Through faith they have entred strong Cities and I can truly and particularly say let them that will needs be offended stumble and fall at it that Bristol among other places was conquered by faith more then by force it was conquered in the hearts of the godly by faith before ever they stretched forth a hand against it they went not so much to storm it as to take it in the assurance of faith Through faith one of them hath chased ten and ten put an hundred to flight and an hundred a thousand And this was performed in the very letter of it at that famous and memorable battel at Naseby Many more instances I could relate of the power of faith in this Army but that I should thereby grieve and afflict many too much 4. The spirit of Prayer and this the Lord hath poured forth upon many of them in great measure not onely upon many of the chief Commanders but on very many of the inferiour Officers and common Troopers some of whom I have by accident heard praying with that faith and familiarity with God that I have stood wondering at the grace We never undertook any thing of weight but God was always sought to of us again and again and we have found God neer to us in all things we have call'd upon him for Yea God hath been found of us whilst yet we have been seeking him hath given us the answer of our prayers into our bosoms 5. The special presence of God with them I have seen more of the presence of God in that Army then amongst any people that ever I conversed with in my life There hath been a very sensible presence of God with us we have seen his goings and observed his very footsteps for he hath dwelt among us and marched in the head of us and counsel'd us and led us and hath gone along with us step by step from Naseby to Leicester and from thence to Langport and Bridgewater and Bath and Sherborn and Bristol and the Devises and Winchester and Bazing and Dartmouth and Exceter and into Cornwal and back again to Oxford and all along his presence hath gone along with us and he hath been our strength and glory How often hath fearfulnesse and trembling taken hold upon the enemy and the stout men been at a losse for their courage and the men of might for their hands because of the presence of God with us yea because of this they have melted away in their strong Holds and delivered up their fenced Cities into our hands and every place we have come against we have taken in and every battel wherein we have fought we have prevailed And because God hath been in the midst of us we have not been moved our selves and our enemies have perished not by our valour and weapons and strength but at the rebuke of his countenance This shall be written for the generation to come seeing so many of this present generation so little regard it and the people that are to be born shall praise the Lord 6. The sixth remarkable thing in the Army is their faithfulnesse to the state How have they gone up and down in wearines and labours and dangers and deaths to do the kingdomes worke when was it that they sate idle have they not as soone as one field was fought prepared to another as soon as one city was taken advanced to another and so gone on from one strong hold of the enemies to another till all have been reduced that peace might be hastned to this kingdome if it were the will of God and not come as a snaile but as on Eagles wings yea have they not been active even all the winter long in a most cold and frosty season that continued so for two months together beating the enemy out of the field and taking their strong Holds when other Armies use to lie still Have they taken the pay of idlenesse or lived the life of luxury upon the State-maintenance Have they sought to lengthen the Wars for their own advantages Have they not made even a short work I challenge all the former generations of the world to stand forth to shew so much work of this kind done in so little time And farther by all this successe have they ever been lifted up so much as to petition the Parliament in any thing or to remonstrate any thing proudly and undutifully to them as some people surfeted with peace and plenty have done Or though the Kingdom next under God and the Parliament owes its protection and deliverance and freedom from Tyranny and Popery to this worthy Army have they for all this ever appeared to contest against the Kingdom for any thing or to stand with their swords in their hands to make demands Nay I declare this to all the Kingdom that as God hath made them glorious in doing so he hath made them contented to be perfected by suffering if it be the will of God And most confident I am that though some men for private ends and interests are murmuring and others speaking out against this Army as the perverse Israelites against Moses and Aaron yet the Lord in his due time will take away the reproach of all his people therein and that we shall hear songs from all the ends of the kingdom even glory to the righteous This I have spoken in truth and sincerity to the Kingdom And to that Army I shall say Who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord who is the shield of thy help and the sword of thine excellency and thine enemies shall be found lyers unto thee and thou shalt tread upon their high places I have been longer in this Epistle then I intended but seeing there was such a cause as this no ingenious man will blame me Christian Reader I am Thine to serve thee in the Lord and in the Gospel of his Son WILLIAM DELL An EXPOSITION Of the 54 Chapter of Isaiah from Vers 11 to the end The words are thus Vers 11. Oh thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires 12. And I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones c. THis place of Scripture is very useful to the Church of God in these times wherein we live yea verily this Prophet did not so much prophesie to his own age as to ours nor to the Jewish Church as to the Christian For unto them it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you The Prophet Isaiah prophesied in the Spirit touching the Kingdom of Christ which stands not in the flesh but in the Spirit and delivers from the Father by the Spirit many excellent promises to be fulfilled in the Son Incarnate head and members The first promise in this Chapter is touching the great increase
