any darkness about it self it is not free If there be any rubs in its way it cannot walk freely therefore God promiseth to this life an high way a plain path in the day of its redemption and freedom as Isai. 35.8 If its light be not very full and cleer and its strength absolutely perfect in reference to its own nature and state it will want of its Liberty it will not be able to come forth or walk in perfect freedom So that that Liberty which is perfect and compleat must be of a perfect seed from a perfect root perfectly grown up and scituated in the life and Spirit of the Lord from which alone it proceedeth and groweth up and in which alone it can live and be enjoyed It hath been and still is a great question how far those that are in Christ are freed from the Law and whether their sins be against the Law or no or only against Christ who is their Life and Law In relation whereunto since it falleth so fairly in my way I shall lay down three Conclusions which may occasion the cleering of it in part and the further better right understanding of this Liberty wherewith I intend to conclude the point only adding somewhat concerning the abuse which it is very liable unto as every other spiritual thing also is in the way that hitherto it hath broke forth and appeared and right use of Liberty from the following words The Conclusions are these 1. He that is in Christ cannot sin against the Law because he is not under it and therefore cannot be bound by it nor be engaged to give any account unto it He is under another husband and therefore free from this as the Apostle reasoneth Rom. 7. But yet mark As Christ himself in his fleshly state was under the Law who was the forerunner and pattern so all his seed in their fleshly state are under the Law likewise They may have sometimes a sight of life and a taste of liberty but until they have followed Christ into his grave and are become dead with him yea and risen with him too they shall not enjoy it While the life lives in the flesh it lives under the Law when the life comes to live in the spirit alone it shall be perfectly freed from the Law This is most certain The life of its own nature is not under the Law nor can its nature to speak properly be subjected to the Law though it may act a part of subjection for a season yet in the acting of that part the sparklings of a diviner life and Law which swallow up this weak life with the whole Law of it cannot but now and then appear as they did in Christ in the time of his subjection and servitude But the man in which the life inhabits and through which the life acts is weak and hath only a promise of strength and of redemption with the life after his death and resurrection with it but hath not any full sense or participation of it but is to remain under bondage and to travail up and down in the wilderness of this worldly state with the life until then And though in the Apostles times the Lord did let out both this life and this liberty into the humane nature in his Saints to give a little glimps what they were yet they were let forth but weakly and they were soon clapped in again and the old husband the Law returns and takes universal possession again though under the name of the life and Liberty of the Gospel This then is the sum To all men whatsoever until they be swallowed up into the spirit of Christ the law is still a Schoolmaster and they may find if they observe themselves the Law of nature or the Law of good and evil which is written in their hearts by nature and further revived by acquired knowledg whether from the light springing up in man and so received thence or from the light held forth in the Scriptures continually instructing and discipling of them As a Schoolmaster it exerciseth them as its Disciples and Schollars Yea in the very times of the Apostles though they had attained a strain of freedom which was not attained before yet they were not altogether free but groaned under bondage and panted after Liberty 2. He that is in Christ cannot do that which the Law judgeth to be sin He cannot act against the righteousness that is in the Law He can no more live to sin then he can live to the Law He hath as little to do with any thing which the Law judgeth evil as with the Law it self He can give no offence to any that have any true light in them for he can do nothing against any true light in any kind This is the nature of truth It longeth for it seeketh after it knoweth it embraceth both its own image and its own substance Truth in the image longeth after the substance Truth in the substance comprehendeth acknowledgeth and embraceth the image The righteousness which is in Christ and his seed in its nature motions and actions comprehendeth the righteousness of the Law Indeed it cannot be comprehended by it but it comprehends it and the righteousness of the Law knoweth it and giveth way to it It hath more in it a far higher kind of righteousness then the Law calleth for but it hath that also Every spiritual motion is beyond the nature and excellency of the Law but yet it hath all that excellency that the Law can possibly expect or exact and therfore cannot offend against the life or truth of the Law The life and righteousness that is in Christ most naturally cherisheth the life and righteousness that is in the Law which they who taste of the truth as it is in Iesus are taught to understand 3. If he could possibly do that which the Law judgeth to be sin yet his sin would not be directly against the Law for the Law cannot judg him as a sinner who is not under it but against his own life which is a greater offence and hath more of the nature of sin in it then if it were against the Law He that is in Christ hath a new life in him which is sown in his spirit and his spirit with that life is transplanted into Christ who is his Lord and Lawgiver And what he now is he is in Christ and what he now does he does unto Christ and is not now any longer under that dispensation of the Law in which he was before his transplantation so that he is not henceforth so much as in a capacity of sinning against it This then is the sum They that are in Christ in his Spirit dead and risen with him who are entred into and swallowed up in the newness Vertue Life and Power of his Death and Resurrection are not subject to the Law of any dispensation though they can also fulfil any yea and are to fulfil the Law of every dispensation but
partly Instructions and partly Corrections He breatheth his Spirit into them and by the power and vertue of his rod beareth down and subjecteth their spirits He burneth up their dross aforehand that he may make them fit to be saved and that it may be righteous for him to save them in the day of the worlds destruction He striketh them down he layeth load upon them he humbleth them exceedingly until he hath fitly tempeâ—ed them to hear and then he teacheth them the Law of his Life And thus he reneweth both his knocks and his beams of light as their condition need and capacity requireth O happy happy thrice happy are they whom God leadeth though through a wilderness and the dismal exercises thereof into his land of rest All that severity of Discipline under which they are now nurtured and trained up is nothing to that misery which they shall then escape or to that life and blessedness which they are hereby prepared for I shall close thus They that trust in lying vanities vanity shall be their recompence Yea they that trust or hope in God or in Christ or in God through Christ after the strength of their own apprehensions fastened upon or gathered from the Scriptures and not according to the knowledg and power of the truth as it is in Iesus shall find even these objects vanity to them their faith and expectation upon them vanity also and their end misery when they sink into death and destruction with the world yea and that somewhat deeper then the world But they who in truth are taught and led by the truth to wait and hope under their bondage and misery for the truth how extravagant or rediculous soever they may appear to all the various eyes of the several sorts of Religious persons from the strange exercises of God upon them shall be owned by the truth The root nature yea and all the motions of the spirit of the creature even in all the dispensations of God is rejected for in the true state and nature of things it is not that which the Lord can accept It is dark in all its light dead in all its life a captive and a slave in all its liberty an hater and a rebel in the midst of all its love and obedience and therefore how can the Lord who searching the spirit cleerly knoweth and discerneth this in the spirit but throw it aside notwithstanding its glittering appearances of light and life from him of precious faith and hope in him and of sweet love and obedience towards him But the root nature and motions of the seed under all its disguises in the midst of all its darkness death bonds captivity and estrangedness from God is his delight is his heir it is the heir of his nature and spirit and therefore shall undoubtedly inherit the truth and glory of life in him He that hath ears to hear let him hear the spirit which testifieth the same thing now as it hath done all along the Scriptures O let him who desireth the truth of salvation harken to the voice of the spirit of God in the Scriptures and not give ear to such fictions as his own spirit doth most naturally form out of them XIV The happy End of the holy Nature and Course of the Seed of Life which the Spirit of Life through all the various dark paths of sin death and misery most faithfully guideth it unto or The sweet and happy End of the Righteous PSAL. 37. vers 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace THe perfect or upright man is he who is of an entire stamp or nature and who walketh entirely with God in every dispensation from the Law of this nature The very nature of man is imperfect He is a transgressor from the womb Let him never so honestly and ingenuously dedicate himself to God and to righteousness yet he cannot for his heart walk with him or live righteously But the other cannot but do so And however he may slip from the weakness of his present estate yet his nature still sets him right again Now there is no man more miserable in his present condition then this man The unrighteous the unholy spirit of man can thrive in the world or flourish in any form of Religion