to all these devilish deceits that your soules might come to live in him who is Truth it selfe And then you would not onely be professors but possessors of that Eternal love which would lead you into the truth and goodnesse in sincerity But because this friend of truth will not nor cannot own your outside worship he having by Gods power found the deceit thereof he is therefore by you cast out as a Heretick and so are all those that in truth and uprightnesse of heart are led and acted forth by God to work his own works for Wisdom is justified of her Children The second thing that is breathed forth in this book is this that as Christ is the Foundation so he alone it is that doth build upon this Foundation that building that will stand when all other shall and must fall and not only so but he likewise begins the work of his own power in every particular soule and carries on the same with his own hand in despight of all opposition causing flesh and all the power thereof to fall down before his face into death misery judgment and condemnation where all the glory of the first creation is seald down under the covenant of death never to rise again in its own strength power wisdom nor righteousnesse but if ever it rise again it may rise in the power wisdom and righteousnesse of Jesus the Eternal Son of the living God And thus God exercises his people under the administration of his power by bringing life out of death mercy out of misery fulnesse out of emptinesse strength out of weaknesse sufficiency out of insufficiency joy out of sorrow peace out of war and doth not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax until he hath brought forth judgment into victory and as he begineth and carrieth on his own work so also he it is and none but he that perfects it as saith the Apostle he that hath begun a good work will perfect it For it was the Eternal love of the Lord which by his Son planted the righteous seed in every soule of his and it is the same power and love that causeth it to grow in the spirit of man above all carnal power strength or policy for the pure seed shal reign till all its enemies be subdued and the spirits of those in whom it is perfectly redeemed from the Shrines and Vizzards of mortality Oh how it doth chear my heart to see our near and dear IMMANVEL springing forth unto the blind world in and through earthen vessels to the praise of the glory of Gods great grace who hath made us accepted in his beloved Therefore Reader if thou findest any of these workings in thy own soul then mayst thou know that they are no fictions but the real operations of Gods great power but if thou look not on them in the light of truth there will be no unity between thee and the party through whom they were uttered for he lives in the life of that which here is declared by words and if thou live in the same life and look upon them in the same light then will they be matter of rejoycing to thy soul but if thou look upon them any other way they will be nothing to thee but Parables and Riddles Thus hoping and knowing that God will make this work and every other work together for good to them that love him I commend thee to God and to the work of his grace Resting thy Brother and Companion in tribulation in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ THO. SOMERTON THE TITLES CONTENTS And TEXTS contained in this Book 1. THe Vail of the Covering spred over All Nations What it is and How removed with a Discovery of that Mountain of Fat things full of Marrow and Wine on the Lees well refined Delivered on a Publick Day of Thanksgiving the 23. of June 1653. at Alhallowes Lumbard street Upon ESA. 25.6 7. In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto All people a Feast of Fat things A Feast of Wines on the Lees c. In one Sermon 2. THe Builders of Babel confounded in their Language Being an Exposition by Mr. Webster at the end of a Disputation at Alhallows Lumbard street He being requested to dismisse the multitude with some profitable exhortation which was from Gen. 11. the nine first verses And the whole Earth was of one Language and of one Speech and it came to pass as they journyed from the East they found a Plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there and they said one to another Go too let us make brick and burn them throughly c. 3. THe Power of Divine Attraction or The Fathers great love in drawing poor Sinners unto his Son Delivered at White-hall On JOH 6.44 No man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day In one Sermon 4. THe Cloud taken off the Tabernacle that the Israel of God may journey At Alhallows Lumbard street In two Sermons EXOD. 40.36 37 38. And when the Cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle then the Children of Israel went onward in all their journeys But if the Cloud were not taken up they journyed not until the day it was taken up c. 5. THe secret Southsayer or Hidden Sorcerer discovered At Alhallows Lumbard street In two Sermons MICAH 5.10 11 12 13. And I will cut off the Cities of thy land and throw down all thy strong holds I will out off Witchcrafts out of thine hand and thou shalt have no more Southsayers Thy graven Images also will I cut of and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee c. 6. THe rooting up of every plant not planted by the Heavenly Father Delivered at Alhallows Lumbard street In two Sermons MATTH 15.13 14. Jesus answered and said Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Let them alone they bee blind leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch 7. THe Saints perfect freedom or Liberty in Christ asserted in opposition to all yoaks of bondage At Alhallows Lumbard street In two Sermons GALA 5.1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us Free and be not entangled again with the yoak of bondage 8. IN the second of these last Sermons Mr. Webster was freely drawn forth to give that Testimony to Dr. Everards Sermons lately printed which is placed at the end of the Book and are all the Sermons can be expected of his there being not any more preserved Which are sould by R. Harford at the Bible and States-Arms in Little Brittain 9. LAstly hereunto is added A Responsion by Mr. Jo. Webster to certain pretended Arguments against his Book call'd The Saints Guide Reader THere are some few faults escaped at the Press some litteral others in some owrds mistaken but being only such as an
be nothing but A sink of sin A body of death A bottomlesse pit of abominations Mark 4.21 Rom. 7.24 Rev. 9 2. that I was a fool and madness was in my heart in all I did And that he alone was goodness mercy power wisdom eternity salvation and Alsufficiency this he freely and with all readinesse acknowledgeth and this he is not ashamed to declare as those are that would be esteemed holy Ones but to tell it to all the world though all the wise and holy men of the world esteem him a foole and a madman yet this is his glory to take shame to himselfe But all your wise and righteous men all their contriving is to hide all their shame and they would be thought to be holy men and strict men and that they walk exactly and according to the rule of the word and this is their glory that others have this esteem of them they would not for a world be thought as vile and finful as others they hate that Jesus Christ should so far lay them open to the world and themselves Psal 56.8 Ezek. 8.11 What are they to come before the Lord and have no Goodnesse no Endeavours no Watchfulnesse no Bottles of Prayers to offer no sweet incense to offer no Duties thereby to think well of themselves this would be Death and Destruction and Desolation to them When God knows when once he will arise in them Psal 50 21. and set their sins in order then all their delusions and coverings will be removed and they made naked Then all their fine and neat contrivances to disguise themselves before God and men shall be rent and destroyed Joh. 9.39 when the Lord will arise and come to Judgment in their hearts then all their inward parts shall be laid open and what they have dâ—ne in secret shall be proclaimed upon the house top Mat. 24.15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet stand in the holy place whoso readeth let him understand then shall there be in those dayes great tribulation in them Luk. 8.17 Mat. 24.21 Mark 13.14 Luk. 21.25 and the Moon shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from Heaven and the powers of the Heavens shall be shaken Then he that is on the house top shall not come down to take any ting out of his house he shall not go down to fetch any of his Riches or Gold or Silver none of his fine utensils for worship none of his fine and workmanlike duties none of his strictnesses none of his holy