〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth the Outward Figure and Shape in Bodily Things whâ—ch is a meer Accident varyâ—ng often while the Substance remains the same not reaching to the Spirit but Inhering in the Outward Body and Perishing with it He makes use of the same word Rom. 12. 2. Be not ye Confâ—rmed to the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but be ye Transformed Temporary Forms are Empty Figures Accidental Out-side Shapes But Divine Forms are Substantial Spiritual Essential We speak now of such Forms as these under the Law which are not the Life and Power of God but may be without these and yet as Fair in themselves The Scripture makes use of this Word Form in this Sense frequently Rom. 2. 21. St. Paul saith of the Jew who is One Outwardly not Inwardly as he concludes in the last Verse of that Chapter that he hath a Form of Knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word is Elegant and seems to signify a Form not Natural springing forth from the Life or Substance but a Form Affectate Artiâ—icially made 2 Tim. â— 5. St. Paul speaks of the same thing and useth the same Word Having a Form of Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but denying the Power of it Thus much for the Explication and Justification of the Word Forms as they are a Sign of Legality The Thing which I understand by Forms is the Image of God and Godliness taken in or held forth according to the Principles and Appearances of This Creation St. Paul saith Galat. 4. v. 3. When we were Children we were in Bendage under the Elements of the World v. 4. But when the Fulness of Time came God sent forth His Son v. 9. After that ye have known God or rather are known of God or are made to know by God how turn ye again to weak and Beggerly Elements to which ye desire again to be in Bondage Mark what Oppositions the Apostle maketh 1. Opposition Between the Elements of the World and the Son sent forth When Jesus Christ the Heavenly Image of God is revealed in our Spirits then we are free from that Slavery of Spelling the Name of God out of the Elements of this Creation We no more go to the Aegyptians for their Learning that is to the Principles of Nature for the knowledge of God 2. Opposition Between the Knowing of God so as being known or made to know by God and the Elements of the World We know God by Divine Principles when we know him by an Immediate Union with Him which gives us the Naked Appearance of God in our Spirits by the Mutual Comprehension of our Spirits in that Appearance and Spirit Till we thus know God we know Him not We have no Image but Shadows only of Him We know Him by Worldly Principles which are Dark and Beggerly The Scripture often links together these as in a Chain The Law the Letter the Flesh Man the World the Outward Man the Iâ—w Forms Rom. 2. 28. 29. You have a Jew Outwardly in the Letter Outward in the Flesh whose Praise is of Men. Rom. 8. 3. The Law is weak thorow the Flesh. 2 Cor. 3. 6. 7. There are Coupled The Letter which kills and the Ministration of Death engraven in Stone Gal. 4. 3. 5. Those that are under the Elements of the World are the same with those that are under the Law Râ—m 2. 17. There is a Jew resting in the Law v. 18. He is instructed out of the Law and approves the things that are Excellent v. 20. He hath a Form of knowledge and of Truth in the Law All these and the Particular Sign of a Servile State now in hand which is Forms will be clearly understood by the Opening of Three of the Fore-mentioned Terms 1. The Flesh. 2. The Spirit 3. The Law 1. The Flesh Flesh and Spirit Carnal and Spiritual are opposed aâ— Time and Eternity the First and the Second Creation All the Empty and Temporary Things of this World are Flesh. Ioh. 6. 63. 1 Pet. 1. 24. Ioh. 17. 2. Sometimes Flesh is taken for the Corrupt State of Things as Iude 23. The Garment spotted with the Flesh. Sometimes it is taken for the Visible Part of Natural Things as 2 Cor. 7. 1. All Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit In the Former place Flesh was the Filth that defiled the Garment of Nature Here it is Natures upper and Outward Garment which is in danger of being defiled Thirdly Flesh is taken for the whole Frame of Nature in the Visible and Invisible Part of it So Mat. 26. 41. The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak The Spirit there is the Spiritual the Flesh the Natural Man So Luke 3. 6. All Flesh shall see the Salvation of the Lord. This place is cited from Es. 40. 5. The Glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all Flesh shall see it together Compare this with 1 Tim. 3. 16. God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Angels are Part of that Flesh which sees the Glory of God and hath it revealed in them Lastly Flesh is taken for Created Nature both Body and Spirit as it is spiritualized Jesus Christ spake in this sense Iohn 6. 55. My flesh is meat indeed He expounds himself afterwards v. 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing Our Saviour means thus much The Creature in me as it is a meer Creature is uncapable of so near an Union with you or so great a vertue in itself as to be the food or Conveyance of Eternal Life to you But as it is become a New Creature and is made One in Person and Spirit with the Divine Nature So you may feed upon it after a Spiritual manner and be nourished up by it to Eternal Life For so the Lord adds The Words that I speak are Spirit and Life So we read of the Fleshly Tables of the Heart But the Common Acceptation of Flesh when it is opposed to Spiritual Things and joyned with the Law is the Third that is the first Creation or this World This is manifest from the seventh of the Epistle to the Romans v. 2. The Woman is bound by the Law to her Husband while he liveth saith St. Paul v. 4. Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye may be married to another even to him who is raised from the Dead He goes on v. 5. When we were in the Flesh the Motions of Sin which were by the Law Then v. 6. But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held The Principles and Frame of Nature in the Invisible Powers and visible Parts of it are our Husband by the first Creation For we were made subject to Angels in that State as in the New Creation we are to Jesus Christ. And we were made by Nature a little Lower than Angels in the next degree of Inferiority to them as the
Jacob out of Egypt which came out of his loyns that is All the Persons For the Immortal Soul cometh not out of the Parent 's loyns 2. The Soul signifieth the Natural State by the first Creation in distinction from the Spiritual State by Grace 1 Cor 2. 14. The Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit It is properly The Man of Soul So in this 1. Cor. 15. 44. There is a Natural Body there is a Spiritual Body In Greek it is There is the Body of a Soul and the Body of a Spirit The word is the same there and in v. 45. A Living Soul 3. By Soul is meant that Life which the Soul exerciseth in the Body and which dependeth upon the Body The Life of Sense and Reason as it is inseparable from Sense Jude 19. Sensual not having the Spirit The word Sensual is the same with Soul Men of Soul From these Scriptures laid together you may collect this Explanation of a Living Soul A Natural Person living a Life of Sense and of Reason awakened by Sense and inseparably tied to Sense in an Earthly Body The Body is as the tree the Life as the Sap the Root as the Person out of which both spring and in which both are comprehended Such as the Tree is such is the Sap and such the Root which have their perfection in the Tree Such as the Earthly Body is such is the Life such is the Person of the first Adam For the Body is the Result and proper Image of the other two But the surest and clearest Light into this Phrase a Living Soul will be that Scripture where it is first used and whence it is cited Gen. 2. 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life and man became a Living Soul Three things lie plain in this Text. 1. The denomination of Man is put peculiarly and signally upon the Body God formed Man of the dust of the Earth 2. That part in Man distinct from the Body is expresly here named a breath of Life 3. The Living Soul is the Body having received the breath of Life into it Man became a Living Soul Man relateth evidently to the beginning of the verse God formed Man that is the Body of the dust of the Earth So in this Chapter to the Corin. The Body is called the Man The first Man is of the Earth Eartâ—y v. 46. The reason why the Holy Ghost peculiarly respected the Body while he speaketh of Man seemeth to be this the Body was the united Image and Fulness of all those Beings and Beauties which were divided thorow the whole Câ—eation a most harmonious Body and sacred Collection of all those â—iving Excâ—lences Appearances and Operations of the Eternal Spirit which made up the several Creatures like single Flowers in a Garden Thus the Body of Adam was a Paradise in Paradise the Paradise of Paradise The breath of Life was in this glorious Body as a Spring in a Garden to quicken and to animate it Without this Body the breath of Life is naked and solitary except Christ above the Law of Nature be in the place of a Body to it which St. Paul signifieth 2 Corin. 5. 6 8. Where he speaketh of being at home in the Body and absent from the Lord and again of being absent from the Body and present with the Lord. By this time it appeareth with some clearness that the living Soul is either the Body of the First Man having received the breath of Life into it or at least his Person consisting of Both comprehending Both but with a Principal respect to the Body This only I will add that nothing is more frequent with most Authors and Languages than to express the Soul without the Body by a Shade or Shadow I have now finished the 2d Question What we are to understand by a Living Soul Before I pass from it let us make a stand here while we hearken to a Twofold Voice from Heaven sounded in the very Essence of a Living Soul 1st O Living Soul cease from thy self and from every thing round about thee 2. O Living Soul cast thy self into the Bosom of thy Saviour and cleave to Him 1. O Living Soul cease from thy self and from every thing round about thee Consider what thou art what an Emptyness what a Vanity what a Nothing Thy Body is of the Earth Earthly The Earth is a meer Darkness without any Form or Vertue except that which it receiveth by the impression of Heaven above it figuring itself upon it like the Images of the Sky in the Waters Thy Body is a piece of this Darkness All that which it hath of Being Beauty or Goodness is the Figure of the Heavenly Body of Christ cast from above upon it Thus thy Body in Paradise was a Shadow onely What then is the Breath of Life in this Body which is suitable to it and confined to it which hath this Body for its only Cloathing for its proper Image and Fulness which hath the Compleatness of its Subsistency and Operations in it which hath it for its Glass in which alone it beholdeth it self and all Objects in which alone it converseth with them This is a Shadow of a Shadow a Shadow in a Shadow the Dream of a Shadow The Body a Shadow the Life of this Body the Dream of a Shadow The Person then which consisteth of this Shadowy Life in a Shadowy Body can be but a Shadowy Person This is the Best of Man in his best Estate the Living Soul in its primitive purity and Glory Adam in Paradise a Shadow and no more So saith the Holy Ghost Rom. 5. The first man was a Figure a rude Type a confused Shadow of Him who was to come The Shadow lyeth upon the ground often moveth and appeareth before the Body But the Body is first is above it casteth the Shadow from it and governeth all its Motions If this were Man the golden Head and Sun in the Paradiscal world if all the Creatures in their Paradisical Births and Beauties went forth were renewed every moment from the Divine Presence resting in the Center of his Person and surrounding him as Beams go forth from the Sun what then were all the pieces of Nature in their first Strength Lustre and Sweetness but Shadows of this Shadow None had the Principle or Truth of its being in itself nor the Power of itself for a moment But now Man and the whole Creation are fallen by Sin the Figure in the Shadow is defaced the Impression and Image of the Eternal Glory in the Darkness of the Creature which gave it a Being a Beauty a Force are withdrawn The Frame of Nature is now a Pit of Darkness full of Confusion where Death reigneth in the midst of all sorts of deformity and weakness That Counsel of the Lord was seasonable in Paradise itself Es. 2. l. Cease from Man whose breath is in his Nostrils
ever in Christ in Christ risen from the Dead a quickning Spirit in the Glory of the Father with the fulness of the God-Head and all fulness dwelling in him Now is the Body also of a Saint at rest in a sweet rest in a living rest For such is the rest of sleep It is in an immortal and glorious rest in a rest of Divine Love and Joys which though it bears the similitude of Death to Carnal Sense yet in truth is above all the degrees and delights of life here For such is the sleep in Christ. But I will open this Proposition to you more clearly and fully by that twofold relation which the Scriptures attribute to the Body of a Believer 1. Of a Member of Christ. 2. The Temple of the Holy Ghost Both these are affirmed by the Holy Apostle and the Blessed Spirit with an assured confidence as truths known to all and undeniable by any 1 Corin. 6. 15. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ 19. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1. The Body of a Saint is the Member of Christ. This relation of Membership implyeth three things 1. Union 2. Communion 3. Proportion or Suitableness 1. There is an union between the Body of a Believer and Jesus Christ an Union of Membership But to what Christ is the Body of a Believer united To Christ risen from the Dead to Christ in Glory So you shall read Rom. 7. 4. You are dead by the dead Body of Christ that you might be Married to another to him who is risen from the Dead Marriage and Membership are two distinct expressions of the same union between Christ and a Saint which for its dearness nearness entireness and inseparableness is unexpressible in as much as it comprehends the sweetness and vertue of all unions among the Creatures either Men or Angels and transcendeth them all But you have these two unions of Membership and Marriage between the Body of a Saint singly and expresly and the Lord Jesus joyned together by St. Paul who founds that of Membership upon that of Marriage 1 Corin. 6. 15. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ Then he makes good that thus v. 16. 17. It is said those two shall be one Flesh But he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit The days of Christs life on Earth are called the days of his Flesh. He hath the name of a Spirit given to him as he is risen from the Dead as he is in the Heavenly Image and in Glory So St. Paul calls him in one place the Lord that Spirit in another place the quickning Spirit St. Peter saith of him he was put to death in the Flesh and quickned in the Spirit Thus the Body of a Saint is married to Christ is a Member of Christ. By this union it becomes a Spiritual Body a Spirit one Spirit with Christ. There is a threefold band of this union of Membership the same Spirit the same Life the same Image 1. The first band of Union in this Membership between the Body of a Believer and Jesus Christ is the same Spirit St. Paul saith 1 Corin. 12. 13. We all by one Spirit are Baptized into one Body The Unity of the ever-blessed Spirit is the sure and sweet band which tyeth one to another the glorious Head and all the blessed Members in the Body of Christ. But what sweetness lies in the universality of that expression we all are Baptized by one Spirit into one Body As the Soul of Man is all in the whole Body and all in every part of it so is that ever-blessed Spirit which is in the whole Heavenly Body of which the Holy Angels Glorified Saints Christ and the Father are Fellow-members one and the same whole and entire in every part of this Body of thine O Believer which in its lowest and most broken State is a Member of Christ. This union is so much more close full and sweet between the Members by how much more Spiritual the Body is by how much the more high and divine the Unity is in this Body by how much the more high and divine the unity of that blessed Spirit is in which the Father of Lights the Heavenly Bride-groom Glorified Saints all the Elect Angels dwell together in one 2. The same Life flowing from this one Spirit is the second band of this Union We read from St. Paul Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him which raised Christ from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit dwelling in you This expression shall quicken signifieth not only an effect at a distance at the last day but a present effect immediately flowing from the indwelling of the Spirit in us For the union between the Spirit and our Bodies by which he dwelleth in them also as well as in our Souls is a vital union an union from which Membership springs This expression then shall quicken your mortal Bodies is like that of St. Paul in the same Epistle Sin shall not have dominion over you if you be not under the Law but under Grace Shall there expresseth an effect immediately and inseparably flowing from its cause a freedom from the dominion of Sin by being under Grace not under the Law The Spirit of Christ findeth our Bodies Natural and Mortal but by its enterance into them and inhabitation in them maketh them immediately Spiritual and Immortal by their union with Christ and by the pouring forth of his Life and Immortality into them 3. The band of union in this Membership is the same Image All the Members of every Body make up one Image in which each several Member bears a part As we have born the Image of the Earthly Man so shall we also bear the Image of the Heavenly So far O Saint as thy Body is a Member of the Heavenly Body of Christ it bears the same Heavenly Image This is the first thing in Membership the union 2. There is in Membership a Communion We read the 1 Corin. 12. 24 25 26. God hath tempered the Body together having given the more abundant honour to that part which lacked that there should be no Schism in the Body but that the Members should have the same care one for another and whether one Members suffer all the Members suffer with it or one Member be honoured all the Members rejoice with it There is a threefold Communion in the Body of Christ. A Communion of Cares a Communion of Sufferings a Communion of Joy and Glory 1. There is a Communion of Cares All the Members have the same care one for another As it is in the Natural Body the Head the Heart the Eye the Hand all are set on work for every other part for the little Toes as for themselves to defend or cherish it upon every occasion so is it in the Body of Christ. O
so plentiful Beams as the Divine Nature When this is brought forth in any Spirit it cannot but manifest itself by beautiful Beams of Love and Holiness as it manifests so it often multiplies itself upon other Spirits When thou art Converted saith Christ to Peter strengthen thy Brethrâ—n It is the Perfection of Life to bring forth its Like When a man is himself made partaker of the life of God The Perfection of this life displays itself with such power and luster thorow the whole man that it many times draws strangers first into the Love then into the Likeness of it 5. Cause Manages of Providence These are often Moral Helps to Man Outward Hints which God is pleased to make and take for the Inward and Spiritual work of our Conversion But as they say of Stars they do not operate but indicate only not produce but point out effects and events in Earthly things So outward Providences when they are most are Concurrencies only not Causes in a proper sense not Living Hands to do any thing in the Truth of this Change but as Hands in a Margin to declare sometimes what God is doing These Workings of Providence by Natural effects in our Bodies civil accidents in our Life Moral Impressions on our Hearts are as the motion of the Waters when the Angel descended into the Pool which motion accompanied but contributed nothing to the Healing Vertue It is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that hath mercy Sometimes God brings forth this Change when the Waters of outward Providence are quite calm as when the Apostles were called from their Nets Matthew from the Custom Gideon from the Flail Elisha from the Plow Sometimes God spreadeth this healing and enlivening vertue thorow the Soul when the Waters of the Natural man work high a contrary way as when Saul was chang'd into Paul he was then surprized with the Love and appearance of Jesus Christ when he was persecuting him Yet it pleaseth our Father very often to manage and forelay outward things so that he takes hold of them as occasions or opportunities to make his way into our Souls There are Two things in outward Providence which God especially makes use of to this purpose 1. Natural Affections 2. Temporal Afflictions 1. Natural Affections As we season Vessels for the Liquor with which we mean to fill them and as the Threshers of old had the Staff for the more tender Corn and the Wheel for the Harder So God made John the Evangelist of a gentle Heart seasoned with Still but Strong affections like a River that runs quiet but swift and deep This John Jesus Christ takes into his bosom makes him his Lute on which he sounds forth his softest sweetest Loves Beauty Delights So he lives so he dies St. Peter was naturally more of the Rock and Flint sharp hard and fiery Jesus Christ brings the Wheel over him and breaks him forely while he first forswears his Saviour near his Cross then afterwards is forc'd to follow his Saviour to the Cross. St. Paul had a vigorous profound Spâ—rit by Nature and Education Jesus Christ flashes upon him a with Glory from Heaven fills him with the deep and high Discoveries of Divine Glory makes him to fill the world with the loud reports of them as the Trumpet of Christ. Our Lord found some of his Apostâ—es Fishing He takes hold of them by this which was their Employment and Enjoyment their Inclination oâ— Education Come saith he follow me and I will make you Fishers of Men. One Man is caught and carried by sensual Beauties and Pleasures Jesus Christ covers the Golden Hook of His Love and Spirit with a Bait of Beauty and Pleasure to take this Man come saith Christ and follow me I am fairer than the Sons of men I have a Beauty beyond that of any Creature I am the Brightness of the Eternal Glory the Lively Image of the Invisible God I am the Light and Life of all Loveliness in all the Creatures They when they shine swâ—â—test are but shadows to me shadows of me I am all Pleasant altogether all Pleasantnesses and Delights together As Jesus Christ whispers this to the Soâ—l he lets fall upon it a Glimpse a Touch a Tast of Himself which makes all this Real So he ravisheth the Soul of this Man from the midst of his Vanities Sensualities Lusts into his own Embraces by the strength of a higher though purer Delight Another man is Rational and Philosophical led by inclination and study to trace the hidden ways of Nature to search the first Springs and continued course of Things The Lord Jesus works Himself into the Reason and speculation of this Man Come saith our Saviour and follow me I am the Wisdom of God by which the whole Creation was contrived came forth and is carried on I am the beginning the way the end of all things Time draws out its Line and runs its Race in me Eternity comprehends itself in its Center and Circle in me All the Treasures of Knowledge are in my Love You shall see all Mysteries all Forms and Motions of God and the Creature bare and naked in my Light As He speaks this He opens something of Himself upon the Soul which gives it a Glance of this Light and Sight Now He that sat before at Gamaliels feet like Paul sets his feet upon the head of all that learning and sits with Mary at the feet of Christ. Now Jesus Christ is the Reason of his Reason and the only Reason to it Now Jesus Christ is all his Philosophy and Study Thus God makes use of Natural Affections 2. Temporal Afflictions You have a Platform of Gods working by these from the mouth of Elihu Job 33. 19. He is chastned with pain upon his bed the multitude of his bones with strong pain The place of a mans Rest and Pleasure is made the place of his Torment All the several Principles and Strengths of Life are several Springs Seats and Strengths of Pain and Misery 20. v. His Life abhorreth Bread and his Soul dainty Meat The Nourishment of Life is tedious and becomes a Burthen The most pleasant Entertainments the sweetest delicacies of Nature and the Creature are now loath'd 21. v. His Flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen his bones that were not seen stick out All the cloathings all the Beauties of his Being wither and wear away Those Forms in which he walked disappear The Foundations the lowest Principles of being in him are discovered and left naked like the Sea without waters a Deep having no Face but that of Darkness an Earth void and without Form 22. v. His Soul draweth near unto the Grave and his Life to the Destroyers The Life of the Spirit in the Body is now sinking into a Silent Darkness The Life of the Spirit in itself is almost swallowed up into those Spirits which are the principles of a dark a dying Life or a living Darkness and
thy life so many times over is thy God thy Father Gen. 2. 7. God breathed into Man the Breath of life and he became a Living Soul The issuing forth of our Life and Being from God is compared to Breathing 'T is as perpetual Can God cast off all affection and care for me in the same moment in which He brings me forth Or can I in that very moment in which I receive my Being from Him rob Him of it pollute it turn it against Him This I do every moment in which I sin For but now came I forth from God that Appearance which fill'd the last minute being vanisht and giving way to this A Mother forgets her Sorrows so soon as a Man-child is born into the World Sure then God cannot forget his Delights in me his Loves to me so soon as He hath brought me out from Himself into this world and this he doth freshly each minute of Time 3. Consider God is my Father a sweeter and nearer way than by Nature by Grace too The relation of a Father is the Top of all Sweetness and Nearness in Nature But as much as Heaven is above the Earth Time above Eternity God above the Creature so much is a Father by Grace sweeter and nearer than a Father by Nature If a Natural Father plant his Image and place his Affection his Care upon his Son shall not thy Heavenly Father much more love thee make thee like Himself make all Provisions of life and joy for thee It is the rule of God He that provides not for his Family in Nature hath denyed the Faith and is worse than an Infidel Can Himself then ever deny Himself so far as to prove unfaithful or unnatural towards hâ—s Family of Grace his own Children that way He will certainly take all care of them with all tenderness He that blasphemed or disobeyed his Parents under the Law was to die What deaths then is he worthy of who doth not think sweetly speak sweetly of obey chearfully this Father of his Spirit Use. 3. Direction If you would attain to the State of Sons and know God as your Father feed well upon this Four-fold Meditation 1. Medita I lay Eternally in the Fulness of the God-Head as in the Loyns of my Father Ephes. 1. 5. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of Children by Iesus Christ to Himself according to the Pleasure of His Will When God had his First and most retired thoughts before the World then was I in his thoughts as a Son of Delights all lovely without a spot When no other thing yet was when no Creature was yet made when God lived alone in the highest and purest Joys of his own Nature then in the midst of all those Joys was I in the Fulness of the Divine Nature presented to him as an Image of Himself springing up in him to be sent forth into this world again to grow up out of this world into that Eternal Image of His Pleasure and Will Thus was I Predestinated a Son 2. Medita God hath made me his Son a second time by Purehase He hath given his Son his Beloved his Only Son for me that I might be his Son 2 Cor. 5. 21. He was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him God hath given the Body of his Son to reproaches and pains his Soul to Guilt and Horrours His Person in both parts to Death his Name to Infamy Thus he waâ— made Sin for us And all this that we might be made the Righteousness of God Images of his â—ull Beauty Sons of his highest Glory in Him as He is who is the Substantial Image the Essential Son As the Seed is by Nature placed lowest in the Earth at the bottom of the Plant that by the Dissolution of itself it may bring forth its kind So was the Son of God laid below at the bottom of the Creature in the depth of Darkness that by his Dissolution he might resolve himself into us and as by an Exchange bring forth his Son-ship in our Persons 3. Medita God hath made me his Son yet once more by Design He hath joyned me in Affinity with his only-begotten Son Marriage on Earth is a Type of that True Marriage between my Saviour and my Spirit Ephes. 5. 30. He hath joyned me with Him in Consanguinity Heb. 2. 12. He that Sanctifies which is Jesus and they that are Sanctified are both of One. He hath made me One wâ—th his Eternal Son Mystically The Mystical Union is a Mysterious one hidden Divine the highest Union such as is among Divine things not to be resembled by any thing among the Creatures not to be comprehended by any mere Creature I in them and they in me that all may be made perfect in One John 17. 21. 23. 4. Medita God hath made me his Son finally by Generation 1 Pet. 1. 3. He hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection from the dead As the Eternal Spirit lay like a Seed in the dead body of our Lord Jesus which putting forth itself brought forth Eternal Life and Glory in it So God the Father sends forth the same Spirit into our Spirits by which the Divine Life and Image of His Glorified Son spring up in us making us also Sons to Him in the same manner Thus if you would lead Son-like lives with God consider him as your Father There is no Earthly Relation or Form which more sets out the Spiritual Evangelical Eternal Union between God and Man than this of a Father Trace it apply it from the beginning to the end and it will lead you into all the Mysteries of Eternity Only remember these two Cautions 1. Take away all the Imperfection which this Relation hath in the Creature 2. Add to it all Perfection that it is capable of or can be imagined So apply it to God and a Saint For the Brightest Beauty in Nature is but a Shadow of Spiritual Glories I have finish't the Second Part of my Text which is the Race to the Kingdom 3. Part. The Royalty or Kingly State itself Enter into the Kingdom of God Doct. 3. The Third Doctrine from this Third Part is this The Third and last State in Christianity is a State of Royalty or a Kingly State This Kingly State is described by St. Paul Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdom of God is Righteousness Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost The Kingly State or Royalty of a Saint hath Four Properties 1. Righteousness 2. Peace 3. Ioy. 4. The Holy Ghost 1. Property Righteousness This is the Conformity of a Saint to God as to his Rule Genes 17. 1. Walk thou before me and be perfect Saith God to Abraham To be Perfect and to be Righteous are the same thing Set thy God the Supream Glory continually in thine Eye as thy Pattern and thine Aim So shalt thou be perfectly Righteous I will endeavour further to unfold the Nature of this Righteousness
we are out of the Body St. Paul speaks to the Colossians as being Risen with Jesus Christ Col. 3. 1. If ye then be Risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the Right Hand of God 2. Answ. We may in this Life attain to a State of Royalty and Joy Comparatively We may come to that Degree of Liberty Power Peace and Pleasure in Holiness which may be a Resurrection into the Kingdom of God and Heaven compared with lower Degrees of Grace thorow which we pass St. Paul speaks to the Galatians But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God how turn ye again to the weak and beggerly Elements whereunto ye desire again to be in Bondage Galat. 4. 9. Here you have described a Two fold State of Grace on Earth The First is in these words After that ye have known God or rather are known of God This knowledge of God is in the Spirit and Truth There the Apostle expresseth it rather by a being known of God or as some interpret it a being made to know by God The sense is the same which is this The coming in of God after a Spiritual manner and making himself in the Spirit One with our Spirits so that God in the Power of his Spirit is the Principle by which we know and God in the Appearance of his Spirit is the Object which we know Now we know God not an Earthly Figure only of God Now we are known of God For we are taken up into the Light and Spirit of God Now we are made to know by God For it is God who both knows and is known in us It is the Light and Spirit of God in and by which we know The Second State described is in these words How turn ye again to weak and beggerly Elements The Principles of this Creation are these Elements which are weak because they cannot hold forth God to us but in a very uncertain way full of Fear and Doubt They are Beggerly because they can convey to us very little of the Riches Fulness Greatness Grace Glory of God When we first come to the knowledge of God for the most part we know him after this manner by the Rudiments of the Flesh the Elements of this World And so long we are in Bondage carried on by Fear and Hope in a Servile way seeing very little Glory enjoying very little Freedom in our Religion You that are in this Condition whose Fears are your Food whose Tears are your Drink by Day and Night Up and be travelling forward thorow this Shadowy Vale you may come to such a State of Holiness even here in this Life as will be a Heaven compared with this Wilderness in which now you wander When you shall attain to a Spiritual understanding of Things you will think your selves come forth from a Prison-bonse in which before like Samson you were made to Grind with your Eyes out into a Palace where you sit and reign like Kings in a Divine Light Liberty and Joy Thus we may while we live here attain to a State of Royalty Comparatively in respect to the former State of our Spirits in an Inferiour Degree of Holiness 3. Answ. We may enjoy the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth in the First-fruits of it Rom. 8. 23. St. Paul saith in the name of those Saints that were as he was Not only they that is the Creature but we also who have the First-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan in our selves waiting for the Adoption that is the Redemption of our Bodies The First-fruits of the Spirit is the Kingdom of God in the First-fruits For the Kingdom of God is in the Holy Ghost And where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty These First-fruits are not from that Life which the Soul hath in the Body For in that Life the groans for the Adoption But they are from that Life which she hath above the Body in her Spirit of which she hath some Glympses Reflections and Fore-tasts as she is in the Body And these are her First-fruits The Body is as yet Un-redeemed from a Double Darkness that of the Flesh and that of the Devil The Soul as she lives in the Body hath her Communion with God in the Elements of one in the Enmity of the Other as kept under by a hard Master and opposed by a cruel Enemy both at once 4. Answ. We may on Earth enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and the Joy of our Lord by Faith 2. Corin. 5. 6 7. We are alwaies Confident knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk not by Sight but by Faith St. Paul plainly signifies that our Presence in the Body necessarily imports and carries along with it an Absence from the Lord Jesus But this is in respect to the Presence of Vision and Sight not of Faith While we are in the Body we may have that Presence of the Lord by Faith which we shall have by Sight when we are out of the Body This Body is an Image which bears a Representation of the Divine Body or Image of Things in the Spirit but together with a Darkness hiding that Divine Image which is Christ and a Contrariety opposing it The Lord Jesus by his Spirit shews forth himself in this Bodily Life to us so that we see him in the Fleshly Image as in a Glass under a Fleshly Vail as in the Dark thorow the Contrariety of the Fleshly Appearance as in a Riddle Yet we see Him we enjoy his true Appearance in the midst of all these Difficulties And while we see him we see all these Difficulties reconciled and subdued in Him we our selves live in Him Thus we enter into the Kingdom and Joy of Heaven by Faith even while we are in the Fleshly Body to Sight When we dye then the Fleshly Body and Image is swallowed up in Eteranl Darkness Our Souls then come Home to Jesus Christ they enjoy the Heavenly Appearance of Things in its own Likeness Face to Face by Sight no more by Faith no more in a Glass or in a Riddle because the Fleshly Body is taken away but yet in the Dark still not with a Perfect Clearness or Fulness though with a Nearness and Likeness until the Body be re-assumed out of that Darkness as a Divine Body Then as in Christ so in us the Fulness of the God-Head shall dwell Bodily in its own Body which is our Body risen again out of Flesh and Nature into the Spirit Till then we have the Fulness of the God-Head dwelling in us in a Contrary Body before Death We have have it dwelling in us without a Body like an Appearance or Apparition like a Soul without a Body in Death I will attempt to make the Answer to this Question more plain and perfect by a Two fold Distinction 1. Distinct. The Spiritual Man hath a Three-fold State 1.
the Angels and all the Spirits of Just men the General Assembly of all Glorious Spirits meet on Mount Sion which is a Spirit that cannot be toucht with hands The Person of thy Saviour is such a Spiritual Substance He can come into thy Closet thy Bosom thy Heart He can dwell in the same Body in the same Soul with thee in the most Inward Parts in every Part of Both and yet take up no more Room The Word which is Christ is within thee even in thy Heart and in thy Mouth in the most Inward and most Outward Part. All of Man and every Creature is either Heart or Mouth an Indrawing or an Out-driving Power the Inward Principle or the Out-ward Appearance Our Saviour divides the whole Man into Heart and Mouth when He tells us that Nothing which enters into the Mouth defiles a Man but that which comes forth from the Heart Jesus Christ is a Spirit in thy Heart and in thy Mouth He pierceth to the Bottom of the most Secret Principle of Life and Being in thee He is as Inward with That and Thee as That is with Thee He passeth quite through all over the Bredth and Length of that Body that Appearance in which thou walkest He makes it His Clothing as it is Thine This is the First Power of a Spirit 2. Power Receiving A Spirit receives other Things into self as Inwardly as Entirely as It conveys itself into Them We read of the Depths of Satan Rev. 2. 24. of the Deep Things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. We read of a Pit for the Devil which can be no other than a Spirit of Darkness and Wrath in himself or in God Rev. 20. 3. We read of Chambers for the Saints Es. 26. of a House and Mansions for them above which can be no other than Spirits of Grace and Glory in God A Spirit hath an Opening and a Depth in itself into which it can receive all things without any Breach in it self An Evil Spirit hath its Pit into which it taketh in and swalloweth up whatever it taketh hold of A Good Spirit hath its Chambers and Mansions its Retreats and Abodes in it self for what Guests it pleaseth to admit or draw in Abide in me saith Iesus Christ to his Disciples Iob. 15. 4. As every Thing may be a Temple to a Spirit Your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. As a Saint is the Temple of Christ So a Spirit may be a Temple to any Thing So the Lord Iesus is a Temple into which the Saints may at all times enter and have Communion with God Destroy this Temple and in three days I will build it again This he spoke of his Body John 2. 21. The Body of Christ was a Temple shut up with a Vail before it while it was Natural But when it was made Spiritual by the Resurrection it was the most Holy place set open for thee to come into it and never to go out more Heb. 9. 1 3 8. Flesh is a mere Shadow which can only touch upon Things but can take in Nothing A Spirit is the Life and hath a Depth in it for which it is compared to Water This is the Second Power of a Spirit 3. Power Uniting The Spirit is the Band of Unity 'T is true of every Spirit so far as it hath the Nature of a Spirit in it Bodies in Flesh are Divided and Broken things being held together only so far as they are Bound up in One Spirit Bodies in Flesh converse with all things at a Distance in a Divided Manner Our Saviour is said to take away the Wall of Partition in his own Flesh when he crucified the Flesh in himself for Himself and the whole World Eph. 2. 14. A Spirit is Uncapable of Division being One in it self and making all things One with it which it takes in or converses with Spirits are compared to Flames Heb. 1. As Flames they lick up into themselves and Incorporate as it were with themselves whatever they light upon or work upon So the Power which caught up Eliah was represented by a Chariot of Fire It was as a Chariot because it took him into it self It was a Fire because it took him up into the Fellowship of One Life Glory and Spirit with it self This is the First Answer to that Question which asketh What we understand by the Person of Christ when we speak of his comprehending us 2. Answer Christ is the Highest Spirit He is Lord of all We read 2 Cor. 4. the last words thus the Spirit of the Lord. It is in Greek the Spirit the Lord. Jesus Christ is the supreme Spirit that Spirit which is Lord of All. The Majesty of our Saviour's Person consists in this that he is that Spirit which hath the most Absolute Power over all Spirits Persons and Things together with the most comprehensive Greatness A Spirit is like a Prospect the Higher it is the more Commanding and Comprehensive it is 3. Answer Christ is the Brightest Spirit He is the Brightness of the Father's Glory Heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Out-shining All the Effusion of Beams from the Godhead is through the Person of Christ. All the Beams meet within the Compass of that Person We before cited a Place of Scripture which calls the Spirit A Band of Unity The Lord Jesus is that Spirit in which all the Goings forth of the God-head are united as a Knot of Beams a Band a Bundle of Divine Irradiations or Manifestations This Blessed Person and Spirit is the Highest the clearest Light which as a Garden-bed discloseth and exposeth all things to view in the most natural naked and distinct manner This is the Word which being spoken all things are exprest Heb. 4. 12 13. The Word of God is lively All things are naked and bare before him with whom we have to do 4. Answer The Person of Christ is the First and Fountain-Spirit The Second Adam is a Quickning Spirit a Life-giving or Life-making Spirit All Spirits Persons and Things that have Life or are from Life they are in this Spirit as Waters in their Fountain They are in Him Primarily and Eminently They are in Him more truly than they are in themselves For they derive that which they are in themselves from Him 5. Answer Christ is the Image of God Col. 1. 15. He is the Image of the Invisible God But you may say that every thing is an Image of God one way or another It is true for St. Paul saith that the Invisible things of God are made manifest by the things that are made Rom. 1. 20. Therefore the meaning of St. Paul in that other place is that He is the Image the Full Image the Proper the Perfect Image of God All the Workings and Manifestations of God are in this Blessed Spirit and that according to their several States with their Proper Distinctions Otherwise the Image were Imperfect All the Discoveries of God are in
Superiour and Inferiour One above Another below In that above is the Fountain of Pleasure from thence the stream descends which makes that below ever-green and flourishing with delights Eden signifies Pleasure or Delight which name in another word is given to Christ as he was eternally in the bosom of the Father Prov. 8. 30. I was by him one brought up with him Delights from day to day Jesus Christ in his Heavenly Image in the Substance and Essence of the eternal Light is Eden the Paradise above In his earthly Image the sweet Shade where all his Beauties seem at once to sleep and spring he is the Paradise below There is he the Eden and the Fountain in the midst of Eden Here the Garden watered by the River going forth from Eden A good Heart hath in itself both these Paradises the Fountain and the Stream Eden and the Garden Cant. 4. 15. The Lord Jesus calls his Spouse A Fountain of Gardens a Well of living Waters flowing from Libanon The holy Heart is both the Fountain which makes all things Gardens Paradises which way soever it flows and those Gardens too It is both Libanon with the Fountain in it and the Gardens below in the vallies in the midst of which the Living Waters from this Fountain run along Reasâ—n The Heart is that Spirit which is the first Spring and Principle of Life in man Prov. 4. 23. Keep thine heart with all Diligence For out of it are the Issues of Life All the treasures of this World its Light Forms Vertues operations are first in the Sun From thence they flow forth in various Streams all round about him while yet they are still comprehended in him as being not only their inmost Center but also their outmost Circle of Light and Life So is the Heart or Spirit of Man an Invisible Sun in the midst of him far more great or glorious than this which we see in which all forms and acts of Life like Beams rise up first and fullest from whence they are dispensed and dispersed The Hebrew word to keep imports a double sense 1st Diligently observe thine Heart what Spirit or Principle it is by which thou art acted Such as this is such is thy whole Life If thy Heart be a Substantial true pure Spirit thy whole way and work all thy Joyes are Substance Truth Light Immortality as the Visions of God If the Heart which is in thee be shadowy thy Life is vain and empty the dream of a shadow Is thy heart corrupt and polluted then are all thy Streams poisoned death lurks and sports itself in them with an innumerable company of Devils 2. Keep that is preserve thine own thy true Heart with all diligence Abide in Christ and his Love as the only root of Life from whence alone spring the sap greennesses flowers fruits of true Sweetnesses Beauty and Blessedness Watch day and night that no other Spirit put forth itself in thee for every other Principle besides Christ and his Love will certainly prove a Counterfeit and instead of a Heart out of which the Issues of Life ought to be a root of bitterness There is a Twofold Heart 1. Natural 2. Spiritual 1. There is a Natural Heart This is the supream part of the natural Soul the Angelical Spirit in Man 1 Thes. 5. 23. St. Paul prayes The very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the natural Man divided into three parts which are equally capable of being sanctified or by defilement made subject to blame 1. Spirit 2. Soul 3. Body The Spirit is as the Fountain the Soul the Stream of Life The Body the Channel in which this Stream runs along The whole Man is one Beam sprung immediately from the Divine Glory The upper end of the Beam where it is fullest and brightest immediately united to and rooted in the supream Light makes the Spirit The lowest point least and darkest almost vanishing into the Shade with which it mingles its light where it toucheth the Earth is the Body The Soul is the middle of that Beam partaking of both these dividing and uniting them like the Firmament between the Waters above and the Waters below the Angels being the Waters above the Firmament and Corporeal Lives those below The Spirit is the Angel in Man or Man in the Similitude and Society of Angels the invisible Image the first Treasury of all his Natural Beings Beauties and Life which afterward descends and distinguisheth itself into the varieties of Inferiour Acts and Appearances St. Paul therefore in the forementioned place calls it their whole Spirit The Body is the Outward and Visible Image the Shadow below of this above The Soul is the Life by which the Spirit descends into the Body maintains communion with it and gathers it up again into itself According to these Distinctions and Descriptions Solomon discourseth Eccles. 12. 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it The name of God there signifies Gods or Angels for whom it is frequently and expresly used in the Holy Scripture The Jews say it properly imports the Divine Nature as it is cloathed with the Angelical God in the midst of all his Holy Angels coming forth into the Creation descending to be the Head of it It is an English Proverb If men could live without the company of Women men they should converse with Angels This is true when the Spirit which is the Head and the Man in us withdraws itself from its Shadowy Image the Body which is as the Woman it finds itself in the Form of an Angel and in the Society of Angels From the Angelical State and Company it descends into the Body Thither it returns again when it leaves the Body This is the Natural Heart the Angelical Spirit in Man made in the Similitude of God as he cloaths himself with the Angelical Image as with a Garment of Light and so vailing his naked unaccessible Glories comes forth to be the Head of Angels This Spirit is the Immediate Seat of the Divine Presence the Glory the Angelical Throne Here the precious things of the Sun and the Moon of the Invisible and Visible Image of the Divine Nature here the Riches of the whole Creation appear together in their fullest Lustre and most beautiful Order The Letters of the Latine Name for Heart Cor make the first Letters of those word Camera Omnipotentis Regis which being interpreted are the Chamber of the Almighty King It is a common observation that the Heart of Man is Triangular which therefore cannot be filled with the round World but only with the Trinity This Heart of which we speak is properly Triangular consisting like the Angels of these Three Essence Understanding and Will the proper and Immediate Type of the Trinity which as it can be
Lord Jesus cometh in the Glory of all the Three Persons the Father shineth in the Person of the Son the Son shineth in the Person of the Spirit all Three in One shine together in the glorified Humanity of the Lord Jesus all three glorifie that with themselves Inhabiting and shining forth round about with a full Light of glory in it Figuring themselves in their Divinest Forms upon it overshadowing it and cloathing it with the Brightnesses of their own most entire and most naked Appearances Thus is Jesus the Perfection of Beauty The Glory of the God-Head is now consummate in Him when all the Three Persons appear quite unvailed in his Person You who love and wait for this Appearance of your Heavenly Bridegroom who see this day which his Spiritual Beauties make and rejoyce to see it with a Joy unspeakable and glorious you who live in the sweet dawnings of this day upon you you who have any thing of the Spirit of the Bride in you cry continually Even so so come quickly Lord Jesus in this Thrice-Beautiful and Thrice-Blessed Appearance Thus the Person of Christ is the Perfection of Beauty Perfection implyeth 3 Things 1. Clearness 2. Compleatness 3. Comprehensiveness 1. Clearness That which is perfect is pure hath no spot or mixture of any thing Forreign As every drop of Milk is Milk so every thing the smallest Point in the Person of Christ is Beauty He is Beauty itself in the abstract in its simple Essence This Finite world cannot satisfie our desires because they are infinite Behold here the Person of Christ a world of Beauty and infinite to terminate and satiate your infinite desires For every thing is bounded by another or by its Contrary nothing by itself as Light by Darkness Life by Death Our Lord Jesus is a Light of Beauty where there is no Darkness and so no bound to set a stop to it from multiplying itself endlesly within itself meeting no where in its utmost Circles of glory with any thing besides itself It is this Beauty which is sown in every Spirit shooting up and budding in desires flowring in delights Love is this Beauty in the Seed desires the sproutings of this Love Therefore are our Loves and Desires infinite because this Jesus the Beauty which is their Root and their Fruit is so 2. Compleatness The Beauty of Christ is perfect nothing can be added to it Solomon saith Eccles. 1. 7. All rivers run into the Sea and the Sea is not at all the fuller It is the Person of Christs which is this Mystical Sea of all Beauty and Sweetness all the rivers of created Beauty and Sweetness go forth from him and take away nothing They all return into him again and add nothing When Lot had been made to drink Wine freely by his Daughters he perceived not when they lay down nor when they rose up Believing beloved Souls drink in the Lovelinesses of your own Heavenly Husband drink abundantly of them so will ye have little or no sense of the presence of the Sweetness of any Object or Relation among the Creatures when ye lye down in its embraces or of its absence when ye rise up from it never to return to the enjoyment or sight of it any more Your Jesus in his single Person is all Loveliness compleat in itself He is the same that which all Creature are that which they are not with them and without them Their presence and their absence are the same equally full of the same Beauty and Sweetness in him 3. Comprehensiveness The Perfection of Beauty comprehendeth all Beauties and Beautiful Things in itself It is the First and Essential Beauty which by its presence beautifies every thing The Beauties of Angels Stars and Flowers of Bodies and Spirits all flourish together eminently and unfadingly in the Person of Christ which is the Paradise of God and the Bed of Flowers there Thou who mournest and loathest thy self for some Deformity or Defilement of Spirit who bemoanest thy self for some defect comfort thy self concerning this in the Person of Christ. God is said in one place to call all the Stars by name and no one of them is wanting The Person of thy Saviour hath all Spiritual and Natural Beauties in itself Here thou mayst call by Name the proper Beauties of thy Person to cloath all thy shame with Glory to supply all thy wants with suitable Grace Thou shalt find no one wanting Every one will answer readily here am I behold I bear thine Image and the Inscription of thy Name upon me I have been laid up from Eternity in the Perfection of Beauty and kept for thee unto this Season You that complain for the want of any Loveliness come to Jesus Christ that you may have it and have it in abundance richly to enjoy He is that well of Beauty springing up to eternal Life that is with All with Infinite with Endless Beauties You who 〈◊〉 your hearts captivated by any thing lovely on Earth come hither Where the Person of Christ is seen as he appears in the Spirit unvailed there is Liberty the fulness of a Divine Beauty the freedom of a Divine Love taking off from our hearts the Chains of every ensnaring and enslaving passion Behold that which thou lovest in Christ the perfection of Loveliness where it is truest and sweetest so love it in him Behold Christ beautifying by his presence every beautiful Object like the Sun-shine on Flowers so love him in it One said if a man know not the way to the Sea let him follow the course of a River Every stream of Sweetness flows from our Saviour and runs into him Let thy heart accompany it in this course so shall it be led by a pleasant Guide to Jesus Christ. The nearer thou followest it to Christs Person the larger and fuller will the Sweetness be as a River near the Ocean till it be perfected in him When thy heart breaketh over any departing Beauty or dying Sweetness in a Friend Child Wife or Life then think upon the Comprehensiveness of Christs Beauty which holds all other Beauties in it as Heaven doth the Angels Solomon saith in Ecclesiastes When man dieth the body goeth to the Dust from whence it came the Spirit to God who gave it Each thing returns to its Original to the Element from whence it is taken and of which it is ever a part Darkness sinks down into the Pit of Darkness the Spirit which is the Light Life Sweetness every where every Spark and Image of Divinity re-ascends and retreats into the Bosom of the first Image of God which is Christ. Each pleasantness each beam of loveliness is a glance and sparkle of this Eternal Image of Essential Beauty which enfoldeth all things and mingleth itself with all things That which thou callest the fading of any Sweetness dear unto thee is only the hasting of the loving stream to its beloved Sea the disappearing of the bright flame of Life into the glorious Brightness
Life from the Ocean which hath its Fountain in itself which is therefore unconfined and infinite as much as a little Shadow from the Eternal Incomprehensible Truth and Substance such is the dissimilitude and disproportion between the beautiful Body of Adam in Paradise and the Blessed Body of our dear Lord in Heaven As the Earth in Essence and Appearance in Greatness and Glory in vertue and Comprehension differeth from Heaven not only this Heaven which we see not the Heaven of Angels above our sight but that Heaven out of which our Jesus cometh as Lord of all an Heaven higher than all created Heavens such is the difference between the New-created Body of Adam our first Father which shone about his spotless Soul as the Light about the Sun and the glorified Body of Jesus our first and last Lord and Love O all ye that hear and believe admire with me the insiniteness of the wisdom and love of our God who hath made the loss of Paradise by Sin so great a gain to us instead of that giving us our Jesus But we shall come yet more clearly to the mark at which we aim if we examine these words more exactly To that end I shall propound three Questions 1. Question What the general Nature of a Body is Answ. A Body is the compleat Image Instrument and Fulness of that Soul or Spirit to which it doth belong Col. 2. 17. A Body and a Shadow are set opposite one to another Which are a Shadow of things to come but the Body is of Christ or is Christs is the Body of Christ. A Body and a Shadow agree in being an Image But the Shadow is a confused useless emply Image the Body express Instrumental Substantial and full In the same Chapter a little before v. 9. we read of the Lord Iesus in him dwelleth all the Fulness of the GodHead bodily God is the Person in Christ the glorified Body of our blessed Saviour is the express Image of the God-Head God is seen there as a Man is at home in his house nakedly clearly familiarly constantly entirely in all Forms and Postures This glorious Body is the Universal and Immediate Instrument of the God-Head the Sphear of its Activity God judgeth all acteth all exerciseth all the operations of the Divine Nature and life here as the Sun runeth his race from the beginning to the end of it in his proper Orb and Heaven God dwelleth with all his fulness in this Body He delighteth to pour out into the Body of our Beloved and his Beloved all the precious Treasures of his God-Head Here he delighteth to possess and enjoy them in a Bodily Form in the Form of a Spiritual Heavenly and Divine Body As at the Incarnation the word was made Flesh. A Body of Flesh Iohn 1. 14. by emptying itself to nothing so now is the Eternal Word again in the Resurrection made a Spiritual Body by returning and rising up into all its Fulnesses in the same Body in which he had emptied himself The Lord Jesus speaketh of himself in Glory when he saith In my Fathers house are many Mansions John 14. 2. The Body of our Bridegroom is a Spiritual Palace in which all the excellencies and Off-springs all the operations and works of the Divine Nature have their several distinct Mansions and apartments We read of a Tree in the branches of which all the Birds of Heaven have their Nests The Spiritual Body of Christ is the Tree of Life and of Love which hath Branches enough and large enough for all the Birds of the highest Heaven the seven Spirits of God with all their Train all the variety of the God-Head to make their several Nests in them I may add also for all the Beasts of the Field all inferiour Forms of Things to lodge under its Shadow You who love the Lord Jesus and his Appearances doth not this move you doth not this make your hearts to spring and dance in your breasts to hear that your Saviour is cloathed with this Heavenly Body so full of Glory and of God Can we forbear now from saying to our own hearts and one to another these five short words 1. If we have formerly known any thing besides our Jesus let us now know it no more If we have hitherto known Christ after the Flesh let us know him so no more This is the only object worth all our knowledge and study Jesus in his Spiritual Body purer and brighter than the Body of Heaven in Paradise far beyond that in the height variety and compass of its Glories 2. How black doth every Sin appear in this Light of our Lords glorified Body When a Soldier was about to kill Cresus his dumb Son cryed out thou killest the King So cry to every Lust in thine heart thou crucifiest my Jesus in his Spiritual Body the Body of all Divine Beauties shining like a Divine Sun upon thee comprehending thee as the highest â—eaven In every Creature in which thou seest not the blessed Light of this Body in which thou doest not kiss it with the pure mouth of the Spirit in thee thou doest crucisy it 3. Is not this Bosom this Heavenly Body of our Beloved a Field of Lillies indeed the Field of all Spiritual Beauties and Divine Graces Shall we not like pleasant Roes be ever feeding here As Booz said to Ruth let us never go into any other Field to gather or to feed Is not this the Paradise itself in the third Heavens where all the Fulnesses of the God-Head are in a Body a Divine Body 4. How pure and Spiritual are we to be in Body and Spirit if we are to be Brides to this Lamb of God whose Body outshineth all the Angels and is raised to a degree of Spirituality far above them 5. Is this that Body of which the poorest believing Soul may say by the Law of its Spiritual Marriage my Jesus hath not power over his own Body but I have power over it to command its presence with me to delight my self in it as my Garden of Eden of pleasure to bring forth Fruit by it Is this that glorious Body of Christ to which these vile Bodies yours and mine are to be made like by that Power by which he is able to subdue all things to himself to the similitude of this Body of Divine Glories Is this the Body into which we are taken up and which we are at home with when in death we are withdrawn from these Bodies of our Pilgrimage here Qu. 2. What the force of this phrase is A Living Soul The first Adam was made a Living Soul Was he not made a Body as well as a Soul The Body seemeth to be so far from being concerned here that it is excluded Ans. This Word Soul hath Three Acceptions in the New Testament and so that which answereth it in the Old 1. It is taken for the Person composed of Soul and Body So Gen. 46. 26. All the Souls which came with
who hath only a Shadowy life in a Shadowy Body wherein is he to be accounted of Cease from every thing of Nature and the Creature It was at best a Shadow What Excellency then hath it to be esteemed of and reckoned upon What stability or Strength to be trusted to and relied upon Can you â—ill your Embraces with an empty Shadow Can you hold fast in your Arms a flying Shadow Will the Eye of your Spirit be satisfied with seeing Light your heart be filled with Life shall your Soul feed upon Substance in a Shadow This is the first voice from Heaven sounded in the very essence of a living Soul 2. O living Soul cast thy self into the Bosom of thy Saviour and cleave to him Dost thou not now perceive plainly that he is thy Root thy Substance thy Life thy Strength thy Fulness thy Light thy Righteousness thy Perfection thy Glory in a word thy true self when thou art in thy best state a Shadow only of him according to the first Creation Is not this the Beauty of Nature in thee and thy Moral Righteousness to bear the Figure of him and his Tabernacle in thy Person Is not this thy Spiritual Glory thine everlasting Righteousness to be taken up into him and to be cloathed with him to have thy Shadow drunk up into his Light Is not this the Life Strength and rest of both states to be united to him to be acted by him in that Union to be resigned again to him in and thorow all Actings or Sufferings Let us consider what wretched things we were in death if it were not for Jesus Christ. How would our poor Souls when they were thrust forth and cast out of these Bodies wander eternally naked empty in the dark and desolate driven up and down with the Storm without burnt upon within by the unseen Fire of Divine wrath But now Jesus Christ hath been to all his Saints from the Fall the Seed of a glorious Body into which they retreated passing from hence and were at rest as in a Bed of Love which was green and springing Since the Resurrection our breath of Life in Death and in the Fall of this frail Body drops into the Bosom of that Heavenly Body of our Beloved as the ground of Divine Life and Glory from thence to grow up into and flourish in an Immortal Body of its own like unto it and by a Divine Union joyned with it in Eternal Embraces Quest. 3. In what sense the Lord Jesus is here said to be a Quickning Spirit Ans. To this I answer three things 1. The Person of Christ as it comprehendeth both Natures Divine and Humane both parts of the Humane Nature Soul and Body is a Quickning Spirit 2. The Humane Nature is expresly spoken of to be a Quickning Spirit The last Adam was made a Quickning Spirit Again the Second Man is the Lord from Heaven v. 47. 3. The Body of our Lord is principally intended under this description of â— Quickning Spirit This appeareth by the whole Scope of the Apostle in this place which is to shew with what Bodies the dead Saints are raised and come again v. 35. This is manifested by the Context All the foregoing all the following verses treat of this Subject the Body in the Resurrection Mention is made of a Natural and a Spiritual Body in the verse immediately before v. 44. The same are again brought in immediately after v. 46. Then the force of the Comparison and Opposition maketh this plain It is a sure Rule Comparisons and Oppositions must speak of the same thing to the same point and in the same respect We have endeavoured to prove that the living Soul chiefly and emphatically marketh out the Body of Adam in Paradise when his Body had more of Life and was more a Soul more Angelical than our Souls are now Therefore the Quickning Spirit opposed to the living Soul must especially design the Body of our Jesus in Glory Lastly other Scriptures say the same thing John 3. 6. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That which is born of the Spirit is not only Spiritualized heightned and adorned with Spiritual qualities like the Picture of a Man with Lines and Colours or the Statue of a Man richly gilded One is a Stone the other a piece of Canvas still But it is a Spirit substantially and essentially It is a Spirit not as a Soul or an Angel is a Spirit but as that Spirit is of which it is born after the same manner in which That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh substantially and Flesh of the same kind with that which bringeth it forth As the Father and the Son have both the same humane Nature in a humane Form The humane Nature is one in both But the humane Form is distinct in each and maketh them two Persens so the Divine Nature of the Eternal Spirit springeth up in a Divine Form in that which is born of it The Eternal Spirit bringeth its Birth forth in a Divine Form and at once together with that itself with its own Divine Nature and Divine Form dwelling in it as the Root the Life the Form the Fulness the Fruit the Perfection the Truth the Glory of it the Spiritual Temple the God in the Temple both Spirits in the same Form both mutually Temples to each other both one Spirit Thus it is made a Spirit in the same Form with its Mother-Spirit the Eternal Spirit itself It is made a distinct Spirit It is made one Spirit with the Fountain Spirit It is made a Quickning Spirit having the Fountain of Life and Spirits in itself Now the Body of our blessed Saviour in the Resurrection is new-born from above of the Spirit of Life It is therefore a Spirit of Life a fountain-Fountain-Spirit a Quickening Spirit The Resurrection doth not gild doth not spiritualize the Personal or Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. It maketh them Gold within as well as without It maketh them all throughout pure and fine Gold a Spirit of Glory In this Creation and in natural things all excellencies are Qualities Accidents all Beauties are no more than skin-deep In the new Creature in Spiritual Things every excellency is a substance every Beauty is the Essence and Person itself there a Spirit is not excellent or Beautiful or Immortal But each Excellency each Beauty Immortality is that Spirit The Person the Spirit is the Excellency the Beauty Immortality itself Each distinct excellency is a distinct Spirit and all Excellencies all Spirits are one in each one making that a full Assembly the whole Quire in itself They all dwell together and are made perfect in one This is the New-Creature the Spiritual Birth the Resurrection from the Dead How happy and blessed are they who have their part in this Birth in this Resurrection There is another Scripture to this purpose 1 Corin. 6. 17. He that is joyned to the Lord is
