end of flesh And it must needs be this and nothing else because every Saint while he lives in the flesh is bewitched 'T is the Scriprure expression O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you It is a being born again you cannot see the kingdom of God except you be born again I conclude with this See how it concerns us to wait for the Ministery of the spirit and that is it we should look for in all these meetings and Assemblies Look to meet with the power of the Lord Iesus Satan would deceive us by the knowledge of the letter of the creature we may have a great deal of knowledge and be puffed up with pride and be delivered up to Satan when we have done We should admit of that distinction Letter and Spirit Man and God not that we divide between these but in Man and in Letter look for the Spirit and God The life was manifested we saw it our eyes looked upon it and our hands handled it The discovery of Hell is the destruction of Death and Hell by the power of the Lord Iesus deliver such a one to Satan c. A PARAPHRASE upon the seventeenth of the ACTS ACTS 17. ver 1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Iews HEre is the entertainment that the Apostles being Messengers and Ministers of the Spirit had in the world They came to Thessalonica they had passed thorow some places without making any proffer of the Grace of God at Thessalonica there they tarry There was a Synagogue of the Iews The Jews were now scattered from their own place and instead of a Temple and other Ordinances they were content with a Synagogue It was very much like our state now under Antichrist in the rime of the Apostacy There was a Synagogue of the Jews Pauls heart exceedingly went out towards his brethren after the flesh if he might save some of them and yet wheresoever he offered himself to them in that way they were seeking his life and his blood but still he found a number that were of the Election of Grace who did receive Grace though the rest were blinded Verse 2. And Paul as his manner was went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures These Jews had Learning and Knowledge in the Scriptures meerly to oppose the truth the power and the life of the Scriptures Here they hold Paul play in reasoning and disputing Paul holds up Christ out of the Scriptures the Jews they dispute against Christ by the Scriptures and this is that that all the learning of man doth all his knowledge in the Scriptures doth but serve him to oppose the Spirit The greater knowledge in the Scriptures and the more learning if it be only of man the greater opposition unto Christ and unto the Spirit Verse 3. Opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Iesus whom I preach unto you is Christ It is not enough to know that there is a Jesus that hath suffered and is risen but we must come to this Iesus we must know him particularly this is he he in whom dwells the fulness of God he that is the manifestation of God the going forth of God the power and the wisdom of God have you met with him have you seen him-dying and found him rising in you Jesus Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God it is him we preach This is the Jesus whom I preach unto you saith Paul we must not only content our selves with generals and stories but we must come to particulars This is he here he is Till we finde him in our hearts we can finde nothing of his salvation nor of his life Verse 4. And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of the chief women not a few Some of them believed Paul had a gleaning among his Countrey-men Those that were ordained to eternal life Hath God cast off his people saith he God forbid And consorted with Paul and Silas This is that the Ministry of the Spirit doth it is a Fan that severs it takes out the corn from the chaff that is the work of the Ministry to gather the Saints together to call up that holy seed that lieth in flesh and to make them one with another And of the devout Greeks a great multitude Some of the Jews but of the devout Greeks a great multitude more of the Gentiles then of the Jews And of the chief women not a few Here are Gentiles and women the Jews stand out except a little sprinkling of them but here are Heathens the Gentiles and women the weaker sort in these God appears It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth Here the Jew the Professor that is born after the flesh the carnal Professor he stands out and this we shall see in our days Many come from the east and from the west but these Children of the Kingdom these that are only in an outward profession they shall be cast out the Gentiles come in and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob the wise of the world shall be laid by silly and weak women shall be instructed babes and sucklings shall be fiill'd with strength and the mysteries of the Kingdom shall be hidden from the wise It follows Verse 5. But the Iews which believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the City on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people The Iews were such as owned themselves the people of God they carry the Scriptures they dispute out of the Scriptures and reason with Paul There is a form of godliness but the Devil is in it they are moved with envy that is the Devil Here is a pretence of zeal but envy lieth at the bottom this is that that is the Professors sin There is Gentile and Heathen sin that lieth in open prophaneness in drunkenness in filthiness and uncleanness in theft and murther and the like but here is the Professors sin that lieth in spiritual wickedness as envy malice hatred wrath evil surmisings and the like Many a man blesses himself in this I am not thus and thus no drunkard no adulterer no murtherer but look what thou art in thy heart is envy there then there is murther Every one that Professes God let him search his heart let him not Pharisaically boast he is not as this Publican They took unto them certain lewd fellows c. This is the way of men when reason and light are too hard for them then they make an uproar a clamor they will carry it with a noise and this is a judgement of God upon carnal Professors God leads them forth with evil doers in just judgement
Refreshing Drops AND SCORCHING VIALS SEVERALLY Distributed to their proper Subjects according to the Wisdom given that precious servant of the Lord Mr. CHRISTOPHER GOAD Sometimes Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge and Batchelor in Divinity as men speak But before his Translation Become a Disciple and Learner again sitting at the feet of Christ and his Spirit where he took a higher degree and now sits with Christ in Heaven Eccl. 12. 11. The Words of the wise are as Goads and as Nails fastned by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one Shepherd London Printed by R. W. for Giles Calvert at the sign of the Black-spread Eagle at the west end of Pauls 1653. TO THE READER Friend HE that ministred these ensuing Discourses to us did withall sow his life and in testimony thereof when he had finished this Ministration took his leave of us calling upon thee and me to follow him And if his life spring up in us it will carry us whither he was continually making Even without the Camp It was not the least of his services to dye for the flock which he did daily therein following the great shepherd Now a Box of precious Oyntment is broken Oh that the whole house of God on earth may be filled with the savor of it He was wont to say of every thing he said or did how good righteous and excellent soever and refreshing to others This is but a vail upon the Lord God considered and answered him in the desire of his heart and hath rent the vail for him A witness is gone but his Testimony remains and shall remain while the Sun and Moon endure If these Records should be destroyed yet the truth therein shall be preserved in the living Records of the breasts of faithful men and shall there grow up and be purified until the Lord come and bring this Author and all his Saints with him Zach. 14. 5. Even so make haste and come Lord Jesus And now let not any man think these Sermons were preached or are now published to enrich the world with notions They are to make us poor in spirit to slay ye to undo ye he that loves his life let him not come here They are to pull down the flesh and abase the glory of man but to lift up the Lord If he be your life here you may hear of him There is in the world a great deal of light and knowledge falsly so called Men are very rich in their several Administrations hence that unbrotherly walking one towards another and yet they talk of peace and accommodation but it is but talk Ye will never meet with an expedient for either until ye dye Come and in the grave of Christ let us reason together and be one There is no parling with men till the Cool of the day till the Sun of their imaginary glory be declining It is this grave makes all even there rich and poor master and servant lie down together and are at rest There the brother of low degree is exalted and the rich is made low They are enemies to peace that are enemies to the Cross of Christ Whosoever sets up any excellency besides Christ himself sets up an Occasion of strife and enmity a partition-wall The Cross of Christ took away that distance between the Jews and the Gentiles and t is the preaching of the Cross and the knowing of Christ crucified experimentally takes it away through all ages And it is in vain to send Embassies of peace to men while their strength is firm in them Why then are ye offended at Preachers of the Cross But be it known to ye ye that live and will not dye ye are dead while ye live To be carnally minded is death or which is worse your life is a continual torment to you And be it known to you there is strength in the grave The weakness of God is stronger then Men if ye will build for continuance ye must resolve to lay your foundation in confusion He layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters That building that shall stand for ever must rise up wholly purely out of God himself and his Spirit But to you that are dead with Christ and whose life is buried under the foundations of this world and its fleshly frames Behold I bring you glad tidings all things are dissolving the heavens are passing away with a great noise as it is said they should the elements are melting with the fervent heat of the Day of the Spirit and the earth with all the works of men are burning up by the same fire Lift up your heads your Redemption draws nigh Friends I have not of a long time had any power to go forth in this kinde I mean to open any thing Therefore accept the willingness of my minde to have done some thing by way of Preface and do ye make the supply by being the Epistle of Christ whereby ye shall shew the best respect to the labour and travel of him that is gone And let all expressions that are here left dark and homely through my deficiency to whom chiefly the inspection of the Copies was committed be corrected in the pure springings up of the living Truth in your hearts Yours in the Lord JOSH. SPRIGG A Preface to the Reader IT is time for us to be looking out of this world which grows old and is ready to vanish away God is by the brightness of his own discoveries burning up the works thereof and stablishing that new heavens new earth where righteousness dwells the creation hath sent up strong groans and hath long lien under bondage the redemption thereof now draws nigh We are the children of the last times and upon us are the ends of the world come Prophesies and Promises which have been bid from ages and generations are now enriching us by their revealing and fulfilling in us Arise and shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee It shall come to pass in the last days the Mountain of the Lords house shal be set up above the Mountains exalted above the hills Now begins to be brought to pass the saying that is written Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shal be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God Rev. 21. 3. The Church hath long lien among the pots God is giving her the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers of yellow gold she hath been conformed to Christ in his death and hath lain with him in the grave she that hath thus descended must also ascend she that hath suffered must reign since the mystery of iniquity began first to work it hath wrought most effectually and prevailed men and their traditions have been the unquestioned authority the light and teaching of the spirit in the Scriptures hath been forgotten and stood like a Sparrow upon the house
