at the full height of Majesty Power Greatness and Glory or his Life does not please him he will hardly own it as Life till it arrive at that It is the seed of the Kingdom and it will never leave shooting up till it grow into the Kingdom till all the Light till all the Life till all the Power Glory Greatness and Majesty of God that was sown in it spring up in it flourish and expatiate it self to the full And then when this Spirit comes to its full stature when it is so united to the Lord as to become perfectly one with that which begat it it will come to it self be it self and enjoy it self Having attained to that whereunto it was appointed and to which its nature did aspire and continually reach towards it will enter into perfect rest into that rest which is prepared for it only and which it alone is capable of comprehending Of the Excellent Food prepared for this New-born-Child to nourish him and cause him to grow FROM JOH 6. Vers 63. The Words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life EVery thing that hath life given it hath food likewise prepared for it to nourish it and cause it to grow Man lives by bread though not by bread only The New-Man hath his bread also whereupon he lives It is Christ in him that is born who is the New-Man and it is Christ that Christ feeds upon Christ is the Bread of Life by eating and digesting whereof the New-Man encreaseth his life He hangs upon the mouth of Christ from whence he came for the continuation and growth of his life it is his Word he feeds upon and lives by it is the nourishment by which he is sustained and by which he grows in life as new-born-babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby As it was the Word whereby he was begotten of his own Will begat he us by the Word of Truth So it is the Word whereby he lives As he is born of water so he hath water administred unto him to nourish him up to eternal life As he is formed of the flesh and blood of Christ so he eats and drinks the flesh and blood of Christ and he that desireth not this food he that knoweth not how to eat and digest this food hath no life none of this life in him As it is by sowing and quickening the seed of light of life in us that we come to live So it is by adding of the same light of the same life unto us that we come to live more abundantly The principle of this life is within but the food it gathers it receives from without as every life else also doth It s Being its subsistence is from what God hath formed in it its life and growth is from what God pleaseth to add unto it of the same nature and kinde with it self from his food which food is the Word of Christ Man hath the Principle of Knowledg in him but he is trained up by Instruction and learns no more but as he is taught either by the dilating of that Principle in himself or from men So is it with this new Nature The new-man learneth what it teacheth him within or what Christ teacheth him from without from without in this sence though his Teachings are inward Christ speaks within but he speaks from without He doth not onely draw forth that life within but from without he adds more life As he does give out of himself the seed and principle of life whereby he comes to be sown and grow up in another so he gives out of himself likewise that food that vertue that nourishment whereby that life lives thrives flourisheth The Word of Christ upon which the new-man feeds is without is distinct from him as our food is from us until it be eaten concocted distributed and so made perfectly one with him Christ is the Word of God and Christ hath his Word too God teacheth Christ Christ teacheth us God teacheth Christ by writing his Nature in him Christ teacheth us by writing his Nature in us As there is the Nature of God in his Word so there is the Nature of Christ in his Word As God teacheth Christ by opening his Life and Spirit in him So Christ teacheth us by opening his Life and Spirit in us God taught him by anointing him and he teacheth us by anointing us Ye have an anointing which teacheth you all things As Christ is Life and Spirit so he speaketh nothing but what is living and spiritual The Words which I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life and where ever they enter they convey spirit and life Indeed every one cannot receive them as these here could not they thought to comprehend them by their natural fleshly understanding which is a principle beneath them and cannot reach up unto them As well may a brute understand the wisdom the reason of the words of a man as a man understand the spiritual wisdom of the words of Christ But mans words may have reason in them though the brute understand them not and Christs words have spirit and life in them though man perceive it not Christs words are like unto him truly spiritual and living what ever they appear to man If he prescribe a way to man it is a spiritual a living way If he open any thing of God it is a true a spiritual opening If he speak peace it is peace indeed But there must be a principle within to receive this or else it falls to the ground There is a two-fold Word of Christ a generating a creating Word and a fructifying Word The former there needs no principle to receive but there he speaks life where there was no life he onely sends forth his voyce saying Let there be light and there is light Let there be life and there is life But the fructifying the thriving Word onely takes place where a principle of life is first sown That cannot be blessed with encrease and multiplication which is not which hath not a Being Quarrel not therefore O Man against the Scriptures in this respect because they speak not life to thee that may be because there is not life in thee or at least that life at present may be so nipped that it may be altogether unable to go forth for or receive in its sustenance The Words which I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life This food is spiritual food living food pure food perfect food eternal food food that never wastes never corrupts but abides the same for ever This seed this childe is spiritual eternally living and such is his food it grows up with him and in him to eternity the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up to Eternal Life It is food of a quickening nature comes from a quick and living Spirit enters into a quick and living spirit is spiritual and living of its own nature O how richly hath God prepared for thee O Child of Eternity He hath sown his own life and
world is not worthy A dram of their life is worth a thousand worlds They are blessed in their likeness unto Christ blessed in their present communion with Christ in their fellowship in his death and sufferings and shall appear to be blessed when they are taken up into his glory and come to inherit both God Heaven and Earth in and with him which he who cannot lye hath promised them and hath reserved for them and which none shall ever come to partake of with them but this way Of the Fathers care over this Childe and his readiness to provide for him every thing he needs FROM LUK. 11. Vers 13. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him NAture among other of her lessons teacheth Parents to be tender over their Children to give them what is for their good and not for their hurt While they are babes unable to chuse for themselves they provide for them what they know needful when they grow up and begin to feel what they want they are still ready to furnish them with those necessaries which Nature directeth them to seek to them for God hath his Children his Children need provision and his Nature teacheth him to take care of them to be tender towards them as well as the nature of man teacheth him That which these children chiefly want is the Spirit of the Father to live in them to dwell with them to guide them to enlighten them to quicken them to comfort and refresh them They came from this Spirit and all their content lies in union and communion with this Spirit in the presence and power ot this Spirit in them He is their meat their drink their light their life their strength their clothes their house their inheritance their way their end their all They are as it were at present severed from him as the seed is from the body but they cannot be well till they return into him and that which they want in the mean time is him to enter into and dwell in them And as they grow up to any distinct understanding of themselves and their state they feel this want and are led by their nature to ask accordingly of their Father That which this Childe begs is the Spirit he cares not for any thing else It is that which his Soul which every part of him wants it is that which he needs in every motion in every condition He cannot tell how to shift any where how to do any thing without this Spirit of life There is no life more vigorous then this when it lives in this Spirit nor no life more flags without it To them that ask him This Childe asks it is natural to him to be asking what he wants of the Father He is taught to ask and according to the nature and degree of his want And Oh how he begs for this Spirit for this Holy Spirit He loathes the unclean spirit of the world but he loves and longs for the pure Spirit of the Father His Nature is pure and he loves purity His Nature is spirit and he loves spirit but not every spirit but that spirit which is suitable to his Nature the Spirit which he himself came from and for this he cries and groans unto the Father night and day Now there seems to be a great hardness in God to part with this Spirit unto them which may be gathered out of this question here and may be further confirmed by their experience for though they cry hard for him they obtain little of him little of his presence little of his power little of his comfort They are ever and anon complaining that they have not sufficient of him to rub on with They do not onely want the delight of his presence but they have hardly enough to keep life and soul together hardly enough of Gods Spirit to keep life in their spirits But for all this there is a great propensity in God to furnish them with his Spirit with so much as their present state needs though not with so much to their sence yet with so much to his knowledg How much more shall your heavenly Father c. He is not an heavenly Father for nothing but is as ready to give heavenly good things as earthly Parents are to give earthly good things How much more If your Nature which is weak derived which came from him teach you to carry your selves thus towards your children how much more shall his Nature which is strong which is the Fountain of Strength and Perfection teach him to empty his Goodness into his Children according to their need If ye being evil know how to give good gifts c. If your nature thus prevail to instruct you who are corrupted and in whom it is corrupted how much more shall his pure his heavenly his incorruptible Nature teach him tender-heartedness towards his Children How much more shall it encline him to give not outward things earthly things but heavenly things and that heavenly thing which they all want which is his own Spirit Be silent O Sense Be confounded O Experience who art still witnessing the contrary in our spirits We see not we feel not we taste not we apprehend not God or any of his Ways aright through thee A strange Occurrence which may befall this Darling of God and of Christ in his pilgrimage and travel towards his native Country hidden in a Parable JOHN Chap. 11. IN which Parable there are several strange things covertly held forth or represented to that eye which is taught and enabled to pierce into them under a vail 1. There is the sickness and death of one dearly beloved of Christ he whom he loved was sick His love was so great to him that he was known to be an especial object of it Christ who cured others had power enough to have preserved him in health if he had pleased or to have recovered him at a distance but for all Christs Love and Power Lazarus falls sick and his sickness tends unto that which we count and call death 2. The true causes of his death which were Christs neglect and an hidden design of glory to God and love to him I reckon not his sickness as any that was but an instrument an engine so inferior a cause as it deserves not to come in number with these First Christs neglect and that was very great Vers 6. When he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was Though he had notice of it and that in the most pathetical maner that could be the news was directed to his heart and so directed as it might best touch and wound his heart Behold he whom thou lovest is sick There is one whom thou hast professed and born much love to he now stands in need of thy love of the putting forth of
calling to minde the former sweetness of these its former activity in these which are now become so difficult so impossible to it and a lively remembrance of the sweetness of what was formerly enjoyed doth much encrease the trouble of the present want of it 2. It encreaseth the sense of the present bitterness by making it more lively It doth not onely encrease the sense of the want of these but encreaseth also the sense of that which lieth upon the spirit The remembrance of former life and liberty makes the present bonds and pangs of death a great deal more sharp and weighty 3. It encreaseth the Devils rage that he now layeth load upon the Soul To finde that life yet striving to stir which he hath bound so fast this makes him seek for new cords to binde it yet faster for stronger poyson to strike it yet more dead Now if I should tell you of a strange Mystery viz. of embracing this subjection of putting your necks under Nebuchadnezzars girdle of receiving quietly all the buffetings of Satan not onely of entering again willingly into your Captivity but of bearing your whole burden in your Captivity of letting your life hope strength and all suffer death and be layd in the grave if I should speak after this manner to you ye would say this were a very hard doctrine yet this is certain that the Bird in the Cage doth but tire yea perhaps bruise and hurt it self by fluttering to get out or the Bird in the net or snare doth but entangle it self more by straining to get loose and fly abroad There is no way like to lying still and yeelding up even the spiritual life as a sacrifice following Christ as a Lamb or Sheep to the slaughter without the least resistance gainsaying or reluctation O sad sad sad will this Captivity be Never was there destruction desolation and anguish like unto it Then shall every member feel the pains of the head and then shall every member so afflicted complain with the head and say Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger From above hath he sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them he hath spred a net for my feet he hath turned me back he hath made me desolate and faint all the day But when this Captivity is ended when life shall again come forth from under this bondage O how sweet how fresh how pure will it be how pleasant to look back upon the several yokes bonds snares deaths in the Land of our Captivity Then we shall glory more in those multiplyed deaths then in our former life Our former life and enjoyments tended but to lead us to Captivity but this Captivity tends to lead us to that Life which cannot enter into Captivity which cannot feel Captivity but will be master of it where ere it meets it Our life led us into that Captivity where we felt unutterable anguish death misery but our Captivity leadeth us to that Life which is so strong and vigorous that it is able to lead Captivity captive even in its own Land The Way to true Knowledg FROM 2 COR. 5.16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more