flesh Here is a piece of Discipline that is the priviledge of a Saint it looks terribly but it is for salvation that the spirit may be saved Here is destruction in it but destruction is for salvation There are that are Satans let them be delivered to him there they abide they return no more there is that that returns again that the spirit may be saved The devil takes his own meddles with nothing else the flesh destroyed the spirit saved Deliver him to Satan how is that that is let him see that he is in Satans hands that he is drudging in his work that he is a vassal of his in this incest that he hath committed let him see this Qu. Why but he was in Satans hands under Satans power in the commission of this evil what then is this Delivering to Satan Answ Let him see it and let him feel it let him feel hell and feel wrath let him finde the flames about him And so I look upon that Scripture in Joh. 16. 8. to be the interpretation of this Scripture The Spirit shall convince of sin and of righteousness and of judgement Here is the power of the Lord Jesus the spirit of the Lord Jesus v. 4. by this there is a Delivery unto Satan a conviction of sin that the flesh may be destroyed and the spirit may be saved that righteousness and judgement may come forth This is convincing of sin of righteousness and of judgement Deliver him to Satan tie him fast by a spirit of bondage fill his soul with fear and trembling Deliver him for the destruction of the flesh The destruction of the flesh that 's the destruction of Satan Satans kingdom is in the flesh Gods rule is in the spirit deliver him to Satan that Satan may be destroyed Let him see that he is in the hands of Satan that the Spirit may make out of his hands the flesh is nothing but enmity to God The devil is the enemy of God so is flesh and if enemy be too little 't is said to be enmity Rom. 8. 7. the wisdom of the flesh is enmity to God The wisdom of the flesh the most glorious piece of flesh is enmity to God the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh Deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh deliver him to Satan that Satan may be destroyed they that are in the flesh cannot please God That the spirit may be saved There is in a Saint two natures flesh and spirit the law of the members and the law of the minde there is I and sin I and Christ as the Apostle expresses it There is flesh in which Satan rules and acts there is spirit that is the Divine nature that Saints do partake of and this same divine seed lieth buried in flesh in weakness in darkness under a law of sin and death till it be quickned and when quickned it stands up for its liberty and after quickned it may fall into a swound and be as it were dead again as this Corinthian Obs That the Spirit may be saved The destruction of flesh is the saving of Spirit and 't is the day of the Lord that saves the spirit and burns up flesh The Lords appearance is like fire that goes through the Bryars and Thorns and burns them together the manifestation of the Lord against whatsoever is against him consumes it destroys it If any will set the bryars and thorns against me in battail I will go through them and burn them together The day of flesh is night and darkness unto the spirit to that that is born of God The day of the Lord is the night of the flesh and the night of Satan 't is darkness and not light and here the spirit comes forth that that is of God comes forth and the flesh is destroyed Thus you have a short view of the meaning of the words and do you judge what I say That which is to be observed here may be branched out into divers particulars 1. First this That there is mercy kindness pity life salvation conveyed unto Saints by such ways and means where there is nothing visible but evil and death hell and destruction Deliver him to Satan c. send him to hell that he may be delivered from hell by terrible things dost thou answer us O God of our salvation 2. Another thing to be observed here is this That Satan and hell and death in all the powers thereof is under the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Saints When ye are gathered together with the power of the Lord Jesus deliver such a one unto Satan Deliver him for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved Satan is under the power of the Lord Jesus in his Saints in his people and he is disposed by them to take such a one to destroy his own power in him and to send him forth pure to send back that that is of God Deliver him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved The power of the Lord Jesus shall be manifested in the Saints to command and dispose of Satan and the power of hell This incestuous person was delivered unto Satan for what end That Satan should destroy himself in him now by the spirit of the Lord Jesus in the Church he is restored and received again In the second Epistle the second Chapter Now saith he ye ought to comfort him ye ought to relieve him sufficient to such a man is that punishment take heed he be not swallowed up of too much sorrow let him not lie too long in hell for we are not ignorant of Satans devices So he is put into Satans hands and taken out by the power of the Lord Jesus in his people This is that power that Paul did act in when he speaks of some that he had delivered unto Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme 1 Tim. 1. 20. Whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme Strange that Satan should teach men not to blaspheme this is the power of the Lord Jesus in the Saints We know little of it or scarce any thing at all in this time of the Apostasie and of revealing of the man of sin but we look for the coming forth of this power in a more glorious manner then ever it was abroad yet when shall that be when by the brightness of his coming he shall consume that man of sin The power of the Lord Jesus in his people doth command devils and hell Do you not know saith the Apostle that the Saints shall judge the world Do you not know that we shall judge Angels So it follows in the next chapter to the Text 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. Whose is the power of judgeing the world and Angels is it not the Sons That which is the Sons is the Saints â—he same glory thou hast given me I have given them All power saith
end of flesh And it must needs be this and nothing else because every Saint while he lives in the flesh is bewitched 'T is the Scriprure expression O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you It is a being born again you cannot see the kingdom of God except you be born again I conclude with this See how it concerns us to wait for the Ministery of the spirit and that is it we should look for in all these meetings and Assemblies Look to meet with the power of the Lord Iesus Satan would deceive us by the knowledge of the letter of the creature we may have a great deal of knowledge and be puffed up with pride and be delivered up to Satan when we have done We should admit of that distinction Letter and Spirit Man and God not that we divide between these but in Man and in Letter look for the Spirit and God The life was manifested we saw it our eyes looked upon it and our hands handled it The discovery of Hell is the destruction of Death and Hell by the power of the Lord Iesus deliver such a one to Satan c. A PARAPHRASE upon the seventeenth of the ACTS ACTS 17. ver 1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica where was a Synagogue of the Iews HEre is the entertainment that the Apostles being Messengers and Ministers of the Spirit had in the world They came to Thessalonica they had passed thorow some places without making any proffer of the Grace of God at Thessalonica there they tarry There was a Synagogue of the Iews The Jews were now scattered from their own place and instead of a Temple and other Ordinances they were content with a Synagogue It was very much like our state now under Antichrist in the rime of the Apostacy There was a Synagogue of the Jews Pauls heart exceedingly went out towards his brethren after the flesh if he might save some of them and yet wheresoever he offered himself to them in that way they were seeking his life and his blood but still he found a number that were of the Election of Grace who did receive Grace though the rest were blinded Verse 2. And Paul as his manner was went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures These Jews had Learning and Knowledge in the Scriptures meerly to oppose the truth the power and the life of the Scriptures Here they hold Paul play in reasoning and disputing Paul holds up Christ out of the Scriptures the Jews they dispute against Christ by the Scriptures and this is that that all the learning of man doth all his knowledge in the Scriptures doth but serve him to oppose the Spirit The greater knowledge in the Scriptures and the more learning if it be only of man the greater opposition unto Christ and unto the Spirit Verse 3. Opening and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and that this Iesus whom I preach unto you is Christ It is not enough to know that there is a Jesus that hath suffered and is risen but we must come to this Iesus we must know him particularly this is he he in whom dwells the fulness of God he that is the manifestation of God the going forth of God the power and the wisdom of God have you met with him have you seen him-dying and found him rising in you Jesus Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God it is him we preach This is the Jesus whom I preach unto you saith Paul we must not only content our selves with generals and stories but we must come to particulars This is he here he is Till we finde him in our hearts we can finde nothing of his salvation nor of his life Verse 4. And some of them believed and consorted with Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of the chief women not a few Some of them believed Paul had a gleaning among his Countrey-men Those that were ordained to eternal life Hath God cast off his people saith he God forbid And consorted with Paul and Silas This is that the Ministry of the Spirit doth it is a Fan that severs it takes out the corn from the chaff that is the work of the Ministry to gather the Saints together to call up that holy seed that lieth in flesh and to make them one with another And of the devout Greeks a great multitude Some of the Jews but of the devout Greeks a great multitude more of the Gentiles then of the Jews And of the chief women not a few Here are Gentiles and women the Jews stand out except a little sprinkling of them but here are Heathens the Gentiles and women the weaker sort in these God appears It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth Here the Jew the Professor that is born after the flesh the carnal Professor he stands out and this we shall see in our days Many come from the east and from the west but these Children of the Kingdom these that are only in an outward profession they shall be cast out the Gentiles come in and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob the wise of the world shall be laid by silly and weak women shall be instructed babes and sucklings shall be fiill'd with strength and the mysteries of the Kingdom shall be hidden from the wise It follows Verse 5. But the Iews which believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the City on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people The Iews were such as owned themselves the people of God they carry the Scriptures they dispute out of the Scriptures and reason with Paul There is a form of godliness but the Devil is in it they are moved with envy that is the Devil Here is a pretence of zeal but envy lieth at the bottom this is that that is the Professors sin There is Gentile and Heathen sin that lieth in open prophaneness in drunkenness in filthiness and uncleanness in theft and murther and the like but here is the Professors sin that lieth in spiritual wickedness as envy malice hatred wrath evil surmisings and the like Many a man blesses himself in this I am not thus and thus no drunkard no adulterer no murtherer but look what thou art in thy heart is envy there then there is murther Every one that Professes God let him search his heart let him not Pharisaically boast he is not as this Publican They took unto them certain lewd fellows c. This is the way of men when reason and light are too hard for them then they make an uproar a clamor they will carry it with a noise and this is a judgement of God upon carnal Professors God leads them forth with evil doers in just judgement
di'dst both preach and live Divinitie J. N. THE Right Spirit of CHRIST OR The Son glorifying the Father SERMON I. JOHN 5. 30. I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgement is just because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father that hath sent me CHrist had marvellously cured a Cripple that had been so thirty eight yeers as we may see in the fifth verse of this chapter and setting him on his feet he bids him take up his bed and walk The Jews that stood by because it was the Sabbath day said it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed He tells them that he that made him whole bid him take up his bed and walk by whom judge you should this man be guided by him that shewed power or them that talked The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power they ask who this man was that bid him do so for He is a Sabboth-breaker and must be stoned Doct. 1. See how forms of Religion are set up against power Yet here was nothing against form for what was this carrying his bed but preaching the love and power of God Christ discovers himself to the man cured of his limbs to a through cure of him Sin no more A cure indeed the man tells the Jews who it was that cured him whereupon Christ reasoneth with the Jews justifying what he had done vers 17. My father works and I work as if he had said in charging me you charge my Father his power and presence is manifested with me if you will see it They strove so much the more to kill him in that he said God was his Father Doct. 2. Carnal and formal Religion is bloody nothing will serve but killing Those that are born after the flesh do not know what it is to be born after the Spirit That which is the substance of Christian Religion is to them blasphemy Christ is pleading with them and tells them how the Father doth manifest himself by the Son and onely by the Son He had now manifested himself in a great work and they would take no notice of it they take notice onely of a Sabboth-breaker and a blasphemer there shall be such a manifestation of the Father in the Son as shall make you marvel the Father hath given him power to raise the dead and judge the world and as the Father hath life in himself so he hath given unto the Son to have life in himself and he hath given him authority to execute judgement Christ hath all that the Father hath onely here is the difference He hath it as gift it is given him Now to prevent that which they might object and say You take too much upon you Christ answers it in vers 30. I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge and my judgement is just c. I told you the son hath life in himself and that he raiseth the dead and hath power of judgement But I told you withal it was given him I can of my self do nothing c. My design in presenting you with this Text is to shew unto those that do believe in Christ what they have in Christ and to shew them whence it is and whence their witness and testimony is for that they have whence it is they are owned in that power and Majesty The power of the Resurrection is Christs and the power of judgement is Christs and Christ witnesseth that it is his from whom he received this power I can of my own self do nothing and if I bear witness of my self my witness is not true All that Religion and godliness that is not in power and all that power that is earthly and that testimony thereunto that is worldly is worth nothing Christ undertakes great things he challengeth power to raise the dead Authority of judgement and this is all given him from the Father his Record is on high his witness is the Father Here are many testimonies named but he looks above them all here is his own witness If I bear witness of my self my witness is not true There is mans witness I receive not witness from man there is the witness of the eminent and excellent among men but he lays them by and looks above them all to God Here is the witness of John who was a burning and a shining light In the 46. verse There is an other witness Moses If you had believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me But there is another witness a greater then that of John or Moses ver 36. The works which the Father hath given me to finish bear witness of me Works are an excellent witness but the works which the Father hath given me they are excellent indeed yet are laid by These are not sufficient for they must have a testimony themselves and therefore are laid by Here is the Scripture vers 39. Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me He lays by this witness too ye will not come to me that you might have life The Scripture holds forth me and eternal life in me but ye will not come to me Thus here are several degrees of testimony one above the other but there is but one to be rested in and that is the testimony that enables all the other the testimony of the Father Ver. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me and I know the witness that he witnesseth of me is true Who is that Vers 37. The Father himself that hath sent me hath born witness of me Is not the Fathers witness in the Scripture and in Christs witness and in Johns witness and in the Works of Christ It is and as the Fathers witness is there they are witnesses that have validity they make an end of the controversie The Father not appearing in them they cannot settle the heart nor decide the controversie It is the Father onely that is the sufficient witness the Father without these the Father in these but these without the Father are nothing The truth of these is the Father the life of these is the Father And the world doth not know the Father Vers 37. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape My design in this Scripture is to call you up to the Father And this is the design of Christ that he travels with to bring us unto God he suffered the just for the unjust to bring us unto God Here is rest and nowhere on this side it the Scripture in the Father and the Father in the Scripture the Father in the Ministry of man and the Ministery of man in the Father the Father in the works that are done and the works done in the Father we must know the Father if we will know Christ It is true we may know the Father and not know that we know the Father
while it enters into his and so when thou shalt in the Spirit of God go forth to recover him and shalt be successfull thou hast gained thy brother and hast taken off the offense from thy self This same offence by anothers sin this same sense of anothers wounding himself and hurting himself is that the Law of love calls for We are all one body all the Saints live one life and so while one is wounded all are wounded if life be not buried in us If we do live indeed we shall find our life hurt in anothers hurting himself It is the life of God that is in the Saints and when one suffers all suffer There is a partnership in others sins by not taking notice of them by a senselessness You are puft up saith the Apostle and have not rather mourned And this is that that concerns us to mind We are for the most part narrowing sin making it as strait and as little as we can to reach as little way as may be this is a way flesh hath to wash it self to clear it self instead of fetching the blood of Christ to destroy it But here we see our own sin may lie upon us and another mans sin also We may partake of sin while that a brother sins and we are senseless while we are puft up and do not mourn while we are senseless of a sin committed by a brother it is a sin upon us You see then whas it is to have our hearts lifted up in pride and insulting when we see a brother sin There is many a ones Religion is nothing else but insulting upon others faults God I thank thee I am not like other men nor as this Publican Many a man is a brave man when he sees another man base and vile We should carry our selves in the flesh as one with all flesh We should carry our selves in the Spirit as one in the Spirit with all the Saints Who is weak saith the Apostle and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not Look upon Jesus Christ let him be our pattern He bare our infirmities and took our sickness Therefore look if you can find Jesus Christ in you that compassionate high priest that will not go by the wounded traveller as that Priest did in the story of the Gospel Look for Christ in you Know ye not that Christ is in you Prove your selves whether ye be in the Faith Look for this love and this compassion Look for the sufferings of Christ to be made up in you We must lay down our lives also for the brethren as John hath it All this I do for the Elects sake saith the Apostle Here is Christ in the Apostle I fill up the sufferings of Christ saith he to the Collossians wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer Wherefore I endure all things for the Elects sake Be not partakers of other mens sins There are many ways and this is one while we see sin break forth in our brethren and do not take notice of it are not affected with it do not mourn and so we neglect to gain our brother But there is a third thing that I would commend unto you at this time and that is That godly sorrow and humiliation for sin is that by which spiritual persons waiting upon God do receive power from God to discharge their own hearts and their Congregations ftom sin and Sathan You are puft up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be cast out from among you 'T is mourning that doth it It is not stoutness or resolution any thing of man that doth it But it is the power of God which comes into humble souls Godly mourning and humiliation is that that doth bring forth power to reform our own hearts and our congregations The proof of this was abundantly seen among the Corinthians as you shall see in the 2. and 7. chap. of the second Epistle where we shall read of the Apostles mourning upon this occasion how by him and his Ministry of the Spirit all the whole Church was brought into mourning and how by this their mournning the Spirit of God came forth in them in power and light and so they did rid themselves of this evil that was among them This incestuous person was delivered unto Sathan and there he left the flesh behind him he left sin behind him He left the Devil with the Devil He was delivered unto Sathan and so Sathan was destroyed in him Sathan was sent to Sathan the Devil was sent to Hell and the Spirit came forth and the Saint was saved in the day of the Lord Jesus The light and power of God was among them and came up among them which enabled them to renounce themselves their own strength whereby to deliver themselves from that evil And so God he owned them And the Apostle writes to them in the second chap. of the second Epistle that they would comfort that person they had delivered unto Sathan You ought now to comfort him you ought to restore him For by this spiritual humiliation and mourning they had power from God both to deliver up the sinner and restore the Saint You ought to comfort him least he be swallowed up of to much sorrow This same godly sorrow is the travail-sorrow Christ speaks of Ioh. 16. 20. You shall have sorrow but your sorrow shall be turned into joy A woman when her hour comes is in sorrow but then she forgets all because a man child is born Thus the man child is born the Spirit comes forth and Christ comes forth in us by Godly sorrow by humiliation in the Spirit We see the proof of this here And this same sorrow this spiritual humiliation is nothing else but the reviving of the holy seed in a Saint 'T is nothing else but the new mans quickning nothing else but Christ quickning in us who being quickned and seeing himself to be cloathed and compassed with such filth he cannot bear it he cannot endure it He mournes he cries under it he will never be at rest or quiet untill he be delivered and God is at hand to deliver him and to rescue him This same Godly mourning it is upon the quickning of the new man in us of the Spirit in us which will not suffer nor indure iniquity it lusts against the flesh the Spirit lusts against the flesh Quest You read of the Prodigal how it is said he came to himself What was that he came to himself Answ This new man this Divine nature this holy seed that was carried away in flesh in sin where 't was dead as it were now is quickned he comes to himself he cannot endure to be in this state any longer he falls into a deep mourning a deep sense how sad his condition is that here he should serve swine serve lusts that he should be so far from God He remembreth he hath a Father considers that he hath bread enough at home
but he will swallow up their weakness in his glory and here he will exercise his Omnisciency here he will exercise his Omnipotency Do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 2. Reject this and reject Scripture as I said before By this union between God and the Saints and Gods manifesting himself in his Saints exercising his kingdom exercising his universal Judicature in them the Saints shall judge the world Do ye not know that ye shall judge the world and judge Angels There is no right judge but the Lord and there is no man that is fit to judge till the Lord be risen in him The spiritual man judgeth all things so far forth as he is spiritual he judgeeth all things so far forth as he is carnal he is not fit to judge any thing The carnal judgement condemns the Spirit passes judgement upon God rejects God The Saints are growing up into the Omnisciency and Omnipotency of God God is now despised in them but God shall be glorified in them God bears their weakness but they shall be cloathed upon with his power Christ is in every Saint and the Father hath committed all judgement unto him who doth not judge by the sight of the eye or the hearing of the ear Isa 11. 4. So Paul did not judge now by the sight of the eye or hearing of the ear that is bodily he neither went by common fame neither did his bodily presence help him to discern the business but he was present in spirit and in the light of God in the wisdom of God in the power of God he did see and did judge I already have judged though absent in body yet present in spirit There is no true judgement that passes upon mens Consciences but by the spirit Men that can only judge by the outward appearance can never judge righteous judgement you cannot judge righteous judgement till you are led within the vail till you see principles till you not onely see what is done but see upon what grounds it is done till you see the root of the matter The Apostle cares not for mans judgement He that judgeth me saith he is the Lord. All the people of God they are Princes they are Kings God hath called us to his own kingdom and to his own glory as the Apostle hath it And therefore Rev. 3. 12. it is said I will write upon them the Name of my God and the name of the City of my God and I will write upon them my new name so God will bring forth his glory in his people Paul expressing what he hath done he calls unto the whole Church to joyn with him and assures them they shal have his assistance his assistance and the power of the Lord Jesus When you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Do you judge as I have done The power of the Lord Jesus will lead you to it and you shall come forth in that power actually to deliver him to Satan You see by the effects this was not bare words this was not a bug-bear But that is it we see in Churches and Congregations among us that take upon them this it hath no effect no power And therefore if they have to deal with a Saint he pities them is sorry for them wishes they had more light if with one that is not a Saint he jeers them he scorns them But here is reality this Incestuous person felt hell in his Conscience saw he was in the power of the devil he was even swallowed up with sorrow Therefore the Apostle calls upon them to relieve him and this is to save him q d. look now if the flesh be destroyed then bring out the spirit and comfort him you ought to relieve him Here you see the power of the Lord Jesus he commands hell and death he commands Satan Take that that is thine and then give up that thou hast nothing to do withal Destroy the flesh deliver up the spirit This makes sport for wicked men to come out with thundring and lightning in the absence of power This should set us to mourn for the spirit How little is the manifestation of the spirit in our own Consciences How much less can we manifest it to others It is then time for us to mourn after the Lord. And if we were come to mourn after him we should soon come to rejoyce with him and make our boast of him SERMON III. 1 COR. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. It is reported commonly c. IN the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iesus In the name of the Lord Jesus and with the power of our Lord Iesus This is no vain or idle repetition all business of this nature is done only by the name and the power of Jesus Christ But if you please to make some difference take it thus In the name of the Lord Iesus Christ that is owning the Lord Christ professing him calling upon him Wih the pwer of the Lord Iesus Christ that is let not there be a bare mention of him but let there be the power In the power of our Lord Iesus There is much mention of the name of Christ among us taking upon us great things by that name when it is but taking it in vain where no power appears In the name of our Lord Iesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit What 's this same spirit of Paul That by which he was present as he said before I am present with you in spirit This I look upon as the Divine nature which Paul did partake of the spiritual man born of God in which God doth act God guides and acts his people in this spiritual man flesh is acted by Satan there is the power of Satan and Hell but here is the power of the Lord Jesus in Spirit My spirit that 's the seat of God in a Saint And my spirit with the power of the Lord Iesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan there is the Sentence and Judgement But before we come to that I shall observe two or three things In the name of our Lord Iesus Christ c. First There is no dealing in the Consciences of men neither our own nor others against sin and Satan when they shew their power there in the power and wisdom of man unless we go forth in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ it is to no purpose T is only the power of the Lord Jesus Christ that delivers the Consciences and Hearts of men fron sin and Satan therefore the Apostle saith Iudge nothing before the time till the Lord come Saul was not to fight with the Philistims till Samuel came To go forth against
