some of them very godly Christians and did acknowledge the grace of God in them and that for mine own part I did not allow any such distinction of Christians as Presbyterians and Independents this being onely a distinction of mans making tending to the division of the Church and added that as in Christs kingdom neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature so in this same kingdom of Christ neither Presbytery availeth any thing nor Independency but a new creature and that the kingdom of God stands not in Presbytery or Independency but in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost and that if I saw any thing of God or Christ or the Spirit in any one I reckoned him as a brother not taking any such opinion into consideration and that the unity of spirit and not of opinion is the bond of Peace in Christs kingdom The man then pretended to be satisfied and to rejoyce in his satisfaction but since as is related hath shewed his stomack again but because he seems to be a Christian the Lord lay it not to his charge And truly reader it is a sad thing that ever these names of Presbyterians and Independents grew up to this higth in the Church and that these opinions should be reckoned more in a man then the presence and dwelling of God himself and the Spirit in him For my part I utterly disclaim all such distinctions of mans making and will allow of no distinction of men but what God himself hath made and that is this The world and they that are taken out of the world or The Church and they that are without and in the Church the children that are born after the flesh and the children that are born after the Spirit or which is all one carnal and spiritual Christians This distinction of men God hath made and this I do and must needs use though the world as it appears likes this worse then the other For the distinction of seeds in the Church is the true distinction and the more this is brought about by the Word and Spirit the more glorious will the Church be Now some spiritual Christians may be among those that are called Presbyterians and some among those that are called Independents and all these though called by different names are of one spritual Church again some carnal Christians may be among those that are called Independents some among those that are called Presbyterians and all these though called by different names are of one carnal Church And therefore I could wish we had obtained such wisedom from God as to let the distinction division of men lie onely there where God hath made it and not where flesh and blood hath made it and so shall the true spiritual Church be delivered from these distinctions of flesh and blood and be separated from the world and be gathered together in it self and be at unity with it self which will be Gods great glory and its own strength comfort and happinesse and the great terrour and dread of all profane men and formalists Another thing which I finde my heart stirred up within me to do is to testifie to the world what I knâ—w in mine own experience touching the Army under the command of that most faithful and worthy General Sir Tho. Fairfax and that because I am not ignorant of the great undervaluing and despising and reproaching of it by many even of those whose blood runs warm in their veins and who enjoy all the comforts they have in the world through the faithfulnesse diligence activity labours hunger thirst cold wearines watchings marchings engagements stormings wounds and blood of these men instruments in the hand of God for the subduing that malignant power that rose up against the State and Saints of God yea instruments of Gods own chusing and calling forth to his foot for this great and glorious service which after-ages will wonder and stand amazed at as well as at the vile ingratitude of this age to such instruments as these for which God will not hold it guiltlesse This then for mine own part I am most confident on that there are as many gracious and godly Christians in it as in any gathering together of men in all the world again men full of faith and the Spirit and the admirable indowments of it More particularly there are these Six things most remarkable in this despised Army 1. Their Unity which is admirable it being more the Unity of Christians then of men more a Unity in the Spirit then in the flesh in the Father and Son then in themselves And this hath been one great means of their great successe they being all both in Counsel and Action but as one man The Lord hath taken them and knit them up in one bundle and so their enemies could not break them but have been broken by them Many of their matters of greatest moment have been carried in councell with that unity that sometimes not so much as one hath contradicted 2. Their humility which hath been admirable aswell as the former For after great and glorious victories to the wonder of the kingdom and of the world when Kings of the Army did flee apace and the men of might ran away as women I have never heard any of the worthy and godly Commanders or Officers ever to say I did this or that or to boast of his own counsel or his own strength or to attribute any thing to himself or any body else of what God had done but every one to say This was the Lords own doing and it is marvellous in our eyes and it was not our own sword or bowe but the Lords right hand and his arm and the light of his countenance And they have been most willing to be nothing themselves that God might be all And this hath been one means to keep them humble because though God hath been much with them yet the world hath been much against them not for