more skilfull in the word of righteousnesse better to discerne good evill to digest the stronger meat of divine mysteries As wee grow up in our stature in Christ Jesus toward a perfect man we leave our childish knowledge behind and grow up to him in all things therefore in knowledge which is the head even Christ. The head is Wisedome it selfe and they that grow in him growe â—n wisdome and still take higher degrees in the heavenly Schoole under this highest and most heavenly Teacher Thirdly seeing God teacheth thee by his Spirit and he is the Giver of the Spirit by which hee teacheth thee goe to the Giver himselfe for this gift Goe to him by prayer and goe to him publikely in the house of prayer and there joyne with the Church in prayer for the Spirit which hee hath promised to his Church The uniting of many hearts and voyces in one petition makes it the stronger and more powerfull with God And it may well be that when thou joynest with the Congregation in prayer thou mayst joyne with some who shall not only double the strength of thy prayer by an equall strength of Spirit added to thine but by a double portion of Spirit exceeding thine And so by this joyning of stocks in publike prayer thou mayest bee a double gainer both while thou art a partaker of many prayers and while thou art partaker of some more powerful than thine own And indeed Christ would not have spoken of two or three gathered together in his Name except there had beene some benefit and advantage in this gathering together and in two or three above one Therefore let us especially expect him as hee hath promised to be present where two or three are gathered together Now wee know that Christ is present with his Church by his Spirit even that Comforter which leadeth into all truth And accordingly wee find that when the Church was united in prayer they were filled with the Holy Ghost And because Christ is present with his Church by this Spirit to the end of the world illuminating and teaching both Pastours and people our Church prayeth for the Pastours That God would illuminate them with true understanding and knowledge of his Word and for the people That God who taught the hearts of faithfull people by the light of the Holy Spirit may give us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things Joyne then with the Church in the offering up and receiving downe of such petitions and doe not by dividing thy selfe from the offering divide thy selfe also from the receiving But for so precious a gift as the Spirit make thy prayer as powerfull as thou canst and more powerfull mayst thou make it if thou get more power joyned together by a Communion of Saints Seeke God also by private prayer for this gift of the Spirit which Christ himselfe hath taught yea proved by undeniable arguments that God will give to them that aske it And the experimentall truth of this saying of our Saviour many excellent Saints have found and acknowledged professing that they received sometimes by prayer more light for the clearing of darke places than by study and reading And therefore wee shall find that the Fathers in their Homilies and Expositions doe often interrupt their preaching with praying and in prayer seeke to bee enabled by the Spirit for preaching But come to God with faith for the promise runs thus That whatsoever we aske beleeving we shall receive Come also with fervencie for Christ hath taught us That what friendship cannot doe yet importunitie may obtaine And it hath beene tried by the Canaanitish woman and many others since her time That where a denial will not be taken for an answer there the answer hath been turned into grant And the more to encourage us to importunitie for the obtaining of this grant of the Spirit let us take notice first That God doth chiefly like those prayers that are made for the Spirit God is a Spirit and as because hee is a Spirit hee likes best that worship and those prayers which are made by the Spirit so doth he highly love those Prayers which pray for the Spirit by which such agreeable and acceptable prayers are made Secondly God hath abundance of Spirit and this abundance and fulnesse of Spirit hath he delivered over to his son Christ Jesus whose humanitie is Uber Deitatis The Brest of the Deitie And as wee all must receive from the fulnesse of this Brest so this Brest being full is most apt to give and therefore most willing to meet with those that are most desirous and thirstie to receive It delights to bee drawne yea to be pressed by importunitie and is not onely pleased but as it were eased when hee meets with an hungrie soule and a mouth opened wide that hee may fill it Lastly joyne meditations with thy prayers As prayers sometimes do kindle thy meditations so sometimes meditations may kindle thy prayers While I mused saith the Psalmist my heart waxed hot For meditation doth stir and blow away the ashes even earthly and carnall thoughts and kindles the fire of