one Spirit In the verse before he had said What know ye not that he who is joyned to an Harlot is one Body For two saith he shall be one Flesh. v. 16. Here the discourse is clearly of the Body As the earthly Marriage maketh two Bodies one Flesh the Heavenly Marriage maketh them one Spirit The union between our glorified Lord and our Bodies in the Resurrection is as immediate and entire as between our Saviour and our Souls so that these also are Spirits and one Spirit with him Is not his Body then first a Spirit Doth not the Union between the Divine Nature and his Blessed Body make that a Spirit and one Spirit with itself The glorified Body and Soul of a Saint are one Spirit They are one Spirit with the glorified Body and Soul of their Jesus with the three Persons in the Trinity with all Beautiful and blessed Spirits All are one Spirit Yet are they all distinct Spirits If the distinction were taken away the Harmony the Beauty the Musick the Marriage-joy and Marriage-love in Heaven were all lost Obj. But you will say how can this be Are not Body and Spirit contrary How then can a Body be a Spirit Ans. Flesh and Spirit are every where in Scripture opposed one to the other but not so a Body and a Spirit Those very Terms on which the Contrariety is set so frequently by the Holy Ghost between Flesh and Spirit shew that the Heavenly Body the true Body the Body of Life and Glory is a Spirit I shall instance only in a Twofold Opposition one where the Flesh and the Spirit are set as Life and Death the other where they are set as the Truth or Beauty itself and the Vail upon it 1. The First is Rom. 8. 6. To be carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritually-minded is Life and Peace In each of these Words Life Peace all Joys of Life and Immortality are expressed by the language of the Spirit Both together are Joys heaped upon Joys Blessedness upon Blessedness to express the Infiniteness in which they rise up ever New though there can be never any thing more Or the Circle of Eternity where all Fulnesses of Life and Joy run one into another multiplying themselves upon themselves endlesly Life is the Flourishing State of Things a Perpetual Spring The Happiness of Princes the Blessedness of the Divine Nature is sum'd up in Life Live O King The Lord liveth Peace is the whole Gift and Legacy of Christ to His Saints My Peace I leave with you My Peace I give unto you It is All the Good that goeth along with His Presence and Appearance in His Immortal state Hee stood in the midst of them saying Peace be with you when He appeared to them after His Resurrection Peace is the Plenary Rest of all Parts and Faculties of the whole Person in a perfect Union with and full Fruition of their proper Objects in Perfection The Greek Word for Peace signifieth the Band of all Perfections the Circle of Eternity All things within and without linked together in the Golden Chain of a Blessed and Divine Harmony making an Ornament of Beauty for the Soul to put on making a Musâ—ck to charm the Soul into the Divine Sleep of the sweetest and deepest Complacency The Hebrew Tongue expresseth Both Perfection and Peace by one Word This is the Name of him who was the Eminent Figure of Christ in Glory Solomon This is the Name of Jesus Himself as He sitteth upon the Throne of the Divine Nature in the Kingdom of the Spirit Isa. 9. 6. The Prince of Peace Some translate it very properly The Prince The Peace or Perfection Shalom But to apply this to our purpose The Image of things as they stand in the Spirit is in it self the Appearance of things in this Image is to those who see it Life and Peace that is Eternity of Blessedness Heaven it self But the Image and Appearance of things in Flesh is not onely Dying or Dead It is Death itself The Life of Nature and of Flesh is a Shadow onely of Life and the Death of the True Life which is in the Spirit This universal Image of things which we call the World comprehending the whole Creation in all its Beauty is no more than the Grave in which the Spiritual Image lyeth sleeping the sleep of death 2. The second Opposition between Flesh and Spirit is that of the Truth and the Vail upon the Truth Job 4. 24. Our Saviour saith The Father seeketh such Worshippers as worship Him in Spirit and Truth Spirit and Truth are here joyned in the same sense as Spirit and Life go together Job 6. v. 63. The words that I speak they are Spirit and they are Life The Spirit is the Truth and the Life The Flesh is a Dead Counterfeit as a Picture is the Counterfeit of a Man being neither the Life nor the Truth 1 Joh. 6. 6. The Spirit beareth witness For the Spirit is the Truth The Spirit is the last and onely Witness For the Spirit is the Truth itself the Universal and Eternal Truth There are two Maxims in Philosophy that All Truths and the Essences of things are Eternal The Truth then and Essence of a Saint's Body and of Christ's the true and essential Body is a Spirit in the Eternal Spirit It is not Living but Life it self The Body of Flesh is a Vail upon this True Body which is an Immortal Spirit So it is expresly named Heb. 10. v. 20. where Christ is said to have entred and made a living way for us into the most Holy Place by the rending of the Vail that is His Flesh. The true Body is a Spirit and Spring of Immortality in the most Holy Place the Eternal Spirit When it cometh forth from thence into the open streets and fields of this Creation it casteth over itself the Vail of this Fleshly Body In Death it rendeth and casteth off this Vail of Flesh so it returneth pure and naked in the Resurrection into the most Holy Place into the Eternal Spirit again where it ever stood after an unchangeable manner in its simple and unvailed Beauties So is that Mystery of the Gospel accomplished in the blessed Body of our Saviour No one goeth up into Heaven but he who come down out of Heaven the Son of Man who is in Heaven Qu. But you will ask me now What becometh of this Body of Flesh in the Râ—surrection Ans. What becometh of the Seed of a Plant in the Spring and the Summer The Plant first contracteth its Parts and Powers its Beauties and Sweetâ—â—sses under a Vail while it maketh itself a Seed Then again it breaketh this Seed casteth off the Vail discovereth by degrees its entire Form with all its Flowers and Fruits As before the Plant was hid and imprisoned in every poâ—nt of the Seed so is the Seed now Flourishing and rejoycing with all its several vertues and pleasant Forms in every part of the Plant. We read
the Victory the Joy and Crown of the Feast I know you prevent me in your thoughts you who love the Lord Jesus by applying this to your Prince your Beloved and his Love his Bride your own Souls I shall bring down all to my purpose and to your practice in the exercise of those Principal and Triumphant Graces Faith Love Heavenly Joy by three Conclusions or Spiritual Maxims 1. Conclu All the Armies of God all the Powers of the God-Head the innumerable Companies of holy Angels and blessed Spirits all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth with their Captain the Lord Jesus at the head of them move and fight in their courses under the Banner of Love Thy Person in a glorious Image of all Divine Beauties is figured upon the Banner as this Eternal Princes Love Love to thee is wrought upon the Banner in Characters of Glory This is the Cause of all motions in Heaven and Earth To this Banner all Powers every where resort unto this they are united under this they march and fight 2. Conclu The Lord Jesus as Captain of the Lord's Hosts with all his Heavenly Armies his ten thousands of Angels his Chariots of fire and Horses of fire continually encompasseth thee marcheth encampeth round about tâ—ee as his chiefest Treasure his Love with Banners of Love spred and displaid over thee on every side of thee round about Every step thou takest in thy way to Heaven is in the midst of these Warriours All Divine Powers continually circle thee in The Invisible and Invincible Hosts of God under the conduct of thy Beloved Jesus are thy perpetual Guard and Convoy In the midst of these thou walkest â—ittest and lyest down thou wakest and sleepest Psal. 91. 11. The Angels have a charge of thee from their Prince and thy Bridegroom that they keep thee in all thy ways that they bear thee in their hands least at any time thou strike thy foot against a stone that thou never stumble The Angels of God are thy Chariots of War thy Chariots of State thy Chariots of Love thy Chariots for Travel in which thou journiest thorow this Wilderness to thy Kingdom the Kingdom of Love and Glory All this they are in one They make thy way thy Palace in the midst of thy Kingdom for Strength for Glory for Delights for Rest in thy Love They bear thee up above in the light of Life in the Life of Divine Love This is the way high and lifted up above all the Powers of Darkness and Death in which they carry thee along that thou mayst never strike thy foot against any stone of offence against any hard and hurtful Form of Darkness Enmity or Death Thy Jesus the Bosom of thy Beloved is this way 3. Conclu These Banners of Love which are spred over thee in thy marches here the same hang streaming over thy head to Eternity and over the Head of thy King as thou fittest at the Feast with him in Heaven The Fights about thee here are the Trophies and Triumphs at the Feast here The same Love is figured on all which maketh all precious Stones and Jewels in thy Marriage-Crown and Crown of Glory to shine there and adorn it for ever Use. The Use which we make of this is to see the difference between the two states of a Saint and a Sinner a Believer and him who believeth not 1. See the blessedness of â— Believer Heb. 1. 2. Jesus Christ is said to be the Brightness of the Glory of God that is of Love the express Image of the Substance or Person of God that is of Love For God is Love v. 6. 7. When God bringeth his Son again that is after his Resurrection in his Spiritual and Heavenly Appearance into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him He hath made all his Ministers Spirits and his Angels a flame of Fire This concerneth thee O Believer and is spoken of thee O the blessedness of that Soul which indeed receiveth Jesus Christ and his Love by Faith if only thou didst know thine own happiness God hath brought his Son in his second Appearance in his Spirit into thine Heart He is in thee the brightness of the Glory of Love that is of the Divine Nature shining in the midst of thee This is that Eternal Sun from which all blessed Spirits continually drink in the Light Influences Joys of Life and Immortality He is in thee the express Image of Love which is the Substance and Person of God This setteth itself thorow him as a Seal upon thine Heart Now the Power of God is a Servant to his Love in thee Now God saith Let all the Angels of God worship how down to serve my Love in this Soul God himself maketh his Angels Flames of Love enfolding thee penetrating thy Body and Spirit shining within thee round about thee continually in the darkest night He maketh his Angels Ministring Spirits to thee Spirits of Glory Minister Love to thee after an Invisible manner in all visible Things Every moment of time every Circumstance or Accident in time are the Wings of Angels a Chariot of Angels carrying thee above the snares of Death below into Heaven This is thy Portion who believest in the Lord Jesus and his Love 2. See the misery of Unbelievers How wretched art thou who believest not who sayest to the Love of God and the Tydings of it from Heaven Depart from me I have no pleasure in you Those Powers of Darkness that are ever ready to raise up Leviathan from his Stormy deep below curse thee All evil Spirits are Flames of Wrath burning within thee burning from without upon thee alwaies in the midst of thy Jollities at thy Feasts on thy Beds of pleasure Evil Spirits are ever Ministring Wrath to thee after an Invisible manner thorow all Visible Things Devils are thy Chariots These wrap thee up in a thick Cloud in the blackness of Darkness and hurry thee to Hell O be not unbelievers but believe that you may inherit the Land of Love and dwell in it for ever Love inviteth wooeth you to believe that is to receive itself into your Hearts Love will bring its own entertainment and make the Feast for itself if you for your parts will but take it in as a guest 3. Instance The Righteousness of God serveth his Love Rom. 5. l. Grace reâ—gneth by Righteousness unto Eternal Life thorow Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace is Love in its Fountain Love upon the Throne Love is brought in here by the Apostle under the name of Grace as a King Eternal Life Heaven is the Kingdom of Love Jesus Christ is the chief Minister of State to this great King God is Love sitting upon the Throne The Lord Jesus is the same supream Love descending from the Throne to be the Universal Servant and General Officer throughout all this Kingdom of Love Righteousness is the Scepter of the King Thy Scepter is a Scepter of Righteousness Psal. 45. Love reigneth by
practices do exceedingly vary and differ from the different degrees and waies of their light within and their educations and customs without The Apostle tells us Rom. 14. One Christian believeth that he may eat all things Another who is weak eateth herbs Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not And let not him which eateth not judge him which eateth For God hath received him One man esteemeth one day above another Another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully assured in his own mind He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it He that eateth eateth to the Lord for he giveth God thanks And he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks Both these are different and contrary in their Notions Opinions and practices And yet in that difference and contrariety do both serve the same Lord and are accepted by him They both in their several opinions Notions and practices have the same apprehensions of the glory of God the same reference and regard to it the same aim and intention of Soul to make themselves a Spiritual sacrifice to him Nor does this hold only in the lesser matters of Religion but in the greater also Besides that Babel and confusion of languages that variety and contrariety of opinions which are in the Christian World about things of a lower consideration What disputes what controversies what contradictions do we see at this day among good men concerning the most substantial and vital truths of the Gospel How even among the best Christians themselves are some of the greatest points of Christianity darkened and perplexed with Clouds of disputes with diversity and uncertainty of opinions with different and contrary explications What Principle of Christianity how clearly and expresly soever it has been revealed to us in the letter of the Scriptures has been universally received and explained alike by all good men Do we not every where see those very Persons who have as we have reason to judge entertained the same Divine Truths in the inward power life and Spirit of them do yet discourse interpret and preach them in Notions Opinions and Forms very different and contrary to one another Do we not every where see good men puzling and confounding each other with their own explanations of those very things in the life and power of which they are all agreed Have we not upon this accompt seen some of the best of men such strangers to and so jealous of one another that they have been unable to bear one another Look abroad lay aside all thy prejudice fondness and partiality And then tell me if thou dost not every where meet with the same ingenuity modesty humility and meekness of Soul The same desire and diligence in the search after truth the same goodness holiness of heart and life The same Love to God and his waies the same sincerity and integrity the same purity of intention aim and end in persons that appear to thee and to one another of very different and contrary minds and practices in matters of Religion Their Souls are vitally quickened and informed their conversations beautified and adorned with the same Spiritual truths Which by their explications of them they seem not to understand yea to contradict I have some where read a story of a blind man who could distinguish and judge of all metals or pretious stones by weighing them in his hand I am perswaded if we had learn thus to judge of Spiritual things not by the beauty of some outward form and appearance or an agreeableness to our own Notions and Opinions But by the weight of an inward Principle and the Power of a Divine life We should discover a most harmonious agreement in the Essential and radical Principles of Divine truth and goodness among those who seem most of all to oppose one another in their Notions and Opinions If we did but know how to get into to open and interpret each others Souls How to weigh not only words and phrases but Spirits as God is said to do Prov. 16. 2. We should quickly find that we differ more in words then in thoughts and in the Notions of things then in the things themselves Our Spiritual wisdom holiness strength and happiness do not lye in our Notions and Opinions of Spiritual truth but in the truth itself St. Paul excellently distinguishes and explains this matter 2 Cor. 4. 6 7. Where speaking of the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he tells us we have this treasure in Earthen Vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us That Spiritual truth which is the shining forth of the glory of God in the Person of Christ the first the supream the universal truth is the heavenly treasure The several Notions and forms in our understandings by which this truth appears to us are but a part of the Earthen Vessel which holds this treasure How weak is it to lay the weight of such a treasure upon such a Vessel subject to so many frailties flaws and cracks How unworthy is it to ascribe the excellency of that power to our selves which belongs wholly to God Sure I am it is not the Vessel that makes us rich but the treasure which is in the Vessel Thus again The same Apostle speaking of the same thing in another expression tells us 1 Cor. 4. 20. The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power This Kingdom consists not in the excellency of our notions and apprehensions of our words and expressions concerning Spiritual things But in the inward Vertue Vigour Life Power and Spirit that is in the Nature of them to change the whole man into one image of glory with themselves Spiritual knowledge is not a notional verbal and talking but a real living and practical thing Divine truth is better understood as it opens and unfolds itself in the holy and heavenly mind and life of a good man then by all the Systems of Divinity and good Books in the World Thy Brother has it may be several Notions and opinions of Spiritual Truth very different from thine But he is really sanctified through the same truth He has purified his Soul in obeying the truth through the Spirit He is become a living Edition of the truth it is written in his heart it shines forth in his life he has so learned the truth that he knows it as it is in Jesus although he cannot yet receive it as it is in thee nor thy notions and representations of it His Soul his life is dyed coloured and figured with it the truth is transforming his whole being into one beautiful and blessed image with framing fashioning his whole man according to itself This must needs be a better proof that he is truly one with thee in the same truth then the highest complement
drawn forth from them What floods of outward miseries have they brought upon them It is this has given such a scope and power to our lusts to our pride ambition covetousness anger wrath bitterness of Spirit and revenge as has been more wounding to Religion then the malice of all the wicked men in the World can possibly be It is this has set us to rake into the Infirmities Weaknesses and Miscarriage of our mistaken Brother And whilst men have been thus employed what heaps of dirt and folly have they poured out of their own Spirits to the greater scandal of themselves and their profession It is this has for several ages delivered up the Christian World to disorder bloud and desolation It is this has rendred a great part of it unhabitable to a man that asserts the just liberty of his mind It is this has made Christians who should be the best of men much worse to each other than wild Bears and Beasts of prey for they devour not one another of the same kind It is this has raised so many suspitions jealousies fears heart-burnings evil surmises mutual provocations to wrath and thoughts of revenge and ruine among our selves that we are almost become an easy prey to our common enemies And if we should escape them are in danger to be consumed one of another We have laid the stress and weight of our Religion upon Notions Opinions outward modes and forms and some of those subservient only to a secular interest and reasons of state and not upon the truth and substance it self which is Jesus Christ and his Spirit For this reason the Righteous God seems to have given up the whole frame of Nature to confusion and destruction and to be drowning the face of the Earth in bloud St. Paul 2 Thesâ— 2. 1. puts these two together The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him And we often read in the Scripture of his coming with all his Saints Lines are at their greatest distance in the circumference the nearer they come to their center the nearer still they are to one another As we are drawnforth from all those things which we have set up in the room of Christ and are made to unite in his Person alone so shall we also draw near to and be at peace with one another It is he alone who is our King of Righteousness and Prince of Peace the true Shiloe Vnto him shall the gathering of the People be and unto each other in him Nothing more proves him to be so far off from us as our being so miserably scaâ—tered divided and driven away from one another When he shall again return and appear to us in his own Person when we shall for his sake cast away all our Idols and unanimously running into his Bosom cry out with an universal shout None but Christ he alone is that eternal image it self of all truth and goodness which we have been every where seeking our center and rest for ever When we shall no more place our wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption our Religion in those forms and Opinions which are but the outsides and dresses of it and must pass away with the fashion of this World Which are but the leaves and husks that shall fall to the ground But in him who is that Truth Life Power and Substance which endures for ever Then shall a peace which is to encrease without end bless the World All our Swords shall then be beaten into Plow shares our spears turned into pruning-hooks and nothing be left to hurt and destroy in Gods holy Mountain A mutual forbearance indulgence allowance and kindness among all honest hearts of different perswasions and practices has not only thy own interest but the concern of all thy Brethren and the welfare of the whole Christian World after the highest manner contained in it For it is the safety stability security strength and subsistence of a good interest and of all good men in the midst of a very unkind angry and wicked World Whose rage doth not terminate in the extirpation of any one particular sect or party of good men but would by degrees and as fast as it can blot out goodness it self St. Paul with admirable reason joins these two together Eph. 4 2 3. Our walking with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another in love And our endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace It is most plain from this Scripture That the unity of the Church of God is not an agreement in inward Opinions and outward forms But an Unity of Spirit an Unity in that Spirit which is the common Soul of the Church the specificating form the constituting and conserving Principle of all true Christianity We are not united to Christ and to one another by the same Opinions and Forms but by one and the same Spirit nor can any Opinions and Forms divide us from Christ and therefore ought not to separate us from each other if they have not in their own nature an enmity to the heavenly image of Christ which is Spirituality Or to the natural image of him which is morality It is again expresly told us in the connexion of this Scipture That the way to preserve this Vnity of the Spirit in the Body of Christ is by walking towards one another with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love And not by a proud haughty impatient peevish and angry imposing of our own Notions and modes of Religion upon them This may indeed be a mistaken piece of humone policy to serve our own Worldly interest upon Christianity but I am very sure there is nothing of the true Spirit of Christ in this temper not of a right endeavouring to keep the Vnity of his Spirit in such a proceeding How clear is it again from this Scripture That the bond of Peace has its strength and root not in an Unity of knowledge and uniformity of worship but in the Unity of a Divine Spirit As the sympathy and Vnion of all the members in the body arise from and is preserved by the Vnity of the Soul Whilst there is as great a difference in the Original make of Souls as of faces in the complexions of minds as of bodies whilst the variety of humane understandings is so great Whilst we are under the power of different tempers educations and interests several measures and degrees of light Whilst there is imperfection in our state negligence in our searchings after truth an envious one alwaies ready to sow Tares It is unreasonable to expect a proportion and analogy of Notions and Opinions among good men Whilst we are thus circumstanced there will be some otherwise minded Nor do I know any remedy in such a case but a mutual forbearance till God cleares up the matter of difference This forbearance cannot be more our Duty then it is our interest and necessity
What we are 2. Where we are 3. Whence we come 4. How we came hither Quest. 1. What are we David answers for us Psal. 39. 6. Surely Man walketh in a vain show and disquieteth himself in vain Man is a Shadowy Show Descend O Man into thine own Being Enter into the secretest Retirement of thine own Spirit there sit look round about thee and say Can I comprehend my self Can I tell into what fâ—rm my will would grow up or into what shapes I shall pass after this moment while I live or when I am dead If I cannot tell this thâ—â— sure I am not my own Originâ—l Vain Main why dost thou exalt thy self by Pride as if thou wert something seeing thou art not the Beauty but the Face in the Glass too slight a thing for thy self to take hold of too weak a thing to reflect upon it self Foolish Man What dost thou feeding upon thy Spirit such a numerous flock of Cares Contrivances Confidence Plots and Passions Hast thou no sense of this that it is not in Man that walks to guide his own steps There is some Eternal thing above thy reach past thy understanding which fashions thee and carries thee on in its own Image Look upward then and say O thou hidden and supreme Substance which hast cast me as thy Shadow upon this Earth comprehend me O thou supreme Pattern which hast sent me forth to pass thorow this world in thy Image Guide me Q. 2. Where are we I shall give a twofold Answer to this Question Ans. 1. We are in a world of Images This world is a Type of God insomuch that some Heathens call'd the world the Great God Solomon saith Wisdom lifts up her voice and cryes in the corner of every street Wisdom is the Brightness of Eternal Beauties the Streets are the Outward Forms on which all the Creatures walk forth the Corner or Head of the Street is the Power or Principle in these Forms thorow which as by several Tongues of Fire the Forms above sparkle and proclaim themselves Their sound saith St. Paul is gone forth into the whole Earth Canst thou sleep be slothful or sad here Hear and see O Man thou art in this world as at a Show A Noise of Diving Glories descending thorow the Clouds Apparitions of heavenly Essences or Excellencies coming forth shadowed these fill the empty space A Repetition of Blessed Sounds a Restection of Holy Images falling from above This is the World in which thou livest Dost thou not feel Desire awakened in thee Hast thou not a secret sense of high Joys infus'd into thy Soul then spread thy Spirit thorow this world take it into thy Spirit as the Noise of a Harmony sounding from far Take in thy self as a Part of this Noise Pass thorow this world as a Throng of Apparitions thy self being One among the rest Ascend now with these for if thou slide downward thou siakest out of them into a waste Desert But if thou be carried upward in them they will still grow sweeter brighter and fuller to thee till they bring thee to their first Fountain where thou and they together shall drink and be wrapt up into an Immortal Fulness Thus this Shallow world will have a Depth in it sfill to centent thee and still to carry thee on farther while it shall still have a Relative Delight 〈◊〉 Representative Beauty Jesus Christ is brought in speaking after this manner 〈◊〉 8. 18. I and the Children which thou hast given me are for signs and wâ—nders So let my Soul say to my God Highest Beauty Greatest Love I and this World into which thou hast brought me are for signs of thee so to move wonder and delight O! that I might be in the midst of them that they might be unto me as figures only of thee subsisting â—nly in thee So these slight things would have a Divine Fulness for even they would be thy Pleasures thy Glories O God! as in a figure Ans. 2. We are in a World of Meer Images The multitude of Creatures is often in Scripture compar'd to Waters for as Water they receive the Images of heavenly things without the Substance into their thin passing streams Look then on These and immediately cast thy Eye upward to the Substances which shine fixt above and shed these Glimpses of themselves O Men why do you cast your selves so ardently on the Faces of Beauty in these unstable Waters You can embrace Nothing you can meet Nothing to sustain you You sink and perish in the midst of these wavy Sun-shines The first Creation is often call'd a Sea The Sea is unfruitful nothing can take Root in the floods untam'd devouring all things We are launcht forth upon this Sea of Appearances in this Vessel the Body not to Dwell or Grow upon it much less to Throw our selves into it but to Glide swiftly over the Face of it to a firm Land of Bliss But alas what throngs of people are there on every side casting themselves with a furious Delight into this Gulf where every Wave is a Grave when it once receives thee Most the Wisest linger and dally on this rolling roaring Deep till their Vessel worn out or split upon some Rock they be swallowed up in the midst of the Floods and never reach the wished Shoar of Immortality Angels signifie Messengers The Best things of this world are Invitations only Messengers sent forth to call the Guests They cannot Feast us They have not for us All cry Wisdom That which we show and you seek is not in us I am not He. We are not The Life Beauty Ioy but a Voice crying in the Wilderness in a vast Emptiness Come taste and see how good the Lord is what satisfactory sweetnesses are in the Godhead Joseph sent Asses laden with provisions and Waggons to bring his Father Jacob with his Family into egypt Our Younger Brother the New Man the Lord Jesus hath sent forth the Contents of this Life as Waggons and Asses to bring the Old Man out of the Flesh into the Bosom of the Father the Pallace of Eternity there to rejoyce for ever with our Brethren all the Children of the Great King How foolish a thing is it for us to mistake the Waggon for the Court which is only the Convoy How brutish a thing is it to forget the Glories of our Father's House that we may run feed lie down with the Asses Q. 3. Whence come we Whence are Shadows cast from their Substances Whence do Images flow from their Original From an Immutable Substance from an Eternal Original are we then come forth into this world Then shall we never have Rest till we Return thither again Our first Seed will be most Inward with us and Inseparable from us it will travel with us thorow all Forms still working in us still wearing out and casting off all Forms in which it sojourns with us until it bring us back into it self and become our only Clothing our only
