fulness of Christ. And concludes that Epistle Peace be to the Brethren and Love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Grace be with All them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity Amen So to the Philippians every where Especially in that famous place of Bowing in the Name of Jesus paralel to that of the Psalm Early will I seek thee and ever will I bless thee and lift up my hands as here bow the knee in thy Name when I pray I will pray in thy Name and confesse to the glory of God which Christ challengeth to himself in the Prophet Isaiah and at conclusion The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen And in the Epistle to the Colossions For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell and having made Peace by the blood of his cross by him to reconcile All things unto Himself by Him whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven Which to the Ephesians is according to the good pleasure of his will which he had purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather All into One in Christ All things in Heaven or Earth even in him And to the Thessalonians Now God Himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you and the Lord make you to increase and abound in Love to One another and to all men even as we to you that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God And again That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye in Him according to the Grace of our God and the Lord Iesus Christ. And again Now our Lord Iesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us for the Father is Love and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and patience of Christ. Now we command you brethren in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ that you withdraw from every brother walking disorderly yet count him not an enemy but admonish him as a brother Now the God of Peace himself give you Peace alwayes by all means The Lord be with you All. The salutation of Paul with mine own hand which is the token in every Epistle so I write The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ be with you all Amen And it may also be observed that what we read be with you might be read is with you and so it is not onely a prayer but a promise and assurance that the grace of Christ is with All calling on Christ and so believing on him for how can they call on him on whom they believe not And Timothy This is a faithful saying and worthy of All Acceâ—ation as much or more then all the Mazoreth or Kabâ— that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners of whom I am chief Now unto the King Immortal Eternal Invisible the onely wise God which Jude also calleth Our Saviour speaking in the language of this very Text be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen Which he subjoyns on this Great Cause I obtained Mercy that in me first Iesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a patern to them even to all them that should hereafter believe on him to Eternal life So that Christ did not mainly mind Paul in shewing him that patience and kindnesse but did it to Him that he might be a patern unto others even unto all others that should ever after believe even to all Eternity And to the same Timothy he writeth Flee also fleshly lusts but follow Righteousness Faith Charity Peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart And concludes the Lord Iesus Christ be with thy spirit Grace be with you Amen The great businesse of St. Peters Epistle is to presse forward in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and so he concludes Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ to him be glory both now and for ever Amen Which also runs very much through the whole Epistle The Revelation of Jesus Christ wch God gave to him to shew to his servants is ful of prayers praises blessings of and from and to the same Jesus Who so plainly calling himself the first and the last which is and was and is to come the great Iehovah Lord God Almighty leads us plainly to the paralel places in the Prophet Isaiah where he saith the same of himself adding also that there is no other God or indeed no other True Being besides himself Representing himself in several species or Idea's For Plato was not the first that taught there was but One which yet was All. And yet again in the same chapter of that Prophet he saith Lo here I am and His spirit hath sent me even the Lord God and His Spirit though I am God and there is none besides me or none else but I and in me and One with me as the Root and every Branch is One with the Vine And in the same Prophet It is this One True God the First and the last and so All True Being which yet is sent by God and anointed by his Spirit and so the Messias or-Jesus Christ which plainly sweareth by Himself and therefore hath no greater that every knee shall bow or pray to Him and every tongue shall confess to Him which the Apostle citeth in that noted place of praying in the Name of Jesus and confessing to the glory of God even the Father also And may we add or may we not add what Christ of himself said If God be glorified in Him or in Them will not God also glorifie Him or Them with Himself Yea he will shortly do it nay he hath already done it before any other can glorifie Him for who can give him first or lend to him that it may be paid again To this also we might refer those passages of holding fast his Name and not denying his Name and confessing his Name as he will also confesse their names before his Father and the holy Angels both in the Gospels and Revelation and the call and Counsel of Christ as also the Fathers Drawing being that we come to Christ and learn of Him and buy of Him and open to Him that is still knocking to come in till his locks be wet with dew and his spirit be not onely abused but dispised and blasphemed argue much our speaking praying to him as well as hearing him who indeed is the end of the Fathers Teachings and Drawings so that he that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh wil come to Jesus Christ and converseth with him as a man with his friend whom he most loveth and honoureth also And the Angels of Heaven for they are all bid to worship him as we