walkings he is stript of all left naked and how are their houses left unto them desolate in one moment Babylon in them is fallen is fallen and shee that said in her heart I shall sit a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no sorrow therefore shall her plagues come upon her in one day Rev. 18.2 c. death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her Then is the houre of Judgment come and the Lord will arise and nothing can hinder or stand before him This will be a miserable day to these men a day of blackness and gloominess and thick Clouds the Sun turned into darkness and the moon into blood A deluge of wrath is now irresistibly comming upon them and then the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scrole and the earth shall melt with fervent heat and all their works burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 Then from hence we may conclude that at that day all men even the wisest men of the world will be at their wits end to cover and hide themselves from the wrath of the Lamb and from him that sits on the Throne Rev. 6.16 Then all those Merchants of Babylon shall lament for her That their Whore their Strumpet with whom they have all their dayes committed fornication is made desolate c. their trade of Religion is quite overturned Mich. 3.11 those that made Merchandise of the Word and Preacht for money and for hire and to get bread or to make themselves great and to that end got into forms and duties and fellowships that men might have high thoughts of them and made long prayers under pretence and to grow rich by devouring widows houses Mat. 23.14 and yet these things these pretences these prayers and duties they heap to themselves thinking they may please God with them and these things as foule and abominable as they be they think to be a goodly sacrifice But when this day comes that the Lord will arise and plead his own cause all these things will stand in no stead all their works must be burnt up then he will remember how these foolish men blasphème his name Psal 74.22 23. Psal 74.22 23. And if they should bethink themselve wherewithal to come before the Lord and to offer thousands of Rams and ten thousand Rivers of Oyle nay if they give the fruit of the Body for the sin of their Soul Micah 6.7 all were to to no purpose For the Father the Eternal Majesty of Heaven can be pleased with nothing but that One Eternal and Alsufficient sacrifice the blood of his own dear Son For men to call themselves Christians and Saints and for others to esteem them so is a poor covering now in this day it will not cover their nakednesse The bed is too short to stretch themselves on it and the covering is too narrow they cannot cover nor wrap themselves in it Esa 28.20 T is not all their fellowships and Congregatings nor washings nor External eatings and sitting down with Christ at his Table nor their Perswasions that they do the mind of God and conform exactly to the rule and letter of the word All things of this nature is but of man Phil. 3.19 and they glory in their own shame Thou dishonourest thy head Christ to pray or prophesie and thy head not BARE if thy self be not stript naked t is a dishonour to Christ who is the head of the Church for all honor all praise all wisdom all goodness all righteousnesse is Christ's crown and no creature is to wear that Crown but himself alone If thou takest these or any part of these which are due alone to him thou makest Christ ashamed he is dishonoured for there is no Goodnesse no Love no Beauty no Life but onely in the Son of God and whatever is in him is his for the Church not that they enjoy it in themselves but in him all glory be to him and all shame and confusion upon themselves and hereby is their head magnified Christ alone is their Covering their Righteousnesse their Wisedome their Redemption their Saviour their Beauty they have no shelter no hiding place but in him Those that are ashamed thus to acknowledge and confess him before men Mat. 10.32 he will be ashamed to confess them
can teach it for t is onely taught and wrought by Jesus Christ and it is infinitely above the reach of humane wisdom nay man by all his Learning and Wisdom and acquired parts and utmost industry is so far from attaining it in the true possession and power thereof that by all those things he can never come to know it nor understand it and yet such is the pride arrogance and presumption of the sons of men they will undertake to preach thereof and teach it to others when as they never understood it themselves nor ever came to the practice thereof for this power and this liberty and this deliverance can never be known but by the workings and feelings thereof it must be brought to us by the communication of the spirit workng it in us Secondly concerning the Relation of this Freedom Secondly the Relation whom it belongs and that is onely to men that find themselves bond-slaves he that thinks himself a Free-man and never yet found really his bondage except it were in words or notions he was never yet delivered T is true men exercised about Religion may and do ordinarily confesse we are all sinners and that they are by nature bond-slaves c. which men may do and never finde it true in themselves 2 Pet. 2.19 But that of which a man is overcome saith the Apostle of the same is he brought into bondage nay herein is mans bondage the greater because when he thinks himself free and delivered then is he most in bondage And what a pittifull bondage is this Nay when he partly sees himself in bondage thinking then by his own strugling and paines to work himself out he is more in bondage when he thinks to amend the matter to get himself to be a Saint then he is so much the more a Devil how are most men captived to their own Iusts to every poor base and mean thing and how are they captived to the humours and inventions of men to their forms and their rules and how ready are they to obey and Idolize what men have found out for to worship by wherein they commit flat Idolatry for the second Commandement requires Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image c. Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them c. wherein lies a Great Mysterie Exod. 20.4 5. more then is in the litteral and externall command for whatever it be that thou dependest on or waitest on for comfort from or hopest upon for any rest peace or satisfaction to that very thing Thou bowest down and makest it a graven Image when thou so far subjectest thy selfe to the will of man to let him rule and ride thee to follow his rules and directions to get peace thereby these then thou assuredly makest thy God and they are Images and Idols to thee Nay further when men have so far enslaved thee as to cause thee to submit to every poor and empty thing Col. 2.20 c. as when they place Religion in meats and drinks in touch not taste not handle not as the Apostle saith which are but things which perish with the using and yet they will enslave their consciences to such men and such things And further The world hath made a deal of doe about Christs comming in the flesh and about his life and death and sufferings when as indeed they as they have used the matter have even made it a just nothing a meer Image and an Idol and have by their inventions made the Crosse of Christ in themselves of no effect Some saying his death is meritorious and satisfactory for sins past but not for sins to come And that some sins are pardoned not all And that man hath power and he must work out his salvation quite mistaking the intent the drift the life marrow and mysterie of the Scriptures but content themselves with the bare letter which every man may by his own wisdom comprehend and finde out And others saying that sin is never pardoned till there be actuall repentance And that there is a power in man if he use his utmost endeavour that he may work out and accomplish his own salvation And that man must be a CO-WORKER with Christ and he must perform his part by way of fulfilling the condition required else Christ will not perform his and many such ignorant litteral and unexperienced Tenents are held forth by them And what is Christ made in all this but a meer nothing a very Idol and making the FVLL and PERFECT righteousnesse of Jesus Christ a poor scanty mean narrow thing and to say in effect Christ takes away sin but in part but man must do something and he shall take away the rest And that mans acting is the cause of taking away sin When as HE hath trodden the Wine-pressalone and NO MAN stood by him and he onely speaks in righteousness and is alone mighty to save and he despiseth and treadeth down all their STRENGTH and all the power of man to the earth What is all this but to say he shall not do it alone man shall