full sense of these words I shall give you forth in several particulars 1. You see here the matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made and that is not of common but of precious stones elect and precious stones and such are the faithful For 1. They have a more excellent nature then other men have for they are born of God and so partake of the nature of God and so in this sense may be said to come forth from God as the childe from the father and the Lord Jesus did not more truely partake of the nature of man then these do partake of the nature of God and therefore saith Peter Great and precious promises are made to us that we should be partakers of the divine nature Others have onely the nature of men in them or which is worse the nature of the devil but the faithful have in them the nature of God communicated to them through a new birth 2. They have a more excellent spirit then others have as it was said of Daniel that there was a more excellent spirit found with him then with all the other wise men Now the excellency of each creature is according to the spirit of it but the Saints have the Spirit of God even the Spirit of the Father and the Son dwelling in them they have the same Spirit of God dwelling in their flesh as Christ had dwelling in his flesh so that the very Spirit of God is found in the faithful and therefore they are more glorious then the rest of the world 3. They have a more excellent lustre then other men One thing that appertains to the excellency of precious stones is the lustre of them Now this lustre in the faithful is the glory of God upon them The Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee saith Isaiah Chap. 60. And Paul saith We all beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord So that as Christ was taken into the glory of the Father so are we taken into the glory of Christ as he saith Joh. 17. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them for the head and members are taken into the same glory according to their proportion 4. They have more excellent operations for the faithful are not such precious stones that are onely for shew but they also have some vertue in them even the very vertues of Jesus Christ for they having the same Nature and Spirit of God as he had are able according to the measure of the gift of Christ to do the same works that he did and so the Saints are excellent in the operations of faith hope love humility meeknesse patience temperance heavenly mindednesse c. and in this regard also are more precious then the rest of the world And therefore the Lord calls them his Jewels In the day wherein I make up my jewels and elsewhere they are called the precious sons of Sion The people of God are a most precious people men and women of a precious anointing though some wicked and scurrilous libellers against the spiritual Church will not allow them this name but according to the anointing they have received from Satan reproach it And yet still it is a truth that the gates of hell shall not prevail against That the truely faithful are precious stones in the building of the Church partaking of the Nature and Spirit of God and of the lustre and operation of both Whereas on the contrary other people are the vile of the earth the true filth and off scouring of all things Psal. 15. in whose eyes a vile person is contemned a man that is a natural man a sinful and unregenerate man who hath no other nature in him but that corrupt nature he brought into the world though in this present world he may be a Gentleman or a Knight or a Noble-man or a King yet in the eyes of God and his Saints he is but a vile person and a poor mean Christian that earns his bread by hard labour is a thousand times more precious and excellent then he according to the judgement of God and his Word And thus much for the first thing The matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made and that is of precious stones 2. Now the next thing observable is the variety of these precious stones For the spiritual Church is not built up of precious stones of one sort onely not all of Saphires or all of Agates or all of Carbuncles but of all these both Saphires Agates Carbuncles and many other precious stones of fair colours And this notes the diversity of gifts in the Saints of God For though all of them are precious stones yet they are of diversity of colours and lustre and operations And this also makes for the greater glory of the Church for the variety of lustre addes to the beauty and ornament of it In the body of a man there is not one member but many If the body were all but one member it would be but a lump of flesh but the variety of members with their several gifts and operations are the glory of the body And so it is in the Church the Body of Jesus Christ wherein are divers members with diversity of gifts and operations excellently set forth by Paul 1 Cor. 12. 4. c. Now there are diversity of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God that worketh all in all But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisedom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another faith by the same Spirit to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecie to another discerning of spirits to another divers kindâ—s of tongues to another interpretation of tongues but all these workâ—â— that one and the same Spirit dividing to every 〈…〉 he will Here you see are diversity of gifts and administrations and operations in the faithful but all proceed from one and the same Spirit and whatsoever gift proceeds from the Spirit there is an excellent beauty a heavenly lustre in it And therefore labour to distinguish between those gifts that are connatural to thee and flow from thy own spirit and those gifts that are supernatural and flow from Gods Spirit In all the operations of thine own spirit in all thy natural abilities parts wisedom learning actings there is nothing but ungloriousnesse deformity darknesse death how specious soever they may appear to the world but in the gifts and operations that flow from Gods Spirit there is a heavenly beauty and lustre and glory yea even in weak Christians that are true