one Spirit In the verse before he had said What know ye not that he who is joyned to an Harlot is one Body For two saith he shall be one Flesh. v. 16. Here the discourse is clearly of the Body As the earthly Marriage maketh two Bodies one Flesh the Heavenly Marriage maketh them one Spirit The union between our glorified Lord and our Bodies in the Resurrection is as immediate and entire as between our Saviour and our Souls so that these also are Spirits and one Spirit with him Is not his Body then first a Spirit Doth not the Union between the Divine Nature and his Blessed Body make that a Spirit and one Spirit with itself The glorified Body and Soul of a Saint are one Spirit They are one Spirit with the glorified Body and Soul of their Jesus with the three Persons in the Trinity with all Beautiful and blessed Spirits All are one Spirit Yet are they all distinct Spirits If the distinction were taken away the Harmony the Beauty the Musick the Marriage-joy and Marriage-love in Heaven were all lost Obj. But you will say how can this be Are not Body and Spirit contrary How then can a Body be a Spirit Ans. Flesh and Spirit are every where in Scripture opposed one to the other but not so a Body and a Spirit Those very Terms on which the Contrariety is set so frequently by the Holy Ghost between Flesh and Spirit shew that the Heavenly Body the true Body the Body of Life and Glory is a Spirit I shall instance only in a Twofold Opposition one where the Flesh and the Spirit are set as Life and Death the other where they are set as the Truth or Beauty itself and the Vail upon it 1. The First is Rom. 8. 6. To be carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritually-minded is Life and Peace In each of these Words Life Peace all Joys of Life and Immortality are expressed by the language of the Spirit Both together are Joys heaped upon Joys Blessedness upon Blessedness to express the Infiniteness in which they rise up ever New though there can be never any thing more Or the Circle of Eternity where all Fulnesses of Life and Joy run one into another multiplying themselves upon themselves endlesly Life is the Flourishing State of Things a Perpetual Spring The Happiness of Princes the Blessedness of the Divine Nature is sum'd up in Life Live O King The Lord liveth Peace is the whole Gift and Legacy of Christ to His Saints My Peace I leave with you My Peace I give unto you It is All the Good that goeth along with His Presence and Appearance in His Immortal state Hee stood in the midst of them saying Peace be with you when He appeared to them after His Resurrection Peace is the Plenary Rest of all Parts and Faculties of the whole Person in a perfect Union with and full Fruition of their proper Objects in Perfection The Greek Word for Peace signifieth the Band of all Perfections the Circle of Eternity All things within and without linked together in the Golden Chain of a Blessed and Divine Harmony making an Ornament of Beauty for the Soul to put on making a Musâ—ck to charm the Soul into the Divine Sleep of the sweetest and deepest Complacency The Hebrew Tongue expresseth Both Perfection and Peace by one Word This is the Name of him who was the Eminent Figure of Christ in Glory Solomon This is the Name of Jesus Himself as He sitteth upon the Throne of the Divine Nature in the Kingdom of the Spirit Isa. 9. 6. The Prince of Peace Some translate it very properly The Prince The Peace or Perfection Shalom But to apply this to our purpose The Image of things as they stand in the Spirit is in it self the Appearance of things in this Image is to those who see it Life and Peace that is Eternity of Blessedness Heaven it self But the Image and Appearance of things in Flesh is not onely Dying or Dead It is Death itself The Life of Nature and of Flesh is a Shadow onely of Life and the Death of the True Life which is in the Spirit This universal Image of things which we call the World comprehending the whole Creation in all its Beauty is no more than the Grave in which the Spiritual Image lyeth sleeping the sleep of death 2. The second Opposition between Flesh and Spirit is that of the Truth and the Vail upon the Truth Job 4. 24. Our Saviour saith The Father seeketh such Worshippers as worship Him in Spirit and Truth Spirit and Truth are here joyned in the same sense as Spirit and Life go together Job 6. v. 63. The words that I speak they are Spirit and they are Life The Spirit is the Truth and the Life The Flesh is a Dead Counterfeit as a Picture is the Counterfeit of a Man being neither the Life nor the Truth 1 Joh. 6. 6. The Spirit beareth witness For the Spirit is the Truth The Spirit is the last and onely Witness For the Spirit is the Truth itself the Universal and Eternal Truth There are two Maxims in Philosophy that All Truths and the Essences of things are Eternal The Truth then and Essence of a Saint's Body and of Christ's the true and essential Body is a Spirit in the Eternal Spirit It is not Living but Life it self The Body of Flesh is a Vail upon this True Body which is an Immortal Spirit So it is expresly named Heb. 10. v. 20. where Christ is said to have entred and made a living way for us into the most Holy Place by the rending of the Vail that is His Flesh. The true Body is a Spirit and Spring of Immortality in the most Holy Place the Eternal Spirit When it cometh forth from thence into the open streets and fields of this Creation it casteth over itself the Vail of this Fleshly Body In Death it rendeth and casteth off this Vail of Flesh so it returneth pure and naked in the Resurrection into the most Holy Place into the Eternal Spirit again where it ever stood after an unchangeable manner in its simple and unvailed Beauties So is that Mystery of the Gospel accomplished in the blessed Body of our Saviour No one goeth up into Heaven but he who come down out of Heaven the Son of Man who is in Heaven Qu. But you will ask me now What becometh of this Body of Flesh in the Râ—surrection Ans. What becometh of the Seed of a Plant in the Spring and the Summer The Plant first contracteth its Parts and Powers its Beauties and Sweetâ—â—sses under a Vail while it maketh itself a Seed Then again it breaketh this Seed casteth off the Vail discovereth by degrees its entire Form with all its Flowers and Fruits As before the Plant was hid and imprisoned in every poâ—nt of the Seed so is the Seed now Flourishing and rejoycing with all its several vertues and pleasant Forms in every part of the Plant. We read
Job 1. 14. The Word was made Flesh. The true and Spiritual Body which is an Immortal Plant in the Heavenly Paradise according to the Almighty Power and Mysterâ—ous Will of the Eternal Word in which it standeth and Flourisheth maketh itself into a Body of Flesh. Again by the same Power in the sweet and glorious Mystery of the same Will it maketh this Flesh a Spirit If you ask now where it is it is Singing and Triumphing throughout all the Divâ—ne Powers throughout all the â—nnumerably various Forms of Eternal Life Beauty and Joy in the Heavenâ—y Body â—or that which was Flesh is now Spirit As the Tabernacle was removed into the Temple when the Temple was built up and set there as a part of the Sacred Mysteries in that Holy Place so the Spiritual Body when it is raised taketh up into itself and comprehendeth in itself the Vailing Form of Flesh as a Beautiful Form in that Divine Mystery which it finisheth in itself Qu. But you will say now perhaps How is this done by what Power and in what manner is the Body of our Lord in the Resurrection made a Quickning Spirit Ans. I answer that it is done by vertue of the Personal Union between the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ. The Person is the Word the Eternal Spirit This Word the Soul the Body of our beloved Jesus are all one Person so all one Eternal Spirit the Fountain of Life As the Soul is said to be all in the whole Body and All in every part of it so is the Person in Christ the Immmâ—rtal Word All in the whole Humane Nature and All in every part of it either Soul or Body The Union between the Divine Nature in our Bridegroom and his glorified Body is equally immediate and entire as between that and his Triumphant Soul The Humane Nature subsisteth and standeth in the Divine as a Tree in its Root But this Union in the days of his Flesh is as that between the Tree and its Root in Winter The Resurrection is our Saviours Spring-time and Summer Every living Root in Spring ceaseth not to send forth its Sap into the Tree until it have brought forth the Tree into that Form and laden it with those Fruits which are proper to the Root In the Resurrection the Divine Nature riseth up with all its Sweetness and Fatness all its Vertues and Powers into the Humane Nature till it have spread and fashioned it entirely into its own Form till it have laden it all over with the precious Fruits of its own excellencies Joys and Glories In every power part and point of Soul and Body though never so mean so small the Fountain of the God-Head openeth itself the Fulness of the God-Head poureth forth itself that as the Waters cover the Sea so every distinct Part or Point appeareth as a distinct Sea of the Divine Life Joys Loves and Glories without bottom or bound This O shadowy Man O faln lost Man is thy Jesus thy Life thy Saviour Look to this Jesus with an Eye of Faith with an Eye of Love live by Him live in Him live to Him Triumph thou because of this Jesus Look to Him as 1. Thy Principle 2. Thy Pattern 3. Thy Price 4. Thy Portion 1. Look to this Jesus who is All-Beautiful with the Beauty of the GodHead itself as thy Principle I am the vine ye are the branches He that abideth in me and I in him bringeth forth much fruit Without me ye can do nothing saith Jesus Christ Job 15. 5. The Tree first comprehendeth the Branch in itself then sendeth it forth supplying it continually with its own Life and Sap. By the vertue of this Life Sap the Branch taketh hold of the Tree sucketh in continually fresh and vital nourishment by which it flourisheth and bringeth forth much fruit What shall I say for thee who yet partakest not of the sweetness and fatness of this Spiritual Tree of Life and love Thou canst bring forth no Fruit thou canst do nothing towards thine own fruitfulness Without this Jesus thou canst do nothing O that thou didst understand thine own Emptiness and the Fulness of Sap in this Vine How truly All things Angels Men All the Creatures can do nothing are nothing without this Jesus that Spirit which is the onely Truth the onely Lfe in and thorow All I will pray over thee with inward bleedings of Divine Love from my heart O that Jesus thy Root who comprehendeth even thee also in the Fulness of His Heavenly sap and vertue would bring thee forth by a new birth as a Heavenly branch in Himself O that He would continually milk forth from His Breast the streams of His Life into thee Thus He abideth in thee Now do thou now wilt thou by Him abiding in thee abide in Him Shoot forth thy self into Him as roots do their Sprigs and Branches into the Earth beneath by the actings of thy Faith upon him Draw his Spirit and Grace into thy self Be green be fair and flourishing in the Eye of Heaven Bring forth much Fruit for thy self thy Saviour thy Heavenly Father all Angels and blessed Spirits to feed upon in Eternity 2. Look to this Jesus as thy Pattern What thou hast seen done in his Soul and Body by the Union between these and the God-Head the same Glory shall be brought forth in thy Soul and Body also by the Union between him and thee if thou in thy Soul and Body adhere and stick to his glorified Soul and Body as they are full of the Eternal Word dwelling in them and resting upon them The Angels reproved the Disciples when Christ was taken up into Glory because they looked to a visible Heaven to see their glorified Lord still with Eyes of Flesh Why stand you here gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus who is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven I say to you in another sense stand and look upon your Jesus as he ascends This is your Pattern As you have seen him in his Humane Nature go up out of all Fleshly and Visible Images into an Invisible Glory as you have seen him taken out of the sight of every created Eye in the white Cloud of the most excellent Majesty of the Father which is the Heaven of Heavens so shall the same Jesus in like manner come again in your Souls and Bodies descending into them upon those Spiritual Heavens and changing them by degrees from Glory to Glory till they also put off every thing of Flesh and disappearing to every natural Eye be made perfectiâ—n the same Spirit to be for ever together with him there where he is and like him 3. Look to Jesus as thy Price The Lord taketh notice of the low thoughts and disesteem which the Jews had of him by that which they gave for him thirty pieces of Silver This saith he by the Prophet is the Price at which they valued me
droppeth from the Lips of Christ like Myrrhe from Lillies Joh c. 3. v. 15. No one ascendeth into Heaven but He who cometh down out of Heaven the Son of Man who is in Heaven Mark how the Lord to prevent all Objections â—ixeth that Title the Son of Man upon that which hath its constant abode in Heaven all along the several degrees of its descent and Ascent Jesus Christs encompasseth and circleth in His Human Nature Descending walkiâ—g sadly on the Earth hanging on the Cross lying in the Grave with the Glory of the same Humane Nature Eternal in the Heavens I will now finish my Building and lay the Top-stone by giving you three Representations of the Person of your Beloved with its Beauty in the Resurrection as his Spiritual Soul and Spiritual Body stand in the same Glory with their Spiritual Principle and Pattern as they are two distinct Heavens exactly answering that Heaven from which they come it being both their Mine and their Mint So I shall conclude this use 1. Repres All my representations shall be grounded on clear Scriptures Can. 8. 6. The Spouse prayeth to Christ Set me as a Seal upon thine Heart as a Seal upon thine Arm. The prayers of the Heavenly Bride are made by the Spirit according to the will of God and so are always answered The Divine and Humane Nature are Bridegroom and Bride married together in one Person As the Impression of a Seal in Wax hath all its Substance and Subsistance in the Wax is nothing but what the Wax is in that Form so the glorified Soul and Body of our Blessed Lord stand as Seals as Impressions in that glorious depth of Love of Light of Life of all Being which is the Root and Heart of the God-Head they stand as Sealed Impressions on the Arm of God that is on every Excellency every Beauty every form of Glory in which the God-Head with endless variety with incomprehensible Sweetness and Majesty spreadeth forth itself This is all that which they are the unfathomable Love and Innumerable Beauties of the Divine Nature in the Forms of a Divine Soul and a Divine Body 2. Repres Job c. 38. 14. speakâ—ng of the New Heaven and Earth telleth us that they are turned to the Eternal word as Clay to the Seal The Manhood of Christ in Glory hath the first Model of these in itself As a Golden Seal maketh the Impression of itself on Wax and then fixeth itself unto a constant abode in the Impression which it hath made so the Eternal Word imprinteth by itself immediately upon its own Soul and Body a clear deep and full Image of itself in all the Treasures of its Immortal Life and Blessedness uniting itself in its Divine Substance to this Divine Image most intimately most intirely inseparably After this manner the Glory with which the Humane Nature of Christ is glorified is the Form and fulness of the Divine Nature in its Purity unmixt with any other Substance or Image in its Perfection possessing comprehending enjoying itself in each distinct part here distinctly and compleatly The God-Head by its unvailed Presence and full Appearance at once fashioneth the Manhood of our Jesus in every part and point into its own Supream Form and filleth that Form throughout with its own most glorious Fulness 3. Repres St. Paul telleth the Saints that their Souls and Bodies are Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Corin. 6. 19. If it be so in the Members it is so without question in the Head Jesus himself calleth his Body a Temple Destroy this Temple and in three days I will build it up again This he spake of his Body The Divine Nature the Glorified Soul the Spiritual Body of our Heavenly Bridegroom are three wonderful Temples The matter of which these Temples are made is all Spirit of the Eternal Spirit the Light of Eternal Life in the Spirit The fashion of these Buildings is the form of God All the Beauties and varieties of the Essential Wisdom all the ravishing delights of the first the highest and most universal Harmony in the God-Head shine in every part of these living structures Within is seen the high and Holy Trinity with all its deep dazling and delightful Mysteries unvailed all the Persons appearing in the Lights of their naked and united Beauties In the pure and transparent brightness of this Supream Glory which is the first and the last are seen all things that ever passed or are to pass over the Stage of this Creation from the Beginning to the End with their several Motions and Changes yea Forms far more innumerable and greater than ever were or can be seen in this World the whole compass of Eternity and Time as it cometh down out of Eternity as it beareth the Figure of it as it returneth again as it lieth in the bosom of Eternity as it is one piece with it and maketh a Triumphant part of the Divine variety there All these are seen in the amiable and admirable Face of the Trinity within these Temples as they are continually rising up out of their Fountain the Unity of the first and most transcendent Love the Father of all as they are continually falling down into this Fountain again as they are ever playing upon the bosom of it All things are seen here as rich varieties in the Harmony of an entire and Immortal Beauty which comprehendeth all Forms and hath no bound besides itself which sitteth entire and undivided upon every Form and Part throughout the whole which is the only Birth and Image of the Father All things are seen here as they make up one unexpressible Marriage-Joy between this Love the Father the Original and this Beauty the Birth the Son the Image by which they both breath forth themselves into one Spirit the Band and Union the Inmost Center and outmost Circle of all Sweetnesses Graces Amiablenesses Pleasantnesses Pleasures Rests Complacencies Delights and Joys thorow Heaven Earth Time Eternity In these three Temples these Things are to be observed that we may understand their Divine Nature and wonderful make aright 1. All three are perfectly distinct in the highest degree of distinction each from other 2. All three perfectly answer and are alike to one another 3. Every one comprehendeth the other Two exactly and entirely in itself that all Three stand together in each several Temple 4. All three Temples joyn perfectly into one Temple 5. The first Temple is the precious and living Stone out of which the other two grow up into living Temples It is the Root the Life the Substance the Form the Fulness the perfection the glory of the other Two I must interpose here two Cautions to prevent mistakes 1. Cant. Preserve carefully the distinction between Spiritual Things both in the Person of our Saviour and in his Mystical Body The Spirit taketh away all Separations and Divisions from God All breaches upon the Unity of God are wounds with which Sin pierceth the Prince of Life The Spirit
Chapter and beginning of the Second the Loveliness of the Spouse and the Love between her and the Heavenly Bridegroom in her Sufferings and Death as they are acted upon the Stage in the glorious Scene of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ in the State of Espousals and in their Union in one Spirit The dying Spouse there singeth to her Lord Behold thou art fair my Love yea thou art pleasant also our Bed is green v. 16. Jesus Christ is fair to a Saint Eye in his Divine Loveliness being risen up into the Glory of the Father He is pleasant to her in his Loves which are his Loveliness in Motion acting beautiful parts transforming itself into delightful Shapes with endless variety in all pouring forth itself into her Bosom taking her up into itself with Blessed Changes of one into another The Unity of the Spirit is the Bed of Divine Loves which is ever green that is as the word importeth ever encompassed with a Heavenly Calm and Serenity ever flourishing ever fruitful Death itself is the mutual embracing of these two Heavenly Lovers in this Bed of Spiritual Loves in the midst of a Divine calm and clearness while out of these embraces they spring up into innumerable Forms of Eternal Beauties and Joys which are the flourishing Fruits and Blessed Children of this Marriage-Union It is said that nothing was made without Christ apart from Christ that was made in the Creation John 1. 2. Remember O Christian that in the new Creature thou art thou sufferest thou doest nothing in life or in death without thy Jesus in Glory apart from thy Jesus in the Unity of his Spirit which is the Center and Circle of all Blessed Spirits with all the Train and Treasures of the Divine Nature While thou livest all the Body of Christ Heavenly Spirits Innumerable Angels live with thee thy life All these all the Lights and Loves of the Supercoelestial State die with thee thy Death 4. Pos. All this Resurrection Ascension into the Heavenly places Fellowship of a Believer with Christ is in Christ. He hath raised us together and hath made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus See now those places above the Heavens those more than Heavenly Things in the midst of which a Saint is set They are all in the glorified Person of Christ who is made higher than the Heavens The Learned tell us that there are three Worlds 1. This which is visible 2. The Angelical World 3. The Divine World All things of the upper and greater Worlds are in the lower as in the Seed All Things of the lower are in the Superiour as ripe Fruit. Every thing is in each according to the nature of that place Behold This is the Divine World the Person of our Lord and Love ascended up on high above all Heavens of Angels Here in him the Fulness of the God-Head dwelleth Bodily that is not shadowily or seminally in its Shadow or Seed but in its Substance and Perfection While here thou standest fast in this thy Jesus thine own proper habitation Death itself is an Angel nay more it appeareth in a Divine Form is become a Divine Glory a rich and ravishing piece of variety in the Unity of the Divine Nature In the World of Angels every thing is a distinct Angel In the Divine World all things are cloathed with the form of God As a Child lying in its Mothers lap a branch from the Mother bearing her Image with its mouth at the Breast looking upon her Face falling asleep in her Bosom yet not so sleeping but that still it sucketh as it sleepeth such is a Saint dying in Jesus Christ. He lieth in the lap of the Supream Glory encompassing him on every side and bearing him as its own Birth and Image His mouth is at the breast of this Glory His Eye is upon the Face of this Glory He sleepeth in its Bosom But it is a Divine sleep While he sleepeth he is awake and keepeth his Eye still upon the Glory and sucketh in the Glory still in Death We have this excellently represented in one place by the Prophet Esay where the Heavenly Hierusalem which is our Jesus in the Spirit is said to bear her Children on her sides and to dandle them on her Knee In another place they are said to walk in the Light of the new Hierusalem These Dandlings and Dancings in the Arms of that Glory which is our Mother our Father and our Husband our Heavenly Jesus such walks in its sweet and living Light are all the Motions and Changes of Life and Death to those that are in Christ Jesus I shall conclude my Observations from this Scripture with the difference between the Death of a Man standing in the Root of the First Adam and a Christian in Christ. Death to one is a Poyson In eating of the Forbidden Fruit he dieth out of the Earthly Paradise yet remaining in its ruines in this World into a Land of Briars and Thorns into a vast and howling Wilderness where the Light is Darkness and where there is no Order The Death of the other is a Cordial of dissolved Pearl In eating of the Tree of Life he 〈◊〉 out of a Land of Briars and Thorns into a Heavenly Paradise the Paradise of God I have done now with the first Scripture 2. Script Verily verily I say unto you except a Corn of Wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much Fruit John 12. 24. These are the words of our Saviour concerning himself upon a report made to him hy Philip that some Greeks desired to see him The design of Jesus is partly to raise them from a Carnal view of him on Earth to a Spiritual sight of him in a Heavenly Glory after Death partly to signify the difference between his State of humiliation in this Life where he is single and Barren in the Flesh and his State of exaltation after Death where he â—iseth up an Universal Person reconciling comprehending All in the Unity of the Spirit a Fruitful Person being a new head and root in the Love Life and Glory of the Father to all Mankind Jews and Gentiles to all Creatures Our Saviour while he lived was as a single naked grain of Wheat But when he sprung up out of the Grave he became a pleasant and flourishing Plant bearing much Fruit many grains of Wheat in one Ear many all Persons all Angels and Spirits in Glory in that one his own Person and Spirit He was in the Flesh as one Rose one Apple pull'd off the Tree He is in the Spirit as the Rose-Tree the Apple-Tree All Angels and Saints all Forms of Things are glorified in his Glory all in Heavenly and Immortal Persons are in his Heavenly Person as full-blown Roses growing upon the Rose-Tree as full-ripe Apples upon the Apple-Tree The Death of a Saint is upon this ground made most beautiful and pleasant Can. 2. 3. As the
God in the Valley of the shadow of Death in the Grave As a Sun at night casting up its Cloud and foretelling a fair day so is the Death of a Saint the Glorified Body of a Saint being one Spirit with the Glorified Body of his Beloved casteth up the Cloud of this Natural Body which had lien as the Cloud of Death upon it and now immediately maketh a â—air and Heavenly Day without the interposal or succession of any Night The Glorified Body of Christ and his Bride are hid under this Body oâ— Flesh like the Sun under a thick Mist. It is long glowing and casting glympses of itself thorow the Mist. The Mist groweth thinner The heat and light of Divine Love Beauty and Joy groweth stronger At last the Mist is quite gone drunk up into the Sun The Sun shineth out with open Face and the Freedom of all its Beams 3. Prince That which this Body is to a Saint here that his Glorified Jesus is to â—im in Death We take pleasure rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord saith St. Paul 2 Corin. 5. 8. These words Absent Present relate in Greek to a Country a People Such a presence as the Soul hath with the Body in Lie it hath with its Lord and Love in Death Here thy Body is the Country the Region of thy Soul Thy Body is the Image into which thy Soul is formed in which alone it appeareth to itself or others All thy Relations Companions Contentments are Images presented unto thee in this Glass and Impressions made upon thee by the Images appearing in this Glass All this World is nothing to thee but as it is an Appearance rising up in thy Body which by vertue of the Personal Union raiseth a suitable Act of Life in thy Soul All this World to thee is only a diversity of Forms into which it is varied and a diversity of Impressions made upon thy Soul by this variety of Forms In Death this Glass is broken this Image vanisheth this Country disappeareth like an Enchantment Thy Glorified Jesus cometh in the place of this Body and is a Heavenly a Divine Body to thee Thy Glorified Jesus is that Beautiful Pure and Immortal Form in which thou appearest to thy self and to all Thy Relations Companions Entertainments are the Glorified Person of thy Jesus varied into Innumerable Forms of Love Light and Loveliness All thy Motions Affections and Pleasures are in Sympathy and Consort with thy Jesus by vertue of the mystical and unexpressible Union between thee and him All acts of Life in thee all Touches upon thy Spirit are the kisses of his Divine Mouth Myrrhe dropping from those Lillies of the Heavenly Paradise his Lips This is thy Country thy People thy World the Fulness of the God-Head dwelling bodily in Christ. Spring for joy O dying Saint The World thy Country thine own People the Body into which thou now comest is the Fulness of all Divine Light Divine Life the Fulness of all Divine Forms Loves Joys and Glories dwelling together with the Fulness of a Divine Harmony in the Glorified Body of thy Beloved This hath drunk up into itself thy former Body with all its acquaintances and entertainments the former world with all its furniture PART II. Psal. 45. 2. Thou art fairer than the Children of Men Grace is poured forth in thy lips Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever I divided these words into three parts 1. THe Loveliness of our Lord Iesus Thou art fairer than the Children of Men. 2. The Love of Christ The Love of this Lovely One Grace is poured forth in thy lips 3. The Seal of the God-Head of a Divine Blessedness and of Eternity upon both these the Loveliness and the Love in this Glorified Person of our Saviour Therefore God hath blessed thee for ever I have finished my discourse on the first part I now take in hand the second part I have spoken something of the Loveliness of our Beloved One as I have by any Beam from his Beauties been enlightned to some glimmering vision of them and quickned to a weak expression of that which I have seen Now I am to speak of his Love as the Grace and Sweetness of it shall pour forth itself from his Lips into mine by a Spiritual kiss from the Mouth of this Heavenly Bridegroom Grace is poured forth in his Lips The rich composition of this Heavenly-sweet Sentence is made up of three rich Materials 1. Grace 2. Effusion or the pouring forth of this Grace 3. The Lips of the Lord Jesus These are to be explained 1. Grace This in the Language of the Scripture signifieth three Things 1. Grace is Love For the Grace of God which bringeth salvation to all Men hath appeared Tit. 2. 11. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward Men hath appeared Tit. 3. 4. That which in one place the Apostle calleth Grace in the other he expresseth by kindness and love Grace is love in its Fountain freest and sweetest 2. Grace is Loveliness or Beauty Prov. 31. 30. Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain Favour there is Grace It is the same word in Hebrew with this in my Text. Grace is Beauty with its most powerful charms as it toucheth every Spirit answereth every desire maketh all things answer it and dance to its Musick So the Hebrew word imports 3. Grace is Joy or pleasure a fair and smiling Child begotten between these two amiable and ever-pleasant Parents Love and Beauty St. Paul commandeth the Saints to sing making melody to God with Grace in their hearts that is with Divine Joy kindled into a Heavenly Flame from the Love and Loveliness of the Lord Jâ—sus shining forth there unitedly and concentring their joint Beams in the Beloved Spirit Thus Grace is all three Love Loveliness and Joy all these with a peculiar and most eminent heightning as the Sunshine is the Grace of a Garden and the Fâ—owers in it So Grace in the sense of the Gospel is Love Beauty Delight with the God-Head the Sun of Spirits peculiarly and nakedly shining in them But principally and primitively Grace is Love Then it is Loveliness as that is the first Birth and lively Image of Love in which it bringeth forth itself to its own Eye and embraces then sporteth with it as its Spouse It is Pleasure as that springeth from the Union of these two and is their mutual Life and Perfection each in other Grace is a Tree where Love is the Root and Sap Loveliness the fair Tree with its Body and Branches rising out of this Root whose Sap formeth itself into this Beautiful Figure Joy is the Fruit into which the sweet Sap of Love from its Root thorow the Body and Branches of its shining Beauties digesteth itself unto a perfect admirable and Divine Maturity to be the Food and Feast of all Lives all Spirits in Time and Eternity It is Love smiling in the face of every Beauty which is
which Eternal Love bringeth forth to itself within itself as its own Essential Form and Image This Glory this Life-Image of Love is that which it is forming in every Aegypt Sea Wilderness and Canaan The Heathen represented the Nature of this thing by Venus the Mother of Love the Seeds and Life springing by a Cupid Love the Child of this Mother Gen. 1. 2. It is said that the Spirit of God moved upon the Waters The Paraphrase upon that Scripture maketh it to be an allusion to a Dove which is the Bird of love sitting upon her Eggs and hatching her young ones The Holy Spirit is often in Scriptures represented by a Dove Eternal Love is of a Truth that Almighty Spirit which at first sate upon the whole Creation to form it and moveth upon it thorow all times to cherish and govern it Love is the Mother of all above All things are the Off-spring of Love a Race of Seminal and Springing Loves Mercy Love runneth along with the whole with each particular of the whole thorow the length of Eternity itself This is still the Burthen of the Song For his Mercy endureth for ever 2. The Works of Grace These are the second sort of Divine Works and these also are the Works of Love These are divided into three Ranks 1. The constant abode of the Soul in the Heart of God Who remembred us in our low estate v. 23. Thou O broken Heart Art sinking by ignorance by unbelief by thy fall from God thou art sinking still deeper into the Darkness and Filth of this World and thy Lusts. Still thou sinkest into the Power and Horrours of the Devil Now thou sayest the Lord hath forgotten me he hath cast me off for ever Yet he remembreth thee in thy low estate Still thou art in his Thoughts thou art in his Heart as a Pillar in the Temple of the Divine Nature which is Love never to go forth Thy Person is ever before him with a Sweet and deep Impression upon his Spirit never to be rased out What hath done this It is Eternal Love This is the Light of the Divine Mind which continually presenteth thee to it in the dress of its own Beâ—uties This is the sweet force of the Divine Will which holdeth thee fast in itself which beareth thee in its Arms thorow all conditions and will not let thee go for ever This is the Reason why He remembreth thee in thy low estate For his Mercy endureth for ever 2. The bringing us back into the Bosom of God This is the second Rank in the Works of Grace And hath redeemed us from our Enemies For his Mercy endureth for ever v. 24. It is Eternal Love in the Bosom of the Father which hath sent Jesus Christ forth from thence for us and to us that he may be our Sacrifice our Ransom and our Redeemer It is Eternal Love in the Person of Christ which cometh down from Heaven to make itself a Sacrifice for us to the Justice and Wrath of God It is Eternal Love in the Person of our Iâ—sus which descendeth upon the Earth as a Field of Blood to undertake the Fight with the Powers of Darkness that he may reskue us and redeem us from all our Enemies on Earth and in Hell It is Eternal Love in the Person 〈◊〉 Iâ—â—us Christ that gâ—veth itself a Price for us that one Pearl in which Hâ—â—ven and Earth with all the treasures of the Creature and Creator lie to puâ—chase us to itself It is Eternal Love in the Person of our Heavenly Bridegroom that giveth itself to us to cloath us to form us to act us to be a Crown of Divine Glory upon us to be a Fountain of all Spiritual Loveliness Life Grace Purity and Joys in the midst of us Thus it redeemeth us from our Captivity and Shame Thus it maketh us a Bride fit for itself coming forth ready trim'd out of the Heaven of its own Embraces 3. The nourishing of us in the Bosom of God This Work of Grace cometh in the third Rank Who giveth food to all Flesh For His Mercy endureth for ever Mark how these answer one another Mercy Food All Flesh For ever Eternal Love is both the Feeder and the Food If God give Food If everlasting Mercy Eternal Love in the Divine Nature and Form give Food This is Food indeed not the Flood of a Shadow or a lie My Flesh is Meat indeed my Blood is Drink indeed saith our Lord Jesus The Lord speaketh not this of his Humane Nature For of this he saith in another place The Flesh profiteth not but the Spirit quickneth It is Eternal Love which is the Flesh of Christ the strength and substance of the Divine Nature It is Eternal Love which is the Blood of Christ the Life and Sweetness of the Divine Nature This is that Meat indeed and Drinâ— indeed which Love giveth for Food to all Flesh in its Bosom to nourish it to Eternal Life I have passed thorow the second Sort of 〈◊〉 Works the Works of Grace 3. Works of Glory O give thanks unto the God of Heaven For his Mercy endureth for ever v. 26. and last The Psalm begun with Goodness as its ground of Love v. 1. It closeth its Musick with Heaven as the Crown of Love The natural Heavens the Heavens of the first Creation are not intended here These were mentioned in the body of the Song and pass away These are the last and highest Heavens the Heavens of Glory the high and holy places of Eternity These Heavens are all made of Love All the precious and incorruptible Substance all the unexpressible and pure Sweetnesses All the Divine and unfading Beauties of these Heavens are Eternal Love All the Praises given to God as he appeareth in these Heavens with all his Saints and Angels all his Joys and Glories round about him are attributed to Eternal Love the Root the Flower the Fruit the only reason and rellish of all O give thanks to the God of Heaven For his Mercy endureth for ever For his Love is Eternal The midst of Solomons Chariot is pavâ—d or flameth with Love Cant. 3. The Center of Heaven is a Love-fire All the Spirits and Spiritual Glories of it are Immortal flames of Divine Love 2. Argum. Love is the end of all Things with God This is the second Argument to prove Love to be the proper Name of God and full expression of the Divine Nature Love appeareth to be the last end of all things three ways 1 All the Works of God end in Love 2. All the Attributes and Exâ—ellencies of God serve his Love 3. God resteth in his Love 1. All the Works of God end in Love Psal. 145. v. 9. His tender Mercies are over all his Works The word Mercies cometh from the Belly the inward parts the Womb. It signifieth the very heart of Love where it first liveth and never dieth where it lyeth warmest and hath the strongest pulse It signifieth Love in its Center and
Jesus by the Immediate Embraces of Divine Love incloseth comprehendeth thy Person entirely with the Sweetness Beauty Immortality of his own Glorified Person The Soul in the Bosom of Christ lieth as a Pleasant Island in a Sea of Love The Sea bringeth to an Island Pleasure by its prospect and by sayling upon it Safety by inclosing it Riches by Traffick unto all parts Thus thou O Saint art seated in the midst of a vast Ocean of heavenly Love This Ocâ—an of Love is thy Prospect on every side Which way soever thou lockest thou seest Waves of Love rolling and tumbling one upon the neck of another sometimes rising up as high as heaven sometimes again falling as low as Heâ—l All Storms are The Workings of this Lovely Sea of Love and Delightful Entertainments to Thee thou lanchest forth and sailest round about thy Island which is thy self upon this Sea of Love These are thy Pleasures How safe art thou How great and impregnable is thy Strength Nothing can come to thee but by a Sea of Love Divine Almighty Eternal Love Thou art inaccessible but this way by the Sea of Love No vessels can pass upon this Sea nothing can pass thorow it but Divine Forms of Love heavenly Angels and Ministers of Love Whatever other Form of things attempteth This Blessed Ocean of the Father's Love poureth forth in Jesus Christ is swallowed up by it and never seen more Thou hast Traâ—â—ick and Commerce by this Sea of Love with all things holy heavenly Beautiful and Bâ—essed every where with all Lands of Life and Joy Thou sendest forth thy Spirit thoughts and Affections into all Parts Thou bringest home all the Precious and Pleasant things of Heaven and Earth of Time and Eternity of God and the Creature Thou hast a Love-Union and by this Love-Union a Communion of Love with all the Treasures of the Godhead in the Sun and in the Moon in the Heavens above and the Deep which lieth below This is the Purity the Sweetness of the Father's Love in Christ the nearness of the Love-Union 2. The Sweetness of the Love of God in Christ sheweth itself in the Firmness of the Union What the Spouse of Christ saith of her self in the Canticles that is the Language of this Love to the Soul in Jesus Christ I took hold of him I will not let him go The Love of the Father hath taken hold of Thee will never let Thee go St. Paul Rom. 8. v. 35. maketh a Challenge What shall separate us from the Love of Christ Affliction Danger Sword the Love-Union between God and the Soul in Jesus Christ is so close so fast that the Point of the sharpest Sword cannot pierce between them the subtilest Flame cannot divide between them If it wound or burn one it must wound and burn the other also There is no Vein of Blood in the Body of Man which hath not running along beneath it an Artery a Vein of Spirits to preserve the Warmth Motion and Life of the Blood There is no Vein of Divine Providence in the whole Life of a Saint there is no Vein of Life or Death in the whole Person of a Saint which hath not a Vein of Divine Love running along inseparably with it to sweeten it to give a Spiritual a heavenly Tincture of Life Joy and Glory to it To me to live is Christ to dye is Gain saith St. Paul Philip 1. v. 21. There is nothing so Dividing as Death The Life of a Man is the Union between Soul and Body Death dissolveth this Union The Life of a Saint is the Love Union between his God and Spirit in Christ who is the Glorious head and the Golden knot of this Union Death maketh this Love-Union faster and sweeter more close more clear more compleat Dâ—ath is a Gain here The Death of a Saint is like the Tabernacle in the Wilderness Without was a course Tent of Badgers Skin exposed to the Injuries of all Weathers This was seen by the Common Eye But this was not the Tabernacle This was onely the Tent the Covering upon the Tabernacle The Tabernacle within as it appeared to the Priest's Eye which entred into it was Silk Silver Gold and Precious Stone Fine Linnen Scarlet Crimson Sky-Colour Cherubims richly wrought Be not deceived That is not the Death of a Saint That is not a Saint in Death which appeareth outwardly to the Eye of Sense so affrightful so mournful so dark so deformed so Dividing from all the Joyes of Life No. This is the Covering onely upon Death to hide the sacred Mystery from common Eyes That which is within which presenteth itself all along to the Eye of a Saint that entreth into this Death is indeed a Tabernacle of Immortal of Divine Love with all rich and pleasant Appearances wonderfully heightened The Love-Union between God and the Soul in Christ opening itself taking the Soul entirely into itself as into the true Heavens where all things which are seen are the highest Forms of Beauty in the highest Lights of Divine Glory all things that are heard tasted or felt the highest Joyes of the Divine Life with the most heightned Sweetnesses of Divine Love 3 The Sweetness of Divine Love is manifested in its Efficacy in its Sweetning Operations as it is poured forth in the Lord Jesus St. Paul saith Philip 3. l. We have our Conversation in Heaven from whence we look for the Lord Jesus who shall change these Vile Bodies these Bodies of our humiliation and make them like his own Glorious Body according to that Power by which he is able to subdue all things to himself As the Flowers put forth unfold all their Beauâ—ies send forth their several Sweetnesses to the Sun so do all the Excellencies Joyes and Glories of the Godhead display themselves to the Divine Love God in the Presence of his Love is the highest the Truest Hâ—â—ven This is the Heaven which containeth and hideth Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ cometh forth from this Heaven as a Bridegroom from his Chamber he cometh forth in this Heaven with this Heaven round about him he maketh this Heaven every where as he cometh forth as the Sun maketh a Glorious Sky He boweth this Heaven and cometh down upon It into the broken heart To this broken heart he changeth the vilest the Bitterest Image of things the Body of its humiliation the Body of this Darkness and Death in which it dwelleth here into the Likeness of his own most Glorious Body the Body of the highest Heaven in its Brightness the Pure and clear Body of Divine Love This Love of the Father is that Power by which our Jesus subdueth all things to himself that is to the Brightness and Sweetness of the Glory of this Love to the Express to the Naked Image of this Love in its own Divine Substance in 〈◊〉 own most Lovely Person This is the transfiguring Efficacy of the Love of the God-Head poured forth in the Glorious Person of Christ and making for him
a Body of Divine Loves above all Heavens Rom. 8. 28 29. St. Paul triumpheth after this manner I am perswaded thâ—â— neither Death nor Life neither Angels Principalities Powers nor things present noâ— things to come nor heighth nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Love of God in Jesus Christ lineth covereth all things transubstantiateth all things into the same Divine Love St. Paul mentioneth the nearest things to us the most intimate the most Potent the most Penetrating the most Universal the most comprehending the most Transforming Death Life Angels things Present to come Depth Heighâ—h What cometh nearer what toucheth every Point of our whole Substance and Being than Death Life Angels What more intimate to our hearts and Spirits If none of these can come between the Love of God in Jesus Christ and our Persons then all these by the Touch of this Love must be Tinctured and changed into new Forms into Essences of Love As Sugar is dissolved in a Glass of Wine so Death Life Angels things Presâ—nt things to come heighths Depths every other Creature in this Golden Cup of Divine Love the Glorified Person of Christ is dissolved into Love becometh a Rich Love-Cordial to a fainting Spirit making it to dance and sing for Joy when it was intended a deadly Poyson to it The holy Apostle had said upon this Ground a little before In all these things Sword Famine Persecution wee are more than Conquerours It is plain how we are Conquerours Captivity is carried Cuptive Those Forms and Powers of Darkness of Death which thought to captivate us are themselves Captives to Eternal Life and Love in the Lord Jesus As Saul among the Prophets so the Bitterest the Blackest things which assault the Spirit of a Saint encompassed with this Love of the Father poured forth in Christ uncloath themselves and put on Amiable Shapes of Love sing songs of Love breath forth from every part of them the most Delightful Sweetness of Divine Love Thus this Love maketh us Conquerours But what meaneth this to be more than Conquerours Is there a Joy or Glory above this of a Conquerour Grace coming into Glory Love Reigning after Suffering Is there any thing sweeter any thing greater than this Victory of Love Yes St. Paul saith when he was caught up into the Third heavens into the Paradise there he heard Words which it is impossible to utter This is The Paradise in the Third Heavens the Love of God in the Glorified Person of Christ. This Love transformeth every thing every Creature to this heavenly Paradise Those blessed Souls which by believing enter into this Paradise hear Words of Love Words of Joy Words of Pleasure of Glory from this Love which it is impossible to utter which are too sweet too high too ravishing to be exprest A holy Soul in This Paradise of Love feeleth a Joy far beyond that of Marriage of Conquest of Reigning of Children of any thing named in this World or in that which is to come Thus the Sweetness of Divine Love expresseth itself in its Sweet Efficacy Thus the Purity of Divine Love in Christ is manifest in its Sweetness 2. The Love of God in Christ is most Pure because it hath the greatest Virtue Our Divines express hell after this manner All Diseases Pains Griefs here are Evils by a Tincture onely of Divine Wrath a little Drop of Divine Wrath mingling itself with them Hâ—ll is Pure Wrath. Hell is the Abstract of Wrath the Evil of all Diseases Pains and Griefs abstracted from them and heightned to the utmost So Jesus Christ bare all our Infirmities and took our Griefs though he was never sick On the Contrary all the Good all the Joyes in the Creature are a Weak Tincture of Divine Love The Shadow of St. Peter as hâ— passed along healed the sick All the Sweetness and Pleasure in things here is the Shadow onely of Divine Love falling upon them All the Joy in any heart here is the Shadow onely of Divine Love cast over it The Love of God is poured forth Purely in the Person of Christ. There Love is a Substance no Accident There Love is Infinite being allayed or limited by no mixture Our Saviour in Glory is Divine Love in the Abstract It is a Weak Glance of Divine Love like the Sunshine here below cast upon the Water or a Looking-Glass which maketh the Beauty the Sweetness of all Colours Figures Motions in the Creature It is a remote Touch of Divine Love like the Ends of the Sun-beams reflected in a Burning-Glass which maketh the Pleasantness and Pleasant Properties of all Plants the Lustre Gracefulness Virtue of all Precious Stones and Pearls the Joy of all Relations The Beauty the Sweetness of all Colours Features Motions the Pleasantness the Pleasant Properties of all Plants the Lustre Gracefulness Virtue Life of all Precious Stones Pearls heavenly Bodies heavenly Spirits the Joyes of all Relations are contained Eminently with an Infinite Enlargement an Infinite heightning in this Divine Face This Tree Pearl this Union the Unity the Purity of Eternal Love in our Glorified Jesus O Sinner come cast thy self freely into the Bosom of thy Saviour Here thou fallest immediately into a Sea of Pure Love Open thy Mouth wide enlarge all thy Faculties to drink in the Sweetness of Pure Love pouring itself by Floods and Seas into thee Feel the Transcendent virtue of Pure Love transforming thee thy heart thy Person into a rich clear and heavenly Pearl in this Sea O Saints swim continually in this Sea of Pure Love the Bosom of your Glorified Saviour Feel the Transcendent Virtue of Pure Love dissolving you also into a Sea of pure Love a Sea of Glass and Fire a Sea of Pure Chrystal Divine Beauty without any Spot of Flesh or Earth Darkness or Death a Sea of Pure Chrystal shining and burning with a Pure Flame of heavenly Joyes without any Smoak of Lusts or Passions Obj. how is the Love of God Pure in Christ Is there not in the Lord Jesus a mixture of Love and Wrath He saith of himself in one place All Judgment is given to the Son of Man He adjudgeth to Hell and to Torments as well as to Heaven and to Joys Matt. 25. Jesus Christ is represented as a King upon the Throne in Glory in the Judgment of the last day v 31. He maketh Separation between the Sheep and Goats v. 32. He setteth the Sheep at his Right hand in the Place of Power Honour and Love He setteth the Goats at his Left hand on his Wrath-side v. 33. He passeth the Sentence of Love upon One inviting them as Blessed Ones to the Kingdom of Love prepared for them of the Father in Eternity v. 34. He passeth a Sentence of Wrath upon the other sending them away with a Curse into the Hell fire with the Devils v. 40. How is the Love of God poured forth Purely without
Lamb hath seven Eyes and seven Horns which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the Earth Seven is a Perfect Number the Power of all Numbers which multiply themselves endlesly by the Marriage of the Two First Numbers Three and Four the Numbers of the Trinity upon the Throne and the Four Living Creatures most immediately to the Throne and from thence spreading themselves thorow all things being in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne on every side Revel 4. 6. The seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the Earth are the Holy Ghost that one Manifold Infinite Spirit which divideth Itself into Innumerable flaming Tongues Eyes Horns into all Forms of things according to its own Good Pleasure ever Containing all within itself ever filling all with itself See now the Lamb with seven Eyes and seven Horns seven Spirits sent forth into all the Earth The Lamb is Jesus risen from the Dead The Lord the Spirit who hath Innumerable Living Lights of Glory in himself Innumerable Living Springs of Light and Glory with which as with so many ever-waking Eyes he shineth and seeth thorow all things who hath innumerable Powers Almighty Powers Fountains of Power as so many Horns with which he ruleth and reigneth in the midst of all things A Poet in a bright Night taken in a Wood by Robbers which would kill him said to them As many stars as shine in the Sky so many Eyes now look upon you and will be witnesses of this Murther O Sinner who art hatching who art practising any lust in the most secret corner of thine heart or Closer be awake be aware See the Lord Jesus with ten thousand with a Numberless Number of Eyes Shining Flaming Eyes of Pure Glory looking forth full upon thee from every point of the Walls the Roof the Floor all things round about thee from every point of thine own Heart and all that is within Thee See the Lord Jesus with as many Horns of Divine Power from every Point of things running upon thee to break Thee off from thy Lusts or to break Thee in pieces O Saint who mournest sitting in Darkness Lying in Prison encompassed with black thoughts with Enemies Invisible or Visible be awake be aware See thy Jesus thy King thy Beloved with ten thousand a Numberless Number of Eyes sweetly-shining sweetly-Flaming Eyes of Pure Love from every Point of the blackest Darkness of the darkest Prison of thy Darkest thoughts themselves looking forth upon Thee See him with as many Golden Horns of Divine Power from every part from every side running upon thine Enemies to ruine them to cast them down to the Ground down to the bottom of the Pit until they rise no more whether they be things Visible or Invisible See him with the same Innumerable Golden Horns from every part of things from the thickest Darkness round about thee running to Thee to raise Thee up to set Thee on high upon the Rock of Eternity in the midst of the Throne of God Revel 1. 14 The Eyes of the Lord Jesus are compared to a Flame of Fire A Spirit is all one Entire Eye and full of Eyes The Lord Jesus is the Supreme Spirit spreading himself thorow all things from the height of Heaven above to the Depth of Death and Hell beneath The Firmament is not set so thick with Stars as the Whole Earth the whole-Creation all things are set with the Eyes of the Lord Jesus These Eyes are so many Suns of Love to the Flowers the Wheat the Gold the Diamonds to increase their Beauty draw forth their Sweetness ripen their Fruit make them sparkle and shine more pleasantly But to Stubble and Thorns to Vanity or Enmity they are a flame of Fire burning upon it until it be consumed O Fear the Wrath of the Lamb. 2. Application Fear to look with a Vailed Heart upon the Vailed Face of the Lord Jesus If thou seest the Shadow the Letter of the Gospel if thou seest the Vail the Flesh of Christ if thou seest not to the End of these as things to be done away if thou seest not thorow these beyond these the Lord the Spirit which is the Heavenly Body and Substance to the Shadow the Naked Face the Naked Unchangeable Eternal Person of Christ hid under the Vail it is not Jesus Christ but Moses in whom thou trustest Thou art not in the Arms of a Lovely pleasant Bridegroom but at the feet of a severe Judge This is the Law from Mount Sinai which engendreth bondage which trembleth and shaketh for fear where Thunders roar and Lightnings fly abroad from the midst of a thick Darkness This is not the Lord Jesus full of Grace that Perfect Love which casteth out fear the Perfection of Beauty on Mount Sion which standeth firm for ever which may be touched kissed and embraced Take heed to thy self O Temporary Believer Thou Jew thou Christian outwardly in the Letter onely This is not the Sun of Righteousness on which thou lookest but the Cloud which covereth the Sun If the Eye of thy Spirit stay here and pierce no further out of this Cloud will come down upon thy head a tempest a Whirlwind and Flames of Fire The Vail is upon your Hearts while the Gospel is read even to this day 3 Application Blessed art thou who lookest with a Naked Heart upon the Naked Person of Christ. He who is fixed in the Letter the Outward Form the Flesh of the Eternal Word is One of the People of the Jews who stood below at the Foot of the Mountain having in their Eye the Outside onely of things These saw nothing but the Blackness of Darkness and the Flashes of Lightning these heard nothing but the dreadful claps of Thunder He who ascendeth and entreth into the Truth the Spirit is with Moses within upon the Top of the Mount He talketh with God face to face as a man talketh with his Friend He seeth the Divine Light and Calm of Eternity in the naked Person of the Lord Jesus He receiveth the Language of Divine Love the Musick of Eternity with kisses of Love immediately from the Lips of the Lord Jesus He feeleth the Fountain of Life all Joys flowing from the Heart of the Lord Jesus running nakedly thorow his whole Body and Spirit being a better Feast than that of all meats and Drinks filling him with Spirit and pleasantness cloathing him with a fresh Lustre Beauty in a more excellent way The Lord Jesus saith of himself in the Gospel I have a Baptism to be baptised with and how am I streightned till it be over The Loves the Lovelinesses the Divine Life the Delights the Glories the Lord Jesus all the Treasures of the Eternal Word are streightned in the flesh of Christ as the Beauties and Sweetnesses of a Flower the Fruits of a Tree are shut up and imprisoned in the Seed When the Lord Jesus by Death is baptised into a Divine Form and Glory when he cometh
to take thy Person into the Arms of his Preventing Loves to breath bis Preventing Loves into Thee as a New Life the Spring of a New Beauty excelling that which was lost by Thee in Paradise incorruptible that never fadeth not passeth away Ladies and Queens have sometimes hatched Eggs in their Bosoms Thy dead deformed Person will thy Saviour hatch in the warm and naked Bosom of his Preventing Loves unto a Divine Life that shall answer Love with Love and flourish in the Loveliness of every Grace every Glory through thy New-born Soul and body according to their proper seasons Having known the Love of the Lord my Spirit laboureth yet not my Spirit but the Love of the Lord Jesus in my Spirit laboureth by all means to bring forth itself in the fresh and full Sense of its First its Free its Preventing Sweetnesses in your hearts as a Spring of Living Waters in a dry and barren Wilderness But as a tender Mother taketh a beloved Child weak and peevish laieth it in her lap poureth a Cordial down into its stomack so will your Jesus do with you O Grieved Spirits who are weak without strength froward will not take in his Love He will take you lay you upon his knees and pour this precious Cordial of his Preventing Loves into your Mouths Then will it go right and sweet down to the bottom of your heart There it will become a Well springing up with pure sweet and plentiful Streams of every Spiritual Truth Grace Comfort or Joy unto Eternal Life This is The First State of Love in the Lord Jesus Preventing Love 2. There is in the Lord Jesus poured forth from the Father a Fulness of all Assisting Love 2. Cor. 14. v. 7. 8. 9. St. Paul had a thorn in his Flesh messengers of Satan sent to buffet him He prayed thrice that he might be delivered from them He had this answer from the Lord My Grace is sufficient for Thee Many tender-hearted Saints who feel their Lusts as Thorns in their Flesh who feel their Passions as the Messengers of Satan the Angels of the Dragon buffeâ—ing them cry out frequently in the Agonies of Fear and Grief O this Lust O this Thorn in my Flesh Sure at last it will wound me so deeply to the heart that it will let out the Life-blood of all faith hope grace and comfort O this Passion O this Messenger of Satan It will one day carry me back again into those Chains of Darkness and that Bottomless Pit out of which I seem to my self sometimes to have escaped But O Believer tossed with the Tempests be comforted Fear none of these things Look up continually to the Blessed Person of your dear Saviour lifted up into Glory in the midst of your Spirits See the Father pouring forth himself into the Fulness the Glorious Fulness of all Assisting Loves in his Bosom Pray continually and hear this Blessed voice from the Mouth of your Saviour continually sounding in your ears My Assisting Loves are sufficient for Thee Obj. But some Soul that wanteth Comfort will say When the Lord Jesus hath once by his Preventing Love planted a New Principle and Habits of Grace in me he now expecteth that I should improve this Principle and act these Graces If I do this and make use of that which I have I may comfortably look for his Assisting Love and that more Grace should be still given me But what New Loves can I promise my self to accompany me and carry me on in my way while I so ill requite the Lord Jesus for his First Loves that I suffer his Gifts to lye unimproved his Graces to lye unactive in me hid in the Earth by my Sloth or Sensuality Answ. I shall proceed in my answer to this Objection by Three Steps 1 Stâ—p This Objection wrappeth up together in it something True something False 1. This is False That the Assisting Love of the Lord Jesus dependeth upon our Emprovement of Grace already received from him This is not True No by no means Assisting Love is as free as full as absolute as much all as much alone in Carrying on the Work of Grace in us as Preventing Love is in Beginning it God hath poured forth in Christ the Fulness of all Assisting Love I am the Truth the way and the Life saith our Saviour Jesus Christ is the Truth and the Life of all Grace in the way as much as in the Beginning or End Without me ye can do Nothing Every Act of Grace every thing in every Act of Grace which distinguisheth it from a meer Non-Entity from an Absolute Nothing Every Degree of Spiritual Being in the whole Life of Grace with all the Exercises of it through the whole way from the Beginning to the End is all alike Immediately from Jesus Christ. That which is True in the Objection is this the Emprovement of Spiritual Principles the Exercise of our Graces are attended with Clearer Illuminations Sweeter Enlargements more Divine heighthnings of all heavenly Truths Graces and Consolations in us On the other siide when Faith is not acted when holiness is neglected Darkness Decay Distress and Death dwell upon us But these things are all entirely Consequences and Effects not Causes or Attractives of Assisting Love The Assisting Love of our Lord Jesus is as the Sun which by its Presence bringeth Light Warmth Fruitfulness Life Beauty Pleasurealong with it When it withdraweth itself leaveth the Cold hardness Storms Desolation of Winter behind it The Bridegroom chargeth the Virgins of Jerusalem by the Roes and Hinds of the Field that they stir not up nor awake his Love until She please Cant. 2. 7. The Angels of heaven which are the Invisible Ministers by whom all things move in the whole Order of Second Causes are here understood according to the sense of some learned Divines By the Virgins of Jerusalem The Roes and hinds of the Field are the Pleasant Loves and Lovelinesses of the Eternal Spirit in the heavenly Person of Christ. The Law of the Eternal Beauties and Loves of the Divine Nature lieth upon all things upon all the Ministers and Armies of God that the Spouse of Christ be never laid to sleep or awakened but according to its own good pleasure as it is One Spirit with the Lord Jesus by a knot of Everlasting Love as a Queen at the Right hand of her King set down in Heavenly Places with him in him upon the same Throne When the Divine Principle which is the Bride and the Spiritual Man in a Saint retireth itself and goeth to its rest in this Night the Wild Beasts Bruitish Lusts Raging Passions come forth to prey upon the Natural Man covering it with filth wounds But when the Day spring ariseth from on high when the season cometh for this Man this Heavenly Seed Bride to awake to stir up her self and come forth again in this New Morning the Beasts return to their Den Lusts and Passions sink down into their own
any fresh Effusion of the Spirit upon you When the Activity of Grace when the Operations of the Divine Life are heightned in you by any peculiar Appearances and Outshinings of the Lord Jesus in you what do you Find Do you not find all things made New Do you not find the Invisible Image of things within the Image of all Visible things without Your self your Life Your Soul your Body Your Graces your Comforts Husband Wife Children all Objects of Life the whole World itself renewing its Light its Sweetness its Lustre All heightened Spiritualised Immortalized transfigured into Divine Forms Invisible to all other Eyes and this without any Darkening without any Eclipse or Cloudy moment interposing This is the Earnest of the Spirit given unto Thee for a Figure a Foretast and a Seal of Thy change in Death Thou shalt not be uncloathed of any Garment of Life or Light Spiritual or Natural which thou hast ever put on Thou shalt never be found naked of any Forms of Light Life or Love which have ever accompanyed and encompassed Thee Thy Faith-shall be swallowed up into Vision Clear Full Immediate Vision Eye to Eye Thy Hope into Entire Possession and Compleat Fruition thy Soul itself into a Simple Divinity and Eternity Thy Body thy Dear Relations the Delights of thine Eyes the Precious and Pleasant things of thy Senses shall All be cloathed upon from above with those Immortal Substances of which here they are the Shadows with their own Original Forms of which here they bear the Figure with their Flourishing Patterns upon the Mount of Glory in that First and Pure Spirit the Fountain of Life the shining Fountain of Good in the Glorified Person of the Lord Jesus in Eternity The Movable Tabernacle with its Tent both are Dissolv'd and fall into the Eternal Building of Glory in the Heavens where they become as Mysterious Figures of Divinity in that Temple or Rich Furniture Delightful Apartments of that Palace where every Part beareth the Figure possesseth the Life and Beauty of the Whole This is the Freedom the Sweetness the Fulness of the Finishing Love of God in Christ. Death itself is made at once A Consummation of the Marriage Love between the Heavenly Bridegroom his Bride A Bed of Loves the Divine Embraces of Eternal Love and the Divine Fruitfulness of these Embraces Jesus in his Invisible and Eternal Form descendeth overshadoweth embraceth his Bride transfigureth her into a Form of Eternal Beauties perfectly answering his own maketh her to spring with to bring forth in the moment of those embraces in the moment of her own Transfiguration all Forms of Things above and below in Immortal Divine Images and Essences of Pure Perfect Love The Dark aud Dreadful Appearances which surround Death are onely A Cloud which hide these Delightful these sacred Mysteries and changes from all Natural Eyes while the Saint himself in the Spirit seeth its own Beauties feeleth its own Joys in these Transfiguring and Impregnating Embraces So Christ himself was taken by a Cloud out of the sight of the Apostles while he ascended Death beginneth to the whole Saint in all parts that Coming down of the Lord Jesus in a Flame of Glory that Rapture of a Saint caught up into the Bosom of the Lord Jesus with the Sound of the Heavenly Trumpet The Universal Shout of Divine Lives Loves Glories thorow all things The Resurrection finisheth them O the Absoluteness of Finishing Love All work of Glory is made perfect in a Saint Jesus in all these Powers and Treasures of the God-Head resteth upon a Saint then when he is weakest when he seemeth nearest likest to Darkness Dust and Dung in the Agonies of Death 3. Comfort Against the last Day There are peculiar Terrours accompany the Day of Judgment It is indeed the most Dreadful of all Dreadful things The Last Day is twofold 1. Universal the Day of the Lord upon the whole Earth 2. Particular the day of the Lord upon a City or Nation Both these are spoken of mixtly The same dreadful things are attributed to both properly or figuratively We know not how near the Universal Day of the Great Judgment of the Lord upon the whole Earth may be The Lord Jesus may be now at the Door and ready to enter He shall come as a Thief in the Night in Clouds unperceived unexpected All things shall be in the moment of his Appearance as from the Beginning Some at the Mill some in the Field some in the Market some at Church to be married others in the Marriage bed others Eating and Drinking All the signs which are to fore-run that Great Day of the Lord's Last Appearance from Heaven may be come to pass in the midst of us in another manner and form differing from that which we figure to our selves and we not aware of it As Elijah the great fore-runner of our Lord Jesus in his first Appearance was come and gone in the Person of John the Baptist not understood either by the Jews in general or by the Disciples Watch and pray have your Loyns ever girt your Lamps burning go forth from the things of Sense into the Spirit to meet the Lord who cometh in that Air of Heaven and Eternity So shall you be caught up to meet him as he cometh and enter with him into the Bride-chamber I shall give you my Reasons which make me to believe that the Particular Day of the Lord upon this Land and City approacheth and cometh like a Traveller like an Armed Man upon us 1. Jerusalem and the Jews seem to be set up for a Type to every City and Land which beateth the Name of God St. Paul at large in the 11th to the Romans describeth the Succession of the Gentiles by Christianity into the place of the Jews the Progress and Way of God with the External Professors of the Gospel as with Israel He representeth this by Natural Branches cut off from and Olive Tree by wild Branches ingrafted in their place standing upon the same Terms in the same danger of being cut off 2. Are not we as Hierusalom ripe for the Harvest Have we not had the Ministry of the Law of the Gospel of the Letter of the Spirit in great power and glory Have not all varieties of chastisements and judgments inferiour to preparatory for the great and last Judgment already passed upon us Have not our Sins among all sorts of all kinds grown up to maturity to be ready for the Sickle 3. We have seen signs in Heaven above and on the Earth beneath and in the Waters which Jesus Christ foretelleth as Joel before and St. Peter afterwards from him to precede immediately the great and dreadful day of the Lord upon Hierusalem Hierusalem is in London But O what comforts flow from the finishing love of God in Jesus Christ to make this day of the Lord not only supportable but lovely to us and longed for by us Lift up your heads for your redemption is at