read in the Psalmes and Epistle to the Hebrews with the four Watches or Watchers and the four and twenty Elders of which again when we shew all measures borrowed from the twelve hours of darknesse or the twelve sons of Ishmael and the twelve sons of Light or of Israel they all fall down and Worship Praying and singing Praises to the Lamb also even as cloathed with flesh as well as to him that sat on the Throne which yet was Christ also as is clear from many passages but Christ in more Majesty and Glory of the Deity then onely as a Lamb slain For it was the Lamb exalted and set down in Glory even in his Fathers Throne As of old the 24. courses of Priests and of Levites and of Porters or Watchers or Singers and other Officers so ordered by David who was also the 24th from Noah as the number of his Name in Hebrew and the 14th from Abraham as also his Name when written without a jod as frequently it is and signifieth love and a Fathers Brother or a very neer kindsman so in the Revelation those 24. Elders did fall down in Adoration to the Lamb even to the Lamb that was slain they had Harps it s said and golden Vials full of Odours which are the praiers of Saints Which may intimate that as our great High Priest over all the Houshold in Heaven and Earth The great Angel of the Covenant offers up his own Incence with the Prayers of all Saints to his Father So these Intercessors also to the Lamb even the Elders of Churches offer up their Churches yea and other Saints Prayers to the Lamb. For the whole Bride and the Spirit acting the Bride also do not onely converse with Christ as her Husband but Worship him also as Her Lord as Sarah called Abraham and she is so commanded in the Psalmes both to Kisse him and to Worship him And she so practiseth in the Canticles and the Revelation also crying to the last come even come and so come Even come Lord Iesus come quickly It may also be easie to shew very many if not most or all of the Prayers and praises in the Psalmes are plainly directed to Christ and many commands and encouragements to call upon him there also As He arken unto my cry my King and my God for unto Thee will I Pray my voice shall thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayers to Thee and will look up And again they that know Thy Name will trust in Thee for Thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek Thee And again Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble Thou wilt prepare their heart and thou wilt cause their ear to hear And again Blessed be my Rock and blessed be the God of my Rock and my Saviour clense me from my secret sins and keep me that presumptuous sins prevail not over me and let the words of my Mouth and the Meditations of my Heart be acceptable in Thy sight O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer And again Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever and ride on prosperously because of Truth and Meeknesse of Righteousnesse And to the Spouse of Christ He is thy Lord Worship thou him And again Be still and know that I am God Clap hands all People sing unto God with Triumph He shall speak the people under us He shall chuse our Inheritance for us even the Excellency of Jacob whom he loved and his blessing prevailed over all the blessings of his Ancestors And again gather my Saints together and I will speak and then declares the forme of the great Judgement both to the good and evil And concludes call upon me in the day of thy trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me plainly spoken by Christ and repeated by the Psalmist afterwards Saying In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee for Thou wilt answer me And in an other Psalm Thou calledst in trouble and I did deliver thee and answered thee in the secret place of Thunder And what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee And again Trust in him at all times ye People and power out your Souls before him And again Praise waiteth in silence for thee And to thee shall the Vow be performed O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come Iniquity prevaileth over me but thou hast made Atonement for our transgressions O our Jesus or our Salvation The hope of the ends of the Earth and them that are a far off in the Seas And again my lips shall ever praise Thee and and in thy Name will I lift up my hands when I pray And again Thou hast ascended up on High Thou hast led Captivity Captive Thou hast received gifts for men even for the Rebbels also that God may dwell among them And thy God hath commanded thy strength Strengthen O God that thou hast wrought c. And again In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee for Thou wilt answer me and Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy to all that call upon Thee Or as St. Paul to the Romans Lord of All and Rich unto all that call upon him plainly spoken of Christ. As that also of the Lord speaking unto my Lord Sit at my right hand c. And then the Psalmist speaketh to him the Lord at Thy hand shall smite through Thy enemies and Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of thy power and the Lord hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever cited so remarkably in the New Testament by the Apostles and by Christ also asking the Jews who it was there or how David called him Lord. And the 102. Psalm being entituled a prayer of one afflicted when his soul is overwhelmed in him and poureth out his sighing before the Lord is plainly spoken to Christ as we see by divers verses cited in the Epistle to the Hebrews as spoken to Him and proving Him to be the Son of God and so are many other like passages cited in the New Testament and applyed to Christ. As also the context will shew speaking somewhat that belongeth properly to Christ and not to God but as he is in Christ and the Humane Nature and so he hath eyes ears heart and hands and passions also and affections which are else improperly given to God or supposed to be in him and so he descends to earth ascends on high Returning also to judge the World Which is oft spoken by David to Him he calleth Lord and King and Judge of All. But the Father judgeth no man but hath committed alâ— judgement to the Son and authority also to execute judgement because he is the son of man And often doth the Psalmist speak to a Lord or King or Judge as Job also saying I will make supplication to my Judge and my Redeemer liveth a phrase also frequently
unto all the Lord should call For it was then but the Feast of Pentecost or fiftieth Day of first Fruits and that but of Barley O but now we wait and hope and expect the Feast of Tabernacles also and the latter Rain as the former little drops even the greatest Feast of Tabernacles which all Nations also must keep with Israel when they shall joy as at Harvest even at the end of full Harvest when all the fruits of the Earth shall be gathered in and all Nations also shall come flowing in as the fruits of all the Earth in that solemn Feast Which was acted also in a Type as we may say of somwhat to come when in the last and great day of the many Feasts of that great Feast of all the Feast of Tabernacles Christ stood out and cryed as the Gospel saith O every one that thirsteth come unto the Waters and he that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow Rivers of Living Water as alluding both to their custom of drawing and powring out Waters from Siloam with joy from the wells of Salvation and also to the most remarkable place in Zech where all Nations are invited to that Feast that they might have Water and the Rain of Heaven And it may be he that can rightly count the time between the Feast of Pentecost and Tabernacles may guess also when that latter Rain or fuller powring out of the Spirit shall be Which in general was in the seventh Month yet by another reckoning at the end of the yeer as the seventh Day was the end of the week Even as Gods appearings and Angels also were generally towards the end of the day