â—rooke no defilement in the Priesthood we find Miriam ad Aaron both in the same sinne yet Miriam onely the Leper least saies S. Chrisostom Hom. 3 ad Colos the uncleannesse of the others person should sticke upon his office and therefore I find a leprous King but no where a leprous Priest in all the Scripture Now seeing our outward bearing and persons must be blamelesse why should not our condition be so To effect this nothing better then a continual meditation of that solemne pompe and Ceremony used in our Orders When the reverend Prelate laies his hand on thy head remember thou art then manumniz'd from all secular ties and sequestred no lesse from the Callings of the people then their vices and certainly the holy impression of Episcopal hands set oâ— from above is such an Elixar as by conâ—action if there be any disposition of goodnesse in the baser mettle it will render it of the propertie Again when thou takest the Bible with autoritie to dispence the Word and Sacraments Oh! let us not abuse our Masters trust in betraying that sacred pledge to the vain Pulpit applanâ—e and Church flatterie of a giddie multitude but may that Apocalyptical curse be ever before thee of adding or detracting from the words of Gods book quod dicitur in falsatores hujus libri doctrinae which is denounc'd saies a Father against such as ravish Scripture to force out doctrines for their own ends and then emptie their rancour by turning them to Uses But above all those divine extasying words Receive the Holy Ghost strike through the soul the very sound comes crosse me and ties down those hands which otherwise might stab my brother that tongue which else might curse my King or blaspheme my God Receive the Holy Ghost the syllables are an historie and present my thoughts with all those sacred breathings of the Spirit throughout the Scripture Here I finde a single Prophet possess'd of a double portion and heir no lesse to Eliah's Spirit then his Mantle there twelve Aprostles each speaking with as many tongues whose powerful Rhetorick did convert thousands at a Sermon their edifying being a conquest and their Proselites not so properly to be styled a Congregation as a people Receive the Holy Ghost Good God what more can we ask or thou bestow The holy Ghost Why then as S. Paul saies receive also the gift of Prophesie by the same Spirit the gift of Healing by the same Spirit the gift of Miracles by the same Spirit But these are Apostolical talents and wee O Lord the most unprofitable of thy servants are altogether unworthie the meanest of thy gifts yet vouchsafe us we beseech thee who have now devoted our selves for thy service to be filled though with the smallest measure of thy holy Spirit to be overshadowed but with a single feather of that Dove enlightned with the least ray of that Cloven-tongu'd fire and this for thy Gospels sake for thy promise sake for thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ his sake to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ever as is most c. FINIS THE Third Sermon Which is that in D r Maine's and M r Cartwright's Style or Way of Preaching Delivered before the Universitie at Saint MARYES in Oxford MAT. 10. 16. Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be yee therefore wise as serpents and harmlesse as doves LONDON Printed for Edward Archer at the Adam and Eve in Little Britain Anno Dom. 1656. Canticles 2. Vers 2. As the Lillie among the thorns so is my love among the daughters AS Abraham's mystical Ram in the thicket when Isaac was offered up on mount Moriah and yet not sacrific'd was Christ crown'd with thorns so Solomon's typical Lillie in the text is Christ's Church inthron'd among the briers who though she bee born a King's daughter yet is her coronet but in-lai'd with thorns and though the 45 Psalm cloaths her with a robe of wrought gold and all glorious within yet is this glorie of her roial apparel at the best but the glorie of the Ermine shadowed over and eclips'd with the black spots and that gold but the gold of the Psalmists furnace seven times purified and martyr'd in the flame Now that the coat of Christ's Spouse hath been thus blazon'd all Historie both Ecclesiastical and Civil will be our Heralds and witnesse Ensebius with his fellow-pens of Church-storie have sufficiently written the Acts and Monuments of this truth their volumnes being so many books of Martyrs in which you may read the Christian baptiz'd in his own blood and receiving his confirmation from the fire being condemned ad bestias onely for the Roman sport and recreation and to the stake in usum nocturni luminis saies Tacitus to save the Citie-candle and light home passengers in a dark night Our religion in the mean time being scandalized for superstitio exitiabilis the very fate and bane of Common-wealths and the professors of it for novatoresrerum the grand Innovators and Boutefeus of the world Insomuch saies Tertullian that if an Earthquake shook town or territorie straight Christianitie was called in question as if the breath of Christian praiers vented in religous caves the onely Temples of those daies had rais'd that subterraneous winde and their grones caus'd the motion And for this reason etiam suspâ—ria lacâ—rimae scribebantur saith the historian their very tears were registred as the Malignant Partie and their â—ighs for plots against the State And all this â—t implereâ—â—r that Gods Word might be fulfilled and written the second time in the afflictions of his Church