THat which God created was flesh He brought forth every thing in this Creation in a state of weakness All the Images and representations of himself here are fleshly The eye he made to behold them was a fleshly eye The content the happiness that cometh by this sight is a fleshly happiness The enjoyment of God in this way is a fleshly enjoyment There was emptiness weakness vanity written in the very state yea in the very make of the Creation Indeed it might have enjoyed a kinde of happiness if it had remained as it was made but it would not have been true happiness nor could it have lasted It was as impossible for Adam to have stood as it is for God to fall for there was mortality mutability written in his state in his nature as there is Eternity Immutability written in Gods Adams nature disposed him to what befell him it was flesh walked in the path of flesh hastening towards the end designed unto flesh Henceforth know we no man after the flesh The eye the created eye the eye of this Creation in its best in its purest in its perfectest state is no better then fleshly This eye as it is fleshly so that which this eye seeth is flesh it can see nothing which is spiritual The eye of sence cannot see the reason of man nor can the reason of man see the Nature of God Man may see God as the creatures see man not comprehending not understanding him He may see the fleshly part of God the fleshly appearance but not the spiritual Substance He may see outward visible Demonstrations of God but not his Nature not his Spirit which alone is God The manner after which this eye seeth is fleshly after a weak shallow fleshly manner not comprehending not piercing into things not gathering things into it self but by gathering deductions and conclusions from principles and experiences this is mans way Henceforth know we We. There is a parcel of this Creation in whom Eternity in whom the seed of another-ghess life then this Creation is acquainted with or can comprehend is sown in whom this Creation is in part pulled down and the Foundations of Eternity laid in the ruines of it All things are not one all things are not alike do not your senses perceive a vast difference in things There is an inward world and there are inward senses which have felt and can tell you that the difference there is more vast and more substantial In this world ye see that excellent things are rare there is abundance of dross but little pure mettal in comparison abundance of stones but pearls are not so common abundance of chaff and off all but not so much pure seed So is it in the inward world The jewels of God the grain of God the seed of his own Spirit is very scarce and precious We know As there is such a seed so they have a life and knowledg suitable to them and indeed their knowledg is the only knowledg before which all the knowledg of man vanisheth and shrinketh away like a shadow It is true man hath knowledg man hath life if ye speak in one kind of language but if ye speak in a pure language he hath not He doth know God he doth live in God he doth live to God in a sense in a shadowy life and knowledg and so do other creatures in a sense too in a more dark and more shadowy life and knowledg but in truth he doth not But we know this seed this man the new man doth
them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him Vers 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord. That which the poor creature in thraldom in bonds in captivity in misery needs is Salvation That which the Lords Captives those that are captived at his appointment and for his sake that which they need is his Salvation even the Salvation of the Lord. There is no hastening of this Salvation nor no attaining any other Salvation They that seek after lying vanities forsake their own mercies They that turn aside from him after any thing but him follow after vain things which cannot profit for they are vain the best way is to hope and wait for it with all the quietness that may be This doth best compose and temper the spirit in its present misery to hope that deliverance will come and to wait with all possible quietness until it come Well I will be content to bear the buffetings of Satan to lie open to all manner of enemies to all manner of evils to every vanity to every temptation to every corruption to have no light to walk by no life to move in me no stregth for or against any thing How can it be otherwise I am in a strange Land in mine enemies hands cast off by my God for a season but there will come a time when he will again visit me when he wil visit me with Salvation Then shall I have all these burdens and oppressions removed from me Till then I must lie under them and I will give up my neck to the yoke and my shoulders to the load till be vouchsafe to ease me The easiest posture in misery is the spirits suiting and complying with it Vers 27. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth Every one must bear the yoke The son of Belial the untamed flesh must be tamed in every one by the yoke Every one how unruly soever at present shall one day be made subject to the Will Power and Law of him who hath prepared and fitted a yoke for that end And the sooner this subjection is begun the easilier will it be wrought A tender twig will be more easily bent Captivity is not so bitter to a child as to him who hath long tasted the sweetness of his own Country and of liberty in his Country It is good to begin betimes to drink ones draught of misery It will be the sooner over the more easily swallowed and work the more kindly It will require a great deal of pains to bring them to the yoke and to break them in the yoke who were never acquainted with it whose necks were never used to it till their old age Vers 28. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him Here is the posture of the man in misery he sitteth alone and keepeth silence Grief chuseth solitariness and silence I am like a Pelican in the wilderness like an Owl in the desart The behaviour of the child of God in every condition is from his nature which guides him in this season to lonesomeness and silence He who can hear nothing know nothing act nothing can neither give nor receive what should he do in company He wants him with whom alone he knows how to converse and therefore what should he do but sit alone mourning for him There is none can know or taste his condition or apply themselves in any wise suitable to it what should he do among them The Turtle cannot but chuse solitariness to mourn and bewail the loss of her mate And keepeth silence All he doth alone is to give scope to grief He saith nothing but throbs and mourns in his heart He will not he cannot allay his grief by speaking it out but keepeth silence He hath nothing to say concerning any thing or to any save to him whom he cannot come to speak with and therefore is enforced to keep silence His weight his burthen taketh up all his thoughts taking forcible possession of them by reason of that advantage it hath from sense and yet he hath nothing to say concerning that neither neither concerning the burthen it self nor concerning the meaning of him who layd it upon him Because he hath born it upon him It is a mighty burthen such an one as put God as it were to bearing or lifting of it And because God did it whom he understands not in any of his ways or motions he is silent I held my peace because thou didst it He taketh no notice either of men or means whereby he is afflicted he knows they are but meer instruments but the captivity the misery he feels he knows to be from the Lord who ever had the dispose of him and that makes him silent Vers 29. He putteth his mouth in the dust if so be their may be hope The mouth of the people of God is their glory before men as their heart is their glory before God With their mouth they confess and honour him That which men hear of the renown of God is