in their full beauty and sweetness ever fresh never fading never failing As fast as one is gathered another springeth up in its room These Immortal flowers of divine love grow here for thee They have thy name written upon them They bend and bow themselves towards thee They invite thy hand to gather them They are ripe in every season and gathered with the least touch of thy spirit Thou who hast a Spirit black and burning with the deepest guilt take the flower of justifying love stick it in thy bosom This will take out all the heat of pain and take away all the deformity and stain from thy spirit Thou who labourest under the disease of any corruption See here the flower of sanctifying love Carry this in thine hand in thine heart It is a powerful a pleasent remedy against every lust or passion Doth the Instability of thy spirit the uncertainty of thy spiritual condition afflict thee The flower of electing love hath a soveraign vertue in it to establish and â—ix thine heart in a triumphant peace and joy above all changes or fears Art thou melancholy is thine heart cast down within thee for some apparent reason or thou kno west not why look upon this pleasant flower of comforting love smell to it wear it in thy bosom It shineth with a heavenly lustre which recreateth the Eyes and infuseth strange joy into the heart It breatheth forth a sweetness from it which will make you think your self in Paradise or kissing those blessed Cheeks of your heavenly lover your Jesus which are Beds of Spices It hath a spirit in it which is the extract of all Cordials which hath all comforting vertues in it which is the soveraign Comforter of hearts and spirits the only causer of delight and pleasure on Earth or in Heaven If any one be dejected with a sense of shame let him make himself a Nose-gay of these three Flowers regenerating adopting glorifying love Every one of these casteth a wonderful light from it which will make thee to see thy self in the unity of the eternal Spirit in the form of the Son of God Thou wilt see the whole face of things as a glorious Heaven round about thee all full of bright and shining Angels encompassing thee guarding thee attending upon thee as the heir of God Jesus in glory walking with thee hand in hand as his Brother God himself beholding thee with an unmoved and full Eye of esteem wonder and complacency as his onely one the Object of all his love the Ground of all his joy The State of a Saints Soul and Body in Death THe peculiar consolations and joys of Death to a Saint pour forth themselves into ten distinct channels or streams 1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul or Body of a Saint but a restitution and return of both to liberty peace and perfection 2. Both descend no more but ascend in Death 3. Death hath in it no melancholy overcast or unpleasant darkning to the Soul or Body but a sweet unexpected surprising and ravishing increase of a pure divine and triumphant light circling in and shining through all 4. Death casts no deformity upon either part of a Saint but cloaths both with an heavenliness amiableness and beauty 5. Death is no streightning or imprisonment to Body or Soul but a blessed enlarging of both to a divine state and freedom 6. The Death of a Saint hath nothing bitter in it but is a spring of pure sweetnesses and pleasures dividing itself into every part and making all the garden of God 7. There is nothing of the Devil in the Death of a Saint but Christ risen and glorified is all fills all and shines thorow all 8. Death hath nothing of wrath in it but is all divine love unvailing itself 9. There is nothing of Death in the Death of a Saint but life and immortality unclouded and shining forth clearly 10. Death is no other thing to a Saint than a heightning of his spirituality making him all thorough-out spiritual purely spiritual without any mixture unchangeably spiritual without any interruptions inconstancies or darkintervals 1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul or Body of a Saint but a restitution and return of both to liberty peace and perfection 2. Corinth 5. 1. St. Paul expresseth this ground of confidence and joy in Death For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens It is the observation of learned Divines that the Greek word here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render to be dissolved signifieth to take up ourâ—Inn from that circumstance of unloosing the Horses and taking them out of the Waggon or Chariot to bring them into the Inn and Stable that there they may be at their liberty to rest and feed and lie down From this word upon this ground an Inn or House of reception refreshing for Travellers hath its name in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At our Birth which is the morning of this life and our entrance upon our Journy through this weary world our Souls and Bodies are joyned to this fleshly Image by the natural spirit the spirit of this world as Horses put into a Waggon to which they are fastned by their Harnes and Traces The Body is as the fore-horse but the Soul as the filler which draws most and bears the chief weight All the day long of this life we draw this Waggon heavy laden with all sorts of temptations and troubles thorow deep ways of mire and sand This only is our comfort that the divine will which is love itself in its perfection as a hand put forth from Heaven thorow a Cloud at our Birth put us into this Waggon and governs us all the day In the evening of our life at the end of our Journey Death is the same divine will as a naked hand of pure love shining forth from an open heaven of clear light and glory taking our Souls and both Bodies out of the Waggon and Traces of this â—leshly Image and Spirit and leading them immediately into their Inn into a place of freedom rest and refreshing into the unity of the eternal spirit into the Bosom of our Lord Jesus Obj. But before I proceed any farther I will indeavour to make my whole way more clear by answering an objection which perhaps already ariseth in most of your thoughts You may be ready to say Is this your meaning as you seem clearly to express it that the Bodies also of the Saints suffer no dissolution in Death but return immediately to a state of purity and perfection This seemeth to contradict the common sense of all the faith of the Saints and the plain letter of the Scriptures Do we not with our Eyes see every day the dead Bodies of the best Persons thrown into the Grave turning to Corruption and Putrefaction either before or in the Grave dissolved to Worms and
truly and properly itself is intirely for ever gathered up into the unity of the Eternal Spirit the heavenly Body and Bosom of our Lord Jesus In the Epistle to the Hebrews ch 9. 23. The Blood of Lambs and Goats were said to cleanse the figures of heavenly things in the Tabernacle but the Blood of Christ the heavenly things themselves The Soul and Body of a Believer are the heavenly things themselves For these are that true Temple of the Holy Ghost of which the first Tabernacle and Temple were figures As the death of a Saint is a conformity to Christ and a fellowship to Christ on his death so doth the Blood of Christ that is the divine virtue and the life of the God-Head in the death of Christ cleanse these heavenly things the Soul and Body of a Saint at his death from all their dust rubbish and filth from all mixture with the fleshly Principle and Image Thus now the Body of a Saint as well as his Soul is made compleatly a pure and heavenly Temple of the Holy Ghost It subsists alone in an immediate entire and mutual union with this blessed Spirit It lyeth wholly in it as in the Fountain of life immortality love peace and joy It is filled with it as the Temple with the smoak of the sweet incense and with the Glory of God How unhappy are you How bitter is death how full of deformity how dreadful how dark how dismal to you who leave this life before the Fountain of Eternal Life hath opened itself in you Death to you is a devouring fire from below which burns upon your Spirit and flesh consuming the order the beauty the sweetness of both and changing them into a ruinous heap of utter darkness desolation and confusion But blessed are you thrice blessed are you whose Souls and Bodies are both married by one Spirit unto Jesus Christ before Death comes to separate them one from another whose Souls and Bodies are become Temples of the Holy Ghost and are inhabited by the Holy Ghost before Death comes to demolish the fleshly frame and building Death to you is a lovely form it which your Jesus himself comes into your whole Person both Soul and Body as into his Garden or Vine-yard to drive out the wilâ— Beasts all the powers of darkness to pluck up by the roots and to caâ— out the Weeds every thing of this worlds of a fleshly Spirit and Image that the Divine Shades the Spiritual Plants the fruitful Vine of his own Life and Love and of his own heavenly Image may alone flourish here and himself alone may delight himself in the midst of these as in a Garden shut up Jesus Christ comes by Death to your Bodies and Spirits aâ— to a Beloved fountain to cast out of it every thing of filth of earth and flesh which polluteth it that he may see his own face clearly all over it that he alone may drink of it that he may lye in the midst of these waters for ever bathing in them that you in both may be a fountain sealed up to himself Death is to you who believe a rich Marriage-bed of Gold and Purple into which your naked Souls and Bodies quite stripped in the twinkling of an eye of all their râ—ggs are taken to lye in the naked bosom and imbraces of your beloved Bridegroom the Lord Jesus Thus much for the twofold Body 2 Dist. The 2. Distinction next to this of the twofold Body in a Saint is that of the twofold dust in Death In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes v. 7. we read That in Death the dust shall return to the earth as it was and the Spirit to God who gave it Gen. ch 3. 17. God passeth this Sentence of Death upon Adam after the Fall Thou shalt return to the Ground For out of it thou wert taken Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return There was a Dust before the Fall out of which the Body of Man was made Gen. 2. 7. God formed man of the dust of the ground First observe here by the way that the ground from which the dust was taken of which the Body of Man was formed was the ground of Paradise For so we read immediately after at the 9th v. That out of the ground God had made to grow every Plant that was pleasant to the eye and good for food with the Tree of Life in the midst of them The Jewish Doctors teach us that the dust of which the Body of Man was made was a fine and precious powder in which all the excellencies of the whole Creation were exactly tempered and mingled together in one Body The Scripture seemeth to give us a foundation for this belief When Moses saith That God made out of the ground to grow every Plant pleasant to the Eye good for food and the Tree of Life in the midst of them he seemeth to signifie that this was a divine ground in which God from the beginning had sown the divine seeds of all the beauties pleasantnesses sweetnesses and of all the beautiful and pleasant Lives of Paradise itself and of the whole Creation as it was in a Paradisical state The dust then of this ground which composeth the Body of Man was the manifold beauty sweetness virtue and life of Paradise of the whole Paradisical state of things gathered together contracting themselves into one and shading themselves like the beauties sweetnesses and virtues of a flower in its precious seed But that which is chiefly to be considered here is the state of all things before the Fall Sin was not yet entred which brought in Death The Unity of the Creature among themselves between God and the Creatures was yet entire The divine life and Image flourished thorow the whole Creation All the Creatures stood upon their divine root and were filled with a divine Sap like flowers upon their stalks and trees at the height of the Spring St. John gives us a sweet and beautiful Image of the whole Creation in its first state before it lost its life sweetness and unity by Sin Joh. 1. 3 4. All things were made by him that is Jesus Christ and without him nothing was made that was made In him was life and that life was the light of Men. There are two things observable in this Scripture 1. That which we read without him was nothing made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth properly nothing was made apart or separate from him The Holy Spirit seemeth here to point out the primitive union of the whole Creation and all the distinct parts of it with the Lord Jesus the living Root the glorious Head of all and in all 2. Where we read Without him nothing was made that was made this latter clause that was made addeth nothing to the sense and looketh like a vain repetition Some therefore place it at the beginning of the following verse and read it thus that which was made in him was life This describeth to us the
Saint with what quietness and security mayest thou lye down to rest and sleep in the midst of all wants enemies and dangers Thy Body itself is a Fellow-Member in the Body of Christ with all the glorious Angels and Blessed Spirits with Christ the head of all and the Father the Head of Christ. All these have the same care of thy Body for every part of it in every State as for themselves For it is themselves a Member and part of themselves They all are present with it they encompass it they minister unto it all things seasonable for its defence and comfort 2. There is a Communion of sufferings Whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it O Christians what a sweetning is this to the bitterest affliction How doth this take away the solitude the sadness the sting from Poverty a Prison a Sickness the Grave You are in the heart of all Angels and Saints of Christ and of the Father to suffer to live and to die together with you All the Heavenly company that are by one Spirit gathered together into that one glorious Body of Christ lye down with you in the Dust in a Dungeon on a sick Bed in the Grave How is the Spouse of Christ now in its most solitary and afflicted State indeed as two Heavenly Companies according to the expression in the Canticles 3. The Fellow-members in the Body of Christ have a Communion of Joy and Glory Whether one Member be honoured all the Members rejoice with it A Believer is ever glorious ever blessed St. Peter saith that when we suffer for the name of Christ the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon us Every suffering of a Saint so far as he is a Saint is for Christ. Why art thou ever melancholy why is thy Heart heavy within thee O Believer Open thine Eyes to see them open thine Heart to take them in Behold the Joys and Glories of all the blessed in Heaven are thine are present with thee and ever rest upon thee I will conclude this Communion with that most remarkable expression God hath tempered the Body together The word is hath mingled the Body together How full an expression is this How doth this mixture sweeten all our sufferings and make all our Joys far more pleasant Thou O Believer with all thy shame and sufferings art tempered and mingled together with all the Saints and Angels above with Christ and the Father with all their Joys and Glories All the same Heavenly Company with all the same Joys and Glories are tempered and mingled together with thee with thy shames and sufferings here below Thus are all one piece and that one piece whole and entire in every one Thus is the greater the greatest comeliness put upon the most indigent Thus is there no Schism in the Body As in many Spirits tempered into one Spirit many Liquors tempered into one Liquor many Spices beaten into the smallest Powder mingled into one costly Ointment every portion of this Spirit this Liquor this Ointment hath all the Spirits all the Liquors all the Ointments of the whole in it so is the Body of Christ in general and every Member in particular 3. The proportion or suitableness There is no Schism in the Body of Christ. If this be pure precious living immortal heavenly and glorious then is thy Body also O Believer so far as it is a Member of this Body pure precious living immortal heavenly glorious How living how immortal how beautiful how glorious how divine a thing is that Body of a Saint which is a Member of Christ in Glory What Life what Joys are those of this Body which is in so dear so inseparable so intimate an Union and Communion of the same Life Joys Beauties and Spirit with all the glorious Angels blessed Spirits Christ himself the Head of all the Father in Christ This is the State of the Body of a Saint as it is a Member of Christ. But while a Saint lives in this world his Body is partly the Member of this Heavenly Husband the Lord Jesus and partly the Member of a Harlot this World and the Flesh in as much as a Saint here below hath his life and conversation divided between the pure Spirit of Christ and the Whorish Spirit of this world O sweet O beautiful O precious and blessed Death By Death is the joyful and glorious separation made in the Body of a Saint between the precious and the vile between the heavenly Bridegroom the Lord Jesus and the Hellish Adulterer this World Now it ceaseth for ever to be in any degree any more the Member of the Harlot to be in a Carnal or worldly Spirit Now it 's for ever singly entirely gathered up into the Spirit Body and Bosom of Jesus Christ. O! how pure how shining in what Angelical in what Spiritual in what Divine a form and fulness of unexpressible rest beauty and delight is the Body of a Saint in the very moment of Death when like fine Gold purged from its dross or a Heavenly Sun that hath cast up its cloud it now comes forth out of the Whorish Spirit of the Flesh and this World a single and pure Member in the pure and divine Body of our Lord Jesus These are the three things contained in this Membership of the Body of a Believer in Christ Union Communion and proportion From this I shall raise a threefold short exhortation 1. Set a value upon the new Birth upon the Regeneration Content not your selves with being once born By your first Birth you have Souls and Bodies Members of this world By the Spirit of this world they are Baptized into the Body and Society of Darkness Corruption Death Wrath the whole Company of wicked Spirits and Devils Give your selves no rest till you are born again By the new Birth which is from above you have new Souls and new Bodies which are Members one of another Fellow-members of Christ. Your Souls and your Bodies both are by that one Eternal Spirit Baptized into one Spiritual Immortal and glorious Body with the Spirits of all just men made evangelically perfect by the Blood and Spirit of Christ with all the Holy Angels with Christ and the Father Press into the Fellowship of this mystery Here you shall see it indeed to be true that Grace is Glory begun in your Souls and Bodies both that when you believe a Spirit of Glory rests upon your whole Person by your Union with Christ. 2. Possess this Vessel of your Bodies in holiness For so you shall possess it in honour Possess it converse with it in a Spiritual Principle So you shall enjoy it and your selves in it as a Member of Christ. You shall see feel enjoy within your selves in this Body the Spirit the Life the Immortality the Joy the Glory of the whole Body of Christ the society of all things Heavenly Blessed and Eternal to wake and to sleep to walk and lie down to live and
these so far as you stand in a Spiritual Principle are as another Heaven the Heaven of Heavens the Pallace of the great King which he fills with his Glory where he heeps his Court sits upon his Throne 3. The Saints have communion with God in his Temple In the Temple was the Golden Mercy-Seat There saith God will I commune with thee This was overspread with Cherubims of Glory as St. Paul calls them These Cherubims covered this Golden Mercy-Seat with their Wings and so made the State or Glory about the Throne This is therefore called the secret of the most high and the shadow of the Almighty where a Saint is said to dwell and to lodge Hear O ye Saints what glorious things are spoken of your Bodies be Spiritual and behold in these Temples the Golden Mercy-Seat which is the glorified Person of Christ and the Cherubims of Glory covering it with their Wings and God here upon this Golden Mercy-Seat the glorified Bosom of Christ from between the Wings of the Cherubims ready alwaies to commune with you yea taking you up upon this Golden Mercy-Seat within the Wings of the Cherubims to commune freely with him at all seasons in this secret of eternal safety rest love joy and glory This Temple is the Body of a Saint while he liveth below but now it is in too great a degree covered with a cloud of Flesh filled with the smoak of the Spirit of this world that a Saint too rarely enters into this Temple of the holy Ghost in his own Body and more rarely seeth with any degree of clearness the Glory or heareth the voice of the blessed Spirit there What joy is it to think in what a purely sacred and Divine Temple in what a clear and shining Pallace of the eternal King in what open and unstained unvailed visions of Divine Glory in what a secret in what a presence of glorious Angels and Eternal Spirits in the midst of what sweet overshadowings dear encompassings naked outshinings of the Eternal Spirit in what most blessed most ravishing Communion of Eternal Light Life and Love with this Spirit in what sight and embraces with what kisses of incomprehensible Beauties in the sound of what words what salutations what wooings what expressions of the highest Loves and Joys from the Eternal Spirit a Saint finds himself even in his own proper Body in the very moment of his Death when departing out of this Life at once he departs for ever out of the Fleshly Image and the Spirit of this World 4. The Divine Presence and Glory was the defence of the Temple Esa. 4. 5. There is a Prophesy concerning the times of the Gospel expressed by figures taken from the state of things under the Law And the Lord will create upon every â—welling place of Mount Sion and upon her Assemblies a Cloud and smoak by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night For upon all the Glory shall be a defence or a covering When the first Temple was to be destroyed the Prophet Ezekiel saw the Glory removing off from it afterwards when the second Temple was near its end a voice was heard in it saying Let us be gone from hence which was understood to be the voice of God and of his holy Angels with all those invisible companies and Ministers which made up the Glory of the Divine Presence as Nobles Officers and Guards make up the Court of a King O Saints why do you fear for your Bodies hidden Conspiracies or open force diseases the fury of the Elements the malice of Men or Devils These Bodies of yours are the Temples of the Holy Ghost Here are the Holy Assemblies of all the Heavenly Company in the unity of the Spirit whose Temples your Bodies are Of these it is Prophesied to these it is promised that God will create upon them a cloud and a smoak by day the shining of a flaming fire by night Upon these the Glory is a defence or a covering God himself with all his holy Ones his Angels his Watchmen his ministring Spirits is this Cloud this Glory which is the defence and covering upon your whole Persons your Bodies as well as your Souls both have together with Christ a hidden Life a secure Life in this secret of God within this covering of this Divine Cloud Flame and Glory From off these Temples of your Bodies this Glory never removes From within these Temples of your Bodies this heavenly Company never departs for as much as the union in the Spirit of Grace under the Gospel is Eternal Thus the Bodies also of Believers in this Life are the Temples of the Holy Ghost All things in them here are divine Figures of a divine Glory They are filled and covered with the Glory itself They are the seats of the freest Communion with this Glory being the Temples of the God of Gods and so the Pallaces of the King of Kings All this is true of them here as they stand in a Spiritual Principle and in union with Christ by the new birth But this Life is a mixt State We stand partly in a Spiritual partly in a Fleshly Principle These Temples of our Bodies are covered with a corrupt Flesh that we can hardly discern their Spiritual Beauties They are too frequently in too great a part filled with a smoak of Hell the smoak of the Spirit of this world that a Believer can rarely enter into this Temple of his Body to behold and converse with the Glory there This is the precious the blessed work of Death in a Believer It breaketh the union it maketh a separation not between Christ and a Believer not between the Soul and Body of a Believer as they are joyned together in Christ by the band and unity of the Eternal Spirit and make one Spiritual Man or Person in Christ but between the precious and the vile between the Carnal and Spiritual Principle of a Saint both in Soul and Body Now in the moment of Death the Soul and Body of a Saint come forth immediately clear and shining Temples of the Spirit the smoak and clouds of the Fleshly Principles and of this worldly Image being for ever driven away from within them and from without Thus you understand St. Pauls sweet and blessed sense of Death when he speaketh of the Body and saith 1 Corin. 5. 1. 2. That we shall not be found naked but be cloathed upon from above with a building of God Eternal in the Heavens which shall swallow up mortality in life Our Spiritual Body which we have in this life by our new Birth as we stand in our Spiritual Principle is this Divine Building sprung from a Divine Root of a Divine Nature or Substance of a Divine Form and Workmanship This is ever in Heaven being inseparably united to Christ and being ever in the Spirit This is Eternal when we die this casts off the Cloud of corrupt and cursed Flesh. This springs forth out of its Spiritual Principle
his Heart continually bringing him forth into his whole Person and Life with an increasing clearness and fulness As the Object is to the Faculty and to the Soul so is Jesus Christ to a Spiritual Person his Pattern his Object his Food his Feast which spreads itself quite thorow his Person and Life which all throughout turns into Life Strength Beauty Cheerfulness and Joy to him 5. A spiritual person in a sweet and sealing manner sees the Spirit himself presenting the Lord Jesus to him within himself in a spiritual Glory feels the Spirit himself springing up immediately within him in all sights of Christ in all his changes and growths into Christ. He sees and feels this Spirit to be Jesus Christ himself He sees and feels this Spirit and this Jesus to be in himself and one Spirit with himself So the verse forementioned runs We all with open face beholding as in a Looking-glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the likeness of the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord or according to the Greek by the Lord that Spirit These are the sweet and blessed Advantages of a Spiritual State I will add some few and short Directions to this State 1. Look to the New Birth in You. See that you be born again that you be born from above that you be born of the Spirit that this which is born in you be Spirit Jesus Christ saith That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit This only is the New Birth Newness is only in the Eternal Spring the Spirit 2. Take care of your Union with Christ that it be a Spiritual Union that you be united to Christ as he is risen from the Dead and in Glory as he is a Spirit the King and Bridegroom of Spirits that you be united to Christ in the Spiritual Man that your Union be a Spiritual Marriage that you be one Spirit in the Unity of the Eternal Spirit which is Love 3. Pray for the Spirit for a Spiritual Understanding for the Knowledge of things in the Spirit as they are Spirit and Life and so alone Truth Suck in the Spirit by day and by night from the lips of Christ from the kisses of his mouth 4. Die to every thing of the Flesh that you may live in the Spirit Bear about in your Bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus that the Life also of the Lord Jesus according to the Spirit may be manifested in your mortal Bodies At the young Phoenix is said to spring new and fresh out of the Ashes of the Old One so doth the Spirit in the newness of an Heavenly and Immortal Glory spring out of the Grace of Christ. 5. Live purely live in Love These two Purity and Love are the principal fruits of the Spirit by which the Spirit himself is drawn down and held in our Hearts being fed and delighted with them Every kind and degree of impurity and enmity quencheth the Spirit and maketh him to withdraw himself into Heaven again The Scripture saith The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit to bring forth its own Beauties Delights and Fruits all over the Spirit of Man in the place of the Eternal Spirit The Scripture saith also That the Flesh envyeth against the Spirit The Flesh hath an envy and an envious malice to see the Spirit with its Eternal Glories Joys and Fruits to flourish in the Soul 6. Lastly Take heed of thinking that you know enough He that thinks he knows any thing knows nothing as he ought to know it saith St. Paul He that thinks he knows any thing knows things only after the Letter which is a knowledge of shadows only and a shadow of knowledge This is that knowledge which pusseth up which swels a man with a windy conceit of knowledge But that knowledge which is from the Spirit as its Fountain and in the Spirit as its air and element and of the Spirit as its only object this makes a man at the highest degree of his knowledge on Earth to be sensible that all his knowledge is but as the light of the night a light shining in a dark place not the day-star and the Sun itself risen upon him This man thinks himself at best as a door-keeper only or as the Hebrew word signifieth one standing at the threshold of the House of God who looketh in at a distance and hath only a weak glimmering prospect of the Glories there but is not yet entered into the Light of those Glories to behold them as they are to know them as he ought to know them and is to know them He therefore as a new born Babe from the Womb of the Spirit keeps his Eye ever fixed with wonder and pleasure upon the light of the Spirit and ever thirsts to drink in more and more the sweet milk of this Light The Subject of our discourse hath been the passage of a Saint by Death not only in his Soul but in his Body also into a State of purity pleasure perfection and immortality One of the objections against this was taken from common sense to which Death presents the Bodies of the holiest Persons liveless ghastly dissolving to dust We have answered this objection by a distinction between a twofold sense Carnal and Spiritual But this objection was enforced from the Body of Christ which was a rueful and bloody spectacle in Death which lay three days in the silence darkness and restraint of the Grave It is necessary therefore to say something particularly to the State of Christs Body in Death by the application of this distinction to that also I shall ground this discourse upon that Scripture Luke 12. 50. They are the words of Christ I have a Baptism to be Baptized with and how am I streightned till it be over This Baptism is generally and as I humbly conceive rightly interpreted to be the sufferings of Christ at his Death The Baptism of Christ and the accomplishment of that Baptism were both at the time of his Death The sense of this Baptism before it came was an unexpressible streightning or affliction and oppression to the Soul of Christ. He cries out how am I streightned The words thus opened afford this observation The Lord Jesus had his greatest trouble and his greatest Triumph at the time of his Death Then was this bloody Baptism and then was the blessed accomplishment of this Baptism I shall open this in seven Propositions whereof 5 set forth the trouble the other two the Triumph of Christ at his Death 1. Propos. It was the most glorious and eternal Person of God himself in two Natures Divine and Humane which was our Jesus 2. Propos. God in his own Person as the Divine Nature lived in our Nature here on Earth stood at once in a twofold Principle one Natural and Temporary the other Supernatural and Eternal 3. Propos. As this Eternal Person our Jesus with his God-Head in the Humane Nature stood in a Natural and Temporary
Principle he stood under the curse receiving and feeling all the stings and bitterness of the curse to the utmost extremity 4. Propos. This our Jesus as he at the same time with his Divine Nature in his Humanity stood in a Supernatural and Eternal Principle he in his Humanity comprehended his Humanity itself in its natural Principle together with the natural Principle itself the Curse all the stings and bitterness of the Curse in a light of Divine Glory in a life of Divine Love as so many varieties of pure Love Joy and Glory with Immortality 5. Propos. The Curse with the stings and sense of it upon the Natural and Temporary Principle as also the conflict between the Natural and Temporary the Supernatural and Eternal Principle in the Lord Jesus through his whole Person as it lived in a Humane Soul and Body were highest at his Death These are the five Propositions which set forth the trouble of Christ at his Death In the other two followeth his Triumph 6. Propos. This Eternal Person our Jesus with his God-Head in his whole Humanity both Soul and Body in the moment of Death by dying went entirely forth from the Natural or Temporary Principle and so from under the Curse 7. Propos. This same Jesus in his whole Person with his whole Soul and Body in the moment of Death by dying went forth entirely into the simplicity and singleness of his Supernatural the Eternal Principle and so into a State of pure Eternity unmixt Joy and Glory I shall briefly open these Propositions in their order 1. Propos. It was the most glorious and eternal Person of God himself in two Natures Divine and Humane which was our Jesus John 1. 14. The Word was made Flesh. The second Person in the Trinity from which the other two Persons the Father and the Spirit are inseparable the eternal and essential Son of God which hath the fulness of the God-Head in himself in its most express Image and greatest Glory he in his own Person in this Eternal Person and Sonship was made Flesh. This Eternal Person this Essential Son of God was that Flesh. This Flesh was that Person that Son which had the Father and the Spirit inseparably with himself and was essentially one with them O Christians study this union of the two Natures Divine and Humane in one only Divine Unchangeable and Eternal Person which is the most glorious and Ever-blessed God This is the deep and rich ground of the Christian Religion out of which as the true ground of the Heavenly Paradise the God-Head itself makes to spring all the precious mysteries of the Gospel all Evangelical Truths Graces and Joys in their most Spiritual Beauty Sweetness and Life Understand this Pray for the understanding of this for a sight sense and feeling of it within your own Spirits that it is God God himself in his own only Divine unchangeable undivided Person in your own Form in your own Nature in your own Persons and Spirits which is your Jesus your Saviour Redeemer Husband and King your Ransom Atonement and Righteousness your Beauty your Life your Joy your Root Branch Flower and Fruit. This union between the Divine and Humane Nature in one Person in our Lord Jesus is the Original and Reason of the union between you and this Jesus which is God in Person to which Person thorow this union you also are immediately eternally united in one Spirit in one mystical Person which is Christ as St. Paul speaketh as there is one Body and many Members so is Christ. A Spiritual knowledge of this union of two Natures in one Person and that God himself is this Person will sweeten all sufferings of life to you and perfume the Grave Open the Eyes of your Spirits and behold with joy and wonder the going of your God and King in the Sanctuary of this Earthly Body It was the ever-glorious and immutable Person of God in the most high and holy Trinity which made itself Flesh in the Womb of the Virgin which was that Flesh which in that Flesh eat drank slept talked and walked upon the Face of this Earth which passed under all the clouds thorow all the storms of life here which hung upon the Cross dyed and lay down in the Grave O with what a Divine and delightful Glory hath this Divine presence and Person silled and cloathed this Flesh this Earth all the natural actions and passions of this Flesh on this Earth Clouds Storms the Cross Death and the Grave to the Spiritual Eyes of Believers What living Plants of Paradise how beautiful how laden with most pleasant and Immortal Fruits are all these springing up out of this Root this Divine and Eternal Person What Jewels are they of incomprehensible virtue sweetness and lustre hanging upon this Person See your selves O all ye Saints even the lowest and the least conformed to this Image It is the immortal Seed and Son of God in you it is your Jesus the most glorious Person of God himself in this Seed in you which is made partaker of Flesh and Blood which walks on Earth and acts all the parts of the natural Life here which passeth thorow all the Clouds and Storms of life which suffers dies and lies in the Grave The Spoase saith of Christ he is a bundle of Myrrh he shall lye all night between my Breasts Thus the Humane Nature of Christ saith to the Divine Nature Thus the Earthly Nature saith to the Heavenly Nature to the Divine Seed to the Lord Jesus to the Divine Nature in the Lord Jesus thou art my bundle of Myrrh thou liest all the night of this life and death between my naked Breasts What corruption can I see in the Grave itself What Divine Sweetness breaths forth itself in all States What Divine Treasures of Life and Immortality fill and overflow all while we thus lye most intimately united entirely wrapt up in each other in the most sweet and glorious Unity of one Divine and Eternal Spirit one Mystical Divine and Eternal Person 2. Propos. God in his own Person as the Divine Nature lived in our Nature here on Earth stood at once in a twofold Principle the one Natural and Temporary the other Spiritual and Eternal The Lord Jesus was truly and really a man in every point like unto us sin only excepted as the Scripture speaketh in the Epistle to the Hebrews Thus he did bear in himself the Earthly and Natural Image he stood in an earthly and natural Principle He came forth from the Father into the World So was he made a Servant and made under the Law But the Lord Jesus was in Person the Eternal Son of God In this Person alone did the Humane Nature of Christ with its Natural Principle and Fleshly Form in this world subsist The second Person in the Trinity was the Glorious and Invisible Root which through the Divine Nature sent forth sustained lived and appeared in the spotless Flesh of the Lord Jesus Thus
Death This World with all its Powers and Principalities the life of this World the Cross itself and Death which had so long captivated the Lord Jesus with all the Powers Beauties Joys and Glories of his Heavenly Image binding them in Chains of Darkness within the Dungeon of this Earthly Image whose light is darkness are now themselves in the Person of our Lord Jesus in his Soul and Body together with his Captivity itself carryed up as he ascends and made Captives to that Heavenly Image which they held Captive Here in this Pallace of the Spirit and of Eternity where Darkness itself shines as the Light they are seen as the Captives of the Lord Jesus bound in Chains of Glory spectacles to all the Holy Angels and Blessed Spirits in which the Beauties of Christs Victory and Triumph as so many ravishing Wonders of an Incomprehensible of a Mysterious Power Wisdom Love Glory Divinity subduing all things entirely to themselves eternally shine This honour have all the Saints in their Deaths by the vertue of their Saviours Death by vertue of their fellowship with him and his fellowship with them mutually in their several Deaths all in each Death dying together Where now is the Melancholy of Death and of the Grave It is swallowed up into the Divine Pomp and Pleasure of a most Glorious Victory and Triumph O Saint What fearest thou in Death Or thou who fearest not to be dead why fearest thou to die If thou rejoicest in the Glory of thy departed Soul why mournest thou over thy Body as left behind in a naked and loathsome Prison The act of dying to both is the gaining of a Glorious Victory over the Life and Death the Powers and Principalities of this whole World The passage itself out of this Life is a Glorious Triumph to thy Soul and Body both which with all the Triumphal Ornaments of the Light of Life and Immortality ride forth in the Chariot of the Heavenly Image and the Eternal Spirit over the Spirit and all the forms of this Creation which lie conquered under your Feet In the very moment of your dying all the Powers and Appearances of Nature which rule in the Kingdoms of Sense and Reason are lost for ever so that their place where once they reigned in your Persons knows them no more You sit down upon the Throne of Christ and the Father together with them All the Births Images and changes of time are swallowed up into the bright the beautiful the most delightful depths of Eternity the unfathomable depths of purest Light Love and Joy immediately as Triumphant Conquerors and Kings you are encompassed with the ravishing applauses and shouts of innumerable Angels of Immortal and Glorious spirits springing up and shining forth in all the places of this World where its Light or Darkness Life or Death seemed before to stand You see all these with a Heavenly Musick and Songs of Triumph setting Garlands and Crowns of Victory on your Heads immediately as you pass out of the Light of this Life you see your selves received your Souls and your Bodies both with the most delicious kisses into the Eternal Embraces of the Father and of Christ in that Unity of the Spirit which is the unfathomable center of all Lights Loves and Joys of all beautiful and blissful Spirits created and uncreated All now for ever are filling full your Joys in themselves and fulfilling their Joys in you 4. Scrip. Heb. 2. 14. That he by dying might destroy him who had the power of Death that is the Devil and set them free who all their life time were subject to bondage by the fear of Death The word Power in this place signifieth properly a Prince with a Principality or Dominion This whole world is the Principality of the Devil For the Devil is called in Scripture the Prince of this world All Flesh every thing of Nature and of this Creation is comprehended under that name as it is distinguished from and opposed to the Spirit and the new Creation in the Spirit the Kingdom of God in the Holy Ghost and is the Principality of the Devil All Darkness every shadow every evil of Sin or Suffering of Corruption and the Curse of Shame Deformity Pain Grief and Wrath as all these are expressed in the Scripture and in common Language with every other kind or degree of Evil by Darkness are the Principality of the Devil For the Devil is called the Prince of Darkness Death is the Devils Principality who in this Scripture is called the Power or Prince of Death All this then hath Jesus Christ by dying destroyed in his own Person this World the Principles and Forms of Nature the Life and Images of Flesh every Darkness inward or outward of mind or sense Death itself For all these lie within the Principality of the Devil and are his Region his Kingdom without the bounds of this Dominion all things are Light Life Love Joy Immortality Spirit and Truth As it is Jesus who dies again in the Death of every Saint as the Death of every Saint is the Death of Christ acted over again in the similitude by the vertue of his Death so doth every Saint as he is one Spirit with Christ after the like manner by dying destroy the Principality the Kingdom of the Devil in his Person also For this is said to be the end of Christ in his Death that he might free all the Saints from the fear of Death O Believers Let your Saviour gain his end upon you and end of most tender Love Be no more in bondage to the fear of Death Let the Lord Jesus see the seed of his Death springing up in your Deaths a Glorious and Divine Seed of Life and Immortality springing up in the place of Death and swallowing it up into Victory Lay aside now for ever those melancholy and delusive Imaginations of Death as a separation of those tenderest Bosom-Friends Soul and Body a separation from your dearest Relations and entertainments the delights of your Eyes an extinguishing of the sweet Light of Life a dismal solitude a perpetual Darkness the Confinement of the Body to the nakedness coldness streightness and horrour of the Grave Dust Stones and Bones covering it and ratling over it Worms feeding upon it the Soul naked and alone taking its flight through a vast distance of empty air and space to another place These are the Forms and Appearances of Death to the Dead only Those who follow Jesus Christ in that living and shining way in which he went thorow Death meet with none of these appalling and affrightful Apparitions Let the Dead bury their Dead saith Jesus Christ to his Disciples but follow thou me Understand this O Believers that all Shadows all Forms of Darkness and of Death are from below Earthly Sensual Devilish from the Earth from the Natural Soul and from the Devil as St. James speaks All this Image and sense of things is that Kingdom of the Devil which together
undivided Circle of Eternity always at once in every moment and cast of his eye he saw possest and enjoyed all pleasantnesses In this Face of his Father which is the Light of Eternity he saw his own Face as he passed thorow all changes Even then when he cried out that he was forsaken by his Father he beheld this forsaking of him himself thus forsaken in this Glass the face of his Father in the midst of all Pleasantnesses one of the Pleasantnesses one with all the Pleasantnesses there The Aâ—gels that take care of Children here below in the midst of this their work on Earth ever behold the Face of the Father in Heaven How much more is it true of that Person who is the Face of the Father who is one Essence and Substance with the Father who unites the Humane Nature to the Divine Nature in the Unity of this Person Shall not he much more see the face of his Father in Heaven while he is on Earth or in the Grave serving the little Children of his Father his younger Brethren as their good Angel This Face in which all Pleasantnesses are at their fulness at their heighth was that Joy set before Jesus Christ upon the Cross for which he enâ—ured the Cross and despised the shame I shall now conclude this discourse of our dying and dead Saviour of his sacred Body living and immortal in Death with those four thiâ—gs which were too wonderful for Solomon the way of a Ship upon the Sea of an Eâ—gle in the Air of a Serpent upon a stoâ—e or a rock of a man with a maid or as it is in Hebrew in a maid The most learned Jews teach us to understand this as the Mystâ—ry of the Messiah The most learned of the Christian Divines give us such a Gloss as this upon it while they make this place from the authority oâ— the Jews themselves to prove against them that the Messiah was to be born of a Virgin 1. The Man in the Maid is the Heavenly Man in Womb of the Virgin 2. The Ship upon the Sea is the Humane Nature in its Union with the Divine Nature Sailing along in its course of time and life here below upon the Sea of Eternity 3. The serpent upon the Sâ—oâ—e or the Rock is the deep and Glorious wonder of Death in the Person of Christ who is the Rock oâ— Eternal Life and God himself who lives for ever 4. The Eagle in the Air is the Humane Nature risen and ascending in the Spirit to the right hand of the father above all Heaven to the utmost heighths of all Joys and Glories of the Divine Nature and Eternity Before I leave this Subject I will point out one Use and Application of it When a Voice came with Thunder to the Lord Jesus declaring Love and Glory from on high upon him Jesus Christ saith to his Disciples Tâ—is Voice came not for my sake but for yours In like manner these glorious things are spoken of Christ in his life and in his death not for himself only but for all his Saints Christ and all the Saints are one seed To that one seed to all the Saints in Christ to Christ in himself and in all his Saints are all the Promises made All those pleasant things which we have spoken of Jesus Christ and of his holy Body in Death are true of him as his Humane Nature is joyned to the Divine Nature in one Divine and Eternal Person which is the most High God The same things are true in us also who believe in him by that Mystical Union which joyneth us to the Lord Jesus in one mystical Person and in the Unity of that Spirit which is also the most high God one with the Father and the Son While we live as Saints by the Faith of the Lord Jesus we live not but Christ liveth in us we live and we are Spiritual only as we are Spirits the Birth of the Eternal Spirit and one Spirit with the Lord Jesus in his Resurrection from the Dead All things in Heaven and on Earth of Soul and of Body of Life and of Death are Spirit and Life to us It is true that while we live on Earth a fleshly Spirit a fleshly Image in which Satan hath his Throne have a part in us not as our true selves but as our disguises our diseases our enemy as evil Dreams in our sleep These ofâ—â—n prevail over the Spiritual Man in us and captivate us to many sinful Lusts fears and Griefs But still the Spiritual man in itself which is our true self puts them under its feet and makes them Captives to the Light Love and Immortality of the Spirit The Spirit in us is like the Sua which when we think it under a Cloud or eclipsed by the Moon is so only to our Earthly Light but in truth and to itself it is upon its own Throne of Light triumphantly above the Clouds and the Moon comprehending them in the brightness of its own Glory But besides this in the moment of Death this fleshly Spirit and Image is for ever cast out of all power and rule in a Saint and is entirely subdued to that pure and Heavenly Spirit which is the true Saint which now withâ—â—t any interposing vail or interrupting interval perpetually sees the glorious Face of Jesus Christ in it self which is one Spirit with him and the Glorious Face of the Father in Jesus Christ. Yea one advantage of unexpressible Joy and Glory hath the death of a 〈…〉 of Christ. The Death of Christ had all the stings of 〈…〉 crâ—â—ture â—ver felt or can feel the guilt of Sin 〈…〉 Wrath of the Father all the Powers of Hell in 〈…〉 these stings are taken out of the death of a Saint Christ is risen all the Powers of evil subdued captivated and changed into mysteries of eternal Light and Love in the Glorified Person of Christ by the Virtue of his Resurrection A Believer living and dying stands in the Resurrection of Christ is risen with him in him A Believer is married to Christ as he is risen from the Dead His Life his Death thoroughout all things of them both are Divine Fruits of this marriage-bed brought forth in the Bosom of God to God Break forth then O ye Saints into singing both living and dying tune your last breath to this song of the Lamb and say like him I have set my glorified Jesus my Heavenly Bridegroom and the Father in him before me My glorified Jesus my Heavenly Bridegroom and the Father in him is at my right hand therefore shall I not be greatly moved Therefore doth my Soul rejoyce in Death my Body also sweetly rests in the Grave as in a Marriage-bed in the midst of all Divine delights as Flowers of Paradise strewed upon it It rests in the Bosom of my glorified Jesus my hope This sweet and sure hope is he that will never leave my Soul in the state of Death nor suffer his Holy One
Den the Country a Wilderness all about So is this Fiery Spirit eager to consume all appearances of Life and God upon their first discovery As the Night which entombs all things in it self and makes the richest variety of Shapes but one Lonely shade such a Solitude is the Devil Consider this all ye who cleave to the Noise Glories Pleasures of this world and leave your God least you should be Melancholy See and tremble to see into what a Melancholy Shade what a solitude your souls pass when you die 2. Spectacle Horrour Imagine a world where over your head instead of a Sky black pitchy Clouds perpetually roul not suffering any Glimpse of Light or Day ever to appear under your feet instead of Land or Sea a vast amazing depth which no where by nothing bounds your sight or thought round about you a Desolate Darkness presenting near and at furthest distance all those Forms which are bred in the womb of darkness and carry an astonishing darkness with them to the Senses and Spirits of Men like apparitions Lightnings Shrieks dying Groans roaring Tempests Howling of wild Beasts to a man alone in a Forrest at Midnight Such a world of Horrours is this Evil Spirit Therefore he is set forth by the Outward Darkness where the Worm dies not a Darkness without Light or Limit in which all gnawing Forms of Horrour live Let him that hates not that world of Curses love this world of Varities For the Vanities of one are the Porch to the Vexations of the other 3. Spectacle Torture Every Wound is a Division What are Fears Pains Griefs Death Separations of Desires from their Delights Faculties from their Objects Principles from their Act End Perfection in a word Things from Themselves All Deaths and Tortures then are in the Devil at their heighth in their fullest Power For he is the Principle and Power of Division The Life of this Mighty Creature is a Two-edged Flaming Sword in the midst of itself Each Act and Motion of life is the Brandishing of this Sword Cutting and Burning in every Part and point of life with ten thousand Anguishes 4. Spectacle Ugliness Deformity is Darkness with a Disproportion Darkness in harmony with Light makes a Beauty So the Evening and the Morning make a Day So the Night and sleep are the shade of an Angel's wing dropping sweet sleep and rest on Men. Proportion is a Kind and Image of Unity Disproportion is a Division without any form of Unity Where this Division and Darkness first meet there is the Center of Ugliness the Fountain of ugly things This is the Babel where Ziim and Ijim dwell Unclean Birds Forms dry without any beautiful Water desolate no pleasant plant of Life putting forth it self there irksome and hateful being surrounded with a rude Darkness like rocky uncouth Islands in a Tempestuous Sea or Screech-Owles in a Melancholy Night These are the Four Spectacles of dread death in the Nature of the Devil Solitude Horrour Torture and Ugliness Now make up these Four into One let that One be a Living Spirit of greatest Activity and Capacity This is the Devil the Bottomless Pit of Things the Unpassable Gulf which divides Heaven from Hell This is the Father of Sin and Sinners Now before you commit a Sin propound this Question to your selves Can I eternally wander in a Darkness where I shall never meet Companion or Comfort Can I make everlasting Clouds my Canopy Can I lie under these at Rest Can I sleep sweetly over an unknown roaring Deep Can I imbrace Fire feed on Poysons drink down Tortures like Water Can I make those hateful Shapes at which when they appear the stoutest men grow stiff with horrour and feel their hair to stand on end upon their heads Can I make these ghastly dismal things my Play-fellows If you can do all this then go sin freely But if these be Terrours above Man to bear take heed and start at a Lust more than you would at a Ghost for these are but weak Types of those Tormenting Truths which Sinners must try below For as God makes Heaven so the Devil is the Hell into him do all polluted Souls descend they dwell not only with but in Him Obj. Why should any doubt whether there be a Devil But alass who believes him to be any thing besides a Scar-crow except Children or weak and superstitious Spirits Answ. Yet you that thus reason ask those Principles that govern you Do not Sense and Reason shew that all things have their Roots out of which they rise Are there not such things as Follies Filths and Furies spread through the World Are they not if not the All yet the Greatest part of the word Can these be and no Spring be in which they are United and at their Height This Spring is this Spirit which we call the Devil This is that untam'd Sea of which Job speaks Job 7. 12. Am I a Sea or Whale that thou thus breakest me What pity then is it to see Millions of men go with merry dalliance down the streams of fleshly delights and at the same time to see that Cloudy Sea of Horrours into which they are within a few moments delivered by these streams If every thing make hast to its own Principle and Element Fire to the upper Circle Earth to its Center below If it be Natural for every Plant to bring forth its own Seed then sure it cannot be but that each guilty Soul should sink downward to the Element of Woe and Horrours the Center of Darkness then sure every Sin must at last bring forth a Devil You that love your lusts more than your God learn from your Bodies the state determin'd upon your Souls Your Bodies are Dust and to Dust they must return Your defiled Spirits are of their Father the Devil and to him they must again go when they leave this World This is the first consideration to preserve us from Sin The Nature of the Devil 2. The Nature of Sin We read no where of Mary Magdalen that she was Possess'd according to the common acceptation of that word We read that she was a Sinner eminently absolutely without restraint as if she who is said to have been an Hostess had been an Inne to all Sins Yet she is thus describ'd Mark 16. 9. Mary Magdalen out of whom he had cast Seven Devils All Sins are rankt under Seven Heads These are the Seven Powers of Evil in the Devil which are as so many Devils there These are the Unclean Spirits which go forth from the Mouth of the Dragon into the breasts of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam Fly then from a Sin for 't is a Devil Fly from the sweetest Temptations They may look like Angels but they are the Devil's Angels the most immediate Emanations or Images from that foul Principle Qu. But you will say What is Sin How shall I know it That I may fly from it Ans. You may know it by the Image it
other of the Creature While man stood in Innocency he abode in the Inward Image as his Center in that he Comprehended and Commanded the Image of the Creature The Image of God was Eden the Fountain of pleasures within from thence a River went forth watering the Image of the Creature and making that a Paradise All things were Trees in this Paradise good for food and pleasant to the Eye Trees of perpetual Youth Beauty Pleasure to Man Man was seated in this Inward Image as on his Throne from which he commanded and changed all the Creatures into divers Shapes of Delight at pleasure This is the First Explication 2. Explication The Departure of Man out of this Inward State When Man fell he went forth from his Inward Glory into the Outward Image this is signified Gen. 3. by the Woman yielding her self over to the Will of the Serpent and the Man giving himself up to the Will of the Woman So it was true of Man what is said of the Devils Jude 6. He left his First Estate and his Proper Habitation Now he lived wholly in the Out-forms of things which he broke off from the Inward Image and so made them all an Image of Vanity Darkness and Death keeping the Image of God imprisoned in this Outward Image which suffered it not to put forth itself or appear St. Paul expresseth this Departure as the Root of all Sin Rom. 1. 18. All wickedness is there sum'd up in this Detaining the Truth of God in Unrighteousness That is keeping down the Image of God and True Glory in a corrupt and false Image 3. Explication The return of Man into this Image Man hunting and hunted thorow the exteriour face of things finds neither his desired Prey nor Rest Poor Man oppressed with cares and sorrows he sinks down by a sad Retirement to the bottom of his own Spirit There he happily falls into the bosom of the Divine Image which lay buried under the Ruines of his Soul Here he catcheth some Glimpses of Immortal beauty some Tasts of a high delight some sense of a true Rest. Now he loaths the Empty Tedious Tormenting Follies of this Outer World David experimented this in himself Psal. 16. 7. My Reins instruct me in the Night-season When a Night of nature or melancholy takes away these sensual forms of things from us or makes them a Torture to us then this Hidden Image from the retired Principles of Nature from the secret of our souls puts up itself before us draws us down into itself makes its own Impressions upon us Impressions which have another manner of Light Strength Sweetness in them Now the Soul cries out in the language of Cain to a sweeter purpose How have I been a Fugitive and a Vagabond upon the Earth while I have been driven out from thy Face and Presence and thou beautiful Image of things Come lock me up in thine Embraces that I may never go forth more into that Outward Court of things which is troden down by the Feet of Lusts and Confusions Or if I must go forth again O that I might carry thee forth with me as my Brother that suckt the breasts of my Mother-Nature I would kiss thee and I should not be despised I would enjoy perpetual pleasures in thee and no shame but strength and glory should rest upon me This is the First Change into the Inward State in Nature 2. The Spiritual State in Christ. The Change to this State we are to consider in Three Parts 1. The Preparation in Man 2. The Spiritual State 3. The Passage of Man into it 1. Part. The Preparation in Man to this Spiritual State Man pursued by Griefs from without retired into the Inward Image the Recess of Nature as David into his Cave meeteth with a fresh unexpected view of Beauties here Now he is refresh't now he comes to himself Now he begins to raise himself and say as Samuel did when the eldest Son of Jesse was presented to him Behold the Annointed of God is before me Surely this is no other than the Gate of Heaven But after a little Tryal Man finds this to be but a Natural Image of God an Earthly Paradise only which so soon as it puts forth is ready so soon to dis-appear again He finds it too weak to raise itself clearly from the bottom of those Waters of Vanity Sin and Trouble which have over-flown and over-whelm'd it He perceives it too slight to satisfie him 'T is an Intimation of true joys rather than the Joys themselves 'T is a fair Invitation no full Entertainment Mans joys and hopes here prove to him like the Seed sown in Rocky Ground which springs up suddenly but suddenly withers when once the Sun the Tempting Glories or Scorching Furies of this World beat upon it Now the Soul is as Mary Magdalen at the Grave of her Saviour She looks into her Heart for this Image but finds that gone and her heart as an empty Grave Then she cries O my God who hath taken these Comforts away I thought that these should have delivered me and dwelt for ever with me But wipe away thy Tears distressed Soul As Jesus carryed away his Natural body from Mary to bring it again a Spiritual body So thy God hath withdrawn this Natural Image of divine joyes in thy Spirit but he will restore and bring it into thy soul again a Spiritual Image St. Paul gives thee this Consolation Rom. 8. 3 4. What the Law could not do being weak thorow the flesh c. That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfill'd in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit The weakness of Natures Inward Image prepares the Spirit of Man for the Spiritual State of things 2. Part The Spiritual State itself The Prophet represents this in a Promise Joel 2. 28. I will pour forth my Spirit upon all Flesh. Three things are here to be explained 1. The Spirit 2. Flesh. 3. Effusion or Pouring forth of Spirit upon Flesh. 1. The Spirit is the Unity of things Ephes. 4. 3. The Unity of the Spirit Unity is appropriated to the Spirit This Spirit is the most High God For he is the First Supream only Unity Gal. 3. 20. God is One. God eminently and exclusively is One. This Spirit the Unity is the Fountain and Life of Things All sorts of Life all Beauty every where are Images of this Self-comprehending Aâ—-comprehending Unity This is the Spirit 2. Flesh Flesh and Spirit differ as Unity and Division or which is the same as Life and Death Rom. 8. 6. To be Carnally-minded is Death to be Spiritually-minded is Life and Peace Life is the Unity of Things in which they Contain themselves Death is the Division of Things from themselves Flesh is all Divided Forms of things in the Creature according to the language of the Scripture The Scripture in this sense reckons Angels and Souls of Men as Fleshly things Though Angels are the most United Things the
only feels God's Spirit only hears It is the Counsel of our Lord Jesus Pray to thy Father in Secret and He shall reward thee openly The most Secret things are the most Serious Dost thou commune with thine own Heart upon thy Bed about the things of God and Eternity Do the workings and Labourings of thy Soul after thy Saviour hold thine eyes waking while others are sleeping Solomon tells us The Heart knoweth its own Sorrow and a stranger intermeddles not with its Joys Blessed is he who hath a sense of a Sorrow for Sin and the absence of God which his own Heart only is conscious to Blessed is he who lives on hidden Manna who hath his Bosom still warmed with a secret Flame of Divine Love and Joy to which all others are Strangers Man hath as St. Paul teacheth a Spirit a Soul a Body So hath Religion God the Eternal Object and Spring of our Religion is the Spirit our Inward Affections are the Soul our outward Actions the Body Outward Actions most glorious if they go alone make but a Dead Religion are a Body without a Soul Inward Affections without God make but a Brutish Religion a Soul in a Body without the Immortal Spirit I now conclude this Application 2. Use For Direction I will divide this into a Threefold Direction 1. Direction Entertain mournful Tempers as Angels Improve them as Treasures When Jonah was in the bottom of the Sea and belly of the Fish his Soul fainting within him then he remembred the Lord Jonah 2. 7. As Pearls are found at the bottom of the Sea so frequently do the Beauties of the Lord Jesus disclose themselves to us in the depths of Grief when we are sunk below the waters of this world and are swallowed up into a Spirit of Darkness It is St. James's advice Jam. 1 4. Let Patience have its perfect work and it shall make you perfect As one Element stretcht to the utmost passeth into another Water into Air Air into Fire as a Cloud big and swelling dissolves it self upon the Earth so thy Griefs if thou wait calmly upon them as they swell and grow will at length dissolve themselves into God As Snow and Frost cherish the Seed in the ground so do biting and binding Sorrows both kill the weeds of Vanity and ripen the Seed of Divinity in Man I can no more want Sorrows for my Soul than the Husband-man can want Winter seasons for his Corn fields As natural Melancholy draws the Soul deeply into her self and her Divinest Principles whence she issues forth again with the most great and glorious Lights so do sad things work upon a holy Spirit sinking her thorow her self into the Depths of the Godhead out of which she riseth renewed to a fresh Spring of Life and Joy 2. Direction Look stedfastly to the end of all Flesh. In every Pleasure Strength Glory see the Worm and the Fire which is bred in all fleshly things the one never to go out the other never to die till Flesh be no more The belly for meats and meat for the belly but God shall destroy them both and I will be in bondage to neither saith St. Paul If thou engage thy Soul in any earthly Content thou puttest thy self into a Prison whence you must come by Death or where Death will find you Why should I put on that which I must keep on with lasting vexations or put off with present Pains The world and my senses were made one for another The Devil hath defiled and disordered both God distractâ— and will destroy both The Joy of my Life and my Life shall depend oâ— neither 3. Direction Preserve Hope towards God ever alive in thy self Hos. 2. 15. We read of the Door of Hope Hope is the Door of Happiness This admits us into the Godhead He that suffers Hope to sink under Despair in his Spirit locks and bars up the Door of Heaven against himself Prov. 13. 12. Hope deferr'd makes the heart sick But Hope cut off kills the Heart and makes it lie dead in Sin and Flesh. He will lay his mouth in the Dust if there may be Hope Give a man Hope and you cast the Seed of a New Soul of God into him What saith one May I the vilest of men the lowest of creatures hope to be pardoned Nay more to be loved to be made partaker of a Divine Spirit and Glory May I thus lâ—st hope this Then will I fear worship serve God do suffer any thing for him or from him I will lay my mouth in the Dust at his feet if I may have Hope Hope declares the most right and most sweet thoughts of God It sets the Soul in the rightest and sweetest frame towards God He exalts God and gives him the highest Glory that dares at worst to hope for the best things from him He that praiseth me he honoureth me saith God Psal. 50. There are Two Grounds for Hope which never fail 1. God is nigh thee Acts 15. Thou hast thy Being in him Thou wer 't made by Jesus Christ thou subsistest in him as in thy Root Thou art the work of his hand the Son of his Handmaid Nature Thy Natural Being is a putting forth a manifestation of Christ. Wait alwaies in Hope for his highest and divinest manifestations which come after this Thine eyes shall see them if thou let not go thy Hope but wait conâ—idently to the end 2. God is Infinite He is All All that thou canst think or wish For thou couldst not think or wish any thing if it were not first in him He is beyond thy Distresses or Desires Hope then ever in this God who is already in thee who is Infinite whose Power is above all thy Pressures whose Love is above his own Wrath. Christ is called our Hope Christ in you the Hope of Glory to signifie that Hope is the Son of God and his Image growing in us that Hope should have no Ground but Christ and then be as its Ground Immortal Inâ—inite Thus much for the Second Part in this Point of Conversion The Circumstances There is yet remaining the Third Part the Causes of this Change 3. Part. The Cause of our Change or Conversion This is manifold Some Causes are essential some only Occasional Some remote some near Yet all are as Links in a Chain one depending on another St. Paul scatters all these Causes within the compass of a few verses 1 Tim. 2. 1. I will therefore that prayers be made for all men 3. For God will have all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth 4. For there is one God and one Mediator the man Christ Iesus 5. Who hath given himself a ransom for all to be revealed in due time All the Causes of our Conversion are in these words comprehended under Five Heads 1. Cause The Relation of God to Man 2. Cause The Mediation of Iesus Christ. 3. Cause The Manifestation of the Truth 4. Cause The Ministry of Man
