by which she is exalted and adorned in her greatest seemingly spiritual glory it is the root of the spirit which begets brings forth and feeds Sion even in her lowest ebb and diminution So that mark now you shall finde the same things in both All that you can finde in Sion you may finde in Babylon there is not any knowledg there is not any practise which the spirit of man cannot take up nay and perhaps go through with better then the seed but yet there is a vast difference they are still of a different nature which difference floweth from the difference of the root Therefore if a man will indeed know his estate and condition it is not to be done so much by considering of any thing that is in him or of any thing that floweth from him barely in it self as to search out thereby and therein the root from which it proceedeth Not so much to conclude I am safe because I repent or beleeve but to find out the true root from whence these flow to seek for the true nature in the things themselvs To make this to be more manifest I shall instance in some things of the greatest consequence and shew that the distinction among them doth arise from the nature of their root as particularly in these 1. In Regeneration 2. In Knowledg 3. In Repentance 4. In Faith 5. In Love 6. In Experience 7. In Liberty All which may grow from each from the root of mans nature dressed and purified and so be fleshly or from a new nature from the new creation of God in Christ and so be spiritual 1. For Regeneration You will say for a man to be born again this is the greatest evidence of life that can be yea but Regeneration it self is according to the nature of the root Mans spirit may enter into the womb of flesh and there be born again so saith Christ here speaking of regeneration speaking of the second birth that which is born of the flesh is flesh A man may be new born in Religion by the flesh that is by the use of his own wisdom and reason of serving and considering the things that are discovered by God in his dispensations especially if they be held out very cleerly and miraculously as the case was here Any man who had been ingenious might have acknowledged what Nicodemus did here That Christ was a teacher come from God and so consequently that there was just ground to receive his doctrine and beleeve in him Now that regeneration which ariseth hence which is from flesh which is from the use of any wisdom reason understanding or power in man it is according to this root it is a change of flesh from flesh into flesh it is all along but a fleshly change it is not the change of a mans spirit into a new nature but only a change of the shape and form of it The man indeed seems mightily changed unto himself new-born new-made he is not what he was but a new thing hath new thoughts of God new desires towards God new hopes a new life and conversation and so it is with him in a kind in a sence he is not what he was he is new but all this newness is but the newness of the flesh it is but the putting on a new garment a new dress on the old man on the old wisdom reason understanding ingenuity and integrity which belongs to the nature of Adam and may easily be found in that nature where it is any thing awakened and polished But now that regeneration which is from God that man who is brought forth again in the womb of his spirit that man who hath a new root from the seed of his life this change is truly spiritual this man is truly spirit cast this man into what shape and form you will he is still spirit The other mans Religion consists in his form which the sweetness and ingenuity of his earthly principle feeds it self in and exerciseth it selfe about so that take away his form and you take away his Religion but this mans Religion consists in the nature of his spirit in the nature of that root from which his spirit came and which it is one with 2. As touching Knowledg Knowledg is the next thing to the new birth when a man is new born in any kinde he is still brought forth into a new light in which he is to live according to which he is to move and act and by which he is to be perfected Now the spirit of man may be brought forth in any kind of knowledg light of every sort is surable to his spirit and according to the breaking of it forth still he can take it in Indeed what can more fully distinguish the Children of light then light and yet what light cannot the spirit of man the Child of darkness transform himself into what truth what mystery can be revealed which the spirit of man cannot suck in Though I had the gift of prophecy saith the Apostle and understood all mysteries and all knowledg c. and wanted love implying the possibility of such a thing There is a rationality in all the things of God which the reason of man may reach especially if it be assisted by God and yet that man not have a divine root in himself for want of which his knowledg cannot be call'd truly divine though it be from above The things themselves may be from above the discovery of them to him may be from above yea he may receive divine help in the receiving of them and yet that in him which receiveth them may be but flesh and may receive but the flesh of them Man receiveth but the rationality but the outward nature but the external knowledg of the things of God not the inward substance So that all his knowledg in heavenly things wherwith he abounds is but fleshly it is not true knowledg it is not the knowledg of the truth it is not true light it is not the light of the Lord it is not the light of a spirit lighted from the Spirit of the Lord but a light of man or if you will a fleshly light of God at which man hath lighted his fleshly spirit All the light which mans spirit is capable of in the things of God doth not argue life doth not argue truth to accompany it because it may be borne of the flesh and so be fleshly nay indeed is and cannot but be so All his knowledg of God of Christ of Sin Death Hel of life salvation and happiness and the way to each c. be it never so cleere and never so full in the heart yet it is all but fleshly because it is in a fleshly spirit proceeding from a fleshly root and can give forth it self but according to its own nature and can be received in but according to the capacity of that which receiveth it As man who receiveth these things into himself springs from a root
chiefly dispenced under the one and the spirit under the other The letter was appointed for the litteral people and the spirit for the spiritual and so they are managed The litteral people receive their impression from the letter of the Word are brought forth by the letter and fed and maintained by the letter and the spiritual people receive their impression from the spirit of the Word are brought forth by the spirit and fed and maintained by the spirit So long as the letter of the Word lived in the fleshly people the fleshly people lived so long as the spirit of the Word liveth in the spiritual people the spiritual people live for these can live no more then the former any longer then they are fed from the root This dispensation and people may dye as well as the other Hence that ministration is called the ministration of the letter this of the spirit So that mark now There is letter and spirit life and death justification and condemnation in the Word both in the Copy and in the Original in Christ which is the Word of God and in the Scriptures which are the words of Christ in the heart of Christ which is Gods Book where he hath writ his Word and in the heart of man which is Christs Book where he hath writ his Word And both these dispensations are equally from God and from Christ from first to last both in their causes and in their effects 2. Of the Spirit The Spirit is that Substance which comprehends the Word and is comprehended in the Word It is the Lord and Servant of Christ who is the Word of God It is that which lives dwells and reigns both in the flesh and spirit of Christ and in which they likewise reign It is the liquor in Christ which Christ as a Vessel containeth and also the Vessel which containeth Christ. It is both the root and the fruit The root from whence Christ groweth and the fruit which Christ beareth both in his life and death from whence they both sprang and wherein they both meet The ministration of this is not yet made manifest It was only pointed at in the ministration of the Gospel which did shadow out it as the Law did shadow out that ministration or if you will both the Law and the Gospel did shadow this out in different respects and degrees the one more grosly the other more refinedly the one more darkly and remotely the other more nearly and clearly The Law stood aloof at a great distance from it yet spake of it and referred unto it the Gospel did as it were touch it speaking the very name and manifesting