Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	law_n	life_n	power_n	7,129	5	5.5274	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93248	The glorious feast of the Gospel. Or, Christs gracious invitation and royall entertainment of believers. Wherein amongst other things these comfortable doctrines are spiritually handled: Viz. 1. The marriage feast between Christ and his Church. 2. The vaile of ignorance and unbeliefe removed. 3. Christs conquest over death. 4. The wiping away of teares from the faces of Gods people. 5. The taking away of their reproaches. 6. The precious promises of God, and their certaine performance. 7. The divine authority of the holy scriptures. 8. The duty and comfort of waiting upon God. / Delivered in divers sermons upon Isai.25 chap.6,7,8,9 verses, by the late reverend, learned and faithfull minister of the Gospell, Richard Sibbs, D.D. Master of Katharine-Hall in Cambridge, and preacher at Grayes-Inne, London. Perused by those that were instructed to revise his writings.	Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.	1650 (1650)	Wing S3736; Thomason E599_13; ESTC R206386	119,357	167

hath overcome the the fear of death once what more is to be done What if they take away life they cannot take away that that is better than life the favor of God If we dye in the Lord we dye in the favor of God which is better than life and we shall be found in the Lord at the day of judgement and shall bee for ever with the Lord in heaven and therfore this is a ground of resolution in good causes notwithstanding all threats whatsoever because death it selfe is swallowed up in victory The worst the world can doe is to take away this Nature of ours when they have done that they have done all they can and when they have done that they have done a pleasure That is not to be feared saith Tertullian that frees us from all that is to be feared What is to be feared in the world every sicknesse every disgrace why death frees us from all We doe see every day takes away a peece of ones life and when death commeth it overthroweth it selfe for the soule goeth presently to the place of happinesse the body sleepeth awhile and death hath no more power He that beleeveth in mee saith Christ hee shall not see death but is past from death to life He shall not see spirituall death but as he lives in Christ shall dye in Christ and rise againe in Christ He that hath the life of grace begun shall have it consummate without interruption It s a point of wonderfull Comfort that death is so overcome that we bee in heaven already And it is no hard speech but stands with the truth of other points for are not Christ and we all one his body is there and is not he the head of his mysticall body hee that carried his naturall body will not hee carry his mysticall body thither too will hee bee in piece-meale in heaven Therefore we are in heaven already the best part of us We are represented in heaven for Christ represents us there as the Husband doth the Wife He hath taken up Heaven for us Christ cannot be divided as Austine saith we sit in heavenly places already with Christ And what a comfort is this that while wee live we are in heaven and that death cannot hinder us from our Resurrection which is the restoring of all things And therefore as the Apostle saith Comfort one another with these things These things indeed have much comfort in them Let us labour then to bee comfortable this use the Apostle makes of it and fruitfull in our places upon consideration of the victory we have by Christ 1 Cor. 15. It is an excellent Chapter that largely proveth Christs victory as the cause of our victory because hee is the first fruit that sanctifieth all the rest Finally my bretheren bee constant immoveable alwayes abound in the works of the Lord knowing that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. He raiseth that exhortation of fruitfulnesse and constancy from this very ground of the victory Christ hath gotten by death O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory thanks bee to God through Jesus Christ And therefore be constant immovable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord knowing that your labour shall not be in vaine in the Lord Make that use the Apostle doth of fruitfulnesse to God for Christ that we can thinke of death and sinne the devill and all his malice and not be afraid yea thinke of them all with comfort that we be not onely freed from their tyranny but they bee our friends Christ hath the Key of Hell and Death a saying taken from the custome of Governours that carryed the Key he hath the Government and Command of Hell and Death Now if Christ hath command of Death he will not suffer Death to hurt his Members or triumph alwayes over them he will keep them in the grave Our bodies are safe in the grave the dust is fitted for a heavenly for another manner of body than we have now and Christ that hath the Key will let them out againe Therefore trust awhile till times of restoring come and then we shall have a glorious soule and glorious body as the Apostle saith I beseech you think of these things and get comfort against the evill day And to that end be sure to get into Christ that wee may bee in Christ living and dying and bee found in Christ For what saith the Scripture Blessed are they that dye in the Lord. It is an argument of blessednesse to dye for the Lord but if it be not in the Lord it is to no purpose If there is granted this happinesse of dying for the Lord it is well but blessed are they that dye in the Lord. Why they rest from their labour Death takes them off from their labours All their good Workes goe to heaven with them So saith the Spirit whatsoever the Flesh saith and there is no resting till that time their life is full of troubles and combers and