and then feeding their Spirit from thine who gave thee all these The secret of the Almighty was with thee 2. Principle The Removal of the Divine Presence is the Root of all Bitterness in this Life When God withdraws he draws in all his Blessings as the Sun often goes in and gives up the Sky and Day to dark Clouds What wilt thou do when like wretched Saul The Philistines are upon thee and God hath forsaken thee When Perplexity shall take hold of thy Spirit when there shall be no Counsel or Comfort left because God hath forsaken thee What then can all thy Pleasures or Honours do Will they not be as miserable Comforters as the Witch of Endor to Saul presenting thee with Devils under God-like forms ill-boding foretelling thy death and Ruine When our dear Saviour was on the Cross he did not cry out O my Disciples why do ye fly from me or deny me O ye Iews my Brethren why do ye wound so bloodily my Feet Hands and Head No but he cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me This broke his heart David complains in Psal. 30. 7. Thou hast made my Mountain strong but thou didst turn away thy face and I was troubled Place a man in a Wilderness of Horrours in a Sea of Flames let the Secret of God be with him and he will fear he will feel no Evil. Plant a man on a Mountain where he may not only with Christ see but possess all the Delights and Glories of this World let God be gone and you may call them all Ichabod where 's the Glory Where 's the Delight The whole Mountain will moulder into Melancholy and crumble away into Griefs O! Fear to estrange this God from you by a neglect of him on whose Presence all your present Joyes depend Fear to put out his Light in your Souls by your Lusts fear to chase away by your hardnesses and Rebellions that God who when he removes his Glory from off any Person or Place gives up all to ruine and leaves a Hell behind him This is the first Persuasive 2. Persuasive Fear the lâ—ss of Divine Enjoyments after Death Is there any thing any where more moving more full of sweetness than the language of the Apostle 1 Thes. 4. 18. Then we shall be for ever with the Lord. Comfort ye one another with these words I will present your Spirits with the force of this place in three short Propositions 1. Proposition Thâ—re is a Lord over all a supream Principle or Power which makes maintains manages all the Creatures a Spirit of Strength and Wisdom which governs the affairs of the whole World Thus St. Paul speaks 1. Cor. 8. 6. To us there is one God the Father of whom are All one Lord Jesus by whom are All. 2. Proposition This Lord is the best of all things As he is over so he is above all 1 Cor. 2. 8. St. Paul calls him the Lord of Glory The Heathens teach us that the God of the Sun is the God of Musick because he tempers with his Beams and tunes all the visible world This Lord our Lord is the God of Light Beauty Musick the God of all Sweetnesses Glories Blessednesses For he tunes both the visible and invisible World to a happy Harmouy 3. Proposition All good Spirits are the Friends all evil Spirits the Enemies of this Lord. Each pure lightsome peaceful Spirit comes from this Jesus and goes to him again when it goes off the Stage of this Earth as a Beam darted from his Glory and drawn up to him again Each dark unclean disorderly Spirit is cut off and cast out from him One is every where in Scripture stiled His Child His Brother The other is thus spoken to by him Depart from me ye cursed Now what joy is it when a man in all the troubles of Life can comfort himself with these words and say This Life will quickly end then shall I be ever with the Lord my Lord the Lord of Blâ—ssedness Who can express the Peace and Pleasure of that Soul within which lies upon its Death-bed and in the last moment of its abode in the World comforts itself with these words Now I must be uncloath'd of all Being or Appearance among men on Earth for ever But it is that I may be for ever in the naked Embraces of the Eternal Spirit of Life and Beauty I go from hence for ever but I go to be for ever with the Lord. I had faintâ—d saith David if I had not hoped to see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living Who can tell those fainting fits in the midst of highest Pleasures those bitter Soul-turning Qâ—aulmes in fullest Glories which those men have that have no hope to see the Goodness of the Lord after this Life Many pangs many pangs of remorse and anguish pangs far beyond the pangs of a natural Death hath that dying Soul which hath no hope to live with God after Death Fear then this Loss so great so irreparable Fear to be prophane like Esau to sell your Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage to fell your hopes of Heaven for a short Satisfaction to your sensual Appetite 3. Persuasive Fear what God can do What cannot he do to make you miserable who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh He can let forth Five Spirits upon you 1. Spirit of Diseases 2. Spirit of Folly and Falshood 3. Spirit of Melancholy 4. Spirit of Ruine 5. His own Spirit 1. Spirit of Diseases God can send a Spirit of Diseases into thy Body to strike thee with Worms with some foul and sharp sickness till thou dye a loath'd and horrid Death Thus he did to King Herod in the Acts. Can all thy Physicians then cure thee 2. Spirit of Folly and Falshood God can send into thy Breast a Lying Spirit that shall carry the on to foolish Counsels that thou mayst perish Thus he did with King Ahab Can thy Wisdom foresee or prevent this 3. Spirit of Melancholy God can let forth upon thee a Spirit that shall sit upon thy Brain and Heart like a black Cloud distilling poyson upon both This shall be thy inseparable Companion at Table and Bed in society in solitude to vex thee perpetually This shall make thy sweetest Delights thy dearest Relations a Burthen and a disease to thee This shall make thy surest Strengths and firmest aids a matter of continual Suspicion and mortal Jealousy to thee Thus he did with King Saul What delights or businesses can now divert thee 4. Spirit of Ruine God can let upon thee as upon Job a Spirit like a devouring Sea or Storm This shall take away from thee thy whole Estate from thy Children their Life from thy Wife and wisest Friends their Affection and Tenderness This will fill thy Skin with Noysomness thy veins with Fire thy Bones with Pains thy Head with black vapours This shall take away all rest from thy Sleeps filling them with affrighting
Woman to the Man This is plain by comparing those Two Places Psal. 8. 5. Thou hast made him that is man a little lower than the Angels Heb. 2. 5. Unto Angels he hath not put in subjection the World which is to come But unto Jesus Christ That is implyed in the Place The Law is the Law of the Husband Now the Law was administred by Angels the Ministring Spirits which are Principalities and Powers of this Creation as the Vice-Gerents of God Now St. Paul saith that by the Body of Christ that Husband died which held us in Subjection to the Law The whole Frame of Nature was shaken by the Death of Christ and must fall by the Power of it Then St. Paul adds that we were subject to the Law while we were in the Flesh. All these things make it plain that by the Flesh he understands the State of Nature in its highest Principles and utmost Extent Thus much for the First Term Flesh. 2. Letter This is the Image of God in Flesh. Letter and Spirit are opposed by St. Paul as Old and New Rom. 7. 4. And he teacheth us that by the Death of the Flesh in the Body of Christ we are freed from our Service to God in the Oldness of the Letter St. Paul opposeth Spirit and Letter as Inward and Outward He calleth that the Letter which is Outward in the Flesh Rom. 2. 28 29. The Spirit is Jesus Christ as He is the Heavenly Image of God within in the Heart of God 2. Cor. 3. 15. This is that which is Inward under the Vail of Flesh. The Letter is the Image of God in the outward Man as it is drawn forth from and discovered in the Principles of the first Creation which is the Vail 3. The Law This is the State of the Soul while she lives in the Letter and hath Communion with God only by the Letter St. Paul thus describes a Legal State Gal. 4. 3. When we were Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infants we were in Bondage under the Elements of the World While we are under the Law we are Infants we have neither the Ear nor the Heart nor the Mouth of the Spirit and the Spiritual man in our Souls We are Uncapable of Taking in or making out God in his own Divine Image according to Spiritual Principles or the Elements of the New Creation Therefore we are in Bondage to Natural Principles and Reasonings We are bound up within the Compass of this Creation as in a Prison We are unskill'd in unacquainted with any Principles or Appearances of things besides those of this Creation We compare Spiritual Things by these Things of Nature We hear God with the Ear we speak of him with the Tongue of this Creation We receive and cherish such Notions of God as are agreeable with this Frame The Manifestations of God which spring from Spiritual Principles from the Face of God himself are Barbarians to us while we are under the Law To the Law of Nature to the Testimony of Reason to the Elements of this World whatsoever speaketh not according to these whatsoever casteth off or doth not cloth its Speakings with these Forms though it be the Spirit Himself hath no Light in it to our Understandings while we are under the Law These Elements or Forms in which we are tied up while we are under the Law are 1. Weak 2. Dark 3. Beggarly 4. Old 1. Forms are weak Things They have only the Shadows of Good Things to come They have not the Substance They cannot give us the Good Things Themselves Forms set the Picture of our Beloved before our Eyes but they cannot lay the Person Himself in our Arms. They are but a Letter from our Husband They have not the Spirit of our Husband in them 2. Forms in the knowledge of God are Dark Things They can give us no clear or certain Discoveries The greatest Light of Communion or Comfort that can come while we are shut up in Forms is but like a Spark from a Flint at Midnight It hath much Doubt Diffidence and Fear mingled with it 3. Forms are Beggerly Things They cannot lay open before us the Unsearchable Riches of Christ. Jesus Christ is Rich in Glory He can fill all Appearances He can bring forth Innumerable Appearances He hath Glory above all appearances which the Creature is capable of He can bring forth more Glory into thy Heart than can be made out in thy Heart itself by any Appearance The Power of Glory which thy Spirit feels shall be above the Appearance which it sees 1 Corin. 14. 14. Ephes. 3. 19. How poor then and Beggarly must that Spirit be in the knowledge of the Glory of God which is shut up in any one Form in any one Sort or Degree of Manifestations While thou canst not part with any Particular Form of Appearance while thy Spirit is not indifferent and universal extending itself to all Forms in the Manifestation of God while thou art not above the Forms of this World Thou wilt be but a Beggar in thy Divine Discoveries or Enjoyments He must be above the Letter in the Spirit above and out of all Created Images in the Light of Life itself that will attain to those Riches of assurance of a full understanding in the Mystery of God and Christ which St. Paul speaks of Coloss. 2. 2. 4. Forms are Old God hath blasted all Forms and Ways of his Appearing by the Principles and Elements of the Creature If they have had any Beauty yet now they are Blear-eyed If they have been Fruitful yet now they are become a Barren Womb which is as the Grave The Cross of Christ and the Glory of his Appearance in the Spirit have taken away the Life and Glory of all Manifestations or Administrations in the Flesh. They are Old Withered Decayed and Dying The more our Saviour shines out in the Glory of his Father the more will they Droop till they drop quite into the Dust 4. Sign Solicitude Rest and want of Rest are the distinguishing Notes of a Legal or Evangelical State His Rest shall be Glorious saith the Prophet of the Lord Jesus in the Times of the Gospel Esa. 11. 10. Come to me saith our Saviour to those under the Law You that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest Mat. 11. 28. A Legal Spirit hath a Four-fold Solicitude 1. Solicitude for Acceptance of the Person 2. Solicitude for Assiance in Perplexities 3. Solicitude for Light in the way 4. Solicitude for Life in the work of Grace 1. Solicitude for Acceptance of the Person While the Soul is under the Law the Seed of God Jesus Christ is not yet come up nor revealed within her She sits therefore trembling in the Dark sometimes Confident that it is a Seed of Love sometimes as Peremptory that it is a Seed of Wrath which lies hid in her So she is perplexed and anxious in herself St. Paul teacheth us Coloss. 2. 2. that
from God Now being brought under the Law thou art near to Him When thou shalt be brought up into the Light of the Gospel thou wilt see thy self in Him 4. Priviledge Peculiar Worship The Covenants the giving of the Law The Service of God pertained to the Israelites Rom. 9. 3. Thou art an Israelite a Kinsman of Christ and all the Saints nay a Brother according to the Flesh if thou hast the Work of the Law upon thy Heart The Covenant nay both Covenants in the Letter in the Outward Dispensation and Administration belong to thee Thou hast a Right to all the Ordinances and to every Instituted Service of God The Promises in the Proposal of them concern thee in the First Place Go then to the Sacraments Pray Read the Word Hearken to the Promises whatever thy Troubles or Terrours be These are appointed for thee to keep to Comfort to carry thee on till Christ be revealed in thee 5. Priviledge The Pledge and Type of Spiritual and Eternal things Rom. 9. 4. The Promises The Fathers Christ according to the Flesh. When thou feelest the Bondage of the Law to lie heaviest upon thee thou hast this to comfort thy self with All the Saints of old in whose Loyns the Life and Heirs of all Grace and Glory lay lived in this State and were subject to the Law even until death Jesus Christ Himself was born of Legal Parents and made under the Law Besides The Law is a Fleshly Image of all the Joys of the Gospel and the Spirit and Heaven The Law holds them forth all not in the Type or Image only but in the Prophecy of them as being certainly to come Moses and the Prophets go together and Moses himself is One of the Chief of the Prophets As Christ according to the Flesh was an Israelite so the Law is the Beauty and Glory of Christ in the Flesh testifying of itself and its own coming in the Spirit Sit down then under thy Fig-tree under the Shadow of the Law with good Nathaniel till thy Vine be grown up There look on Him who seeth thee Behold that Glory which looks forth in the Law as in a Fleshly Image of itself Feed thy self with the Expectations of his Shining out whom this Image prophesies of to thee When he discovers himself thou shalt know that He was in Covenant and Communion with thee even when thou wert under the Fig-tree 6. Priviledge You may have a Precious Seed in you While you are Legal you are in Bondage to many Fears and Terrours You weep for you say you can discover nothing of Christ in you It is true the Seed is not come up yet but it may be Sown You come not Rejoycing and bearing your Sheafs with you yet you may be those who go forth weeping and carrying your Precious Seed with you When Darkness would drive you to Despair then take to your selves the words of St. Paul Gal. 3. 23. Before Faith that is the Revelation of Christ in my Flesh I am kept under the Law under Terrours and Rigours Shut up in Darkness and Fear from all Comforts or Confidence unto the Faith that Appearance of Christ which shall be revealed but now is hid as a Seed only in me Though thou canst not yet with good old Simeon sing over Jesus Christ in thine Arms a Song of Peace and Rest to thy Soul yet thou mayst with Mary have him in thy Womb. This Burthen which thou bearest and goest with so heavily may be the Burthen of the Lord the Immortal Word in thee These Pangs which thou feelest may be not to the Death of thy Soul but the Birth of a Son a Saviour whose coming forth shall make thee to forget all thy Sorrows and Rejoyce because a Son is born unto thee by which Birth thou art no more a Servant but a Son I have now done speaking of the Servile and come to the Son-like State in Religion 2. The Son-like State This is known by a Four-fold Property 1. Love 2. Life 3. Spirituality 4. Resignation 1. Property Love I shall shew this in two places of Scripture 1. Scripture Galat. 4. 6. Because ye are Sons he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father St. Paul in these words toucheth four Things which will much open this Point and this Particular 1. The Sonship of a Saint 2. The Concealment of this Sonship 3. The Discovery of it 4. The Effect of this Discovery 1. The Sonship of a Saint This is the Union of a Saint in one Spirit with him who is the only begotten Son of the Father Jesus Christ. It is the Fellowship of the Person of a Saint in one Life one Image with the Person of his blessed Saviour The Apostle unites these two our being Sons and our having the Spirit of his Son And that which St. Paul in this place calls The Spirit of His Son he calls the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8. 15. That Spirit which is the Spirit of all the Sons of God 2. The Concealment of this Sonship The coming of the Spirit into our Souls doth not make us Sons but manifests us to be such We are First Sons and then the Spirit of his Son is sent forth into our Spirits So we read plainly Because ye are Sons he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts While we live in sin and slavery we are in truth Sons though we be as Princes in disguise Yet ever God retains in himself the Root and Image of our Persons as of Sons So our State of Sonship is twice hid once in the Secret of divine Glory again under the Shadow of our Flesh. 3. The Discovery of this Sonship This is by the sending of the Spirit into our Hearts This Spirit is manifold Ephes. 4. 3. Keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Where the Unity is kept by a Bond there a Multiplicity is clearly signified 1 Cor. 12. 13. We are all baptized by one Spirit into one Body Christ and his Saints are there spoken of All these together are one Body of Divinity and Glory Each particular Saint is a Member of this Glory a Son or Child of this Divinity Each one hath the same Spirit which comprehends all the Persons of our Saviour and his Brethren God in his own time sends down this Spirit upon every one of his Sons When it comes it discovereth in itself thy Saviours Person and thine in one Light Life and Form in one Relation to God as being both Sons The Spirit shining forth in thy Spirit shews itself at once One with God and One with Thee So it becomes both the Witness and the Evidence of thy Relation to God as of a Son to a Father Therefore St. Paul teacheth us Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit beareth witness with our Spirits that we are the Sons of God The Spirit is the Brightness of the Godhead which as it descends into our bosoms opens the Godhead to
thy hearts desire Acquaint thy self with the Lord and he shall shew thee thy hearts desire in shewing thee himself What is God Esa. 57. 15. He is the High and Holy One that inhabits Eternity What then shalt thou see in the Discovery of God Thou shalt see Excellency and Joy at their Height and fixt there unchangeable Eternal as Eternity itself without any Change which is the cause of all Loss and Death without any Shadow of Change which makes all Fear and Melancholy What is God See by Jesus Christ who is the Image of God You read of him Ephes. 1. 10. God hath gathered up all things into One in Him What then shalt thou see in the Appearance of God Thou shalt see all those Forms of things which affrighted and opprest thee in Shapes as Delightful as Delight itself For thou shalt see all things in One in Christ. Thou shalt see all Varieties of things in One Beauty as the various Mixtures of that with itself or Multiplications in itself Thou shalt see thy self immortal in a State of full Glory according to that which St. Paul speaks 2 Tim. 1. 9. The Grace which was given us in Christ before the World was Thou shalt see those dear Relations those sweet Contents which thou hast lost and over which thou bitterly mournest breaking thine Heart or which thou fearest to lose and so livest ever trembling in this Fear Thou shalt see all these living together in one Blessedness present before thee in one view never to die never to be lost when once thou seest God in thy Soul For all things live to God Thy dead Joys are still living in him Death itself which kill'd them and threatens thee lives a lovely life there What is God God is Love What then shalt thou see when thou seest God Thou shalt see a pure unmixt absolute unconfin'd Love Thou shalt see all things having their Being in Love because they have their Being in God Thou shalt see all things animated by a Life of Love inspired by a Spirit of Love because God is the Quickning Spirit of all O Sweet Sight To see every thing quickned by Love and so made perfectly Loving every thing clothed with Love and so made perfectly Lovely This he sees that sees God made manifest to him Now as the Woman said of our Saviour Behold a man that hath told me all that ever was in my heart may not we say this of the Knowledge of God Behold a Light in which you shall see all that ever was in your heart to hope wish or imagine Is not this the Wisdom which is sweeter than Honey Richer than Pearl Better for traffick than fine Gold Even the Knowledge of God in the opening of which all delights flow forth all Beauties sparkle all wares of Blessedness offer themselves and press in upon your Spirits Seek then the Knowledge of God in the first and last place in all places for it is in the place of all things This is the first Exhortation 2. Exhortation Let nothing keep you at a distance from God Where can you be so well as in the Bosom of Him who loves you Nay who is Love Nay who is Love to you if you will receive Him For he is all Love Whatever departs from God departs from Love and goes towards Wrath Enmity Hatred take heed how you trust your self to any thing that tempts you from God whatever it pretends It cannot come from Love or bring Love with it It is an Enemy and seeks to betray you by winning you from your sweetest Strength The Blossom of a Vanity or Sin may be fair to the Eye But Hatred is the Root and will be the Fruit. Every thing of Love is of God and carries the heart to God Hatred faith Solomon breeds strife Canst thou look for Peace I say not Pleasure in that Temptation which draws thee down from Love into Hatred 3. Exhortation Walk worthy of God If you be His Sons you are Sons of Love a Love which is untainted with Particular respects a Love which is Invincible by any unsuitableness or opposition a Divine Love Cherish such a Love in your selves shew it to others Let your Love be your Selves as it is in God that you may as soon cease to be as cease to Love Let Love appear wherever you appear like your Selves Let your Love be as Universal as your Conversation Let it be your Nature Let your Love be like Aarons Ointment poured forth upon the Head of things the Godhead and running down thorow all the Creatures to the very lowest Skirts the least of Things Be you Love as God is Love exalteth not itself For it dwelleth with all things as One in One. Love thinketh no Evil. For it looketh upon all things thorow One and judgeth of them as they appear in that One. Love is not angry For Union is its Life and all its Streams are sent forth from that sweet Spring Love is not suspicious For it makes itself One with All and gathers up all into One Principle with itself Love worketh no ill For it possesseth converseth with enjoys each several thing in One. So every thing to Love is Love's Self Thus God is Love Thus be you if you be Sons of God This is to be Perfect as your heavenly Father is 2. Property Life Heb. 7. 16. Who that is Christ was not made according to the Law of a carnal command but the power of an Endless Life A Comparison is made in this Scripture between the Priesthood of Aaron and our blessed Saviour Aaron was a Priest of the first Covenant the Law The Lord Jesus was the Priest of the New Covenant the Gospel He that lives under the Priesthood of the One is a Servant He that lives under the Priesthood of the Other is a Son We have a Threefold Opposition between these Two States the Servile and the Son-like The First Opposition is between Law and Life A Law is something imposed a Compact a Treaty between Two Life is something Inbred A Principle a Spring a Unity The Second Opposition is between a Law-command and a Life-power A Command works by violence and force from without uncertainly A Power of Life works kindly constantly inwardly and sweetly The Third Opposition is between Time and Eternity The Law of a Carnal Command a carnal or Fleshly Command decays and dies it begins and ends in Time as every thing of Flesh doth But the Gospel is the Power of an Endless life He that lives as a Servant under the Law lives in Fleshly Principles which are frail false and fading The impressions which he hath of goodness are made by terrour and work unkindly They are like Images in water dark ever vanishing if they be not maintained by outward objects Ordinances Duties Sermons Books Men. He that lives as a Son under the Gospel lives in a Divine Principle is naturally good If you ask why this man is good against the stream of all earthly
things which are evil It is his Nature to be so For he is made partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. If you ask how he comes to love imitate grow up into an unseen Glory the Eternal Spirit It is his Life to do so As every Plant hath its proper Life by which it is formed and grows So to this man his God his Jesus is his Life You may wonder that a Son of God should continually flow forth into Spiritual Discourses continually bath himself in high hidden heavenly Joys continually be mastering Lusts and Passions in despight of Temptations without and within him continually maintain a Lowly and Lovely temper in this froward world But all this is no wonder for he is carried on by the Power of an Endless indissoluble invincible life This is the Second Property of a Son-like State 3. Property Spirituality 1 Corin. 3. 1. I could not speak to you as unto Spiritual but as unto Carnal Babes in Christ. Galat. 4. 1. The Heir while he is a Child differs nothing at all from a Servant though he be Lord of all These two places laid together shew that a Babe in Christ and Servant in religion are both the samething as also that a Servant and a Son are distinguished by their Spirituality and Carnality He is a Son that is Spiritual St. Paul giveth Two Descriptions of Spirituality in this Chapter to the Corinthians 1. Description Spirituality feeds itself on Meat not on Milk v. 2. I could not feed you with Meat but with Milk A Spiritual Person feeds and lives on Divine things not only as they are represented in Fleshly Types and Images but as they are presented in their own Shape and Figures Our Saviour complains of Nicodemus John 3. 12. If I have spoken to you of Earthly things and you receive them not how would you understand them if I should speak of Heavenly If now you do not understand me when I speak of Heavenly things in an Earthly manner by resemblances taken from below how would you take in or bear Heavenly things express'd in their own language set before you in their own form and Glories The Heathens have a Fable of Semele a Lady who had the chief God for her Lover She desired that she might see him in the Form and Majesty of a God She had her desire and dyed opprest by the weight of Glory In like manner if you should shew the mysteries of God and the Gospel to low and legal Spirits by their own Light without the Shadowings of Fleshly Similitudes and Parables you would undo their Religion confound their understandings drive them to despair deadness or profaneness This is the First Description of Spirituality 2. Description Spirituality keeps the Unity of things 1 Cor. 3. 7. While there are divisions among you are you not carnal Every thing is Carnal which makes Division that alone is Spiritual which maintains the Unity 1 Gen. 28. Man was made in the Image of God and to have dominion over all the Fowl Fish and Beasts Man was the Harmony and Unity of this lower World He knits up into one Frame of Life and Beauty the divers Natures of all the several Creatures Thus he was the Image of God This First Earthly man was the Type only of the Second the Spiritual man Coloss. 2. 18. Many are blamed not so much for looking into the Nature of Angels as for not looking upon them by a right Light in a right Posture Not holding the Head Not beholding the various glories of Angels in the Divine Unity of Christ's Person A Spiritual man takes not away the Differences of things he allows owns them in their utmost variety latitude and distance But he tunes them and attones them 1 Cor. 12. 23 25. St. Paul makes the Body of man a Figure of this truth There are many Members The greater Comeliness is put upon the more uncomely parts So there is no schism in the Body Thus the Son of God knows that there are divers Parts of things the pleasant and the painful Part the dark and the light Part the comely and the uncomely He knows also that the highest Pleasures are put upon the most painful Part that the eternal lighâ— rests upon the greatest darkness that the most uncomely Things are cloathed with a divine Comeliness as the Death of Christ. So there is no Schism in the Body of things to him He makes or finds a Unity every where St. Paul sets out Spirituality at large 1. Cor. 2. 10 11. No man knows the things of a man save the Spirit of man No man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God The Spirit searcheth out the deep things of God A Saint while he is Carnal knows those things only which lie within the Compass of a humane Spirit and divine things only so far as they are shadowed out in the Spirit of man But he that is Spiritual knows all things the things of God as they shine out in the Spirit of God He sees the great Deep of the Godhead discovered in the Spirit and all things as forms floating upon this Deep as the waters of this Abyss This is an eminent difference between a Carnal and Spiritual Christian. A Carnal Christian sees Heavenly things only as Images stamp'd upon an earthly Substance represented in an earthly Principle A Spiritual Christian sees earthly things as Images in a Heavenly Substance and Principle 1. Cor. 2. 13. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned Comparing spiritual things with spiritual A Servile Saint is in the Fleshly Principle as in his own Place He therefore measures every thing by Fleshly Grounds and Objects He receives each thing as it is proportion'd to fleshly Appearances and Notions or prompted by fleshly Apprehensions and Impressions A Son-like Saint is in the Spirit as in his Element He therefore receives things according to the Suggestions and Infusions of the Spirit he compares them with the Appearances and Workings of the Spirit so he tryes and judges them This is the Third Property of a Son-like Saint Spirituality 4. Property Resignation The Son of God practiseth this Resignation in Three Cases in 1. Wants 2. Woes 3. Works 1. Resignation in Wants Matth. 6. 31 32. Our Saviour takes off his Disciples from a Solicitude concerning Worldly Supplies by putting them in mind of the Relation between their God and them After all these things the Heathen take care Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things A Son-like Christian thus disputes it in himself The little Child plays freely before his Father He takes no thought what he shall eat at Supper what he shall put on to morrow He leaves all that to his Father to provide I also will cast off all care from me upon my Father He knows what is necessary for the maintenance of my Being of the Beauty Comfort of my Being every moment Let those be troubled with these anxieties who know no God or know
not that God to be their Father It is my Fathers Pleasure to take care of me It shall be my only care to please him If I be careful for any outward thing my care shall be not a Solicitude for my self but Obedience to Him Yet the care of this also shall be upon him For if my Father cloath the Flowers and my Flesh will he not much more cloath my Soul if He feed the Birds and my Body will He not much more feed my immortal Part with food convenient for it 2. Resignation in Woes When our dear Lord saw a black Sea of Horrours ready to break upon him when he heard the Tempest of Divine wrath now roar about him in the midst of all this he maintains a Calm upon his Spirit by a Resignation of himself and all things to his Father Father not my Will but Thine be done There is nothing so natural as for a Child to run to the lap of its Parents in extremities and to have a Confidence in them It is as natural for a Child of God in pains or griefs to cast itself into the arms of God and there to breath forth its sorrows after such a manner as this My God thou art my Father thou hast a greater share in me than I have in my self I was thine before I was mine own Thou gavest my Being to me and me to my self O how great is thy Dearness towards me thine own How great is thy Delight in me Thou art far nearer to me than my Self to my Self I have my Being not in my Self but in Thee I am the Branch thou art the Sap the Spirit that runs thorow this Branch and quickens it How much more quick more deep more full a Sense hast thou my God of all my Sufferings than I can have Thou canst do all things Thou hast Strength I have none Thou knowest all things Thou hast Wisdom I have none I then give over my whole Being unto thee Bear me as thou dost always in thine Arms and carry me whither thou wilt Comprehend me as One with Thee Let me be Thine be Thou mine and do what thou wilt with me I can fall no lower than thou fallest with me When I am at lowest I shall have thy Power and Wisdom beneath me As thou risest thou shalt raise me together with thy self by These Application Use. 1. A Conviction of the Evil in Sin Can I think and not think that I have a Being Can I think that I have a Being and not think that I have it from God the Fountain of Being Can I think that I have my Being from Him and not think of Him as my Father Can I think of Him as of a Father and oppose my Will to His Will and cherish in my Breast an Enmity against him This I do as often as I Sin Is there any thing so Unnatural as Sin I will press this Dissuasion from Sin by a Two-fold Aggravation of the Evil in it 1. Aggravation There is no Obligatiâ—n like to that of a Child to its Father A Mans Wife is his Glory 1 Corin. 11. 8. But it is the Glory of an Image For the Man is the Head of the Woman who is of the Man But the Father is the First the Fountain Glory of the Child its Head For the Child is of the Father God is the Father of us all our Head our Glory Do we then refuse to be guided by him Do we chuse our Shame instead of him Can we cut our selves off from him to unite our selves to vanity and make our Lusts our Head A Man should love his Wife as his own Body saith St. Paul Ephes. 5. 28. A Man's Wife is as Himself But a Father is more The Lord Jesus said It is more Blessed to give than to receive The Child is to honour to love its Father above itself as a greater a more Blessed Thing as that which gives itself to itself Our God is our Father How unnatural then is it to prefer our Self nay the Brutish the sensual part of our selves nay the Disorders of that part before Him The Apostle fitly joyned these Two Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God without natural Affection 2. Aggravation There is no such Father as God is God is twice our Father once by Nature another time by Grace When we Sin against him we are his Enemies four times over 1. We deface his Image in our Natural man 2. We obscure and oppose his Heavenly Image 3. We grieve the Spirit of His Grace 4. We crucifie his Son Shall we be less than Men to him because he is more than a Friend to us Shall we be worse than Single Enemies to him because he is better than a Single Father to us O Let us take heed how we refuse the Commands of our God as a Father lest we receive not from him the Comforts of a Father in our Confusions and Desolations when we shall most need them lest we be not received by Him into the Bosom of a Father when Death shall take away all other Refuges Use. 2. Exhortation Consolation to the Children of God Maintain the Affections and Obedience of Children towards God Have the Confidence and Comfort of Children in God Remember this always that God is your Father It was this that carryed on Jesus Christ with so much Integrity and Industry thorow Life thorow Death Jobn 17 4. Father I have finished the Work which thou gavest me to do It was this comforted Jesus Christ in the Darkest Night of Affliction when he was forsaken by all his followers and Friends John 16. 24. Yet I am not alone for my Father is with me Would you have Oyl for the Wheels of your Spirit to make it run swiftly smoothly and sweetly thorow the hardest and roughest Employments Say this over often to your Spirits This is the Work of my Father Would you have Oyl for the Lamp of your Hearts to make it burn with a bright and chearful Fâ—ame in the greatest Trouble Say this over often to your Hearts This is the Will of my Father Enforce this double Uâ—e upon thy self by Three Considerations 1. Consider God is by Nature more than a Natural Father to thee Thou hast thy Being not only of but in Him In Him we live and move and have our Being Acts 17. 28. Can then thy God forget thee or thou neglect Him while thou art in his Power his Presence his Arms his Bosom There thou art ever Canst thou lie in his Embraces grow up out of his Heart and see him frown at Sin and yet Sin and yet not melt under his Frown Can he hold thee in his Spirit as one Spirit with him and hear thee groan and feel thy heart beat and yet not melt over thee 2. Consider God is by nature many Fathers to thee The Continuation of thy Being is a continued Creation For it flows forth from God fresh every moment So many moments as there are in
Millions from such as do them no harm and then say With such Sacrifices God is well pleased that God who is Love O take heed of Sin it blows up in a mans Breast the Fire of Hell it strangely corrupts Nature itself consumes all good Nature in Man There is no Notion so common no Principle so plain in the minds of men which it will not darken and deprave It will make you believe that Hellish Passions are Heavenly Motions and that there is Fury and Fire in the Bosom of Sweetness itself of God This is the Second Evil in Sin Filth 3. Sin puts upon a man the Baseness of a Slave Prov. 28. 1. The wicked fleeth when none pursues Sin makes a man the veriest Coward in the World the object of the greatest Pity and Scorn When thou hast committed a sin how art thou asham'd to see the light to look up in the Eyes of God or any man to behold thine own Face in a Glass How dost thou start at every Motion tremble at thine own Shadow fly from the Reflection of thy self in the thoughts of another How dost thou wish to be transported into some Wilderness where thou might'st be a Stranger to all things and especially to thy self Gen. 4. 14. Cain complains I am driven from thy Face and from the Face of the Earth a Fugitive and a vagabond shall I be in the Earth Behold the weight of Shame with which Sin oppresseth a Guilty Soul Who would buy all the pleasures and profits of Sin at such a rate as this To be driven by Shame from the Face of God and every Creature To be hunted by the wretched Sense of Guilt as a Deer with the Arrow sticking in his side To run restless thorow all Companies and Conditions as a Fugitive and Vagabond in them all Gen. 3. 7. It is said of our first Parents when they had eaten the forbidden Fruit their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked and now they were ashamed Do you ask what is Sin There is an inseparable Peace and Pleasure goes along with every good deed There is an unavoidable sting of Shame and Horrour in the tail of every evil Act. He that doth evil hath his Eyes immediately opened by that which he feels in himself and now he knows what he hath done What is that which when you have done it takes away your sweet Peace and Rest from you which makes you wish for a thick Darkness to fall upon you that may hide you from every eye This is Sin hate it and fly from it This is the Third Evil in Sin 4. Sin wraps up a man in the Shape of a Devil Man being in Honour continues not but becomes like the Beast that perisheth What doth the Body of a Man now differ from that of a Beast more than the Body of one Beast differs from that of another Nay the Bodies of many Brute Creatures excel it in Beauty Strength Vertue Sense What hath thus chang'd Man and put upon his Body the form of a Beast Sin hath done it But if we could see the Soul of man as plainly as we see his Body we should see that far more like to Devils than this is to Beasts The Evil Powers and Spirits might well say of Man when he had sinn'd He is become as one of us What reason hath man to abhor this Poysonous this Potent Evil which transforms him into this monstrous Shape that he appears as a Beast among the Beasts in his Body as a Devil among the Devils in his Soul 5. Sin plants the Seeds of Devils in Man Daniel teacheth us in his Prophesy that the Messiah should come to take away Sin and Iniquity Dan. 9. 24. We read in the Promise Gen. 3. That there should be Enmity between the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent The Seed of the Woman is the Messias Then the Seed of the Serpent must be Sin Each Sin is the Seed of a Devil in us which as it grows up becomes a perfect Devil A Lying Spirit entred into Ahab's Prophets and possest them when they became Lyars Happy were we if as often as we feel motions to Lust Covetousness Falshood Ambition in us we would then say Now a Lustful Covetous False Ambitious Devil enters into me if I yield to him he will carry me away into the Waters and Fires of Confusion and Torment he will be still growing into me till I become one Devil with him 2. Property Peace This is the Second Property in the Kingdom of God that is in the Royal State of a Saint on Earth The name of Peace in the three Learned Languages signifieth Three things a Câ—ssation a Combination a Perfection a Cessation from trouble a Combination or league with all things Perfection of excellency and joy to give Rest. There is a Three-fold Peace 1. Natural the Peace of the Elements in the great World and the little World of Man's Body 2. Civil the Peace of men among themselves in their outward Conversation 3. Religious this is the Peace of the Soul in relation to God This Religious Peace is Two-fold 1. Rational that which is built upon the Principle of Reason 2. Spiritual that which is sprung from a Divine Light This is the union of mans Spirit with the Spirit of God which is the Band of peace It is a Spiritual Peace which I now speak of This hath Two Parts 1. Part Silence 2. Part Satisfaction He that is God makes me to lye down in green pastures and leads me by still waters 1. Part Silence Psal. 23. 2. In this Psalm God is brought in as a Shepherd the Soul as a Sheep In this verse Three Things are put together 1. The Prosperity of the Soul 2. The Repose of the Soul 3. The Stilness of all things about the Soul 1. The Prosperity of the Soul is express'd by green pastures The Lord Jesus makes the Soul to feed on the green Pastures of the Fresh and Flourishing discoveries of his Person and Excellencies That this is the Souls Pasture appears by that place of Scripture John 6. 57. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father So he that eateth me shall live by me As the Father is the Pasture-ground of the Son on which he feeds and out of which he is taken into this World to be made a Sacrifice So the Pasture-ground of the Soul is Jesus Christ. 2. The Repose of the Soul is signified He makes me to lye down in green pastures Jesus Christ as a Shepherd makes the Soul to lay herself down to rest with security in the midst of his appearances springing up round about her 3. The Stilness and Silence of all things about the Soul is set down He leads me by still Waters Waters are often used by the Scriptures to represent the nature of Spirits John 7. 38. 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture saith out of his belly shall flow Rivers of
Heart Commune with your Hearts What is the Heart The Heart is the Inward Principle the Life-Principle 1. The Heart is the Inward Principle So you read of the Heart of the Sea Exod. 15. 8. and the Heart of the Earth Mat. 12. 40. Mark 7. 18. Whatsoever thing cometh from without defileth not the Man v. 19. Because it entreth not into thy Heart but into thy Belly and passeth into the Draughts v. 21. From within from the Heart of men proceed Evil thoughts Adulteries c. The Meats which we take in from without reach the Body in all the parts of it and they reach the Soul as it lives in the Body working upon it and making changes in it Both these then are the Belly the Outward Man which is maintained from an Outward Principle and passeth away into the Dust and Darkness But the Heart is more Inward and Immutable It is that which abides in the Invisible part of things and is that Hidden Spring the Principle both of Soul and Body This Heart in the Natural Man is the Spirit of Man in the Spirit of the Devil or in the Spirit of Divine Wrath or rather in both So from the Heart come evil thoughts So St. Iohn saith 1 Iohn 3. 20. If our Hearts condemâ— us God is greater than our Hearts and knoweth all things But if our Hearts condemn us not then have we confidence before God Every man hath in him a Principle more Inward than the Spirit of the Devil which is the Spirit of God as it comes forth into his Spirit and gives his Spirit a Created Invisible Immortal Being in itself among Angels This is that Heart of man with which he is to commune this is the Seat of Justification Or Condemnation The Spirit of Man as it lives above in the Spirit of God according to his Wrath or his Love Or the Spirit of God as it becomes the Principle of Nature a Principle in the Spirit of Man If this Heart condemn us that is the Spirit of God as it is the Principle of our Spirits God is greater than our Hearts that is the Spirit of God as it is in itself above our Spirits hath a greater Fulness of Majesty and Light in itself where it is as the Light in the Sun when as in our Spirits it is but as the Light in the Star If therefore it testifie Wrath to us in this relation in which it is but as a Glance it shall more fully testify wrath against us in that State in which it is the Full Glory As it is a Principle in our Spirits it opens itself truly but imperfectly in a right Sense but in a part only of its own Sense But as it is in itself it knows all things it opens itself to the utmost of its own sense and eternal purpose A man should neither comfort nor condemn himself from the language of his own Spirit as it lives in the Outward Soul or Body and speaks of its own This Spirit should be silent and still But we are to commune with the Divine Principle in us with our Spirits as they dwell within in the Spirit of God For so the Spirit of God and our Spirits are twisted in One make One Heart testify One thing and that truly whether it be for Life or for Death from Wrath or from Love For the Spirit of God and of Man in this Principle are an Image of the Spirit of God as it is absolute and supream in the God-Head But there is a Heart within this Heart This Heart is a Principle of Life or Death Love or Wrath. There is within this a Heart which is the Life-Princiciple and the Love-Principle 2. The Heart is the Life-Principle Prov. 4. 23. Keep thy Heart with all Diligence for out of it are the Issues of Life What is this Heart which we are to keep when we are to deny our selves We are to keep it not with Caution to preserve our selves from it but with Confidence to preserve our selves by it This place of Scripture is like that before it Prov. 4. 13. Where Solomon speaking of Wisdom or Instruction saith Keep her for she is thy Life Jesus Christ as he is in the Spirit is our Life-Principle Colos. 3. 4. When Christ who is our Life shall appear He is the Treasure of our Hearts and our truest Heart For from Him as He is in the Spirituality of his own Person are the Issues the Out-goings of our Life Mat. 6. 21. Where your Treasure is there will your Hearts be also Our Treasure and our Hearts are both with Jesus Christ in Heaven Colos. 3. 1. The Heart is the Treasury of all good things A good man out of the good Treasury of his Heart bringeth forth good things Mat. 12. 35. Jesus Christ is this Heart which hath the Treasure in it For in him are all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge hid Colos. 2. 3. Jesus Christ is the Heart as he is the Head of Man 1 Corin. 11. 3. The Head of every Man is Christ The Head of Christ is God The Lord Jesus as he is the Heavenly Man is the most proper Head and Heart of man the First Principle before all others the most inward Principle lying within and beneath all other Principles the Life-Principle Thus we see what the Heart is 1. Jesus Christ as He puts forth Himself in the Natural Spirit of Man to be the Principle of Nature either in a Power of Wrath or Love 2. Jesus Christ as He is in his own Heavenly Spirit and Person comprehending the Life Perfection and Blessedness of Man in Himself as in a Divine Root or Treasury 2. The Bed This is the Second thing of which we are to seek the meaning We read of a Bed of Tribulation Revel 2. 22. This Bed is a Spirit of Darkness Weakness Woe and Torment We read of a Bed in Tribulation which God prepares for those whom he loves Psal. 41. 3. Thou wilt make all his Bed in his Sickness or Thou wilt turn it the Inside of Peace Love and Glory for the Outside of Pain and Trouble or thou wilt change it from a Bed of Languishings into a Bed of Rest or a Bed of Love We read of Beds of Joy and Glory Psal. 149. 5. Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them Sing aloud on their Beds In the Canticles there is mention made of the Bed of Christ and His Spouse Can. 1. 16. Our bed is Green There is also Solomons Bed who was a Type of the Heavenly Bridegroom Cant. 3. 7. Behold his Bed which is Solomons threesâ—â—re valiant men are about it of the valiant men of Israel This Bed is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus which shines forth and buds with Sweetness and Beauty which goes forth in the midst of the Angels cloathing itself with those Mighty and Glorious Spirits This Spirit draws the Soul forth from the Tumults of the Flesh takes her off from her own Strength and casts
The Puttings forth of Christ in us are Unsatisfactory This One thing I do saith the Apostle forgetting those things which are behind I reach forward towards that which is before What is that Observe the next verse will tell us The Mark of the price of the High Calling of God in Iesus Christ. That which is come forth of Christ into thy Natural Man that is now Behind thee That which is Before thee is the Person Possession and Life of Jesus Christ in the Spirit and Glory of God The Unity of this Spirit the Fellowship of this Glory as it is in the Person of Christ this is That Mark which is Before us All that which is in our Persons while we are in Flesh is Behind us and to be forgotten by us It hath a Darkness a Shadowyness an Emptiness a Transitoriness from the Flesh in which it is inclosed So it cannot stay with us or satisfie us It cannot hold us It vanisheth it passeth behind us and is to be forgotten by us Our best Things while we are in this vile Body are a Heavenly Treasure in an Earthen Vessel as St. Paul speaks They are Pure and Sweet as they flow from the Spirit of Christ but as they are in our Spirits they tast of the Vessel they receive an Unsavouriness or Unsatisfactoriness from their Communion with our Earth and Flesh. The Grace of Christ in thee is like a Beam which is at once in the Bosom of the Sun and in the Bosom of the Earth That End of the Beam which is to the Sun is pure and perfect Light But that which is towards the Earth is Dim full of Motes and Dust. The Shinings forth of Christ in thee have such a double Relation to Christ and to thee As they are Christs and in Union with him they are Light and Life in Christ without any Emptiness or Mixture But as they are Thine and have their Being in thy Heart they are like Gold in the Mine partaking very much of the Earth in the midst of which they lie The Power of Christ magnifies it self in thy Weakness as the Apostle speaketh of Himself The Life of Christ in thy Spirit is Wine mingled with Water If thou take it in itself and in Christ it is the Power of Christ. But if you look upon it as it is in your Spirit it is Wine and Water Power in Weakness On Christ's part it is Magnified but on thy part it is Weak and can afford thee but a Weak Unsatisfying Joy 4. Fourthly and Lastly The Communications of Christ in us become Unsafe when we build our Joys upon Them St. Paul is ever very careful in this One Main Point when he rejoyceth at any time in the Grace of God to set aside his own Person and to set up that Grace in the Person of Christ. I thank God thorow Jesus Christ my Lord Rom. 7. 1. What ever matter of Rejoycing or Thankfulness a holy Soul finds it still finds and acknowledges it to have all its Vertue Sufficiency and Safety from and in the Person of Jesus Christ. Therefore doth it draw all through that Person out of its own Person lest it should think of it self above what is meet Look to Jesus Christ the Beginner and Finisher of thy Faith and Joy For God hath appointed Him as the Mediator in whose Person alone every Thing is made truly Acceptable unto God and Man He alone must be thy Beloved in whom thou must be well-pleased Thou must be well-pleased and Joy'd with every Grace onely in Him as Thou and It meet in him Otherwise thou art in danger of Spiritual Adultery and Idolatry by which thou wilt grieve thy Husband the Lord Jesus and rob thy self of his blessed Presence This is a Way by which thy Soul often falls on a sudden from High Enjoyments into a Dark and Desolate Condition When the Lord Jesus fills thee with the Warmth and fruitfulness of his Embraces first thou lookest upon the Fruits of Christ in thy Soul and art exceedingly taken with the Beauty and Sweetness of these Now thy Heart and thine Eye begin to go a whoring from thy Heavenly Spouse when they begin to look off from his Person though it be upon something sent forth from Him Secondly thou then reflectest upon thy self with Delight to see thy self so adorned so strengthened Thou thinkest thy self Rich and Safe So ere thou art aware thy Soul makes her self like that Whore which said I sit like a Queen and shall see no sorrow Thirdly Thy Saviour now grows Jealous He turns away his Face He withdraws his Graces the Testimonies of his Presence from thee He leaves thee to the Power of Temptations and Lusts. This he doth that thou mayst learn not to Exalt thy self by his Gifts nor His Gifts in thy Self but Both in him whose Person is the Life of Both and ought to be the Only Object of all thy Love and Joy Thus the Apostle had the Buffetings of Satan and a Sting in his Heart that he might not be exalted by his Revelations but his Saviour and he only in his Saviour Take heed then of looking upon the most Glorious Graces of Christ in your own Person But keep your Eye unmoved on the Person of your Saviour and look upon Both your Self and your Graces in that true Glass and perfect Image So I pass from the Negative to the Affirmative Part of this Rule 2. Part Take the Rise of your Ioy from Iesus Christ as He comprehends you in Himself It is necessary for me here to make plain this Rule by Propounding and Answering Three Questions which perhaps most of your Spirits will be ready to ask in themselves 1. Question First you may ask me What I mean by Iesus Christ. Answer I shall answer so far only as I apprehend most pertinent to the Point in hand My Answer to this Question shall be Six-fold 1. Answer Our Lord Iesus is a Spirit 2 Corin. 4. The Lord is that Spirit A Spirit hath a Three-fold Power 1. A Penetrating 2. A Receiving 3. A Uniting Power 1. Power Penetrating When Jesus Christ was made Spiritual by his Resuâ—rection He could pass thorow the Door when it was shut and present himself in the midst of the Room and the Disciples on a sudden All Bodily Substances are forc'd to remain one without another They touch and joyn only by their Out-sides They cannot mingle but by Breaking themselves into little pieces So the Golden Calf was stampt to Powder that it might mix itself with the Waters But this is the Excellent Nature of Spirits that they can be a whole Army of them in One Spirit or in the Body of any Creature passing into the very Essence or Being of it most Inwardly most Universally and yet neither Divide nor Stretch it The Lord was in this manner present with His Ten Thousand Thousands of His Angels on Mount Sinai which was a Bodily Substance that might be touched So the Lord and all
this Person as One with it For all make One Image and that a Spiritual Image Thus this Image is as it were a Body to the God-Head All the Vertues Operations and Appearances of God are contained in Jesus Christ as One Body Yet every One hath his own Distinct Place Power Form Activity Enjoyment as Diverse Members The Fulness of the God-Head dwelleth in Him Bodily Colos. 2. 9. 6. Answer Iesus Christ is the head-Head-Spirit God hath made Him the Head of All Ephes. 1. 22. Our Saviour is the Universal Spirit that takes in all and unites all in Himself It pleaseth the Father that all Fulness should dwell in Him Coloss. 1. 19. He is a Particular Spirit distinct from all For God hath given Him a Name above every Name which is named in this world and that which is to come Ephes. 1. 21. Thus He is the Head Thus our Saviour becomes a Person that both Represents and Presents all in Himself that both Perfects all in Himself and Himself bears the Imperfections Sufferings in and for all I have now answered the First Question what I understand by Jesus Christ not according to the Exactness or Latitude of the Question but so far as tends to my present purpose and the making plain of the Second Question which follows 2. Question How we are said to be Comprehended in Iesus Christ. I shall indeavour to open the Nature of this which is one of the most Principal Spiritual Profitable Comfortable and yet Difficult Points in all our Divinity I shall proceed in the opening of it by a Three-fold Step which shall be a Three-fold Answer to the Question The Lord Jesus comprehends us Spiritually Mystically Eternally 1. Answer The Lord Jesus comprehends us Spiritually Our Blessed Saviour as a Spirit comprehends us in Himself 1 Cor. 15. 45. The last Adam was made a Quickness Spirit Iesus Christ is the Second Adam a Universal Person comprehending the Second Creation in His Spiritual Person in the Spirituality of His Nature He is the Heavenly Adam a Collection of all the Saints as He is a Spirit Jesus Christ comprehends us by the Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 13. By one Spirit we are all Baptized into one Body Christ and we live both in One Spirit so we are Both bound up in One. It is the Unity of the Spirit Ephes. 4. 4. The Spirit is Christs Radically and Primitively by drawings us down and Baptizing us into this Spirit Jesus Christ comprehends us The Lord Jesus comprehends thee as thou art a Spirit He that is joyned to the Lord is One Spirit 1 Corin. 6. 17. Our Saviour and Husband comprehends us Inwardly Powerfully Fully not as Bodies Waters Flames but as Spirits comprehend one another nay as One Spirit as the Highest Spirit comprehends itself Christ comprehends thee as Spirit of His Spirit as a Spirit in His Spirit as One Spirit as the Self-Image of Himself 2. Answer The Lord Jesus comprehends us Mystically The Mysticalness lies in Three Things in the Glory or Diviness of the Union in the Nearness of it in the Distinctness preserved together with the Oneness We are comprehended in Christ Mystically because Incomprehensibly The Love of Christ passeth Knowledge Ephes. 3. 19. That Love which is an Affection only and loves by Impression and unites by Imagination such a Love may be taken in by Knowledge only which is a Notion the taking of a Picture the Catching of a Shadow Such a Love may be known by the Understanding which is a Faculty an Accident But the Love of Christ is above Affections and Impressions It is a Naked Comprehension of Substances and Spirits in a Unity of Substance and Spirit So it passeth knowledge not being to be represented by any Image or Notion not to be conceived by any Faculty but to be Felt and Enjoyed only after an Immediate and unconceivable manner We are comprehended in Christ Mystically because with an Appearance of Contrariety We are One Spirit and One Body in Christ. The Body of Christ in the Unity of it is a Spirit The Spirit of Christ in the Variety of it is a Body We are comprehended in Christ as Members in the Body Each Saint hath his Distinct Person Place Power Appearance I say Distinct both from the Person of Christ as the Head and from all the other Saints as Particular Members Yet again each Member is One Man with Christ possessing the Fulness of God and of the whole Body being in itself conformed to the Image of Christ. 3. Answer The Third and Last Answer to this Question is that we are Comprehended in Christ Eternally 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us c. according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ before the World began v. 10. But is now made manifest by the Appearance of Iesus Christ. Three Things lie clear in these words 1. First Thy Person was in Christ from Eternity Thou hadst a Capacity and a Subsistence in thy Saviour before the World began For thou wert then in Him as a Subject on which the Father setled his Purpose and confer'd his Grace The words of the Apostle are Grace given us 2. Secondly Thy Person with all manner of Grace and Glory was in Christ before all Times as it is or shall be in any Time For One is the Measure of the Other That Eternal State in Christ is the Pattern of the State of Grace afterwards according to That is This exactly fashioned who hath called and saved us according to c. 3. Thirdly That State of our Persons comprehended in Christ is Unchangeable When Jesus Christ appears to us or in us as we are in Flesh then is that Grace put upon our Persons in Christ made Manifest The Discovery is now of that which in Truth was before The Maniâ—estation is here below but the Substance abides still above The Manifestation in thy Flesh is as the Appearance of Christ upon thy Flesh subject to Change But as is the Person of Christ in the Glory of God so is thy Person of Christ comprehended in Christ Unchangeable Let us now pass from the Second Question to the Third We have seen in some measure what it is to be Comprehended in Christ. Let us now proceed to enquire how we shall know our selves to be Comprehended in Him There is indeed Unspeakable and Unchangeable matter of Joy for those that are so Comprehended but how shall any Particular Soul be assured of this concerning herself 3. Question How shall I know my self to be comprehended in Christ Answer Art thou comprehended in the Wisdom or Image of God Then thou art comprehended in Christ. For he is the Wisdom of God in its Latitude and the Image of God in Large Hast thou any place in the Fulness of God or any part in the Fulness of the Creature Then hast thou a Mansion and Habitation in the Lord Jesus For it hath pleased the Father that all Fulness both of God and
Wherever there is any Subject to be wrought upon or to receive the work God works all in that Subject Wherever there is any Effect to be wrought God works all in that Effect Not an Angel or Bird flies or falls not a Thought a Hair a Dust moves but as he moves in it and moves it 3. The Pattern of these Workings God worketh all Things according to Counsel Counsel and Wisdom are both the same Thing This is the Glory of God and the Happiness of the Creature that nothing â—omes to pass which is not the Work of God and nothing is wrought by God which is not a Work of Wisdom Philosophers and the Scriptures agree in setting forth the excellent Nature of Wisdom by a Two-fold Description of it 1. Description Wisdom is Knowledge with a Head Knowledge is the Image of Things The Golden Head of this Image is the Heavenly Image of God in the Person of our Lord Jesus Colos. 2. 18. 19. St. Paul calls the Study of the Nature of Angels not Wisdom but Folly and Vanity a vain Puffing up of the Fleshly Mind why Is not this a High and Excellent Knowledge Yes But now it was vanity not Wisdom a vain Swelling not a Substantial Fulness and Greatness of Spirit in those of whom the Apostle speaks Because they held not the Head God then who works all things in Counsel and true Wisdom holds the Head in all His Workings that is whatever he brings forth He brings it forth in the Divine Appearance of his Son he brings forth the Divine Appearance of his Son upon it as the Head Wisdom saith of God and herself Prov. 1. 27 29 30. When he prepared the Heavens I was there when He appointed the Foundations of the Earth Then I was by Him as his Delight This may be as truly spoken of every Passage of thy Life of the least Accident that concerns thy Person For the same God in the same Wisdom hath wrought these that prepared the Heavens and laid the Foundation of the Earth Thou mayst with as great Assurance hear in every Thing of Grief or Joy which thou meetest with in Flesh or Spirit the Glorious Person of thy Beloved Saviour speaking to thee after this manner God hath prepared this for thee and I am here This hath the Father appointed for thee and now am I with thee to be thy Delight brought up and growing up before thee together with this and every other Appearance You look upon things vainly with a Fleshly mind after a heedless manner if you see not the Brightness and Delight of the God-Head in the Person of Christ as a Crown of Rejoycing upon every Providence You deface the work of God you look not upon it as he hath wrought it Holding the Head if you see not the Face of Christ in every Act or Accident as in a Glass God in this Sense hath made Christ his Only Begotten Son in that he brings forth nothing but Discoveries of Jesus Christ. For he is the Head of all Things and this is the Wisdom of God the Holding of this Head in all This is the First Description of Wisdom 2. Description Wisdom is the Fulness of Things Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Fulness of all Things Colos. 1. 19. Wisdom is that Contrivance that Harmony of Things that casts the whole Fulness of Things into each Thing As Members in the Body amongst whom the Joy of all pertains to every one and the Grief of each One to all So are all the Parts of that work which is wrought in Wisdom Wisdom is a Spirit that conveys the Life Power and Sense of all into each Particular that all may rejoyce and mourn together every where As in a good Picture all the Proportions of the whole Face meet and concenter as it were in each Line Point or Touch giving you from thence a Cast of the Beauty of the whole So hath God prepared and appointed all his Works in Wisdom like an Excellent Picture that the Fulness of the Whole and the Beauty of all Parts may shew forth themselves from every Part. Is there any thing so dark so low as that the Wisdom of God reacheth not to it and shines not in it If the Wisdom of God be there then is there the Center the Concurrency the Union of all Things of all Glory If the Wisdom of God shine there then is there a Spiritual Light opening all Divine Beauties making that Thing the Gate of the Creation of Paradise Heaven and the Divine Nature This is that Traffique of Wisdom which makes the Merchandise of it better than that of Silver Gold or Pearl 4. The Original of that Pattern God works all things according to the Counsel of his will The Will of God is the Principle and Original of his Wisdom The Will of God is the highest Rule Rest and Rejoycing of all manner of Goodness The Phaenix is said to spring out of a Nest of all manner of Spices laid together and fired by the Sun the Will of God is such a Flaming Nest of all Beauties and Sweetnesses at their Height Out of this will the Wisdom of God springs forth into every Act of Providence being Beautiful and Precious in it The Will of God is the highest Reason of all things What if God willing to shew the Riches of his Grace What if God willing to shew the Power of his Wrath The Will in a Spirit is as the Sea to a River All its workings flow out of it and into it It is its Spring and Fulness Shall not thy Will rest and rejoyce in that which is the Will of God that is the Highest Reason the fullest Rest and Blessedness of the Divine Nature The Will of God out of which God himself drinks all his Delights in which he bathes himself this Will is the Eternal Fountain The Wisdom of God is a Large and Broad River poured forth from this Fountain Every Creature each Passage of things in the Creature is the Water of this River Shall it not be Sweet to thee Canst thou not drink of this Water of the River of God sent forth from his own Fountain with Delight 2. Scripture Deut. 32. 4. Moses sings of God He is the Rock His work is perfect All his ways are Iudgment The Work of God is Perfect in the whole For all the ways of God in his work in Particular are in Judgment that is in exact Wisdom This place affords us Three comfortable Observations concerning the ways and works of God 1. Observation Nothing comes to pass but that which is best 2. Observation Nothing falls out but in the best Time 3. Nothing is brought about but in the best manner The former place of Scripture taught us that all things are the Work of God This teacheth us that his work is Perfect and all the ways of it Exact according to the best Judgment of things and the rightest rules of Wisdom which are the