Content Hagar was flying from the face of her Mistress Sarah but she meets an Angel that sweetly sends her back thither where God would provide for her Sarah is the Divine Form in the Spirit Hagar this Fleshly Being the Bond-woman This Earthly Nature is unable to bear the frowns and severity of her Heavenly Mistress she flies from her Face her Appearances which oppress the Flesh with their Glory But the bright Images of this Beauty as Angels meet the Natural Man in the way of his flight in the Principles of Nature By the flashes and breakings forth of these Man is persuaded to return and submit himself to the supreme Beauty his Mistress and Parent so only shall he have provisions of Joy and Rest from his wandrings Our Saviour takes a sweet farewel of the Earth in this language Iob. 16. v. 28. I came forth from the Father into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father Happy is that Soul that after all her weary steps thorow the world to seek Content now tyred thinks of Returning to her Father her first Husband and breaths forth such sighs as these towards him O my God! Thy Fulness is the womb out of which I was brought forth into this world Thy Sweetness is the Bosom in which I must eternally rest How long shall I linger here O when shall I once leave this world and come again to thee Q. 4. How come we hither Thorow a Darkness You shall in the first of Genesis see that Darkness is the Ground of this Creation and all Light-Colours are laid upon that Ground Darkness is the Bound between God and the Creature thorow which all things pass out of one into the other This Darkness holds forth to us the Light of a Twofold Rule Rule 1. Let us not think to know eternal things by the Light of this World or any Creature When we come into this life we come well drencht drawn thorow a Sea of Darkness There is no more any Remembrance of former things We know not where we were when God laid the Foundations of the Earth or what we were before that when all our Bones were first written by God in his Book when first those Eternal Forms which were to frame and sustain every shape or state into which we should pass were brought forth in the Divine Wisdom We are of Yesterday and know nothing We are started up into this Life thorow a Darkness behind us which lies upon all things which are beyond this Image before us and swallows up this into it self as it passeth along Vain Man would be wise though he be born as the wild Asses Coâ—t Why should Man undertake to bring forth from himself the Beauties of Wisdom when he comes upon the face of the Earth out of the same Darkness with the Asses Colt as void as that of all Eternal Images Rule 2. Care not to cloath your selves with the Contents of this World all which you must put off so soon as you touch the Brim of this Darkness into which you must return Care not for the Cares or Sorrows of this Life Those waters of Forgetfulness into which we must all descend will wash them all away Imagine this Life as an Island surrounded with a Sea of Darkness beyond which lies the main Land of Eternity Blessed is he that can raise himself to such a Pitch as to look off this Island beyond that Darkness to the utmost bound of things He sees his way before and behind him What shall trouble him on this Twig of Life on which he is like a Bird but now alighted from a far Region from whence again he shall immediately take his Flight Thou cam'st through a darkness hither but Yesterday when thou wer 't born Why then shouldst thou not more readily and cheerfully return thorough the same darkness back again to those everlasting Hills Let us then ever be in Tune to sing that sadly sweet Song of Far-seeing and so much-suffering Job Job 1. 21. Naked came I out of my Mother's womb Naked shall I return thither again The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh Blessed be the name of the Loâ—d Naked camest thou my Soul thorough a Darkness into this World strip't of all the Glories above Naked must thou return again out of this World quite strip't of all the Glories and Griefs here The Lord gives thee forth thorough this Darkness into this Life the Lord takes thee in thorough the Darkness out of this Life to Himself Blessed is the Name of the Lord. Rest thou in the Blessed and Glorious Workings of the High God while thou art in that Darkness Thou shalt suddenly be pass'd beyond it where thou shalt in an open Light enjoy the Hidden workings there where thou shall see the Highest Beatitudes and Glories Eye to Eye Heart in Heart They and Thou being made One Life One Spirit and without Partition or Vail Use 2. The endearment of the Lord Jesus to us If this Face of Nature which now presents it self to us have such Beauties Greatnesses Varieties as ravish us from all sense of our selves our present safety our souls our God from the Love and Delight which from them flow into our Spirits what Sights what Things above Words are there then in Jesus Christ what Ravishments would surprize us and snatch us out of Flâ—sh if we saw Him For Nature and this World is but the Earthly Inferiour Imperfect Image of God and of the Person of Christ which is the Heavenly and Supream Image Now we under-value and neglect the sweetnesses of our Saviour for this World's joyes But if we saw Him we should much more despise Ten thousand Worlds ten thousand times heightned in Glory as a heap of Dunghills in Comparison of Him Our Blindness our Blindness clips the wings of Desire clogs the Spirit of Delight in us O Jesus cast thou but one Glimpse of thy self into our souls and we shall run from all things after thee fly beyond all things towards Thee How Dark and cold things are these Shadows to him that hath seen the Light of Beauty in thy Person and felt the warm Life of Love in Thine Embraces Shew thy self to me and set many Worlds many Death 's more between me and thy self my Spirit shall shoot it self like an Arrow thorow them all into thine Arms. A Look of thine can Translate me as Enoch or Eliah of old I have thus Finish'd the First Image in which man lives before his Conversion The Image of Nature 2. Image of the Devil The State of man before his Change is in a Threefold Image The First was that of Nature the Second this of the Devil which we now are to take a view of But what can we see or say of this Who can draw a Picture of or describe Darkness and Confusion The Power of Darkness and Division prevailing over the Powers of Light and Love in the Creature This is the Devil If you will pourtray a Devil
Den the Country a Wilderness all about So is this Fiery Spirit eager to consume all appearances of Life and God upon their first discovery As the Night which entombs all things in it self and makes the richest variety of Shapes but one Lonely shade such a Solitude is the Devil Consider this all ye who cleave to the Noise Glories Pleasures of this world and leave your God least you should be Melancholy See and tremble to see into what a Melancholy Shade what a solitude your souls pass when you die 2. Spectacle Horrour Imagine a world where over your head instead of a Sky black pitchy Clouds perpetually roul not suffering any Glimpse of Light or Day ever to appear under your feet instead of Land or Sea a vast amazing depth which no where by nothing bounds your sight or thought round about you a Desolate Darkness presenting near and at furthest distance all those Forms which are bred in the womb of darkness and carry an astonishing darkness with them to the Senses and Spirits of Men like apparitions Lightnings Shrieks dying Groans roaring Tempests Howling of wild Beasts to a man alone in a Forrest at Midnight Such a world of Horrours is this Evil Spirit Therefore he is set forth by the Outward Darkness where the Worm dies not a Darkness without Light or Limit in which all gnawing Forms of Horrour live Let him that hates not that world of Curses love this world of Varities For the Vanities of one are the Porch to the Vexations of the other 3. Spectacle Torture Every Wound is a Division What are Fears Pains Griefs Death Separations of Desires from their Delights Faculties from their Objects Principles from their Act End Perfection in a word Things from Themselves All Deaths and Tortures then are in the Devil at their heighth in their fullest Power For he is the Principle and Power of Division The Life of this Mighty Creature is a Two-edged Flaming Sword in the midst of itself Each Act and Motion of life is the Brandishing of this Sword Cutting and Burning in every Part and point of life with ten thousand Anguishes 4. Spectacle Ugliness Deformity is Darkness with a Disproportion Darkness in harmony with Light makes a Beauty So the Evening and the Morning make a Day So the Night and sleep are the shade of an Angel's wing dropping sweet sleep and rest on Men. Proportion is a Kind and Image of Unity Disproportion is a Division without any form of Unity Where this Division and Darkness first meet there is the Center of Ugliness the Fountain of ugly things This is the Babel where Ziim and Ijim dwell Unclean Birds Forms dry without any beautiful Water desolate no pleasant plant of Life putting forth it self there irksome and hateful being surrounded with a rude Darkness like rocky uncouth Islands in a Tempestuous Sea or Screech-Owles in a Melancholy Night These are the Four Spectacles of dread death in the Nature of the Devil Solitude Horrour Torture and Ugliness Now make up these Four into One let that One be a Living Spirit of greatest Activity and Capacity This is the Devil the Bottomless Pit of Things the Unpassable Gulf which divides Heaven from Hell This is the Father of Sin and Sinners Now before you commit a Sin propound this Question to your selves Can I eternally wander in a Darkness where I shall never meet Companion or Comfort Can I make everlasting Clouds my Canopy Can I lie under these at Rest Can I sleep sweetly over an unknown roaring Deep Can I imbrace Fire feed on Poysons drink down Tortures like Water Can I make those hateful Shapes at which when they appear the stoutest men grow stiff with horrour and feel their hair to stand on end upon their heads Can I make these ghastly dismal things my Play-fellows If you can do all this then go sin freely But if these be Terrours above Man to bear take heed and start at a Lust more than you would at a Ghost for these are but weak Types of those Tormenting Truths which Sinners must try below For as God makes Heaven so the Devil is the Hell into him do all polluted Souls descend they dwell not only with but in Him Obj. Why should any doubt whether there be a Devil But alass who believes him to be any thing besides a Scar-crow except Children or weak and superstitious Spirits Answ. Yet you that thus reason ask those Principles that govern you Do not Sense and Reason shew that all things have their Roots out of which they rise Are there not such things as Follies Filths and Furies spread through the World Are they not if not the All yet the Greatest part of the word Can these be and no Spring be in which they are United and at their Height This Spring is this Spirit which we call the Devil This is that untam'd Sea of which Job speaks Job 7. 12. Am I a Sea or Whale that thou thus breakest me What pity then is it to see Millions of men go with merry dalliance down the streams of fleshly delights and at the same time to see that Cloudy Sea of Horrours into which they are within a few moments delivered by these streams If every thing make hast to its own Principle and Element Fire to the upper Circle Earth to its Center below If it be Natural for every Plant to bring forth its own Seed then sure it cannot be but that each guilty Soul should sink downward to the Element of Woe and Horrours the Center of Darkness then sure every Sin must at last bring forth a Devil You that love your lusts more than your God learn from your Bodies the state determin'd upon your Souls Your Bodies are Dust and to Dust they must return Your defiled Spirits are of their Father the Devil and to him they must again go when they leave this World This is the first consideration to preserve us from Sin The Nature of the Devil 2. The Nature of Sin We read no where of Mary Magdalen that she was Possess'd according to the common acceptation of that word We read that she was a Sinner eminently absolutely without restraint as if she who is said to have been an Hostess had been an Inne to all Sins Yet she is thus describ'd Mark 16. 9. Mary Magdalen out of whom he had cast Seven Devils All Sins are rankt under Seven Heads These are the Seven Powers of Evil in the Devil which are as so many Devils there These are the Unclean Spirits which go forth from the Mouth of the Dragon into the breasts of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam Fly then from a Sin for 't is a Devil Fly from the sweetest Temptations They may look like Angels but they are the Devil's Angels the most immediate Emanations or Images from that foul Principle Qu. But you will say What is Sin How shall I know it That I may fly from it Ans. You may know it by the Image it
of the Earth But this Soul in this Divine Principle sees God Himself with the whole Troop of the Sons of God God-like Forms ascending out of every Point of the Earth and the lowest parts of things Use. Conviction Consider with thy self after this manner Am I Chang'd If I be not I stand in the Circle of Vanity Darkness and Woe I am gone forth from my Center outward into a Waste Wilderness whither no clear Line of Light or Life stretcheth itself where are no Sparks of peace or joy which are not scattered into wild Distractions torn in pieces and devoured by Confusion Am I still wandering in this World I am already upon the very Brink and Precipice of Things Whither do I wander Whither shall I fall when I die Is there yet any thing beyond this World further from God and Goodness besides the Place of Devils There are Four Discoveries of a Chang'd or Unchang'd State 1. Discovery Have I seen a Resurrection in myself Our Conversion is made the same thing with the Resurrection of our Saviour Coloss. 3. 1. If ye be risen with Christ. When Jesus rose again He returned to that Glory which He had with God before he was in Flesh. His Resurrection was a Return not to that Life which he had in the World this was part of his Death but to that Life which he had before This among Earthly Men. So when we Turn to God we Return truly to our selves We perceive our Selves now to be our Selves and all below this to have been a Shadow of us or a Disguise upon us The Conversion of Man is call'd an Awakening Ephes. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the Dead My God is a Light in which all Things are seen ever as they were from the Beginning My Jesus is a Life in which all things are the same Yesterday before the World as they shall be to Morrow and for ever My Soul Art thou awakened into the Light the Life of thy God thy Jesus If thou art what seest thou Thou seest thy true and substantial Being thy proper Person appearing thou seest all things in their first Principle in their right state thou seest every Inferiour Person which thou hast been cloth'd with and each Lower State of Things in which thou hast acted any Part as Dreams of a sleeping Man in the Night out of which he awakens the same that he was when first he lay down and they vanish as Airy Images The Gospel declares the Mystery that was hid in God from the beginning of the World Ephes. 3. 9. If you have not beheld present things things to come Heaven Glory your future State as it was in the Mystery of God from Eternity you are still buried under the Ruines of this Confused World beneath which that Mystery lies hid 2. Discovery Can I tell the Difference between Flesh and Spirit A Converted and a Regenerate Condition are thus distinguisht by Walking in Flesh or Spirit Rom. 8. 4. The Eye guides the Feet How can I walk after One and not the Other if I know not how One differs from the Other The Light shined in Darkness but the Darkness comprehended it not The Flesh is the Darkness which understands neither the Spirit nor itself The Spirit is the Light in which both are understood and discern'd Say thus to thy Heart My Heart Canst thou tell a way to possess all Things in one point in a Unity of Life Hast thou lookt on all Things at once and seen them in a Harmony of Beauty Hast thou taken in the Tunes and Motions of all Things Created and Uncreated in a Concent of Pleasures Didst thou ever yet descry a glorious Eternity in each winged Moment of Time a Bright Infiniteness in the narrow points of every dark Object Then thou knowest what the Spirit means that Spire-top of Things whither all ascend harmoniously where they meet and sit together recollected and concentred in an Unfathom'd Depth of Glorious Life From hence thou lookest down and seest all Flesh as a heap of Single Dusts Dark though falling from the midst of a bright Flame Divided though laid together He that knows no Spirit but that which breaths thorow Flesh and feeds on the Air. He that understands the highest Spirit but as a Fleshly Fancy exalted is yet Flesh condemn'd like Nebucchadnezzar to graze on the fading Field of Flesh till he know this Flesh to be that Darkness which covers all Truth and the most high Spirit to be the only Light which discovers all things and itself 3. Discovery Have I seen a Night upon this World One Day passeth not away for another to succeed except a Night come between My soul is not yet born again out of the Light of this World into the Day of Christ if she hath not gone thorow a Night a Night of Eternal Darkness upon all Earthly Contents Thou canst not look down upon Fleshly Things with a Delight from the Throne of Christ except thou hast lookt upon them as a Prospect of Horrour from the Cross of Christ. Jesus Christ threatens Jezabel and her Companions to throw her into a Bed and great Tribulation Revel 2. 22. He never comes into the Bed of Eternal Repose with Jesus Christ as his Spouse that hath not been in a Bed of afflictions and Flames with his Jezabel the Flesh. 4. Discovery Have I tasted the Sweetness of a Life within in my own Spirit Hast thou not made a Retreat into thine own Depths Hast thou not seen the Beauties that shine in this Glass Then art thou far from the Depths of the Divine Spirit and the Glories that disclose themselves in that Glass Solomon tells us Prov. 20. 27. That the Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord in his Bowels if the Spirit of Man within be but a Candle what then is this Sensual State without Neither Life nor Death nor Light nor Darkness but Shadows of Life and Death between both But who can think he hath receiv'd the Beams of the Sun when yet he hath not seen a Candles Light We read of a Strumpet Prov. 7. 11 12. That her Feet abide not in the house but she loves to be abroad While the Feet the Affections of our Souls are ever gadding and our eyes gazing in the broad ways of Sense while they love not to dwell in the Habitation of their own Spirits they make themselves Strumpets to every unclean Spirit I have ended the First Head of this Doctrine the Conversion or Change it self I am now to pass to the Second the Circumstances of this Change 2. Part The Circumstances of the Change These are Two 1. Circumstance A Universal Motion in all the Passions 2. Circumstance A General Alteration in Practice 1. Circumstance A Universal Motion in all the Passions These are moved at the time of our Conversion for the most part in this Threefold Order 1. Order 1. Griâ—f 2. Shame 3. Fear 2. Order 1. Hope 2. Desire 3. Rage 3.
Order 1. Love 2. Hatred 1. Order of Passions in our Change 1. Passion Grief John 12. 32 33. And I if I be lifted up will draw up all men after me This he spake signifying by what Death he should die The Explication of the Exaltation the lifting up the drawing up is Death The Lord Iâ—sus was lifted up to Glory by Death He draws up all men to himself and Immortality by Death Grief is the Souls Death God by this for the most part begins to draw us up out of Sin and Flesh to himself and eternal joys Grief naturally is the Sense of some Great and Present Evil oppressing the Soul Grief Spiritually is the Sense of some Great and Present Evil oppressing the Soul and pressing it thorow itself into the lap of the Godhead Psal. 119. 67. David communicates his Experience Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I keep thy Commandments The word afflicted signifies to be brought low or down When the Soul gone forth into the midst of the Creatures is arrived at the utmost point of one Contrary then it begins to return towards the other as the Sun first turns itself towards us again at Midnight The utmost Point of a worldly life in Sin and Vanity is Grief or Torment taking away all our Rest. The Soul hurried hither by the Torrent of her lusts here begins to look and move towards God So the Grave of our joys our Grief becomes a Womb bringing us forth to a Spiritual life Psal. 40. 2. David speaks of God and himself He hath drawn me up out of the Horrible Pit and Dirty Clay This world hath a Root of Darkness which bears for a Flower the Images of Light When the Spirit of Man lives upon and makes itself One with these Imaginary Pleasures they quickly fade So both together sink down into their Root where they are swallowed up in a melancholy darkness Here the Vanities which before were Light now grow heavy weighing down the Soul Here all her former Contents meet her again as Parts and Powers of this Darkness That which was before beautiful Clay soft Clay easie to any Impression of Desire is now stiff and dirty Clay holding the feet of the Soul fast in the bottom of this Horrible Pit Now God takes hold of us thus low thus lost and draws us upward So our Change begins in Grief 2. Passion Shame Es. 6. 11 12 13. Shame ariseth from a Mixt sense of Light and Darkness Good and Evil Beauty and Deformity It is a mixt Passion of Grief Anger Fear As when the Light and Day first sink into Night and Darkness in the Evening or first ascend out of these in the Morning the Sky looks red So the Soul blusheth in the midst of her Sins and is ashamed when God first dawnes upon her and begins to draw near to her Ezek. 43. 10. Son of man shew them the House that they may be ashamed of all their Iniquities and let them measure the Pattern Shame is a Reflection of foul and hateful Deformities made upon our Spirits by the Light of Beauty Goodness God shining forth upon them Shame is the Divine Glory glowing thorow our Darkness and Filth before yet it is broken forth into a clear Flame to scatter and consume them God saith to Iesus Christ of man Son go and shew thy self to him as the Image in which he was made in which he should have lived So let him be ashamed of that dark narrow vile brutish Image in which he walks Let him take measure by Thee as his Original and Pattern 3. Passion Fear As Grief awakens Shame so Shame rowseth Fear out of its Den. Psal. 119. 120. David cries out My Flesh trembleth because of Thee I am afraid of thy Iudgments Fear is the Commotion of the Soul upon the sense of some approaching Evil. As the Sea trembles before a Storm So at the sign of God's breaking forth upon the Soul the fleshly part trembles and shakes before its fall The Man himself is afraid of the Judgments of God the ways of God with the Creature The Devils at the Presence of Christ feared two Things 1. A Banishment from off the Face of the Earth 2. A Confinement to the Lower-most parts of the Earth Such now is the Fear of a Man lest he should be call'd off from his Carnal Contents and cast down into the Straitness and Horrour of his Carnal Principles He discourseth with himself thus Must not I who have lived in Flesh now be separated from all the delights of Flesh and be shut up in the Darkness of it Must I not abide there till I have pass'd thorow the Fire and endur'd the Consumption of all that which is Corruptible in me The longer I live in the Flesh will not the Fire be the stronger Thus Fear becomes a Spur in the side of the Spirit to increase her speed out of the World to God This is the First Order of Passions Grief Shame Fear 2. Order of Passions 1. Passion Hope Lament 3. 21 22. This I call to mind therefore have I hope It is the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed Hope is the Springing of the Soul towards good or God first dawning upon it and dispensing Himself to it Jeremy was all before wrapt up in Sorrows Despairs Death Now one single Beam of Hope and that a small one glimmers in his Soul It is the mercies of the Lord that we are not consumed Yet this lights him into fresh Fields of Contemplations and Consolations in God There is Mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared saith the Scripture to God When Fear affrights the fainting Soul from God Hope invites it to entertain that Fear Fear saith The Presence of God will take away thy Natural Strength and Ioy. Hope answers I shall find a better Strength and Ioy in God Fear goes on The Glory of God will be as a Fire in thee Hope replies This Fire will be a Glory to me Fear still urgeth Canst thou ly down with Everlasting Burnings Hope concludes I shall have everlasting Arms beneath me So the Soul casts her self into these Arms to be carried whithersoever they will bear her 2. Passion Desire 2. Sam. 7. 27. David thus conveys his Desires to God Because thou O lord hast revealed it to thy Servant concerning his House therefore hath he found in his heart to pray this prayer Hope is the Conception of Blessedness Desire is the Teeming the Breeding Bearing and Growing big with it till it be brought forth The Vestal Virgins first kindled their Spark by a Beam then they from that Spark kept a continual Flame upon their Altar So the Revelation of God in Man is the Foundation of Hope Hope the Fountain of Desires which grow into great Streams and so pour forth themselves into their Sea into God again The Desires of a New Convert when once they are kindled increase suddenly to a mâ—ghty Flame For they are proportion'd by Two
things The Good at which he aims The Evil from which he flies Desires here are the Attractions of the highest Good the most high God backed by the Impressions of the greatest Evils Sin Death Devils As one draws the Other drive The Soul sees God before her opening a World of new Hopes and Delights She sees Lusts and Furies behind her labouring to overtake her and hold her back from those fresh Glories which are now in her eye This makes her Desires as swift feet as strong Wings to her Now the newly-converted Spirit begins to discover her self by continual violent Breathings and cries towards Heaven How long Lord Now she speaks in Davids tune and tone Psal. 84. 2. My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my Heart and my Flesh cry out for the Living God Grones are now the constant beatings of the Heart Longings and Faintings become the Language of all parts inward and outward Longings after Faintings for the Life of God the Living God 3. Passion Rage 2. Corin. 7. 11. The Corinthians had slept secure in a foul Sin They now awakened by St. Paul give those Testimonies of their Change which he reckons up in this place What vehement Desire yea what Zeal yea what Revenge As a Flood foâ—ming and roaring when it is streightned or swelling and over-bearâ—ng all when it is stopt in its Course So are Anger or Rage Desires multiplied and growing Mighty by Resistance There are Thrâ—e that resist the Soul in her Conversion the Flesh the World the Devil The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit Gal. 5. 17. The Inâ—linations of the Flesh cross and quench the Motions of the Spirit The World infuseth a poyson of Desires and Delights into the Heart which kill Heavenly Loves which infect the Heart with hatred and enmity against God and his Glory James 4. 4. The Friendship of the World is enmity with God The Devil is like a Lyon seeking whom he may dâ—vour 1 Pet. 5. 8. He would draw down our Souls into himself out of the Arms of our Saviour The World works upon us thorow the Flesh in our selves For this is the Property and the Birth of the World in us John 8. 23. Ye are of the World Ye that is they that are Fleshly The Devil prevaileth upon us by the World This is the Body with which he cloaths himself when he comes he is Prince of this World This world is his Power As God Christ and a Saint are all united in the Spiritual part of a Christian So the Devil the World the Flesh are all in one in the Natural part These the Soul at her Conversion now understands to be the Enemies of her Hope the Tyrants over â—â—â—joy the Rubs in the way of her Desires She riseth to a brave heat of Rage and height of Revenge against these Thus she vents her Rage thus she takes Revenge By fastning her own Flesh to the Cross 〈◊〉 her Lord She Crucifies Spoils Triumphs over them all Gal. 6. 14. I Glory saith Paul in the Cross of Christ by which the World is crucified to me and I to the World Nothing now is so sweet nothing so Glorious to this Soul as the Crâ—ss of her Jesus By this she revengeth her self upon her Spiritual Enemy as they treated her Lord her Life that is with Scorn and Despight First she puts them to open Shame She uncloaths them of all their fair Appearances In the face of Heaven in the eye of her Sun her God 〈◊〉 displays them naked in their ugly monstrous Shapes in their loathsom and hateful Uncleannesses Then she nails them by a constant force to theâ—r Paâ—ns and Sufferance till they languish to Death I have gone thorow the Second Order of Passions Hope Desire Rage 3. Order of Passions 1. Passion Lovâ— Love is a Câ—njunction with a Complacency in Goodness God Gal. 2. 20. I am saith St. Paul Crucified with Christ and now I live yet not I but Christ livâ—th in me c. The Holy Soul having stâ—ugled thorow the Streights of Grief and Shame thoâ—ow the Croâ—stides of Hope and Fear having wrestled with the Principles of Nature the Principalities and Powers of this world Fleshly Honours and heights now comes to tast the Freedom and Sweetness of life which is Lovâ— now she knows what 't is to Live indeed to live in the Embraces and mutuâ—l Twiniâ—gs of the Lord Jesus Now she hath no Life but his Lâ—ve now her Lâ—vâ— hath no Object but â—is Liâ—e By this time our Convert is grown up out of a 〈◊〉 to a Spouse-like tempâ—r like her in the Canticles She grows Sick of Love Her Love to God consumes her strength wasts her Life dispossesseth her of â—er sâ—lf Nothing can be Strength Life Self to her save her Saviour only She is â—â—â—ong only when he is present She is happy when he is pleased A man in this State breaths nothing but Affection to God He cries continually as David doth Psal. 18. 1. I lâ—ve Thee The word signifies I love thee dearly tenderly inwardly I twist thy love upon my inwardest and tenderest bowels O my Iâ—sus 2. Passion Hatred Psal. 139. 22. I hate them that hate thee with a perfect Hatred Hatred is the Life of Contrariety Casting out from itself yet Comprehending in it self as in a Chain Conquering to it self its Contrary God promiseth Christ thus much Psal. 110. 1 Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy Foot-stool We hold our Foot-stool near us but under us We hold it down yet we hold up and raise our selves by it There is a Twofold Hatred 1. Hatred before Love 2. Hatred from Love Hatred before Love is weak and imperfect rellishing much of self-love Darkness and Hell Hatred from Love is Perfect it springs from the Heart of sweetness it subordinates itself to it it ends in it The Life of this Hatred is Love As the soul at her first Conversion is strong in Love so is she sweet in her Hatred She hates perfectly like a God not a Devil every thing which brings not the Loveliness of her Saviour along with it as a Pass-port She turns away her face from it she sets her feet upon it not suffering it to rise up against the Life of the Lord Jesus within her forcing it to serve his Glory So much for the Third Order of Passions Love Hatred So much for the First Circumstance in our Conversion The Universal Motion in our Passions 2. Circumstance A General Alteration in Practice This Alteration is Twofold 1. A Manifest withdrawing from all Companies and Contents that draw the Soul outward or downward 2. An eminent Delight in all Persons and Paâ—hs that draw the Spirit inward or upward David expresseth both these in himself Psal. 16. My delight is in the Excellent of the Earth As for them that go after other Gods I will not make mention of their Name 1. Use For Discovery Religion is no empty Name but a Real