but this man not having the spirit of this world cannot seek or enjoy it nor deliver himself from the oppressions and sufferings which are multiplied upon him by it Nay he is persecuted also and grievously afflicted by the powers of darkness which will not spare him in this their hour Yea his God estrangeth and hideth himself from him he hideth his face from the house of Iacob chastisiing him sorely continually Because of that corruption which cleaveth unto him and which his feet are still gathering the holy God which loveth truth and purity is ever and anon casting him into the fire The Lord by his Spirit of Judgment and Burning doth most naturally search try and judg the spirits of his people until he hath purified and perfected them Alas how sad therefore must it needs be with them in the midst of all these The world may live and flourish but they are still withering and dying The world may enjoy the freedom of its natural spirit after a sort but theirs is in bonds The world may laugh and rejoyce because of the contents they find and can reap and enjoy in the things of the world and in their several forms and exercises of Religion but these cannot but weep and lament that they are left desolate and have no Comforter These are the sick ones these are the blind ones these are the lame ones these are the poor ones these are the naked ones these are the peâ—secuted ones these are the oppressed ones whose misery no eye can see no heart conceive no tongue express Any misery that man meeteth with the spirit of man may pity him in but this is a kind of misery which the spirit of man knoweth not and these are the persons whom he judgeth and whom his heart is hardened against But mark the end of this man Look upon all this distress all this misery all this lamentably hard travel in its end For the end of that man is peace There is no knowing of any thing as it now appears under its vail in this dark shadowy world but if you would understand any thing aright keep your eye fixed upon it and observe it to the end In the end flesh when it is stripped of all its seeming glory will appear what it is and in the end spirit when it is unclothed of all its deformed rags will appear what it is If you consider the perfect man without the discerning of his end he will appear the poorest most miserable most contemptible thing that can be but if your eye can truly follow him unto his end you will have another ghess sight of him there for the end of that man
chiefly dispenced under the one and the spirit under the other The letter was appointed for the litteral people and the spirit for the spiritual and so they are managed The litteral people receive their impression from the letter of the Word are brought forth by the letter and fed and maintained by the letter and the spiritual people receive their impression from the spirit of the Word are brought forth by the spirit and fed and maintained by the spirit So long as the letter of the Word lived in the fleshly people the fleshly people lived so long as the spirit of the Word liveth in the spiritual people the spiritual people live for these can live no more then the former any longer then they are fed from the root This dispensation and people may dye as well as the other Hence that ministration is called the ministration of the letter this of the spirit So that mark now There is letter and spirit life and death justification and condemnation in the Word both in the Copy and in the Original in Christ which is the Word of God and in the Scriptures which are the words of Christ in the heart of Christ which is Gods Book where he hath writ his Word and in the heart of man which is Christs Book where he hath writ his Word And both these dispensations are equally from God and from Christ from first to last both in their causes and in their effects 2. Of the Spirit The Spirit is that Substance which comprehends the Word and is comprehended in the Word It is the Lord and Servant of Christ who is the Word of God It is that which lives dwells and reigns both in the flesh and spirit of Christ and in which they likewise reign It is the liquor in Christ which Christ as a Vessel containeth and also the Vessel which containeth Christ. It is both the root and the fruit The root from whence Christ groweth and the fruit which Christ beareth both in his life and death from whence they both sprang and wherein they both meet The ministration of this is not yet made manifest It was only pointed at in the ministration of the Gospel which did shadow out it as the Law did shadow out that ministration or if you will both the Law and the Gospel did shadow this out in different respects and degrees the one more grosly the other more refinedly the one more darkly and remotely the other more nearly and clearly The Law stood aloof at a great distance from it yet spake of it and referred unto it the Gospel did as it were touch it speaking the very name and manifesting the very nature of it Yet the very ministration of the Spirit in that dispensation of the Gospel if it be well looked into will appear rather a shadow then the thing it self and every way more like a shadow then like the thing it self Now who knoweth whether those things which have been so contrary in all dispensations hitherto shall not here meet Life and Death Heaven and Hell which every where else are at such a distance may here touch one another and agree very sweetly together even so fully that both those names and natures whereby they did appear and were so various in all dispensations may here be drowned and vanish Yet it is not by eithers real loss of any thing whereby and wherein they differed that they become thus harmoniously united but by both their entering into a more perfect fulness And he to whom this seemeth so strange and who is so much offended at it let him fairly answer me this following question Were not Hell and Heaven at union in their root before they were brought forth Were they not at rest and peace in the Power and Nature of God from whence they were produced Without controversie what ever lay there lay in rest and whatsoever is brought back thither returneth to rest Now did the Lord bring forth any thing which he cannot bring back again and who can say he will not Surely every thing most naturally breatheth after that condition of rest and fulness which it can alone enjoy in his bosom Most certain it is that the vast Spirit of the Lord taketh in all things howsoever it dispose of them Thence they came thither they return there they are and doubtless there they may be found in union and agreement by him whose Spirit is quick and piercing enough Happy is he who can read this truth in the Spirit of the Lord but wretchedly miserable is he who frameth false imaginations in his own mind by the vanity of his own reason concerning it 3. Of Faith Faith is a shadowy or substantial life flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed seeking after fastening upon and resting in the Spirit This is Faith First I say it is Life It is a touch of life it is a spring of life it is the choyce of life which God bringeth forth in his own in his own seasons We may mistake in ascribing names to other things whose nature and principle we know not but this we are taught by God who knoweth things very well to name Faith The life of the Law was obedience a spirit of obedience by this a man was enabled to live in and according to the Law but this life is faith a spirit of faith He who beleeveth is only able to enter into this life and to walk in it I call it shadowy or substantial because it is either as it is looked upon Look upon it backward and it is substantial Look upon it forward and it is but shadowy As the ministration of the Gospel was a ministration of the spirit of that which was in the Law so the life ministred under the Gospel is a substantial life in compare with that But look forward into the substance of that which is yet behind and here faith it self is but a shadow This life also is but a shadow Alas the life of Faith must vanish Notwithstanding all its glory it must dye and lie in its grave like the Law Flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed The seed is the vessel the only vessel which containeth this life It is not man that this life is sown in but the seed and the seed is sown in man Immortal life eternal life is wrapped up in immortal seed in eternal seed that is the immediate vessel and this is sown in the mortal spirit of man which by putting on mortality there it changeth into its own nature Hence they in whom the seed is sown and who are changed by it are called by that name they are called the seed This life floweth from the Spirit into this seed The Spirit which formeth this seed breatheth into it this breath of life This seed is the spirits own vessel and this life is his own liquor wherewith he filleth it The Spirit lyeth in the vessel and is continually breathing in it and that