the very nature of it Yet the very ministration of the Spirit in that dispensation of the Gospel if it be well looked into will appear rather a shadow then the thing it self and every way more like a shadow then like the thing it self Now who knoweth whether those things which have been so contrary in all dispensations hitherto shall not here meet Life and Death Heaven and Hell which every where else are at such a distance may here touch one another and agree very sweetly together even so fully that both those names and natures whereby they did appear and were so various in all dispensations may here be drowned and vanish Yet it is not by eithers real loss of any thing whereby and wherein they differed that they become thus harmoniously united but by both their entering into a more perfect fulness And he to whom this seemeth so strange and who is so much offended at it let him fairly answer me this following question Were not Hell and Heaven at union in their root before they were brought forth Were they not at rest and peace in the Power and Nature of God from whence they were produced Without controversie what ever lay there lay in rest and whatsoever is brought back thither returneth to rest Now did the Lord bring forth any thing which he cannot bring back again and who can say he will not Surely every thing most naturally breatheth after that condition of rest and fulness which it can alone enjoy in his bosom Most certain it is that the vast Spirit of the Lord taketh in all things howsoever it dispose of them Thence they came thither they return there they are and doubtless there they may be found in union and agreement by him whose Spirit is quick and piercing enough Happy is he who can read this truth in the Spirit of the Lord but wretchedly miserable is he who frameth false imaginations in his own mind by the vanity of his own reason concerning it 3. Of Faith Faith is a shadowy or substantial life flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed seeking after fastening upon and resting in the Spirit This is Faith First I say it is Life It is a touch of life it is a spring of life it is the choyce of life which God bringeth forth in his own in his own seasons We may mistake in ascribing names to other things whose nature and principle we know not but this we are taught by God who knoweth things very well to name Faith The life of the Law was obedience a spirit of obedience by this a man was enabled to live in and according to the Law but this life is faith a spirit of faith He who beleeveth is only able to enter into this life and to walk in it I call it shadowy or substantial because it is either as it is looked upon Look upon it backward and it is substantial Look upon it forward and it is but shadowy As the ministration of the Gospel was a ministration of the spirit of that which was in the Law so the life ministred under the Gospel is a substantial life in compare with that But look forward into the substance of that which is yet behind and here faith it self is but a shadow This life also is but a shadow Alas the life of Faith must vanish Notwithstanding all its glory it must dye and lie in its grave like the Law Flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed The seed is the vessel the only vessel which containeth this life It is not man that this life is sown in but the seed and the seed is sown in man Immortal life eternal life is wrapped up in immortal seed in eternal seed that is the immediate vessel and this is sown in the mortal spirit of man which by putting on mortality there it changeth into its own nature Hence they in whom the seed is sown and who are changed by it are called by that name they are called the seed This life floweth from the Spirit into this seed The Spirit which formeth this seed breatheth into it this breath of life This seed is the spirits own vessel and this life is his own liquor wherewith he filleth it The Spirit lyeth in the vessel and is continually breathing in it and that
of admitting is but according to the root it is but natural it is but fleshly But that love which proceedeth from a new life that love is of a new nature even of the nature of that spirit out of which it shoots 6. For Experience Man may have many experiences in a natural way of religion and devotion or in any dispensation wherein he is placed Experiences of God experiences of his own heart experiences of the nature of things the people of the Jews had many experiences of Gods owning them and care of them c. And yet these also are according to the root Those experiences which the spirit of man the nature of man the understanding of man gathereth and comprehendeth they are but experiences of man they are but experiences in and according to the light and nature of man Those experiences alone which are gathered by the nature and observation of the new life they only testifie the truth of and they alone are usefull to that life 7. And lastly For Liberty True liberty is a very sweet effect of the light of the Gospel The spirit of man in this present state of nature is commonly bound up in darkness every mans darkness is his prison whom light doth set free Now as mans spirit may receive the light of the Gospel after a maner the spirit of man may receive that light which is held forth in the dispensation of the Gospel so mans spirit may come forth into liberty into great liberty he may feel himself free from all his bonds yea this freedom may be so large and clear to him that he may be able to say in his heart all things are lawful for me and yet all this may be but the liberty of mans spirit and another that seems to be in all maner of bonds may have the true freedom for the one is true though but in its birth or seed and the other is not true though in its greatest growth and flourishing The substance of all that truth is in God whereof in man there is but the weak dark shadow He therefore that is begotten by God he that flowes from the generative vertue of his divine nature is begotten in that substance but he which is begoten by man or that which is begotten in man by the purest and exactest strain of the human spirit either his own or any others though with the greatest furtherances and assistances even from above is begotten but in some part or other of the shadow which when the substance appears cannot but vanish pass away and prove a lye so far as it was taken for the truth for the purest extract that can be raised even by God himself out of the spirit of man is not the thing but the shadow of it But now there is the truth in the seed in weakness as well as the truth in growth The greatest perfection of the spirit of man is but a lye so far as it takes upon it to be the truth for it is but a fleshly image of truth it is not truth it self All the Repentance Faith Love c. which the spirit of man can possibly be raised unto by any thing that can work upon his spirit is but a shadow of that Repentance faith love c. which is in the nature of God and floweth from the nature of God for there is in God a turning from that which he calleth to our spirits to turn from which is Repentance and adherence to and confidence in that which he calleth to us to cast our selves upon which is faith but is not the thing it self But now the seed and that which is in it and cometh from it even in its greatest weakness is truth That Repentance that Faith that Love c. that floweth from this nature from this life is of this nature is of this life The meanest the lowest thing that is born of the spirit is spirit even in its lowest state in its lowest kind and degree of motions and the greatest the highest thing that is born of the flesh even in its greatest height in the utmost degree of all its spiritual exaltation exercise and motion is but flesh One man may run with much quickness and cleerness through all dispensations and be wonderfully raised and yet remain but flesh before in and after all Another may be in the lowest form of the lowest dispensation and yet be spirit there It is true these things forementioned are all of them effects or at least concomitants of the Gospel Man dark man hears no news of a new birth of the knowledg of God of Repentance Faith c. But yet where the Gospel cometh these things so far as they are in the nature of man are awakened and heightened Partly by Satan thereby to keep out the truth for hereby he cozeneth and deceiveth men making them beleeve they are new men whereas they are new only in respect of what they outwardly were viz. in respect of the form or shape wherein their spirit was but not in respect of their inward nature and partly by God to make a proof or trial of the spirit of man throughout At first God tried him in his whole or sound and now he trieth him in his broken estate in all the several changes