honourable and noble they are Kings and Queens and Princes and they shall appear so Verse 15. And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens c. Athens was an University where were learned men See the Apostles entertainment here wheresoever he came else his entertainment was persecution but here he hath little besides scoffs and jeers He had more to do here with the wise heathen then with the professing Jews and 't is observable what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 1. We preach Christ crucified to the Greeks foolishness to the Jews a stumbling block The wise Greeks looked after wisdom the Jews after a sign Christ crucified was foolishness to the Greek and a stumbling block to the Jew Here Paul deals with the Greeks which say What saith this babler What strange Doctrine is this Verse 16. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry His Spirit was stirred in him There is body soul and spirit as the Apostle hath it in the Thessalonians What is this spirit but the partaking of the divine nature as Peter calls it The new man born of God in which God doth act This spirit lieth dead and is asleep further then God doth quicken and act it This spirit is the seat and Temple of God where God moves the devils business is in the flesh there he works his work the spirit is entire unto God here God appears sometimes and sometimes he does not We cannot do any handsome work in the Gospel without a stirring in spirit we cannot sail without a gale we cannot stir in a calm He was stirred in spirit It is the spirit of God that stirs the spirit of his people Sometimes there is a discovery of Idolatry the spirit of the Saints is not stird Sometimes God saith as of Ephraim He followeth Idols let him alone Here was a whole City in Idolatry and Pauls spirit is stirred to deal with them if it may be to help some of them out of it the spirit of God will strive with some and it will not strive with others 't will give over striving my spirit shall no longer strive with man as 't is in Genesis Here the Lord was pleased to appeare to some of them When he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry That which is given to Idols is given to devils Here was a City given to the devil this learned City this seeing City is wholly in the devils hands wholly given to Idolatry given to Satan He is the God of the world the wisdom of the world and flesh worship him and Jesus Christ in whom the true God makes his appearance is crucified by the world Verse 17. Therefore disputed he in the Synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons and in the Market daily with them that met with him He disputed with them There are some to be disputed with and some to be let alone He disputed with the Jews in the Synagogue and on the Market day Paul is a market-man What doth Paul in the Market Paul in the Market hath no worldly design Paul is a spiritual man in the Market as most men are carnal in the Congregation Paul's design was Heaven and God in the Market and many a ones design is the world and flesh in the Synagogue The Saints in the world they are not worldly carnal men are worldlâ— even in the Church Spiritual men in their dealing in outward things are spiritual 't is God that they look at and 't is him that they seek Carnal men even in prayer and all their worship are carnal and make use of God onely for the world and flesh Verse 18. Then certain Philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoicks encountred him and some said What will this babler say Othersome he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange Gods because he preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection Certain Philosophers Students in this University lovers of wisdom some of the Epicureans those that were taken up in a search after true pleasure true contentment true rest we do not look upon that Sect as making after fleshly or beastly lusts it was a gallant study And some of the Stoicks those that studyed the subduing their passions a brave study but both of them fruitless and nothing but labour in vain without the spirit Paul comes to them with that Ministery it had pleased the spirit to communicate to him They that are Ministers of the spirit cannot minister the spirit to whom they will but as it pleaseth the spirit to go forth by them These encountred him and some said What will this babler say This is the repute that all those have that minister the spirit and that they must look for that will hold forth onely the learning of the spirit among the wise of the world a spiritual man must reckon to be looked upon as a fool a trifler a babler Whatever natural wisdom cannot understand and reach the pride that is in it will scoffe and jeer at What will this babler say Thus the language and expression of the spirit is unto the world the wise of the world The wisdom of the world is enmity to God Some said He seems to be a setter forth of strange Gods Why Gods in the plural number Paul held forth one God and the onely God as he shews afterward This God is strange unto wise and learned men they look upon him as setting forth strange Gods because he preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection Like enough they looked upon him as holding forth Jesus to be one God and the Resurrection another Carnal men are very apt to have gross mistakes when they hear of spiritual things Jesus and the Resurrection Mark how these are joyned together I am the Resurrection and the Life saith Christ So far as any man doth know Jesus he lives in the Resurrection All the knowledge of Jesus that is saving is above the world above the natural man It is life eternal to know Jesus and this is the Resurrection And this Resurrection is above the reach of all the learned and wise men of Athens The natural man comes not into it it lieth within a veil therefore he that preaches Jesus indeed must needs be a Barbarian and a babler to a meer natural man Whosoever doth preach Jesus in the spirit he must not look nor think to be generally understood For my part if all I hold forth concerning Jesus should be commonly understood I had very good ground to question whether I preach Jesus or no. Verse 19. And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus saying May we know what this new Doctrine whereof thou speakest is Here was some ingenuity he was not barred up indeed it was their profession their business at Athens to tell or hear some new thing as ver 21. May we know c. Paul might answer them I cannot tell whether you may or
when the people undertook to obey it the Lord pittied them O that there were such an heart in this people that they would obey me It was a manifestation to discover sinfulness and weakness death and the curse and so to usher in a manifestation of life and power But now ye are come to the Gospel state ye are come to Mount-Sion ye are come where God dwells ye are come into a comforting and chearing presence ye are come to the Mount that may be touched without fear or terror It may be touched There are spiritual senses as 1 Joh. 1. 1. That which we have heard which we hame seen which our hands have handled of the word of life that declare we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son Jesus Christ and so it s the Mount that may be touched We are come to the City of the living God We are come where God dwells we are come to communion with God and one with another in the spirit we are come where God is in the midst of his people He hath quickned us who were dead in sins and set us down in heavenly places in the heavenly Jerusalem If we are come to the heavenly Jerusalem we are past the wilderness we are come to our rest There remaineth a rest to the people of God and that 's the heavenly Jerusalem of which the earthly Jerusalem and Canaan were but a Type This heavenly Jerusalem is the mother of us all And to an innumerable company of Angels Not onely to be administred unto by Angels as under the legal dispensation but to administer unto Angels for to them is made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God And to the general Assembly and the Church of the first-born We are come to the General Assembly we are above particular Churches though we walk in them yet we are not bound to them nor bound in them We are come to the Church of the first-born who are written in Heaven We are come to those that are in Christ that partake of the divine nature in which God lives and acts and whom God fills who are born of the spirit who are sons and heirs together with Christ Who are written in Heaven There was a first-born written in earth in the letter in flesh Let Israel my son go for he is my first-born said God to Pharoah but this was after the flesh We are come to God the Judge of all We have boldness towards God We are above the judgement of men yea above the judgement of our own Consciences It is a very small thing to me saith the Apostle to the Corinthians to be judged by you or of mans judgement yea I judge not mine own self 1 Cor. 4. 3. We are passed from death to life and we are come to God the Judge of all we can stand before God the Iudge of all We are come to the spirits of just men made perfect We are come to see and to acknowledge the spiritual and divine nature whereof through exceeding great and precious promises we are made partakers we are come to see and to be the spiritual man the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness we are come to the holy one born of the Holy Ghost to Christ formed in us who is not tainted with any pollution who sinneth not nor can he commit sin Though he dwell among devils and death yet he partakes not of their filth and guilt but shall overcome and destroy them all And to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant We are come to Iesus to the truth as it is in Iesus to the power and wisdom of God which is Iesus we have the Law written in our hearts We are come to Iesus instead of Moses who is the Mediator of a better Covenant If we be Christians indeed we are not come to a Law that hath onely a sound of words written on stone but we are come to a Law written in our hearts we are come to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant We are come to the efficacy of his mediation And to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel The blood of sprinkling It is an allusion taken from those sprinklings under the Law all which pointed to this We are not come â—â— corruptible blood we are come to the blood of sprinkling that is incorruptible That speaks better things c. It speaks and what doth it say It makes intercession for us it makes intercession in us and the Lord he is with us by a word of power speaking and commanding sin and death Satan and Hell out of our souls This is the Doctrine The glorious state which is the true Gospel state it is the state of every true Believer though it may be many do not know it it is a state in the spirit and it is revealed by the spirit This is the Gospel state and therefore if you profess the Gospel do not sit down below it Let us all be making to it let us not stay at Mount-Sinai but let us pass on to Mount Sion Let every one of us look whereabouts we are whether we be under a spirit of fear if we be this is Mount-Sinai or whether we be under a spirit of love of power and of a sound minde if we be this is Mount-Sion Are we in earthly or in heavenly places Take notice that there are three states 1. One is in Egypt under the bondage of sin Satan death and hell 2. Another is leading out of Egypt in the wilderness at Mount-Sinai leading up to Adams perfection to a perfection in nature but there is no resting here This is but a shadow Christ in the flesh came in this natural perfection but he dyed to it and in it and rose again to the life of God 3. A third state is the spirits of just men made perfect Here is rest and stability Here is the kingdom of God do not sit down below this for if you do you sit down at best in natural Reason in a shadow in a lye Some sit down in the filth of nature but do not ye sit down no not in the excellency and perfection of nature Look to the high calling of God in Christ Iesus unto which ye are called But I pass over from the Doctrine and come to the Vse which the Apostle makes in ver 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven God speaks once and twice and we hear him not God is continually speaking He speaks in every creature he speaks in every providence he speaks in every administration do you know his voice He speaks on earth and he speaks from heaven See that ye refuse not him that speaketh God speaks from
Apostle to do to judge He was neither Officer nor member of that Congregation To this we have to say that the Apostles were members and Officers of every Congregation in every Church The Apostle Paul was the Minister of the Gentiles the Apostle of the Gentiles of the Gentile Church the Apostle Paul went forth in the spirit and the spirit hath power in every Church in every Congregation The Apostle went forth in the power of Christ and every Church shall bow to him he is their King he is their Lord and all the Churches if they be true Churches they are one body and that Church or Congregation gathered that doth divide Christ and shut up it self from other Saints and from the General Assembly is so far forth an Antichristian Church That particular Assembly that doth not own the universal Assembly and the general Assembly the Apostle speaks of in Heb. 12. is so far forth Antichristian That Church which is nothing but form that hath no power of God in it manifested in the Conscience against spiritual wickedness that Church which doth not own all Saints under any form that Church so far forth is not of Christ the Church of Christ owns all forms and all Saints The Apostle had to do here for the spirit hath to do every where the spirit is free he comes forth in the spirit to whomsoever he comes forth he shall be owned he comes forth in power he comes forth either to life or to death he comes not forth in vain This for the Apostles right if any say What had he to do here Obj. But the Apostle is absent how could he judge he hears a report 'T is commonly reported but common report is a horrible lyer the devil is the Prince of the Ayre and he is in it Every man makes his report according to his humor it gathers still is changed still is transformed still We have experience hereof dayly how then could the Apostle judge I saith he have judged already Sol. Why he gives an account of that in these words absent in body but present in spirit When we are more in the spirit we shall be better able to understand and explain what this presence in spirit is When we are not so much in the body as we are when the body is not so much our home but we are more in the Lord and the Lord is more our home we shall be able to pronounce what this is to be present in spirit But a little now according to that we have received present and absent absent in body present in spirit We have the same speech 2 Col. 5. Absent in body present in spirit joying and beholding your order c. Well what is it to be present in spirit A natural man will interpret it according to his measure and his line and will not suffer it to be extended further then this he thought of them or he was with them in thought he knows no other presence of spirit then this and will allow no more And so we interpret all the matters of God according to our comprehension we make that our standard But the spiritual man goes further He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit The Apostle was present with the Lord who is everywhere In communion with the Lord he was there and did see and so did judge As in that place Elisha saith to his servant Gehazi 2 King 5. 