from the mouths of his people whose heart alone knoweth him and whose tongue alone can declare him But this he putteth in the dust covering his glory with shame He knows nothing now of God and can speak nothing now of God He abaseth the instrument of his praise hangs his harp upon the willows those lips that were wont to lift up the great Name of God in the world are now layd in the dust He putteth his mouth in the dust If so be there may be hope Good God! How low is the Seed of God brought in their Captivity If so be there may be hope He who was wont to glory in God who feared no difficulty no danger no enemy who was sure he could never fall so low but he should be raised up again who could rejoyce in all manner of tribulations by this Captivity is brought to that stress that his hopes faint and he is fain to feed them with peradventures with an if it may be It may be for all this God will look towards me Though I am even swallowed up nay though the pit hath shut her mouth upon me it may be there may come Redemption from the grave it may be the great Whale in the great Sea may be forced by Eternal Power to spue up its prisoner And this is the furthest they can go and it is a great degree of life and refreshment too for when all light is shut out that there is no sight of Redemption or a Redeemer and the spirit within flags and is so continually overwhelmed with waves and billows that it hath not a moments respite to lift up its head how can it go further it is well it can go so far as an if Read but a little backward and you shall hear another language far different from this My hope and my strength is perished from the Lord I may now
way the only way to restlesness and misery to be touched and inflamed with love towards God Is there no cure for this love no rasing it out of the heart nor no attracting its object into the heart O God why art thou so coy why dost thou so disdain the low estate of thy Spouse What credit will it be unto thee to have it said and seen when all things shall be opened to all eyes and spoken in all eares Behold a Soul burnt up into perfect misery by the flames of its own love Of the Difference between God and the Creature THE Difference between God and the Creature can only be seen by that eye which throughly discerneth and is able to measure both throughout yet according to that measure we have to discern somewhat of both we may also in part discern that vast difference that is between them God is the Original Being the Creature but a derived Being and hath only so much of and from God as he is pleased to impart unto it who may do what he will with his own dispensing it as he pleaseth As every thing is a shadow of him so every thing hath some stamp of his Image upon it one sort of creatures more then another Man more then other sorts some sorts of men more then others Man is a God in respect of the creatures yet still he is but man the Egyptians are men and not God Some men are Gods in respect of others in reference to that majesty wisdom justice mercy kindness love holiness c. wherewith some are endued beyond others Man in his best estate is vanity weak fading changeable his very soul and spirit subject to faint and unable to stand before the hand of God when it goeth forth against him Who knoweth the Power of thine anger I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth lest the spirit should fail before me and the Souls which I have made Man came from God his spirit was made so was not Gods God is able to bear his own weight in every kind Man is not able to bear his weight in any kind God can so wound the strongest man as quickly to make him sink A wounded spirit who can bear But God can not only bear up himself but man also under the greatest pressure Man is a poor narrow confined limited spirit God is a large universal unlimited Spirit He sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth God is Substance Truth Man is vanity in his best estate altogether vanity a shadow in himself in all his motions man walketh in a vain shade a lye a lyar let God be true and every man a lyar All men put them in the ballance they are nothing before God but as the dust of the ballance as grashoppers as nothing less then nothing and vanity All that all the men in the Earth have derivatively from him is nothing to that which is originally in him Whereunto will ye liken me saith the most High There is nothing throughout the whole Creation nothing that man can see nothing that can enter into his heart or thoughts that can bear any true or substantial resemblance of God Alas poor man what canst thou think aright concerning God! Wilt thou be measuring God what he is or what his Thoughts or what his Ways in any kind are Who knoweth the Spirit of the Lord O Man thou hast ever been befooled in all thy thoughts of God and as thou risest higher in thy apprehensions and bolder in thy determinations the more shalt thou certainly be befooled When God openeth himself to thy cost shalt thou see how far thou wast from knowing him or speaking aright concerning him Of Good and Evil. GOOD is that which tends to the welfare of the creature Evil is that which tends to its hurt and damage They have also some reference to God though not as he is in himself yet as he discovereth himself appeareth and acteth in such or such a line So in the several lines wherein he acts there is a Good and an Evil the one tending towards his honour in that line the other towards his dishonour God as he is in himself cannot be touched yet as he appeareth acteth and holdeth forth his Name it may receive honour or disparagement Him that honoureth me I will honour The Wisdom Power Goodness Love Grace Mercy of God c. may be neglected slighted undervalued by the creature He may discover these in his motions and the creature not take notice of them not acknowledg them not acknowledg him in them and this is a dishonour cast upon him Again They may be taken notice of and he exalted in the thoughts and heart of the creature thereby and this he pleaseth to accept of and esteem as an honour done unto him Now there is a double kind of good The creature 's keeping in its line walking to its rule moving orderly in its station and the enjoying of life sweetness and content therein The living to God and the enjoying of God in its course in its Orb in its sphere this is good and herein lieth the happiness of the creature There is answerably a double Evil. The creature's deviating from its line walking out of its way swerving from the rule of its Creation and its meeting with that misery which attends this losing its life sweetness content happiness And let men think what they will by the change of their apprehensions yet Good and Evil will evidence their difference to the sence and experience of the creature that they are different in their own nature are sown in different grounds grow from different roots and tend to different ends And the creature while it is a creature cannot be happy in the way of Evil either in his present state or in his end but only in the way of Good Mark the perfect man behold the upright the end of that man is peace Say ye to the righteous it shall go well with him Say to the wicked it shall not go well with him Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly c. he shall be like a tree planted c. The ungodly are not so they shall not stand in judgment nor sinners in the Congregation of the Righteous Christ himself the beloved Son cometh to his Exaltation by Righteousness Because thou lovest Righteousness and hatest iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows Let the righteousness of the creature fall lay it as flat as ye will make unrighteousness equal with it as well ye may because it is but unrighteousness and somewhat more unlovely because of its paint But is there no other Righteousness Is there no true Righteousness Or must that fare the worse because there is so much painted righteousness Consider this well All Gods work from the very beginning hath been about Righteousness and Unrighteousness holding forth the evil nature of the