stand by him and he must help him But we must know this deliverer is as full and as large as the son of God himself and the Delivererance as deep and as high as the misery of man the Defection of man is not so deep but the Descention of Christ is as deep nor mans sins reaches not so high but his Ascention is as high But these men cut short both the VASTNESSE of the Deliverer and the LARGENES SE of the Deliverance T is certain mans misery and fall is so deep and so great that nothing but infinitenesse could recover and fetch him up againe he is fallen into an INFINITENESS of Nothingnesse from whence all the creatures Angels or Men could not redeem one soul but it must be the infinite work of the Creator man by sin hath thrown himself into a worse condition then any other creature and below the whole Creation and he that sees it not thus really never yet knew what it was to be delivered and he that thinks that lesse then infiniteness will redeem him He undervalues and circumscribes the Death and life of the Son of God and counts it a poor thing and was never yet saved by them he never yet knew the heighth and the depth the lenghth Phil. 4.7 Eph. 3.18.19 Psal 68.13 88 6. and the breadth of the love of Christ which is unspeakable and passeth knowledge he never yet saw himself in the lowest Hell nor ever saw Jesus Christ stooping and descending down into the very bottom of the bottomless pit to bring him up again He that is delivered by Christ cannot but admire and cry out oh the heighth and the depth the length and the breadth of the love of Christ And again Rom. 11.33 c. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and
miserable and undone man If once man come to be thus lost undone and brought down in himself then will Jesus Christ make him a Feast of fat things if once his peace be lost his righteousnes lost his joy lost his help lost his strength lost then will Jesus Christ be all these unto him he will make out a peace for him a righteousnesse for him a glory for him he will be to him a feast of fat things full of marrow and wine on the lees well refined And so as he saith in the next verse I will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the vail that is spread over all Nations That is mans opinion of his own goodnes his seeming righteousnes which was as a covering as a vail that man could not see himself miserable and under wrath and hell and darknesse This is the covering every man naturally hath an opinion of his own goodness he hath something or other to cover himself withall but some have finer and as they conceive richer coverings then others they think they have more holines and more repentance and more love and more good works these are by so much the worse these are at a farther distance from the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 21.31 And Publicans and Harlots and the vilest sinners shall goe into the Kingdom of heaven and they themselves that have so much holiness shall be shut out Luk. 23.45 Here now The vail of the Temple must be rent from the top to the bottom The rock of their righteousness must be rent their shame must be laid open Ibid. 12.3 what they have done in the secret chambers of their own hearts must now be proclaimed upon the house top they cannot conceal it the covering is removed Now they come to see that Jesus Christ is only the rock of their righteousness and that they have none at all all other rocks all other righteousnesses must be rent that so their want their misery their condemnation their hell their horrour their darkness and delusion may be discovered and if men be once brought to this to be content to be miserable as indeed all mankind is by reason of the fall to be content to see themselves undone to be shut up under the wrath of God condemnation sealed upon them and the pit to have shut her mouth upon them having once thus lost all their power wisdom righteousnes then all death hell and darknes shal be swallowed up in the death of Christ Then he wil as it is in the eighth verse Esay 25.8 Swallow up death in victory and the Lord God shall wipe away all tears from all faces In this mountain he will take away all sorrow and the rebuke of their sins all guilt all condemnation all bonds all captivity all strong holds all chains all death all fears griefs terrors and all things of that nature This rock this mountain will swallow up all and so take away the rebuke of his people When a man is brought into this mountain he shal be thus fed with fat things and wine on the lees and all tears washed away nothing left of that nature and this is that day of the Lord this is the Lords resting day and this is the souls Sabbath and resting day when all rebukes all frowns all griefes are removed All other Sabbaths and rests externall are but figures and representations of this true rest And then it follows in the ninth verse And it shall be said in that day Loe Esay 25.9 this is our God we have waited for him this is the Lord we have waited for him he will save us and we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation for in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest c. when Christ hath thus appeared to the destruction of all things in man and hath brought him out of himselfe and hath ruined all his strength righteousnes wisdom c. then Christ wil be all in all to him then will he feast him in this mountain and the soul seeing all these things accomplished in it self then it cannot chuse but rejoyce triumph and sing Even the Song of Moses and the Lamb This is our God that we have waited for This is the Lord in him alone is power and wisdom and righteousnes loving kindnesses and tender merecies Thou O Lord only art worthy to receive honour Rev. 4.11 and glory and power thou alone art our strength and Our salvation all their happines is concentred in this One God and they have no God but him no Saviour but him they have but One God and one faith and one baptisme Eph. 4.4 5 6. One body one spirit one hope One Lord one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in all They rejoyce in this that they see themselves made nothing that they are emptied of themselves of their power wisdom righteousnes they now rejoyce triumph and sing because the vail of covering of the all Nations is removed in their hearts that their high thoughts are brought down that their wisdom is made folly that their opinion of their own glory of their own somethingness of their own holiness is removed and Christ alone is He in whom they enjoy all things From hence ye may conclude upon this point That Christ alone is the Saints strong mountain Doct. and their feast of all good things He is only their mountain of strength he is their joy and their song he hath rent and destroyed the face of the Covering which is upon all people they see that none can remove this Covering but Christ alone and therfore he having done this in them and for them Psal 4.7 this rejoyceth their hearts far more then if he had increased their Corn or their Wine or their Oyle here is their feast here is their day of Thanksgiving here is their Sabbath which shall never end here is their marrow and fatness here their wine and their fat things full of marrow He is their mountain their glory their rock and all this they see is wrought in them by the power only of Jesus Christ And this adds to their rejoycing that they see they had no hand in it they see that they did not chuse him but he chose them that they instead of chusing him ran away from him opposed him fought against him and yet he followed them and never left them till he had conquered them and this now is their joy and their praise and their song and nothing in heaven or earth shall be exalted or magnified by them but only Jesus Christ their strong mountain their feast of all good things These Souls only come to see that there is a vail and that this is the vail of Covering spread over all Nations all those upon whom the vail is see not the vail but he only in whom 't is rent from whom it s removed And all their desire