26. Went not my spirit with thee when the man turned back again to thee He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit Elisha he saw in the Lord it was not onely his thoughts went with Gehazi but he was present with him in spirit and saw what he did and told him what he did Went not my heart with thee when the man turned to meet thee saith he is it a time to receive mony and to receive garments and Olive-yards and Vineyards I in them and they in me saith Christ in John 17. that they may be perfect in One. God takes up his Saints into his own omnisciencie and clouds himself in his peoples weakness and ignorance There is a Union between God and his people God in them and they in him through this Union they see as God doth and through this Union God he sees as they do Here Paul sees as Elisha doth that which is distant from his body his body is absent but he is present in spirit There is the spirit that sees all knows all Yet as to the Vnion which he is in with us he is ignorant and he hears and hearkens and lisps and speaks as he is taught Joh. 16. 13. When the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself He that is of himself shall not speak of himself the eternal truth the everlasting God that is of himself shall not speak of himself Whatever he shall hear that he shall speak He that teacheth you shall hearken in you learn in you be as you Here is the condiscending of the spirit of truth so that Scripture is not to be interpreted or explained but by that mystery of union which is a mystery the world doth not know cannot understand He that knows all things so condescends that in that union with us he knows nothing and learns with us and by that union with him we are lifted up into his Omnisciency We in his light are present in spirit when we are absent in body Thus God is in Christ and is made sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in him we in his strength he in our weakness Reject this and reject Scripture The Apostle here he sees and he judges in the Lord he is absent and yet he judges Doth the Apostle go upon common fame He is but a fool that does so there is no wise man would do it But he is present in spirit and through that spirit by which he was present he had a capacity to judge Being present in spirit saith he I have seen and judged alread God comes down into our confinement and he lifts us up into his enlargement And take notice of it here are some hints of it here in one that had the first fruits of the spirit how that God will bring forth his Omnisciency his wisdom and his power in his Saints and people God hath chosen his people to his own kingdom and glory The glory thou hast given me I have given them saith Christ in the seventeenth of John God will bring forth his Omnisciency and his Omnipotency in his people in believers The Apostle describes his coming 2 Thes 1. viz. to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that do believe Where do you look for him You look up that he should come in the clouds He comes in the clouds indeed he comes in the flesh of his Saints a despised people a reproached people he is covered in their weakness
sin when the Lord is not with us it hath this issue nothing but foiling nothing but scorning nothing but reproach and shame With the power of the Lord Iesus To mention the name of the Lord Jesus and not to have the power of the Lord Jesus is nothing but prophaning that name taking it in vain 'T is nothing but a bug-bear All mans power it is on the body it is not on the Conscience It is impossible man should deliver himself or his brother from one error from one sin all that he can do is to restrain and lock up sin all that man can do in matter of error and sin is to bring forth Hypocrisie It is Gods prerogative to fashion hearts and to know hearts Psal 13. He fashioneth their hearts alike and understandeth all their thoughts And this is that God will make all the Churches to know Rev. 2. the latter end All the Churches shall know that I the Lord search the heart and try the reines If the Churches go forth with Carnal weapons to deal with the Devil and sin in their own power they shall know that this is the Lords prerogative It is only he that searches hearts and tries reines They shall find they have done nothing whatever they have seemed to themselves to have done They shall find they have confirmed and settled the Devil in his habitation while they have seemed to throw him out I have the keyes saith Christ of Hell and of death The keys are the power the power of man is not able to conflict with Sathan and Hell Christ hath received all power in Heaven and Earth And Christ manifested in us we shall go forth against principalities and powers and against the Rulers of the darkness of this world with the power of the Lord Jesus The weapons of our warfare are not carnal saith the Apostle but mighty through God The new Testament is the Ministry of the Spirit and so t is an able Ministry God hath made us able Ministers of the new Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit Letter and man and noise of words could never yet scare the Devil This we spake of before taking occasion from the Apostle calling the Corinthians to mourn which doth tell us they had no power of themselves 'T is a professing they had no power We cannot rid our Consciences or Congregations of sin But if we wait power will come in And when we once come out of this delusion of the Devil to see we have no power to see how the Spirit of power hath withdrawn from us and hath been absent a long while we shall begin to mourn after him and he will visit us and then we shall know what power is again We shall know what the Kingdom of God is that is not in word but in power We have hitherto known little of any Kingdom but in word When once we are sensible of this want of power and of this withdrawing of God that the man of sin might be revealed we shall mourn after him till he turn to us again 'T is by the power of the Lord Jesus only This is allowed and granted everywhere as a principle but how little do we act according to our Principles The Spirit of God only can throw out error and sin this is granted But the will of man and the actings of man this shall be called the Spirit of God The pride of man comes forth which is nothing but the Devil the name of the Lord Jesus that is put upon it To walk and act according to that Principle the Spirit of God Not we but the grace of God We live not but Christ in us 'T is looked upon as that which tends to confusion as that which lays by all mans gifts Object 'T is said then what will ye throw off your Ministers your Teachers Sol. The Apostle saith We have but one Master but one teacher that is Christ that is the Spirit Ye have the annointing that teaches you all things and need not any mans teaching 'T is not mans teaching we look after now if we understand ourselves but we look if we can find the name of God the power of God in the speakings of men God holds forth his anointing in man gives us a proof of Christ in man But take mans Ministry and all Ordinances if the Spirit be not there if the anointing be not there they are of man they are nothing So you see it is the power of the Lord Jesus only that rids Consciences and Congregations from sin In the name of the Lord Iesus when you are gathered together with my spirit and the power of the Lord Iesus In the second place take notice of this That the Lord Jesus and his power is in all Saints as well as in Ministers The Apostles Spirit joynes with them when they are gathered together The whole Church men and women the simplest as well as the wisest the weakest as well as the strongest with the power of the Lord Jesus The power of the Lord Jesus goes with you if you censure him and therefore my Spirit shall be with you In the name c. So the power of the Lord Jesus is in every Saint acts there and manifests it self there at the pleasure of the Lord Jesus It is the Spirit that makes Ministers and those Ministers that are made by the Spirit do minister the Spirit And that is ministring the Gospel when we Minister the Spirit But if we have only the Letter of the Gospel we have that that is no better then the Law If we be able Ministers of the New Testament it is in the Spirit I am a Minister of the New Testament so far as the Spirit speaks in me and by me and I would not be owned any further And all my work is to prove if the Spirit of God will go forth into any heart while I speak I know that Paul is nothing and Apollo is nothing If we be a sweet Savour of Christ then we are something In whomsoever the spirit stands up and speaks that person for that time is a Minister a true Minister The Spirit doth not regard Sexes the Spirit regards not Age Learned or unlearned 'T is not Age nor Sex nor any Major part can Minister Spirit but whom the Spirit pleases Obj. The Spirit will not teach by a woman For it is said let not a woman speak in the Church Sol. Where the Spirit doth not teach 't is but a womans teaching So far as we speak and speak not by the Spirit the woman speaks who is commanded silence And my Spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus The Apostles Spirit would own the meanest of the Saints and the power of the Lord Jesus in them There are in whom the Spirit acts and Ministers more constantly and there are in whom he doth Minister occasionally there are whom the Spirit of God hath made Overseers Acts 20. Look to the flock over which the
my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ Wheresoever the power of the Lord Jesus goes let it be with babes and sucklings there shall the Apostles Spirit go let their appearance be what it will in the world And the power of our Lord Jesus The power of the Lord Jesus it is or it shall be manifested among his people in their communion and in their gatherings together The power of the Lord Jesus it is but O how dark is it yet It shall be gloriously manifested in the Assemblies of his Saints in their gatherings together When ye are gathered together The people shall say Come let 's go up to the house of the Lord for the Law shall go out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2. 3. What is Zion and Jerusalem but the Assemblies of the Saints And upon all the Assemblies of Mount Zion there shall be a pillar of fire and a pillar of smoak Isa 7. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them What to do but to binde and loose to open and shut and gather my people together When the spirit came down upon the Disciples after Christs Ascension it was in their convening when they were assembled together for Christ charged them there to wait and they should receive power When they are together they are a body of living stones built up an holy Temple they are members apart altogether the body and the fulness of Christ and all the Saints have one life and one soul every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working of the measure of every part as the Apostle hath it Eph. 4. 16. Q. And what is this gathering together where the power of the Lord Jesus comes forth A. The main is in the spirit with my spirit saith the Apostle in the name of the Lord Jesus when ye are gathered together and my spirit The gathering together of spirits I do not say without bodies but this is the main the spirit is that which is born of God that which God acts whom I serve in my spirit 't is the new man flesh the devil acts and corrupt principles the devil acts there are gatherings together in that there are gatherings together where the power of Satan is it is a pittiful thing to get into a Church gathering and there sit down now I may be at rest and ease but this is a gathering in spirit in the unity of the spirit This is a gathering in him and to him and in this gathering a waiting for him no man shall be heard no man shall be Lord there is but one Master one Lord one King one guide and here we are together waiting what he will say it is no matter what this man says or that man saith Doth Christ speak in him We look for the demonstration of the spirit 't is no matter what this man saith or the other man saith We wait for power and evidence for God to go before us in a pillar of smoak and in a pillar of fire 'T is a spirit-gathering where the power of the Lord Jesus is There is a flesh-gathering a formal-gathering which is nothing but a cover of Satan a cover of the devil When ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus a gathering together in the unity of the spirit and this unity of the spirit doth not regard form it joyns with all Saints whatsoever in spirit under what form soever and this is a particular Assembly in reference to the General Assembly God is their Judge it is a gathering together of those that have made a Covenant by sacrifice as it is in Psa 50. They have given up themselves to the Lord they will be only guided by him They know what man is here goeth the power of the Lord Jesus with such gatherings O that we could finde such and see such we should soon see the power of the Lord Iesus If we have fellowship one with another the blood of Christ cleanses us It is this fellowship that hath power in it cleansing in it such gatherings as are in the power of God and such gatherings as wait for the power of God such gatherings where man lays himself down we wait what the Lord will say we will not stir without the spirit It is not a letter shall guide us nor a man shall guide us but the Lord. SERMON IV. 1 COR. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. It is reported commonly c. V 5. TO deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus It is the Apostles direction unto a gathered Church how to quit themselves of one that had done a foul fact of the evil one among them to deliver themselves from that evil and to save the person In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one c. 1. 'T is onely in the power of the Lord Jesus that any Churches or Consciences are delivered from guilt it is not in the power and wisdom of man 2. And this power Christ will manifest in all believers in all his people in all his Saints he comes with all his Saints as well as Ministers The Apostles spirit joyns with them and my spirit saith he in the power of the Lord Jesus 3. And the power of the Lord Jesus whenever it shall be manifested will be especially made out in the gatherings of Saints when they are gathered in spirit A flesh-gathering is when we have the power of the devil with us But to these words in ver 5. To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh To destroy the evil principle and to save the person here 's a way which the world doth not know when the world sees sin it thinks of the destroying the person therefore it goes forth in the evil principle against the person Here 's a way now to destroy the evil and save the person the spirit of God onely can teach us this t is the power of the Lord Jesus Here is the means that is to be used delivering unto Satan and the end of that means that the flesh may be destroyed and the spirit saved And here is that that doth destroy flesh and save the spirit and that is the day of the Lord Jesus The manifestation of the Lord Jesus in the day of his power by the power of the Lord Jesus deliver such a one to Satan Satan is the enemy of God he dwells in wrath he dwells in fire Deliver him unto him Into that wrath and into that fire cast him into those flames there let him fry Where Satan is destroying there let Satan be destroyed that is in him and let the Saint come forth Deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the