this nature and life hath a promise of a new inheritance in the other world Or if ye will if ye think that may be plainer to you by Kingdom is meant Religion true Religion the Religion which God teacheth his seed the Religion which God writeth in the nature of his seed for there is a Religion also which God writeth in the nature of man and teacheth man but that is not the Kingdom In every dispensation that Truth that Vertue that Light that Life which cometh down upon the seed springeth up in the seed and goeth along with the seed is the Kingdom It is that breath of God from which the new nature or principle came in which the new nature lives and by which it is perfected This it is most properly but in a larger sence it denotes every thing that belongs to the Kingdom and that not improperly neither for every thing belonging to the Kingdom hath the nature of the Kingdom in it and having the nature why may it not partake of the name The Kingdom of Israel took in every thing in their dispensation and the Kingdom of God taketh in every thing in the great dispensation of his life unto his people through the Lord Jesus â—hrist This phrase Kingdom is of very large and full significancy noting out not only the nature and substance of the thing together with the extent and limits of it but also the greatness of it the riches of it the glory of it the perfection of it the presence of God with it its presence and power with God c. 2. What is meant by Word By Word is to be understood any outward form of doctrine any speech notion or apprehension whereby Religion in any part of it is either conceived or expressed As the doctrine of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God the doctrine of self-denyal or going out of a mans self the Doctrine of obedience to the inward spirit or outward commands of the Word the Doctrine of the death of Christ of the Resurrection of Christ c. Word is the outward truth if I may so speak it is the pipe or vessel whereby life is held out to man or whereby it is taken in by man It was in such Doctrines as these forementioned wherein the spirit of life did run as in so many veins in the Apostles times But yet the truth of Religion the Kingdom of God consists not in any of these These do not bring in the Kingdom but the Kingdom will of it self bring forth these where it is The Kingdom of God saith this same Apostle in another place is Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost But it is not the word of any of these it is not a glorious description or apprehension of righteousness or peace or joy in the spirit it lies not in mighty elevations or ravishments of heart through the contemplation of these this is the outward Court which is given to the Heathenish spirit of man which hath this bestowed upon him for the reward of his pains in these things But the Kingdom of God is not in word The outward truths of the Gospel in the most pure naked spiritual acception of them are not the Kingdom and he that receiveth them only receiveth not the Kingdom Man may receive every truth of the Kingdom Man may fall into any way nay into every way of Religion and yet fall short of the Kingdom 3. What is meant by Power By power is meant the inward vertue the vigor the spirit which lies in the nature of Religion In every life there is a vertue or power wherein it consists No life lieth in the outwardness of its form or shape but in the inwardness of its nature The life of man consisteth not in outward knowledg in an outward form of reason but in the inward vertue and spirit of reason Thus it is in the life of Religion There is an inward vertue an inward spirit an inward power in the nature of it whereby it changeth the vessel whereinto it comes subjecting the rational part to it self and advancing it in it self as the rational part doth the brutish So that as in a rational man all the faculties of his mind and members of his body are subject to his reason so in the spirituall man not only the members of the body and faculties of the minde but the very spirit of reason it self is subject to this new spirit or principle of life There is this vertue this life this spirit in every thing of Religion in all the Truths in all the Ordinances Institutions and paths of the Kingdom and this only is Religion It is not the knowledg of all the things of God alas the prophane spirit of man under a form of holiness may be very exact in them but the nature the vertue of the things themselves which is preserved entire for the pure into it no unclean thing can enter So that where there is the least true power there must needs be true Religion but there may be all the outward form or fabrick and yet no true Religion at all There may be all the truths of the Gospel all the Ordinances of the Gospel all the ways of the Gospel and the spirit of man walking very zealously in all these and yet this is no part of the kingdom for the Kingdom consists not in the outward letter of the Light Life or Liberty of the Gospel nor in every power and vertue of it but in the inward spirit of it and in that power and vertue which is peculiar to its own nature To illustrate this a little further Take notice of a threefold power in reference hereunto 1. There may be an outward power concurring with the thing as the power of working miracles the gift of speaking with tongues of healing c. This is demonstrative in its kind and according to its nature for else the Lord would not have made use of it for that end but yet it is not the power here spoken of not the power which the Apostle here resolved to know 2. There may be an inward power forming of the thing which may be either the Spirit of the Lord or the spirit of the Creature working by and according to its creaturely imagination By imagination I mean the reason or understanding of man which though it be no imaginer but a certain knower within its own bounds yet in things of this nature in the things of God in the things of the kingdom it is no knower at all but a meer imaginer Now this inward power of reason or imagination will make strange fabricks in the mind of man especially where it hath any superior principle to set it on work or engines to move it or oyl to set it on going This power this vertue being inward is also of a more inward satisfaction to a man then the former By the former a man is as it were compelled to beleeve yet perhaps
not at all satisfied thereby in the nature of the thing but by this a man is led into Faith Love Obedience and so into every thing that is thus formed in him The things which the fancy or reason of man for here the reason of man is but fancy after its manner comprehendeth are as it were made natural to the man Now though this be a great power and can make mighty changes and do mighty things in the spirit of a man yea and worketh very like the truth insomuch as that which is meer man can very hardly if at all distinguish it from the truth yet this is not the truth neither this is not the power which the Apostle here speaketh of 3. There is an inward power or vertue in the thing whereby it is what it is and whereby it does what it does whereby it is what it most naturally is and produceth its own most natural effects There is a true vertue in truth an inward power in the Death and Resurrection of Christ an inward power in faith in love and in the spirit of obedience which lyeth in the nature of it which it disperseth and leaveneth the lump with where it is sown in truth Now this is it the Apostle here means He will know this power he will distinguish by this vertue the nature and truth of the thing it self From whence this may be observed Observ. That true Religion consists not in notion not in apprehension not in expression but in the true Nature Vertue Life and Power of the thing it self The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power Let a man have the cleerest apprehension of the truths of God and the cleerest expression of them that may be yet this is not Religion If a man have all knowledg with all the effects of Faith Love Zeal Obedience c. which this knowledg can produce in him yet this is not Religion The knowledg of self-denial of resignation to the will of God with all the self-denial and resignation which this knowledg can produce The knowledg of the Death of Christ and of the Life of Christ with all the effects there of in the spirit of a man neither is this Religion Reas. The reason whereof is this because all outwardness is but a garment wherewith Religion may be clothed or not clothed according to the pleasure of God Now ye know a garment neither is the thing nor a certain evidence of the thing All outward buildings which the spirit of the Lord rears the spirit of the Lord may also leave and the spirit of man of Antichrist of Satan may enter into The Lord hath not yet built his everlasting Tabernacle or Temple and therefore those he doth set up being but shadowes his spirit may as well leave as enter into So that whatsoever may come into apprehension whatsoever may be brought forth in notion or expression is not the thing at best it can be but a true garment but a true appearance but a true house for the thing to be clothed with appear and abide in while the Lord pleaseth But now where there is the nature where there is the life where ther is the vertue wher ther is the power there must needs be the thing Where there is the life of a man there must needs be a man where there is the vertue of a renewed nature there must needs be a renewed nature where there is the power of Religion the power of the Kingdom there must needs be Religion there must needs be the Kingdom for this is from it this is â—n it yea this is it What is the vertue and power of God but God what is the power and vertue of any thing but the thing The vertue of Religion the power of the Kingdom that is it in which the very spirit of it is lives goeth forth and resideth Quest. But what is this same nature life power or vertue of Religion wherein Religion consists This is very necessary to be well considered for there is a nature life vertue or power in the Religion of man That which here the Apostle calleth word hath that in it which man calleth power Let a man receive any apprehension into his mind fully let him but receive it seriously as the truth of God it cometh with a great deal of power it bringeth vertue with it to make changes in him changes in his spirit changes in his understanding changes in his will changes in his conversation And yet this is not the power which the Apostle here looketh after all this is with him but word The greatest inwardness of man is but outwardness with the spirit of the Lord. What then is this same power here or what is the nature of this power of this vertue Answ. To this question I shall return this threefold description by way of answer 1. For the general nature of it it is divinely spiritual It is not a birth from the spirit of man no nor yet from the spirit of Satan but from the spirit of the Lord. There is the true nature life and power of God in it It is the seed of God and it brings forth the true nature of God The Spirit of the Lord begetteth that which is spirit The spirit of the Lord bringeth forth a truly spiritual Religion in the spirit of man where he soweth his seed 2. As touching the common properties of it It is both killing and quickening and that both in ones self and also towards others In every truth of the Kingdom in every thing that belongs to the Kingdom there is that vertue which continually kills and quickens where ever it comes It kills the spirit of man and it quickens the spirit of man It layeth flat all the corruption yea all the life and glory of the creature where ever it appears It is like a fire It burns up all the life of every thing it comes neer and it brings along with it that life which alone can live in that fire I know man hath his several waies of killing and quickening by his notions but it doth not do the thing in truth for under all the seeming deaths of the creature the creature is still alive and under all the seemingly renewed life 's of the creature the creature is still dead in its root and principle yea and also in all its motions and operations 3. For the peculiar nature of it That is sutable to every particular truth to every particular thing of the Kingdom to every particular truth we receive from God to every particular thing portion or member of life which is formed in us Thus the severall truths of the Gospel have their own particular natures The death of Christ its the resurrection of Christ its c. So likewise the several tempers and graces in the spirits of disciples have their particular natures self-denial it s faith it s love its and so the rest theirs whereby they are distinct from one another They