he can undergo there Therefore doth the Lord not only draw forth what is in him but also add thereunto by gifts and assistances from above that at length he may give forth a compleat experiment of man what he is or what he can come to And although these experiments be not of use to the nature and eye of the Lord to further his sight or knowledg yet there is a nature and eye to which they are very useful yea necessary to which nature and eye the Lord is engaged by his nature to make them manifest in such a way manner season and proportion as his nature and theirs require For the better illustration yet a little further both of this truth in general and of these particular instances Take notice of this threefold distinction of the spirit of man or carefully observe and distinguish the spirit of man in this threefold estate or condition First in his natural growth Secondly in his Transplantation Thirdly in his spiritual Renovation 1. There is the spirit of man in its natural way of growth The spirit of man naturally inclineth towards excellency There is indeed a bulk of corruption which hangeth about him and turneth him aside but his own spirit disrelisheth it and he wisheth he were freed from it and made to be in himself that which is naturally excellent This is the heart of every man by nature He would serve God he would enjoy God he would be just and righteous to men It is the corruption which hangeth about his nature and is grown so strong and prevalent that it is now become his nature which maketh him otherwise but in his root in his principle he is not so and he
They who are truly dead with Christ are freed by that their death from their former husband the law The life which was married to it died and hath been laid in the grave and there is no marrying or giving in marriage any more even in this sence in the grave or after the Resurrection The life having dyed in that state and dispensation wherein it was brought forth and placed that it might fulfil it and dye and having slain the man also with it yea the very root and spirit of his life If either or both rise up any more they rise up free They can rise no more under the law of that dispensation to which they were slain So that the life in liberty is as it were a Lord over all the dispensations of God which as they are of an inferior nature to this life so it is their proper place to be in subjection to it He in whom the life lives reigns may in or out at pleasure use them or leave them as the light and pleasure of the nature of this life directs him He may take any of them and seem bound under them though in himself he is still free he may leave them off again and manifest his own freedom when he sees his time All things are lawful for me saith the Apostle but all things are not expedient as if he had said I can do any thing I can use any thing but yet withall I know my time My spirit which knoweth the greatness the largenes of my liberty knoweth also how to manage it And he shews as much in his practise for though at one time he could shave himself and enter into the Temple in a way of legal purification yet at another time when certain crept in to espy out his Liberty he would not give place by subjection no not for an hour but would maintain his Liberty in the very face of them He could make use of circumcision himself by vertue of this Liberty for he circumcised Timothy though he tells the Galathians that if they were circumcised Christ would profit them nothing Nor is this Liberty restrained to the life in it self but sinks with the life into the man All things were made for man All Creatures all Ordinances all Laws all Institutions and Commandments not man for them as Christ saith particularly concerning the Sabbath The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath and when man comes to his right place he shall be above them all and they shall all be subservient to him for whose service use and discipline they were made It is true Man in his present estate is a servant under them and enslaved by them yea the life it self though by the right of its own nature it be far more free yet for a season it may lie under greater bonds then man in his condition of slavery hath yet tasted but when the Son groweth up to his freedom he becomes free indeed yea and that man whom he maketh free is free also But it is a great vanity for any to dream of and to think to make use of and live according to this freedom before it be truly brought forth in them It is not by having the cleer notions and apprehensions of Liberty or by taking scope to themselves according to these notions that men become free but it is by the nature growth and advancement of the true life in them from and according to the true light and Power of the Spirit of the Lord. The former is but poor mans aspiring into a state into which he is not rightly led which tends to greater bonds The other is a fair passage through and from under bonds to which that person who is once set free by the truth shall never be reduced For the Lord will maintain that Liberty unto which his own Spirit Life and Power exalteth This is the First thing wherein Liberty consists a disobligation fâ—om all Laws and Ordinances inferior to the nature or life which is bound by them 2. Liberty consists in an exemption from all powers of a Superior nature If Satan may be supposed to be stronger then the life as he is compared with the life in its weakness though he that then stands by the life and taketh care of it is stronger then Satan yet the life shall be free from him The life which deserves to be called free must be out of the reach or fear of his claws The life is not free which Satan may interrupt or at least not while he may interrupt it Satan must down when the life springs up God will trample down Satan before the presence of the life nay under the feet both of man and the creature when the life appears in them The God of peace will tread down the troublesome spirit of Satan under the spirits yea and under the flesh too of all his Saints in the day of their freedom Nay the very Power of God so far as it was dreadful to Christ and to his Saints for they have always complained of that as the most terrible thing which they have had to deal with and indeed it is that that chiefly afflicteth and slayeth them in the hour of their sickness and death though all the time of their life it was their chief support I say this power they must be secured from too in the day of their Liberty God will not now interpose any more with his exercises as he formerly did in his time of nurturing the life but henceforth there issueth nothing from him but what answereth the nature and desire of the life 3. Liberty lyeth and that most of all in the cleerness strength and perfection of life in the temper of the spirit in the nature life and growth of the spirit If the spirit were never so free from all Laws on the one hand and from all powers on the other hand yet if it failed of cleerness strength or perfection of life it could not be perfectly at liberty If it want either light or strength of life to move with it cannot but fall short in its motions and though it were never so free in other respects yet it would still be bound up in the darkness weakness and imperfection of its own nature If mans reason were free from all Laws and bonds whatsoever yet if it were not full in its own nature if it wanted either light or strength in its kind man could not be free either in the exercise or enjoyment of his natural principle And this holds also in the spiritual principle Its Liberty lies in the perfection of its nature therefore though he may have a taste of it before yet he cannot be fully free until he be brought forth in perfection There must be a cleer spirit within a cleer course and passage for the spirit cleer light about the spirit and full strength and vigor in the spirit or there cannot be a through freedom If the spirit have any clouds