therefore labour to get assurance that wee are in Christ that wee bee in Christ and dye in Christ and then there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ How besotted are wee to put away preparation of Death till it comes he that forgets Christ and getting into Christ all his life time it is Gods just judgment that he should forget himself in death We see how a villaine that hath no care of his owne life may have power of another mans life And therefore labour to bee ingraffed into Christ by faith and that we may know it by the Spirit of Christ prevailing in us over our naturall Corruptions more and more As the Apostle saith There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ for the spirit of life the Law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ hath freed me from the Law of sinne and death the condemning law of sinne If the Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ the head be in us in any measure it frees us from the condemning law of sinne that it carrieth us not whither it would then wee may say with comfort There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ for the law of the spirit of life in Christ hath freed us from the condemning tyrannizing law of sinne and death Sinne hath no Law It is in us as a subdued Rebell but it sets not up a Throne Some hope to bee saved by Christ and yet they set up sinne a Throne in the soule Sinne biddeth them defile themselves and they must obey it This is a wofull estate how can they expect to dye in the Lord but such as are freed by the Law of the Spirit of life New Lords new Lawes When Kings Conquer they bring fundamentall Lawes and when wee are taken from Satans Kingdome into the Kingdome of Christ the fundamentall Lawes are then altered Christ by his Spirit sets up a Law of believing

and praying and doing good and abstaining from evill the Law of the Spirit of life frees us from the Law of sinne and death I beseech you inlarge these things in your thoughts They bee things wee must all have use of beforehand against the evill day It should bee comfortable and usefull to us all to heare that our enemy our greatest enemy Death is swallowed up in victory And yet there 's more comfort in the Text. THE Fifth Sermon ISAIAH 25. 8. And all teares shall be wiped away from all faces NOt only death shall be swallowed up in victory but God will wipe away all tears from all eyes Religion shall be religion good things shall be good things nothing shall go under false notions all tears shall be wiped away we have now many causes of teares In the world there is continuall raising of clouds that distill into drops of teares had we nothing without us to raise a vapour to be distil'd in teares we are able to raise up mists from our owne mists from our owne doubts and conflicts within As we should weepe for our owne sinnes so for the sinnes of others as wee may see in Jeremy where the Prophet saith Oh that my head were a fountaine of teares that I might weepe continually for the sinnes of my people And indeed good men are easie to weepe as the heathen man observeth they are easie to lament not onely for their own sinnes but the sinnes and misery of another Our blessed Saviour himselfe we never read that he laughed wee have heard that he wept and for his very enemies Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem He shed teares for them that shed his bloud Teares were maine evidences of Christs sweetnesse of disposition as that hee would become man and a curse and die for us and that he would make so much of little children and call all to him that were weary and heavy laden that hee never refused any that came to him Hee that wept specially for the miseries and afflictions this shewed his gracious and sweet disposition And that in heaven he is so full of sympathies in glory that when Paul persecuted the Church Why dost thou persecute me So though he is free from passion in heaven he is not free from compassion from sympathie with his Church And so every child of God is ready not onely to grieve for his own sinnes and the miserie that followeth them but the sins and miseries of others Mine eyes gush out with rivers of teares saith the Prophet David when hee saw that men brake the law of God whom he loved A true naturall child takes to heart the disgrace of his father if we be not grieved to see our father disgraced wee are bastards not sonnes They that make a sport of sinne what are they Alas they have not one sparke of the spirit of adoption they are not children who rejoyce at that at which they should grieve So Saint Paul I have told you often and now tell you weeping there be many enemies of the crosse of Christ When he saw some men preach against and others enemies of the crosse of Christ whose end is damnation hee telleth them of it weeping Wee have cause therefore to mourne for the sinnes of others and for the miseries of others whether we respect God or the Church or our selves First the love of God moveth us to weepe when wee see him dishonored If we love the Church we should mourne for any sinnes that may prejudice their salvation Doth it not pitty any man to see an Oxe go to slaughter to see a man of parts otherwise by sinning against conscience going to slaughter to see an ordinary swearer an uncleane person a prophane wretch covering himselfe with pride as a garment scorning God and the world and all Can a Christian looke upon this see flesh and blood like himself under the Gospell under a cursed condition unavoidable without serious repentance and not be affected with it Can a man see a poore Asse fall under a burthen and not helpe to take it up and yet see man falling to hell and not be affected with it Thus we see wee have cause enough of teares And as there is cause so we should be sensible we ought to take to heart the afflictions of Joseph hee is a dead man that hath not sense in this kinde If wee go to the body and state or any thing about a man there is cause of griefe hath not every member many diseases and is not our lives a kind of hospitall some sicke of one thing some of another But as there is cause wee should bee sensible of it wee are flesh and not stones therefore it is a sottish opinion to be stockish and brutish as if to out-face sorrow and griefe were a glory When our Saviour was sent into the world Christi dolor dolor maximus there were no patience without sensiblenesse away then with that iron that flinty Phylosophy that thinks it a vertue to be stupid And as the Apostle saith Romans 1. 