that passeth not away but purifieth perfecteth and preserveth the vessel wherein it is sown It is a Life which both indures in it self and leads to that blessed enjoyment of life in which the seed and the spirit of man in and through the seed shall settle and abide for ever All Adams nature all Adams excellency all Adams life all Adams enjoyment content and blessedness thereby how soon did it fade but this Nature this Life this Principle with all the glory and blessedness to which it tends shall abide for ever This life was not written in Adams nature or in the command to his nature but in the command to Christs nature and to man through that nature The nature of Adam was led aside from the commandment to death but the nature of Christ is led and is guided safely through this Commandment to life even to that life which alone can satisfie the desire and thirst of his nature even this Life everlasting which is here mentioned 3. What this same knowledg of Christ here is Ans. This knowledg of Christ is the comprehension of his own nature or his comprehending of the thing in his own nature It is the seeing of it with his own eye the measuring it in his own understanding As man measureth natural things within his reach by his natural understanding so Christ measureth spiritual things in spiritual light with his spiritual understanding and what he finds proportionable to the measure of his spirit which is truth he knoweth to be truth As man what he truly measures in the true light of reason with a truly rational understanding he knoweth to be truth there So what Christ measures after his way in this his spiritual Region he knoweth to be truth here Christ the true nature with the true eye saw the true thing in the true light so that his light his knowledg is truth I know c. Man proposeth unto himself vain waies and Satan invents many Devices for him but God who is truth speaketh truth and proposeth only truth unto him He proposeth the letter of truth not only by Moses but by the meanest of his Prophets but by Christ the spirit thereof The words which I speak unto you they are spirit they are Life Christ as he is the truth in an especial manner so he hath an especial ministration of it which he began in his own person and carried on in his disciples and Apostles And both he and they had an especial knowledg of the truth that dwelt in them and which they were chosen out for the service and Ministration of Christ lay in the bosom of the Father before he came into this world There he saw things There he saw this Life and the way to it And when that knowledg which he had in him before springs up here in him in this World he knoweth what it is He is sure it is that truth which he beheld in God in the days of old and which now he receiveth quick lively pure and clear from the Spirit of God in this his new state and station And I know that his Commandment is Life everlasting Let this seem what it will to you let it seem never so contrary to the will of God never so contrary to that dispensation of his by Moses Let it seem never so strange to all the people of God upon the face of the earth yet I know that it is the truth I know that it is the true and the only way to life even to that Life which was promised to the nature of the seed and which the nature of man also so much desireth I know that life is wrapped up in this Commandment and that they that receive it receive Life and that they that follow and obey it in truth in the true nature life and spirit of it cannot miss of life of Life everlasting And I know that his Commandment is Life everlasting 4. What kind of Faith is this what kind of beleeving is this which contains everlasting life in it which draws everlasting life along with it Ans. 1. It is the belief of the spirit of man for that is it which is exhorted to beleeve and that is it which is to be saved The Son cometh not to save himself but to seek and save lost man It is for him he bringeth forth and layeth down his own Life but yet that way whereby he saves him is by that Faith which he receives and acts from the nature of the Son in him 2. Though it be by mans spirit or nature beleeving in the Son whereby he comes to be saved yet this Faith with all the motions of it are comprehended and acted in the holy Spirit Every motion of man that tends to life is performed in the spirit of God As every thing that is spirituall comes alone from the Spirit so it only lives and moves and acts aright in the Spirit All the repentance mourning joy hope prayer c. that are Spirituall as they spring from the spirit so they grow up and come forth in the spirit praying alwaies in the holy Ghost 3. It is from a new Root The faith that saves is from the new birth The faith that saves this old nature springs from a new nature He that is not new Born hath not an eye to see Life nor an heart to desire it nor a foot to walk in the way of it So that though I said in the first place it is the beleef of the man yet that is not primarily and most properly true for it is the belief of the new Life in the man which also needeth salvation in this state wherein it is bred and brought up here in this world from whence it entring into springing up in taking possession of and leavening the man it becometh his also It purgeth out the old nature of the man and infuseth this new insomuch as this is now become the nature and life of the man also So that not only now Christ in the man beleeveth but the man also beleeveth in and through Christ which dwelleth in him and hath changed him into and communicated unto him his own nature The way being thus cleared the Observation it self will now appear more manifest which is this Obser. That Christ held out from true light from certain knowledg that beleeving is the way to Life Christ did not guess at it or imagin it strongly as we do at most of the things we speak of but he knew that his Commandment is life everlasting The certainty of Christ in the things of God ariseth from this four fold ground First From his own nature Secondly From his union with the Spirit Thirdly From his Life and Fourthly from his Light Each of these contribute much towards but all of them together can make up no less then an absolute infallibility 1. From his own nature The nature of Christ is Divine He is not of this Earth but from above He is begotten by God
and so still prejudice your selves as if I went about to disswade you from duties Ordinances reading of the Scriptures praying hearing of the Word and the like No I disswade you not from any of these nor from any thing else wherein ye might truly serve and enjoy God as I am sure ye might in the true knowledg use and exercise of these but only from setting up dead things in stead of these which become not the things themselves by your esteeming or naming them so that so ye might once come into a capacity of seeking and serving the Living God I do not dehort you either from building up an house unto the Lord or from worshipping him there with his worship but this I testifie unto you that it will not be good for you to build up the Lords house with your materials or to set up your worship there in stead of his calling these the Lords and forming them as like as possibly ye can unto that which was once the Lords that so they may pass the better both with your own spirits and before men Certainly this will not be profitable for you in the upshot It would have been better for you to have sunk down in that desolation which ye so despise then to build with such hewen stones They who are Christs are taught by God to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes Out of fleshly Egypt into the straitned Wilderness Out of the Wilderness in an entangled path to Canaan Out of Canaan into the Wilderness again The seed of Christ are not to set up a fleshly rest in Canaan but to be led again by the spirit into the Wilderness for the exercise of their spirits and they are not afraid to follow the spirit though out of Canaan and into the Wilderness I will lead them in paths they have not known saith the holy one of Israel Vain foolish man will limit the holy one of Israel and follow him only in such paths as he knows but the true-spirited child which understandeth the nature and truth of his guide is not afraid to follow him any whither And if ye can hear consider this I speak not at random There are secret pure hidden paths of Faith Love Worship Obedience c. wherein God and some of his people meet know own and after a sort enjoy one another even in this Wilderness where their spirits are fed by him and his life and nature embraced by them But the outward Court is given to and prophaned by the Heathenish spirit of man and can be no more fit for the spirit of the seed until it be again measured and purified by the Spirit of the Lord. If ye do not plough with the right heifer this will prove a very strange riddle to you Yet it is never a whit the less true in it self for your not apprehending or not relishing of it Take heed of fleshly wisdom take heed of a fleshly line it is always dangerous but then most of all when it appeareth as if it were spiritual Ye cannot measure any thing aright by a fleshly understanding of the Scriptures He that beginneth in the spirit may turn aside and end in the flesh But he that beginneth in the flesh can never in any part of that line arrive at the spirit This will one day appear as manifest as it is now true that he that beginneth not with a right spirit with a right principle with a right nature cannot be right in any of his motions Neither in his Faith nor in his Love nor in his hopes desires prayers or any other part either of his outward or inward worship and obedience O that it would please God to uncover the truth and to swallow up that thick vail which lieth as yet upon all Nations ERRATA PAg. 2. l. 19. r. a rising p. 6. l. 8. for a r. or l. 18. 