Thing Two Things make a Reality in the Soul 1. The Object 2. The Inward Affections 1. The Object As the Woman is to the Man his Image his Glory in the Image So is the Soul to her Object If she espouse her self to the Lying Vanities of this World she makes her self one with them both Vanity and a Lye If she cleave to the Rock of Ages the Rock of the Godhead growing to that growing up out of that she becomes a Living Stone a Rock of Eternity in her self This is the First Motion in Religion the winding of the Soul about the utmost point of the Creature and turning in towards God again This is the Discriminating Dividing Temper between Religious and unregenerate Persons the Touching of the Soul with God as the Needle is touch't with the Load-stone when it may have various agitations yet it feels the Impressions of God in the midst of all when it can never establish or quiet itself in any posture save then only when it is pointed on God My Soul hath said to the Lord thou art my Portion Lamen 3. Psal. 16. 8. I have set the Lord always before me He is at my Right hand I shall not be moved God is our Assistant there where he is our Object at our Hand if he be in our Eye This is the Life and Essence of Religion the exaltation of God in our Spirits as our Chief Object to which and by which we are directed Examine thy self by this If the world be all to thee and God a Fancy then art thou like that world a Fancy and a Bubble If God be all to thee and the world a Dream then thou hast Strength Life and Substance For thou art one with him who is the Life Strength Substance Being of all things Is thy Heart as a Hearth on which Thorns only blaze Are the workings of thy Spirit like thin and fine Smoak slight and vanishing Can then there be any Religion where there is no Reality He is the Religious man who graspes Substance who digs thorow all things till he meets with a sure Foundation who hath taken hold of something Solid Satisfactory Everlasting at which his Soul stops on which she stays her self I hate them saith David that look to lying Vanities but my trust is in the Lord. There is a Three-fold Sense of things which makes a Religious man Real 1. Sense of this World's sorrows 2. Sense of Divine Wrath. 3. Sense of Divine Love 1. Sense of this World's sorrows No man is in the Spirit of Christ who hath not been at the Cross in the Grave of Christ and there seen the end of all this world's Glories Who beholds things in the Eternal Light He that hath first seen this world in a Fire out of which it falls into blackness of Darkness By the Cross of Christ the World is crucified to me saith St. Paul I come to kindle a Fire in the World saith our Saviour and what will I if it be already Kindled They that go down into the Deep see the Wonders of the Lord saith the Psalmist Whoever is gone up to Heights of Grace hath gone down into the Deep of the First Creation and seen Wonders of Darkness there Jonah tells us of himself Jon. 2 6. I went down to the bottom of the Muntains the bars of the Earth were about me for ever Hast thou descended with thy Saviour to the Bottom of this Creation hast thou seen about thee those everlasting Bars of Darkness which bear up and bound this Creation Then shew us the effect which Solomon mentions in Ecclesiastes A sad Countenance makes a good Heart As Darkness contracts the Eye unites the Fancy and makes it strong So a sad Face of things makes the Spirit gather up itself into itself live serious and Recollected 2. Sense of Divine Wrath. We saith St. Paul knowing the Terrours of the Lord persuade men 2. Cor. 5. 11 If we know God we know his Terrours and what the Power of his Wrath is can we not then persuade our selves to be serious Have you seen the Treasures of wrath laid up with God for those that harden their Hearts in Sloth and Sense to an insensibleness of Spiritual and Eternal things Have you heard those seven-times-seven fold increases of Fury upon those who go on in Vanity and yet say it shall not be so it shall be well with them Cannot these things make you Real and Sober If still vanity be your Life your Food your Joy if still Lightness be your Air and Shadows the Game which you hunt with your Reason and Senses then fear lest you have seen Shadows only of these Objects lest your Religion too be vain 3. Sense of Divine Love The Scripture saith in one place to good men The Joy of the Lord shall be your Strength Such as the Nourishment of our Spirit is such will its Constitution and our Conversation be If our Food our Joy be Divine and we eat the Bread of Angels our Lives will be Divine and our Faces shine with Angelical Beams If our Delights be Vanity and we feed on wind our Spirits and Conversation will be windy The same Solomon that said of Mirth what dost thou And of Laughter it is Madness Eccles. 2. 2. He saith Prov. 3. The ways of Wisdom are ways of Peace and all her Paths are pleasantness Spiritual Pleasures are Serious ones as Grave as Wisdom itself for they are her Walks The Love of Christ constrains us saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 5. The Love of Christ holds in binds up and unites the Spirit not suffering it to pour forth itself loosely That Liberty which is Daughter to Divine Love what a Stranger is it to Licentiousness Those Sweetnesses which flow from God and his Glories how do they look down upon and despise Empty Mirths and mad Laughters A Bride made a Woman of a Cat and set among the Guests in the bridal Chambear on a sudden runs after a Mouse which stir'd in a Corner of the Room If thy Soul be still ready to fly at every vanity which is at any time started in the eye of it thou maist be cloth'd with the Form of a Heavenly Bride but sure thou hast still a Brutish Spirit Thus you see how the Object of a Religious man makes him Real The Second Reality in Religion is that of Inward Affections 2. The Inward Affections My Son saith Wisdom in the Proverbs give me thy Heart Perhaps you give to God your Feet to carry you to Sermons you give him your Hands to work or fight for him you give him your Tongue to discourse of Him but have you given him your Heart Doth that cleave to him long and pant after him sigh for him live only in Him David saith to God Psâ—l 51. Thou lovest Uprightness in the Inward parts The more Inward any thing is the more Upright it is Are thy frequentest Groans such as thou dost not express thou canst not express such as thy Spirit
only feels God's Spirit only hears It is the Counsel of our Lord Jesus Pray to thy Father in Secret and He shall reward thee openly The most Secret things are the most Serious Dost thou commune with thine own Heart upon thy Bed about the things of God and Eternity Do the workings and Labourings of thy Soul after thy Saviour hold thine eyes waking while others are sleeping Solomon tells us The Heart knoweth its own Sorrow and a stranger intermeddles not with its Joys Blessed is he who hath a sense of a Sorrow for Sin and the absence of God which his own Heart only is conscious to Blessed is he who lives on hidden Manna who hath his Bosom still warmed with a secret Flame of Divine Love and Joy to which all others are Strangers Man hath as St. Paul teacheth a Spirit a Soul a Body So hath Religion God the Eternal Object and Spring of our Religion is the Spirit our Inward Affections are the Soul our outward Actions the Body Outward Actions most glorious if they go alone make but a Dead Religion are a Body without a Soul Inward Affections without God make but a Brutish Religion a Soul in a Body without the Immortal Spirit I now conclude this Application 2. Use For Direction I will divide this into a Threefold Direction 1. Direction Entertain mournful Tempers as Angels Improve them as Treasures When Jonah was in the bottom of the Sea and belly of the Fish his Soul fainting within him then he remembred the Lord Jonah 2. 7. As Pearls are found at the bottom of the Sea so frequently do the Beauties of the Lord Jesus disclose themselves to us in the depths of Grief when we are sunk below the waters of this world and are swallowed up into a Spirit of Darkness It is St. James's advice Jam. 1 4. Let Patience have its perfect work and it shall make you perfect As one Element stretcht to the utmost passeth into another Water into Air Air into Fire as a Cloud big and swelling dissolves it self upon the Earth so thy Griefs if thou wait calmly upon them as they swell and grow will at length dissolve themselves into God As Snow and Frost cherish the Seed in the ground so do biting and binding Sorrows both kill the weeds of Vanity and ripen the Seed of Divinity in Man I can no more want Sorrows for my Soul than the Husband-man can want Winter seasons for his Corn fields As natural Melancholy draws the Soul deeply into her self and her Divinest Principles whence she issues forth again with the most great and glorious Lights so do sad things work upon a holy Spirit sinking her thorow her self into the Depths of the Godhead out of which she riseth renewed to a fresh Spring of Life and Joy 2. Direction Look stedfastly to the end of all Flesh. In every Pleasure Strength Glory see the Worm and the Fire which is bred in all fleshly things the one never to go out the other never to die till Flesh be no more The belly for meats and meat for the belly but God shall destroy them both and I will be in bondage to neither saith St. Paul If thou engage thy Soul in any earthly Content thou puttest thy self into a Prison whence you must come by Death or where Death will find you Why should I put on that which I must keep on with lasting vexations or put off with present Pains The world and my senses were made one for another The Devil hath defiled and disordered both God distractâ— and will destroy both The Joy of my Life and my Life shall depend oâ— neither 3. Direction Preserve Hope towards God ever alive in thy self Hos. 2. 15. We read of the Door of Hope Hope is the Door of Happiness This admits us into the Godhead He that suffers Hope to sink under Despair in his Spirit locks and bars up the Door of Heaven against himself Prov. 13. 12. Hope deferr'd makes the heart sick But Hope cut off kills the Heart and makes it lie dead in Sin and Flesh. He will lay his mouth in the Dust if there may be Hope Give a man Hope and you cast the Seed of a New Soul of God into him What saith one May I the vilest of men the lowest of creatures hope to be pardoned Nay more to be loved to be made partaker of a Divine Spirit and Glory May I thus lâ—st hope this Then will I fear worship serve God do suffer any thing for him or from him I will lay my mouth in the Dust at his feet if I may have Hope Hope declares the most right and most sweet thoughts of God It sets the Soul in the rightest and sweetest frame towards God He exalts God and gives him the highest Glory that dares at worst to hope for the best things from him He that praiseth me he honoureth me saith God Psal. 50. There are Two Grounds for Hope which never fail 1. God is nigh thee Acts 15. Thou hast thy Being in him Thou wer 't made by Jesus Christ thou subsistest in him as in thy Root Thou art the work of his hand the Son of his Handmaid Nature Thy Natural Being is a putting forth a manifestation of Christ. Wait alwaies in Hope for his highest and divinest manifestations which come after this Thine eyes shall see them if thou let not go thy Hope but wait conâ—idently to the end 2. God is Infinite He is All All that thou canst think or wish For thou couldst not think or wish any thing if it were not first in him He is beyond thy Distresses or Desires Hope then ever in this God who is already in thee who is Infinite whose Power is above all thy Pressures whose Love is above his own Wrath. Christ is called our Hope Christ in you the Hope of Glory to signifie that Hope is the Son of God and his Image growing in us that Hope should have no Ground but Christ and then be as its Ground Immortal Inâ—inite Thus much for the Second Part in this Point of Conversion The Circumstances There is yet remaining the Third Part the Causes of this Change 3. Part. The Cause of our Change or Conversion This is manifold Some Causes are essential some only Occasional Some remote some near Yet all are as Links in a Chain one depending on another St. Paul scatters all these Causes within the compass of a few verses 1 Tim. 2. 1. I will therefore that prayers be made for all men 3. For God will have all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth 4. For there is one God and one Mediator the man Christ Iesus 5. Who hath given himself a ransom for all to be revealed in due time All the Causes of our Conversion are in these words comprehended under Five Heads 1. Cause The Relation of God to Man 2. Cause The Mediation of Iesus Christ. 3. Cause The Manifestation of the Truth 4. Cause The Ministry of Man
and then feeding their Spirit from thine who gave thee all these The secret of the Almighty was with thee 2. Principle The Removal of the Divine Presence is the Root of all Bitterness in this Life When God withdraws he draws in all his Blessings as the Sun often goes in and gives up the Sky and Day to dark Clouds What wilt thou do when like wretched Saul The Philistines are upon thee and God hath forsaken thee When Perplexity shall take hold of thy Spirit when there shall be no Counsel or Comfort left because God hath forsaken thee What then can all thy Pleasures or Honours do Will they not be as miserable Comforters as the Witch of Endor to Saul presenting thee with Devils under God-like forms ill-boding foretelling thy death and Ruine When our dear Saviour was on the Cross he did not cry out O my Disciples why do ye fly from me or deny me O ye Iews my Brethren why do ye wound so bloodily my Feet Hands and Head No but he cries out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me This broke his heart David complains in Psal. 30. 7. Thou hast made my Mountain strong but thou didst turn away thy face and I was troubled Place a man in a Wilderness of Horrours in a Sea of Flames let the Secret of God be with him and he will fear he will feel no Evil. Plant a man on a Mountain where he may not only with Christ see but possess all the Delights and Glories of this World let God be gone and you may call them all Ichabod where 's the Glory Where 's the Delight The whole Mountain will moulder into Melancholy and crumble away into Griefs O! Fear to estrange this God from you by a neglect of him on whose Presence all your present Joyes depend Fear to put out his Light in your Souls by your Lusts fear to chase away by your hardnesses and Rebellions that God who when he removes his Glory from off any Person or Place gives up all to ruine and leaves a Hell behind him This is the first Persuasive 2. Persuasive Fear the lâ—ss of Divine Enjoyments after Death Is there any thing any where more moving more full of sweetness than the language of the Apostle 1 Thes. 4. 18. Then we shall be for ever with the Lord. Comfort ye one another with these words I will present your Spirits with the force of this place in three short Propositions 1. Proposition Thâ—re is a Lord over all a supream Principle or Power which makes maintains manages all the Creatures a Spirit of Strength and Wisdom which governs the affairs of the whole World Thus St. Paul speaks 1. Cor. 8. 6. To us there is one God the Father of whom are All one Lord Jesus by whom are All. 2. Proposition This Lord is the best of all things As he is over so he is above all 1 Cor. 2. 8. St. Paul calls him the Lord of Glory The Heathens teach us that the God of the Sun is the God of Musick because he tempers with his Beams and tunes all the visible world This Lord our Lord is the God of Light Beauty Musick the God of all Sweetnesses Glories Blessednesses For he tunes both the visible and invisible World to a happy Harmouy 3. Proposition All good Spirits are the Friends all evil Spirits the Enemies of this Lord. Each pure lightsome peaceful Spirit comes from this Jesus and goes to him again when it goes off the Stage of this Earth as a Beam darted from his Glory and drawn up to him again Each dark unclean disorderly Spirit is cut off and cast out from him One is every where in Scripture stiled His Child His Brother The other is thus spoken to by him Depart from me ye cursed Now what joy is it when a man in all the troubles of Life can comfort himself with these words and say This Life will quickly end then shall I be ever with the Lord my Lord the Lord of Blâ—ssedness Who can express the Peace and Pleasure of that Soul within which lies upon its Death-bed and in the last moment of its abode in the World comforts itself with these words Now I must be uncloath'd of all Being or Appearance among men on Earth for ever But it is that I may be for ever in the naked Embraces of the Eternal Spirit of Life and Beauty I go from hence for ever but I go to be for ever with the Lord. I had faintâ—d saith David if I had not hoped to see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the Living Who can tell those fainting fits in the midst of highest Pleasures those bitter Soul-turning Qâ—aulmes in fullest Glories which those men have that have no hope to see the Goodness of the Lord after this Life Many pangs many pangs of remorse and anguish pangs far beyond the pangs of a natural Death hath that dying Soul which hath no hope to live with God after Death Fear then this Loss so great so irreparable Fear to be prophane like Esau to sell your Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage to fell your hopes of Heaven for a short Satisfaction to your sensual Appetite 3. Persuasive Fear what God can do What cannot he do to make you miserable who is the God of the Spirits of all Flesh He can let forth Five Spirits upon you 1. Spirit of Diseases 2. Spirit of Folly and Falshood 3. Spirit of Melancholy 4. Spirit of Ruine 5. His own Spirit 1. Spirit of Diseases God can send a Spirit of Diseases into thy Body to strike thee with Worms with some foul and sharp sickness till thou dye a loath'd and horrid Death Thus he did to King Herod in the Acts. Can all thy Physicians then cure thee 2. Spirit of Folly and Falshood God can send into thy Breast a Lying Spirit that shall carry the on to foolish Counsels that thou mayst perish Thus he did with King Ahab Can thy Wisdom foresee or prevent this 3. Spirit of Melancholy God can let forth upon thee a Spirit that shall sit upon thy Brain and Heart like a black Cloud distilling poyson upon both This shall be thy inseparable Companion at Table and Bed in society in solitude to vex thee perpetually This shall make thy sweetest Delights thy dearest Relations a Burthen and a disease to thee This shall make thy surest Strengths and firmest aids a matter of continual Suspicion and mortal Jealousy to thee Thus he did with King Saul What delights or businesses can now divert thee 4. Spirit of Ruine God can let upon thee as upon Job a Spirit like a devouring Sea or Storm This shall take away from thee thy whole Estate from thy Children their Life from thy Wife and wisest Friends their Affection and Tenderness This will fill thy Skin with Noysomness thy veins with Fire thy Bones with Pains thy Head with black vapours This shall take away all rest from thy Sleeps filling them with affrighting
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth the Outward Figure and Shape in Bodily Things whâ—ch is a meer Accident varyâ—ng often while the Substance remains the same not reaching to the Spirit but Inhering in the Outward Body and Perishing with it He makes use of the same word Rom. 12. 2. Be not ye Confâ—rmed to the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but be ye Transformed Temporary Forms are Empty Figures Accidental Out-side Shapes But Divine Forms are Substantial Spiritual Essential We speak now of such Forms as these under the Law which are not the Life and Power of God but may be without these and yet as Fair in themselves The Scripture makes use of this Word Form in this Sense frequently Rom. 2. 21. St. Paul saith of the Jew who is One Outwardly not Inwardly as he concludes in the last Verse of that Chapter that he hath a Form of Knowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Word is Elegant and seems to signify a Form not Natural springing forth from the Life or Substance but a Form Affectate Artiâ—icially made 2 Tim. â— 5. St. Paul speaks of the same thing and useth the same Word Having a Form of Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but denying the Power of it Thus much for the Explication and Justification of the Word Forms as they are a Sign of Legality The Thing which I understand by Forms is the Image of God and Godliness taken in or held forth according to the Principles and Appearances of This Creation St. Paul saith Galat. 4. v. 3. When we were Children we were in Bendage under the Elements of the World v. 4. But when the Fulness of Time came God sent forth His Son v. 9. After that ye have known God or rather are known of God or are made to know by God how turn ye again to weak and Beggerly Elements to which ye desire again to be in Bondage Mark what Oppositions the Apostle maketh 1. Opposition Between the Elements of the World and the Son sent forth When Jesus Christ the Heavenly Image of God is revealed in our Spirits then we are free from that Slavery of Spelling the Name of God out of the Elements of this Creation We no more go to the Aegyptians for their Learning that is to the Principles of Nature for the knowledge of God 2. Opposition Between the Knowing of God so as being known or made to know by God and the Elements of the World We know God by Divine Principles when we know him by an Immediate Union with Him which gives us the Naked Appearance of God in our Spirits by the Mutual Comprehension of our Spirits in that Appearance and Spirit Till we thus know God we know Him not We have no Image but Shadows only of Him We know Him by Worldly Principles which are Dark and Beggerly The Scripture often links together these as in a Chain The Law the Letter the Flesh Man the World the Outward Man the Iâ—w Forms Rom. 2. 28. 29. You have a Jew Outwardly in the Letter Outward in the Flesh whose Praise is of Men. Rom. 8. 3. The Law is weak thorow the Flesh. 2 Cor. 3. 6. 7. There are Coupled The Letter which kills and the Ministration of Death engraven in Stone Gal. 4. 3. 5. Those that are under the Elements of the World are the same with those that are under the Law Râ—m 2. 17. There is a Jew resting in the Law v. 18. He is instructed out of the Law and approves the things that are Excellent v. 20. He hath a Form of knowledge and of Truth in the Law All these and the Particular Sign of a Servile State now in hand which is Forms will be clearly understood by the Opening of Three of the Fore-mentioned Terms 1. The Flesh. 2. The Spirit 3. The Law 1. The Flesh Flesh and Spirit Carnal and Spiritual are opposed aâ— Time and Eternity the First and the Second Creation All the Empty and Temporary Things of this World are Flesh. Ioh. 6. 63. 1 Pet. 1. 24. Ioh. 17. 2. Sometimes Flesh is taken for the Corrupt State of Things as Iude 23. The Garment spotted with the Flesh. Sometimes it is taken for the Visible Part of Natural Things as 2 Cor. 7. 1. All Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit In the Former place Flesh was the Filth that defiled the Garment of Nature Here it is Natures upper and Outward Garment which is in danger of being defiled Thirdly Flesh is taken for the whole Frame of Nature in the Visible and Invisible Part of it So Mat. 26. 41. The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak The Spirit there is the Spiritual the Flesh the Natural Man So Luke 3. 6. All Flesh shall see the Salvation of the Lord. This place is cited from Es. 40. 5. The Glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all Flesh shall see it together Compare this with 1 Tim. 3. 16. God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Angels are Part of that Flesh which sees the Glory of God and hath it revealed in them Lastly Flesh is taken for Created Nature both Body and Spirit as it is spiritualized Jesus Christ spake in this sense Iohn 6. 55. My flesh is meat indeed He expounds himself afterwards v. 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing Our Saviour means thus much The Creature in me as it is a meer Creature is uncapable of so near an Union with you or so great a vertue in itself as to be the food or Conveyance of Eternal Life to you But as it is become a New Creature and is made One in Person and Spirit with the Divine Nature So you may feed upon it after a Spiritual manner and be nourished up by it to Eternal Life For so the Lord adds The Words that I speak are Spirit and Life So we read of the Fleshly Tables of the Heart But the Common Acceptation of Flesh when it is opposed to Spiritual Things and joyned with the Law is the Third that is the first Creation or this World This is manifest from the seventh of the Epistle to the Romans v. 2. The Woman is bound by the Law to her Husband while he liveth saith St. Paul v. 4. Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ that ye may be married to another even to him who is raised from the Dead He goes on v. 5. When we were in the Flesh the Motions of Sin which were by the Law Then v. 6. But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we were held The Principles and Frame of Nature in the Invisible Powers and visible Parts of it are our Husband by the first Creation For we were made subject to Angels in that State as in the New Creation we are to Jesus Christ. And we were made by Nature a little Lower than Angels in the next degree of Inferiority to them as the
Woman to the Man This is plain by comparing those Two Places Psal. 8. 5. Thou hast made him that is man a little lower than the Angels Heb. 2. 5. Unto Angels he hath not put in subjection the World which is to come But unto Jesus Christ That is implyed in the Place The Law is the Law of the Husband Now the Law was administred by Angels the Ministring Spirits which are Principalities and Powers of this Creation as the Vice-Gerents of God Now St. Paul saith that by the Body of Christ that Husband died which held us in Subjection to the Law The whole Frame of Nature was shaken by the Death of Christ and must fall by the Power of it Then St. Paul adds that we were subject to the Law while we were in the Flesh. All these things make it plain that by the Flesh he understands the State of Nature in its highest Principles and utmost Extent Thus much for the First Term Flesh. 2. Letter This is the Image of God in Flesh. Letter and Spirit are opposed by St. Paul as Old and New Rom. 7. 4. And he teacheth us that by the Death of the Flesh in the Body of Christ we are freed from our Service to God in the Oldness of the Letter St. Paul opposeth Spirit and Letter as Inward and Outward He calleth that the Letter which is Outward in the Flesh Rom. 2. 28 29. The Spirit is Jesus Christ as He is the Heavenly Image of God within in the Heart of God 2. Cor. 3. 15. This is that which is Inward under the Vail of Flesh. The Letter is the Image of God in the outward Man as it is drawn forth from and discovered in the Principles of the first Creation which is the Vail 3. The Law This is the State of the Soul while she lives in the Letter and hath Communion with God only by the Letter St. Paul thus describes a Legal State Gal. 4. 3. When we were Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Infants we were in Bondage under the Elements of the World While we are under the Law we are Infants we have neither the Ear nor the Heart nor the Mouth of the Spirit and the Spiritual man in our Souls We are Uncapable of Taking in or making out God in his own Divine Image according to Spiritual Principles or the Elements of the New Creation Therefore we are in Bondage to Natural Principles and Reasonings We are bound up within the Compass of this Creation as in a Prison We are unskill'd in unacquainted with any Principles or Appearances of things besides those of this Creation We compare Spiritual Things by these Things of Nature We hear God with the Ear we speak of him with the Tongue of this Creation We receive and cherish such Notions of God as are agreeable with this Frame The Manifestations of God which spring from Spiritual Principles from the Face of God himself are Barbarians to us while we are under the Law To the Law of Nature to the Testimony of Reason to the Elements of this World whatsoever speaketh not according to these whatsoever casteth off or doth not cloth its Speakings with these Forms though it be the Spirit Himself hath no Light in it to our Understandings while we are under the Law These Elements or Forms in which we are tied up while we are under the Law are 1. Weak 2. Dark 3. Beggarly 4. Old 1. Forms are weak Things They have only the Shadows of Good Things to come They have not the Substance They cannot give us the Good Things Themselves Forms set the Picture of our Beloved before our Eyes but they cannot lay the Person Himself in our Arms. They are but a Letter from our Husband They have not the Spirit of our Husband in them 2. Forms in the knowledge of God are Dark Things They can give us no clear or certain Discoveries The greatest Light of Communion or Comfort that can come while we are shut up in Forms is but like a Spark from a Flint at Midnight It hath much Doubt Diffidence and Fear mingled with it 3. Forms are Beggerly Things They cannot lay open before us the Unsearchable Riches of Christ. Jesus Christ is Rich in Glory He can fill all Appearances He can bring forth Innumerable Appearances He hath Glory above all appearances which the Creature is capable of He can bring forth more Glory into thy Heart than can be made out in thy Heart itself by any Appearance The Power of Glory which thy Spirit feels shall be above the Appearance which it sees 1 Corin. 14. 14. Ephes. 3. 19. How poor then and Beggarly must that Spirit be in the knowledge of the Glory of God which is shut up in any one Form in any one Sort or Degree of Manifestations While thou canst not part with any Particular Form of Appearance while thy Spirit is not indifferent and universal extending itself to all Forms in the Manifestation of God while thou art not above the Forms of this World Thou wilt be but a Beggar in thy Divine Discoveries or Enjoyments He must be above the Letter in the Spirit above and out of all Created Images in the Light of Life itself that will attain to those Riches of assurance of a full understanding in the Mystery of God and Christ which St. Paul speaks of Coloss. 2. 2. 4. Forms are Old God hath blasted all Forms and Ways of his Appearing by the Principles and Elements of the Creature If they have had any Beauty yet now they are Blear-eyed If they have been Fruitful yet now they are become a Barren Womb which is as the Grave The Cross of Christ and the Glory of his Appearance in the Spirit have taken away the Life and Glory of all Manifestations or Administrations in the Flesh. They are Old Withered Decayed and Dying The more our Saviour shines out in the Glory of his Father the more will they Droop till they drop quite into the Dust 4. Sign Solicitude Rest and want of Rest are the distinguishing Notes of a Legal or Evangelical State His Rest shall be Glorious saith the Prophet of the Lord Jesus in the Times of the Gospel Esa. 11. 10. Come to me saith our Saviour to those under the Law You that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest Mat. 11. 28. A Legal Spirit hath a Four-fold Solicitude 1. Solicitude for Acceptance of the Person 2. Solicitude for Assiance in Perplexities 3. Solicitude for Light in the way 4. Solicitude for Life in the work of Grace 1. Solicitude for Acceptance of the Person While the Soul is under the Law the Seed of God Jesus Christ is not yet come up nor revealed within her She sits therefore trembling in the Dark sometimes Confident that it is a Seed of Love sometimes as Peremptory that it is a Seed of Wrath which lies hid in her So she is perplexed and anxious in herself St. Paul teacheth us Coloss. 2. 2. that