or about the evening Sacrifice which is one of many Reasons why I think the Lords Supper was and now should also be at Supper or at Evening rather then Morning And to all yet said to perswade us in our prayers to direct our hearts and words to Christ and to God only as he is in Christ as of old in the Tabernacle between the Cherubims of Glory over-shadowing the Mercy Seat covering the Ark I may add That Prayer is a Dialogue between our Soul and God indited by the Spirit of Christ which differeth from the Spirit of God as being That cloathed with flesh and actually united to a Humane Spirit which the Spirit of God as God or of the Father as such is not Which distinction it may be St. John observeth by the Holy Ghost in Heaven One with the Word and Father and by the Spirit on Earth or in the fleshly Members of Christ. Now as Christ in the daies of his flesh did offer up strong sighs and groans and tears and prayers yea and himself also by his eternal Spirit unto him that was able to save him and was heard in all he feared or prayed So doth he now by the same Spirit in the hearts or flesh of his Members which are here on Earth Yet so as all those Members give up their Spirit to their Head As the Elders also in the Revelation present their Vials full of Prayers of Saints to the Lamb and he as the great Angel of the Covenant mingles them with his dayly Incense in his Temple and presents them all even all the Prayers of all Saints to his God and his Father and their Father in and through him They all being indeed but his own sighs and groans or motions of his own Spirit in his Members That we may yet more cleerly understand this let us first consider how Christ prayed to his Father and then how the Christian prayeth unto Christ or to his Father through Christ. As the Apostle saith God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself so in a right sence I may say God was in Christ Praying or speaking to himself even as our Soul communes with it self or as a man communes with his own Heart a Phrase we find in the Psalms or other places of Scripture and we may use it to illustrate This. For which also I may cite that notable passage of our Saviour which I somtime look upon as one of the Keys to open and discover the rich but hidden Cabinet of the Mysterious Scripture where he doth so plainly tell us that he never said one word of himself and yet he said all that was ever said by God for he is the only Word and Mouth of God and in the Prophet Esay he tells us plainly that he said all that was ever spoken and yet now he tells us that he never spake one word of that is From Himself or of his own but of and from his Father and what He said yea and As He spake it unto Him so he repeated it Being as it seems but Gods Holy Echo to repeat those Words and only Those his Father speaketh of himself and in himself and to himself As if Christ also compared with God were such an Infant that he could not speak one sentence word sillable or letter but as God sounded it before him and In him and To him and so He only Ecchoed back some little part it may be as the latter end or loudest part of that Infinite Discourse the Father had and hath to Him from all Eternity to al Eternity Thus when God saith in and to Christ My Son Give me thy Heart Christ then as it were ruminating or repeating in himself what the Father saith He Ecchoes back Give me Thy Heart And so it sounds as a Prayer To Bow down He cries Bow down To Seek my Face Seek my Face And at length his Spirit cries in his Members also Thy Face I will seek Lord Hide not thy Face from me So that the Head only properly speaketh in Prayer but His Members draw also by the spirit of the Head resting and sighing In Them Thus we have seen a tender Mother or a Father Teaching their children to speak and do and go by speaking To them in them as it were and going bowing kissing their hand and Doing All before them and as much as they can in them That they would have them to Do and say Bow down They say and kiss your Hand and say I am your servant or the like by doing and by saying what they mean their child should do or say And then he stammers after them and after many Essaies comes at length to stumble on that gesture posture carriage word or work the Parents have been often Teaching Him or speaking In him For one may speak his heart out to a child or other person who will never learn and Do till he have the Fathers or the Teachers spirit or his meaning and his Meen by accent gesture or some other way rather than by word only impressed on him So that we see our children and such as are acquainted with our spirit can discern and understand our minde by becks or nods or looks or otherwise somtimes without words and somtimes directly against our words and quite
wherewith he loved him might be in us and he in us also which is the great thing he promised and prayed for that All that did and shall believe in him through all ages might be One with Him He that is joyned to the Lord is One spirit with him and know you not that Christ is in you and the hope of glory in you also except you be Reprobates and that they might be made perfect in One They in Him and He in them For if they be In him onely they may bear little fruit except he also be In them as the sap of the Root is in the Branch or the spirit of the Head is in every member of the body knit together by bands or nerves receiving nourishment from the Head yet so also that every joynt supplies to one another so blessed a thing it is to be in union with Christ Jesus our Head and in communion of Saints and fellowship with them as his Members and fellow Members to each other So that as the eye may not say to the hand I have no need of thee so neither may the Head say a very sweet scripture to the foot or least toe of the foot I have no need of you For he doth not onely take care of the least pin of the Tabernacle but indeed is made up of a multitude of differing Members for if they did not differ they were All One and the whole Body were but One Member and as in all our bodies one part is Hot another cold One Hard another soft one puls up another down and so it must be and yet most accurate Harmony in All parts and in the whole So is it and so must it be with the Body of Christ the fulnesse of Him a most remarkable expression that filleth All in All and yet they are All in Him and His Body and have all His Mind and spirit flowing acting and abiding in them even the same spirit which is in the Head but in several and differing measures and proportions to several ends and uses as in all the differing Organs and Members of our Bodies For All are not eyes or ears or hands or feet and yet All are Members And as it is natural to the spirit that is now in any of our members on the least touch of fear or other passion presently to run to the Head or Heart as its fountain and thence soon to bring out new supply of more spirits as occasion is whence we first look pale in our passions and then quickly redder then before so in the Body of Christ any little Touch upon any of his members makes the spirit of that Member presently