above their own sphere holy zeal is wild-fire with them their own pace after Christ fast enough and this oft times looseth Christ soul and all Discretion is good at measuring virtue but bad at measuring grace 't will give much to Christ but not all it lacks still one thing as Christ said to the young man and commonly that one thing is something which carries the heart with it which is all the dominion of Christ is not in that soul Men merely discreet are not yet brought into the kingdome of Christ Some go beyond discretion and make flanting profession Profession and yet prove not well There be children of the kingdome and yet not in the kingdome children of the kingdome shut out children of one kingdome shut out from another Christs kingdome hath some externalitie many called and no more few chosen such as stand within the externall call of the Gospel and make as if they did heare boast of the Temple and the name of the Lord and depart not from iniquitie these are children of the kingdome and yet children of that wicked one Londoners look to your selves you are children of the kingdome Christ calls to you all is glorious and you all seem gloriously to hearken to it but I observe some of your wayes and there I see you wipe off all your paint and your life speaks your souls dead and many friends about you mourn for the dead I see their tears in bibles every Lords day Sir pray for my father pray for my master they talk and make a shew but have nothing in them they have a name that they live but are dead O Sir pray that they may not be twise dead and plucked up by the roots Persons about you they see the unsoundnesse of your profession and you see nothing Hypocrisie is a secret but a very mortall evil it lives and thrives under all contrary forms Children of the kingdome look about you and I have done If you receive not the kingdome of God as a little child you cannot enter into it Little infants parents may carry them where they will Truth must carry you
and the fruits of it Redemption notes satisfaction power holding and loosing it self as having found a ransome Redemption is no free thing simply though so in order to us what is free to us is not to Christ satisfaction is made to justice and so the prisoner set free We are bought with a prise Power commanding proposeth its will will proposeth its justice justice proposeth its violation to the delinquent and demands it recompence according to this violation of truth of the least truth is the death of Gods will and so the death of himself the death of one thing in justice calls for the death of another and without delay will have it In the day thou eatest thou shalt die The death of God is more then the death of all the men in the world and therefore justice demands more for satisfaction then mere man-dying for if man-dying would make God satisfaction then when all men are dead justice would be satisfied and so the drowning of the whole world would have been its ransome and the burning of this world its redemption whereas it is but the breaking forth of justice unsatisfied and laying up the debters which are many in a sure prison the death of God is unvaluable with us and calls in justice for more then the death of mere man and therefore God-man dies to redeem And for this cause he is the mediatour of the new testament that by means of death for the redemptions of the transgressions that were under the first testament c. Hebr. 6.15 Legall redemptions had this law to propose worth to worth and so to make satisfaction as exact as might be E. G. an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and bloud for bloud and the most precious bloud for the most precious bloud the bloud of a man for the bloud of a man and without bloud yea without sanguine tali such bloud their was no redemption no redemption in a humane sence because no satisfaction and that pointed to this in my text which is exactly noted redemption through his bloud Redemption notes discharge actuall and full discharge Death paid bonds are cancelled nothing in will and if their were yet nothing in power to prosecute further justice satisfied nothing is charged nothing in the will nor power of any no not in the will nor power of God to charge man Who shall lay any thing to their charge If ye say God he justifies because satisfied and can do no otherwise 't is the Apostles strength of reasoning Redemption takes off obligation to justice though not obligation to mercy We are not under the law but under grace The law can charge no guilt upon a believer because grace hath satisfied the law can charge no guilt but grace can charge duty that is what soever the royall law and what soever the whole will of God requires that grace which hath died obliges to We are under grace that is under all the commands of it to fulfill all that righteousnesse as farre forth as we can which grace hath fulfilled exactly we are under grace immediately and under the law mediately as love to Christ sets the soul to the fulfilling of the whole will of God quantum in se est Redemption notes release from guilt and from rigour sinne doth not dame nor duty doth not discourage precepts bind graciously to the utmost of what imperfect man is able and not to the utmost of what a perfect rule may require Redemption is from a yoke of bondage and not from all yokes from a yoke of bondage to an easie yoke and a light burthen from legall bondage to Gospel bondage which is perfect libertie which is a law as James calls it but yet a perfect law of liberty Redemption is from