8. Matth. 15.14 and say they have heard the word of the Lord and they have seen a vision when the Lord hath not spoken by them and they have seen nothing If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the pit for he that comes out and saith that he can discover the Tabernacle or that any can remove the cloud from the Tabernacle but the Lord himselfe he is a blasphemer and a lyer But I know they will object and say Obj. 2 Indeed if we consider men naturally in their sinfull condition they are ignorant in the things of God and are even as the Heathens but we have the Scriptures given to us and they contain the mind of God And having this help we by our wits and learning and industry are able to know the mind of God for we know and understand the Hebrew and Greek and Syriack Languages Truly Answ if it were so that they did so it were well but that very word to which they appeale in the very Letter of it witnesses against them for the word witnesses that it is a sealed book Esay 29.11 12. Rev. 5.3 1 Cor. 12.3 2 Cor. 3.6 Luk. 8.10 Mark 4.11 Matth. 11.15 Mark 4.9 Luke 8.8 Luke 24.45 whether delivered to the learned or unlearned and none is found worthy to open it but the Lamb the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah and that none can so much as say Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy ghost and again that the letter kils but the spirit gives life and to you it must be given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom or you cannot know them and when Christ spake with a lively and audible voyce and spake and preacht so as never man did yet said he very often he that hath eares to heare let him heare and so t is said of the Disciples that Christ opened their understandings when he was risen again although he himselfe had taught them the same things before his death yet t is said Luke 24.45 then opened he their understandings that they might know the Scriptures that it behoved him according as it was written in the Prophets and Psalms to suffer and rise again the third day So that hence it is clear there is not any wisdom learning or knowledge in the world that can unseale this book for though it be the declaration of the mind of God through those Saints and Apostles by whom it was written yet never can any man read the mind of God in it but by the same spirit that taught it and unless the same Spirit that raised up Iesus Christ from the dead doe quicken us Rom. 8.11 2 Cor. 6.14 Although the learnedest men in the world open it it will not raise up our mortall bodies nor be any savour unto life Now from hence let but the world judge who are the BLASPHEMERS and what is blasphemy if this be not We say none can truly teach the spirits of men but God himself and none can come to the Father but by the Sonne and he to whom the Sonne will reveale him And they say Matth. 11.27 the way to understand the Scriptures is to get learning and the tongues and to reform their lives to get into this or that fellowship I say this sharply reproves them that say they can open it with the WOODDEN and fleshly key of carnall wisdom and humane learning for we have shewed how there is a cloud upon the tabernacle to this day that none can remove but only God Himselfe not onely in regard of men but of Saints for though a Saint be brought to see into the Tabernacle and to behold the glory of the Lord yet when God pleaseth a cloud shall interpose it selfe that this Tabernacle shall be hid and covered again and again nay it shall be in hiding and opening continually unto the soule * Mark this for the glory of the Tabernacle would not be made out were there not a cloud to make it out by the strength of the Lord would not be made out were there not weaknesse to make it out by the light of the Lord would not be made out were there not darknesse to make it out by and therefore there is a cloud on the tabernacle and t is the Lord only that removes it that they may goe on in all their Journeys and when he doth it not they must sit still and he doth it for this very end that the glory of God may be more made out and that the soule of man might more fully more gloriously and more welcomly enjoy those discoveries Light cannot be made out in light and wisdom in wisdome but light in darkness and wisdom in folly and strength in weakness and fullness in emptiness and riches by poverty and grace by sin Alsufficiency by insufficiency and nothingness and even things that are high in things that are low one deep calls unto another the DEEPNESSE of that glory and FVLLNESS that is in God calls upon that DEEPNESSE and EMPTINESSE and nothingness that is in and upon the poor Creature and this is that Cloud that is still covering and removing from over the Tabernacle that the Glory of the Lord may be made out in and by that cloud that we may know and behold that glory that was hid from us and that we may know how pretious it is by the cloud that with-holds and covers it from us And again that we may know light is not in mans hand as Peter said Master let us be here and build three Tabernacles c. So I say Luk. 9.33 it is that man may not build a Tabernacle of his own least he should say he was Master of it and would think to give and carry the light where he pleased but with a Christian it is otherwise ordered that he might walk in darkness Esa 50.10 and stay himself upon his God so that the condition of a true Christian is not like the men of the world with their light for they are the Orderers and Masters of it But it may indeed be said of your ordinary formal Christians that they have a light never goes out in regard of their forms of Church-Government so that their candle is always burning and they are Masters of their own light and if it be out they can light it again and recover it by their own pains and industry but it is not so with those that truly fear God For when the light appears then they walk and journy but when their light appears not then they must stand still for they dare not go nor stir till the glory of the Lord appears and leads them and that the Lord Himselfe goes before them Further if this Cloud be removed onely by the hand of the Lord then I say First it shews plainly the vanity pride folly and uselessness of mens labouring to remove it in their taking upon them that which belongs to God and First I say it discovers
the corner it is rejected and laid by even by those that account themselves Master builders and this is the Lords doing and it s marvailous in our eyes Again another ground why the souls of men come not to Christ Reas 3 is because the appearing of Christ in the spirit makes all the hidden things of mans heart lie open even that which man himselfe never saw nor never thought was in him and this man hates and will not abide to see nor behold that depth of pride that selfe-glorying hypocrisie c. and taht bottomlesse pit of misery mans eye never looked into himself into his own heart but in the day of the appearance of Jesus Christ all this is discovered and laid open therefore man would by no means come to Christ because the appearing of Christ discovers his sin and condemnation man loves his own life skin for skin and all that a man hath will be give for his life but he that loseth his life shall find it Job 2.4 Mat. 10.39 John 3.19 therefore our Saviour tells us plainly that this is the câ—ndemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil for he that doth evil hateth the light neither comes to the light lest his deeds should be made manifest that they are evil So here the ground is rendred why the Gospel is Condemnation to the sons of men the Gospel brings light but men resist it hate it Certain it is that the light of Christ is in every creature for he is the true light that enlightens every one that come into the world Joh. 1.9 Mat. 6.23 And if this light that is in us be darkness how great is that darkness Here is the condemnation of all the sons of men that they dare not stand in the light of Christ not being able to behold hell in their own hearts but labour by all means to cover it for the light of Christ would shew them that there is no thought action or duty or performance that ever they did that had any thing of purity in it but it was all sin Now man not daring to see his own misery therefore he runs from this light and gets himselfe behinde any tree He runs from the appearance of him that sits upon the Throne and so resolves he will not see his own misery death and condemnation Rev. 6.16 neither will he believe it though he be told it by an Angel from Heaven he will not come to the light lest thereby he may know or be convinced that his deeds are onely evil Againe this is the work of the Father to draw men unto Christ because no lesse then infinitness and Eternity is able to bring God and man together the separation between God and man is so vast and they are at such an infinite distance since his fall that nothing but Infinitness can bring these two infinite ends together for the soul of man in one sin sins against an infinite God in any one sin it goes out and turns away from the infinitnesse of all blessednesse good joy glory and peace and so goes down into the infinitness of nothing for nothing is a kinde of infinitness and he is indeed gone into a far Country Luk. 15. 