their own sakes who have done the work of the kingdom faithfully and honestly but for Gods sake in them because there is more of God among these men then among other men therefore are they so maligned by many men For the world always most hates where there is most of God and you may have a shrewd guesse where there is most of God by observing where the greatest hatred of the world lies 3. Their faith There are many in the Army â—en of great and precious faith through which they have wrought righteousnesse obtained promises stopped the mouthes of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weaknesse were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens Through this faith they have pursued their enemies and overtaken them and turned not again till they had consumed them they have beaten them small as the dust before the winde cast them out as dirt in the streets
but do ye live and act in the righteousness of Christ and as the Lord lives though you have Kingdomes and Nations for your enemies you shall not be moved but shall bee established more firmely then the earth And therefore I pray consider your establishment where it lies and that is in righteousnesse and in righteousnesse only Some trust to this strength and some to that some to this aid and some to that but the spirituall Church scorns to trust to any creature for establishment but looks to be establisht only in righteousnesse and because of this neither men nor devils shall prevaile against it And therefore you that are of this Temple and building which is made by God seeing you have so many enemies on all hands pray look to your establishment which is in righteousnesse In righteousnesse shalt thou be established Thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear and from terror for it shall not come neer thee The feare and terror he speakes of here is inward feare and terror from which the Church shall be free in the midst of all outward evills for though the Church be full of danger and persecution without yet it is free from feare and terror within Nay the Church hath trouble without but peace within affliction without joy within weaknesse without strength within imprisonment without liberty wâ—thin persecution without content within against all the sorrowes and suffering of the flesh they have refreshings comforts hopes sweetnesses rejoycings triumphs in the spirit and so in the midst of evill are free from evill and in the midst of sufferings are free from paine yea they rejoyce in tribulations and in the midst of evil are fild and satisfied with good Verse 15. Behold they shall surely gather together but not by me whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake A very strange thing it is that the spirituall Church being thus builded and taught and establisht any should yet be so blinde and mad as to ingage against it and yet the world and the carnall Church especially doth this yea the more pure and sâ—irituall the Church is the more enmity the world and Formalists have against it Behold they shall surely gather together When they shall see the Churches gathering together into the true communion of Saints then will they gather themselves together against the Churches And why doe these men blame the Churches for gathering together unto Christ when they themselves gather together against the Church as we daily see Indeed the gathering together of the Saints the world doth most hate of all other things Oh this is a dreadfull and terrible thing to them it makes their hearts ake within them and looseth the joynts of their loines they think their exaltation will be their owne abasement and their gathering together their owne scattering and their glory their owne shame and their strength their owne undoing and cut of these conceits the world acts so strongly and furiously to scatter abroad again Christs owne gatherings together But the Lord hath decreed and promised to hew that little stone of Christs spirituall Church out of the mountaine of the world without hands and will certainly accomplish it and is now about this very businesse but the world that never looks beyond sense they think this is surely a plot of ours and that we have a great designe in hand and so we have indeed but the designe is not our designe but Gods contrived in eternity and discovered to Daniel chap. 2. and this is the setting up a Kingdome of Saints in the world under Christ the King of Saints wherein the people shall live alone in point of spirituall worship and communion and shall have nothing to doe with the rest of the Nations This councell of God begins to be accomplished and the world thinkes that we are subtile and wee are mighty wheras they are cleerly mistaken in us for the wisedome and strength wherby this is done is Gods and not ours For it is the Lord must build this spirituall Church and set it up in the world and preserve it against the world and cause it to increase till it fills the world so that the designe and the accomplishment of it belongs to God and not to us and they that are displeased at it let them go and quarrel against God and so they will certainly do through the operation of the Devill Behold saith he they shall surely gather together As soon as ever the Church separates from the world the world gathers together against the Church Yea this place is not only to be understood of those that are open enimies without the Church but of a generation in it that are not of it and so the gathering together against the Church shall be in the Church and so Calvin interprets and such a thing will assuredly come to passe that the Church as well as the