31. without naturall affections He counteth it the greatest judgement of God upon the soule yet they would have it a vertue Why should I smite them any more saith God they have no sense no feeling The proud Phylosopher thought it was not phylosophicall to weepe a proud stoicall humor but Christians desire it And therefore we ought to labour to be more sensible that we might make our peace and reverence the justice of God and be more sensible of him afterwards It is most true that Sapiens miser plus miser the more wise any man is the more sensible of misery And therefore of all men the best men have most griefe because they have most quicke senses they be not stupified with insensibility and resolutenesse to beare it bravely as the world but they apprehend with griefe the cause of griefe And as they have a more sanctified judgement than other men so they have a more wise affection of love and a quicker life of grace where life is there is sense and where there is a cleare sight or cause of griefe there is most griefe Therefore the best men have most griefe because they be most judicious most loving Then they have most grace to beare it out of all others therefore considering there is cause in our selves and in others of griefe continually wee ought to labour to be sensible of it else it were no favour to have teares wiped away So that there is cause of teares and teares is a duty of Christians sensible of the cause both of sinne and misery upon one and another And as it is an unavoidable griefe so it is good wee should grieve we must stoope to Gods course we must bring our hearts to it and pray that since our necessities and sins doe call for this dispensation that we must under correction he will make us sensible of his rod that

reason why carnall men cannot relish a pardon for sinne and justification and sanctification and holinesse nor goe boldly to God It may be they have good sweet notions of these but they have no spirituall taste or relish of them and all because they want spirituall life None but a Christian can have spirituall taste answerable to a spirituall life Taste is a kind of feeling one of the most necessary senses and a Christian cannot be without relish and feeling yea it is the very beeing of a Christian to have a taste of spirituall things Of all other senses there is a stronger application in taste the other senses fetch their objects afarre off but as for taste there is a neer application in it and therefore most necessary every life is maintained by tast Taste and see how good the Lord is Now taste doth two things it doth relish that that is good and disrelish the contrary there must be a spirituall taste to discerne of differences There can be no spirituall taste but it must know what is good and profitable for the soule and what is not because God will not have our tastes to be wronged yee see what course he takes First the eye seeth what things we taste on and if the eye be displeased so also is the smell Thus God layeth before us spirituall things knowledge of good and bad and giveth us many caveats and all because he would not have us to taste things hurtfull for the soule nor poison instead of meate Now when we have tasted that which is good let us take heed it be not a taste onely lest we fall into the sinne against the holy Ghost Againe beside taste there must be a disgesting of what we taste and that throughly in our understandings when we apprehend a thing to be true and good it must be disgested throughly into the affections Love to the best things must be above all other love whatsover yet this must be disgested Men oftentimes have sweet notions but alas they are but notions they doe not disgest them into their affections It is the last disgestion that nourisheth and when any spirituall truths are understood throughly then comes in spirituall strength and hereupon the soule comes and suckes in that virtue which is for the nourishment of it thus it is in the soule upon disgestion there is nourishment Againe there must be a faculty to retaine what wee have received that it maybe disgested yee have many that love to heare but they do not disgest If there be nothing in the soule nothing can be extracted and therefore we must learne to retaine necessary truths that so upon occasion they may come from the memory into the heart though indeed they are not in their proper place when they are in the memory only yet notwithstanding if they are there they may with ease be brought down into the soule Then we must labour to walke in the strength of spirituall things For what is the use of this Feast but to cherish both soule and spirit the use of spirituall things which we have through Christ is to cherish and enliven It conveyeth strength to us that we may walke in the strength of Christ as Elias did fourty daies in the strength of his food And consider though in our consciences and conditions we have variety of changes yet in Christ we have severall comforts suitable to all our severall conditions If so be our sinnes trouble us wee should watch over our selves that wee be