run to the Head which is chief or to the very heart of God the Root of the matter in him also and soon returns with a Legion of Angels as a stock of new spirits or it may be with Christ himself calling as to Saul when he pinched some of his little fingers and toes or other parts of his body Saul Saul why dost thou pinch or persecute me Even me the Head or Heart of all these Members and the whole Body for if any one member be pressed or hurt the Head and all the Body is grieved or pressed also And why do you press me saith Christ for in all their affliction he is afflicted And certainly it is not more Natural for the Spirit of the Body or any one Member of it to run up to the Brain or Head then it is for the Spirit of Christ and those that have received it upon all occasions yea alwayes to be breathing to God in Christ Yea to Jesus Christ himself the head of the Body And through him onely to God the Father that is the whole Deity who is the head of Christ also As Christ is the Head of his Members Yea as St. Paul saith the Head of every man and the Church is his Glory also as his Fulness even as the Woman is the glory of the man and man is the Image and glory of God So is the Church and special Members or Messengers of it as Titus was the Glory of Christ. So also Christ speaketh in the Prophets I will place Salvation in Zion for Israel my glory And again Thou shalt also be a Krown of glory in the hand of the Lord and as a Royal Diadem in the hand of thy God Thou shalt be no more termed forsaken but Hephzibah Which also was the very Name of Hezekiahs Queen living about that time And again that they might be unto me as a People and a Name and a Praise and a Glory And although they then rejected that great honour offered them yet it must be and shall be For God hath said it and ordained it The skies shall power down Righteousnesse and the Earth shall open and they shall bring forth Salvation And again I will build them as at first and I will cleanse them from all Iniquity and I will pardon all their Transgressions And it shall be to me not onely a name of Joy But a Praise and Honour or Glory before all the Nations of the Earth Should not a Spouse converse with her Husband Or should she be runing to his Father rather or Himself in all her wants or desires And yet his Father also will hear and Answer For he that speaks to the Son speaketh to the Father also And the Son speaketh nothing of Himself but as the Father speaketh And That surely is one great Reason why we should speak to Christ Immediately to Christ and to God onely through Him As of old they might not offer up their own sacrifice but by the hand of the Priest So now he is our Priest our High Priest also to receive all the Vials of Insence even from the Elders who are Priests also but the High Priest as the great Angel of the Covenant offers up the Prayers of All Saints And we should bring them all to him and desire him to present them with all our wants and all our returns also of praise and service unto him And this seemeth clearly the sence of those Scriptures that bid us offer all we offer unto God not only in his Name but also Through Him presenting them to Him that he may present them to the Father And our Immediate coming to the Father while we say 't is through Christ though it may be lawful also in its season if rightly understood Yet surely may be fitter for that time when the Son also shall give up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be All in All. Though it may be Then our Prayers shall cease Or be turned to Praises or Embracings as also with the Spouse when she is not onely betrothed as now but maried also to Christ as she shall be As the Revelation also represents her when the New Ierusalem comes down from Heaven as a Bride decked for her Husband And yet Then also which I have a little wondered at She seems to be
draw All men to him and to make All things new being as the Psalms expresse not only to satisfie the desire of every living thing which is no great matter except also they have great and good desires for else I know not ought I feare or more oppose or pray against then his giving me the desire of my own foolish narrow heart but also that he shall give forth Good and goodnesse so that all things shall be filled with it As we may find by comparing the 85. Psalm concluding thus Yea the Lord shall give forth Good or goodnesse and Righteousnesse shall go before him and direct or set us in the way of his steps with the 104. and 145. Psal. which of all is to be marked most as that which giveth name to all the Book of Psalms as the Jews tell us being thence All called Praises or Songs of blessing The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy the Lord is good to All and his tender mercies are over All his works All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Sainis shall bless thee The Lord upholdeth All that fall and raiseth up all that are bowed down which is again so repeated and enlarged in the next Psalm also that it may teach us how Christ put himself under that Law also to mourn with every one that mourneth and to weep with every one that weepeth yea and to make us sensible of our own wants and emptinesse that so he may fill us being sent to comfort every one that mourneth and to replenish every empty soul. At this I awaked and my sleep was sweet to me as the Prophet expresseth it Yea and Christ is such an Head to every man as Paul expresseth and such a Root to all our soules and Spirits that our mourning and our sufferings reach and pierce his soul also And in all our afflictions he is afflicted For if any one member suffers all suffer but especially the head and heart and if one be honoured all rejoyce with it The strength of a King is in his Subjects and his glory in their multitude and greatnesse Riches Honour Happinesse and Freedome it being more honour also to govern one freeman then many slaves And it is a union with free Subjects that maketh a King so strong that as Solomoâ— saith There is no rising against him Where the Arabick also may help us to a better sence and notion of Alkum then is yet common May we not all say to our Saviour as Abigail did to David When my Lord shall sit on the throne of his Rest and when the Lord hath done to my Lord according to all he promised shall it indeed be any offence or grief of heart to my Lord that he spared us and did not shed our blood or avenge himself which is so much forbidden or reserve a grudge in his heart against the Children of his people When he shall see us all come bowing to him to his glory and his Fathers glory also who is glorified he saith when we bear much fruit And is not he so also When He beareth much And as much as he can If he could have been contented to be happy glorious all alone he never needed any world of men or Angels But O! how was he straitned in himself till he had found a means to multiply himself his Image Happinesse and Glory by Creation How much more than by Redemption while we live we shall praise him and shall ever bless him if he save us But the grave cannot praise him death cannot celebrate