24. for stay r. stage p 7. l. 3. dele an p. 8. l. 20. d. or p. 16. l. 9. d. of p. 23. l 4. r. throw l. 34. r. plainly p. 27. l. 3. for in r. is p. 28. l. 34. r. observing p. 39. l. 23. r. disperse l. 31. r. these p. 42. l. 2. d. in l. 3. r. in them p. 43. l. 5. r. power l. 24. for then r. there p. 57. l. 32. r. Region p. 58. l. 18. r. reacheth p. 60. l. 32. add fourthly p. 63. l 19. r. if he could l. 20. r. in this kind of nature p. 109. l. 7. for in r. is FINIS Some Books extant of this Authors to be had at M r Giles Calvert's Shop at the black spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1. A Voyce out of the Thick Darkness c. 2. Light or Darkness Displaying or hiding it self as it pleaseth and from or to whom it pleaseth c. 3. Several fresh inward Openings concerning several things which the Day will declare of what nature they are to which Iudgment they appeal for Iustice c. 4. An Eccho from the Great Deep c. 5. The Fundamental Rights and Liberties of the People of England Discovered c. 6. The Life of a Christian which is a Lamp kindled and lighted from the Love of Christ c. 7. A Question about Government c. These out of print Four Questions about the Teachings of God A Touchstone or Tryal of Faith The great and sole Troubler of the Times or a Map of Misery A Word for the Commonweal
two principles two seeds two fountains of things perfectly one there yet even there being and having that which is the cause of all their distance and difference elswhere and yet perfectly different nay contrary in their springing forth and in their whole course from thence The one is of life the other of death the one of good the other of evil the one of darkness the other of light the one of sweetness the other of bitterness so that from one spring come those two Fountains from the one whereof issue the fresh cleer sweet living waters from the other the putrified muddy bitter dead waters The head of the one of these is called God in which springs up life the power of life the vertue of Creation Preservation Redemption Restoration Salvation c. The head of the other is called Satan because of its enmity to this in its nature productions and operations it striving to swallow up and destroy all the light all the good all the sweetness all the happiness which the other bringeth forth Now both these as they have their rise so they have their strength from the root from which if they were not continually fed they could not continue their vertues or go through their operations The power of life failing in the one and the power of death in the other they would soon grow weak Of such sprouting forth of different and contrary things from one and the same root we see emblems every where dayly How many contrary designs and parts do flow from one and the same principle of wisdom in man which are very evident when he gives them a visible being and bringing forth in a Comedy or Tragedy This name God Iehovah which gave being Iah the preserver of breath Adonai the stay or piller of all things Zur the rock and so all the other names of God are relative referring to the Creature or opening somewhat of him which refers to the Creature and is convenient and necessary for it in its present station and condition They are not any of them proper to the root and spring of all things originally but only in reference to other things for not that knowledg which is most naked and natural but that which is most useful to this present state is alone dispenced yet by this name GOD the Scripture doth not only point at this springing head of Power but at the root it self Now as God is a distinct root from Satan so there is in him life and no death light and no darkness truth and no lye good and no evil And such are all his productions effects and operations such is all the seed which he soweth and all the death and darkness which springs up in any is from the contrary power it is from the enemies seed and of the enemies sowing So that take God thus there is no darkness nothing but light in him no hatred nothing but love in him God is love But now understand under this word God the inmost the utmost the universal Root the root of all roots natures and principles not as distinct from any thing but as comprehending every thing and then it includes death as much as life darkness as much as light c. and excludes light as much as darkness life as much as death Indeed there is neither here but both as much as one No light No darkness No life no death No good no evil No love no hatred but only one thing which cannot be named which comprehendeth all these perfectly and where they all are in such a way as is sutable to the root but not at all as they appear here But of what use is this knowledg now or what certainty is there in it as yet It is of too deep a nature for our present constitution We may make our selves drunk with it and thereby unfit for our present station but we cannot soberly comprehend and manage it Such as think to digest it and thereby to advance themselves above the nature and state not only of men but of the highest Christians are they not in stead thereof thereby humbled not only beneath Christianity but beneath manhood too For my part I profess I would not though I fairly might aspire beyond my present state That knowledg which I allow in my desires is that alone which is proper for me where I am If I were a brute I would not torment and break that my portion of Being in pieces by aspiring after the knowledg of a man Nor as I am do I desire to make my self miserable by grasping at that which I cannot measure Had I but a sufficient light and guidance in the path wherein I am set it would be enough for me at present and I could pass on very comfortably with it Yet let me not injure these things since they have been so freindly to me which I would not willingly do though they had been mine enemies I perceive they did spring up in my spirit with that kind of demonstration which they brought along with them as a necessary guard in some cases and so they have been of some kind of use to me and may to others more then to satisfie any desire I had after them or any delight I could take in them I shall conclude this thus This world is a Stage where several things come forth appear and act their parts Thus we see them But we see not what they were before they were formed for this present act on this present stage nor what they now are in their principle Therefore all our knowledg and experience is vanity Happy is he who can make the best of this present state of things since there is no possibility of proceeding further without turmoiling himself to form it into what it cannot be or to discover that of it which was never intended for nor can be exposed to his eye IV. Of the Word the Spirit and Faith under each Administration both that of the Law and that of the Gospel with an hint at their further tendency 1. Of the Word IN the Word there are two things the letter and the spirit besides a third thing hidden which is the root and substance of both The letter is the outward part the outward description of Truth the shadow or shell which points out and contains the spirit or kernel The spirit is the inward part the truth it self the substance of the shadow the kernel within the shell This appeareth in each Dispensation both of Law and Gospel There was letter and spirit in each spirit in the Law letter in the Gospel The Gospel was couched under the Law and the Law is hid within the Gospel So that as from under the Law-dispensation the Gospel breaketh forth and swalloweth up the Law so under the Gospel-dispensation the Law breaketh out and becometh a vail over the Gospel But here now is the difference between Law and Gospel Though there was letter and spirit in both yet the letter was
