that passeth not away but purifieth perfecteth and preserveth the vessel wherein it is sown It is a Life which both indures in it self and leads to that blessed enjoyment of life in which the seed and the spirit of man in and through the seed shall settle and abide for ever All Adams nature all Adams excellency all Adams life all Adams enjoyment content and blessedness thereby how soon did it fade but this Nature this Life this Principle with all the glory and blessedness to which it tends shall abide for ever This life was not written in Adams nature or in the command to his nature but in the command to Christs nature and to man through that nature The nature of Adam was led aside from the commandment to death but the nature of Christ is led and is guided safely through this Commandment to life even to that life which alone can satisfie the desire and thirst of his nature even this Life everlasting which is here mentioned 3. What this same knowledg of Christ here is Ans. This knowledg of Christ is the comprehension of his own nature or his comprehending of the thing in his own nature It is the seeing of it with his own eye the measuring it in his own understanding As man measureth natural things within his reach by his natural understanding so Christ measureth spiritual things in spiritual light with his spiritual understanding and what he finds proportionable to the measure of his spirit which is truth he knoweth to be truth As man what he truly measures in the true light of reason with a truly rational understanding he knoweth to be truth there So what Christ measures after his way in this his spiritual Region he knoweth to be truth here Christ the true nature with the true eye saw the true thing in the true light so that his light his knowledg is truth I know c. Man proposeth unto himself vain waies and Satan invents many Devices for him but God who is truth speaketh truth and proposeth only truth unto him He proposeth the letter of truth not only by Moses but by the meanest of his Prophets but by Christ the spirit thereof The words which I speak unto you they are spirit they are Life Christ as he is the truth in an especial manner so he hath an especial ministration of it which he began in his own person and carried on in his disciples and Apostles And both he and they had an especial knowledg of the truth that dwelt in them and which they were chosen out for the service and Ministration of Christ lay in the bosom of the Father before he came into this world There he saw things There he saw this Life and the way to it And when that knowledg which he had in him before springs up here in him in this World he knoweth what it is He is sure it is that truth which he beheld in God in the days of old and which now he receiveth quick lively pure and clear from the Spirit of God in this his new state and station And I know that his Commandment is Life everlasting Let this seem what it will to you let it seem never so contrary to the will of God never so contrary to that dispensation of his by Moses Let it seem never so strange to all the people of God upon the face of the earth yet I know that it is the truth I know that it is the true and the only way to life even to that Life which was promised to the nature of the seed and which the nature of man also so much desireth I know that life is wrapped up in this Commandment and that they that receive it receive Life and that they that follow and obey it in truth in the true nature life and spirit of it cannot miss of life of Life everlasting And I know that his Commandment is Life everlasting 4. What kind of Faith is this what kind of beleeving is this which contains everlasting life in it which draws everlasting life along with it Ans. 1. It is the belief of the spirit of man for that is it which is exhorted to beleeve and that is it which is to be saved The Son cometh not to save himself but to seek and save lost man It is for him he bringeth forth and layeth down his own Life but yet that way whereby he saves him is by that Faith which he receives and acts from the nature of the Son in him 2. Though it be by mans spirit or nature beleeving in the Son whereby he comes to be saved yet this Faith with all the motions of it are comprehended and acted in the holy Spirit Every motion of man that tends to life is performed in the spirit of God As every thing that is spirituall comes alone from the Spirit so it only lives and moves and acts aright in the Spirit All the repentance mourning joy hope prayer c. that are Spirituall as they spring from the spirit so they grow up and come forth in the spirit praying alwaies in the holy Ghost 3. It is from a new Root The faith that saves is from the new birth The faith that saves this old nature springs from a new nature He that is not new Born hath not an eye to see Life nor an heart to desire it nor a foot to walk in the way of it So that though I said in the first place it is the beleef of the man yet that is not primarily and most properly true for it is the belief of the new Life in the man which also needeth salvation in this state wherein it is bred and brought up here in this world from whence it entring into springing up in taking possession of and leavening the man it becometh his also It purgeth out the old nature of the man and infuseth this new insomuch as this is now become the nature and life of the man also So that not only now Christ in the man beleeveth but the man also beleeveth in and through Christ which dwelleth in him and hath changed him into and communicated unto him his own nature The way being thus cleared the Observation it self will now appear more manifest which is this Obser. That Christ held out from true light from certain knowledg that beleeving is the way to Life Christ did not guess at it or imagin it strongly as we do at most of the things we speak of but he knew that his Commandment is life everlasting The certainty of Christ in the things of God ariseth from this four fold ground First From his own nature Secondly From his union with the Spirit Thirdly From his Life and Fourthly from his Light Each of these contribute much towards but all of them together can make up no less then an absolute infallibility 1. From his own nature The nature of Christ is Divine He is not of this Earth but from above He is begotten by God
of admitting is but according to the root it is but natural it is but fleshly But that love which proceedeth from a new life that love is of a new nature even of the nature of that spirit out of which it shoots 6. For Experience Man may have many experiences in a natural way of religion and devotion or in any dispensation wherein he is placed Experiences of God experiences of his own heart experiences of the nature of things the people of the Jews had many experiences of Gods owning them and care of them c. And yet these also are according to the root Those experiences which the spirit of man the nature of man the understanding of man gathereth and comprehendeth they are but experiences of man they are but experiences in and according to the light and nature of man Those experiences alone which are gathered by the nature and observation of the new life they only testifie the truth of and they alone are usefull to that life 7. And lastly For Liberty True liberty is a very sweet effect of the light of the Gospel The spirit of man in this present state of nature is commonly bound up in darkness every mans darkness is his prison whom light doth set free Now as mans spirit may receive the light of the Gospel after a maner the spirit of man may receive that light which is held forth in the dispensation of the Gospel so mans spirit may come forth into liberty into great liberty he may feel himself free from all his bonds yea this freedom may be so large and clear to him that he may be able to say in his heart all things are lawful for me and yet all this may be but the liberty of mans spirit and another that seems to be in all maner of bonds may have the true freedom for the one is true though but in its birth or seed and the other is not true though in its greatest growth and flourishing The substance of all that truth is in God whereof in man there is but the weak dark shadow He therefore that is begotten by God he that flowes from the generative vertue of his divine nature is begotten in that substance but he which is begoten by man or that which is begotten in man by the purest and exactest strain of the human spirit either his own or any others though with the greatest furtherances and assistances even from above is begotten but in some part or other of the shadow which when the substance appears cannot but vanish pass away and prove a lye so far as it was taken for the truth for the purest extract that can be raised even by God himself out of the spirit of man is not the thing but the shadow of it But now there is the truth in the seed in weakness as well as the truth in growth The greatest perfection of the spirit of man is but a lye so far as it takes upon it to be the truth for it is but a fleshly image of truth it is not truth it self All the Repentance Faith Love c. which the spirit of man can possibly be raised unto by any thing that can work upon his spirit is but a shadow of that Repentance faith love c. which is in the nature of God and floweth from the nature of God for there is in God a turning from that which he calleth to our spirits to turn from which is Repentance and adherence to and confidence in that which he calleth to us to cast our selves upon which is faith but is not the thing it self But now the seed and that which is in it and cometh from it even in its greatest weakness is truth That Repentance that Faith that Love c. that floweth from this nature from this life is of this nature is of this life The meanest the lowest thing that is born of the spirit is spirit even in its lowest state in its lowest kind and degree of motions and the greatest the highest thing that is born of the flesh even in its greatest height in the utmost degree of all its spiritual exaltation exercise and motion is but flesh One man may run with much quickness and cleerness through all dispensations and be wonderfully raised and yet remain but flesh before in and after all Another may be in the lowest form of the lowest dispensation and yet be spirit there It is true these things forementioned are all of them effects or at least concomitants of the Gospel Man dark man hears no news of a new birth of the knowledg of God of Repentance Faith c. But yet where the Gospel cometh these things so far as they are in the nature of man are awakened and heightened Partly by Satan thereby to keep out the truth for hereby he cozeneth and deceiveth men making them beleeve they are new men whereas they are new only in respect of what they outwardly were viz. in respect of the form or shape wherein their spirit was but not in respect of their inward nature and partly by God to make a proof or trial of the spirit of man throughout At first God tried him in his whole or sound and now he trieth him in his broken estate in all the several changes he can undergo there Therefore doth the Lord not only draw forth what is in him but also add thereunto by gifts and assistances from above that at length he may give forth a compleat experiment of man what he is or what he can come to And although these experiments be not of use to the nature and eye of the Lord to further his sight or knowledg yet there is a nature and eye to which they are very useful yea necessary to which nature and eye the Lord is engaged by his nature to make them manifest in such a way manner season and proportion as his nature and theirs require For the better illustration yet a little further both of this truth in general and of these particular instances Take notice of this threefold distinction of the spirit of man or carefully observe and distinguish the spirit of man in this threefold estate or condition First in his natural growth Secondly in his Transplantation Thirdly in his spiritual Renovation 1. There is the spirit of man in its natural way of growth The spirit of man naturally inclineth towards excellency There is indeed a bulk of corruption which hangeth about him and turneth him aside but his own spirit disrelisheth it and he wisheth he were freed from it and made to be in himself that which is naturally excellent This is the heart of every man by nature He would serve God he would enjoy God he would be just and righteous to men It is the corruption which hangeth about his nature and is grown so strong and prevalent that it is now become his nature which maketh him otherwise but in his root in his principle he is not so and he