this outward Fabrick is a true draught of the inward though a dark and defaced one He changeth it as he pleaseth maketh it habitable or inhabitable as he pleaseth but his work lyeth most still at present in the habitable part there he is most active his glory is most sown there and most seen from thence there Christ is at work with him and rejoycing in his work And my delights were with the sons of men The sons of men are the chief part in Gods Earth even in the habitable part of it according as they were brought forth the chief part of this shadowy Earth they have the special stamp and Image of God upon them the excellency and quintessence of the whole Creation is contracted into them the life and glory of God is sown in them this the soyl for it to spring up in grow in discover it self in this is his Tabernacle this is his holy Land c. and accordingly Christs delights were chiefly here and my delights were with the sons of men Lo this is the Word thus he was with God and this was his employment in part And the Word was God He was with God and he was God He was not with God as a stranger as a meer beholder of him and his works as one at a great distance from him but as one with him As God brought him forth out of himself so he brought him forth as himself he brought forth himself in him he brought forth his own life his own Wisdom his own Power his own Eternity his own Immortality which remains the same now as it was before it was God before and it is God still it was God in it self and it is God in him Christ is but God breathed out and God is but Christ drawn in He is the Image of the invisible God yet not a bare Image but a living Image an Image wherein the whole portraiture and lineaments yea the very life and substance of the Godhead is engraven Where ever God forms Christ he forms himself for he is but himself a little diversified and that with the least distinction that may be it is himself in the first step of descent it is himself in his first and most immediate going forth it is the primary and most perfect forming of God it is a Scripture-phrase before me was no God formed God is formed in the Creature but it is very difficult to read him there the likeness is so small the unlikeness so great but it is easie to read him in Christ He that beholds Christ cannot but behold God He that understands and knows Christ cannot but know God for there is nothing but God in him He is the true draught of the Godhead he in whom God came forth in whom God is in whom God dwells who hath filled every part of him with himself who shineth through him and cannot but be seen where he is seen Christ is every thing that God is is every where where God is does every thing that God does All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made All things are ordered and governed by him he upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power Hebr. 1. The Word was God Not his flesh that is but his garment it is no part of him no more then our clothes are of us onely indeed in this respect it is somewhat neerer because he took it up as an everlasting garment Our flesh is no part of us no part of the new-man no part of Christ in us it is but our garment and his flesh is but his garment which he took up not for any need he had of it or from any love to it but because he would be like us and because he found it somewhat advantagious to him to express his love to us to perform some offices of love for us in because the children were partakers of flesh and blood he himself also took part of the same Hebr. 2. The Word was made flesh He was made or became he put himself into that appearance he partook of it with his Brethren but it was no part of him nor had no relation to him otherwise then as it was assumed by him It is an imaginary description which many give of Christ that he is God in flesh God in weakness No he is God in strength God in perfection The Wisdom of God the Power of God the Arm of the Lord wherein all his strength lies the skill of God whereby he does every thing by him he made the Worlds the storehouse the treasury wherein the whole fulness of the Godhead is locked up and dwells in its own perfection It is true he was made flesh he entred into a state of weakness but what was he who became flesh who entred into this state of weakness It was the Word and that Word was God O Man Behold thy Saviour know thy life do not despise Eternity because of its appearing in and acting through mortality This is he who came to redeem thee to be a propitiatory sacrifice for thee and a pattern to thee Art thou able to measure God in any work of his through the Creature Thou knowest thou art nor why then dost thou measure him so confidently in his greatest work through his Christ even the work of Redemption and so apparantly contradict him in it He lays the stress on that Death of his Son which he underwent when he offered up himself in his Body on the Cross through the Eternal Spirit Thou slightest that lookest upon it as nothing but a type making the substance to be the death of Christ in thee Indeed it is a type and the death of Christ in thee is the substance of it so far as it is a type of it but is it no more then a type Was there nothing done but onely a representation of what was to be done in thee and in others Search read see consider what is spoken concerning that once dying of his by that one offering hath he for ever perfected them that are sanctified Poor shallow Man cannot comprehend God or any thing of God he can see but one peece but one side or any of his works at once and in beholding and acknowledging that he is still ready to contradict the other which at that time he seeth not He who looks on Christ without and is taken up with beholding that death little thinks he that he must feel the same within that he must be baptiz d with the same Baptism that he must drink of the same Cup. He who sees and feels that death within finding the power efficacy and vertue of it there presently inclines to slight the other to look upon it as a meer shadow yet not as comprehending it not as truly and throughly knowing it but as having lost the sight of it by being taken up with the sight and sense of what is wrought within and so he passes unrighteous judgment undervaluing
the flesh be thrown into the furnace the spirit goes with it and is burnt and melted in the fire as well as it Therefore all the life the spirit gains possesses pleases it self with it must part with again and must dye a bitter death with the flesh that it may be quite rid of the flesh all its life must sink back into its principle and lie there as if it were dead while the flesh is truly mortified and slain for ever And if it were not of an excellent nature if it could not bear the force of that fire which kills and burns up the flesh it would also be slain and consumed with the flesh if it were not pure gold it could not but waste and perish in the heat of that furnace which is still consuming and at last when it is heated hot enough will quite devour all fleshly dross whatsoever that is cast into it 4. The restlesness of the spirit under this Remedy For this thing I be sought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me He useth the best means with the utmost vigour to get rid of it Nothing more effectual then prayer then fervent prayer then constant prayer We have no strength of our own our strength lies in God faith and prayer or faith in prayer is our readiest and surest way of recourse to him for it Paul prayeth once yea again and again and fain he would be heard and mark the earnestness of his spirit that it might depart from me He doth not pray for strength to bear it for