chiefly dispenced under the one and the spirit under the other The letter was appointed for the litteral people and the spirit for the spiritual and so they are managed The litteral people receive their impression from the letter of the Word are brought forth by the letter and fed and maintained by the letter and the spiritual people receive their impression from the spirit of the Word are brought forth by the spirit and fed and maintained by the spirit So long as the letter of the Word lived in the fleshly people the fleshly people lived so long as the spirit of the Word liveth in the spiritual people the spiritual people live for these can live no more then the former any longer then they are fed from the root This dispensation and people may dye as well as the other Hence that ministration is called the ministration of the letter this of the spirit So that mark now There is letter and spirit life and death justification and condemnation in the Word both in the Copy and in the Original in Christ which is the Word of God and in the Scriptures which are the words of Christ in the heart of Christ which is Gods Book where he hath writ his Word and in the heart of man which is Christs Book where he hath writ his Word And both these dispensations are equally from God and from Christ from first to last both in their causes and in their effects 2. Of the Spirit The Spirit is that Substance which comprehends the Word and is comprehended in the Word It is the Lord and Servant of Christ who is the Word of God It is that which lives dwells and reigns both in the flesh and spirit of Christ and in which they likewise reign It is the liquor in Christ which Christ as a Vessel containeth and also the Vessel which containeth Christ. It is both the root and the fruit The root from whence Christ groweth and the fruit which Christ beareth both in his life and death from whence they both sprang and wherein they both meet The ministration of this is not yet made manifest It was only pointed at in the ministration of the Gospel which did shadow out it as the Law did shadow out that ministration or if you will both the Law and the Gospel did shadow this out in different respects and degrees the one more grosly the other more refinedly the one more darkly and remotely the other more nearly and clearly The Law stood aloof at a great distance from it yet spake of it and referred unto it the Gospel did as it were touch it speaking the very name and manifesting the very nature of it Yet the very ministration of the Spirit in that dispensation of the Gospel if it be well looked into will appear rather a shadow then the thing it self and every way more like a shadow then like the thing it self Now who knoweth whether those things which have been so contrary in all dispensations hitherto shall not here meet Life and Death Heaven and Hell which every where else are at such a distance may here touch one another and agree very sweetly together even so fully that both those names and natures whereby they did appear and were so various in all dispensations may here be drowned and vanish Yet it is not by eithers real loss of any thing whereby and wherein they differed that they become thus harmoniously united but by both their entering into a more perfect fulness And he to whom this seemeth so strange and who is so much offended at it let him fairly answer me this following question Were not Hell and Heaven at union in their root before they were brought forth Were they not at rest and peace in the Power and Nature of God from whence they were produced Without controversie what ever lay there lay in rest and whatsoever is brought back thither returneth to rest Now did the Lord bring forth any thing which he cannot bring back again and who can say he will not Surely every thing most naturally breatheth after that condition of rest and fulness which it can alone enjoy in his bosom Most certain it is that the vast Spirit of the Lord taketh in all things howsoever it dispose of them Thence they came thither they return there they are and doubtless there they may be found in union and agreement by him whose Spirit is quick and piercing enough Happy is he who can read this truth in the Spirit of the Lord but wretchedly miserable is he who frameth false imaginations in his own mind by the vanity of his own reason concerning it 3. Of Faith Faith is a shadowy or substantial life flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed seeking after fastening upon and resting in the Spirit This is Faith First I say it is Life It is a touch of life it is a spring of life it is the choyce of life which God bringeth forth in his own in his own seasons We may mistake in ascribing names to other things whose nature and principle we know not but this we are taught by God who knoweth things very well to name Faith The life of the Law was obedience a spirit of obedience by this a man was enabled to live in and according to the Law but this life is faith a spirit of faith He who beleeveth is only able to enter into this life and to walk in it I call it shadowy or substantial because it is either as it is looked upon Look upon it backward and it is substantial Look upon it forward and it is but shadowy As the ministration of the Gospel was a ministration of the spirit of that which was in the Law so the life ministred under the Gospel is a substantial life in compare with that But look forward into the substance of that which is yet behind and here faith it self is but a shadow This life also is but a shadow Alas the life of Faith must vanish Notwithstanding all its glory it must dye and lie in its grave like the Law Flowing from the Spirit through the Word into the seed The seed is the vessel the only vessel which containeth this life It is not man that this life is sown in but the seed and the seed is sown in man Immortal life eternal life is wrapped up in immortal seed in eternal seed that is the immediate vessel and this is sown in the mortal spirit of man which by putting on mortality there it changeth into its own nature Hence they in whom the seed is sown and who are changed by it are called by that name they are called the seed This life floweth from the Spirit into this seed The Spirit which formeth this seed breatheth into it this breath of life This seed is the spirits own vessel and this life is his own liquor wherewith he filleth it The Spirit lyeth in the vessel and is continually breathing in it and that
is the life of it And it floweth through the word The seed is formed by the Word it is adminstred by the ministry of the Word The Spirit begeteth by the Word and the Spirit breatheth life through the Word into that which he hath begotten even that life which is needfull for it in any dispensation into which the Spirit guideth it Wonderful true most true is that assertion that there is no salvation but by the ministry of the Word There is no salvation either in the shadow or in the substance any otherwise All the life and salvation of God is conveyed to the Word Christ and all the several dispensations of life and salvation in their several circuits run from Christ through and by all the several ministrations of his Word or Words in their several kinds Seeking after fastening upon and resting in the Spirit This is the nature of faith it breaths in and from and after the spirit The spirit breaths in it it breaths from the spirit it breaths after the spirit and it finds rest in fetching full soops of breath in the spirit It seeks So soon as ever it is born it finds it self weak it finds it self a babe a child and it breaths after its father after union with its father after the help strength and care of its father after food and all manner of provision which it needs from its father There is no life of a more perfect kind and yet no life more indigent when it is first brought forâ—â— or more dependent all along and it hath a wonderful strong sense of this which causeth it to breath mightily unto its root for sap supply and succour Nor doth it only seek but so fast as it finds it fastens upon him It most naturally knoweth him and where ever it meeteth with him it clingeth presently to him What ever it finds of God it gathers in where ever it finds God it winds it self into him This is the whole work of faith to wind God into it and to wind it self into God to receive in the dropings of God and to melt it self and drop into God And so far as it finds and fastens it hath rest It is restless in respect of what it hath not found in respect of what it is not yet one with but so far as it is rouled into and hath received in the center so far as it is sucked into and hath sucked in the root it findeth great quiet content and satisfaction V. Some few Observations touching the Principles of the Ranters AS I have applied my self in general to weigh and understand all things relating unto Religion so more particularly the nature rise strain and course of these principles both because they proceeded from persons formerly of eminent profession and not barely from them but from them in a broken estate both which circumstances may challenge from every serious Spirit a more selemn consideration Now these four things I have took notice of in them from the beginning 1. Their want of a bottom These principles want a foundation of truth in the understandings of these persons insomuch that though the things themselves might possibly be true yet they cannot be true as they are apprehended or held forth by them As for instance Suppose that this be truth That Light and Darkness Good and Evil are all one Now though they in speaking this may utter a speech which may be truth yet the manner of their speaking and practising of it doth manifest that they do not understand this truth but as it is in them as it is held forth and made use of by them it is a lye For if they saw the true unity of light and darkness in the root they would also see its difference for true unity doth not confound but comprehend distinction It is not an enemy unto but the spring of all variety and contrariety from whence they came and where alone they appear in their substantial fulness Yea they would not only acknowledg that distinction but they would also know and observe the distinction which wisdom hath set up here between them in his bringing of them forth If they had the true light in them they would know that it were proper and good for them in this present state to chuse the good and refuse the evil That every created eye hath need of some created light to see by And while they are in this present way of appearance they would suit themselves unto