top desolate and forsaken we have said of the Spirit as once that murmuring people said of Moses Up make us Gods that may go before us for as for this Moses we know not what is become of him And in this mist of darkness Satan hath conveyed himself in all deceivableness of unrighteousness and made such a deluge upon the face of the world that till of latter yeers as it was in Elias his time the true Church Saints of God were not discernable though doubtless in the darkest times God reserved a small remnant to himself who bowed not the knee to the Idols of mens inventions nor fell down before the Throne of the Beast The reign of Antichrist hath been long and so taking being beautifyed by the excellency and glory of flesh that the whole world wondered after the Beast whatever was prone and apt to deceive and bewitch the world that hath he cloathed himself withal not onely learning wisdom greatness and power humane but whatsoever the Gospel afforded outward that hath been given to him to carry captive into his own place to that great City Babylon there have Ordinances and the letter of the Scripture been brought into cruel bondage and made to fight against the Spirit and a form of godliness to war against the power what God hoth joyned hath been there divorced and put asunder and the abomination that maketh desolate set up the whole world in their Religion Worship and Righteousness have lien in darkness and are not aware of it they liked not the Faith once given to the Saints neither contended for it they received not the truth in the love of it and therefore were given up to strong delusions to believe lyes and by the signs lying wonders and cunning craftiness of this man of sin whereby he lay in wait to deceive have been led about and taken captive by him at his pleasure And think not this strange neither wonder at it Art thou a stranger in Israel Ought not these things so to have come to pass Ought not our Lord to be crucified in Sodom and Egypt before he ascend to his last and most glorious appearance in the world is it not necessary the man of sin should first be revealed before Christ can come in his brightness and that the highest glory should be born out of the womb of the deepest darkness this was the Let kept Christ at a distance seeing by this he was making way for a more glorious and admirable discovery of himself and the Gospel then the world yet ever knew By this he will commend himself to us in his second appearance as the Law commends Grace and as Pharoah and the Red Sea commended that deliverance of old here is a time for Saints to keep their garments white and the name of Chrâ—st unblemished when the world is become Satans Synagogue here is a season beautiful for the Faith Patience and Testimony of the Saints to appear and for those that call themselves Apostles and are not to be tryed and found lyars By this good pleasure of God in so ordering things will be built up an everlasting Monument of the worlds folly and blindness in the greatest exercise of their wisdom and knowledge who though they had an open faced discovery of God in the Gospel 2 Cor 3. 18. and not the writings of Moses onely but of Christ himself left to them and life and immortality brought therein to light yet despising the light and instruction of the spirit herein and causing that to withdraw and trusting in their own wisdom and making flesh their teacher professing themselves wise have become fools and turned the truth of God into a lye and by that their wisdom know not God in this wisdom of God but heap to themselves brain inventions and by the Doctrines of men make void the Counsel of God to their own destruction and have turned that which gave in it self a savour of life into a savour of death unto death And now that the fulness of time for those better things kept in store for us draws nigh and that Egyptian darkness and slavery which the world hath been kept under is nigh to cursing how hath the truth multiplyed how hath God remembred his people and for some good number of yeers past been making way for himself again to be owned and breaking forth in such measures of light as the world hath been able to bear and gradually destroying the power of the beast in his mark his image and the number of his name and is still going on till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth and in these discoveries also hath Satan of late been putting in for a part resisting the truth as Jannes and Iambres withstood Moses seeking to set up that in form and flesh and so preserve his Kingdom which God is doing in spirit and power but he shall proceed no farther for his folly shall be made manifest to all and those precious souls who have in these days stood at a distance from the outward part of worship because it hath been the Court trodden down and the man of sin hath here so long had his abode and hath so polluted and stained all forms of Religion and made that his shelter and thicket where he hath lain concealed shall see him trodden under their feet and cast alive in the midst of these his deceitful workings with the false Prophet into the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone and whatever hath been captived into Babylon shall be brought back and set upon Mount-Sion the redeemed of the Lord shall return and being filled with the Spirit and restored to their first state shall shine in the perfection of beauty and holiness and then shall all Saints sing in the unity of the spirit the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways O thou King of Saints Reader Amidst the diversity of those gifts and administrations in dispensing whereof God hath enriched this latter age there hath not a brighter spirit shone forth then what dwelt like a fixed star in the Author of these following Discourses who whilst he lived here was indeed dead by the Cross of our Lord Jesus and in that voyce being now dead he yet speaketh what thou seest here of him thou hast upon great disadvantage being imperfectly taken and never designed by the Author beyond the private edification of his Hearers these things were most pleasantly beheld in his life where they were written in a perfect Copy from whence all that he taught seemed to be borrowed and transcribed his ministration of them also gave not a little more lustre to them then what they now seem to have but at best this heavenly treasure ran through an earthen vessel so may perhaps need the laver of love to wash off what it contracted by that passage I leave it to
di'dst both preach and live Divinitie J. N. THE Right Spirit of CHRIST OR The Son glorifying the Father SERMON I. JOHN 5. 30. I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgement is just because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father that hath sent me CHrist had marvellously cured a Cripple that had been so thirty eight yeers as we may see in the fifth verse of this chapter and setting him on his feet he bids him take up his bed and walk The Jews that stood by because it was the Sabbath day said it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed He tells them that he that made him whole bid him take up his bed and walk by whom judge you should this man be guided by him that shewed power or them that talked The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power they ask who this man was that bid him do so for He is a Sabboth-breaker and must be stoned Doct. 1. See how forms of Religion are set up against power Yet here was nothing against form for what was this carrying his bed but preaching the love and power of God Christ discovers himself to the man cured of his limbs to a through cure of him Sin no more A cure indeed the man tells the Jews who it was that cured him whereupon Christ reasoneth with the Jews justifying what he had done vers 17. My father works and I work as if he had said in charging me you charge my Father his power and presence is manifested with me if you will see it They strove so much the more to kill him in that he said God was his Father Doct. 2. Carnal and formal Religion is bloody nothing will serve but killing Those that are born after the flesh do not know what it is to be born after the Spirit That which is the substance of Christian Religion is to them blasphemy Christ is pleading with them and tells them how the Father doth manifest himself by the Son and onely by the Son He had now manifested himself in a great work and they would take no notice of it they take notice onely of a Sabboth-breaker and a blasphemer there shall be such a manifestation of the Father in the Son as shall make you marvel the Father hath given him power to raise the dead and judge the world and as the Father hath life in himself so he hath given unto the Son to have life in himself and he hath given him authority to execute judgement Christ hath all that the Father hath onely here is the difference He hath it as gift it is given him Now to prevent that which they might object and say You take too much upon you Christ answers it in vers 30. I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgement is just c. I told you the son hath life in himself and that he raiseth the dead and hath power of judgement But I told you withal it was given him I can of my self do nothing c. My design in presenting you with this Text is to shew unto those that do believe in Christ what they have in Christ and to shew them whence it is and whence their witness and testimony is for that they have whence it is they are owned in that power and Majesty The power of the Resurrection is Christs and the power of judgement is Christs and Christ witnesseth that it is his from whom he received this power I can of my own self do nothing and if I bear witness of my self my witness is not true All that Religion and godliness that is not in power and all that power that is earthly and that testimony thereunto that is worldly is worth nothing Christ undertakes great things he challengeth power to raise the dead Authority of judgement and this is all given him from the Father his Record is on high his witness is the Father Here are many testimonies named but he looks above them all here is his own witness If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true There is mans witness I receive not witness from man there is the witness of the eminent and excellent among men but he lays them by and looks above them all to God Here is the witness of John who was a burning and a shining light In the 46. verse There is an other witness Moses If you had believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me But there is another witness a greater then that of John or Moses ver 36. The works which the Father hath given me to finish bear witness of me Works are an excellent witness but the works which the Father hath given me they are excellent indeed yet are laid by These are not sufficient for they must have a testimony themselves and therefore are laid by Here is the Scripture vers 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me He lays by this witness too ye will not come to me that you might have life The Scripture holds forth me and eternal life in me but ye will not come to me Thus here are several degrees of testimony one above the other but there is but one to be rested in and that is the testimony that enables all the other the testimony of the Father Ver. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me and I know the witness that he witnesseth of me is true Who is that Vers 37. The Father himself that hath sent me hath born witness of me Is not the Fathers witness in the Scripture and in Christs witness and in Johns witness and in the Works of Christ It is and as the Fathers witness is there they are witnesses that have validity they make an end of the controversie The Father not appearing in them they cannot settle the heart nor decide the controversie It is the Father onely that is the sufficient witness the Father without these the Father in these but these without the Father are nothing The truth of these is the Father the life of these is the Father And the world doth not know the Father Vers 37. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape My design in this Scripture is to call you up to the Father And this is the design of Christ that he travels with to bring us unto God he suffered the just for the unjust to bring us unto God Here is rest and nowhere on this side it the Scripture in the Father and the Father in the Scripture the Father in the Ministry of man and the Ministery of man in the Father the Father in the works that are done and the works done in the Father we must know the Father if we will know Christ It is true we may know the Father and not know that we know the Father
for a reward And whosoever take upon them to be Prophets and do complie with the World are lying Prophets as he was All true Prophets that Prophesied of Christ saw him and he was in them Abraham saw my day saith Christ and t was Christ himself that preached in the days of Noah as Peter hath it But Iohn was much above the Prophets seeing Christ at a nearer distance then they did A Prophet saith Christ Yea I say unto you and more then a Prophet Iohn made a greater noyse a greater stir and bustle in the world then the Prophets before They came forth with power but they witnessed in sackloth in comparison of Iohn The Prophets before Iohn had nothing like that respect that Iohn had There went out to him all Iudea and Jerusalem Yea the Saduces and Pharisees went out to him and yet see how he takes them up O generation of Vipers who hath forwarned you to flye from the wrath to come See how he deals with Herod With what Majesty that its said Herod feared him They were dazled at his light and scorcht with his fire He was the greatest before Christ He came in the Spirit and power of Elias There are witnesses to Christ in the flesh and there are witnesses to Christ in the Spirit There are witnesses to his first coming in the similitude of sinfull flesh and there are witnesses to his second coming without sin to Salvation And the nearer to him the clearer sight of him the more transformed into his Image the more powerfull will be the witness He that is a true Prophet or a true witness doth not only tell us of truth or of Christ but he doth appear truth and appear Christ Here is truth here is Christ here is the Spirit There is no true Prophet or witness of Christ but he seeth him come But What! is Christ come He is come and he is coming The hour is coming and now is He is and he was and he is to come He is come the Lamb slain and he is come the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah So far forth aswe are true witnesses we see him amongst us we can poynt him out This is He. We see him in Faith Christ dwells in our hearts by faith We see him in hope Christ in you the hope of glory We see him the wisdom of God and the power of God We see him such a one as cares not for man Master we know that thou art true and carest not for any mans person We see him one that takes away sin It is he that is our righteousness and holiness It is he that is the true light It is his day coming that shall darken the Sun and the Moon It is he that makes the whole Creation to shake It is he that commands Devils and Hell Principalities and Powers In that degree we see him and have communion with him in that degree we witness to him He is coming and he is come without sin to Salvation He is amongst us and in the midst of us and if you see him not if you know him not it is because you are in darkness He is come and Iohn is come that bears witness of him Who is Iohn that bears witness to him He that calleth you from man to that one Master He that is decreasing before him and rejoyceth in it He that is dying into him and seeking to rise in him that is sending all Disciples to him and confessing him and professing that all were Thieves and Robbers that went before him that had drawn Disciples after them That Ministry that is calling us off from man from the glow-worm light of this Creation from mans parts and gifts into the Spirit that 's the Ministry we should look after This same Iohn came out of the wilderness He came not in a fleshly garbe He came not in that which commends him to man He feared not man nor his terror He cared neither for Herods glory nor the Pharisees applause He was leading men above the excellency of this creation and bidding them look beyond it He comes not into the Ministry upon the old account by the way of Succession or Election by mans laying on of hands or call of Churches but by the Spirit He comes of the Priesthood but not in the ordayning way When his parents were old when their bodies were dead when his Father was dumb when mans Ministry had been tryed then he comes forth not in the wisdom of man but in the power of the Spirit He comes out of the wilderness in Spirit So Christ is among us in the Spirit These are the mighty witnesses and this is that which makes them mighty Seeing of Christ This is the Ministry we should look after Look after such witnesses and look to be such witnesses to be seers indeed and not in a bare notion as Balaam was to see him in us and our selves in union with him to hold him forth to hold forth the truth to hold forth righteousness and to be able to say Here it is The Ministry of those that profess themselves the Ministers of Christ and yet do not see Christ the world takes hold on it and runs into it and so it comes to nothing The Ministry of those that see Christ by the power of Christ doth stop the mouths of Mockers and Scoffers that say Where is the promise of his coming Why he is come and he is coming That is the true Ministry that sees him and this is that which will grow exceedingly terrible to the world This is such a Ministry as the world is not able to stand before As Christ comes nearer so the Ministry of the Spirit will be more burning and shining more dazling and tormenting to the world and if any oppose it O what burning and tormenting then Burning and shining is the demonstration of the Spirit and Power The Divine nature in us is that fire from the Altar that never goeth out That fire that shall change our vile bodies and make them like his glorious body that fire that shal put out and darken the glory of the world And that is the reason of the Ecclipse of the Sun which Naturalists cannot find out the greater light coming the Lord himself the Sun of righteousness appearing the light of gifts of parts and of natural reason presently disappears and vanisheth They are but as the light of a glow-worm to the Sun There is a fire of passion kindled by the fire of Hell The fire that Sampsons Foxes carried away in their tayls as it s said Wickedness burns like a fire The fire of the Spirit putts out this fire A burning and a shining light The manifestation of God in his servants is fire and light its burning and shining and the nearer God approaches the hotter the fire the more shining the light Burning and shining In burning there is great suffering there 's torment there 's slaying and offering up there 's assimilating In shining
do in a Saint What doth hell in a Church Deliver him to Satan let Satan go to destruction it is his place it is his portion Thus spiritual mourning or the spirits mourning is that which brings forth the spirits power and this sets the soul free and sets a Church free Now we should look what we can finde of this mourning this mourning for sin this mourning after the Lord. This is not in flesh and blood to do All the mourning of flesh and blood is that sin may be supplyed All the prayers of a natural man are that his lusts may be furnished all his mourning and complaint is when sin suffers when godliness plays upon sin then he cries then he mourns The spiritual man mourns after the Lord as 't is said of the children of Israel they mourned after the Lord. The natural man mourns for Corn and Wine and Oyl The Lord speaks in the Prophesie of Hosea of the howling of the people Did you cry to me when you howled for Corn and Wine and Oyle But that which is the main thing to be observed here is that no power or wisdom of man or any company of men any Church any Rulers any Elders can set a heart free from sin or can cleer their Congregations from sin 't is God that must do it and therefore the Apostle saith Ye have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you When that evil is seen in your hearts and in your Churches what are you to do know that you cannot deliver your selves you are to mourn until it be done for you you are to lament after the Lord. O that the Lord would come that power would come that he that is great stronger then the strong man that he would come We are to wait for the assistance of Jesus Christ Here the Apostle speaks of mourning You have not mourned as you should do you should mourn after the Lord that he would quit you of this sin that he would rescue you in the fourth verse it is plainly set forth In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ It is not your power it is not mans power that shall rid you of the wicked one among you in your hearts or in your Congregations but 't is the Lord that must do it and therefore you must mourn after the Lord. If you be of God you will mourn after him and you will never be quiet until his power do come down to rescue you and deliver you This mourning that you may be eased of the wicked one shews that it is not in your power In the ninth of Mark Christ went up into a mountain where he was transfigured he took up one or two of his Disciples with him and the rest he left below vers 14. these Disciples left below were set upon by the Pharisees and that Sect to tempt them and to try them that if it might be they might have a victory over them a day of them now their master was away They bring to them a Father with his child that was possessed with an evil spirit that used him and handled him piteously that threw him sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water but the Disciples were not able to cast him out here was great joy and rejoycing among the Pharisees the Pharisees thought they had had the day As they were exulting and baffling the Disciples Christ he comes down from the Mountain when he comes down he is told what the business is vers 17. O faithless generation saith Christ how low shall I be with you bring him to me and he cast him out In this story we may see how ridiculous we shall make ourselves when we offer to set upon Satan or deal with sin when we have not the Lord Jesus with us we make but sport for the Devil and sport for the