Kingdome will have domestick enemies it hath been so in all ages and what wonder will it be if it be so in this The first division in this Kingdome was between common profession and open prophannesâ—e and if ever there be another it is like to lye between the form and the power of godlinesse and the children that are borne after the flesh will up and be persecuting them that are borne after the Spirit and the deepest wounds we shall receive will be in the house of our friends not our friends indeed but of such who seem to be so for they pray as well as we and preach and heare and receive the Sacraments and use the same ordinances with us and yet their enmity of all other will be the greatest against us and we shall receive deeper wounds in the house of these friends then in the streets of our enemies They shall gather together in thee against thee But not by mee The Saints gather together by God having the Spirit of God to bring them into union and communion but the carnall Church gathers together against the spirituall not by God but without him for worldly base ends and interests and profits and advantages But mark the end of such gathering together Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake Wee have seen the accomplishment of this promise with our eyes even a great party of the greatest men in the Kingdome as well as of meane ones gathered together against the Church but all fallen What is become of the great power and armies that were in the West and the North and other parts of the Kingdom are they not fallen through the strength of this promise and if any new party shall rise up againe they shall also fall in like manner For thy sake For the Lord loves the Church the body of Christ even as he loves Iesus Christ himselfe thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me he loves Head and Members with the same love The Lords people are his portion on earth as he is theirs in
Through faith they have entred strong Cities and I can truly and particularly say let them that will needs be offended stumble and fall at it that Bristol among other places was conquered by faith more then by force it was conquered in the hearts of the godly by faith before ever they stretched forth a hand against it they went not so much to storm it as to take it in the assurance of faith Through faith one of them hath chased ten and ten put an hundred to flight and an hundred a thousand And this was performed in the very letter of it at that famous and memorable battel at Naseby Many more instances I could relate of the power of faith in this Army but that I should thereby grieve and afflict many too much 4. The spirit of Prayer and this the Lord hath poured forth upon many of them in great measure not onely upon many of the chief Commanders but on very many of the inferiour Officers and common Troopers some of whom I have by accident heard praying with that faith and familiarity with God that I have stood wondering at the grace We never undertook any thing of weight but God was always sought to of us again and again and we have found God neer to us in all things we have call'd upon him for Yea God hath been found of us whilst yet we have been seeking him hath given us the answer of our prayers into our bosoms 5. The special presence of God with them I have seen more of the presence of God in that Army then amongst any people that ever I conversed with in my life There hath been a very sensible presence of God with us we have seen his goings and observed his very footsteps for he hath dwelt among us and marched in the head of us and counsel'd us and led us and hath gone along with us step by step from Naseby to Leicester and from thence to Langport and Bridgewater and Bath and Sherborn and Bristol and the Devises and Winchester and Bazing and Dartmouth and Exceter and into Cornwal and back again to Oxford and all along his presence hath gone along with us and he hath been our strength and glory How often hath fearfulnesse and trembling taken hold upon the enemy and the stout men been at a losse for their courage and the men of might for their hands because of the presence of God with us yea because of this they have melted away in their strong Holds and delivered up their fenced Cities into our hands and every place we have come against we have taken in and every battel wherein we have fought we have prevailed And because God hath been in the midst of us we have not been moved our selves and our enemies have perished not by our valour and weapons and strength but at the rebuke of his countenance This shall be written for the generation to come seeing so many of this present generation so little regard it and the people that are to be born shall praise the Lord 6. The sixth remarkable thing in the Army is their faithfulnesse to the state How have they gone up and down in wearines and labours and dangers and deaths to do the kingdomes worke when was it that they sate idle have they not as soone as one field was fought prepared to another as soon as one city was taken advanced to another and so gone on from one strong hold of the enemies to another till all have been reduced that peace might be hastned to this kingdome if it were the will of God and not come as a snaile but as on Eagles wings yea have they not been active even all the winter long in a most cold and frosty season that continued so for two months together beating the enemy out of the field and taking their strong Holds when other Armies use to lie still Have they taken the pay of idlenesse or lived the life of luxury upon the State-maintenance Have they sought to lengthen the