not overmuch cast downe but feed upon spirituall things in consideration of pardon for sinne in the bloud of Christ this is the grand issue of all that Christ hath traced out in the forgivenesse of sinnes He is not he cannot be divided where he pardons sinnes he sanctifieth where he sanctifieth he writes his law in their hearts so that there is a chaine of spirituall favours where the first linke is all the rest follow where forgivenesse of sinne is there is the spirit and that spirit sanctifieth and comforts and is an earnest of everlasting life therefore feed especially upon the favours of God and get forgivenesse of sinnes and then all the rest of the chaine of grace and spirituall life will follow Sometimes wee stand in need of present grace and comfort and we are undone if comforts and grace are not at hand never considering the promises that are to come as that promise of Christ I will be with thee to the end of the world feare not No temptation shall befall us but we shall have an issue out of it and it shall worke together for the good of all those that feare God This is Aquavitae●o ●o the soule of man therefore the gracious promises of Christ and his holy Spirit wee should ever remember to get into our soules for when all other comforts faile then commeth in the comforts of the Spirit who will be with us and uphold us in all extremities if we had nothing in this world to comfort our spirits yet let us rejoyce in hope of glory to come Our life is hid with Christ wee have the hidden Manna in him we rejoyce in hope of glory Rom. 5. 2. And the way to maintaine a Christian holy life is to make use of all the privileges of christianity and of those promises that convey these privileges to our soules Now that we may the better do this observe continually what it is that hinders us that we cannot feed upon spirituall things as we should doe whatsoever it is we must labour constantly to remove it Now what must follow after this Feast why spirituall chearefulnesse if we finde this in our duties of Christianity it is a signe we have fed upon spirituall things the nature of a spirituall Feast is to empty the foule of sinne and to fill it full of gracious thoughts and actions instead thereof it moderates all things it makes us use the world as if we used it not when wee can do this we may certainly know that our soules have tasted of abundance of benefit by this Feast A man that hath no spirituall joy is drowned for the most part in the contentments of the world drowned in riches and honours and these are like to strong waters immoderately taken instead of chearing the spirits exhaust and kill them He that hath the joy of heaven here by faith is mortified to all other base delights he only mindeth the things above where Christ is Col. 3. 1. And therefore the exhortation or rather command Seeke the things that are above hath this promise in fit method annex'd unto it and then all other things shall be cast in upon you Riches and honours in the world and if not them yet so much as is necessary and mortification of our sinnes and the lusts of the flesh Againe if we have fed upon spirituall things for our soules we shall be thankfull that man that hath tasted how good

things by a spirituall conception of them There be degrees of discerning things The highest degree is to see things face to face as they be in heaven The next to that is to see them in a glasse for there I see the motion and true species of a man though not so clearly as when I see him face to face therefore We soone forget the species of it in a glasse Wee have more fixednesse of the other because there is more reality We see things put into Water and that is lesse but then there is a sight of man in Pictures which is lesse than the rest because we see not the motion It is even so a carnall man scarce sees the dead resemblance of things In Moses time they saw things in water as it were blindly though true but we see things in a glasse of truth as clearly as possibly we can in this world In heaven wee shall see face to face shall see him as he is And then will be the joy of this excellent Feast and the consummation of all sweet promises which here we can but have a taste of So that is the first reason of it that God is onely the taker away of the vaile which ariseth from the unsuitablenesse between the soule and divine Truths There is nothing in the heart of man but a contrariety to divine light The very naturall knowledge that is contrary naturall Conscience that onely checketh for grosse sinnes but not for spirituall sinnes Obedience and Civill life that makes a man full of pride and armeth him against selfe-denyall and against the righteousnesse of Christ and Justification There is nothing in the soule but without grace riseth against the soule in divine things Againe there is such disproportion between the soule being full of sinne and guiltinesse and heavenly things that are so great that the heart of man will not believe unlesse God convinceth the soule that God is so good and gracious though they be great and excellent yet God will bestow them upon our soules and therefore he sendeth the Spirit that over-over-powers the soule though it bee full of feare and guilt that sinne contracts Though we be never so unworthy he will magnifie his grace to poore sinners and without that the soule will never believe there is such an infinite disproportion betweene the soule and the things between the sinfull soule and the spirit so that God must over-power the soule to make it believe The Scripture is full of this As we are naturally ignorant and full of unbeliefe so God onely can over-power the soule and take away the vaile of Ignorance All the Angels in heaven and all the Creatures in the world the most skilfull men in the world cannot bring light