world There is no going forth but in the power of Christ Dost thou see sin Canst thou go forth in the power of Christ against it If thou canst not sit down and mourn till that spirit come till that power come Sin and Satan are too strong for man and if we deal with them without God we do nothing but endeavour by sin to cast out sin and by Satan to cast out Satan To undertake any thing against sin and have not the Lord with us is altogether in vain therefore Moses saith Vnless thou go forth with us do not carry us out hence To go forth in mans power in the power of a letter of the Scripture only it is not safe God will not be offended with us if we will not go forth without full assurance of his presence with us If he give us some assurance we should desire to have better assurance It is the power of God in which we must go out against sin successfully We shall never have rest from sin and Satan till we cease from our own works There is no going forth against sin but in the power of Christ You ought rather to have mourned that he which hath done this deed might be taken away from among you Look upon hearts look upon Churches they are both the Temple of God the House of God let God rule in his own house he hath the power there The Reformation of our own hearts and of Churches it is by the power of the spirit of God It is not in man to direct his ways Man is weak he is corrupt man and Satan in this respect are one Now the question will be If there be no going forth against sin but in the power of the spirit where is this power that reforms Congregations where is this Ministery of the Spirit where are these spiritual weapons mighty through God to cast down high thoughts and strong imaginations The Answer is It is confessed that the power of the spirit of God hath been and is yet very little abroad and therefore we see men go forth against sin and Satan and effect nothing they make nothing but sport There is little savour of life or savour of death to be seen in the Ministery of men little binding or loosing little opening heaven or shutting heaven very little forgiving sins or retaining sins in mens Consciences we know very little but a noise and a form in these things Most men that take upon them to do this they are put to it because of the weakness of their Ministery whatever brags they make to go to the civil Magistrate to back them This same power of the Lord Jesus whereby sin and Satan are thrown out of mens hearts is now but in a very low manifestation and very rarely appears But what is to be done then Not that that is usually done we must not go out as vaunting that we have that which we have not as pretending the spirit and the power of Christ with us
when there is no such thing We have done so a long time and the people have been deceived we have done it and have effected nothing but take heed of continuing this practise Remember when the Spirit was abroad what befell them that used this practice In the nineteenth of the Acts The Exorcists took upon them to command the evil spirit in the name of Jesus We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth and the evil Spirit answered and said Jesus we know and Paul we know but who are ye And the man in whom the evil spirit was leap'd on them and overcame them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded God hath winked a great while but he will not bear as he hath done When he comes forth again men shall not take his name in vain as they have done That which concerns us to do is to sit down in silence and mourn as the Apostle hath it here and plainly to confess and acknowledge that that power of the spirit that hath appeared doth not appeare now We do not finde that able Ministery of the New-Testament now that hath been We plainly see that Scripture 2 Thes 2. fullfilled of the Spirits drawing in that the man of sin might be revealed and truly the man of sin hath been so much revealed and the darkness hath been so great as we have not seen the darkness but now that the spirit is returning we begin to see where we were we begin to see what fools and mad mens parts we have acted how we have gon forth in the name of spirit and brought forth nothing how we have made our selves ridiculous to those that did observe and mark what the effect was but now we see it is the time of the Apostasie indeed and shall look forth for that power of the spirit that hath been abroad in the Primitive times that shall return again and not onely bridle and keep down Antichrist but destroy the man of sin till we shall see this power come forth let us sit down in silence for in all our own acting and talking we are but Sorcerers and Enchanters without this power There is now a low administration of the spirit and we wait when the spirit will be more manifest we are looking after him when he will come and this is that that concerns us to do to sit down in silence and mourn The people of Israel mourned after the Lord when the Ark was in the Philistines hands it hath been so now for these fifteen hundred yeers When we lament after the Lord surely then the time is that the Lord is coming forth again When we acknowledge what man is that we have no strength Out of weak we shall be made strong and the Lord whom we look for will suddainly come into his Temple If we were out of our pride out of our puffe out of our vaunting and were come to lie in the dust to put our mouths there and say we have no strength God hath left us O Lord when wilt thou return again to us When we are thus mourning surely then the time is coming that this power will come forth again and that in a greater manifestation then ever it yet appeared Out of weak we shall become strong It is not in any mans wisdom or strength to cast sin out of his own heart or out of any Church or Congregation When we see we cannot do it and sit down and mourn that the Lord would come and be present with us as he hath been formerly surely he will come This is that we ought to do Ye ought rather to mourn All our teaching perswading and exhorting is to be in great humility in a sense of our own poorness and weakness and of Gods long withdrawing waiting for any appearance of his though but a low appearance God hath been working and acting all this time of Antichrist but in great obscurity and under ground and now we are looking when he will come forth again for the brightness of his coming is that which will destroy that man of sin 2 Thes 2. You ought rather to have mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you 'T is the Lords work and not mans And let 's compare this rule with our practice particularly Men when they see the devil got into their hearts and would be rid of him what do they do They fast and pray and go forth in the strength of this duty and the other duty But what is to be done Why wait until power come wait till the Lord come wait that the evil one may be cast out and do not think you can cast him out your selves And in Churches what is done We look that the Officers and Elders should rid us of the wicked one and that the major part of the Church and Assembly their Vote should do it and what the major part of the Church concludes that we look upon as the work of the spirit and so there is sentence past but where is the power Nay going a long with the sentence oftentimes you cast out Christ and cast out the truth and so come to another kinde of Popery a new kinde of Popery while you set up in the place of the spirit any man or any Assembly of men what ever they be you set up a Pope Our work is to mourn if the spirit be not present if he be present to go forth in his power and in his might And then the effect will be the devil will flee and sin will flee O how glorious things are Churches that hold out the power of the Lord Jesus O what prisons are Churches where there is nothing but forms nothing but lust and Satan and the world and flesh that act and rule under them O how glorious things are Churches in whom Christ hath a Throne and where we see spiritual power But where do we see it now Churches that are the light of the world and the salt of the earth where shall we finde them It is not by any power or wisdom of man whereby sin is cast out of any particular heart or out of a Church or Congregation You ought rather to have mourned Paul he had mourned and he professes elsewhere in what deep sorrow he wrote unto them 2 Cor 2. In deep sorrow and abundance of tears he wrote unto them being sensible of this condition in which they were and the spirit of power came forth in his mourning to awaken them to set them a mourning and to cause them to come forth in power to save the spirit of this defiled person by the destroying of the flesh That which is Pauls part follows in the next words v. 3. For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed The Apostle judges and he judges being absent First What had the
Christ is given me both in heaven and in earth The Father comes forth in Christ and Christ comes forth in the Saints Christ comes forth in the flesh lower then the Angels He makes him lower then the Angels he comes forth as a servant while the son is under age he is kept as a servant he is made of a woman made under the Law at last the Father comes to own him as his son and Christ owns him as his Father When the time appointed of the Father comes he sends his spirit into our hearts saying 'T is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdom Christ hath the keys of hell and death and he exercises these keys in his Saints We at present do not know how he exercises these but we shall know how when we feel the want of them when we see our weakness and darkness and mourn after the Lord. God hath suffered the devil hell and sin to be a kinde of Cloak and covering upon himself but when he pleaseth he will come forth and command them The Saints need not the worlds power and force to go to the world for power is to go to the devil for power The Saints have power with God and therefore must needs have power over Satan And this power the Saints obtain by mourning as the Apostle hath it in the second verse Ye ought rather to have mourned Iacob wept and made supplication wrastled with God and so prevailed The Saints indeed they are great persons but few there are that know themselves We are the sons of God but the world doth not know us God hath brought forth himself and brought forth Christ in his Saints and people but that was but a first fruits to shew what he will do fully He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in them that believe The spirit of God was withdrawn that the man of sin might appear This is that believers should do they should be looking after this power the power of the Lord Jesus What a poor thing it is to spend our time in an outward powerless profession onely If we are Christians and of Iesus Christ we cannot do so The kingdom of God is not in word but in power Do we profess Christ Where is the power of the Lord Iesus Why do lusts and corruptions reign in our hearts Why have Satan and the world such power over us Where is the power of the Lord Jesus Where is the spirit of Eliah as Elisha said when he had seen his master taken up into heaven and had received his mantle and had a promise of a doubling of that spirit Christ is taken up into Heaven He hath told us greater works then he did in that flesh should we do in his Spirit Where is that spirit Where is that power by which devils were made to tremble and submit to him 'T is time we should begin to know our selves that we are of God that we are the Temple of God the body of the Lord that we are the fulness of Christ and that in us he will manifest himself and 't is that we should look for We should be weary of a formal outward languishing profession