DIVINE ESSAYS OR CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT Several Things in Religion Of very deep and weighty Concernment both in reference to the state of the present Times as also of the Truth it self WITH A Lamenting and Pleading Postscript By ISAAC PENINGTON junior Esq The Darkness of Man which his greatest Light is cannot comprehend the Light of God Be not hasty in thy heart but read and consider and the Lord give thee a true eye and open that eye for thee London Printed by Iohn Macock for Giles Calvert at the sign of the black spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1654. The Contents 1. OF Knowledg in general Pag. 1. 2. Of Scripture-Knowledg 5 3. Of Radical or Original Knowledg 9 4. Of tâ—â— Word the Spirit and Faith under each Administration both that of the Law and that of the Gospel with an hint of their further tendency 13 5. Some few Observations touching the Principles of the Ranters 18 6. Of the various false new Births and the true one which are distinguished by their Root and Nature 25 7. Of the true Nature and Vertue of the Kingdom of God 46 8. Of the Weakness Uncertainty and Invalidity of the Flesh in reference to the things of God 56 9. Of the Certainty of Christ in his Knowledg concerning the things of God and particularly of his well-grounded Testimony concerning the Way to Life and so consequently of the Certainty of his Seed in their generation 68 10. Of the Liberty of the Kingdom or of the great sweet spiritual and most precious Liberty which springeth up in and is allowed unto the Seed in the Kingdom 80 11. Of the low Ebb whereunto Christ was brought by his Death and Sufferings 99 12. Of the low Estate whereunto the Seed of Christ are also reduced by their Death and Sufferings 108 13. The Course and End of Man 115 14. The sweet and happy End of the Righteous 123 Lastly A lamenting and pleading Postscript 127 The Preface WOnderfully great and deep are the motions and steps of God in all his ways His bringing forth of the Creation and Man his particular ordering of them his aym and end concerning them who can truly fathom He must be as wise as the Lord himself who fully understandeth him But to let that pass as unexpectable Who can after his own shallow manner measure any of the ways or works of God from the beginning to the end How far is the foolish spirit of man from any true knowledg of the Lord and yet how bold is the spirit of man in undertaking to know and determine the will and counsels of the Lord especially if he can find any thing revealed from the Lord for his own understanding to bottom and work upon How confident were the Iews in their day and how confident is every several sort of men in our day Some in setting up their own apprehensions from the Word as evident Truth which all are bound to subscribe Others in setting up their own meer imaginations above the light of the Word not at all regarding whether they agree with it or contradict it Man must run his course It is now his time let him make use of it But yet for all that Mans vanity is never the better or safer for his rivetting it into the Scriptures Nor are the Scriptures ever the less honorable for his undervaluing them or ever the less true for his contradicting them Nor is God ever the less in himself or man ever the greater in himself for his vilifying of God and magnifying of himself that so he might become equal with him The greatest change in the imagination produceth not the least change in the nature of things but that proceeding from a deeper root must fetch its rise from a stronger influence I have brought forth somewhat here for the good of some unto whom I wish well which though it intend kindness may for its reward meet with hardship Both the root and the fruit may suffer undeservedly on each hand Those who are wedded to that which they understand not will not be able to receive it and those who are loose from all bonds can hardly be drawn to beleeve any yoke so easie or necessary as to be willing to put their necks under it What shall I say When shall the work of vain man come to an end When shall his spirit be truly broken His breakings hitherto tend but to fasten him more and make him take deeper root O how mad is man grown now adays through the depth of his wisdom What a strange peace security and liberty hath he found out for himself He hath built up such a wall of defence now as there is no battering of But if his eye be sick If the light in him be darkness how thick that darkness is and whither it will lead him that which is sound and perfect can alone discern but for his part he is not capable of perceiving any thing truly in his distemper Yet this calamity is common in this empty state of man He that is most distempered is most prone to judge even the greatest things with the greatest confidence Whom shall we find more confident then him who is most deeply grosly and palpably deceived in his very ground-work I have not here ventured upon a â—ain or over difficult task in the nature of things but only in reference to the condition of persons which being not universal it may somewhere prove serviceable and bâ—neficial which will be recompence sufficient to this undertaking and satisfaction enough to my spirit at present in this respect Divine Essayes I. Of Knowledge in Generall THere are several kinds of Knowledg which may be distinguished according to the Nature of the things which are to be known according to the diversity of the subject which is capable of knowledg and according to the various wayes of knowing or receiving in of knowledg There is a natural knowledg there is a spiritual knowledg and there is a divine knowledg as there are natural things and spiritual things and divine things to be known There is a knowledge of sense if that may deserve the name of knowledg in common creatures a knowledg of reason in the natural man a knowledg of the spirit in the spiritual man for in the renewed man there is a renewed spirit which hath a knowledg sutable to it self and a knowledg of God in the Godhead God having a knowledg in himself as well as a life love wisdom power sutable to himself Again there is a speculative knowledg and an Experimental knowledg a knowledg by understanding and a knowledg by experience a knowledg by viewing the thing and a knowledg by trying the thing This experimental knowledg is the better kind of knowledg in this uncertain state wherein we are but the other is the better in its own nature It is better by vertue of a cleer understanding to search into the nature of things then to seek out an experiment of them from sense
chiefly dispenced under the one and the spirit under the other The letter was appointed for the litteral people and the spirit for the spiritual and so they are managed The litteral people receive their impression from the letter of the Word are brought forth by the letter and fed and maintained by the letter and the spiritual people receive their impression from the spirit of the Word are brought forth by the spirit and fed and maintained by the spirit So long as the letter of the Word lived in the fleshly people the fleshly people lived so long as the spirit of the Word liveth in the spiritual people the spiritual people live for these can live no more then the former any longer then they are fed from the root This dispensation and people may dye as well as the other Hence that ministration is called the ministration of the letter this of the spirit So that mark now There is letter and spirit life and death justification and condemnation in the Word both in the Copy and in the Original in Christ which is the Word of God and in the Scriptures which are the words of Christ in the heart of Christ which is Gods Book where he hath writ his Word and in the heart of man which is Christs Book where he hath writ his Word And both these dispensations are equally from God and from Christ from first to last both in their causes and in their effects 2. Of the Spirit The Spirit is that Substance which comprehends the Word and is comprehended in the Word It is the Lord and Servant of Christ who is the Word of God It is that which lives dwells and reigns both in the flesh and spirit of Christ and in which they likewise reign It is the liquor in Christ which Christ as a Vessel containeth and also the Vessel which containeth Christ. It is both the root and the fruit The root from whence Christ groweth and the fruit which Christ beareth both in his life and death from whence they both sprang and wherein they both meet The ministration of this is not yet made manifest It was only pointed at in the ministration of the Gospel which did shadow out it as the Law did shadow out that ministration or if you will both the Law and the Gospel did shadow this out in different respects and degrees the one more grosly the other more refinedly the one more darkly and remotely the other more nearly and clearly The Law stood aloof at a great distance from it yet spake of it and referred unto it the Gospel did as it were touch it speaking the very name and manifesting the very nature of it Yet the very ministration of the Spirit in that dispensation of the Gospel if it be well looked into will appear rather a shadow then the thing it self and every way more like a shadow then like the thing it self Now who knoweth whether those things which have been so contrary in all dispensations hitherto shall not here meet Life and Death Heaven and Hell which every where else are at such a distance may here touch one another and agree very sweetly together even so fully that both those names and natures whereby they