the Lord foretold them in the 31. of Deuteronomie when saies hee I shall have brought Israel into the land that floweth with milke and honey and they shall have eaten and fill'd themselvs then will they turne unto other gods then and not till then and just so they did for in the very next Chap. at the 15 ver you have Jeshurun which is Jsraell wax'd fatt and kicking and then saies the text hee forsooke God which made him Another end of fasting is to elevate the soul and put her upon the wing of holy contemplation and prayer for it stands with reason that so long as shee is conversant in the kitchin so long as her spirits and faculties are spent in dispersing vapours and exhalations of meats shee her selfe must needs bee lâ—sse apt and free for heavenly emploiment Full bellies are fittest for â—est and not the body so much as the soule is most active with emtinesse for this reason fasting and praier go together in Scripture and as in Scripture so in our Churches practise solemne praier almost ever takes fasting to attâ—nd it A third reason of fasting is to â—estify our repentance by our penance the prostration of our soules by the humiliation of our bodies and thus did the primitive times by their course diet and cloathing present their unworrhinesse of the benefits of this life and by casting ashes on their heads speake themselves but dust altogether deserving to be as farre underneath the earth as they were above it and this repentance Christ implied to bee the most reall and unfained of all others when hee told the Jewes That had the mighty works been done in Tyre and Sidâ—n which were done amongst them they would have repented and is that all no they would have repented sitting in sack-cloath and ashes their very cloaths and haire had done pennance For tâ—ue repentance is not a bare turning to God but turning with fasting they are Gods own words Turn to mee with fasting weeping and mourning The belly must grieve and sympathize with the heart and the eye be as contrite as the minde Repentance then must together with fasting under the Law in Leviticus it was so their solemne repentance was ever at the time of their generall fast and they which had not the law as Nineveâ— nature it selfe taught them to take this Physicke as wee use all other fasting and fasting wee must take it if wee would have it worke kindly Nay Saint Basil in his first dejejunto saies it works not at all upon a full stomack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repentance without fasting is idle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meerly idle without any stirring any moving the ill humors atall The meaning is according to S. James As faith without works so repentance without fasting is little better then dead and again As faith without works so fasting too without works is dead and this is another end of our fasts the exercise of our charity alms To keep a fast for a nation and relieve it not is but to repeat that Sarcasme in the 2 d of S. James Depart in peace when they are already destroied by war warm your selves and fill your bellies without fire or meat Could we everimagine how our devotion should rout an enemie or our fasts raise a siege Joshua must sight against Amalek as well as Moses pray it were well then if they would order it that our hands may be lifted up no lesse then our votes and praiers and our Chests lie as open as our Church-doors For this is to fast saies God by his Prophet Isaiah To deal thy bread to the hungrie to bring the poor to thy house Israel was not chid for eating but laying up of their Mannah and therefore saies a Father Ita jejuna ut alio manducante prandisse te gaude as so fast that the poor may fare the better for it let thy Eves be their Festivals thy Lent their Easter And now we have got a fast for our time let us see whether wee can finde a time for our fast a tunc for our jejunabant which is my last part to be handled the circumstance or time of this fast implied in the Adverb then And then they shall fast and then Allowing the thing we can't chuse but allow it a time for there is a time for every thing under the Sun a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourne and a time to dance saies the preacher to dance when the Bridegroom is with us to sit down and mourn when hee is taken away when the marriage feast is at an end and this is that then in my text then shall they fast that is when the Bridegroom is taken away and the Bridegroom is taken away saies our Church Homilie when we are cast down with sicknesse grief of minde or the like As for sicknesse 't is a plain case that takes away the stomack quite and the time of grief is a time of fasting too Thus Hannah when she was upbraided by her adversarie wept and how then and did not eat saies the 1 of Sam. 1. 