and so bringing forth the Lord Jesus we shall make his name known O that thou wouldst bow the Heavens that thou would'st come down and make thy name known that Hell and Death and Satan and all the powers of darkness might melt before thee Resist the devil saith James and he will flie from you What is that power by which the devil is resisted 'T is the power of Christ the power of the Lord Jesus is with his people though not yet manifested we should wait for it and not rest contented with the name but look after power to command hell and death those that have commanded us We are comforting our selves that Christ hath done this for us 'T is true he hath done this for us he will do it in us The Apostle bids us stand to it in Eph. 6. You wrastle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers therefore put on the whole armour of God If you be true Israel you are able to deal with God and then the devil and the world are not able to stand against you Do you believe this Then wait for it The next thing I shall commend unto you is this That we must be delivered to Satan before we can be delivered from Satan For the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. And if this stick in your stomacks and will not go down let me offer it to you in an old expression of Divinity as they call it that is That God leads his people to Heaven by Hell We must be delivered to Satan if ever we will be delivered from Satan Satan hath carryed all the seed of God captive in the flesh 'T is under the law of sin sin and death hath captivated the whole seed of God here this seed lieth as it were dead in a swound and in this state we dream of nothing but life and happiness great enjoyments when we are captives to Satan at his pleasure God he quickens this same seed this divine nature and then they see where they are see how they were deceived what a fools Paradise they were in then they have no rest till they be delivered This is to be delivered from Satan to see that we are in Satans power So it comes to this That there must be a discovery of our state under the power of darkness before we be delivered from it Deliver him unto Satan destroy him that he may be delivered destroy him that he may be saved kill him that he may be made alive convince him of sin then of righteousness Deliver him unto Satan is quicken him and enlighten him that he may see where he is in Satans power And whereas before there was peace when the strong man kept the house it was because he did not see Satan but now he sees him there is nothing but trouble there is no rest till he be delivered This is nothing but what the Apostle saith you hath he quickened that were dead in trespasses and sins Dead in trespasses and sins here is the seed of God under the power of Satan The spirit quickned sees whereabouts it is sees that it is in hell among devils lusts death and flames and it cannot abide here The Prodigal came to himself that was the quickning of this divine seed he was well enough before at the swine-trough till he comes to himself O then he cannot endure it he cannot live here any longer We must be delivered to Satan before we can be delivered from Satan And the ground and reason of this lieth thus God hath let all his seed fall under the hands and power of death and Satan and he would never suffer this state unless he meant they should be sensible of it unless he did
praise here is thanksgiving indeed praise indeed which is that that is held forth in Psal 116. Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling I le walk before the Lord in the land of the living Here is the sacrifice of praise I le walk before the Lord I le walk in the Spirit and no more in the flesh In the 12 Verse it follows What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Here is the sacrifice of praise here is dying dying to the world dying to the flesh Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints O Lord truly I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving What shall I render unto God T is said of Hezekiah that he rendred not unto the Lord according to the benefits he received from him This is that God enables his people to do to render to him according to what they have received God enables his people even to recompence him to requite him Do you thus requite the Lord The Lord enables his people to requite him and to requite him fully for as he is our fulness so we are his fulness as he gives himself to us so he enables us to give our selves to him and so we return himself unto himself Of thy own we have given thee Thus only a Saint can praise that hath the Spirit that hath received God for nothing is acceptable to God but himself Nothing comes to God but what comes from God There is no sacrifice indeed but Jesus Christ By him let us offer up the sacrifice of praise unto God The people of God do make a Covenant with God by sacrifice Psal 50. There is a sacrifice of praise praise is a sacrifice and a sacrifice of our selves t is Christ that is the sacrifice and t is by Christ that we become a sacrifice acceptable a sacrifice of a sweet savour unto God For I do not live saith the Apostle but Christ lives in me And as by him we are a sacrifice so by him we are Priests a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God as t is in 1 Pet. 2. 5. There is the fire of this sacrifice the Eternal Spirit Through the Eternal Spirit he offered up himself without spot and that that is our praise is the meat and drink upon this Altar the refreshing and the wine In keeping of them of thy Commandments saith David there is great reward There is somewhat to be carried forth in this sacrifice and that is iniquity and sin that cleaves unto our holy things Praise and thanksgiving is the sum of the Worship of God and Jesus Christ and this praise and thanksgiving is a sacrifice and such a sacrifice as you have heard Vse This may make a discovery unto us that praise and thanksgiving is little known among us we are very little acquainted with it we have heard of the name but know not the thing The common praise and thanksgiving stands in some expression of words sometimes there is a day set apart sometimes good words spoken of God at such a time there are some Ceremonies used and it may be a great deal of sacrifice done to the flesh there is a seeming offering somewhat to God but none of the best And cursed is the deceiver that hath in his flock a male and offers to God a corrupt thing The true praising and acceptable thanksgiving is offering up of our selves our selves sanctified that the offering up of the Gentiles might be sanctified by the Holy Ghost and our selves a living sacrifice There is no man can glorifie God but he that is glorified of God according to that prayer of Christ in Joh. 17. Father glorifie thy Son that thy Son may glorifie thee If this that hath been said in this point cause us to look into our hearts and consider what we have done and how we have been in this service of praise it is that I intended in it When we shall look into the nature of Praise and Thanksgiving and shall look with a right eye we shall see that there hath been nothing or little else besides the name of Praise amongst us it hath been but a form of Godliness having in it scarce any thing of the power By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of praise to God continually By him let us do it That is the next thing to be considered here That by Jesus Christ in the name of Jesus Christ in the power in the light in the love in the spirit of Jesus Christ must our praise go up to God and all that is acceptable doth go up so By him let us offer c. All that comes to God that is acceptable sacrifice it comes by him it comes in his name it goes up in his grace it goes up in his love in his light in his power this is by Jesus Christ There is no Sacrifice acceptable but that which is sanctified by the Holy Ghost as in Rom. 15. 16. That the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable to God sanctified by the Holy-Ghost There is nothing that comes acceptable unto God that God owns that he receives or where he smells a savour of rest but that which comes up in the spirit of Christ by Christ by him in his name There is nothing holy but what is by the Holy-Ghost It is he that sanctifies the people by his blood as it is said here before Let us go forth to him and by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise He is the Mediator between God and man he is our peace our wisdom our righteousness our sanctification If he be our sanctification God will own us there is nothing that God can own but what comes by him We are all an unclean thing there is nothing comes from us but pollution but onely as we come forth by Christ and in Christ Else all our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving are nothing but a form a shew of holiness It is a fair shew toward God but tends only to the flesh and to the world Our minde and Conscience is defiled till it be taken into the Holy-Ghost till Christ be brought forth in us In Christ we come forth a new creation All this same old creation is lost and fallen into Satan in the new Creation Satan hath nothing to do the prince of this world comes and hath nothing in me By him All acceptable service goes to God by Christ In him are all the promises yea and Amen The promises saith the Apostle they are to the seed he doth not say to Seeds as to many but as to one and that is Christ Gal. 3. 12. Coming and not coming by Christ we have no promise of acceptance Christ is the heir of all God
hath given all to him we can have nothing but by him and in him we are coheirs as the Apostle hath it in Rom. 8. God hath chosen us in him hath blessed us in him by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise Christ is Temple he is Altar he is Priest he is all the whole body of our sacrifice by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise No acceptable sacrifice but by him Every one then that deals by sacrifice that deals in praise and thanksgiving or supposeth that he doth so let him consider by whom he comes Do you come by a Mediator or no If you come by a Mediator do you come by him that is gone without the gate and sits in the reproach of the world if you come not by him all that you do whatever fair shew it hath to men is but abomination in the sight of God There is nothing acceptable to God but in him All the Incense you offer up it stinks unless there be the sweet odour of him How is it then you bring your praise you bring your thanks by whom do you come doth Christ lead you in do you do it by him We use his name we come with words and letters and syllables we say Lord we come to thee by Jesus Christ we come in his name when we say so let 's consider what Commission we have Remember what the evil spirit said to them that conjured them in the name of Jesus whom Paul preached Jesus we know and Paul we know but who are ye and that of the Psalmist Why dost thou take my name into thy mouth when thou hatest to be Reformed Is the name of Jesus in thy mouth Yes but consider is the love of Jesus and the Faith of Iesus in thy heart If we come by him let us see that he is with us let us look for his minde in us for his spirit in us Are we spiritually minded or carnally minded Are we his reproach or is he precious unto us he must needs be so if we come by him unto God and know him the onely way and the truth and the life Are we let unto God by his spirit To come by Iesus is to come in the light and power and grace and life of Iesus To come in our own names what can we expect to come by our own works by our own righteousness this is to make another Iesus another Mediator To use onely the name what an abominable mockery is this and how hath Satan and