into the soule they cannot bring light into the heart they can speake of divine things but they understand them little but to bring light into the heart that the heart may taste of them and yield obedience to believe that they cannot doe And therefore all Gods children they bee Theodidactoi taught of God God onely hath the privilege to teach the heart to bend and bow the heart to believe So that God onely by his Spirit takes away the vaile of ignorance and unbeliefe Now the third thing is that this is peculiar to the Church and to the Children of God to have the vaile taken off In this Mountaine saith the Scripture the vail of all Faces shall be swallowed up or taken away I partly shewed in the former point that it is peculiar to Gods Children to have the vaile taken off There is a vailin all things either the things be hid from them as amongst the Gentiles or if the things bee revealed there is a vaile upon the heart their lusts raise up a cloud which untill God subdue by the holy Spirit they bee darke yea darknesse it selfe Goshen was onely light when all Egypt was in darknesse so there is light onely in the Church and all other parts in the world are in darknesse And amongst men in the Church there is a darknesse upon the soule of unregenerate men that bee not sanctified and subdued by the Spirit of God And all godly men are lightsome nay they be lights in the world As wicked men are darknesse so gracious men by the Spirit of God are made lights of the world from him that is the true light Christ himselfe It is peculiar to the Church to know the greatest good and the greatest evill It is no where but in the Church who are the people of God None but Gods Elect can know the greatest evill that is sinne which the Spirit of God revealeth And the greatest good that is Gods mercy in Christ and sanctifying grace The same Spirit doth both As light doth discover foul things as well as faire so the same Spirit of God discovers the loathsomenesse of sinne and the sweetnesse of grace Where the one is there is never the other where there is not truely a deep discerning of sinne there is never knowledge of grace there is none but in the Church those that have the Spirit of illumination they have sanctification likewise We shall make use of all together You see then what naturally we are and that Gods grace must take away the vaile and this is from all them within the Church and in the Church those whom God is pleased to sanctifie In the fourth place Where this vaile is taken off from any there is with it spirituall joy and feasting as here he joyneth them both together I will make a feast of fat things and will take away the vaile The reason of the connexion of this is that same Spirit that is a Spirit of Revelations is a Spirit of Comfort And the same Spirit that is the Spirit of Comfort is a Spirit of Revelation All sweetnesse that the soule relisheth commeth from light and all light that is spirituall conveyeth sweetnesse both together Beloved there is a marvailous sweetnesse in divine Truths in Christ is all marrow and in Religion forgivenesse of sinnes and inward peace and joy and grace fitting us to be like to Christ and for heaven they be incredibly sweet they bee all marrow I but they are onely so to them that know them now Gods Spirit that revealeth these things to us doth breed a taste in the soule The Spirit of illumination of Gods Children is a Spirit of sanctification likewise and that sanctification alters the taste and relish of the will and affections that with discovery of these things there is a taste and relish of them It is sapida Scientia a savory knowledge they have And therefore where he maketh a Feast he taketh away the vaile and where hee takes away the vaile hee makes a Feast what a wonderfull satisfaction hath the soule when the vaile is taken off to see God in Christ reconciled to see sin pardoned to see the beginnings of

all controversies yea that that is the Judge of all and of himselfe the Word which is from the very mouth of God You will aske me how shall I know it is the Word of God if the Church tells us not A Carrier sheweth us these bee Letters from such a man but when wee open the Letter and see the hand and seale we know them to be his The Church knowes the Word and explaneth it and when wee see and feele the efficacy of the Word in it selfe then we believe it to be the Word for there is that in the Word that sheweth it to bee the Word the Majesty that is in it the matter that is mysterious forgivenesse of sinnes through a mystery forgivenesse of sinne victory over death life everlasting in the world to come great matters which eye hath not seen nor eare heard nor entred into the heart of man If it had not been revealed it could not have entred into the heart of Angels It containeth such glorious transcending mysteries And then againe the Word to all them that belong to God hath the Spirit of God by which it passeth rightly accompanying it witnessing to the soule of man that it is so and by a divine efficacy it is mighty in operation What doth it in the heart It warmeth the heart upon the hearing and speaking and discoursing of it As when the Disciples went to Emaus It hath a heat of Spirit going with it to affect the heart with heavenly joy and delight it hath power going with it by the Spirit to raise joy unspeakable and glorious It hath a power to pacifie the soule amidst all troubles When nothing will still the soule the Spirit of God in the Word will doe it by its divine power Yea it will change a man from a beastly or devillish temper to a higher and happier estate as you have it Isaiah 11. 