us there discovers us to our selves as we were Eternally comprehended in that Root as we grow up out of it as we abide and flourish in it This Spirit being immediately united to God immediately united to our Spirits is an immediate Testimony of our Sonship 4 The Effect of this Discovery He hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our Hearts crying Abba Father The natural Effect of our Sonship made manifest in us is a natural Affection to our Father While we are in the State of Nature we know not whence we come nor whither we go when once we have received the Spirit of Sons we then see God to be the Father who did bear us in his Loyns from Eternity who brought us forth into this World who can never forget us though a Woman should forget her only Child who hath ever Bowels of a Father care tenderness sweetness towards us who cannot always hold but He must discover himself to us When a Saint feels these Workings of the Spirit of God in his own Spirit then his Bowels turn within him then he melts then he casts himself into the Embraces of his God and cries My Father Abba Father Thus God gives a Check to our Lusts changing them into a divine Love by Discovery This is the First place of Scripture 2. Scripture 1 Joh. 4. 16. 17. He that dwells in Love dwells in God and God dwells in him For God is Love In this is Love made perfect that we may have Boldness before him in the day of Iudgment Because as He is so are we in this World Two things are taught us in these words 1. The Relation between God and a Saint in an Evangelical State 2. The Affection of such a Saint towards God 1. The Relation between God and a Saint in an Evangelical State The Relation between a Father and a Son in Nature hath three Parts 1. Part. The Nature of the Father is in the Person of the Son It is one in both as the Sap and Seminal Power is the same thorow the whole Tree 2. Part. The Person of the Son subsists in the Nature of the Father as the Body of the Tree in the Root 3. Part. The Person of the Father propagates and multiplies itself in the Person of the Son as the Body of a Tree runs out into Branches Such a Relation with so many Parts is there between God and a Saint as between Father and Son 1. Part. The Divine nature is in the Person of a Saint as the Fountain of his Being the Fulness of his Person Thus St. John saith We dwell in God not in the Fleshly Image of God as a Servile Christian but in the Spiritual Image the naked Bosom of the Godhead 2. Part. The Person of a Saint is in the Divine Nature as in his Root in his Element in his proper Principle as that which comprehends him communicates itself to him sustains him flows in upon him shows itself in all things possesseth acts him entirely Thus saith St. John We dwell in God that is as a Worldly Spirit dwells in the Spirit of this World 3. Part. God propagates himself in a Saint Both are one Life one Spirit multiplying itself into various Forms Both unitedly and in One pass thorow all Forms So St. John again teacheth As He is so are we in this World This is the Relation between God and a Saint in an Evangelical State as that between a Father and a Son 2. The Affection of a Son-like Saint towards God To dwell in God and dwell in Love to have God and to have Love dwelling in us are both One thing For God is Love God is an Infinite Sweetness which is both Fountain and Sea in one a Fountain sending forth many Streams many Sons a Sea drawing all into its own Bosom again by a Natural course He then that is a Son of God is a Son of Love Love of that first Love coming forth from it and returning thither whence it first came This Son-like or Filial Love hath Two Characters 1. Character The Degree 2. Character The Extent 1. Character The Degree of Love Love in a Son-like Saint riseth to a Confidence a Boldness in the presence of God even then when he puts on the most terrible Appearance in the day of Judgment The Ground of this Boldness in a Filial love is Three-fold 1. Reason A Saint that is a Son knows and feels God to be Love 2. Reason He knows himself to be in this Love to be One with God in his Heavenly Glory 3. Reason He knows this Love to be in him God to be one with him in his worldly Disguise We have boldness because as he is so are we in this World All these Three Reasons are wrapt up in this One Clause As he is in the World Love itself so are we with Him sensible of Him As He is in the World and at once above the World in Glory so are we in Him As he is in the World clothing his Divine Substance with Fleshly Appearances so are we because he is in us This is the first Character of a Filial Love 2. Character Extent of Love A Saint that is a Son hath not a particular Love to God or any Object He is as his Father is Love in its full Latitude He dwells in Love Love is the Air in which he breaths in which he receives all Shapes of things in which he communicates himself to them A Son of God is like his Father in Two Things 1. He is a beautiful Light shining upon all things equally stamping its own bright Form upon them so beholding them 2. He is a Cloud of Sweetness like gentle and soft Rain falling upon every thing till it have sweetned it by degrees to the same height and enjoying it in that Sweetness Exhortation Make God your only Mark and Aim What is it which you seek for Love God is Love What is it which makes every Action or suffering sweet This if Love be the beginning What gives you Rest in every End of things Love Then seek God above all things Make him the Beginning and the End of your way So you shall have a sweet Rest in all For He is Love How strange is that perverseness which is in the Nature of man When man was first made he was placed in a Garden where he had liberty to eat of all the Trees excepting one Tree only which bare all manner of Curses for Fruit the Forbidden Tree Yet then man eats of this one Tree and lets the rest alone Now all the Trees in the same Garden which are all Creatures in the World have wo and death growing upon them There is one Tree only in the m'dst of the Garden bringing forth Glory and Immortality This Tree is God Now man will feed plentifully on all the other Trees but will not touch this Tree of Life We all have Notions in our heads and Expressions upon our Tongues concerning God
if thou hadst not the peace of God in these these could be no Blessing thy Soul with them would not thrive it would be but as Pharoah's lean Kine that devoured the fat ones and were still as lean All thy notions and Mysteries would be but a tinkling noise an empty sound vanishing without any profit or lasting pleasure But Herbs the lowest administrations the darkest discoveries of Christ together with peace is a Feast of fat things and Wine upon the Lees which though it have not so clear manifestations yet may have as sweet and strong consolations Obj. But now some good Soul may cry out Alass this shuts me quite out of the Kingdom of God by this I have nothing of the Glory of God or of His Grace in me or of his Blessing going along with me for I have no peace My Tears are my Drink Day and Night Ans. Thou art no good Judge in this cause For thou mayst be deceived two ways and this is the Two-fold Answer which thou art to make to thine own Soul 1. The Kingdom and the Peace of God may both be grown up to a good degree in thee though thou discern them not 2. The Kingdom and the Peace of God may be sown though they be not grown up in thy Soul Ans. 1. First the Kingdom and the Peace of God may be grown up to a good degree in thy Soul though thou discern them not Mar. 4. 27. The Kingdom of God is compared to Corn which while a man Sleeps and Rises Night and Day Spring and Grows up he knows not how The Image and Peace of the Lord Jesus may be springing and well sprung up in thy Spirit while thou sleepest in the Darkness of some Temptation and hast no sense at all of this Spring and Growth though it be continual and flourishing within thee This is hard to believe or understand how it should be Yet thus the Lord tells thee that his Kingdom which is Peace puts forth itself in the Ground of thine Heart and prospers and grows a tall plant there while thou hast no sense of it but sleepest though thou knowest not how Our Saviour distinguisheth this growth of the Kingdom of God in the Soul into a Three-fâ—ld State v. 28. The Earth bringeth forth fruit of herself First the blade then the Ear after that the full Corn in the Ear. The Earth is the Lord Jesus in his Earthly or Fleshly Image as he is the Ground out of which we all Spring forth in our First State or Image He in us of Himself sends forth and shoots up his Kingdom naturally in our Souls as Trees set or planted in Him The full Corn in the Ear the Ear the Blade signify a Three-fold Evangelical State of a Saint on Earth in the Body The First is the Royal or Kingly State of which I am now speaking The other Two are distinct degrees of the State of Sonship or Child hood as it is different from the State of a Servant which hath the Kingdom of God only Sown not yet grown up in him 1. First is the full Corn in the Ear. This is the Royal State in which the Mysteries of the Gospel are displaid the Spiritual Person of the Lord Jesus in all his Proportions is form'd and puts forth himself in the Soul with a fulness a fulness of Spiritual Light Peace Strength and joy Yet all this clearness and fulness is under a vail in the Husk still of Flesh. It is the full Corn in the Ear not thresh't out by Death and winnow'd by a Resurrection but still standing in this World Thou mayst have this State in thee and yet not see the Corn for the Husk but mistake and mis-interpret Christ in thee because thou seest the Flesh still and feelest thy self shaken with Winds and beaten with Storms as being still in the open Field of this world 2. The Second State is the Ear. Thou mayst have the Blessing Grace and Glory of the Lord Jesus running up in thy Spirit to a good height with great store of Sap thou mayst be now near to a kind of perfection in Spirituality Yet all this may be in a form of Darkness Emptiness and Confusion Take heed of judging the State in which thou art the power and vertue in thee by the appearance For so doing thou mayst call Light Darkness because it shines in the Dark Be not like a foolish Husbandman that should look upon his Corn in the Field when it were new Eared and should complain that all his hopes were cast away that he had Straw or Grass instead of Wheat because he yet sees not the Corn formed in the Ear. 3. The Third State is the Blade Do not deny the Kingdom of God with the Peace thereof to be come up in thee because thou canst not discern it It may be truly come up in thee but perhaps 't is yet in the Blade in tender weak low appearances hardly shewing itself above the Clâ—ds of the plowed Earth the trouble of thy broken heart hardly distinguish't from weeds the workings of the Flesh in thee Now take this Three-fold Caution 1. Caut. First take heed of over-seeing or undervaluing the full Corn because it still in the Ear or Husk Do not cast away from your self the Praise of Christ and Joy of Spirit which belong to a strong and reigning Christian because you have Strong and raging Temptations as being still in the Flesh. 2. Caut. Secondly Refuse not to acknowledge Jesus Christ in the Ear because you have not yet the full Corn. 3. Caut. Thirdly Deny not Jesus Christ to have appeared in you because he is as yet only in the Blade or tender Herb. Thus I have discours'd upon the First Answer to a Doubting Soul Ans. 2. The Second Answer is this The Kingdom and Peace of God may be sown though they be not grown up in thy Soul You must distinguish between the Devil's Madmen and God's Mourners 1. The Devil's Madmen are such as throw abroad Swords and Fire-brands in the midst of their own Spirits and say Are we not in Jest They toss Vanity up and down in their Souls and Lives they brandish and blaze their Pride Passion and Lusts. These are their Peace and Kingdom their Pleasures and Glories But they have no sense of the Peace of God and his Kingdom They understand not how they drive these far from their Souls and kindle the Fire of Hell-torments in their Hearts while they roul themselves in carnal security and Fleshly Pleasures Against these this use is directed and the Terrours of God are discovered 2. But Secondly there are God's Mourners holy Souls which can take no Joy in any Worldly thing because they have no sense of the Peace of God in their Spirits These good Hearts are cloth'd with a Garment of Heaviness but that Garment is as a vail only upon the Beauty of Jesus Christ which is of a Truth in their Hearts though as yet it be hid from
their Eyes And therefore their Eyes are full of Tears they go on weeping but they carry their precious Seed with them in the Secret of their Souls These are Gods Mourners and these are to apply to themselves that sweet Promise Es. 57. 18. I have seen his ways I will heal him I will lead him also and I will restore Peace to him and to his Mourners the verse before was For the iniquities of his Covetousness I was Wroth with him and smote him I hid me and was Wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his Heart How absolute how sweet how full is this Promise What objection canst thou make against thy self which the Lord doth not here punctually answer 1. Object Thou sayest I have been very sinful and still continue so Mercies Judgments do me no good but make me more wanton or more froward in an evil way Ans. Hark the Lord tells thee that he knows all this He hath seen thy ways the Evil of thy ways and every Aggravation of the Evil in them yet he saith I will heal thee He undertakes to be Himself thy Physician 2. Object But thou â—ryest â—ut I am Sick with my Lusts I am wounded with miseries I am broken with horrours And I have no Strength to recover my self out of any of these Ans. But the Lord Jesus saith I will heal theâ— of all these Evils of thy Sins thy Sorrows and thy Fears I will do it for thee by mine own Right Hand and for mine own Sake 3. Obj. Still thou objectest against thine own Mercies and complainest that thou knowest not Jesus Christ nor the way to Him Or if thou didst thou hast neither Will nor Power to come to him that thou mayst be healed by Him Ans. But what saith the Lord to thee I will lead thee also I will first come to thee I will stretch out my Hand towards thee and take hold of thy Spirit I will draw thee towards my self I will direct thee in the right Paths of my Love I will bear thee up in the way that thou shalt not fall in it nor fall from it 4. Obj. But thy Melancholy Dark and Sullen thoughts still abound in thee and suffer thee to have no Peace These fill thee with Fears and Tremblings that thou canst not take comfort in any thing Ans. But God will restore comfort to thee and to thy Mourners He will bring again that Comfort which thou hadst once in thy Spirit which thou hadst in Paradise It is now but laid aside hid sown in thee God will bring it forth to Light and set it before thee and make it to grow up out of thine own Spirit in the sight of thy Spirit and in the sight of all thy Mourners all those melancholy thoughts which now fill thee with so much heaviness I will restore Comfort Saith God The Comfort the Joy for the want of which thou Mournest is thine already it was thine Eternally it was the Grace given to thee before all times in Jesus Christ as St. Paul speaks to Timothy But as the Trees were first in the Creation and then the Seed and then again the Trees are restored to themselves out of their Seed So thy Comforts have been hid in thine Heart in which they lye in their proper Seed and out of which God will make them to grow up and so restore them to thee and thee to thy Spiritual and Heavenly self Thus much for the Second Answer The Peace and the Kingdom of God may be sown though they be not grown up in thee So I have done with the First Spirit to be silenc'd in the Soul that she may have Peace which is the Spirit of Wrath from God 2. The Spirit of the Devil This is the Second Spirit to be silenced in the Soul for her Spiritual Peace Read those Verses Psal. 46. 2. 3. Therefore we will not fear though the Earth be removed and though the Mountains be carryed into the midst of the Sea Though the Waters thereof roar and the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof Selah In the verse following you read of a River whose streams refresh the City of God This River is clearly the Spirit of God This Sea then which troubles the Earth must be the Spirit of the Devil the Natural Power of Darkness in the Creature which while it kept its own place and order had a Beauty in it but forsaking its own habitation as St. Jude speaketh it brings Confusion You may confirm that sense of the Sea in this place by comparing Two or Three places of Scripture more one with another Gen. 1. 2. That Darkness out of which the Light and Strength of the Creature was first raised is express'd by a Sea Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters Revel 20. 3. The Angel casts the Devil into the Bottomless Pit The Word here which is translated Bottomless Pit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answer in Greek to that in Hebrew Tehôm which is expounded the Deep in that First of Genesis And the Sea is frequently called by this Name thorough the Scriptures Tehâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Deep The Devil was cast down into the great Deep of his own Darkness and shut up there Revel 21. 1. I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth and there was no more Sea The Spirit of the Devil and the Power of Darkness was now shut up in itself and no more troubled the Peace and Beauty of the Creature Though there was still Night and Day Darkness and Light yet there was no more Sea the Darkness was as a sweet Calm Stream refreshing the Earth and mingled with the Light of Life This Sea of Darkness and confusion lies at the bottom of the Spirit of every man naturally It encompasseth us on every side This often opens itself upon us and the Mountains of all our Strength Joy or Glory are swallowed up in the midst of it When the Waters of this Sea evil Spirits roar upon our Souls they fill them with Fear amazement and Horrour The Sea is accounted the Cause of Earth-quakes The Earth in a Man all the Foundations of his Life and Joy are violently shaken in him when this Sea swells beneath them What Peace what Establishment can there be to the Soul while this Power of Darkness rageth As the World shall have no Peace till it be bound up in its own Deep so neither can the Soul This is the Second Spirit to be silenced 3. The Spirit of a Man in Himself Before the Soul can have Peace her own Spirit must be silent in the midst of her Psal. 4. 4. We have this advice given us Commune with your own Heart upon your Bed and be still This seems to be a Contradiction Commune and be still But the Selah added points out a more hidden sense Here are Two Terms in this Scripture which have a various Sense Heart and Bed 1.
her upon itself as upon a Bed of Rest. By this time we see what the Holy Ghost means by the Heart and the Bed Let us now return to that place of that Psalmist for the opening of which we have brought in all these Scriptures Psal. 4. 4. Commune with your own Heart upon your Bed and be still that is discourse not with your Spirit as it lives in this Body upon these Outward Appearances For so it is one with the Strange Woman it is a Strange Heart it is a Fountain that makes itself common and defiles itself it is not your own Fountain alone your own Heart but a wandring false lying Heart Retire your self into your Chamber in which the Candle of the Lord shines that is into your Spirit as it hath the Spirit of God for the Spring of Natural Light and Life in it Here wait quietly and silently for the openings of the Spirit of God in the secret Voice of Nature within you But stay not here Silence this Spirit too draw your self yet more inward into the Spirit of the Lord Jesus as He is the Inward Man within the more inward than the secretest Retirements of the Natural Spirit Here cast thy self upon thy Bed in thy Heart and commune with thy Heart upon thy Bed This is thy Bed and thy Heart both in one Here lay thy self at Rest upon this Spirit which is the Comforter advise with this Spirit which is the only Counsellor the Spirit of Truth So be thou still let thine own Spirit the Spirit of this World and Nature in thee be silent He that thus hearkens in Silence what the Lord will say shall certainly hear him speak Peace to his Saints The Spirit of God in thy Natural Man may speak of Wrath to thee and God will confirm that voice of Wrath in the Spirit of thy Natural Man And so here thou canst find no Bed to comfort thee But go a little beyond thy Natural Man and thou shalt meet with the Spirit of God as it is in its own Freedom and Fulness in the Lord Jesus Here is a Bed ready prepared for thee Now silence thine own Spirit for ever and hear no more what the Spirit in thine own Spirit speaks but what this Spirit speaks as it is here in Jesus Christ and this Spirit will certainly make thee to hear the voice of Joy and Gladness Thus the Lord giveth his Beloved Rest not in themselves but in Himself I have now finished the First Part of Spiritual Peace which is Silence the Silencing of a Three-fold Spirit the Spirit of Wrath from God the Spirit of the Devil the Spirit of Man 2. Part Satisfaction The Second Part of Spiritual Peace is Satisfaction This consists in Two Things 1. A Sweet League with all things 2. A Satisfactory Rest in this League 1. A Sweet League with all things There can be no Satisfaction where there is any thing wanting and not made up or any thing Crooked and not made straight as Solomon speaks Eccl. 1. 15. There is no Satisfaction where there is Division or Contention Jobs Friends promiseth this Satisfaction to Job Job 5. 23. Thou shalt be in League with the Stones of the Field and the Beasts of the Field shall be at Peace with thee v. 24. And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in Peace Behold a League wiâ—h all things below thee Beasts and Stones Principles and Appearances of Life descending are the Beasts The Stones are the Principles and Appearances of Darkness descended to the lowest the Dead Images of things Behold a League here with all things above thee thy Tabernacle shall be in Peace The Powers above thee are thy Tabernacle The Angels are thy Tabernacle God is thy Tabernacle Thou shalt dwell peaceably in these These shall be in Peace not in stormy or fiery Appearances upon thee Behold a League with all Times with Eternity Thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in Peace Thou shalt not fear what is to come because all Times to come shall be in Covenant with thee Whatever Times come to others still thy Tabernacle thy Angel thy God shall be peace upon thee and this thou shalt know before hand This is that League with all things which Jobs Friend promiseth to him without which there can be no Satisfaction or Peace Quest. But you will perhaps ask me how this League is made Ans. I answer that it is made by living in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This Spirit in you is this League or Covenant For the Spirit is the Unity and hath the Band of Peace in itself Ephes. 4. 3. The Lord who is the Spirit is call'd the God of the Spirits of all Flesh Num. 16. 12. and 27. 16. This place agrees with that Luk. 20. 38. God is the God of the Living not of the Dead for all things live to Him As our Saviour said that Little Children had their Angels which beheld the Face of God in Heaven So it is most true that each Fleshly Appearance hath its Spirit in which it lives with and to God Every Beast or Stone hath its Angel in which it is comprehended after a living manner and by which it is governed Every Angel hath its Spirit in Jesus Christ in which itself is again comprehended after a Divine manner and by which it is entirely managed Thus the Spirits of all things are in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of every Creature which is the Scepter that sways it the Lawâ—giver to it is in the haâ—d of the Spirit of Christ and goes forth from between his Feet If then thou wouldst be in League with all things and at Peace with them be thou One Spirit with Jesus Christ so all Things and Times shall be One Spirit with thee and this Unity of Spirit is the Bond of Peace To be Spiritually-minded is Life and Peace Rom. 8. 6. If thou wouldst live comfortably take hâ—â—d of dwâ—lling in the Fleshly Tabernacle in the Fleshly Savour and rellish of things Let thy understanding and Soul abide in the Spirit of God So thou shalt converse always every where with lively and lovely Objects All things round about thee within thee without thee shall have Life and a Harmony a Tuneableness with themselves and with thy Spirit a Peace-fulness in their Life All things shall have an Angelical Life and Sweetness to thee as they have to the Elect Angels All things shall have a Divine Life and Sweetness to thee as they have to God This is the First thing in which Satisfaction consists a Sweet League with all things 2. A Satisfactory Rest in this League This is the Second Thing in which the Satisfaction of Spiritual Peace confists Es. 14. 3. And it shall come to pass in that day the Lord shall give thee Rest from thy Sorrow and from thy Fear and from thy hard Bondage wherein thou wast made to serve Poor Soul while thou livest in the Darkness of Fleshly things
the Angels and all the Spirits of Just men the General Assembly of all Glorious Spirits meet on Mount Sion which is a Spirit that cannot be toucht with hands The Person of thy Saviour is such a Spiritual Substance He can come into thy Closet thy Bosom thy Heart He can dwell in the same Body in the same Soul with thee in the most Inward Parts in every Part of Both and yet take up no more Room The Word which is Christ is within thee even in thy Heart and in thy Mouth in the most Inward and most Outward Part. All of Man and every Creature is either Heart or Mouth an Indrawing or an Out-driving Power the Inward Principle or the Out-ward Appearance Our Saviour divides the whole Man into Heart and Mouth when He tells us that Nothing which enters into the Mouth defiles a Man but that which comes forth from the Heart Jesus Christ is a Spirit in thy Heart and in thy Mouth He pierceth to the Bottom of the most Secret Principle of Life and Being in thee He is as Inward with That and Thee as That is with Thee He passeth quite through all over the Bredth and Length of that Body that Appearance in which thou walkest He makes it His Clothing as it is Thine This is the First Power of a Spirit 2. Power Receiving A Spirit receives other Things into self as Inwardly as Entirely as It conveys itself into Them We read of the Depths of Satan Rev. 2. 24. of the Deep Things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. We read of a Pit for the Devil which can be no other than a Spirit of Darkness and Wrath in himself or in God Rev. 20. 3. We read of Chambers for the Saints Es. 26. of a House and Mansions for them above which can be no other than Spirits of Grace and Glory in God A Spirit hath an Opening and a Depth in itself into which it can receive all things without any Breach in it self An Evil Spirit hath its Pit into which it taketh in and swalloweth up whatever it taketh hold of A Good Spirit hath its Chambers and Mansions its Retreats and Abodes in it self for what Guests it pleaseth to admit or draw in Abide in me saith Iesus Christ to his Disciples Iob. 15. 4. As every Thing may be a Temple to a Spirit Your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. As a Saint is the Temple of Christ So a Spirit may be a Temple to any Thing So the Lord Iesus is a Temple into which the Saints may at all times enter and have Communion with God Destroy this Temple and in three days I will build it again This he spoke of his Body John 2. 21. The Body of Christ was a Temple shut up with a Vail before it while it was Natural But when it was made Spiritual by the Resurrection it was the most Holy place set open for thee to come into it and never to go out more Heb. 9. 1 3 8. Flesh is a mere Shadow which can only touch upon Things but can take in Nothing A Spirit is the Life and hath a Depth in it for which it is compared to Water This is the Second Power of a Spirit 3. Power Uniting The Spirit is the Band of Unity 'T is true of every Spirit so far as it hath the Nature of a Spirit in it Bodies in Flesh are Divided and Broken things being held together only so far as they are Bound up in One Spirit Bodies in Flesh converse with all things at a Distance in a Divided Manner Our Saviour is said to take away the Wall of Partition in his own Flesh when he crucified the Flesh in himself for Himself and the whole World Eph. 2. 14. A Spirit is Uncapable of Division being One in it self and making all things One with it which it takes in or converses with Spirits are compared to Flames Heb. 1. As Flames they lick up into themselves and Incorporate as it were with themselves whatever they light upon or work upon So the Power which caught up Eliah was represented by a Chariot of Fire It was as a Chariot because it took him into it self It was a Fire because it took him up into the Fellowship of One Life Glory and Spirit with it self This is the First Answer to that Question which asketh What we understand by the Person of Christ when we speak of his comprehending us 2. Answer Christ is the Highest Spirit He is Lord of all We read 2 Cor. 4. the last words thus the Spirit of the Lord. It is in Greek the Spirit the Lord. Jesus Christ is the supreme Spirit that Spirit which is Lord of All. The Majesty of our Saviour's Person consists in this that he is that Spirit which hath the most Absolute Power over all Spirits Persons and Things together with the most comprehensive Greatness A Spirit is like a Prospect the Higher it is the more Commanding and Comprehensive it is 3. Answer Christ is the Brightest Spirit He is the Brightness of the Father's Glory Heb. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Out-shining All the Effusion of Beams from the Godhead is through the Person of Christ. All the Beams meet within the Compass of that Person We before cited a Place of Scripture which calls the Spirit A Band of Unity The Lord Jesus is that Spirit in which all the Goings forth of the God-head are united as a Knot of Beams a Band a Bundle of Divine Irradiations or Manifestations This Blessed Person and Spirit is the Highest the clearest Light which as a Garden-bed discloseth and exposeth all things to view in the most natural naked and distinct manner This is the Word which being spoken all things are exprest Heb. 4. 12 13. The Word of God is lively All things are naked and bare before him with whom we have to do 4. Answer The Person of Christ is the First and Fountain-Spirit The Second Adam is a Quickning Spirit a Life-giving or Life-making Spirit All Spirits Persons and Things that have Life or are from Life they are in this Spirit as Waters in their Fountain They are in Him Primarily and Eminently They are in Him more truly than they are in themselves For they derive that which they are in themselves from Him 5. Answer Christ is the Image of God Col. 1. 15. He is the Image of the Invisible God But you may say that every thing is an Image of God one way or another It is true for St. Paul saith that the Invisible things of God are made manifest by the things that are made Rom. 1. 20. Therefore the meaning of St. Paul in that other place is that He is the Image the Full Image the Proper the Perfect Image of God All the Workings and Manifestations of God are in this Blessed Spirit and that according to their several States with their Proper Distinctions Otherwise the Image were Imperfect All the Discoveries of God are in