afterwards how loftily did they look upon the rest of the world and scorn them even as dogs Neither were the converted Gentiles altogether free from this snare but they were apt likewise to boast not only over the rest of the world but over the Iews also Rom. 11. 2. The flesh will also take advantage hereby to corrupt it self in its Rest. There is a rest for the people of God a rest from all the toilsome motions of the humane spirit which the flesh will lay hold on to neglect what it should do and the doing whereof doth not contradict or interrupt this rest but floweth from it The flesh by this liberty will be apt to think it is become its own and may neglect any duties or ordinances duties of love and service ordinances of worship c. as it shall think good whereas the flesh hath no more liherty in this respect then as it is drenched into and truly led by the spirit The spirit of the Lord is free and so far as our spirit yea and as our flesh also is taken into the spirit of the Lord it partaketh of this freedom But the flesh which is in part thus advanced must know its place and distance It must know as well how to descend stand and walk in its present place relation and order as to ascend and maintain fellowship with the Lord. But this the flesh till it be throughly mortified cannot learn to do but will be continually seeking its own honour and ease and abusing all the light life and liberty of the spirit therefore the Lord hath great reason to keep the flesh very short even in his choicest ones 3. The flesh will also think it hath liberty to do what it pleaseth and so will make use of this liberty to glut it self with all manner of vanity and sensuality The flesh which naturally longeth to take its fill of the delights of the flesh doth as naturally incline to take all advantages and will not stick to bend aside the very light life and liberty of the spirit thereunto O what draughts of vanity will it now swill down when once it feels it self fenced from the fear of that danger which was its only curb Now will every fleshly spirit take its swindg according to its temper and inclination some in more gross and sensual some in more refined and spiritual pollutions Thus that wherein the breath life and spirit of the Gospel lieth An holy Temper an holy Rest and holy Motions the flesh getteth into and corrupteth and thereby eateth out all the excellency and vigor of life which was let out in the dispensation destroyeth that precious savour and leaven which it had from the life conceiveth with some new seed of spiritual filthiness and at last bringeth forth a more unclean filthy birth of the flesh then its womb was capable of before But by love serve one another Man would have liberty to reign He would have every thing serve him He maketh use of his Light his Life his Liberty to serve himself and to make every thing else serve him But the life in Christ and his seed which floweth from the Love of the Father and dwelleth in love delighteth to serve It will be serviceable to every thing but especially to that nature which is the same with it self This nature teacheth it not only self-love which every nature teacheth but also to love its neighbor here as it self Christ though he was a King and had a Kingdom yet he came not here to reign but to serve And all his seed who partake of the same life follow him who is their guide in the same steps As they have the same nature of love with him so the same nature guideth them to the same service of love The love that is in Christ and the love that is in the Saints maketh their humane spirit with all the life liberties and enjoyment of it which it either hath in it self or receiveth by the Gospel to serve both the life of their own spirits and the life in one another and that under all the weaknesses in which it is sown or can grow up It is more pleasant and natural to Christ and his seed to deny their Liberty and enter into bonds for the advantage of others then to enjoy it for their own satisfaction The Liberty of their natures the Liberty of their spirits they cannot lose and as for the Liberty of any outward practise it is not of so much value as to be maintained to anothers prejudice Liberty can exercise and enjoy it self as much in the forbearance as in the use nay it is direct bondage not to be able to wave it in such a case He is a slave he is in bonds he hath not a large and free spirit who can only reign but cannot serve who cannot deny himself with the same ease and content wherewith he observeth himself He is bound up in his Nature he is restrained in his Liberty He is free but in part he hath not arrived at the compleat temper of the life for the life can do both and hath a time and season for both XI Of the low Ebb which the Lord Christ was brought to by his Death and Sufferings PSAL. 22.6 But I am a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people THis is the state and condition of Christ in the time of his Death This is his dying sence or his sence when he is dying of his own state and posture therein In the midst of his life while the Power of God rested in him and the Glory of God shone upon him he was a God and no man He was one with the Father one in substance one in life one in motion operation and enjoyment But now in the season of his Death in the time of his desertion and affliction while that life fails and gives up the ghost for want of the presence and influence of God and by the power and force of the enemy as he was before lifted up far above the state of man so now he falls far beneath it I am a worm and no man That excellency which is in man that excellency which may yet be found in man even in his broken state Christ is stripped of when his own life dies so that in truth he is not a man not so much as a man This is not an hyperbolical or passionate expression but the expression of a true sense from a true understanding Which will appear more cleerly if we consider these things which are most eminent in man as his Beauty his Majesty his Wisdom his Strength his Intercourse with God all which Christ was stripped of in the time of his Death in all which respects he was more like to a worm then a man 1. For the Beauty of man Man is evidently the most lovely the most comely piece of the whole Creation He is as it were the extract the quintescence of the Creation
life perisheth and man returneth to his Earth to his very corruption again yea and taketh unto himself seven Devils worse then the former For the higher that man is raised by this breath from the Lord the lower he falls when this breath is withdrawn It is the spirit of corrupt man getting or advanced by the Lord into the purest ways and forms of Religion which bringeth forth the filthiest abominations 4. In the result of this corruption and evil will befall you in the latter days Sin most naturally brings forth death Corruption or putrefaction is a degree of and a direct passage unto death And it will break forth and appear in the latter days Man must have a time to corrupt in which he is to be let alone but in the latter days when his end draws nigh death hastens apace his corruption then begins to open it self and to discover the death which lay hid in it Then that evil which man hoped all this while to secure himself from will begin to manifest it self to be in the nature of his own spirit or in the nature of that sin and corruption which he hid within the nature of his spirit He hath hid his destruction in his own bowels he hath hugged it in his bosom in the midst of all his designs to escape it and in the latter days when it is grown ripe and strong thence it will start seize upon him and devour him When the Lord hath throughly tryed the spirit of man and when man hath throughly corrupted himself then will he lay the ax to the root of this tree and cut it down that it may cumber the ground no longer He hath cut down the Iews already Their latter days wherein evil did befall them have overtaken them and he will also cut down the Gentiles The Iews were not the seed for after the death of Moses they did corrupt themselves and discover that they like the rest of the world were but flesh Neither are the Gentiles the seed for they also after the death of that life which did flow from the Spirit into Christ and his Apostles did also corrupt themselves The uncircumcised and unclean spirit of man did enter into this Temple and Worship as well as into the former Therefore the Lord will both cut down the spirit of man and will also down with all that into which the spirit of man can enter and then will he bring forth his own Truth his true Temple his true Worship his true Worshippers 5. In the ground of this death and destruction to man because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the works of your hands All the motions of man anger God All the works of his hands are filthy and corrupt in themselves and provocative to the eye of his nature and spirit All mans knowledg all his life all his ways of Worship Faith and Obedience in every kind every thing that suits the eye and judgment of his spirit and wherewith he thinks to please God is lothsom to God This lothsomness stirreth up in God his indignation which causeth him in the proper season thereof to bring death upon man and to bring him to Judgment after which cometh the second death Then it shall be known who have been led by the Lord and who have truly followed him though the spirit of man now laughs at all who walk not with him in his way of understanding Then shall all see and know who are righteous and be forced to confess from their very hearts saying Verily there is a reward for the righteous a