13. as the Prodigal was now therefore nothing but the infinite powers and infinite wisedome and strength that is in the Lord is able to bring life out of death something out of nothing therefore there is nothing to bring the heart of man out of that far country wherein to it is gone and out of that bottomless pit into which is is fallen nothing can do it but infinitness and eternity 2 Cor. 4.14 nothing but the same spirit that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead can quicken our mortal bodies there is nothing I say able to do it but the same spirit to bring a poor soul from hell and condemnation and make it one in unity with the spirit And therefore the Apostle witnesses Eph. 2.13 you that were aliens hath he made nigh by the blood of Christ Eph. 2.13 and you that were sometimes afar off hath he made near by the blood of Christ So now I hope this appears a truth to you and I hope the Lord will make it so in you by experience till then it is not a savour of life unto life for except you have the Scriptures made good in the power thereof in your own hearts what are the Scriptures to you And I have alledged them for that very end that you may finde and say These things are all fulfilled not only among the Jewes and at Jerusalem but really and truely in my selfe So then I hope some of you see it is the alone power of the Father that draws the soules of men unto Christ otherwise no man can come unto him But give me leave yet a little farther for the clearing it and explaining it by the way What this power of the Father is or how the Father doth draw or bring the soules of men unto Christ God is said to be a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth Joh. 4.23 God is nothing but life glory and power spirit and immortality and whatsoever thing we could have a notion or similitude of that is able to set out strength and life and glory and wisdom yet all these come infinitly short of setting out the strength and power of the Lord of Hosts the great Jehovah who is Psal 121.5 he that keeps Israel Psal 121.5 he that keepes Israel neither slumbreth nor sleepeth so that is is to be cleared what power it is that brings the spirits of men unto Jesus Christ Certainly there is nothing but the same eternal spirit that was in Jesus Christ it is the same immortal and immediate hand and power of God that doth ever raise up the soule of man and bring it unto Christ and nothing but that spirit only and therefore from hence is that of the Apostle that no man can so much as say that Jesus is the Lord but by the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 Joh. 3.5 and except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God for t is all one and t is wrought by one and the same Almighty Spirit to say that Jesus is the Lord by the spirit and to be born of the spirit for man to say confess so ten thousand times if he do not feel him to be the Lord and the Almighty in him all his confessions in words are nothing And by one spirit saith the Text ye are all baptized into one body even the whole body and they all testifie one and the same thing that there is but one spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 Eph. 4.4 one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all Eph. 4.4 and they have all been made to drink into
one spirit which is that One Boundless Infinite and Eternal Spirit of the Father that like the wind bloweth where it lifteth and we may hear the sound and tasste the operation of it in us Joh 3.8 but know not whence it cometh nor when it will work but cometh and goeth when it pleaseth and not in the least when men will they have no command of that free and good spirit It is onely this one spirit that makes the soul one with Jesus Christ therefore the Apostle witnesses if Christ be in you Rom. 8 11 he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by that spirit that dwelleth in you this is that spirit that searches all things and tries all things even the hidden things of God 1 Cor 2.10 this is that living spirit that blows upon the dry bones the spirit of the four winds that blows upon the dead and rotten bones Ezek. 37.4 and the blowing of this spirit brings sinew to sinew bone to bone and this makes them live and stand up before him and there is nothing else but this spirit that doth it there is nothing can be conjoined with it However men may say and keep a great deal of busling about the power of man that so it may not be said there was any to help him yet I say it is the spirit of God alone that draws man to Jesus Christ that it may not be said that his Idol hath done it for otherwise the mouths of all would not be stopped Ibid. 48.5 Rom. 3.19 Zach. 2.13 and all flesh would not become silent before him Neither would it be said that the Saints rejoyce in nothing else but in the Lord Jesus alone Obj. But I know it will be objected Oâ—bj though God doth thus and he onely draws the soule to Jesus Christ yet this is not done without means and instruments Answ First Answ truly I grant it is so but the wayes of God are like himself infinite and he is infinitly wise and his wayes are past all the thoughts and imaginations of the hearts of men for eye hath not seen Rom. 11.33 1 Cor. 2.9 nor ear heard nor is the heart of man ever able to finde out the secret wayes of the Lord. Secondly God hath not onely determined a thing but determined also by what power and instruments and means he will bring it to passe but in this it is otherwise with God then with man Man may propose a means to an end that is weak and may faile but God never intends and purposes an end but the means is as infinite as himselfe and as eternal and omnipotent as himselfe so that his meanes cannot faile he speaks and it shall and must come to pass 'T is true God hath ordained the means by which he brings men to Jesus Christ Psal 33.9 but this means is hiw own power and spirit and strength Obj. But thou wilt say Obi. Is it solely by himself alone without an Organ and Instrument is there not something subordinate Answ Truly the workings of God have alwayes a subject wherein to be manifested Answ as in man there is the soule which is the Recipient and subject in which the things of life and death are acted there is usually an Organ And how should they hear without a Preacher Rom. 10.14 yet both the Organ and the Preacher are empty dead things And if I or any man in being exercised about the things of God should look upon our selves otherwise quite laying by all thoughts of power wisdom ability to do any thing but to be only as a Pipe or Cistern through which those divine things passe and no more we take that praise to our selves which is alone due to God Now though it be so I say that this Organ is but a dead thing through which the life of God passeth if we be any thing else in our message and speaking to you but as men that have denied our selves laid aside our own wisedome strength conceits and abilities and all the workings of our own heads if we be not dead to all things that so the Lord may speak through us then I may boldly say we are not those Instruments and Embassadours by which he entreats his people to be reconciled unto him 1 Cor. 3.6 Therefore be pleased to consider that place of the Apostle in 1 Cor. 3.6 I have planted and Apollo hath watered So then Paul may be called a Planter and Apollo a Waterer but doth he goe no farther nay saith he Neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth any thing Vers 7 but God that gives the encrease thoug they may improperly be called PLANTERS and WATERERS yet neither is the Planter any thing nor the Waterer any thing So that it is clear it is no otherwise but thus It pleased God out of his own love and goodnesse to condescend so low as to speak the Words of Eternal Life mercy by us and to one another that men of the same Blood and Frailtie should become Instruments and no other in the hand of the Lord taking no glory to themselves in any thing onely to be as weak and fraile and dead Instruments whereby the Lord will speak out the Words of Eternal Life But this creature is to be considered as nothing at all neither is he that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God is all therefore I say 1 Cor. 3.7 till it be so with us that we are dead to all our own wit and reason and all our understanding till these are killed and dead and we stand onely waiting upon the Lord as Habakkuk saith Hab. 2.1 Hab. 2.1 I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer I say when the soule is thus dead and silent to his own wit to his own selfeseeking to all his own opinions of wisdom or strength or parts I say there is no man which is a true Prophet or a Messenger from God till then For all the Prophets and Embassadours from God come thus qualified and they are not ashamed thus to shame themselves and to be as nothing in the eyes of themselves and others that so the Lord alone may be lifted up and exalted in them And when God appears thus in the poor dead Organ then usually God works in them and by them For saith the Apostle We have this treasure in earthen vessels 2 Cor. 4.7 God useth Organs and Instruments but there is no Efficiency in the Instruments for notwithstanding all that I can say and speak if the eternal sense and mind of the spirit be not at the back of it and goe home with it it will be but a Parable a History and a Paradox to you Mat. 13.11 Saith Christ to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom So then
had or John or any of the Apostles if thou experiment not the same things without question this is the truth and the life whatever the men or the Masters of the Letter or of the City of the Letter say unto you The words that I speak unto you saith our Saviour they are spirit and they are life Joh. 6.63 they are not onely a dead Letter to the ear and to the understanding but they are quickning spirit declaring true death and true life in us The Scripture in every part there of holds forth either evil or good death or life light or darknesse heaven or hell the Temple of God or the Temple of Idols Christ or Belial that is either man in his lost miserable blind dark undone and helish condition or else Christ the Saviour the life the light the glory the happiness the Redeemer of man Now if we have not experience of either of these two in our selves all reading hearing preaching praying sacrificing is in vain 2 Cor. 3.6 and the Scriptures are no other to us but the killing and deadly letter Lastly we will name one more of their Sorceries and Inchantments and so conclude and t is a very great one In that they take upon them the very Office and place of Christ they think themselves and call themselves Teachers and Divines and men must come to them as to the Oracles of God and they are the Priests lips which shall preserve knowledge come to us and hearken to us and we will direct you and teach you what means and what rules and ordinances ye shall use and which is the way to Heaven when as Christ saith plainly call no man Father nor no man Master upon earth for one is your Master and one is your Father Luke 14.11 c. Joh. 6.44 which is in Heaven but he that is greatest among you let him be your servant And whosoever shall exalt himselfe shall be abased and he that shall humble himselfe shall be exalted And saith again No man can