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
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
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
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
thirsterh to be delivered from this bondage of corruption which thus turneth him aside from himself The natural spirit of man which is the principle part of the Creation cannot be excluded from groaning with the rest of the Creation under that load and burthen of vanity and corruption which lyeth chiefly upon it in it self therefore it is no friend thereunto but unto that which is sutable to its own nature So that now whatsoever carrieth a stamp of excellency upon it as all the ways of righteousness towards man and all the ways and Institutions of God concerning his Worship do man cannot but aspire after and endeavor to conform himself unto For though man cannot see the particular Wisdom of God in his dispensations and institutions yet withall he cannot but see that he wanteth his light and guidance and that it is proper for him to observe and obey his pleasure and commands without his particular understanding the reason of them Hence it cometh to pass that man springeth up and flourisheth in any way of Religion wherein he is set It is so natural to him to love God to trust God to seek after and follow his directions and man is so sensible of the reality of his spirit herein that there is no beating him out of his apprehensions concerning the relation between God and him or concerning the truths of those ways wherein he worships and serves him He findeth that he doth naturally incline to God and desire the knowledg of his ways and he cannot but beleeve that God doth as naturally incline to him and guide him in his ways It is true There is that in the present nature of man which hateth God but this is also as true There is that in the nature of man which lovâ—â—â— that root of excellency in God from which it came at first and which is still its life hope desire and perfection And though man naturally fall into that way and form of Religion in which he is educated yet so far as any thing can be held out to his understanding and reason either further in or different from what he hath received he cannot but endeavor ingeniously to weigh it and be ready to give up himself to be changed by it so far as it approveth it self weighty So far as any one falls short of this he falleth short of being a man and his own spirit will justly condemn him therein Now how many changes by this means may man be brought into in Religion His eye and understanding is so shallow that ever and anon different discoveries may be made unto him both concerning outward worship yea and also concerning the spiritual nature exercises and practises of Religion His old way his old apprehensions may be made appear to him to have been but vanity and somewhat more new and more seemingly substantial may be represented to him Poor weak-spirited man is fit only to be baffled and made a fool of Fain he would betake himself somewhere and fix and so he may for a time but afore he is aware somewhat stronger will shake it somewhat cleerer will dispose it which if he doth but open the eye of his nature and reason he cannot but let in and if he do not he is but a brute and not a man and maintains his own standing brutishly not rationally which though it may occasion some brutish ease to him at present yet will prove his loss at the upshot But that man who is truly a man being industrious to search out the mind and will of the Lord and quick to take in that light and these discoveries which in various kinds and degrees of rays are darted forth cannot chuse but undergo many changes both according to the diversity of these discoveries and according to the difference of his own capacity both which dayly alter Man is still growing and his light in every kind continually changed how then can he himself escape changes And that man which is truly ingenious giving every thing scope in his spirit according to the nature and vertue of it searching into the Scriptures praying for the help of God and embracing every beam of light so far as he can find it to be so how high may he grow in Religion and yet the root of mans nature may feed him in all these desires and in all these endeavors We mistake when we think mans nature inclineth him only to corruption No there is a root in him that inclineth him to Reason to Righteousness c. which did he give scope to the Lord would bless in its way though this were no step or degree towards the new life The image of God in man is broken but not annihilated There is still a true representation of God in him though in much darkness and confusion The image of God may still be found in man though under an huge heap of rubbish and if God at any time stir this it cannot but appear more and act towards God and after righteousness and excellency yea if the Lord dung and water it much it will shoot forth very far and grow very large and high in knowledg faith and obedience due to God either under the Law or under the Gospel 2. There is the spirit of man transplanted by vertue of a dispensation from God There is not only the spirit of man growing as well as he can on his old broken stock from his old decayed root but there is also the spirit of man taken out of the old stock and grafted into a new Olive-tree by the power and vertue of a dispensation in so much as he losâ—th the scent of his old corruption and tasteth of the sweetness and fatness of this new root Yea he hath by this means a new Spirit a new Life a new Power This or that particular dispensation of God seizing upon him by the vertue which it hath in it and carrieth with it maketh him new in the world yea and new in himself so that by the influence of that dispensation yea and according to the outward measure of it he may be a new Tree and bring forth new fruit unto God We have two great instances of this the one in that national people of the Iews the other in the converted Gentiles The Iews they were transplanted from among the rest of the Nations into Christ who was their Olive-tree Rom. 11.17.24 out of which they grew They had a Life within and a light without beyond the rest of the world They had the mind of God the guidance of God the protection of God the instructions of God c. and so they might well go further in the knowledg and practise of Religion then other Nations could After them the Gentiles some of the Gentiles some of all Nations among the Gentiles were transplanted in their stead yea and were put more within the root receiving a stronger influence from it then the Iews did They had a further degree of light life power
