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A82313 The building and glory of the truely Christian and spiritual church. Represented in an exposition on Isai. 54, from vers. 11. to the 17. Preached to His Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax and the general officers of the army, with divers other officers, and souldiers, and people, at Marston, being the head-quarter at the leaguer before Oxford, June. 7. 1646. / By William Dell, minister of the Gospel, attending on His Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Army. Together with a faithful testimony touching that valiant and victorious army, in the epistle to the reader. Published by authority. Dell, William, d. 1664. 1646 (1646) Wing D918; Thomason E343_5; ESTC R200942 30,138 43

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I will hear what the Lord God will say And truly I would not care to hear what any man in the world would say in whom Christ himselfe did not speake Now much more might be said of this teaching of God but that I intend brevity in all as namely that this teaching 1. Is a clear and evident teaching that you shall have certainty in what you are taught and shall be so taught of God no man or Angel shall be able to unteach you againe 2. It is an inward teaching though by the outward Word reaching to the inward soule and spirit to the hidden man of the heart 3. It is a successefull teaching he so teaches as men learn he that hath heard and learned of my father hearing and learning goe together hee teaches faith and wee believe humility and wee are humble patience and wee endure c. But I cannot enlarge any farther in this point It followes And great shall be the peace of thy children That is when men are taught of God then there is nothing but peace among them when God comes and teacheth thee and me and another and many then we all agree because we are all taught of God and see all things by the same light and apprehend all things by the same knowledge and perceive all things by the same spirit because all have the same teaching And so they that are taught of God though one come out of the East and another out of the West and another out of the South and never had any former communion together yet they all agree in the same truth and think and speak the same things and so there is love and amity and peace and unity among them because they are all taught of God and have learned the truth not as it is in this or that man or assembly of men but as it is in Iesus And truly this is the true ground of all the differences and dissentions and heats that are in the Kingdome at this time to wit because some are taught of God and some are not taught of God but of men only the carnall Church is only taught of men and goes no higher but the spirituall Church is truly taught of God Now they that are taught of God and they that are taught of men see the same truths with a great deale of difference and hereupon arises the Controversie and quarrell for one will have the truth as hee sees it in the light of God another will have it as hee apprehends it in his own fancy and the carnall man will not yeeld to the spirituall and the spirituall man cannot yeeld to the carnall Saith one this is the minde of God and I have learned it from his own teaching saith another this is not the minde of God for such a learned Minister or Ministers taught me otherwise and so I apprehend it and thus as the flesh and spirit are contrary so are their teachings and hence our divisions and troubles But when men are all taught of God then they are all at peace one with another and all doe agree in the substance of the truth of the Gospel and if some doe not know the same things they doe they can waite with patience till God also reveale that unto them for they know with all their hearts that they themselves could never have known those things except God had taught them and so they cannot be angry at others whom the Lord as yet hath not vouchsafed to teach and so they are meeke and gentle towards all as beseemes the spirit as well as at peace among themselves All thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall bee the peace of thy children For they know that no man is higher or lower then another in the Kingdome of God but all are equall in Iesus Christ they know that no man can challenge Christ more to himselfe then another but all have equall interest in him and Christ is alike neer to all in whom he dwells yea they all as willingly communicate their owne things to the brethren as they themselves doe partake of Christs things and so there is nothing but peace When men know that no man is any thing in h●mselfe but every one is all that he is in Christ and when men love Christ meerly for himself and where they see most of Christ there love most and if Christ be more in another then himself can love such a one more then himselfe not for his owne sake but for Christs sake then there is nething but peace Great shall be the peace of thy children Verse 14. In righteousnesse shalt thou be established c. This spirituall Church had need of establishment for when God hath done all this for it when he hath built it and taught●t himselfe it shall not want trouble and opposition and contradiction and persecution in the world and therfore it stands in great need of establishment But how shall this be done Why saith he In righteousnesse shalt thou be established