it But alas their practise in these particulars doth too plainly evidence that they have only got some words some notions or apprehensions by the end without a true understanding of them This eye of our reason This eye of our mind can never see things of this nature He who hath another eye an eye full enough large enough and fully opened he may well venture to view these things but this present eye should only be employed about such objects as it is fitted to see Reason was appointed to see and distinguish the things of man or such common things of God as he thinks fit to propose to it but not to peirce into the secrets of his Nature and Essence This God hath shut up from man and his eye cannot search it out Man with his eye of reason cannot possibly search out what God hath hidden from him He that made the eye cannot he hide from the eye it is well if he can receive and make use of what God revealeth to him Be wise unto sobriety was an injunction layd upon them who had the advantage of a greater light to search into the secrets of God by Only one word more concerning this God hath seperated the light from the darkness and what God hath parted let no man joyn indeed no man can Man may unite them in his fond fancy but that will vanish and man will not be able to make it good but God will be able to make good that foundation of difference and that difference thereupon which he hath put between them which is so firm and strong that they cannot meet together unite together or communicate together within those bounds What communion hath light with darkness 2. Their contrariness to the excellency of nature either common or renewed These principles with the practises which arise from them are not only contrary to the life and purity of Christ but also to all that is lovely in the common nature of man for they do not leave a man fairly open free and unbiassed towards all things as they seem to import but they fast bind up all the influences even of common sweetness goodness and righteousness and also open the floodgates of all manner of unrighteousness and wickedness I profess seriously If I knew this most infallibly that all things were alike even in that very sense which is by some apprehended yet if I found such a nature in me as to be and do according to the tenour hereof I could not but loath
of flesh and is flesh so that which he receiveth of the things of God is but fleshly He himself under all his spiritual changes as he accounteth them and with all his spiritual notions is but flesh But now he which is spirit all the knowledg which he hath is spiritual the least degree of his light is spiritual He that is born of the spirit is brought forth into the true light into the light of the spirit where he seeth and discerneth the things of God in their own true nature He knoweth the true God and his very Son Iesus Christ He knoweth the true Death the true Life the true Resurrection and Glory of the Son yea he learneth and knoweth in his own order and place all the truths of God not as they are held forth by each man but as they are in Iesus Let knowledg come never so fleshlily clothed to him he thrusts off all that is flesh of it and receives in nothing but spirit whereas the other let knowledg come never so spiritually to him receiveth in and can receive in only the flesh of it 3. For Repentance which is a dying unto sin which is natural unto him that is new-born and brought into the light This the spirit of man can do too and cannot but do Every change in him from every kind and degree of corruption whereof there is dayly occasion ministered unto him causeth repentance Mans natural spirit opened to see it self cannot but repent it cannot but make him loath himself his own nature his own state his own course his own end What man had he the view of himself of his spirit could forbeare abhorring the nature and state of it There is that in the nature of man which cannot but turne from that corruption which he hath contracted with all the concomitants and effects of it so that were but the nature of man awakened though there were neither Heaven to reward nor Hell to punish he could not but loath sin though this is also true that now by the power of his corruption it is become a new nature to him and so he loveth it and would not be rid of it yet there is the relique of somewhat at the bottom of it which is his first and truest nature which hath a contrariety in it hereunto and which upon occasion of being stirred at any time discovereth that contrariety But for all that the spirit of man doth only repent fleshlily I say this Repentance let it arise never so high and be heightened by never so many fresh discoveries of God and spiritual considerations yet still it is but fleshly for that which the light of God discovers and stirs in the nature of man is but of the nature of man But now That Repentance which ariseth from a true root from a renewed spirit from a spirit changed into the nature of the seed which is sown in it this repentance be it never so low let it be never so thickly deeply and darkly covered with a seeming approbation and justification of sin yet the thing it selfe the repentance it self is spiritual It coming from a spiritual root must needs be spiritual notwithstanding its contrary black appearance as the other notwithstanding all its light brightness and glory is but carnal 4. For Faith which is the new life Mans spirit doth naturally beleeve though his Faith is but occasionlly drawn forth Seeing his danger his misery he cannot but lean upon that which is held out to him as his proper rescue releif and support Let God in Christ be discovered to be the only fortress man cannot but run thither And yet his Faith and all his motions in this kind having but flesh having but self having but his own nature viz. the nature of the first Adam for their root what can they be but fleshly but of his own nature but of the nature of the first Adam Nicodemus here could not but run to Christ acknowledg Christ beleeve on Christ but what saith Christ to him Ah poor Nicodemus that which is born of the flesh is flesh To open this a little further because it is the main thing whereupon all dependeth If either the nature or object of faith be mistaken the miscarriage is most certain therefore there is need of great wariness here Now to make this truth asserted here appear the more evident I shall add this consideration following The nature of man came from the nature of God If you should stumble at this expression and say it came from his Will yet sure you will not deny his will to be his nature And as there was at first so there is still a naturalness between God and man though not so open and manifest God doth naturally take care of man and man doth naturally depend upon his God Were the heart of God but opened we should see there that from which the nature of man did flow and his love unto man and care of him even in his broken estate and were the heart of man but opened we should read there dependance and confidence upon his God It is his very nature though at present he be exceedingly turned out of it by an heap of corruption but let the light and discoveries of God break in upon him they stir up this again in him presently only indeed his corruption is so strong that he cannot come off cleverly in any motion of this kind but his heart and nature stands towards it Now is not this evident That whatever is in the nature of man may be drawn forth and that what is thus drawn forth from the Nature of man is but natural or fleshly It is natural to man to look out for help and as natural to him to trust that which is discovered to him as proper and willing to help him And this faith though it be awakened and stirred nay as it were begotten in him by divine means yet that doth not argue it to be divine That which the spirit of the Lord by his warmth and quickening vertue awakeneth in and draweth out of the fleshly root notwithstanding his divine breathings and influences upon it doth not thereupon become Divine though it is easie for weak man who is not acquainted with such kind of things without much questioning to account it so But now That faith which proceeds from a new nature from a new birth from God John 1.12.13 from a spiritual root that must needs be spiritual I shall not need to insist upon the rest I shall therefore only mention them 5. For Love There is a love in the nature of man which doth naturally flow forth towards that which is lovely to the eye of his nature Now God and his Christ having all the excellency in them that is taking to the eye and heart of man and much more upon the discovery of this unto man how can man chuse but love them yet this arising frō the nature of man upon such a discovery as his nature is capable