Christ no hand can help him but only the infinit bottomlesse mercy of the Son of God He sees now nothing in Heaven or earth no righteousnesse of men or Angels could suffice for his ransom but Jesus Christ alone the Son of God himself must lay down his life to redeem him out of the nethermost hell Now Christ revealing this to him he hereby ascends up into this mountain and there he feasts and there he hath all his wisdom all his power all his life all his meat Jer. 17.13 all his living waters here he now hath all his teachings he now sees Christs mountain exalted upon the top of all mountains above the top of all mans mountains of wisdom power holinesse c. though they have been raised in mans esteem never so high and esteemed as the mountains of the Lord he sees his knowledge now meer folly his wisdom darkness his righteousness sin his power weaknes his glory shame his Heaven Hell this he sees in himself and he can see nothing else but this misery and this blindness upon the face of the whole earth every man is under this darknes is under this Covering the face of the Covering of all Nations Christ went up to the mountain and taught the people Mal. 2.2 The truth is this is that mountain where Christ alone teacheth all other teachings are folly and ignorance till we hear the word at his mouth Here in this mountain the soule beholds visions and receives the manifestations of Christ and the mysteries of the kingdome hereit sees from the bottom to the top of Jacob Ladder Mat. 24.15 here he sees the Abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet that had it not been for the love of Christ the meer power and hand of Christ he had been gon for ever lost for ever swallowed up in a mystery of iniquity but when Christ brings him into this mount then he sees himselfe escaped then he sees Sodom and Gomorah all on a flame all self flesh and al mans wisdom and righteousnes burnt up and the smoak thereof ascend as the smoak of a furnace and then he can say experimentally Jehovah-jireh Gen. 22.14 In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen Saints can testifie of these things because they have seen and felt them done in themselves and t is that which their hands have handled of the word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 they can give testimony to the wisedome of Christ to the power of Christ to the righteousnesse of Christ to the evrlasting and unexpressible goodnesse of Christ as it is expressed and put forth in their hearts they can give no testimony of man of any goodness wisdome power c. in themselves but they know Christ to be all in all he see man and himselfe and all things of man to be nothing but a pit of darknesse a lump of sin a gulf of misery without the least wisdome goodnesse or power but whatever is good or strong or holy in him t is not himself t is not of man but of an from Christ alone he sees experimentally that he hath as of himselfe no power no strength to resist sin no repentance no minde to hate or resist the least sin but the contrary He findes a cursed hellish demned unbeleeving heart full of evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 a heart instead of loving God it fights against God in stead of doing good to his Neighbour really he seeks not his good but his own ends in all he doth that he doth nothing at all for God but himselfe is his supreame and ultimate end so that his highest and best actions are loathsome defiled abominable Now the soule seeing these things to be really thus Then all his strong high towering conceits fall down before the light wisedome power and excellency of Christ and he sees that there is none of all these through all the whol earth but in Christ alone no wisdom at all but his no power at all but his no righteousnes at al but his and no creature to receive any glory but hm alone then he falls down and cryes out O'wretched man that I'am who shal deliver me from that body of death Rom. 7.24 who shal deliver me from this bottomless gulf who shal deliver me from this monsterous fiend my own self Rom. 9.3 he now sees the Locusts of the bottomles pit covering the face of the whole earth every one running after his own ways and following his own laws every man setting up new Gods every man setting up the Image of his Imagery and the abomination of desolation in himself every man making himself his own god and seeking to be somthing and making the eternal glorious God to be an Idol and nothing He sees himself with the whole earth besides saying with the builders of Babel Gen. 11.4 go to let us build us a Tower and a City whose top may reach up to Heaven that we may not be seattered and destroyed they will save and deliver themselves from hell wrath and destruction by their own power by their own wisedome by their own inventions by the brick slime and morter that they have made Now the Lord looking down from Heaven to see what the Children of men are doing and he in himselfe sees how God hath said Let us go down and confound their language God in them hath discovered the evilnesse of their wayes the evil of self-seeking self-glory of their selfe-wisdome selfe-power self-righteousnesse and they in whom or to whom the Lord discovers these things all this contrivance and all this work n them is made BABEL Confusion a heap of Lyes t is all deceit destruction and misery but in Jesus Christ he hath righteousnesse indeed life indeed power indeed heaven indeed And then he can adde and say with the Apostle Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15 54.55 Oh grave where is thy victory then hath this corruptible in him put on incorruption and this mortal put on immortality and then is brought to passe in him the saying as it is written death is swallowed up in victory Herein the Saints finde Jesus Christ to be their joy to be their feast to be their mountain to be their glory to be their All. In this mountain they finde and receive all these good things and are fully satisfied and that they are to be had nowhere else If they look anywhere else they know there is nothing but sin corruption death hell mortality and the grave And they having found this mountain they finde themselves escaped delivered from all those things And now they sit down with Abraham Isaac Mat. 8.11 and Jacob in the kingdome of Heaven They have found Abrahams bosome they have found the tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God they have found the Hidden Manna Rev. 3. they have received the
him the corruption and rudiments of men their rules and their formes and their precepts these and these things they must do if they will be perfect and so joyne man with Christ and so make Christ and his Crosse of no effect Nay the Apostle he did so magnifie and set up and adore Jesus Christ and esteemed him so full so rich so large so all in all that he not only abhorred the rudiments and the inventions of men but the Ordinances and the very law of God as kept by men to come in competition with Jesus Christ for never any man observed the the law in the least tittle It was only Jesuch Christ and them in whom he is conceived and borne and in whom he workes For verily the law was not given to tell man what he should do to get peace and life but to condemne him to disable him to slay him to convince him that he is miserable and weak and cursed And therefore in vaine did those false Apostles or any other in any generation put men upon doing this or that by way of condition to enable man to act or do any thing on his part by his own power to please God But every true believer is a man lost and destroyed in himselfe and he is borne anew of this Divine seed and he is setled not on himselfe by his own doings 1 Sam. 2.2 but on the Rock of Ages And he harknes to this spiritual counsell given here by the Apostle To stand fast in this liberty whatever men say And will not suffer himselfe to be bewitched by the plausible techings of men tickling the flesh with acting and doing that by themselves which shall bring peace but which tends to no other end but to keep men in bondage and to hold them under the old Jerusalem because that 's very pleasing to man for there are many glorious forms and worships and man shewing out himselfe to be something which things please the outward man and the flesh and this is that man esteemes highly of and much prides himselfe in And indeed all this is nothing but to seek life in death and for the living to seek to the dead Esa 8.19 as the Prophet speakes all tends to death to bondage and to remaine under the Curse But that which the Apostle here holds forth is the truth the the power the life the inheritance the resurrection the glory and shewes that there is no other power life glory inheritance peace rest but only here there is no other spirit no other Baptisme no other breaking of bread he alone is The true bread which came downe from heaven John 6 51 and he alone can give it And he alone is the meanes the only Ordinance by which we receive it he is the way and he is the doâ—re this bread is given down from heaven as Christ shewes at large in John 6.31 c. He gave them bread from Heaven to eate Moses himselfe could not give them that bread Your Fathers have eaten Manna and are dead Vers 49. That bread which Moses gave could not keep them from death but for all they eate of that bread which came down from the elementary Heaven yet they are dead But my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven for the bread of