submission to the Will of God for spiritual benefit and advantage by it No nothing will serve his turn but to have it taken away to have it removed to have it depart the pain the shame is so great that he can by no means be content to lie under it This is such physick as we would never take if we might chuse it maketh us so sick that we would rather be without health then come by it this way If this remedy were not forced upon us this sickness would always remain with us 5. The support of the Soul under this restlessness the Cordial that is of most force to refresh the spirits under the violent workings of this physick which make the spirits very faint and bring the Soul very low My Grace is sufficient for thee The Grace of God the good will of God revealed to tasted by the Soul is able to refresh and support it under sense of the greatest misery There are two things of very great efficacy in it 1. There is a taste of sweetness at present which doth secretly relieve refresh revive the spirit He who ever knew God let him at any time taste the favour and love of God though in the lowest darkest deadest most oppressed state he can be in he cannot but find a secret touch of life in it in thy favour is life yea thy loving-kindness is better then life it is better to taste the sweetness the kindness the love of God in the most bitter pangs of death then to enjoy the sweetest touches and motions of life in ones own spirit 2. There is an assurance of a good issue and of all this tending that way He who sees the Grace of God the vertue of its nature its skill and efficacy in operation will see his physick administred to him from that Grace and working by that Grace He sees no more the temptations of the Devil in the Devils hand or his own sins in his own hand doing him mischief but in Gods hand doing him good He sees his own weakness not any longer his snare but his advantage making way to rid him of his weakness and to give him full possession of the strength of God for my strength is made perfect in weakness The strength of God is not made perfect in the discovery of it self to the creature in the creature for the creature till the creature be made perfectly weak While there is any strength left in the creature there is some room left there which the strength of God doth not fill the strength of God may be there but not all his strength the strength of God may act there but not perfectly The strength of God can never do that it hath to do for the Soul to perfect it before the Soul be first made perfectly weak and then the strength of God will soon be perfected when the Soul is brought to perfect weakness When we are brought into perfect captivity and perfectly weakened in captivity so that there is nothing left nothing remaining nothing visible to be delivered but the whole life of the spirit is perfectly dryed up and lost even for ever then is there nothing to hinder the breaking forth of perfect deliverance 6. The exultation of the spirit from the sense and experience of the good that the Grace of God works for it by these it can hereafter sport with misery play with death laugh while it is in the very jaws of destruction Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities I will not be so ashamed of my weakness now I know what it is and whither it tends but I will glory in it I will rejoyce in mine own inability to withstand temptations to keep back the breaking forth of any corruption in me to secure my self from the meanest messenger of Satan and I will not do it as a forced thing but most gladly it shall be a free motion of my spirit that which it shall most freely give it self up to namely to rejoyce in and because of its weakness most gladly therefore c. Yea I will rather do it I will chuse to rejoyce and glory in them before I would do it in Revelations I like them better they tend to bring me nearer to that which my spirit longs after whereas Revelations tend to set me further from it That the Power of Christ may rest upon me My life my happiness lies in enjoying the Power of Christ Revelations tend to strip me of it but weaknesses tend to possess me of it yea to cause it to rest upon me not only to seize upon me but to abide with me Our weaknesses are not only to fit us for some more vigorous aid and assistance from God but for the inhabitation of God there will he dwell thither shall the Power of Christ resort and there shall it rest Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities I will never be so unwilling to be weakened again Since I knew the meaning of it I cannot but take pleasure in it It is my delight to be made weak to be thrown down to be reproached to be bemired in my own filth I could not endure shame immediately after my Revelations but now I can please my self to behold mine own shame Yea I love to be brought to necessities to distresses that I know not which way to turn my self for all this is for Christs sake to give him more hold of
all the vigour of its life shall not find it self able to live out of God when the time of its remove and separation comes and the other for all its weakness shall find it self able to live in God when it is taken into him There is nothing so weak so imperfect but God can make it taste of strength of perfection There is nothing so strong so perfect but God can make it taste of weakness and imperfection There was nothing ever born planted built up c. but may have a time to dye to be plucked up to be thrown down c. There was nothing ever deaded plucked up rased out but may have a time to be quickened to be planted to be written in again All things are brought forth in weakness the inward world as well as the outward All things under the Sun there are vanity are to have but a vain course and to end in vexation of spirit God indeed is perfect in every motion of his both in the inward and in the outward world I know that whatsoever he doth it shall be for ever nothing can be put to it nor any thing taken from it Vers 14. But man is weak man is vain the outward man vain the inward man vain every motion of his comes to nothing He seemeth to be wonderous wise to have motions of great weight even of Eternity upon him but alas he cannot reach Eternity he is but a vain empty cipher which stands for nothing He hath purposes in him but his purposes are poor shallow things and there is a season for them wherein he takes his swinge in them but these seasons must blow over too and the time must come wherein man must be ripped up with all his hurdle of vanity from the very begining to the end and then both he and it blown away with the wind an eternal puff will quickly set them all packing What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth O God Let others treasure up but I abhor I throw away every inward motion that ever hath sprung up from me I will have nothing to delight in nothing to glory in nothing to hope from before thee Do thou gather them up and save them as they are thine as thou hast been and appeared in them but as mine let them pass away for evermore Let there be no profit of all my labour and travel Do thou reap the travel of thy Soul and be satisfied but for my part I have long turned and still do and cannot but turn from all the works of my hands all the delights of my spirit even in the inward world and with as perfect irksomness and tiredness of spirit as ever Solomon did from his in the outward He hath made every thing beautiful in his time Every thing is beautiful in its season and nothing is lovely out of its season There 's a beauty in life O how lovely is the spring both in the inward and outward world The life of the flesh the life of the spirit each shoots forth with a grace And there 's a beauty in death it is comely to see things dye when the season of death comes There is nothing so black but there is beauty written in it nothing so evil but it hath goodness engraven on