the Running out of Things from the Glory of God the breaking of the Harmony of Divine Love Beauty and Wisdom by a Discord Sorrow is the Return of Things into this Glory the bringing of the Discord into a Harmony again Both these Evils are the Matter of Spiritual Mourning 1. The Evil of Sin We are to grieve for the Evil of Sin in our selves and in others 1. We are to grieve for Sin in our selves Psa. 51. 3. David cryes to God I acknowledge my transgression my sin is before me When Sin appears in its right shape to us it brings forth sorrow as its Image in our souls as naturally as the face of God begets a face of Joy in our hearts Mourning is as the Mouth by which we confess our corruptions It is the Image and Form in which the sense of guilt holds forth it self in the Spirit He that grieves and glories not in the Glory of God calls Good Evil and Light Darkness He that is merry and mourns not under guilt he calls Evil Good and Darkness Light Both lye under a Curse one for turning the Glory of God into a Lye the other for Boasting himself in a Lie against the Truth Not to feel a Sorrow for Sin is to deny the Nature of it to destroy the Person of Christ to make void his Cross to confound and dissolve the Mystery of God 2. We are to grieve for Sin in others Psal. 119. 53. David complains Horrour hath taken hold of me because of the Wicked that forsake thy Law When the Sun the Light of the World laboureth under an Eclipse by the Moon the Sight of it naturally strikes a kind of Horrour upon the Spirits of Men. For it portends Blood and Ruine in one Kind or another In each Sin there is a more Dreadful Eclipse The Image of God which is the True Life and Light of all Creatures laboureth and groaneth being opprest under and darkned by the Image and will of Man He that understands this Sight sees in it a certain Presage of Wrath and Desolation which fills him with Astonishment Ephes. 4. 30. Grieve not saith St. Paul the Holy Spirit of Christ. Sin grieves the Spirit of Christ. As Jesus Christ Sympathizeth and Suffereth with us having a fellow-feeling of our Infirmities by a Union of Spirits So a good man hath a Sympathy and fellow-feeling with his Saviour when he sees his Spirit grieved by the Sins of other men Thus we are to Mourn for the First Evil the Evil of Sin 2. The Evil of Suffering We are to mourn for our own Sufferings and the Sufferings of others 1. We are to mourn for our own Sufferings Es. 22. 12. In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and to mourning What Day was this It was a Day of Calamity when Death was before their Eyes So you may see at the 13th verse They said Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die The Providences and Appearances of God are his Language in which he speaks to us God requires of us that we should have an Ear to hear and a Tongue to answer him in his own Language It is said in one place that the Heaven should hear the Earth Is it not much more fit then that the Earth should hear the Heavens The Heavens are the Image of God the Heart of Man is the Earth Shall God speak to us in Wrath and Ruine and shall not we hear and answer him with Fear and Trembling Shall God speak to us in Thunder Storms and Blood And shall not we hear and answer him with Tears and Broken Hearts 2. We are to mourn for the Sufferings of Others 2 Corin. 11. 2 9. Who saith St. Paul is sick and I am not afflicted who is offended and I burn not Every good Man is like his God and Father All Things are his because he is the Spouse of Christ the Child and Heir of God one Spirit with Christ and God So he suffers in all As St. Paul said I make up the Sufferings of Christ in my Flesh So saith he All Things that Suffer add to my Sorrows and make up my Sufferings in their Flesh. A good Man is One spirit with Christ. Thus he is like Christ a Spirit of Univeral Sweetness which longs and labours to bring forth itself in Peace and Pleasures every where When it meets with a Soul shut up in Griefs it is straitned and afflicted there and burns like a Fire to be at liberty in that Heart This Spirit suffers with each Heart till it can make every Heart to rejoyce with itself It is never entirely Risen from the Dead while there is any one in the Grave of Sorrows That One is a Member of its Body and it is ever present with the whole Body being all of itself in every Part of that all in the Sorrows of the Militant and Suffering Part as truly as it is all in the Joys of the Triumphant and Rejoycing Part. This is the Matter of our Mourning Evil in both kinds of Sin and Suffering 2. The manner of our Mourning This is the Second Particular My way in this shall be to give you some Distinctions and then some Rules drawn from those Distinctions The Distinctions are Three First of the Appearances of God Secondly of the State of Things Thirdly of the Life of Man 1. Distinction of the Appearances of God These are Two-fold 1. The Supream 2. Subordinate Appearance 1. The Supream Appearance of God is One Blessed for ever perfect in Glory Unchangeable This is Jesus Christ the same Yesterday to Day and for Ever Heb. 13. 8. This is that Heavenly Image of the God-Head which gathers up into one in itself all Images of things in all Times David speaks of this Psal. 16. 11. In thy Presence or Face is fulness of Joy at thy Right Hand are pleasures for evermore In these words are Four Things 1. The Presence or Face and the Right Hand of God Both these expressions signify God in his Naked Highest and Rightest Appearance 2. Pleasures are here doubly exprest by Joy and Pleasures 3. There is Perfection in those Pleasures a Fulness of Joy This fulness intimates a Solidity or Substantiality of Joy for the kind and Abundance and Satisfactoriness for Degree 4. A Perpetuity is added to all this The Pleasures are for evermore This is the Description of God in his Supream Appearance in which there is all Variety but no Mixture all Communion and Communication but no Chance This Appearance is Light without any Darkness 2. The Subordinate Appearance of God is Manifold God in this respect is called the Lord of Hosts because he comes forth in an Army of Appearances which are his Ten Thousand Chariots his Millions of Angels God in his Supream Appearance is Light in his Subordinate Appearance a Fire He is in this Appearance a Mixture of Light and Darkness He hath various effects Cherishing and Consuming Drawing forth all Things and
Power of God making themselves first the Tree of the Curse on which all the Principles and Spirits of this world must hang Then the Tree of Life bringing forth the Fruits of Paradise and the Third Heaven Every care or cross in a Saint is this Cross of his Saviour sprouting in his Person The Lord Jesus lies hid in each Tear in each sigh of a Holy Spirit He is there as the Seed falling into the Earth and Dying By this Death he delivers himself from Death in thy Heart and breaks out on every side into Discoveries of his Grace and Glory Say of thy Trouble why art thou cast down O my Soul This is that Death of my Saviour in me by which he destroys the power of Death in my Spirit Sin and the Devil This is the way in which thou shalt praise him and see him swallowing up the Principle of Darkness in Darkness that he may bring forth himself in the Light of his Countenance to be the Light of thy Countenance I have been the larger in this Objection that so I may be the more clearly understood both in this and in the following Particulars Whatever mention is made of any Beauty or Grace in a Saint is not to be imputed to the Saint but to the Grace and Face of Jesus Christ in him so is the Excellency or Efficacy of our mourning the Discovery of our dying Saviour in it No Persons no Sorrows are Spiritual if they be not one Spirit with Jesus Christ. But thus much for the First limit in the measure of our Sorrows the casting out of Filth 2. Limit The casting down of the Flesh 1 Cor. 9. 27. I saith the Apostle keep under my body and bring it into Subjection The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I beat it black and blew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I make it to serve The end and so the bound of Humiliation is First to bring down the Principle of the Natural Man into a Principle of Darkness that it may no more put forth itself in its own Light and Life Secondly it is to subdue that Principle to the Heavenly Principle that it may be quite slain in itself and revived in the Spiritual Man a Spiritual Principle Rom. 7. 24. St. Paul calls the Natural Man this body of Death or the body of this Death It is a body of Death in a Two-fold sense First Thy Outward Man is the shadow of Death cast upon thy Spirit It is the Valley of the Shadow of Death thorow which thou walkest here below Thou art in the Body sunk down to the borders of Death being already come within the shadow of it The whole face of things upon thy Person and round about thee is a dead Image and the Image of Death For he who hath the Power of Death hath entred into it with his Principality and taken away the true Life of it setting it up now as an Appearance in and of himself Secondly Thy Outward Man is a Body of Death because it is appointed to Death The Body by one Death hath brought it self out of the Divine Life into the Power of Darkness into a Hellish Root Now by another Death it must be broken off from this Root and brought back again into an Eternal Stock Our mourning then must last while we are in the Body of this Death till this be no more this Body but perish in Death The Devil cast us out of our Innocency and from the face of God he set up himself by setting up the Natural Man in it self We were turn'd out of Paradise when we came into this Body which is now the Beast's skin Again By the Ruine of the Natural Man we must raise the Building of God and cast down the Devil By putting off the Beast's skin by the dissolution of the Tabernacle of Beasts skins in Death we return into Paradise We are therefore to go mourning to our Graves 3. Limit The clearing of the face of God towards us Matth. 9. 15. Our Saviour tells the Jews That his Disciples could not fast while the Bridegroom was with them But the Bridegroom should be taken away And then they should fast in those days The Face of God in Jesus Christ is the Soul's Bridegroom Who that is the Bride of this Bridegroom can take joy in any thing when this Face is withdrawn and hid from him Shall not our Souls fast from the Freedom and Fulness of Natural Delights when our Spirits are made to fast from the Beauties and Delicacies of Jesus Christ This is the season of Mournning It is now beautiful to see a holy Soul Widow-like with a Vail upon the face of all her Glory and Content when her God is gone a great Journey from her What can she do but mourn when he is absent who was the Light of her Eyes the Anointing of her Face and Head What can set an end to her mournings till he return and wipe away all Tears from her Eyes by setting himself in the Eye of her Spirit Psal. 30. 7. Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled saith David Will it not be Winter when your Sun is gone Can you expect a Spring till he turns toward your Earth again Is it not the Presence of the Lord Jesus that makes all things fresh and full of Beauty round about thee When he is withdrawn who was the Image of God in them do not all things droop and languish in thine Eyes Canst thou then chuse but languish with them If the Lord Jesus be the Root of thy Spirit and his Spirit the Sap of thy Comforts thou wilt grieve in his absence without arguments to persuade thee to it as naturally as Flowers nipt with Frosts hang the head Nay no arguments will be able to raise thee to any degree of chearfulness except he come and make himself the argument When thy Corruptions like Fogs from the Earth have gathered into Clouds which hide the Heaven of thy Lords Face from thee weep then till these Clouds be again dissolv'd by the Showers of thy Tears and so thy Jesus again discover himself over thee as a clear sky I have done with the Third particular in the Nature of Spiritual mourning which was the measure of it 4. The Mystery The Mystery of every thing is in God Ephes. 3. 9. the Mystery hid in God who created all Things by Jesus Christ. This is the Mystery of Things their ground their beginning and end in the Person of God and Christ. Neither can we be Spiritual in any thing any further than we see the Mystery of it and stand in the Mystery The Mystery of a holy Grief is Threefold 1. Mystery Conformity to Iesus Christ. 2. Mystery Complyance with the Will of God 3. Mystery The Compleating of our Persons 1. Mystery Conformity to Jesus Christ. We read Ephes. 1. 4 5. that we were chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the world We were predestinated to the Adoption of Children by
Superiour and Inferiour One above Another below In that above is the Fountain of Pleasure from thence the stream descends which makes that below ever-green and flourishing with delights Eden signifies Pleasure or Delight which name in another word is given to Christ as he was eternally in the bosom of the Father Prov. 8. 30. I was by him one brought up with him Delights from day to day Jesus Christ in his Heavenly Image in the Substance and Essence of the eternal Light is Eden the Paradise above In his earthly Image the sweet Shade where all his Beauties seem at once to sleep and spring he is the Paradise below There is he the Eden and the Fountain in the midst of Eden Here the Garden watered by the River going forth from Eden A good Heart hath in itself both these Paradises the Fountain and the Stream Eden and the Garden Cant. 4. 15. The Lord Jesus calls his Spouse A Fountain of Gardens a Well of living Waters flowing from Libanon The holy Heart is both the Fountain which makes all things Gardens Paradises which way soever it flows and those Gardens too It is both Libanon with the Fountain in it and the Gardens below in the vallies in the midst of which the Living Waters from this Fountain run along Reasâ—n The Heart is that Spirit which is the first Spring and Principle of Life in man Prov. 4. 23. Keep thine heart with all Diligence For out of it are the Issues of Life All the treasures of this World its Light Forms Vertues operations are first in the Sun From thence they flow forth in various Streams all round about him while yet they are still comprehended in him as being not only their inmost Center but also their outmost Circle of Light and Life So is the Heart or Spirit of Man an Invisible Sun in the midst of him far more great or glorious than this which we see in which all forms and acts of Life like Beams rise up first and fullest from whence they are dispensed and dispersed The Hebrew word to keep imports a double sense 1st Diligently observe thine Heart what Spirit or Principle it is by which thou art acted Such as this is such is thy whole Life If thy Heart be a Substantial true pure Spirit thy whole way and work all thy Joyes are Substance Truth Light Immortality as the Visions of God If the Heart which is in thee be shadowy thy Life is vain and empty the dream of a shadow Is thy heart corrupt and polluted then are all thy Streams poisoned death lurks and sports itself in them with an innumerable company of Devils 2. Keep that is preserve thine own thy true Heart with all diligence Abide in Christ and his Love as the only root of Life from whence alone spring the sap greennesses flowers fruits of true Sweetnesses Beauty and Blessedness Watch day and night that no other Spirit put forth itself in thee for every other Principle besides Christ and his Love will certainly prove a Counterfeit and instead of a Heart out of which the Issues of Life ought to be a root of bitterness There is a Twofold Heart 1. Natural 2. Spiritual 1. There is a Natural Heart This is the supream part of the natural Soul the Angelical Spirit in Man 1 Thes. 5. 23. St. Paul prayes The very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the natural Man divided into three parts which are equally capable of being sanctified or by defilement made subject to blame 1. Spirit 2. Soul 3. Body The Spirit is as the Fountain the Soul the Stream of Life The Body the Channel in which this Stream runs along The whole Man is one Beam sprung immediately from the Divine Glory The upper end of the Beam where it is fullest and brightest immediately united to and rooted in the supream Light makes the Spirit The lowest point least and darkest almost vanishing into the Shade with which it mingles its light where it toucheth the Earth is the Body The Soul is the middle of that Beam partaking of both these dividing and uniting them like the Firmament between the Waters above and the Waters below the Angels being the Waters above the Firmament and Corporeal Lives those below The Spirit is the Angel in Man or Man in the Similitude and Society of Angels the invisible Image the first Treasury of all his Natural Beings Beauties and Life which afterward descends and distinguisheth itself into the varieties of Inferiour Acts and Appearances St. Paul therefore in the forementioned place calls it their whole Spirit The Body is the Outward and Visible Image the Shadow below of this above The Soul is the Life by which the Spirit descends into the Body maintains communion with it and gathers it up again into itself According to these Distinctions and Descriptions Solomon discourseth Eccles. 12. 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it The name of God there signifies Gods or Angels for whom it is frequently and expresly used in the Holy Scripture The Jews say it properly imports the Divine Nature as it is cloathed with the Angelical God in the midst of all his Holy Angels coming forth into the Creation descending to be the Head of it It is an English Proverb If men could live without the company of Women men they should converse with Angels This is true when the Spirit which is the Head and the Man in us withdraws itself from its Shadowy Image the Body which is as the Woman it finds itself in the Form of an Angel and in the Society of Angels From the Angelical State and Company it descends into the Body Thither it returns again when it leaves the Body This is the Natural Heart the Angelical Spirit in Man made in the Similitude of God as he cloaths himself with the Angelical Image as with a Garment of Light and so vailing his naked unaccessible Glories comes forth to be the Head of Angels This Spirit is the Immediate Seat of the Divine Presence the Glory the Angelical Throne Here the precious things of the Sun and the Moon of the Invisible and Visible Image of the Divine Nature here the Riches of the whole Creation appear together in their fullest Lustre and most beautiful Order The Letters of the Latine Name for Heart Cor make the first Letters of those word Camera Omnipotentis Regis which being interpreted are the Chamber of the Almighty King It is a common observation that the Heart of Man is Triangular which therefore cannot be filled with the round World but only with the Trinity This Heart of which we speak is properly Triangular consisting like the Angels of these Three Essence Understanding and Will the proper and Immediate Type of the Trinity which as it can be
fitted and filled up only with the Truth of that Type those Three ever-blessed Persons as their Seal in the noblest mettal next themselves it contains more expresly more at large and more gloriously all those Figures and Draughts of Divinity which are imprinted upon the Face of any Creature O the inestimable Treasures of Mans Natural Heart if Sin change it not from a Palace of Angels to a Prison of Devils or a Grave 2. There is a Spiritual Heart 1 Corin. 6. 16. He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Mark the Absoluteness and Universality of the expression one Spirit He who is joyned to the Lord Jesus by believing is one Spirit with Christ one Spirit in Christ one Spirit as Christ is one Galat 3. 19 20. St. Paul thus distinguisheth between the Law and the Gospel The Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Now a Mediator is not a Mediator of one but God is one There is a Twofold Mediator one who hath his Ground in the Distance and his End to maintain the Distance between Two Parties The other is founded in an Unity and his work is to manifest and make perfect this Unity The Character of the Law is Duality and Division God and the Creature are presented each to other as two upon different Principles treating on a Covenant of works containing different Terms to be performed by each apart In the Gospel God reveals himself as he is One as he is the Ground the Object the End of all his affections and operations as he comprehends himself and the Creature in one Person and in one Spirit in our Lord Jesus as he loves the Creature with the same love with which he loves himself and beholds it in the same Glory with which he beholds himself in Christ. This is the Covenant of Grace in which the Lover and the Beloved are both One You may now ask me two Questions Q. 1. How God is One Q. 2. How a Believer is one Spirit Q. 1. How is God One An. God is one four wayes 1. He is perfect He comprehends all parts of Excellency in every kind and degree Essentially in one supream and undivided Point of Being within himself He is to himself the Eye the Light and the Object the Love the Loveliness the Joy and Fruit of both all in One. The most curious Composition of all Sweets in one Ointment or Perfume The most natural extraction of the vertues of all herbs and flowers into one Sweetness in Hony falls infinitely short of the Unity of all Perfections here and the Perfection of this Unity 2. God is Pure There is no mixture in him As they say of Gold the purest Mettal It is plenum sui full of itself so is God in the highest sense Every grain of pure Gold is Gold Every thing in God is God There is no mixture Division Allay or Bound The Divine Nature is endlesly compleat and entire within itself like a Sea of unshaded Light which hath no shore or Bottom God is Light and in him is no darkness 2 John 1. 5. 3. God is unchangeable He is the Rock unmoveable He is the Rock of ages All successions of Time like Waters of a River pass by him and behold him through all revolutions fixt in the same place and State He is the Rock of Eternity As Wheels turning round in a Cave within a great Rock So all the Times and Changes of this World are comprehended within the Unchangeableness and Eternity of his Essence 4. God is the Fountain He is not a Broken Barren but a perfect and pregnant Unity Rom. 9. 36. Of him and Through him and To Him are all things to whom be Glory for ever As all numbers are a Unity multiplied so are all things various Sparklings of this Divine Unity Emanations and Manifestations of the same God presenting himself to us at sundry times and in divers manners Love is defined to be Partus in pulchro a Birth in a Beauty This is the true nature of things that Divine Love which is the Birth of all Varieties of and in this Beautiful this Blessed Unity 2. Q. How is a Believer one Spirit 1. That One Eternal Spirit brings forth the Spirit of a Saint as his own immediate proper and Peculiar Birth as the dear Reflection of himself A Saint is the Workmanship of Jesus Christ not as a Picture is of a Painter but as a Child is of the Father one Spirit one Life one Divine Nature is in Both. 2. This one Spirit begets and brings forth the Spirit of a Saint in his own likeness Rom. 8. 29. God hath predestinated us to be conformed to the Image of his Son that is to his heavenly Image as he is the quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45 49. The Lord Jesus is our Father the Father of the new World the New Birth in us as he is the Heavenly one that Spirit which is the supream Unity the Lord and Fountain of Life and Spirits So he brings us forth in the Image of the same Heavenly Form and of the same Divine Unity Thus he prays to his Father John 17. 22. The Glory which thou gavest to me I have given to them that they may be One as we are One. Behold the Divine Birth of a Saint the Divine Likeness into which he is born and the Divine Unity the Ground and Form of the Divine Birth and Likeness 3. The Eternal Spirit unites itself to the Spirit of a Believer thus regenerated in the most Intimate Entire and Inseparable manner They mutually inhabit fully possess perfectly enjoy each other In life and death time and eternity they are undivided Thus this Heavenly Adam the Unity and Fountain of Spirits casts himself into the sleep of Humane Life and of Death that he may bring forth from his Side and his Bosom this Sister-Spirit this true Eve the Mother of all Living of all Heavenly and Spiritual Lives as he is the Father Then when he awakens in the Resurrection from the Dead he takes her to be his Spouse as she is his Sister in the Fellowship of the Divine Unity which is the glorious Ring and Circle of all Relations So she who is Spirit of his Spirit in the likeness of the same Spirit is made one Spirit with him Thus you have an Answer to these two Questions You see how God is One How he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit O that men knew God unvailed revealed in the Light and Grace of the Gospel as he is One O that they they did rellish the Sweetness of this Unity of the Spirit which is the height of all Relations by which God is one to a Believer in all times and things one in him one with him by which he also is one to in and with God! This sight and sense would make us to be continually in Pangs of longings to be regenerated and brought forth into this Spirit and Unity as Jesus Christ is
Prize under which all the Troop march for which they fight to which and under which the whole Troop is gathered together The Beauty and Loveliness of Christ's Person is the Banner spread over all things under which in the force of which for which all things move in their several courses to which the gathering together of All shall be The Instinct of this is All Love The Possession and Springing forth of this All Joy We read in the Acts of an Altar with an Inscription To the unknown God St. Paul preaching upon this Text telleth the Athenians Him whom ye ignorantly worship preach I unto you meaning Christ. In the whole frame of Nature every Heart every Creature every Affection every Action is an Altar with the same kind of Inscription To the Unknown Beauty To the Unknown Jesus This is the Mark the White which every Being in nature ignorantly moveth to which every motion ignorantly aimeth at this is that which all Understandings all Loves ignorantly worship esteem and adore this Beauty of Jesus Christ concerning which we now speak Blessed are your hearts O Believers which are Spiritual Altars with the Person of Christ engraven upon them by the finger of God flaming with the fire of an heavenly Love and bearing this Inscription To the known Beauty of that Jesus whom we know whose Person our Eyes have seen our Ears have heard our Hands have handled the Arms of our Spirits have embraced I come now from the Proof to the Reasons of the Doctrine which are four 1. Iesus Christ is Beauty in its Original 2. He is the Perfection of Beauty 3. He hath all the Parts of Beauty most compleat in his Person 4. All Beauty is derived from him Reas. 1. The Person of Christ is Beautiful in its Original He is the First so the Highest and Best Beauty Heb. 1. 3. Christ is said to be The Brightness of the Glory of God Four things go to make up the Glory of God 1. Excellency 2. Excellency at the height 3. An Union of all Excellencies reflecting upon imparting themselves to each other All center themselves in the bosom of every one All see themselves living and shining in the face each of other as in a living Looking-glass Our Beloved is that Image into which this Glory so brings forth it self that it is One with it self Brightness implies three things 1. Glory at the Height as Light in the Sunshine 2. Glory appearing Glory in an Image 3. Glory in its Purity The Person of our Jesus is such an Image as is the Glory itself a Deep of Glory a pure unmixt unconfined infinite Glory He is an Image of so clear Glory so One with the Glory that All the God-Head appears in Him and nothing of it can hide itself from being seen there The Person of Christ is the Essential and Eternal Glory of the God-Head in its own proper Form in which it may be seen by Spiritual Eyes in which it may be a heavenly Bridegroom capable of being possessed embraced and enjoyed by the Spiritual Bride the Wife of this Lamb without spot or blemish Can any soul that hath had the least glympse of this Mine this Mass of Glory the Blessed Person of Christ be so treacherous like Judas as to value him at and sell him for thirty pieces of silver the Riches of this world Can any Spirit upon whose inward Eye the least Beam of his Beauty hath faln be so prophane as Esau was to sell his Birthright his Inheritance in this Kingdom of Beauty the Glorious Person of his God and Saviour for a Mess of Pottage for sensual satisfactions for a lust for a shadowy life on Earth It is added Heb. 1. 3. That He is the express Image of His namely God the Father's Substance or Person True Beauty is defined to be the proper and native Image of some True Good The True Beauty calls and allures all hearts to it The True Good gives them rest in the bosom of that Beauty Beauty is Goodness visible Good is the Invisible Spring and Center in that Beauty God is the First and Supreme Good Jesus Christ then who is the Express Image of His Substance and Person in whom He is figured after the most exact and lively manner is the First and Supreme Beauty God the Father is the First and Supreme Good as the God-Head in the Root Jesus Christ is the First and Supreme Beauty as the God-Head in the Flower springing out of and standing in the Bosom of its Root having all the virtues of the Root in clear and full figures forming themselves most gloriously and most amiably upon it The Holy Spirit is the First the Supreme Love and Joy as the God-Head in the Fruit in which all the precious virtues of the Root all the lively and lovely Beauties of the Flower are tasted feasted upon and enjoyed To make our Esteem Admiration Adoration and Love yet greater we must also observâ— that these Three in the Divine Nature in the Person of Christ the Root the Flower and the Fruit are inseparable they all mutually comprehend each other that every One may be perfect having the Other Two entire in it self Ho! every one that sitteth under the shadow of any melancholy any grief or fear that saith who will shew us the True Good Who will shew us Beauty indeed or where the place of Love is Who will make us to drink of the Fountain of Joy Come hither to the Person of Christ. But come boldly stand not without the Vail press into the Holy of Holies come near to the Person of Christ himself Come past all shadows of Glory come to the brightness of Glory the naked Person of your Jesus Here shall your Eyes be satisfied with Beauty your Souls shall rest in Goodness you shall take your fill of Love and Joy Reas. 2. The Person of Christ is the perfection of Beauty Psal. 50. 2. From Sion the Perfection of Beauty God shall shine There are three Things which I would make clear to you in this Scripture 1. That Sion is the Third Person in the Trinity the Holy Spirit 2. That the Perfection of Beauty is a description of the Second Person the Lord Jesus 3. Why these two are so joyned as if one only were meant This verse hath a deep Mystery of Divinity in it Glorious Persons are contained here But there is a Vail of borrowed Names from inanimate things upon them It will be worth your time and patience to stay a while at this place to search into the Mystery to take off the Vail and discover the Beauty 1. I think it will be plain to every understanding that the blessed Spirit is figured by Mount Sion if you compare three Scriptures Gal. 4. 26. Jerusalem above is free which is the Mother of us all Gal. 4. 28 29. We Brethren are the Children of the Promise as Isaac As therefore it was then so it is now he that is born after the Flesh