7. nor drink neither I believe unlesse her tears So Ahab also when he could not obtein the Vineyard mourn'd I that 's granted you 'l say for 't is wine that maketh glad the heart of man and Naboth denied that mourn'd yes and fasted saies the text no meat would down with him he was so vexed And so 't is here while Christ was with the Apostles they could not grieve for they had the fulnesse of joy but when that fulnesse of joy was to be taken away then they shall mourn tunc jejunabunt and then they shall fast mourn and fast all one in the text Another time of Fasting is the time of danger for when men are in jeopardy what pleasure can they take in meat knowing not how soon they may eat their last When the children of Israel saw the Egyptians at their heels they had no time then to think of their flesh-pots and onyons And this then this time of fasting is the most usuall in all the Scripture if a plague famine or Rabshekah bee fear'd sanctifie a fast in all hast put on sackcloath send for the Arke And thus was it with the Apostles Christ was their rocke and sure tower of defence from all danger and the feare of it but when this rocke was removed when Christ was once taken away then they were at St Pauls quotidie morimur every hour in danger to be drawn to the stake tunc jeiunabant and then they did fast Now if for the effect of sin we fast for the cause for sinne it selfe much more and this then this time of fasting for our sinns should wee duely observe our tunc would bee nunc our then would be now and as now ita nunc semper in secula so both now and for ever for should wee live alwaies wee should sinne alwaies and so fast alwaies But this because wee
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
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
Church from whose bodie every one that separates tears off a several limb and becoms a murtherer of the whole For which reason it hath been ever the devils policie who is encouraged not so much by his own strength as our weaknesse first to divide this armie with banners and then to assault through the breach because the conquest is easier against an hundred then against a thousand especially when the combatants fight with the publick enemie against themselves and that too commonly either about a School-subtilty or Churchceremonie the usual difference being not so much in the foundation as the paint and dresse of the building nay perchance a meer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Scotus upon the first of the Senten censures that grand controversie about the procession of the Holy Ghost a consent of opinions in contrary terms as a sundry dialect maketh not a several language both sides speaking the same way to heaven though in a diverse tone In these cases then no separation onely let thy charitie pitie thy brothers mistreading speak it errour in him but no irreligion in that he loves God with as strong a flame though of a weaker light with as high a zeal though a lower knowledg his slips alas being to him as part of his religion Creed errs meerly least he should dishonor God Leav him not therefore for his errors in doctrine nor yet for his errors in life separate neither from a particular Church nor a particular Congregation either for the Priests sin or the peoples refuse not to take the blessed Eucharist from him or receive it with these For first what if the Priest the sacrificer be unclean is the offering so 'T is a grosse dull capaeity that can't distinguish 'twixt the worke and the instrument the weakenesse of the person and the power of the function Now as we may not separate from the Communion for the Priests folly so neither for the peoples For what though some in the Congregation be prophane Wilt thou thrust all into the pit of hell because some few walke near the brink 'T is a priveledge of the Church triumphant to be all faire and have no spot in her the best proportion'd body hath not every part of an equall comlinesse nor is beauty made up of one colour Our spouse in this booke of Canticles wears a black eye in a cleare complextion that is but her naturall beautie-speck the moon 's a glorious body for all her moles the Church a faire Lilly for all the thorns And what are those to me Can't I enjoy the sweetnesse but I must needs pricke my fingers if I admonish the sinner and detest his sin what 's anothers profaennesse to my religion Our Saviour could be of the same table with Publicans and sinners yet none of their counsell eat of their meat without tasting their gall and bitternesse And we read his Apostles did communicate with Judas and yet not with his treason partake of the Paschal Lambe without tasting the bitter herbs And now what remedy for this confus'd communion of the multitude certainely none If the Children of God come to present themselves before his Throne there seldom misses a Sathan in the mid'st as we read Job 2 no crosse or holy water can keep him out Our bells are not exorcists they may cleare the aire if you will but of no evill spirits neither is their sound so subtle to distinguish 'twixt good and bad invites not the Publican and forbids the Pharisee they both came up to the Temple at the houre of praier there seldome being a gathering together into the Arke the Church but some uncleane beast enters not the most perfect Synod on earth even that of the Apostles but had its Judas and yet these Apostles were Chist's and that Ark God's which points to my last particular the Artisan or Limmer himself that hath drawn and owes and will protect this piece implied in the particle my As the Lillie so is my Love God is in the world as the soul in the bodie life and government and as the soul is in every part of the bodie so is God in everypart of the world no quartermaster but universal Monarch a God every where every where wholly a God his power extending as well to an Ant as to a Man to an Atome as to a Citie but not in the same degree as his glorie fill'd both Moses his bush and the space about it but not with the same