Wars for their own advantages Have they not made even a short work I challenge all the former generations of the world to stand forth to shew so much work of this kind done in so little time And farther by all this successe have they ever been lifted up so much as to petition the Parliament in any thing or to remonstrate any thing proudly and undutifully to them as some people surfeted with peace and plenty have done Or though the Kingdom next under God and the Parliament owes its protection and deliverance and freedom from Tyranny and Popery to this worthy Army have they for all this ever appeared to contest against the Kingdom for any thing or to stand with their swords in their hands to make demands Nay I declare this to all the Kingdom that as God hath made them glorious in doing so he hath made them contented to be perfected by suffering if it be the will of God And most confident I am that though some men for private ends and interests are murmuring and others speaking out against this Army as the perverse Israelites against Moses and Aaron yet the Lord in his due time will take away the reproach of all his people therein and that we shall hear songs from all the ends of the kingdom even glory to the righteous This I have spoken in truth and sincerity to the Kingdom And to that Army I shall say Who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord who is the shield of thy help and the sword of thine excellency and thine enemies shall be found lyers unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their high places I have been longer in this Epistle then I intended but seeing there was such a cause as this no ingenious man will blame me Christian Reader I am Thine to serve thee in the Lord and in the Gospel of his Son WILLIAM DELL An EXPOSITION Of the 54 Chapter of Isaiah from Vers 11 to the end The words are thus Vers 11. Oh thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires 12. And I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones c. THis place of Scripture is very useful to the Church of God in these times wherein we live yea verily this Prophet did not so much prophesie to his own age as to ours nor to the Jewish Church as to the Christian For unto them it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you The Prophet Isaiah prophesied in the Spirit touching the Kingdom of Christ which stands not in the flesh but in the Spirit and delivers from the Father by the Spirit many excellent promises to be fulfilled in the Son Incarnate head and members The first promise in this Chapter is touching the great increase
of the Church in the days of the New Testament that whereas before the Church was to be found but in one kinred and tongue and people and nation now it should be gathered out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation And this is so desireable and comfortable a thing that in the beginning of the Chapter he calls upon all to rejoyce at this vers. 1. Sing O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing and shout aloud thou that didst not travel with childe for more are the children of the desolate then of the married wife saith the Lord Enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations Spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left and thy seed shall inherite the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited So that there shall certainly be a most wonderful and numerous increase of the faithful in the Christian Church till they become as the stars of heaven and as the drops of the morning dew that cannot be told all of them assembled in the beauties of holinesse And therefore let us not be over-much troubled though at present we see in a numerous nation but few true children of the spiritual Church for God shall blesse these few and bid them increase and multiply and replenish the earth so that though the Assemblies of the Saints be now but thin and one comes from this place and another from that to these Assemblies and in many and most places of the Kingdom these few are fain to come together secretly for fear of the Jews that is the people of the letter yet through the pouring forth of the Spirit it shall come to passe at last that they shall come in flocks as doves to their windows And it shall be said to the Church by the Lord Lift up thine eyes round about and behold all these gather fellows together and come to thee At I live saith the Lord thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament and binde them on thee as a bride doth c. till at last the Church shall say in her heart Who hath begotten me these seeing I have lost my children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who hath brought up these Behold I was left alone these where had they been Yea these very promises are now in the very act of accomplishing among us for the spiritual Church hath received a very great increase within these few yeers and God hath many faithful people in many places of this Kingdom and of this my self and many more in this Army are witnesses for having marched up and down the Kingdom to do the work of God and the State we have met with many Christians who have much Gospel light and which makes it the more strange in such places where there hath been no Gospel-Ministery which hath put me in minde of that prophecie Isai. 66. 8. Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a nations be born at once For as soon as Sion travelled nay before she travelled she brought forth her children There was no outward Ministery of the Gospel to travel or take pains with them and yet Sion brings forth her children And one thing that is remarkable touching the increase of the Church at this day is this That where Christ sends the Ministration of the Spirit there many young people are brought in to Christ as being most free from the forms of the former age and from the Doctrines and Traditions of men taught and received instead of the pure and unmixed Word of God whereas many old professors who are wholly in the form prove the greatest enemies to the power of godlinesse and thus the first are the last and the last first Now this great and sudden increase of the faithful is that which doth so exceedingly trouble the world and makes them angry at the very heart For if they were but a few mean contemptible and inconsiderable persons whom they might easily suppresse and destroy they would be pretty quiet but when they begin to increase in the land as Israel did in Egypt and notwithstanding all the burdens of their taskmasters wherewith they are afflicted and grieved do yet increase abundantly and multiply and wax exceeding mighty till they begin to fill the land and when they consult to deal wisely with them lest they multiply too much do yet see them grow and multiply the more that they know not at what Countrey or City or Town or Village or family to begin to suppresse them this is that doth so exceedingly vex and inrage the world and makes them even mad again as we see this day For the increase of the faithful as it is the glory of the Church so it is the grief and madnesse of the world But these men in vain attempt against this increase of the faithful as the Egyptians against the increase of the Israelites for none can hinder the increase of the Church but they that hinder God from pouring out his Spirit and according to the measure of Gods pouring forth the Spirit is and must be the increase of the Church in despite of all the opposition of the world And thus much touching the first promise of the Churches Increase Now in the words I read to you the Lord comes to another promise so that the Lord because of the Churches weaknesse addes one promise to another and these promises are nothing but the outgoings and manifestations of his love through the Word Christ But to look more neerly upon the words Oh thou afflicted Affliction in the world doth so inseparably attend the Church that the Church even takes its denomination from it Oh thou afflicted The condition of the Church is an afflicted condition For the Church being born of God and born of the Spirit is put into a direct contrariety to the world which is born of the flesh and is also of its father the devil And so the whole world is malignant against the faithful and spiritual Church and all that are not regenerate set their faces yea their hearts and their hands against the Saints and the unregenerate world is against the regenerate and the carnal world against the spiritual and the sinful world against the righteous and all the people and nations in the world are against that people and nation which the Apostle calls a holy nation and a peculiar people As the world cannot endure God in himself so neither can it endure God in the Saints and so the more God dwells in the Saints the more doth the world afflict the Saints for they oppose not the faithful for any thing of flesh and blood in them but because that flesh and blood of theirs is the habitation of God and
Christians you shall oft see and discern an excellent beauty in some gift or other which they have received from the Spirit which shines not forth so clearly in some stronger Christians And therefore let us not expect all gifts in all men and that every man should excel in every gift for then one would be saying to another I have no need of thee But God hath given diversity of gifts to divers Saints that each may acknowledge something in another which he hath not himself and may reckon his perfection to lie in his union and communion with them that so the Communion of Saints may be kept up in the world in despight of the world One Christian hath the gift of Faith another the gift of Prayer another the gift of utterance in preaching another the gift of courage another the gift of meeknesse and the like and no man hath all things in himself that every man in the sight of his own wants may be kept humble And this is a glorius thing in this building that the lustre of each stone addes to the lustre of all and the lustre of all is communicated to each stone and so in the Spiritual building what one hath from the Spirit it is for all what all have is for each one If thou hast the gift of utterance in the ministration of the Spirit it is to build up me if I have the spirit of Prayer it commends thee as carefully to God as my self one watches over another as over his own soul and if any be weak the strong support them if any be doubtful they that have the gift of knowledge direct them if one be troubled the rest mourn with him if one be comforted the rest rejoyce with him and they are all so linked together in the body of Christ that the good and evil of one extends to all Where thou canst finde such another communion there joyn thy self but if this be the onely excellent communion in the world who would not willingly joyn himself to that spiritual people where no man calls his grace his own but all gifts are in common among all every one having a share in the faith hope love prayer peace joy wisdome strength of all and all having a share in these gifts and graces that are in any one And thus much for the diversity of the stones as well as the preciousnesse of them 3. The third thing that reveals the sense of the words is to observe that this