The Building and Glory of the truely Christian and Spiritual CHURCH Represented in an EXPOSITION On Isai. 54 from vers 11 to the 17. PREACHED To His Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax and the General Officers of the Army with divers other Officers and Souldiers and People At Marston being the Head-quarter at the Leaguer before Oxford June 7. 1646. By WILLIAM DELL Minister of the Gospel attending on His Excellencie Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Army Together with a faithful TESTIMONY touching that valiant and victorious Army in the Epistle to the Reader Matth. 5. 11. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake Verse 12. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Psal. 69. 9. The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me Published by Authority LONDON Printed for G. CALVERT at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1646. To the READER HAving obtained this grace from God to be called into some friendship and familiarity with Jesus Christ so as to hear and receive from him something of the minde and bosome of the Father according to his free grace who hath mercy on whom he will and having after many tears and temptations not unknown to many yet in the body obtained this further grace to speak the Word of God with boldnesse I have also been counted worthy to be taken into some fellowship with Christ in his sufferings and to endure the contradiction of sinners and oft-times to encounter the rage and madnesse of men yea and to fight with men after the manner of beasts altogether brutish and furious And thus it hath fared with me often especially at two remarkable times The one at Lincoln upon occasion of two Sermons preached there on these words of the Prophet Isaiah chap. 9. 7. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end Wherein giving unto Christ his own proper due many were angry I had taken too much from men to whom yet nothing belongs but iniquity shame and confusion they could not bear this that the Lord alone should be exalted But that Doctrine of truth the Lord hath strongly upheld with the right hand of his righteousnesse and the glory of it hath since shone into many hearts in this Kingdom much contrary to their desire The other time wherein I met with remarkable opposition was lately at Marston the Head quarter at the Leaguer before Oxford whither some coming out of the City of London in all probability out of some special designe seeing the old malignity now acts in a new form and is daily coming forth in a second and more plausible cunning and deceiving edition became exceeding angry and headie against the plain and cleer truth of the Gospel delivered in this following Exposition wherein the whole truth and substance of what was then delivered is exactly set down and nothing abated but rather some things farther pressed adding as Jeremiah in the second roll many like words to the former New some of these men seeing themselves and their new designe cleerly discovered by the light of the Word and made altogether naked suddenly they grew fierce and furious contradicting and blaspheming yea some of them speaking the language of hell upon earth of which there are some witnesses as became men of such a generation These men according to the operation of that spirit which works mightily in the children of disobedience come and fill the whole City with lyes and slanders laying to my charge things that I knew not the falshood and untruth whereof there are some hundreds and some of them of great and eminent worth and piety ready to witnesse Wherefore of meer necessity I was constrained to publish this Exposition as a witnesse to this present and the following generations of these mens resisting the Spirit and acting against Christ himself in the Word And though the discourse be very plain not savouring of any accuratenesse of humane wisedom and learning yet they that are themselves spiritual will acknowledge somthing of the Spirit in it and for that cause will rellish and love it though others will therefore be at the greater enmity against it But for my part I have set down my resolution in the Lord in this Cause of Jesus Christ not to weigh all the power of earth or hell one feather but to put it to the utmost trial whether the truth of the Gospel or the slanders and lyes of men shall prevail whether the smoke of the bottomlesse pit that comes forth out of the mouth of these and many others shall be able to blot out or darken the brightnesse of Christs coming in the Ministery of the Gospel yea and whether the power and malice of the devil and the world shall be stronger then the love and protection of Jesus Christ And I doubt not but the more the world acts in the Spirit of the devil the more will Christ enable us to act in his own Spirit till all at last shall be forced to acknowledge that the Spirit that is in us is stronger then the spirit that is in the world And what now have all these men obtained by all their malice and fury but a greater and more open discovery of the truth and to cause that that light of the Gospel that onely shone in one Congregation should through the printing of it have its beams scattered in many parts of the Kingdom and wherever the truth comes the children of the truth will entertain it ask no body leave And thus through the over-ruling power of Gods wisedom do these men betray their own and their fellows cause and overthrow their own and their ends and whilst they think to oppresse the truth propagate it the more and thus shall truths enemies perish and the truth it self flourish yea flourish through slanders oppositions contradictions blasphemies and all the vilenes and villany in the world And all this confidence in us arises hence because Christ is not as a dead man but is risen and ascended and sits at the right hand of God and fills all things doth all things in heaven and in earth in the world and in the Church among his friends among his enemies till these be made his footstool which is the very thing we are now in expectation of Now one thing more which I think fit to acquaint the world withal in this Epistle is this That none of these thorny hearers durst after come to discourse with me or to look me in the face but one among them that seemed of a better temper then the rest upon the urging of a godly Citizen then present did speak with me and the question he asked of me was this Whether I thought that all Presbyterians were carnal Gospellers I told him I was far from thinking any such thing for I knew