come to me but by the Father and except the Father draw him And again I am the way the truth and the life And yet they say come to us joyn your selves in fellowship with us and conform to us and walk with us for we have the best means we will shew you the best way we have overlookt and examined all other Church-fellowships and none like ours we are squared according to the primitive pattern and to the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 and the word it self justifies all our rules and our way of worship And they say moreover we have the word of the Lord with us and for us and we have the mind of Christ with us we have a dream and we have a revelation and we have seen a vision when indeed they have seen nothing but have stole the word of the Lord from others and borrowed of their neighbour of this and that Authour and have searched what this man saies or that man writes of such and such points and then come and cry the word of the Lord when the Lord hath not spoken in them nor to them but boast of things without their measure 2 Cor. 10 14 c. 1 Joh. 1.1 speak not the things that they have seen and heard and that their hands have handled of the word of life but as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 10. Who seek to commend themselves boasting of other mens labours and experiences and not of their own boasting beyond their line of things not distributed to them 2 Cor. 10. Vers 15. Ezek. 13.6 7. and yet will say The Lord hath spoken and this is the Word of the Lord and yet never found it The Word of the Lord in them or to them neither have they seen any thing nor the Lord hath not spoken unto them And therefore what ever they may say they cannot make it out to the hearts of others but they talk of it at random and by guesse and they say t is so and it must not be questioned for all other received Orthodox men forsooth have said it Are these Prophets think you of the Lords sending have these received the Word at his mouth Ibid. 3.17 No no but they are furnished by their learning and parts and acquirements and so of and from Man And so likewise not onely is the Prophet deluded but the people also for they have joyned themselves with these Prophets and there they will stick and their faith is pind upon their sleeves Oh such a man he is a sound man and he cannot erre and they will heare no where else And so this Prophet as thou takest him to be becomes Thy Pope and thy Holy Father for to him thou givest heed and him thou followest and obeyest And this is the great inchantment in our times when men forsake Jesus Christ the true and only Teacher and depend upon men This is a great mischiefe and a grievious plague but the world is not sensible thereof but blesse themselves in this great evil What say they shall we forsake our Ministers shall we let the Gospell and the preaching of the Word fall to the ground God forbid As though men upheld the Gospel and men could teach the Gospel It is then Gospel to thee when Jesus Christ makes it glad tidings in thy heart and when there is nothing in Heaven and Earth more wellcome to thee and when thou hast forsaken and laid down thy selfe to receive it But till we come to see that there is no other father no other Master but Jesus Christ in all the world in heaven or earth we are certainly inchanted and deluded and are under a spirituall CHARM But be it so Object then what reason is there that we should heare you or receive what you say T is true if I should say otherwise in regard of my selfe Answ I should also be a deluder a lyer and a charmer and a Southsayer I would by no means you should look at me or regard me as if I could doe anything I desire to be no other but as a dead instrument used by the Lord and would not be thought of or esteemed any thing I am no more fit to speak then any of you all if God will speak by you ye may all prophesie one by one as the Apostle saith God forbid that I should think my selfe better then any other Saint of God or think my selfe more honoured by standing in a high place above you the Lord hee knows my heart An hill or a mountain in the field were as fit for me any place I passe not but onely for conveniency of Hearing So the Lord wil but set up himselfe and magnifie his own name which he will doe let my praise my glory lie in the dust and I would be no more stirred and disquieted in spirit with any such thing then a man that is naturally dead And therefore let them look to it Math.
garments rolled in blood hast thou seen the massacre of thy own life and the burning and the spoil and the fewel of fire in thee Then this shall be a sign to thee that to thee the Child is born and the Son given And thou hast then seen him to be the Mighty God the great Councellour the Wonderful and the Prince of peace Beloved you may talk what ye will of this mark and tother sign for saith Christ Ver. 6. Indeed the men of this Generation seek after signs but let them never once name and other sign till they finde this sign in them Have ye found this cutting off from your selves and this planting by the Lord alone Never tell me of Ordinances nor of Washings nor of Breaking bread nor of any of your rules or forms mind you only this signe this mark before ever ye look for any other of being risen with Christ and the like He that knows not these things in himself knows nothing Christ comes not to send peace before he hath sent the sword Mat. 10.34 What 's now all your doings all your dippings washings baptisms if ye have not this Baptisme all the other can never make the doers thereof nor the commers thereunto perfect Heb. 9.9 10.1 And till this be all your baptisms and worships are but from men and not from Heaven and all your Ordinances are but the Ordinances of men neither do you know what an Ordinance of Christ is for all these are but shadows your Sabbaths your new moons all things of this nature for the body is Christ Col. 2.17 If Christ himselfe will make use of these then indeed they are HIS Ordinances and there is life and power in them but as men use them they are empty cold dead and they change not the commers therunto at all for they are alive still and their spirit is yet whole in them and they have no change wrought in them from the men of the World for they are as much in love with honour and credit and all the things of the world as any other men Mat. 7.20 Col. 3.1 by their fruits ye may know them and yet they professe to be risen with Christ and to seek those things that are above why because they mistake things that are above But because they go to Church and hear and pray and fast and conform to Johns Baptism therefore they conclude they mind the things of God and seek after them Beloved to be risen with Christ is another manner of thing and it must be done by another manner of power then these men ever felt Even the very same Almighty power that raised up Iesus from the dead else they do but delude themselves This work is done by no other but by his own eternal spirit And men need not seek to any other help or means but him as thinking they can doe themselves any good But here now comes in the common Objection at which all men having not the work wrought in themselves stumble and fall Obj. and over this block they cannot get Although it is true that God does all and he must give a new heart Ezek. 11.19 and take out the stony heart and give an heart of flesh Thus far they will joyn in with you But must not man do his part and use the means that it may be effected This indeed hath been Answ and is and shall be the great stumbling block in all ages for men having not the experience of these things done in themselves they dreame of mans doing acting and working and he must put himselfe upon this duty and that when as I told you before no man seeks for Heaven as this Heaven and how then can he use the meanes for it when he never once desires the true Kingdome of Heaven but hates it opposes it runs from it useth all his inventions and weapons offensive and defensive to keep it out and desires the Lord to depart from him Job 21.14 Mat. 8.34 for be desireth not the knowledge of his wayes and with the Gergesens rather then they will part with their swinishness and that mire wherein they wallow they will meet Christ and desire him not to come neere them but to depart out of their coasts so well do all men out of Christ love him and seek after him or use meanes to come to him But to answer more particularly I do not ☜ nor never did deny the use of the meanes in the hand of the Father for the meanes do nothing but the Fathers hand only And God never intended a carnal meanes should effect a spiritual work He is a spirit and those that worship him John 4.24 must worship him in spirit and truth The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual And they are mighty in the hand of God 2 Cor. 10 4. John 3.6 not in the hand of man not in our selves but in him That which is borne of the flesh is flesh but that which is borne of the spirit is spirit And what is it that men make out about this Objection but this that men must do and men must strive and men must watch 't is true what meanes soever God pleaseth to use shall prevaile but if use by man it does nothing at all can a spiritual thing come out of a carnal can a cleane thing come out of an uncleane And therefore 't is cleare to me and to all the people of God and to their experience That the Lord makes no use of mans power or strength or wisdome or watchfulnesse or industry but what is done in man Gen. 1.3 't is purely the hand and power of the Lord. If HE say the word Let there be light in such a soul 't is done if he say to the Lepers Luke 5.12 17.17 Mark 7.34 v. 14. Chap. 5.24 be ye cleane 't is done If he say to the eares EPHPHATHA be ye opened And young man I say unto thee Arise And to the sick Arise take up thy bed and walk then the work is done But men not knowing the work and power of God they are alwayes Harping on this string on mans power acting working striving and the like I but they object further I Object but must not man use external meanes as Preaching and hearing and reading the Scripture and the like Answ Although he do Answ yet what doth all this do except the power of God be in it The Lord is pleased in this Book of the Bible to speak out the things belonging to the Kingdome of Heaven and he is pleased to stoop so low to us to represent by external things those things that are high and spiritual and saving but alasse they are all MYSTERIES and they cannot be known but in the light of God and not in the light of man but as God is pleased to make them out in man else no man knows what they meane in their own nature And
henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 Were the Apostle here among us and should bring such dctrine it would seem very strange to tell us That all our fleshly and external apprehensions of Christ must passe away And if he himself must not be regarded in that kinde For the comforter cannot come except he go away John 16.7 Ibid. 6.63 And the flesh profits nothing it is the spirit that giveth life or quickneth Then much more call your shadowes formes Ordinances washings breaking bread For while you rest in these and esteem of these Christ in the spirit or the comforter cannot come Therefore 't is expedient for you that I go away as to all these things else I cannot send the comforter who shall lead you into all truth I but this doctrine overthrowes the power both of the Magistracy and Ministry Object for we had thought they had been the only men to propagate the Gospel I answer Answ Did Christ ever command you to go to Cesar or to the Ministers to propagate his Gospel He bids you only Mar. 12.17 Give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars viz to yeild them Civil obedience and pay them tribute and afford them your help for carrying on of the publick charge for the preservation of the Nation but it was far from his thoughts to make the Magistrate a Judge in spiritual things How uncertain a way were this And how often are ignorant and blinde men sat up who know nothing in divine things And indeed where shall we finde men fit to Judge or fitly qualified for that businesse If it were so Christ had laid a ground for the setting up the greatest persecution that ever the Sun saw For the Magistrate and too commonly also the Ministers call evil good and good evil Esay 5.20 light darknesse and darknesse light And for the Ministers when did Christ ever or his Apostles send you to them but he saith The Harvest is great and the labourers few Luke 10.2 pray ye the Lord of the Harvest that HE would send forth faithful labourers into the Harvest Is man able to Judge who are fit to be labourers to work in the Lords Harvest If he be blind as most certainly he is he is only fit to lead the blind Indeed 't is true in all ages the Harvest is great and the Labourers few How few are there of those that pretend to be Ministers and Labourers and Pastors and Gatherers of the Lords Sheaves in his Harvest that do so much as know truly the Lords errand but bring things taken up on trust and borrow here and there Jer. 23.21 and yet say Thus saith the Lord when he hath not sent them nor spoken to them but bring forth the dreames and visions of their own heart so leading people on with meer fancies and dreames that they are Christians and they are brought into the Sheepfold when 't is neither so nor so And againe what strange contradicting doctrine do these men bring to say Christ does all and we cannot do the spirits work without the strength of the spirit and without this we are in Bonds and cannot stir one foot and he accepts no service but what comes from himselfe and much to this purpose And yet by and by man must improve grace and he must nourish this plant and cherish it and he must preserve the seed of God in him that it may not dye And he must repent and believe and performe the conditions required on his part to doe and apply the promises and the like doth not all this clearely shew they understand not what they say nor whereof they affirme 1 Tim. 1.7 Is not this to affirme and deny the same thing both at once If this be not to begin at the wrong end I know not what is but this is the course of the world to put men upon getting and doing Whereas the way of God is to strip man of all his power to reduce him to his own nothingnesse to work the work himselfe And he that hath found God in him acting and doing he sees it was none of his work but while men set man thus upon his own doing man comes to be lifted up in his own sight and he glories in himself and in his own power and he thinks himself a forward Christian and he is some body and he is a wise man in his own conceit And those that do not as he does they are ignorant wicked and prophane but a true Christian he finds no power no deliverance no planting but by the band of the Father and he lives on that sap and nourishment which he receives from the root Jesus Christ And though he act or live Gal. 2.20 Esay 26.12 yet it is not he but Christ liveth in him and workes all his workes for him And he finds and knowes if he attempts to doe any thing in his own name or power or thinks that he must do this or he can do that That he in that takes the crown from off the head of Jesus Christ and crownes himselfe therewith Then which to a true Christian nothing is more hateful and he knowes in experience That every plant the Heavenly Father hath not planted must be rooted up And as the Prophet Isai saith 41.29 Behold they are all vainity Esay 41.29 their works are nothing and their molten Images are winde and confusion THE SAINTS Perfect Freedome OR Liberty in CHRIST asserted In opposition to all Yokes of Bondage By Mr. Jo. WEBSTER Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street GALAT. 5.1 Stand fast therefore in the libertie wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage THe Apostle Beloved that he might establish the hearts of the Galathians upon that foundation which is Eternal unalterable and unmovable he useth in this Epistle many arguments to confirme their faith and among many other arguments in the latter end of the fourth Chapter he speaks there of the roots or the two seeds that are in all the sons of men And the one are the children and off-spring of the bondwoman being alwayes in bondage as Hagar was with her children and are not to inherite the blessing but to be cast forth and in the MYSTERY this is that outward Jerusalem wherein the Jew so much boasted viz. of his formes and outward worships and because they were the outward and carnal seed of Abraham and were circumcised and the like all which was nothing for all those things did typifie and hold forth the true seed and the children of the Free woman and the seed of the promise for these also are like their mother which bore them even that Jerusalem which is above which is free and is the mother of us all that is of all the children of the promise and though this mother be a long time barren and beareth no children yet she shall bring forth then it shall be said of her as it is
eat or receive me but he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood for my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed and no man can give or take of this bread but my Heavenly Father only giveth you of that Heavenly Bread Ioh. 6. Ibid. 6. T is not the outward flesh of Christ or his external body was the life of the world But that same spirit and nature that was in Christ is to be in as many as do receive him this and no other is the life of the World viz. Christ his comming into the souls of men discovering them to be of the seed of that evil one and to be deceived to be lost to be in darkness and discovering the works of Darkness making manifest the works of the Devil and that he dwels in the soul under a disguise pretending himself to Christ when he is a Devil and Antichrist and is no other but the father of lyes Now Christ without us never does this but when he does it in us then is fulfilled that of the Apostle to the Galathians Before whose eyes Iesus Christ hath been evidently set forth Crucified among you or in you Gal. 3.1 The seeing of him then or now crucified outwardly was nothing that was but the shadow of the life and substance but really to see themselves to be the crucifiers of Christ this was the lively crucifying set out before them Then Beloved from hence t is clear against all gainsayers that it is the incomming of the Power of God in our spirits by which alone our Freedom Deliverance and Salvation is wrought T is not all the bolding forth of a Christ crucified the Letter can do it though all those things done in the Letter were true yet they are nothing to us if we be not saved delivered redeemed from our bondage and captivity therfore t is that we see many thousands in the world that can professe Christ and tell large stories of his external life and sufferings and yet never felt the power of his death or life in themselves for they can follow their own wills and they can love the world and extol and magnifie themselves and are as great in their own eyes as any other who professe him not Therefore Christ is not Salvation nor Deliverance to them Master we have eaten and drank in thy presence we have preacht and cast out Devils in thy Name Luk. 13.26 we have cast away Swearing and Lying and Whoring and Drunkenness and we have taken up this duty and the other and we have held forth thy Name to the World and we have been Sober Grave and Austere in our conversation but for all this Christ will profess I never knew you for ye are workers of iniquity For Satan had his full possession still and ye are no other but painted Sepulchres fair and glorious without but full of all rottennesse stench lothsomnesse and dead mens bones Then which nothing can stink more Therefore t is not holding forth the highest profession or Christ in the Letter or externally that sets us free except Christ come into the heart and makes us free indeed else t is not freedom indeed t is but the profession and the shew but it must be even the same Almighty power that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead we having the same spirit of faith as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.13 14. knowing that he that raised the Lord Iesus shall raise us up 2 Cor. 4.13 14. Rom. 8.11 by Iesus And again in Rom. 8.11 But if the spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit which dwelleth in you And therfore how wofully hath the professing World been mistaken still in all ages about Christ without them and of Christ according to the Letter For if they do but assent to that and say Christ suffered for them and they must apply him by an external beleeving and so he is made their Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption and though they sin and fall if they can but cast their eyes upon Christ suffering upon the Cross Joh. 3.14 as the Israelites by looking up upon the brazen Serpent they shall be healed and pardoned and saved and yet we know withall that all those things were done and were necessary for the accomplishing of the Fathers purpose and the mind of God but in all those things it was not FINISHED and yet here the world sticks and builds their Religion and this they think is as much as is required and he that shall speak against it and say they fall short of Jesus Christ they cry out upon him for a Seducer and an Heretick and they are as mad against him as they were against Paul when he preacht that they were no gods which were made by men And are ready to burst out upon them as full of wrath and madnesse as the Jewes upon Steven when he ript them up and spoke home to them Acts. 7.54 Acts 7.54 c. And when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed upon him with their teeth Yet for all that know that all this believing wil not serve thy turn but it must be Christ manifested in thee seeing him crucified and rising again and sitting in Heavenly places in thy heart else whatever thou talkest of Christ and of his miracles if thou hast no witness no evidence of the truth of them in thy own heart what is all that ever He did and what 's all that ever He suffered to thee It may be thou mayest have a notion and an opinion of the things of God and thou hast them by History and by Relation or Education or Example or Custom or by Tradition or because generally all or most men have received them for truths but if thou hast no evidence of his mighty miracles and God-like power in thine own soul how or which way canst thou be a witness that they are the things thou hast heard and seen for all those outward things are but Representations Figures and Patterns of the Heavenly things themselves Thou mayest have a strong opinion but yet no experience of them that Jesus Christ hath freed and delivered thy soul Again take notice hence That as Christ delivers not but as he comes Himselfe into the soules of men and is born in them so it is not opinions nor notions nor forms nor washings nor disciplines nor any external rules or conformities that can work deliverance for the soule but it must be God in us operating by his own Almighty power every man is spiritually in Sodom and in Egypt Rev. 11.8 where our Lord is Spiritually and most truly crucified And as the world is deceived in their Forms and their Notions thinking they shall help and save them So likewise they take a great deal of satisfaction to themselves in making of Books and
issue ever come to Christ as long as she had any thing left neither doth any of the sons of men return to him spiritually Mar. 5.26 till they are poor empty lost naked miserable and undone And therefore though they say they are looking for this One and onely Deliverer and talk much of him yet all their waies and practices declare the contrary And this true Deliverer is He that they speak against and oppose And as he was reproached hated spit upon and crucified by the Jews so is he in and by these men for the true Christ and the true Messiah is alwaies abused slandered crucified by the world Me it hates alwaies and therefore it hateth you even all those that hold him forth in the spirit John 7.7 c. 15.20 it cannot but hate and persecute because they testifie that all the deeds thereof are evil And why the reason is because he brings light with him and that discovers their darkness their lyes their Hypocrisy because he testifies that their goodly deeds are evil and upon this account all that know not the life of Christ in experience do really hate it and persecute it for when man hath built up to himselfe much glory riches strength wisedom and great attainments now for Jesus Christ to come and strip him and take away all his beautiful garments Ezek. 26.16 and all his glory and strength here now if man cannot be content to submit and lose all for Christ then he bussles and strives to keep up his glory to keep on his glorious garments that neither men nor himselfe may see his nakedness impurity deformity ungodliness hypocrisy and lyes T is true thou sayest in words Jesus Christ is thy only Deliverer and thou art seeking after him if so why seekest thou then the living among the dead Luk. 24.5 thinking to find Christ in dead forms and dead duties and ordinances as thou callest them and thinkst that they wil deliver and give life and when thou hast done them with some spirit and quickness here is thy comfort and thy joy and so thou settest up thy self and thy own doings for thy Saviour Helper Deliverer But why seek ye Christ and the true Deliverer without your selves for what 's all the Deliverers and Christs in the world if if he be not a Saviour in thee and a Deliverer in thee Why seek ye Christ at Jerusalem and externally and say if I do but beleeve in that person that there lived and died it is enough though I never find him a Saviour in me and to me The time is comming when ye shall neither in this Mountain nor at Ierusalem worship the Father John 4.21 c. for the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him for God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth Now for men to come in the name of Christ and say loe here and loe there and say he is in this form and the other mountain in this ordinance and tother dipping in this manner and in the other way of breaking of bread and the like and they think by using these external things to imitate Jesus Christ and to give the holy spirit and to get grace and they come preaching in his name and in his name have done many great works Luk. 13.27 but saith Christ I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity They say also they are Christs Messengers and Ambassadours and that he hath sent them forth and yet Christ hath not furnished them for their work but only being furnished from the Letter and by reading mens Labours they come forth Audaciously and say we are the Messengers of Christ when as the spirit of Christ never furnished them Ezek. 13.3 yet they say Thus saith the Lord and have seen nothing they have had no vision but say what others say and so prophesie they know not what And farther for all they say Christ sends them yet they dare not trust him not so much as for external maintenance but they must have their bag and their wallet Luk. 10.4 their scrip and their maintenance or else they will not do their work They dare not commit themselves to the wisdom and care of him whom they say sent them But in vain came these men out in the name of Christ and bring forth such fruits who can beleeve them or regard them or honour them comming forth in this manner furely none that have the power of truth and experience of the work of Christ in them and that really know him to be the true and only deliverer But those who are blind as themselvs are blind may indeed be led by them But my sheep know my voice John 10.4 5. and the voice of a stranger they will not follow those who have experience of Christ must see a proof of Christ in them 2 Cor. 13.3 or else they cannot follow them They know if Christ send them he hath spoken in them and that they have heard the word at his mouth and he hath preached in their souls first and discovered himself to be A Deliverer to them Ibid. c. 3.6 or else they bring but the voice of strangers and are but Ministers of the Letter and not of the Spirit And let the sons of men run up and down from this fellowship to the other from Ordinance to Ordinance and from Baptism to Baptism from breaking bread here and there yet is this nothing so long as thy heart is dead still and lies under the power of lust and corruption and is in bonds and fetters still for except Christ be thy Deliverer except he appear pear in thee except this root of David spring up in thee Rev. 5.5 except the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah arise in thee all thou canst do and all thou canst run unto cannot save thee nothing else in Heaven or Earth ever can save help or Deliver thee But if may be this Doctriue may seem harsh to some Obj. and they may Object and say What then shall I sit still shall I do nothing shall I not use the means shall I not prepare and fit my selfe for deliverance Consider I pray you when ye have done what you can Answ what is it you do do or what is it man can do to save or deliver himself is not man dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.1 and can any thing raise the dead but the voice of Christ and is there any good thing can be done by them till Christ work it is not all their works without him sin or can there be any thing properly called a means or an ordinance but only Him when men have reformed themselves and their paths and trimmed their way to seek love Jer. 2.33 they have but gone astray in all this and gone after their own lovers and sought themselves in all they