the Spirit The soule of a Saint is a little Sanctuarie or Temple where God dwells by his Spirit and this Spirit being sought to in this Temple by the servants of God hath given them many times divine answers and resolutions So hath this little Temple beene turned into a Schoole where the soules of men enlightened have seen more than seven men upon the Watch-Tower of humane speculation And when thou goest to this Schoole let meditation purge thy soule from carnall drossinesse and fire it into a spirituall puritie Let this spirituall fire burne away that corporeall grossenesse which entertaines and makes carnall and bodily images Let the glasse of thy soule bee cleansed and made spiritually pure that it may be fit to entertaine a pure spirit and those spirituall sights which the Spirit shall present unto it And being thus pure in heart thou shalt see God in thy soule Hee who is light shall shine into thy soule and by this light the face of thy soule shall shine as the face of Moses on the mount In his light thou shalt see light and by this light shalt thou see that which all the naturall light in the world cannot shew thee God who commanded light to shine out of darknesse will give thee the light of the knowledge of the glorie of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And when the light of this knowledge doth appeare then know that thy Teacher is neare Then stand on thy Watch-Tower and heare what hee teacheth thee and see what hee sheweth thee A lesson of this Teacher and of this teaching is the best learning and makes the best Schollers because taught in Gods that is in the best Academie Yea sometimes in a minute thou shalt see that by this teaching which thou canst not attaine in
of the true God neither seeke the gifts of his Spirit that thou mayest make money of them This is a right and withall a most base symony and therefore prepare thy selfe to receive the answer which was made unto Simon thy father Thou art in the gall of bitternesse and bond of iniquitie and thou art verie unfit for a part and fellowship among the Disciples of the heavenly Teacher Know that this high Academie is not a place for Prentices therein to learn a trade and occupation for worldly gaine but the Teacher being the King of Heaven hee teacheth his Schollers to be Kings even first to seek and at last to attaine an heavenly Kingdom And earthly things are promised to be given as attendants upon this heavenly Kingdome Therefore as as the Heaven is high above the earth so let it be in thy thought and intention make God thy end who makes Heaven by his presence to be Heaven Desire his gifts to glorifie the Giver by thē here and to be glorified by him hereafter eternally in his heavenly Kingdom But if thou make earth thy heaven and this world thy god this false heaven and false god after a while will forsake thee and the true Heaven and true GOD whom thou hast despised will not receive thee In the meane time expect no gift from God except such as the Quailes which perchance may bring some food to thy lust but leannesse and judgement to thy soule If with Balaam thou lookest out for prophecies that by them thou mightst gaine the wages of unrighteousnesse though thou fall into a trance and art enlightened to make others see by thy light yet thou thy selfe art still a child of darknesse and by thy light encreasest thy owne stripes and being in the way of Balaam art likely to come to his wayes end even a death among the unrighteous Yea seeke not the gifts themselves for themselves neither make them their owne end It is a pleasant thing for the eye of the body to behold the light of the Sun but to behold a spirituall light which shineth from the highest light is farre more pleasant to a spirit yet must a reasonable spirit know that to behold the highest Spirit himselfe is the highest pleasure and therefore these lower gifts of the Spirit are far more valuable for shewing us by their light the way to the sight of the highest Spirit than for the light it selfe by which they shew it Wherefore it remaines still that God be proposed as the end of his gifts whereof hee is the beginning God was his owne end in the giving of them and it is both thy dutie wisedome and benefit to have the same end which he hath If thou joyne with God in his end it is most likely he will joyne with thee in the meanes and in the increase of them toward his owne end For God will not be wanting to his owne end which were to bee wanting to himselfe Therefore enlarge thy selfe as much as thou canst in this intention of making God thy end wherein the more thou increasest the more it is likely he will increase his teaching of thee and the degrees of his gifts in thee And according to thy degrees of grace shall be thy degrees in glorie as thou hast sought him much in the gifts of his grace so by them shalt thou find him much here and much enjoy him hereafter in glorie CHAP. VII A second step Deniall of mans