sin and all wickedness been brought forth under the Names and Titles of Iesus Christ The devil hath brought forth all sacrifices to himself under the name of Iesus Christ and under such Titles By him Let every one of us look if we be in praise and Thanksgiving unto God whether we come by him To come by him is to come with him Know ye not that Christ is in you If any have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his We are branches of his root members of his body and so we are to grow up if we be planted in the house of God through the sap and fatness that we have in him We have great things to do which cannot be done but by him We have principalities and powers death and hell to wrastle withal how shall we do it but by him we have God himself to overcome and how shall this be done but by his son Consider what a promise there is whatsoever you shall ask in his name it shall be given you We have heaven to open and shut we have Satan to binde and loose and how shall this be done without him But you will say where is he that doth go forth by him where is this power where is this light and where is this grace O 't were well if all our hearts were stirred up to look after it where it is O that we were awakened to look for it that we were rows'd up out of spiritual security and stumbling out of that form of Religion we walk in to look after power and life and spirit Where is it Surely when we begin to look after it we shall finde it is not far from us But the truth is it hath been a long time absent a long time withdrawn in respect of the manifestation of it God hath been pleased that there should be an hour of darkness and a time of temptation God is pleased there should be a time of Apostacy that the man of sin should be revealed and that he himself during this time should be hid Christ himself did not always go forth manifestly in the name of God for that thirty yeers from his birth 't is true he did all by the Father but how little manifestation was there of the Father in that time his working by the Father in the name of the Father was manifested in him by degrees And he tells his Disciples that they should go forth mightier then ever he went forth himself Joh. 14. He that believes in me greater works shall he do then those that I do When Christ came to suffer and to be a reproach he went to it by the Father he went to all by the Father and we go to all by him and the Father did not presently manifest himself or lead him out to a willing and a joyful suffering but comes to him by degrees after begging and entreating and earnest Prayers with strong cries and tears if it be possible let this cup pass away The Father comes in at last takes him by the hand and then he goes on cheerfully and for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross and despised the shame The manifestation of Christ with his people to lead them to God hath been low and dark but it shall be cleer it shall be bright it shall be powerful We have been in an exceeding puzzeled lost condition and still are that we scarce know when we go by Christ and when we go alone but he shall come forth cleerly and manifestly to lead his people and we shall see that he hath us by the right hand He will come forth in his brightness to destroy the man of sin after the time that he is fully revealed and by him the Saints shall go into greater glory then ever they have yet seen we shall judge the world and we shall judge Angels How is it to be wished that we were sensible of that confusion and darkness that lieth upon us that we have seen and do see very little of Christ our way I am the way the truth and the life When the time comes that Christ shall manifest himself unto his people to lead them unto God to be their light and their direction and their life he will make us sensible of our darkness of our weakness at what a loss we have been and we shall begin to cry as the Prophet Elisha did when his Master was taken up where is the spirit
of Eliah There is the promise of a double spirit greater things shall they do that believe in me Where is this double spirit surely God is awaking us to be looking after it We have heard of Christians of a tall stature that have been gyants to us and we like Pygmies unto them and we have precious promises that hold forth a more glorious manifestation of God a full and everlasting presence of God let us be looking out of our darkness and weakness unto this Let us not be content that Paul should be able to do all things through Christ that strengthens him and we able to do nothing Let it trouble us that Paul should not be under the power of any thing and we under the power of so many things let it stir us that Paul should triumph over principalities and powers and see himself more then a Conqueror and we lie groveling under a spirit of fear When God hath once discovered to us how low his appearing is in us and how little we go forth by him we shall be stirred up to look for a higher appearance and when we shall hear and read what the men of God have said The light was manifest we have seen it we have handled it with our hands our eys have looked upon it surely our hearts will burn within us we shall have no rest till he come forth in us Our fouls will breath nothing else but this O that thou wouldst bow the Heavens and come down O that thou wouldst make thy way known to thy adversaries We shall be weary of walking in a weak dull Religion we shall se what a reproach we are that bear the name of Christ and can shew forth nothing of the power of Christ Carnal profession in Religion seeks ways to make out it self by helping Christ to worldly strength and worldly honour and worldly wisdom but they that are Christs indeed will take heed of this Antichrist Be sensible that Christ is a child in us and weak in us can hardly speak in us can hardly stir in us that we lie in the dust till he be grown up in us that we sit in darkness till the Lord be our light We know that there is a Ministery will come forth that will have no need of such weapons therefore we will never seek to honour Christ and set up Christ with the civil Magistrates sword we will never seek to put the civil sword into his hand we will never seek to dress him forth with mans wisdom we will lie in the dust till he comes forth in us in his own power and wisdome and glory We should then mourn after the Lord. When once the people did mourn after the Lord the Lord was presently with them The Lord tells his people by Jeremy that the time of their captivity should be in Babylon seventy yeers and then saith he you shall praise me then you shall seek my face We have been in Babylon and are in Babylon mourning after the Lord and begin to feel our captivity and are sensible of our weakness is not the man of sin revealed now let the Lord be revealed to consume this man of sin to consume him inwardly to consume him in all the world Come and take thy kingdom and take thy power Where will God appear and set up his glory is it not in his Saints he will be glorious in his Saints he will be admired in all them that believe Awake and rise up you that sit in the dust Let 's not be contented with forms and professions and names and Titles let us look after power let us go forth by Christ indeed let us be looking where the power of Christ is and where the grace of Christ is Christ hath said Whatever you ask in my name it shall be given you How many things do we ask and they are not given us how do we ask in the name of Christ then If we consider our selves in all we have yet attained we shall scarce see any thing we can call Prayer we never knew how to pray yet When did we go forth by Jesus Christ By him let us offer the sacrifice of Praise to God and by him we shall do it continually SERMON II. HEB. 13. 15. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name BY him By whom by Jesus who that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the camp Let us go forth to him without the Camp bearing his reproach And by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually Our Sanctification by Christ is our giving up our selves a sacrifice to God It is our going out of the glory of the world out of the honor the reputation and all the accommodations of the world unto Christ who who is gone before us out of all To be a Christian is at least to be brought to this in full purpose of heart Abraham was the father of the faithful who because he trusted in God forsook his Countrey Kindred and Fathers house He that will be my Disciple saith Christ let him take up his cross else he is unworthy of me This is to be sanctified unto God to be no more the worlds nor the fleshes nor our own but the Lords You must be a curse to the world if you will be a blessing to God We have not rightly understood Christs being made a curse for us we have thought we might be excused from the curse but we must be made a curse with him and by going into this curse we remove from that curse we are under as unto God Let us go forth unto him bearing his reproach And you shall lose nothing by it You have here no continuing City you are making unto a continuing City through reproach You must go out of the Camp out of the City if you will finde a continuing City you shall not go out in haste or in fear you shall not go out sorrowing or mourning you shall not go forth looking back O what a City have I left what goods what name have I left If Christ lead you forth you shall go forth with praise and thanksgiving When Christ went forth he had joy set before him and for that he endured the cross and despised the shame Let us by him offer the sacrifice of praise to God The Altar of God which is Jesus Christ unto the true Worshippers gives them the fat it gives them the sweet that they rejoyce before the Lord they bless the Lord they are filled with his loving kindeness they are filled with his goodness they eat and drink that meat the world doth not know they praise him And Christian praise is not a word-business God I thank thee c. as the Pharisee said it is a giving up our selves I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye offer up your bodies a living sacrifice A