Thus Nero persecuting in the Roman storie is the red dragon driving the woman to the wildernesse in S. John's Prophesie and the Churches martyrdom the truth of that type the sight of that vision and even the revelation of the Apocalypse Or if you will the Woman there is the Love here in the text that Wildernesse these Thorns representing to you the face of this glasse the original and person of this picture or similitude As the Lillie c. This text you heard me now call a picture or similitude in which picture as in all draughts of the pencil you may behold the lights the shadows the lights shining forth in the Lillie and the Love the shadows mask'd under the Thorns and the Daughters for those black Thorns are as the shadow to this white Lillie and these soul daughters the foil to set off that fair Love Now as all pictures must have their place of view so may it please you to look upon for a third particular the seat or standing of this Lillie it is in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the middle or among the Thorns and last of all to vouchsafe a glance or two upon the Artisan himself implied in the particle my As the Lillie among the Thorns so is my Love my who am the Limmer that hath drawn and owes this piece whose hand protects it here and
stop their mouths Benjamin shal be bless'd with repose securitie and hee 'l gladly sit down with that Lastly surround Judah with a spatious crown and large territories you set him upon the highest pinacle of his ambition But now it is not wealth nor ease no nor honor that best suits with the Ephod all worldy blessings are jewels of too low a price too faint a blaze and lustre to be set there And therefore of Levi he said c. The text conteins the Levites portion and may be divided into three parts the Donor the Donative and as our Law terms it the Donee or partie endowed The Donor you have implied in the Pronoun Thy and that 's God who relates to each part for 't is Thy Thummim and Thy Urim and Thy holy One all are Gods And so 't is not our own perfection nor innate holinesse nor our own illumination or private spirit neither is this holy One one of our own making any invention of man but an order founded by God himself Secondly the Donative is double Thummim and Urim w ch are perfection and illumination as the Rabbins holinesse and learning as our own men interpret the two main things enquired after not onely by the Universitie in degrees but the Church in all her Ordinations And lastly the partie endowed with these gifts the holy One includes the whole Tribe of Levi by concomitance that of the Old by correspondence this of the New Testament For Thummim and Urim respects the Clergie in general and is as large as bot◠Covenants Of these particulars very briefly and first of the Donor as he severally relates to Thummim Urim holy One Non per nos-ipsos necviribus natura sed perspiritum sanctum was the doctrine of Saint Austine and the Catholick Church our will here being like a lower sphere quae non nisi mota movet if no inspiration no co-operation and our graces are as the money in Benjamin's sack of anothers putting in all springing from Christ as the branches from the Vine and cease to be graces when they forget their Author Our strength then is but borrowed our going but leading in God's hand who is to us what his Cloud was to Israel if he please to make a stand we know not which way to turn our selves meer nature cannot direct to heaven and therefore wee say well in our praier for thine is the Power and the Glori◠it being by that Power wee come to this Glorie Secondly as our Thummim so our Urim too is from God for there is no illumination but proceeds à Patre luminum saies Saint James from Him that enlightens every one that coms into the world à Patre per modum naturae as the child from the father à Patre luminum per modum emanationis as the shine from the Sun As well then the Fierie-tongues as the Dove come from on high Learning no lesse then Innocencie Thus if Saint Paul have a door of Utterance God himself keeps the Key if Isaiah's lips want purifying no lesse then a Seraphin must expiate them and hee too with no fire but the Altars neither Prophets nor Apostles can speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is in Acts 2. the wonderful works of the Lord unlesse the Holy Ghost first bring the Tongues But now quis vituperavit not the most factions but will agree that Thummim Urim all perfections and illuminations even those dim ones of their own private spirits are of God but this holy One not so far fetched therefore you take too much upon you yee sonnes of Levi seeing all the Congregation is holy even as your selves And it must needs be granted they are so all the Congregation of the Lord sanctified as well as his Priests yet not to the same degree of holinesse but they sicut populus as Gods people these sicut Aaron as his peculiar servants they are holy 't is true but these holiest of holies Hence it was that when the Law kept Ordinations certain pieces of the Sacrifice were put into the Priests hands and now instead of that a Bible into ours Not onely as a rule to direct but a sacred witness of that profession into which wee are by a Divine hand invested Hence also it is that we so often meet with a mittet operarios and a dabit Angelos all of Gods mission And indeed who more fit to appoint Laborers for the Vineyard then the Lord of the Farme who Steward for the house if not the Master None then may usurpe this