of admitting is but according to the root it is but natural it is but fleshly But that love which proceedeth from a new life that love is of a new nature even of the nature of that spirit out of which it shoots 6. For Experience Man may have many experiences in a natural way of religion and devotion or in any dispensation wherein he is placed Experiences of God experiences of his own heart experiences of the nature of things the people of the Jews had many experiences of Gods owning them and care of them c. And yet these also are according to the root Those experiences which the spirit of man the nature of man the understanding of man gathereth and comprehendeth they are but experiences of man they are but experiences in and according to the light and nature of man Those experiences alone which are gathered by the nature and observation of the new life they only testifie the truth of and they alone are usefull to that life 7. And lastly For Liberty True liberty is a very sweet effect of the light of the Gospel The spirit of man in this present state of nature is commonly bound up in darkness every mans darkness is his prison whom light doth set free Now as mans spirit may receive the light of the Gospel after a maner the spirit of man may receive that light which is held forth in the dispensation of the Gospel so mans spirit may come forth into liberty into great liberty he may feel himself free from all his bonds yea this freedom may be so large and clear to him that he may be able to say in his heart all things are lawful for me and yet all this may be but the liberty of mans spirit and another that seems to be in all maner of bonds may have the true freedom for the one is true though but in its birth or seed and the other is not true though in its greatest growth and flourishing The substance of all that truth is in God whereof in man there is but the weak dark shadow He therefore that is begotten by God he that flowes from the generative vertue of his divine nature is begotten in that substance but he which is begoten by man or that which is begotten in man by the purest and exactest strain of the human spirit either his own or any others though with the greatest furtherances and assistances even from above is begotten but in some part or other of the shadow which when the substance appears cannot but vanish pass away and prove a lye so far as it was taken for the truth for the purest extract that can be raised even by God himself out of the spirit of man is not the thing but the shadow of it But now there is the truth in the seed in weakness as well as the truth in growth The greatest perfection of the spirit of man is but a lye so far as it takes upon it to be the truth for it is but a fleshly image of truth it is not truth it self All the Repentance Faith Love c. which the spirit of man can possibly be raised unto by any thing that can work upon his spirit is but a shadow of that Repentance faith love c. which is in the nature of God and floweth from the nature of God for there is in God a turning from that which he calleth to our spirits to turn from which is Repentance and adherence to and confidence in that which he calleth to us to cast our selves upon which is faith but is not the thing it self But now the seed and that which is in it and cometh from it even in its greatest weakness is truth That Repentance that Faith that Love c. that floweth from this nature from this life is of this nature is of this life The meanest the lowest thing that is born of the spirit is spirit even in its lowest state in its lowest kind and degree of motions and the greatest the highest thing that is born of the flesh even in its greatest height in the utmost degree of all its spiritual exaltation exercise and motion is but flesh One man may run with much quickness and cleerness through all dispensations and be wonderfully raised and yet remain but flesh before in and after all Another may be in the lowest form of the lowest dispensation and yet be spirit there It is true these things forementioned are all of them effects or at least concomitants of the Gospel Man dark man hears no news of a new birth of the knowledg of God of Repentance Faith c. But yet where the Gospel cometh these things so far as they are in the nature of man are awakened and heightened Partly by Satan thereby to keep out the truth for hereby he cozeneth and deceiveth men making them beleeve they are new men whereas they are new only in respect of what they outwardly were viz. in respect of the form or shape wherein their spirit was but not in respect of their inward nature and partly by God to make a proof or trial of the spirit of man throughout At first God tried him in his whole or sound and now he trieth him in his broken estate in all the several changes he can undergo there Therefore doth the Lord not only draw forth what is in him but also add thereunto by gifts and assistances from above that at length he may give forth a compleat experiment of man what he is or what he can come to And although these experiments be not of use to the nature and eye of the Lord to further his sight or knowledg yet there is a nature and eye to which they are very useful yea necessary to which nature and eye the Lord is engaged by his nature to make them manifest in such a way manner season and proportion as his nature and theirs require For the better illustration yet a little further both of this truth in general and of these particular instances Take notice of this threefold distinction of the spirit of man or carefully observe and distinguish the spirit of man in this threefold estate or condition First in his natural growth Secondly in his Transplantation Thirdly in his spiritual Renovation 1. There is the spirit of man in its natural way of growth The spirit of man naturally inclineth towards excellency There is indeed a bulk of corruption which hangeth about him and turneth him aside but his own spirit disrelisheth it and he wisheth he were freed from it and made to be in himself that which is naturally excellent This is the heart of every man by nature He would serve God he would enjoy God he would be just and righteous to men It is the corruption which hangeth about his nature and is grown so strong and prevalent that it is now become his nature which maketh him otherwise but in his root in his principle he is not so and he
thirsterh to be delivered from this bondage of corruption which thus turneth him aside from himself The natural spirit of man which is the principle part of the Creation cannot be excluded from groaning with the rest of the Creation under that load and burthen of vanity and corruption which lyeth chiefly upon it in it self therefore it is no friend thereunto but unto that which is sutable to its own nature So that now whatsoever carrieth a stamp of excellency upon it as all the ways of righteousness towards man and all the ways and Institutions of God concerning his Worship do man cannot but aspire after and endeavor to conform himself unto For though man cannot see the particular Wisdom of God in his dispensations and institutions yet withall he cannot but see that he wanteth his light and guidance and that it is proper for him to observe and obey his pleasure and commands without his particular understanding the reason of them Hence it cometh to pass that man springeth up and flourisheth in any way of Religion wherein he is set It is so natural to him to love God to trust God to seek after and follow his directions and man is so sensible of the reality of his spirit herein that there is no beating him out of his apprehensions concerning the relation between God and him or concerning the truths of those ways wherein he worships and serves him He findeth that he doth naturally incline to God and desire the knowledg of his ways and he cannot but beleeve that God doth as naturally incline to him and guide him in his ways It is true There is that in the present nature of man which hateth God but this is also as true There is that in the nature of man which lovâ—â—â— that root of excellency in God from which it came at first and which is still its life hope desire and perfection And though man naturally fall into that way and form of Religion in which he is educated yet so far as any thing can be held out to his understanding and reason either further in or different from what he hath received he cannot but endeavor ingeniously to weigh it and be ready to give up himself to be changed by it so far as it approveth it self weighty So far as any one falls short of this he falleth short of being a man and his own spirit will justly condemn him therein Now how many changes by this means may man be brought into in Religion His eye and understanding is so shallow that ever and anon different discoveries may be made unto him both concerning outward worship yea and also concerning the spiritual nature exercises and practises of Religion His old way his old apprehensions may be made appear to him to have been but vanity and somewhat more new and more seemingly substantial may be represented to him Poor weak-spirited man is fit only to be baffled and made a fool of Fain he would betake himself somewhere and fix and so he may for a time but afore he is aware somewhat stronger will shake it somewhat cleerer will dispose it which if he doth but open the eye of his nature and reason he cannot but let in and if he do not he is but a brute and not a man and maintains his own standing brutishly not rationally which though it may occasion some brutish ease to him at present yet will prove his loss at the upshot But that man who is truly a man being industrious to search out the mind and will of the Lord and quick to take in that light and these discoveries which in various kinds and degrees of rays are darted forth cannot chuse but undergo many changes both according to the diversity of these discoveries and according to the difference of his own capacity both which dayly alter Man is still growing and his light in every kind continually changed how then