sacrifice wherein is somewhat killed somewhat burnt and consumed and that is the world and lust and somewhat which is offered up to God that lives in God that lives in the fire and that is the spiritual part Christ in us It is a sacrifice and it is offered up by the fire of the Spirit sanctified by the Holy Ghost The world doth not know praise yea there may be many true Saints that yet do not know that which is their life for this same life of the Divine Nature doth not presently discover it self We grow up in this spiritual life by degrees as we do in the natural life T is impossible to offer this sacrifice but in the Spirit but by Jesus Christ By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually There is no man can praise God but by Jesus Christ To offer by Jesus Christ is to offer in the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the power of Jesus Christ in the life of Jesus Christ in the light of Jesus Christ and when we shall see and understand what it is to praise that t is an offering up of our selves unto God a freewil offering then we shall easily grant that this cannot be but by Iesus Christ There is nothing in us but enmitie unto God we have no sacrifice but for the Devil and for hell T is by Jesus Christ that we offer unto God let us look whether our praise and thanksgiving do come by Iesus Christ or no if we cannot see Iesus Christ with us and his Spirit leading us let us be sensible of it and abhor our selves in all we do and let us wait when he will come forth and lead us into the presence of God when his power shall be manifested in us when we shall see and know that we walk in the light as God is in the light T is time to be looking after power and life we have been long in a languishing Religion the workings of the heart the prayers the sighs and groans of the Saints after Jesus Christ tell us he is at the door T is time we should be weary of a profession and of a Religion which we cannot make forth to the world and sometimes cannot make forth to our selves Shall we not wait for the time when we may make it out that we are of God and walk with God by shewing forth the light of God the life of God the power of God the praises of God and the wonders of God surely we are called to shew forth his praises Now is Christ buried in us he is covered in us he walks in our rags and dirt and filthy garments how should we wait till that voyce comes forth Take away his filthy garments from him By him let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually And that is the next thing we are to take notice of Continually God will bring his sanctified ones by Jesus Christ into a continual thanksgiving and praise to his name There is a continual offering up of the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving unto God by real Saints by true born Christians It is a continual work though they are not always sensible of it the new man is always in it he is of God and he is only for God Every true Saint shall do it manifestly shall do it sensibly Continual praise and thanksgiving unto God this is that that we are sanctified unto by Jesus Christ he hath made us Kings and Priests unto God Priests to offer up spiritual sacrifice The sacrifices and offerings in the Temple were continual the Priests did stand and watch by night in the house of the Lord you that by night stand in the house of the Lord. By him let us offer to God the sacrifice of praise continually There is nothing is called for in the new Testament but it is done all his Commandments are Promises It is the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus this is the new Testament The higher and greater the commands are the better it is for it tells us what God hath done for us and what he will bring forth in us There is that in us in a seed which he is calling up T is a pitiful thing for a spiritual man to complain of the height and weight of any Commandment for God enjoyns us nothing but what he will bring us up to for he shall work all our works in us and so ordain peace for us All the Commandments and Exhortations of the Gospel are the Saints glory for God will bring us up to every one of them By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually Flesh and Blood will say a heavy task a hard saying the Spiritual man he saith Let us go up at once God will do it as Caleb saith Thou hast the words of eternal life saith Peter whither shall we go Thou wilt bring forth all in us Let us offer up the sacrifice of praise continually A Saints work is continual offering up himself to God It is the work of the new man of the spiritual man Behold I am thy servant it is the work of Christ in us the breathing of his soul to God It is written in the volumn of the book Lo I come to do thy will Sanctification by Jesus Christ is that we should be holy and alway the Lords This is the sacrifice of praise continual self-denial continual dependance upon God continual readiness to suffer and do his will continual acknowledgement of his love continual setting forth his praise and glory continual holding forth his vertues and his praises A true Saint a true born Christian is a house of prayer You also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God c. 1 Pet. 2. Now some weak Christians that do not know their own estate that do not know that seed that is in them will be making objections against this How can this be as Nicodemus said when Christ told him of a mans being born again So in like manner when they are called upon to be in continual thanksgiving and praise as here it s said By him let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually How can this be saith a worldly man how can this be saith a weak Christian who is in great part worldly and carnal What continual praising and what in all estates in all conditions and what shall I never pray must I always praise when shall I pray Why he that bids thee praise continually bids thee also pray continually The Apostle decides this Controversie in the fourth of the Philippians Let your requests be made known unto God with thanksgiving pray continually and praise continually What shall we never read shall we never hear shall we never work sleep eat drink yes but all with thanksgiving Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God If you know
when the people undertook to obey it the Lord pittied them O that there were such an heart in this people that they would obey me It was a manifestation to discover sinfulness and weakness death and the curse and so to usher in a manifestation of life and power But now ye are come to the Gospel state ye are come to Mount-Sion ye are come where God dwells ye are come into a comforting and chearing presence ye are come to the Mount that may be touched without fear or terror It may be touched There are spiritual senses as 1 Joh. 1. 1. That which we have heard which we hame seen which our hands have handled of the word of life that declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and so it s the Mount that may be touched We are come to the City of the living God We are come where God dwells we are come to communion with God and one with another in the spirit we are come where God is in the midst of his people He hath quickned us who were dead in sins and set us down in heavenly places in the heavenly Jerusalem If we are come to the heavenly Jerusalem we are past the wilderness we are come to our rest There remaineth a rest to the people of God and that 's the heavenly Jerusalem of which the earthly Jerusalem and Canaan were but a Type This heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of us all And to an innumerable company of Angels Not onely to be administred unto by Angels as under the legal dispensation but to administer unto Angels for to them is made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God And to the general Assembly and the Church of the first-born We are come to the General Assembly we are above particular Churches though we walk in them yet we are not bound to them nor bound in them We are come to the Church of the first-born who are written in Heaven We are come to those that are in Christ that partake of the divine nature in which God lives and acts and whom God fills who are born of the spirit who are sons and heirs together with Christ Who are written in Heaven There was a first-born written in earth in the letter in flesh Let Israel my son go for he is my first-born said God to Pharoah but this was after the flesh We are come to God the Judge of all We have boldness towards God We are above the judgement of men yea above the judgement of our own Consciences It is a very small thing to me saith the Apostle to the Corinthians to be judged by you or of mans judgement yea I judge not mine own self 1 Cor. 4. 3. We are passed from death to life and we are come to God the Judge of all we can stand before God the Iudge of all We are come to the spirits of just men made perfect We are come to see and to acknowledge the spiritual and divine nature whereof through exceeding great and precious promises we are made partakers we are come to see and to be the spiritual man the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness we are come to the holy one born of the Holy Ghost to Christ formed in us who is not tainted with any pollution who sinneth not nor can he commit sin Though he dwell among devils and death yet he partakes not of their filth and guilt but shall overcome and destroy them all And to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant We are come to Iesus to the truth as it is in Iesus to the power and wisdom of God which is Iesus we have the Law written in our hearts We are come to Iesus instead of Moses who is the Mediator of a better Covenant If we be Christians indeed we are not come to a Law that hath onely a sound of words written on stone but we are come to a Law written in our hearts we are come to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant We are come to the efficacy of his mediation And to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel The blood of sprinkling It is an allusion taken from those sprinklings under the Law all which pointed to this We are not come â—â— corruptible blood we are come to the blood of sprinkling that is incorruptible That speaks better things c. It speaks and what doth it say It makes intercession for us it makes intercession in us and the Lord he is with us by a word of power speaking and commanding sin and death Satan and Hell out of our souls This is the Doctrine The glorious state which is the true Gospel state it is the state of every true Believer though it may be many do not know it it is a state in the spirit and it is revealed by the spirit This is the Gospel state and therefore if you profess the Gospel do not sit down below it Let us all be making to it let us not stay at Mount-Sinai but let us pass on to Mount Sion Let every one of us look whereabouts we are whether we be under a spirit of fear if we be this is Mount-Sinai or whether we be under a spirit of love of power and of a sound minde if we be this is Mount-Sion Are we in earthly or in heavenly places Take notice that there are three states 1. One is in Egypt under the bondage of sin Satan death and hell 2. Another is leading out of Egypt in the wilderness at Mount-Sinai leading up to Adams perfection to a perfection in nature but there is no resting here This is but a shadow Christ in the flesh came in this natural perfection but he dyed to it and in it and rose again to the life of God 3. A third state is the spirits of just men made perfect Here is rest and stability Here is the kingdom of God do not sit down below this for if you do you sit down at best in natural Reason in a shadow in a lye Some sit down in the filth of nature but do not ye sit down no not in the excellency and perfection of nature Look to the high calling of God in Christ Iesus unto which ye are called But I pass over from the Doctrine and come to the Vse which the Apostle makes in ver 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven God speaks once and twice and we hear him not God is continually speaking He speaks in every creature he speaks in every providence he speaks in every administration do you know his voice He speaks on earth and he speaks from heaven See that ye refuse not him that speaketh God speaks from