God is he which commeth downe from Heaven and giveth life unto the world I 'am the bread of life V. 57 58. and he that commeth unto me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst So that you see The Apostle here sets the opposition between the intanglements of men and the yoake of Bondage against the pure free and full liberty by Jesus Christ whatever it be but this liberty given us by Jesus Christ that gives the least joy the least peace the least rest to the soul of man but purely Jesus Christ he is intangled in the yoak of bondage for the liberty of Christ consists not in any thing below himself in any Ordinances as men call them in any duty in any form in any mode whatsoever but only in himself all things else are too low too poor too meane too base to stand in the room of Christ they cannot give the true bread but only Jesus himself who is The Bread There are but two principles from which all men work either from Christ or Antichrist either from the bondwoman or the free woman Jam. 3.15 either from the wisdom that is above which is pure peaceable gentle easie te be intreated full of mercy and good works without partiality without hypocrisie Or else t is from the wisdome which is from beneath which is earthly sensual and divelish which is full of envying strife and confusion and every evil work And though this wisdom of the world will undertake to shew us Christ and the true bread and they cry Loe here and loe there he is in our way sayeth every several separation But if they say he is in the wilderness or he is in the secret chambers goe not after them Mat. 24.26 for the Kingdom of Christ commeth not with observation who ever shall say he is in this outward form or in that way of washing or breaking bread believe them not goe not after them for know Luk. 17.20 The Kingdom of God is within you All men that think to be helped by cleaving to this Church or that Fellowship and are still going out of themselves to finde Christ they are deceived but if any man direct you to finde Christ anywhere but within in his own heart he is deceived all these waies are ensnarements and delusions if men think to be helped by any thing in heaven or earth but only by the pure perfect and alsufficient righteousnesse of Jesus Christ which is onely manifested in thy heart by his own spirit for if thou thinkest that Jesus Christ Externall in the flesh as dying at Ierusalem will help thee thou art utterly deceived t is Christ Onely who is begotten within thee all other waies of mens devising are meer lyes delusions and ensnarements In the words for order sake onely take notice of these foure things 1. That the state of a believing soule is a state of liberty 2. That believers are onely made partakers of this liberty by Jesus Christ 3. That the safety of standing is only in abiding in this liberty and freedom 4. That when any man goes out from this liberty and freedom by Jesus Christ to any thing else whatsoever he goes out to be ensnared and entangled and it cannot be otherwise For the two first t is cleare that there is a state of freedom and liberty belonging to the people of God and that Christ only is their deliverer He who is delivered by Jesus Christ he onely hath true freedom and he is the true free man all other however they talk of freedom and boast of freedom if Christ doe not set them free they are still bondmen they
are still in snares and lockt fast in their fetters for who else can deliver and set free the soule of man but he that is Lord of all Rev. 1.18 and is subject to none He alone hath the keyes of Hell and death he alone is the soules Captaine and deliverer This is that which all the Saints have experience of when they finde themselves delivered from the bondage of flesh of selfe of the world if they feel this work done within them they know experimentally t is the very finger and power of Christ and that he is only Christs free man that none hath brought it to pass to set them at liberty to knock off their chains and lead them out of prison and set their feet upon a rock but only the Almighty power and meer mercy of the Lord Jesus they know that it hath been he that hath opened their eyes and their eares Psal 40.2 that hath raised them from death and given them feet to walk and there is none know this truly but only those that feele it done in themselves And for proofe of this point though I might prove it by Scripture very pleatifully to shew how many yea all the Saints there spoken of have found it in their own experience that they were delivered from death and from prison by the power of God and by the hand of Jesus Christ yet what is this to thee except thou sinde their experience true in thy selfe else their experience is but notions and riddles to thee and such things whereof thou hast no knowledge except thou see and know thy selfe to be under deth and kept fast in prison and except thou hast found Jesus Christ restoring recovering delivering and redeeming thee from this death And that thou findest that he hath said to thy soule Arise and stand up on the feet Acts 14.10 and hath given thee strength and life to what end is it to bring all the examples in Scripture and in the world if this death and life be no experimented in us Insomuch that thou canst say This word is true to me because done in me as the Apostle saith in Heb. 1.1 2. Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers and by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things Those truths which he spake before by the Prophets he hath now spoken in us by his Son so that we now know them to be the word and speakings of God But as our Saviour saith Mat. 12.39 40. An evil and an Adulterous Generation seeketh after a sign They expect every speaking should be made good by an external word and ye must go no farther so that the truth is never witnessed to in their hearts but as he sayes there There shall no sign be given them but the sign of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly even so shal the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Except you find the same things done in you the same miracles the same death the same lying in the grave three days and three nights except you find Jesus Christ taking thee by the hand and restoring thee to life thou art of an evil and adulterous Generation seeking after an external sign and thou art a meer stranger to these things But I shall for their sakes who feel the work of Christ within them give you two or three places of Scripture being the experience of the Saints of old that you may see how the Saints bear witnesse to each other in experience First Scripture Esa 61.1 2 3. Esa 61.1 2 3. speaking there of Christ being the only deliverer saith The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anoynted me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound c. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes and the oyl of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heavinesse c. Christ only is the breaker open of the soules prison doors he alone gives deliverance to the Captives and he alone brings them forth from prison and sets them free and this he is to his people in all ages for he is yesterday and to day Heb. 13.8 and the same for ever and when the same word appeared in flesh he testifies the same of himself Luke 4.18 Luk. 4.18 21. where he rehearseth the same words and applyes them to himself vers 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears And this was that which he still held forth in all his teachings that there is no other Saviour nor Deliverer but himself never was nor is nor ever shall be to the end of the world Moses was only an outward and external Captain or Deliverer but His leadings and deliverings are spiritual and there is none can be delivered but by him Heb. 12.24 as he is a better Mediator then Moses so he is a better deliverer t is he alone that frees the soul from the pit from death and hell his Kingdom is within us The Jewes and Pharisees they still excepted an outward deliverer and could not own Him as a Prince and Saviour but were blind and saw not what he still held forth in all his teachings They could not see the truth that they were blind and miserable and full of Hypocrisie and were no other but painted Sepulchres glorious outwardly but within were full of rottennesse stench and dead mens bones They could not endure to stand in the light of this truth Mat. 23.27 but hated it and persecuted him to the death for holding it forth What are we blind also what we the learned the wisest the holiest what we that are strict our selves and call upon others to be so this was death to them But now had they but seen this and owned it he would have been their righteousness their deliverer their redeemer to have set them free but because they said we see therefore their sin remained and their fetters and bondage was not taken off And again Christ tells them Iohn 8.31 32. If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free Now these things they could not see nor understand that they were in bondage but answered to him we are Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou ye shall be made free then Jesus answered them Verily verily I say unto you He that committeth sin is the servant of sin the servant abideth not in the House for ever but the son abideth for ever And if the son shall make you