him the living the living shall praise thee as Hezekiah said And what profit is there in our bloud He did not care to drink the bloud of beasts doth he now delight in eating mans flesh and drinking mans bloud Or what doth he gain by losing us Can the enemie give a recompense for us As Esther spake of Haman And if he cut us off will he not look in the morning and when he sees our places empty will he not have desire to the work of his own hands as Job and the Psalmist to that needle work he curiously wrought in his closet When he hath ground us to powder will he not say return again againe yee sons of men O that God would perswade us even in suffering according to his will to commit our souls to his keeping as to a Faithfull Creator Can he be angry more in time then from eternity before he made the World or ought that could provoke him Or if he can may little children so provoke him with their raising dust or dirty pies against him that he must also turn and curse them in the name of God and give them up to Bears to teare them will he offer children also and his own to Moloch Or with musick drown their yellings in Gehinnon or in Tophet which he so much hates and threatens and his soul abhors so much in others Or if fury can be in him which yet himself denyeth in the Prophet Isa. can it rest in such a bosome When as Solomon saith it resteth in the bosome of fools Can it remain in such a soul which hath so often spoken it self well pleased satisfied and infinitely delighted in himself and his Image his Son and his own most glorious and most gracious Righteousness Can the Sun go down upon his wrath Or if he must for some great reason act a part awhile and wear a mask or frown and cast abroad his Thunderbolts and shew the fierceness of his sore displeasure or the Power of his anger or wrath can it be shown upon a moath a bubble nothing weaker than nothing will he also set his eyes or heart or heavy hand on that which is not What Glory Honour Profit Pleasure can the Power and Wisdom that we lay aside awhile the Goodness of an Infinite God beget it self in crushing us Will the King of Israel hunt a Partridge in the Mountains or pursuite a fly will he prosecute dry stubble or the little moats of dust in the balance can his Almighty Arm delight to strangle little worms or wrestle with a shadow will he create a mighty whirlwind to contend with nothing less than nothing and lighter than vanity when his very thoughts may easily create the Angels and his Word this glorious World and think it down again at pleasure Drawing in his breath or spirit and they perish and then giving it out again and they are created as the Psalmist shadoweth out his Respiration or his hearts Diastole Syslole VVill his sore and great and strong sword contend with feathers or lead captive atomes will it boast it self in cutting little straws or glory in a Triumph over that which is more feeble than the tender grass when yet it might awake against a man that is his Fellow and his equal match Mighty to bear his weight and power and wrath and strongest blowes when we are all to him as
Naball or a natural fool before the wisest man or Angel of the Lord and like a little childe and lesse and weaker much before the strongest and most mighty Giant clothed with double armour Will he contend for ever when our spirit that is His in us must fail and if it should not yet by conquest he can get no glory from us but a blush to think he should be grieved or provoked to contest with that which is so far below hâ— and so much unworthy of his wrath and so uncapable oâ— bearing the power of it If he would or could express it abroad out of himself He hath already learned much of God that knoweth how that great and infinite Being is one pure simple Act without all shadow of change as he is in himself and yet in Christ is all doth all beareth all suffereth all for he is Love and can ungod himself for ought I yet see as soon as do or speak or think a thought or any thing or act without Love Though he may hide his love which yet must hide and cover all transgressions if the Proverbs do not deceive us So that in a veile or mask it may appear as frowning or an angry face when yet Love is at the heart and the Lamentations say he doth not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men and I never read any Scripture praying that God would alter his heart towards any but very many that he would alter his face and turn again and shine upon them or lift up the light of his countenance that so they might be saved He that seeth how that which is Infinite mâ—st be principle and end subject and object to it self and all it 's own actings yea and Passions or Sufferings also to eternity wil not wonder to hear that God never spake a word or did an act or struck a stroke but on or in and through his own Bowels Jesus Christ. As a tender man How much more a tender God never striketh any but it even pierceth his own soul or Bowels and the harder the object is the more it makes our hand also to ake in striking it but it is because our hand is hard also How easie is it to darken Counsell by words without knowledge But how soon also would True Wisdome come and teach and lead us if we would cry after her and call her Sister and wait early at her gates in a silent freedome from the noise and crowd and dust of this world and vain thoughts or forms of words darkning Counsel without knowledge I have yet said nothing or at least very little of the great sufferings of God in Jesus Christ And indeed what can any man or Angel say of his Sufferings when as all the Gospel is but a little short discourse of some few things which he began and but began to say and do Nor is it much wonder that we should hear or know no more of that of which he spake so Little For he did not cry or cause his voyce to be heard in the streets when hungry thirfty harborless not knowing where to rest his head slâ—ghted Contradicted by Sinners betrayed by his own Disciple accused by a multitude scorned spit upon reviled buffe ed and bound scourged by Pilat Crowned with Thornes wearied with the Crosse and broken on it and so cruelly pierced that the hardest heart shall see relent and mourn over him and yet as a sheep is dumb before the shearer so he opened not his mouth Nor did Living Man complain but Dying God cried to his Father My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Thou art holy still and inhabiâ—st the Praises of Israell Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and then cried and still trusted Faith begot Prayer and that increased Faith and they were delivered many times at all times never confounded or ashamed But I am a Worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of all people But thou art Holy still We are yet but in the Porch and have scarce touched the threshold of his Sufferings which the old Greek Liturgy so rightly tearmed as well unknowable as unutterable O how he loved us How great is his goodnesse How great is his Beauty which was yet deformed more then any man or any Creature Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him and by