attaining to a state of Spiritual Joy 3. Mistake That Spiritual Grief and Joy are inconsistent and cannot stand together You shall perceive this as a Principle laid down in the hearts of many Christians by the Reply which they will make when they are pressed to Joy as a Grace and to continual Delight as a Duty Woe is me saith one how can I have any Joy who have so many corruptions and sins to mourn for continually Alas saith another should I rejoyce or take any delight who am still called to mourning and heaviness by private Afflictions or publick Calamities I answer all these that they err not understanding aright the Scriptures and the Power of the Spirit of God in the Soul They erre in supposing that Joy and Grief in the Spirit do hinder and not help forward one another I will endeavour the Removal of this Mistake by Two General Rules and then by Particular Application of these Rules The Two General Rules are these 1. Rule Take heed of separating those things which God hath ioyned 2. Rule Take not any mourning to be holy which hath not a holy mirth mingled with it 1 Rule Take heed of separating those things which God hath joyned Solomon saith That God hath set One thing over against another We may read it God hath set One thing By another or For another God often sets several things One By another to compleat each other and we set them One Against another to fight and destroy God is One Gal. 3. 20. But the name of the Devil is Lâ—gion For he is many God by Beholding all things in One Light by Possessing all things in One Life by Enjoying all things in One Love is One and Blessed for ever The Devil by Dividing becomes a Destroyer the Principle and Seat of Destruction Jesus Christ is the Mediator He makes things distant to meet in him He gathers up all things into One Ephes. 1. 10. Jesus Christ by Reconciling divers Appearances of God divers Administrations in Man makes his Church to be of many Members One Body and of all things makes One Beauty We by setting One Appearance or State of the same thing One Administration or Gift to sight with another make the Church a Babel and the Common-wealth a Field of Blood The Spirit is a Band of Unity Eph. 4. 3. Unity is in the Spirit Division is in the Flesh. The Spirit by binding up various Operations of the same Grace various Illuminations of the same Truth in One Band of Unity makes us Spiritual in Judging and Living We first breaking off the Parcels of Truth and Properties of Grace then oppose them So we become carnal apt to miscarriages in our selves and contentions with others Take heed then of separating those things which God hath joyned He is a growing Saint a God-like man among men who hath a Spirit Reconciling and Uniting Persons Things Duties Graces Factions Affections Parties Properties This is the First Rule 2. Rule Take not any mourning to be holy or spiritual which hath not a holy mirth mingled with it Be angry and sin not saith the Apostle Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath Eph. 4. 26. So saith the spiritual man I will mourn and not sin The Sun shall not go down upon my Griefs The Sun of a Saint the Sun of the Soul 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ who hath the Light of Life The shining of his Face upon the Soul makes it cheerful fills it with beams of Joy glads it more than store of Corn and Wine can glad any carnal heart Spiritual Joy is the Sun-shine of Christ's face in the soul. The Bridegroom shall be taken from them and then they shall fast and mourn in those daies saith Christ of his Disciples Luk. 5. 35. Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom of the Soul as the Sun is of the Earth His Presence and Appearance in the Soul is the Joy of it Every thing is sinful in us which casts down the Light of our Saviour's countenance in our Spirits 'T is Sin to grieve the Spirit of Christ that is to straiten it and hinder it from rejoycing and putting forth its Joys in us If the Passion of Grief or Anger gather to a Thick Cloud so as to Darken the bright Face of the Lord Jesus in us it becomes a Corruption and Transgression We are commanded to Rejoyce evermore 1 Thes. 5. 16. Rejoyce in the Lord always Phil. 4. 4. Our Spirits are to be playing and sporting themselves uncessantly in the Light of our Saviours Presence It is from the Devil and the Flesh whatever interrupts this Joy these Sportings The Rain-bow was the Covenant of God in the Cloud that the Waters should no more cover the Earth Genes 9. 6 15. The Rain-bow is ever set in a Black Watery Cloud But it is begotten by the Reflection of the Sun-beams upon that Cloud mixing their chearful Beauties with its Melancholy Blackness Grief is then alone a Grace in thy soul when the Sun shines upon the watery Cloud When the Glory of Christ mingles its sweet Beams with thy Grief and makes a Spiritual Rain-bow in thy Soul Then is there the Covenant of God in the Cloud of thy Grief This Over-spreading of a Spiritual chearfulness upon thy Sorrows is a Sign from Heaven that the waters of Sin Despair and Wrath shall never quite cover the Image of God in thee I now come to the Particular Applications of these General Rules I will do this under Two Heads 1. Spiritual Mourning 2. The mixture of Mirth with it 1. Head Spiritual Mourning I will here set before you the Nature of a Holy Grief in these Four Particulars 1. The Matter 2. The Manner 3. The Measure 4. The Mystery 1. The Matter of Spiritual Mourning is Evil in all the Kinds and Degrees of it Eccles. 3. 3 4. Solomon couples Two Verses fitly together A Time to Kill and a Time to Heal a Time to break down and a Time to build up A Time to Weep and a Time to Laugh a Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance These Times answer one another The Killing Time is the Weeping Time the Healing Time is the Laughing Time The Time of Breaking is the Time for Mourning and the time of Building is the time for Dancing Man is Gods Cymbal or Harp Our Affections and Passions are the Strings upon it It makes good Musick when it keeps Time with the Administration of God When the Lord brings forth Good Things for us then he toucheth our Sweet Affections and awakens them When he brings any Evil upon us then he strikes upon our sharp and sad Passions to make them sound There are Two Sorts of Evil The Evil of Sin and of Misery Moses expresseth both these Evils by a Contrariety Levit. 26. 23. 24. If ye will walk contrary unto me I also will walk contrary unto you The Evil of Sin is the Contrariety of Man to God The Evil of Misery is the Contrariety of God to Man Sin is
to sink altogether into your sensual and Corruptible Part. It will make you feed upon Dust seek a merit in and a Nourishment from your Sorrows When the Flesh hath Liberty to interpose it self in our mourning it makes our mourning Brutish or Devilish It makes our mourning Brutish by deriving it from outward and Temporal Things by terminating it on these So our Lamentations are as the howl of Dogs and cry of Bears It makes our mourning Devilish by mingling it with discontent and despair So the Roarings of our Spirits are like the yellings of Devils to Christ Art thou come to Torment us The Flesh is to be kept as a Hewer of Wood Drawer of Water We are to make use of the ways and weaknesses of it to help to break our Hearts and bring forth Tears at the direction of the Spirit in us The work of our Grief upon our Natural Part as it is in itself must be to keep it under to beat it as a Slave to destroy it as an Enemy This is the Ass which is not for Sacrifice but to have its neck broke except it be redeemed by its Subordination to the Spiritual Part. I have done speaking of the manner of Spiritual Mourning I come now to the Third Particular in the opening of the Nature of this Grief which is the Measure The Measure of Spiritual Grief hath Three Limits 1. Limit The casting out of Filth 2. Limit The casting down of Flesh. 3. Limit The clearing up of the Face of God towards us 1. Limit The casting out of Filth St. Paul 1 Corin. 5. 3. in the case of the incestuous Person blames the Church that they had not mourned that he who had done this Thing might be cast out from among them The Case is the same in our own Persons We are to mourn that every Evil Thing may be cast out of us We are to keep our Hearts in a melting temper till our Lusts be quite melted down till the Gold and the Dross be separated one from another We are to weep till we have washed our selves clean in our Tears Obj. But you may here ask What Power is there in our Tears or Sorrows to cleanse us from our Filth shall we say with the Papist that our mourning merits Grace if not of Desert yet for desire out of Congruity Or shall we say with the Arminian that our griefs are a moral way of working upon our will to mortifie that and make it weary of the Pleasures of Sin for the Pennance of Sorrow Ans. I answer to this that there is neither any merit in the Tears of any Creature to move God For if thou be Righteous it is to thy self And the Heavens with all their Hosts are Folly and Filth before Him Neither is there any Efficacy in the woes of man to purge the will of man For who can bring a clean Thing out of an unclean Can any one redeem his Brother from Death Can one Passion or affection in Man by a Death in Sorrow redeem his Brother another Passion or affection from the Death of Sin They must let this alone for ever But the Spiritual Griefs of a Saint are the Buddings of Aaron's Rod of the the Cross of the Lord Jesus in him And from hence they have their value with God and their Vertue on us 1. First my Sorrows have a value with God as they are the Sufferings of my Saviour in me St. Paul saith of himself 1 Colos. 24. I rejoyce in my Sufferings while I fill up that which is behind of the Afflictions of Christ in my Flesh for his Bodies sake All the Sufferings of Believers are the Sufferings of Christ propagating themselves thorow his mystical Members We are one Spirit with our Lord Jesus in our Tribulations as well as in our Consolations Our Groans as much as our Gloryings are the Breathings of that Spirit As the Soul is all in all the Parts of the Body making every Member a part of the Humane Nature putting upon it the Beauty of that Nature So is Jesus Christ in every Thing of the actings or Sufferings of Christ any where giving a Divine Beauty and worth to it by vertue of the Union 2 Corin. 4. 10. Always bearing about in my Body the Dying of the Lord Jesus that the Life of the Lord Jesus may be made manifest in my Body This St. Paul saith of himself The Tears from our eyes are the Blood from the Heart of the Lord Jesus Though not as our Tears yet as his Blood they have Power with God to bring forth his life in us Jesus Christ dies over again in thy griefs that so he may act his Resurrection over again in thy Graces The Father makes a Promise to the Lord Jesus Es. 53. 10. When he shall make his Soul an offering for Sin he shall he see his Seed This is an Everlasting Covenant between the Father and the Son that when he hath descended to the lowermost parts of the Earth he should then begin to ascend When the Image of the Invisible God hath put itself off into the Strange Forms of Darkness and Death then is it to spring up again out of these and again to behold itself in its own proper shape and power which is its Seed Thy Saviour and Husband makes his Soul an Offering for Sin in all the Sufferings of thy Soul Therefore mayest thou now challenge it of the Father in the name of Jesus Christ that he may see in thee his Seed which is the Power of an endless Life Thou mayest say behold O my God! by him whose the Signet and the Staff is the Glory and Power of thy God-Head by him am I in these Pangs and Sorrows Let then a Man-child be born in my Heart which may be called after his name that I may rejoyce in it and remember my Sorrow no more Thy Benjamin is come before thee into the Land of Aegypt as thy servant in my servitude Thy Darling hath brought himself into my guilt and griefs he stands before thee in them The Lamb of God a slain in my sufferings O then let it be a Passover that the evil Angel of Lust and Misery may pass from the house of my Spirit when he sees the blood of this Lamb in my Tears sprinkled upon the Posts of the Door 2. Secondly Our Sorrows have a vertue on us as they are the Sufferings of Iesus Christ in us Galat. 6. 14. God forbid saith Paul that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Iesus by which the world is crucified to me and I to the World As the Person of Christ is the Seed of God which springs up into many Sons to God so is the Cross of the Lord Jesus a Seed that remains not alone but brings forth much Fruit. It grows up into a multitude of Crosses a Cross in each good Heart a Cross in every Creature of this world This Cross of Christ is the wisdom and
Power of God making themselves first the Tree of the Curse on which all the Principles and Spirits of this world must hang Then the Tree of Life bringing forth the Fruits of Paradise and the Third Heaven Every care or cross in a Saint is this Cross of his Saviour sprouting in his Person The Lord Jesus lies hid in each Tear in each sigh of a Holy Spirit He is there as the Seed falling into the Earth and Dying By this Death he delivers himself from Death in thy Heart and breaks out on every side into Discoveries of his Grace and Glory Say of thy Trouble why art thou cast down O my Soul This is that Death of my Saviour in me by which he destroys the power of Death in my Spirit Sin and the Devil This is the way in which thou shalt praise him and see him swallowing up the Principle of Darkness in Darkness that he may bring forth himself in the Light of his Countenance to be the Light of thy Countenance I have been the larger in this Objection that so I may be the more clearly understood both in this and in the following Particulars Whatever mention is made of any Beauty or Grace in a Saint is not to be imputed to the Saint but to the Grace and Face of Jesus Christ in him so is the Excellency or Efficacy of our mourning the Discovery of our dying Saviour in it No Persons no Sorrows are Spiritual if they be not one Spirit with Jesus Christ. But thus much for the First limit in the measure of our Sorrows the casting out of Filth 2. Limit The casting down of the Flesh 1 Cor. 9. 27. I saith the Apostle keep under my body and bring it into Subjection The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I beat it black and blew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I make it to serve The end and so the bound of Humiliation is First to bring down the Principle of the Natural Man into a Principle of Darkness that it may no more put forth itself in its own Light and Life Secondly it is to subdue that Principle to the Heavenly Principle that it may be quite slain in itself and revived in the Spiritual Man a Spiritual Principle Rom. 7. 24. St. Paul calls the Natural Man this body of Death or the body of this Death It is a body of Death in a Two-fold sense First Thy Outward Man is the shadow of Death cast upon thy Spirit It is the Valley of the Shadow of Death thorow which thou walkest here below Thou art in the Body sunk down to the borders of Death being already come within the shadow of it The whole face of things upon thy Person and round about thee is a dead Image and the Image of Death For he who hath the Power of Death hath entred into it with his Principality and taken away the true Life of it setting it up now as an Appearance in and of himself Secondly Thy Outward Man is a Body of Death because it is appointed to Death The Body by one Death hath brought it self out of the Divine Life into the Power of Darkness into a Hellish Root Now by another Death it must be broken off from this Root and brought back again into an Eternal Stock Our mourning then must last while we are in the Body of this Death till this be no more this Body but perish in Death The Devil cast us out of our Innocency and from the face of God he set up himself by setting up the Natural Man in it self We were turn'd out of Paradise when we came into this Body which is now the Beast's skin Again By the Ruine of the Natural Man we must raise the Building of God and cast down the Devil By putting off the Beast's skin by the dissolution of the Tabernacle of Beasts skins in Death we return into Paradise We are therefore to go mourning to our Graves 3. Limit The clearing of the face of God towards us Matth. 9. 15. Our Saviour tells the Jews That his Disciples could not fast while the Bridegroom was with them But the Bridegroom should be taken away And then they should fast in those days The Face of God in Jesus Christ is the Soul's Bridegroom Who that is the Bride of this Bridegroom can take joy in any thing when this Face is withdrawn and hid from him Shall not our Souls fast from the Freedom and Fulness of Natural Delights when our Spirits are made to fast from the Beauties and Delicacies of Jesus Christ This is the season of Mournning It is now beautiful to see a holy Soul Widow-like with a Vail upon the face of all her Glory and Content when her God is gone a great Journey from her What can she do but mourn when he is absent who was the Light of her Eyes the Anointing of her Face and Head What can set an end to her mournings till he return and wipe away all Tears from her Eyes by setting himself in the Eye of her Spirit Psal. 30. 7. Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled saith David Will it not be Winter when your Sun is gone Can you expect a Spring till he turns toward your Earth again Is it not the Presence of the Lord Jesus that makes all things fresh and full of Beauty round about thee When he is withdrawn who was the Image of God in them do not all things droop and languish in thine Eyes Canst thou then chuse but languish with them If the Lord Jesus be the Root of thy Spirit and his Spirit the Sap of thy Comforts thou wilt grieve in his absence without arguments to persuade thee to it as naturally as Flowers nipt with Frosts hang the head Nay no arguments will be able to raise thee to any degree of chearfulness except he come and make himself the argument When thy Corruptions like Fogs from the Earth have gathered into Clouds which hide the Heaven of thy Lords Face from thee weep then till these Clouds be again dissolv'd by the Showers of thy Tears and so thy Jesus again discover himself over thee as a clear sky I have done with the Third particular in the Nature of Spiritual mourning which was the measure of it 4. The Mystery The Mystery of every thing is in God Ephes. 3. 9. the Mystery hid in God who created all Things by Jesus Christ. This is the Mystery of Things their ground their beginning and end in the Person of God and Christ. Neither can we be Spiritual in any thing any further than we see the Mystery of it and stand in the Mystery The Mystery of a holy Grief is Threefold 1. Mystery Conformity to Iesus Christ. 2. Mystery Complyance with the Will of God 3. Mystery The Compleating of our Persons 1. Mystery Conformity to Jesus Christ. We read Ephes. 1. 4 5. that we were chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the world We were predestinated to the Adoption of Children by
Jesus Christ. We sprung up in Eternity in the Heart of God out of the Person of the Lord Jesus there as Images of him who as he rose up in the Divine Nature the essential Image of it was Fruitful from the Root of that Nature according to the Power of Life and Store of Spirit in it So he multiplied himself by the strength of the Father into many such Images in the heart and thoughts of God Thus we were chosen in and by him Thus also we were chosen to be Conformed to the Image of this Son as you shall read Rom. 8. 29. Whom he did foreknow he did also predestinate to be conform'd to the Image of his Son The Fathers fore-knowledge of us in his Son was the ground of our predestination by him and conformity to him A chief part in Christ is the dark part his Sufferings a chief part of our Conformity to him lies in our Sufferings and Sorrows Rom. 8. 17. Joynt-heirs with Christ if so be we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together Our whole inheritance is our conformity to the Lord Jesus This Inheritance lies as well in Suffering as in being glorified We have a double interest in Christ One in the Unity of his Spirit Another in the variety of his Body According to our First interest we are one with Christ that is by the Unity of the Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. So we are to have the fulness of Christs Sufferings form'd over again upon our Persons in the Spirit 2 Cor. 4. 10. According to our Second interest in the Body of Christ we are only particular members 1 Cor. 6. 15. In this particular membership a particular 〈◊〉 of Sufferings pertains to us according to our place in the Body The portion of sorrow allotted to every Saint in this capacity is as much inferiour to the miseries of our Blessed Saviour as that Member is inferiour to the Head But for this reason the Providence of God leads us to occasions of sorrow and then opens in us a spring of Sorrow that we may fulfil our measure in the sufferings of Christ Col. 1. 21. This is the first Mystery of our Griefs our Conformity to Christ that we may be Brethren Spouses and Members of Christ. 2 Mystery Our Complyance with the Will of God We mourn that we may be like Christ Brethren grown up from one Root with him Spouses drawn forth from his side Bone of his Bone Flesh of his Flesh Principle of his Principle Image of his Image Strength of his Strength Weakness of his Weakness But now you may ask what the mystery of all sufferings and griefs are as they are Christ's first and so ours Answ. I answer to that by a place of Scripture Heb. 5. 8. Though he were a Son yet learned he Obedience by the things which he suffered There are Two Waies of Learning one Speculative in the Contemplations of the Spirit the other Practical in the Conformity of the Person There are Two Waies of Obedience one in the Will being prepared and ready to all things the other in the Work of Doing or Suffering being actually undertaken and thorowly undergone Our Lord Jesus was ever in all things obedient to his Father so far as that State in which he was would permit While he liv'd in Heaven he was obedient to the Death in the Contemplations of his Mind and the Conformity of his Will so far as these two Wings could carry him But all this while the Devil might say of Jesus as he did of Job He dyes for his Father in his Speculations and Purposes at a distance while his Father maintains a hedge of Life and Joys round about him while he sees not Death but as Death it self is a living and beautiful Image in a Prospect of Glory Therefore Jesus Christ is brought down into Flesh that he may try and so experimentally learn another way of suffering by an Actual Descent into the Power of Darkness and Misery as it is in its own Principle Our Father could have prevented the Rising up of the Spring or Principle of Sin in the Heart of the creature So he could have cut off all occasions of sorrow or suffering He could have taken away Sin by a change and not by a Death Transfiguring instead of Crucifying us and this too by the heavenly Person resting upon us in a White Cloud and taking us up in it self without its Descent into the Dark Cloud of this earthly Body Thy Father could restrain the Issues of Lust in thee which send forth so much Filth upon which we pour forth so many Tears So our Tears might have been spared But if all this had been where had been the Testimony of our Obedience to the Father There are Two Waies of Obeying God One in the concurrency of his Will and ours the other in a contradiction between his Will and ours A holy Spirit obeys God the first way in Heaven and Joys For there it takes up its Joys and tasts a Sweetness in them much more out of Obedience than Appetite because they are the Will of God rather than because they agree with its own will But we obey God the Second way on Earth in Afflictions In Heaven we give up our will to be swallowed up in the Will of God as a River in the Sea In our Sorrows we Sacrifice our wills to the Will of God as the Beasts were Sacrificed by their Death and by Fire So Jesus Christ when his will was at the height of contrariety to the Will of God according to its own proper inclination If it be possible let this Cup pass from me Yet then he cut the Throat of his will and laid it panting upon the Altar to be wholly consumed in the dreadfullest way in the Fire of divine wrath and vengeance Thou in all thy Griefs accomplishest the same Mystery after the same manner Thou Feastest the will of the Father by the Fast of thine own will Thou obeyest thy God and servest his Pleasure by the binding and Offering up of thy Isaac all thy Pleasures 3. Mystery The Compleating of our Persons This is yet a Further and the utmost depth in the Mystery of our Sorrows The Scripture holds it forth in the Person of Christ as the Pattern in our Persons as the Copies of that Pattern We read of Jesus Christ Heb 2. 10. that he was made Perfect through Sufferings That is Perfect which hath all parts belonging to it It belonged to the Person of Jesus Christ to act all parts to appear in all shapes For he was to be the dwelling place of all Fulness 1 Colos. 19. He was to unfold the manifold wisdom of God in his own Person Ephes. 3. 10. He came forth as the Word to make a full and distinct expression of God The Nature of God is the Glass in which all Natures are first formed and seen The Natures of Light and Darkness Shame and Glory Joy and Misery to say
always in pangs of Love to bring it forth and form it in us But to conclude this Reason This Holy Spirit this Spirit of Unity and Unity of the Spirit is the Spiritual heart of which we speak St. Paul Ephes. 3. expresseth it by being rooted in Love This is that Root which we have in the eternal Love of God in that Love which is God in God as he is Love This is the new Heart which is bred and cherished in the bosom of the Father These Heavens above us comprehend in their Circuits all things here below which as learned men teach us are figures images of their vertues sent forth from them But they have fixed in themselves innumerable Bodies of Light and Glory far exceeding all things here They say that these Heavens are Circular because that round Figure is most caâ—acious and beautiful as being an Image of the Unity of Angelical 〈◊〉 How great and glorious a Circle then vastly transcending the Heaven of Heavens is this Divine Unity this Spirit which is the new heart of a Saint All the Heavens and this earth lie within the compass of it as Light shadows which it casteth from it self But as for those Treasures which are proper to it which are fixt in it how infinitely more innumerable how infinitely richer are they The mind of Christ with all the Beauties and Brightnesses there the deep things of God with all those Lights and Joys unfathomable to every natural Eye and Heart lie within the Circuit of this Spiritual Principle A great Philosopher call'd the Angelical Spirit in man which is his Natural Heart the Flower of the Soul It is so indeed as the Blossoms upon Fruit-Trees but the Divine Spirit the Spiritual heart is the Fruit 1. Use. Seek this good heart which hath so good a Treasure in it That you may seek it with all affection and diligence take these Three directions Believe the Truth of this Principle Consider the Preciousness of it Understand your Propriety in it 1. Believe the Truth of this Principle When the Apostles asked the Christians in Samaria whether they had received the Holy Ghost they answered that they had not so much as heard whether there were a Holy Ghost or no. Is not this the temper of many amongst us of most of the sensitive and natural Spirit in us all We do not so much as believe that there is a Holy Ghost much less that this Holy Ghost is poured out upon any Soul as a Heavenly Anointing from above or dwells in any heart as the Principle of a supernatural and eternal Life He that comes to God must believe that God is and that he is a Rewarder of those that diligently seek him Heb. 11. 6. Fix in thine heart with an unshaken faith these two Radical Truths from which all the fatness and sweetness of the Tree of Life is derived into our Spirits 1. That God is 2. That there is a Union between God and Man in One Spirit Say frequently to thy self It is true It is the first Truth upon which all other Truths are built that there is a supream incomprehensible Being which shines through all and fills all the Fountain and Measure the End Perfection and Blessedness of all Beings It is as true that this ever-glorious God descends in Jesus Christ to sow himself by his own good Spirit as a Divine Seed in the heart of man below that by the unvailing of his original Excellencies he shines as a spiritual Sun from above into the Soul to quicken awake and call forth this Seed in the vertue of which the Soul springs into a new and heavenly Being comes to God by the fresh Participations of his life grows up into his Likeness pleaseth him is possess'd and enjoy'd by him possesseth and enjoyeth him with an unexpressible fulness of all mutual and Divine Pleasures When the Merchant in the Gospel found a Pearl in the Field he went and sold all to purchase this Field If you have discovered this rich Pearl of the Divine Nature as a Root at the bottom of yoâ—â— Spirits go exchange every Principle Power and excellency to give 〈◊〉 self up to the conduct activity fruitfulness enjoyment of this alone 2. Consider the preciousness of this Heavenly Principle Es. 6. 13. God compares his people in the greatest desolations to an Oak whose Substance is in it when it hath cast its leaves so saith he the Holy Seed shall be the Substance thereof Consider here three Precious Things in this good Heart which is the Seed and Principle of Grace in us 1. This Spiritual Principle is a Substance Solomon complains of all things under the Sun the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear filled with hearing He brings this as an Argument and effect of their vanity All things here are Shadows only and so empty unsatisfactory endlesly raising expectations and desire but never answering them When this Spirit which is far above the Sun is received by thee when this becomes the Principle of all thy faculties which sees in thine Eye hears in thine Ear understands and wills in thine heart when this is the Treasury from which all Objects come forth to act those faculties then thine Eye will be satisfied with seeing substantial Beauties thine Ear will be filled with substantial Melodies thine Understanding will sit down to a Heavenly Feast of substantial Lights and Truths thy Will shall lie down to a Sweet and Eternal rest in a bed of substantial Embraces and Joys in the midst of the Substance and Essence of Goodness itself 2. This is the Holy Seed The Heavens over our Heads are pure They are free from that gross and dark Matter with which all Forms of things are mixt here on Earth This Purity of theirs is their Transparency Light Lustre Harmony Vertue Incorruptibility Yet they are Corporeal and Bodily their bright Beauties shall be turned into Darkness and Blood The Angels are purer far than these Heavens They have no Cloud Clog or Dross of Bodies Yet are they mixtures of Light and Shade Their Glories are vails upon the true Glory They wax old as a Garment and are changed Their Nature is subject to stains and falls But this Principle which is the Seed and Heart of a Believer is purer than the Heavens or the Angels It is the Spirit of God the true Light in which there is no Darkness Simple incorruptible Unchangeable 3. This Principle is durable It is a Fountain springing up in the Soul to Eternal Life John 4. O precious Treasure Eternity is defined to be the full and unbounded Possession of all Good at once in One. Pearls have their price because they have their lustre in a lasting Substance This Holy Seed is the onely Pearl of price both for its Lustre and for its lastingness The Will of Man naturally moves to good The greater the good is and the more clearly it appears to us so much the more natural and powerful are the motions
of our Will to it Did we understand the goodness of this Spiritual Principle for the Reality the Excellency the Eternity of it the Waters are not carried so naturally so constantly to the Sea nor Fire upwards to the Bosom of Heaven as our Souls would to this Sea of Life and Bosom of Love Union with God in the Unity of his own Spirit Thus we have done with the 2d Direction to quicken us in our pursuit of a new Heart a Spiritual Principle which is to consider the preciousness of it 3. Understand your Propriety in this Divine Principle 1. You were made in the Similitude and Image of God He is your Original the Substance and Truth of your Being more truly your selves than you are your selves 2. God is your Father There is one God the Father of whom are all Things saith St. Paul 1 Cor. The Cheeks of Christ are said to be Beds of Spices Cant. 5. v. 13. Our Immortal Souls our whole Persons are sprung up out of the Glories of the eternal Spirit as Spices and Flowers out of their Beds in the Gardens When we are united to this Spirit we return to our own Original like those flowers we sink down into our proper Beds and Roots to receive a fresh Life and Beauty 3. We are made by and in Christ Col. 1. By Christ as our immediate Principle and Pattern In Christ as our proper Habitation The Original Sin of Devils which infected Mankind is plainly set down to be this Jude 6. They kept not their first State in Greek Principle but left their own Habitation Propriety begets Love for both Love and Propriety have their life and root in Unity There is nothing which is so much thine own as God as Christ as the Spirit These are thine own Father thine own Habitation where thou art at home thine own Principle thine own Original thine own truest and best Self Let this Propriety then by Love ascending from thee by the sense and influence of a greater Love far descending upon thee encourage allure and attract thee to this Divine Principle this Spirit of Union by which thou becomest one Spirit with Christ and the Father Thus return O man whosoever whatsoever thou art to thine own Home to thy proper Unity as the wandring Bird to her nest and the Wife of Adulteries to the bosom of the Husband of her Youths where she finds a Fountain of Heavenly Loves still flowing fresh for her as at the first into which she casts her self and finds all the Beauties of her Youth and Purity restored unto her as in the beginning her sins and sorrows flying away and vanishing into the Air of this eternal Spirit as Shadows of the Night and Dreams of a man asleep when he waketh Use 2. This good Treasure of a good Heart is a Cordial and Comfort against Losses or Sufferings Heb. 10. 34. The holy Penman tells the Disciples to whom he writes they took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods knowing in your selves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring Substance Some read it knowing that you have in your selves in Heaven a better and an enduring Substance This Scripture upon the riches of the Spiritual Principle in a Believer groundeth five sweet and full Consolations 1. Thou hast the Substance A Lacedaemonian invited to hear one sing like the Nightingale answered To what purpose when I can hear the Nightingale itself When thy sense mourns to thy Soul and saith They have taken away our Estates our Friends all the joys of Life They will take away our Lives also let thy soul reply why should we mourn for the Shadows when still we have the Substance 2. Thou hast all things better Philosophy saith that every plant below hath its Star in Heaven each Star its Angel above the Angels their Idea's or Original Essences and Truths in God to which they are as Types only Is thy Flower withered Thou hast it in a Star Is thy Star darkned For thy Star thou hast an Angel Are the good Angels which ministred to thee withdrawn from thee They are present and appear to thee in a better manner in the Form of God Canst thou grieve for the loss of a Figure in Wax when thou hast the same Figure in a Gold-Seal from which the Impression of that Form was made upon the Wax 3. Thou hast all to endure for ever The Scripture compares Spiritual and Heavenly Things to Spices for their Sweetness and Incorruptibleness because they partake much of the Sun Spices are prefer'd before Flowers because they have a more lasting Sweetness and not only so but they preserve us both living and dead from corruption Therefore they are used for preservatives from Infection and for Embalmings Thou seest thy Flesh and all the Glory of the Flesh round about thee wither and fade away Trouble not thy self In stead of these Flowers thou hast Spices Thou hast all thy pleasant things in an incorruptible Spirit where they not only preserve their sweetnesses ever fresh for thee but thee also ever flourishing in the enjoyment of them 4. Thou hast all in Heaven A Believer is ever in Heaven and hath Heaven in himself For that Spirit which is his Principle is the highest Heaven The Joys of the Gospel are compared often to a Feast to a Wedding-Dinner at the Marriage of a Kings Son Now there go to make up a Feast not only costly and curious fare but all things suitable Stately and rich Rooms Musick Perfumes excellent company all the Furniture and Entertainment great beautiful and delighting Thus thy Sufferings only change the Scene What thou hadst before on Earth now thou hast in Heaven in the glorious Fellowship of all Angels and Triumphant Spirits with the Ointments of the Holy Ghost the Melodies and Harmonies of Divine Love sounding thorow all the Beauties of the Divine Nature in the purest Light guilding all Joys and Immortal Pleasures like Doves with Silver Wings and Golden Feather flying about every where being nothing but the Spirit of all Grace Joy and Glory in various forms 5. Thou hast all this Substance this Heaven in thy self A Believer hath these Heavenly Things in himself by a threefold Union 1. By a Union of Love As these Heavenly things are thy Beloved so thou art their Love As thou beholdest all pleasantnesses in their faces so thou art their Garden of Pleasures where all precious things new and old are treasured up for thy Beloved They are thy rest and delight their Desire is towards thee You are in the Unity of the Spirit as One made Two and Two made One again 2. By a Union of Likeness Those Heavenly things and thy Spirit are as Brother and Sister that suckt the breasts of the same Mother as Twin-Lilies or Roses springing from the same Root of Love They are to you and you to them as clear and shining Glasses in which you mutually see the Faces each of other and your selves as reflections of each
others Beauties Jesus Christ in the Canticles often calls the Holy Soul his Sister-Spouse He calls her Can. 1. 9. My Love The word in Hebrew according to its Root is the same with that which signifies a Friend who is described to be Alter Idem the same in another Person It properly imports One made into Two by a Division as Adam and Eve the other half on Ones self 3. By a Union of Substances Bodies can never meet in One No one Body can ever be in two places at once nor two bodies ever in one place They unite only by Touches by their outsides by Accidents and Shadows A Holy Heart and Heavenly Things unite as Spirits as the purest Spirits where the Unity is most perfect These intimately totally essentially formally penetrate possess fill and actuate each other You have a shadow of it in the mixture of Lights or in two clear and bright Eyes when they look full and stedfastly one upon another So Christ prays John 17. 21. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they may be one in us Again v. 23 I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in One. The Radical and Original Unity is that of the Blessed Persons in the Trinity the most immediate Branches and liveliest Copies of it are those Two of the Divine and Humane Nature in Christ's Person of the Head and Members in his Mystical Body But this shall suffice for our present Doctrine that a good Heart is a Treasury of good things PSAL. XLV VER II. Thou art fairer than the Children of Men Grace is poured into thy lips therefore God hath blessed thee for ever THis Psalm is a Song of Loves It containeth the whole mystery of the Gospel and of the life of a Saint with his Saviour both in the Figure and Substance which is all an Heavenly Song of Spiritual and eternal Loves An Holy Soul in love with Jesus Christ is altogether taken up with this Threefold exercise 1. The Description and Contemplation of the Person of her Beloved 2. The Desire and continual longings by day and by night to be possess'd of to enjoy this Person 3. The care and labour to be like him to partake of his Beauties and Graces to derive them by the channels and streamings of the Spirit into itself to transform itself into his Likeness St. Paul spends the first part of his discourses in drawing aside the Curtain and setting the Person of Christ in its entire form naked glories and native sweetnesses in the Eyes of Believers Then he leadeth and presseth them to the enjoyment first next to the Imitation of this Jesus upon the ground of his own Loveliness Love and Life The first part of this Psalm is spent in like manner upon the Person and Praises of the Lord Jesus This Verse hath Three Parts 1. The Beauty of Christ Thou art fairer than the Children of Men 2. The Love and Sweetness of Christ Grace is poured into thy lips 3. The Seal of the God-Head of the Father of his Blessedness and Eternity upon the Person of Christ therefore God hath blessed thee for ever 1. The first part in the Text is the Beauty of Christ Thou art fairer than the Children of Men. Jesus Christ is the fairest of all men He is fairer than the whole generation of Mankind He is fairer than any person born of Man The Lord Jesus excells all Mankind in Beauty in Three respects 1. The Humane Nature of Christ taken by itself was born of a Virgin-Mother and God immediately supplying the place of a Father So it was as a Morning-beam begotten between a pure Sun and a clear sweet Air. Then it was born without Sin the proper and only deformity of Spirits Thus his Soul and Body were like a Silver stream flowing quietly in a clean channel where the Image of the Skie and all the Heavenly Bodies figures itself constantly and clearly So did the Mind Will and Workings of the God-Head figure themselves and shine in the Manhood of Christ. Lastly it is the common sense of Divines that the Complexion of Christ was very delicate and pure arising from the most accurate proportion of the Elements the most exact Harmony and purity of the Humours and Spirits in his Body We never read that he was at all Sick As this made all his Sufferings the greater thorough the quickness of his sence so it made him in his outward Form extreamly sweet and lovely above the rest of men But besides all this the Holy Ghost seems to fix its eye upon the Humane Nature of Christ in two other States different from that of his Incarnation by the Virgin Mary as he is the First-born of the whole Creation or of every Creature and as he is the First-born of those that rise from the Dead Coloss. 1. 15 18. The Jews say that the Messias was the first Creature that all the rest were made by Him in Him and for Him as Pictures to the Life and Copies to the Original A German Divine teacheth that he who receives the Body of Christ receives at once all that is good or fair in the whole world from the Beginning to the End of it But the Humanity of the Lord Jesus as he is the First-born of those that are risen from the Dead excels Adam in all his Innocency and primitive Perfections yea and Himself also as he was the First-born of every Creature the Natural Head of Angels as much as Heaven exceeds the Earth or a Paradise in the third Heavens an Earthly One 1 Corin. 15. 49. The former was an Earthly Beauty fading designed for a Sacrifice to be exposed to all sorts of shame and Sufferings to be made a Prey to the devouring jaws of Death This latter Beauty is Heavenly Incorruptible seated upon a throne which indureth for ever and ever 2. The Second Respect in which Christ is fairer than the Children of men is the Union between the Divine and Humane Nature All the Beauties of our Saviours Manhood are heightned by this Union to that Lustre and Loveliness which cannot be express'd in any meer Creature as a fine Cloud a Garden of Flowers a Statue of Gold are quite other things when the naked Sun sheds his Beams immediately upon them than when they are seen in a common or reflected Light By vertue of this Union the Humane Nature of Christ is One Person with the Divine As precious stones are a common water congealed but inclosing particles of the Heavenly Aetherial Light and Spirit So the Manhood of the Lord Jesus in its lowest state of Flesh in its Blood in the Grave excel'd in vertue outshined in Lustre Rubies Diamonds all the precious things of the Creature in Heaven and Earth by vertue of this Union For in all these States God was the Person there all subsisted in him as Branches in the Tree of Eternity As Thomas did to the Wounds of Christ
of its unseen Element Thou sayst it is now dying now dead when it is emptying itself into the Ocean of Beauties retreating into the pure and incorruptible Element of Beauty the Blessed Person of Christ. Cleave to it in this view of it cast thy self with it into these secret and sacred depths of Life and Loveliness so shalt thou never lose it or thy self save by being both together swallowed up into the perfection of Beauty the Eternal Treasury of all Beauties Jesus Christ. I have now finished the Two first Reasons of the Fairness of Christ above all things the Original the Perfection of Beauty in his Person Before I pass to the other Two Reasons let us look down a little upon our selves and make some application of these Beauties which we have seen in the Person of our Lord to our own Persons to enlighten the Darknesses and redress the deformities there Use. 1. A Caution Let us take heed that we make no inference take no encouragement from the Loveliness of Christ to make our selves unlovely in his Eye to defile his Spouse in our selves to stain his Glory by Sensuality Lust or any presumptuous Sin Our Saviour now dying saith to his Father of his Disciples I sanctify my self that they also may be sanctified John 17. Jesus Christ put off in Death every thing of Earth and Flesh. He lifteth himself up by his Cross into Glory that he may present himself again to the Eye of our Spirits in the Spiritual and Heavenly Brightness of the Divine Form and Glory that he may baptize us into the same Sea of his Blood and into the same white Cloud of his own Spiritual Beauties that we also by him may die to the Flesh and live with him in the Spirit Hath Jesus Christ to this end made himself higher than the Heavens Heb. that our Hearts and Liveâ— should be low and vile as the Earth Is he ascended above all the Angels all the Principalities and Powers of Light that we should become like Beasts and yield up our Bodies and Spirits Instruments to the Principalities and Powers of the Darkness of this World and of Hell Is there any hope of renewing such a Person by words who thus turneth the rightest and pleasantest words of the Lord Jesus and his Beauties unto nourishment to vain and filthy Lusts to Corruption Is any more to be done but to leave him to that Dreadful and Delightful Maran Atha which is by interpretation The Lord cometh to the Person of Christ himself in his own immediate Appearances when those glorious and unexpressible Beauties of the Spirit and God-Head in which he shall appear shall be Flames of Fire burning upon and consuming every Earthly Fleshly Principle or Spirit in every Form Use. 2. A Conviction of the Evil of Sin which blindeth us to the sight of this Beautiful and Blessed Person of our Lord Jesus How should we all curse to the Pit of Hell from whence it arose that Charm or Enchantment if any had such force to change the Sun into Sack-cloath or hinder it from shining any more upon the Earth How much worse than a Grave would it make the whole world when we should have eyes open and no Light Far greater is that mischief which the Devil worketh by Sin By the charm of this world which he raiseth as an Apparition and Lying Image from Hell together with the Lusts which he awakeneth by it he taketh away from us the glorious Light of Christs Person ten thousand times brighter sweeter and of more consequence to us than the Sun in Heaven 2 Corin. 4. 4. By this means all our faculties are as so many Eyes continually awakened continually benighted with the blackness of Darkness deluded with empty Shadows and disappointed of the beloved Substance So are our Spirits wandring in an everlasting Darkness tormented night and day with the fire of their own restless eager and unsatisfied desires while Jesus Christ their only Light and Food is hid from them under the Cloud of their Corruptions Take heed especially of three Sins 3 of Covetousness Uncleanness Enmity 1. Take heed of Covetousness Mat. 6. 22. Our Saviour warneth his Disciples to take heed what they made their Treasure because where the Treasure sure is there the Heart will be v. 21. The beloved Object irresistibly draweth the Heart to itself and transformeth it into itself as Seed doth the ground in which it is sown The Eye saith Christ is the Light of the Body If thine Eye be single thy whole Body shall be full of Light But if thine Eye be evil thy whole Body shall be full of Darkness and if the Light which is in thee be darkness how great is that Darkness The whole Soul and every Spirit is an Eye The understanding is an Eye of Light the Will is an Eye of Love The same word for the substance of it in the Hebrew signifies an Eye and a Fountain The Object is the Light of this Eye which sheds abroad in it the Beams of its Light Sweetness and Influence These are the waters springing up in this Fountain The single Eye in the Language of the Scripture is the good the liberal large open Eye The Eye is single from its Object when it hath fixed unchangeably in it that single Object which is truly and eternally One when it looketh upon all things only as they are comprehended in this Unity This is such a singleness such a simplicity that the Eye and the Object are both One the Supream and Eternal Unity is both the Eye and the Object in this Spirit and so the Fountain which goeth forth from its own Eden maketh the Soul a Paradise and watereth the whole Body The Evil Eye is a contracted divided narrow covetous envious malicious Eye Beware O man that the things of this world that this world be not in thine Eye As Jesus Christ is the Image of the Invisible God so is this World the Image of its God the Devil the Prince of Darkness by which he becomes visible to thee enamouâ—eth thy Soul setteth himself in thine Eye and thine Heart with all his Hells and Fires hid within this Cloud And now a blackness of Darkness big with a dreadful Tempest of Wrath dwelleth within thee and covereth all things round about thee But if Jesus Christ be the Object of thy Love he will be as a Divine Sun in the Center and midst of thy Spirit powring forth a great plenty of rich and glorious Beams thorow all parts every point of thy Soul thy Body every thing round about thee Now all things shall be to thee one entire and beautiful Body of Divine Light Indeed the world compared with the great and glorious world of Light and Beauty in the Person of Christ is as a Mote in the Sun But if this Mote be in thine Eye it will deprive thee of the sight of this Sun 2. Take heed of Uncleanness St. Jude v. 23. teacheth us to hate the Garment spotted
first Sun they shine in the midst of them shine quite thorow them They behold not the Figures ascending like a Pillar of Smoak perfumed with all the Spices of the Apothecary from this golden Altar of Christs glorious Form comprehending them and being ever beneath them how they lose themselves by degrees in the sweet shade of Christs Death how they spring again new in the brightness of his Resurrection how they lie continually in the Original Glory where the whole mystery is entirely comprehended perfected and finisht These men set not their hearts upon this glory of the Father in Christ to make that their Righteousness their Strength and their Song in every other Appearance as in the house of their Pilgrimage They take no pleasure in the joints of all the members in this Divine Body which are Jewels wrought by the hand of a skilful workman this Unity being itself the mysterious joynt every where setting all and binding all together in itself in that Wisdom of God which is this Beautiful Person of whom we speak But enough of this Caution and of the Second Part of Beauty in our beloved the Harmony in the variâ—ty 3. The Third Part is the Light in the Harmony John 8. 12. Our Lord saith of himself I am the Light of the World As the Sun the chief and most glorious Body is the Light of all Corporeal and bodily Beings so this blessed Person of our Saviour the first and best Spirit is the Light of all Spirits the first and most Glorious Form is the Light of all Forms of Things Bodies and Spirits He is the First the Supream the universal Light He is that highest Circle of Light which rideth forth upon every Circle or Beam of Light each point in every Beam Psal. 36. 9. David saith to God In thy Light shall we see Light The Light of the Father is Jesus Christ the express Image and Glory of the Father These words of the Psalmist have Two senses 1. As colours are seen in the light of the Sun so every colour Light and Being the Light of the Sun itself is seen only in the Light of Christs Person as this pure and eternal Sun shineth upon every other Light and Form in it and thorow it 2. Every thing as it is seen in the Light of this Heavenly Form is a precious stone of the new Hierusalem It hath a spark of this everlasting Light which playeth in it and is incorruptible The Sun is changed into Sack-cloath at the presence of an Angel whose Light so much excelleth that of the Sun that it hath no Light when that other Light shineth forth The highest Angels vail their Faces with their Wings lose all their Light and Glory when Jesus Christ appeareth upon the white Throne of his proper Forms and naked Person What manner of Light is this then how pure how full of Glory how unexpâ—essible incomprehensible This Light this Lustre of the God-Head is that Scene that Circle in which all the variety the ravishing Harmony of Things lieth in Christ. This is the Form of his Person 4. The last Part of Beauty in Christ is the Life in the Light Life is a Spring of Beings which maketh every thing fresh and new every moment Newness is attributed to the Spirit The oldness of the Letter and the Newness of the Spirit are opposed one to another because the Spirit is Life Life is the Spring of Motion which is the Chiefest Charm in Beauty and in which all Pleasures consist Jesus Christ John 8. 12. calleth Himself the Light of Life The Person of our King is that Light which is the Flower and Crown of the Divine Life and that life which is the lustre the Sparkling the Perfume of this Crown and Flower He is the Fountain of Life Psal. 36. 9. With thee is the Fountain of Life This Lovely Person is the Fountain of Life in the Bosom and Heart of the Father Himself He is the Quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. The Lord is that Spirit which is in its own Essence and proper Form Life itself in the Fountain where it is most pure most plentiful most powerful most pleasant How do all Varieties of things 〈◊〉 in the Youth of all Beauty in this Fountain of Life How do they renew their youth their Beauties every moment endlesly Into what mutual traffick of Beauties and Sweetnesses into what uncessant Sprightly Pleasant motions what Divine Acts of Love Joy Delight do they spring up How is the Beauty and Joy of All fulfilled in every one How are all the Beauties and Joys of All eternally varied multiplyed and increased when all lye together in this Fountain of Life and every One hath this Fountain of Life in Himself This Person of Christ is the Fountain of the Divine Life that Springing Fulness of the Divine Nature in each Form Here the Father the Supreme Love eternally generateth the Son the Original Beauty Both in the Spirit eternally embrace each other infuse themselves into each other renew themselves each in other which is the First and Universal Joy the Fountain of Delights Use. Make the Single Person of Christ the Sole Ground of your Faith the onely Object of your Love the Fountain of all your Comfort and Ioy. 1. Make the Single Person of Christ the Sole Ground of your Faith Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God Our Jesus in His Spiritual Form of Glory is the Word of God as the Sun itself is Lux the First Light The Scriptures are the Word of God as the Sun-shine Lumen the Secundary Light The First is a Living Light a Light of Life The Second in it self is Light alone without Life Look thorow the outward Word for the Person of Christ. When He cometh in to thy Soul by His Spiritual Appearance He will be a Light of Life in thee at once revealing His Excellencies in thee Giving thee an Eye to see these Excellencies by this Sight Setting them in thine Heart Setting thine Heart upon them as a Root of Faith Esa. 45. 22. Look to me and be saved all ye ends of the Earth saith Jesus from His Throne High and lifted up on which Esay saw Him sitting which is His Divine Form Behold the Person of thy Saviour setteth it self before thee to attract and allure thine Eye by the Light of His Beauties When thou lookest to Him He holdeth thine Heart fast for ever fixt as a Seal upon His Heavenly form by the Fulness of all things Good Great and Glorious in Himself He soweth the seed of his own Form and Fulness in thee by the flowing forth of the Life together with the Light of his Beauties All Objects for Faith to fix upon the answers of all objections against believing the way to believe the power of believing the act of Faith itself with the Sweetness and Fruits of it all these lie folded up in the rich Treasury of Christs Person all these flow in
at once upon the Soul spring up together in it at the unvailing of the Face of the Lord Jesus as the whole knot of Beams pour out themselves in a moment thorow all the Air to enlighten quicken beautify and cheer it when once the Body of the Sun appeareth Look then to Jesus O poor burthened Spirit Look to him that his Light may shew him that his Living Light may be an Eye in thee to see him that thorow this Eye thou mayst drink in by the streams of this Light of Life him and all his Beauties to be a Well springing up to all Grace and Glory to everlasting Life in thee I shall divide this Exhortation into Two Parts 1. Let the single Person of Christ be the only ground of Faith in thee unto justification Es. 60. 1. Arise and shine for the Glory of the Lord is risen upon thee Thou who lyest in the Dust bearing thy shame as one free among the Dead be no longer unbelieving but believe The Person of Christ in the Glory of the Father is risen upon thee filleth all things round about thee arise and shine in the brightness of his Appearance Consider the Fulness of Beauties in Christ and say thus with thy self Hath the Sun Beauty enough to gild every Dung-hill and Dung-heap here below though that be on Earth and he in Heaven Is not my Jesus then rich enough in Glories to overspread my shame and nakedness to make my Person shine in the Beams of his though he be higher than the Heavens I fal'n down to the nethermost parts of the Earth Ther Person of Christ is an overflowing Sea of Spiritual Beauties For all Fulness dwelleth in him If thou canst not cast thy self into him stand still and see how he breaks forth on every side cometh on upon thee with mighty Floods with a Deluge of Light and Beauty till he cover thee and swallow thee up into his Bottomless depths of pure and Divine Glory as a vessel in the Ocean which is fill'd within and overflown without with the Waters of the great and wide Sea 2. Let the single Person of Christ be the sole Ground of Faith unto Sanctification All Fulness the Fulness of a Sea and of a Spring is in Jesus Christ Num. 21. 17 18. You have an excellent Figure in a History The Children of Israel wanted water in the Wilderness God gave them a Well Then they sung this Song They encompassed the Well they sung to it Spring O Well the Princes digged it with their Staves at the direction of the Law-giver Dost thou want streams of Grace Is thy Soul a dry and barren Wilderness Behold Jesus whom God hath given thee for a Well At the direction of this Law-giver dig up the ground in thine heart till this Well this Jesus appear Then whatever Grace thou wantest at all times encompass his Spiritual Person in thy Soul and sing to him Spring O Well Joh. 4. 14. The Water which I will give him saith Jesus Christ shall be a Well springing up in Him unto everlasting Life Take but in One Drop the least Drop of the Sweetness of Christ the least glance of His Beauty into thy Spirit in this thou takest in the Person of Christ Himself the Fountain that shall spring up within thee unto the Life of Holiness which is the same for Nature and Duration with Eternal Life in Heaven Divine and Incorruptible 2. Make the Single Person of Christ the only Object of thy Love Let all the Fulness of thy Love be poured forth upon this Person which hath All Fulness of Beauty in Him There is a Twofold Love of Benevolence of Complacency 1. Love thy Lord Jesus with all thy Love of Benevolence St. Paul complaineth Philip. 2. 21. Every man seeketh his own things no man the things of Jesus Christ. Seek and pray for the prosperity of Jesus Christ all thy daies in His Truths in His Graces in His Glory thorow the whole Earth in His Church in every Creature where he is sown as a Seed Love him with the Love of Wife Children Friend Country Parents Life In Isaac shall thy Seed be called said God to Abraham In Jesus let all Relations even of thy self to thy self have their Name Truth and Vertue to thee Let all those Blessings with which thou shalt bless any of these come upon the Head of the Lord Jesus Wish well to bless all these in the name of the Lord Jesus Say continually let the Immortal Word upon its Wheels run and be glorified thorow all these thorow the whole Heavens and Earth Those that are Florists and love Flowers procure the choicest slips of Flowers set them in their Gardens water them watch them cherish them with the greatest tenderness and care So do thou love Jesus Christ. Be continually sowing and setting him his Beauties in thine own in every Spirit in every Appearance Water them cherish them by Word Example Faith Prayer Go out often into the Fields go down often into the Gardens to see whether these precious Plants bud and Blossom 2. Love the Person of thy Beloved with all thy Love of Complacency Prov. 18. 1. A man through desire seâ—arating himself intermedleth with all Wisdom or with all Substance Behold here the Spouse her love of Complacency to her Spiritual Bridegroom in three Steps Desire Separation Enjoyment 1. Desire Thy Saviour is called in the Prophet Hag. 2. 7. The desire of all Nations Thy Jesus who hath all Beauties for all Eyes and Spirits who hath all desirable things in himself is the desire of all Nations Shall not he then be the desire of all Principles and Powers of Life or Being in thy whole Spirit Soul and Body shall not he be the Object of all thy desires This Person who is the Sealed Sum and perfection of all Beauties putteth this Song into thy mouth Can. 7. 10. My Beloved is mine and I am his and his desire is towards me As the word there signifieth he continually is circling round about me hovering over me with the Eyes of all his Beauties and Loves upon me as a Kite about his Prey Do thou add to thy Song this part also and my desire is toward him Psal. 27. David saith one thing have I desired of the Lord that I may be all the days of my life in his Temple beholding his Beauty and seeking still The Heavenly Form of Christ is the Temple or Palace and the God or King in it the Beauty of all Say thou to Jesus Christ I now for what is my sighing before thee This is all my desire that I may be continually in the Heavenly Light and Divine Form of thy Person that I may be continually feasting all my Faculties and Senses on thy Beauties and endlesly making fresh Discoveries of new Beauties in thee 2. Separation Cant. 8. 6. The Church cryeth to Christ Set me as a Seal upon thine Heart as a Seal upon thine Arm. For Iealousy that is Love in its Strength
Fountain of wisdom above with the voice of our Faith to seek it as Silver in every thing round about us the pure mettal in the oar of the Creature by the Flame of our Love to dig for it as hidden Treasures within our selves below the Foundations of this Creation by Humility and the Cross This is the Comprehensiveness of the Knowledge of our Saviour 2. The Second Excellency in this Knowledge is the Efficacy This divideth itself into three Branches It worketh Grace 1. Universally 2. Powerfully 3. Kindly 1. The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus worketh Grace Universally It worketh all Grace together in a sweet Harmony John 17. 3. In a bosom-discourse between himself and his Father where he is most naked sweet and free the Lord Jesus saith to his Father This is Eternal Life to know thee the only true God and Him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ God is True the Truth as he is God He is the True God as he is the Onely One Jesus Christ is sent forth from him as he is the Brightness the Effulgency the Outshining of his Glory his essential Image Thus is he also one with him The Father cannot be perfectly known by him if he be not perfectly one with him This verse hath in it a figure called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One thing expressed as two like that a Cup and Gold for a Golden Cup. So here to know the only true God and Jesus Christ sent forth from him is to know that God who is the Unity and Truth in Jesus his essential Image in which he comprehendeth and cometh forth into all manner of various Images the outgoing of his Divine Essence in Eternity and Time Eternal Life is the whole Work of God upon the Souls of the Elect from the Beginning to the End the Divine Life begun in Grace on Earth compleated in Glory in Heaven I have formerly said that Knowledge maketh the Spirit One with that which is Known How should this endear the Knowledge of our Blessed Lord and quicken us to follow hard after it The true Knowledge of our Beloved maketh us One Spirit with Him and transformeth us into His Image which is the whole Armour of God put on at once the compleat frame and fabrick of all Grace rising up at once in the Heart All Graces are One in the Person of Christ. By taking him in and being made One with Him we take in All Grace and are molded into All Grace in One according to the measure of the Revelation of our Lord Jesus in us The want of having this Pattern upon the Mount Jesus in His Heavenly Form in the Eye of our Spirits is the great reason why the Tabernacle of God goeth up so imperfectly and brokenly in us One Saint is careful of his way but goâ—th sadly on another is chearful but careless One is sweet and slight another serious and soure censorious One is zealous and ignorant another high in his Light and loose in his Life Particular rules and precepts are like a Watering-pot which a man carrieth up and down in his hand watering his flowers and plants singly and slightly While one is watered the other withereth The Discovery of our Saviour in His Spiritual Person to the Eye oâ— our Spirits is as the gentle Rain from Heaven which at once watereth thy whole Garden and descendeth to the Root of every Truth Grace and comfort in thee Grow saith St. Peter in Grace and in the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. 2 Pet. l. l. Grace indifferently universally in the whole Nature and Kind is inseparable from the Knowledge of Jesus Christ. These two mutually breed and feed each other All Grace in the entire Frame and Harmony is the similitude the Image of Christs Person as it is in Glory formed in us As Christ riseth and shineth forth upon us this Image springeth up groweth clearer and fairer As this Image cometh to perfection so Jesus Christ is seen more perfectly in it as in a Glass If you be compleat Christians grow at once proportionably in all Grace in Light in Life in Love study the Heavenly Person of your Bridegroom grow in the Knowledge of him As the Eye of the Husband should be the Looking-glass of the Wife by which she adorneth her self so let this glorious Person of thy Beloved be that Spiritual Glass in which thou O Queen O Believing and loving Soul dressest thy self 2. The Knowledge of our Lord Jesus worketh Grace powerfully Psal. 19. 5. The Sun cometh forth like a Bridegroom out of his Chamber and a strong man to run a race His going forth is from the end of Heaven to the end thereof nothing can hide it from his Heat St. Paul testifieth to us Rom. 10. 18. that the Lord Jesus is the subject of the Spirit in this Psalm When he cometh forth from the Chamber of Invisible and Spiritual Glories in his Resurrection He cometh into the Soul at once as a Sun for Light and Glory as a Bridegroom for Love and Beauty as a strong man for Life Power and Progress When he riseth and shineth out in us he encompasseth our whole Person and Life from one end to the other he searcheth out every corner in both There is nothing so close so dark so corrupt so hard so unclean so dead so comfortless that can hide itself from the convincing enlightning consuming softning cleansing quickning comforting heat and power of his Appearance Every Beam of the Sun is a Figure of the Sun sheweth the Sun itself and carrieth along with it three Things Light Heat and Influence or Vertue Such is every Spiritual Truth in the Soul It is a Beam from the Person of Christ. It beareth a Figure of his Person and setteth his Person open and naked like a clear Sun before the Soul drawing the Eye of the Spirit to that and terminating it alone upon that Each Spiritual Beam each Glance every Discovery of Christ bringeth with it into the Soul a Light of Knowledge a Heat of Love a Convincing Converting Melting Transforming Chearing Sanctifying Spiritualizing Glorifying Influence and Power Go then in all thy pantings in all thy Prayers by night and by day cry to this Blessed Person Arise O Sun shine O Light that my Soul may become a Spiritual Garden that my Garden may flourish with all Spiritual Plants of Truth Grace and Joy that all my Spiritual Plants may give forth their smell and vertue by thine Appearance 3. The Knowledge of Christ worketh all Grace and maketh it most kindly Psal. 110. 3. The Spirit saith to Christ in the day of thy power thy people shall be a willing people in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the Morning the Dew of thy Youth The word Power signifieth also Armies Willing hath a twofold sense a natural pleasant Freedom and a Princeliness The Morning is the Person of Christ in the Glory of the Spirit who is called in Scripture the Day-spring the Light the Sun-rising When this