can he himself escape changes And that man which is truly ingenious giving every thing scope in his spirit according to the nature and vertue of it searching into the Scriptures praying for the help of God and embracing every beam of light so far as he can find it to be so how high may he grow in Religion and yet the root of mans nature may feed him in all these desires and in all these endeavors We mistake when we think mans nature inclineth him only to corruption No there is a root in him that inclineth him to Reason to Righteousness c. which did he give scope to the Lord would bless in its way though this were no step or degree towards the new life The image of God in man is broken but not annihilated There is still a true representation of God in him though in much darkness and confusion The image of God may still be found in man though under an huge heap of rubbish and if God at any time stir this it cannot but appear more and act towards God and after righteousness and excellency yea if the Lord dung and water it much it will shoot forth very far and grow very large and high in knowledg faith and obedience due to God either under the Law or under the Gospel 2. There is the spirit of man transplanted by vertue of a dispensation from God There is not only the spirit of man growing as well as he can on his old broken stock from his old decayed root but there is also the spirit of man taken out of the old stock and grafted into a new Olive-tree by the power and vertue of a dispensation in so much as he losâ—th the scent of his old corruption and tasteth of the sweetness and fatness of this new root Yea he hath by this means a new Spirit a new Life a new Power This or that particular dispensation of God seizing upon him by the vertue which it hath in it and carrieth with it maketh him new in the world yea and new in himself so that by the influence of that dispensation yea and according to the outward measure of it he may be a new Tree and bring forth new fruit unto God We have two great instances of this the one in that national people of the Iews the other in the converted Gentiles The Iews they were transplanted from among the rest of the Nations into Christ who was their Olive-tree Rom. 11.17.24 out of which they grew They had a Life within and a light without beyond the rest of the world They had the mind of God the guidance of God the protection of God the instructions of God c. and so they might well go further in the knowledg and practise of Religion then other Nations could After them the Gentiles some of the Gentiles some of all Nations among the Gentiles were transplanted in their stead yea and were put more within the root receiving a stronger influence from it then the Iews did They had a further degree of light life power
this nature and life hath a promise of a new inheritance in the other world Or if ye will if ye think that may be plainer to you by Kingdom is meant Religion true Religion the Religion which God teacheth his seed the Religion which God writeth in the nature of his seed for there is a Religion also which God writeth in the nature of man and teacheth man but that is not the Kingdom In every dispensation that Truth that Vertue that Light that Life which cometh down upon the seed springeth up in the seed and goeth along with the seed is the Kingdom It is that breath of God from which the new nature or principle came in which the new nature lives and by which it is perfected This it is most properly but in a larger sence it denotes every thing that belongs to the Kingdom and that not improperly neither for every thing belonging to the Kingdom hath the nature of the Kingdom in it and having the nature why may it not partake of the name The Kingdom of Israel took in every thing in their dispensation and the Kingdom of God taketh in every thing in the great dispensation of his life unto his people through the Lord Jesus â—hrist This phrase Kingdom is of very large and full significancy noting out not only the nature and substance of the thing together with the extent and limits of it but also the greatness of it the riches of it the glory of it the perfection of it the presence of God with it its presence and power with God c. 2. What is meant by Word By Word is to be understood any outward form of doctrine any speech notion or apprehension whereby Religion in any part of it is either conceived or expressed As the doctrine of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God the doctrine of self-denyal or going out of a mans self the Doctrine of obedience to the inward spirit or outward commands of the Word the Doctrine of the death of Christ of the Resurrection of Christ c. Word is the outward truth if I may so speak it is the pipe or vessel whereby life is held out to man or whereby it is taken in by man It was in such Doctrines as these forementioned wherein the spirit of life did run as in so many veins in the Apostles times But yet the truth of Religion the Kingdom of God consists not in any of these These do not bring in the Kingdom but the Kingdom will of it self bring forth these where it is The Kingdom of God saith this same Apostle in another place is Righteousness and Peace and joy in the Holy Ghost But it is not the word of any of these it is not a glorious description or apprehension of righteousness or peace or joy in the spirit it lies not in mighty elevations or ravishments of heart through the contemplation of these this is the outward Court which is given to the Heathenish spirit of man which hath this bestowed upon him for the reward of his pains in these things But the Kingdom of God is not in word The outward truths of the Gospel in the most pure naked spiritual acception of them are not the Kingdom and he that receiveth them only receiveth not the Kingdom Man may receive every truth of the Kingdom Man may fall into any way nay into every way of Religion and yet fall short of the Kingdom 3. What is meant by Power By power is meant the inward vertue the vigor the spirit which lies in the nature of Religion In every life there is a vertue or power wherein it consists No life lieth in the outwardness of its form or shape but in the inwardness of its nature The life of man consisteth not in outward knowledg in an outward form of reason but in the inward vertue and spirit of reason Thus it is in the life of Religion There is an inward vertue an inward spirit an inward power in the nature of it whereby it changeth the vessel whereinto it comes subjecting the rational part to it self and advancing it in it self as the rational part doth the brutish So that as in a rational man all the faculties of his mind and members of his body are subject to his reason so in the spirituall man not only the members of the body and faculties of the minde but the very spirit of reason it self is subject to this new spirit or principle of life There is this vertue this life this spirit in every thing of Religion in all the Truths in all the Ordinances Institutions and paths of the Kingdom and this only is Religion It is not the knowledg of all the things of God alas the prophane spirit of man under a form of holiness may be very exact in them but the nature the vertue of the things themselves which is preserved entire for the pure into it no unclean thing can enter So that where there is the least true power there must needs be true Religion but there may be all the outward form or fabrick and yet no true Religion at all There may be all the truths of the Gospel all the Ordinances of the Gospel all the ways of the Gospel and the spirit of man walking very zealously in all these and yet this is no part of the kingdom for the Kingdom consists not in the outward letter of the Light Life or Liberty of the Gospel nor in every power and vertue of it but in the inward spirit of it and in that power and vertue which is peculiar to its own nature To illustrate this a little further Take notice of a threefold power in reference hereunto 1. There may be an outward power concurring with the thing as the power of working miracles the gift of speaking with tongues of healing c. This is demonstrative in its kind and according to its nature for else the Lord would not have made use of it for that end but yet it is not the power here spoken of not the power which the Apostle here resolved to know 2. There may be an inward power forming of the thing which may be either the Spirit of the Lord or the spirit of the Creature working by and according to its creaturely imagination By imagination I mean the reason or understanding of man which though it be no imaginer but a certain knower within its own bounds yet in things of this nature in the things of God in the things of the kingdom it is no knower at all but a meer imaginer Now this inward power of reason or imagination will make strange fabricks in the mind of man especially where it hath any superior principle to set it on work or engines to move it or oyl to set it on going This power this vertue being inward is also of a more inward satisfaction to a man then the former By the former a man is as it were compelled to beleeve yet perhaps