Catechisms and prescribing of Rules in mending this way and the other form and are still in mending and altering and making their ways and forms better and more reformed as they think when alas all this is nothing but man taking upon himself to cut pare and mend the worship of God This man he thinks to cut out a neater way then his neighbour-gathered-church and a another he thinks to mend and make his way more handsome then he and another then both Every one hath a Doctrin a Psalm hath a Tongue 1 Cor. 14.26 hath a Revelation hath an Interpretation none done to the edifying of the body of Christ For all this is but to rend and tear the Seamlesse coat of Christ in that man would fain be something do something by his own wisdom and power and his righteousnesse must not be sleighted nor vilified nor all his glory must not be laid in the dust all these Worshippers and pretenders to Christ they live on the shadow and rely on the shape and form of Christianity but not on the life and power How have men beat their wits and layd their counsels together to form and model Religion to make it passe for currant in the world that they may be accounted Artists and Pastors and Doctors and according to that fine invented word ORTHODOX and some adding that blasphemous title DIVINE and they will prescribe Rules and make Articles of faith for all men to beleeve and receive and conform to and still they are new-modelling to cut it and square it as like the Letter of the Word as may be and then they are pleased and others applaud them as wise Master Builders And yet we may say of them as the Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 2.17 c. 2 Pet. 2.17 18 19. They are those which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam who loved the wayes of unrighteousness These are Wells without water clouds carried with a tempest to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever For when they speak great swelling words of vanity they allure through the lusts of the flesh those who were clean escaped from them who live in error And while they promise them libertie they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage They are alwaies learning and teaching others to do this and do that and yet they themselves are the servants of lust and corruption Therefore be not deceived but if they cry loe here or loe there Go after such a Man and such a Man Luk. 17.23 joyn with this Church or that Fellowship and ye find Christ but go not after them believe them not for they do but deceive they cannot deliver nor redeem themselves And therefore this point is clear that none but Jesus Christ could ever free the soul or deliver it from bondage and this is a truth against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail Mat. 16.18 Therefore we may conclude that whatever spirit goes out any other way or to any other thing to find Rest or Liberty or Redemption by but only by Jesus Christ he is deceived for t is only in Immanuel God with us there is no Redeemer no Deliverer no Saviour but only He All the Saints who have all experience therof in themselvs know this to be true and give out their witnesse that in vain did they run out to any thing else and these only are the true Wayters for the Kingdom of God and the consolation of Israel Mar. 15.43 here was the true Wayting and the true using of Ordinances Oh that men did but know what this waiting upon the Father was that they knew that there was no life but in Christ no power but in him that they had no wisdom nor goodness nor that they could never be delivered but by and in the power light and life of Christ Oh that men knew in experience as they pretend in words and notions Joh. 5.22 that all judgment is committed to the Son And that in him alone was the power of life and death and that he alone had the keys to unlock the Mysteries of Salvation then whether if they were perswaded of this could the heart of man go for relief If it saw its own utter emptiness nothingness and that all Creatures and all Ordinances and forms were broken Cisterns Jer. 2.13 how could they depend and wait on them If then Jesus Christ be the only fulness the only power the only riches the only joy the only treasure then would they sell all to buy this Pearl Mens running out to this thing and to that is because they are unsatisfied Luk. 11.24 and are in want of peace and rest and this makes them go out and walk through dry places to find rest but can find none this want makes them heap to themselves so many varieties of things to give them peace their souls fly to and again from florwe to flowre but cannot rest any where they fly to this duty and tother form but they are all emptie they are no other but dry places Oh wonderful to see how Satan hath deluded the sons of men and all is because they cannot be content to sit down in their own poverty to see themselves naked and miserable and then to wait upon Him who would certainly come in in due time with true Peace Riches Rest Power Righteousnesse Satisfaction Fulnesse and whatever is good But because men are not able to stand in the sight of their own nothingness how doth Satan continually carry them out they cannot endure to stay within to see themselves but either they are carried out to Lust or Luxury or Wantonnesse or Drinking or Company and the like and if that will not hide and cover the pit so that the mouth of conscience will not be stopt then it runs out to Duties and Forms and wayes of Worship and thinks that will do it when alas they are meer delusions and things which the soul hath invented to play withal to get peace and liberty by to make it forget its Misery Poverty and Emptinesse but the end of this peace is death and misery and the end of this liberty is confusion Rom. 6.21 And what fruit have ye of those things whereof ye are now ashamed But oh happy is that soul that can say from experience and not onely in words but really Job 16.2 That they are all miserable comforters and that all below and besides Christ Esa 28.20 all gender to death and bondage and that he hath found the Bed too broad and the Covering too narrow so that he could not wrap himself therein and that he is resolved never to run out to any thing to relieve or stay his spirit but only to the Riches Power and Fulnesse of Christ not to the grosse lusts of men nor to the riches of the world to
ceases to act and he made as dead as nothing as emptied to all things in themselves so that they cannot say nor think that they have any Wisdom Power or Goodnesse or that by them they can act any thing toward the worship or acceptance of the Father but are reprobate in themselves to every good work Thou who hast chosen any other Saviour Tit. 1.16 any other Deliverer any other Help but Jesus Christ where wilt thou appear when the Lord shall come to judgment then all thy Saviours will forsake thee and not one stand by thee When thou hast said of thy forms and fellowships and thy Ordinances as thou callest them These be thy gods that will save thee these shall give thee a Rest and peace Exo. 32.4 And though with your tongues you do not say thus yet this is the very end of thy cleaving to them to be rest for thy spirit here and to save thee from the wrath to come What is all this but to rob Christ of his Glory and to set the crown upon thy own inventions And t is true we in words say Christ is all in all yet in practice we must bring in something of man he must act and he must do something else he cannot expect that Christ should do his part how then is Christ all in all how is he the Author and finisher of faith These are therefore those which Christ and the Prophet speaks of Heb. 12.2 that have eyes and see not and cares and hear not and hearts which cannot understand Now if thou wert able I say to stand in this light of God and there rest quiet and sit down under hell and wrath and covered with damnation and the curse as being thy right and thy portion this were the way to come to life this is Christ his way for life alwayes springs out of death and light out of darknesse and fulness out of emptinesse and Alsufficiency out of nothingnesse and this