6 7 8 9. It makes Lions Lambs Leopards Kids And what is the ground of all In that very place the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. The knowledge of God reconciled is such a powerfull knowledge that it hath a transforming vertue to alter mens dispositions What was Paul before Conversion and Zaccheus Therefore it is the Word because it hath divine operation to heat the soul and raise the soule and change the soule and cast downe the soule as low in a manner as hell in sense of its owne miserie It will make a Foelix to tremble a man that it doth not effectually worke upon The Truths of it are so moving that it will make a carnall man to quake When Paul spake of judgement to come of giving account of all that is done in the flesh when a possibility of it was apprehended it made Foelix to quake It makes mountains levell and it fills up the valleyes The Word can raise up the soule when man is as low as hell and looketh for nothing but damnation the Spirit with the Word will fetch him from thence as the Jaylor Acts 16. there was little between him and hell What shall I doe to be saved Why believe in the Lord Jesus And with these words there went out an efficacy he believed and he afterward was full of joy The first Gospell ever preached in pardon was by God himselfe never was any creature so neare damnation as our first Father Adam cast from the greatest happinesse Miserrimum est fuisse faelicem for he that enjoyed before communion with God and his Angells having sinn'd and having conscience of his sinne considering his great parts and apprehension of the state he had beene in this must needs affect him deeply and being in this condition the promise of the seed of the VVoman to breake the Serpents head revived him There is a strange efficacy in the Gospell The Roman Empire was the greatest enemy that the Church ever had The ten Persecutions you see what they were and yet notwithstanding the VVord grew upon them and never rested the spreading of the Gospell and the Spirit with it till the Crosse got above the Crown as it did in the time of Constantine and so it continueth And must not this be a divine word which hath this efficacy to revive comfort change cast downe raise up againe search secrets search the heart to the bottome A poore Ideot that comes to heare the word of God when he heares the secrets of his heart laid open by the word he concludes certainly God is in you and you are Gods Ministers The word divideth betweene the marrow and the bone it arraigneth the heart before Gods Tribunall Seat Those that are saved it hath these effects in them that I have named And if you ask how they know whether the word be the Word A man may answer I have found it to be so raising me up comforting me and strengthening mee I had perished in my affliction if the word had not raised mee Principles are proved you know from experience for they have nothing above them There is no other Principle to prove the word but experience from the working of it How know you the light to be the light but by it selfe and that fire is hot but by it selfe Principles prove themselves onely by experience And this Principle is so proved by it selfe that there is no child of God but can say by experience that the word is the word If a man might goe to reason one might bring that which could not be easily answered for the satisfaction of an Atheist Let him but grant there is a God hee will grant one thing in Religion or another But let him grant there is a God and a Reasonable Creature then there must be a service a Religion and this service must bee according to some Rules prescribed for the superior will not be served as the inferior pleaseth he must discover what good the superior intendeth and what duties he expects this must be revealed in some word God and the Reasonable Creature and Religion make a necessity of a word and that must be the word we have or another and what word in the world is probable to bee the word but this You will say it may be corrupt The Jewes looked to the old Testament that it should not be corrupted for they knew every sillable in it and preserved every letter It is one part of their superstition and God blesseth that superstition to take away all such cavills For the New Testament the Jewes cared not for but Hereticks on their side watch over it that there should be no corruption they will so observe one another But what are these reasons to those which the soule of a gracious Christian knoweth by the operation of the Word upon the heart And therefore let us regard it as the word of God hear it as the word of

bloud and in that the love and mercy of God in Christ in giving him to death for us and Christs love to give himself to satisfie Divine Justice these be the things intended which onely the soule sees and apprehendeth And so all things in the Church indeed are mysteries the incarnation of Christ the union of both natures that Christ should save the world by such a way as he did that he should bring us to glory by shame to life by death to blessing and happinesse by being a curse for us it is a mystery to bring contrary out of contrary That so glorious a person as God should be covered with our weake and sinnefull nature it was a mystery the Jewes stumbled at it light came and the darkenesse could not comprehend the light And as Christ was a mystery himselfe so the Church is a mystery that God should so much delight in a company of poore men the off-scowring of the world to make them temples of his holy Spirit and heires of heaven men that were under the scorne of the world this is a mystery so all is mysticall the head the members the body the Church and every particular point of Religion there is a mystery in repentance no man knoweth what sorrow for sin is but the true gracious person no man knowes what it is to believe but he that hath an heart to believe no man knoweth what peace of conscience and joy of the holy Ghost is but those that feele it so that