it Nothing so bad but it is good in its own place order season course nothing so good but it is bad out of its place There 's a beauty in killing and a beauty in healing a beauty in weeping and a beauty in laughing c. in their seasons but of their seasons they are very deformed All the motions of God both in the inward and in the outward world are very exact They have all reference one to another the outward to the inward the inward to the outward every motion in each hath an universal aspect and referrence there is a strain of Eternity in every motion There is the very Nature and Excellency of God in every thing that God doth every thing as it comes from him savours and tastes of his own Perfection Man hath but a poor sight of things either the outward or inward man and after that manner that he sees he doth not see either from the beginning or to the end of any thing The outward man seeth not any outward thing so nor doth the inward man see any inward thing so And indeed God hath so set the world in mans heart that man cannot be left free and unbyassed in observation and judgment There is such a desire planted in man to grasp and enjoy what ever is discovered every thing in the outward world there is a desire in the outward man to possess every thing in the inward world there is a desire in the inward man to possess that man cannot addict and apply himself to understand things to observe the motion and operation of God in things from the beginning to the end There is nothing seen in the root either as it lies in the root or as it springs out of the root or as it returns into the root Man hath only a bruitish knowledg of things or of the motions and actions of God in and about things seeing only a present appearance of this or that but not knowing what it is whence it came what it means or whither it tends And this also is beautiful in its season Darkness becomes the night spiritual darkness the spiritual night as light becomes the day and shadows and lyes are as proper for the night as Truth and substance is for the day While the night remains it is as suitable that the shadows should remain also as that when the day dawns the shadows should fly away Now here is the Excellency of Christ of Sion of the holy Seed They are not exempted from any varieties or changes either in the inward or outward world but in their running through them they still remain the same They are like God Every where in every thing what ever their clothes what ever their appearances be yet their Substance their Life is still the same The inward man shall be befooled all his light be put out and he made to see and confess that he knoweth nothing as well as the outward it is the spiritual man only whether in the seed or grown up that shall live and flourish And for the coming of this day my Soul after its own hidden way and manner waiteth and longeth the breaking forth whereof is alone able to afford my spirit rest and satisfaction The secret hidden most inward Voyce and Demeanor of Sion in the time of her Captivity FROM LAMENT 3. Vers 24 c. The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul therefore will I hope in him The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his
youth He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath born it upon him He putteth his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him he is filled full with reproach For the Lord will not cast off for ever But though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies Vers 24. The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul A Portion is the childs share in his fathers estate containing in it present provision for him education according to his quality and degree and a proportion of substance for him afterwards to enjoy and inherit as his fathers estate will bear and as his fathers good will standeth towards him The Lord hath his children and he according to the bond of the relation provides portions for them shares out his own estate among them taketh care of them both to furnish them with necessaries and to bring them up by education suitable to their rank in the time of their nonage and hath cut out an inheritance for them which he will freely bestow upon them when they come to age which he hath divided and disposed of partly according to the greatness of his own estate partly according to the disposition and inclination of his own Will Now this Portion is the Lord himself As he hath cut out his people for himself the Lords Portion is his People Jacob is the lot of his Inheritance So he hath cut out himself for his Peoples Portion the Lord is my Portion saith my Soul For every thing that is made he hath made provision but his own Seed hath he reserved for himself and himself for his Seed They come from nothing but God they live upon nothing but God they can expect nothing but God He is all their share all that ever was intended or appointed for them all they have all they can enjoy all they are to look for And as God knows this so his Seed have a knowledg of this likewise When they are grown up to understanding they come to see whose they are from whence they came to whom they belong what their life and hope is Their relation and all that belongs to them is written in their very nature which when they come to be so skilful as to read they cannot but take notice of But in their Captivity their light and their life is buried their relation to God vailed they removed at a distance from him He severs them from him as if they belonged not to him he acteth towards them as if he knew them not he letteth all kind of misery and distress befall them as if he took no care of them at all so that the poor Soul loseth all sight of him all viable vertue from him yea and interest in him cannot tell how to lay any hold of him Yet for all this there remains a deep inward sense of this thing and the heart secretly inwardly in such a manner as perhaps the person himself cannot distinguish the sound saith the Lord is my Portion I have no share in any thing but God nothing can help me nothing can relieve me nothing can refresh me but God And I have a share in him he will yet look after me I shall yet see him who is the health of my countenance and my God he will yet be Life unto me and Spirit in me The Lord is my Portion saith my Soul Therefore will I hope in him In extremity the poor creature looks up and down every where is everywhere kindling desire after relief everywhere fastening hope for relief But the heart of the Spouse the heart of the child looks for no relief any where else but only from her Husband from its Father nor will fasten hope any where else If it can but look at any time into its own heart it shall hear this kind of language Nothing can relieve me but God Nothing can mitigate my misery but God Nothing can satisfie my tormenting love my scortching desire but the full enjoyment of God therefore there is all the hope I have I may be made to search up and down by the force of extremity I may be perswaded to try this way and that way and the other way but I have no manner of expectation from them I cannot hope in them I will not hope in them I will hope in him He is all my share my only share my help my relief lies there or no where from thence must I have it or no where at all and thither alone will I have recourse upon him will I hang for it Vers 25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him There are two son-like tempers or kinds of motion in the spirit of this child towards his Father in his Fathers withdrawing and absence for him which are to wait for him and to seek after him He waits and he seeks he seeks and he waits Fain would he find him and therefore he seeks and yet he would not have him come afore his own time and therefore he waits for his appointed season He waits for a full enjoyment of him he seeks for present food and support Those that