holy charge assume this honour We are Embassadours and 't is treason to enter upon an Embassy before commanded by our Prince And therefore to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man 's own ordainer as Basil's word is to clap down into Moses chair upon a vain Enthusiasme is prophane presumption and not to undertake our Office but to invade it being so esteemed of God as may appear by that feareful Ironie to the false Prophets I sent them not yet they run run knowing nor why nor whither like Ahimaaz in Samuell and at length like him too they can tell no tidings Thus neither unbidden nor yet unprepared guests may come to this Supper of the Lord For a wedding garment is required Whom God imploies in his service hee calles and whom he calles he cloathes gives them as well abilities of doing as autority to do which leads me to my second part the double Donative Thummim and Vrim life and learning the two maine things enquired after by the Bishop in all Ordinations And of Levi hee said Let thy c. Thummim and Urim Religion takes place of Learning and he must first be good to himself that will be so to others For which end the antient Fathers led by example of the Prophets and Apostles saies our Canon appointed Ember-weeks before Ordination a strict severe government of our owne affections ere we have antority to guide the peoples example being the life of doctrine and therefore the Praedicants of old were called operarii quia opere magis quam ore praedicarent as Stella glosser and that both in respect of our calling and charge For our calling as 't is most eminent so most eyed and worst censured If an Apostle rub but an eare of corn on the sabbath 't is breaking of the day the peoples moates are the Priests beames and anothers indifferency is my evill somthings being expedient in respect of the man which are scandalous meerely for his coate None therefore to keepe within so strict lines as the Aaronite being one ever under monitors For behold saies the Apostle we are made a gazing-stock to the World to Angels to Men to men which are our charge Governors live not their owne lives alone but the peoples their actions being not personal but epidemical and whether good or bad are held authentick it being enough for the rout that their betters did so Do any of the rulers believe on him was thought
I leave you at this time with a Theologia negativa a negative divinity or divine ignorance and onely tell you what is not heaven The plumage of the swan appeares more faire when it is opposed to the ravens blacknesse and wee may best conjecture at the joyes above if wee consider the miseries here below This life of ours if it were not short yet it is miserable and if it were not miserable yet it is short In this world are a world of troubles we have no resting place here saith the Prophet glory and rest are two things that meet not here the glorious life is not the most quiet and the quiet life is for the most part inglorious riches and honour like Absolons mule do sometimes leave their Master in extremity A consideration if well digested which would gather our divided thoughts and rouse up our Soules to seeke first the Kingdome of heaven and then we know coetera adjicientur other things shall be added unto us And indeed when heaven is once named all other things are but cetera's not worth the naming But now for heaven it is observed by those that are skill'd in the holy tongue that in the sacred name Jehova are none but literae quiescentes mystically impliing thus much unto us that Deus est centrum quietatiuum that God is the God of rest in whose presence there is joy fulness of joy joy for evermore as David sings When once we shall be planted in that celestiall paradise there shall no apple of contention grow between God and us It is Nazianzens note upon that divine antheme of three parts Glory be to God on high on earth peace good will towards men Luk. 2. pugnas dissidia nescire deum angelos that there are no broils nor brabbles in heaven There shall the Soul be satisfied in all her desires there shall be no actuall or potentiall evill no actuall because grace being consummate in the Saints excludes all sin no poetential for they being confirmed in goodnesse cannot sin There shall be no sorrow nor tears the effect of sorrow those rivers of our eyes shall be dried up there shall be no more death for resurrectio erit mors mortis At that jubilee of glory the conqueror shall be disarmed and we whom death hath overcome shall overcome death Our bodies rising first immortall not subject to any more disease or death we shall not any more stand in need of those ordinary helpes of meat and drinke by which our nature is preserved for it shall then be our meat and drink to do our Fathers will Secondly our bodies shall rise glorious the just shall shine like the sun in the firm ament saies the Prophet qualis erit splendor animarum quando solis claritatem habebit lux corporum and how great then shall the splendour of our Soules be when that of our bodies shall exceed the Suns And to confirme the verity and solidity of this glory it shall not onely be revealed unto us but saith the Apostle in us Jerusalem as the Kings daughter is all glorious within Thirdly they shall be perfect every defective member shall be restored to it's inregrity Jacob shall not halt nor Isaac be blind nor Mephibosheth be lame Fourthly our bodies shall be raised impassionate free from such passions as may hurt and offend but not