wit and wisedome HE that will ascend up to the heavenly Schoole there to bee taught of God must leave mans carnall wit and wisedome behind him as Abraham left his Asses at the foot of the mount The wisedome of man saith St. Paul is foolishnesse before God and the naturall man discerneth not the things of God therefore if thou endevourest by thy naturall wit to discerne the things of God thy labor is employed rather not to discerne them thou mayest perchance conceive and after perceive bastard mis-begotten and false shapes of them but the things themselves in their true shapes thou doest not see and perceive The carnall wit seeth the shapes which it selfe puts upon spirituall things and not what they themselves do beare and indeed appeare in to a spirituall eye And surely if mans wit see and by seeing teach it selfe truly the things of God what need were there of an heavenly Teacher But because thou art naturally blind to the things of God and they are onely spiritually to bee discerned therefore must thou goe up to a spirit to give thee a spirituall eye-sight that so thou mayest spiritually discerne them And when thou goest up to get a spirituall mind of the great Father of Spirits remember to put off thy carnall wit and wisdome which must be stript off before thou canst put on the other The keeping of thy naturall and carnall wit is the keeping of thy folly and this folly will cast her owne colour on the things of God and make them seeme folly to thee or onely wise in that colour which that casts upon them And this is a reason why the greatest wits doe stumble so often at the wisedome of God upon which they behold the shape of folly of their owne setting on and why they fall into errours thinking to mend Gods wisedome by their wits and why themselves though professing themselves wise yet remaine fooles even because they think and professe themselves to bee wise While they think their owne wits to be fit instruments for the discerning of Gods wisedome they not finding his wisedome to be wisedome by their wits they censure it to bee folly and therefore goe about to correct it which is indeed to pervert it In the meane time it is the greatest folly which puts the shape and title of folly upon the greatest wisedome and goes about to amend wisedome with folly And thus are these wise men taken in their owne wisedome for their owne wisedome becomes a snare to them and makes them first and after takes them as fooles Yea miserie and folly are met together in them and that in a highest degree while they see not but censure and reject the most wise mysteries of God which offer and present to them salvation and eternall felicitie Therefore let the heavenly Scholler put off his owne earthly and carnall wisedome and goe up to God for a new Principle even a new mind by which hee may truly see and know the things of God The new world of Divinitie must be begun in a man as God began the old world it must have nothing for a foundation and when man is nothing in himselfe then God will begin to create and make him something This is that which St. Paul saith Let him bee a foole that hee may be wise For indeed that which thou thinkest to be thy wisedome thou must put off and make it vanish into nothing being a foole in regard of that wisedome and so thou shalt be made wise in the true wisedome But
this is not perfected at once Therefore as at thy first entrance into the heavenly Academie thou must begin a deniall and annihilation of thy owne wit and wisedome so after thou art entred thou must strive to continue and increase this deniall for though thou doe in will and purpose put it off and deny it wholly at first yet in act it is not wholly put off it being part of the remaining body of sin which hangeth so fast on that it cannot wholly bee put off untill man be dissolved But thou must strive to get ground of it while thou livest and the greater thy naturall wit is the more must thou strive For the greater it is the more apt will it be to see reasons by it selfe and without Gods teaching which will fall out too often to bee reasons against Gods reasons and wit against Gods wisedome And the admission of humane wit against Gods wisedome by some great wits that perchance first in purpose or profession submitted to the wisedome of God hath beene the cause of many dangerous errours in the Church I say A mixture of mans wit with the Divine Word hath bred Mules in Divinitie even confused foolish and mishapen errours But let the learner in this high Academie lay aside his owne sight which is blindnesse and get from his Teacher that eye-salve which may give him spirituall discerning Let him keep his wit in a perpetuall captivitie and passivenesse to the Spirit of God and beware that by no meanes hee make that portion of Spirit which is in him to suffer under the activitie of his owne carnall wit But having received an eye from God let him see Gods matters with Gods eye and so