persecuteth him that is born after the Spirit In the First of these verses Jerusalem above is said to be the Mother of us all In the Second these All us are expounded to be the Children of Promise In the Third verse the same persons are described by being born after the Spirit This Phrase of being born after the Spirit is fully explained by that of Jesus Christ from whence it seemeth to be taken John 3. That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit To be born after the Spirit and of the Spirit signifie both the same thing Is it not then evident that the Jerusalem above which is free which is the mother of all the Spiritual Seed is the Eternal Spirit after which a Saint is born that is of this Spirit and in the Image of this Spirit where there is Liberty 2 Corin. 4. Now lay the Third Scripture by these two Heb. 12. 22. We are come to Mount Sion the Heavenly Hierusalem the City of the living God to the Millions of Angels the general Assembly to the Church of the First-born written in Heaven to the Spirits of just men made perfect to God to Jesus Christ. Before we Saw Hierusalem above and the Spirit now we see Mount Sion and the Heavenly Hierusalem to be the same Is it not then an infallible demonstration that Sion and the Holy Spirit are One as the Type and the Truth Can any other be the living City of the living God where all the Holy Angels the First-born of the Father the Spirits of all Saints as well on Earth as in Heaven Jesus Christ in his Mediatory Kingdom the Father upon the Throne of Judicature meet and appear together in the full liberty of Eternal Light Love and Joy besides the Unity of the Spirit which is the Sweet and Sacred band between the two Glorious Persons in the Trinity between all pure Spiritual Divine Beings above and below This is the Spring and Immortal Seat of them all 2. We have in this place another Person set forth by this bright and lovely Character the Perfection of Beauty We may discover our own Beloved and Bridegroom the Lord Jesus under this Title if we bring to it the Lights of two other Scriptures shining like this by his Appearance in them In Heb. 1. 3. He is stiled the Brightness of Glory Is not this the same as to say The Perfection of Beauty 2 Corin. 4. 6. God hath shined in our hearts unto the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face or Person of Jesus Christ Can Face answer Face in a Glass more exactly than these Two Scriptures answer one another In both you have God God shining in one you have God shining from the Perfection of Beauty in the other God shining with a Light of Glory in the Face or Person of Christ. God in all the Creatures whether they be Visible or Invisible casts forth Shadows only of Himself Then he appeareth in the Perfection of Beauty when he appeareth in the Person of Christ as Light in the Body of the Sun 3. But why are these two so joyned as if they were the same Thing from Sion the perfection of Beauty I will not examine whether we may not disjoyn them in reading by putting in between them and or in Particles frequently understood from Sion and or in the Perfection of Beauty God shineth This needeth not There is plainly a difference between the English and the Hebrew The Hebrew runneth word for word thus From Sion from the Perfection of Beauty God hath shined So you have the Three Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity clearly distinguished and united in this shining of the God-Head The Father shineth from the Spirit his holy hill of Sion from the Person of Christ the Perfection of Beauty These Two Persons are placed here as One in Another a Globe of Light in a Globe of Light and the Father shining from them both to awaken in us this great and glorious Truth that the Persons of the Sacred Trinity have their Perfection in each other and are ever undivided when they appear nakedly in their proper Forms The whole Trinity is the Crown of Beauty upon every one of them In particular Jesus Christ never appears as the Perfection of Beauty but when he and the Spirit appear both in One 2 Cor. 3. from the 14th to the end you read of a vail upon the Face of Moses the Person of Christ in the Type then of a vail upon the Hearts of the Jews These are both the same vail For the vail is never upon the Person of Christ properly and simply but upon the Eye of our Spirits as the Cloud is never upon the Body of the Sun but upon our Corporeal Eyes For as that doth in the midst of its world so doth the Person of Christ in the midst of all things ever comprehend and contemplate himself and all things in the simple and pure Light of his own naked Beauties But then in the same place we read that the Vail is taken away in Christ and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty that is freedom from the Vail Christ is seen unvailed in his naked Glories It is added Now the Lord is that Spirit Then mention is made in the last verse of beholding the Glory of the Lord with open Face that is Eye to Eye the naked Eye of our Souls to the naked Eye of his Beauties every Spirit being all Eye The verse is closed thus as by the Spirit of the Lord or more agreeably to the Greek as of the Lord the Spirit I have alledged all this to make it plain to you and to seal it upon your understandings and memories that Jesus Christ is then only seen in his true Person and shape without a vail when he is seen in the Spirit when Christ and the Spirit are seen as two distinct Persons in One. Sion the Type of the Spirit signifieth Vision Hierusalem the Figure of the same Spirit the Heavenly Hierusalem is by interpretation the Heavenly Vision of Heavenly Perfection and Peace The Lord Jesus is the Perfection of Beauty the Heavenly Harmony of all things the Peace of all Hearts and Desires The Person of the Spirit is the Heavenly Vision of this Heavenly Perfection By the way observe that the Holy Ghost speaks in this 50 Psal. of the Day of Judgement the Second and last Coming and Appearance of our Lord and Saviour after which he shall go away and disappear no more See here what manner of Appearance this is in what State in what Form the King of Glory comes to the Marriage of his Bride and to reign upon the Earth He comes in a Spiritual and Divine Form in the Person of the Spirit The Eternal Spirit is an anointing of Beauty upon the whole Person of our Beloved He again is a Sun of Beauty looking forth in the Person of Spirit Nay the
murmurings whisperings hard thoughts evil speakings or any such thing Heaven is not now open upon you neither do you see Jesus as he comes up out of the Baptism of his Sufferings into a Resurrection of Glory with the Eternal Spirit in the Form of a Dove in a Form of Love resting upon him The Priests in the Temple were Morning and Evening to trim the Lamps in the Golden Candlestick by pouring in fresh Oil that the Light might not go out by day nor by night Your Persons O ye Saints are the Temple your Spiritual and Divine part the Golden Candlestick the Heavenly Person of your beloved is the Light in the Lamps of this Candlestick If you would preserve this Light of Glory continually shining in you be continually pouring in from that vessel of Love the Heart of the Father fresh Love which is the Golden Oyl of the Spirit in which the Life and Light of the Divine Nature burneth and shineth eternally But to conclude my discourse concerning these Three Sins The Scripture saith Covetousness is Idolatry We make an Idol of every Image besides the Lord Jesus alone which we set up in our Hearts as real and excellent to bow down our Souls to it by our esteem and affection Every Idol hath its Devil in it St. Paul saith plainly What the Gentiles Sacrifice to Idols they Sacrifice to Devils You cannot eat of the Table of the Lord which is his Glorified Person to feast upon the Delicacies of his Beauties set before your Spirits there and eat of the Table of Devils which is this world to feed upon the Dainties of the Flesh here You cannot drink of the cup of the Lord which is his Spirit to take in the Wine of Spiritual Sweetnesses from this and drink of the Cup of Devils which is the Spirit of this World to swallow down the riches and pleasant things of that 2 Pet. 2. 13 14. We read of Spots at the Feasts of the Saints who are those that have Eyes full of Adultery St. Jude expoundeth those Feasts to be Feasts of Charity that is Love-Feasts which were Joyned with the Supper of the Lord. The Appearances of Christs Person in the Visible Angelic l Divine Images are our several Love-Feasts An adulterous Eye in the moral sense which looketh upon any visible Object after an undue manner is a Spot upon the First Love-Feast The adulterous Eye in a legal sense which looketh upon any Fleshly or visible Figure of things is a Spot upon the Second The adulterous Eye which setteth its Love upon Created Forms on Earth or in Heaven is a Spot upon the Last and best Love-Feasts All these Spots are Clouds upon the Person and stains upon the Beauty of Christ which at once dishonour and grieve him darken and defile us making us unworthy and uncapable of his blessed Appearances to us As an adulterous Eye of Lust so the blood-shot Eye of Wrath is unable to look upon this Heavenly Object or to bear the brightness of his Glory I will wind up this Use with this solemn adjuration and charge If there be such a Person as our Jesus if this Person have such unsearchable Treasures of Beauty and Joy in it if the presence and appearance of this King in his Beauty as a Bridegroom as a Spiritual Sun in the hearts of the Saints be no dream or fancy but the very Spirit and Truth and Life of the Gospel I adjure and charge you all his Saints by the Hinds and Roes of the Field by the lovely Person of your Christ by the pleasantness of his Appearances in you that laying aside Covetousness casting away all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit putting off all Wrath Malice Envyings and evil speakings you fix your Eye upon fill your Souls with the Beautiful and blessed Person of the Lord Jesus This is your own Fountain Drink waters from this Fountain alone Behold your selves one another all things in the Light of this Person of these Beauties as they lie here as they are comprehended in this fairest greatest and most Divine Image of all Loveliness Christ is the Truth The Appearance of things in the sweet Light of his lovely Person is True This is that Truth which if you walk in it shall dwell with you for ever shining with a precious and living lustre in the darkest places of Sorrow or Death In this Truth live at peace live in love within your selves with one another with all things So the God of Peace and Love shall be with you Amen Reas. 3. I now come to the Third Reason of the Doctrine our Lord Jesus is the fairest of all things because he hath all the parts of Beauty compleat and entire in his person That work with my own Spirit and with all Spirits which is my design and delight is to woo them for Christ and espouse them as chast Virgins to Christ. Eccles. 12. 10. We read that the Preacher sought out acceptable words and the words which he found out were upright Solomon was a figure of Christ in glory King in the Hierusalem above This Glorious Person is the Preacher the Text and the Sermon Acceptable words in the Original Language are words of delight as you may see in the Margin If ever it be fit to seek out pleasant and delightful words it is on this Subject when we treat of the Lord Jesus and his Beauties If ever it be necessary to take care to speak right words it is now when we speak of him whose Person is the Center from which all the lines of the Gospel of Evangelical Truths Graces Comforts Glories Spirits are drawn into which they all run in which they all meet My endeavour therefore is that all my discourses may be steps from one Scripture to another that by the explications and applications of these I may enlighten your minds to the sight and warm your affections to the love of these Blessed and Heavenly Beauties There are four Parts of which all Beauty consisteth 1. Variety 2. Harmony in the variety 3. Light in the Harmony 4. Life in that Light These four meet all eminently and transcendently in the highest degree in the Person of our Saviour 1. There is all variety in the Person of Christ. Colos. 1. 19. It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell Observe how St. Paul cometh to this total Sum at the foot of the Account to this Conclusion of all Fulness in Christ. From the 15 th v. to this you have the whole Compass of Things in Nature Grace and Glory From the 15 th to the 18 th you have the Circuit of Nature in the full extent of the Creation with its Creator First there is God as he is the Author of Nature Jesus Christ is the Image of the Invisible God v. 15. Then you have the whole Creation He is the First-born of every Creature or of all the Creation The First-born is the Excellency of Dignity the Excellency of Strength Every
first Sun they shine in the midst of them shine quite thorow them They behold not the Figures ascending like a Pillar of Smoak perfumed with all the Spices of the Apothecary from this golden Altar of Christs glorious Form comprehending them and being ever beneath them how they lose themselves by degrees in the sweet shade of Christs Death how they spring again new in the brightness of his Resurrection how they lie continually in the Original Glory where the whole mystery is entirely comprehended perfected and finisht These men set not their hearts upon this glory of the Father in Christ to make that their Righteousness their Strength and their Song in every other Appearance as in the house of their Pilgrimage They take no pleasure in the joints of all the members in this Divine Body which are Jewels wrought by the hand of a skilful workman this Unity being itself the mysterious joynt every where setting all and binding all together in itself in that Wisdom of God which is this Beautiful Person of whom we speak But enough of this Caution and of the Second Part of Beauty in our beloved the Harmony in the variâ—ty 3. The Third Part is the Light in the Harmony John 8. 12. Our Lord saith of himself I am the Light of the World As the Sun the chief and most glorious Body is the Light of all Corporeal and bodily Beings so this blessed Person of our Saviour the first and best Spirit is the Light of all Spirits the first and most Glorious Form is the Light of all Forms of Things Bodies and Spirits He is the First the Supream the universal Light He is that highest Circle of Light which rideth forth upon every Circle or Beam of Light each point in every Beam Psal. 36. 9. David saith to God In thy Light shall we see Light The Light of the Father is Jesus Christ the express Image and Glory of the Father These words of the Psalmist have Two senses 1. As colours are seen in the light of the Sun so every colour Light and Being the Light of the Sun itself is seen only in the Light of Christs Person as this pure and eternal Sun shineth upon every other Light and Form in it and thorow it 2. Every thing as it is seen in the Light of this Heavenly Form is a precious stone of the new Hierusalem It hath a spark of this everlasting Light which playeth in it and is incorruptible The Sun is changed into Sack-cloath at the presence of an Angel whose Light so much excelleth that of the Sun that it hath no Light when that other Light shineth forth The highest Angels vail their Faces with their Wings lose all their Light and Glory when Jesus Christ appeareth upon the white Throne of his proper Forms and naked Person What manner of Light is this then how pure how full of Glory how unexpâ—essible incomprehensible This Light this Lustre of the God-Head is that Scene that Circle in which all the variety the ravishing Harmony of Things lieth in Christ. This is the Form of his Person 4. The last Part of Beauty in Christ is the Life in the Light Life is a Spring of Beings which maketh every thing fresh and new every moment Newness is attributed to the Spirit The oldness of the Letter and the Newness of the Spirit are opposed one to another because the Spirit is Life Life is the Spring of Motion which is the Chiefest Charm in Beauty and in which all Pleasures consist Jesus Christ John 8. 12. calleth Himself the Light of Life The Person of our King is that Light which is the Flower and Crown of the Divine Life and that life which is the lustre the Sparkling the Perfume of this Crown and Flower He is the Fountain of Life Psal. 36. 9. With thee is the Fountain of Life This Lovely Person is the Fountain of Life in the Bosom and Heart of the Father Himself He is the Quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. The Lord is that Spirit which is in its own Essence and proper Form Life itself in the Fountain where it is most pure most plentiful most powerful most pleasant How do all Varieties of things 〈◊〉 in the Youth of all Beauty in this Fountain of Life How do they renew their youth their Beauties every moment endlesly Into what mutual traffick of Beauties and Sweetnesses into what uncessant Sprightly Pleasant motions what Divine Acts of Love Joy Delight do they spring up How is the Beauty and Joy of All fulfilled in every one How are all the Beauties and Joys of All eternally varied multiplyed and increased when all lye together in this Fountain of Life and every One hath this Fountain of Life in Himself This Person of Christ is the Fountain of the Divine Life that Springing Fulness of the Divine Nature in each Form Here the Father the Supreme Love eternally generateth the Son the Original Beauty Both in the Spirit eternally embrace each other infuse themselves into each other renew themselves each in other which is the First and Universal Joy the Fountain of Delights Use. Make the Single Person of Christ the Sole Ground of your Faith the onely Object of your Love the Fountain of all your Comfort and Ioy. 1. Make the Single Person of Christ the Sole Ground of your Faith Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God Our Jesus in His Spiritual Form of Glory is the Word of God as the Sun itself is Lux the First Light The Scriptures are the Word of God as the Sun-shine Lumen the Secundary Light The First is a Living Light a Light of Life The Second in it self is Light alone without Life Look thorow the outward Word for the Person of Christ. When He cometh in to thy Soul by His Spiritual Appearance He will be a Light of Life in thee at once revealing His Excellencies in thee Giving thee an Eye to see these Excellencies by this Sight Setting them in thine Heart Setting thine Heart upon them as a Root of Faith Esa. 45. 22. Look to me and be saved all ye ends of the Earth saith Jesus from His Throne High and lifted up on which Esay saw Him sitting which is His Divine Form Behold the Person of thy Saviour setteth it self before thee to attract and allure thine Eye by the Light of His Beauties When thou lookest to Him He holdeth thine Heart fast for ever fixt as a Seal upon His Heavenly form by the Fulness of all things Good Great and Glorious in Himself He soweth the seed of his own Form and Fulness in thee by the flowing forth of the Life together with the Light of his Beauties All Objects for Faith to fix upon the answers of all objections against believing the way to believe the power of believing the act of Faith itself with the Sweetness and Fruits of it all these lie folded up in the rich Treasury of Christs Person all these flow in
at its Height is strong as Death cruel as the Grave the flame of it is as the Flame of the Lord. Love and Death both agree in this that they are a separation I protest by my Rejoycing in Iesus Christ I dye dayly saith St. Paul The Love of a Saint to Jesus Christ is a Daily Death a Separation from all created Objects a Retirement out of this whole World visible or invisible into the World of the Blessed that World of Eternal Light and Beauty to be alone with Him and in Him to be inseparably united in One Love in One Loveliness in One Spring and One Stream of Beauties with Him as a Seal upon His Heart as a Seal upon His Arm. Where we read Cant. 8. 6. Love is strong as Death cruel as the grave the coals thereof are coals of Fire which hath a most vehement flame which hath is put in by the Translatours a most vehement Flame is in Hebrew the Flame of Jah of the Lord of Jesus Learn here the Divine Mystery of Love in Death The Death of a Believer a Lover of Christ is Love itself which is the Fire of God burning from the Center of our Spirits from beneath the Foundations of our Natural Being till it have consumed the whole frame of this Creation in us and transformed us into one everlasting Flame with itself till it have separated us from every Form of things into his own Shining and Flourishing Form which is the Person of our Beloved the Temple Palace Paradise of Love of the God-Head which is that Primitive the purest Love 3. Enjoyment This is the Third Step in the Love of Complacency The Intermedling with all Wisdom or all Substance Our Jesus is the only Wisdom Substance and Truth The Fulness of things in Harmony as they make all Beauties and Pleasures in their Substances and Truths as they have the first freshest Glory upon them and are incorrupâ—â—â—e lie in the Person of Christ. The Hebrew word to intermeddle signifieth to mingle with or roul our selves in the midst of all Wisdom and Substance that is in the Bosom of Jesus O believing loving Soul Thy Beloved when He cometh into thy Spirit saith Can. 1. I am come into my Garden my Sister my Spouse I have gathered my Spice I have eaten my Hony with my Hony-Comb I have drunk my Wine and my Milk When thou comest into his Bosom and Spirit say thou to him Now am I come into my Garden my Brother my Bridegroom I gather all pleasant precious and incorruptible Fruits in thy Person together with their Root thy Person So I transplant them into my Spirit and Person I eat of the excellencies of Wisdom which are sweeter to my Soul than Honey is to the Palate I eat them in and with thy Person the essence of Wisdom itself as live Honey with the Honey-comb I drink in my Wine and my Milk the Spirit and Sweetness of thy Divine and Humane Nature of the New Heaven the naked Appearance of the God-Head and the new Earth the Divine Appearance of the whole Creation in thy Spiritual Form Thus I stretch my self at large I roul my self at liberty in the midst of all Beauties and Delights Here I rest in Eternal Ioy with the perfect Complacency of all my Faculties of my whole Spirit Soul and Body in thine Heavenly Person 3. Make the single Person of Christ the Fountain of all thy Comforts 1. Consider that there is indeed such a Jesus so Beautiful Eccl. 11. 7. Solomon telleth us the light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing to behold the Sun If the light of this Heaven be sweet and the sight of this Sun infuse a pleasure into us when we look upon it what is the Light that shineth in the Person of Christ What doth once glance of this Sun of the Divine World How doth it make the heart in our bosom leap to him and dance about him as the Needle to the Loadstone To go forth in a fair Summers day to look upon the green Fields and clear Skie is a refreshing to our Natural Spirits and begetteth a lightsome Joy in us come forth ye dark and melancholy Souls see this Jesus in his unvailed Person as he rideth forth upon the Circuit of the whole Heaven and Earth in his name Jah in his Divine Form in which he comprehendeth and filleth all see that New Heaven and New Earth which he maketh in himself As Snow at the shining forth of the Sun so will the heaps of Snow the Mists and Clouds about your Heart dissolve into an unexpressible Sweetness and Light of a secret Joy and hope at this Sight By the Light of the Beauties of this Person cometh the Sight of him by this Sight cometh Faith then cometh all Peace and Joy in Believing Could Davids Harp chase away Sauls evil Spirit which vexed him Is there any evil Spirit which will not be chased away any vexation or melancholy which will not be charmed by this Harp of God by the Harmony of all Heavenly Beauty and Musick in the Person of Christ. 2. Consider that this Jesus is Beautiful to make thee Beautiful Ephes. 1. 6. God is said in his Grace that is in his sweetest and richest Love to have made us acceptable that is to have made us lovely in the Eye of his Love to have set us in the Embraces of his Love in the Beloved One in the Person of Christ. When thou liest on the ground covered with Sack-cloath and ashes in thine own Spirit then think thus with thy self When the Lord Jesus appeareth in all his Glories before the Father then doth he represent me then doth he present my Face and Person to the Eye and heart of his Father in the Glass of his own Beauties Will not thâ—s revive thy Soul within thee to understand that the Father taketh that Beautiful Image and sweet Impression of thee upon his heart which he receiveth from the most lovely sight of Jâ—sus Christ in his fullest lustre that all the thoughts and works of the Father concerning thee pass thorow this Medium the Beautiful and Blessed Person of Christ Thou sittest on the dunghil of this Body of Sin this Flesh covered from Head to Foot with the Sores of thy Corruptions Thâ—u liest in the Grave of this Body of Death where all cares and fears like Worms feed upon thee But see Jesus boweth the Heavens and cometh down He descendeth in that Form of Glory which is the Heaven of Heavens encon passâ—ng thee on every side transfiguring thee into a shining Glory as the white Cloud of the most excellent Majesty transfigured him when it rested upon him 3. Consider that this Jesus is Bautiful for thee to make thee happy in the enjoyment of Him David in a pang of grâ—â—f comforteth himself after this manner Why dâ—est thou cast down thy self O my Soul why art thou so troubled within me Hope in the Lord I shall yet praise Him the Health
Object which is the Person of Christ rising in us like the Sun in his proper Sphere This Earth which we tread upon This Heaven which we see shining round about us are not so manifest to our natural Senses as Jesus Christ that Power of God which bringeth forth beareth up us and all things that Wisdom of God which encompasseth us round about with its various brightnesses and beauties is present open and evident to the Spiritual Eye Doth not this move us to understand that there is an Heavenly Person ever wâ—â—h us in whom are set before us all the Delights of our Eyes all the Desires of our Hearts and that the only Bar between us and these Beauties these Blessednesses is either our want of Senses or the Dulness of our Senses that we discern them not Mat. 10. 51. Bartimeus the blind beggar hearing that Jesus passed by cryeth out Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me He ceased not to cry till the Lord maketh a stand and asketh him what he would have He answereth Lord that I may receive my sight Isa. 50. 4. The Prophet saith of God He waketh mine Ear morning by morning he wakeneth mine Ear to hear as the Learned You that are no Christians indeed who have no Spiritual Senses cease not crying Jesus thou Brightness of the Father's Glory have mercy on me that I may receive my sight You that are in truth Christians and have Spiritual Senses drowsie and dull whose heart is awake in you while you sleep cry to the Lord Jesus to awaken your Eye and your Ears morning by morning moment by moment that you may see his Shape and hear his voice This is the first Argument to press you to the study of the Person of Christ the Easiness of this knowledge 2. The Second Argument is the Excellency which consisteth of two Parts the Comprehensiveness the Efficacy of this knowledge 1. The Comprehensiveness of the knowledge of Christ is the Excellency of it Col. 2. 2. All treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge are hid in him Several Propositions of great value and vertue lie wrapt up in this single Proposition 1. All Things that are to be known lie together in the Heavenly Form of Jesus Christ. All things are here in their first and proper Being in their Truth and Substance in their immutable essences as they are capable of being known Every thing as it is seen without this Circle of Divine Light the Person of Christ is a Shadow an Apparition a Mockshow of itself It may beget a Fancy or Opinion in our Souls but no Knowledge 2. That Light in which alone things are known is only in Christ. He is the true Supream and universal Light All things are naked and manifest before him Heb. 4. 13. This is that Divine Light in which every thing appeareth in its Divine Form in its naked Substance and Essence uncloathed of every Disguise and Vail as it lieth in the Divine Understanding which is the measure of all Truth Therefore our Lord Jesus in that place Heb. 4. 12. where all things are said to be naked and manifest before him is in the verse before called the Word of God the living Word the living Word of the Divine understanding in which it bringeth forth at once and eternally all knowledge to itself and beholdeth as in a Glass the eternal Truths and Essences of aâ—l things 3. The Eye which taketh in all Knowledge is in Christ As the Spirit of this world is both the Fountain and the Eye which sendeth forth and taketh in all nâ—tural Images then our Spirits by being comprehended in this Spirit become Springs in that Spring Eyes in that Eye bringing forth from themselves and contemplating in themseâ—ves the various Forms of being in this world so is a Saint Light in Christ a Child of Light in this great Father of Lights Jesus Christ in His Divine Form is the Light of Life that is 1. The First Light as the first Picture is called the Life 2. The True Light every other Light is a Picture of Light and no more 3. A living Light and so both a Fountain and an Eye In the Hebrew the same word for the substance signifieth both A Saint Springing up in his inward man out of this Spiritual Form of Christ and standing in it is made itself also a Fountain of living waters flowing from Lebanon of all living Glories flowing from the high and flourishing Mountain of the God-Head in the Person of Christ Can. 4. 15. He is made also an Eye set fully Can. 5. 12. Aben Ezra in his notes expounded that to be an Eye in which is set the full Image of the whole Nature of things in which according to the language of the Gospel is set the Person of its Beloved that entire Image of the God-Head and of both worlds where all Fulness dwelleth together in a Divine Form and Glory This is spoken of Christ first then is true of a Saint as a Saint is the Image of Christ. 4. All Things as they are known in Christ are a Treasure That which is born of the Spirit is spirit John 3. 6. That which is seen in this Spirit of Immortality and Glory is an Immortal and Glorious Spirit This is the true multiplying magnifying and glorifying Glass Each Dust is here known in the bright Form of a Beautiful Star each Star is discovered here to be an Heaven of Stars a new world of Glories Every thing as it appeareth in Christ is something of Christ. Christ altogether is Lovely Can. 5. 16. It is in the Original Every thing of him is desirablenesses The least Point that a Spiritual Eye can touch upon in the Person of Christ is a fresh spring a full Sea a great and bottomless deep of all Beauties Excellencies and Joys that may render any thing perfectly universally desirable 5. The Knowledge of things in Christ is a Treasure It is Wisdom as well as Knowledge It is a knowledge of things in their Head in their highest Beauty Life and Truth It is a Fulness of Things It is a Transforming Knowledge We are changed into the things themselves and they into us By knowing we possess and enjoy them we are possessed and enjoyed by them we stand both in one Image and Spirit mutually comprehending and comprehended mutually cloathing and cloathed All this Treasure is hid in Christ not as in a Cloud but as in the Sun by no darkness or obscurity there but by the Excess and Transcendency of the Glory by the Perfection and Purity of the Light as Christ is hid in God Col. 3. This hiding maketh the Object more a Treasure and more evident to a suitable Eye in as much at it is a Divine Form in a Divine Light a Form of Light dwelling in the Fountain of Light How worthy is this Knowledge of that Zeal to it and pursuit of it which the wise King stirreth us up to Prov. 2. 3 4 5. to cry for it to the