know not God can neither wait nor seek but those that have this life in them can forbear neither for their nature is pointed towards it their nature puts them into and keeps them in that posture it is the proper course and current of their nature which cannot be stopped while their nature remains If it were possible by the thickness of darkness and extremity of misery to drive them into the greatest hatred of these and strongest resolution against these yet their spirits would return again to their course yea in the very midst hereof have their secret current through secret channels though perhaps untaken notice of by themselves in these To what parpose is it to wait to what purpose is it to seek saith the flesh and the fleshly birth Yes it is to purpose saith the Spirit and the spiritual Child for the Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the Soul that seeketh him It is not in vain to wait for God for the goodness and kindness of God to seek him or what our spirits want from him The Lord is good to such You cannot perswade the child that it is in vain for him to ask what he wants of his father or to wait the pleasure of his father for it he knows it is not He who is led to seek God to wait for God to seek what his spirit wants of God to wait for it from God shall find that the Lord who put him into this posture who keeps and sustains him in this posture will be good unto him And what ever jealousies to the contrary may be whispered into his ears yet they cannot enter into the inmost of his heart but there is still this secret language there The Lord is good unto
even go shift for my self as well as I can but that hope that strength which I fastened upon God for and which I was wont to have from God is quite lost the very bottom of it is failed Vers 30. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him He resisteth not evil All his strength is broken and now he knoweth how to resist no longer He lieth open to all manner of injuries from all manner of enemies he yeeldeth up his face to men to Satan to buffet Now his wisdom is taken from him his spirit is not so averse from bearing oppression He wants his true fence his proper fortress which he knows is alone able to secure him and so he seeks no shelter from any indignity from any stroke of malice or cruelty but yeelds himself like Christ to be led about like a fool spit upon buffeted any thing He is filled full with reproach There is no such object of shame and obloquy as the people of God in their Captivity Their former height their nearness to God their interest in God their boasts about their expectations from God all tend to fit them for and lay them open to the greater scorn And the more livelily God did appear and act in them before the greater is their present shame All that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem What is this the City that men call the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole Earth Is this the people that were so glorious so eminent in piety in purity in self-denyal in mortification in faith in love in all manner of righteousness and holiness And his spirit is sensible of the just ground of this reproach that is cast upon him for there is not that loveliness that was nay there is all manner of unloveliness appearing in him now God hath left him He is besmeared all over with lying among the pots and though he be comely in this his blackness yet not to any outward eye no not to his own eye he seeth not his own comeliness and therefore cannot cast off any of that reproach that is thrown upon him not so much as from his own spirit but is filled with it he is filled full with reproach Vers 31. For the Lord will not cast off for ever Here is the ground of all this his misery hinted at God hath cast him off at present When he had nothing he was made rich by Gods entertaining him and taking care of him who when he saw him in his blood pitied him and bid him live But now he who clothed him strips him again naked naked as in the day that he was born he who took him in thrusts him out of doors he who gave him light takes away his light he who breathed life into him dryeth up his life he who redeemed him out of his enemies hand delivereth him back into his enemies hand again And now he is worse then he was before both worse used by his enemies and more sensible of his sufferings and misery in his own spirit Thus it was with Christ He was the Son of his Love he in and with whom he delighted to live and converse his only one in whom the pleasure of his Soul was seated whom he was continually nigh unto whom he delighted to satisfie fill and please with himself with the inhabitation presence and enjoyment of himself But at last when Christ had most need of him then he left him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And thus may every one also partake of feel and complain of it when the time of their Captivity when the season of the hour and power of darkness's seizing upon them cometh But the Lord will not cast off for ever Though he doth thus cast off and make miserable for a season yet it shall be but for a season it shall not always last And it is a secret sense of this that makes him thus quietly give up himself unto his present most miserable condition Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell I shall not always lie in the grave saith Christ and while I lie there that life which I would have preserved shall not corrupt there I shall lose nothing by my death by my misery but that which I my self am willing to part with I shall not lose my God for he will be still with me in the grave though not to my sense and will raise me out of the grave and manifest himself again unto me He will so appear in me that I shall fear grave death hell sin devil no more Why then art thou so sad O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me Hope in God for I shall yet see him and satisfie the desire of my heart with the sight of him The Lord will not cast off for ever nay doth not cast off at present any further then I desire to be cast off by him Though there is that weakness and tenderness in me which is much encreased by duration of misery which turns from the cup and desires if it were possible to avoyd it yet there is that also in me which takes it willingly and drinks it down heartily and stands ready to embrace both that sickness and that death with all its sick fits and sharp pangs which it hastens upon them who drink deeply of it Vers 32. But though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies It is God that causeth grief He measureth out our sorrow to us as well as the misery that causeth it He drowneth the Soul in anguish who thought it had been impossible for him to have been driven from rejoycing and delighting in himself And our state requireth it We have as much need of the pain of the smart of the grief as of the affliction that occasioneth it if need be yea if need be only if need be ye suffer heaviness through many temptations for he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men from his heart it is his strange work not his natural delight He sends into captivity and he maketh that captivity doleful and though we cry and roar yet will he not hear but shut up his bowels against us But he will have a time again to have compassion he will have a time to heal and take away grief as well as to wound and cause it He hath multitude of mercies within him to heal and make up every condition of misery with and he will one day open the sluces wide and let forth all his bowels he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies And then he that keepeth not alive his Soul shall know and praise him God will build up Sion and when he builds up Sion he will appear in his Glory He will repair the old waste places and shine himself in those desolate ruines He will make the Wilderness a pleasant Land