Christ is given me both in heaven and in earth The Father comes forth in Christ and Christ comes forth in the Saints Christ comes forth in the flesh lower then the Angels He makes him lower then the Angels he comes forth as a servant while the son is under age he is kept as a servant he is made of a woman made under the Law at last the Father comes to own him as his son and Christ owns him as his Father When the time appointed of the Father comes he sends his spirit into our hearts saying 'T is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdom Christ hath the keys of hell and death and he exercises these keys in his Saints We at present do not know how he exercises these but we shall know how when we feel the want of them when we see our weakness and darkness and mourn after the Lord. God hath suffered the devil hell and sin to be a kinde of Cloak and covering upon himself but when he pleaseth he will come forth and command them The Saints need not the worlds power and force to go to the world for power is to go to the devil for power The Saints have power with God and therefore must needs have power over Satan And this power the Saints obtain by mourning as the Apostle hath it in the second verse Ye ought rather to have mourned Iacob wept and made supplication wrastled with God and so prevailed The Saints indeed they are great persons but few there are that know themselves We are the sons of God but the world doth not know us God hath brought forth himself and brought forth Christ in his Saints and people but that was but a first fruits to shew what he will do fully He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in them that believe The spirit of God was withdrawn that the man of sin might appear This is that believers should do they should be looking after this power the power of the Lord Jesus What a poor thing it is to spend our time in an outward powerless profession onely If we are Christians and of Iesus Christ we cannot do so The kingdom of God is not in word but in power Do we profess Christ Where is the power of the Lord Iesus Why do lusts and corruptions reign in our hearts Why have Satan and the world such power over us Where is the power of the Lord Jesus Where is the spirit of Eliah as Elisha said when he had seen his master taken up into heaven and had received his mantle and had a promise of a doubling of that spirit Christ is taken up into Heaven He hath told us greater works then he did in that flesh should we do in his Spirit Where is that spirit Where is that power by which devils were made to tremble and submit to him 'T is time we should begin to know our selves that we are of God that we are the Temple of God the body of the Lord that we are the fulness of Christ and that in us he will manifest himself and 't is that we should look for We should be weary of a formal outward languishing profession and so bringing forth the Lord Jesus we shall make his name known O that thou wouldst bow the Heavens that thou would'st come down and make thy name known that Hell and Death and Satan and all the powers of darkness might melt before thee Resist the devil saith James and he will flie from you What is that power by which the devil is resisted 'T is the power of Christ the power of the Lord Jesus is with his people though not yet manifested we should wait for it and not rest contented with the name but look after power to command hell and death those that have commanded us We are comforting our selves that Christ hath done this for us 'T is true he hath done this for us he will do it in us The Apostle bids us stand to it in Eph. 6. You wrastle not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers therefore put on the whole armour of God If you be true Israel you are able to deal with God and then the devil and the world are not able to stand against you Do you believe this Then wait for it The next thing I shall commend unto you is this That we must be delivered to Satan before we can be delivered from Satan For the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. And if this stick in your stomacks and will not go down let me offer it to you in an old expression of Divinity as they call it that is That God leads his people to Heaven by Hell We must be delivered to Satan if ever we will be delivered from Satan Satan hath carryed all the seed of God captive in the flesh 'T is under the law of sin sin and death hath captivated the whole seed of God here this seed lieth as it were dead in a swound and in this state we dream of nothing but life and happiness great enjoyments when we are captives to Satan at his pleasure God he quickens this same seed this divine nature and then they see where they are see how they were deceived what a fools Paradise they were in then they have no rest till they be delivered This is to be delivered from Satan to see that we are in Satans power So it comes to this That there must be a discovery of our state under the power of darkness before we be delivered from it Deliver him unto Satan destroy him that he may be delivered destroy him that he may be saved kill him that he may be made alive convince him of sin then of righteousness Deliver him unto Satan is quicken him and enlighten him that he may see where he is in Satans power And whereas before there was peace when the strong man kept the house it was because he did not see Satan but now he sees him there is nothing but trouble there is no rest till he be delivered This is nothing but what the Apostle saith you hath he quickened that were dead in trespasses and sins Dead in trespasses and sins here is the seed of God under the power of Satan The spirit quickned sees whereabouts it is sees that it is in hell among devils lusts death and flames and it cannot abide here The Prodigal came to himself that was the quickning of this divine seed he was well enough before at the swine-trough till he comes to himself O then he cannot endure it he cannot live here any longer We must be delivered to Satan before we can be delivered from Satan And the ground and reason of this lieth thus God hath let all his seed fall under the hands and power of death and Satan and he would never suffer this state unless he meant they should be sensible of it unless he did
he leads them forth to sort and company with men whom they would have been ashamed to have seen among them formerly They took unto them of the baser sort lewd fellows Verse 6. And when they found them not they drew Iason and certain brethren unto the Rulers of the City crying these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also See what a bustle here is about this message of the Gospel the Gospel of salvation the kingdom of God the proclaiming thereof The kingdom of God is at hand This was the Apostles business they medled not with States and Commonwealths they medled not with the Kingdoms of this world They only held forth the grace of God and the power of God to deliver from sin and Satan and see what an outcry the devil makes among men for here is the devil to be seen If you would see the devil look upon envy look upon wrath look upon rage look upon opposition to the spirit these that have turned the world upside down c. This is the cry They did not meddle with the world but yet this is true in a sense which they did not reach The very truth is that the business of the Ministery of the Gospel which is carried in the spirit is turning the world upside down it is turning that uppermost which is undermost bringing God uppermost that lieth below and laying the Devil undermost that lieth above but there was no such thing as they had in their sense no disturbing of common peace no medling with civil government They that go forth in the spirit meddle not here They that go forth in man 't is for them to be fishing here and medling here but they that go forth in the spirit are to the world peaceable they let the world alone let the world guid themselves let the dead bury the dead That they hold forth is of another world the resurrection the kingdom of God Verse 7. Whom Iason hath received and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another King one Iesus Here is their charge upon these they are enemies to Caesar they do that which is contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying There is another King Yet this is not against Caesar this is the King that gives Caesar his Authority and this is the wisdom of Kings and Princes to own Christ in his place and not to deal in Consciences but to subject their own Consciences to Christ and Christ and his people they will be all subject to them their bodies their estates shall be subjected to them but for their Consciences they must be excused Verse 8. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the City when they heard these things This is that that is to be seen dayly when the Iews make an outcry against the Ministers of Christ against those in whom the spirit of truth appears laying heavy things to their charge the Rulers and the people are troubled Why is this 'T is out of ignorance they know not Iesus and there is guilt lieth upon them they are full of unrighteousness and this makes them fear When they heard these things men are troubled with every noise till they come into the spirit and this noise of Iesus affrights exceedingly thus the poor world that know not God are troubled Verse 9. And when they had taken security of Jason and of the other they let them go The Saints are ready to give the world security that they will not molest them or trouble them Iason had given up the world his estate and life and is ready to give in security that he will never be an occasion of any trouble that he will never seek any change All the change that a Saint looks for or that he is given to is for the Lord to appear in the earth They gave security and this is that we are ready to do to give security that we will never be troublesome to the Princes of this world we will let them have their time we will never come against them in any worldly power We will never come forth against them unless against their unrighteousness and then we will come forth in the power of God When we talk of the power of God and of Iesus the world scoffs at us let them do so he is King and shall take his kingdom and shall destroy all unrighteousness and them that exercise it He shall come forth to be admired in them that believe Verse 10. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea who coming thither went into the Synagogue of the Iews See here Ministers of the spirit in whom God dwelt and went about the world what shifts they are put to how they sneak and are conveyed away as if they had done a robbery as if they were traytors as if they were enemies to Caesar indeed This is the condition of Saints here as deceivers and yet true saith the Apostle here was a state of weakness they sent them away by night who coming thither went into the Synagogue of the Iews Paul is still among the Iews there was somewhat to work upon for they owned the Scripture Verse 11. These were more noble then those in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness of minde and searched the Scriptures dayly whither those things were so Here are Jews indeed among these Jews inwardly and these were noble Jews Here is the true nobility the nobility that is coming up now that the shadowy nobility is going down those that are born of God are truly noble The nobility the shadowy nobility of this world how hath it been reckoned and accounted of such as have principles of honour and vertue in them when they hear of honourable and vertuous actions cannot but own and honour the persons these are the noble the honourable men and this is the ground of nobility here in the world But now the true nobility is to be born of God And those that are born of God do acknowledge that that is truly noble they have principles in them of glory and honour and when God that is the onely vertue and glory appears they own him they receve him that is it that is said of these Berâ—ans that they received the word with all readiness of minde what is the word the manifestation of God that is the word All that are not born of God are base born and they do not know true nobility when the pearls of God are brought before them they know them not they trample upon them they are base bred they know not noble things They received the word with readiness of minde they knew the Scriptures were of God for God had witnessed it to them they searched the Scriptures and did see they did agree with that manifestation they had from Paul and Silas These were more noble Verse 12. Therefore many of them believed c. All Gods elect are
no unless the spirit of God declare it to you let me tell it you a hundred times you can never know it But Paul would try whether they might know it or no whether God would let them into the secrets of his kingdom There is this ingenuity in them that is not to be found in many Professors the devil hath that power in their hearts they must not hear any new thing for why they may be misled Thus the devil keeps them bound to him and under pretence of taking heed of error keeps them from the truth Verse 20. For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears we would know therefore what these things mean If ever we mean to be built up in the knowledge of God we must look to hear of new things but let 's not receve them suddenly yet not throw them out of dores Be not forgetful to entertain strangers we know no other guide but the spirit there is not any Minister in the world that is our guide or any company of Ministers but the spirit if he speaks in them and by them we have but one Master that is Christ Verse 21. For all the Athenians and Strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing This To tell or to hear some new thing was not going about and asking what news how is it with the state but they were searching into the secrets of nature every one was improving their studies and were communicating one to another what any had found out and thus they improved their time Verse 22 and 23. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars-hill and said Ye men of Athens I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious for as I passed by and beheld your devotions I found an Altar with this inscription To the unknown God whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you The Apostle doth not dispute with them in any point of their Philosophy but goes to their devotion he takes occasion thence to deliver himself concerning Jesus the Resurrection so he dealeth with them according to their principles When he hath to do with the Jews then he disputes out of the Scripture when he hath to do with these Greeks that did not own the Scriptures he deals with them by principles of their own first of all he charges them with superstition You are led without rule you can give no accompt for what you do and it appears by your own confession your own hand for as I passed by c. See whether the light and learning of these men had broughr them even to shew that they were at a loss concerning God Ask ignorant carnal people whether they know God or no they will take upon them to know him But here are men improving their light by studying and it may be when they first entered upon the search of knowledge they might think that they did know God but after some time spent therein they saw they did not That is it that all our wading in studies doth bring us into concerning God to discover our ignorance and I look upon it as a kinde of ingenuity to profess truly as they did here they did acknowledge a God but did not know him I found an Altar c. There is no man but worships an unknown God unless Jesus Christ be his Altar There is no Altar but Jesus Christ can bear this inscription in truth To the known God There is no knowledge of God but in Jesus Christ When the Son declares him then he is the known God Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him declare I unto you So Paul by degrees brings them unto Jesus Christ Verse 24 and 25. God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and Earth dwelleth not in Temples made with hands neither is worshipped with mens hands as though he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things q. d. You are mistaken in this God as if he stood in need of somewhat therefore you build Temples to him and make Offerings to him This is that simple people think that God needs them and is much beholding to them for the service they do him what saith the Apostle he giveth to all life and breath and all things Therefore he receiveth nothing from the creature as of need Verse 26. And hath made of one blood all Nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation God the onely wise God that made all things hath so brought forth all things and brought forth man in this Creation that man should be quickly at the end of his travel that so he might begin to seek after God That 's the Apostles scope and Argument here He hath made of one blood all Nations and determined c. That they should seek the Lord c. ver 27. God hath made the earth and brought forth man Man when he comes forth in the earth makes after earth there he is planting and building and purchasing but God hath bounded his time he shall continue so long and no longer and God hath bounded his habitation he shall go so far and no further and what is the design of God in this but that man being at an end here in this Creation should look after him that made all things that he should seek the Lord. This is that the creature saith to man when he is searching after it greedily pursuing it earnestly Surely thou art out in thy pursuit thou dost not seek that thou shouldest seek thou art at an end here as to thy self So the very creature speaks to man to seek the Lord. Thou wouldst have rest here thou wouldst have satisfaction here but thou seest how much thou mayst have thy days here wil run to an end that which thou hast got thou knowest not who shall gather and God hath bounded thee that thou shalt get so much and no more that so thou mightest seek the Lord. So the Apostle here Verse 27. That they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him though he be not far from every one of us Man reaching after these things at last sees vanity in them I must seek the Lord if happily I may feel after him in a dark state and condition Thus God begins to quicken his people by shewing them an end in the world then they begin to feel after God to grope after him where is he who is he There is no rest in this Creation Verse 28. For in him we live and move and have our being as certain also of your own Poets have said For we are also his off-spring For in him c. He is about us he is in us there 's not a finger stirs but 't is in his power not a thought moves but 't is in him
in what strange darkness are we that we should not see him As certain of your own Poets have said and so he is strikeing them with their own quils dealing with them upon that they did own and acknowledge All men are the off-spring of God There are two ways of being Gods Off-spring one by nature another by the spirit one onely in old Adam another in Christ the living soul the quickning spirit Verse 29. For asmuch then as we are the off-spring of God we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto Gold or Silver or stone graven by Art and mens device See the force here of the Apostles Reason We are his Off-spring this is profest among you now we being his Off-spring shall we make God our Off-spring Shall we make the work of our hands to be God We are of him and shall we maker him to be of us Verse 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent God was pleased that there should be such a time of darkness that the devil should have a power and a kingdom but now that he is coming forth he will be owned Now he commandeth all men everywhere to repent he is coming forth now to shew himself and he comes forth in Christ so in the next verse Verse 31. Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Thus he works and toles them on from their own principles to believe in Christ He will judge the world in Righteousness and he will judge the world by a man that man whom he hath ordained of whom he hath given evidence that he will judge the world by him by that man who was judged by the world and suffered according to the flesh but is justified in the spirit in that he is risen from the dead Here is the judgement of God the Resurrection this raised state This day of the Lord comes forth when Christ comes forth when this man is revealed in us there this day this judgement comes forth As he is revealed we are judged Verse 32. And when they heard of the Resurrection of the dead some mocked and others said We will hear thee again of this matter Carnal wisdom cannot beare that which is beyond its reach Christ came into the world for judgement that those that see not might see and those that see might be made blinde Verse 33. So Paul departed from among them Yet there is some fruit of his preaching his spirit was not stirred to no purpose for Verse 34. Certain men clave unto him and believed c. CHRIST the onely SACRIFICE and ALTAR SERMON I. HEB. 13. 10 11 12 13 14 15. We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the Sanctuary by the high Priest for sin are burnt without the Camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own blood suffered without the gate Let us go forth therefore unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach For here have we no continuing City but we seek one to come By him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name IEsus Christ yesterday to day and for ever the substance of all the true Altar the true Sacrifice the true High-Priest the heavenly Sanctuary let us by him offer the Sacrifice of praise We have an Altar let every one consider whether they do worship by this Altar There is no sanctified gift but by this Altar we have no true meat but from this Altar no true Spiritual refreshment but from him There is nothing strengthens and establishes the heart but Christ nothing but Grace he is the Altar and he is the Sacrifice So it follows in the 11. Verse For the bodies c. He is the sin-offering He is made a curse for us he became sin for us and whosoever is sanctified by him he is carried forth by him without the camp and is content to take up his reproach True Sanctification unto God is to go out of the glory and rest and ease of the flesh into the reproach of the world where Christ is and whither he calls us and through that willcarry us into spiritual glory into eternal honor and rest Let us go forth This is to be sanctified by Iesus Christ this is to be made peculiar unto the Lord to leave all and follow the Lord to take up his Cross to deny our selves to dye and to suffer with Christ then we shall live and raign with him The exchanging life riches honors is that we are called to by Christ who that he might sanctifie the people suffered without the gate he was made a curse and those whom he sanctifies he makes willing to be made a curse we come into the blessing of God by being contented to be made a curse unto the world those whom Christ sanctifies he makes a willing offering Let us go forth unto him without the Camp He lives in them he carries them forth and there appears the same minde in them that was in Christ Iesus This is true Sanctification Let the same minde be in you that was in Christ Jesus No man takes my life from me saith Christ but I lay it down of my self The reproach of Christ is the way to the glory of Christ Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt Let us go forth to him But this is a hard saying and who can bear it T is no hard saying for we part with nothing but what will away For we have here no abiding City we look for one to come We are going to a heavenly City and Countrey whiles we are parting with this so t is no hard saying Till we be convinced by the Spirit of the passing away of this present form of things and see a durable state coming an inheritance immortal and undefiled we shall never be content to go out of the City out of the Camp and to bear Christs reproach But this is that that is said every one seems convinced that here we have no abiding City and every one professes he looks for one to come if then we refuse to go forth without the Camp and to bear Christs reproach if we mock and scorn those that do we have that within us will rise up in judgement against us and our Religion comes all to this we profess we know God but in works we deny him By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually Mark how those two come together Let us go forth c. and By him let us offer c. There is joy and glory in the reproach of Christ When
to Mount-Sion to the City of the living God to an innumerable company of Angels c. Here is the Gospel-state here is the glory of Jesus Christ the glory of God that the Gospel brings us to brings forth in us Are we come hither or no There are some come to it that do not know it There are many of us heirs but we live in bondage we live like servants we know no better portion then Mount-Sinai though of right our portion be Mount-Sion Let us wait till the spirit of God shew unto us the things that are freely given to us of God This glorious state is nothing else but the state of the spirit which we are waiting for We are come unto Mount-Sion the City of the living God Christs work is to bring us to God and so we are no more strangers but fellow-Citizens with the Saints we are set down with Christ in heavenly places we are set down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of God We are set down in the same glory that the Apostles and Prophets are set down in we are fellow-Citizens with the Saints and with the General Assembly and Church of the first-born See your glory Christians if you be Christians indeed If you be in the spirit and not in the letter onely If you be free-born if you be born after the spirit and not after the flesh see your glory In the words read you may see a Doctrine and a Use 1 A Doctrine propounded which holds forth the glorious state of Believers It is that which eye hath not seen ear hath not heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what it is but God hath revealed the same to us by his spirit It is in the letter and now our business is that it may be revealed to us by the spirit It may be the fathers good pleasure and his time now to bring forth the inheritance to some that hear me this day that hitherto have been kept under Tutors and Governours little better then servants This we are to try now how God will be with us to take away the vail and reveal our inheritance to us The Doctrine begins at the 18 ver and reacheth to the 25 ver At the 25 ver there begins the Use the Application which is an exhortation 2. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh c. Do not turn away from him that speaketh life and glory Turn not away from him that calleth you to sit down in heavenly places in Christ Jesus The Apostle useth divers Arguments to enforce the exhortation First He that speaks doth not speak from earth but from heaven Secondly from the danger of refusing to hear If they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven Thirdly the Apostle shews the effect of this voice ver 26. Whose voice then shook the earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not onely the earth but also heaven And the evidence the Apostle brings for this is from a Scripture taken out of the prophesie of Haggai Hag. 1. 6 7. The word that was spoken on earth shook the earth The word that is spoken from heaven shakes earth and heaven also Then the Apostle interprets this word yet once more ver 27. It signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain In ver 28. he further enforceth his exhortation from the advantage that the Saints have by this change Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear In the former administration there was not grace to serve God acceptably in this there is that was leading to bondage this to a kingdom The Apostle concludes with this Argument For our God is a consuming fire of which more hereafter I shall speak of these particulars as time shall give leave Here you see a Gospel state what it is it is a strong state a glorious state a state that cannot be moved a kingdom that cannot be shaken it is strong and it is sweet There was a weak state and that was full of terrour The Law was weak through the flesh It was a weak state a shaking Mountain a Mountain not to be touched If so much as a beast touch the Mountain it was to be stoned or thrust through with a dart That was weak and terrible but ye are come to that which is strong and gracious Ye are come to Mount-Sion to the City of the living God The glorious state of believers is held forth here from the 18 verse to the 25. Our business will be to run over the particulars with some short explication and to set before you one or two parallel Scriptures that hold forth the same things though not so fully and particularly The first Scripture is Eph. 2. 5 6. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus And ver 17 and 18. of that chapter And came and preached peace to you which were afar of and to them that were nigh ver 19 20 21 22. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and forreigners but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God And are built upon the foundation of the Apostles c. Ye that are Believers are come to Mount-Sion and ye are built up a spiritual house fitly framed together an holy Temple in the Lord In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit The other Scripture is 2 Tim. 1. 7. For God hath not given us a spirit of fear but of power of love and of a sound mind We are not come to the Mount that might not be touched and to blackness and darkness No God hath poured out another spirit upon us of power of love and a sound mind Ye are come to the City of the living God to the heavenly Jerusalem and to God the judge of all Now let us briefly run over the words as they lie before us Ye are not come to the Mount that might not be touched It might be touched and it might not be touched It might be touched but not without danger of death It might not be touched There was such a terrible manifestation that there was no coming to it It was an administration of distance from God It had a spirit of fear that gendred unto bondage There was a terrible manifestation There was blackness and darkness and tempest the sound of a trumpet and the voice of a word Nothing but an outward command a word that could not be obeyed and