not at all satisfied thereby in the nature of the thing but by this a man is led into Faith Love Obedience and so into every thing that is thus formed in him The things which the fancy or reason of man for here the reason of man is but fancy after its manner comprehendeth are as it were made natural to the man Now though this be a great power and can make mighty changes and do mighty things in the spirit of a man yea and worketh very like the truth insomuch as that which is meer man can very hardly if at all distinguish it from the truth yet this is not the truth neither this is not the power which the Apostle here speaketh of 3. There is an inward power or vertue in the thing whereby it is what it is and whereby it does what it does whereby it is what it most naturally is and produceth its own most natural effects There is a true vertue in truth an inward power in the Death and Resurrection of Christ an inward power in faith in love and in the spirit of obedience which lyeth in the nature of it which it disperseth and leaveneth the lump with where it is sown in truth Now this is it the Apostle here means He will know this power he will distinguish by this vertue the nature and truth of the thing it self From whence this may be observed Observ. That true Religion consists not in notion not in apprehension not in expression but in the true Nature Vertue Life and Power of the thing it self The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power Let a man have the cleerest apprehension of the truths of God and the cleerest expression of them that may be yet this is not Religion If a man have all knowledg with all the effects of Faith Love Zeal Obedience c. which this knowledg can produce in him yet this is not Religion The knowledg of self-denial of resignation to the will of God with all the self-denial and resignation which this knowledg can produce The knowledg of the Death of Christ and of the Life of Christ with all the effects there of in the spirit of a man neither is this Religion Reas. The reason whereof is this because all outwardness is but a garment wherewith Religion may be clothed or not clothed according to the pleasure of God Now ye know a garment neither is the thing nor a certain evidence of the thing All outward buildings which the spirit of the Lord rears the spirit of the Lord may also leave and the spirit of man of Antichrist of Satan may enter into The Lord hath not yet built his everlasting Tabernacle or Temple and therefore those he doth set up being but shadowes his spirit may as well leave as enter into So that whatsoever may come into apprehension whatsoever may be brought forth in notion or expression is not the thing at best it can be but a true garment but a true appearance but a true house for the thing to be clothed with appear and abide in while the Lord pleaseth But now where there is the nature where there is the life where ther is the vertue wher ther is the power there must needs be the thing Where there is the life of a man there must needs be a man where there is the vertue of a renewed nature there must needs be a renewed nature where there is the power of Religion the power of the Kingdom there must needs be Religion there must needs be the Kingdom for this is from it this is â—n it yea this is it What is the vertue and power of God but God what is the power and vertue of any thing but the thing The vertue of Religion the power of the Kingdom that is it in which the very spirit of it is lives goeth forth and resideth Quest. But what is this same nature life power or vertue of Religion wherein Religion consists This is very necessary to be well considered for there is a nature life vertue or power in the Religion of man That which here the Apostle calleth word hath that in it which man calleth power Let a man receive any apprehension into his mind fully let him but receive it seriously as the truth of God it cometh with a great deal of power it bringeth vertue with it to make changes in him changes in his spirit changes in his understanding changes in his will changes in his conversation And yet this is not the power which the Apostle here looketh after all this is with him but word The greatest inwardness of man is but outwardness with the spirit of the Lord. What then is this same power here or what is the nature of this power of this vertue Answ. To this question I shall return this threefold description by way of answer 1. For the general nature of it it is divinely spiritual It is not a birth from the spirit of man no nor yet from the spirit of Satan but from the spirit of the Lord. There is the true nature life and power of God in it It is the seed of God and it brings forth the true nature of God The Spirit of the Lord begetteth that which is spirit The spirit of the Lord bringeth forth a truly spiritual Religion in the spirit of man where he soweth his seed 2. As touching the common properties of it It is both killing and quickening and that both in ones self and also towards others In every truth of the Kingdom in every thing that belongs to the Kingdom there is that vertue which continually kills and quickens where ever it comes It kills the spirit of man and it quickens the spirit of man It layeth flat all the corruption yea all the life and glory of the creature where ever it appears It is like a fire It burns up all the life of every thing it comes neer and it brings along with it that life which alone can live in that fire I know man hath his several waies of killing and quickening by his notions but it doth not do the thing in truth for under all the seeming deaths of the creature the creature is still alive and under all the seemingly renewed life 's of the creature the creature is still dead in its root and principle yea and also in all its motions and operations 3. For the peculiar nature of it That is sutable to every particular truth to every particular thing of the Kingdom to every particular truth we receive from God to every particular thing portion or member of life which is formed in us Thus the severall truths of the Gospel have their own particular natures The death of Christ its the resurrection of Christ its c. So likewise the several tempers and graces in the spirits of disciples have their particular natures self-denial it s faith it s love its and so the rest theirs whereby they are distinct from one another They
the truth This is not the right seed nor is this the right earth wherein the right seed is sown This is but the nature but the wisdom but the righteousness of the first Adam nay although it were stirred up by the spirit of the Lord in man nay though breathed again from Heaven yet it would be no other This is not the nature not the life not the breath of the seed The son-like spirit and motions are only sown and grow up only in the son The true desire after God the true waiting for him the true repentance faith love c. grow only in him who is begotten from above in a new nature The Lord soweth the life of his own spirit only in the flesh of his holy Child Jesus and thence alone doth the true nature and motions spring up and there alone are they to be sound Secondly They are not true in their kind They are not in man so as man taketh them to be They are corrupted they are not pure Man doth not so truly love and desire God as he seemeth to himself to do He would not be so ready to hear his voice as he thinks he should be It is the son only that hath the spirit of obedience man is not pure is not upright no not in his own kind and way of obedience Neither is mans ear open to hear God It is the son alone whose ear God hath bored 't is his ear which he hath opened to hear as the learned Man hath but a bad ear at best and yet as bad as it is it is not opened Therefore all Gods charges against man will be very cleer when the nature and course of man is made manifest God chargeth him chiefly with two things with want of power and with want of will He cannot come to God though he would No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him He would not come to God though he could Ye will not come to me that ye might have life There are three great exceptions against man in all he is and does all which are comprized in this phrase flesh which he that is able to consider the nature and course of man may easily observe 1. There is commonly a corruption a core of rottenness in his spirit and in all his motions He doth not know himself he is not so honest or upright as he taketh himself to be nor his actions so just and honorable He is not truly religious or just I do not mean spiritually but in his own kind He doth not love God he doth not desire to obey God he would not be Good if he would That which is in kind of this nature is so corrupted that God cannot own it for the thing that man would have it go for and thinks it to be O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me c. Man deceiveth himself there is not such an honest obedient heart in him towards God as he thinks for Of all things man is apt to bless himself in the integrity of his heart though he is weak yet his heart is upright and though he cannot attain to be what he would yet he hath a true desire in him to walk with God but God will one day shew him that his heart was never right with him and that he cannot truly desire to walk with him And man if he could possibly observe and discern himself might at some times descry this naughtiness and corruption of his heart in these two particulars The one whereof is in that he doth not like to have it discovered but justifie himself against all the discoveries of God Man doth not like that light that searcheth too far into his hidden iniquity O how