1 Cor. 12.13 whether they be Jews or Gentiles and have been all made to drink into one spirit I also bear witness to One Ordinance and One Administrator Mediator Redeemer and Intercessor which is the Lord Jesus Christ blessed for ever Joh. 14.6 who is the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by him and it is HE that is ordained Acts 10.42 to be Judge of quick and dead by the Father and there is no name given under Heaven Acts 4.12 by which men can be saved but the name of Jesus neither is there salvation in any other for there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit and there are differences of Administrations 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. but the same Lord and there are diversities of Operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all And I witness that it is Jesus Christ only by his spirit that makes men Able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter 2 Cor 3.6 but of the Spirit And do all teach and speak in and from the power of that spirit as IT is pleased to give them utterance And therfore all those that claim an Ordination by man or from man that speak from the spirit of the world from wit learning and humane reason who preach for hire Jer. 23.1 Ezek. 34.2 Zach 11.17 Joh. 10.1 and make merchandise of the souls of men I witness they are all Baals Priests and Idol-Shepherds who destroy the Sheep and are Theeves and Robbers who came not in by the door of the Sheepfold but climbed up another way And are the Magitians Sorcerers Inchanters Micah 5.12 Soothsayers Necromancers and Consulters with familiar spirits which the Lord will cut off out of the land 2 Tim. 3.8 9. so that his people shall have no more Soothsayers And as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses so doe these resist the Truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith but they shall proceed no farther for their folly shall be manifest to all men as theirs also was woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the errors of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Core Jud. 11.12 13. These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you feeding themselvs without fear Clouds they are without water carried about of winds Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots Raging waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame wandring Stars to whom is reserved the blackness of Darkness for ever And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace Act. 20.32 which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified Mind and give heed to that meek stil quiet and silent spirit of the Lord Jesus that is in you which is Pure Holy Innocent Underfiled and Righteous teaching and leading into all truth righteousness and purity like it selfe unto which if you give heed as unto a light shining in a dark place it will preserve and present you spotless and without blame before him whose eys behold no iniquity which that the Lord may fulfil in his due time in you is the Continual prayer of him who is Yours in the bonds of Love in the Lord Jesus Jo. WEBSTER To the Reader THe Author of these ensuing Sermons being cast by providence upon some imployment in the Lords work in this great City was much Carried forth in his ministration to set up the LORD JESVs in the Hearts of men in opposition to all that is of flesh and all that is of man which caused many out of an impatient spirit to distaste the things that were delivered But many that heard him being inwardly acquainted with what was spoken by him were very desirous to have that published for the benefit of all which they themselves had the happinesse to receive from his own mouth apprehending it to be the Bridegroomes voyce in him and therefore savory to them He being now at a great distance from the Presse and not in a capacity of overseeing that which the Transcriber may have failed in the Reader is therfore desired not to mind the manner of delivery but the matter of that which is here presented wherein if single-hearted he will doubtlesse finde a lively Discovery of many sweet Breathings of the spirit of Jesus Christ from One that appeares to have been long inwardly taught of God and that wholy laid aside all those Humane advantages wherewith he was and is plentifully furnished that he might commend his Message unto the hearts and consciences of men Not with enticing words of mans wisdome but in demonstration of the spirit and of power Vpon which account and no other what follows is recomended to the perusall of all that desire to benefit by what they read by Him that Teacheth to profit Thine In the service of our most holy Faith JOHN CARDELL JOSHUA SPRIG ROBERT BACON TO THE READER Dear Friends HAving obtained the sight of these ensuing Sermons and read some of the matter therein contained they yeilded such a rellish and savour to my Spirit that I could not choose but set to my Seal that it flowed from that spirit which is both pure peaceable which I do not to praise the person or the matter for to man there is none due and to the matter there is none needful because it is Truth and therefore needs not the shelter approbation or praise of men being in it self able to win praise to it self and to carry forth it self against all the oppositions of men or Devils Here thou shalt not find Terms of Art nor quirks of humane Learning and FALLEN Wisdom though the party through whom it was conveied excel in natural aquirements as much as the most but naked truth declaring it self through an earthen vessel in simplicity and plainnesse of speech evidencing thereby that our faith ought not nay doth not stand in the wisdome of mens words but in the power of God And hereby thou mayest see if thou be not blind in the carnal conceits of thy earthly wisdom as most of the Earthen Saints of our times are what self-denial is wrought in this Creature through which the Eternal Spirit hath breathed forth these ensuing precious truths that he having and enjoying all those humane Excellencies of Learning and knowledge which are so in the worlds account and lookt upon as helps to understand the things of God but used to help those that have them to worldly honour and preferment which indeed is the onely use is made of them and no other whatever is otherwise pretended but He in the height of this wisedom is made to become a fool for Christs sake and is willing to lose all honour dignity and preferment that the world and the wisdome thereof can confer upon him that he may enjoy
not the patterns For saith the Apostle when that which is perfect is come then that that is imperfect shall be done away and again the same Apostle when I was a Child I did as a Child 1 Cor. 13.11 2 Cor. 5.16 I spake as a Child I understood as a Child but when I came to be a man I put away childish things and hence forth saith he know we Christ after the flesh no more Alas the Apostle had as well as other men known Christ by the way of the flesh and in outward conformity and observations and in a low carnal apprehension of him but when Christ was come into him in the Spirit Rev. 21.5 then ALL THINGS were become New Then he would not have a Christian to be judged in respect of a Holy-day New Moons or of keeping Sabbath days and the like Col. 2.16.17 which are but shadows of things to come for the body is Christ But there was a time when they were under the type of breaking of bread which was onely to shew the Lords death till he came 1 Cor. 11.29 but when Christ was come then he rebukes the Corinthians for using that ceremony of of breaking bread and said they did not discern the Lords Body For the eating his Body and drinking his Blood was a thing of a far higher nature And from hence will follow the great miserie of the sons of men seeking rest and life in the patterns and types and not in Heavenly things themselves For if a man have the exactest patterns or pictures of any meat that ever could be drawn in the world or of wine and drink would either of these feed or refresh him when he was hungry or satisfie him when he was thirsty you will say they could not and how then can the patterns of Heavenly things feed any more then they So also it is the true Manna that feeds the soul it is not that Manna that fell in the Wildernesse your Fathers they eat of it and are dead saith our Saviour No Joh. 6.49 50. it is the spiritual Manna whereof if a man eat he shall live for ever Then it must needs be a deceit of the Devil and a woful and sad delusion on the spirits of men and yet notwithstanding this is that great delusion wherewith Satan is gone forth to feed men as the Prodigal was with the husks and shells of Divine things He desired the husks and no man gave unto him But when the poor man had wasted that portion he had from his Father when that divine portion was gone and he had wasted it among Whores and Harlots that is after his own inventions thinking they should nourish him he saith he could eat Husks But he found they would not satisfie I he should sterve for hunger yet many thousands think and accordingly do could I go into such a Church-fellowship and walk as they walk I should be as well as they and yet for all that there is no man can give unto them had he them to the utmost alas they would not satisfie and fill him But he cannot have that others have he would have their Holinesse and be able to pray hear and speak and have as much freedome and power against sin and the like but it is not given unto him but if he have all these external things yet alas they are but husks and cannot satisfie So that then there is a plain and absolute necessity falls on him and he sees there is no way but to goe home to his Father else he starves and dyes Luk. 15.18 and now he sees his own weakness and poverty then he begins to come to himself and saith I will return to my Father So when the Soul is brought into this condition then it sees that it is not he that hath brought things into any good frame by his good husbandry or by a providential care now nothing will serve his turn no I must to my Father and I will goe to my Father This shews the misery of the spirits of those men that would fain feed upon husks And from hence it comes to pass that they run here and run there from one to another even as a poor creature when it is thirsty and drye and sees many Wells or Vessels thinking there is water He runs to one to see if there be any and then to another but they are all empty So alas a poor hungry soul here it picks and there it feeds and as long as it can find a crum it will never go to God it had rather go to any MOUNTEBANK then come to Jesus Christ the true Physitian One day it will be of this Church another day of the other membership to see if these things will feed them But they whom God intends to bring home finde no satisfaction herein but are ready to starve and the true Reason is because they live by the patterns pictures and resemblances of food Obj. I know thou wilt object Obj. though we are to live by the Heavenly things themselves yet we are to make use of patterns Answ I confesse carnal reason will say so Answ though to me it is not so else those Scriptures must be a lye for saith he 1 Cor. 13 10. when that which is perfect is come then that that is imperfect shall be done away and when the Apostle saith stand fast in that liberty wherein Christ hath made you free and be not entagled again with the yoak of bondage and bids them they should not turn again to the beggerly rudiments of the world Gal. 5.1 and again saith the shadows and patterns of Heavenly things consisted in washing and rudiments and was never able to make the doers thereof and commers thereunto perfect Admit Heb. 9.9 I say that breaking of bread as it is in the External use of it and admit that using of water-Baptism were used by Christ which is hard to prove they were never or could be any thing else but the pattern of the Heavenly things and of the spiritual baptisme else that Text also tells us a lye that saith there was never any but one baptism which is that of the Spirit Now the Letter tells us of divers as the Baptisme of the Children of Israel in the Red Sea and of the Baptisme of John and the Baptisme whereby an unbeliever was baptized and yet the Text saith there was but one Baptisme for these are but the shadows of the spiritual Baptisme Eph. 4.5 and when that that is perfect is come then that which is imperfect is done away 1 Cor. 13.10 If thou didst really find thus thou wouldest not then need to make so much of Outward washing and breaking of bread for to the pure all things are pure but to the unclean all things are unclean and to the impure all things are impure and even their very hearts and consciences are defiled And from hence this shews that thy soul