is a mystery And therefore great is the mystery of godlinesse saith the Apostle not onely in the points themselves but even the practice of Religion is a mystery too Repentance and Faith and new obedience and love and the comforts of Religion are all mysteries there is a vaile upon them in all these points that a carnall man cannot see them You see then in what sense there is a vaile of the things and in what sense there is a vaile on mens hearts that is either the things themselves are hid or if the things be open they want sight and light of knowledge and they want faith to believe Beloved we live in times that the object is cleare to us the things themselves are made cleare as who knoweth not what Christ is and the notion of the incarnation and of the union with him wee know them notionally they be opened and revealed to us very clearely all the articles of faith and misteries of Religion so that there is no obscurity in the object the things are cleare specially in these places of knowledge But yet notwithstanding there is a vaile upon the soule The soule of every man that is not graciously wrought upon by the spirit of God hath a vaile of ignorance and unbeliefe First of all of Ignorance There is a vaile of ignorance in many and in all men naturally a vaile of ignorance of spirituall things for unlesse they be revealed they can never be knowne to Angels themselves The Angels themselves know not the Gospell till it be opened and therefore they be students in it continually and the best men in the world know nothing in the Gospell further then it is revealed but there is a vaile of ignorance upon them that know these things notionally because they do not know them as they should know them they doe not know them in propria specie spirituall and heavenly things as spirituall and heavenly things they doe not know spirituall things as spirituall things they have a humane knowledge of spirituall things Those that want grace they know the Grammer of the Scripture and Divinity and they know how to discourse as Schoolemen doe from one thing to another and to argue they know the Logicke and Rhetoricke of the Scripture but they sticke in the stile there is something they are ignorant of That is they have not an eye of knowledge as wee call it they doe not see the things themselves but onely they see things by another bodies spirit and they have no light of their owne And so no man knoweth naturally but the children of God what originall sinne is what corruption of nature is nor knowes sinne in its owne odious colours to be filthy and to be dangerous as it is to draw the curse and vengeance of God upon it this is not knowne but by the spirit revealing the odiousnesse of sinne that the soule may apprehend it as Christ did when he suffered for it and as God doth A gracious man seeth it as God seeth it because by the spirit of God hee seeth the filthinesse and odiousnesse of it and the danger it draweth after it And so in any points of Religion naturally a man sees not them spiritually as they are and as God sees them but he seeth them by a humane light hee seeth heavenly things by a humane light notionally and meerely to discourse of them he seeth not intritively into the things themselves he seeth them sub aliena specie under another representation then their owne onely a godly man seeth spirituall things as the spirit of God and seeth them as they are knowes sinne as it is knoweth grace to be as it is and knoweth faith what it is to believe what it is to have peace of conscience and the pardon of sinnes he knoweth these things in some sense intritively though not so as he shall doe when he shall see these things in heaven when he shall see face to face There is a great difference in it hee sees them intritively in respect of the knowledge of other men though he sees but in a glasse in regard of the knowledge hee shall have in heaven As Saint Paul saith for wee see but as in a glasse but he that sees in a glasse seeth more life then he that sees the dead picture of a man So though we see but in a glasse heavenly things yet wee see them better then those that see them in a dead notion though it be nothing to the knowledge wee shall have in heaven yet it is incomparable above the knowledge of any carnall naturall man upon the earth Againe naturally men have vailes of ignorance upon the most divine things of spirituall things such as is union and as is the communion between Christ and us and the mystery of regeneration in the new creature such as is the joy in the holy Ghost the inward peace of conscience I will not name the particulars to insist on them but give you onely an iustance though they know the notion of these things yet they are altogether ignorant of them their knowledge is a meere outward light it is a light radicated in the soule It is not as the light of the Moone which receiveth light from the Sunne but it is a light radicated and incorporated into the soule as the light of the Sunne is by the spirit it is in the soule it is not onely upon the soule but in the soule the heart sees