all sinne but from no service which the Gospel calls for Gospel release is likewise double in heaven or in earth their is a loosing in heaven and a loosing in earth a discharge in the person of Christ and a discharge in our own person a generall discharge in a generall person and a particular discharge made out by that generall person to every particular There is peace in Jesus Christ and preaching of peace by Jesus Christ deliverance made for captives and deliverance preached to captives a ministeriall discharge Divine discharge hath a double administration one above and another below heaven is made to speak and explain her self out of earth and to tell to whom it belongs and then the redeemed can say that his redeemer lives and this is Gods bearing record in earth Much love breaking forth in earthen ordinances and running out of earthen vessells to the sensible apprehension of the beloved a voice from heaven in earth in a frail corrupt state a distinct artificiall voice Thou art all fair and yet understood by none but the party to whom 't is spoken a white stone with a name fairly ingraven in it and yet none can see it or reade it but he that receives it Our discharge in heaven in what state and glory 't is is peculiar to those agents 'tween whom things first passe and without hint I think to us here Our discharge here in what state and glory 't is carried within in the soul ask not me but ask your own souls for 't is honour peculiar and private to every redeemed soul and carried with more state or lesse according to the pleasure of God The summe of all is this Redemption is a sinner discharged by the death of Christ from the power of sinne and wrath Use Is this condition yours My question is generall are you bond or free Bodily bondage is very discernable but soul-bondage is very indiscernable We are Abrahams children and never were in bondage to any said the Jews and yet were never out of bondage to the devil Senses pleased conscience asleep the man blesses himself in his condition as the freest man in the world he hath what he will he can do what he will and none within cry out of him he can eat what he will and drink what he will and nothing tumbles nor wambles in his stomach in the afternoon troubled with no bitter regurgitations from conscience and what freer condition then this in supposition and yet what condition more desperate slavery then this If these men be free they are free among the dead and therefore if you have any life look about you Soul-powers are dead and therefore is the soul so free to do what it lists without controll Loose souls you are no free-men but dead men and all friends are dead that should look to you understanding is dead affection dead conscience dead and therefore are you so lively in sinne so free to do what you list The soul dead in sinne wrath tolls and rings out but the dead heare nothing The dead are buried out of Gods sight ere they are aware hell is the grave of a dead soul which is farthest out of Gods sight of any
Christs army is invisible The devil is true enough to his cause they need not have such hard thoughts of him he is not false to his own kingdome as they are Christs hosts certainly fight against them but when will they see and confesse this their blindnesse and stubbornnesse will break all their backs which is sad but what must to the sword let it to the sword Let us admire justice upon our adversaries and mercy upon ourselves let us all shout and say Christs army is a brave army Christs army is very great Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm Psalm 89.10 by Rahab is meant Egypt the generation which now are slain and the holy Ghost goeth on and telleth us how we should attribute victory to the glory of the invisible power and not to any fleshly arm Thou hast broken Rahab c. A like Scripture you have Hosea 1.7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow nor by sword nor by battell nor by horses nor by horsemen Therefore let us lift up our hearts and tongues now and say to Christ that we are saved by the Lord our God and by his invisible host and not by men Coloss 1.16 All things were created by him and for him c GOd upholdeth our way we have travelled through many things and we are now come to the end of all the end of this verse and the end of the whole creation to wit the glory of Christ for all things that were created by him were created for him Some things are for Christs use and some things for his delight but all for his glory Any motion maketh action but onely such motion maketh divine action as bringeth all to Christs end Christs work is here mentioned and so is mans What is made by Christ must be by us made for him The Law of Gods action we are to stand upon All things must be for Christ Doctr. Things may be distinguished in their kind but not in their last ends There is one kind of flesh of men another of fish another of beasts saith the Apostle and things may be distinguished in their place as some high and some low and things may be distinguished by their parts as some learned and some unlearned but none must be distinguished in their end all creatures all places all parts must be for Christ The Law is universall nothing is absolutely given but all the creation is put out to use for him ten talents five talents one talent not one thing in the world for mans use but must be for Christs not one thing in the world made for man but must be by man made for Christ Christ in a few dayes made man work for all his dayes things are not to be for Christ to