That is not by any outward power or force or armies or fortifications or factions or confederacies all these are but a staffe of reed but in righteousnesse and that is both in the righteousnesse of Christ received by us and working in us the first is the righteousnesse of justification the second is the righteousnesse of sanctification and our establishment lies in both 1. In the righteousnesse of Iustification which is called the righteousnesse of faith or Christs owne righteousnesse received into us and in this sense it is said Except ye beleeve ye shall never be established for by faith we partake of the righteousnesse of God through Christ and this is an infinite and everlasting righteousnesse that hath neither spot nor blemish in it this is able to establish us for ever and ever so that the Church hath no more establishment then it hath of the righteousnesse of Christ by faith and as the Church goes from faith to faith so it goes from establishment to establishment 2. Our establishment lies in the righteousnesse of our sanctification which is nothing but Christ working in us as the former was Christ dwelling in us for the same Christ that is the righteousnesse of our justification is the righteousnesse of our sanctification Now the establishment of the Church is when we let the righteousnesse of Christ worke all in us and we worke all in the righteousnesse of Christ then are we established mightily and invincibly indeed and how much Christians swerve from this Rule so much they become weake and unsetled sometimes Christians will bee living out of Christ in themselves and they will be moving and acting and working according to humane wisedome and prudence and the counsels and devises of flesh and blood but in all this they have no establishment at all And therefore ye that are faithfull see to it that ye turne aside neither to the right hand nor to the left through any worldly hopes or fears
of the Church in the days of the New Testament that whereas before the Church was to be found but in one kinred and tongue and people and nation now it should be gathered out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation And this is so desireable and comfortable a thing that in the beginning of the Chapter he calls upon all to rejoyce at this vers. 1. Sing O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing and shout aloud thou that didst not travel with childe for more are the children of the desolate then of the married wife saith the Lord Enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations Spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left and thy seed shall inherite the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited So that there shall certainly be a most wonderful and numerous increase of the faithful in the Christian Church till they become as the stars of heaven and as the drops of the morning dew that cannot be told all of them assembled in the beauties of holinesse And therefore let us not be over-much troubled though at present we see in a numerous nation but few true children of the spiritual Church for God shall blesse these few and bid them increase and multiply and replenish the earth so that though the Assemblies of the Saints be now but thin and one comes from this place and another from that to these Assemblies and in many and most places of the Kingdom these few are fain to come together secretly for fear of the Jews that is the people of the letter yet through the pouring forth of the Spirit it shall come to passe at last that they shall come in flocks as doves to their windows And it shall be said to the Church by the Lord Lift up thine eyes round about and behold all these gather fellows together and come to thee At I live saith the Lord thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament and binde them on thee as a bride doth c. till at last the Church shall say in her heart Who hath begotten me these seeing I have lost my children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who hath brought up these Behold I was left alone these where had they been Yea these very promises are now in the very act of accomplishing among us for the spiritual Church hath received a very great increase within these few yeers and God hath many faithful people in many places of this Kingdom and of this my self and many more in this Army are witnesses for having marched up and down the Kingdom to do the work of God and the State we have met with many Christians who have much Gospel light and which makes it the more strange in such places where there hath been no Gospel-Ministery which hath put me in minde of that prophecie Isai. 66. 8. Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a nations be born at once For as soon as Sion travelled nay before she travelled she brought forth her children There was no outward Ministery of the Gospel to travel or take pains with them and yet Sion brings forth her children And one thing that is remarkable touching the increase of the Church at this day is this That where Christ sends the Ministration of the Spirit there many young people are brought in to Christ as being most free from the forms of the former age and from the Doctrines and Traditions of men taught and received instead of the pure and unmixed Word of God whereas many old professors who are wholly in the form prove the greatest enemies to the power of godlinesse and thus the first are the last and the last first Now this great and sudden increase of the faithful is that which doth so exceedingly trouble the world and makes them angry at the very heart For if they were but a few mean contemptible and inconsiderable persons whom they might easily suppresse and destroy they would be pretty quiet but when they begin to increase in the land as Israel did in Egypt and notwithstanding all the burdens of their taskmasters wherewith they are afflicted and grieved do yet increase abundantly and multiply and wax exceeding mighty till they begin to fill the land and when they consult to deal wisely with them lest they multiply too much do yet see them grow and multiply the more that they know not at what Countrey or City or Town or Village or family to begin to suppresse them this is that doth so exceedingly vex and inrage the world and makes them even mad again as we see this day For the increase of the faithful as it is the glory of the Church so it is the grief and madnesse of the world But these men in vain attempt against this increase of the faithful as the Egyptians against the increase of the Israelites for none can hinder the increase of the Church but they that hinder God from pouring out his Spirit and according to the measure of Gods pouring forth the Spirit is and must be the increase of the Church in despite of all the opposition of the world And thus much touching the first promise of the Churches Increase Now in the words I read to you the Lord comes to another promise so that the Lord because of the Churches weaknesse addes one promise to another and these promises are nothing but the outgoings and manifestations of his love through the Word Christ But to look more neerly upon the words Oh thou afflicted Affliction in the world doth so inseparably attend the Church that the Church even takes its denomination from it Oh thou afflicted The condition of the Church is an afflicted condition For the Church being born of God and born of the Spirit is put into a direct contrariety to the world which is born of the flesh and is also of its father the devil And so the whole world is malignant against the faithful and spiritual Church and all that are not regenerate set their faces yea their hearts and their hands against the Saints and the unregenerate world is against the regenerate and the carnal world against the spiritual and the sinful world against the righteous and all the people and nations in the world are against that people and nation which the Apostle calls a holy nation and a peculiar people As the world cannot endure God in himself so neither can it endure God in the Saints and so the more God dwells in the Saints the more doth the world afflict the Saints for they oppose not the faithful for any thing of flesh and blood in them but because that flesh and blood of theirs is the habitation of God and
heaven and so he will give Nations and Kingdomes for them and hath said The Nation and kingdome that will not serve thee shall perish yea those Nations that be utterly wasted On that this Kingdome in it selfe and in its representation would avoid this evill as they would escape this end The 4. Monarchies for opposing the Spirituall Church have fallen for its sake and so shall every other Kingdome and Common wealth that undertakes against it Verse 16. Behold I have created the Smith that blowes the coales in the fire and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work and I have created the waster to destroy Verse 17. But no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper c. Thou art saith God to the Church a small weak despised contemned persecuted people but thy safety protection blessing lyes in me and in my power and wisedome and lovs Behold I have created the smith c. That is I have formed him that makes the Sword and Gun and Pike and that prepares the Ammunition and both he that makes the weapon and he that useth it are in my hands and they shall only do what I would have them do and no more and so No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper God blunts the edge of the weapon and weakens the hand and puts fear into the heart of him that useth it and so no weapons that have been used have prospered hitherto and if any more weapons shall be used hereafter they shall be as unprosperous as these And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn Two wayes you see the enemies of the Church assault the Church by their hands and by their tongues and this latter way is the more dangerous of the two by the former they scourge the Church with rods by this latter with Scorpions This weapon of the tongue is the most dangerous weapon that ever was used against the Church in any age and the last refuge of the Devill and his instruments to annoy the Church And thus when the enemy failes at the strength of his weapons he undertakes againe with the malice of his tongue and with this the enemy strikes against the Saints that professe the truth and against the truth it selfe professed by the Saints Against the Saints that professe the truth clothing them with odious names and loading them with base aspertions Independents and Sectaries and Schismaticks and Hereticks some such there are indeed in the Kingdome but they abuse the precious Saints of God with these and other reproaches and so crucifie Christ againe in his body not between two theeves but