did appear and were so various in all dispensations may here be drowned and vanish Yet it is not by eithers real loss of any thing whereby and wherein they differed that they become thus harmoniously united but by both their entering into a more perfect fulness And he to whom this seemeth so strange and who is so much offended at it let him fairly answer me this following question Were not Hell and Heaven at union in their root before they were brought forth Were they not at rest and peace in the Power and Nature of God from whence they were produced Without controversie what ever lay there lay in rest and whatsoever is brought back thither returneth to rest Now did the Lord bring forth any thing which he cannot bring back again and who can say he will not Surely every thing most naturally breatheth after that condition of rest and fulness which it can alone enjoy in his bosom Most certain it is that the vast Spirit of the Lord taketh in all things howsoever it dispose of them Thence they came thither they return there they are and doubtless there they may be found in union and agreement by him whose Spirit is quick and piercing enough Happy is he who can read this truth in the Spirit of the Lord but wretchedly miserable is he who frameth false imaginations in his own mind by the vanity of his own reason concerning it 3. Of Faith Faith is a shadowy or substantial life flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed seeking after fastening upon and resting in the Spirit This is Faith First I say it is Life It is a touch of life it is a spring of life it is the choyce of life which God bringeth forth in his own in his own seasons We may mistake in ascribing names to other things whose nature and principle we know not but this we are taught by God who knoweth things very well to name Faith The life of the Law was obedience a spirit of obedience by this a man was enabled to live in and according to the Law but this life is faith a spirit of faith He who beleeveth is only able to enter into this life and to walk in it I call it shadowy or substantial because it is either as it is looked upon Look upon it backward and it is substantial Look upon it forward and it is but shadowy As the ministration of the Gospel was a ministration of the spirit of that which was in the Law so the life ministred under the Gospel is a substantial life in compare with that But look forward into the substance of that which is yet behind and here faith it self is but a shadow This life also is but a shadow Alas the life of Faith must vanish Notwithstanding all its glory it must dye and lie in its grave like the Law Flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed The seed is the vessel the only vessel which containeth this life It is not man that this life is sown in but the seed and the seed is sown in man Immortal life eternal life is wrapped up in immortal seed in eternal seed that is the immediate vessel and this is sown in the mortal spirit of man which by putting on mortality there it changeth into its own nature Hence they in whom the seed is sown and who are changed by it are called by that name they are called the seed This life floweth from the Spirit into this seed The Spirit which formeth this seed breatheth into it this breath of life This seed is the spirits own vessel and this life is his own liquor wherewith he filleth it The Spirit lyeth in the vessel and is continually breathing in it and that
this nature and life hath a promise of a new inheritance in the other world Or if ye will if ye think that may be plainer to you by Kingdom is meant Religion true Religion the Religion which God teacheth his seed the Religion which God writeth in the nature of his seed for there is a Religion also which God writeth in the nature of man and teacheth man but that is not the Kingdom In every dispensation that Truth that Vertue that Light that Life which cometh down upon the seed springeth up in the seed and goeth along with the seed is the Kingdom It is that breath of God from which the new nature or principle came in which the new nature lives and by which it is perfected This it is most properly but in a larger sence it denotes every thing that belongs to the Kingdom and that not improperly neither for every thing belonging to the Kingdom hath the nature of the Kingdom in it and having the nature why may it not partake of the name The Kingdom of Israel took in every thing in their dispensation and the Kingdom of God taketh in every thing in the great dispensation of his life unto his people through the Lord Jesus â—hrist This phrase Kingdom is of very large and full significancy noting out not only the nature and substance of the thing together with the extent and limits of it but also the greatness of it the riches of it the glory of it the perfection of it the presence of God with it its presence and power with God c. 2. What is meant by Word By Word is to be understood any outward form of doctrine any speech notion or apprehension whereby Religion in any part of it is either conceived or expressed As the doctrine of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God the doctrine of self-denyal or going out of a mans self the Doctrine of obedience to the inward spirit or outward commands of the Word the Doctrine of the death of Christ of the Resurrection of Christ c. Word is the outward truth if I may so speak it is the pipe or vessel whereby life is held out to man or whereby it is taken in by man It was in such Doctrines as these forementioned wherein the spirit of life did run as in so many veins in the Apostles times But yet the truth of Religion the Kingdom of God consists not in any of these These do not bring in the Kingdom but the Kingdom will of it self bring forth these where it is The Kingdom of God saith this same Apostle in another place is Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost But it is not the word of any of these it is not a glorious description or apprehension of righteousness or peace or joy in the spirit it lies not in mighty elevations or ravishments of heart through the contemplation of these this is the outward Court which is given to the Heathenish spirit of man which hath this bestowed upon him for the reward of his pains in these things But the Kingdom of God is not in word The outward truths of the Gospel in the most pure naked spiritual acception of them are not the Kingdom and he that receiveth them only receiveth not the Kingdom Man may receive every truth of the Kingdom Man may fall into any way nay into every way of Religion and yet fall short of the Kingdom 3. What is meant by Power By power is meant the inward vertue the vigor the spirit which lies in the nature of Religion In every life there is a vertue or power wherein it consists No life lieth in the outwardness of its form or shape but in the inwardness of its nature The life of man consisteth not in outward knowledg in an outward form of reason but in the inward vertue and spirit of reason Thus it is in the life of Religion There is an inward vertue an inward spirit an inward power in the nature of it whereby it changeth the vessel whereinto it comes subjecting the rational part to it self and advancing it in it self as the rational part doth the brutish So that as in a rational man all the faculties of his mind and members of his body are subject to his reason so in the spirituall man not only the members of the body and faculties of the minde but the very spirit of reason it self is subject to this new spirit or principle of life There is this vertue this life this spirit in every thing of Religion in all the Truths in all the Ordinances Institutions and paths of the Kingdom and this only is Religion It is not the knowledg of all the things of God alas the prophane spirit of man under a form of holiness may be very exact in them but the nature the vertue of the things themselves which is preserved entire for the pure into it no unclean thing can enter So that where there is the least true power there must needs be true Religion but there may be all the outward form or fabrick and yet no true Religion at all There may be all the truths of the Gospel all the Ordinances of the Gospel all the ways of the Gospel and the spirit of man walking very zealously in all these and yet this is no part of the kingdom for the Kingdom consists not in the outward letter of the Light Life or Liberty of the Gospel nor in every power and vertue of it but in the inward spirit of it and in that power and vertue which is peculiar to its own nature To illustrate this a little further Take notice of a threefold power in reference hereunto 1. There may be an outward power concurring with the thing as the power of working miracles the gift of speaking with tongues of healing c. This is demonstrative in its kind and according to its nature for else the Lord would not have made use of it for that end but yet it is not the power here spoken of not the power which the Apostle here resolved to know 2. There may be an inward power forming of the thing which may be either the Spirit of the Lord or the spirit of the Creature working by and according to its creaturely imagination By imagination I mean the reason or understanding of man which though it be no imaginer but a certain knower within its own bounds yet in things of this nature in the things of God in the things of the kingdom it is no knower at all but a meer imaginer Now this inward power of reason or imagination will make strange fabricks in the mind of man especially where it hath any superior principle to set it on work or engines to move it or oyl to set it on going This power this vertue being inward is also of a more inward satisfaction to a man then the former By the former a man is as it were compelled to beleeve yet perhaps