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
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
and so still prejudice your selves as if I went about to disswade you from duties Ordinances reading of the Scriptures praying hearing of the Word and the like No I disswade you not from any of these nor from any thing else wherein ye might truly serve and enjoy God as I am sure ye might in the true knowledg use and exercise of these but only from setting up dead things in stead of these which become not the things themselves by your esteeming or naming them so that so ye might once come into a capacity of seeking and serving the Living God I do not dehort you either from building up an house unto the Lord or from worshipping him there with his worship but this I testifie unto you that it will not be good for you to build up the Lords house with your materials or to set up your worship there in stead of his calling these the Lords and forming them as like as possibly ye can unto that which was once the Lords that so they may pass the better both with your own spirits and before men Certainly this will not be profitable for you in the upshot It would have been better for you to have sunk down in that desolation which ye so despise then to build with such hewen stones They who are Christs are taught by God to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Out of fleshly Egypt into the straitned Wilderness Out of the Wilderness in an entangled path to Canaan Out of Canaan into the Wilderness again The seed of Christ are not to set up a fleshly rest in Canaan but to be led again by the spirit into the Wilderness for the exercise of their spirits and they are not afraid to follow the spirit though out of Canaan and into the Wilderness I will lead them in paths they have not known saith the holy one of Israel Vain foolish man will limit the holy one of Israel and follow him only in such paths as he knows but the true-spirited child which understandeth the nature and truth of his guide is not afraid to follow him any whither And if ye can hear consider this I speak not at random There are secret pure hidden paths of Faith Love Worship Obedience c. wherein God and some of his people meet know own and after a sort enjoy one another even in this Wilderness where their spirits are fed by him and his life and nature embraced by them But the outward Court is given to and prophaned by the Heathenish spirit of man and can be no more fit for the spirit of the seed until it be again measured and purified by the Spirit of the Lord. If ye do not plough with the right heifer this will prove a very strange riddle to you Yet it is never a whit the less true in it self for your not apprehending or not relishing of it Take heed of fleshly wisdom take heed of a fleshly line it is always dangerous but then most of all when it appeareth as if it were spiritual Ye cannot measure any thing aright by a fleshly understanding of the Scriptures He that beginneth in the spirit may turn aside and end in the flesh But he that beginneth in the flesh can never in any part of that line arrive at the spirit This will one day appear as manifest as it is now true that he that beginneth not with a right spirit with a right principle with a right nature cannot be right in any of his motions Neither in his Faith nor in his Love nor in his hopes desires prayers or any other part either of his outward or inward worship and obedience O that it would please God to uncover the truth and to swallow up that thick vail which lieth as yet upon all Nations ERRATA PAg. 2. l. 19. r. a rising p. 6. l. 8. for a r. or l. 18. 24. for stay r. stage p 7. l. 3. dele an p. 8. l. 20. d. or p. 16. l. 9. d. of p. 23. l 4. r. throw l. 34. r. plainly p. 27. l. 3. for in r. is p. 28. l. 34. r. observing p. 39. l. 23. r. disperse l. 31. r. these p. 42. l. 2. d. in l. 3. r. in them p. 43. l. 5. r. power l. 24. for then r. there p. 57. l. 32. r. Region p. 58. l. 18. r. reacheth p. 60. l. 32. add fourthly p. 63. l 19. r. if he could l. 20. r. in this kind of nature p. 109. l. 7. for in r. is FINIS Some Books extant of this Authors to be had at M r Giles Calvert's Shop at the black spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1. A Voyce out of the Thick Darkness c. 2. Light or Darkness Displaying or hiding it self as it pleaseth and from or to whom it pleaseth c. 3. Several fresh inward Openings concerning several things which the Day will declare of what nature they are to which Iudgment they appeal for Iustice c. 4. An Eccho from the Great Deep c. 5. The Fundamental Rights and Liberties of the People of England Discovered c. 6. The Life of a Christian which is a Lamp kindled and lighted from the Love of Christ c. 7. A Question about Government c. These out of print Four Questions about the Teachings of God A Touchstone or Tryal of Faith The great and sole Troubler of the Times or a Map of Misery A Word for the Commonweal