earth if I have told you earthly things and ye believe not saith Christ how will ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things There are higher and there are lower administrations wherein God appears Are we acquainted with them Do we know them God speaks on earth from Mount-Sinai and he speaks from heaven at Mount-Sion he spake from Mount-Sinai and he was refused yet there was a shew of entertaining All that the Lord saith unto us will we do but O said the Lord that there were such an heart in this people that they would obey my voice They said they would obey but their hearts turned back again to Egypt God speaks on earth and who doth hear who doth not refuse he speaks with a loud voice on earth he manifests his glory and every one seems to hear seems to stoop and bow before him but they are all lyars God speaks from heaven he speaks in the spirit he speaks in a low and still voice as it were afar off in a far Country and from this far Country he sends to his Subjects to see if they will own him but they say We will not have this man to reign over us God comes in a full manifestation of himself and then every knee stoops and bows to him some sincerely others feignedly and lyingly as it is said Thine enemies shall be found lyars When God shall make us Mount-Sion when he shall awaken the spiritual man when he shall quicken the new man that lieth as it were dead in us then we shall hear then we shall obey There is nothing so much concerns us as to know the voyce of God to hear him speak My sheep hear my voyce and the voyce of a stranger they will not hear John 10. God speaks and God gives an ear to hear him speak He that hath an ear to hear let him hear Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire mine ears hast thou opened then said I Lo I come in the volumn of the book it is written of me I delight to do thy will Psal 40. 6 7. God is speaking and the Devil is speaking happy are they whose ears God hath opened that can distinguish that know the voyce of God from the voyce of a stranger See that ye refuse not him that speaks There is nothing in man but what refuseth to hear God speak but what refuseth God himself whether he speaks from earth or from heaven That man doth hear God speak that doth know the voyce of God it is the spiritual man the new man that is born of the Spirit The carnal man the natural man cannot possibly hear God speak he refuseth God The wisdom that is in him is enmity to God He is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be But they that will not know his voyce they shall know it They that will not yield to it shall be broken by it it is a terrible voyce When he shall come and speak from heaven those whose hearts are not brought to a compliance with him shall be destroyed by his presence He will come in flaming fire to render vengeance to them that obey not the Gospel Next we may take notice of the effects of this voyce whose voyce then shook the earth but he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the earth only but heaven also When you meet with shakings and violent motions then know what the matter is Why the Lord is speaking Heaven and earth are shaking at this time Do we see the Lord and hear the Lord We are fallen into shaking times His voyce once shook the earth but now it shakes not only earth but heaven Haggai 2. This Scripture shews what is to be expected the shaking of heaven and earth and then the desire of all nations What is that Why it is Christ he is called the desire of all nations All nations desire him though they do not know him and when he is come he shall fill Sion and Jerusalem he shall fill his Saints and people the City and the house built of living stones shall be filled with Glory he will fill all things Eph. 4. 10. When Christ came forth in flesh there were shakings in heaven and earth When Christ came forth in Spirit upon the Apostles and primitive Christians what a shaking was there then of heaven and earth What strange workings were there in the hearts of men through the light and evidence and demonstration of spirit that went abroad That was the beginning of this last shaking after that God was pleased to draw in and to retire that the wicked one might return again to shew what he was that Antichrist might appear and set up his trade under the name of the Spirit and when the man of sin is fully revealed then the Lord will come forth again and by the Spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming will he utterly destroy him and that will be a terrible shaking indeed Yet once more I shake not earth only but heaven This shaking is begun Are we sensible of it What wars and rumors of wars are there What overturnings Let us see whether we be not under the appearance of this shaking shaking of earth shaking of heaven shaking of Forms of Religion of Churches All that is earthly shall be shaken that the earthliness being removed the true body may be brought forth anew in the Spirit How many in these times hove lost their wisdom and their righteousness that they looked upon as great gain was ever such confusion as there is at this day Yet once more I shake not the earth only but heaven It is certain we are come to it but are we sensible of it God is shaking us out of fleshly and formal Religion out of mans Religion and mans Righteousness he is destroying the old man and bringing forth the new man he is destroying the old earth and heaven and bringing forth a new earth and heaven wherein righteousness shall dwell He hath promised saying yet once more This terrible shaking cometh forth in a promise It is a mercy a blessing a deliverance It is the Redemption of the people of God Lift up your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh When Paul and Silas were in Prison and in the Stocks at Midnight there was an earthquake that shook the foundations of the prison and that became their deliverance How many of the Saints will lie in Prison and in the Stocks at midnight till this earthquake come and shake them out Then shall come the desire of all nations By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us O God of our salvation How will God answer us Why saith he I must remove all this corruptible frame I must create a new heaven and a new earth I must shake the Civil Estate and the Religious Estate I must shake off old Adam I must shake out Antichrist Christ must go away in his appearance in flesh that he may return again
in the Spirit That which is earthly and carnal must be shaken and removed that that Kingdom which cannot be moved may remain We wonder what God meaneth when he is pulling down and destroying Why he meaneth to plant and to build and when we see his design we sit down and are still It is a sad thing to a childe to hear that the time shall come when all his Rattles shall be taken from him What a sad thing is it while we are childish Christians to have our Religion as it is of man shaken It hath a great excellency and glory in it but it is to be shaken that that which is excellent indeed may come in its place To know the state of Christ risen from the dead was that which Paul was making after The Resurrection of the dead Before we can come to this the Cross of Christ must crucifie all the glory of flesh And that is to be taken notice of That the last shaking shall be the most terrible shaking God will shake all nations no nation shall escape nor man in it shake them in their earth shake them in their heaven God need to shake but once and shake all to pieces certainly he will shake once more and we may think after this shaking to settle again but all that is shaken shall be done away that which is natural shall be done away that that which is spiritual may take place Are we sensible of these shakings it is only the spiritual man that is sensible of it the carnal and natural man eats and drinks till the flood comes and sweeps all away The Apostle expounds those words Yet once more And this word yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made All fleshly forms of Religion all mans Righteousness all this outward frame of things are things that are made and therefore must be done away that those things which cannot be shaken may remain T is true the spiritual man is made but as he is taken into God and in union with God he is not made the new creature is not made T is one thing to make another thing to create It s said the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us that is the Word was for a while vailed or covered with flesh he took flesh upon him Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same Heb. 2. 14. but the spiritual man in union with God is taken into God and carried into Mount Sion The Apostles inference or conclusion is Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear When we come to the Kingdom to that Kingdom that is spiritual Let us have grace We are come to grace let us make use of it to serve God with reverence and godly fear Here is freewil the right freewil freewil in Christ and in the Spirit This new man sits at the fountain and draws water out of the wells of Salvation this new man hath freedom to work out his salvation he hath grace to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Do ye see what the Kingdom is that cannot be moved Why it is to serve God Here is the Kingdom a natural free complying with God When we shall have the minde of Christ it shall be our joy and delight to serve God and this service shall be with reverence and godly fear The nearer we come to God the more awe the more fear but it is a fear with love and joy with reverence and godly fear For our God is a consuming fire The Saints do glorifie God in the fire in the flames which consumes all flesh God is a consuming fire that consumes death and hell to the new man that is one with him that knows him and therefore rejoyceth in those flames glorifies him in the fire and when his bones are burnt then he walks with the son of God as the three young men in the fiery furnace We are saved yet so as by fire God is dealing with the people that are his burning up their hay and stubble their dross and tin and changing them into his image daily And if our God be a consuming fire then here is safety in God there need no carnal weapons to keep those safe that dwell in God For our God is a consuming fire This Scripture that hath been opened to you is a Glass that God holds out to us and sets before us Let us look there and see our faces and the Lord set upon our hearts those discoveries that he makes of himself to us that he makes of himself in us that so they may abide that we may not go away and forget what manner of faces we have That being doers of the Law as well as hearers of it that the Law being written in our hearts and we dwelling in God and God in us may be changed into the same image from Glory to Glory even as by the spirit of the Lord. The Mother of Mischief or the Original of all VVars and Fightings JAMES 4. 1 2 3 4 c. From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members Ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not because ye ask not Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts Ye Adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God c. THis Epistle is written to the scattered Jews which had scattered their Religion There is a carnal profession of Religion which after a while is scattered and comes to nothing James in this Epistle shews what lusts and evils did lift up their heads and bear sway among this scattered people who notwithstanding that they were under great pressures yet did not amend nor take up as to those evil courses But scattered and afflicted they were therefore James begins to instruct them as touching Afflictions and Temptations My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations in the second Verse of the first Chapter then he comes to discover and reason against many evils which were found amongst them as you may see if you shall peruse the Epistle from the beginning unto this fourth Chapter here he tels them of their brawlings and quarrellings their contentions and fightings one with another The Jews were in Affliction and James he is discovering their sin contention and brawling that is one he mentions here and he is turning their eyes to look into the spring of this From whence comes wars Ver. 1. Here 's wars and fightings brawlings and quarrellings from whence comes these he shews them whence
even from within from your lusts and then he discovers the pitiful condition that the power of these lusts puts them into it makes them war and fight and kill and yet they cannot be satisfied Ye lust in the second Verse and have not ye kill and desire to have yet cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not because ye ask not And so here Lust puts them upon tryal of every thing to satisfie it self it will try heaven and try hell it will pray and it will fight and it will kill and gets as much by fighting and killing as by praying and as much by praying as by the other for lust shall never attain any thing by prayer Ye ask and ye receive not in the third verse because ye ask amiss to consume it upon your lusts and then he shews what these lusts are in the fourth Verse Worldliness earnest going forth after the creature we must have this and we must have that Give me children saith Rachel or else I dye Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God where he discovers what these lusts are and what this lust makes them Enemies to God Adulterers and Adulteresses pretending Religion and Friendship with God yet look to the world make after the things thereof and then he mindes them of the Scripture that discovers these evils in all mens hearts in the fifth verse Do you think that the Scripture saith in vain The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy All this rashness comes from your lusts and the Scripture hath told us that there is this evil in our hearts when he hath discovered the evil then he is giving direction what to do in the sixth verse and so on there 's the power whereby to act He gives more grace the Scripture saith The spirit lusts to envy we are all carried to envy Then to what purpose is it to endeavor any thing that is good might some say Why he gives more grace and therefore what is to be done submit your selves to God and leave lusting leave desiring put your selves into the dispose of God say Here we are do with us what thou wilt make us rich or make us poor teach us to be hungry and teach us to be full Do thou feed us with food convenient we will not be our own carvers Submit your selves to God he will be careful of us when we submit our selves to him Resist the Devil and he will flee from you The Devil is in Lust and so long as you serve lust you serve the Devil submit your selves to God and then God will be for you and you shall have power over the Devil you shall be no more captives to him Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you So long as lust preys and strives for its own satisfaction here is no comfort to you all that is the friendship of lust but draw near to God bring clean hands and pure hearts Now ye are double-eyed you look to God and you look to the world you make a fair shew to God but your hearts are set upon the creature purifie your hearts and purifie your hands this is Jame's plain dealing with his own kindred the Jews We will run over some of these particulars as the time shall give leave and as we shall conceive to be most profitable Ver. 1. Wars fightings contentions brawling quarrelling This was a piece of the evil that did work among the Jews the Jews were scattered afflicted yet so many as lived together could not live in peace All the world was against them and their own hands were against one another Their afflictions could not reconcile them one to another nor make them friends oft-times an enemy abroad makes peace at home and we then fall to quarrels and divisions among our selves when we are secured from abroad But we see outward affliction doth nothing upon a man but discover and bring forth what is within even as a Tempest at sea it discovers what is at the bottom there is mud and filth and then the sea foams it up If there be good in the heart affliction brings it up if there be evil it draws out that afflictions and troubles in carnal hearts work nothing but baseness and make discoveries of what evil is within working murmuring quarrelling in bitter spirits When we are wroth and angry then we fall one upon another and he that is weakest he shall bear most This same people of the Jews were the people of Gods curse there was but a little remnant that should be saved but a remnant that were spiritual The Apostle in 1 Thess 2. 