from the passions of joy the joy of the soul shall be the soul of joy Lastly they shall be spirituall that is in quality not in substance they shall still remaine the same quantitative bodies bounded and limited with their natural dimensions For otherwise how could Job see God with the same eyes he had while he lived Our bodies therefore shall be endued with most unspeakable perfections and most perfectly clarified from all imperfections but they shall not be disrobed of their natural properties briefly they shal be spirituall in a three-fold sence Fist in that they shall be wholly freed from all earthly drossy corruptions all the sences shall be more subtle the body it 's selfe shall become more light and apt to motion and as neer the nature and qualitie of a spirit as a body may be Secondly cause they shall be no more upheld and maintain'd by earthly meanes and helpes but be preserved by spirituall meanes i e. by the power of Gods holy Spirit What use shall there be of the creature when the Creator himselfe the Lord of heaven and earth is in place And in these two respects especially they shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to angels Thirdly they shall be Spiritual because they shall never rebell but be alwaies subject and obedient to the regenerate soul without contradiction they shall obey the motions of the spirit Other particulars I cease to enquire cause the Scripture doth forbeare to deliver them and in the silence of the holy-Ghost I will not be curious least by this meanes I loose my selfe in the labyrinth of these everlasting habitations whereto the Arts never taught an entrance in nor Divinity ever discovered a passage out The greatest light we have which is but dimm neither is held out vnto us by Scripture and the primitive Doctors of the Church in these particulars of eternall life or eternal habitations first in the comfort that the Saints shall pertake of there Secondly in their joy Thirdly in the sight and Lastly in the knowledge which the Saints shall have of the blessed Trinity in heaven And first as to the comfort this is in some sort expressed John 14 2. In my fathers house are many mansions Where our Saviour administers severall Recipees of comfort to his afflcted disciples by reason of his going away and of this comfort the first beam is that that state which he promises them and in them all faithful believers is a house it hath a foundation no earth-quake shall shake it it hath a wall no artillery shall batter it it hath a roof no tempest shall pierce it It is a house that affords security and that is one degree of comfort And then Secondly it is his Fathers house a house in which he hath interest and that is another degree of this consolation It was his fathers and so his and his and so ours for we are not joynt purchasers of heaven with the Saints but we are co-heirs with Christ Jesus by death we are gathered to our fathers in nature and by death through his mercy gathered to his father also where we shall have a full satisfaction in that wherein Saint Philip placed all satisfaction Lord shew us thy Father and 't is enough John the 4. 8. We shall see his father and see him made ours in Christ And then a third degree of this comfort is that in this house of his fathers thus by him made ours there are mansions which word in the originall and latine and our language signifies a remaining an abiding and fixing and denotes the perpetuity the everlastingnesse of that
troubles in the outward form as the experience of Saints can witnesse But the life above is the day of his rest wherein hee studies all things and sees them to be very good yea and ceaseth from his works as God did from his But did not God himself ordain Form and where did he abrogate it you will say I answer As there was a time to plant so there is a time to pluck up what was planted For Form was never created as a standing rule but as a temporarie help to serve a turn which when it is once accomplished the means cease as having usher'd in the end Neither is the abrogation of Form onely in the letter but in the discovery of an higher glory which darkens the first as the Sun darkens the starrs So that the discovery of Gospel-forms is the abrogation of Legal and the Gospel administration in external rites gives way to an higher glory And yet there are some hints in the letter of this glorious state as Isa 25. and Rev. 21. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness Though the glorie of the mysteries contained in it are to be experimented in us You 'l say Christ and his Apostles submitted to the outward Form 'T is true Christ in the flesh was made under the Law and submitted to Circumcision as well as Baptisme he under-went the state of death or sorrow and the state of flesh or form Heb. 5. 