in his own spirit He is the truly natural Son of God Now this nature cannot be deceived because as it floweth from truth alone so it is purely truth in it self and knoweth not how to entertain or admit of any thing but truth It s nature is perfectly shut up against every lye and deceit it naturally turneth from it and thrusteth it away Its nature hath nothing in it to receive any thing of that nature and therefore cannot receive it Now he which is naturally true and cannot take in a lye surely he cannot possibly bring forth a lye Hence ariseth the certainty of all the senses of Christ and of all the motions of Christ Namely from their nature They are of a true of a perfect kind and cannot but act truly according to their kind 2. From his union with the Spirit His nature is not only excellent right and of a perfect kind but it is also in union with the original from whence it sprang Adam might be in union with the root of the flesh but if he were yet that root will not preserve its off-spring therefore he fell But Christs nature is in union with the root of the Spirit therefore he cannot miscarry both because that root cannot but preserve its seed and because that nature cannot but be sucking nourishment from the root There is no nature might in reason be more independent in respect of its own excellency and fulness and yet no natuâ—e is more dependent which ariseth from its constitution and is its wisdom and safety There is absolute certainty in the root and there is no less certainty in Christ for the very same certainty which is in the nature of the root springeth up in him yea his nature being in union with the root hath also communion with it insomuch as he enjoyeth the truth there in the time of his light and is comprehended by it in the time of his darkness 3. From his Life Christ hath a Life in him sutable to his nature A true Life a Spiritual Life a Divine Life His Spirit as it hath the nature so also it hath the Life of the Spirit of God All his motions spring from his own life and so cannot but be as certain unto him in his kind yea much more his life being of a more certain kind as our motions which spring in us from our life are to us in our kind We are not certain about the things of God because our life is not of the same nature with the things of God but he is very certain because his is Our knowledg at best is but revealed it is but given in to our life but his knowledg is natural it floweth from his life Hence it is that every thing every motion unto him is so pleasant and satisfactory namely because it is so natural because it flows from such a power of life Man attains his skil and understanding in divine things by the sweat of his brows by the labor and toyl of his spirit and it troubles him much to bring it forth to defend and manage it Yea his own heart and Soul if it be a little awakened and enlarged cannot but find fault with it but Christs skil and understanding springs up in him and flows forth from him and both in its springing up and flowing forth answers the truth largeness and capacity of his nature 4. From his Light He hath a proper light to see the things of God with He hath the same light with God As he lives in the same Country breaths in the same air hath the same nature spirit and life so he hath the same light He is called the light Ioh. 1.7 Iohn came for a witness to bear witness of the light He himself was not that light but to bear witness of that light verse 8. That was the true light verse 9. The light of men and Angels was a true shadow The light of the Prophets was a true Testimony but he is the substance He is that true light which all other lights did but shadow out and testifie concerning There is an eye proper to every kind of things that is to be seen an eye in every nature sutable to the nature of those things which it is to behold and there is also a light proper to every eye Now Christ having both the eye and the light how can he chuse but see certainly Gather up these together He that hath a true nature which hath a true eye in it He who is in union with the spirit of God which is truth and who himself is truth in him He that hath the true life in him for his motions to spring from the true life to guide his eye with And lastly He that hath the true light to see in how can he chuse but be certain in what he thus views And so his seed having the same nature with him the same Spirit the same Life the same Light how can they miss of the same certainty They cannot but be guided naturally unto the same things and upon the same terms of infallibility But now man Adam take him at his best who never had this nature but was from the beginning the earthly man who never was in this kind of union with the spirit who never had this life or light in him how can he understand these kind of things He may desire to be like God from a sight of the excellency of his nature being and life and fumble about the things of God but he cannot possibly pierce into them He may gather many apprehensions into his mind and approach in his way of reasoning to a certainty but he cannot reach the truth He cannot know eternal Life it is beyond the capacity of his nature He may perhaps reason that there must needs be an eternal Life and a way unto it but he cannot possibly conceive what that eternal Life is nor tread the path that leads to it But the Son or any of the seed cannot miss of it for it is written in their nature That Spirit that Life that Light which guides to it descends of it self upon them springs up of it self in them Use 1. Take heed of contradicting Christ in this Testimony of his which he giveth out upon knowledg Christ â—â—me from God from the light of God bringing the light of God with him He tells you the truth here the true state of things as he saw and knows them to be with God And this is his Testimony that the present state and course of things tends to a future that at the last day Life and Death shall be dispenced and that the only way to life then is by beleeving now Christ testified truly and wisely He understood what he said He spake upon ground He spake what he saw by the light and in the bosom of God Wilt thou from thine own head from a strong fancy or reasoning in thine own mind contradict this and say There is no such thing
1. This is very unworthy If thou wilt overthrow the Testimony of Christ do it fairly do it by that which is equal to it by a light of as deep a nature as his If thou canst not speak upon as good grounds as he do not undertake to contradict him 2. It is very unsafe Suppose before the Lord Christs should prove a truth and thine a conceit what will become of thee It is not the strength of thy apprehension which will then bear thee out The market is yet open for thee wherein thou maist buy wine and milk without mony and without price but by this means thou makest thy self uncapable of making use of thy present opportunity Use 2. Ye who find a need of eternal Life and a desire after it Consider the ground of this truth and so far as it will carry weight receive it Receive it into your natural man and look up to God to sow a new nature in you that so it may give new life to your spirits Nay by receiving it it may become a seed The light we let into our understandings if it be of a spiritual nature is of power to change our understnadings into spirituality We little think what life is wrapped up in the outward seed of the word as it seems to us when God engrafts it into the spirit Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your Souls A principle of spiritual darkness let in by the ear into the heart what strange changes doth it make there and why may not a principle of light be let in the same way and do as much Christ came to save the world verse 47. He spake these words to save he gave out this testimony to save and for this end might he also leave it in writing And who knoweth but in the hearing of this sound Christ may work that faith in him who heareth which may save him It is not worth the being busied about this world though a man were sure to obtain it but it were worth the being busied here though a man were sure to lose his labor for it is noble and excellent to pursue that which is excellent though one should miss of it X. Of the Liberty of the Kingdom which was outward and shadowy in that dispensation of the Gospel by Christ and his Apostles but inward and substantial in the true seed both before then and after that dispensation yea and for ever which Liberty although it be very large yet is limited by the Law of its own Life and Nature GAL. 5.13 For brethren ye have been called unto Liberty only use not Liberty for an occasion to the Flesh but by love serve one another LIberty is the right temper and posture of the new life whereby it both is and enjoys it self It is the breaking all bonds asunder and setting of the heir free It is the investing him with his inheritance and the leaving of him to the direction and dispose of his own understanding and will which he being grown up in the Lord are of sufficient light wisdom and strength to guide him in the Lord. There is in it or by it the removal of all Tutors of all Governors of all Laws of all kind of discipline in every kind which was proper for his nurture and education when his life ran low but is now no way convenient when he is come to his full age and growth Now it is necessary for his life to be free in its nature circuits and motions He being grown up his life being come to it self it is requisite it should have the honor of disposing of it self of becoming a rule and guide to it self nay if it be truly strong and compleat in its nature it can need no rule no bonds no bounds but it self but it s own nature So that this is Liberty when the nature of a thing is not circumscribed by any Laws or limits whatsoever but it hath its full scope to the utmost for the exercise of its nature This I say is Liberty full Liberty compleat Liberty perfect Liberty There is no such Liberty in this Life or flowing from this Life as the corrupt nature of man seeks namely a Liberty to satisfie the corruption of his nature and that this should not be sin nor subject to the lash or censure of any Law nor able to bring any death or danger upon him But this Liberty is pure and holy like the nature and life from which it flows and hath in it that which answers every Law of righteousness in every kind There is no Liberty here not to love God or to neglect any Duty of Love Holiness and Obedience which his nature and will calls for no Liberty to be unrighteous or unmerciful either to man or to the meanest creature but the Liberty of this life is perfectly holy sweet and just It is a Liberty from all manner of corruption and unrighteousness and a Liberty unto all purity and righteousness It is a Liberty like that which is in the Nature of God who can do nothing that is evil nor neglect the doing of any thing that is good Gods Liberty lieth in two things First He is free only to his own nature nothing can incline him any way but his own nature but his own understanding and will which is from and according to his nature or which is his nature Secondly In his own nature is comprehended the accurateness and perfection of all that righteousness holiness and sweetness which any dispenced Law darkly shadows out So that by the presence by the purity of the substance he is freed from the shadow Now the Liberty of the Seed is a true copy of this As their nature is a true extract from the Nature of God so is their Liberty from his Liberty Their nature being thus in with and from God holiness and righteousness being their very nature it must needs be the Liberty of their nature thus to be and thus to act For Liberty of the nature is sutable to the nature not contrary to it All the Liberty which crosseth the nature and truth of Life is but a false appearance how specious soever but is not true Liberty If a man had his reason at perfect Liberty he could do nothing that were irrational nor neglect the doing of any thing that were rational So is it in this Life its Liberty lies in being free in its own state nature and course Not in being free to but in being free from all impurity of flesh and spirit It is the Liberty of the Lord to be free from sin weakness and folly Not in that he can do the same things which sinners do and not sin but his Nature Life and Spirit will not permit any such motions to have any place in him He is free from the root which bears such fruit And when his seed are redeemed they shall perfectly know and enjoy this Liberty with him for neither their spirit nor