competent reward a full reward unto them for all the sufferings and misery which have attended them in their way and passage hither Blessed is he whom the Lord leadeth by the proper cross attending every dispensation through trouble and death into life But excessively miserable is that man whose fleshly spirit remaineth in any dispensation or who passeth from dispensation to dispensation with his life unslain therewith feeding upon the Ordinances duties enjoyments or any other holy or spiritual things of God and thereby fattening and fitting himself for death and destruction against the great and terrible day of the Lord God Almighty according as the spirit of Christ in David speaketh Psal. 94.12 13. with a gloss whereupon I shall draw towards a conclusion Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law That thou mayst give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked There is a pit digging for the wicked into which when it is finished when it is every way made large and deep and piercing enough the whole wicked spirit of man shall either fall or be cast or partly fall and partly be cast into it Till this pit be digged it is a troublesome time to the seed but a quiet time with man The spirit of man is now at ease He can serve he can please he can enjoy himself in his whole course both of nature and religion yea and he can also secure himself from future danger from danger at the last He hath made a covenant with death and with Hell is he at agreement When the overflowing scourge passeth it shall not come near him It is for unbeleevers for sinners for persons who know not God or obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ to fear death and Hell or eternal destruction But when this pit is digged the Spirit of the Lord with his light will search out the spirit of man under all his disguises and what ever hath not the true breath of life in it shall be cast into and dye in this pit There are persons also to whom God will give rest from the days of adversity Those who have all along been persecuted by all sorts of enemies and afflicted with all sorts of miseries that spirit which hath been hunted wounded grieved distressed all the day long by the cruel spirit of man and Satan shall be rescued from the jaws of each and be refreshed Those who are leavened with the life of Gods most holy Spirit who are so new-changed by it that they have none of that life none of that spirit left remaining in them which the Lord cometh to destroy the Lord will give them rest When the Lord cometh forth to hunt take and devour the spirit of man those in whom that spirit is already dissolved shall not be in fear or danger of his severity but shall find the abundance of love sweetness peace and rest administred to them by the same hand which will then so eagerly and fiercely prosecute the spirit of man Then they who have hitherto been at ease shall be troubled and they who have hitherto been troubled shall have ease And to you who are troubled rest with us When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed c. 2 Thes. 1. The ways whereby God leadeth his to this rest are
thirsterh to be delivered from this bondage of corruption which thus turneth him aside from himself The natural spirit of man which is the principle part of the Creation cannot be excluded from groaning with the rest of the Creation under that load and burthen of vanity and corruption which lyeth chiefly upon it in it self therefore it is no friend thereunto but unto that which is sutable to its own nature So that now whatsoever carrieth a stamp of excellency upon it as all the ways of righteousness towards man and all the ways and Institutions of God concerning his Worship do man cannot but aspire after and endeavor to conform himself unto For though man cannot see the particular Wisdom of God in his dispensations and institutions yet withall he cannot but see that he wanteth his light and guidance and that it is proper for him to observe and obey his pleasure and commands without his particular understanding the reason of them Hence it cometh to pass that man springeth up and flourisheth in any way of Religion wherein he is set It is so natural to him to love God to trust God to seek after and follow his directions and man is so sensible of the reality of his spirit herein that there is no beating him out of his apprehensions concerning the relation between God and him or concerning the truths of those ways wherein he worships and serves him He findeth that he doth naturally incline to God and desire the knowledg of his ways and he cannot but beleeve that God doth as naturally incline to him and guide him in his ways It is true There is that in the present nature of man which hateth God but this is also as true There is that in the nature of man which lovâ—â—â— that root of excellency in God from which it came at first and which is still its life hope desire and perfection And though man naturally fall into that way and form of Religion in which he is educated yet so far as any thing can be held out to his understanding and reason either further in or different from what he hath received he cannot but endeavor ingeniously to weigh it and be ready to give up himself to be changed by it so far as it approveth it self weighty So far as any one falls short of this he falleth short of being a man and his own spirit will justly condemn him therein Now how many changes by this means may man be brought into in Religion His eye and understanding is so shallow that ever and anon different discoveries may be made unto him both concerning outward worship yea and also concerning the spiritual nature exercises and practises of Religion His old way his old apprehensions may be made appear to him to have been but vanity and somewhat more new and more seemingly substantial may be represented to him Poor weak-spirited man is fit only to be baffled and made a fool of Fain he would betake himself somewhere and fix and so he may for a time but afore he is aware somewhat stronger will shake it somewhat cleerer will dispose it which if he doth but open the eye of his nature and reason he cannot but let in and if he do not he is but a brute and not a man and maintains his own standing brutishly not rationally which though it may occasion some brutish ease to him at present yet will prove his loss at the upshot But that man who is truly a man being industrious to search out the mind and will of the Lord and quick to take in that light and these discoveries which in various kinds and degrees of rays are darted forth cannot chuse but undergo many changes both according to the diversity of these discoveries and according to the difference of his own capacity both which dayly alter Man is still growing and his light in every kind continually changed how then can he himself escape changes And that man which is truly ingenious giving every thing scope in his spirit according to the nature and vertue of it searching into the Scriptures praying for the help of God and embracing every beam of light so far as he can find it to be so how high may he grow in Religion and yet the root of mans nature may feed him in all these desires and in all these endeavors We mistake when we think mans nature inclineth him only to corruption No there is a root in him that inclineth him to Reason to Righteousness c. which did he give scope to the Lord would bless in its way though this were no step or degree towards the new life The image of God in man is broken but not annihilated There is still a true representation of God in him though in much darkness and confusion The image of God may still be found in man though under an huge heap of rubbish and if God at any time stir this it cannot but appear more and act towards God and after righteousness and excellency yea if the Lord dung and water it much it will shoot forth very far and grow very large and high in knowledg faith and obedience due to God either under the Law or under the Gospel 2. There is the spirit of man transplanted by vertue of a dispensation from God There is not only the spirit of man growing as well as he can on his old broken stock from his old decayed root but there is also the spirit of man taken out of the old stock and grafted into a new Olive-tree by the power and vertue of a dispensation in so much as he losâ—th the scent of his old corruption and tasteth of the sweetness and fatness of this new root Yea he hath by this means a new Spirit a new Life a new Power This or that particular dispensation of God seizing upon him by the vertue which it hath in it and carrieth with it maketh him new in the world yea and new in himself so that by the influence of that dispensation yea and according to the outward measure of it he may be a new Tree and bring forth new fruit unto God We have two great instances of this the one in that national people of the Iews the other in the converted Gentiles The Iews they were transplanted from among the rest of the Nations into Christ who was their Olive-tree Rom. 11.17.24 out of which they grew They had a Life within and a light without beyond the rest of the world They had the mind of God the guidance of God the protection of God the instructions of God c. and so they might well go further in the knowledg and practise of Religion then other Nations could After them the Gentiles some of the Gentiles some of all Nations among the Gentiles were transplanted in their stead yea and were put more within the root receiving a stronger influence from it then the Iews did They had a further degree of light life power