some of them very godly Christians and did acknowledge the grace of God in them and that for mine own part I did not allow any such distinction of Christians as Presbyterians and Independents this being onely a distinction of mans making tending to the division of the Church and added that as in Christs kingdom neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature so in this same kingdom of Christ neither Presbytery availeth any thing nor Independency but a new creature and that the kingdom of God stands not in Presbytery or Independency but in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost and that if I saw any thing of God or Christ or the Spirit in any one I reckoned him as a brother not taking any such opinion into consideration and that the unity of spirit and not of opinion is the bond of Peace in Christs kingdom The man then pretended to be satisfied and to rejoyce in his satisfaction but since as is related hath shewed his stomack again but because he seems to be a Christian the Lord lay it not to his charge And truly reader it is a sad thing that ever these names of Presbyterians and Independents grew up to this higth in the Church and that these opinions should be reckoned more in a man then the presence and dwelling of God himself and the Spirit in him For my part I utterly disclaim all such distinctions of mans making and will allow of no distinction of men but what God himself hath made and that is this The world and they that are taken out of the world or The Church and they that are without and in the Church the children that are born after the flesh and the children that are born after the Spirit or which is all one carnal and spiritual Christians This distinction of men God hath made and this I do and must needs use though the world as it appears likes this worse then the other For the distinction of seeds in the Church is the true distinction and the more this is brought about by the Word and Spirit the more glorious will the Church be Now some spiritual Christians may be among those that are called Presbyterians and some among those that are called Independents and all these though called by different names are of one spritual Church again some carnal Christians may be among those that are called Independents some among those that are called Presbyterians and all these though called by different names are of one carnal Church And therefore I could wish we had obtained such wisedom from God as to let the distinction division of men lie onely there where God hath made it and not where flesh and blood hath made it and so shall the true spiritual Church be delivered from these distinctions of flesh and blood and be separated from the world and be gathered together in it self and be at unity with it self which will be Gods great glory and its own strength comfort and happinesse and the great terrour and dread of all profane men and formalists Another thing which I finde my heart stirred up within me to do is to testifie to the world what I knâ—w in mine own experience touching the Army under the command of that most faithful and worthy General Sir Tho. Fairfax and that because I am not ignorant of the great undervaluing and despising and reproaching of it by many even of those whose blood runs warm in their veins and who enjoy all the comforts they have in the world through the faithfulnesse diligence activity labours hunger thirst cold wearines watchings marchings engagements stormings wounds and blood of these men instruments in the hand of God for the subduing that malignant power that rose up against the State and Saints of God yea instruments of Gods own chusing and calling forth to his foot for this great and glorious service which after-ages will wonder and stand amazed at as well as at the vile ingratitude of this age to such instruments as these for which God will not hold it guiltlesse This then for mine own part I am most confident on that there are as many gracious and godly Christians in it as in any gathering together of men in all the world again men full of faith and the Spirit and the admirable indowments of it More particularly there are these Six things most remarkable in this despised Army 1. Their Unity which is admirable it being more the Unity of Christians then of men more a Unity in the Spirit then in the flesh in the Father and Son then in themselves And this hath been one great means of their great successe they being all both in Counsel and Action but as one man The Lord hath taken them and knit them up in one bundle and so their enemies could not break them but have been broken by them Many of their matters of greatest moment have been carried in councell with that unity that sometimes not so much as one hath contradicted 2. Their humility which hath been admirable aswell as the former For after great and glorious victories to the wonder of the kingdom and of the world when Kings of the Army did flee apace and the men of might ran away as women I have never heard any of the worthy and godly Commanders or Officers ever to say I did this or that or to boast of his own counsel or his own strength or to attribute any thing to himself or any body else of what God had done but every one to say This was the Lords own doing and it is marvellous in our eyes and it was not our own sword or bowe but the Lords right hand and his arm and the light of his countenance And they have been most willing to be nothing themselves that God might be all And this hath been one means to keep them humble because though God hath been much with them yet the world hath been much against them not for their own sakes who have done the work of the kingdom faithfully and honestly but for Gods sake in them because there is more of God among these men then among other men therefore are they so maligned by many men For the world always most hates where there is most of God and you may have a shrewd guesse where there is most of God by observing where the greatest hatred of the world lies 3. Their faith There are many in the Army â—en of great and precious faith through which they have wrought righteousnesse obtained promises stopped the mouthes of lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weaknesse were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens Through this faith they have pursued their enemies and overtaken them and turned not again till they had consumed them they have beaten them small as the dust before the winde cast them out as dirt in the streets