difficult it is to bring a conviction close to the heart of any man All will confess sin in general but their peculiar way of wickedness either in their worshipping of God or in their course and conversations they cannot endure to have touched There they stand upon their guard This is not Pride this is not Covetousness this is not Hypocrisie this is not the persecuting of Christ this is not Idolatry but the right way of worshiping God O read thine own heart and tremble in that 2 Chap. of Ieremy especially vers 23.25 34.35 Man purifieth his heart by his principles of light and knowledg he squares his worship life and conversation to his light and measure by the Word thus he painteth his Sepulcher not discerning the rottenness and corruption that is still within notwithstanding all this appearing truth and integrity The other is in that let God set him right in any dispensation he presently and most naturally turneth from it He is woond up by God against the hair but he sinketh down again of himself He is very difficultly brought to a state of rectitude in any kind but so far as he is he very suddenly apostacizeth from This also is abundantly set forth Ier. 2. vers 2.3 c. 2. There is always a weakness attending him If there be not a corruption yet certainly there is a weakness both in his spirit and motions If he be in any kind set right at any time yet his nature is frail If there be Religion if there be righteousness in him of any true stamp under any dispensation yet it is very poor weak and low This ye may see plainly in that people of God the Iews Look upon their Religion their Faith their Love there Obedience c. see what it was It was wrought in them with much difficulty They were hardly drawn to it What ado â—ad God to bring them to any thing He used many instructions many miracles many corrections much patience or else he had destroyed them many a time in the furnace and had never broght them forth And yet what were they when they were brought forth Alas a poor frail vessel a vessel long in making and yet when made very brittle How soon after every right constitution and reformation did they backslide and corrupt themselves which plainly evidences the frailty of their state They sung his praise they soon forgot his work so weak is man that though he be raised and set up upon his leggs yet he is not able to stand so 3. There is in man a continuall progress towards destruction That which is corrupt God destroyeth and that which is frail and weak dyeth of it self yea it s own frail nature inclineth it to that corruption which hasteneth its death Nothing can act above its nature Adam when he fell shewed the weakness of his nature The Prince of this World came and found somewhat in him to fasten upon Frailty is a property of the flesh Weakness is as proper to the earthly image as strength to the heavenly The seed of strength groweth up through weakness unto perfection and the seed of weakness groweth down from strength from all the strength wherein it is set
life perisheth and man returneth to his Earth to his very corruption again yea and taketh unto himself seven Devils worse then the former For the higher that man is raised by this breath from the Lord the lower he falls when this breath is withdrawn It is the spirit of corrupt man getting or advanced by the Lord into the purest ways and forms of Religion which bringeth forth the filthiest abominations 4. In the result of this corruption and evil will befall you in the latter days Sin most naturally brings forth death Corruption or putrefaction is a degree of and a direct passage unto death And it will break forth and appear in the latter days Man must have a time to corrupt in which he is to be let alone but in the latter days when his end draws nigh death hastens apace his corruption then begins to open it self and to discover the death which lay hid in it Then that evil which man hoped all this while to secure himself from will begin to manifest it self to be in the nature of his own spirit or in the nature of that sin and corruption which he hid within the nature of his spirit He hath hid his destruction in his own bowels he hath hugged it in his bosom in the midst of all his designs to escape it and in the latter days when it is grown ripe and strong thence it will start seize upon him and devour him When the Lord hath throughly tryed the spirit of man and when man hath throughly corrupted himself then will he lay the ax to the root of this tree and cut it down that it may cumber the ground no longer He hath cut down the Iews already Their latter days wherein evil did befall them have overtaken them and he will also cut down the Gentiles The Iews were not the seed for after the death of Moses they did corrupt themselves and discover that they like the rest of the world were but flesh Neither are the Gentiles the seed for they also after the death of that life which did flow from the Spirit into Christ and his Apostles did also corrupt themselves The uncircumcised and unclean spirit of man did enter into this Temple and Worship as well as into the former Therefore the Lord will both cut down the spirit of man and will also down with all that into which the spirit of man can enter and then will he bring forth his own Truth his true Temple his true Worship his true Worshippers 5. In the ground of this death and destruction to man because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the works of your hands All the motions of man anger God All the works of his hands are filthy and corrupt in themselves and provocative to the eye of his nature and spirit All mans knowledg all his life all his ways of Worship Faith and Obedience in every kind every thing that suits the eye and judgment of his spirit and wherewith he thinks to please God is lothsom to God This lothsomness stirreth up in God his indignation which causeth him in the proper season thereof to bring death upon man and to bring him to Judgment after which cometh the second death Then it shall be known who have been led by the Lord and who have truly followed him though the spirit of man now laughs at all who walk not with him in his way of understanding Then shall all see and know who are righteous and be forced to confess from their very hearts saying Verily there is a reward for the righteous a competent reward a full reward unto them for all the sufferings and misery which have attended them in their way and passage hither Blessed is he whom the Lord leadeth by the proper cross attending every dispensation through trouble and death into life But excessively miserable is that man whose fleshly spirit remaineth in any dispensation or who passeth from dispensation to dispensation with his life unslain therewith feeding upon the Ordinances duties enjoyments or any other holy or spiritual things of God and thereby fattening and fitting himself for death and destruction against the great and terrible day of the Lord God Almighty according as the spirit of Christ in David speaketh Psal. 94.12 13. with a gloss whereupon I shall draw towards a conclusion Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law That thou mayst give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked There is a pit digging for the wicked into which when it is finished when it is every way made large and deep and piercing enough the whole wicked spirit of man shall either fall or be cast or partly fall and partly be cast into it Till this pit be digged it is a troublesome time to the seed but a quiet time with man The spirit of man is now at ease He can serve he can please he can enjoy himself in his whole course both of nature and religion yea and he can also secure himself from future danger from danger at the last He hath made a covenant with death and with Hell is he at agreement When the overflowing scourge passeth it shall not come near him It is for unbeleevers for sinners for persons who know not God or obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ to fear death and Hell or eternal destruction But when this pit is digged the Spirit of the Lord with his light will search out the spirit of man under all his disguises and what ever hath not the true breath of life in it shall be cast into and dye in this pit There are persons also to whom God will give rest from the days of adversity Those who have all along been persecuted by all sorts of enemies and afflicted with all sorts of miseries that spirit which hath been hunted wounded grieved distressed all the day long by the cruel spirit of man and Satan shall be rescued from the jaws of each and be refreshed Those who are leavened with the life of Gods most holy Spirit who are so new-changed by it that they have none of that life none of that spirit left remaining in them which the Lord cometh to destroy the Lord will give them rest When the Lord cometh forth to hunt take and devour the spirit of man those in whom that spirit is already dissolved shall not be in fear or danger of his severity but shall find the abundance of love sweetness peace and rest administred to them by the same hand which will then so eagerly and fiercely prosecute the spirit of man Then they who have hitherto been at ease shall be troubled and they who have hitherto been troubled shall have ease And to you who are troubled rest with us When the Lord Iesus shall be revealed c. 2 Thes. 1. The ways whereby God leadeth his to this rest are