measure the one being too holy onely for the Prophets shoo 's the other even for his feet Thus do Common-wealths inherit a greater share of the Almightie's Providence then single families their laws being wrap'd in his decrees and their policies in his counsels plotting and contriving nothing but what meets with an Eternal thought And even amongst Common-wealths some enjoy more otherslesse of divine protection for though all Nations beare God's stampe and image yet Israel had his superscription too those tribes were writ his and none but his here was his lot his inheritance his Church and where this is you have still a greater influence of the Diety And by this right of inheritance hath God jus patronatus the perpetual Advousen of the Catholick Church and therefore well may hee say in the text my love mine for I made her there is the right of Creation mine for I made her again wash'd and cleans'd her there is the right of Regeneration mine for I bought her there is the right of Redemption mine for she is my self my Spouse there is nexus indissolubilis the right of matrimonial union And as mine to love so to defend the result and inference is natural I am thine therefore save mee O Lord was the Prophets Interest cannot stand without protection as one relation lives not without its brother the hand saies it is my head therefore I will guard it with my strength the head replies it is my hand therefore I will advise it with my counsel And thus it holds in all save where is lack of love or power but with God is want of neither not of love for he that toucheth Israel toucheth the apple of Gods eie nor of power the agent being omnipotent able to compasse his will both without means and contrarie to all Thus rather then his children shall perish either by a deluge or a drought by too much or too little water the red sea shall be divided into walls and the stonie rock into springs and if the Church hath yet any adversaries more mercilesse then water â—he earth shall open from below and burie them before dead or fire shall descend from above and make them a sacrifice without an offering God never suffering this Lillie either to be cut down by the sword or burnt up by the fire of martyrdom 'T is true it may somtimes like a nipp'd blossom hang down the head nay be driven by a winter of persecution to keep house under ground retire I mean to
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
all from Christ yet we work with it as it were our own stock and so glorie as the Apostle speaks as if we had not received it And thus though the sap and livelinesse which stirrs us to any spiritual dutie is really and indeed efficiently from Christ yet wee work with it as if all proceeded from our selves because wee neither receive our strength by faith nor act by faith that strength received as men acted by Christ and working in Christ being supported with the pride and self sufficiencie of our own gifts and parts whereas all true believers are emptied first of their own strength and abilitie and so walk as those who can do nothing without Christ as those who are not able to love or believe one moment more without him And therefore a true believer being thus sensible of his own insufficiencie and unabilitie doth when hee is at any time assisted in spiritual duties attribute all to Christ when he hath done he glories not in himself as of himself but as he is a man in Christ and that as he is a man in Christ he did it and no otherwise So the Apostle 2 Cor. 12. 2. 5. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago c. Of such an one will I glorie yet of my self I will not glorie but in mine infirmities And yet it was himself he speaks of but yet not in himself as of himself but as he was a man in Christ and no otherwise Wee have done with our third step or degree of Selfe-denyal the denial of our gifts and graces both natural and spiritual And as we have denied these natural and spiritual endowments so in the fourth place we must deny our very religion our christianity for Christ This seemes at the first sight a contradiction but it is onely a high expression or if you Please to call it so a new light of Self-denyal For I do not mean so to deny our Christianity as to become Jewes Turkes or Infidels but so to deny it as to resigne it up unto Christ to lay it at Christs feet so to deny it as not to rely upon it as the onely dispensation and appearance whereby God is able to reveal himselfe unto his people for can'st thou measure the waies thoughts and various appearances of God whom thou thy selfe callest infinite and unmeasurable Art thou sure he can appeare no otherwisa then according to what thou exspectest he will Call but to mind the religion of the Jewes what religion that ever was since the foundation of the world I will not except our own Christian religion was more confirmed by miracles then this what religion for it's time had the presence of God more in it set up by the peculiar appointment of the Almighty the Doctrine written in Tables of stone with his own finger the discipline in every circumstance and ceremony and Punctilio dictated not by his Spirit onely but by the expresse word of his own mouth Had the Christian religion for doctrine and discipline been as punctually set down and enjoyned the Real Presence had not erected so many stakes and gibbets nor the ceremonies of the Church raised so many armies in Christendom as we find by woful experience they have done And now what is become of all the divine right and confirmation of all the pompe and glory of the Jewish Church and religion Is it not called off all and the drosse and dung even in the very righteousnesse of it Phil. 3. 