afflicted tossâ—d with tempest and not comforted Now this the Lord doth in much mercy to his Saints he leaves them destitute of earthly comfort that they may look for heavenly he leaves them destitute of all comfort from men that they may look for comfort from God alone And therefore when thou art brought into such a case to be afflicted and not comforted lift up thy heart to God and expect all from him Saith Christ Joh. 16. The world shall hate you and persecute you and shall put out of their synagogues and shall kill you and in doing all this shall think they do God good service But saith he I will send you the Comforter Christ knew well enough that among all these evils they should have no Comforter on earth and therefore promises to send them ane from heaven And therefore when thy soul is placed in affliction never look after any earthly or sensual or creature-comforts for they will prove poison to thy soul but onely look for heavenlâ— comforts such as the Spirit brings such as flow immediately from God for these are pure and sweet and unmixed and refreshing and supporting and satisfying and enduring comforts comforts that are able to make thee rejoyce not onely in fulnesse but in wants not onely among friends but in the midst of enemies not onely in good report but in evil report not onely in prosperity but in tribulations not onely in life but in death they will make thee go singing to prison to the Crosse to the grave they are mighty comforts infinitely stronger then all the sorrows of the flesh and hence it is that many Saints and Martyrs have gone cheerfully to the stake and sung in the very flames the comforts of God in their souls have strengthned them to this Thou that art a believer and in union with Christ never doubt of this comfort in thy greatest sorrows When Christ had none to stand by him and comfort him God sent an Angel from heaved to do it And so when we are left alone in the world rather then we shall want comfort God will send us an Angel from heaven to comfort us yea the Spirit it self which is greater then all the Angels in heaven and we shall certainly be comforted by God when we are afflicted and tossed with tempest and not comforted by men Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours c. The Lord seeth the Church in its affliction without all coÌ„mfort in the world add then the Lord comes and comforts it himself and this he doth by a Promise They are the sweetest comforts that are brought to us in the promises The promises are the swadling-clothes of Christ they carry Christ wrapt up in them and Christ represented to the Church hath been the comfort of it in all its evils outward or inward And therefore whatever affliction takes hold on thee have recourse to the Promises to draw thy comforts from Christ through them Oh how sweet is that life that is led in the Promises I a life led in the Promises is the best life in the world Men that have estates in money or land depend on those things for their maintenance but a Christian may have little or nothing of these in the world but he hath a Promise which is a thousand times better and makes his life more comfortable I am God All-sufficient and I will not fail thee nor forsake thee whereupon he comes to this resolution The Lord is my portion saith my soul I will trust in him Oh how sweet a life is this life that knows no cares nor fears nor troubles nor disquietments here saith a believer lies my estate and living and the lot of mine inheritance and this is a thousand times better and more certain estate then all the Mannors and Lordships in the Kingdom for my bread shall be given me my waters shall be sure The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want no not then when the Lions the great men of the Kingdom to whom every poor man is a prey shall lack and suffer hunger He that hath given me his own Nature and Spirit will not leave me destitute of food and clothing Take another instance A man feeling the bitternesse of affliction to flesh and blood is ready to think Oh how shall I ever be able to suffer this or that or to part with my relations with my estate with my life and all that is neer and dear unto me Why then a Christian lays hold on the promise God is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able O saith a Christian God will never bring me to any temptation or trial but he will give me strength proportionable to it or above it and so lives satisfied with the truth and goodnesse and power of God And thus you see in these instances that a life led in the promises is the sweetest and best life when a man can draw all from God himself through a promise And this in general That God comforts his Church by a promise But to come more particularly to the words Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours and lay thy foundations with Saphires Vers 12. And I will make thy windows of Agates and thy gates of Carbuncles and all thy borders of pleasant stones The promise relates to the Spiritual Church of the New Testament and this you shall observe is oft in Scripture compared to a building and that to a most stately sumptuous magnificent and glorious building as being all built of precious stones and so more glorious then the first Temple which was built up of common stones and it was prophesied that the glory of the second Temple should far exceed the glory of the first The first Temple was Solomons which was indeed filled with the outward presence of God but the second Temple is the humanity of Jesus Christ or the flesh of Christ both head and members this is the living temple of the living God the Temple that God hath built by his Spirit for his own haâ—itation wherein God dwels truely really spiritually and most neerly by the way of the most neer union whereby God and the creature are knit together and this Spiritual Temple is more glorious then the first material one either according to the first edition of it by Solomon or the second edition of it by the Fathers in the days of Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes Here then you see that the Lord promiseth to build up the Church of the New Testament with stones of fair colours with precious stones I wil not stand to enquire particularly into the natures of the several stones here named for the Jews themselves do not fully agree about them It shall be sufficient for us to attain to the meaning of the Spirit in this place and that is this That the Spiritual Church of the New Testament is not to be built with common but with precious stones Now the