or with that reward which belongs to the substance both in respect of its nature and of all the motions of it In every dispensation these things are profitable In the dispensation of the Law to the Jews In the dispensation of the Gospel by Christ In any dispensation now in this thick cloudy darkness which man feels not because he wants senses such kind of motions are of use here and shall have their reward hereafter for God will be just to the nature of man giving it what it deserves but it hath nothing to do with that reward which belongeth to the new life and the motions of it Great is the mystery of the nature of man exceedingly hidden from man are the workings of that wisdom and righteousness which is therein in waies of Religion or devotion towards God The great principle of the life of it was sown and broken in Adam yet among these broken reliques there is a continuall motion progress and regress especially where there comes forth any thing with life and power to quicken and stir them up I do not mean life and power in an extraordinary way though that also hath been and may again be but in such a way as is ordinary to and in the common state of man To make this the better evident even to the eye of man which may see the outward part of this as well as of other truths I shall instance in some few very eminent particulars all which he cannot but acknowledg if he know but himself or have but had experience of himself herein But he that is in the dark and knoweth not neither the life of Christ on the one hand nor of his own nature on the other may very easily mistake the one for the other and confidently bolster up himself in vanity 1. There is in man a strong desire after God fain would he know him fain would he enioy him fain would he worship and serve him If he knew which way to please God he would lay out himself to the utmost he would spare no cost Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God c. Micah 6.6 Man in his very frame was a vessel fitted for God fitted to be a living house for him and cannot but most naturally long for his proper inhabitant He was made to serve worship and honor God other creatures have neither such a capacity nor such an inclination and he can never be well till he come to the thorow use and exercise of this his nature 2. There is also in him a strong sense of his own weak state He knoweth that he cannot come neer God that he cannot converse with God that he cannot enjoy God in this state and capacity wherein now he is He knoweth that he cannot learn the knowledg of God unless God condescend to teach him in a way sutable to his present estate Man is such an intelligent vessel as that he hath a sense of his own broken condition Man after his many shaterings yet hath so much understanding left him as in part to espy out his own brutishness in the things of God He seeth he feeleth his darkness and that he cannot reach that light wherein his life lieth 3. There is a great breathing in his spirit after the teachings of God fain would he hear the true voice fain would he be led by God into light and into life O how he pants O how he breaths after God after the living God! A formal dead knowledg of God will not serve the living nature of man but as the life sown in him is true life in its kind so it must have true life to feed upon Yet all this kind of life is death the whole strength of the natural life is dead before that which is spiritual Those objects which are living objects those motions which are living motions that principle which is a living principle in the region of man are all dead in the light and Kingdom of God So that man lives and moves truly in his way but not in the truth that which is life that which is truth with him is not so before God nor before that eye which is lighted by God in the truth Man The flesh The wisdom of the creature will enter into any way either of life or death that the Lord shall prescribe he will come within the lists of the Law and all that the Lord commandeth him there will he do He will come within the lists of the Gospel and live upon and obey God through Christ. It is natural to man as to feel the want of Gods teachings and to desire them so to follow them Though this is also true that there is a corrupt principle or corruption hanging about his natural principle which maketh him juggle so that he doth not walk evenly with God in any path Yet this is also as true that there is a natural principle which inclineth him to seek God and to be subject to him in every way he shall please to prescribe though through its own weakness and the corruption that hangeth about it it can rise to no great height It doth rise indeed often very high in mans esteem insomuch as he accounteth his devotion very high pure and spiritual but it is not so in the true Light and judgment of God Yea 5 thly The spirit of man will sow all his life and his death so often as he finds any flaw in it If this or that present strain of Religion appear faulty he will throw it away and if the next prove faulty likewise he will throw away that again The flesh seeking that which is substance cannot but part with that which upon search it finds not to be substance This is little thought of how eagerly the spirit of man will into the fire again and again that he may be purified how industriously he will seek out the cross of Christ and pray to God to crucifie him upon it that so he may dye the Death of Christ and live the Life of Christ. So far as the path of Christ is visibly excellent to mans eye and necessary to the end he aims at the nature of man so far as it is it self cannot but pursue it Yet all this profiteth nothing All this desire after God all this sense of himself and his own condition all this breathing of his after the true teachings all this seeking of life and death and all this giving up both of life and death that it may become a new seed losing its old nature form shape and corruption All these motions of flesh all these motions of mans spirit profit nothing It is true All these are very excellent and very profitable in their own place and station but here in this place in reference to this end they profit nothing For first These are not of the right kind What ever of these come from man or grow up in the meer nature of man are not
They who are truly dead with Christ are freed by that their death from their former husband the law The life which was married to it died and hath been laid in the grave and there is no marrying or giving in marriage any more even in this sence in the grave or after the Resurrection The life having dyed in that state and dispensation wherein it was brought forth and placed that it might fulfil it and dye and having slain the man also with it yea the very root and spirit of his life If either or both rise up any more they rise up free They can rise no more under the law of that dispensation to which they were slain So that the life in liberty is as it were a Lord over all the dispensations of God which as they are of an inferior nature to this life so it is their proper place to be in subjection to it He in whom the life lives reigns may in or out at pleasure use them or leave them as the light and pleasure of the nature of this life directs him He may take any of them and seem bound under them though in himself he is still free he may leave them off again and manifest his own freedom when he sees his time All things are lawful for me saith the Apostle but all things are not expedient as if he had said I can do any thing I can use any thing but yet withall I know my time My spirit which knoweth the greatness the largenes of my liberty knoweth also how to manage it And he shews as much in his practise for though at one time he could shave himself and enter into the Temple in a way of legal purification yet at another time when certain crept in to espy out his Liberty he would not give place by subjection no not for an hour but would maintain his Liberty in the very face of them He could make use of circumcision himself by vertue of this Liberty for he circumcised Timothy though he tells the Galathians that if they were circumcised Christ would profit them nothing Nor is this Liberty restrained to the life in it self but sinks with the life into the man All things were made for man All Creatures all Ordinances all Laws all Institutions and Commandments not man for them as Christ saith particularly concerning the Sabbath The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath and when man comes to his right place he shall be above them all and they shall all be subservient to him for whose service use and discipline they were made It is true Man in his present estate is a servant under them and enslaved by them yea the life it self though by the right of its own nature it be far more free yet for a season it may lie under greater bonds then man in his condition of slavery hath yet tasted but when the Son groweth up to his freedom he becomes free indeed yea and that man whom he maketh free is free also But it is a great vanity for any to dream of and to think to make use of and live according to this freedom before it be truly brought forth in them It is not by having the cleer notions and apprehensions of Liberty or by taking scope to themselves according to these notions that men become free but it is by the nature growth and advancement of the true life in them from and according to the true light and Power of the Spirit of the Lord. The