8. And the doctrine and discipline base and beggarly elements by the same Apostle Gal 4. 9. Insomuch that I here professe before you all that ever since I knew any thing of religion nothing hath more amazed and stagger'd my reason then that God should first establish and afterwards disanull the same relgion and secondly that the Apostles should set so low a rate upon should have so mean base and contemptible an esteem of any thing that was at any time set up and avowed by God Neither know I how to answer the Jew should he urge this very argument home to me then by crying out with the Apostle upon the same account and ground we now mention O the depth of the riches of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his wayes past finding out Rom. 11. 33. Thou seest therefore that the Jews were cozen'd who were as confident as thou can'st be that it should not be so with them as it was is it then so impossible that thou shouldest ever be deceived in what thou further expectest because thou hast gone a step or two beyond these Jewes Is that which thou hast attained and hoped for of such an enduring nature that it can never passe away The Jewes knew Christ under the law and it was a very glorious knowledge compared with any knowledg the heathen had but what became of that knowledge It vanished and became of no account as you have heard And so likewise Christians have known Christ under the Gospel and this kind of knowledg doth far excell that which was imparted to the Jewes Gospel-faith Gospel-love Gospel-obedience do infinitly surpasse any legal qualifications and performances whatsoever but with all consider this may not these Gospel dispensations passe away may not these duties be swallowed up in higher and more spiritualiz'd duties and the glory of these fall before a greater glory In all these then thou must deny thy selfe thou must resigne them up lay them all at Christs feet And how this religion of ours which we now professe must be denyed by us and be resigned up of us I shal endeavour to shew you in these following particulars First we muâ—t deny all ordinances administrations so as to rest relie upon them and here first for the ordinance of ministerial preaching we must not â—est not put our confidence and faith upon that because as it is Isa 54. 13. We shall be all taught of God Now the teaching of men and the teaching of God differ as the light of the Moon and the light of the Sun that shines by the helpe of this this from it's own light The teachings of men is this Moon-light which in Gods time must vanish For this Moon-light this conveying knowledge to others by helps and meanes is to be swallowed up into the light of the Sun that God may become all in all Jer. 31. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more By the mentioning of Sun and Moon in this place God speakes to the capacity of men and points out the whole creation of night and day and that all creature-helps and meanes should fail though they were and are as glorious helps as the Sun that gives light to the
day or as the Moon that gives light to the night and that the time will come that God himselfe will be the light of men without creature-helps or meanes and these teachings of God shall never cease Then secondly as we are to deny the Ordinance of Preaching so likewise of Praying and Fasting and all ordinances whatsoever so as I said before to rest upon them to lay our faith upon them And the reason is cause that Ordinances are nothing without the Lord. Every one will confesse that the letter is a dead letter without the Spirit and the Ordinances are meer formes without God's appearance in them and therefore our designe is to couple the Lord and Ordinances together and we cannot endure to heare of the parting of them though many now adayes do who crie so we have Ordinances we are well Now this is that we must deny or else it will appear that we promise to our selves something from the bare outward form of an Ordinance and so like the Israelites we are hankering after the flesh-pots of Egypt though they had better meat in the wildernesse yet their flesh-pots run in their minds So though God offer himselfe and though the Saints tell you they cannot find God in such and such formes but find him abundantly good in the spirit and they find that he recompences the want of all formes in the spirit and presses you to wait till God appeares to you in the spirit O! say you I can never believe that God should do it without an Ordinance or that God should strengthen you without an Ordinance God thinke you with an Ordinance can strengthen me and deliver me and save me out of temptation not otherwise This is to say that the Ordinance or fleshly form doth add something to God If you confesse God to be all in an Ordinance you must confesse him to be all without an Ordinance to be sufficient of himselfe I desire not to be mistaken I judge not those that find God in Ordinances and outward formes Let them wait upon God and let them receive and partake of the benefit of the Ordinance and let them blesse God for it and be faithfull to their own principles and let them be sweet to