spiritual building of the Church of the New Testament is made up all of precious stones without any mixture of common stones is made up of Saphires Agates Carbuncles and addes And all thy borders of pleasant stones Here then must be no mingling of the precious and the vile the holy and the profane the faithful and the unbeliever the spiritual and the carnal but all must be precious If a man had a jewel that had here and there onely a precious stone in it and all the rest common pebbles there would be no great glory in such a jewel but the common stones would take off from the lustre of the precious ones And so the Church is Gods jewel in the world and it must be made up onely of precious stones as you see here And where are their eyes that perceive not this There be some that talk much against New Doctrine which is the old reproach of the Gospel but surely there was never newer Doctrine then this That the Spiritual Church of the New Testament should be made up of all the people that live in a Kingdom and that all that are born in such a Nation should necessarily be stones for the building up the new Jerusalem This is a new Doctrine indeed which neither the Old nor the New Testament owns but was conveyed into the world by the spirit of Antichrist For God doth not now make any people or kinred or nation his Church but gathers his Church out of every people and kinred and nation and none can be stones of this building but those that are first elect and after made precious through a new birth and the gift of the Spirit And this Doctrine the Word will justifie against the world for Paul writing to the Churches of Ephesus and Corinth c. doth he mean all the people that lived at Ephesus or Corinth No but the faithful and elect children by adoption Saints by calling and saith So it was meet for him to judge of them all And if any were mistaken for a Saint that was none surely he carried himself very like one he was outwardly in sheeps clothing or he had not been reckoned among the flock and so if a stone be taken into this building that is not truely precious yet it is so like one in shew and colour that it can hardly be discerned to be other but a very skilful Lapidary And indeed such a mistake there may be in Christs Kingdom here that a few counterfeit stones may be taken up among many precious ones but that is the mistake of a false Church where a thousand counterfeit ones are taken in for one truely precious wherein for one faithful Christian there are many formalists and many more profane This is not such a building the Prophet speaks of for this is all of elect and precious stones But I cannot enlarge on these things because this exercise I intend chiefly as an Exposition onely I will adde one or two things more touching this particular and so go on 1. If the Church of the New Testament is to be built all of precious stones what a building is that where the onely care is to keep these stones out of the building lest by their glory and lustre they should darken the rest 2. Consider when the Church shall be built up all of such precious stones what a glorious Church will that be when the glory of the Lord shall shine forth in every stone of this building how will there be then glory upon glory till the glory of the Church first darken and then put out all the glory of the world 3. Consider what great enemies they are to the true and native glory of the Church that would have every man in a Kingdom a member of the Church and would have those taken into the flock that are none of Christs sheep and those taken into the Church of God that are not of God and would gather up any stones to make up this Temple of God These are the men that would keep off those glorious things from being fulfilled in the Church which are spoken of it 4. We are to take notice who is the builder of such a structure as this all made up of pretious stones and you shall finde in the Word that the builder and maker of it is God I will doe it saith the Lord behold I will lay thy stones with faire colours and I will lay thy foundations with Saphirs and I will make thy windowes
of Aggates it is all Gods worke from the beginning to the end For who can build unto God a living temple to dwell in but himselfe This the Prophet speaks plainly where he saith the man whose name is the branch he shall build the temple of the Lord even he shall build it It lies in the power of no man to make such a building as this is what wild and wofull work do men make when they will undertake to be building the Chuâ—ch by their owne humane wisedome and prudence and counsell when they think we will have the Church of God thus and thus and we will make it up of such and such men and we wâ—ll govern it by such and such Lawes and we will get the power of the Magistrate to back ours then what we cannot do by the power of the Word Spirit we will do by the power of flâ—sh and blood Poore men that think that these new heavens where in the Lord will dwell must be the work of their own fingers or that the new Ierusalem must of necessity come out of the Assembly which is to come down from God out of heaven or that they can build the house of God all of pretious stones whereas this must be Gods own work and his own doing and no State or Councel in the world can bring this about and after much tryall and paines and wearinesse the Lord will at last teach his own that the gathering and laying these pretious stones together must be the Lords owne doing even his own doing When the building of the Church is left to men how wofully is it mannaged why saith one we must needs admit such an one he is the chiefe man in