day and against him to morrow but for him for ever His praise endureth for ever In good times in bad times all things must be for him as long as they are Christs glory must be everlasting as ours shall be when he cometh to order all the creation for us Scripture expressions must have their extent Men misunderstand this phrase in the Text that think Christ must have all things for him when all advantages serve All things must be for Christ in all times till times shall be no more and then all things are to be for us Man hath a great deal of work upon him and considereth it not he is to take every thing by the hand and lead it home every thing on earth that he medleth with and lead it home to Heaven husband wife children goods meat drink by him and through him and to him are all things Some things are further from God then others and yet all I meddle with I must up with in one notion or other and away with it to him There is but one carrier to Heaven in all the earth and that is man and he is loaded with a witnesse he must carry all that is by God and through him to him and this he must do though he sigh and grone till his back break and he die and then he will have a porters pay You have some carriers for letters and then you have creatures of a lower rank to carry other things but Christ hath but one carrier for all man must carry his words his works his letters and all else here below to him Divinity is high in its scope the glory of Christ is the highest thing and nothing maketh at it but man but he must make at nothing else Man is not to ask what things are made of but what things are made for the former belongeth to Christ and the latter to us 'T is an earthen world this but mans work is to make it heavenly 't is an earthen boul but wants a by as to run right and man is to put in one to make it incline Heaven-ward and to run true to God that made it Low things have a high scope and yet as high as 't is man must make at it upon pain of death we may use any thing but take the glory of nothing if an Herod a King feed on this dish he dieth for it Benjamin must have a dish of dainties alone what fit may be given to instruments but divine glory this is Christs dish he alone must feed on these dainties if any taste of this hony though but with the tip of his staff he dieth for it and worms the meanest creatures shall be strong enough to do it Some points will bear dispute but this will bear none whether I am to give glory to Christ yea or no in all God hath set a King in Sion and 't is sinne to say may I crown him I must crown him with glory though I take off mine own crown to do it The foure and twenty elders fell down before him that sat on the throne and worshipt him that liveth for ever ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying thou art worthie O Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4.10 11. There is no place for the dispute of meum and tuum in this point with Christ for all is his all mine are thine as he said to his Father so we are to say to him all ours are his the very crowns we wear the things we have that render us most glorious in the eye of men must be for Christ all our crowns must go to his crown Many will die by this law for every man seeks his own I and mine must live and so must Christ and his Skinne is dear all must go for this but nothing for Christ which is the life of a beast and not of a Christian This time discovers thousands nothing must be for Christ because times call for all for
not any thing like it the same measures of grace within the same without the same Robes of State that Christ weares they doe the mantle of Elijah is put upon Elisha Our perfection now is per proximum by a proxey as another weares such a compleat habit within and without for us And thy renowne went out among the Heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect through my comelinesse which I have put upon thee Ezek. 16.14 Whereas beauty and perfection is here imputative t is there inhesive every one in his owne person and in his owne state inside outside renowned and perfect for beauty in their owne comlinesse they are joynt with Christ we are joynt heires with Christ here we are joynt partakers with Christ there we have joynt crownes joynt thrones joynt perfections Christ doth not weare a crowne above for this Saint and for that Saint he doth not personate any Saints condition in glory but every Starre there hath its owne glory every Saint weares his owne Crowne himselfe no ones condition there for blessednesse and happinesse is onely personated in Christ as all our conditions are here in order to that State above but all joynt partakers with him and every seed it s owne body which is a glorious State indeed and makes a glorious Church as the Apostle speakes Ephes 5.27 T is a perfect society and in in perfect rest That glorious Church above keepes a perpetuall Sabbath you know the Law of the Sabbath both in precept and president enjoyned a totall complacentiall and perfect rest i. a cessation from all labour and application with all delight to sublime and supreame things Whilst this law was in president onely and yet unwritten it held out this compleat rest God did not nakedly cease from his worke but refreshed himselfe in the things which he had wrought On the seventh day he rested and was refreshed Exod. 31.17 Now what this refreshing was see Exod. 20.11 The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it This was his refreshing after his worke he had a totall and complacentiall rest According to this president did the precept afterwards strictly runne as you may read Exodus the 20. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord in it thou shalt not doe any worke How farre this extended you know they were not to doe any ordinary worke of their calling no not necessary workes for life they were not to gather Manna on the Lords day though Manna was all the food they then had and had it but from day to day The godly which lived under this Law and knew the strictnesse of it would not performe funerall rites for our Lord Jesus on this day as you may see Luke 23. last They viewed the body of Jesus upon the day of preparation and prepared Spices and Ointment but rested upon the Sabbath day according to the Commandement This totall and strict cessation from all labour was upon paine of death Ye shall keepe the Sabbath for t is holy to you every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death whosoever doth any worke therein shall surely be cut off from amongst his people Evod. 31.14 This was for aversion and turning away from things forbidden on the other hand application to Divine things and to holy imployment was as strict every thought was to be consecrated to God and this with divine intention with delight the strings were to be set very high and to hold it and to make delightfull Musicke If thou turne thy foot from thine owne pleasure and call the Sabbath a delight Esay 58.13 All these things doe but shadow the condition of that glorious Church above they rest from their labours and this rest is a perfect rest they doe not any worke as the expression before is they doe not so much as dresse their owne meat no nor gather in any thing for meat all is drest to their hand and set before them Manna is potted up and stands alwaies before every one not any sinew not any thought painfully stirres about livelihood all are intensly but very delightfully applied to the vision of God to the contemplation of the Lord of this Sabbath the grace of redemption that brought them from hence thither to so transcendent a state Their rest above t is as totall as complacentiall as Gods was looke how he rested from his worke so doth these from theirs For if Jesus had given them rest i. Joshua then would he not have spoken of another day there remaines therefore a rest to the people of God for he that is entered into his rest he also hath ceased frrom his owne worke as God did from his Hebrews 4.8 9 10. Now God totally rested and then was totally filled and refreshed with the contemplation and sanctification of what he had done he rested and was refreshed so doe they above they doe rest and are refreshed cease from all labours from all that speakes the least paine and then they refresh themselves with the contemplation of God and what they finde laid up in him for them and so are these times called by the Scripture times of resting they do rest from their own workes and are refreshed with with Gods i with the vision and contemplation of him therefore is it added there when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord i from the beholding and contemplating him and his person in whose presence they stand who is the Lord of that great rest Triumphing together with Christ That glorious society above of which we now speake is a Church triumphant all displaying their banners all Heaven over as they that have fully conquered all enemies Sinne is quite dead death and him that hath the power of death dead O death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory this is the triumphant language in every ones mouth above Here we are in continuall combate in perpetuall war detesting legue truce but not able to conquer but there all are conquerers and weare their Crown Lawrells and make a shew of their conquest openly as Christ David hath slaine his thousand c. Many such triumphant expressions are above for every little one there is as David and sing his songs There is a petty transient triumph here in the Church militant but 't is only as it now and then reaches their state above in any degree of conquering enemies And I saw as it were a Sea of glasse mingled with fire and them that had gotten victory over the Beast and over his Image stand on the Sea of Glasse and having the Harpes of God and they sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and mighty are thy workes Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Revel 15.3 this hints to us the manner of their triumph above for Saints do the will of God on earth as they do in Heaven The Lambe sings too they
is this when Christ would perfect a soule in himselfe he turnes a man off and out of himselfe out of creatures of Gods making and out of creatures of the mans owne making out of his prayers and all his duties and this he doth sometime by letting the man fall into sin when proud of any parts or workes and sometimes in a more mild sweet way where nature is more meek and sweet and then when the soule is turn'd off and turnd out of all he that is indeed all presents himselfe to him and woes and wins the soule I will be a husband to thee saith Christ friends riches honours whatsoever can be desired to make one blessed the great world is han'gd upon nothing so is the little world to wit a Christian brought first to be nothing in understanding but a brute nothing in action but worse then a brute a devill very poore very poore in spirit and then blest with a Kingdom and now the soule that was nothing nor could do nothing for Christ or against sin can do all having regnum he hath proprium regni having a Kingdome he hath the proprium of that Kingdome which is dominion over all hee that is made a King and hath a Kingdom doth not rule in this Town only or that Town but over all parts in the Kingdom and this order Christ will move in towards you that desire it for this Kingdom and all belonging to it is a perfect gift COLOS. 