he shall look upon all things in himselfe as nothing but darknesse and man will then no longer call light darknesse nor darknesse light but he will say Woe is me verily I thought my righteousness my holinesse my performances and duties and worshippings of God I thought these to be BRIGHT THINGS but now the Lord hath appeared upon me I see that all my goodness is as the morning dew and as the cloud that passeth away And he alone is my help my deliverer my holinesse my Sanctification and my Redemption He alone is my song and my salvation and of him alone will I make my boast THE SECRET SOUTHSAYER OR Hidden SORCERER discovered By Mr. Jo. WEBSTER Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street MICAH 5.10 11 12 13. And I will cut off the Cities of thy Land and throw down all thy strong holds I will cut off Witchcrafts out of thine hand and thou shalt have no more Southsayers Thy graven Images also will I cut off and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands BEloved there is in all the sons of men a spirit of hatred and opposition against the wisdom power and righteousnesse of God ever since their going out and departing from the presence of the Lord having forsaken him their rock and their stay they have turned down into their own wisdom and power and having chosen that for their God and their guide they will not by any means be turned back to the Lord to forsake themselves their own wisdom and righteousnesse power and parts but they use all their study and endeavours to goe on with all confidence after the gods of their own hands which they have made and chosen and man never returns to that love peace and amity with the Lord but by the Almighty hand of the Lord by the very same power and no other but only that which can raise the dead out of their graves Rom. 4.24 ch 8.11 Jer. 2.13 and the same spirit that raised Jesus-Christ from the grave And ever since this departing from the fountain of life to the broken and empty Cisterns of the creature there are but only two Leaders two Guides two Masters two Teachers which all the sons of men follow there are but only two seeds Gen. 3.14 15. ch 4.2 1 John 3.9 the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent There are but only two Brethren Cain and Abel the Immortal and perfect seed of God which is holy pure and undefiled which cannot sin and that wicked cursed hellish seed of Satan which never did nor never doth nor never shall doe any thing else but sin rebel and fight against the wisdom light and power of God There is no middle seed between these two All actions all thoughts all industry all inventions all Religions are either from the wisdom which is from above Jam. 3.15 17. 1 Cor. 15.47 48 49. or else from that earthly and humane wisdom which is from man and from below As the one is from Heaven Heavenly so the other is from the earth earthly the first man is of the earth earthly the second is the Lord from Heaven heavenly And as are the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have born the image of the earthy so shall we also bear the Image of the heavenly The one of these Guides is light and truth and glory and leads to rest peace fulnesse satisfaction the other leads to darknesse misery and destruction and yet pretends to light and truth and wisdom but the waies thereof goe down to the chambers of death This earthly guide alwaies draws downward to seek rest in the creature Pro. 7.27 in something either without man or within him and so drawes and deludes away the poore soule of man from that Eternal Al-sufficient JEHOVAH to sit down satisfied with the empty and broken comforts and helplesse Idols that the inventions of men have made and set up and say These be thy Gods O Israel Exo. 32.4 which will bring thee out of bondage and give thee possession of the land of Canaan the one is the true light and the true vision the true URIM and THUMMIM which never can mislead or deceive Ibid. 28.30 the other is the spirit of darknesse ignorance deceit witchcraft sorcery a lying and a familiar spirit And it pretends to seek after God and after holiness and after peace and rest but t is meer Sorcery and Witchcraft This is that Jannes and Jambres that alwaies will withstand Moses for they pretend to imitate Moses but they are no other but Wizzards Southsayers and deceivers they pretend for the truth and yet withstand the truth and saies the Apostle As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so doe these also resist the truth 2 Tim. 3.8 being men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed no farther for their folly shall be made known unto all men as their also was They shall be found to be no other but Deceivers Magicians Southsayers These words we have now read they shew us what man is and what all men doe before they come to the light of God they shew that he is blind in himselfe 2 Tim. 3.13 deceiving and being deceived that he is confident in his own power in his own wisdom and that he chuseth to himselfe Horses and Chariots for his defence and preservation and he will have a Captain and a Leader of his own chusing whom he will follow And he useth all his inventions to secure himselfe against all that shall oppose him Esay 30.16 Jer. 2.23 he hath builded himselfe Forts and Castles and Strong-holds and Bulwarks and he hath the Charitos of Egypt and swift Dromedaries as the Prophet speaks to secure and deliver him on which he rests trusts and depends and on which he rides and thinks that those things shall defend and deliver him And the truth is so great and so deep and so subtily contrived are all his witchcrafts that all the wisdom of all the sonnes of men is never able to discover them to be so but only the wisdom spirit of God and that onely can discover these seeret and close and fine contrived inchantments like Pharaohs Magicians how did they act and imitate and doe the same things Moses did for a long time as if they had wrought by the same power Moses did Exo. 7.11 22 c. when as they were no other but Deceivers and Enchanters and Magicians In the same way doe Magicians worke in all ages Whatever the Saints and people of God doe by the power of God they can contrive and imitate the same in all their spirituall inchantments they have their Temples and their Worship and their Groves their forms and inventions Mark 13.21 and cry loe here and loe there when these are
and have familiar spirits and such as do no other in all their Religion but enquire after the dead as the Prophet speaks what 's that Esa 8.19 Mark 5.3 who enquire not after the living the substance and the truth but after the dead and all their delight is to be among the Graves and the Tombs and dead things which have no power nor life in them being men very cruel and fierce But all things of this nature in man shall be cut off when Christ shall arise in us and become Lord and King and be all in all viz. to be alone King Priest and Prophet in us Then we shall hearken and give ear alone to him having no other Guide nor no other Teacher or Master but him when these things come to pass in us then all the delusions within us and all in others without us shall all be discovered and vanish And indeed we can never discover those Spiritual Sorcerers and Inchanters without us till we have sound them out and discovered them within us Then he alone shall shortly tread down Satan under our feet Rom. 16.20 Rev. 18.23 Then this MICHAEL will throw down out of Heaven the Dragon and his Angels which deceived the Nations Onely the Breath and Comming of the Lord can discover those depths of lyes and infinite deceits that are received and rooted in the heart of man and nothing but the good hand wisdom and power of the Lord Almighty can deliver the soule From hence then we may hold out thus much and 't is very clear First that there is no greater Deceiver to be found then is within Man No cunninger Devil no greater ANTICHRIST nor no worse WITCH then what Man hath in his own heart so that HE hath in him all things described by the Name of EVIL There is in him the Devil Sin Antichrist the red Dragon the Jims and Ziims of the Desart There is in him Lucifer and the beast with seven Heads and ten Horns There are in him Conjurers Sorcerers Southsayers Witches Mutterers Peepers consulters with the dead that is delighting and resting in formal and dead Ordinances and with Women which have familiar Spirits with the GREAT WHORE and what not even with all things that belong to the Kingdom and power of Darknesse And all these things and whatever else can be named of this kind they all make up but one body all these are but Satan and his Members and they all have but one and the same Head As Jesus Christ consisteth of whatever is good righteous holy pure undefiled and the seed and sons of God and all things of that nature are his body and he their Head so all the seed and sons of Satan make up but one body and one building which is ANTICHRIST and