shall hee keep himselfe safe from error and shall bee led into the truth For a mind given of God doth approve onely the truth of God And though in this life of imperfection no man have so much spirituall light as to discerne all truth yet the spirituall light which every spirituall man that is taught of God receiveth is sufficient for the discoverie or discerning of so much truth as may lead him like a streame to the Ocean and fulnesse of truth and blessednesse And for a preparation toward this fulnesse let him work out and endevour to perfect his owne emptinesse for the more degrees hee gaines of this emptinesse the more degrees shall he receive of Gods fulnesse even of his teaching grace here and his crowning grace for ever hereafter CHAP. VIII A third step Conformitie to God LIkenesse drawes love and love causeth a communication of counsells yea love it selfe is a likenesse to him who is Love and thus love from love drawes a partaking of secrets when the heart and wayes of man are agreeable to Gods heart then the heart of God is as it were great with that affection which longs to communicate Shall I hide the thing that I doe from Abraham saith the Lord seeing Abraham both keepes the wayes of the Lord and will teach his children to keep it The Psalmist also professeth that hee got many degrees of wisedome by his walking with God in the Lawes of God even by the conformitie of his heart and wayes to the heart and will of God Thereby saith hee I am wiser than mine enemies wiser than old men yea wiser than my Teachers No doubt he had obtained his prayer of God Lighten mine eyes and I shall see wonderfull things in thy Law And as likenesse is it selfe a reason that moves God to be thy Teacher so it carries with it a second reason Where is likenesse and conformitie to God there is also a covenant with God where the Law of God is so written in the heart that by this writing the heart is framed according to Gods heart there is covenant betweene God that wrote this Law and him in in whom it is written God is his Father and Teacher and he is Gods Son and Disciple Hee saith plainly thou art his son and hee saith truely his promises are Yea Amen that thou art his Disciple for he promiseth that thou shalt be taught of God And David upon triall acknowledgeth the truth of this teaching when hee saith The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and his covenant to make them to know it Hee hath not onely made a covenant with them but hee makes them to know it he doth both give it and teach it Thirdly there is a friendship between those that are conformed unto God and God to whom they are conformed Abraham the father of the faithfull was called the friend of God and the faithfull children of Abraham are also called his friends God is no complementer and therefore if hee allow them the terme hee allowes them also the truth of this friendship Yee are my friends saith our Saviour if yee doe whatsoever I command you Now wee know that a friend will tell a friend his counsells So saith our Saviour Because yee are my friends therefore whatsover I have heard of the Father I make knowne unto you Fourthly there is a marriage between Christ and his Church the Church in this marriage is one spirit with him as in naturall marriages two are one flesh And if there be such a marriage there is also a marriage-love betweene them Now marriage-love doth communicate counsells and it is so hard if not impossible for marriage-love to deny such a communication that the woman who could onely make her challenge upon a counterfeit shape of marriage yet thinks it fit to object this question How canst thou say that thou lovest me when thy heart is not with mee And why is not his heart with her Because hee doth not tell her his counsells even such counsells as being told may endanger his libertie and life But Christ the best husband having given his life for his Spouse and himselfe to his Spouse in a sacred union how shall hee not with his life and himselfe give her his counsells also It is his owne word If the wives be ignorant or doubtfull let them aske their husbands Herein hee implyeth That if the wives doe ask their husbands they being asked should be willing to reach their wives Surely if Christ require this willingnesse to teach in lower and meaner husbands whose knowledge yea whose love cannot be here in perfection will not this husband who is light it selfe and love it selfe teach his owne wife by this most perfect light and from this most perfect love Yea certainely in the bed of love he will not onely tell her the words of his counsells but by a sacred unction being one spirit with her hee will make her to see the counsells of his words hee will give her an inward and spirituall eye to see the inward riches and realities of his counsells So that whereas the world cannot see the wisedome of God and the precious things contained in it for the mysterie the Spouse by this new