former is but poor mans aspiring into a state into which he is not rightly led which tends to greater bonds The other is a fair passage through and from under bonds to which that person who is once set free by the truth shall never be reduced For the Lord will maintain that Liberty unto which his own Spirit Life and Power exalteth This is the First thing wherein Liberty consists a disobligation fâ—om all Laws and Ordinances inferior to the nature or life which is bound by them 2. Liberty consists in an exemption from all powers of a Superior nature If Satan may be supposed to be stronger then the life as he is compared with the life in its weakness though he that then stands by the life and taketh care of it is stronger then Satan yet the life shall be free from him The life which deserves to be called free must be out of the reach or fear of his claws The life is not free which Satan may interrupt or at least not while he may interrupt it Satan must down when the life springs up God will trample down Satan before the presence of the life nay under the feet both of man and the creature when the life appears in them The God of peace will tread down the troublesome spirit of Satan under the spirits yea and under the flesh too of all his Saints in the day of their freedom Nay the very Power of God so far as it was dreadful to Christ and to his Saints for they have always complained of that as the most terrible thing which they have had to deal with and indeed it is that that chiefly afflicteth and slayeth them in the hour of their sickness and death though all the time of their life it was their chief support I say this power they must be secured from too in the day of their Liberty God will not now interpose any more with his exercises as he formerly did in his time of nurturing the life but henceforth there issueth nothing from him but what answereth the nature and desire of the life 3. Liberty lyeth and that most of all in the cleerness strength and perfection of life in the temper of the spirit in the nature life and growth of the spirit If the spirit were never so free from all Laws on the one hand and from all powers on the other hand yet if it failed of cleerness strength or perfection of life it could not be perfectly at liberty If it want either light or strength of life to move with it cannot but fall short in its motions and though it were never so free in other respects yet it would still be bound up in the darkness weakness and imperfection of its own nature If mans reason were free from all Laws and bonds whatsoever yet if it were not full in its own nature if it wanted either light or strength in its kind man could not be free either in the exercise or enjoyment of his natural principle And this holds also in the spiritual principle Its Liberty lies in the perfection of its nature therefore though he may have a taste of it before yet he cannot be fully free until he be brought forth in perfection There must be a cleer spirit within a cleer course and passage for the spirit cleer light about the spirit and full strength and vigor in the spirit or there cannot be a through freedom If the spirit have any clouds
was forsaken of his God in the truth of his estate and condition but he also felt it and he did not only feel it himself but his enemies saw it too yea it was palpable to the common eye of the people and to all that beheld him All that see me laugh me to scorn they shooâ— the lip they shake the head saying He trusted in God th the would deliver him c. Is this the man that had so much interest in God Is this the man in whom the Power of God did so appear and who could do such mighty things by the Power and Vertue of God Is his Doctrine and Miracles his great Union and Communion come to this They shake their heads as at a deceit as at a delusion as at a piece of vanity they mock they spit upon him they buffet him c. They crown him in derision They reproach yea they abhor in their spirits the very power of his life in the day of his death Use. Behold O Christians the death of the life of Christ behold the Baptism of Christ the miserable passage to the Crown If ye will become Christs ye must dye not only to the corruption and shame but also to all the glory and excellency of this world and yet not stop there neither The life of Christ will put out the life of all other things and when it hath done so there is a death for it too The Spirit of Christ in the seed must pass through its own blood into the holy of holies Alas Sirs If there were nothing to pass through but a death to this world what an easie matter were it comparatively to be a Christian What an easie matter were it to despise and trample upon this world by vertue of such an excellent life in the Spirit To have that spirit in the seed broken which delights or may delight in the world it is bitter indeed to man but alas that bitterness is nothing in compare with that bitterness which ariseth from the breaking of the new life in the new spirit Would ye know what this is Why measure it by this by the sweetness of this life Do ye know how sweet it is to taste the true nature of the Life of God! to enjoy and live upon the breath of his Spirit to walk in the light and love of the Lord If ye truly know these things the true sweetness of them then ye may be able to give a guess at what it is to have them broken But as there have been counterfeit Images all along of the Life of Christ so are there also of his Death O what pains do several sorts of men take to find out this Death yea and to meet with the anguish of it but all to no purpose for the Lord alone can light and the Lord alone can extinguish this Lamp I kill and I make alive This holdeth true every where but here most especially The Lord alone can bring forth the next strain of life and the Lord alone can bring into this narrow passage of death XIII The Course and End of Man DEUT. 31.29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt your selves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you and evil will befall you in the latter days because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the works of your hands THis people who were the choyce of God among whom the seed of life was sown was a type of the spirit of man truly representing his nature and state more especially in these five particulars following 1. In his difficulty to be woond up to the mind and will of God in any dispensation There was a great deal of work with this people to bring them to any pass Continual Instructions continual Corrections a mighty current of Power and Providence did God both put forth and maintain to cause them to beleeve and obey both in Egypt and in the Wilderness and yet it proved a very difficult task to winde them up to either Thus it is with the spirit of man God is at a very great expence to bring him to any thing He is fain to let forth of his own Spirit of his own Light of his own Power and batter him out of all his fleshly holds before he can bring him to submit to him and walk with him in any of his dispensations 2. In his sudden backsliding This people did naturally fall from God They were hardly drawn up but did slide down of themselves What a work had God with them to make them beleeve and wait upon him what a many wonderful Works did he shew to draw them up to trust him to follow him to love him c. but alas how soon did they forget his Works and retire back into the fleshly principle and course of the Heathen and this both in Egypt and in the Wilderness and also in Canaan Thus it is also with the spirit of man Let God never so powerfully convince and engage him in the light and life of his spirit yet he naturally slinks back from it He corrupts himself in every dispensation of the Lord seting up his own lusts there serving them and forgetting the Lord his Maker and Redeemer He makes every path and truth either of the Law or Gospel serve his own carnal spirit in so much as though he walk in all the ways of the Lord as he accounts them yet he serves himself in all and not the Lord in any Mans flesh mans reason nay mans vanity and corruption gets into every way of the Lord polluting it self there and prophaning all the holy things of God It turns out of that which is indeed the way and walks in that which though it still calls it the way yet is not but only a way of its own for the very Ordinances and Institutions of God after the spirit of man hath entered into them and molded them to his own bent God will no longer own them but terms them his ways and inventions 3. In the season of mans corrupting himself which is after Moses his death after the death of the Witnesses after the departure or death of that life in him which seized upon him overcame him and as it were forced him into the ways of God When the light of God cometh down upon man and overbeareth his spirit he cannot but follow it but when that light is gone he returneth to himself again He turneth from the life from the purity of that into which he was led retaining only so much as will serve the ease quiet content and satisfaction of his own corrupt spirit There are gales of the Spirit of God which descend upon this earth the spirit of man Where these blow strongly man is hugely changed He hath as it were a new spirit in him whereby he is after a sort naturally led to follow the Lord. But when the Lord withdraweth this breath his