not at all satisfied thereby in the nature of the thing but by this a man is led into Faith Love Obedience and so into every thing that is thus formed in him The things which the fancy or reason of man for here the reason of man is but fancy after its manner comprehendeth are as it were made natural to the man Now though this be a great power and can make mighty changes and do mighty things in the spirit of a man yea and worketh very like the truth insomuch as that which is meer man can very hardly if at all distinguish it from the truth yet this is not the truth neither this is not the power which the Apostle here speaketh of 3. There is an inward power or vertue in the thing whereby it is what it is and whereby it does what it does whereby it is what it most naturally is and produceth its own most natural effects There is a true vertue in truth an inward power in the Death and Resurrection of Christ an inward power in faith in love and in the spirit of obedience which lyeth in the nature of it which it disperseth and leaveneth the lump with where it is sown in truth Now this is it the Apostle here means He will know this power he will distinguish by this vertue the nature and truth of the thing it self From whence this may be observed Observ. That true Religion consists not in notion not in apprehension not in expression but in the true Nature Vertue Life and Power of the thing it self The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power Let a man have the cleerest apprehension of the truths of God and the cleerest expression of them that may be yet this is not Religion If a man have all knowledg with all the effects of Faith Love Zeal Obedience c. which this knowledg can produce in him yet this is not Religion The knowledg of self-denial of resignation to the will of God with all the self-denial and resignation which this knowledg can produce The knowledg of the Death of Christ and of the Life of Christ with all the effects there of in the spirit of a man neither is this Religion Reas. The reason whereof is this because all outwardness is but a garment wherewith Religion may be clothed or not clothed according to the pleasure of God Now ye know a garment neither is the thing nor a certain evidence of the thing All outward buildings which the spirit of the Lord rears the spirit of the Lord may also leave and the spirit of man of Antichrist of Satan may enter into The Lord hath not yet built his everlasting Tabernacle or Temple and therefore those he doth set up being but shadowes his spirit may as well leave as enter into So that whatsoever may come into apprehension whatsoever may be brought forth in notion or expression is not the thing at best it can be but a true garment but a true appearance but a true house for the thing to be clothed with appear and abide in while the Lord pleaseth But now where there is the nature where there is the life where ther is the vertue wher ther is the power there must needs be the thing Where there is the life of a man there must needs be a man where there is the vertue of a renewed nature there must needs be a renewed nature where there is the power of Religion the power of the Kingdom there must needs be Religion there must needs be the Kingdom for this is from it this is â—n it yea this is it What is the vertue and power of God but God what is the power and vertue of any thing but the thing The vertue of Religion the power of the Kingdom that is it in which the very spirit of it is lives goeth forth and resideth Quest. But what is this same nature life power or vertue of Religion wherein Religion consists This is very necessary to be well considered for there is a nature life vertue or power in the Religion of man That which here the Apostle calleth word hath that in it which man calleth power Let a man receive any apprehension into his mind fully let him but receive it seriously as the truth of God it cometh with a great deal of power it bringeth vertue with it to make changes in him changes in his spirit changes in his understanding changes in his will changes in his conversation And yet this is not the power which the Apostle here looketh after all this is with him but word The greatest inwardness of man is but outwardness with the spirit of the Lord. What then is this same power here or what is the nature of this power of this vertue Answ. To this question I shall return this threefold description by way of answer 1. For the general nature of it it is divinely spiritual It is not a birth from the spirit of man no nor yet from the spirit of Satan but from the spirit of the Lord. There is the true nature life and power of God in it It is the seed of God and it brings forth the true nature of God The Spirit of the Lord begetteth that which is spirit The spirit of the Lord bringeth forth a truly spiritual Religion in the spirit of man where he soweth his seed 2. As touching the common properties of it It is both killing and quickening and that both in ones self and also towards others In every truth of the Kingdom in every thing that belongs to the Kingdom there is that vertue which continually kills and quickens where ever it comes It kills the spirit of man and it quickens the spirit of man It layeth flat all the corruption yea all the life and glory of the creature where ever it appears It is like a fire It burns up all the life of every thing it comes neer and it brings along with it that life which alone can live in that fire I know man hath his several waies of killing and quickening by his notions but it doth not do the thing in truth for under all the seeming deaths of the creature the creature is still alive and under all the seemingly renewed life 's of the creature the creature is still dead in its root and principle yea and also in all its motions and operations 3. For the peculiar nature of it That is sutable to every particular truth to every particular thing of the Kingdom to every particular truth we receive from God to every particular thing portion or member of life which is formed in us Thus the severall truths of the Gospel have their own particular natures The death of Christ its the resurrection of Christ its c. So likewise the several tempers and graces in the spirits of disciples have their particular natures self-denial it s faith it s love its and so the rest theirs whereby they are distinct from one another They
in his own spirit He is the truly natural Son of God Now this nature cannot be deceived because as it floweth from truth alone so it is purely truth in it self and knoweth not how to entertain or admit of any thing but truth It s nature is perfectly shut up against every lye and deceit it naturally turneth from it and thrusteth it away Its nature hath nothing in it to receive any thing of that nature and therefore cannot receive it Now he which is naturally true and cannot take in a lye surely he cannot possibly bring forth a lye Hence ariseth the certainty of all the senses of Christ and of all the motions of Christ Namely from their nature They are of a true of a perfect kind and cannot but act truly according to their kind 2. From his union with the Spirit His nature is not only excellent right and of a perfect kind but it is also in union with the original from whence it sprang Adam might be in union with the root of the flesh but if he were yet that root will not preserve its off-spring therefore he fell But Christs nature is in union with the root of the Spirit therefore he cannot miscarry both because that root cannot but preserve its seed and because that nature cannot but be sucking nourishment from the root There is no nature might in reason be more independent in respect of its own excellency and fulness and yet no natuâ—e is more dependent which ariseth from its constitution and is its wisdom and safety There is absolute certainty in the root and there is no less certainty in Christ for the very same certainty which is in the nature of the root springeth up in him yea his