their flesh shall return any more to folly There is a threefold Liberty which are wrapped up within one an other A Liberty of the nature of the creature A Liberty of the nature of man and A Liberty of the nature of the new man which being grown unto perfection restoreth the Liberty of man and of the creature bringing it forth a new in it self Adam by his fall brought both himself and the Creation into bondage with him into which bondage the Son enters or in this depraved and lost Earth the seed of Life is sown who by breaking through these bonds which it doth by the power of its Life for though this life may submit unto yet it is impossible it should be held down by the Law or the curse redeemeth both Adam and the Creation This leaven entring both into the man and into the creature spreads both over the man and over the creature and by breaking its own bonds breaks the bonds both of man and the creature and by challenging assuming and possessing its own Life and Liberty bringeth man and the creature into Life and Liberty so that though their Life and Liberty is utterly lost in themselves yet it is found again in Christ and found more pure more perfect more stable there then ever it was in them Happy is that man happy is that creature which can find the way to true loss to true bonds but that is as impossible to man to the creature as it is to it to save it self And this is calling into Liberty Brethren ye have been called unto Liberty namely the breaking forth of this life in the man which wrapping the man up in it self and bringing the man forth again with it self maketh him both taste of a new nature and of his own nature anew I confess calling here in this place may denote that invitation and inlet into the visible state of the Gospel which then was usual which in comparison of the state of the Law was a state of great Liberty though in respect of true thorow Liberty it be a state of great bondage and the spirit of life in the seed did groan under it for want of freedom as well as it did in the Saints of old under the yoke of the Law But calling into Liberty in the true nature of it is the advancing of the new nature which nature is sown here in bonds into the possession and enjoyment of it self and the redeeming of the nature of that man in whom the new nature is sown out of the bonds either of its own corruption or of any dispensation of God wherewith it is exercised in this its corrupt and enslaved estate So that in this Liberty First There is a free spirit or nature begotten and brought forth Secondly There is a spreading of this over the man conveying into him or taking him into the same free nature Thirdly There is the advancing of both into a free state and the bringing forth of the creature in and with them both Now perhaps some may yet in truth of spirit desire to hear somewhat more particularly and distinctly concerning this Liberty that they might have a more distinct and demonstrative view of some things which have been already glanced at for whose satisfaction First I shall touch a little at mans slavery and then propose to consideration the principal parts of this freedom Mans slavery consisteth chiefly in these three things 1. He is enslaved to himself or to the Law of sin and death which dwels in him which is now become himself His understanding is a slave to dark and corrupt princples his will to vain and destructive desires That little reason that is yet remaining in his understanding and will is a slave and subject to the Law and curse of that corruption which dwels in him 2. He is enslaved to Satan He rules him at pleasure This world the whole state of this world the whole frame and motions of mans spirit all the powers and operations of his nature lie in that wicked one and are disposed of by him So that man cannot see the true light not of reason because the God of this world blinds his eyes nor can he observe or obey what he doth discern of good further then God winds him up and assists him by some power which sometimes he lets forth upon him in a dispensation which for that season refresheth the ingenuity and integrity of his nature setting it on work for God and towards good but otherwise the spirit of man stands at a distance from that light of Holiness and Righteousness that shines upon him in any of the dispensations of God because Satan binds his heart his hands his feet his whole man So that there is no true liberty in the freest nature or clearest reason Satan doth but cozen a man in making him beleeve either that he can or will dispose of himself according to the light of reason but only in those whom God by his wisdom love and pleasure turneth from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God 3. He is enslaved to Laws Ordinances and Observations either such as were written in his own nature which yet have a dark being and residence there and which God can stir up at any time for any end or design of his or such as are dispenced to him in such or such a state Thus God hath pleased to use many waies for the exercise of man in his present broken condition Thus the Iews were exercised with severall Laws and kinds of Discipline and so also the Gentiles or beleeving Christians after them The former of these was a state of great slavery and the latter was not a throughly free state though it might very well be accounted free in compare with the former There was indeed a true taste of the truth in that State but the State it self was not the truth but only a more compleat shadow then the Law and therefore must vanish and give way whensoever the truth appears This is the sum or main of the slavery of man whereunto the severall inferior parcels of it may be referred Now the freedom of the seed and of Man and the creature in with and through the seed lieth chiefly in three things also To let pass freedom from corruption and vanity which though it be wonderfully excellent and not to be found in the air where we breath yet that may so easily be supposed and is so fully comprehended in the other as I cannot but omit it Therefore to let that pass I say freedom consisteth in these three things 1. In a disobligation from all Laws of an inferior nature That man cannot be free who is in subjection to any laws or ordinances of an inferior nature spirit or principle then his own life is The Lord hath given laws and ordinances to man in his severall states and conditions all which the life advanced to its own proportion of liberty in Christ is free from
any darkness about it self it is not free If there be any rubs in its way it cannot walk freely therefore God promiseth to this life an high way a plain path in the day of its redemption and freedom as Isai. 35.8 If its light be not very full and cleer and its strength absolutely perfect in reference to its own nature and state it will want of its Liberty it will not be able to come forth or walk in perfect freedom So that that Liberty which is perfect and compleat must be of a perfect seed from a perfect root perfectly grown up and scituated in the life and Spirit of the Lord from which alone it proceedeth and groweth up and in which alone it can live and be enjoyed It hath been and still is a great question how far those that are in Christ are freed from the Law and whether their sins be against the Law or no or only against Christ who is their Life and Law In relation whereunto since it falleth so fairly in my way I shall lay down three Conclusions which may occasion the cleering of it in part and the further better right understanding of this Liberty wherewith I intend to conclude the point only adding somewhat concerning the abuse which it is very liable unto as every other spiritual thing also is in the way that hitherto it hath broke forth and appeared and right use of Liberty from the following words The Conclusions are these 1. He that is in Christ cannot sin against the Law because he is not under it and therefore cannot be bound by it nor be engaged to give any account unto it He is under another husband and therefore free from this as the Apostle reasoneth Rom. 7. But yet mark As Christ himself in his fleshly state was under the Law who was the forerunner and pattern so all his seed in their fleshly state are under the Law likewise They may have sometimes a sight of life and a taste of liberty but until they have followed Christ into his grave and are become dead with him yea and risen with him too they shall not enjoy it While the life lives in the flesh it lives under the Law when the life comes to live in the spirit alone it shall be perfectly freed from the Law This is most certain The life of its own nature is not under the Law nor can its nature to speak properly be subjected to the Law though it may act a part of subjection for a season yet in the acting of that part the sparklings of a diviner life and Law which swallow up this weak life with the whole Law of it cannot but now and then appear as they did in Christ in the time of his subjection and servitude But the man in which the life inhabits and through which the life acts is weak and hath only a promise of strength and of redemption with the life after his death and resurrection with it but hath not any full sense or participation of it but is to remain under bondage and to travail up and down in the wilderness of this worldly state with the life until then And though in the Apostles times the Lord did let out both this life and this liberty into the humane nature in his Saints to give a little glimps what they were yet they were let forth but weakly and they were soon clapped in again and the old husband the Law returns and takes universal possession again though under the name of the life and Liberty of the Gospel This then is the sum To all men whatsoever until they be swallowed up into the spirit of Christ the law is still a Schoolmaster and they may find if they observe themselves the Law of nature or the Law of good and evil which is written in their hearts by nature and further revived by acquired knowledg whether from the light springing up in man and so received thence or from the light held forth in the Scriptures continually instructing and discipling of them As a Schoolmaster it exerciseth them as its Disciples and Schollars Yea in the very times of the Apostles though they had attained a strain of freedom which was not attained before yet they were not altogether free but groaned under bondage and panted after Liberty 2. He that is in Christ cannot do that which the Law judgeth to be sin He cannot act against the righteousness that is in the Law He can no more live to sin then he can live to the Law He hath as little to do with any thing which the Law judgeth evil as with the Law it self He can give no offence to any that have any true light in them for he can do nothing against any true light in any kind This is the nature of truth It longeth for it seeketh after it knoweth it embraceth both its own image and its own substance Truth in the image longeth after the substance Truth in the substance comprehendeth acknowledgeth and embraceth the image