his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all I might add also that sufferings are of such account with God that though he never promise ought but sutable to all our doings Yet our light afflictions or sufferings which are but for a moment work unto us also but his shadows a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory with so great Hyperbole as cannot be expressed And because he made his soul an offering for sinne he did prolong his daies raised from the dead and shall see his seed and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand And therefore he shall divide the spoile with the strong and have a portion with the mighty And for suffering of Death he was Crowned with Honour and Glory that by the grace of God he should taste death for every man For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sonnes unto glory to make the Captain of their Salvation Perfect through Sufferings and though he were a Sonne yet he learned Obedience by the things he suffered For as it pleased the Lord that All fulnesse should dwel in him so it pleased him also in bringing in that fulness into his narrowness as a man to put him to sore pain and thus to make and keep him still quick or of tender sence in the Fear of the Lord which of all he needed most because he knew and saw and felt most Love Which was therefore poyzed with most Holy fear which kept him still in aw and made him most tender also unto others as we see discoursed in the Epist to the Hebrews God would not trust him or us in his hands while he was only taughr his fear or his love by precept till he had it also by the deepest experience And when he put him under the Law â—or us he did not only tell him what measure thou meetest shall be meet again pressed down and running over And he that killeth with the sword shall be killed with the Sword and he that leadeth Captive shall be led Captive And he that diggeth a Pit shall fall into it which are often repeated in the Scripture and spoken to Christ also as well as to us But he also shewed him the horrible Pit and shut him up in it that he might still remember it and by his own experience knowing the
Seriah was also Menuah from Noah Rest a Meek and Quiet Prince As Christ speaketh of Moses and of Himself Rejoyce O Zion For thy Prince is Meek and Lowly which with God is of Great Price and Value As Saint Peter speaketh Who yet struck down Ananias and Saphira But this Boanerges must become a Barnabas Ye know not what spirit You must be And Barnabas Took Saul and knit him to the Church of Christ who sent him back to Tarsus his Native Countrey As Israel to Babylon the Hole or Pit whence they were taken and called And then was Great Peace and Comfort of the Holy Ghost for Jerusalem it self was scattered through All Judea and Samaria and Galilee of the Gentiles also the three Regions of Heaven and Earth and the little World also as we have touched divers times And Then Peter also must come down to Lydia as alluding to Lud with Tarsis and Ludi and Lydia Saint Pauls Convert of Thiatire Divine Tyre or the Sacrificer For Her Hire also must be Holinesse to God and Sarran Tyrian or Sharon of which before with Carmel For That also must blesse Him and Hermon the Cursed Hill And Tabor the very Navel of the Belly or the Lower VVaters Here must Christ be Transfigured an Emblem of this Kingdom and Then must cast out the Foul Spirit which so Mastered All his Apostles Till Himself came down and found the people in a very hot dispute with his Apostles about a Devil they could not master And yet at his going up He had given them Power over All Unclean spirits But This was Beelzebub it seems the Prince of Devils with his Legions Every one 6000 and 666 also If a great Author besides Hesychius do not deceive us A strange spirit with Three Epithites in Three Evangelists As if Cerberus with his Tripple Throat The Devil in the VVorld Or Utmost Court and Antichrist in the Church or Temple But the Old Man in our Heart There the Dragon Then the Beast and the Image of the Beast and the False Prophet also directly opposite to God and Man who was made to Rule the Beast with the Image of God in Man or God-Man and the True Prophet the Holy Ghost See Ja. 3. 16. 1 Cor. 3. 3. Rom. 8. 6. But How long Ever since there was a Childe In the VVaters Above As the Crossing Serpent which we shewed before in Shemes Samson and his 12 Labors also through the Zodiak full of Beasts Aries Taurus Cancer Leo worse In the Earth Below Even in Paradise The Serpent the most subtile Beast and Head of all Beasts Turning Isha into Eva 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Before whom Adam only conversed with Lilith the Nights Darkness and Dreams which the Jewes call the Mother of Hobgoblins and make a white Circle with Chuts Lilith Out Night In the Waters Below Leviathan and Tannin the Dragon in the Great Depth or Bottomless-pit as Esay 27. with Iob of Behemoth Leviathan and the Revelation But He shall be cast out of Earth also as first he was out of Heaven Whence he fell like Lightning Though That but as a Prophecy before Apoc 11 and 12. Which brings up the Kingdom of Christ with Casting out Satan As Christ also said If I by the finger of God Cast out Beelzebub Then know the Kingdom of God is very near you But you must say Let it Come on Earth as it is in Heaven Where yet Satan came among the Angels to accuse and resist the Brethren as we may find in Job with Dan. Zech. But at our Saviours coming from the Mount All the three Foul Spirits shall be cast out Yet they may Tear us first and leave us as Dead But for Three dayes and Half and Then Come up hither And the Father said with Tears Lord I believe Help thou my Unbelief Being told that All things even All things are possible to Him that Believeth The same Works Yea and greater Works For I go to my Father And a Grain of True Faith can remove This Mountain also where I was transfigured while Peter would have built three Tabernacles Howbeit This strange and strong and last kinde of Devils go not out but by Fasting and Prayer Yet They had Oyl and so raised the Sick and laying on of Hands Cast out Devils For it was and still is and will be and appear a very Mighty Name of Jesus of Nazareth And Peter at length coming to Japho the old Town of Japhet Who began it before the Flood as hinted in Heathen Authors Having first healed Aeneas Aeneas And after eight years By the same Name by which Himself and Iohn had cured the Cripple at the 9th Hour the Time of Prayer As to Cornelius also the first fruits of the Gentiles He findeth Tabitha Dorcas a Doe of a Goat which in Hebrew and Syriac is also Saphira 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Raiseth Her also from the Dead A greater work perhaps than curing a Daughter of Abraham whom Satan had Bound Lo and Behold these 18 Years And another with the Bloody Flux of which before for 12 years And a Third Talitha 12 years old Here are three Twelves and an Half And a man at the Pool of Bethesda the House of Chesed Tender Mercy 38 Years Here are three Twelves and two also for a Cheâ—si Which I note the rather because