is the great Mystery of the Gospel which the whole world and all litteral and great knowing Professors neither will nor can understand because they cannot endure this light of God to destroy confound and undoe them But they are seeking out any covering to keep them from this discovering light for they must be something in themselves and hate this making nothing and would by no means their deeds should be made manifest nor the foulness of their hearts laid open And know also this light is within thee if thou wouldst let it shine out there is a voice within thee saying This is the way walk in it So that thou needest not say in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above Esa 30.21 Rom. 10.6 7. or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring Christ again from the dead but the righteousness of Faith saith the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart and this is the word of faith which we preach But man he is still looking to external actings and thinking he must be doing something to procure peace and life or else he thinks if he can but beleeve on an external Jesus Christ who died at Jerusalem and fetch Christ from the grave or bring him down from above this is his righteousnesse what 's all this but the righteousnesse of the Law which Moses describeth to be on this wise Ibid. v. 5. that the man which doth those things shall live in them And this covenant of works man can never get from under For the Law was given to shew man his weaknesse and inability to do the least and this never works effectually till Christ come in with his light to make man see himself as he is poor and wretched and blind and naked to slay man and to make him miserable to himself for he is miserable and lost and undone but he hates to see it or acknowledge it and by running from this discovering light man thinks to save himself and to avoid hell and wrath and the pit of eternal condemnation when indeed this very thing is his misery and death and condemnation That he must be something in his own esteem and he cannot lose his life yet all this is no other but seeking to make a covenant with death and hell but this Covenant will be broken and will and doth in time break in upon him to his everlasting condemnation and none of all his coverings shelters forms or any of his fortifications nor his strong holds will secure him or keep off the Deluge of wrath and vengeance due unto him Now Jesus Christ being as I said nigh thee within thee in thy mouth in thy heart he by his light Psal 91.11 if thou wouldest hearken to his teaching would direct and guide thee in all thy waies from whence come those secret whisperings and checks within thee when thou thinkst to doe this and that evil and it tels thee no do it not t is evill to wrong or hate thy brother to persecute him no saies this light Doe as thou wouldst be done unto Mat. 7.12 and thou oughtest not to doe the least hurt to any creature because thou wouldst not be hurt thy selfe He did evil thou wouldst verily think if he should doe so to thee and is it not the same in thee this very light in thy own breast is a sufficient judge and teacher if thou wouldst but still mind it and eye it and be guided by what it teacheth in thee This light would bring thee to see how weak thy strength is how much folly is in all thy wisdom what confusion is in all thy peace what rottenness of bones in all thy health what poverty in all thy riches what sorrow and misery in all thy joy and pleasure But this is thy condemnation that thou wilt not be condemned but as this light within discovers darkness thou art stil using thy utmist inventions to cover thy self and make thee seem otherwise namely Good holy wise righteous and worthy of all praise and admiration And this is the epidemicall misery of all the sonnes of men and He cryes out against this light and hates it and persecutes it and those that professe it and hold it forth No blacker divel to men then this light that would shew them themselves And in all ages those whom God hath made instrumentall to hold this light forth in experience they have been still hated and persecuted by the most and greatest professors of Truth no names black enough to smite them with nor no death bad enough for to cut them off by to expresse their unexpressible hatred and bitternesse to them to the utmost of their power what to take away their life their peace their glory their God their goodness nay the very crown of their glory Acts 22.22 away with such a fellow from the earth t is not fit he should live And all this comes from hence that man
escaped from the snare of the Hunter Hast thou really seen thy selfe lost undone made miserable hast thou seen that thy self was in Captivity and that thou wast deaf and dumb and blind and lame that thou wert shut up in darknesse and death and that there was none in Heaven or Earth able to help thee in the least but thou seeing thy selfe so miserable and hopeless that thou wert at thy wits end and no help at all appeared If this have not been thy condition though thou couldst speak never so excellently of the Letter and the History and though thou submittedst to the highest forms and to the soberest and most strict course of life being constant and austere in observing of thy rules for hearing and reading and set times of prayer and constant examining thy self to keep thy selfe up the stricter to thy Rules alas poor soul all this is nothing though thou couldest speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels 1 Cor. 13.1 and pray with such sweet words and language as might ravish all the men on earth If thou doest not finde Christ Jesus in thee breaking every bond and loosing every yoak and that no other in Heaven or Earth could do it but he thou wert never yet delivered but art still under wrath death and bondage The chief thing that every soul is to mind in reading and hearing is to examine whether the same thing be wrought in them whatever we find in the Letter if it be not made good in us what are the words to us we must see how Christ is crucified and buried in us and how he is risen and raised from death in us the chief thing I say is to look into our own breasts All generally that hold forth a profession of Christ they say in words that Christ is the Deliverer but that is not the thing but is he a Deliverer to thee Is that glorious MESSIAH promised Rom. 11.26 and the Deliverer out of Sion come with power into thy soul hath he exalted himselfe there and hath he made bare his arm and been a glorious CONQVERER in thee hath he taken to himself his great power to raign in thee Rev. 11.17 Is he King of Kings and Lord of Lords in thee c. Beloved all preaching and reading and praying and duties is to this end to examine thy inward man and thy spiritual condition Thou joinest thy self in fellowship and walkest conformable to all thy rules and thou art washed and thou breakest bread with them and thinkest herein thou hast obeyed the commands of Christ alas this is nothing if Jesus Christ have not joined thee to himself and made thee a member of him what good doe all these things for by all these outward actings thou dost not discern the Lords body To discern the Lords body is to eat him to be united to him to be made one spirit with him that so he may be made experimentally a Saviour and a Deliverer in thee That he hath taken thy soul out of the mire and clay Ps 40.2 and out of the horrible pit thou canst say experimentally and by feeling that it was an horrible pit and that there thy soul stuck fast and thou hadst no hope ever to get forth and if Christ hath set thee free thou knowest full well no power could do it but only his Eph. 1.19 only the same power which raised Jesus Christ from the grave and no lesse And thou whoever thou art who hast experience of this work thou art in one of these two conditions either thou art set free and delivered by the power of Jesus Christ or else thou seest thy self in the pit in straits in misery in a hopelesse condition and art sighing and groaning for deliverance and waiting when Christ will deliver thee And if thou beest but in either of these two conditions thou art in a safe and good Condition but if thou hast been in this misery and condemnation and thou hast used all means to put this off and sought out deliverance for thy selfe and by thy wisedome and strength and conformity and holinesse hast got thy selfe a covering by any thing under Heaven then Jesus Christ never was a Deliverer to thee but though thou thinkest thy selfe delivered yet thou art for all thy peace and for all thy Coverings under a worse bondage then before Therefore I say I would have every soul before me examine it selfe whether he be a true seeker of Deliverance which is to