the Parish or he is a man of good esteem in the world or he is a Nobleman or he is my neere kinsman or is thus and thus related to mee or he is a good civill faire dealing man and we must needs admit him and thus will flesh and blood bee ever making a carnall temple for God to dwell in but Gods true habitation can never be framed but by the Spirit And therefore for the building of the Church let us look higher then the highest instruments for it must be the Lords own work by the Word and Spirit and though every man be against it and oppose it yet the Lord will doe it when there are no hands to build it up he will build it up without hands I will lay thy stones with c. It followes Vers 13. And thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children See here how the Prophet by the Spirit carries up the Saints above all visible and sensible things even as high as God himselfe God saith he to the Church shall build thee and God shall teach thee all thy children shall be taught of the Lord The note is this That all the true and genuine children of the Church have Gods own teaching in all the things of God they have the Father and the Sonne to teach them by the Spirit This truth Christ himselfe confirmes where he saith It is written that they shall be all taught of God he therefore that heard and learned of my father commeth to me And againe the spirit when he is come he shall lead you into all truth Which doctrine John after preached thus 1 Ioh. 2. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man should teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things Hereby now we perceive how few true children of the Church there be among those who are commonly called Christians for among all these how few are there who have the teaching of God but most have their teaching only from men and no higher Consider therefore I pray whether the knowledge you have be from the teaching of God or the teaching of man you all pretend to know that Christ is the Son of the living God and that redemption and salvation is by him alone but how came ye by this knowledge did you read it in the letter or did some body tell you so or hath God himselfe taught you this For no man knowes the Sonne but the Father and he to whom the Father will reveale him and therefore when Peter said thou art Christ the Son of the living God Christ answered flesh and blood hath not taught thee this but my Father which is in heaven And so though all of you professe your selves Christians yet none of you know Christ truly but only such as are taught of the Father And this holds in all other points as touching calling and faith and union and justification and sanctification and the gift and sealing of the Spirit touching the spirituall Kingdome of Christ and the Government of it oh consider whether you have the teaching of God in these things or no and if you have not the teaching of God you are none of the children of the Church what ever truth thou knowest from the letter if thou hast not the teaching of the Spirit it will doe thee no good thou knowest not any thing spiritually and savingly wherein thou hast not the teaching of God All thy children shall bee taught of the Lord And therefore what a sad thing is it when men look for their teaching no farther then men they only look to the Minister or to such an able learned Orthodox man as they phrase it or at the highest to the Assembly and what they shall teach them they are resolved to stand by it and build upon it for their foundation in the meane time never regarding in truth the teaching of God but say what can so many grave learned godly men erre and shall not wee believe what they determine why now these are none of the children of the spirituall Church for they neither have Gods teaching nor care for it but the spirituall Church is all taught of God Object But you will say doth God teach without meanes Answ. I Answer no God teacheth but it is by the Word and that chiefly in the Ministry of it and he that pretends to bee taught of God without the Word is not taught of God but of the Devill And therefore no man is to despise the Ministry of the Word which is Gods own Ordinance and to depend upon I know not what revelations and inspeakings without the word seeing God teacheth all his children by the word and none without it And therefore it is not the Prophets meaning when he saith all thy children shall be taught of the Lord that they should neglect and despise the Word and the Ministry of it but that we ought so use the Word and the meanes as not to look for our teaching from them but from God himselfe in and through them and when you come to heare not to think I will heare what Mr such an one or Mr such one will say but with the Psalmist
I will hear what the Lord God will say And truly I would not care to hear what any man in the world would say in whom Christ himselfe did not speake Now much more might be said of this teaching of God but that I intend brevity in all as namely that this teaching 1. Is a clear and evident teaching that you shall have certainty in what you are taught and shall be so taught of God no man or Angel shall be able to unteach you againe 2. It is an inward teaching though by the outward Word reaching to the inward soule and spirit to the hidden man of the heart 3. It is a successefull teaching he so teaches as men learn he that hath heard and learned of my father hearing and learning goe together hee teaches faith and wee believe humility and wee are humble patience and wee endure c. But I cannot enlarge any farther in this point It followes And great shall be the peace of thy children