15. thus describes them they neither pleased God and they were contrary to all men T is James his work here as it was Pauls if it were possible to save some of them and to pull them out of the fire wars and fightings quarrellings among brethren and that under strangers and enemies oppressing them and they professed servants of God and owning the royal Law of Love Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and thy neighbor as thy self this was very foul The design of God in that people choosing them and dealing with them heaping blessings upon them chastening them with afflictions instructing them from heaven his special design was besides gathering out his Elect from among them to shew the nature of man how stubborn how rebellious how incorrigible his neck like an iron sinew his brow of brass altogether irreconcileable carrying Leopards spots that will not be washed off the Blackamoors tan that will not be scour'd God he suffered them till there was no remedy as you see 2 Chro. latter end In Isa 5. he asks What he should do or what he could do more to his vineyard that he had not done His design therefore was to discover unto us what our nature is to discover that evil spirit that the Scripture says is in every man that the Scripture may not say it in vain as else it should And therefore let none of us boast against the branches as the Apostle hath it There is the same envy in us the same evil the same rebellion though it may not be altogether so discovered If there be any good in any of us it comes from God Every good and perfect gift is from above that that is truly good it comes by our being born of him by partaking of the sap and the fatness of Christ Wars and fightings Quarrellings they do not become Saints profest Saints they do not become those that own the Spirit of God The Spirit is unity The unity of the Spirit saith the Apostle Eph. 3. 3. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit There is one Lord one Faith and this Spirit it keeps us in unity though it trains us up in different Administrations it keeps us in unity by causing us to do that is set down in Ephes 2. 4. With all lowliness meekness and long-suffering
of men Rom. 1. 17. The wrath of God is as it were in its place now kept up The wrath of God is nothing else but the manifestation of God God manifested to them that walk contrary to him his manifestation is wrath God manifested to Bryars and Thorns set in battle against him is consuming fire Now this wrath of God seems to be shut up in a secret place it shall be revealed from heaven it shall come forth out of its place All the glory rejoycing and prosperity of earthly men Earthly minded men in the creature you have your life in the earth your joy in the creature and your rest here you have this only while God is in his place while he is withdrawn but when he comes forth indignation comes upon you wrath comes upon you like Sorrow upon a woman in travail and you shall not escape Now you slight God care not for him say he sees you not say in you heart there is no God he will be upon you on a sudden and when he doth appear every knee shall bow to him and his enemies shall be found lyars And God doth appear purposely that it might appear what man is if the Majesty of God did appear no man would blaspheme him no man would slight him but now he is in a kind of absence and withdrawment he is in his place Now the world appears in riot and the evill servant drinks with the drunkard and beats his fellow-servants and saith My master will not yet come When he comes forth who shall stand before him Who shall stand before devouring fire Who shall stand before everlasting burnings All earthly-minded people they will vanish away they will come to nothing Even as darkness stands by the absence of light and when light comes it is destroyed so the darkness of this world and the joy of the wicked it hath its place while God is withdrawn when he appears and is manifested when he takes off his Vail that is upon him they consume out of their dwelling Let God arise and his enemies shall be scattered Set the Bryars and Thorns against me saith God who will do it I will burn them together I will go through them and burn them and it is but going through them and they are burnt There is everlasting destruction from his presence Darkness wickedness sin cannot stand but in Gods withdrawing and this is the reason of sin and hels rage God is gone into his place when he comes forth again these are like dust before him There are that have their time only in Gods absence and who are these They that live upon the world they that are satisfying their lusts they that have nothing but that which is seen that put their trust in it have all their life in the creature these have all their joy here in Gods absence and are just like the wild beasts as we have a description of them in the Psalms Man goes forth unto his labour till the evening and the evening comes and the beasts go abroad after their prey And this is the time of mens satisfying their lusts while God is in his place while God is not manifested My master defers his coming saith the evil servant And here is the reason of the dreadfulness of the mention of the day of Judgement unto an earthly heart a carnal heart O how terrible is it The thought of Doomesday the Judgement day the Throne set the Books opened The reason why this is so dreadfull is because that then all their sport is at an end all their joy is done they had it in the flesh but there shall no flesh glory in his presence All the glory that is in flesh shall dis-appear when the glory of God appears The day of the Lord is darkness and not light unto all that live in the world This is mans day Mans day which is Gods night and Gods day is the worlds night If you have your life in the earth when God comes forth there is an end of your life The Saints are dead till the Lord comes forth this is the reason why they wait for this day O that the Lord would come They love his appearance they long for his appearance they wait for his Kingdom Thus the Spirit of God in Scripture doth decipher out Saints and Disciples unto us They waited for the Kingdom of God They love and long for his appearance As he appears down goes sin his appearance sets a flame unto sin even the sin and lust that is in us and when that is burnt up there is nothing but glory nothing but glory that remains He is come out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth that is those that have their life and rest in the earth They have this life and rest and joy only while God doth not appear when he appears and comes forth nothing but blackness and darkness nothing but destruction from his presence as it is in 2 Thes 1. Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in them that believe Now he is dishonoured and reproached then he shall be glorified The Lord is come out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity The earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain The earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain When the Lord is discovered when he discovers himself there is a discovery of every thing there shall be no longer hiding The earth is disclosed God is light and there is an end of darkness when light comes forth The earth shall disclose her blood and shall no longer hide her slain What is this blood and this slain which the earth hides and covers for the time and which it shall disclose It is the Lords blood Do we not read in Scripture of the Lords blood Acts 20. The Church he hath redeemed by his own blood The blood of the Lamb the Lamb slain There are two things to be observed here First this That the Lord of life lyeth slain and buried in the earth and this is his place spoken of before When he comes out of his place the earth discloses her blood and discovers her slain The Lord lyeth slain and buried in the earth Another thing is That the Lord by his own power will rise up and discover and manifest himself and say I am he that was dead but am alive and I live for evermore and I have the keys of hell and death The Lord lyeth slain and buried in the earth the earth is the grave of the Lord this Creation is the Lords Sepulchre it is the Lords Monument and it hath this inscription written upon it Behold the place where the Lord lies the Lord lyeth slain in the earth and this is his place where he is hidden he is every-where but he is as
was a wise man and a righteous man in his own opinion and the opinion of the great and learned professors of his time but when the grace of God appeared to him he saw he was a mad man and a wicked man he saw he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and he throws away all he accounts it as dung I accounted all dung for Christ that I might be found in him not having my own righteousness that is by the Law but the righteousness of God in Christ the righteousness which is by faith the Lord our righteousness the righteousness of God When that righteousness comes forth all our righteousness that is by the Law appears as an unclean thing as a menstruous cloth in Isa 64. all our righteousness is as menstruous cloths Ther 's no true righteousness but what the grace of God bringing Salvation must help us to There is no man righteous before God in his sight shall no flesh living be justified Ther 's none justified but Christ none blessed but Christ If Abraham were justified by works he had whereof to glory but not before God There 's no glorying of man in his own righteousness No flesh shall glory in his presence only he that is of God to whom Jesus Christ is made wisdom and righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption he can glory in the Lord I know that in me says Paul that is in my flesh dwells nothing that is good It is in vain for God to be our righteousness if the righteousness of man would serve the turn where any man stands up in his own righteousness Christ hath nothing to do with him The whole have no need of the Physitian but the sick I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance In all mans righteousness there 's nothing but man there 's nothing but self the things of man end in man it comes to nothing it reaches not to God There is nothing reaches to God but that that comes from god The righteousness of man how glorious a shew soever it makes is only in worldly and earthly designs That 's evil with him that does any way oppose him in his peace in his quiet in his rest in the flesh The righteousness of man let it come to the highest it is but passive and it is very fickle and inconstant It is a proud righteousness that makes a man swell against God As there is no wisdom but God so there is no righteousness but God he is the only wise he is the only holy God and he is the only righteous God The grace of God appearing bringing Salvation that teacheth us to live righteously and so Salvation is not for righteousness but Salvation is righteousness and righteousness is Salvation And every one that pretends to righteousness should look whether he hath seen that righteousness of God or whether he hath met with the discovery of his own righteousness of the righteousness of man the deceivableness of unrighteousness Till the true and perfect righteousness comes in there is no discovery of the deceivableness of unrighteousness Iniquity walks in a Mysterie and till the Mysterie of God be opened the Mysterie of iniquity does not appear There is a golden cup of Fornication the Whore carries in her hand It is not enough to be delivered from that which man calls evil but from that also man calls righteousness There is as great abomination in that man calls and counts righteousness as there is in any thing he counts evil there is that makes man a fair shew and is glorious to men which is abomination in the sight of God The Jews followed after righteousness but obtained it not because they sought it as it were by the works of the Law We by the Spirit saith the Apostle wait for the hope of righteousness by Faith You that look for righteousness look out for true righteousness Take heed of the deceivableness of unrighteousness man will call evil good and good evil call Satan Christ and Christ Satan If you look for righteousness look for the righteousness of the Spirit look for the righteousness of God Men they call this and that righteousness and look not what is the will of God righteousness is nothing but conformity unto God and to that will of God that is revealed within Christ within is guiding and leading by the Spirit and not only by a Letter not that we should throw away Letter but what is Letter without the Spirit A man watching in mans righteousness may make a very fair shew to the eye even dazel mens eyes but there is no righteousness before God but the righteousness that is of God the righteousness that is of him A man walking in his own righteousness may be very acceptable with men but a man brought out of that into this and walking in the righteousness of the Spirit is lookt on as frantick and fantastical with men For when he walks in Gods righteousness he does not walk by his own will and reason he doth not act himself the Lord must act him and guide him And there is nothing so disfigures a mans face to the World as being acted and guided by the Spirit of God the Spirit of God is wisdom it self yet counted folly with men It leads us in many ways men call folly and madness I and the children whom thou hast given me are for signs and wonders from the Lord of Hosts Abraham could be counted no less then a mad man and Noah no less then an old doating fellow to build a ship in the midst of the land and be knocking 120. years together what do you think this man indured all that while The righteousness of God is conformity to God this Christ is made unto us the grace of God that brings Salvation Thirdly And he is made unto us godliness There is no true Godliness till this grace of God comes that brings Salvation There is a form of Godliness before but where 's the power of it when the grace of God comes bringing Salvation the power of it comes godliness is like God godliness is partaking of the Divine nature as we shewed you in the morning godliness is being guided by the Spirit of God Godliness is working our works in God godliness is God speaking in us and acting in us and we ceasing from our own works There is no man knows godliness but he that is born again of the Spirit and no man that knows godliness that walks only by the outward commandment and Letter and hath it not also by the Spirit There is a worldly sanctuary and there is a house not of that building There is a Law of the Spirit of life that is never without godliness there is Redemption from all iniquity as it follows here in the text Grace and Salvation is all grace brings Salvation and it brings Salvation in bringing Sobriety and Righteousness and Godliness t is grace that does all and here is Salvation Righteousness Sobriety