earth if I have told you earthly things and ye believe not saith Christ how will ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things There are higher and there are lower administrations wherein God appears Are we acquainted with them Do we know them God speaks on earth from Mount-Sinai and he speaks from heaven at Mount-Sion he spake from Mount-Sinai and he was refused yet there was a shew of entertaining All that the Lord saith unto us will we do but O said the Lord that there were such an heart in this people that they would obey my voice They said they would obey but their hearts turned back again to Egypt God speaks on earth and who doth hear who doth not refuse he speaks with a loud voice on earth he manifests his glory and every one seems to hear seems to stoop and bow before him but they are all lyars God speaks from heaven he speaks in the spirit he speaks in a low and still voice as it were afar off in a far Country and from this far Country he sends to his Subjects to see if they will own him but they say We will not have this man to reign over us God comes in a full manifestation of himself and then every knee stoops and bows to him some sincerely others feignedly and lyingly as it is said Thine enemies shall be found lyars When God shall make us Mount-Sion when he shall awaken the spiritual man when he shall quicken the new man that lieth as it were dead in us then we shall hear then we shall obey There is nothing so much concerns us as to know the voyce of God to hear him speak My sheep hear my voyce and the voyce of a stranger they will not hear John 10. God speaks and God gives an ear to hear him speak He that hath an ear to hear let him hear Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened then said I Lo I come in the volumn of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will Psal 40. 6 7. God is speaking and the Devil is speaking happy are they whose ears God hath opened that can distinguish that know the voyce of God from the voyce of a stranger See that ye refuse not him that speaks There is nothing in man but what refuseth to hear God speak but what refuseth God himself whether he speaks from earth or from heaven That man doth hear God speak that doth know the voyce of God it is the spiritual man the new man that is born of the Spirit The carnal man the natural man cannot possibly hear God speak he refuseth God The wisdom that is in him is enmity to God He is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be But they that will not know his voyce they shall know it They that will not yield to it shall be broken by it it is a terrible voyce When he shall come and speak from heaven those whose hearts are not brought to a compliance with him shall be destroyed by his presence He will come in flaming fire to render vengeance to them that obey not the Gospel Next we may take notice of the effects of this voyce whose voyce then shook the earth but he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the earth only but heaven also When you meet with shakings and violent motions then know what the matter is Why the Lord is speaking Heaven and earth are shaking at this time Do we see the Lord and hear the Lord We are fallen into shaking times His voyce once shook the earth but now it shakes not only earth but heaven Haggai 2. This Scripture shews what is to be expected the shaking of heaven and earth and then the desire of all nations What is that Why it is Christ he is called the desire of all nations All nations desire him though they do not know him and when he is come he shall fill Sion and Jerusalem he shall fill his Saints and people the City and the house built of living stones shall be filled with Glory he will fill all things Eph. 4. 10. When Christ came forth in flesh there were shakings in heaven and earth When Christ came forth in Spirit upon the Apostles and primitive Christians what a shaking was there then of heaven and earth What strange workings were there in the hearts of men through the light and evidence and demonstration of spirit that went abroad That was the beginning of this last shaking after that God was pleased to draw in and to retire that the wicked one might return again to shew what he was that Antichrist might appear and set up his trade under the name of the Spirit and when the man of sin is fully revealed then the Lord will come forth again and by the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming will he utterly destroy him and that will be a terrible shaking indeed Yet once more I shake not earth only but heaven This shaking is begun Are we sensible of it What wars and rumors of wars are there What overturnings Let us see whether we be not under the appearance of this shaking shaking of earth shaking of heaven shaking of Forms of Religion of Churches All that is earthly shall be shaken that the earthliness being removed the true body may be brought forth anew in the Spirit How many in these times hove lost their wisdom and their righteousness that they looked upon as great gain was ever such confusion as there is at this day Yet once more I shake not the earth only but heaven It is certain we are come to it but are we sensible of it God is shaking us out of fleshly and formal Religion out of mans Religion and mans Righteousness he is destroying the old man and bringing forth the new man he is destroying the old earth and heaven and bringing forth a new earth and heaven wherein righteousness shall dwell He hath promised saying yet once more This terrible shaking cometh forth in a promise It is a mercy a blessing a deliverance It is the Redemption of the people of God Lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh When Paul and Silas were in Prison and in the Stocks at Midnight there was an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and that became their deliverance How many of the Saints will lie in Prison and in the Stocks at midnight till this earthquake come and shake them out Then shall come the desire of all nations By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our salvation How will God answer us Why saith he I must remove all this corruptible frame I must create a new heaven and a new earth I must shake the Civil Estate and the Religious Estate I must shake off old Adam I must shake out Antichrist Christ must go away in his appearance in flesh that he may return again
with God 't is heart-Adultery to go out after any creature to go out after any creature but in God is Adultery and if this be Adultery every one if we should look into our own hearts will be careful and afraid to throw stones at an Adulteress you know the story in the Gospel whosoever he be that fears God he hates and detests all evil yet he sees it in his heart and though he be free from gross acts yet he will be far from insulting over any that are left to defile themselves with gross acts The desire of any creature it is Adultery Flesh can do nothing but commit Adultery All Flesh hath corrupted their way but it doth not break out alike but all are alike in the root to make out after any creature is Adultery And again The friendship of the world is enmity unto God Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity to God and he that is a friend to the world is an enemy to God This is that other Scriptures hold forth The love of mony is the root of all evil Love not the world nor the things thereof whosoever loves the world the love of God is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 15. They are enemies to the Cross of Christ that mind earthly things Phil. 3. about the end enemies to the Cross of Christ what is the business of the Cross of Christ to crucifie us to the world and the world to us you admire outward things and love outward things you have friendship with them you are enemies to the cross of Christ and therefore ungodliness and worldly lusts are joyned together Tit. 2. The grace of God that brings salvation unto all men hath appeared teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts c. We cannot serve God and Mammon friendship of the world is enmity to God and therefore let every one consider what his heart most ayms at and what his Prudence and Wisdom and Providence is what that is that the world does so admire and extol Is it friendship with the world or no So long as thou dost well to thy self men will speak well of thee but thou dost well to thy self indeed when thou seekest after the Lord thirstest after him and lustest after him and desirest him and in all desires in which thou art carryed out towards any thing but him thou expressest enmity to him thou lovest not him There is no going from God but to the creature thou art the creatures if thou have left God he that is a friend to the world is an enemy unto God What is friendship with the world when that we seek the creature for it self we are in love with it we do not seek God but seek it when we put our rest in it cannot be without it must have it put it in Gods place we must have such a thing and the other thing we cannot be without it A pitiful thing to live in enmity to God O when God comes forth how shall we be devoured and destroyed before him But there are that will be friends with God and the world too let them look to it how they make it out the friendship of the world is enmity to God And now the Apostle is shewing here how the Scripture discovers this same evil that is in our hearts Vers 5. Do you think the Scripture saies in vain The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy Does the Scripture say in vain the Scripture says nothing in vain but the Scripture speaks much in vain to us while that we do not mark it nor attend it We all speak for the Scripture how the Scripture is of God the Scripture is Truth and the Word of Truth we speak well of it but the Scripture doth not speak well of you It says The spirit that is in you lusts to envy There is nothing but evil in our hearts We shall never understand the Scripture till that we understand it in our own hearts Do you think that the Scripture says in vain The spirit in you lusteth to envy Where does the Scripture say this It says Every thought of mans heart is onely evil and that continually The Scripture it tells you the evil is in your hearts and there is no good in your flesh and let it not be in vain the Scripture tells you if it be in vain now and you do not entertain it and hear God will come and you will finde it so How many carry the Scripture a witness and testimony against them Does the Scripture say in vain there is evil in you and the spirit in you lusts to envy The devill is in your hearts and he reigns there Does the Scripture say this in vain You will not hear it now to heed it and believe it you shall feel it one day that the Scripture does not speak in vain The greatest contenders for the Scripture and the Authority thereof are the greatest despisers of the Scriptures for they make the Scriptures speak as Ahab would make Michaiah speak well of him speak nothing but good and will not observe that the Scripture speaks in discovery of our evil but this is to reject the Scripture to catch here and there a piece to serve our turn and abuse them and wrest them as the devil did so the devil in us does Do you think the Scripture saies in vain The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy But the Scriptue tells us not so I but the Spirit of God tells us in the Scripture In the Scripture there is a cleer discovery of evil in our hearts Vers 6. But he gives more grace To finish in a word What is the meaning of that Why I conceive it is to prevent an Objection which might arise from the foregoing words For if the spirit that be in us lust to envy and if that be to serve the devil and that is all in our wars contendings and fightings what shall we do it is in vain to speak Nay for he gives more grace There is more grace then there is sin And where sin hath abounded Grace shall abound much more there is one greater in you then he that is in the world He gives more grace Why God he comes forth in his people and he makes them able to deny themselves and this wicked one that lusts to envy He gives more grace Wherefore he says God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Here is Pride seen in contention and war and when we submit to God and depend upon him we are well Submit your selves therefore to God He gives more grace to the humble And he gives thee grace to be humble If any man be humble it is his Grace and what is that Humility and Grace Submit your selves to God be at his dispose let him measure out that he knows convenient for you and do not you lust after this thing and the other thing but let God come out to you Feed