The righteousness which is in Christ and his seed in its nature motions and actions comprehendeth the righteousness of the Law Indeed it cannot be comprehended by it but it comprehends it and the righteousness of the Law knoweth it and giveth way to it It hath more in it a far higher kind of righteousness then the Law calleth for but it hath that also Every spiritual motion is beyond the nature and excellency of the Law but yet it hath all that excellency that the Law can possibly expect or exact and therfore cannot offend against the life or truth of the Law The life and righteousness that is in Christ most naturally cherisheth the life and righteousness that is in the Law which they who taste of the truth as it is in Iesus are taught to understand 3. If he could possibly do that which the Law judgeth to be sin yet his sin would not be directly against the Law for the Law cannot judg him as a sinner who is not under it but against his own life which is a greater offence and hath more of the nature of sin in it then if it were against the Law He that is in Christ hath a new life in him which is sown in his spirit and his spirit with that life is transplanted into Christ who is his Lord and Lawgiver And what he now is he is in Christ and what he now does he does unto Christ and is not now any longer under that dispensation of the Law in which he was before his transplantation so that he is not henceforth so much as in a capacity of sinning against it This then is the sum They that are in Christ in his Spirit dead and risen with him who are entred into and swallowed up in the newness Vertue Life and Power of his Death and Resurrection are not subject to the Law of any dispensation though they can also fulfil any yea and are to fulfil the Law of every dispensation but
but him in natural motions he hath to do with him chiefly He is the chief thing which God eyeth and God is the chief thing which he eyeth in every thing I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Psal. 16.8 Mark There is a mutual conjunction a natural union between God and Christ for this posture of each here floweth from it and pointeth at it they place themselves by one another they mind one another they stand by and to one another Christ seteth God before him and God placeth himself by Christ standeth at his right hand and this is their mutual content delight and safety They are well secure and perfectly at hearts-ease while they are together All misery from the begining to the end ariseth from their separation and distance and will soon vanish when the whole course of that is perfectly over Thus Christ is in his life But now in the death of Christ it is far otherwise Christ in his death falls not only beneath this Glory but also beneath the glory of man God when he breaketh Christ breaketh him more terribly then he hath yet broken man leaveth not so much excellency in him as he hath yet left in man but he beholdeth himself and who ever can look upon him shall find him more in the condition of a worm then a man There is no more beauty in him then in a worm no more majesty in him then in a worm no more wisdom or strength in him then in a worm He hath lost all his light and all his strength in the things of God He knoweth not how to beleeve hope pray or do any thing which requireth life and assistance from God and yet his nature cannot but do these things in a very vehement manner though not after the same rate of understanding and life which he possessed before nor with the aid of so powerful an influence But in what ever he is or does or what ever befals him God regards him not God takes no more notice of him then of a worm Christ who served God with the strength of his life all the days of his life what a stranger is God unto him in the time of his death Call he may again and again in his extremity for relief for support for somewhat to stay his fainting spirit but no news no return no regard from God no more then the worm has that crauls upon the ground My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night and there is no silence to me Psal. 22.1 2. I am a worm and no man A reproach of men That is somewhat more Man is pitied by man in his broken estate but Christ is reproached To have been high and then to fall low is a matter of reproach especially where a further ascent was spoken of and asserted Christ and the people of God talk of neerness to God and further advancement by God yea of perfection in God therefore when they are thus forsaken as they are really and perfectly forsaken in that fleshly dispensation wherein they are at first brought forth and for a season assisted and owned and their life broken and slain they become a grievous reproach Man cannot forbear upbraiding Christ when he beholdeth him dying When man feels his own life which Christ so disdained and still testified against I say when man feels this so far above the Life of Christ as it appears to be and indeed is when Christ is dying he cannot but reproach Christ. Christ is such a proper object of scorn to the spirit of man in the time of his death as cannot but draw forth scorn from him For man to see and feel himself alive and free from that death wherewith he was threatened and the death to fall upon Christ who threatened it even such a death as concludes his death for ever to mans eye and secures man from all that danger which might accrue to him from the Power of Christs Life and which man might stand in some feare of this cannot but stir in man the spirit of derision and cause him in his very heart to reproach Christ. A reproach of men And despised of the people Christ in his death is not only a reproach to man but to the very people of God also The fleshly people of God cannot but then despise this life As they cannot but in some degree honour it when they see the sweet and powerful shining forth of it Never man spake like this man He hath done all things well c. So they cannot but despise it when they see it declining Such is the temper of fleshly Israel and such the way of Christs appearing that the truth and glory of his life is more hidden from them then from the world and their despite of him in his death is greater O how they please themselves in their fleshly zeal and devotion when they find the spirit and life of Christ dying in and passing through his flesh All they that see me laugh me to scorn There is nothing feels greater contempt nor more universal then Christ in his death The eye of man universally contemneth him yea the whole heart of man laughs at him with the greatest derision and disdain that can be High low rich poor Jew Gentile and every sort and sect among each loath Christ in this state He is now become the abhoring of all flesh They jeer at him they trample upon him with the greatest laughter and scorn and without the least regret They spit in his face they buffet him they shoot out the lip they shake the head He is a worm and no man with them too He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him This is one expression of the great contumely in their spirits This is the man that trusted on God for deliverance This is that great and glorious life which came from God which so depended upon God which was so sure to be secured by God The wisdom of man should fall the strength of man should fall but he should be preserved and delivered by God He would not walk in the way of man nor he should not come to the end of man God loatheth man in the midst of all his wisdom righteousness and excellency but this is the beloved of God the delight of God Behold now what he is Behold now where he is Now let God arise and save his choyce one his beloved one He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him if he delight in him O foolish man Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into his Glory If Christ will reap the great Glory and riches of the increase of his life ought he not to reduce it into a seed and to sow that seed in a
was forsaken of his God in the truth of his estate and condition but he also felt it and he did not only feel it himself but his enemies saw it too yea it was palpable to the common eye of the people and to all that beheld him All that see me laugh me to scorn they shooâ— the lip they shake the head saying He trusted in God th the would deliver him c. Is this the man that had so much interest in God Is this the man in whom the Power of God did so appear and who could do such mighty things by the Power and Vertue of God Is his Doctrine and Miracles his great Union and Communion come to this They shake their heads as at a deceit as at a delusion as at a piece of vanity they mock they spit upon him they buffet him c. They crown him in derision They reproach yea they abhor in their spirits the very power of his life in the day of his death Use. Behold O Christians the death of the life of Christ behold the Baptism of Christ the miserable passage to the Crown If ye will become Christs ye must dye not only to the corruption and shame but also to all the glory and excellency of this world and yet not stop there neither The life of Christ will put out the life of all other things and when it hath done so there is a death for it too The Spirit of Christ in the seed must pass through its own blood into the holy of holies Alas Sirs If there were nothing to pass through but a death to this world what an easie matter were it comparatively to be a Christian What an easie matter were it to despise and trample upon this world by vertue of such an excellent life in the Spirit To have that spirit in the seed broken which delights or may delight in the world it is bitter indeed to man but alas that bitterness is nothing in compare with that bitterness which ariseth from the breaking of the new life in the new spirit Would ye know what this is Why measure it by this by the sweetness of this life Do ye know how sweet it is to taste the true nature of the Life of God! to enjoy and live upon the breath of his Spirit to walk in the light and love of the Lord If ye truly know these things the true sweetness of them then ye may be able to give a guess at what it is to have them broken But as there have been counterfeit Images all along of the Life of Christ so are there also of his Death O what pains do several sorts of men take to find out this Death yea and to meet with the anguish of it but all to no purpose for the Lord alone can light and the Lord alone can extinguish this Lamp I kill and I make alive This holdeth true every where but here most especially The Lord alone can bring forth the next strain of life and the Lord alone can bring into this narrow passage of death XIII The Course and End of Man DEUT. 31.29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt your selves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you and evil will befall you in the latter days because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the works of your hands THis people who were the choyce of God among whom the seed of life was sown was a type of the spirit of man truly representing his nature and state more especially in these five particulars following 1. In his difficulty to be woond