it was first shewed Abraham in a Map that his Friends and Tenants of Promise and Sodom also must serve the four Monarchs 12 Years And not be delivered till the second after the 12. or second Sabbath which is the 14th Year as Assyrians broken in the 14th year of Ezekiah as the 14th of Genesis And the 14 Teeth of either Jawe may represent Years also as we shewed before from Shinim Teeth and Shenim Years Where we touched the Turtle and the Pigeon as the two little Witnesses preserved undivided which is their only way of safety between the Divided Heifer and the Ram and Goat also and All of Three years old And Then the Fiery Furnas and Great Horror But at Evening or Sun-setting God speaketh to him in a Vision which he saw not till he had said to the King of Sodom Thou shalt never make me Rich. And After Those words God came in a Vision and said Fear not Abraham for c. And they brought him to an Upper Chamber it is oft spoken of and should be marked where the women were and shewed the Coats of Dorcas For she also loved us and helped to build us a Tabernacle As we touched before in the Curtains or Coverings of Goats-hair and Badgers-skins But He put the Women All out O Woman what have I to do with Thee And Touch me not for I am not yet Ascended Which he had learned also from Him that so Acted before Him and James and John which were His three VVitnesses generally Who put them All out and cryed Talitha Kumi May it not be Rise up the Third Day or Year or Moed As They
he was the near Ancestor of Selah or Siloah Rising up 35 years after his Father Arphaxad and 3 and an Half also The great Reconciler of the Sun and Moons Motions more perhaps than 19 or any other Number Half 70 5 times 7 And next to 6 times 6 perhaps the just Age of our Saviour at his Death In Hours it brings us to the Light of the 2d Morning 36 As 360 Dayes bring up the second Year I will love them freely Though before he had said From my House I will drive them Agarsem As Hagar from Abraham and I will not add to Love them Oseph As minding Joseph sold to the Stocks c. All their Saras are Sorerim Sorry Sirs As the English Proverb to this day They shall be Nodding and Noddies Among the Gentiles Gogim perhaps of Gog and Magog also Both in England and other Northern Countries As we finde in Heathen writers But return O Israel to the Lord thy God Even yet Thy God! As Jeremy 3. and many other places And the great Complaint in Zephany is that the Polluted and Rebellious City would not trust in the Lord Nor draw near to Her God As Manasseh but a Type of their Return though They thought themselves Forgotten as that name may intimate after All his sins Yet Bowed to His God and his Fathers God who Heard him Take words and say Take away All Iniquity Not Ours onely but All. O let the Iniquity of the Wicked wicked also come to an end And He was Heard in what he prayed Receive us graciously This Tob mindes me of Tobiah the Lords Goodness There are strange things in that Book and of These Dayes perhaps in the true Hebrew Copy I will be as a Dew to Israel yet the great complaint and punishment was That His Goodness and Mercy was but a Dew He shall flourish as the Lilly Or as Shushan of which before and in Ester 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 661. Or as Susanna Recovered by Daniel from the Elders as Shushan by Ester and Mordecai There is another Mistress also First His Roots under Ground and out of sight like Lebanon Then his little young Suckers Yonikothau as Younger is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 66. 588. His Glory or Beauty or Head Hodo As India How like to Judea Hodi in Ester also And in English Hoddy is joyful and glad As the Olive-Tree and his Reak as Lebanon Jasuâ—u Joseve Betsillo And again His memorial as the Wine of Lebanon From me is All thy Fruit found See Esay 26. 19 20. and Psalm 107. 40 41 42 43 and 91. and 37. 34. with the close of This Prophet Hoseah In the Prophet Joel we have a Form of Prayer prescribed before the Spirit be poured out as There also promised And Esay 32. My Land shall be desolate for ever c. Till the Spirit shall be Poured from on High And then the Wilderness shall be a fruitful Field and That which is Now fruitful shall be accounted but as a Wilderness And Then you shall sing as in the Night of the solemn Moed Chap. 30. to be added to that before of the Feast of Tabernacles And Chap. 59. They shall fear the Name of the Lord from the VVest and his Glory from the Sun-Rising when the Enemy shall come in like a Flood to end That Generation Then even Then the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a Standard against him And the Redeemer or Goel and Kinsman shall come to Zion or out of Zion and shal Turn away Ungodliness from Jacob. As St Paul renders the words in Rom. 11. applying it to the Fulness of the Gentiles as the Resurrection from the Dead when All Israel shall be saved For This is my Covenant with them when I shall take away their sins My Spirit upon thee my words which I have put in thy mouth for the word which I Covenanted with you in your coming out of Aegypt and My Spirit is still standing in you Fear yee not Hag. 2 They shall not depart from Thy mouth or from the mouth of Thy seed or from the mouth of Thy sâ—eds seed saith the Lord from now and for Ever And though they Rebelled and Vexed his Holy Spirit so that he turned to be their Enemy and fought against them yet he remembred the dayes of Old Moses and his people saying VVhere is He that brought them up out of the sea with the Shepherd of his Fock and where is He that put his Holy Spirit within him And again The Spirit of the Lord caused him to Rest c Chap. 63. And then followeth a most sweet and pathetical Prayer for the time of their Captivity to be Paraleld with that in Joel 2. And Then the Lord will be jealous for his Land or for his Earth and will pity his People Yea the Lord will answer and say Behold c. And fear not O Land Be not Tyred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be glad and Rejoyce For the Lord hath been Great to Doe or to work Great things Be not afraid ye Beasts of the Field Be Glad then O children of Zion and Rejoyce in the Lord your God He hath given you the Former Rain for Righteousnesse and He will bring the showre also the gushing waters as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may sound in English the former Teaching Rain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and That also which filleth up the straw or the stalk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the first Month or beginning of the year which was also the End of the year before And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the Name of the Lord your God that hath been so Marvellous for you and my People shall never be ashamed And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel and that I am the Lord your God and none else and my People shall never be ashamed And it shal come to pass Afterward Afterward I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh c. And I will shew Wonders in the Heavens and in the Earth the Sun shall be turned into Darknesse and the Moon into Blood and may not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the Great and Terible Day of the Lord come and it shall come to passe that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord Iesus as is plain by This cited in Rom. 10 shall be saved or delivered As Paul at Melita which in Greek may be Care but in Hebrew Cure and Deliverance For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be Deliverance Here is also Pelitah which we had before in Paltiel as the Lord hath said and in the Remnant whom the Lord shall call And Peter by these words proveth that This was only begun in Act. 2. and that the same spirit of which They had Then the First fruits as Paul also speaketh was promised to Them and Their Children and to All to All that are afar off even All the Lord shall