7. Who in the daies of his flesh when he had offered up praiers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared Wherein he praied and at the last was raised up to the state of mirth or immediate discovery wherein he did rejoice So that Christ in the flesh is the figure of several administrations and every Christian is an embleme in one stage or another of his life Some live in a crucified some in a glorified Jesus some live in his life some in his death some live in Christ after the flesh others in Christ after the spirit And amongst these the highest pitch of a Christian is Christ risen or rather sitting at God's right hand for here is immediatenesse of favour and enjoiment But in the mean time Ordinances and Administrations take place after one sort or other till this state come For as the appearances of God are stronger or weaker so administrations are of several sorts the most eminent are Paradifical Legal and Evangelical Paradifical administrations then took place when the angelical nature being clothed upon with a humane appearance did contemplate its Maker in things below himself the clear stream of the whole creation and the heavenly spirit being likewise clothed upon was a proportionated subject to entertain that discovery This administration did not contein the most compleat enjoiment For here the vail was first set up and man of necessitie must have ceased to his being or form though he had never sinn'd that so he might bee raised up to an higher enjoiment This administration was but for a season for when flesh and self had defiled the stream the glory crept inward and was withdrawn from our view and in came a multitude of helps to usher in but a review of the same glory this was the original of legal sacrifices and administrations But as the fountain was clear'd by degrees and the imagerendred more perspicuous so Gospel administrations succeeded in the place of the Legal as differing onely from them in degrees of light These administrations are not distinguish'd by fleshly Epoches or Periods of time but are interchangeably managed within the Saints according to their degrees of light as being partly bond and partly free partly in the flesh form and letter partly in the spirit and power Which state is a state of confusion and mixture not of puritie The death of Christ himself did not straitwaies determine the Legal administration for the Apostles and Believers did continue to observe them until such time as an higher discovery was made known within them and even then when an higher discovery was made known unto them when they were perfectly under a Gospel state yet had they but the first fruits of the spirit and were in the dark in many things Yea Saint Paul holds forth a state atteinable by the Saints which he himself came short of Phil. 4. which John saw by the spirit of prophesie Rev. 21. And if any shall deny this new state let us reason a little from concessions and grants and see what the enjoiment of a Christian may amount to It is granted by all and cannot be denied that the letter of the word holds forth more glory then is yet attain'd and that many prophesies are to be fulfilled relating to that glory of the Saints among which that in the Revelations is one as likewise that perfection is to be press'd after Heb. 6. which certainly is more then uprightnesse for the Apostle speaks to upright Saints Now what this glory these new heavens this state of perfection is the dispute and question of these daies which to me is resolved thus That there is a glorious state of the Saints to be discovered in the last daies consisting not in a fleshly paradise or material enjoiment but in the true vision of God in the spirit and high light of heavenly glory This state was the hope and joy of the Prophets Apostles and other Christians who foresaw the day thereof And well might it bee so considering the many mysteries contein'd therein which no other state can attein unto For here the Christian sees all things in the light of God Here is opened unchangeable glory and essential will perfect freedom restitution of all things heavenly rest There man ceaseth questions are resolved union clear'd and all expectations satisfied And thus have you seen the first particular wherein wee must deny our Religion it is in relation to Ordinances and Forms and administrations Secondly in the second place we must deny our religion in respect of the Scriptures so as to rest upon the letter and to prefer it above the teaching of the spirit in it Heare this all you that idolize Scripture so much as to prefer those writings before the God of the Apostles and Prophets it is very possible that a man may attain to the litteral knowledge of the Scriptures and may speak largely of the history thereof and draw conclusions and raise many uses for the present support of a troubled soul or for the restraining of lewd practises and direction of a civil conversation and yet they that speake and they that heare may be not only unacquainted with but enemies to that spirit of truth by which those Prophets and Apostles write For it is not the Apostles writings but the spirit that dwelleth in them that did inspire their hearts that gives life and peace to us all And
therefore when the Prophets Isa Jerem. and Ezekiel spake what they saw from God they spake Thus saith the Lord out of experience of what they saw and felt and they were call'd true Prophets But when others rose up that spake their words writings and then applied them to another age and generation of men saying Thus saith the Lord as the other did they were called false Prophets because they had seen nothing themselves of God but walked by the legs and saw by the eyes of the true Prophets For God doth not threaten death to every city of every age of the world as to Sodom and Gomrorha neiâ—her captivity to every people as he did to Israel under Nebuchadnezar in Babilon Neither doth he promise victory or deliverance to every army or people from enemies as he did to Irsael in Jehosophats time Now if any man speake and assures others of victory when God purposes distruction or speakes destruction when God purposes a victory these men speake