is peace The end of a man is that to which he tends that toward which his nature and all his motions bend their course that unto which he grows that which all his exercises and varieties in all the several dispensations through which God leadeth him contribute to Every thing hath its end There is an end of every dispensation and an end after every dispensation There is an end of all troubles an end of all motions an end of all rest an end of all peace which is known in this world Now there are two great Ends according to the two great Natures which are sown in this world which are Death and Life Ioy and Sorrow Anguish and Ease Heaven and Hell Peace is that quietness of Nature wherein it is and enjoys it self and what it desires Trouble is the disturbance of Nature Peace is its settlement There is trouble and there is peace now to be seen in the world but they are but shadows but the trouble and the peace which is the substance of the thing is to be discovered in the end and then that peace which belongeth to the nature and life of the perfect man shall be dispenced to him All old things all old trouble all old peace shall pass away and this new trouble and peace succeed and take hold of things according to their nature estate and degree But what this Peace particularly is none can apprehend but he who knoweth the nature the spirit and the trouble of the perfect man yet if you desire an outward description of it take it thus It is the perfect serenity and calmness both of the liquor and of the vessel of Life in the Land of Rest Where whatsoever might annoy or disturb is removed and which aboundeth with whatsoever may ease or refresh There is a Peace which passeth all understanding to conceive not only the extent but the very nature of it which is the end of the perfect man or at which the perfect man shall arrive in his end Here his inmost spirit clothed with his natural soul which is also encompassâ—d with an outward bodily garment shall sit down in their proper seat of perfect rest When the holy house or habitation of God is opened into which no unclean thing shall enter but be disturbed by it and suffer from it according to the nature and degree of its evil then shall this holy Child of God be admitted and welcomed into its own place and portion of rest and peace there Take notice also by the way of one great advantage this perfect man hath in any present dispensation of God The world is now very dark and barren and if a little light should break forth it would mightily refresh it But alas man would be lifted up above himself and distempered by it at present and afterwards he would dye again and become more miserable But the perfect man would both enjoy it more truly more fully more substantially at present and also not be in such danger afterward Because it would not be his life but his life would rather be Lord over it and so his chief happiness not depending upon it his chief happiness would not pass away with it Miserable is that man who is only differenced from the rest of the world by a present dispensation but happy is he whose difference lieth in the root of his own nature which changeth not in the midst of the varieties of all conditions or dispensations A lamenting and pleading Postscript HOw deep and true a sense my spirit hath had of my Fathers brethren and kindred according to the flesh understand me aright both of their present sad estate and future misery and what grief and lamentation it hath occasioned in me it so nearly concerning them of whom I once was and whom I always have loved and cannot but love tenderly still the Lord only knoweth Many times in the bitterness of my Soul have I complained in spirit and said unto my God O Lord God Behold how sweetly and comfortably that stands in others which thou hast so forcibly broken down in me If it were of a true substantial enduring nature why was it broken down in me Was I not most naturally formed by thy hand into plainness into simplicity into a low beleeving broken self-denying frame of spirit and this nakedly hanging not upon any worth or excellency in it self but upon the free dispensation of Life from thee of thine own meer grace from which it came and by which it hoped to live O why did the severity of thy hand go forth so bitterly against it How couldst thou find in thy heart to wound trample upon and destroy such a poor worm and no man But if it was of a nature devoted to death and destruction why is it suffered to stand in others Hast thou snatched me as a brand out of the fire O who can either endure to be so snatched out or to undergo the scorching heat thereof when it is once let loose upon his spirit Or how shall I bear the miserable sight of so dreadful burnings as must be kindled upon that which is left behind When thou once kindlest thy fierce flames ah what shall become of the poor dry stubble It is easie now to find a shelter while thy wrath is at a distance but alas what shall cover poor naked Adam for the most religious man which is not truly renewed is no better when thou walkest toward him with the bright piercing flames of thy Light O how tender hath my spirit been of this seduced wandering generation and yet thou hast made me only a stumbling block and not an help unto them Thou hast enforced me among others to give out a testimony against them and several warnings unto them but in such a way and after such a maner as they could not possibly avoyd being offended It is true O Lord Their spirits have not been able to withstand or acquit themselves in thy sight of what hath been testified against them but yet the testimony hath not come forth so as they might be able to consider and receive it It hath been spoken in such strange dialects as they understood not and also accompanied with such strange appearances as might seem rather to become the spirit of Satan then of God Yea Lord Satan hath made such a noise There have been such multitudes of his loud voyces and languages that thy low still voyce might easily be drowned No doubt O Lord but thou wilt be able to justifie thy self in all these things but in the mean time what shall become of these poor Souls Shall they always wander and please themselves this little moment which is their only time with strange invented vanities such as foolish vain man may admire and magnifie but the Spirit of the Lord knoweth not nor cannot own Dear Friends Let me plead a little with you once more from the tender love and pity of my Soul toward you Do ye consider what
hath been testified unto you and from whence that testimony may come for ought ye know Have ye dealt ingenuously with the Lord in this point or rather have ye not watched for the halting of those which have testified that so ye might harden your spirits in your own invented ways For if ye could make good that they once were the Lords yet they are not now his unless the same spirit and light did again lead into them and quicken them The Lord loveth Spirit and Truth but regardeth not a dead form although it were the very same wherein his Spirit once did live Can ye blame the Lord for preparing a stumbling block for you or for suffering or giving you up to stumble when ye your selves desire it Ye will have such and such Ordinances paths and practises to be the ways of the Lord every one according to his own imagination and cannot endure to hear any thing to the contrary Ye will be judging and measuring the things of God before ye have received either an eye or light or measure from him But I injure you ye have eyes ye have light ye have the reed of the Word and can measure things aright by that It is well so it must be But assuredly the Spirit of the Lord hath tryed and judged all your light all your ways all your knowledg and practises in Religion and hath found them scanty in his ballance scanty even of that true light nature and spirit which he seeketh to worship him and which he alone delighteth to be worshipped in Alas Sirs ye may please your selves awhile but ye cannot stand before the blasting breath of the Lord which bloweth upon all flesh and corrupteth it If the Lord hath testified against your duties as being things which he requireth not at your hands against your Ordinances and ways of worship as not being those which he hath appointed against your graces as not being of the nature of his Life and Spirit against your evidences for Heaven and happiness as not being such as will endure his tryal and touchstone yea against your very foundation as not being that which the Spirit of the Lord hath layd but which your own spirits by your own art and skill a little heightened perhaps by your study of the Scriptures and other exercises of your mind have fastened and built all upon I say If the Lord hath testified these things against you the Lord will not fail to make them good and whatsoever your confidences to the contrary are ye shall not prosper in them O consider this if ye love your Souls It is not a building upon Christ after the flesh it is not either a beleeving or obeying from any rational knowledg from a knowledg of the understanding though the heart and affections be never so much heated therewith accompanying it never so vigorously which will save any man but a building of a new nature upon the new nature of Christ. It must be a building of a new nature for Christ saveth his building his people his seed his Church and it must be built or founded upon the new nature of Christ for Christ himself saveth not according to the oldness of the letter but according to the newness of the Spirit It is not the building of such a new nature upon such a Christ as man will call so but a building of the truth upon the Truth Alas what a poor imaginary thing is the Christ which many if not most apprehend Christ consisteth not in the name but in the nature and in the spirit of the thing Now who knoweth the nature of Christ or of that God which dwelleth in Christ Who knoweth the nature of his Wisdom the nature of his Goodness the nature of his Greatness the nature of his Life Spirit c. Who knoweth the nature of the Father which begat or the nature of the Son who was begotten either in his life or death yea who knoweth himself Man doth not build himself I mean his own nature upon Christ but that which he calleth himself upon that which he calleth Christ. Here will appear to be strange work when the Lord searcheth into it Wonderful serious are men in their Religion and yet through the present thick darkness little do they know what they do Little do they perceive how they build an imagination upon an imagination It is very true that the Apostles had a true knowledg of Christ and that they came forth with a true knowledg of Christ and it then being the time of light that the Spirit of the Lord also went forth to quicken that knowledg where it pleased him unto the hearers But what knowledg is it whereupon men now build Who now knoweth the nature of the Lords Anointed which is the only Saviour Who looks into the Scripture now with a new eye I am sure with an old eye no man can see the things of God But I see the things of God wilt thou perhaps say therefore my eye is new Nay but thou seest with the old eye and therefore thy sight is not right Take heed lest thou be convinced of this too late O Lord God that ever man should give scope to himself in so great vanity as to lay the stress of his own eternal condition upon the motions of his own blind dark nature But who doth thus I acknowledg to thee O man that in thy light and according to thy measure thou doest not so but in the light of the Lord and according to his measure who doth not so Tell me true Doest not thou built upon Christ according to thy creaturely understanding Ah Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life the fleshly reason the fleshly understanding the fleshly affections of man are too gross to enter into either The first Adam how excellent soever cannot lay one stone in the building of God The eye of mans purest Reason cannot read one line in the Book of God O who knoweth God or his Christ or his Worship or any of his Truths We have a great deal of knowledg in the world why all sorts know but yet my spirit saith to all the sorts of this present generation Who knoweth God neither do I speak about the degree but concerning the true nature of knowledg The gross unclean spirit of man which it still is in the midst of all its Legal and Evangelical washings cleanness and purity cannot possibly see or be acquainted with the Lord. No unclean eye no unclean heart no unclean hand c. can ever come near the Life and Nature of God but only that which is truly changed Nothing can live in the presence of God but that which hath the true Life and Nature of God in it which groweth not from any institution or form of Religion whereby so many appearing changes are wrought in the world but from a true seed sown in the spirit of man by the Spirit of the Lord. Now do not mistake me