Christians you shall oft see and discern an excellent beauty in some gift or other which they have received from the Spirit which shines not forth so clearly in some stronger Christians And therefore let us not expect all gifts in all men and that every man should excel in every gift for then one would be saying to another I have no need of thee But God hath given diversity of gifts to divers Saints that each may acknowledge something in another which he hath not himself and may reckon his perfection to lie in his union and communion with them that so the Communion of Saints may be kept up in the world in despight of the world One Christian hath the gift of Faith another the gift of Prayer another the gift of utterance in preaching another the gift of courage another the gift of meeknesse and the like and no man hath all things in himself that every man in the sight of his own wants may be kept humble And this is a glorius thing in this building that the lustre of each stone addes to the lustre of all and the lustre of all is communicated to each stone and so in the Spiritual building what one hath from the Spirit it is for all what all have is for each one If thou hast the gift of utterance in the ministration of the Spirit it is to build up me if I have the spirit of Prayer it commends thee as carefully to God as my self one watches over another as over his own soul and if any be weak the strong support them if any be doubtful they that have the gift of knowledge direct them if one be troubled the rest mourn with him if one be comforted the rest rejoyce with him and they are all so linked together in the body of Christ that the good and evil of one extends to all Where thou canst finde such another communion there joyn thy self but if this be the onely excellent communion in the world who would not willingly joyn himself to that spiritual people where no man calls his grace his own but all gifts are in common among all every one having a share in the faith hope love prayer peace joy wisdome strength of all and all having a share in these gifts and graces that are in any one And thus much for the diversity of the stones as well as the preciousnesse of them 3. The third thing that reveals the sense of the words is to observe that this spiritual building of the Church of the New Testament is made up all of precious stones without any mixture of common stones is made up of Saphires Agates Carbuncles and addes And all thy borders of pleasant stones Here then must be no mingling of the precious and the vile the holy and the profane the faithful and the unbeliever the spiritual and the carnal but all must be precious If a man had a jewel that had here and there onely a precious stone in it and all the rest common pebbles there would be no great glory in such a jewel but the common stones would take off from the lustre of the precious ones And so the Church is Gods jewel in the world and it must be made up onely of precious stones as you see here And where are their eyes that perceive not this There be some that talk much against New Doctrine which is the old reproach of the Gospel but surely there was never newer Doctrine then this That the Spiritual Church of the New Testament should be made up of all the people that live in a Kingdom and that all that are born in such a Nation should necessarily be stones for the building up the new Jerusalem This is a new Doctrine indeed which neither the Old nor the New Testament owns but was conveyed into the world by the spirit of Antichrist For God doth not now make any people or kinred or nation his Church but gathers his Church out of every people and kinred and nation and none can be stones of this building but those that are first elect and after made precious through a new birth and the gift of the Spirit And this Doctrine the Word will justifie against the world for Paul writing to the Churches of Ephesus and Corinth c. doth he mean all the people that lived at Ephesus or Corinth No but the faithful and elect children by adoption Saints by calling and saith So it was meet for him to judge of them all And if any were mistaken for a Saint that was none surely he carried himself very like one he was outwardly in sheeps clothing or he had not been reckoned among the flock and so if a stone be taken into this building that is not truely precious yet it is so like one in shew and colour that it can hardly be discerned to be other but a very skilful Lapidary And indeed such a mistake there may be in Christs Kingdom here that a few counterfeit stones may be taken up among many precious ones but that is the mistake of a false Church where a thousand counterfeit ones are taken in for one truely precious wherein for one faithful Christian there are many formalists and many more profane This is not such a building the Prophet speaks of for this is all of elect and precious stones But I cannot enlarge on these things because this exercise I intend chiefly as an Exposition onely I will adde one or two things more touching this particular and so go on 1. If the Church of the New Testament is to be built all of precious stones what a building is that where the onely care is to keep these stones out of the building lest by their glory and lustre they should darken the rest 2. Consider when the Church shall be built up all of such precious stones what a glorious Church will that be when the glory of the Lord shall shine forth in every stone of this building how will there be then glory upon glory till the glory of the Church first darken and then put out all the glory of the world 3. Consider what great enemies they are to the true and native glory of the Church that would have every man in a Kingdom a member of the Church and would have those taken into the flock that are none of Christs sheep and those taken into the Church of God that are not of God and would gather up any stones to make up this Temple of God These are the men that would keep off those glorious things from being fulfilled in the Church which are spoken of it 4. We are to take notice who is the builder of such a structure as this all made up of pretious stones and you shall finde in the Word that the builder and maker of it is God I will doe it saith the Lord behold I will lay thy stones with faire colours and I will lay thy foundations with Saphirs and I will make thy windowes