at randome and though they speake the very words of the Scriptures yet they speake not the mind of him that gives life or destroyes and so having seen nothing from him they are to be reckoned among the false Prâ—phets they run before they are sent A man may know the Scripture and yet be an arch enemie to the God of the Scripture as the Jewes were They knew the writings of Moses who writ of Jesus Christ and yet they persecuted and killed Jesus Christ because they knew him not For if they had known him to have been of the power of God they would not have kill'd him And so many nowadayes do know Scripture yet may do persecute the spirit of the Scripture through ignorance and unbeliefe Truely friends it is not the knowledge of the Scripture onely but the knowledge of the God of the Scripture as God is pleased to make known himselfe by his mighty working in you that gives life and peace to you If you know and speake Scripture and can see nothing of God you are like Parrats that speake the words of another as you have been taught by humane education But if the same annointing or power of God dwel in you as did appeare in the Prophets and Apostles that writ then you can see into that mistery of the Scripture and so can speake the mind of the Scriptures though you should never see heare nor read the Scripture from men If your peace and comfort in God should onely remain with you while you are either hearing or reading Scriptures or while you have any society of such as can speake and discourse thereof and then find again that your peace and comfort is gone when you are deprived by any occasion of that society of Saints truely let me tell you that though you prize and know the Scripture yet there is a great strangeness betweene you and the God of the Scripture Many enjoy outward reading and hearing and Saints Communion and they are in peace and they live in heaven as they conceive and it is a sweet life but it is not the life For if the wisedom of God hedge up all these enjoyments with thornes and leave these poor souls alone as it was Christs case all forsooke him and fled why then here is your triall For when God hath denyed you the opportunities of hearing reading praying and Saints fellowship doth not your heart now looke for those helps and mourn in their absence If it be so with you as I know it is with you then where is your knowledge experience and peace in and with God It shewes plainly that at such a time we suck'd refreshment from the creatures brests but not from God We are now come to the â—ast particular in respect of which we must deny our religion and that is in respect of the Author of it our blessed Saviour And herein we must first deny all false Christs secondly all false opinions of the true Christ thirdly we must deny but in a Christian qualified sence even the true Christ himselfe First then we must deny all false Christs you will find false Christs coming with signes and wonders Matt 24. 24. For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect You shall have Christs to do what you desire Christs to shew you signes and wonders as you gape after but they shall be false Christs and this shall be your judgement God in judgement hath false Christs for false Seekers false Inquirers This is the plague of the flesh it shall have what it doth desire one that will open Scriptures do mighty miracles shew great gifts and yet all this is but a false Christ and the very elect so far as is possible shall be deceived therewith Therefore let it be our speciall care to deny these false Christs most especially in these antichristian times wherein we live in which you shall have Christs come upon you more then you would have If you go into the desert there is Christ if into the city there 's Christ some shall say lo here others lo there you shall have false Christs every where a false spirit a false resurrection a false glory a false god continually offering themselves unto you lo here lo there Such excellent glorious high ravishing wonderfull discoveries of spirituall things that they shall say plainly to you I am Christ Such things so far excelling all that ever you have known so heavenly so glorious as thereby you shall be able to say with open face here is Christ You shal have a light above men and Angels and yeâ— all this shall bâ— but a delusion I suppose you are not acquainted with this as yet but you shall have â—uch glorious discoveries in such illustrious brightnesse majesty and authority that shall absolutely say in you I am the Christ I am the Lord I am the Son of the living God In Fzekiel 28. 2. There 's a type of the false appearance of God in the world Because thine heart is listed up and thou haist said I am a God I sit in the seat of God in the midd'st of the seas yet thou art a man and not God though thou set thine heart as the heart of God You shall be so enlarged in understanding that you shall thinke your selves wiser then Daniel that you shall see through all the mysterie of Daniel through all the darke prophesies of Daniel as a clear thing yet there will be a false Christ an antichrist under all this go not after saith our Saviour Luke 17. 23. And they shall say to you see here or see there go not after them nor follow them Such appearances will present themselves unto you and invite you to the discovery and clear understanding of the darke places of Scripture but saith God follow them not They are such as if it were possible they should deceive the very elect