with two of their Wings as uncapable of the Brightness of this Blessed Appearance We generally profess to abhor the Principles of Sadducees and Socinians O that we did not most of us fall in too far with them in the real and practical part The Sadducees deny both Angel and Spirit They allow nothing besides that which their Senses can take hold of and assure to them Let us awaken our own Souls and examine our selves Are we not very apt to reject and condemn Jesus Christ Himself if He come in any Appearance of Beauty and Glory which beareth not the Figure of which hath not some proportion to the Forms of Flesh and Sense The Socinians acknowledge both Angels Created Spirits and the Eternal uncreated Spirit above them But they admit nothing more of these than their reason can give reception to They ascend no higher to these than the Wing of their Natural understanding can carry them They make reason the only Rule and Judge of Divine Things The men of Sodom went about groping for the door at which the Angels went in and could not find it because they were blind Is not this too frequently our case How many How often do we all go about in our searches groping for that Gate of Heaven by which the Angels all Divine Appearances go in and out at the Heavenly Person of our Saviour but find him not because we seek him with those natural Eyes of our own sense and understanding which are perfectly blind to his Beauties Divines teach us that one way of knowing God is by Negations when we run over each particular good in every Creature when we lay all the good of the whole Creation together in one heap and then say nothing of this is God all this is nothing of God as he is in himself his Nature and Person is infinitely beyond and above all that is here We were advanced to a good degree in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus if we were arrived at this Negative way of knowing him if when we were gone as fâ—r risen as high as our outward senses our inward faculties could enlarge and lift up themselves we then said of all this is not Jesus Christ. No he is made higher than all the Heavens of sense than all the Heavens of Reason and of Angels When we are thus stopt and bounded let us turn to Prayer and wait for the opening of a New Eye in us David cryeth out Psal. 24. 7. Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting Doors and the King of Glory shall come in So do you cry Thou everlasting Door thou Eye of Eternity thou Spiritual and Divine Eye open thy self in me that by thee the King of Glory may come in to me and fill all my Soul and Senses themselves with His Train So shall I see my King in His Beauty 2. Spiritual things are discerned in a Spiritual Light 1 Job 1. 7. If we walk in the Light as He is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin As He is in the Light He is God the Father as is manifest by that part of the last clause in the verse Jesus Christ His Son That term As is Emphatical and Distinguishing There is a Twofold Light One in which the Creature is Another in which God is One God maketh the Other God is The Creature is in a Derived and Changeable Light like the Earth God is like the Sun in His own Light inseparable from Himself St Paul distinguisheth between these two Lights God who commanded the Light to shine out of darkeness hath shined in our hearts the Light of the Knowledge of the glory of God in the face or Person of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. Behold here One Light which is commanded by the Creating Word of God out of Darkness which is called up out of the Possibility and Principles of the Creature Another Light which is the immediate Shine of the God-Head itself in the Face of Christ. As the Sunshine is called the Flower of Light because it springeth and â—lourisheth in the Body and Face of the Sun itself so is this called here a Light of Glory in the Face of Christ. God Himself is called the Father of Lights Jam. 1. 17 that is the Eternal Sun the Sun of Spirits the Supreme Sun of all Beings Spiritual and Corporeal He is the Fountain of Light the first and purest Light His Essence is a Light of Glory This Essential Light of his own unchangeable Glories is the Heaven in which he is St. Paul saith of him he only hath immortality dwelling in the Light which no man can approach unto whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6. 16. The Light of God is so pure that it is invisible to every Creature It shineth with such a Strength and Fulness of Glory that no mortal Eye the natural sight of no Man or Angel can approach it or pierce into it In this God himself dwelleth as in a Palace composed of the Beams and Brightnesses of his own God-Head spread round about him and encompassing him on every side In this Palace he resideth in the Center and midst of every Spirit every Being hid from the search of all In this high and strong Tower of Divine Light Jesus Christ dwelleth together with the Father and is hid there after the same manner Colos. 3. 3. Our Life is hid with Christ in God He is hid in God by the excess of Light in an Abyss of Glory But how then shall we see Jesus Christ in his own Light if that Light of his Person and Beauties by its unsearchable Riches and Incomprehensible unapproachable Glories hide him from us St. Peter answereth this objection 1 Pet. 2. 9. Ye are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called us out of Darkness into his marvellous Light His Light in Greek is properly his own Light Every Light in the things of sense is from the Sun But that is the Suns own Light which is inherent in the Body of the Sun which floweth immediately from it in which the Sun himself is seen In like manner that is Gods own Light by way of eminency peculiarity and distinction from every other Light which is the very shine and sparkling of the God-Head in itself upon itself in which it seeth and rejoyceth in it self in which alone it is seen which is inseparable from the Divine essence and Persons as the Sun-shine is from the glorious body of the Sun This is a Marvellous Light This Light itself is a Divine Wonder It is above the reach of every Humane or Angelical understanding It is a Light which openeth a Divine World of Glorious Wonders every thing is then only seen right and in its true state when it is seen in this Light Every thing seen in
this Light is a Divine Wonder a Divine Mystery Incomprehensible for the greatness of the Glory to sense and reason but familiar and plain to the Spiritual Eye as bred up with it and continually before it known to it from the Beginning The Spiritual Bride meeteth her beloved here with all his Beauties in this Light and kisseth him as her Brother as born of the same Mother There is no strangeness between them This Light is indeed the Temple the Palace of the God-Head of Eternity The Father and Christ are here upon the Throne of their Kingdom in the Glory of their Divine Nature But a Saint is a Royal Priesthood a King and a Priest So he is taken in called by God into this Sacred Palace and Temple to behold the Beauties to contemplate the vertues of both the Father and the Son that they may declare them by the Divine Power of their words and the Beauty of Holiness which is the Sun-shine of the Divine Nature in their Lives We are now by this Circuit of Scriptures brought back to that First on which we grounded this Second Branch of our Rule and for the explication of which we have taken this compass If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin Who are these that have Fellowship one with another St. John had said before These things we write that you may have Fellowship with us And truly our Fellowship is with the Father and the Son v. 3. Philosophers tell us that we must come within all the Beams of the Sun to the Body of the Sun itself if we will see the Sun in his true and proper Glory Some speak of a Blessed world in the Sun the Rarities and Beauties of which are seen only by the Inhabitants of the Sun Gods own Light is a Divine World in which the Father the Son all the Saints dwell together eternally have their proper life of Divine Sweetness and Blessedness appear in their proper Forms of Divine Purity and Beauty If ye will be admitted into this Society to a sight of these you must go beyond you must come within every Light of the Creature all Beams into the Bosom of God himself into the Brightness of the Divine Essence which is the Living-looking-Glass of the Holy Trinity Here you shall see your Jesus as he is You shall see him as you are seen by him For now the Blood of Christ cleanseth you from all Sin This Light of the Divine Nature which is the Light of Life and the Spirit Himself is the Blood of Jesus eminently in the vertue of it as it is Incorruptible This is that which poureth forth itself thorow the Humane Nature into the lowest Forms of Dust Darkness Wrath and Death in the place of Sinners as a Ransom of Infinite value This is that Precious Blood of the true Vine which when Justice and Wrath have drunk of they are satisfied sweeetned and changed into Grace and Glory an over-spreading Loveliness and an overflowing Love This is that Blood in which the Life is which as it is let forth in Death wrappeth up all things in it self washeth them from filth and flesh then riseth up again as high as its own Spring in the Heart of the Father and carrieth up all things with it self into the Newness of the Glory of God Nothing is so directly contrary to the Divine Light as Sin Therefore it is expressed by Darkness and the Night As the Light of the Day cleanseth all Forms of things from the Darkness of the Night which lay upon them that now they have fellowship one with another mingle their Beams and Beauties with mutual Joy so doth this Blood of the Lamb the Light shining in the Person of Christ when it breaketh forth from the Shades of Death in the morning of the Resurrection sanctifie the Heavenly things themselves bring forth from under every cloud stain and dust the Heavenly Persons of a Saint of Jesus Christ of God the Heavenly Truths and Lives of all Things that they may in the Unity of this Light maintain a precious commerce and traffick of all interchangeable Sweetnesses Excellencies with Immortality unto a full Joy Psal. 4. 6. David thus openeth the Hearts of the multitude and his own Heart Many will say Who will shew us any good But Lord lift up thoâ— the Light of thy countenance upon us When all thy faculties and Affections all the Powers of thy Soul cry Who will shew us Iesus Christ in Glory Let thine Heart answer to God and say Lord lift up thou the Light of thy face upon me In the Shinings of thy Face is my Iesus hid and in these Shinings alone will He be seen by me Thus the Spiritual Beauties of Iesus Christ are to be discerned only in the Spiritual Light of His own Person 3. Spiritual Things are to be seen in Spiritual Forms This is the Third Branch of the Rule Joh. 20. 30. When the Lord after his Resurrction had appeared to the Apostles in a Body of Flesh as He had been cruciâ—ied the Holy Ghost addeth And many other Signs did Jesus in the presence of His disciples Observe this expression well His Appearance in a Natural Body the same in which He had formerly lived with them was not the Truth it Self but a Sign of it Luk. 24. 38. Jesus shewing Himself after the same manner to His Apostles raiseth them from their fears that This was the Apparition of some Spirit by these words Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as you see me to have The Lord seemeth to speak to them after this manner You have not yet received the Spirit but are hitherto carnal If I should shew my self to you as I am now in the Glory of my Resurrection in which I am altogether Spiritual and a Spirit you would not know me you would not believe that I were the same Person you would be afraid of me I have therefore wrought this Miracle and given you this Sign in a tenderness towards you and a Condescention to your present weakness By that Almighty Power over Heavenly and Earthly Things which I am now cloathed with by the virtue of that Spiritual Divine Form and Substance into which I am now raised which comprehendeth within it self all Form Substances and Virtues I present my self to you in that same Body composed of the same Flesh and Bones in which I lived with you and dâ—ed upon the Cross before your Eyes with the same Wounds which I then received And because this is a Sign therefore do I accompany it to your Senses and to your Spirits with a Double Evidence and Seal from my Divinity One that this is no Imposture or Apparition with which Evil Spirits have power to deceive your Sight your Hearing your Touch all your natural Faculties but that
Individual and Substantial Body of mine as it was in Flesh the Other the awakening of Spiritual Senses in you the Shining forth of my Glorified Body and my Divinity by their own Light upon these thorow this Sign of my Natural Body reassumed for this Service But now beware that you make not this Sign a Stumbling-block to you to make you think me now like your selves and such a one as formerly I was to have a body of an Earthly Substance or Figure consisting of Flâ—sh and Bones No the Days of my Flesh are past I was put to Death in my Flesh and to the Flesh I am now quickened by the Spirit to live for ever in the Spirit A Spirit hath not Flesh nor Bones as you see me now to have This seemeth to be something of our Saviours sence in this place St. Paul Rom. 8. 6. saith To be carnally-minded is Death but to be spiritually-minded is Life and Peace The Greek word comprehendeth an Act of both the Faculties of our Souls our Understanding and our Will To look upon things in their Fleshly Forms to savour and rellish a Fleshly Sweetness in things is Death To see things in their Spiritual Appearances to savour and rellish them in a Spiritual Sweetness This is Life and Peace which is the Harmony the Musick the Crown of Life When the Disciples looked down into the Grave for Jesus Christ the Angels reproved them saying Why seek ye the Living among the Dead He is not here He is risen He is gone before you into Galilee as Himself spake unto you The Flesh was our Saviour's Grave and is still the Grave of the Spirit All Forms and Beauties of the Flesh are Grave-cloaths bound about Him Let us no more seek the Living and Immortal Person of our Beloved nor His Living and Immortal Beauties which are all Spirit and Life among the Dead things of the Flesh. He is not here in Flesh any more He is risen and gone before us into the Spirit Let us follow Him thither I have done with the First Rule to direct us in the Knowledge of the Person of Christ Spiritual Things are to be discerned Spiritually Rule 2. Spiritual Things are to be compared with Spiritual 1 Cor. 2. 13. The Holy Ghost teachâ—th comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual This Rule bringeth me to the Mark and White which I aim at That I may hit it the more exactly I must â—ix a while upon that Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 35. and so forward I lay this Groundwork for the Building which I intend to raise upon this Scripture The set Design of the Apostle here is to discourse of the Resurrection of the Body He therefore frameth this Question to himself which containeth the Great Subject of his whole Discourse in this place How are the dead raised up and with What Body do they come v. 35. In answer to this question he treateth of the Bodies of the Saints in general of the Body of Christ in particular as the Root and Rule of the Resurrection to all the rest Upon this ground I shall raise three Propositions as three Stories in my Building which will take in the greatest part of St. Pauls words upon this Subject in this Scripture Prop. 1. The Body of Christ risen from the Dead is not to be compared with the Body of Christ living upon the Earth or Dying St. Paul likeneth by a large similitude the living Body to a Seed the Body raised to a perfect Plant sprung up out of that Seed v. 36. 37 38. St. Paul maketh expresly three Differences 1. The Life of the one is a Death compared to the life of the other and so the world in which it is a Grave to that Image of things in the Resurrection v. 36. That which thou sowest is not quickned except it die 2. They differ as two several Bodies for Substance and Shape Thou sowest not that Body that shall be v. 37. 3. One is as bare Grain naked dark deformed little slight the other hath a Body a Substantial Beautiful Distinct fulness It hath a Form of Light and Beauty proportions of greatness and magnitude a fulness of Substance It hath a Divine Body a Body drawn forth from the Treasury of the God-Head God giveth it a Body v. 38. It is a Body a Form and Fulness sprung forth from the Divine Wisdom and Will bearing the Glorious stamp of these in which themsâ—lves rest with a full Complacency God giveth it a Body 〈◊〉 himself pleaseth v. 38. It is also to the Seed it s own Body and to every Seed it s own Body v. 38. As John the Baptist saith of Jesus Christ he is perfer'd before me because he was before me as in the purity and Paradise of the Creation the perfect Plants were first in the Fulness of their Beauty and Fruit bearing their Seed in them so in the Paradise of Eternity before the World which is Christ the Word the Wisdom of God the Immortal the Glorious the Divine Bodies and Forms of things were first as the Flourishing Tree comprehending in themselves the Bodies and Forms of Flesh as Shadows or naked Seeds hid in the Light or Bosom of the beautiful Substance and Fruit. Then came forth the Earthly Forms of things into the State of this Creation These are Shadows under which the Divine Substances are vailed These are Seeds in which the Tree itself lieth hid as a Divine Mystery By the breaking up of these Shadows and the dying of these Seeds the Immortal Bodies and Glorious Substances themselves spring forth thorow them So every Seed hath its own Body in the Resurrection 1. It is that Body of Glory in which it lay and to which it relateth as its Divine Original or first Idea in the mind and will of God 2. It is that which lay hid virtually in it 3. It is that which springeth up out of it and changeth it into itself Thus the Body of our Lord risen is the same Body in relation to the same Idea or Pattern in God to the same Soul to which it is joyned as its proper Form in the Person of Christ to the same first Matter out of which it is taken God giveth it a Body as it hath pleased him and to every Seed it s own Body v. 38. My Brethren what joy is it to think that the Body of our loving and beloved Jesus that our own Bodies that the Bodies of our dearest Relations and delights lose nothing of themselves in Death yea are much more themselves by Death in the Resurrection as a man awake is much more himself than in a Dream a King upon his Throne than in the Grave and Tomb We shall lose nothing of our selves nor of our distinction But I fear I go to far for common understandings to follow me I will therefore conclude this Proposition with a plain representation of the Truth to you As the thing figured exceedeth the figure so the difference between the Body of our
Lord Jesus before Death and after it is much more large than that which is between a single grain of Wheat cast into the Earth and the standing Corn upon the ground full-ripe with many perfect grains of Wheat in the Ear than that between the single Seed of a Rose and a Rose-Tree full of fresh and flourishing Roses or the Seed of an Apple and a well-grown Apple-Tree laden with ripe Apples What Image could any man frame to himself or what conjecture would he make of a Rose-bush or a Rose by the single Seed if he had never seen the things themselves No more is it possible for us to take any measure of the Body of Christ in Heaven or at all to guess what manner of things it should be by his Body on Earth 1. John 2. 3. we read from the mouth of the Beloved Disciple who lay in the Bosom of Christ knew most of His Divine Secrets and was best acquainted with His Person in Glory that now we are the Sons of God but it doth not appear what we shall be but when he appeareth we shall be like him for we shall see him as He is Now we have the Seed of God in us now we have in us the Seed of a Divine and Glorious Soul of a Divine and Glorious Body But what this Seed which is sown in our Earth will be when it is a Tree in the Heavenly Paradise what this Glorious Soul and body will be when they are come forth grown up and perfected we do not at all know Only this aim we have We are sure that we shall be capable of an immediate Sight and Enjoyment of God without any Vail or Garment without any Representation or Distance as He is in His naked and simple Essence in His own proper and immutable Form This is an infallible Argument that then we shall be in the Form of God For otherwise it would be impossible for us to see it and take it in St. Paul illustrateth this difference between the Body of a Saint in its Life on Earth and in the Resurrection by two Comparisons the Varieties of Flesh and of Bodies All Flesh is not the same Flesh. There is one Flesh of Men another of beasts another of fishes another of birds v. 39. There are Terrestrial Bodies and Caelestial the Glory of the Terrestrial is One the Glory of the Caelestial is another There is one Glory of the Sun another of the Moon another of the Stars one Star differeth from another in Glory so also is the resurrection of the Dead v. 40. 41. 42. It is a very great mistake to think that the Apostle intendeth here to set forth the different Glories of Saints in Heaven He hath a far higher and nobler design This is his sence and the force of his arguing You must not think because we have Bodies on Earth and Bodies in Heaven that upon this Ground these Bodies must be of the same Nature and Kind or at all like one another How vast a variety of Bodies do we behold with our Eyes on this Earth and in this Heaven As great as the number of the Stars in the visible Heaven so great and incomprehensible is the Variety and Several Sorts of Bodies For every one of these differeth from the other Such yea far greater is the Difference between a Body when it is sown in Death and a Body when it is raised up A Body raised though be it still a Body doth more vastly differ from it self here than any two Bodies differ in the frame of Nature or within the Compass of the whole Creation The properties of a Body in Heaven by which it is distinguished from a Body on Earth are four as the Apostle reckoneth them up Power Glory Incorruptibility Spirituality v. 42. 43. The ground of these differences he layeth in that Primary and Radical One It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body v. 44. The Sun doth not so much differ in matter and make from a Clod of Earth as a glorified Body doth from itself on Earth For both those are Natural here one is Natural the other is Spiritual Nay an Angel doth not so much differ from a Worm in its Essence and Image For an Angel is still a piece of Nature a part of the first Creation all which the Holy Ghost comprehendeth under the term of Natural But a Body risen from the dead is Spiritual of a new Creation for Matter and Form vastly different from vastly above every thing within the compass of this whole world in the visible or invisible part of it To conclude this Proposition observe how St. Paul begins this discourse with a quick touch Thou Fool Thick skales of folly do lie indeed upon the Eyes of our mind if we perceive not all things in this Flesh to be in a disguise of Sin Death Wrath the Devil by his Sorceries That which we call Death is the casting off the disguise In the Spirit we see and are seen with open Face Prop. 2. The Second Proposition which is the Second Story in my building raised upon this Scripture is this we may not compare the Body of Christ in Heaven with the Body of Adam in Paradise This Proposition riseth up plainly out of St. Pauls words v. 46. And so it is written the first man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam was made a quickning Spirit Three things lie plain in these words compared with the Context 1. The Apostle-speaketh of Adam and Christ with a peculiar and principal respect to the Bodies of either The Subject which he now professedly handleth is the Resurrection of the Body He bringeth this up to its Principle and Pattern the Glorified Body of Christ. In the verse before he established this Assertion as a Pillar on which the whole Frame and Fabrick of Divine Truths here delivered doth lean There is a Natural Body and there is a Spiritual Body He strengtheneth that distinction by this Root and main reason of it in the verse immediately following And so it is written the first man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam was made a quickning Spirit You seo clearly that this relateth to the Natural and the Spiritual Body 2. Adam is here spoken of in respect to his Paradisical Body Jesus Christ to his Heavenly Body The place from which this is cited is the History of Adams Creation as he was brought into Paradise Gen. 2. 7. As his Body was taken new and pure out of the Virgin-Earth before the fall and the curse The first man was of the Earth Earthy v. 47. such as the first Earth of which he was composed which was then say some far siner than Christal Gold or Pearl yea than the Sun is now Angelical Earth Jesus Christ in that Body which here is meant is The Lord from Heavâ—n 3. As much as a living Soul differeth from the quickning Spirit that is as much as a small Stream of
Thou that seemest to thy self the least and poorest in all the flock of Christ see the great the unimaginable thoughts of esteem and love in the heart of God for thee O man see the honour and affection which thy God hath for thy Soul how precious it is in his Eye This is the price at which the Father valueth thee this Jesus his onely Son full of God and of Glory enriched all over in his whole Person with all the Treasures of the God-Head laid out upon every part of him Learn O man to believe Learn O believer to value thy selâ— by this Price at which the Father hath valued thee this Jesus O Sinner expect as much Love and Mercy as much Grace Comfort and Glory to raise thee above the lowest depths of Sin in the Guilt Filth and Power of it in the sting shame sufferings and wrath which go along with it as this Price can purchase this all-glorious Jesus is worthy of with the Fulness of his God-Head multiplied innumerable times over in his Divine Nature in all parts of his humane Soul and Body O Saints let your Faith and Hope stop no where until you find that brought forth in you which may answer so inestimable a price until you find your self raised to that pitch of Beauty Blessedness Glory and Spirituality which may be worthy of this Jesus 4. Look upon this Jesus as your Portion Thou who canst say as David doth Psal. 16. 5. The Lord Jesus is the Portion of my Heritage mayst add as he doth v. 7. The lines are fallen unto me in a pleasant place I have a goodly heritage This is a Fountain sealed and a Garden inclosed a Fountain sealed a Garden inclosed from every natural Spirit but inclosed with walls of Fire the Fire of Eternal Love and Glory for thee sealed with thine Image and the Inscription of thy name upon it who believest Walk in this Garden delight thy self with the pleasant beauties sweet smells divine vertues precious Fruits of the God-Head there Go down into this Fountain â—ath thy self in the depths of it lie there overflown with its living waters till thou be changed into the same waters and become one Fountain one Spirit with thy Jesus till thy Soul be made like his glorious Soul thy Body be made like to his glorious Body till the Fountain of the God-Head be opened and the Fulness of the God-Head poured forth in every part of These as of Them by their mutual Union and Marriage in one Quickning Spirit Propos. 3. I drew the Platform of a Building for the countenancing of my Second Rule in Direction to the knowledge of the Person and Beauties of our glorified Saviour I laid the ground of my Building in the latter part of that 1 Cor. 15. I cast this Building into three Stories comprised in three Propositions I have finished two of them according to my model The Second Rule for the sake of which I designed this Frame and Fabrick was that Spiritual Things are to be compared with Spiritual The two Propositions which were as the two Stories in the Building were these 1. The Body of our Jesus in Heaven is not to be compared with his Body on Earth either living or dying 2. There is no Comparison between the glorified Body of our Beloved in Heaven and the first the fairest Body of Adam in Paradise I am now to add the Third Story so to lay the Top-stone and to compleat my Building Prop. 3. The Third Proposition is this The Spiritual Body of our Blessed Saviiour is to be compared with its own Spiritual Principle and Pattern The Materials Form and Furniture for this Piece of the Building are taken out of that Scripture 1. Cor. 15. 47. The first man is of the Earth Earthy the second man the Lord from heaven See here Two distinct principles and Patterns of two several Men differing not onely as distinct Individuals of the same Kind but in their whole Essence and Nature as Heaven and Earth the Shadow and the Substance the Life and the Picture The Principle of the First Man is Earth the Principle of the Second Man is Heaven From these two Principles these two Men take their whole Nature Name and Image They take their Nature entirely from their Principles The first man is of the Earth Earthy the second Man is the Lord from Heaven v. 47. As the Mettals take their Essence and Substantial Form from the Mine in which they are bred and out of which they are drawn so the first Adam from the Mine of Earth below is Earth in his Substance and Essence The second Man Jesus risen from the Dead is pure Heaven quite thorow in the Fundamentals and Essential Parts of His Immortal Substance as well as in the Ornaments and Beautifyings of it For He cometh forth from a Mine of finest Gold Hee is the Lord of a Nature in it self above All and over All from Heaven These two Men take their Name also from their Principle As is the Earthy such are they that are Earthy as is the Heavenly such are they that are Heavenly v. 48. Behold the Earthy and the Heavenly They take their Image too from their Principle As we have born the Image of the Earthy we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly The Heavenly One beareth the Image of His proper Heaven out of which He cometh and so bringeth Heaven down in Himself The Earthy One is cloathed with the Image of the Earth out of which He is taken Thus the Principle is the Pattern also Each Man is All that which He is for Matter and Form Substance and Image Stuff and Trimming Metal and Fashion from his own Principle The Principle is both the Mine and Mint Each Man of these Two comprehendeth His Principle in Himself the One the Earth the Other Heaven in His Heart and Face in His Root Substance and Sap as also in His Form Flower anâ— Fruit. I Know no piece of Knowledge in the whole Gospel of more consequence upon which more of Divine Light more of Divine Life and Strength more of Divine Sweetness Comfort and Joy dependeth than a right Understanding of the Difference between these Two the Earthy and the Heavenly One. This is the Golden Key which openeth not the little Wicket but the great Gate into the Kingdom of God the Several Natures of Adam and Christ in His Humanity the Son by Creation and the Son by Adoption Man in Paradise a Saint in the Spirit and in Heaven These are to be Know by their Principles onely For their Principles are their Patterns Their Principles are Earth and Heaven These will be best Known by their Answering and Opposition one to another All that is is divided into Heaven and Earth 1. The Earth which is the Principle of the First man is to be sought out and discovered that we may upon that Foot-stool ascend to the Throne that we may come more distinctly and clearly by Degrees to
of Rome Bricks but left them Marble Our Paradise was at first Earthly and fading Our Jesus hath prepared for us in himself an Heavenly unfading eternal Paradise When Caesar found Cato his Enemy slain by his own hand that he might not come into the power of the Conqueror Caesar spake these words over the dead body I envy thee Cato the glory of thy Death seeing thou didst envy me the glory of thy Life Poor man faln from the first Beauty and Blessedness lost in Death and Wrath come to Jesus Christ do not thorow unbelief deny to him the glory of restoring thy Beauty and Blessedness to thee better than at the first by restoring thee to the naked Bosom of Eternal Love and the Substantial Joys of eternal Life But now it is time to pass on to our second Discovery unto which all this hath been a preparation only We have seen the flourishing Earth of the first Man which is only as a sight in a Cross-bow or Gun to direct our Eye to the mark which is the Heaven answering to this Earth Blessed shall our Eyes be if they see this Heaven opening itself and the Lord coming down out of it with all its glories under his Feet and round about him 2. Heaven God in the brightness of his own Substance uncloathed of every garment appearing in the naked Beauties and Loves of his Divine Nature and Person this is the Heaven into which the Body of our Saviour ascendeth out of which it cometh as a Bride from the bosom of her Bridegroom as the Heavenly Eve from the side of her Heavenly Adam Beauty of his Beauty Love of his Love joyned to him inseparably in one Spirit and one eternal Glory This is the Heaven over the head of the shadowy Image the essential and eternal Image of the Father This is the Resurrection of our Jesus from the Dead this is the sweet and sacred Mystery of our Saviours death the opening of the shadow as a Grave in which the true Glory slept that this might come forth and as it riseth overspread the shadow as it overspreadeth it gather it up into itself which is the swallowing up of Death into the Victory and Triumph of Eternal Life the darkness of the shadow into the everblessed light of the beloved substance Our Love is never awakened or stirred up till himself please When the Beautiful and Acceptable time is come the true Glory which lieth buried in the shadow awakeneth by a mysterious touch upon the shadow rendeth it as a Vail then it looketh forth and springeth like the morning like the fair Moon like the pure Sun the Figure and the Life all shining together with one Glory in the Calm and clear day of Eternity I shall endeavour to explain and confirm this to you by one Scripture John 17. 5. Father glorify me with thy self with that Glory which I had with thee before the world was Our dying Saviour prayeth for his humane Nature and for his divine Nature only as it was united to and sympathised with his Manhood The God-Head in its own single state and simplicity is ever above all passion and so all prayer Jesus Christ prayeth to be glorified with the Father in that Soul and Body in which he was presently to be cruciâ—ied with Thieves that in these he may be there where the Father is that is in the high and holy place of Eternity to this end that in these he may partake of the glory of the Father there in Eternity Eternity is defined to be The possession of all good together and at once without any bound terminating it before or after or in any kind This is the high place of Eternity above all Time Change Succession or Division For this reason is our Lord said to be Higâ—er than the Heavens All Created Heavens are below Eternity They have Mâ—â—sures and Limits set to the Forms of their Beings and to their Durations which they caâ— not pass They are continually rouling thorow successive Changes As the Sealyeth all in Waves so do the Essences of the most great and glorious Creature consist of manifold and various Changes Jesus alone in His Manhood is ascended to the Height of Eternity above all Changes and in this Height of Glory He cometh the second time into the World when it is said to him Thou changest the Heavens as a Garment and they are changed But thy throne O God endureth for ever and ever Heb. 1. 8. 12. So the Lord Jesus expoundeth Himself in that prayer of His Father glorifie me with thy self with that Glory which I had with thee before the World was The Glory which Christ prayeth for in behalf of His Humanity is a Glory above the Creation For it was before the Creation The Glory of Christ's Humane Nature in the Resurrection from the Dead is a Glory in Fellowship with the Father with Him who was from the Beginning an Eternal Glory a Glory which is when yet the World is not a Glory which is the same while the World standeth before which the World is not a Glory which is when the World is no more Eternity hath neither Beginning nor End neither Succession nor Change We may now understand how Jesus Christ was with the Father before the World was 1. His Divinity was there For in that He and the Father are One 2 His Humanity was with the Father before the World Personally in its propeâ—â—â—rson For the Divinity is the Person in the Humanity 3. The Soul and Body of Christ were there in their Root in their Original in the Will of the Father which is Eternal Love in its unconfined Absoluteness in the Wisdom of the Father which is Eternal Beauty in its unlimited Greatness and Universal Comprehension They were also with the Father before the World in their glorified State For their Glory which is Themselves in Truth and Perfection is Eternal was before the World was Thus our Saviour in His Glorified Humanity is that Melâ—hisedech mentioned in the Hebrews c. 7. v. 3. without Beginning of Life or End of Dayes whose name is always I am Joh. 8. 58. which met Abraham with Bread and Wine when he came from the slaughter of the four Kings Blessed art thou when thy Jesus thus appeareth to thee in the Form and Glory of Melchisdech when He is known to thee by this His new and His old Name of Melchisedech the King and Priest of the most high God which liveth for ever livâ—th in Eternity above all Times past present or to come Thou who thus seest and embracest Him to thee He cometh with the Bread not of Angels but of God with the new Marriage-Wine of the Kingdom of God Upon these the Father your Beloved and you sup and Feast together while every One in Him is both the Guest and the Feast Blessed is he who in like manner thorowout the whole Mystical Body of our Saviour seeth that high and sweet piece of Divinity to be true which
every change lieth in the Person of our Beloved as a Mansion cut out of the Rock of Eternity in the flourishing Garden of Eden in the Paradise of the Divine Nature 3. Ground The Person of Christ hath passed thorow all Changes after an Unchangeable manner St Paul teacheth us that the Lord Jesus hath descended to the Nethermost parts of the Earth and ascended above all Heavens to this end that He might fill All Eph. c. 4. v. O that I had the tongue of the Learned the Learned with the Learning of the Holy that I could speak to you with Words taught by the Holy Ghost O that you had hearts to take in and understand more than I can express Jesus Christ our forerunner is gone into every Form of things from the Height of the God-Head above to the lowest Deeps of the Creature to this end that He might fill every Form of Things with the Unchangeable Fulness of His own Person in which All Fulness dwelleth together in a Spiritual and Divine Body He hath by this means filled every point of time with Eternity every spot of Earth with Heaven every Change on Earth in Time with the Unchangeableness of Heaven and Eternity St. Paul said to his Friends This I know that Bonds await me in every place But my life is not dear to me for the Testimony of Jesus A Believer in a contrary sense may say This I know that my Jesus in the fulness of Unchangeable Loves Beauties and Joys waiteth for me in every Change as a Spiritual Bridegroom in a Spiritual Bed of Loves which is ever green which hath a Perpetual Calm upon it and a Perpetual Spring Nothing therefore is dreadful or melancholy to me for the unchanged Pleasantness of my Jesus In the Eastern countreys they imbalmed the Dead Bodies within anoynted them without with costly Spices that they might be preserved from putrefaction and might have a sweet smell When the Woman in the Gospel poured forth a Box of pretious Spikenard upon the feet of Christ He said to some who were offended with the wast Trouble her not She hath done this against my burial The Lord intimated that this was a Sacrament dispensed by a Divine Hand representing for His Consolation this high and holy Mystery that Death and the Dead Body in the Person of Christ are so embalmed anoynted with the pretious Spikenard of the Eternal Spirit that the Dead Body is Incorruptible Immortal and Pleasant Death itself is a Flourishing Life a fragrant sweet-smelling Joy as it lyeth in and is filled with this Unchangeable Person O! with what a sweet Indifferency may we now walk thorow all the Changes of Life and Death when our Heavenly Spouse hath thus embalmed anoynted â—â—lled all with the Delights and Glories of His Unchangeable Person and Presence Use. 3. The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus in His Beauties sanctifieth and sweetneth our Life in this World our Death and Departure out of the World This Use hath Two Parts 1. Part The Opening of the Person of Christ upon us in His Spiritual Glories sanctifieth and sweetneth this Life There are three Principles of the Knowledge of Christ in His true and unchangeable State which will bring home His Heavenly Beauties warm and shining to your Hearts on this Earth by natural Deductions from each Principle 1 Principle This World in its pure Naturals is the Shadow which falleth from the Heavenly Body of Divine Glories in the Person of our Fair One. This hath been proved at large above Learn then from this Truth 4. Lessons 1. Lesson Live unconcerned in this World This Divine Lesson is taught us from Heaven by the Holy Ghost upon this Ground 1. Cor. 7. 29 30 31. But this I say Brethren the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none And they that wept as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they bought not they that use this world as not abusing it For the fashion of this world passeth away The Apostle here divideth all this World into 4. Heads 1. Relations 2. Passions 3. Possessions 4. Employments and Entertainments Solomon saith in one place Why shouldst thou set thine heart upon that which is not There is no real Difference between having a Husband Wife or Children and having none between being in Grief or Joy and being without Grief or Joy between having an Estate and having none between being in the height of all Employments or Entertainments and being out of all This world hath nothing real It is all a Shadow Seeing then the various States of things on Earth have no real Difference pass thou thorow all estates with a perfect indifference of Spirit in a constant calm Eccles. 1. This is an Expression of the Vanity of all things here One Generation goeth another cometh but the Earth standeth for ever The Scripture in several places makes this one of the Names of God The Earth the Ground out of which all Generations of Things arise and into which they return again Divines interpret that Land of the Living mentioned to be the Divine Nature In this let our Spirits be a Divine Earth standing for ever unmoved upon its own Center of Eternity while one change after another cometh and passeth away again The Holy Ghost presseth it upon us by three Arguments 1. This World is a Fashion a Figure only a Shadow The fashion of this world In having this world thou hast a Shadow The Substance is above Let the world in having thee have thy shadow only Let thine heart be in Heaven with Jesus Christ. 2. This world vanisheth as a shadow The fashion of this world passeth away The Colours in a Rain-bow are Appearances of Colours and no more made by the reflection of the Sun upon a dark and watery Cloud So they suddenly break up and are seen no more The Colours of a Flower upon its stalk in the Garden are real livâ—â—g and lasting Such is the difference between Things on Earth and Things in Heaven Nothing here hath either Substance or Root 3. This world is a flying shadow suddenly gone The time is short As the shadow upon a Dyal in a short Winter-day moveth swiftly passeth away presently the Sun being low and immediately going in or going down so is every condition every comfort in Flesh. This is the first Lesson 2. Lesson Live without care and with content Let your moderation be known unto all men The Lord is at hand Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and supplication with Thansgiving let your requests be made known unto God Phil. 4. 5 6. You have in these words 1. A Precept for moderation Moderation is that measure of Things by which they are proportioned and tuned each to other so as to fall in and agree in one This is that which maketh Beauty in Sights and Musick in Sounds A contented frame
such a chariot of Angels with these Persons riding in it 3. The Passage into this Place I will come unto you and take you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also There are three Steps of Christ's Coming to us in Glory 1. Into our whole Spirits by Regeneration 2. Into our whole Souls at death 3. Into our whole Persons Spirit Soul and Body at the Resurrection By every step he maketh a mutual Union so far as he goeth He cometh to us He taketh us to himself that we may be both together in one place in one Spirit He letteth himself down in his Heavenly Palace into us he taketh us up into the Heavenly Palace in himself he maketh our Persons a Heavenly Palace like his glorified Person and one with it This is our passage in Death into Glory Of old God descended upon the Tabernacle in a Cloud the Glory was in the Cloud Then Moses was summoned to enter into the Cloud and so into the Glory where God talked with him In latter times the most excellent Majesty in a 〈◊〉 Cloud overshadowed the Lord Jesus and in overshadowing him transfigured him then in the transfiguration talked to him of his Sonship to the Father and of Love In like manner at the set time the Lord Jesus as a living Temple of Heavenly Glory cometh down upon thee in a white Cloud of some Love-storm or Love-sickness I call it a Love-sickness because it ariseth at once from the Love of the Spirit of the Bride in thee and from the Love of thy Bridegroom to thee from the longings and burning desires of both after the immediate perpetual and full enjoyments of each other As thou entrest into this Cloud and art overshadowed by it thou art in a moment at the same time taken into that Palace of Glory and transfigured into the Glory of that Pallace There thou appearest to be the Son of God the Spouse of the Immortal King God speaketh to thee converseth with thee as a Son and Spouse in one He seeth the Figure of his own Beauties in thy Face and his Heart resteth in thy Bosom He seeth and enjoyeth thy Person as springing up eternally with incomprehensible Pleasures out of the Root of his own Divine Loveliness he feeleth and rellisheth thy Spirit as the flowing of his own sweetnesses from their own Fountain in himself he poureth forth himself in a flood of Beauties and Sweetnesses into thee All his Loves rest in thy Love and he in thee 4. Script I am now come to the last Scripture For we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven If so he that being cloathed we shall not be found naked For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burthened not that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life Now he that hath wrought us for this self-same thing is God who hath also given us the Earnest of the Spirit 2 Cor. 5 1 2 3 4 5. This is a rich and deep Scripture What expressions of Death are those How full of Joy Not to be found naked Naked of any support or comfort Of any cloathing of Being or Beauty Essence or Substance Form or Fulness in Person or Relations Not to be uncloathed Of any Garment of Light or Life To be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven To have the Lord Jesus as a circling Glory coming down upon this Image in which we now dwell neither taking away the Nature nor Form of any thing that here we are or have but taking up all as sacred Mysteries into a Temple of Glory giving them a place for ever in this Temple penetrating filling and cloathing them the Glory To have Mortality swallowed up of Life To lose none of the things or entertainments which here we enjoy in this mortal state but the mortality of them only and that not by Death breaking them down with violence but by the sweet breakings in of Life and Immortality upon them not by a blackness of Darkness dreadfully over-spreading them but a brightness of Eternal Glory delightfully rising upon them like the Sun upon the beautiful Forms of Heaven and Earth after they have weakly appeared in the melancholy Beams of the Moon shining faintly in the shade of the Night And He that hath wrought us for the Self-same Thing is God It is a Divine Hand and Skill which hath framed and fashioned us to this capacity It is God who by his own operations in us not mediately as in tâ—e works of Nature but immediately as in all works of Grace and Glory hath wrought out this Spiritual and Divine Being this Spiritual and Divine Nature in us which never dyeth but is changed from Glory to Glory which in Death putteth off nothing but putteth on a greater and purer Light upon its weaker Lights and Shades piercing thorow and breaking up delusive Shapes formed out of the Darkness of remaining night by stronger Beams of Glory falling from above Who hath also given us the Earnest of his Spirit An Earnest is part of the Sum in present and an assurance of the rest God doth not only frame a Spiritual work like a new Heaven in us but giveth us the Person of his Spirit himself in which the Persons of the Father and the Son are seen together unvailed in their Union and Communion of Beauties and Loves in the unity of which all Angels and Blessed Spirits dwell together as their proper Center and Circle This Spirit God giveth to be in the Spiritual Nature framed by himself in us as a new Sun in the new Heaven This Spirit in us is the Earnest of our Death a foretast of its Sweetness and Delights a vision in part beforehand of the manner of our dying and an assurance of the compleating of its season after the same Beautiful and pleasant Image As at the first Effusion of the Spirit upon us or any new Effusion as at any Act of the Spirit when he shineth our freshly in us this Natural Image of Things is no more a Light of Glory Forms of Glory Immortal Spirits full of a Divine Beauty and Majesty appear every where They are alone and there is nothing besides in the whole space of Things above or below past present or to come As they are so are we All Things are one Vision of Divine Glory Neither do we perceive how one Image of Things goeth and another cometh Both are done one is come the other is gone in the same moment in the twinkling or cast of an Eye So is Death This is the Earnest of our Death This is a step of Death a foretast of it So shall Death he perfected us I have three Observations to make upon this Scripture besides that which I have
to this end that you may not sin by departing from it but if any man do sin that he may presently return Saul was softned and melted when he heard the language of love from David who had watched over him to preserve him while he slept in the midst of that Army with which he made War upon him Is this thy voice my Son David said he then Open thine Eyes see the Divine Will with innumerable Eyes of love watching over thee in the midst of thy rebellions Open thine Ears hear the Divine Will wooing thee with the sweetest language of love in the midst of thy pollutions This will turn thee again to the Will of God to melt thy self into its Bosom when once this thought ariseth in thee that thou returnest to a Bosom of love ever open to thee Use. 3. Be in love with Holiness Holiness is a Conformity to the Will of God This Will is Love How easy is that Yoak How light is the Burthen How pleasant is the Law of Love Keep my Commandment and abide ye in my Love even as I abide in my Fathers Love saith Jesus Christ. To abide in the Divine Will to keep the Commandments of that is to abide in the Paradise of Divine love to dress it and keep it David saith of the Law of the Lord Psal. 19. It is more to be desired than thousands of Gold and Silver It is sweeter than the Honey and the Honey-comb In keeping it is exceeding great reward Hear O beloved Souls and be wise and be in love with Holiness In every command to Holiness God cometh to you in the Light and Purity of all his Divine Beauties in the Strength and Sweetness of all his Divine loves to make thee like himself to marry thee to himself In every act of obedience to this law of Holiness thy Person shineth with a Heavenly lustre by the shining forth of the unvailed Person of God upon thee thou receivest a kiss of Heavenly love immediately from the Mouth of God and returnest it again O tast and see Then you will say that this Heavenly Traffick is beyond that of all precious of all pleasant things No where such loveliness as this no where such love Holiness is a Conformity to the Will of God The Will of God is Love the Fountain and the Life of all Incorruptible Beauties of all pure and ever-flourishing Pleasures I have done with the second â—escription of Divine Love which defineth it to be the same with the Divine Will 3. Descrip. God is Love He who was the Disciple of Love who lay in the Bosom of Love and so best knew what Love is declareth Divine Love to be the Nature and Essence of God God saith he is Love He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God dwelleth in him 1 Joh. 3. 16. As the Sea is a heap of Waters The gathering together of the Waters God called the Sea Gen. 1. As the Body of the Sun is a pure and simple Light so is God a Collection of Loves a gathering together of all Loves into one Spirit This is the Divine Nature an Unity a Purity a Simplicity of Love I shall endeavour to shew you by four Arguments that there is no name which doth so properly so fitly express the nature of God as this of Love 1. Argum. The first the principal Thing the beginning of all Things in God is Love Psal. 136. I intend a short Paraphrase upon this whole Psalm because it maketh so clearly and fully for my purpose being taken altogether from the beginning to the end of it If you would hear the Musick of Angels of Heaven if you would hear the living Harmony of the Divine Nature as it is all Love listen with a Spiritual Ear to this Psalm which is a Song composed entirely of this Subject of Divine Love If the Spirit of God assist me to sound forth aright the Heavenly Musick of this Psalm I do not doubt to make your hearts in your Bosoms to leap and dance to it by that time I have done First Take two general Observations concerning this Psalm 1. Gener. Observ. This is a Psalm of Praises and Thanksgivings the Work of Heaven a Heavenly Work But all the Praises here are attributed to all the Thanksgivings are terminated in Love and the Eternity of Love This is the burthen of the Song repeated in every verse this is that into which all the Strength and Sweetness of the sense is still resolved this maketh one half of every verse quite thorow the whole Psalm For his Mercy endureth for ever The Word in Hebrew signifieth alike Mercy Kindness Love That word endureth is added by the Translatours You may read the words with as full an agreement with the Original as I humbly conceive For his Love is Eternal But however this be if we adhere to the Translation Mercy is one of the sweetest tenderest largest names of Divine love 1. Mercy is Love condescending and descending from the heights of all Heavens above to the nethermost parts of the Earth to the nethermost Hell 2. Mercy is Love uniting itself to the vilest and most miserable Creatures which lie below which stick in the Mire and Clay in the bottom of the Pit There love sympathizeth with them maketh itself entirely one with them in their low estate 3. Mercy is Love making a mutual and strange exchange with those loathsome and lost Souls Iâ— taketh to itself their guilt shame weakness and woes It giveth to them its own Righteousness Strength Beauties Joys and Glories Thus Mercy is the circle of Divine love as it cometh forth from Heaven and Eternity goeth down to the lowest depths of Time and the Creation then ascendeth again till like the Sun it return thither where it first arose Poor and broken Spirits who lie at the utmost ends of the Earth mourning as outcasts hope evermore in Eternal love wait for it The love of God will find you out it will meet with you and take you in its way For Divine love is Eternal It encompasseth Heaven and Earth Time and Eterty His Mercy endureth for ever 2. Gener. Observ. This Psalm comprehendeth all things in it Created or Uncreated the Nature of God the Persons of God and of Christ the Wonders of God the Works of God the Works of Nature Grace and Glory It comprehendeth all things Then it maketh the ground and Crown of all to be Love this is brought in to every particular in each verse as the Reason Rule Result of all For his Mercy endureth for ever for his love is Eternal It is a maxime in Nature that all motion is founded upon something unmoveable This is the Divine Maxime upon which Heaven and Earth standeth all motions in the heart of God and in the Creature of Grace and Nature are founded upon the unmoveableness the unchangeableness of eternal Love O blessed Love O blessed God who is this love O blessed Soul which with a spiritual Eye created
the Victory the Joy and Crown of the Feast I know you prevent me in your thoughts you who love the Lord Jesus by applying this to your Prince your Beloved and his Love his Bride your own Souls I shall bring down all to my purpose and to your practice in the exercise of those Principal and Triumphant Graces Faith Love Heavenly Joy by three Conclusions or Spiritual Maxims 1. Conclu All the Armies of God all the Powers of the God-Head the innumerable Companies of holy Angels and blessed Spirits all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth with their Captain the Lord Jesus at the head of them move and fight in their courses under the Banner of Love Thy Person in a glorious Image of all Divine Beauties is figured upon the Banner as this Eternal Princes Love Love to thee is wrought upon the Banner in Characters of Glory This is the Cause of all motions in Heaven and Earth To this Banner all Powers every where resort unto this they are united under this they march and fight 2. Conclu The Lord Jesus as Captain of the Lord's Hosts with all his Heavenly Armies his ten thousands of Angels his Chariots of fire and Horses of fire continually encompasseth thee marcheth encampeth round about tâ—ee as his chiefest Treasure his Love with Banners of Love spred and displaid over thee on every side of thee round about Every step thou takest in thy way to Heaven is in the midst of these Warriours All Divine Powers continually circle thee in The Invisible and Invincible Hosts of God under the conduct of thy Beloved Jesus are thy perpetual Guard and Convoy In the midst of these thou walkest â—ittest and lyest down thou wakest and sleepest Psal. 91. 11. The Angels have a charge of thee from their Prince and thy Bridegroom that they keep thee in all thy ways that they bear thee in their hands least at any time thou strike thy foot against a stone that thou never stumble The Angels of God are thy Chariots of War thy Chariots of State thy Chariots of Love thy Chariots for Travel in which thou journiest thorow this Wilderness to thy Kingdom the Kingdom of Love and Glory All this they are in one They make thy way thy Palace in the midst of thy Kingdom for Strength for Glory for Delights for Rest in thy Love They bear thee up above in the light of Life in the Life of Divine Love This is the way high and lifted up above all the Powers of Darkness and Death in which they carry thee along that thou mayst never strike thy foot against any stone of offence against any hard and hurtful Form of Darkness Enmity or Death Thy Jesus the Bosom of thy Beloved is this way 3. Conclu These Banners of Love which are spred over thee in thy marches here the same hang streaming over thy head to Eternity and over the Head of thy King as thou fittest at the Feast with him in Heaven The Fights about thee here are the Trophies and Triumphs at the Feast here The same Love is figured on all which maketh all precious Stones and Jewels in thy Marriage-Crown and Crown of Glory to shine there and adorn it for ever Use. The Use which we make of this is to see the difference between the two states of a Saint and a Sinner a Believer and him who believeth not 1. See the blessedness of â— Believer Heb. 1. 2. Jesus Christ is said to be the Brightness of the Glory of God that is of Love the express Image of the Substance or Person of God that is of Love For God is Love v. 6. 7. When God bringeth his Son again that is after his Resurrection in his Spiritual and Heavenly Appearance into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him He hath made all his Ministers Spirits and his Angels a flame of Fire This concerneth thee O Believer and is spoken of thee O the blessedness of that Soul which indeed receiveth Jesus Christ and his Love by Faith if only thou didst know thine own happiness God hath brought his Son in his second Appearance in his Spirit into thine Heart He is in thee the brightness of the Glory of Love that is of the Divine Nature shining in the midst of thee This is that Eternal Sun from which all blessed Spirits continually drink in the Light Influences Joys of Life and Immortality He is in thee the express Image of Love which is the Substance and Person of God This setteth itself thorow him as a Seal upon thine Heart Now the Power of God is a Servant to his Love in thee Now God saith Let all the Angels of God worship how down to serve my Love in this Soul God himself maketh his Angels Flames of Love enfolding thee penetrating thy Body and Spirit shining within thee round about thee continually in the darkest night He maketh his Angels Ministring Spirits to thee Spirits of Glory Minister Love to thee after an Invisible manner in all visible Things Every moment of time every Circumstance or Accident in time are the Wings of Angels a Chariot of Angels carrying thee above the snares of Death below into Heaven This is thy Portion who believest in the Lord Jesus and his Love 2. See the misery of Unbelievers How wretched art thou who believest not who sayest to the Love of God and the Tydings of it from Heaven Depart from me I have no pleasure in you Those Powers of Darkness that are ever ready to raise up Leviathan from his Stormy deep below curse thee All evil Spirits are Flames of Wrath burning within thee burning from without upon thee alwaies in the midst of thy Jollities at thy Feasts on thy Beds of pleasure Evil Spirits are ever Ministring Wrath to thee after an Invisible manner thorow all Visible Things Devils are thy Chariots These wrap thee up in a thick Cloud in the blackness of Darkness and hurry thee to Hell O be not unbelievers but believe that you may inherit the Land of Love and dwell in it for ever Love inviteth wooeth you to believe that is to receive itself into your Hearts Love will bring its own entertainment and make the Feast for itself if you for your parts will but take it in as a guest 3. Instance The Righteousness of God serveth his Love Rom. 5. l. Grace reâ—gneth by Righteousness unto Eternal Life thorow Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace is Love in its Fountain Love upon the Throne Love is brought in here by the Apostle under the name of Grace as a King Eternal Life Heaven is the Kingdom of Love Jesus Christ is the chief Minister of State to this great King God is Love sitting upon the Throne The Lord Jesus is the same supream Love descending from the Throne to be the Universal Servant and General Officer throughout all this Kingdom of Love Righteousness is the Scepter of the King Thy Scepter is a Scepter of Righteousness Psal. 45. Love reigneth by
Righteousness unto Eternal Life thorow Jesus Christ our Lord. There are three Ways in which the Righteousness of God serveth his Love 1. Righteousness is the Royal-Garment and the Wedding-Garment for Love itself and its Bride on the Coronation and the Wedding day which are both one the day of the Spirit the day of Grace the day of Eternity The Bridegroom himself is said to be fairer than the Sons of Men in my Text Psal. 45. 2. He is cloathed with the Righteousness of God which is the Comeliness the Beauty of Holiness or the Holy the Pure the unstained unmixt Beauty of the Divine Nature Two things make Beauty Features Colours The Features in the Face of the God-Head are the variety of all Excellencies in a Harmony The Colours are the Glory shining in all these This is the Righteousness of God Jesus Christ hath both these He is the express Image of the Person of God There are the Divine Features He is the brightness of the Glory of God There are the Divine Colours and Lustre Both these make up the Garment of Righteousness which is the Divine Loveliness of Love himself In this he appeareth fairer than the Sons of Men on his Marriage-Day in the day of the Gospel For Behold He cometh forth in the Righteousness of God This also is the Garment with which Love cloatheth and adorneth his Spouse the Believing Soul to make her fairer than all the Daughters of Men than all the Daughters of Hierusalem than all Angelical Beauties The Queen is said to be brought to the King all Glorious within in Garments of beaten Gold in Garments of Needle-work Psal. 4. 5. The Glory quite thorow the beaten Gold the Needle-work is all comprehended in the Righteousness of God He was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor 5. 21. This is the Garment with which Divine Love adorneth his Queen to make her fit for his Throne and his Embraces This Garment of Divine Righteousness hath a mysterious vertue in it It is at once a Bath of Divine Blood which taketh off all the blackest deepest stains of deformity from the most loathed Souls It is a Tincture of Divine Beauty which giveth in a moment Youth Immortality a loveliness quite thorow its whole Essence a Substantial Essential loveliness a loveliness resembling and answering that of love himself of God This is the beaten Gold all Glory within A learned Interpreter teacheth us that the Needle-work in the Garment signifieth properly Oes wrought in Gold like so many Suns all over the Garment How rich how Beautiful is that Garment of Righteousness with which the Lord Jesus decketh the Soul of every Saint in which it fully pleaseth the Eye of God and dazleth the Eyes of Angels It is set all over with Golden Oes of an Eternal Glory with Invisible and Eternal Suns the unvailed Face the entire Person of the Lord Jesus set in every part and shining from every point of it This is the first Service of the Divine Righteousness to the Divine Love to make itself and its Bride the Beloved Soul Infinitely Unchangeably Lovely and Pleasant one to another This is the Righteousness of our fustification 2. Eternal love soweth the Righteousness of God as a Divine a Spiritual Seed in our Hearts This Seed changeth the ground into its own Nature It draweth the vertue and strength of it to itself It groweth up in it together with it to a Tree which is an entire Paradise in itself The body of this Tree is the Lord Jesus in the Power Glory Fulness of his Spirit The Branches are all the Spirits of God of Angels and Saints spread thorow all times and things All moral Excellencies all the Beauties and Perfections of the Divine Image in the first and universal frame of Nature are the leaves of this Tree which here never fade All Divine Righteousness all Evangelical Perfections and Spiritual Graces are the Fruit which is fitted for every Season and ever ripe in its Season On this Fruit love itself which is God the Son of love Jesus Christ all the Angels of love the Soul herself feed are refreshed and raised to a Divine Joy This is the Righteousness of our Sanctification 3. The Righteousness of God is the Scepter in the Hand of Love by which it ruleth all things As Moses commanded all the Elements the Air the Water the Earth by stretching forth the Rod in his hand so the Love of God swayeth all things every where by the Scepter of his Righteousness The Harmomony and Motions of the Divine Righteousness from the hand of Divine Love are felt and obeyed by all things to the utmost end of the Creation Righteousness is the Musick of Divine Love by which all things are charmed Use. See the distinction between the liberty of Spiritual Love and the licentiousness of Fleshly Lusts. 1. Divine Love is free but Divinely fair and pure St. James calleth the Gospel which is the Ministery of Love from Heaven the perfect Law of Liberty and in another place the Royal Law Love is free but it is perfect Love is a Liberty but it is a Law to itself in its Liberty Love is a King but it reigneth in Righteousness It is itself both King and Law to itself Love saith St. Paul is the fulfilling of the whole Law Jesus Christ said to John the Baptist It behoveth me to fulfil all Righteousness This is the Language of Heavenly Love in every Holy Heart It behoveth me to fulfil all Righteousness Love is an obligation of Righteousness to itself Righteousness is the decency the comliness of Love Love is the Divine Unity and Righteousness the Heavenly Harmony in which this Unity of Love diffuseth itself thorow all things True liberty is only found in Harmony All Bondage ariseth from Discord which hath its Root in Contrariety and Enmity Righteousness is the Harmony and Beauty of Love It is the liberty of the Sun to shine of a Tree to flourish with Leaves Flowers and Fruits Righteousness is the liberty the Sun-shine the Beauty and fruitfulness of Divine Love As the Sun by its light so the love of God by its Spiritual Beauty which is Holiness attracteth Spirits to it maketh them in love with it maketh them lovely by Assimilation making them like itself filleth them with all delights maketh them fruitful with all Beautiful and Divine Births of Grace and Glory Love and Righteousness are as the Father and the Son in the Blessed Trinity Love bringeth forth Righteousness as its proper brightness its lovely light its essential Image the express Image of its Substance and all its Sweetnesses or vertues As the Father is at liberty only in the Son his own Image as the Son is no where at liberty but in the Bosom of the Father his own Principle and Original so is love no where truly free but where it springeth up and flourisheth in the Fruits of Righteousness Righteousness is then