every change lieth in the Person of our Beloved as a Mansion cut out of the Rock of Eternity in the flourishing Garden of Eden in the Paradise of the Divine Nature 3. Ground The Person of Christ hath passed thorow all Changes after an Unchangeable manner St Paul teacheth us that the Lord Jesus hath descended to the Nethermost parts of the Earth and ascended above all Heavens to this end that He might fill All Eph. c. 4. v. O that I had the tongue of the Learned the Learned with the Learning of the Holy that I could speak to you with Words taught by the Holy Ghost O that you had hearts to take in and understand more than I can express Jesus Christ our forerunner is gone into every Form of things from the Height of the God-Head above to the lowest Deeps of the Creature to this end that He might fill every Form of Things with the Unchangeable Fulness of His own Person in which All Fulness dwelleth together in a Spiritual and Divine Body He hath by this means filled every point of time with Eternity every spot of Earth with Heaven every Change on Earth in Time with the Unchangeableness of Heaven and Eternity St. Paul said to his Friends This I know that Bonds await me in every place But my life is not dear to me for the Testimony of Jesus A Believer in a contrary sense may say This I know that my Jesus in the fulness of Unchangeable Loves Beauties and Joys waiteth for me in every Change as a Spiritual Bridegroom in a Spiritual Bed of Loves which is ever green which hath a Perpetual Calm upon it and a Perpetual Spring Nothing therefore is dreadful or melancholy to me for the unchanged Pleasantness of my Jesus In the Eastern countreys they imbalmed the Dead Bodies within anoynted them without with costly Spices that they might be preserved from putrefaction and might have a sweet smell When the Woman in the Gospel poured forth a Box of pretious Spikenard upon the feet of Christ He said to some who were offended with the wast Trouble her not She hath done this against my burial The Lord intimated that this was a Sacrament dispensed by a Divine Hand representing for His Consolation this high and holy Mystery that Death and the Dead Body in the Person of Christ are so embalmed anoynted with the pretious Spikenard of the Eternal Spirit that the Dead Body is Incorruptible Immortal and Pleasant Death itself is a Flourishing Life a fragrant sweet-smelling Joy as it lyeth in and is filled with this Unchangeable Person O! with what a sweet Indifferency may we now walk thorow all the Changes of Life and Death when our Heavenly Spouse hath thus embalmed anoynted â—â—lled all with the Delights and Glories of His Unchangeable Person and Presence Use. 3. The Knowledge of the Lord Jesus in His Beauties sanctifieth and sweetneth our Life in this World our Death and Departure out of the World This Use hath Two Parts 1. Part The Opening of the Person of Christ upon us in His Spiritual Glories sanctifieth and sweetneth this Life There are three Principles of the Knowledge of Christ in His true and unchangeable State which will bring home His Heavenly Beauties warm and shining to your Hearts on this Earth by natural Deductions from each Principle 1 Principle This World in its pure Naturals is the Shadow which falleth from the Heavenly Body of Divine Glories in the Person of our Fair One. This hath been proved at large above Learn then from this Truth 4. Lessons 1. Lesson Live unconcerned in this World This Divine Lesson is taught us from Heaven by the Holy Ghost upon this Ground 1. Cor. 7. 29 30 31. But this I say Brethren the time is short It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none And they that wept as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they bought not they that use this world as not abusing it For the fashion of this world passeth away The Apostle here divideth all this World into 4. Heads 1. Relations 2. Passions 3. Possessions 4. Employments and Entertainments Solomon saith in one place Why shouldst thou set thine heart upon that which is not There is no real Difference between having a Husband Wife or Children and having none between being in Grief or Joy and being without Grief or Joy between having an Estate and having none between being in the height of all Employments or Entertainments and being out of all This world hath nothing real It is all a Shadow Seeing then the various States of things on Earth have no real Difference pass thou thorow all estates with a perfect indifference of Spirit in a constant calm Eccles. 1. This is an Expression of the Vanity of all things here One Generation goeth another cometh but the Earth standeth for ever The Scripture in several places makes this one of the Names of God The Earth the Ground out of which all Generations of Things arise and into which they return again Divines interpret that Land of the Living mentioned to be the Divine Nature In this let our Spirits be a Divine Earth standing for ever unmoved upon its own Center of Eternity while one change after another cometh and passeth away again The Holy Ghost presseth it upon us by three Arguments 1. This World is a Fashion a Figure only a Shadow The fashion of this world In having this world thou hast a Shadow The Substance is above Let the world in having thee have thy shadow only Let thine heart be in Heaven with Jesus Christ. 2. This world vanisheth as a shadow The fashion of this world passeth away The Colours in a Rain-bow are Appearances of Colours and no more made by the reflection of the Sun upon a dark and watery Cloud So they suddenly break up and are seen no more The Colours of a Flower upon its stalk in the Garden are real livâ—â—g and lasting Such is the difference between Things on Earth and Things in Heaven Nothing here hath either Substance or Root 3. This world is a flying shadow suddenly gone The time is short As the shadow upon a Dyal in a short Winter-day moveth swiftly passeth away presently the Sun being low and immediately going in or going down so is every condition every comfort in Flesh. This is the first Lesson 2. Lesson Live without care and with content Let your moderation be known unto all men The Lord is at hand Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and supplication with Thansgiving let your requests be made known unto God Phil. 4. 5 6. You have in these words 1. A Precept for moderation Moderation is that measure of Things by which they are proportioned and tuned each to other so as to fall in and agree in one This is that which maketh Beauty in Sights and Musick in Sounds A contented frame
if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send Him to you Joh. 16. 7. Jesus Christ in the Shadow in the Flesh is the Crucifier and the crucified Jesus Christ in the Substance in the Spirit is the Comforter and the Comforted How expedient is it for us in the midst of these Shadows to withdraw our selves into the Life and Truth that when all things there are dying upon the Cross all things here may be Comforters and Comforts which continue for ever The Lord Jesus saith to the Father Sacrifice and Burnt-offering thou wouldest not have but a Body hast thou prepared me that is to be offered up in the place of all Sacrifices Hâ—b 10. 1. We read v. 1. that the Law hath a Shadow only of good things to come Jesus and all His Members have the Shadowy Body of this Natural Man and the First Creation fitted for them only to sacrifice themselves in these to the Eternal Truth that thus they may return on high into That All Shadows are under the Law The Law hath Shadows only of Good things to come All Sacrifices are under the Law The Gospel is a Feast Spirit and Life How wise how blessed is he who gathereth himself up entirely out of Nature and Flesh into the Invisible Glory of the Spirit In which while Flesh is suffering as a Sacriâ—ice by Fire he seeth all Flesh Suffering and Sacrifices to be Shadows only Shadows of Immortal Joys and Himself already in those Joys triumphing over and comprehending those Shadows in the Beautiful and Blessed Truth These are the Lessons from the First Principle which was that this World in its pure Naturals falleth as a Shadow from the Glorified Person of our Saviour 2. Principle The Presence and Appearance of the Person of our Lord Jesus and His Glory is withdrawn from the faln and corrupt World The Devil is called in the Scriptures The Prince of Darkness and The Prince of this World This World the World in this faln state is Darkness Darkness is the Privation of Light The absence of the Sun from the Earth is the Cause of Darkness Our Saviour in Glory is the Light the Sun of the whole Creation While He goeth away with His Beams into a far countrey to shine in the Invisible World He leaveth all behind Him in the Dark Three Lessons naturally flow from this second Principle 1. Lesson Believe not any Appearances of things in this World Darkness in the language of the Holy Ghost signifieth Deceit The Lord Jesus saith of Himself I am the Truth Truth hath lest the World together with Jesus Christ. Blessed is he who having the Possessions or Powers of this World in his Hand the Smile or Frowns of it before his Eyes the Griefs or Joys of it in his Heart can with a good assurance say Have I not a Lye in my Hand and in my Heart Are not the Apparitions of the Devil the Father of Lyes before me 2. Lesson Love not the things of this World James 4. 4. Ye adulterers and Adulteresses know ye not that the Friendship of this World is enmity with God It is not now the Seed of the Woman which is a Divine Loveliness and Love in the Person of our Heavenly Bridegroom which springeth up in all the Forms and Fruits of this World Yet a little while saith He to the World and ye shall see me no more No! It is the Seed of the Serpent in Deformity and Enmity in a Contrariety to all Spiritual Beauty Goodness and Truth which groweth up every where Your Love to any part of this World is Unclean and Adulterous By it you leave the pure and sweet embraces of your own Glorious Husband to ly down infolded in the treacherous Twinings of the old Serpent the Dragon 3. Lesson Walk not after the Fashion of this World Rom. 12. 2. Be not conformed to this World While the Lord Jesus was with this World it was His Shadow He figured His Beauties upon it He acted it with His Spirit His Name was as an Ointment poured out upon it He spake to us and conversed with us there But now when He is absent the beautiful Figure is gone the Darkness with all its confusions and cursed Fruits remain The Spirit of Darkness ariseth in it with all his Hellish Forms of Deceit Defilement and Wrath If thou cloath thy Spirit with any Worldly Image thou puttest on a filthy Garment which will pollute thee thou puttest on a fiery garment which hathâ— the burning poysons of Hell hidden in it which will cleave inseparably to thee torturing and consuming thee with a hidden inward and uâ—quenchable flame This is the Second Principle 3. Principle Jesus Christ hath reconciled all things hath gathered up all things into One hath made all things New with the Spiritual and Eternal Glory of the Father as the World standeth in the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead and in His Glorified Person as a New Head to it with a New Name Lesson You then that are Christ's live victoriously and triumphantly in this World Abide in your Head â—There you see all this World lying conquered captivated comprehended in a new and endless World of Life Love and Glory Rom. 5. We rejoyce saith St. Paul v. 2. And not onely so but we glory in tribulation v. 3. Because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us v. 5. O Christians live in Joy Live in Glory live in perpetual Triumph For by the Resurrection and Ascension of your Jesus the bitterest Enmities the blackest Extremities are Forms Floods of Light and Love in that Sea of Light and Love the Holy Ghost breaking forth from the sweet and glorious Deep of the God-Head in the Heart of the Father Rom. 8. v. 57. In all these things famine nakedness sword mentioned before we are more than conquerours through Him that loved us v. 58 59. For nothing life nor death nor Angels things present nor things to come nor height nor depth shall be able to sparate us from the love of god wlâ—â—â— is in Christ Jesus Dear Soul dwell for ever in this good Land of Life and Love thy Saviour in the Spirit Nothing here can separate thee from the Divine Love Every thing then that cometh to thee in life or in death must come in that Element of Love it must come in a Lovedress it must be Love itself in a Lovely Form Every thing that toucheth thee here must touch thee with the Heavenly kisses and Embraces of Divine Love Otherwise there would be a Separation between Love and thee In thy glorified Jesus is the Love of God that Love which is God the God-Head of Love O blessed Habitation O Happy and Heavenly Countrey thine own Countrey indeed What so much our own what so near us so much One with us as Love Here Love in its God-Head filleth all in Spiritual Forms in Forms of Glory and of God
O glorious Victory O Saints more than Conquerours in the Resurrection of your Saviour The World is faln before you it is no more The old things of Vanity Darkness Sin Sorrow Death are passed away in His Death Thus you are conquerours But in His Resurrection the World is raised again in a Form of Eternal Love and Glory for you All things are come again and are made New All things appear again the second time Immortal Spirits shining in the Loveliness burning in the Love of the God-Head for you opening all things past present and to come in themselves as Beautiful and Sacred Mysteries of Divine Love to you which ever is Delighting it self in You sporting with you preparing Joys Glories for you Thus you are more than Conquerous through Him who hath loved You. Live then in Him Joyfully gloriously Triumphantly I have done with the first Part of my last Use the Sweeâ—ning and Sanctifying Life in this World 2. Part. To sweeten and sanctifie Death by the Knowledge of Christ in Glory I shall lay down three Principles to this End 1. Principle Every Saint standeth â—compleat in Glory in the Glorified Person of Christ above even while he is living or dying here below Ye are compleat in Him who is the Head of all Principality and Power Col. 2. 10. In the verse before the Lord Jesus was described as in Him dwelleth all the Fulness or Compleatness of the God-Head bodily v. 9. Then this is added And in Him ye are compleat or full who is the Head of all Principality and Power A Believer is compleat in his Saviour as He hath the Compleatness of the God-Head in him and the Compleatness of all the Angels beneath him His Life then and His Death as they stand in Jesus Christ are more than Angelical They are Divine I shall endeavour to set in lively Figures before your Eyes the Beauty and Sweetness in the Death of a Saint by four Scriptures 1. Script And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus Eph. 2. v. 6. What is to be understood by together is plain in the verse before hath quickned us together with Christ It is God who doth all this as is seen v. 4. God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he hath loved us Four Positions lye clear in this Scripture 1. Pos. A Believer is risen from the Dead He dieth no more He is passed from Death to Life As Abraham is said to have received Isaac from the Dead in a Figure So the Beloved of the Lord dâ—eth onely in a Figure Death is to him a Divine Figure standing in the Resurrection from the Dead His Death is a Flower of Life and Immortality growing up in the Paradise of God which is the Glorified Person of Jesus It beareth indeed the Figure of Death but is full of a Sweetness and Beauty which can never fade or dye Let us all labour for our part in the New Birth This is a Resurrection from the Dead All things after it are Life Pure Life without any mixture of Death Perpetual Life Endless Life without any Sting of Death in the tail of it 2. Pos. A Believer is already sâ—t down in Heavenly places nay more than Heavenly The Word Heavenly is by some translated and so it properly signifieth Supercoelestial more than Heavenly places above the Heavens Here a Saint is made to sit down He is fixed and established He is at rest at home at the end of all his journeyings and changes He is set as a Bride at the Marriage-feast He is set as a Prince upon the Throne of his Kingdom Thus God giveth His Beloved Sleep Rest a Feast a Throne in Death Jesus Christ in Glory is this Sleep this Rest this Feast this Throne which endureth for ever and ever O Christian rejoyce and glory in Death for the Hope of the Joy and Glory of thy Bridegroom there Thy Death hath nothing of Dust or Darkness in it It is a Heavenly Thing nay more than Heavenly It is something Supercoelestial It is a soft Strain and ravishing Touch in the Musick of the Divine and Eternal Rest. It is a savoury Dish such as thy soul loveth at the Feast in the Kingdom of God Solomon had a throne of Gold On the Steps which were the Ascents to the Throne on each side were Lyons of pure Gold Thy Death O Saint is now no more a fierce and devouring Lyon to affright thee It is the figure of a Lyon in Gold in one Glory It is not onely an Ascent to thy Throne O Jedidiah Beloved of the Lord It is One Piece of Eternal Glory with thy Throne It is an Ornament an Embâ—â—llishment of Glory to thy Throne How good is it for those who are born of God to keep themselves pure that they may alwaies see God that they may see all things to them Divine Objects in a Divine Light sparkling Jewels of Divine Love We are ever in the midst of these things which are more than Heavenly in the midst of these Supercoelestials even in the arms of Death While we keep our selves unspotted from this world we see these Supercoelestials and Death itself in the number of them But every sin casteth a mist upon them and covereth us with a Cloud that we see them no more Now the Visions of our Joy and Glory of Light and Truth are hid from our Eyes Now fear and trembling are upon 〈◊〉 Life is full of Trouble and Death full of Terrour 3. Pos. A Saint is set down in Heavenly places together with Jesus Christ. The sweetning and the heightning of all the Joys and Glories of the Gospel is the Union with thy Beloved Bridegroom The work of Grace is a Birth a Resurrection a Marriage all in one The Death of a Saint is an Act of Spiritual Communion between Christ and the Soul a Marriage-Joy The Lord Jesus presenteth himself to the Believer in the Form of Death as in a Heavenly a Supercoelâ—stial Beauty At this sight the Saint is immediately transformed into the same Image Jesus Christ springeth up into the Believer a Believer springeth up into his Beloved in this Heavenly Form So both are made one in it Thus Death becometh a Love-play between Christ and his Spouse He by a Spiritual Kiss breatheth forth his Spirit of Divine Loves Immortality and Invisible Glories into the Spouse The Spouse ravished sorth from her self again in the same moment breatheth forth her Spirit into the Bosom of her Lord. Thus they die together they die one in another they die one into another In the first of the Canticles there is a Prophetical Song which beginneth at the Resurrection of our Saviour and the Effusion of the Spirit together with the Spiritual Union between Christ and his Church which was as their Heavenly Espousals solemnized and sealed with a Kiss with the reiterated Kisses of his Mouth Then followeth in the process of the first
then of Fornications Her End is to have her Flesh burnt with Fire and into the same bed of flames will God cast all those that commit fornication with her 3. Step. By loving this world thou makest thy self an Adulteress with the Devil This World as it stealeth thine Heart from God is a Composure of Lyes The Devil who is the Father of Lyes maketh thy Soul his Strumpet upon which he begetteth these false Forms of things Thou breedest these young Devils upon thy Knee and as thou sportest thy self with them thou suckest in by their Kisses the poyson and fire of Hell into all thy veins The Devil first wooes thee in a Counterfeit shape of false Beauty Glory Power Joys When he hath gained thee he breaketh forth upon thee in his own shape of endless Terror and Horrours There is nothing truer than that the Love of this World is a Spiritual Adultery with the Devil and the Head of all Adulteries of all Defilements There is nothing more sure than that Carnal Adultery in all the degrees of it the Similitude of this most powerfully calleth up into us and upon us the Spirit of this World the Prince of Darkness the Devil with all His Dark Deforming and Destroying Powers O ye sons and Daughters of men who dwell in the midst of the snares and nets of this great painted Adulteress be aware of your danger Abide in your first Principle your Root your first Husband the Eternal Love of the Father in Christ. Abide in your own Habitation the Bosom of your own Bride the Eternal Beauty the Essential and Immortal Image of the God-Head in Christ. These Loves shall be a Fountain of Life to you above to preserve you from the snares of Death below 4. Step. By the Love of this World you turn the Love of God into Wrath and fury If you be the Friends of this World you are the Enemies of God saith St. James Why do you provoke the Love of God Will you contend with Almighty Love Are you greater than that Love is the Right Hand of God's Strength His God-Head lieth in His Love God is Love This Love is strong as Death cruel as the Grave What art thou O Worm to stand before it to bear its rage O choose rather to lye down as a Bride in these everlasting Burnings and Devouring Fires of Love to be cherished changed refined and glorified by their tender and divine Embraces than to set thy self as Bryars and Thorns against them to be consumed by them Thus I have done with the First Description of Divine Love A Union between God and the Soul as the Beloved and His Love in One Spirit of Purity Immortality Joy and Glory 2 Descrip. The Love of God is the Will of God This is a Universal Truth that in every Spirit Love and the Will are One This appeareth in their Nature their Object their Operation 1 The Nature of the Will and Love are One The Will is defined to be the Inclination of the Spirit as it tendeth and bendeth itself to this or that this way or that way Love is stiled The Weight of the Soul As heavy things by their Weight so Souls by their Love are carried to their proper Center 2. The Object of the Will and of Love is the same It is a rule that The Powers and Habits in Spirits are distinguâ—shed by their Objects Every Principle and Faculty is the Object in its Sâ—ed The Object is the Form and Perfection of the Principle The Object of the Will is Goodness Appearing The Object of Love is Loveliness Loveliness and Goodness both consist in Suâ—tableness which hath its Ground in Unity If there be any Difference between Goodness and Loveliness it is this that as the Flower of Light is the Sun-shine and as Jesus Christ is the Efâ—ulgency the Shine of the God-Head the Brightness of the Glory of God so Loveliness or Beauty is Goodness shining â—ut to attract all Hearts to it Thus Loveliness the Object of Love and Goodness Appearing the Object of the Will agree entirely in One. 3. All their Operations are the same The Affections and Passions are the Motions of the Will All these are Love's Summer or Winter Love in the Seed is Desire Love budding and blossoming is Hope Love in the ripe Fruit is Joy Anger Fear Grief and Hatred are Love in its Opposition to its Enemy which is Enmity alone Love flying from or contending with that which standeth in its way to or would rob it of its Beloved Object But this is spoken in General onely concerning the Will and Love In Particular let us see how the Divine Will and the Divine Love appear to be the same in the Holy Scriptures The Will of God is distinguished by Divines into the Revealed and the Secret Will of God One is the Divine Will in Outward Signs onely The Other is the Good-Pleasure of God in His Heart and in Eternity 1. The Revealed Will of God is Love 1. Tim. 2. v. 1. c. In the first v. of this Chapter you have a Divine Rule that All manner of Prayers be made for All Men. This Rule is pressed by a particular Application of it to Kings and all in Authority v. 2. All in Authority what ever their Persons are or their Right v. 3. The Reason of this Rule is laid down For this is Good and Acceptable to God our Saviour This Universal Love wound up to the Highest strain of Spirituality and Divinity in us is a Vein of the Supreme and Divine Good let forth from the Heart of God where the Fountain of Good is and circling thorow our Hearts into his Heart again by Prayer Therefore is it acceptable to God Our Wills are never so in tune to the Divine Will and in consort with it as when the Spiritual motions of our Hearts in the Bosom of the Father are strains of Universal Love The Root of this Reason is discovered v. 4. God will have all Men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth Love is said to consist in this To Will good to any one If this be love to Will good to any Then is it the best and highest love to Will the best and highest good Behold then The revealed Will of God is a Revelation of love to the height God will have all Men to be saved God willeth the highest end which is the best good to the lowest and worst of Men to all Men. That this end may not fail he also willeth the means to the end that all Men should come to the knowledge of the Truth The Ground in which this root of love liveth is the Unity of God and Christ. For there is one God and one Mediatour between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus The highest Unity Is the largest Universality It is in Spirits as in these Heavens which we see the highest are the widest All beneath them lie in their Bosoms The whole nature of things is
of sweet light from this precious Stone draw your Eyes and Hearts to the Diamond itself to the naked Bosom of Love There is the abundance of Glory There you shall milk forth the Divine Life Delights and Glory in abundance As the Wood was of old laid upon the Altar and the Sacrifice upon the Wood in order to the descent of fire from Heaven which turning the Wood and the Sacrifice into one flame with itself returned thither from whence it came so let your life and religion be a continual Sacrifice to Eternal Love Let the Lord Jesus be thine Altar which is Love rising up out of the Earth Lay all Duties Graces Truths Spiritual Discoveries as Wood upon this Altar Bring thy Soul thy Heart thy whole Person for the Sacrifice Now wait look upward pray for Love as the pure flame of the God-Head to come down to change all to unite all unto itself in one Love and so ascend again with all unto its own place above the Heavens I have shewed in general how the Divine Attributes all serve Love as their end I will explain it yet more by three instances of the three chief excellencies in the Divine Nature Wisdom Power Righteousness 1. Instance The Wisdom of God serveth his Love According to the riches of his grace in which he hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence As a plentiful Spring by the abundance of its Waters maketh a bed and channel to itself in which it runs along so is the Divine Wisdom a manifold and deep channel which the full Spring of free Grace of Eternal Love maketh to itself by the force of its endless streams as they flow thorow all things and play with themselves in various courses and forms until they meet again in the Sea of Love the Bosom of God Divine Wisdom is the richness of Divine Love spreading itself into an infinite variety sporting itself with itself in all diversity of Forms and Shapes thorow innumerable Changes innumerable Windings and Turnings bringing forth itself into a most ravishing Harmony of all Divine Beauties and Joys Divine Wisdom is Love forming itself into rich designs most beautiful contrivances full of unexpected and surprizing turns full of depths past the search of every created Eye that in the close it may display its blessed Treasures more fully that it may raise and enlarge every Spirit to take in its Joys Thus the riches of Grace have abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence The Wisdom of God is the Divine art of Love The Divine Prudence and Providence is the Net of Love to catch Hearts and Souls in spread thorow the Sea of the Creation O blessed Fisher of Souls Dâ—vine Love O blessed Net of love the Divine Wisdom and Providence Thrice-blessed Souls that are caught in this Net by this Fisher These are taken only to be removed out of the Salt and troubled Sea of this World into the sweet clear and calm Sea of Love But wretched are those Spirits who like Carps in a Pond sink themselves down deep into the mud of flesh and fleshly lusts that they may escape this Divine net of Love The Wisdom of God is the Musick of Love by which it charmeth Spirits to attract them to itself to compose them unto a Heavenly Harmony of Peace and Purity Those are indeed Adders the Seed of the Serpent who love not the sound of this Musick who stop their Ears that they may not hear this Charmer the Divine Love though he charm with so much skill 2. Instance The Power of God serveth his Love Rom. 1. 16. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the Power of God unto every one that believeth The Gospel is the Ministry of Grace or Love The Divine Power then acting in the Gospel is the Minister and Servant of Love This will appear more by laying together three Scriptures in the Canticles which opening one another will send forth a sweet light of Divine Grace shining in them 1. Scrip. Cant. 5. 10. It is said of the Lord Jesus He is the Chief among ten thousand The Hebrew word for Chief is Standard-bearer I humbly conceive that we are not to understand here the Person that beareth the Standard or Banner who ever is inferiour to many Persons in the Army but the Prince whose the Standard or Banner is which is carried unto which all the Army is gathered together and under which it moveth The sense seemeth to be the same with that Joshu 1. Jesus Christ appeared in the form of a man with a drawn Sword in his hand Being asked by Joshua who he was he answered The Captain of the Lord's Hosts 2. Scrip. Can. 6. 10. The Spouse of Christ which is the Church in general and every believing Soul in particular is described to be Terrible as an Army with Banners This relateth to the Army and Banners mentioned before Cant. 5. 10. Psal. 34. 7. we read that the Angel of the Lord pitcheth his Camp round about those that fear the Lord. It is in the Original Tongue the Angel Jehovah The Lord Jesus is God with God the Father above all Angels and Men. He is God setting up his Pavilion in the midst of the holy Angels He is God setting up his Pavilion with Men in the midst of their Spirits This is the Captain of the Lords Hosts the Prince of Glory who as a great Prince at the head of an Army placeth things dearest to him his Treasure his Princess in the midst of the Army as in a place of Strength and Honour 3. Scrip. Cant. 2. 4. The King brought me into his Banquetting House and his Banner over me was Love You will say now what hath Love or a Banquetting House to do with a Banner of War You shall now see how these Scriptures come home to my end and declare the Power of God to be the Servant and the Soldier of his Love The proper intent of a Banner is to bear the Cause of the War wrought upon it either by Image or Inscription or both It is frequent when the War is ended for the Conquerors in the rooms in which they feast for joy of the Victory to have hanging over their Heads the Banners under which they are fought These are Tropheys marks of the Victory and Ornaments of the Triumph Silken flags aâ— solemn Shows at publick Feasts at Funerals are Imitations and Images of this If a King make a War for his Bride or Love he may very well have Love in a rich Figure and in Golden Leâ—â—â— displayed upon his Banners Neither can any thing be more pertinent when he returneth home and feasteth publickly with his Queen than to have these Banners with Love inscribed upon them in golden Letters and figured upon them in glorious Images waving over their Heads to encrease their Joys by this Declaration Love was that for which the King fought Love was the force by which he conquered Love is the end of