and feeleth and knoweth divine truths there is a power and vertue in the sight and knowledge of a gracious man there is none in the knowledge of a carnall man The light of a candle hath a light in it but no vertue at all goeth with it but the light of the Sunne and the light of the starres they have a speciall vertue they have heate with them and they have an influence in a speciall kind on inferiour bodies working together with the light So it is with heavenly apprehension and knowledge it actually conveyeth light but with the light there is a blessed and gracious influence there is heate and efficacy with that light But though a carnall man know all the body of divinity yet it is a meere light without heat a light without influence It is not experimentall As a blind man can talke of colours if he be a Scholler and describe them better then he that hath his eyes he being not a Schollar but he that hath his eyes can can judge of colours a great deale better Oftentimes by booke a Schollar can tell you forraigne countries better than he that hath travelled yet the traveller that hath bin there can tell them more distinctly So he that is experienced in that kind though a stranger can measure another mans ground better then himselfe he can tell you here is so many Acres but he that possesseth them knowes the goodnesse of them the worth of them and improveth them to his owne good And so it is with many they can measure the points of Religion and define and divide them I but the poor Christian can taste can feele them can relish and improve them his knowledge is a knowledge with interest but other mens knowledge is a knowledge with no interest or experience at all So that there is naturally a vaile of ignorance on the heart of every naturall man Christianity is a mystery till conversion there is a mystery in every point of Religion none know what repentance is but a repentant sinner all the bookes in the world cannot informe the heart what sin is or what sorrow is A sicke man knoweth what a disease is better then all Physicians for he feeleth it no man knoweth what faith is but the true believer there is a mystery also in love Godlinesse is called a mystery not onely for the notionall but the practicall part of it why doe not men more solace themselves in the transcendent things of Religion which may ravish Angels Alas there is a vaile over their soule that they doe not know them or not experimentally they have no taste or feeling of them And so there is a vaile of unbeliefe there is no man without grace that believeth truly what he knoweth but he believeth in the generall onely he beleeveth things so farre forth as they crosse not his lusts But when particular truths are inforced on a carnall man his lusts doe overbeare all his knowledge and he hath a secret scorne arising in his heart whereby he derideth those truths and goeth against them and makes him thinke certainly these be not true and therefore he beleeveth them not If a man by nature beleeved the truths he saith he knoweth he would not goe directly against them But the ground of this is there is a mist of sinnefull lusts that are raised out of the soule that darkens the soule that at the present time the soule is atheisticall and full of unbeliefe for there is no sin but ignorance and unbeliefe breatheth it into the soule and maketh way for it For if a man knew what he were about and apprehended that God saw him and the danger of it he would never sinne There is no sinne without an error in judgement there is a vaile of ignorance and unbeliefe what creature will run into a pit when he seeth it open what creature will runne into the fire the most dull creature Man will not run into that danger that is open to the eye of the soule if there were not a vaile of ignorance at least unbeliefe at that time upon the soule All sinne supposeth error And this should make us hate sinne the more whensoever we sinne specially against our conscience there is atheisme in the soule at that time and there is unbeliefe we beleeve not truth it self no sinner but calleth truth into question when he sinneth he denieth it or questioneth it and therefore there is a vaile on every man naturally over his heart by ignorance and unbeliefe The truths themselves are cleare God is cleare and the Gospel is light Mens Lux you know they know things in the object but in us there is darkenesse in our understandings and therefore the Scripture saith not wee are darke onely but darknesse it selfe The clouds that arise are like the mists that doe interpose between our soules and divine things arising from our own hearts the love of sinfull things raise such a cloud that we know not or else believe not what is spoken To proceed God onely can reveale and take away the vaile of ignorance and unbeliefe from off the soule I will speake specially of this vaile The reason is there is such a naturall unsuitablenesse between the soule and heavenly light and heavenly truths that unlesse God opens the eye of the soule and puts a new eye into the soule it can never know or discerne of heavenly things there must be an eye suitable to the light else there will never be sight of it Now God can create a new spirituall eye to discerne of spirituall things which a naturall eye cannot who can see things invisible Divine things are invisible to naturall eyes there is no suitablenesse he that must reveale these and take away the vaile must create new light within as well as a light without now God and only God that created light out of darknesse can create light in the soule Let there be light Hee only can create a spirituall eye to see the things that to nature are visible There be four things in sight 1. The object to be beheld 2. The light that conveyeth it 3. The organ that receiveth it 4. And the light of the eye to meet the light without So it is in the soule together with divine truths there must be light to discover them for light is the first visible thing that discovers it selfe and all things else And then there must be a light in the soule to judge of them and this light must be suitable A carnall base spirit judgeth of spirituall things carnally like himselfe because he hath not light in his owne spirit The things are spirituall his eye is carnall he hath not a light in his eye suitable to the object and therefore he cannot judge of them for the Scripture saith plainly they are spiritually discerned Therefore a carnall person hath carnall conceptions of spirituall things as an holy man doth spiritualize