Unity which is the Divine Nâ—â—ure and which is Divine Love by three Principles of our common Orthodâ—â— Divinity rightly founded upon the Scriptures 1. Prin. God beholdeth All things in himself He goeth not forth out of himself to converse with any Thing He receiveth not any Impression from thing without himself Rom. 11. v. 35. 36. Who hath been his Counsellour or who haâ—â— given to the Lord first that he should repay him God is Simple ever Perfect uncompounded He seeth all things in the Glass of his own Essence He Himself All to himself his own Center and Circumference 2. Princ. Every thing which God seeth in himself he seeth at himself All Forms of things as they appear in God appear cloathed with the Form of God James 1. 5. every good and perfect Gift cometh from above from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of Turning All appearances of things in the Fahter of Lights the Sun of Eternity are Lights good and Perfect Lights not Beams but so many entire Suns Springs and Seas of Light the Light of Life and Love in the Bosom of that Sun the Father of them All. For there is no Variableness in God although there be Variety God is the Same in every season and Appearance without any Shadow of Turning 3. Princ. God as he seeth all things in himself in one Divine Form with himself comprehendeth them unchangeably in the closest and sweetest Embraces converseth with them Eternally in the highest degree of all mutual Suitableness Sweetness Satisfaction and Delight Pythagoras said Friendship the best Kind of Love on Earth was One Soul in several Bodies as in so many Images and Reflections of itself Such is God such is Love One Incomprehensible Spirit multiplying itself into Innumerable Representations and Reflections of itself that it may contemplate itself possess itself delight it Self Infinitely for the Divine Form compleat in every One endlessly for the Variety ever New This is the sacred Unsearchable Unity of the Divine Majesty Thus this Unity is the most Sacred and Supreme Love Quest. Now you may perhaps say within your selves some one of you This Love of which you speak is the Love of God within himself the Love of God to himself What is all this Love to me Answ. My answers to this Question shall be so many Applications of this Truth Use. 1. All this Love is nothing to thee who separatest thy self from the Divine Unity by sin Your Sins separate between me and you saith the Lord by the mouth of his holy Prophet You have accounted your selves unworthy of Spiritual Loves in that you have divided your selves from the Unity the Heavenly Body and Spirit of the Lord Jesus You stand in the strength of your own Spirits and walk after your own Imaginations Principles and â—mages which you have found out and chosen to your selves to stand in the Power and walk in the Light of them Matth. 23. 37. Jesus Christ mournâ—th over Jerusalem in these words O Jerusalem Jerusalem who stonest the Proâ—hets and killest those that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered â—hee as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her Wings But ye would not Thereâ—ore now shall thy house be left unto thee desolate I say unto you Ye shall see me no more until ye shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Wretched Soul who art still in thy Sins hear thy Saviour after this manâ—er mourning over thee with tears of blood falling from those Wounds which Love in him Sin and Unbelief in thee have made with Words of Pity and tender Compassions falling from his Lips O wretched wretched Soul which by sin woundest that Unity of Divine Love which first sent thee forth from its Blessed Womb which by Unbelief continually killest in thy Self that Unity of the Eternal Spirit which springeth up in thee which sendeth forth sweet glances maketh strong Impressions of itself upon thee to draw thee into its Blessed Bosom O sinful O Unbelieving soul how often within thee without thee in thoughts of thine Heart in touches upon thy affections in the ministery of my Word in the works of my Providence have I spread over thee the Shadowing wings of the Divine Unity the wings of Divine Love of the Heavenly dove my Spirit How often would I have gathered thee under these wings to have lien safe from every Bird of Prey every Evil and Unclean Spirit to have lien warm under that Divine Heart which would have cherished the Divine Life in thee with all the Graces and Joys of it But thou wouldest not Therefore is thy Spirit and Person left to thee desolate without Spiritual Life Spiritual Comfort Spiritual Company which all as Plants of Immortality grow and flourish together in the Unity of the Eternal Spirit as in their Root But poor forlorn Soul when thou shalt see thy Saviour come again in his Spirit into thy Spirit then shalt thou fall down at his feet fly into his Arms and say Blessed is my Jesus coming in the Heavenly Evidence of the Divine Unity which is the Supream Love that subdueth all things to itself Now I believe This Unity this Love is the Ground and Root of Faith Use. 2. All this Love is nothing to thee who livest in the enmity of the Serpent Thou hast no lot nor portion in that Divine Unity which is the Fountain of Love who livest in Wrath Malice and a bitter Zeal The Spouse of Christ the Soul on which he hath set his Love is a Dove hath Hony and Milk under her Tongue Divine Love Heavenly Peace and Joy are a Fountain of Milk and Hony in her Heart Gentle Language Words of Meekness Healing Peace-making works are streams of Milk and Hony under her Tongue flowing from the Fountain of Divine Love in her heart We read in the Book of Job that the Wicked Man shall never see the Land of Brooks of Fountains and of Rivers of Waters but the Serpent shall bite him These expressions seem to allude to the Land of Canaan and the fiery Serpents in the Wilderness which things themselves were Types of the Paradise of Love in the Divine Unity and the Enmity of the old Serpent in the Wilderness of Sin As thou likest not to retain Love in thine Heart language and life but art a fiery biting Serpent by deadly hate bitter Speeches works of wrath and malice formed in Hell so thou shalt never see the pleasant Land flowing with Brooks with Fountains and Rivers of Love The crooked Serpent shall wrap thee up in his cursed folds to draw thee into his hideous Den there bite and devour thee Use. 3. Believe So shall all this Love be thine in thee and to thee I shall make good this to thee by 3 Arguments which are so many Motives to perswade thee to believe to stand fast in the Faith to grow in Faith 1. Argum. Believe and by believing thou shalt be transplanted
Believing Soul seeth and smelleth the Heavenly Flower of Comforting Love living and flourishing in this Root of Eternity the Divine Unity The Spirit himself whose Unity is the Band of all Peace and Joys is now with thee and in thee a Comforter the Fountain of all Living Comforts 5. Believe and Faith will set in thine Eye this Glorious Unity as the Crown of Glorifying Love Jesus Christ saith expresly among his last Words John 17. 22. That Glory which thou hast given to me I have given to them that they may be One as we are One. This is the concluding and crowning Glory This is the Glorifying Love Love in Glory the Unity made Perfect The Father hath given Glory to Christ by giving him the Being of his heavenly Person which is the Glory and himself in that Being a Glory in that Glory Jesus giveth the same Glory to us himself and his Father to make us One Glory with themselves that the Unity may be the Glory and each in the same Spirit may be a Unity of Glories O! believe Can any thing be desired sweeter sâ—rer greater by any Soul than to be one Love one Glory with Jesus Christ and his Father Faith planteth thee into this Love into this Unity 3. Argum. Faith by planting thee into the Unity of God bringeth thee into the Light of God The Eye of Faith seeth the Truth of Things as it is in Jesus and Jesus as He is in the Unity of the Spirit Ephes. 4. 21. If yeâ— have been taught in Him as the Truth is in Christ. Ephes. 4. 3 4 5. Keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Band of Peace One Body One Spirit One Lord. The Light of Faith is the Light of the Divine Unity as the Light of Sense is the Brightness and Glory of the Corporeal Unity which is One Sun This Light discovereth the Truth of things in the Secret of the most sacred Unity in the Lord Jesus as He is One in the Unity of the Spirit How different is the Appearance of things to Sense and to Faith What different Lights shine in the Diversity of flesh and in the Unity of the Spâ—rit In the latter of these are seen all beautiful and pleasant things all things in Beauty Pleasantness in Heavenly Immortal Forms And this Sight alone is the Truth Believe so shalt thou see thy self in Christ in One Glory Thou shalt know that this which thou now seest is the Truth thy True Person and Form Now thou shalt cry out with Joy and Wonder Behold I am fair I am altogether fair It is easie for me now to believe that I am my Beloved's and that His desire is toward me while I see my self in this Glass of Christ's Glorified â—erson in this Circle of Glory the Unity of the Spirit Believe So shalt thou see all the Saints in One Glory with Christ and shalt know that this is the Truth of every Saint Then shalt thou stretch forth thine arms to them and say How is my heart enlarged towards you Ye are as I am all look like Princes the Sons of the great King My joy is fulfilled in You all Believe For when thou behevest thou shalt see all the Works of God in a Vision of Truth and Glory Thou shalt see them in Christ as Christ is One in the Unity of the Spirit All shall appear to thee like the Joynts or white Circles of the Thighs of the Spouse Cant. 7. 1. Jewels the Work of a curious Arâ—ificer Mâ—ster-pieces of Divine Love they shall be all to thee as the hands and fingers of thy Beloved Rings of Gold with a precious stone set in them Circâ—es of Divine Light and Life figures of the Supreme Unity with that Glorious Unity itself set in them to enrich them Believe O what a Paradise in the third Heavens is a Believer caught up into when first the Eye of Faith is opened in him Yea as often as it openeth itself in him He beholdeth all Forms of Things as they are in Truth this Truth as it is in Christ this Christ as he is in the Unity of the Spirit With what pleasure like that of a Resurrection from the Dead when all things that ever we conversed with rise together with us into the same Glory doth a man now look round about him and say O all ye Appearances of Things that ever were or are to be Are these your Forms your true Forms Is this sight of you which I have now in the Divine Unity the only Truth Then the Believing Soul stretcheth forth her hands to them all and cryeth out with wonder and delight my Father my Mother my Husband my Wife my Brethren my Sisters my Children all the delights of my Eyes all the Sweetness and Joy of all Relations are ye all Use. 4. You who are planted by Faith into the Divine Unity shew the Fruits of this blessed Root in Purity and Love 3. Let a Divine Purity shine in thy Life O Christian. The Unity of God is his Simplicity The Simplicity of God is his Purity The Purity of the most excellent things is their freedom from mixture The more they are themselves the more they shine the more pure and precious they are Live and walk in the Unity of the Spirit Galat. 5. 25. Behold thy self and all things converse with all as they appear as thou meetest them in thy walks in this circle of the Divine Unity Sleep not the sleep of Sense or Flesh lest thou be hurried in Dreams into the Land of Darkness where the Light is Darkness where there is no Order no Unity Awake into the Light of this Blessed Unity So shalt thou be ever with God So shalt be ever like God 2. Be unmoveable in Love God is Love because he converseth with all things in the Light of his own Spirit alone which is the Light of Lovelâ—ness and Love Be thou a Child of God a Child of this Light and so a Child of Love Be a Priest of Divine Love Be ever within in thine own Spirit as a Temple of Holy Loves filled with the Glory of that God which is Love Know nothing any more in any Appearance besides that which sheweth itself to thee in this Temple by the Light of this Glory Object Here an Objection cometh in our way which may arise in every understanding against all this discourse which we have had concerning the Divine Unity and Divine Love Doth not God see Sin and hate Sinners Ought not we to do so Ans. I answer affirmatively the Divine Nature both in God and in the Children of God discovereth the deformity of Sin by a most clear Light and hateth it with a most perfect hatred I shall confirm and explain this Answer by four particular Answers 1. Ans. Sâ—n is a privation of Holiness which is the Beauty of Spirits as Darkness is a privation of Light and every Evil of some Good Privations are known only by their contrary habits God and all Holy Spirits see
Entire Eternal the first and highest Unity in which all Unions lie together undivided compleat making up one Sweetness which hath the names and rellishes of all sweetnesses which giveth name and rellish to every sweetness which is above all names and rellishes unexpressible incomprehensible This is the Love-spring in the Trinity of Divine Love This is the Father in the Trinity of the Divine Nature Use. 1. Give all Glory to Free-Grace Ascribe all Riches to it Set your Love upon it This is the Fountain of Divine Love in the Bosom of the Father This is the Fountain of Israel This is the Fountain of the God Head This is your own your only Fountain O Saints All your streams of Life Grace Comfort Glory arise out of this Love-spring in Eternity which is the heart of the Father This is the Fountain this is the Father of Jesus Christ your Fountain and Father in him He that hath drunk the Waters of Life and Love from this Well will never thirst more after any other Waters or drink of any other Spring We read in Numbers of a Well in the Wilderness which the Princes digged with their Staves and sung to it Spring O Well O wandring Souls behold your Well which is before you in every Wilderness The Prince of Life your Jesus hath dig'd and opened it for you from the depths of the God-Head with the Staff the Scepter of his Spirit Look to no other Fountain But sing continually to this Spring O Well Spring O thou heart of the Father Spring in mine heart Spring with streams of Divine Truth Spring with streams of Divine Strength Spring with streams of Divine Joy Send forth thy streams over all my Soul and Body Make all my powers and parts to sing like the Garden of Eden O thou Fountain of Gardens My Prince hath dig'd and opened thee in my heart O thou heart of the Father with the Staff of his Spirit Open mine Eyes O Blessed Spirit that by thee I may see this Fountain which by thee is opened in me It was at the Fountain that Jacob and his beloved Rachel first met The Daughters of Laban came thither to water their Flocks But the Well had a great stone upon it which they could not move Jacob rolled away the Stone and watered their Flocks for them From thence they brought Jacob to their Fathers House knew him for their neer Kinsman and were marryed to him It is at this Fountain of Free-Grace that the Lord Jesus and the elect Soul first meet Sin Death and Wrath make the Stone which cover this Spring The Lord Jesus rolleth away this Stone that thou and all thy Fathers Flocks with thee all the Principles and Powers of Life in thee may drink of this Well Here the Lord Jesus looketh upon thee and loveth thee Here he maketh himself known to thee to be thy Brother and taketh thee to be his Bride From this Well he goeth home with thee unto thy Fathers House into thine heart into thy natural Spirit and thine Earthly Image in these to marry thee to himself to make the fruitful to Eternal Glory to enclose this door of thy natural Spirit with Boards of Cedar a Divine Beauty Sweetness and Incorruptibility to build upon the wall of thine Earthly Image a Palace of Silver into which he will invite his Father the Holy Angels all glorified Spirits to feast and inhabit with himself and thee There was often contention for Wells between the Servants of Abimelech and the Servants of Isaac These digged them and the others stopped them up Contend O Believers for this your Well of Free-Grace Suffer no Aegyptians or Philistines to stop it up by casting in the Earth or Stones and Rubbish of Free-Will of any Wisdom Work or Worth in the Creature As Earth cast into a Spring defileth it so by every thing of the Creature mingled with the Waters of this Fountain they lose their clearness their sweetness their vertue Keep this Spring of the Fathers heart of Free-Grace pure So shalt thou see a clear shining deep of Divine Sweetnesses without any Bottom the Glorious Deep of Eternity itself In the clearness of this Spring shalt thou see thine own Face From the freshness of this Spring thou shalt drink in perpetually new Floods of all living Sweetnesses With the pure Waters of this Spring thou shalt preserve thine heart ever new ever soft ever flourishing with all Joys ever fruitful in all Graces O Saints Keep this Love-Spring the Fountain of Free-Grace open keep it pure in your Spirits Use. 2. Learn this Divine skill O Christians which comprehendeth all the rich mysteries of the Gospel in it Rise up new every moment with all things round about you out of this Fountain of Love in Eternity the Bosom of the Father Return again every moment with all your troop into this Fountain of Love the Bosom of the Father Lay your selves down for ever here Here alone is Jesus Christ in his naked Beauties nakedly embraced Seek see and enjoy all your pleasant Relations all pleasant Unions in this Unity of Divine Love the heart of the Father as in their proper Fountain Here is the Truth here is the Life of them all in their Original Here they are unchangeable Here they are as Sun-beams before they come forth descend divide grow shadowy and fading As we keep Flowers fresh by setting their stalks in Water So say of all your Relations in their shadows on Earth of all your sweet things with their Sweetnesses Who is their Father Answer thy self The Fountain of Love Then keep them with their stalks in this Fountain So shall they be ever fresh ever sweet to thee 2. Person The Love-Birth God is Love The three Persons in the Trinity are Love in a three-fold Form and Property or in a threefold Distinct and opposite Relation to itself within itself for the enjoyment of itself in the secret of Eternity abstracted from all Creatures infinitely before them and above them I have spoken of the first Person in this Trinity of Divine Love the Father the Fountain of Love in Eternity I come now to speak of the second Person The God-Head in the second Person is Divine Love in its Eternal Birth and Image The Fountain of Divine Love which is the Father bringeth forth from itself within itself an Eternal Birth the compleat Image of itself the Supreme Loveliness and Beauty This is our Jesus in the Bosom of the Father I shall endeavour to draw the Curtain from before this Blessed and Glorious Birth of Divine Love the Beloved the only one of all Holy and Heavenly Spirits I shall endeavour to set this most desired and most pleasant Person our Lord Jesus before the Eyes of your mind by five Characters or Marks The second Person in the Trinity is 1. The Birth or Image of Divine Love 2. The First 3. The Fairest 4. The Freshest 5. The Fullest Birth and Image of Divine Love 1. Character The Lord Jesus is
than the Son without the Father Both are from Eternity both equally Eternal in this sacred Mystery and Trinity of the Divine Nature of Divine Love Prov. 8. This Son of Love is brought in speaking of himself and his Father Before the Mountains were formed ere yet the foundations of the Earth were laid I was before him as one brought up with him his delight day by day Before all the Creatures in Eternity the Lord Jesus alone was with the Father and none other besides him He was bred up together with him the Lamb the lovely the beloved Birth and Object of all his Loves the delight of his Eyes that fed at his Table and lay in his Bosom If you ask now what the Father did before he made the World the answer is full and sweet the Father in the infiniteness of Eternity brought forth Jesus Christ delighted himself in Jesus Christ the only Birth of all his Love and Desires the entirâ— Image of all his Loves and Joys Use. If you would be Holy Heavenly and Happy if you would be perfect in all Graces Joys and Glories as your Heavenly Father is perfect 〈◊〉 like him in this He is taken up with his Son Jesus alone before above a Creatures in Eternity Let this Jesus as he is the Birth and Image of all Dâ—â—vine Loves in the Father the Fountain of Love be your only one the 〈◊〉 Birth and beautiful Image of your Spirits continually before you bred 〈◊〉 with you into every Age Form and State your only delight day by da This is the first Birâ—â— of Love the Birth of Love in Eternity All those Birth of Love and lovely Images which are in the Creature Shadowy Finite Fâ—â—ding are here Substantial a Spiritual and Heavenly Substance Infinite Endlesâ— Ever-flourishing 3. Character The Lord Jesus as he is the second Person in the Trinity is the fairâ—â— Birth of Divine Love We read 1 Cor. 13. 5. Love behaveth not itself unseemâ— doth nothing uncomely The word uncomely signifieth a want of Proportion Haâ—â—mony Order Figure which make all Beauty and Musick every where Loâ—â— can conceive can form nothing within itself can bring forth nothing froâ— itself but its proper Object its proper effect which is suitable to it 〈◊〉 is Loveliness and Beauty As the Trees of Paradise had their Seed in them so every Birth of Love is in every part full of the Seeds of Love by which begetteth Love again full of the Beams of Love which kindle the sweâ— heat and fire of Love This is loveliness which soweth the Seeds of Loâ—â— and sendeth forth the Beams of Love into Spirits round about it As the 〈◊〉 the Supreme Eye of the visible World is to the Light so is Love the Eyâ—â— and heart of Eternity to loveliness Loveliness is the proper Emanation 〈◊〉 Image of Love by which it planteth itself in all Eyes and Hearts attractâ—â— all things into the Golden Circle and Center into the Glorious Palace of 〈◊〉 Blessed and Eternal Unity in itself which is itself Love then bringeth forth Loveliness and Beauty the Divine Love alâ— vine Loveliness and Beauty the Supreme Love the Supreme Loveliness and Beauty So the Lord Jesus is Beauty itself a Divineâ— Beauty the Supream Beauty the fairest Birth of Love being the first the only Birth of the Father the Fountain of Divine Love Love at the highest Love in its first Sweetness John 1. 14. We saith the Holy Apostle speaking of Jesus Christ saw his Glory the Glory as of the Only-begotten Son of God The Son of God is the only Birth of Love from the Father the Fountain of Love in two respects Comparatively Comprehensively First The Lord Jesus is the only Birth and Image of Divine Love Comparatively for his excelling loveliness We saw his Glory as the Glory of the Only-begotten of the Father So great a Glory shineth in his Person as darkneth all other Beauties all other Births and Images of Love maketh them quite to disappear and seem none at all Secondly Our Beloved Jesus is the only Birth and Image of Divine Love Comprehensively All his Saints are in thine hand All Holy Births and Images of the Father the Spring of Love in Eternity all Divine Lovelinesses the works of this curious Workman all the Jewels of Beauty framed by the skill of the first and Supreme Love in the heart of the Father all are comprehended in this Birth and Image all adorn the Person of Jesus Christ are there in their highest lustre and take their Beauty from him Thus is the Son of God the fairest Birth and Image of Divine Love Use. 1. O Sinners This is that Jesus who wooeth you the fairest of all things Beauty itself the Divine the Supreme Beauty Object no more against him and your union with him Obj. 1. Say not you are unworthy of him it cannot be that he should love Creatures so unlovely as you are Ans. He who would be your Bridegroom will be your Beauty What Bosom of the Highest and Divinest Love are you not fit for when he who is the Highest and Divinest Beauty is your Loveliness What stains can appear in you when the fairest Image from the Fountain of Love comprehending in itself innumerable Glories all Divine all Supreme descendeth upon you and wrappeth you up entirely in itself Obj 2. Say not you are unfit you cannot believe his Love you cannot love him again you shall never be pure and lovely like him to please him to honour him Ans. He who offereth himself to be your Beauty and Loveliness will be your Lover your Bridegroom This Glorious Spirit the Life of all Divine Loveliness will be the Husband of your Spirits All your Fruit shall be from him He who is the fairest Birth and Image from the Fountain of Love will be the Birth of all Spiritual and Heavenly Beauties in you of all Graces Comforts and Glories He will be the lovely Image springing up the root of Love the heart of the Father into your whole Spirit Soul and Body Object then no more Make plain his way Lay open your hearts to this Jesus who cometh to be a Divine Beauty to thy Person a Divine Bridegroom to thy Spirit the Divine Birth of Faith of Love of all Graces Glories Joys and Immortality in thee He will be better to thee than all thy Righteousness sweeter to thee than all thy Lusts Lovelier than all the Idolâ— of thine Eyes and Heart Fruitfuller than all thine hopes Use. 2. O Saints Behold another of your rich Jewels See here that Jewel which when you wear filleth Heaven and Earth with the brightness and sweetness of its light round about you dazleth blindeth and confoundeth the Devils that they cannot come near you to hurt you attracteth and draweth down the Angels from Heaven to gaze upon you to admire you to attend round about you to encompass you whithersoever you go yea allureth ravisheth the heart of the Father himself to come and inhabit in you
we should then rejoice to see each dear or displeasing object each state and circumstance of Life in its proper and distinct Form a distinct Form a distinct Spirit of Divine Love and Beauty immortal shining in this Eternal Spirit in this Heavenly Image Love and Loveliness itself the first the fullest variety all variety in one entire and All-glorious Form the Fountain of variety which is our Jesus Ignatius being to die said Let Sword Fire wild Beasts the Cross breakings of all my bones tortures thorow all my body so I may find Christ so I may gain Christ. If thou hast Jesus Christ he is thy Garland and all these are sweet-smelling Immortal Flowers in thy Garland he is thy Crown all these are precious Stones and Jewels in thy Crown A Sword in Christ is a living Form and penetrating power of Divine Love dividing between Flesh and Spirit the Bone and the Marrow in thee piercing to the Bottom of thine heart to open the Fountain of Eternal Life and Joyâ— in thee The fire springing up in this Love-Birth is a flame of Love working thee into one Heavenly flame with itself and to this end embracing thee winding itself into all the secrets of thy Body and Soul The Teeth of wild Beasts appearing in this Image of Divine Love are the Eternal Spirit the Spirit of Love feasting upon thee and then feasting thee upon itself The Cross in this Garden of Love is a Tree of Eternal Love thou art the fair and sweet Fruit upon this Tree The breakings of Bones looked upon in this mysterious Glass of all varieties the Eternal Word the Eternal Image of Love are no Wounds but Divine Anointings The tortures of the whole Body are the costly perfume of Love poured forth upon the head of the Sacrificer and running down all along to the hem of his Garments Use. 2. Hast thou Jesus Christ Care for nothing more in him are all things given thee richly to enjoy If he be come to thee look for no other thing There is nothing can come after hâ—m He is the full Birth and Image of Divine Love The vanity and emptiness of the Creature is expressed by Solomon after this manner What is that which hath been It is that which is and what is that which is to come It is that which hath been It is named already It is man So do thou express the variety and fulness of Jesus Christ. So quench all other Loves in thee What is that which hath been It is that which is What is that which shall be It is that which hath been It is all named in Jesus Christ. If thou hast Jesus Christ thou art rich to God thou hast all his Treasure Now sing thy Soul to a Divine sleep and rest in the Bosom of Divine Love with these words go to rest O my Soul Thou hast all good things laid up for thee in the Person of thy Jesus to Eternity The Bosom of the Father the Fountain of Love is opened in thee The Lord Jâ—sus the full Birth the full Image the full variety of Love springeth forth from this Fountain for thee Poets say that every Spring hath at the bottom of it a palace of Pearl in which the Divinity the God of this Spring dwelleth God the Father is the Fountain of Love The Lord Jesus riseth up in the rich depths of this Fountain as the Palace of Eternity composed of all variety in most precious Forms and Figures furnished with inhabited by all variety in all Beautiful and Heavenly Images in the dress of all Divine entertainments in the form of all Glorious and Eternal Spirits flowing continually with all manner of Sweetnesses O Saint O Believer Thou hast this Fountain this Palace continually open in thee Open thou the Eye of thy Faith Look upon the Treasures of it if thou canst number them if thou canst comprehend them Separate thy self through desire kindled in thee by the strength of thy Faith and thy Love Descend into this Fountain Dwell for ever in this Palace and intermeddle with enjoy all substance I have spoken of the two first Persons in the Trinity I come now to the third 3. Person The Holy Spirit the third Person in the Trinity is the Love-union between the Love-Spring and the Love-Birth the Father and the Son The Holy Ghost hâ—th his name from Breathing Eternal Love distinguishing itself into two Persons the Father and the Son from both these by a conspiration of Love doth breath forth itself into one third person the Holy Spirit in which they both stand two distinct Persons in one third Person which is the Love-union the golden Marriage knot of them both The Holy Spirit is frequently expressed in Scriptures by an Ointment Several rich Spices breath forth themselves into one costly ointment Thâ— Spices all meet in one precious Form in which they still retain their own distinct forms the sweetnesses and vertues of the several Spices breath forth themselves into one pleasant perfume in whâ—ch all the several sweetnesses remain distinct mutual penetrating and infusing each the other in that one sweetness distinct from them all So the Father and the Son by the force and mystery of Divine Love breath forth themselves into one distinct Person the Holy Ghost in which they also remain distinct distinctly and mutually penetrating possessing enjoying the Persons of each other with their Properties Powers Sweetnesses and Beauties in that one Thiâ— one is distinct from both because it comprehendeth both distinctly in one This is the Love-union between the Fountain and the Birth or Image oâ— Divine Love It is a saying which Thomas Aquinas citeth from St. Austin Whatever there is of Sweetness of Pleasantness of Complacency of Delight of Joy of Love of Loveliness of Agreeableness of Suitableness of Harmony any where it is the Holy Ghost The reason is this All Colours with their several Beauties are the mixtures of shade and light Children are the Parents united So every thing of Love or Beauty every Divine Work and Operation thorow Heaven and Earth is the Love-union between the Father the Fountain of Love and this lovely Image which is both the Birth and the Bride of Love of the Father All Pleasaâ—tness all Divine Acts of Creation and Providence with their several Lights Lives Loves and Vertues are this Love-union in its lovely extent and vast variety The Psalmist saith of God Thou hast stretched out the Heavens by thy Breath by thy Spirit The Heavens are the Beauty the Pleasantness and Joy of the Divine Appearance and the Divine Operation which is the Love-Image and the Love-Birth every where Use. 1. Pray O Christians for the Heavenly Eye-salve of the Holy Ghosâ— to anoint the Eyes of your minds What Blessed sights shall you then see every where What Heavenly Visions of Divine Love and Beauty upon the Spiritual Bed of Eternal Love shall you meet with in every object In even work of God in every act of Providence you will
the Father are Beams of Love which he shooteth into our Bosoms Obedience to them is the Reception of these Beams and the Reflection of them back again into the Bosom of God Obedience is the Activity of Divine Love enlarging itself freely in our Souls If it be contracted or shut up it goeth out 4. Abide in the Father's Love by the Peace of your Spirits Peace of Spirit is a Heavenly Calms and Serenity which freely receiveth and preserveth entire the Beams and Sunshine of Divine Love Passions are Clouds and Storms which cut off and darken the Beams of Love The Spirit of Love resteth not upon an Angry or Melancholy Man 5. Abide in the Father's Love by Spiritual Joy Joy is Love flaming One saith that Laughter is the Dance of the Spirits their freest Motion in Harmony and that the Light of the Heavens is the Laughter of Angels Spiritual Joy is the Laughter of Divine Love of the Eternal Spirit which is Love in our Spirits True Joy is Eternal Love the Eternal Spirit in Its Freest Motions in Its fullest Harmony and Complacency in our Spirits 6. Abide in the Love of the Father by Heavenliness The Presence of God in his Wrath is hell The Presence of God in his Love is Heaven Love is the Sunshine of the Godhead sweetning and guilding all things round about it after a Divine Manner as this Sun doth these Skies So far as thou abidest in a Heavenly Image of Things where every Object is covered with an Immortal Pleasantness and Glory thou abidest in the Love of God 7. Abide in the Father's Love by Spirituality Love is an Union The highest Love is the highest Unity the Unity of the highest Spirit In the Unity of this Spirit all things are Spirit of this Spirit All Varieties in this Unity of the Spirit are Spirits Divine Eternal Spirits of this Supreme Spirit in this Supreme Spirit Supreme Eternal Loves from the womb in the Bosom of this Supreme Love Abide in This Palace of Love The Unity of the Spirit Let this be thine Eternal habitation Be continually here in the Sweet and Blessed Society of Beautiful Pure Eternal Spirits Living Immortal Loves Behold Converse with all things within Thee without Thee in these Forms So shalt thou abide in the Love of the Father as It is poured forth in the Glorified Person of the Lord Jesus So This Love shall guide Thee as thou walkest into Fields of Light and Divine Pleasures into the Gardens of the Divine Nature This Love shall talk with Thee when Thou wakest as Moses and Elias talked with Jesus Christ in the Transfiguration of the Departure out of every other Image of things into this Paradise of Love flowing with all the Joyes of Life and Love in the heavenly Form of Christ. So This Love shall keep thee when thou sleepest as a Rich Canopy of Divine Substance over thy head as a Guard of Immortal Sweetnesses round about Thee as a heavenly Consort of Divine Spirit Divine Loves by their Musical Harmony continuing and crowning thy sleep I have done with the First Property of Divine Love as It is poured forth in Christ Freedom I come to the Second which is Purity 2. Property in the Effusion of Divine Love Purity The Love of God is poured forth in Jesus Christ Purely The Lord Jesus is said to be the Brightness of the Glory of God Hebr. 1. v. 2. Brightness is the Purest Light of Glory The Prime Glory in God is his Grace his Love He doth all for the Praise of the Glory of his Grace Ephes. 1. Jesus Christ in heaven in thine heart O Believer is the purest Stream the richest Flood of Divine Love the Love of the Divine Nature in the Brightness of Its Glory We are taught that this Light of the Sun which we enjoy here below is only a Shadow of that Light which shineth in the Body of the Sun itself The Sun in its highest Lustre is the Shadow of an Angel The Highest and Brightest Angel in his Purest Glories is no more than a Shadow of our Glorified Jesus He alone is the Brightness of Divine Glory without any Shade the Purity of Divine Love without any Allay Love is Loveliness in Motion As fine Gold melted into a Pure and shining Stream so is the Person of our Lord Jesus in Glory the Godhead in the Purity Perfection of all Its Lovelinesses melting itself into a most Pure Precious Stream of Love in which it runneth along winding turning meeting sporting with itself from Bosom to Bosom in the Father the Son and all the Saints O Broken-hearted Sinner who â—ittest in the Shadow of Death who wanderest in a Wilderness where there is no water ready to dye for thirst open thine Eyes see this Pure Light of Divine Love which shineth round about Thee in the midst of Thee see this Pure Stream of Divine Love which runneth along before Thee in that Wilderness thine heart the Blessed Person of thy Saviour which is this Pure Light this Pure Stream of Divine Love which filleth All. Take in the Waters of this Stream drink freely of it Cast thy self into this Stream let it cover Thee let it roul Thee along with it sport thy self in it There are Two Arguments of the Pure Effusion of Divine Love in Christ 1 The heighth of Its Sweetness 2 The Greatness of Its Virtue 1 The Love of God in Christ sheweth Its Purity by The heighth of Its Sweetness The Purest things are Sweetest The Love of God in Christ is the Rose upon its Stalk New-blown in its Virgin-Freshness and Sweetness To be Carnally-minded is Death to be Spiritually-minded is Life saith St. Paul Rom. 8. Impurity Carnality is the Death of Love dulleth embaseth embittereth it by Corrupting it Purity Spirituality is the Life of Love heighteneth and immortaliseth all its Sweetnesses all its Pleasures The Sweetness of the Love of God in Christ is made up of Three Parts 1. The Nearness of the Union 2 The Firmness of the Union 3 The Efficacy of the Union 1 The Nearness of the Union is the First Part of the Sweetness in the Love of God poured forth in the Glorified Person of our Saviour Love is an Union Where Love is Sweetest the Love-Union is Nearest The Love of God in Christ bindeth up God Christ all the Saints immediately in the most naked most warm Embraces of each other It maketh them All up into One Beautiful Body It melteth them All into One blessed-Blessed-Spirit of Divine Love The Bridegroom in the last of the Canticles expresseth his Love to his Bride after this manner If she be a Door we will inclose her with Cedar Cedar Wood is Eminent for three Things It is sweet Beautiful Incorruptible Blessed art Thou O Believer the meanest of all Believers who art a Door onely in this heavenly Temple Christ risen from the Dead a Door by which the Glories of the Godhead go in and out between the Visible and Invisible World Thy
hath quickened us together in Christ v. 5. He hath raised us together made us to sit together in Heavenly Places in him v. 6. Thus you see the Absoluteness the Compleatness of Finishing Love as well as of Preventing and Assisting Love You see the Finishing Love of the Father poured forth with all Fulness in our Blessed Saviour You see Divine Love in the Bosom of your Beloved Alone Beginning Alone Continuing the Work of Grace Alone in the Purity Power Simplicity of Free Grace Finishing Perfecting All in Glory I will make this clear to you by One Scripture more 2 Tim. 1. 9. he hath saved us not according to works which we have done but according to his own Purpose and Grace given to us in Christ before the World was Who hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light by his Appearance in the Gospel Behold this Heavenly Sight Believe rejoyce and wonder A Saint is a Spiritual Building of all Heavenly Graces and Glories It is entirely composed thorowout of Free Grace of Pure Love The Foundation of it is laid in the Fair Colours of Divine Love all the Rooms the several Stories the Furniture the Riches the Entertainment is of Pure Love The Roof is laid with the Precious stones of Pure Love The whole Work of a Saint's Salvation the Materials the Form the Proportions the Measures of the Whole and of every Part are Free Grace Pure Love He hath saved us according to his Purpose and Grace given us in Christ before the World was That Word Purpose signifieth properly the Fore-laying of a thing This Divine Bâ—ilding of Love this Heavenly Frame of Life and Immortality which is the True Form of a Saint was set up in the Glorious Person of our Jesus from Eternity All that is done in time is the unvailing and Discovery of this Heavenly and Eternal Building by Degrees according to the Measure of the Appearance of the Lord Jesus in us in whose Person and Spirit this Frame standeth as a Living Precious Corner-stone out of which it is grown up as a most pleasant Situation which encompasseth it on every paâ—t This Palace this Temple of Divine Love of Light of Life of Immortality is Eternal in the Heavens in Christ. Time Flesh Sin the whole Work of this Creation are a Vail of Darkness and Death cast upon It. As Jesus Christ shineth forth upon the Soul in the Gospel he casteth off this Vail he abolisheth this Death he discovereth and bringeth forth into the Clearness and Sweetness of Its own Divine Light this Divine Frame of Life and Immortality which is the True Saint the New Jerusalem the Bride the Lamb's wife coming down out of Heaven with her Beloved ready trim'd How manifest how full is the Finishing Love of God in Christ The whole Being of a Saint is a Building where all the Materials the Work the Finishing is Pure Love Pure Love finished all its Works in this Building before it began the World from Eternity and set it up in the Person of Christ. Pure Love cleanseth it from the Dust of Time the Filth of Flesh and bringeth it forth into the clear Lights of Grace of Glory which are the Brightness of its own Spiritual Beauties in the Evangelical Appearances and Out-Shinings of Jesus Christ. Use 1. Receive the Love of God in Christ. 2. Resign your selves to the Love of God in Christ. 1. Receive the Love of God in Christ. It is a sweet and easy work For this Love giveth reception to itself in the Soul When the Sugar taketh in the Wine In truth the Wine into which the Sugar is cast or which is poured upon it worketh itself into the Sugar then melteth and dissolveth it into One Body with itself until you can no more distinguish between the Sugar and the Wine So the Soul lieth in the midst of Divine Love Love in its own way by its own force worketh and melteth itself into the Soul until it have melted and wrought the Soul into One Spirit One Love with itself Divine Love is received into thy Soul as thy Soul is received into thy Body by Bringing it forth New out of its own Bosom by Comprehending it in itself by Forming it unto a Divine Image of Itself by Inhabiting Filling Acting it by Delighting in it as its Daughter Sister Spouse as its self multiplyed Receive this Love which thus receiveth you giveth reception to itself in you 2. Resign your selves to Divine Love This Love worketh all your works all its own works in you and for you all Works of Love and of Loveliness Philosophy teacheth us that all Colours are Light mingled with Shade in various degrees and manners until it break up thorow the Shades and drink up the Shades into One Pure Brightness The Gospel teacheth us that all Graces are Divine Love shining variously and gradually forth thorow the Darknesses of our Spirits until by a sweet and Heavenly Force as the Fire of the Divine Life kindled from the Throne of God it burn out and burn up all those Darknesses Distances Deâ—ilements Enmities into One Eternal Flame of Pure Love of Perfect Joy St. James teachâ—th us c. 1. 4. If Patience have its perfect work it shall make us perfect wanting nothing This is the same thing as if he had said Let Divine Love Preventing Assisting Finishing Love have their Perfect work These will make you Perfect wanting nothing This is the Grace of Patience the Love of God in Christ by its own force insinuating itself into our Souls by its own Charms alluring our Souls tempering them to a harmonious Repose in it a sweet entire Resignation to it until it have wrought out and finished its own Glories upon it Patience hath its Perfect Work when Love hath its Perfect work Love hath its Perfect Work in us when we oppose nothing of the Devil to it when we mingle nothing of our own with it O that I were indeed a Minister of the Gospel Then I should minister the Spirit to you which is Love The Fountain and the Sea of Love Then while I speak of Love you would feel the Holy Ghost in his own proper Form in the Form and Fulness of Divine Love coming down upon you entering into you forming himself in you unto a Free Reception of himself a Full Resignation to himself until he had Finished his own most Lovely Form of Heavenly Love in you Use 3. Be aware that you must receive the Love of God in Christ thorow Death St Paul admonisheth us that as many as are baptised into Christ are baptised into the Similitude of his Death Rom. 6. 3. If we will be baptised into the Love we must be baptised into the Death of the Lord Jesus When Moses son was circumcised Zipporah his wife said to him A bloody husband hast thou been to me Some interpret the Words as they run in the Hebrew Thou hast been to me a Husband in Blood So they are the Solemn words
of that Sacrament pointing out the Truth figured in that Type The Lord Jesus is a Husband to Thee in his own Blood Thou must also be a Spouse to him in thine own Blood St Paul saith Ye are dead to your first Husband by the Dead Body of Christ that ye may be married to another to him who is risen from the Dead Rom. 7. 4. You must come thorow the Death of Christ into his Marriage-Bed You cannot lye down in the Embraces of his Love in Glory except ye be first married to his Crucified Body and united to that in the Embraces of Death Flesh and Blood saith St Paul cannot enter into the Kingdom of God into the Kingdom of Spiritual Love If a Fleshly a Natural Spirit striveth to enter into the Love of God in the Glorified Person of our Lord Jesus it â—alleth short of the Truth the Life it attaineth to a Similitude only The Love and Glory of the Father of Christ of Heaven to the most raised Spirit of this Creation is an Enchantment Delusion a Dream This Gâ—ace of God in the Figure this Divine Love in a Dream is for the most part turned into Wantonness Lust. So men become in the heighth of the Purest Notions of the Sweetest Images no more than Filthy Dreamers The Death of Christ in the New Birth in Purity and Power of the holy Ghost is the Angel with a Flaming Sword turning every way which keepeth the Entrance into the True Paradise the Way to the Tree of Divine Love as well as of Divine Life The Eternal Spirit is the Flaming Sword Death here in its outward form is an Angel ministring to this Spirit He that dieth by this Sword and Flame in the hand of this Angel cutteth off burneth up all Fleshly Forms and Lives is in the same moment new-born into a Divine Immortal Spirit In this Spirit he entereth into the Paradise of Love in the Third Heavens above the Heaven of Sense or all things Visible above the Heaven of Reason Angels all things Invisible Intellectual of the First Creation in the Glorified Person of Christ. Here nothing entereth which hurteth or defilâ—th But be not discouraged when ye hear of a Baptism in Death before the Heavens open and the Dove Divine Love descend to rest upon you to give you rest in itself It is Love itself which is the Baptiser which leadeth you and goeth down with you into Death It is a River of Love which is the Jordan the Death into which you go down and are baptised We are baptised St. Paul saith in the forementioned place into the Similitude of Christ's Death The Death of Christ was Death in Truth a Substantial Real Death The Death of Christ in a Saint is Eternal Love Eternal Life in the Likeness and Form of Death a Similitude onely of Death in a Substance of Immortal Love and Glory in the Person of our Jesus ascended Use. 4. Take heed of mingling the Lusts of the Flesh with Spiritual Loves Jealousy is the Rage of God as well as of Man It burneth to the Foundations of the Earth A Fly bred out of Dung so infested the Eagle that it forced him to lay his Eggs for safety in the Lap of Jupiter the Heathen-God The Fly mounteth up aloft carrieth up some Dung with it letteth it fall into Jupiter's lap He arising and shaking the Dung out of his Lap shaketh ouâ— the Eagle's Eggs with it which fall broken to pieces upon the ground This is a Fable The Moral is good Thou art a Saint Thou layest the Births of the Divine Spirit in Thee thy Graces Hopes Joyes with thy self in the Bosom of Divine Love O take heed that thy Flesh that Dung-Fly mingle nothing of its Filth with these Births of the Spirit in the Pure Bosom of Heavenly Love If it do assure thy self that Love will cast all the Filth all Flesh out of its Chast and Spiritual Embraces As that falleth to the Ground thou also wilt fall with it and have many a broken bone many a broken heart We read in the Revelation of the Dragon and his Angels in Heaven together with Michael and his Angels But they fought there till the Dragon and his Angels were cast out Thou O Believer art a Heaven in which God dwelleth as Love where all the Angels as Angels of Love where all Forms of things are as Heavenly Angels of Pure Love round about him ministring to him Shall there be now seen in this Heaven in thy Person O Believer silthy Lusts furious Passions the Dragon and his Angels together with the Lord Jesus Divine Love and its holy Angels How hateful how horrid a Wonder What a Prodigy is this If it be so let there be no rest in the Heaven of thy Spirit let there be a continual Fight until the Dragon with his Angels the Fleshly Spirit with its Lusts and Passions be cast out When the Unclean Dog and the fiery Dragon are no more Thy Lamb will feed and lye down to rest thy Turtle will make its Nest and enjoy its Mate its Beloved in quiet Nothing shall disturb or make them afraid in all the Paradise of Divine Love Use. 5. Comfort your selves O Believers You travel thorough the Valley of Baca Baca signifieth a Mulberry Tree and Weeping You travel thorow a Valley of Tears a Mournful Valley where all the Trees that grow are Mulberry Trees Emblems of Grief and Wo. You are frequently overspread with the black Shades of Fear Unbelief Doubt Distrust Despair You often fall into the hands of violent Robbers Evil Spirits in the forms of various Temptations Corruptions Passions These spoil you leave you naked wounded desolate You dig up pits in Duties Ordinances But many times no Rain no Descent of the Spirit from Heaven filleth these Pits Yet be not discouraged all you who believe the Love of God in Jesus Christ. Strengthen the feeble Knees You shall go on from Strength to Strength from Light to Light so you shall come every one of you at last to a Clear Sight to a Compleat Fruition of the God of Gods on Mount Sion of God in his Supreme Glory in the Nakedness Purity Simplicity Unity of the Eternal Spirit Lift up the feeble hands These weak Graces of yours mixt interrupted with so much Corruption These weak Persons Bodies and Spirits wearied wounded stained with so many Sufferings Sins and Sorrows shall be crowned with perfect Glory For why Pure Love Almighty Love That Love which is itself God over all Blessed for ever This Love comes forth casting off all vails pouring forth itself from all its Eternal Springs in all its Infinite Fulnesses in the Glorified Person of Christ This Love hath begun and shall it not make an End As Certainly as it hath laid the Foundation and you have cried to it Grace Grace Pure Love Preventing Love as Certainly as it hath gone on to build you up thus far and still you have cried to it Grace Grace Pure Love
Assisting Love so certainly will it lay the Top-stone Your Eyes shall see it You shall in like manner cry to it with a Shout of Angels and Blessed Spirits all round about you Grace Grace Pure Love Finishing Love There are Three Sorts of Comforts which the Finishing Love of God in Christ ministreth to us 1. Against the Difficulties of Life 2. Against the Darkness of Death 3. Against the Dreadfulness of the Great and Last Day 1. Comfort against the Difficulties of Life St. Paul had prayed thrice against the Thorn in his Flesh and the Buffetings of Satan He receiveth this Answer My Grace is sufficiâ—nt for thee My Strength is perfected in Weakness I rejoyce therefore gladly in my Infirmities For when I am weak the Power of Christ resteth upon me My Grace You have there the Father the Fountain of Love the Fountain of Free Grace You have at the end of the verse the Lord Jesus Glorified into whom this Fountain floweth continually covering his Person all over without filling it all within with the Gâ—ories Immortalities and Joys of Divine Love This Jesus resteth upon St Paul in the Power in the Perfection of All his Loves He maketh Perfect he finisheth his Loves the Pure and heavenly Work of his Loves upon him when he is weakest The Holy Ghost discovereth a Mystery here A Mystery is a Divine Secret A Divine Glory with a Divine Vail cast over it a Divine Light surrounded with a Divine Darkness The Head of Christ all Pure Fine Gold covered with Locks and Curles black as a Raven The Mystery which the Holy Ghost here unvaileth to us is One of the richest and sweetest among all the Mysteries of the Gospel It is the Mystery of Love of Finishing Love Blessed are those Eyes that see the Glory Blessed are those Hearts that understand and rellish the Sweetness of This Mystery It is This When Divine Love would put forth itself in Greatest Power and Glory when it would finish make Perfect the general or any Particular Work of Love in us it chooseth that Season when we are weakest lowest have least of Loveliness Life Love or Suitableness to Love when we are in the greatest unlikelyhood for it when we seem to be at the greatest Distance from it Cant. 6. v. 12. The Spouse is brought in speaking thus Ere I was aware my Soul made me as the Chariots of Amminadib I have not Learning enough to understand why Amminadib is set here as One Proper name whenas in the Hebrew there are Two distinct Words which have their common signification and are rendered in the Margint of the Bible My Willing People Moreover that word As is put in by the Translatours and where we read Made me the Original properly is expressed by Set me The words thâ—n run thus in the Hebrew Text Ere I was aware or I knew not I knew not how I knew nothing of it my Soul set me the Chariots of my Willing People or by the Addition of One Preposition understood My Soul set me in the Chariots of my willing people It will be worth our time and pains if we stay a little upon the opening of this verse We shall find a Spiritual a heavenly Treasure in it and bring the Application home to our hearts more Clearly more Comfortably There are Four Questions which may be made here 1. Qu. Who this People are which the heavenly Bride calleth My People 2 Qu. What the Willing People are 3 Qu. What the Chariots are 4. How the Soul of the Bride setteth her In these Chariots or maketh her As these Chariots 1. Qu. Who the heavenly Bride 's own People are Answ. These whom the Spiritual Bride calleth Her own Pâ—ople are Heavenly Spirits in Glory It was said of Jacob when he died He was gathered to his People While a holy Soul is in this World she is as an unknown Princess under a Disguise in a strange land the language whereof she understandeth not In Death this Princess-Bride returneth home to her own People to her own Kindred her own Relations and Acquaintances There all understand the languages Faces and hearts of Each other There they mutually drink in the Spirits of Each Other and in the Spirits of Each other all Pure Immortal Loves Beauties Joys There is another Scripture which commenteth upon this and confirmeth our Explication of it It is Eccles. 12. 7. The Dust returneth to the Earth as it was The Spirit to God who gave it That which is translated God is in the Plural Number Gods often applyed to the Angels The Jews say it signifieth God cum Indumentis suis as he cloatheth himself with the Forms of Angels and appeareth in them The Soul of a Saint cometh forth from the Land of Angels and Glorious Spirits in the midst of which God reigneth into this World as into an Exile or Banishment When it dieth then it goeth home to its own Countrey and People to its own City and Fellow-Citizens The Inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem the Mother of us all I shall add one Text more which will make all the rest Clear Hebr. 11. 14 15 16. The Saints there are said to seek a Countrey The Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their Native Countrey Then to prevent a mistake you are told that this Native Countrey was not that from which they came on Earth It is distinguished from that and plainly called A heavenly Country Their Native Land which is a heavenly Countrey Behold those whom the Spouse of Christ calleth My People The Inhabitants of the City of the Living God her heavenly Countrey her Native Land above the Heavens as the word beareth These are described in the Epistle to the Hebrews The Assembly of the First-born all Forms of things all the Saints in Spiritual Beings and Beauties in the Likeness of Christ as he is the first-born of every Creature before they descend from their Thrones of Pure Glory from their Virgin-Lustre and Sweetness in the Bosom of Christ into Flesh upon the Earth The Innumerable Company of Angels the Glorious Attendants of the Saints in their higher and First-born Glory The Spirits of just men made Perfect either in the Body or out of the Body come to this heavenly Land Living walking and conversing there among the Inhabitants of this Land in the Spirit These are Thy People Thine own People O Believer O thou Blessed Bride of thy Glorified Jesus You have the Answer to the First Question 2 Qu. What are the Willing People Answ. Again I am ignorant why the same word is rendred in the Margin of this Scripture Willing when as immediately after Cant. 7. 1. The same word Nadib is translated Prince O Prince's Daughter or O Princely Daughter If I mistake not the Church is spoken of in that Chapter as being now in Glory upon the Throne You have this word Nadib used to the same sense of the same Subject Psal. 110. 3. Thy People shall be Willing in the day of thy
Corruption These burthened Spirits groan for the Dissolution of this Tabernacle But how Not that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon with our house from Heaven not to be found naked but to have Mortality swallowed up of Life St. Paul expresseth the meaning of the Unutterable Groans with which the Spirit of Supplications maketh Intercession in the Saints They would not be uncloathed of the Spiritual Image which they put on at the New Birth They would not be uncloathed of the Natural Image which they put on at their First Birth They would never no not for a moment be found naked of any thing of that Life Light or Sweetness Heavenly or Earthly which belong to either of these No they groan to have these cloathed upon with that their Buiâ—ding from above to have not onely their Immortal and Inward but their Outward and Mortal Part itself swallowed up into Life Life itself in its Purity in its Perâ—ection in its Spring which is Eternity 3. The Workmanship of God in a Saint is wonderful and indeed Divine in this Now he that hath made us for this or he that hath wrought us unto this is God St Paul assureth every Saint that his Groans are heard and answered from the Workmanship and the Workman We read in the Canticles that the Thighs of the Princess and Bride are as Jewels the Work of the hands of a Curious and Faithful Workman So the Word in Hebrew signifieth The Spiritual and Natural Life the Whole Frame and Composure of a Saint Inward and Outward all are Mysterious Jewels wrought by the Divine hands of God himself as a most Curious and Faithful Workman as a most Skilful and Firm Piece of Work They are by an Unexpressible Wisdom and Love framed unto this that the Substance of these Jewels should never fail the Vertue never decay the Lustre never fade no not in Death itself but then most of all grow bigger and brighter more Pure more Perfect more Powerful by being drunk up into Eternity as the Waters of a fine Spring are drawn and drunk up by the Sun 4. The Earnest of the Spirit Who hath also given us the Earnest of the Spirit The Eternal Spirit in the Immortal Soul and Mortal Body of a Saint The Eternal Spirit in which a Saint possesseth Soul Body things of Faith of Reason of Sense This Spirit is to a Saint an Earnest both a foretast and a seal of this truth that both the Soul and the Body of a Saint in Death are like the Spice in the Golden Censor or upon the Golden Altar in the Temple which is the Glorified Bosom of Christ. Both lose nothing of themselves but change into a more Spiritual and Divine Form in which they ascend and carry up all their Preciousness all their Pleasantness with them like the Pillar of Smoak from the Altar perfumed with all the Spices of the Apothecary in which those Spices themselves with all their Sweetness and Vertue go up refining and enlarging themelves till they rest and spread themselves in the Bosom of Heaven How Curious and Sure a Workman is Jesus Christ is the Love of the Father in the Death of a Saint O the Freedom O the Fulness O the Skill O the Faithfulness of Finishing Love in the Death of a Saint O Believers Preventing Love hath brought you out of Aegypt out of the Servitude to your Lusts and the God the Spirit of this World Assisting Love hath carried you along thorough this Weary Wilderness your Conformity and Fellowship with the Lord Jesus in his Sufferings Be of good Courage Your Cloaths shall not wax old Nothing of you shall fall in this Wilderness You shall certainly come into the Good Land the Land of Promise the Land of Rest the Land flowing with Milk and Honey with Life and Peace Immortality and Immortal Pleasures Finishing Love in the Glorious and Immortal Person of your Beloved like the Ark before the Israelites shall lead you thorow this Jordan thorow Death on the Dry Firm and Pleasant Land of Life itself Not so much as any single Drops of any Dark Waters shall sprinkle themselves upon any Parts of your Garment The clear Streams of this Beloved River shall stand on heaps on each side of you as Christal or Diamond Rocks as Lights Prospects and Guards of Angels while you pass When You are weakest under the Pangs of Death the Finishing Love of Christ in Power your Glorified Jesus in the Power of his Finishing Love shall rest upon you shall spring up in you at once to comprehend you and enlarge you to Cloath you upon and to transform you within Nothing of the Graces and Joys of your Inward Man Nothing of the Beauties and Delights of your Outward Man shall be divorced from you or darkened in you Like a Heaven of Stars they may pass under many Clouds But under all Clouds they shall go on shining still and increasing their Lustre When they seem to be extinguished in Death they shall be only drunk up into that Pure Light of Life which is Invisible to all Mortal Eyes by its Fineness and Fulness of Glory They shall disappear onely by the Degree of heightning He who hath wrought us unto this is God The Sweet Colours of a fair Summer-Morning in the Sky are so made that they fade not but go on changing to fair and fresher Colours still until they all vanish into Pure Light For These Colours are all the Light of the Approaching Sun figuring itself in divers degrees into Different Forms of Beauty till at last It Break up into the Full Glory of unmixt Light by the immediate Presence of the Sun appearing with the unclouded Brightness of his heavenly Body In like manner all the Excellencies Entertainments and Joys of a Saint in his Immortal and Mortal Part The Immortal and Mortal Parts themselves of a Saint thorowout are so framed by the Father of Lights and Loves that they can never fade nor pass away but in the moment of Death itself are cloathed upon from above with a Brighter a Diviner Form and are swallowed up into the Abysses the Incomprehensiblenesses of Eternity For God is Love A Saint is a Birth of Love A Seed of Divine Love springing up in his Outward and Inward Man Forming itself into a Body and Spirit into all the Powers Pleasures Objects Relations of Both. Divine Love is the Substance and the Sap The Matter and the Form in all A Saint in his Essence and Operations all Entirely is a Plant of Divine Love Death is the Ripening of the whole Plant all over into the Perfect Fruit of Pure Love of Finishing Love In this Form It can be seen felt tasted no more but by the Pure Eyes Embraces and Mouth of Divine Love God hath also given us the Earnest of his Spirit for this Tell me now you who have received the Spirit What do you see what do you feel when you are blessed from on high with any fresh Anointing
Dust their bones scattered and cast up and down Church-yards The blessed Body of our Lord Jesus was taken off from the Cross a bloody liveless mangled Corps a sad and ruthful spectacle So he was laid in the Grave the same Body which after three days rose again and was taken up into Glory The Scripture plainly testisieth that in Death as the Spirit returns to God who gave it so the dust returns to the Earth as it was God passeth this sentence of death upon Adam for his transgression Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Do not we by faith grounded upon the clear letter of the Scripture expect the Resurrection of our Bodies at the sound of the last Trumpet Ans. I answer to these objections first in general I fully assent to all these testimonies of sense of the letter of the Scriptures of the common faith of all the Saints concerning the Resurrection of the Body Yet is it true that I mean this I believe this in this meaning and belief my Soul and Body rejoice and triumph together that not the Soul alone but also the Body of a Saint in the very first moment of Death meeteth with no dissolution but a restitution and most delightful return to liberty peace and perfection This is that sweet and comfortable sense of Death which the holy Spirit seemeth to have sealed upon my Soul from all principles of reason of Faith and from the letter of the Scriptures In this sense I wish that all were as I am to behold with the same spiritual Eye in the same light of the Spirit the beauty and loveliness of Death in the Body of a Saint the beauty loveliness and pleasant life of the Body of a Saint in Death I come now to give a more particular answer fitted to the several objections by four distinctions The four distinctions are these 1. Of a two-fold body in a Saint 2. Of a two fold Dust. 3. Of a two-fold Sense 4. Of a two-fold Resurrection 1 Dist. There is a twofold Body which the Scripture in its language attributes to a Saint There is a Body from which a Saint is to be delivered You read of this Rom. 7. l. Wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death There is a body in a Saint which is to be delivered St. Paul speaks of this in the name of all the Saints Rom. 8. We also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit wait for the adoption the redemption of the Body There is a Body which is the seat of Death a Body of Death as in the forementioned place who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death In all the members of this Body sin reigneth as a King establishing his Law For so in the same place a little before it is written With my Members I serve the Law of Sin This is the Body of Flesh in which there dwelleth no good as St. Paul speaks in the same Chapter There is again in a Saint a holy living immortal Body the seat of a holy heavenly and immortal Life in as much as it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost For so St. Paul testifieth as to an unquestionable and known truth granted of all the Saints in the primitive times 1 Corin. 6. 19. What know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost Again a Saint carryeth about with him thorow his life a Body which is a partition-wall between him and his Beloved which divides between Christ and him which he must break forth from and cast off before he can be taken into the Bosom of Jesus Christ and be with him 1 Corin. 5 6. 8. St. Paul complains that while he is present in the Body he is absent from the Lord and breaths forth passionate longings to be absent from the Body that he may be present with the Lord. But a Saint hath a Body which is so far from dividing him and Jesus Christ that these two divine lovers are entirely united and both one in it It is Christs own Body as well as a Saints All the Members of it are the Members of Christ as they are of a Saint 1 Corin 6. 15. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of a Harlet God forbid Yea he carryeth this union so high that he maketh the Lord Jesus and a Saint in this Body of his of which alone he speaketh to be one Spirit and makes that the principal ground upon which he builds his arguments against Fornication v. 16. 17 18. What know ye not that he which is joyned to a Harlâ—t is one body for two saith he shall be one flesh but he that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit Flee Fornication he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own Body How manifestly here are a fleshly Body and a spiritual Body distinguished one from another A Body in which Fornâ—cation makes the Man one flesh with the Harlot a Body in which a Saint is one Spirit with Jesus Christ These two are one Body which standeth in two mixed Principles and Images The Body of a Saint while this life lasteth standeth partly in a carnal or fleshly principle and Image This is the Body of Death in which no good dwels which is subject to the Law of Sin While a Saint is present in this Body he is absent from Christ. This is that from which a Saint groaneth to be delivered The Body of a Saint standeth in part and imperfectly while we live here in a Spiritual Principle and Image Thus the Body of a Saint is the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Body and Member of Christ one Spirit with Christ by which one Spirit it is Baptized into his Spiritual and heavenly body This is that body of a Saint which groaneth to be redeemed and delivered from the Body of Death as from its Captivity Prison and Grave The Death of a Saint finisheth this Captivity breaketh open the Prison and the Grave and setteth free the Body of a Saint into the liberty of its Adoption or Sonship that is into its Spiritual and divine form of a Son of God As fire is said to separate things of different kind and to gather into one things of the same nature so is the Death of a Saint the flame of God the fire of Divine Love Jesus Christ coming in the invisible flame of this Heavenly fire to separate the fleshly Principle and Image from the spiritual Principle and Image both in the Soul and Body of a Believer The fleshly Principle and Image which is in the Body of a Saint as a foreign and strange thing as rust upon Gold is entirely cast off to the Spirit and Image of this world and of the Devil to which it belongeth The Body of the Saints in its Spiritual Principle and Image which are truly and properly its own in which it is