shave again his Head and Beard and Eye-brows and all his Hair Lev. 14. 9. and Then after Blood and Oyl upon his Ear and Thumb and Toe in All the Three Regions of the Great little World He was cleansed by the Priest O what work he had to do for the Poorest man that was Unclean and could not bring the offerings prescribed And for every House infected also Doth our God take care of Houses and of Clay that Cursed Adama The Hysop Cedar-wood and Scarlet to the Hebrews and Two Birds in Heb. nere akin to Goats One killed in Earth over Water as St Peter on Genesis and Psalms and 2d Command and the other a Scape Bird as the Scape Goat And the Plants and Trees and Fishes and Fowles and Earth and Water and All must Hear and serve Israel and Jezreel also near in Hebrew to the Leaper as the Seed of God! There was also an other shaving for the Nazarite when the Hair of his Separation is shaven as we read in Numb 6. immediately before the Solemn Blessing prescribed As if This had some relation to the Nazarite or Separate person after his coming in again And the very word in Jeremy 7 29 Nizrek may allude to the Law of the Nazarite But yet there was more Hope and Comfort in a Womans shaving than a Mans. For if Her Lord bid her shave off her Hair it might be a sign he meant to marry her For so the Law was If thou lead Captivity Captive as Christ hath done and see a Woman that thou lovest She shall shave her Head and pair her Nails or Goatishness Sipharnea We saw it in Saphira the Goat as also Seir is Hair and a Goat Yea the very Time may be There Hinted perhaps for God is Infinite How long Christ must stay for his poor Captive Spouse before he may be Married to her though she be prepared and adorned as Ester was in order for her going in to the King As the Lambs Bride in the Revelation cometh down from Heaven As if There All the Saints departed were but perfuming and preparing to be his Bride on Earth and Reign on Earth at the End of the Weeks How Long Thou shalt bring her Home to thine House and the souls under the Altar cryed How long Lord and she shall put off her Captive Weeds and shall remain in thine House and bewayle her Father and her Mother in their Enemies Land they shall confess their Fathers sins we saw it before A Full Month or Moon of Dayes And after That Thou mayst be her Husband And if afterwards she please thee not Thou mayst leave her to her own soul which is the great thing to be feared of a Backsliding heart from Christ But thou mayst not sell her because thou hast Humbled her Jacob also stayed with Laban before he asked his Daughter a full Month or Moon of Dayes Chodesh Jamim but in the Law of Deut. it is Jerach Jamim As also 2 Kings 15. 13. May we not also compare That in Jer. 2. Thy own wickedness shall instruct thee thy backslidings shall rebuke thee See and know that it is an evil and a bitter thing that thou dost forsake the Lord and yet more Thy God! For of old I broke thy Yoke and burst thy Bonds Ezek. 16. and Epistle of Baruck I planted thee a Noble Vine wholly a Right seed How Then art thou Degenerate And How canst thou say I am not Polluted A Wilde Ass as the Angel said to Hagar we are now There with Ishmael But God will Hear Taught in the VVilderness as Hagar was and snuffing up the VVinde or snuffing at the Spirit in the Lust of her own heart or soul the very word we saw in Deut. 21. 14. VVho can turn her All that seek her will not weary themselves to finde her Or rather Let them not faint or despair For in her Month Chodsha They shall finde her Then withhold thy Foot and Throat But thou saidst It is Desperate But can a Maid forget her Ornament and a Bride her Attire Yet My People My people have forgotten me Dayes without number But why do My people say We are Lords or have Power Radnu VVe will come no more to Thee But then follows the sweetest Chapter of the Bible to an Adulterous Spouse Yet turn again Yet Turn again Return return O Shulamith For I am Married to You c. Which at length melts her into Tears and sweet supplications In the close of the 3d Chapter and God answers in the 4th If a woman bear a son she was Unclean 7 Dayes as in her common separation not observing which cut off and spued out the very Heathens Levit. 18. Ezek. 18. Esay 30. 22. Lam. 1. 17. and her son not Circumcised till the 8th Day and Then she must remain 33 Daies as the Moon 333 Hours and then she may eat the Holy things and come into the Sanctuary with two Turtles or Pigeons if she could not bring a Lamb which made them so dear that the Sanedrin altered this Law it seems and our Saviour scourged the sellers of Doves also which were brought by his Poor Blessed Mother Who presented her self and Him also in the Temple at 40 dayes being the Sabbaths of his 40 Weeks in the Womb As at 40 Daies after his 40 Hours in the womb of the Grave He was presented to his Father in his Heavenly Temple 40 Years before the Sack of Jerusalem But for a Daughter the Woman was Unclean 14 Daies the 2d Sabbath and the Day of Passover and Then she must not enter the Sanctuary in 66 Daies Which is the very Number of Pentecost or Feast of first Fruits or 50th Day after the sheaf which was the 16th Day of the Year And as this was 66 Daies so the Moon returneth to the Sun in 666 Hours And when any Woman or the Church is freed from the Power or Rule of the Moon and her Changes or Courses at the Jubilee of 49 or 7 times 7 Then she need not fear That or any other separation in common course And if she should be sick so long as the Woman in the Gospel spending all her Substance yet she may be healed if she come behinde him and but touch the Hemb of his Garment It is all Perfumed with precious Ointments as we saw before from Psal. 133. Jephtas Daughter returned after Two Months bewailing her Bethulia which again in Judith and the Daughters of Israel went from Dayes to Dayes a Day for a year to lament the Daughter of Jephta 4 Daies in the year Jephta's 6 and Ibsans 7 Elans 10 and Abdons 8 bring us to the Sun of the 15th Day with some Healing in his wings also though but a little Sun as Samson may signifie with his 30 Companions as their Month had 30 Daies and 7 Daies also for the Week and Sabbath Both his Eyes or Witnesses put out He pulls down the House and more are slain by his Death than all his Life And there