the Great Whore and the Dragon and Lucifer and the rest And however man is carried out to look for all these things without him yet be sure these Sorcerers these Wizzards these Necromancers these Dragons Devils Antichrists all are in thine own bosome Here is the true Necromancy and Witchcraft the true Antichrist all other without are but shadows pictures and representations of the true and reall body of Antichrist and the Great Whore and the like If thou wouldest find out Antichrist and the true Necromancer and Southsayer It is thy selfe When thou enquirest and askest counsel of thine own heart then thou consultest with a familiar and lying spirit when thou makest a shew of that which thou art not then thou art a Necromancer and a Sorcerer and so every one of these evil ones according to their names you shall find in your own practice the nature thereof And truly Beloved herein lies the great and mighty Delusion and Witchcraft amongst the sons of men that Satan in them is so cunning that he alwayes carryes them out of themselves to find out Antichrist and Wizzards and Southsayers and Lucifer and the Great whore and the like And the true reason is because the Divel he would not by any means have these things be discovered to be in mans own breast where indeed is his Temple and SEAT more then at Room externally or litterally in any other place There is Antichrist there is Belial and there be the Southsayers and the Sorcerers in thine own heart But man will by no means indure this Doctrine And so long as Satan can blind delude and deceive man making him look for that evil one and the son of Perdition 2 Thes 2.3.7 and the MYSTERY OF INIQUITY out of himself so long Satan rests secure and safe But if the Light of God comes and discovers where his lurking and hiding place is viz. to be within and at home while we have been ruuning up and down far and neer to find him Then the soule either fights against this light or else blushes and is ashamed and confounded in it selfe And now it will trust no longer to it self now it sees the greatest cheating and witchcrafts to be acted in it selfe But till this day of the Lord come and this great light shine round about him man rides on boldly and confidently as Saul to Damascus and is not smitten down from his Horse neither sees he what he is doing Acts 9.1 2 but blesses himself and thinks all is well and he censures this wicked man and the other and he can curse the Devil and Antichrist without him bitterly thee whom he thinks to be at Rome and concludes that there he must fall and be brought down but never remembers that there is ONE in him whom he knows not but if any shall say unto him as Nathan to David Thou art the Man Antichrist is in thee and Adam is in thee and the Serpent is in thee and in whatever is said or related of Adam or Satan or Antichrist or Lucifer or of Eve What they did behold I say unto thee 2 Sam. 12.7 Thou art the man all this thou mayest read in thine own actions in thy own practices But oh how tart and harsh is this Doctrine to all the wise sober grave holy and learned men of the world Oh how do they hate and deride this Doctrine But let me tell them before the Lord Angels and Men That for all this while they are blessing themselves 1 Cor. 4.9 from the Devil and Antichrist and the rest and scorning these things should be in them and think that they have discovered them here and there Behold they are nigh them they are within them in their hearts and mouths though they see them not But if ever with all thy learning and parts and righteousnesse thou hadst had but the light of God in thee it would have shewed thee the Divil and the true Necromancer and let thee know that for all thy vain boasting and swelling and high and proud conceits of thy selfe that thou never yet hadst the light of God and that God never yet answered thee by that true URIM and THUMMIM
did and all was nothing else but sin and abomination in the sight of the Lord. The sons of men are very inquisitive after that which pleases their fancy and their own inventions and seem to press after high things and great questions but they really oppose and desire to be ignorant of the truth as it is in Jesus They speak of Deliverance but they really hate it though they may say whatever thou doest with us reform us and make us holy and the like but the truth is they would not have it so nor they mean not as they say for if Christ should take his own way with them viz. to bring man down in himself and to strip him of his beautiful garments what would become of these mens smooth words and long prayers and seeming devotion would not their hearts give their mouths the lye in all they said and discover themselves to be grosse and abominable Hypocrits and indeed would with the Gergesites rather goe out and beseech him to depart out of their Coasts Mat. 8.34 and withall really pray depart from us Job 21.14 for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways So that when men who were never yet lost undone and confounded in themselves pray for the grace of God and mortification and to be crucified to the world alas alas they pray they know not what And again these men because they can deliver the outward word and the Letter and bring their matter into a handsome form and method they think they have preached the word of God to the people when alas this is nothing for the outward letter is not the word but what is there exprest litterally is only as a witnesse to the word and the truth and of what the Saints of God have found and shall finde in themselves and if Christ be a Delivervr to them they shall find the like things in themselves And there is none can understand the Letter in the Mystery but they in whom the same things are done 2 Cor. 3.15 These only have the Vail taken off the Letter and none but Jesus Christ himselfe can doe this And particularly many Object Obj. What shall we not pray that we may have this Deliverance I Answer No man ever truly prayed Answ but out of a sense of want if you wert brought into a true sense of thy empty naked and lost condition of thy poverty beggery and starved condition then Christ and his spirit would pray in thee with sighs and groans unexpressible Rom. 8 26 then thou wouldest pray indeed and couldst not but cry and pray and groan indeed and this is true prayer prayer is not to get together a many fine smooth words and to collect this fine expression and the other and observing this and that time and that hour but prayer is words or sighs from so deep a sense of misery and want that we verily see we starve and die except we prevail Men if they truly prayed they would not come dreaming out with such beggerly questions what then shall we not pray and shall we not hear and the like these questions shew they never did any duty rightly but only in a way of form or complement or to qualifie the cry of conscience and the like but if men be really in misery in hell in bitternesse they cannot chuse but cry and pray and beg I 'le warrant you you need not bid them for you cannot keep them from it nor will they ask shall we not pray or hear and the like for they pray by the power of the spirit and that speaks in them with groans which are unutterable and beyond all expression of words We read of some of the Heathen persecuting Emperors that in a way of cruelty would constrain the Christians though they were under tortures and torments yet they should not cry nor complain if they did they would torture them the more but it is not so in the tortures and torments of the soul they cannot but they must cry out and complain and seek deliverance when the soul is in bitterness it cannot but cry And farther though they have done these things as doing them by necessity yet those that are truly delivered by Jesus Christ that only Deliverer they do not esteem the doing of these things their deliverance or them their Deliverer wherein lies the misery of the most of the sons of men that if their consciences begin to smite them and sin begins to appear and hell looks them in the face sayes the soul I must now look out for a remedy I must do something to quench this fire and to allay this burning and then what do they they then think to reform their lives and they will go pray and hear or join themselves into this and that fellowship and Church-gathering and there they will conform to the use of Ordinances and it may be get into the best reformed fellowship as they conceive and nearest the rule of Christ and here they rest here they are quiet and all is well and wrath is past and they are delivered Alas alas poor souls In this very thing they have turned aside from the true Deliverer and mist their Deliverance But the true way to Deliverance is to stand in thy misery and abide condemned in thy self till Christ himself take pitty of thee and then Christ himself would pray in thee and he would carry thee out to reading and hearing and praying after a spiritual manner for while these works are thine own and thou seekest for to deliver thy self thou art so much the more in bondage for these duties if done rightly are the work of the Deliverer and the fruit of thy deliverance and not the cause of thy Deliverance nor the Deliverer and when he doth them in thee then they are done with power thou prayest from a reall sense of want and thou hearest with a circumcised ear and then thy reading is in the power of the spirit and be awaketh thine ear to hear Esa 50.4 for that is not true or spiritual reading and hearing and praying which every man may doe outwardly though it be never so often and never so constantly and yet men call these DVTIES and ORDINANCES and conformity and holy walking when they are never so except Christ the Deliverer perform them in them by the power of his spirit and otherwise they are not spiritual nor holy duties as men falsly call them for they are but outward and carnal and nothing of the spirit in them but done onely by the power of self and of the carnal natural man And therefore when Christ teacheth Mar. 7.34 35. He openeth the ear and He gives sight to the blind his work is not an empty cold dead thing Joh. 6.63 but his word is spirit and life and he requires an ear in an ear and an eye in an eye He that hath ears to hear Luke 8.8 let him hear and eyes to see let him see