between two hundred theeves that so it may be the greater difficulty to discerne him Their tongues rise up in judgement against them it intimates they shall have specious pretences against the Church Oh these are the men that would turn the world upside downe that make the Nation full of tumults and uproares that work all the disturbance in Church and State it is fit such men and Congregations should be suppressed and that they should have no imployment in Church or State it will never be a quiet world till some course be taken with them that we may have truth and peace and government againe And thus they have faire pretences against the godly and use the glorious names of truth peace and government to the destruction of them all And this is the sense of these words for their tongues to rise up in judgement against them Yea me thinks this phrase intimates thus much as if they would call in the aide and power of the secular Magistrates against the spirituall Christians and then their tongues rise up in judgement against them indeed and except they engage the Magistrates power against the Saints they think they can never doe them mischiefe enough And thus their tongues rise up in judgement against the Saints that professe the truth 2. As the enemy strikes with their tongue against the Saints that professe the truth so also against the truth professed by the Saints and this they call by way of reproach new light as their predecessors at the beginning of the breaking forth of the Gospel in this Kingdome called it New learning yea they call the truth error and the very minde of Christ in the word heresie and the power of godlinesse Independency and the contending for the faith once given to the Saints faction and sedition and the like and this grieves the Saints a thousand times more then any personall reproaches to heare the truth and light and life and spirit of the Gospel despised and spoken against and blasphemed this is that that fetches not only teares from their eyes but even drops of blood from their hearts the truth of God being much dearer to them then their estates or names or lives But see how God conquers this weapon of the enemies tongue to the faithfull aswell as the former weapons of their hands every tongue that riseth up in judgement against thee thou shalt condemne All that speake and rage and raile and reproach and slander and vilifie and abuse the Saints either by their tongues or pens thou by thy uprightnesse integrity innocency truth faithfulnesse shalt condemn them thy wayes and thy works that are led and acted in Christ and his Spirit shall be the condemnation of all thine enemies and their misreports and slanders shall be done away as a mist before the Sun and thy righteousnesse and integritie shall break forth in that clearnesse and brightnesse and strength that they shall sit down astonished and amazed and they shall be condemned not only by the word and by the Saints but by all the common morality of the world yea and by their own conscience so that they shall carry their guilt with them night and day and shall not be able to look the godly in the face whom they have so reproached the very presence of the Saints shall be the condemnation of their enemies who have before so unworthily judged them yea the whole world shall see the faithfulnesse and integrity of the Saints of God and shall justifie them and condemne their enemies and shall say lo these are the men that the world judged for Sectaries and Schismaticks and what not see how faithfull they have beene to God and the true Church of God and to the State and surely th●y must needs be bad men that are enemies to these And thus while our enemies judge us they shall be condemned themselves And this shall certainly be done as sure as the word of God is true and as sure as the Lord lives to make good his word For This is the heritage of the Servants of the Lord That is you shall have this by as sure right as any man hath an inheritance that is entailed upon him This is your heritage O ye servants of the Lord to make voyd the force of every weapon that is used against you and to condemne every tongue that judgeth you This promise is our portion the lot of our inheritance and in this we rejoyce that while we serve the Lord truly and faithfully neither the hands nor tongues of the enemy shall hurt us but in the end we shall be more then Conquerours over all Let my portion fall in this pleasant place and I shall have a goodly heritage And their righteousnesse is of me saith the Lord That is these servants of mine are not men of a humane and morall righteousnes only but they pertake of the righteousnes of God in Christ Their righteousnesse is of me or thus though they are sinners before the world for as the world reckons their own sinne for righteousnesse so it reckons Gods righteousnesse for sin yet they are righteous before me and in my eyes So that how ever the world reckons us evill doers and not worthy to live in the world yet God reckons us righteous and our righteousnesse is before him To conclude seeing God hath engaged himselfe to secure us in his wayes both from the weapons and tongues of men Goe and tell the Foxes that we will walk without feare in the world both to day and to morrow and the third day we shall be perfected FINIS Jer. 36 32. John 8. 44. Deut. 33. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 12. Revel. 5. 9. Vse Vers 11.