up to the mind and will of God in any dispensation There was a great deal of work with this people to bring them to any pass Continual Instructions continual Corrections a mighty current of Power and Providence did God both put forth and maintain to cause them to beleeve and obey both in Egypt and in the Wilderness and yet it proved a very difficult task to winde them up to either Thus it is with the spirit of man God is at a very great expence to bring him to any thing He is fain to let forth of his own Spirit of his own Light of his own Power and batter him out of all his fleshly holds before he can bring him to submit to him and walk with him in any of his dispensations 2. In his sudden backsliding This people did naturally fall from God They were hardly drawn up but did slide down of themselves What a work had God with them to make them beleeve and wait upon him what a many wonderful Works did he shew to draw them up to trust him to follow him to love him c. but alas how soon did they forget his Works and retire back into the fleshly principle and course of the Heathen and this both in Egypt and in the Wilderness and also in Canaan Thus it is also with the spirit of man Let God never so powerfully convince and engage him in the light and life of his spirit yet he naturally slinks back from it He corrupts himself in every dispensation of the Lord seting up his own lusts there serving them and forgetting the Lord his Maker and Redeemer He makes every path and truth either of the Law or Gospel serve his own carnal spirit in so much as though he walk in all the ways of the Lord as he accounts them yet he serves himself in all and not the Lord in any Mans flesh mans reason nay mans vanity and corruption gets into every way of the Lord polluting it self there and prophaning all the holy things of God It turns out of that which is indeed the way and walks in that which though it still calls it the way yet is not but only a way of its own for the very Ordinances and Institutions of God after the spirit of man hath entered into them and molded them to his own bent God will no longer own them but terms them his ways and inventions 3. In the season of mans corrupting himself which is after Moses his death after the death of the Witnesses after the departure or death of that life in him which seized upon him overcame him and as it were forced him into the ways of God When the light of God cometh down upon man and overbeareth his spirit he cannot but follow it but when that light is gone he returneth to himself again He turneth from the life from the purity of that into which he was led retaining only so much as will serve the ease quiet content and satisfaction of his own corrupt spirit There are gales of the Spirit of God which descend upon this earth the spirit of man Where these blow strongly man is hugely changed He hath as it were a new spirit in him whereby he is after a sort naturally led to follow the Lord. But when the Lord withdraweth this breath his
life perisheth and man returneth to his Earth to his very corruption again yea and taketh unto himself seven Devils worse then the former For the higher that man is raised by this breath from the Lord the lower he falls when this breath is withdrawn It is the spirit of corrupt man getting or advanced by the Lord into the purest ways and forms of Religion which bringeth forth the filthiest abominations 4. In the result of this corruption and evil will befall you in the latter days Sin most naturally brings forth death Corruption or putrefaction is a degree of and a direct passage unto death And it will break forth and appear in the latter days Man must have a time to corrupt in which he is to be let alone but in the latter days when his end draws nigh death hastens apace his corruption then begins to open it self and to discover the death which lay hid in it Then that evil which man hoped all this while to secure himself from will begin to manifest it self to be in the nature of his own spirit or in the nature of that sin and corruption which he hid within the nature of his spirit He hath hid his destruction in his own bowels he hath hugged it in his bosom in the midst of all his designs to escape it and in the latter days when it is grown ripe and strong thence it will start seize upon him and devour him When the Lord hath throughly tryed the spirit of man and when man hath throughly corrupted himself then will he lay the ax to the root of this tree and cut it down that it may cumber the ground no longer He hath cut down the Iews already Their latter days wherein evil did befall them have overtaken them and he will also cut down the Gentiles The Iews were not the seed for after the death of Moses they did corrupt themselves and discover that they like the rest of the world were but flesh Neither are the Gentiles the seed for they also after the death of that life which did flow from the Spirit into Christ and his Apostles did also corrupt themselves The uncircumcised and unclean spirit of man did enter into this Temple and Worship as well as into the former Therefore the Lord will both cut down the spirit of man and will also down with all that into which the spirit of man can enter and then will he bring forth his own Truth his true Temple his true Worship his true Worshippers 5. In the ground of this death and destruction to man because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the works of your hands All the motions of man anger God All the works of his hands are filthy and corrupt in themselves and provocative to the eye of his nature and spirit All mans knowledg all his life all his ways of Worship Faith and Obedience in every kind every thing that suits the eye and judgment of his spirit and wherewith he thinks to please God is lothsom to God This lothsomness stirreth up in God his indignation which causeth him in the proper season thereof to bring death upon man and to bring him to Judgment after which cometh the second death Then it shall be known who have been led by the Lord and who have truly followed him though the spirit of man now laughs at all who walk not with him in his way of understanding Then shall all see and know who are righteous and be forced to confess from their very hearts saying Verily there is a reward for the righteous a competent reward a full reward unto them for all the sufferings and misery which have attended them in their way and passage hither Blessed is he whom the Lord leadeth by the proper cross attending every dispensation through trouble and death into life But excessively miserable is that man whose fleshly spirit remaineth in any dispensation or who passeth from dispensation to dispensation with his life unslain therewith feeding upon the Ordinances duties enjoyments or any other holy or spiritual things of God and thereby fattening and fitting himself for death and destruction against the great and terrible day of the Lord God Almighty according as the spirit of Christ in David speaketh Psal. 94.12 13. with a gloss whereupon I shall draw towards a conclusion Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law That thou mayst give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked There is a pit digging for the wicked into which when it is finished when it is every way made large and deep and piercing enough the whole wicked spirit of man shall either fall or be cast or partly fall and partly be cast into it Till this pit be digged it is a troublesome time to the seed but a quiet time with man The spirit of man is now at ease He can serve he can please he can enjoy himself in his whole course both of nature and religion yea and he can also secure himself from future danger from danger at the last He hath made a covenant with death and with Hell is he at agreement When the overflowing scourge passeth it shall not come near him It is for unbeleevers for sinners for persons who know not God or obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ to fear death and Hell or eternal destruction But when this pit is digged the Spirit of the Lord with his light will search out the spirit of man under all his disguises and what ever hath not the true breath of life in it shall be cast into and dye in this pit There are persons also to whom God will give rest from the days of adversity Those who have all along been persecuted by all sorts of enemies and afflicted with all sorts of miseries that spirit which hath been hunted wounded grieved distressed all the day long by the cruel spirit of man and Satan shall be rescued from the jaws of each and be refreshed Those who are leavened with the life of Gods most holy Spirit who are so new-changed by it that they have none of that life none of that spirit left remaining in them which the Lord cometh to destroy the Lord will give them rest When the Lord cometh forth to hunt take and devour the spirit of man those in whom that spirit is already dissolved shall not be in fear or danger of his severity but shall find the abundance of love sweetness peace and rest administred to them by the same hand which will then so eagerly and fiercely prosecute the spirit of man Then they who have hitherto been at ease shall be troubled and they who have hitherto been troubled shall have ease And to you who are troubled rest with us When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed c. 2 Thes. 1. The ways whereby God leadeth his to this rest are
partly Instructions and partly Corrections He breatheth his Spirit into them and by the power and vertue of his rod beareth down and subjecteth their spirits He burneth up their dross aforehand that he may make them fit to be saved and that it may be righteous for him to save them in the day of the worlds destruction He striketh them down he layeth load upon them he humbleth them exceedingly until he hath fitly tempeâ—ed them to hear and then he teacheth them the Law of his Life And thus he reneweth both his knocks and his beams of light as their condition need and capacity requireth O happy happy thrice happy are they whom God leadeth though through a wilderness and the dismal exercises thereof into his land of rest All that severity of Discipline under which they are now nurtured and trained up is nothing to that misery which they shall then escape or to that life and blessedness which they are hereby prepared for I shall close thus They that trust in lying vanities vanity shall be their recompence Yea they that trust or hope in God or in Christ or in God through Christ after the strength of their own apprehensions fastened upon or gathered from the Scriptures and not according to the knowledg and power of the truth as it is in Iesus shall find even these objects vanity to them their faith and expectation upon them vanity also and their end misery when they sink into death and destruction with the world yea and that somewhat deeper then the world But they who in truth are taught and led by the truth to wait and hope under their bondage and misery for the truth how extravagant or rediculous soever they may appear to all the various eyes of the several sorts of Religious persons from the strange exercises