others But when we do find God in a Forme and in an Ordinance to say he is not to bee found and enjoyed any other way this is not a right spirit and this is to be resigned up and denied by us A maine and principall reason of the point is that God alone may be exalted For as civil formes are accompanied with many corrupt yet cleaving interests so spirituall administrations are attended in their Proselites with flesh forme selfe which doe many times deprave and corrupt the Administration and render it ineffectuall to the end for which it was appointed And as it is the designe of God to purge the civil administration from its dregs and filth so the Lord carries on the same designes in paring away all humane interests from the spiritual that so he alone may bee exalted besides as civill formes are not the substance but the out-side onely and appearanee of that equity and reason which they ought to represent So is it with the spiritual as being onely supplemental to our wants absence weaknes until such time as we come to live in the very life or substance its selfe So that spiritual administrations being of an inferior and entervening notion cannot possibly hold forth the most compleat and glorious way of enjoyment which in the Scripture is said to bee by sight and not by faith and such a sight as is not in forme or glasse but face to face The sight which Moses had of God as it did transcend the ordinary discovery to common Saints so it was farr inferiour to this vision for Moses saw but the backpaâ—t of God And yet as their sacrifices did tâ—â—e out the true sacrifices which we enjoy so this vision in regard of the immediateness of it beares some proportion with that glorious discovery in the Saints where God shall be seen as he is but this discovery is darkned and vail'd in the outward forme even in the designe of God himselfe for the weake understanding being not able to behold the brightnesse of this presence as the Israelites fled from the sight of God it is the pleasure of the Father to cast a vaile over his glory which vail is the forme that so the discoveries thereof may bee born by us Our enjoy ments will be then most sublime when this vail is rent a sunder and way made to the Holy of Holies or the naked glory by the power and purity of the spirit In the mean time the forme is proportioned to the darknesse of the fleshly understanding and therefore it is that the glory is limited and confined therein and given out according to the measure of our stature by degrees this justifies the design and wisedom of God in choosing these waies and methods in the manifestation of himself For the occasion of spiritual administrations is the darknesse and weaknesse of the creature all which make up a bundle of necessities which are thus summ'd up Man beeing clouded with a dark and mistie understanding stands at a great distance from the clear light of God by reason wheros hee apprehends nothing but what is suitable to himself and his enjoiment is answerable to his light that is weak and glimmering But God stoops down to humane frailtie and gives out himself in weak appearances Mosaical forms which are as mediums between God and us But when this darknesse and distance is removed by the power of God man becomes near and his enjoiments immediate which must needs be the best because nearest the fountain For the appearances of God like the beams of the Sun the farther they passe the more weak and imperfect are they as to us Hence it is that God in spirit beeing the most immediate appearance is therefore strongest God in flesh the next to that but of an inferiour cognisance and operation And the deeper God descends into flesh as into the sacrifices of old the more is his glory cloath'd upon and by consequence the more dark and obscure is his presence and our enjoiment So that still while we are within the compasse of appearances they may afford us a good but not the most excellent life For the highest life is above all appearances even in the substance it self For which is better to live in the appearance of a thing or in the thing it self in the branch or in the tree in the root or in the rinde To live in the substance is a life fuller of heavenly contemplation and rest For as the daies of God's labour were common and ordinarie but the day of his rest sanctified and holy so it is with the Saints The life of a Christian under administrations and forms is the day of his labour and he meets with many uncertainties disappointments and
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
to say after him The flesh profiteth nothing If you onely know Christ as dying and rising without you it will profit you nothing unlesse you know him as dying and rising within you Any man is capable of remembring the storie of Christ and rehearsing it if hee have but common reason and can say as well as another that Christ died for him and can throw himself upon Christ and can hang upon Christ this is not faith this is not salvation for saith James Faith without works is dead and Rom. 8. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath `made me free from the law of sin and death he doth not say that such a proposition or text of the Gospel did set him free he doth not say that the hearing that Christ died for the sins of men doth set him free No there was the Spirit of life in Christ as well as the law or letter it is that entails life upon Christ and his seed There is an outward Covenant and there is an inward Spirit The outward Covenant is this I will be thy God and the God of thy seed and may not any man pretend to be in this Covenant of this seed do not thousands professe themselvs to be so Do not thousands in the world say Lord Lord Lord and presse to enter into heaven We cannot put a difference betwixt one or other except we know this truth for they say they are within the Covenant and of Christs seed and what hold they forth for this they hold forth the confession of Christ and say that he died for their sin and rose for their justification and this they believe and upon this they lay their souls for salvation May not the veriest hypocrite do so as well as the truest Saint but here 's that which puts the difference when the spirit of Christ brings this Covenant to the heart of a poor creature when the Spirit of Adoption the Spirit of son-ship revealing God as our Father revealing God in Union with us our righteousnesse our strength hee doth indeed seal us to the day of Redemption he sets apart Christs sheep and this distinguisheth them from the other So that if you lay salvation upon an historical Christ you 'l be deceived If you would have that in which you may confide you must have Christ revealed in you in the Spirit you must have the same Spirit of Faith that was in Christ and the same spirit of power that wrought in him you must have the same eternal spirit by which you must offer up your bodies offer up your flesh to God as a sacrifice yea your selves and your own righteousnesse this is true salvation this is salvation manifested unto life To make this yet more clear I shal shew you the difference between Christ in the flesh and Christ in the Saints between that work of God within us and that work of God in Christ the latter is the truth of the former Sanctifiethem through thy truth Joh. 17. 17. that is do thou act those things really in them which are done in a figure for them upon mee there is the truth I desire to clear this to you by some familiar experience You know that Jesus Christ is said to die for our sins and rise for our justification Here is now Christ in the flesh here is his ministration Why now hereupon salvation is preach'd to men and they are told that God is reconciled for he hath sent his Son there is nothing to be done God is reconciled his justice satitfied onely believ Here is the outward difpensation But now a poor soul notwithstanding all this lies under the guilt and weight of sin whereby he cannot believe or take comfort in these glad tidings Do you not see that there is need of another ministration Is there not need of the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus as well as the proposition of the Gospel You come and shew a poor soul the proposition of the Gospel that whosoever believeth in Christ shall have eternal life Yet all this while the poor soul lies dead till not onely the letter but the spirit of the Gospel comes and appears to him till Christ appears not onely in his first Court that is his own flesh or the letter of the Gospel but the inmost place of all that is in this man's conscience For wee may allude to Heb. 9. 24. That Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us These words are spoke figuratively It is true he went visibly into heaven that is a place remote from their sight a cloud received him out of their sight The true heaven and that heaven where Christ doth appeare to the comfort and releife of a poor soul is the conscience of a poor sinner and that is called heaven because as heaven is the place of God so is the heart of man He is sayd â—o be the searcher of the heart God sits there and wounds and heales there that is God's true place It is not in the understanding of a man in the Notions there but it is in the heart of man there it is gone Christ in the spirit is in the heart of his people that is Christs place and there it is that Christ Jesus speakes a word for a poor soul there it is that Christ Jesus sits as King in our conscience Christ may offer himself long enough in the letter in the history of the Gospel but if he appeare not in the spirit and sit in our consciences to quiet them we shall never have any true understanding of the word Now for this reason I shall desire you to looke within your selves and I make no question but if you do wait upon God without prejudicate spirits he will clear this truth unto you And now while I come to some application of this truth I shall desire you in the feare of God not to mistake me Let us take heed of idolizing even the humanity of Jesus Christ himselfe of idolizing his doings and his sufferings We see God through these doings and sufferings of Jesus Christ as through a glasse but it is not blasphemie to say that a believer may come to see a love born unto him above and before the manifestation of it in the sufferings of Jesus Christ he may see it in God himself though by Christ Do not think you know so much as you need to know in knowing the flesh of Christ in knowing the man Christ Jesus for unlesse you know God in his appearance under that form you mistake Christ and make him an Idol I am nothing saith Christ and hee that sends is greater then he that is sent If God be greater then Christ then Christ himselfe is but a medium through which you come to be acquainted with God and in which you must not rest Take