nature being in union with the root hath also communion with it insomuch as he enjoyeth the truth there in the time of his light and is comprehended by it in the time of his darkness 3. From his Life Christ hath a Life in him sutable to his nature A true Life a Spiritual Life a Divine Life His Spirit as it hath the nature so also it hath the Life of the Spirit of God All his motions spring from his own life and so cannot but be as certain unto him in his kind yea much more his life being of a more certain kind as our motions which spring in us from our life are to us in our kind We are not certain about the things of God because our life is not of the same nature with the things of God but he is very certain because his is Our knowledg at best is but revealed it is but given in to our life but his knowledg is natural it floweth from his life Hence it is that every thing every motion unto him is so pleasant and satisfactory namely because it is so natural because it flows from such a power of life Man attains his skil and understanding in divine things by the sweat of his brows by the labor and toyl of his spirit and it troubles him much to bring it forth to defend and manage it Yea his own heart and Soul if it be a little awakened and enlarged cannot but find fault with it but Christs skil and understanding springs up in him and flows forth from him and both in its springing up and flowing forth answers the truth largeness and capacity of his nature 4. From his Light He hath a proper light to see the things of God with He hath the same light with God As he lives in the same Country breaths in the same air hath the same nature spirit and life so he hath the same light He is called the light Ioh. 1.7 Iohn came for a witness to bear witness of the light He himself was not that light but to bear witness of that light verse 8. That was the true light verse 9. The light of men and Angels was a true shadow The light of the Prophets was a true Testimony but he is the substance He is that true light which all other lights did but shadow out and testifie concerning There is an eye proper to every kind of things that is to be seen an eye in every nature sutable to the nature of those things which it is to behold and there is also a light proper to every eye Now Christ having both the eye and the light how can he chuse but see certainly Gather up these together He that hath a true nature which hath a true eye in it He who is in union with the spirit of God which is truth and who himself is truth in him He that hath the true life in him for his motions to spring from the true life to guide his eye with And lastly He that hath the true light to see in how can he chuse but be certain in what he thus views And so his seed having the same nature with him the same Spirit the same Life the same Light how can they miss of the same certainty They cannot but be guided naturally unto the same things and upon the same terms of infallibility But now man Adam take him at his best who never had this nature but was from the beginning the earthly man who never was in this kind of union with the spirit who never had this life or light in him how can he understand these kind of things He may desire to be like God from a sight of the excellency of his nature being and life and fumble about the things of God but he cannot possibly pierce into them He may gather many apprehensions into his mind and approach in his way of reasoning to a certainty but he cannot reach the truth He cannot know eternal Life it is beyond the capacity of his nature He may perhaps reason that there must needs be an eternal Life and a way unto it but he cannot possibly conceive what that eternal Life is nor tread the path that leads to it But the Son or any of the seed cannot miss of it for it is written in their nature That Spirit that Life that Light which guides to it descends of it self upon them springs up of it self in them Use 1. Take heed of contradicting Christ in this Testimony of his which he giveth out upon knowledg Christ â—â—me from God from the light of God bringing the light of God with him He tells you the truth here the true state of things as he saw and knows them to be with God And this is his Testimony that the present state and course of things tends to a future that at the last day Life and Death shall be dispenced and that the only way to life then is by beleeving now Christ testified truly and wisely He understood what he said He spake upon ground He spake what he saw by the light and in the bosom of God Wilt thou from thine own head from a strong fancy or reasoning in thine own mind contradict this and say There is no such thing
is peace The end of a man is that to which he tends that toward which his nature and all his motions bend their course that unto which he grows that which all his exercises and varieties in all the several dispensations through which God leadeth him contribute to Every thing hath its end There is an end of every dispensation and an end after every dispensation There is an end of all troubles an end of all motions an end of all rest an end of all peace which is known in this world Now there are two great Ends according to the two great Natures which are sown in this world which are Death and Life Ioy and Sorrow Anguish and Ease Heaven and Hell Peace is that quietness of Nature wherein it is and enjoys it self and what it desires Trouble is the disturbance of Nature Peace is its settlement There is trouble and there is peace now to be seen in the world but they are but shadows but the trouble and the peace which is the substance of the thing is to be discovered in the end and then that peace which belongeth to the nature and life of the perfect man shall be dispenced to him All old things all old trouble all old peace shall pass away and this new trouble and peace succeed and take hold of things according to their nature estate and degree But what this Peace particularly is none can apprehend but he who knoweth the nature the spirit and the trouble of the perfect man yet if you desire an outward description of it take it thus It is the perfect serenity and calmness both of the liquor and of the vessel of Life in the Land of Rest Where whatsoever might annoy or disturb is removed and which aboundeth with whatsoever may ease or refresh There is a Peace which passeth all understanding to conceive not only the extent but the very nature of it which is the end of the perfect man or at which the perfect man shall arrive in his end Here his inmost spirit clothed with his natural soul which is also encompassâ—d with an outward bodily garment shall sit down in their proper seat of perfect rest When the holy house or habitation of God is opened into which no unclean thing shall enter but be disturbed by it and suffer from it according to the nature and degree of its evil then shall this holy Child of God be admitted and welcomed into its own place and portion of rest and peace there Take notice also by the way of one great advantage this perfect man hath in any present dispensation of God The world is now very dark and barren and if a little light should break forth it would mightily refresh it But alas man would be lifted up above himself and distempered by it at present and afterwards he would dye again and become more miserable But the perfect man would both enjoy it more truly more fully more substantially at present and also not be in such danger afterward Because it would not be his life but his life would rather be Lord over it and so his chief happiness not depending upon it his chief happiness would not pass away with it Miserable is that man who is only differenced from the rest of the world by a present dispensation but happy is he whose difference lieth in the root of his own nature which changeth not in the midst of the varieties of all conditions or dispensations A lamenting and pleading Postscript HOw deep and true a sense my spirit hath had of my Fathers brethren and kindred according to the flesh understand me aright both of their present sad estate and future misery and what grief and lamentation it hath occasioned in me it so nearly concerning them of whom I once was and whom I always have loved and cannot but love tenderly still the Lord only knoweth Many times in the bitterness of my Soul have I complained in spirit and said unto my God O Lord God Behold how sweetly and comfortably that stands in others which thou hast so forcibly broken down in me If it were of a true substantial enduring nature why was it broken down in me Was I not most naturally formed by thy hand into plainness into simplicity into a low beleeving broken self-denying frame of spirit and this nakedly hanging not upon any worth or excellency in it self but upon the free dispensation of