1.29 Whereunto I also labour TO take soules from off themselves and to set them downe in Christ beares much by divine Ordinance upon our calling and makes our worke very hard which is noted in this terme labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies such actions and industrie as faints wastes and weares out all such a labour as Solomon speaks of Eccles 10.15 The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them because he knoweth not how to goe to the City This Emphasis of the word is held forth to the Thessalonians to worke them to a reverend esteem of their teachers We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which spend and waste themselves amongst you to take you off from sinne and selfe and to set you downe in Christ in whom onely soules are fully and perfectly blessed We are as Jonathans armour-bearer whither so ever our Master goes we are to goe after him though we creep upon all foure Your life is our death your fatning is our leaning your Raven-black haires are our milke white We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3.2 Such as wax white with painfulnesse and watchfulnesse reading praing sighing mourning and groaning for your good Coaction with Christ is no idle imployment he doth not attempt small things neither is he of small strength to keep pace with such weak agents as we are 't is hard work to draw in yoke with one that is double and treble in strength above me We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 workers together with Christ he attempts the greatest things that are and the most desperate the taking of holds strong holds Canaanites Hittites c. which dwell in Towns which are walled up to heaven and founded downe to hell he attempts the bloud and death of all the conquest of this whole world the generall making such desperate attempts and taking onely Rams-hornes a sling and a stone such a fraile party as we are you may easily think our work to be desperate full of paine and perill Had man been set to fight with man one man with one man that had been painfull worke but man is drawn out to fight with beasts the fiercest beasts with Lions Beares Wolves Serpents Scorpions yea with devills there was never such a fight in the grand Circue at Rome We wrestle with such creatures as have no hold-fast to be taken of them which have no armes no legs no flesh nor bones we wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darknesse of this world against spirituall wickednesses in high places Ephes 6.12 We are drawne out to fight upon all the disadvantage in the world against creatures that are upon higher ground that have pitched field in high places that have no flesh to be wounded nor bloud to lose that can make ambushments at pleasure being the rulers of the darknesse of this world this is the Rhetorick of the Apostle We are Stewards of mysteries sentence is past upon us to dye according to the Law which we have broken onely we have the benefit of our book but this book is written as books of such nature usually are very mysteriously with an old strange Character our worke is to stand by and prompt soules concerning their neck verse which is very painfull and trembling worke the book in which sinners are to read for their life is written with bloud which is very inward and ominous inke The Characters and Syllables sutable when put together into words these words are spirit The words I speake saith Christ are spirit What is a more inward and hidden thing then this and yet this are we to interpret our worke is to be an interpreter betweene two of very remote parts that live as farre asunder as heaven and earth as heaven and hell I might say between Spirits the spirit of God and the spirit of man one whereof 't is more proper to say is in hell whilst out of heaven then in any middle place between Transactions between God and the soule are the deepest the weightiest the intricat'st things in the world A sinner is convicted sentenced carried to the place of execution his winding sheet wrapt about his shoulders his handkerchiffe tyed before his eyes his halter about his neck his sentence written upon his forehead in this shalt thou hang till thou bee dead and yet possibly no internall intention concurring or meaning the bloud of the soule Divining in this case at the foot of the Ladder what will become of him that is on the top on 't sitting trembling whether he will be turned off or fetcht downe with a pardon is extraordinary hard work to determine and yet beares not upon any extraordinary office no Angel is dispatcht from heaven to be an oracle in this difficult case but it lyes upon our shoulders by ordinance The Priests lips are to preserve knowledge If there be any divining in this extraordinary worke t is not by extraordinary but ordinary office there is not one from the dead to tell who shall dye next no one sent from hell to tell who is to come next thither Things belonging both to the death and life of the soule are made manifest by our ministration by our labour wee are the Heralds of Heaven the Trumpet of God in which he sounds Retreat and March fight and victory funerall and triumph we are to sound sad and dolefull sweet