effect of that union Jesus Christ put a life a divine life into every Creature by his union with it St. Paul seemeth to relate to this Scripture and to confirm this living beautiful and Divine State of all the Creatures as they came forth from God Colos. 1. 16. All things were made in him all things were made thorow him unto him and into him v. 18. All things stood together in him Well then the Dust the Ground the Earth the Darkness in the pure state of the Creation were made in Christ were life in him were made in union with Christ. They were made thorow Christ as their mould and channel They were made by Christ as their Original pattern as the immediate power putting forth itself in them They stood together with the rest of the Creatures in the Divine Unity in Christ. Thus had this Dust of which we speak a Divine life in it a Divine Beauty upon it a Divine Seed in it this life was the life of Christ and so comprehended according to its kind all the lives and vertues of all the Creatures and of Paradise It s beauty was the beauty of Christ in which after the like manner all created beauties centred and met in one Christ himself was the Seed in this Dust and so not only the excellencies and virtues of the whole Creation but all the uncreated Treasures of Life and Glory lay together shaded and vailed within this Dust. But their vail and their shade was a living beautiful and pleasant Picture of themselves all filled with the sweet Odour of those hidden Ointments I have one thing more to say to describe this Dust. Man who was the last days work the comprehension and perfection of the whole Creation was made in a shadowy Image of God For so the word Image in the first of Genesis signifieth and the Scriptures in their whole course testify In the beginning all things came forth from God in an universal Darkness before the Light of the first day This Darknâ—ss is remarkable in several eminent circumstances 1. It was cast forth immediately from the Divine Nature and from the glorious Person of Christ to be a vail round about upon the Eternal Glory itself and to be a ground of the whole Creation 2. It stood in an â—immediate union with the Divine Nature and the glorious Person of Christ springing forth immediately from it and depending immediately upon it 3. The unsearchable riches of the God-Head and of Christ with all the various Excellencies of the creatures as they were in their eternal patterns and principles lay hid together within this shade 4. Out of this ground did God make to spring all the creatures in their primitive paradisical purity and pleasantness being wrapt up here as in their first matter and having their proper seeds sown here Thus was this Darkness a shade indeed but pure indued with a Divine Life cloathed with a Divine beauty and lustre bearing a Divine figure breathing forth a Divine sweetness spread forth every moment fresh with a new lustre and sweetness from the Divine Nature vailing within itself all the Joys and Glories of God Christ Heaven and Paradise and as it hides all these in its Bosom lying itself in the Bosom of Christ. Such is the Ground such is the Dust of the Ground and the Earth out of which the Body of Man was first taken and into which the Body of a dying Saint returns Such is the Darkness of Death that overshadows a Saints body like the Nights in Paradise But there is this advantage now that this pure primitive Dust and Darkness are heightened have a new and greater beauty and sweetness by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead This is the first Dust the Dust before the Fall 2. The second Dust is that after the Fall understood in that sentence Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return This is the Dust of that Death which sin brings forth a cursed Dust the Dust of the cursed Earth which bringeth forth Bryars and Thorns That former beautiful and blessed Dust lies captivated in this as in a Prison or Grave of contrariety and enmity This Dust is composed of three things 1. A Separation Dissolution and Desolation from the â—orce and power of Enmity 2. A Blackness of Darkness from a cloud and storm of wrath 3. The seeds of shame pain anguish horrour and torment hidden in it This Dust is that which the Body of a Saint casts off in Death upon this worldly Image and Spirit together with the Spirit and Image of this world This is that which suffereth dissolution which representeth deformity and striketh the horrour in Death All which are now of the Image of this world and to the Image of this World in the Spirit of this World and to the Spirit of this World within the Kingdom of the Devil having no more relation to a Saint in Death than the filthy raggs of a Prince in a Dangeon to the Prince at Liberty and in his Pallace Death rubbing off the Rust of this cursed Dust from the Body of a Saint leaves it all a shining rich incorruptible Dust of pure Gold His Body is now entirely with Christ a precious pleasant and living Dust in the Garden-Beds the Beds of Spices or perfumed Flowers in Paradise This is the second Distinction of the two Dusts 3 Dist. The third distinction is of a twofold sense Rom. 8. 6. St. Paul teacheth us That to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace The Greek runs thus the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit The word mind is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a practical understanding and comprehendeth a twofold act one of the understanding to disâ—â—rn and judge another of the will to tast and rellish So the mind is here a sense and a favour both in one Thus you have here a twofold sense Spiritual and Carnal or Fleshly 1. The Spiritual sense is set forth three ways 1. By the Principle 2. By two effects of this Principle 3. By two companions of these effects 1. The Principle of a Spiritual sense is the Spirit this holy and blessed Spirit is the only and proper Principle of a Saint and Saintship of a Son of God and a Sâ—â—ship to God Art thou indeed a Saint then thou art in the Spirit of Glory and of God as in thy Root and Element as a Tree of Life in the Root of Eternal Life and Love as Fishes in the water of Life as Birds in the pure air of Divine Love as Angels in Heaven Rom. 8. 9. You are not saith St. Paul to the Saints in thâ— Flesh but in the Spirit Art thou indeed a Son of God Then is this Spirit of Grace and Immortality in thee as thy natural Principle as the power of Nature according to the new and Divine Nature which acteth thee Rom. 8. 16. As many as are led by the Spirit of God are
the Sons of God The word led is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acted As the Soul acts the Body as the principle of reason the Soul of Man as the nature of the Sun acts the Sun in its shinings in its motions thou also art acted by the Divine Spirit to which the Sun the Soul of Man the principle of reason are empty and weak shadows so far as thou in truth art a Child of Light and a Son of God the Father of Lights Let me here by the way touch a three-fold string in your Souls 1. A mournful string 2. A string of desire 3. The string of praise 1. Is the Spâ—â—it the principle of a Saint how then should we mourn thâ—â— this Spirit of Grace this Comforter is grieved that this Spirit of Light and Life is quenched by unbelief sensuality unkindness and neglect how should we mourn that this Holy Spirit this Spirit of Truth is slighted and spoken evil of as a Spirit of licentiousness or as a fancy and delusion and all this among Saints at least in profession when as this Spirit is the only principle of Saintship St. Jude in his Epistle speaketh of this as the Sin of Devils for which they are cast down to Hell and bound in Chains of Darkness that they did forsake their first state and their own habitation It is in Greek not their first state but their first principle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Saints is not this a Sin greater than that of Devils not only to forsake but to grieve and cast shame upon this first and most blessed Spirit which is your only principle a principle of Divinâ— Life Light and Purity your own habitation a habitation of Divine Rest and Glory 2. O all you who desire to be Saints or to grow in the new and Divine Nature of a Saint let your hearts burn by day and by night with continual longings for the Spirit This alone is that of which a Saint is bred by which he is nourished This alone is the Heavenly Root the Sap the sweet Dew Showers and Influences the warm and cherishing Sun-shine to every Spiritual Plant Cry therefore and wait for this Spirit wait upon it minister to it seek it suck it in by all means thorow all its own manifestations and ordinances of Nature or of Grace When this world was first made a beautiful frame out of a dark Deep the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters When Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin the Holy Ghost overshadowed her and rested upon her In both places the expressions seem to allude to a Bird or a Dove spreading itself over its Nest to hatch its young Ones When the Lord Jesus was Baptized the Holy Ghost descended and rested upon him in the form of a Dove Dost thou indeed desire to have thy dark defiled dead heart made a new Creature to have Jesus Christ to be born or to grow within thee and to be Baptized yet more into Jesus Christ the Sea of all Heavenly Beauties Loves and Joys O then pray to the blessed Spirit to make thy Soul his Nest to move upon the face of thy Spirit to overshadow thee to descend and rest upon thee in his Dove like form 3. O all ye Saints sing the praises of the holy Spirits let the high praises of the holy Spirit be ever in your mouths Say to the Spirit this is the womb of Divine Life and Power which hath born us and brought us forth to be Children and Heirs to God these are the Breasts of Divine Life and sweetness which give us suck this is itself the Heavenly Milk of the Eternal word by which we live and grow Do you see any glympse of Evangelical Light and Truth do you feel any workings of Grace any sweet springings of Love and Joy Give Glory to the Spirit it is this blessed Spirit which now shines in you enlivens you and acts you The Children of Iracel in the Wilderness in a great want of water met with a Well then they sang to it in these words Spring O Well the Princes have digged it with their Sâ—aves When ever thou meetest with any fresh stream any sweet drop of the water of Life rising up within thee in thâ—s parched Land and weary Wilderness sing to thy Well sing to the blessed Spirit and say in thy Song my Well springeth my Jesus hath digged it in my heart with the Golden Scepter of his Gracâ— and Love Thus let every gracious thought gracious moving of thy mind will or affections put into thy mouth a new Song of joyful praises to the Spirit as the dear and inseparable principle of Life of Heaven of Eternity within thee thine ownâ— principle Thus much of the Principle 2. The two effects of this Principle are a Spiritual sense savour both comprehended in that expression to be heavenly minded How often doth my Spirit labour in the Bosom and power of the Eternal Spirit for these two things 1. That all Men were brought forth into this Spiritual Principle 2. That all who have the Spiritual Principle within them were continually acted by it How sweet would life be to them for the sight of their Eyes and rellish of their Spirit They that live in the Spirit see all things by a Spiritual Light It is indeed a pleasant thing to behold this Light Every glympse of it infuseth a heavenly joy into the Heart and scattereth all Clouds of grief or melancholy These see all things in a Spiritual Image that is in a Divine and Immortal Glory They tast the sweetness of a Heavenly and Divine Love in every thing Every thing presenteth itself to them in an Heavenly Appearance and every appearance of things entreth into their Souls with a heavenly taste and rellish far sweeter than Hony to the Palate All our converse with things of every kind of Nature or Grace of Sense or reason proceedeth from a union with those things in one Principle and is a communion with them in that Principle Such as the Principle is such are the Appearances and rellishes of things to us such is our converse with them All Appearances of things to Men or to Angels in every natural Principle to our senses or to our understandings are no more than shadows or dreams The Spirit alone is Truth When melancholy forms and Images of things in this world afflict our Spirits when the pleasant things here lift them up to vain joys and glories if the holy Spirit awaken himself and arise in us all these fly away all other appearances of things break up into an appearance of Eternal Beauty and Blessedness springing forth from this Spirit like the shadows of the night when the Sun is seen and a dream when a Man awaketh We are taught by natural Philosopy that the Images of things are seen thorow a Christalline humor in the Eye as a fine Glass If this Christal be dyed with any colour all things which we see appear
he that hath suffered in the Flesh hath ceased from Sin The Holy Ghost clearly relates to the death of the Lord Jesus and of a Saint He speaks of the time perfectly past he that hath suffered in the Flesh that is he that by dying hath compleated and finished his sufferings in the flesh he hath ceased from sin He that dyeth in union with Christ in the vertue of his death and in a conformity to it in the first moment of death ceaseth from all the Evils of Sin the Guilt the Power the Pollution the Punishment and so from Death itself See the inseparable connexion between the Flesh Sufferings Sin and Death All these continue together and cease together O you that hear or read understand these things and lay them to heart This Flesh which is so dear to us which we are so loath and unwilling to part with which we tender as our nearest and dearest self is our only division from our self a bed of Snakes and Enmity It is the root the seat the food the fewel the fruit of Sin and suffering and death This Fleshly Principle and Sense this worldly Light and Image which we account Life and the Sweetness of Life in which we think all the dear Treasures and Joys of Life are comprehended is no other than a deep dark and miery Dungeon where we lie in the midst of the hissings stings and poysons of innumerable Toads and Serpents This Sin which so easily besetteth us and winds itself into our bosoms is that weight which presseth us and sinketh us down that chain of Darkness which tyeth us down and fastneth us here below in the horrible Pit and Dungeon of this Fleshly Principle and Sense this Fleshly this worldly Spirit and Image This Death which seemeth so dreadful to us which we so tremble at and fly from is that dearest Friend come down from Heaven from the bosom of God that beautiful hand put forth from the secret of Eternal Life Love and Glory which taketh off this weight which knocketh off this chain of Darkness and restoreth to us our silver Wings and golden Feathers by which in a moment we fly forth from this Cage of unclean Spirits this Dungeon of the Fleshly Principle and Sense never to return into them any more O Believers fear not fly not from Sufferings Be willing to sacrifice and offer up this Flesh as a whole Burnt-Offering in the Flame of Sufferings unto Death Kiss Death as a lovely Bride as those perfumed Flowers those Beds of Spices the Cheeks of the Heavenly Bride-groom mentioned in the Canticles For the Flesh the fleshly Principle and Sense the Spirit and Image of this Flesh of this World together with the Sufferings Sin and Death end all at once in the Death of a Saint in the very first moment of his Death A Holy Divine when he was dying lay upon his Death-Bed singing this often over Now I shall sin no more We read Isaiah 59. 2. That our Iniquities separate between us and our God our Sins hide his face from us Death is indeed a separation but it is not the separation of the Soul from the Body The separation of the Soul or the Body from God this is Death indeed this alone is Death This world this worldly Spirit and Image is the Curtain or Vail the Partition wall between us and the Face or Bosom of our Heavenly Bridegroom our Lord Jesus So saith St. Paul Our Gospel is hid to those whose Eyes the God of this world hath blinded that they should not behold the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face or Person of Christ. The Fleshly Principle or Sense is the unpassable gulf between us and the unsearchable Treasures of the Divine Nature of the Blessed Persons in the Divine Nature the Father the Eternal Word the Holy Spirit Sin digs up and keeps open this Gulf sin builds up this Partition wall Sin draws this Curtain between us and the Divine Beauties the Divine Blessedness O dying Saints break forth into singings O all ye Saints rejoice and triumph at every thought at every approach of Death Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoyced to see it saith our Lord Jesus in the Gospel The word rejoyce in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he danced a Galliard When the Virgin Mary with Christ in her Womb came to the Mother of John the Baptist the Babe within her sprung for joy Thus O Believers let your hearts spring for joy within you at the approach and presence of Death So Death coming to you as a beautiful and a heavenly Virgin with Jesus Christ in its Womb not after the Flesh but in the Glory of the Spirit to be delivered of him immediately into your Bosoms as a Bridegroom that at once in the same moment appears to you in Glory makes you worthy of himself by being like himself and one Glory with himself makes all things Life Immortality Glory round about you Behold the day of your Death both afar off near at hand as the day of Christ as a day which the Lord Jesus makes rising himself as the true Sun upon you so iurning this Sun into Darkness before the brightness of his own appearance enlightning all within you and without you with another Light infinitely greater infinitely sweeter At the sight of this day as Abraham did so let your hearts spring with a pleasant lightness and dance Galliards in your Bosom Now sing of Death and say in your songs every one of you as you lie upon your Death-beds I shall sin no more I shall be in Flesh no more no more for ever in this Fleshly Principle and sense which hath so long bewitched me and held me by their â—orceries in the House of Whoredoms and of Death I shall be in this world so loathsome and so hateful to me I shall see this world and this Image of things which hath been so long so tempting and tormenting to me no more for ever Farewel for ever all distances all divisions between me and my Jesus my God Henceforth shall I with open face in my Soul and my Body behold the open and unvailed Face of God Henceforth shall I with my naked Soul and Body lie for ever in the naked Bosom of my Glorified Saviour my King and Husband giving him of my Loves drinking in abundantly his Loves and bringing forth continually by him all the Spiritual and Heavenly fruits of Life and Immortality The morning is called Rosy-fingred because the morning Beams as Rosy-fingers seem to open the Curtains of the night and let in day upon us Death is to a Saint of a truth this Rosy fingered morning which by sweet beams breaking forth from on high draws aside the Curtains of this night of Flesh and lets in upon us the Eternal day which at once in a moment overspreads our Souls and Bodies and fills all things to us with its blessed Light making us and
all things new in the newness of its own Heavenly and Immortal Beauties The second Scripture is 2 Corin. 5. 6 8. Therefore we are alwaies confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. We are confident I say being willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. Of what Body speaketh the Apostle here What Body is this which thus divideth between the Spiritual Bride and her Heavenly Bridegroom that a Saint cannot be present with both at once If he be at home in this Body he must be absent from Christ and a banished Person from his Bosom If he will be present with Christ and enjoy him he must cast off this Body and be absent from it Is this the true and proper Body of a Saint How can that be The true Body of a Saint is as much himself as his Soul is himself He can be no more absent from his own Body than he can be absent from his Soul or from himself We read in the same Chapter 1 Corin. 6. Towards the latter end that the Body of a Saint is the Member of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Ghost When St. Paul speaketh of a Body from which we must be absent that we may be present with the Lord Jesus sure he cannot mean this Body which is a Member of Christ which is united to Christ and implanted into him Can I be absent from Christ by being present with that Body which is a Member of him a Member in him Can I be absent from this Body which is a Member of Christ while I am present with Christ O Believers be not weary of living in the Body only know your true selves and your own Bodies while you live in these you live in Heaven and are ever with the Lord Jesus For your-Bodies are his Members and so the fulness of him who filleth all in all O Believers fear not to die you part not with any thing that is truly your selves truly your own You part not with your Bodies nor with any thing in which they have any true propriety or which hath any dear Relation to them For your Bodies are the Members of Christ Baptized into one Body with him by that one and the same Spirit which gathereth up all things together unto him and into one in him Thy Body O Believer is the Temple of the Holy Ghost When the Spirit of God and of Glory rests upon this Temple he never removeth off from it any more When he enters into this Temple of his he never goeth forth nor leaves it empty This is his true Temple upon the true Mount Sion the Soul and Body of a Saint which he hath chosen for a resting place for ever O Saints have patience and peace in life For by being at home in your Bodies you are in the Temple of the Holy Ghost which he fills with his Glory where every thing utters Glory O Saints have pleasure in Death For Death cannot divide your Bodies from you nor the Holy Ghost from your Bodies which are his Temple Can you ever be absent from Christ while you are present in your own proper Bodies which are the Temples of the Spirit of Christ Can you by being present with the Lord Jesus be absent from these Bodies of yours which are the Temple of the Holy Spirit which is the highest band of Unity the dwelling place of that Spirit which is one with the Lord Jesus No certainly this can never be Thy Body O Saint is ever in life and in death filled and overshadowed by the Holy Ghost When it seems to fall into the Dust and Darkness of Death according to the Carnal sense then doth thy Heavenly Dove give to it according to the Spiritual sense its own silver Wings and golden Feathers What then is this Body of which St. Paul speaks to the Corinthians which gives him a triumphant confidence in the face of Death while it is his greatest desire to be absent from this Body that he may be present with Christ Is it not that Body of Death against which he cryeth out Rom. 8. l. O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death This he calls also a little before in the same Chapter that flesh of his that self in which there dwels no good This is the Fleshly Principle and Sense the Spirit and Image of this world which is sprung up out of the Fall which lies as a disguise and a cloud upon the true Person the Soul and Body of a Saint What is not this the Body which is the partition-wall between these two Spiritual Lovers Christ and a Saint while he lives here which being cast off in Death they find themselves in the pure beautiful and naked Arms of each other What is Death now to a Saint Is it not the power of the Divine life and love in a Saint breaking forth and as it breaks forth tearing off and burning up this disguise of Flesh Is it not the power of a Divine Light and Glory breaking forth and as it breaks forth scattering and blotting out the cloud of this Body of Death for ever How beautifully does the Body of a Believer shine forth now in Death as a naked Member of our glorified Jesus cleansed from all its dust and defilement when it is taken up entirely out of the fleshly Principle and Sense How beautiful and glorious a Temple on every side of it doth the Body of a Believer now appear in Death when it cometh entirely out of its Cloud by being entirely taken out of the Spirit and Image of this world The true Body of a Saint lieth while this life lasteth as in a Dungeon or Grave It stands here like the glorious Tabernacle composed of the most precious materials Silks Silver Gold the choicest Woods wrought with all the richest colours and the most curious Figures in Needle-work and Carvings of a Divine Workmanship which stood in a vast and howling Wilderness covered with a Tent of Badgers Skins O! how pure how precious how beautiful how divine a thing is the Body of a Saint in Death when it casts off this Body of Death the corrupt the carnal Image and Principle entirely and is seen now no more for ever in any appearance besides that alone of a naked Member in the most lovely shining Body of the Lord Jesus With what sweetness and beauty doth it break forth now as a most amiable and admirable Tabernacle of the Eternal Spirit when by death it casts off the Tent of Badgers Skins with all the darkning and deforming impressions of Dust and heat and at once passeth out of the Wilderness of this worldly Spirit and form of things unto the good Land of rest and promise by passing in a dry and flowry path thorow the River Jordan that sweet and blessed bound of Death between the dreadful desart and heavenly Canaan Give me leave here to
drop upon your hearts four brief exhortations 1. O that all Men would love the King of Saints the Lord Jesus It is he alone who subdues the King of Terror that is Death and is more than a conqueror over him making him the King of delights He changeth the Region and Kingdom of Death which is the Principality of the Devil into the Kingdom of God which is Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost 2. Set a value upon the union with the Lord Jesus by faith Ask seek dig for this by day and by night in Prayer in the Word in the Society of the Saints in every ordinance in every creature that you may believe in the Lord Jesus and that you may be united to him by believing Let nothing discourage you in this pursuit and expectation The Lord Jesus hath given himself for you even unto Death that you may be his in the sweetest and most intimate union He giveth himself to you in his life of Glory that he may be yours by an immediate and entire union He giveth his Spirit to you to be the Maker and the band of this union to work faith in you and make you Believers He is now with you now in you in the fulness of his merits righteousness glory love and Spirit Now this moment open the Eyes of your minds and behold him in the midst of you open your hearts and take him in cast your selves into his open arms and heart cleave to him by believing So even this moment shall your Souls and Bodies both which are naturally the Members of this Harlot the Flesh and the World which are naturally Dens of Thieves and Devils become the Members of the Lord Jesus and the Temples of the Holy Ghost The Lord Jesus shall be in your Body itself as in a Member of himself a Fountain of living waters even in Death and in the Grave making it there a Paradise a Garden for God and for all blessed Spirits The Holy Ghost shall be not only in your Souls but in your Bodies also as in his Holy Temple even in the darkness of Death itself filling it with his Glory and moving over it with his Doves Wings the Wings of Eternal Love 3. Make it your chief work and end to grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus What care and pains do we take to grow in riches yet riches profit not in the day of Wrath. To know him is eternal life With what diligence do we pursue the wisdom of this world Yet saith Solomon as dyeth the Fool so dyeth the wise Man If thou gain and grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus this is a wisdom which will make thy Soul and Body both shine with a Light of Glory and Immortality even in Death itself Solomon saith that when understanding enters into our Souls wisdom will be sweeter than hony to our tast O what new tast and rellishes of new and unexpressible sweetnesses doth the Soul still meet with which is still growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus What a sweet tast and rellish of Death beyond all the delights of Life doth the knowledge of Jesus Christ give unto us representing it as a Feast of pleasant things to our Bodies also as well as to our Souls When thou understandest the fellowship and vertue of Christs Death in thy Death thou shalt see Death in thy Soul and in thy Body as the Carkass of a dead Lyon torn in pieces by that true Samson the Lord Jesus whither the Father himself and Christ and the Holy Spirit with all the blessed Angels resort as Bees to their Hive laying there their Hony and their Hony-comb for thee to eat 4. O you that are Christs love Death Death is now become but a shadow of Death True life with all the joys of life vails itself beneath that shadow If you knew the love of the Father the Glory of the Lord Jesus the joys of the Holy Ghost in Death if you knew what the Death of a Saint were how precious you would ask it continually of God that he would hasten it in the time thereof You would cry out continually as Sisera's Mother did why doth his Chariot stay Death is not now a shadow of Death but a living delightful and divine shadow cast from the glorious face of our Lord Jesus under which our Souls and Bodies lie together as in a sweet and divine sleep in his Bosom in which sleep all the joys and glories of Heaven and Eternity are present with us as a divine Dream out of which we wake at the Resurrection finding all to be true eternally true and the sweet shadow and dream themselves swallowed up into a bright clear and full enjoyment Thus according to St. Pauls Language doth the very Body of a Saint when he dies sleep in the Lord. Thus is death to the Soul and Body of a Saint as the Curtains of Purple round about Solomons Bed where the Saint lies now in the embraces of the true Solomon himself the King of Righteousness and King of Peace or round about the Chariot of Solomon which had within it a Throne of Gold and was paved with Love As the Sun by its influence forms a precious Mine of Gold in the bowels of the Earth which afterward being taken out and separated from its dross becomes pure and incorruptible and is made a Crown for the Head of a great King so the Lord Jesus by his Spirit frames a new a heavenly Soul and Body in a Saint which are both his precious Members his Temples of Gold But while this life lasts they are in this Body of Sin and Death as Gold in the Oar. In the moment of Death the Lord Jesus takes them both out separates them entirely from the dross of all earthliness and carnality makes them pure and shining Diadems in the hand of God 2. Propos. The whole Person of a Saint in Soul and Body at the moment of Death is gathered up entirely into a Spiritual Principle and so into a Spiritual Sense and so into a Divine Life and Peace This followeth of necessity upon the former Proposition which I have already proved by the Scripture For if a Saint in Death be gathered up entirely out of a Carnal Principle he is gathered up entirely into a Spiritual Principle There is now no middle between these two We read in Scripture of the divided state of a Saint between freedom and bondage liberty and captivity the War between the Spirit and the Flesh while he lives on Earth Accordingly we meet with exhortations to abide in Christ to walk in the Spirit if we live in the Spirit But when a Saint dies we read of him and that with a peculiar relation to his Body that he sleeps in the Lord that he sleeps in Christ. O sweet and full expression O beautiful and blessed State Now is a Saint with his Body as well as his Soul alone in Christ entirely in Christ for
to dye with you This is the true Church-fellowship a Fellowship in our Souls and in our Bodies by a Spiritual Principle and Life with the Church and Assembly of the first-born with all things in their first born State in one Spiritual and Heavenly Body in Christ. 3. How amiable and lovely doth this make death to the Saints This is the chief end I aim at in my discourse and the point to which I bring it With what a beautiful and smiling Face doth Death now look forth even in the Body of a Saint in which he hath been wont generally to appear so grim to the holiest Persons Thy Body O Believer so far as thou standest in a Spiritual Principle is a Fellow-member with thy Soul in the Body of Christ It is a Jewel the work of a faithful and curious workman the most holy Spirit as Solomon in the Canticles speaketh of the Spouse of Christ. But here the mixture of the fleshly and carnal Principle is as Dust and Dirt which covereth and fullyeth this costly Jewel With what a sweet pure lustre of Immortality and of Heavenly Glory doth it sparkle and shine forth ravishing thine own and all spiritual Eyes and Hearts in the moment of Death when the blessed hand of Death clean wipes off the dust and stain of the carnal Principle and brings it forth entirely into its Spiritual Principle that now it stands singly as a Spiritual Member in the Spiritual Body of Christ The Lord Jesus saith if thine Eye be single thine whole Body shall be light as when a Candle enlightens a Room In this life O Saints we have a double Eye and have a double sight The mixture of the Spiritual and Carnal Principle is the double and divided Eye O welcome Death receive it with open embraces Now is your Eye single Now is the carnal Principle cast out for ever Now you look forth with the open and single Eye of the single Principle of the Eternal Spirit Now is your whole Body nay now is the whole body of things filled to you with a Heavenly light of Immortality Glory This single Eye pours forth from the Unity of the Spirit as from the Fountain of blessed Light thorow your whole Souls and Bodies thorow all things round about them a Light of Glory as when a Candle enlightneth a Room A way of cleansing Pearls when they have any spot or cloud upon them is to thrust them down the throat of a Pigeon into its Crop where the heat of the Pigeon takes off the stain and makes them perfectly white This is the mystery of a Saints Death The Heavenly Dove the Holy Spirit in the same moment takes a Saint entirely in Soul and Body out of this Life out of the Carnal Principle into himself into his Bosom of Love by the Divine heat of that Love takes off every spot or cloud of the flesh by consuming it both in the Soul and in the Body and makes them both purely white and shining Pearls in the Heavenly Body of that one great and only Pearl the Lord Jesus 2. The second relation into which the Body of a Believer is taken at the new birth is that of a Temple to the Holy Ghost There are 4 things proper to a Temple 1. The Figure 2. The Glory 3. The Communion 4. The Defence 1. Every thing in the Tabernacle and so in the Temple to the least things and lowest actions were divine Types of Spiritual Truths and Heavenly Excellencies in the Person of the Lord Jesus So it is said that all things were made and ordered according to the pattern in the Mount which pattern in the Mount was Christ in Glory O Saints This Tabernacle and Temple were Types first of Christ then of you whose Souls and Bodies both are the true and living Temples of God The Body of a Saint is a more excellent Temple in as much as Solomons Temple was a shadow only of this It is a Living Divine and Immortal Temple It is therefore in the whole a far more excellent more rich more glorious and delightful Image of the God-Head in its entire form It is in every part and point of it a most lively a most beautiful a most pleasant figure of some particular Mystery and Glory in the God Head All the parts of your Bodies themselves the lowest and least even to a hair of your Heads every thing that befals you in every part of your Body in the meanest and slightest circumstance is formed exactly by the Divine Wisdom and Power according to the Divine Will to answer the Pattern in the Mount to be the holy figure of an eternal Glory in Christ. We read Psal. 29. 9. Every thing in his Temple speaks Glory Every thing in thy Body O Believer so far as thou art a Believer speaks Glory For this is his Temple O live alwaies in the Spirit that thou maist alwaies be in thy Body as in the Temple that there thou maist see understand and enjoy the Glory in every thing 2. The Temple of God is filled with the Glory of God There is a Prophesy in Malachy concerning the times of the Gospel that he shall come into his Temple You O Saints are the Temple which is here Prophefied of Jesus Christ as God in the Glory of the Father in the Third Person the Holy Ghost comes into you into your Bodies also and fills them with his Glory The same word in Hebrew signifieth a Temple and a Pallace The name of a Temple in Greek signifieth an Habitation or dwelling place It is a note of a learned Divine that the Temple had Tables and a Throne and a State in it which was the Golden Mercy Seat called in the Gospel the Throne of Grace to signifie that the Temple of God was his Pallace as he is the great King The Eternal Spirit is present in the Body of a Believer as in his Pallace He keeps his Court there There is his Throne with all the blessed Angels and all the Heavenly Company waiting round about it It is called his resting-place Arise saith David to God thou and the Ark of thy strength into thy resting-place God shineth forth in his Temple filleth it with his Glory within resting upon it and overshadowing it with his Glory without In the 50 Psal. at the beginning the Psalmist speaking of the Temple saith God shineth from Sion the perfection of Beauty What a perfection of Beauty then what a Divine Pallace how full of Glory within how encompassed with a clear shining Glory round about is that Body of a Saint which is the living eternal Temple of the Holy Ghost In what Majesty doth this Eternal Spirit appear here upon its Throne of Love In the midst of what Divine Pleasures and Delights doth it rest for ever here What a Court does it keep here with all its Train of Angels and heavenly Attendants waiting round about its Throne as in another Heaven O Believers honor your Bodies For
of them all when you come most covered with Dust and Blood when you come immediately out of the greatest sufferings when you come so much the lovelier by how much the liker you are to Christ when Christ and the Father have been so much the more glorified in you when they in their Glories have so much the more clearly eminently shined forth in your Persons and rested upon them by how much the more extream your sufferings have been When the Father hath thus accomplished his will in you what a Feast of Eternal Pleasures what a Crown of Eternal Glories will he make this will of his to you how will he accomplish your will in himself to the utmost height of all delights blessedness 3. See here a threefold comfort against sufferings and Death 1. He who hath conquered them is your Captain the Lord Jesus We read Heb. 2. That the Captain of our Salvation being to bring many Sons to Glory was made perfect through Sufferings There are four things in that word Perfect 1. There was a perfection of sufferings in all kinds and degrees Nothing of any evil of sufferings in the evil of it was absent or could be added 2. Jesus Christ perfectly endured these sufferings in the sense of them in the continuance under them in pressures and oppressions by them 3. He was a perfect Conqueror over them 4. To be made perfect signifieth an initiation in Sufferings as in Sacred and Divine Mysteries So Christ was at once in his Sufferings the Priest the Altar the Fire the Sacrifice the Temple the God This Jesus thus a perfect and a Divine Conqueror over all Sufferings who holdeth all evil of Sin and Sorrow as Captives in Chains of Eternal Goodness pure Love Light and Joy He leads you upon Sufferings he goes before you into them he turns them all into Holy and Heavenly Mysteries of Divine Life and Love and makes you in the midst of them as Priests like Aaron in his Priestly Robes and Ornaments and Anointings in the Temple of the Eternal Spirit 2. You O Saints have nothing to do in your greatest Sufferings that you may be Conquerors over them but to abide in the Lord Jesus He himself in his dying discourses thus comforts his Disciples in the Gospel of St. John In the World you shall have trouble but in me you shall have peace be of good chear I have overcome the World Stand still be stedfast and unmoved in the Lord Jesus so shall you never have any other sight of your Enemies or Troubles but such as the Children of Israel had on this side of the Red Sea when they came forth with their Timbrels and Dances You shall see them drown'd in the Sea of your Saviours Blood in a Sea of Glory in his Victory never to appear more in any melancholy shape When thine Enemies encompass thee on every side like mighty Floods with greatest force and fury lie down upon thy glorified Saviours Bosom as the Bed of Love have his high praises in thy mouth sing aloud of his Love his Loveliness his Victory in his Death his Resurrection and return in the Spirit So shalt thou see all the powers of Darkness Death and Hell under thy Feet bound in Golden Chains of Love Immortality and Glory 3. Look forth now with a Spiritual Eye and see that Sufferings and Death are a name only and empty shadows without any substance The things themselves are for ever destroyed by the Death of Christ and buryed in his Grave never to rise more A good Woman a Martyr being reproved for going with joy to the Fire when Christ was sad at the approach of Death answered My Saviour was sad that I might be joyful Sufferings and Death are now to Saints like Snakes out of whom the Lord Jesus hath taken the Sting that we may take them into our Bosoms and make them our soft and shining Play-fellows They are become now in the Blood and Spirit of Christ like Vipers in Wine which have lost their Poyson and are high Cordials like Bees they have shot their stings into the Lord Jesus and lost them there They have Hony now without any sting for thee to suck forth and feed upon 6. Propos. This Eternal Person our Jesus with his God-Head in his whole Humanity both Soul and Body in the moment of Death by dying went entirely forth from the Natural or Temporary Principle and so from under the Curse I shall open this by four Scriptures 1. Scrip. Heb. 10. 19 20. The Lord Jesus is said to have conâ—â—erated a new and living way for us to enter into the holiest through the Vail that is his Flesh Math. 27. 50 51. You shall see that as Jesus Christ yielded up the Ghost immediately the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom The Temple was a Figure of the Person of Christ as the Vail was of this Flesh. How particularly and emphatically is it expressed that the Vail was rent from the top to the bottom to its utmost extent in the Person of Christ The Flesh was as a Vail lying upon the Divine Beauties upon the Eternal Person and the Heavenly Image in the Soul Body of Christ. The Flesh of Christ was a dividing Vail separating between the Lord Jesus the naked Beauties the naked Bosom of his Father keeping his Soul and Body his blessed Person and Divine Nature as they subsisted in his Soul and Body out of the holiest out of the pure and open Glories of the God-Head As the Lord Jesus dies in that same moment this Vail is rent from the top to the bottom from the the highest part of his Soul and Spirit to the lowest part and appearance in the Body Now the Holiest the Heavenly Image the pure and naked Glories of the Eternal Person of the God-Head were opened and discovered thorow his whole Soul and Body His Soul and Body both entered into the Holiest into this Heavenly Image into these pure Glories in the unity of the Eternal Spirit 2. Scrip. John 19. 30. When the Lord Jesus was now breathing his last he formed his last breath into these words it is finished As he spake those words he bowed his Head and gave up the Ghost What was that which was finished with the life of Christ Not the work of our redemption Many great and principal parts of that remained still behind the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus his Ascension his Intercession his return in the Spirit at the pouring forth of that his last Appearance his Judgment and Kingdom What then was that which was finished with the finishing of the life of Christ The days of his abode in the Flesh without the Vail his Humiliation his Sufferings the State of Nature the Curse the Wrath of the Father were now finished the Spirit and Image of this world the hour and power of Darkness the bloody Fight with the Prince of Darkness the Prince of this World were now
at an end as the life of Christ ended O you who are followers of Christ and predestinated to be conformed to him in your Lives and in your Deaths meet Death with Joy with the shout of those who cry out for victory Now is your Warfare accomplished now is your Captivity in the Fleshly Spirit and Image at an end You shall dwell now no more in Meshek at a distance from the Divine Glory nor sojourn in the Tents of Kedar in the Land of Darkness The Vail of the Flesh is now rent from the top to the bottom thorow your whole Soul and Body In both as you seem to fleshly senses to enter into the shade of Death you in that moment enter into the Kingdom of Light the Glorious Pallace of your Father the Divine Beauties and Joys of the Heavenly Image You have now fought the good Fight and finished it Henceforth from this moment it is that the Crown of Righteousness the Crown of Life and Immortality hath been laid up for you to be set upon your Heads and worn by you which God shall now give you from his own presence from his own hand in this day of Glory which now breaketh and riseth upon you 3. Scrip. Colos. 2. 15. The Apostle speaking of Christ saith thus and having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a show of them openly and triumphed over them in it that is his Cross which was mentioned in the latter end of the foregoing verse There are three parts in this Scripture which is a glorious description of the Victory of our Lord Jesus 1. The Subject of his Victory 2. The Victory itself 3. The Seat of his Victory 1. The Subject of Christs Victory are Principalities and Powers The first word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Principles The second word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Dominions Principalities and a power of ruling By these names the Angels are expressed as they are the Invisible Springs out of which all visible things continually flow as they are the Supream Glories Virtues Powers among things created to which this present world is subjected by which it is enlivened enlightned formed acted and ruled Thus the Victory of Christ extendeth itself over the whole Creation the whole frame of Nature in its Heavenly Angelical and unseen part in that which is Earthly and visible in the Fountain-Glories and flowing Streams in the Princes on high and their Principalities beneath 2. The Victory itself is exprest in three steps 1. The Spoil 2. The Show 3. The Triumph 1. The Spoil He spoiled Principalities and Powers The word signifieth to uncloath The Lord Jesus as a conquering Prince uncloathed the Invisible Princes of this World of all Power Principality and Appearance by which means the whole Creation and the frame of Nature which stood by these Powers in these Appearances according to their first and natural State were dissolved fell into the depths of Darkness and confusion disappearing for ever 2. The Show Our Victorious Saviour brought forth all the Principles Powers and Appearances of Nature into the open light of the Eternal Spirit There he led them as Captives through the Streets of the Heavenly Jerusalem showing them as the subjects and marks of his Victory to all the Innumerable and Glorious Inhabitants of that Blessed City of the great King 3. The Triumph He Triumphed over them All natural Powers Glories Lives and Images lay beneath the Feet of the Lord Jesus as his Footstool while he sat down upon a Throne of Glory cloathed all over with Garments of Glory and wearing a Crown of Glory upon his Head These are the three Parts of Christs Victory 3. The Seat of Christs Victory was his Cross. He Triumphed on it Heaâ— this all ye that are one Seed one Spirit with the Lord Jesus that are made conformable to his Death in your Lives and Deaths Hear this let it be written upon your Hearts in Characters of Glory with a living Beam from that bright Sun the Face of our Lord Jesus as he shines in the Eternal Glory of his most Blessed Victory and Triumph It was upon his Cross it was upon his Cross that the Lord Jesus spoiled made a Show of Triumphed over the Principalities and Powers of this World Our Blessed Saviour in dying by dying in that very moment by that very act dissolves and defaceth at once the whole frame of Nature and of the first Creation He taketh away from it all Power of being subsisting acting or appearing He blotteth out every natural Image and form of Light or Darkness Life or Death Beauty or Deformity Shame or Glory Grief or Joy for ever You have this excellently painted out in a clear Prophesy Psalm 73. 20. As a Dream when one awaketh O Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their Image The word Image signifieth a Shadow The Eternal Word the Heavenly Image our Lord Jesus was in this Creation as under the Vail of Darkness and Night as in a sleep He bringeth forth and beareth up all the Powers and Forms of Nature as a Dâ—eam in this sleep and as shadowy Images in this Dream By dying he awakes out of this sleep he sets an end to this Dream The whole frame of Nature with all Forms and Images of things within the vast compass of it either Visible or Invisible break up fly away and vanish as a Dream as the shadowy Images in a Dream when a Man awaketh But neither are they quite lost They only change their Principle and Appearance In the same dying moment doth the Lord Jesus who is that Eternal and Essential Image in whom they all subsist appear and pass thorow their several changes carry them with himself into the Divine Light and Life of the Eternal Spirit There are they seen again as the Fruits of his Conquest spoiled of all their own Life Light and Form having put on a new Life Light and Form according to the Will of the Conqueror to show forth his Power and Glory to make them pleasant and Eternal Spectacles of his Divine Triumph to all the Inhabitants of Heaven and Eternity Now before he is taken down from the Cross even upon the Cross itself the Lord Jesus as he gives up his Spirit with his last breath Triumphs in his Soul and Body too whose proper Seat the Cross was In both cloathed with Triumphal Robes of an immortal Beauty and Blessedness he rides forth in the Glorious Chariot of the Heavenly Image and of the Eternal Spirit All the Powers and Forms of Nature of Life and Death the Cross itself and the Crucifiers as Captive follow his Chariot bound in the Golden Chains of Divine Light and Love making up the delight and Glory of his Triumph This also doth the Psalmist clearly Prophesy of Psal. 68. 18. Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast led Captivity Captive The descent of our Lord Jesus was finished with his Life He begins his ascent upon his Cross the first moment of his
with the King himself which the Lord Jesus by dying in himself in thee hath everlastingly destroyed in his own Person in his own Death and in thine by the vertue of his own As an Inchantment so is this whole Frame and Form of things dissolved so doth it vanish at the going forth of thy last breath If thou seek now for the region of Shadows and the Land of Darkness thou findest it no more for ever as he that would seek for the Night the Nightly Shades and Forms of things when the Sun is once risen Let thy Soul and Body both then rejoice together and rest in this assurance that in their departure out of this Life in the passage of Death they shall meet with nothing of loss nothing uncouth nothing unpleasant nothing of Darkness of Division of Death of the Devil but the most beautiful and blessed Face the most dear and delightful Embraces of the Lord Jesus as a Glorious Lover as a Heavenly Bridegroom immediately presenting himself immediately receiving them In the same moment do all things here disappear and all things appear again as they are reconciled into a most ravishing Harmony of Divine Beauty and Love As they are gathered up into their Head into their first Glory their Eternal Unity in the Glorified Person of Christ. 7. Propos. This same Jesus in his whole Person with his whole Soul and Body in the moment of Death by dying went forth entirely into the simplicity and singleness of his Supernatural and Eternal Principle and so into a State of pure Eternity unmixt Joy and Glory I shall endeavour to explain and confirm this Proposition by the fuller opening of a Scripture which I have often touched Psalm 16. 9 10. 11. Thus we read Therefore my heart is glad my Glory rejoiceth my Flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption Thou wilt show me the path of Life in thy presence is the fulness of Joy at thy Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore This is a Prophesy of Christ in his Death David as a Prophet speaketh concerning Christ and in the Person of Christ. So St. Peter interpreteth and applieth this Scripture Acts 2. 25. This then is the Triumph of Christ in Death over Death which Triumph consisteth of four Parts 1. The Subject 2. The Triumph 3. The Ground 4. The manner of the Triumph 1. The Subject of Christs Triumph This is threefold 1. The Soul 2. The Glory 3. The Flesh of the Lord Jesus 1. The Soul This seemeth to be that unseen and principal part of the Natural Man which in our common language is opposed to the Body as the Visible and inferiour part 2. The Glory hath a twofold acception Davids Harp and his Tongue were his Glory upon two accounts both as he was a sweet Singer a most skilful Musitian and also as he was the sweet Singer of Israel as his Harp and Tongue recorded the Praises of God and made all things round about him to resound the perfections and loves of the Lord Jesus Thus the Tongue of Christ was his Glory as he is the sweet Preacher in Jerusasalem the Heavenly Interpreter one of a thousand who sheweth to Man his Righteousness and his rest But again this Glory in David was the Spiritual Man the birth of the Spirit the Seed of God the Life of Christ Christ in David This Glory in Christ was the Spiritual Man the Heavenly Image the Divine Nature the God-Head For so Heb. 1. 1. Jesus Christ is said to be the brightness of the Glory of God as he is the express Image of his Person and Substance 3. The Flesh of Christ is his Body as it is distinguished from the Soul and is covered with a Vail of Flesh under which Vail it contains within itself those other two the Soul and the Glory This is the threefold Subject of the Triumph the Natural Body the Natural Soul the Eternal Spirit as it inhabiteth in these 2. The Triumph itself is exprest in those four words Gladness Joy Rest and Hope Gladness is the same with Joy The State of Blessedness in Heaven and Eternity is expressed by Joy The Lord Jesus saith to the Good and Faithful Servant Enter thou into thy Masters Joy St. Peter calls the Blessedness which we have here in believing and loving the Lord Jesus which is Heaven upon Earth a Joy Glorious and unspeakable As our Lord Jesus dyed the Humane Soul of Christ before imprisoned in a Fleshly Body went forth to be comprehended and swallowed up in that Joy which it could not take in nor comprehend because it was boundless and infinite His Divine Nature which in this Humane Soul together with it had been vailed by an Earthly Body now breaks forth and shines out into the freedom and full liberty of its own unconfined delights and unvailed Glories My Soul saith Christ is glad and my Glory rejoiceth The Triumph of Christ in his Body and his Flesh is set forth by Rest and Hope which two words import Life Sense a Sweetness and fulness of Life and Sense with Immortality The Sabbath in the beginning of the Creation as it figureth the perfection of a Sanctified and blessed State in Christ and in Heaven is expressed by Rest the name Sabbath signifieth Rest. The Land of Canaan as it was a Land of Rivers and Springs and floods of Water as it was a Land flowing with Milk and Hony and so a Type of that good Land that flourishing Land of the Spirit and of Eternity where the Fountains and full floods are of all Divine Goodness and Truth is expressed by Rest. Joshua who gave the Land of Canaan to the Jews is said to give them Rest. That perfect Cessation from all trouble that perfect Consummation of our Happiness in the quieting of all our desires by the full accomplishment of them that terminating of all our motions to good in their most wished for end the chief good which the Lord Jesus which the Gospel which Faith bringeth us to in an immediate entire eternal Union with God all this the Holy Ghost expresseth by Rest. Come to me and I will give you Rest saith the Lord Jesus He that believeth entereth into Rest saith the Epistle to the Hebrews Thus the Body and Flesh of Christ rest in Death These are the words as he dies in his Song of Death My Flesh also doth rest in hope The Hebrew word for Hope signifieth two things Confidence and Hope Confidence implies a double certainty 1. A certainty in the object which is the good in prospect or in possession hoped for or already enjoyed 2. The certainty of the Subject which is a sweet a deep a clear Sense and Seal upon the Soul of the certainty of the object of the certainty of that Good which it hath in fruition or expectation This twofold Certainty maketh that confidence or assurance which compleateth or crowneth the Souls
Glorious Person by the Heavenly and Personal Union in and with the Eternal Word Soul and Body were separated in respect to their Natural Union and Composition All the Relations and Delights of both all the precious Treasures all the clear Images and Lights of Life with the sweet life itself vanished and fled away so far as they were founded upon the Natural Union the band being broken which tyed them all together in one at the dissolution of this Union But all these still dwelt together undivided still possessed and enjoyed one another after the most intimate manner without allay or interruption in the Unexpressible and Glorious Unity of the Eternal Word the Second Person in the Trinity This Unity was a Divine Band an undivided Center a living Spring an unfathomable depth of Loves and Glories where they lay perpetually enfolded in the warm embraces each of other covered with all the sweetest Lights and Beauties even upon the bitter Cross and in the cold Grave never to be divorced from each other Separation itself was here only a various and delightful form of embracing in the Unity of this Eternal Person 4. In the fourth and last place follows the manner of the Triumph This hath three parts 1. The Triumph over Corruption exprest in these words Thou shalt not suffer thy holy One to see Corruption 2. The Triumph of Life Thou wilt shew me the path of Life 3. A Triumph in the Pleasures of Life In thy Presence is fulness of Joy at thy Right Hand Pleasures for evermore 1. The first part in the manner of the Triumph is the Triumph over Corruption Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption The Triumphant Person here is the holy one of God the holy Son of God the pure Seed Birth and Image of God Jesus Christ in his Divine and Humane Nature as he is in both the Holy One of God the Holy Birth and Son of God Jesus Christ in himself Jesus Christ in David David in Jesus Christ Jesus Christ in the Holy Soul and Holy Body of every Member of Christ as they are the Spiritual Births and Spiritual Temples of the Holy Spirit This is the Person which Triumphs in Death That which he Triumphs over is Corruption There is a complication of four Evils in Corruption 1. Division or Dissolution which is the chief and the Root of the other Evils 2. Darkness increasing 3. Deformity overspreading 4. Decay which is a tendency to a destruction of Being or to a contrariety in Being to all the good of Being Over all these Evils of Corruption Jesus Christ Triumpheth as he dyeth 1. Jesus Christ Triumpheth over Division or Dissolution in Death The Eternal Unity of his Divine Person was at once as a Root and a Band to both his Natures to both parts of his Humane Nature to all the Powers and parts of his Soul and Body to the several Elements in his Body to all Perfections of Glory Grace and Nature in all Powers and Parts of the Humane Soul and Body All were as an Immortal Nosegay or a Mysterious Knot of Divine Flowers ever inseparably united in this Band ever unfadingly flourishing in this Root of the Hypostatical Union or the Divine Unity of the Eternal Person which was indissoluble in Death itself Yea those Separations which are Natural and necessary in Death were themselves Flowers of the Heavenly and Earthly Paradise bound up with this Heavenly Band in this ever-fair ever-fragrant Nosegay 2. Jesus Christ dying Triumpheth over the gloomy horrours of the increasing darkness which ariseth from the hateful Womb of Darkness in the dreaded vaults of Death The Divine Nature which is inseparable from the Humane Nature the Personal Unity which is really and substantially one with the Divine Nature which gives a subsistence in itself to the Humane Nature and makes it in its Personal subsistence one with the Divine this is a brightness of Glory shining in the Grave this is a Golden Candlestick in which all the seven Lamps of God burn continually by day and by night before the Throne of God and make the vaults of Death themselves a Temple of Gold and Christal filled with the sweet Beams of the Heavenly Eternal Sun All things even Death and the darkness of Death are as precious Stones set together in the rich Jewel of this Person or Hypostatical Union where no one Stone contracts the least degree of dimness but all in the midnight of Death itself ever sparkle with the sweetest and clearest water of Eternal Life 3. The deformity of Death as it springs up out of the Corruption in Death is the subject of our dying and dead Saviours Triumph The Heavenly Image of the God-Head which is the supream Beauty the Arche-type and first Pattern of all Beauties upon the Mount of Eternity is the Person of Christ in which the Divine and Humane Nature with all its changes of Life and Death stand and subsist together Can any thing be deformed in Beauty itself Can any thing be Unlovely where the highest and purest Loveliness shines thorow all and over all What must the Harmony what must the amiableness and agreeableness be how exact and ravishing as in Heaven itself there where the Supream Unity the most Sacred Unity of one of the most blessed Persons in the All-glorious Trinity diffuseth itself thorow all the variety of things Divine and Humane of Soul and of Body binding up all by itself immediately into the most perfect and Divine Order and gathering up all into one most perfect and Divine Person in itself How High and Glorious is the Triumph of Divine Beauty over the deformity of Death when thus the Eternal Beauty itself dies dressing itself up in the Forms of Death and giving to Death it s own most lovely Face which enflames the highest Angels and God himself with Eternal and Infinite Loves In the place of Deformity what potent what attractive charms of Loveliness hath this Death to ravish Souls into the bosom of it which are thus to die by a Fellowship with the Lord Jesus as he dies 4 The last Evil in the Corruption of Death is the decay which is a Tendency to a Nothingness a Privation the destruction of the being of things or to a contrariety to all good in Being This is that dark Cave that bottomless Pit out of which like the smoak of Hell like gastly black and flaming apparitions from Hell the deepest and darkest Melancholy the most dismal Horrours and the most horrid Imaginations from the sense and fear of Death issue forth and cover the face of the Soul as pitchy and stormy Clouds cover the Face of Heaven How does the dying Soul dread to be cast forth into the uttermost Darkness to be dispossest of itself together with all thigns To be endlessly sinking in an abyss or bottomless deep of a vast emptiness and a cheerless formless shade to be no more or to be in the midst of all the wounds and torments that
several Mansions in the same Palace So they fly into the Bosom of their proper Substances where Thou art the same Person in Truth at Liberty and awake which thou wert in Show in Captivity in a Dream here below Thou art the Unity in which all these Spirits with the unsearchable Riches of their several Varieties ever centred and dwelt together as One once shut up in darkness and in a narrow place but now displaying all their Beauties unfolding all their Joys to the full O how are the Beauties and Pleasures of thy Death O Saint far beyond all those of Marriage and of Children How doest thou in that moment meet and marry thy self in all the flourishing Glories with all the warm and fresh Loves of the Divine Nature How doest thou bring forth a Troop of Divine Spirits in thine own Form and Person to be ever before thee bred up and Living with thee rejoycing in thee the Delight of thine Eyes and the Jewels of thy Bosom the pleasure of thine Embraces day by day This is the first Representation of Death by a Dissolution 2. Death is a Deluge that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life 2. Cor. 5. v. 4. It is in Greek that the or this Mortal may be swallowed up of Life Life in the Abstract in its Purity and Perfection without any Mixture or Allay is Immortality Eternity Christ and God As God is Light in which there is no Darkness so God is Light in which there is nothing of its contrary neither in act nor in possibility no Death nor Shadow of Death The Mortal is that which is capable of Dying in a Saint with the Principles of Corruption and Power of Death adhering to it See the Glory the Might of this Glory the Extent of it in the Death of a Saint Life Itself in its own Divine Essence as a Divine Substance no more an Accident in the Purity of all Its Sweetnesses in the Perfection of all Its Powers as it reigneth upon the Throne of Eternity breaketh forth upon the Person of a Saint upon all His Powers and Parts the lowest the darkest the most Mortal As It breaketh forth It drinketh up all together with the Shadow of Death Itself encompassing them into itself Mortal Things are Shadows of Immortal that is Figures in the Dark But the Darkness also is Part of the Figure The Life of pure Nature is an Image-Life a Shadowy Life The Darkness swallowing up the Figure and defacing the Shadow is a Natural Death The Devil lurking in the Dark Part as in His Den from thence coming forth into the Figure is the Life of Sin When a Sinner dieth the Devil in the Darkness of the Shadow Divine Wrath thorow the Devil swallow up the Darkness Image and all into themselves But at the new Birth of a Saint the Eternal Life and Substance awakeneth itself in the Shadow liveth and weareth that Darkness as a Divine Vail upon Its Beauties too bright to appear nakedly on Earth It acteth that Figure as a Picture with the Life in it looking forth through and springing through it as a Flower thorow the Lattices and the Windows Then when the time of Harvest and the Singing of Birds is come this Eternal Life drinketh up All into its own unmixt unfading Light Thus a Saint dieth As sometimes the Sea sendeth forth an Island which after sometimes it again swalloweth up so is the Life and Death of a good Man in His Mortal Part. He riseth up like an Island from the unfathomable and glorious Depths of a Divine Sea the Sea of Eternal Life and Love He standeth rooted in this Sea and encompassed with It on every side So He lives Again He sinketh down into the Blessed Depths out of which He arose So He dieth Elijah laid His Sacrifice with a pile of wood upon the Altar He digged Trenches round about the Altar which he filled with Water till it ran over Then he called upon the Name of the God of Israel Immediately a Fire descended from Heaven which licked up all the Water consumed the Sacrifice with the Wood upon the Altar The Altar is our Jesus filling the Earth as well as the Heavens The Saint in his Divine Part is the Sacrifice upon the Altar in Union with Christ. The Wood is the Mortal Part of a Saint which also lyeth upon the Altar of Christ's glorified Person The low estate of a Saint in Flesh with all his Sufferings and Sorrows all the Powers of Darkness and Death make the Trenches full of Waters round about Him At length the Divine Sea from below when It hath fulfilled the Days of Its Pilgrimage and Imprisonment calleth to Its Father above Then in a moment the Lord Jesus in His Glorified Body as a Flame of Immortal Love and Life cometh down from Heaven upon this Saint drinketh up at once the Sacrifice the Wood the Waters and All into One Flame with itself Nothing remaineth but the Altar and the Trenches the Place where they had been the Double Image in which they had appeared a Light-Image Beautiful and Pleasant in the Spirits of Light a Dark-Image in Dark Spirits Both these by degrees vanish into their several Elements of Light and Darkness I have done with my first Principle in the second Part of my present use which is to sweeten and sanctify Death by the Spiritual Knowledge of our Lord Jesus The first Principle was this A Saint is compleat above in the Glorified Body of Jesus Christ while he is living or dying here below 2. Principle The Glorified Person of our Saviour with all its Divine Fulness dwelleth Spiritually in the Natural Body of each Saint on Earth Our fleshly Members are the Members of Christ in Heaven 1 Corin. 6. 15. The riches of the Glory of this Mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory Col. 1. 27. As the Essential Form of a Plant with all its proportions and perfections lieth inclosed in the Seed which by the breaking of the Seed displayeth itself upon it and transfigureth the Seed so is the Natural Body of each Believer a Seed so is Jesus Christ the Hope of Glory a Body of Glory to that Seed and dwelleth inclosed in it until the Spring of Death The Natural Body is called a Body of Death Rom. 7. 24. We are said to wait for the Adoption or Sonship the Redemption of the Body Rom. 8. 23. These two Bodies cannot be the same One is a Redeemed Body a Body of Adoption or Sonship This is as St. Paul speaketh before a Body brought forth into the Liberty of the Glory of a Son of God The other is a Body of Death St. Paul cryeth out against one Who shall deliver me from this Body of Death St. Paul groaneth and waiteth for the Redemption of the other as a Son of God One is the Oppressour the other is oppressed One is a Grave and Death the other is a Divine Life a Form of Glory a Son of