my self and pant after deliverance from such a kind of being There are two things excellent in the nature of man in this his present state The one is to know that which is above him To acknowledg his Lord and fear him The other is to walk righteously lovingly and sweetly towards his fellow creatures This was writ in the heart of man naturally It was writ over again in that dispensation to the Iews and yet again by Christ. We feel we are men and not God flesh and not Spirit and we are to reverence that which is above us that which we our selves are not but live from and yet further want the supply of yea although we lose the sense of this yet that doth not take away that obligation which ariseth not from our sense but from our nature and state We also know that we should deal justly mercifully sweetly and tenderly with our fellow creatures Let us say and think what we please yet we would be dealt so with our selves and do not esteem the contrary equal with it Alas how do we delude our selves by cherishing principles in our minds which the very secrets of our hearts judgments and consciences cannot but disown And are they so lovely as they are accounted Can those principles be very good which shut up or banish not only a new but the old common excellency of Nature and open and let loose all the filth and abomination of it Surely man is forward enough of himself to evil and unrighteousness as also backward enough to that which is good and just he need not thus egg himself on to the one and exclude himself from the other by poysoning his judgment already too much corrupt with such corrupting principles 3. Their destructiveness to the present state of mankind They overthrow the foundation of all sweetness security or comfortable converse This necessarily ariseth from the former for in that they strip a man of all those seeds of ingenuity and civil honesty which are yet left remaining in his nature or any way repaired by outward art or any inclination to or power of religion and introduce in their stead seeds of all manner of corruption they make him fit only for perversness and mischeif incurable and unavoydable As for instance He whose very principles allow him to and justifie him in lying as well as speaking truth defrauding as well as dealing uprightly He that can without any scruple rob me of my name estate wife c. beleeving in his very soul and conscience that he doth therein as well as if he did the contrary or did forbear so to do which way can I converse with him or secure my self from him This world is bad enough as it is but certainly did but these principles overspread it it would be far worse It would be a very Hell in respect of what it now is It would be such a seat of confusion oppression and misery as would make them themselves from whom these principles sprang and in whom they do most fully raign perfectly weary of it For such miserable principles are they that they can only harm them in whom they take place and others through them but can in no wise secure no not so much as them themselves who prostitute all their honour and excellency to entertain them This is most certain There is no truth nor righteousness upon the face of this Earth Man is so selfish blind and corrupt in his very root which all the art of common Nature or Religion can neither rectifie nor sway down that he cannot be true or just either to his neighbor or himself But though there is no truth of righteousness yet there is a shadow of righteousness whereby the present state of things subsists from whence that peace sweetness safety and enjoyment which man hath floweth Now to break down this shadow by the substance of that truth which man wants would be excellent service but to beat it down by a lye by confusion by darkness to thrust out this seeming righteousness by real filthiness and abomination this would both bring desolation upon the present seeming happiness of man and plunge him into a far deeper misery then that wherein he yet is He that will ascend let him first descend He that will through down righteousness let him first pursue attain and bring righteousness He that hath and can at pleasure fulfil the Law may challenge some liberty in undervaluing it but it very ill beseemeth him to make light of it who is yet in the strength and power of his nature and condition far beneath it 4. Their dangerousness in case of mistake Man is in a weak state cometh forth with a weak eye and hath but a weak sight and judgment of things How many sorts of men do some or other of them every day discover themselves deceived in their apprehensions deceived in their principles deceived in their practises Thou who art of this judgment how many dost thou apprehend deceived how often hast thou thy self been deceived before thou arivedst here Now suppose thou also shouldst be deceived as well as others and here again as well as formerly in other things and that there should at last prove both good and evil Light and Darkness Hell and Heaven the children of Light and the children of Darkness c. what a condition wert thou in Thou mayst say rashly Thou must take it as it falls but are thou sure that understandingly thou canst be content to do so Alas the Lord with his engines of misery will be too hard for thee Thou also wilt be made with all sinners to repent the stopping thy ears at the voyce of Wisdom and harkening to the enchantments of thine own seducing spirit which hath led thee like a fool to the correction of the stocks for alas thou knewest not that it was for thy life The testimonies which Christ gave concerning these things were not light nor upon light terms He dealt fairly and â—lainly speaking what he knew whose knowledg was nâ—ither small nor uncertain and wilt thou undertake upon a strong apprehension of reason to overthrow that divine light which shone in him The danger of these persons must needs be great for they do not only practise all manner of things which God Christ and Nature condemneth but they do it as good and they teach others to do so They call and that with a loud voice in the sight of the Sun evil good and good evil darkness light and light darkness confounding them together and equalizing them both laughing out of countenance all the wisdom of God in all his dispensations who hath professedly put a difference between them Now if these men be in the right they will have no great advantage for others will be as safe as they but doubtless if they be in the wrong their danger cannot but be exceeding great God hath baffled the reason of man in all its undertakings yea and he delights to make the
by which she is exalted and adorned in her greatest seemingly spiritual glory it is the root of the spirit which begets brings forth and feeds Sion even in her lowest ebb and diminution So that mark now you shall finde the same things in both All that you can finde in Sion you may finde in Babylon there is not any knowledg there is not any practise which the spirit of man cannot take up nay and perhaps go through with better then the seed but yet there is a vast difference they are still of a different nature which difference floweth from the difference of the root Therefore if a man will indeed know his estate and condition it is not to be done so much by considering of any thing that is in him or of any thing that floweth from him barely in it self as to search out thereby and therein the root from which it proceedeth Not so much to conclude I am safe because I repent or beleeve but to find out the true root from whence these flow to seek for the true nature in the things themselvs To make this to be more manifest I shall instance in some things of the greatest consequence and shew that the distinction among them doth arise from the nature of their root as particularly in these 1. In Regeneration 2. In Knowledg 3. In Repentance 4. In Faith 5. In Love 6. In Experience 7. In Liberty All which may grow from each from the root of mans nature dressed and purified and so be fleshly or from a new nature from the new creation of God in Christ and so be spiritual 1. For Regeneration You will say for a man to be born again this is the greatest evidence of life that can be yea but Regeneration it self is according to the nature of the root Mans spirit may enter into the womb of flesh and there be born again so saith Christ here speaking of regeneration speaking of the second birth that which is born of the flesh is flesh A man may be new born in Religion by the flesh that is by the use of his own wisdom and reason of serving and considering the things that are discovered by God in his dispensations especially if they be held out very cleerly and miraculously as the case was here Any man who had been ingenious might have acknowledged what Nicodemus did here That Christ was a teacher come from God and so consequently that there was just ground to receive his doctrine and