examine in which of these two Conditions he is in whether he hath been under these Terrors and death in hell and condemnation seeing himself lost and miserable and that instead of seeing any wisdom or power or righteousnesse in himself that he hath seeen and doth still see himself to be a meer sink of sin and a cage of unclean birds and that in him is nothing but weaknesse Rev. 18.2 wickednesse and all abominations And let me ask thee when thou wast in this condition whither wentest thou for help whether to dumb Idols that could not help that have eyes and see not and ears and hear not or to the living God in whom alone is help and deliverance And if thou art at present in this condition and distresse Joh. 5.4 thou art one that lies waiting at the pool till the Angel stir the waters expecting when Christ will put thee in Thou wilt not run to this duty and that form to ease thy self and to allay these Terrors and to quench these flames but if help come not there thou waist and there thou standest and remainest in this condemnation and goest up and down sighing and mourning all the day long and thou seest t is not in the power of all the Ministers under Heaven not in all the forms and rules that can be invented but only in the tender mercy and good will of Jesus Christ All other wayes thou lookest upon but as going out to Asher Hos 7.11 and to Egypt and to seek after dumb Idols that have a picture of eyes and ears and hands promising as though they could help but they can neither see nor hear nor help though to others they appear glorious and goodly things and they blesse themselves in using them yet to thee they are dead cold and helplesse so that now here thou waitest and sittest alone like the Pelican in the Desart Ps 102.6 and there thou mournest and bemoanest thy condition and with David thou hast no rest in thy bones because of thy sins Ibid. 38.3 Try thy self now in which is thy condition if in neither of these thou art in a most sad miserable condition indeed and so much the more sad because thou seest it not Or it may be thou hast cured thy self and healed thy selfe but art not cured nor healed Jer. 6.14 but the Prophets have healed the Daughter of my people slightly as the Prophet speaks have not throughly discovered their iniquity to turn
it is set in its due place as it was in the Apostle Paul who did not preach in the enticing words of mans wisdome 1 Cor. 2.4 but only used in its due place to speak to divers people in those tongues that they understood this was not to use it to understand the mystery by nor of it self to be advantageous to the Gospel and so comes not within the Verge of the Question And besides the knowledg of tongues was in Paul as a special gift as in the rest for he was not behind the rest of the Apostles not as it was an acquisition and therefore he might lawfully Praise God for it and so this is altogether improper and impertinent to this Argument or Question And for what he urgeth of Apollos it is as improper for he did it not by the force and efficacy of humane Learning Act. 18.25 28. but through the power of the spirit of God for the Text saith he was instructed in the way of the Lord and that was A teaching above humane Learning and it was in the strength of Divine Wisdome and not humane that he mightily convinced them and it was out of the storehouse of the Scriptures opened unto him by the Holy Ghost that he spake and not from the muddy puddle of mans broken Cisterns that can hold no water Jer. 2.13 Act. 6.10 but as Stephen who spoke with such a spirit that the adversaries were not able to resist so it was in Paul and the rest not in the words of mans wisdom but in the demonstration of the spirit and power He proceeds in his scurrilous language with fool and knave it may be such are his companions as most fitting for him and in the 125. pag. he saith I keep a coile about nothing for the very Objecton as I have put it asserts the good to flow from the sanctification of Learning so that I make it an Handmaid Let any one read the Objection and my Solution and they shall easily perceive how he either mistakes or wilfully falsifies my words for I say this that if by being sanctified they mean that the providential wisdom of God doth order it or make use of it for the good of his people I oppose it not so that it be understood that that good flowes not from the nature of acquired Learning it self but from the wisedome and goodnesse of the spirit of God who maketh all things work together for the benefit of those that love him who are the called according to his purpose Then which nothing can be more clear for that a blind man could hardly have mistaken it Then he goes on saying Behold how he cheats you mistaking the Question for it is not whether by the help of humane learning a man may attain a saving knowledge to himselfe whether he can save his own soul but whether he may not attain to such a knowledge as may enable him to hold out the way of salvation unto others and so proceeds in the proving of this unto the beginning of the 119. pag. The poor creature is still accusing others of that which he is guilty of himself for alas he cheats himselfe like a blind man shooting he knows not at what mark for this Question was not moved nor denied by me but in my second Solution granted that humane learning may conduce to the gaining of Litteral and Historical knowledge and is there shewed to be an Objection not ad idem because it profitteth not and therefore the man is here arguing nothing against he neither knows whom nor what but thinks it sufficient confutation of any thing if he do but babble forth wind and words enough though they be altogether beside the Question and to no purpose I will once again tell him what he should have proved to wit That man had reason before the Fall and that humane learning is not the fruit and effect of the forbidden tree but not a word of this It is a morsel too hard for his digesting And that men by reason and humane learning may get a litteral knowledg of the Scriptures and preach that unto others is witnessed by himself others of the like principle who have but a carnal and litteral knowledge of the things of Christ Mat. 15 13. and yet dare take upon them to inform and teach others and so the blind lead the blind and they fall both into the ditch and so many thousands preach that which will neither save themselves nor those that hear them and so the Scripture is fulfilled in them 1 Pet. 3.16 who being undiscipled or untaught of God Jude 19. wrest both the writings of Paul and other Scriptures to their own destruction These be they who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit But I must tell him that he absolutely wrests and falsifieth that Scripture in 1 Cor. 9.27 1 Cor. 9.27 For knoweth he what body the Apostle meaneth and in what sense doth he understand that Paul may be a Cast-away For if he means that Paul might be Eternally Cast away or a Reprobate if he preached to others and kept not his own body in subjection them I utterly deny it as false and unsound for he was A Chosen Vessel and was perswaded by the truth of the spirit of God that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities Rom. 8.38.39 nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other creature should be able to separate the Saints of which he was one from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus their Lord. For the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not bear A cast-away but one disapproved or disallowed of now if the Young man would but have looked a little farther he might have found the Apostle expounding himself not that he might be disallowed of God Eternally but disapproved of men and therefore he saith But I trust ye shall know that we are not reprobates 2 Cor. 13.6.7 Now I pray to God that ye do no evil not that we should appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 approved but that ye should do that which is honest though we be as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reprobates So that I make him not speak an impossibility but I am sure he makes the Text speak an untruth in holding that Paul might be Eternally Reprobate or disallowed of God And I wish him to examine his own breast and he will finde the Judas there and himselfe to have but a form of godlinesse having denyed the power thereof 2 Tim 3.5 and that he hath but taken that word into his mouth in a carnal and fleshly comprehension which the holy spirit never planted nor taught there and therefore must be rooted out because not planted by the Heavenly Father Mat. 15.13 He concludes saying it is cleare therefore that learning and parts per se ex propriâ naturâ can understand and so apprehend the mystery the Gospel