Life from thee of thine own meer grace from which it came and by which it hoped to live O why did the severity of thy hand go forth so bitterly against it How couldst thou find in thy heart to wound trample upon and destroy such a poor worm and no man But if it was of a nature devoted to death and destruction why is it suffered to stand in others Hast thou snatched me as a brand out of the fire O who can either endure to be so snatched out or to undergo the scorching heat thereof when it is once let loose upon his spirit Or how shall I bear the miserable sight of so dreadful burnings as must be kindled upon that which is left behind When thou once kindlest thy fierce flames ah what shall become of the poor dry stubble It is easie now to find a shelter while thy wrath is at a distance but alas what shall cover poor naked Adam for the most religious man which is not truly renewed is no better when thou walkest toward him with the bright piercing flames of thy Light O how tender hath my spirit been of this seduced wandering generation and yet thou hast made me only a stumbling block and not an help unto them Thou hast enforced me among others to give out a testimony against them and several warnings unto them but in such a way and after such a maner as they could not possibly avoyd being offended It is true O Lord Their spirits have not been able to withstand or acquit themselves in thy sight of what hath been testified against them but yet the testimony hath not come forth so as they might be able to consider and receive it It hath been spoken in such strange dialects as they understood not and also accompanied with such strange appearances as might seem rather to become the spirit of Satan then of God Yea Lord Satan hath made such a noise There have been such multitudes of his loud voyces and languages that thy low still voyce might easily be drowned No doubt O Lord but thou wilt be able to justifie thy self in all these things but in the mean time what shall become of these poor Souls Shall they always wander and please themselves this little moment which is their only time with strange invented vanities such as foolish vain man may admire and magnifie but the Spirit of the Lord knoweth not nor cannot own Dear Friends Let me plead a little with you once more from the tender love and pity of my Soul toward you Do ye consider what
hath been testified unto you and from whence that testimony may come for ought ye know Have ye dealt ingenuously with the Lord in this point or rather have ye not watched for the halting of those which have testified that so ye might harden your spirits in your own invented ways For if ye could make good that they once were the Lords yet they are not now his unless the same spirit and light did again lead into them and quicken them The Lord loveth Spirit and Truth but regardeth not a dead form although it were the very same wherein his Spirit once did live Can ye blame the Lord for preparing a stumbling block for you or for suffering or giving you up to stumble when ye your selves desire it Ye will have such and such Ordinances paths and practises to be the ways of the Lord every one according to his own imagination and cannot endure to hear any thing to the contrary Ye will be judging and measuring the things of God before ye have received either an eye or light or measure from him But I injure you ye have eyes ye have light ye have the reed of the Word and can measure things aright by that It is well so it must be But assuredly the Spirit of the Lord hath tryed and judged all your light all your ways all your knowledg and practises in Religion and hath found them scanty in his ballance scanty even of that true light nature and spirit which he seeketh to worship him and which he alone delighteth to be worshipped in Alas Sirs ye may please your selves awhile but ye cannot stand before the blasting breath of the Lord which bloweth upon all flesh and corrupteth it If the Lord hath testified against your duties as being things which he requireth not at your hands against your Ordinances and ways of worship as not being those which he hath appointed against your graces as not being of the nature of his Life and Spirit against your evidences for Heaven and happiness as not being such as will endure his tryal and touchstone yea against your very foundation as not being that which the Spirit of the Lord hath layd but which your own spirits by your own art and skill a little heightened perhaps by your study of the Scriptures and other exercises of your mind have fastened and built all upon I say If the Lord hath testified these things against you the Lord will not fail to make them good and whatsoever your confidences to the contrary are ye shall not prosper in them O consider this if ye love your Souls It is not a building upon Christ after the flesh it is not either a beleeving or obeying from any rational knowledg from a knowledg of the understanding though the heart and affections be never so much heated therewith accompanying it never so vigorously which will save any man but a building of a new nature upon the new nature of Christ. It must be a building of a new nature for Christ saveth his building his people his seed his Church and it must be built or founded upon the new nature of Christ for Christ himself saveth not according to the oldness of the letter but according to the newness of the Spirit It is not the building of such a new nature upon such a Christ as man will call so but a building of the truth upon the Truth Alas what a poor imaginary thing is the Christ which many if not most apprehend Christ consisteth not in the name but in the nature and in the spirit of the thing Now who knoweth the nature of Christ or of that God which dwelleth in Christ Who knoweth the nature of his Wisdom the nature of his Goodness the nature of his Greatness the nature of his Life Spirit c. Who knoweth the nature of the Father which begat or the nature of the Son who was begotten either in his life or death yea who knoweth himself Man doth not build himself I mean his own nature upon Christ but that which he calleth himself upon that which he calleth Christ. Here will appear to be strange work when the Lord searcheth into it Wonderful serious are men in their Religion and yet through the present thick darkness little do they know what they do Little do they perceive how they build an imagination upon an imagination It is very true that the Apostles had a true knowledg of Christ and that they came forth with a true knowledg of Christ and it then being the time of light that the Spirit of the Lord also went forth to quicken that knowledg where it pleased him unto the hearers But what knowledg is it whereupon men now build Who now knoweth the nature of the Lords Anointed which is the only Saviour Who looks into the Scripture now with a new eye I am sure with an old eye no man can see the things of God But I see the things of God wilt thou perhaps say therefore my eye is new Nay but thou seest with the old eye and therefore thy sight is not right Take heed lest thou be convinced of this too late O Lord God that ever man should give scope to himself in so great vanity as to lay the stress of his own eternal condition upon the motions of his own blind dark nature But who doth thus I acknowledg to thee O man that in thy light and according to thy measure thou doest not so but in the light of the Lord and according to his measure who doth not so Tell me true Doest not thou built upon Christ according to thy creaturely understanding Ah Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life the fleshly reason the fleshly understanding the fleshly affections of man are too gross to enter into either The first Adam how excellent soever cannot lay one stone in the building of God The eye of mans purest Reason cannot read one line in the Book of God O who knoweth God or his Christ or his Worship or any of his Truths We have a great deal of knowledg in the world why all sorts know but yet my spirit saith to all the sorts of this present generation Who knoweth God neither do I speak about the degree but concerning the true nature of knowledg The gross unclean spirit of man which it still is in the midst of all its Legal and Evangelical washings cleanness and purity cannot possibly see or be acquainted with the Lord. No unclean eye no unclean heart no unclean hand c. can ever come near the Life and Nature of God but only that which is truly changed Nothing can live in the presence of God but that which hath the true Life and Nature of God in it which groweth not from any institution or form of Religion whereby so many appearing changes are wrought in the world but from a true seed sown in the spirit of man by the Spirit of the Lord. Now do not mistake me