That is when men are taught of God then there is nothing but peace among them when God comes and teacheth thee and me and another and many then we all agree because we are all taught of God and see all things by the same light and apprehend all things by the same knowledge and perceive all things by the same spirit because all have the same teaching And so they that are taught of God though one come out of the East and another out of the West and another out of the South and never had any former communion together yet they all agree in the same truth and think and speak the same things and so there is love and amity and peace and unity among them because they are all taught of God and have learned the truth not as it is in this or that man or assembly of men but as it is in Iesus And truly this is the true ground of all the differences and dissentions and heats that are in the Kingdome at this time to wit because some are taught of God and some are not taught of God but of men only the carnall Church is only taught of men and goes no higher but the spirituall Church is truly taught of God Now they that are taught of God and they that are taught of men see the same truths with a great deale of difference and hereupon arises the Controversie and quarrell for one will have the truth as hee sees it in the light of God another will have it as hee apprehends it in his own fancy and the carnall man will not yeeld to the spirituall and the spirituall man cannot yeeld to the carnall Saith one this is the minde of God and I have learned it from his own teaching saith another this is not the minde of God for such a learned Minister or Ministers taught me otherwise and so I apprehend it and thus as the flesh and spirit are contrary so are their teachings and hence our divisions and troubles But when men are all taught of God then they are all at peace one with another and all doe agree in the substance of the truth of the Gospel and if some doe not know the same things they doe they can waite with patience till God also reveale that unto them for they know with all their hearts that they themselves could never have known those things except God had taught them and so they cannot be angry at others whom the Lord as yet hath not vouchsafed to teach and so they are meeke and gentle towards all as beseemes the spirit as well as at peace among themselves All thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall bee the peace of thy children For they know that no man is higher or lower then another in the Kingdome of God but all are equall in Iesus Christ they know that no man can challenge Christ more to himselfe then another but all have equall interest in him and Christ is alike neer to all in whom he dwells yea they all as willingly communicate their owne things to the brethren as they themselves doe partake of Christs things and so there is nothing but peace When men know that no man is any thing in hâ—mselfe but every one is all that he is in Christ and when men love Christ meerly for himself and where they see most of Christ there love most and if Christ be more in another then himself can love such a one more then himselfe not for his owne sake but for Christs sake then there is nething but peace Great shall be the peace of thy children Verse 14. In righteousnesse shalt thou be established c. This spirituall Church had need of establishment for when God hath done all this for it when he hath built it and taughtâ—t himselfe it shall not want trouble and opposition and contradiction and persecution in the world and therfore it stands in great need of establishment But how shall this be done Why saith he In righteousnesse shalt thou be established That is not by any outward power or force or armies or fortifications or factions or confederacies all these are but a staffe of reed but in righteousnesse and that is both in the righteousnesse of Christ received by us and working in us the first is the righteousnesse of justification the second is the righteousnesse of sanctification and our establishment lies in both 1. In the righteousnesse of Iustification which is called the righteousnesse of faith or Christs owne righteousnesse received into us and in this sense it is said Except ye beleeve ye shall never be established for by faith we partake of the righteousnesse of God through Christ and this is an infinite and everlasting righteousnesse that hath neither spot nor blemish in it this is able to establish us for ever and ever so that the Church hath no more establishment then it hath of the righteousnesse of Christ by faith and as the Church goes from faith to faith so it goes from establishment to establishment 2. Our establishment lies in the righteousnesse of our sanctification which is nothing but Christ working in us as the former was Christ dwelling in us for the same Christ that is the righteousnesse of our justification is the righteousnesse of our sanctification Now the establishment of the Church is when we let the righteousnesse of Christ worke all in us and we worke all in the righteousnesse of Christ then are we established mightily and invincibly indeed and how much Christians swerve from this Rule so much they become weake and unsetled sometimes Christians will bee living out of Christ in themselves and they will be moving and acting and working according to humane wisedome and prudence and the counsels and devises of flesh and blood but in all this they have no establishment at all And therefore ye that are faithfull see to it that ye turne aside neither to the right hand nor to the left through any worldly hopes or fears