I will hear what the Lord God will say And truly I would not care to hear what any man in the world would say in whom Christ himselfe did not speake Now much more might be said of this teaching of God but that I intend brevity in all as namely that this teaching 1. Is a clear and evident teaching that you shall have certainty in what you are taught and shall be so taught of God no man or Angel shall be able to unteach you againe 2. It is an inward teaching though by the outward Word reaching to the inward soule and spirit to the hidden man of the heart 3. It is a successefull teaching he so teaches as men learn he that hath heard and learned of my father hearing and learning goe together hee teaches faith and wee believe humility and wee are humble patience and wee endure c. But I cannot enlarge any farther in this point It followes And great shall be the peace of thy children That is when men are taught of God then there is nothing but peace among them when God comes and teacheth thee and me and another and many then we all agree because we are all taught of God and see all things by the same light and apprehend all things by the same knowledge and perceive all things by the same spirit because all have the same teaching And so they that are taught of God though one come out of the East and another out of the West and another out of the South and never had any former communion together yet they all agree in the same truth and think and speak the same things and so there is love and amity and peace and unity among them because they are all taught of God and have learned the truth not as it is in this or that man or assembly of men but as it is in Iesus And truly this is the true ground of all the differences and dissentions and heats that are in the Kingdome at this time to wit because some are taught of God and some are not taught of God but of men only the carnall Church is only taught of men and goes no higher but the spirituall Church is truly taught of God Now they that are taught of God and they that are taught of men see the same truths with a great deale of difference and hereupon arises the Controversie and quarrell for one will have the truth as hee sees it in the light of God another will have it as hee apprehends it in his own fancy and the carnall man will not yeeld to the spirituall and the spirituall man cannot yeeld to the carnall Saith one this is the minde of God and I have learned it from his own teaching saith another this is not the minde of God for such a learned Minister or Ministers taught me otherwise and so I apprehend it and thus as the flesh and spirit are contrary so are their teachings and hence our divisions and troubles But when men are all taught of God then they are all at peace one with another and all doe agree in the substance of the truth of the Gospel and if some doe not know the same things they doe they can waite with patience till God also reveale that unto them for they know with all their hearts that they themselves could never have known those things except God had taught them and so they cannot be angry at others whom the Lord as yet hath not vouchsafed to teach and so they are meeke and gentle towards all as beseemes the spirit as well as at peace among themselves All thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall bee the peace of thy children For they know that no man is higher or lower then another in the Kingdome of God but all are equall in Iesus Christ they know that no man can challenge Christ more to himselfe then another but all have equall interest in him and Christ is alike neer to all in whom he dwells yea they all as willingly communicate their owne things to the brethren as they themselves doe partake of Christs things and so there is nothing but peace When men know that no man is any thing in hâ—mselfe but every one is all that he is in Christ and when men love Christ meerly for himself and where they see most of Christ there love most and if Christ be more in another then himself can love such a one more then himselfe not for his owne sake but for Christs sake then there is nething but peace Great shall be the peace of thy children Verse 14. In righteousnesse shalt thou be established c. This spirituall Church had need of establishment for when God hath done all this for it when he hath built it and taughtâ—t himselfe it shall not want trouble and opposition and contradiction and persecution in the world and therfore it stands in great need of establishment But how shall this be done Why saith he In righteousnesse shalt thou be established That is not by any outward power or force or armies or fortifications or factions or confederacies all these are but a staffe of reed but in righteousnesse and that is both in the righteousnesse of Christ received by us and working in us the first is the righteousnesse of justification the second is the righteousnesse of sanctification and our establishment lies in both 1. In the righteousnesse of Iustification which is called the righteousnesse of faith or Christs owne righteousnesse received into us and in this sense it is said Except ye beleeve ye shall never be established for by faith we partake of the righteousnesse of God through Christ and this is an infinite and everlasting righteousnesse that hath neither spot nor blemish in it this is able to establish us for ever and ever so that the Church hath no more establishment then it hath of the righteousnesse of Christ by faith and as the Church goes from faith to faith so it goes from establishment to establishment 2. Our establishment lies in the righteousnesse of our sanctification which is nothing but Christ working in us as the former was Christ dwelling in us for the same Christ that is the righteousnesse of our justification is the righteousnesse of our sanctification Now the establishment of the Church is when we let the righteousnesse of Christ worke all in us and we worke all in the righteousnesse of Christ then are we established mightily and invincibly indeed and how much Christians swerve from this Rule so much they become weake and unsetled sometimes Christians will bee living out of Christ in themselves and they will be moving and acting and working according to humane wisedome and prudence and the counsels and devises of flesh and blood but in all this they have no establishment at all And therefore ye that are faithfull see to it that ye turne aside neither to the right hand nor to the left through any worldly hopes or fears