beleeve in him Now that regeneration which ariseth hence which is from flesh which is from the use of any wisdom reason understanding or power in man it is according to this root it is a change of flesh from flesh into flesh it is all along but a fleshly change it is not the change of a mans spirit into a new nature but only a change of the shape and form of it The man indeed seems mightily changed unto himself new-born new-made he is not what he was but a new thing hath new thoughts of God new desires towards God new hopes a new life and conversation and so it is with him in a kind in a sence he is not what he was he is new but all this newness is but the newness of the flesh it is but the putting on a new garment a new dress on the old man on the old wisdom reason understanding ingenuity and integrity which belongs to the nature of Adam and may easily be found in that nature where it is any thing awakened and polished But now that regeneration which is from God that man who is brought forth again in the womb of his spirit that man who hath a new root from the seed of his life this change is truly spiritual this man is truly spirit cast this man into what shape and form you will he is still spirit The other mans Religion consists in his form which the sweetness and ingenuity of his earthly principle feeds it self in and exerciseth it selfe about so that take away his form and you take away his Religion but this mans Religion consists in the nature of his spirit in the nature of that root from which his spirit came and which it is one with 2. As touching Knowledg Knowledg is the next thing to the new birth when a man is new born in any kinde he is still brought forth into a new light in which he is to live according to which he is to move and act and by which he is to be perfected Now the spirit of man may be brought forth in any kind of knowledg light of every sort is surable to his spirit and according to the breaking of it forth still he can take it in Indeed what can more fully distinguish the Children of light then light and yet what light cannot the spirit of man the Child of darkness transform himself into what truth what mystery can be revealed which the spirit of man cannot suck in Though I had the gift of prophecy saith the Apostle and understood all mysteries and all knowledg c. and wanted love implying the possibility of such a thing There is a rationality in all the things of God which the reason of man may reach especially if it be assisted by God and yet that man not have a divine root in himself for want of which his knowledg cannot be call'd truly divine though it be from above The things themselves may be from above the discovery of them to him may be from above yea he may receive divine help in the receiving of them and yet that in him which receiveth them may be but flesh and may receive but the flesh of them Man receiveth but the rationality but the outward nature but the external knowledg of the things of God not the inward substance So that all his knowledg in heavenly things wherwith he abounds is but fleshly it is not true knowledg it is not the knowledg of the truth it is not true light it is not the light of the Lord it is not the light of a spirit lighted from the Spirit of the Lord but a light of man or if you will a fleshly light of God at which man hath lighted his fleshly spirit All the light which mans spirit is capable of in the things of God doth not argue life doth not argue truth to accompany it because it may be borne of the flesh and so be fleshly nay indeed is and cannot but be so All his knowledg of God of Christ of Sin Death Hel of life salvation and happiness and the way to each c. be it never so cleere and never so full in the heart yet it is all but fleshly because it is in a fleshly spirit proceeding from a fleshly root and can give forth it self but according to its own nature and can be received in but according to the capacity of that which receiveth it As man who receiveth these things into himself springs from a root
c. held forth and administred to them whereby they might proceed much further then ever the Jewes could Their state kind and degree of growth in Religion was very great above the Jewes which did arise from the advantage of their dispensation 1. They had thereby a deeper discovery of light then the Jews they had a deeper more inward and spiritual opening of the things of God in them and upon them then ever was dispenced to the Jews Those things which were dark and mysterious in those discoveries of God to the Jewes were manifest and plain in the light held out to them 2. They had a stronger life As that which God held forth to them was spirit so that which God brought forth in them was spirit for so it was in compare with that which was held forth to the Jewes and that which in was brought forth in the Jews They had a life them in and by vertue of that their dispensation fit to receive that strength of life which God held out to them All the life of the Jews was but death to that life which the Gentiles had by the Gospel 3. They had a more abundant power There was a power which did overshadow and accompany that outward people of the Jewes The outward power of the Lord as I may so say did great outward things for them But now There was an inward power of life dispenced to the Gentiles so that they found the very power of the life of the Lord dwelling in them and the Spirit of the Lord the very power of the spirit of the Lord dwelling in that life Nothing was too hard for that power to do which hovered about the Jews Nothing was too hard for that power to do which dwelt in the beleeving Gentiles but a beleeving disciple might be able to do all things through Christ feeding his spirit with life within in the dispensation of the Gospel 4. They had a greater union with Christ and a greater presence of Christ among them Christ was more in them Christ was more with them They were more in Christ they were more with Christ then the Jews were It was the same root into which both were received by its opening to each but the dispensation or manner of receit was far different It was the outward part which opened to receive the Jewes It was the outward part into which they were received It was the inward part which opened to receive the Gentiles It was the inward part into which the Gentiles were received Though this also be true that the Beleevers among the Jews were received into the inner part and those which beleeved not among the Gentiles were received but into the outward part The Jews had a kind of of union with Christ a presence of Christ a participation of Christ as is evident by the Ark among them and by the Manna and Rock in the wilderness which accompanied them which Manna was Christ and which Rock was Christ They did eat of that spiritual meat and drink of that spiritual drink 1 Cor. 10.3.4 They had also a light a life and pover in the Law leading them to Christ All their sacrifices and ceremonies taught them Christ and therein any that were any way skilfull could not chuse but read the Messiah But now in the Gospel there is a cleerer manifestation a fuller union a richer life a more mighty power a more inward and divine light a light of the Spirit of the Lord and a presence of the Spirit in that light Yet this also may be sown and grow up in the spirit of man where having not depth enough of earth for it to sink into and be nourished it must needs wither and dye The light of God sown in the Jews cannot live there for alas it is but the spirit of man there in which it is sown and that cannot feed the mighty life and spirit of the Lord It naturally receiveth in but what is sutable to it self and if any thing more be forced as it were upon it so that it cannot but admit it yet upon advantage of the disappearing of that power or of the increase of its own strength it soon thrusts it out again And the light of God sown in the Gentiles cannot live then neither for that is but the spirit of man also And though the spirit of man be raised a little higher by an higher light communication of God in Christ and thereby become much more changed even into a spiritually glorious estate and condition yet remaining still himself at bottom he will spue up all again at last and return unto himself This new people of God the Gentiles do as naturally slide back from their life from their God from their Christ as ever the Jews did so that this can be the standing people no more then the other It requireth great cost to bring either of these peoples to any thing but with much ease at any time they either of them slide back from that which they were woond up unto by the mighty power and presence of the Spirit of the Lord. So that mark now This converted Gentile This transplanted Gentile must needs fall from the truth He is not entered deep enough into the root nor hath not depth enough in him to receive the root so that this present station of his in the root with the present union and communion between them by vertue of the present dispensation by which he is as it were woond up out of himself and his own nature into this must needs vanish in time The ground which is not prepared by the spirit and nature of the Lord and so made good in it self cannot alwaies retain and give nourishment to the seed of God but must one time or other cast it up again The person who is thus enlightened enlivened how far soever in this way he be assisted and owned though he taste of the heavenly gift and of the powers â—f tbe world to come and be made partaker of the Holy Ghost c. yet for all that cannot but fall away That which is Adam at bottom will return to his own principle in the conclusion how far soever he be exalted beyond it at present by vertue of the most lively dispensation whatsoever 3. There is the spirit of man renewed in God through Christ the spirit of man new made in his own nature by the nature of another root the spirit of man new begotten new born of water and the spirit the spirit of man truly converted and changed into the nature vertue life and power of the Kingdom by the seed and leaven of the Kingdom and this spirit which is thus born of God is so united to the Lord as to become one with him not in this or that outward respect but in his own inmost life and nature This alone is the truth This is the true birth The union of this spirit is the true union when the spirit of a man is so