of God upon them shall be owned by the truth The root nature yea and all the motions of the spirit of the creature even in all the dispensations of God is rejected for in the true state and nature of things it is not that which the Lord can accept It is dark in all its light dead in all its life a captive and a slave in all its liberty an hater and a rebel in the midst of all its love and obedience and therefore how can the Lord who searching the spirit cleerly knoweth and discerneth this in the spirit but throw it aside notwithstanding its glittering appearances of light and life from him of precious faith and hope in him and of sweet love and obedience towards him But the root nature and motions of the seed under all its disguises in the midst of all its darkness death bonds captivity and estrangedness from God is his delight is his heir it is the heir of his nature and spirit and therefore shall undoubtedly inherit the truth and glory of life in him He that hath ears to hear let him hear the spirit which testifieth the same thing now as it hath done all along the Scriptures O let him who desireth the truth of salvation harken to the voice of the spirit of God in the Scriptures and not give ear to such fictions as his own spirit doth most naturally form out of them XIV The happy End of the holy Nature and Course of the Seed of Life which the Spirit of Life through all the various dark paths of sin death and misery most faithfully guideth it unto or The sweet and happy End of the Righteous PSAL. 37. vers 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace THe perfect or upright man is he who is of an entire stamp or nature and who walketh entirely with God in every dispensation from the Law of this nature The very nature of man is imperfect He is a transgressor from the womb Let him never so honestly and ingenuously dedicate himself to God and to righteousness yet he cannot for his heart walk with him or live righteously But the other cannot but do so And however he may slip from the weakness of his present estate yet his nature still sets him right again Now there is no man more miserable in his present condition then this man The unrighteous the unholy spirit of man can thrive in the world or flourish in any form of Religion but this man not having the spirit of this world cannot seek or enjoy it nor deliver himself from the oppressions and sufferings which are multiplied upon him by it Nay he is persecuted also and grievously afflicted by the powers of darkness which will not spare him in this their hour Yea his God estrangeth and hideth himself from him he hideth his face from the house of Iacob chastisiing him sorely continually Because of that corruption which cleaveth unto him and which his feet are still gathering the holy God which loveth truth and purity is ever and anon casting him into the fire The Lord by his Spirit of Judgment and Burning doth most naturally search try and judg the spirits of his people until he hath purified and perfected them Alas how sad therefore must it needs be with them in the midst of all these The world may live and flourish but they are still withering and dying The world may enjoy the freedom of its natural spirit after a sort but theirs is in bonds The world may laugh and rejoyce because of the contents they find and can reap and enjoy in the things of the world and in their several forms and exercises of Religion but these cannot but weep and lament that they are left desolate and have no Comforter These are the sick ones these are the blind ones these are the lame ones these are the poor ones these are the naked ones these are the peâ—secuted ones these are the oppressed ones whose misery no eye can see no heart conceive no tongue express Any misery that man meeteth with the spirit of man may pity him in but this is a kind of misery which the spirit of man knoweth not and these are the persons whom he judgeth and whom his heart is hardened against But mark the end of this man Look upon all this distress all this misery all this lamentably hard travel in its end For the end of that man is peace There is no knowing of any thing as it now appears under its vail in this dark shadowy world but if you would understand any thing aright keep your eye fixed upon it and observe it to the end In the end flesh when it is stripped of all its seeming glory will appear what it is and in the end spirit when it is unclothed of all its deformed rags will appear what it is If you consider the perfect man without the discerning of his end he will appear the poorest most miserable most contemptible thing that can be but if your eye can truly follow him unto his end you will have another ghess sight of him there for the end of that man
hath been testified unto you and from whence that testimony may come for ought ye know Have ye dealt ingenuously with the Lord in this point or rather have ye not watched for the halting of those which have testified that so ye might harden your spirits in your own invented ways For if ye could make good that they once were the Lords yet they are not now his unless the same spirit and light did again lead into them and quicken them The Lord loveth Spirit and Truth but regardeth not a dead form although it were the very same wherein his Spirit once did live Can ye blame the Lord for preparing a stumbling block for you or for suffering or giving you up to stumble when ye your selves desire it Ye will have such and such Ordinances paths and practises to be the ways of the Lord every one according to his own imagination and cannot endure to hear any thing to the contrary Ye will be judging and measuring the things of God before ye have received either an eye or light or measure from him But I injure you ye have eyes ye have light ye have the reed of the Word and can measure things aright by that It is well so it must be But assuredly the Spirit of the Lord hath tryed and judged all your light all your ways all your knowledg and practises in Religion and hath found them scanty in his ballance scanty even of that true light nature and spirit which he seeketh to worship him and which he alone delighteth to be worshipped in Alas Sirs ye may please your selves awhile but ye cannot stand before the blasting breath of the Lord which bloweth upon all flesh and corrupteth it If the Lord hath testified against your duties as being things which he requireth not at your hands against your Ordinances and ways of worship as not being those which he hath appointed against your graces as not being of the nature of his Life and Spirit against your evidences for Heaven and happiness as not being such as will endure his tryal and touchstone yea against your very foundation as not being that which the Spirit of the Lord hath layd but which your own spirits by your own art and skill a little heightened perhaps by your study of the Scriptures and other exercises of your mind have fastened and built all upon I say If the Lord hath testified these things against you the Lord will not fail to make them good and whatsoever your confidences to the contrary are ye shall not prosper in them O consider this if ye love your Souls It is not a building upon Christ after the flesh it is not either a beleeving or obeying from any rational knowledg from a knowledg of the understanding though the heart and affections be never so much heated therewith accompanying it never so vigorously which will save any man but a building of a new nature upon the new nature of Christ. It must be a building of a new nature for Christ saveth his building his people his seed his Church and it must be built or founded upon the new nature of Christ for Christ himself saveth not according to the oldness of the letter but according to the newness of the Spirit It is not the building of such a new nature upon such a Christ as man will call so but a building of the truth upon the Truth Alas what a poor imaginary thing is the Christ which many if not most apprehend Christ consisteth not in the name but in the nature and in the spirit of the thing Now who knoweth the nature of Christ or of that God which dwelleth in Christ Who knoweth the nature of his Wisdom the nature of his Goodness the nature of his Greatness the nature of his Life Spirit c. Who knoweth the nature of the Father which begat or the nature of the Son who was begotten either in his life or death yea who knoweth himself Man doth not build himself I mean his own nature upon Christ but that which he calleth himself upon that which he calleth Christ. Here will appear to be strange work when the Lord searcheth into it Wonderful serious are men in their Religion and yet through the present thick darkness little do they know what they do Little do they perceive how they build an imagination upon an imagination It is very true that the Apostles had a true knowledg of Christ and that they came forth with a true knowledg of Christ and it then being the time of light that the Spirit of the Lord also went forth to quicken that knowledg where it pleased him unto the hearers But what knowledg is it whereupon men now build Who now knoweth the nature of the Lords Anointed which is the only Saviour Who looks into the Scripture now with a new eye I am sure with an old eye no man can see the things of God But I see the things of God wilt thou perhaps say therefore my eye is new Nay but thou seest with the old eye and therefore thy sight is not right Take heed lest thou be convinced of this too late O Lord God that ever man should give scope to himself in so great vanity as to lay the stress of his own eternal condition upon the motions of his own blind dark nature But who doth thus I acknowledg to thee O man that in thy light and according to thy measure thou doest not so but in the light of the Lord and according to his measure who doth not so Tell me true Doest not thou built upon Christ according to thy creaturely understanding Ah Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life the fleshly reason the fleshly understanding the fleshly affections of man are too gross to enter into either The first Adam how excellent soever cannot lay one stone in the building of God The eye of mans purest Reason cannot read one line in the Book of God O who knoweth God or his Christ or his Worship or any of his Truths We have a great deal of knowledg in the world why all sorts know but yet my spirit saith to all the sorts of this present generation Who knoweth God neither do I speak about the degree but concerning the true nature of knowledg The gross unclean spirit of man which it still is in the midst of all its Legal and Evangelical washings cleanness and purity cannot possibly see or be acquainted with the Lord. No unclean eye no unclean heart no unclean hand c. can ever come near the Life and Nature of God but only that which is truly changed Nothing can live in the presence of God but that which hath the true Life and Nature of God in it which groweth not from any institution or form of Religion whereby so many appearing changes are wrought in the world but from a true seed sown in the spirit of man by the Spirit of the Lord. Now do not mistake me