of the Church in the days of the New Testament that whereas before the Church was to be found but in one kinred and tongue and people and nation now it should be gathered out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation And this is so desireable and comfortable a thing that in the beginning of the Chapter he calls upon all to rejoyce at this vers. 1. Sing O barren thou that didst not bear break forth into singing and shout aloud thou that didst not travel with childe for more are the children of the desolate then of the married wife saith the Lord Enlarge the place of thy tent and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations Spare not lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left and thy seed shall inherite the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited So that there shall certainly be a most wonderful and numerous increase of the faithful in the Christian Church till they become as the stars of heaven and as the drops of the morning dew that cannot be told all of them assembled in the beauties of holinesse And therefore let us not be over-much troubled though at present we see in a numerous nation but few true children of the spiritual Church for God shall blesse these few and bid them increase and multiply and replenish the earth so that though the Assemblies of the Saints be now but thin and one comes from this place and another from that to these Assemblies and in many and most places of the Kingdom these few are fain to come together secretly for fear of the Jews that is the people of the letter yet through the pouring forth of the Spirit it shall come to passe at last that they shall come in flocks as doves to their windows And it shall be said to the Church by the Lord Lift up thine eyes round about and behold all these gather fellows together and come to thee At I live saith the Lord thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament and binde them on thee as a bride doth c. till at last the Church shall say in her heart Who hath begotten me these seeing I have lost my children and am desolate a captive and removing to and fro and who hath brought up these Behold I was left alone these where had they been Yea these very promises are now in the very act of accomplishing among us for the spiritual Church hath received a very great increase within these few yeers and God hath many faithful people in many places of this Kingdom and of this my self and many more in this Army are witnesses for having marched up and down the Kingdom to do the work of God and the State we have met with many Christians who have much Gospel light and which makes it the more strange in such places where there hath been no Gospel-Ministery which hath put me in minde of that prophecie Isai. 66. 8. Who hath heard such a thing who hath seen such things Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a nations be born at once For as soon as Sion travelled nay before she travelled she brought forth her children There was no outward Ministery of the Gospel to travel or take pains with them and yet Sion brings forth her children And one thing that is remarkable touching the increase of the Church at this day is this That where Christ sends the Ministration of the Spirit there many young people are brought in to Christ as being most free from the forms of the former age and from the Doctrines and Traditions of men taught and received instead of the pure and unmixed Word of God whereas many old professors who are wholly in the form prove the greatest enemies to the power of godlinesse and thus the first are the last and the last first Now this great and sudden increase of the faithful is that which doth so exceedingly trouble the world and makes them angry at the very heart For if they were but a few mean contemptible and inconsiderable persons whom they might easily suppresse and destroy they would be pretty quiet but when they begin to increase in the land as Israel did in Egypt and notwithstanding all the burdens of their taskmasters wherewith they are afflicted and grieved do yet increase abundantly and multiply and wax exceeding mighty till they begin to fill the land and when they consult to deal wisely with them lest they multiply too much do yet see them grow and multiply the more that they know not at what Countrey or City or Town or Village or family to begin to suppresse them this is that doth so exceedingly vex and inrage the world and makes them even mad again as we see this day For the increase of the faithful as it is the glory of the Church so it is the grief and madnesse of the world But these men in vain attempt against this increase of the faithful as the Egyptians against the increase of the Israelites for none can hinder the increase of the Church but they that hinder God from pouring out his Spirit and according to the measure of Gods pouring forth the Spirit is and must be the increase of the Church in despite of all the opposition of the world And thus much touching the first promise of the Churches Increase Now in the words I read to you the Lord comes to another promise so that the Lord because of the Churches weaknesse addes one promise to another and these promises are nothing but the outgoings and manifestations of his love through the Word Christ But to look more neerly upon the words Oh thou afflicted Affliction in the world doth so inseparably attend the Church that the Church even takes its denomination from it Oh thou afflicted The condition of the Church is an afflicted condition For the Church being born of God and born of the Spirit is put into a direct contrariety to the world which is born of the flesh and is also of its father the devil And so the whole world is malignant against the faithful and spiritual Church and all that are not regenerate set their faces yea their hearts and their hands against the Saints and the unregenerate world is against the regenerate and the carnal world against the spiritual and the sinful world against the righteous and all the people and nations in the world are against that people and nation which the Apostle calls a holy nation and a peculiar people As the world cannot endure God in himself so neither can it endure God in the Saints and so the more God dwells in the Saints the more doth the world afflict the Saints for they oppose not the faithful for any thing of flesh and blood in them but because that flesh and blood of theirs is the habitation of God and