forth as A Spirit as the Eternal Spirit having married the Humane Nature into One Heavenly Form and Spirit with itself Now all the Treasures of Righteousness Life Immortality Love Joy all the Treasures of the God-Head display themselves over the whole Person of Christ entirely nakedly richly to the Height of all their Beauties and Sweetnesses as Flowers full-blown in Spring as Fruit-trees laden with ripe fruit in Autumn Who now can express the Joys when a Naked Heart meeteth with its Naked Jesus when both have cast off their Vails One from his Face The other from his Heart It is the same Blessed hand of the Eternal Spirit which taketh off the Vails from Both dropping Myrrhe a heavenly Sweetness Purity and Immortality as It taketh them off The Reflection of the Face of God upon the Face of Moses on the Mount cast a Divine Lustre and Beauty which remained upon it He came down into the midst of the People bringing a Heaven in his Face along with him But they could not bear the Brightness of this Naked Beauty He therefore casteth a Vail upon his Face So they remain in Darkness their Minds are blinded until Wrath cometh upon them to the uttermost This is an Example unto us upon whom the Ends of all Fore-going Times and Actions are come Behold the Lord Jesus is gone up to the top of the Mount He is ascended He is Glorified with the Father with that Glory which he had with the Father before the World was As a Spirit he cometh down again to us in the Shining Form of this Spiritual Uncreated Eternal Glory Wo to you who cannot bear the Brightness of this Appearance who cannot look stedfastly upon the Naked Face the Naked Form of the Lord Jesus this Spirit To you he casteth a Vail over his Face and as he casteth a Vail over his own Face he casteth a Vail over your Hearts To you now he cometh as a Thief in the Night bringing Darkness and Doubt Trouble and Terrours Confusion Desolation and Despair spoiling you of all your Counterfeit Jewels false hopes false Joys false Graces false Christ. But you who love and wait for this Appearanâ—e of your Lord and Saviour like Lightning shining from Heaven into your Hearts you who with the single Eye of a Chast Spouse look to the Beloved Person of your Jesus in the simplicity of his Spiritual and Divine Form Blessed are you of the Lord Jesus To you he cometh as a Sun of Righteousness with healing in his Wings Overspreading you with his warm and Naked Beauties Covering your Deformities Curing your Maladies Infusing new Cordials of Immortal Life and Joy into your Hearts Hatching you to Spirituality raising you upon Silver Wings and Golden Feathers to Heavenly Flights with himself To you he cometh Enlightning enlivening Transforming Glorifying Gathering you up into One Spirit One Glory with himself Where this Spirit the Lord Jesus is there is Liberty of beholding of enjoying the Lord Jesus nakedly immediately entirely eternally without any chain clog cloud interposal or interruption There is Liberty of growing up into a Spirit out of All the Vails of Flesh into One Spirit with him O the Joys of a Naked Heart when it meeteth with its Naked Saviour But as it was with the Painter who called to remove the Vail that he might see the Picture when their was a Vail onely painted there The Vail was all the Picture so is it with the hypocrite with the Temporary Believer His Jesus his Heaven is a Vail onely a Vail like that of the Tabernacle finely wrought with Pictures of Angels of Heaven of Jesus but Keeping him for ever from the Face the Bosom of Jesus the society of Angels the Joys of Heaven in the Outermost Darkness His hope is a Spiders Web. The Poison of Death and Hell are bred there I hear a Voice frequently in my Spirit saying to me Cry What shall I cry 1. Cry There was an Ark in which Noah and his Family were safe from the Flood which drowned the World The onely Ark in which Noah the Believer the Child of Rest shall be safe from the Flames which are now ready to devour the World is the Naked Person of Christ in the Invisibility and Spirituality of his Divine Eternal Form 2. Cry The Sound and noise of the Hammers framing the Ark for Noah preached the Righteousness of God the Ruin of the World very near The Sound and noise of the Lord Jesus the Spirit of Life the Spirit of Love in his Naked Person in his Naked Loves and Lovelinesses growing up forming himself in the Spirits of his Saints preaches now a Deluge of Destruction Death and Hell at the Door ready to enter in The Rest and Righteousness of God in his Bosom alone the Rest of God in his Loves the Righteousness of God in his Loveliness 3. Cry As it was in the Days of Noah so it will be now The whole World will go on to eat and Drink to marry and give in Marriage to mock at this Preparation of an Ark at these Discourses of these Endeavours for the Spiritual Person of Christ in the Heavenly Image for the Revelation of him in our Spirits for the Retirement of our Persons into him The whole World will go on in Sensuality and Carnality mocking at the Lord this Spirit the Ark till the day that God open the Windows of Heaven from above and break up the great Deep of Hell from below to cover them with and swallow them up in Unquenchable Flames They say that Seth foreseeing Two Destructions of the World prepared Two Pillars upon which he engraved all Mysteries of Humane and Divine Knowledge One of Marble to endure the Flood the other of Brick to continue in the Flames St Peter speaking of the Flood and the Ark addeth The Like Figure whereunto now saveth us Baptism not the washing away of the filth of the Flesh but the Answer of a Good Conscience by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead The Lord Jesus counselleth the last Church Laodicea to buy of him Gold tried in the Fire Gold tried in the Fire no more loseth any thing or receiveth any harm in the Fire but shineth more gloriously The Lord Jesus risen from the Dead and become a Spirit the Fountain of Life is the Gold tried in the Fire of Death and the Divine Wrath. An Ark of Wood saved Noah from the Waters Behold an Ark of pure Gold a Spirit of Immortality and Glory which shineth with greatest Glory in the midst of the Everlasting Burnings This is our Jesus who saveth us from the Fire which is already Kindled and burneth upon the World which will immediately raise itself to a Mighty Irresistible Flame Blessed are you who enter into this Ark of Gold and shut your selves up into It. Here you shall lie upon beds of Love as in the Marriage-Chamber in the Bosom of your Bridegroom encompassed with Songs of Joy while the Fire dreadfully devoureth all without
round about you Then shall Worldly Christians Hypocrites Temporary Believers all who have lived in the Lusts of the Flesh or the Letter onely of the Gospel take hold of climb up upon the outside of the Ark the outward Fleshly Form and Appearances of the Eternal Word the Lord Jesus Then shall they too late cry to be taken into the Spirit which alone is Truth which alone hath Immortality But they shall be rejected They shall lose their hold drop off into the flames and perish there I will conclude all with that Scripture John 14. v. 30. 31. When Jesus Christ perceived that the hour and Power of Darkness were now come upon him he saith The Prince of this World cometh Arise let us go hence Thus saith the same Jesus now in the Hearts of his Beloved Ones to his Spouse The Prince of Darkness The hour and Power of Darkness of dread of Destruction of the Devouring Fire cometh Arise let us go hence out of the visible things of the Flesh into the Invisibility of the Spirit The Ark of Pure Gold Paved with Loves 3 Property Plenty This is the Third Property in the Effusion of Divine Love upon the Glorified Person of Christ. It is poured forth plentifully I will divide this Head by Streams flowing from it 1. The Fulness of all Love is poured forth in Iesus Christ. 2. The Person of Christ is all Full of Love 1. The Fulness of all Love is poured forth in Jesus Christ. We read Colos. 1. 19. It pleased the Father that all Fulness should dwell in him that is in Jesus Christ. All Fulness and so the Fulness of All Love had its Seat its Bed in the Bosom of our Saviour But the Pleasure the Will of the Father which is the Highest Pleasure Pleasure in one Substantial most Perfect Eternal Act is the Well Spring which sendeth forth this Plenitude of Divine Love into Christ. The Words lye so in Greek that they may be properly rendred according to the rules of Grammar after this manner All Fulness was well pleased to dwell in him God is the Fulness which filleth all in all He alone is in any Place in any Spirit in any Creature Repletive so as to fill it God is Love God then is the Fulness of all Love Nothing attracteth and draweth so powerfully as Pleasure doth God who is that Love which is all Fulness the Fulness of all God who is the Fulness of all Love poureth forth himself to the Full to the last drop if we may so speak of that Love which hath neither First nor last Beginning nor End in the Lord Jesus For in Christ he poureth forth himself with Pleasure which is the highest of all Pleasures The Effusion of Love is itself a Pleasure Then the Beautiful and Blessed Person of the Lord Jesus is the most pleasant Channel the most pleasant Seat and Palace of Divine Love This Fulness of Divine Love in Christ shooteth forth itself into Three Branches 1. Love in all States 2. Love of all Kinds 3. Love in all Degrees 1. There is in Jesus Christ flowing forth from the Father a Fulness of Love in all States There are Three States of Divine Love in our Blessed Saviour There is 1. Preventing Love 2. Assisting Love 3. Finishing Love Divine Love in Jesus Christ hath these Three States and a glorious transcendent triumphant Fulness in every State 1. There is in the Lord Jesus poured forth from the Father A Fulness of all Preventing Love 2. Tim. 1. 9. St. Paul teacheth us that God hath saved us not according to works which we have done but according to his own Purpose and Grace given us in Christ before the World was Before thou hadst any thoughts of Love to Jesus Christ before thou hadst any Being in This World before the World was there was a Love from the Father in Jesus Christ to Thee to Thee whoever thou art that liftest up the Eye of thy Spirit the Eye of Faith to see thy true Self thine own Person in this Dwelling-Place this Palace of Divine Love where thou hast bin hid where thou hast had thine abode thorow all generations from Eternity Christ in the Glory of the Father the heart of the Father in Christ. This Preventing Love well understood removeth Two Objections out of the way of many hearts to the Bosom of their Jesus Object 1. Broken-hearted Sinners distressed Souls frequently plead thus against themselves We cannot think that Jesus Christ hath any Love for us because we cannot believe his Love Answ. Hear O broken-hearted Sinners O Distressed Souls Hear and believe Jesus Christ hath in himself from his Father the Fulness of all Preventing Love He beginneth to you in Love He beginneth with you He giveth you Faith to believe his Love To you it is given to believe The Son of Man cometh and giveth you an understanding to know the True God by his Proper Name of Love 1. John 5. 20. The Preventing Love of God in the Bosom of Christ cometh to Thee poureth forth itself in thy Bosom giveth Thee a new Eye to see the Divine Beauty a new Ear to hear the heavenly Melody a new heart to take in rellish and understand the Spiritual Sweetnesses Fulnesses Joys of this First Love Love in its Fountain in the Fountain of Eternity This New Wine of the Everlasting Kingdom giveth itself to Thee with a New Bottle a New Spirit which will take in and hold this precious Liquour Not one drop of it shall ever fall besides this Bottle or be spilt out of it Object 2. But still thou poor troubled trembling Soul thinkest the glad Tydings of the Gospel of Pure Preventing Love too good to be true Thus thou arguest against thy self If I were but moderately evil or morally good if I could in any degree comply or close with Jesus Christ when he offereth his Love and himself to me then might I have some hope that I had some place in his heart But if the Lord Jesus himself should shine forth with the Sweetest Vision of Preventing Love in the midst of my Fleshlinesses Filthinesses hardnesses Enmities and should say to me as the Angel to Mary hail thou that are greatly Beloved Hail thou that are freely Beloved I should not onely wonder at this Salutation but believe it all to be a vain Dream of my deluded Fancy Answ. Let me tell Thee a Story A beautiful Aegyptian Youth when his Friends desired to take his Picture desired them to take him up seven daies after his death and then to take his Picture Thou the most defiled the most deformed Sinner wert once beautiful once in the freshness and flower of thy Youth in Paradise It is true thou art now dead dead of the most loathsom disease dead by the most killing and corrupting Death dead in sin Yet now after that thou hast bin many years dead Jesus Christ in his Glorified Person cometh like a Bridegroom from heaven not onely to take thy Picture but
any fresh Effusion of the Spirit upon you When the Activity of Grace when the Operations of the Divine Life are heightned in you by any peculiar Appearances and Outshinings of the Lord Jesus in you what do you Find Do you not find all things made New Do you not find the Invisible Image of things within the Image of all Visible things without Your self your Life Your Soul your Body Your Graces your Comforts Husband Wife Children all Objects of Life the whole World itself renewing its Light its Sweetness its Lustre All heightened Spiritualised Immortalized transfigured into Divine Forms Invisible to all other Eyes and this without any Darkening without any Eclipse or Cloudy moment interposing This is the Earnest of the Spirit given unto Thee for a Figure a Foretast and a Seal of Thy change in Death Thou shalt not be uncloathed of any Garment of Life or Light Spiritual or Natural which thou hast ever put on Thou shalt never be found naked of any Forms of Light Life or Love which have ever accompanyed and encompassed Thee Thy Faith-shall be swallowed up into Vision Clear Full Immediate Vision Eye to Eye Thy Hope into Entire Possession and Compleat Fruition thy Soul itself into a Simple Divinity and Eternity Thy Body thy Dear Relations the Delights of thine Eyes the Precious and Pleasant things of thy Senses shall All be cloathed upon from above with those Immortal Substances of which here they are the Shadows with their own Original Forms of which here they bear the Figure with their Flourishing Patterns upon the Mount of Glory in that First and Pure Spirit the Fountain of Life the shining Fountain of Good in the Glorified Person of the Lord Jesus in Eternity The Movable Tabernacle with its Tent both are Dissolv'd and fall into the Eternal Building of Glory in the Heavens where they become as Mysterious Figures of Divinity in that Temple or Rich Furniture Delightful Apartments of that Palace where every Part beareth the Figure possesseth the Life and Beauty of the Whole This is the Freedom the Sweetness the Fulness of the Finishing Love of God in Christ. Death itself is made at once A Consummation of the Marriage Love between the Heavenly Bridegroom his Bride A Bed of Loves the Divine Embraces of Eternal Love and the Divine Fruitfulness of these Embraces Jesus in his Invisible and Eternal Form descendeth overshadoweth embraceth his Bride transfigureth her into a Form of Eternal Beauties perfectly answering his own maketh her to spring with to bring forth in the moment of those embraces in the moment of her own Transfiguration all Forms of Things above and below in Immortal Divine Images and Essences of Pure Perfect Love The Dark aud Dreadful Appearances which surround Death are onely A Cloud which hide these Delightful these sacred Mysteries and changes from all Natural Eyes while the Saint himself in the Spirit seeth its own Beauties feeleth its own Joys in these Transfiguring and Impregnating Embraces So Christ himself was taken by a Cloud out of the sight of the Apostles while he ascended Death beginneth to the whole Saint in all parts that Coming down of the Lord Jesus in a Flame of Glory that Rapture of a Saint caught up into the Bosom of the Lord Jesus with the Sound of the Heavenly Trumpet The Universal Shout of Divine Lives Loves Glories thorow all things The Resurrection finisheth them O the Absoluteness of Finishing Love All work of Glory is made perfect in a Saint Jesus in all these Powers and Treasures of the God-Head resteth upon a Saint then when he is weakest when he seemeth nearest likest to Darkness Dust and Dung in the Agonies of Death 3. Comfort Against the last Day There are peculiar Terrours accompany the Day of Judgment It is indeed the most Dreadful of all Dreadful things The Last Day is twofold 1. Universal the Day of the Lord upon the whole Earth 2. Particular the day of the Lord upon a City or Nation Both these are spoken of mixtly The same dreadful things are attributed to both properly or figuratively We know not how near the Universal Day of the Great Judgment of the Lord upon the whole Earth may be The Lord Jesus may be now at the Door and ready to enter He shall come as a Thief in the Night in Clouds unperceived unexpected All things shall be in the moment of his Appearance as from the Beginning Some at the Mill some in the Field some in the Market some at Church to be married others in the Marriage bed others Eating and Drinking All the signs which are to fore-run that Great Day of the Lord's Last Appearance from Heaven may be come to pass in the midst of us in another manner and form differing from that which we figure to our selves and we not aware of it As Elijah the great fore-runner of our Lord Jesus in his first Appearance was come and gone in the Person of John the Baptist not understood either by the Jews in general or by the Disciples Watch and pray have your Loyns ever girt your Lamps burning go forth from the things of Sense into the Spirit to meet the Lord who cometh in that Air of Heaven and Eternity So shall you be caught up to meet him as he cometh and enter with him into the Bride-chamber I shall give you my Reasons which make me to believe that the Particular Day of the Lord upon this Land and City approacheth and cometh like a Traveller like an Armed Man upon us 1. Jerusalem and the Jews seem to be set up for a Type to every City and Land which beateth the Name of God St. Paul at large in the 11th to the Romans describeth the Succession of the Gentiles by Christianity into the place of the Jews the Progress and Way of God with the External Professors of the Gospel as with Israel He representeth this by Natural Branches cut off from and Olive Tree by wild Branches ingrafted in their place standing upon the same Terms in the same danger of being cut off 2. Are not we as Hierusalom ripe for the Harvest Have we not had the Ministry of the Law of the Gospel of the Letter of the Spirit in great power and glory Have not all varieties of chastisements and judgments inferiour to preparatory for the great and last Judgment already passed upon us Have not our Sins among all sorts of all kinds grown up to maturity to be ready for the Sickle 3. We have seen signs in Heaven above and on the Earth beneath and in the Waters which Jesus Christ foretelleth as Joel before and St. Peter afterwards from him to precede immediately the great and dreadful day of the Lord upon Hierusalem Hierusalem is in London But O what comforts flow from the finishing love of God in Jesus Christ to make this day of the Lord not only supportable but lovely to us and longed for by us Lift up your heads for your redemption is at
hand your Redeemer cometh This is the day of finishing love Jesus Christ cometh in this day to thee O Believer to consummate the Marriage and so all thy joys thy graces thy gâ—ories in thy compleat Marriage to himself The day of the Lord is said to be The Revelation of the Lord from Heaven As the natural day chaseth away the shadows of the night but is the brightness of the Suns beautiful and glorious Body making all things new in the pleasantness of his light to those Eyes that watch for the morning so is this day of the Lord a day of Clouds and Darkness to the Children of the night But it is to thee who lovest and waitest for the appearance of our Lord Jesus the breathing forth of all finishing loves the breaking forth of all finished Beauties from the beloved Person of thy Jesus appearing nakedly in all the glories of the God-Head from Heaven in thy Person in all things round about thee as the Sun of Eternity at once shining in every point of things making a new day of immortality and glory every where The Lord Jesus cometh indeed in flames of Fire But these flames are the Almighty powers and Supream glories of the eternal spirit of eternal love in its purity in its simplicity These are of a truth flames of fire to the enmity to the enemies to all flesh but they are to thee who livest in the spirit flames of finishing love of finished beauties presenting themselves to thee in all forms of things feasting themselves upon thee feasting themselves with thee making themselves a feast to thee I will conclude with that History of Elijah 1 Kings 19. 11. There passed before him a Whirlewind rending the Rocks removing the Mountains a Fire and Earthquake After these came a still veice The learned Jews say That all this was acted before the Prophet in a divine vision that the Whirlwind the Mountains the Rocks torn in pieces the Fire the Earthquake were Angels presenting themselves in those Forms as so many Divine Scenes that the still voice were all the Angels in a Quire making a heavenly melody Thy Royal Bridegroom cometh in every day of Judgment to make more than this true to thee O thou Dove thou Bride of the Lamb. He cometh in the weakness of all flesh round about thee to rest upon thee upon all things round about thee in the power of his finishing loves This is the great day of love and of the spirit in which he will make perfect the strength of his love and spirit while thou art trembling while all things are falling with a great noise round about thee as dreadful ruines in a devouring flame Now lift up thy head into that living and glorious light of the eternal spirit now lift up thine Eyes and thine heart unto that living and glorious light of divine love which breaketh forth from the face of thy Jesus within thee without thee on every side of thee This is the day of the anointing of thine Eyes with the heavenly Eye-salve of changing thee and the whole world to thee into fine Gold Gold tryed in the fire All things now appear to thee as indeed they are a divine vision in a light of Glory The whirlewinds Earthquakes Fires Deaths Ruines are all Angelical Scenes in the Spirit In them all thou seest the Dances thou hearest the still voice the calm charming soft Musick of all the Angels all the Spirits all the loves of God as on his and thy Marriage-day Thus finishing love maketh perfect the light the life the strength of the spirit and of love in thee in thy personal weakness in the universal weakness decay and ruines of all flesh of the whole Creation round about thee A skilful Painter is most discerned in laying his shadows By these he maketh his work softer sweeter more full of life and more taking Thus comfort thy self in all thy weaknesses darknesses and deaths Say thou now is my Jesus exercising his divine wisdom and skill in laying and placing his shadows Now upon these sad grounds will he curiously lay his rich and pleasant colours Now will he form and finish the glorious face of his divine beauties of his divine loves upon me Finishing love then appears then displayeth itself with greatest freedom fulness and sweetness when it maketh perfect its strength its beauties its joys its eternal light in our weakness deâ—ormity despair darkness death These are the rellishes to the Musick the shadows to the beauty of finishing love These are the times for finishing love when it is most beautiful I hâ—ve now made an end of my discourse upon the first rich branch of this divine fulness of love in Christ the fulness of love in all States I come now to the second branch the fulness of love in all kinds 2. There is pâ—ured forth from the Father in the glorified Person of the Lord Jesus a fulness of love of all kinds St. Paul saith that God the Father hath abounded in Grace towards us in all wisdom and prudence in Christ. Ephes 1. 6 7. There are three parts of wisdom where it is compleat 1. There is in wisdom a varâ—ety of things 2. A contrivance of this variety into one piece 3. A concurrence and meeting in one of all the several varieties in each part and point of the whole piece by the force of the Harmony The Father aboundeth in his Grace his love to us in all wisdom in Christ. here is fulness upon fulness He aboundeth He aboundeth in all wisdom Nay you have a threefold fulness an abundance an abundance in wisdom which itself expresseth a fulness a riches of variety but then there is superadded all wisdom all variety The Father is a plenitude of love â—of all kinds in all varieties pouring forth himself incessantly endlesly eternally in Christ. God is in Christ in his electing love in his creating love in his preserving love in his redeeming regenerating justifying adopting sanctifying comforting glorifying love God aboundeth with a fulness with a filling an overflowing fulness in all these in each of these several kinds of love in Jesus Christ. Enlightning enlivening softning sweetning healing cleansing defending delighting heightning crowning loves all are here and all are full here to infiniteness Come all ye Souls who want a sense of sin or mourn under a sense of sin for want of a sense of love come hither to Jesus Christ and have love love of every kind love suitable to your longings or wants and have it in abundance The glorified Person of Christ is a spiritual Garden Indeed it is a Garden invisible sealed up from the outward senses But by how much the more invisible it is it is so much the more real glorious and divine This Garden is ever present before thee It flourisheth in the midst of thee It is continually open to every humble believing Spirit In this Garden all kinds of divine love grow as so many flowers which are ever full-blown ever
in their full beauty and sweetness ever fresh never fading never failing As fast as one is gathered another springeth up in its room These Immortal flowers of divine love grow here for thee They have thy name written upon them They bend and bow themselves towards thee They invite thy hand to gather them They are ripe in every season and gathered with the least touch of thy spirit Thou who hast a Spirit black and burning with the deepest guilt take the flower of justifying love stick it in thy bosom This will take out all the heat of pain and take away all the deformity and stain from thy spirit Thou who labourest under the disease of any corruption See here the flower of sanctifying love Carry this in thine hand in thine heart It is a powerful a pleasent remedy against every lust or passion Doth the Instability of thy spirit the uncertainty of thy spiritual condition afflict thee The flower of electing love hath a soveraign vertue in it to establish and â—ix thine heart in a triumphant peace and joy above all changes or fears Art thou melancholy is thine heart cast down within thee for some apparent reason or thou kno west not why look upon this pleasant flower of comforting love smell to it wear it in thy bosom It shineth with a heavenly lustre which recreateth the Eyes and infuseth strange joy into the heart It breatheth forth a sweetness from it which will make you think your self in Paradise or kissing those blessed Cheeks of your heavenly lover your Jesus which are Beds of Spices It hath a spirit in it which is the extract of all Cordials which hath all comforting vertues in it which is the soveraign Comforter of hearts and spirits the only causer of delight and pleasure on Earth or in Heaven If any one be dejected with a sense of shame let him make himself a Nose-gay of these three Flowers regenerating adopting glorifying love Every one of these casteth a wonderful light from it which will make thee to see thy self in the unity of the eternal Spirit in the form of the Son of God Thou wilt see the whole face of things as a glorious Heaven round about thee all full of bright and shining Angels encompassing thee guarding thee attending upon thee as the heir of God Jesus in glory walking with thee hand in hand as his Brother God himself beholding thee with an unmoved and full Eye of esteem wonder and complacency as his onely one the Object of all his love the Ground of all his joy The State of a Saints Soul and Body in Death THe peculiar consolations and joys of Death to a Saint pour forth themselves into ten distinct channels or streams 1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul or Body of a Saint but a restitution and return of both to liberty peace and perfection 2. Both descend no more but ascend in Death 3. Death hath in it no melancholy overcast or unpleasant darkning to the Soul or Body but a sweet unexpected surprising and ravishing increase of a pure divine and triumphant light circling in and shining through all 4. Death casts no deformity upon either part of a Saint but cloaths both with an heavenliness amiableness and beauty 5. Death is no streightning or imprisonment to Body or Soul but a blessed enlarging of both to a divine state and freedom 6. The Death of a Saint hath nothing bitter in it but is a spring of pure sweetnesses and pleasures dividing itself into every part and making all the garden of God 7. There is nothing of the Devil in the Death of a Saint but Christ risen and glorified is all fills all and shines thorow all 8. Death hath nothing of wrath in it but is all divine love unvailing itself 9. There is nothing of Death in the Death of a Saint but life and immortality unclouded and shining forth clearly 10. Death is no other thing to a Saint than a heightning of his spirituality making him all thorough-out spiritual purely spiritual without any mixture unchangeably spiritual without any interruptions inconstancies or darkintervals 1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul or Body of a Saint but a restitution and return of both to liberty peace and perfection 2. Corinth 5. 1. St. Paul expresseth this ground of confidence and joy in Death For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens It is the observation of learned Divines that the Greek word here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render to be dissolved signifieth to take up ourâ—Inn from that circumstance of unloosing the Horses and taking them out of the Waggon or Chariot to bring them into the Inn and Stable that there they may be at their liberty to rest and feed and lie down From this word upon this ground an Inn or House of reception refreshing for Travellers hath its name in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At our Birth which is the morning of this life and our entrance upon our Journy through this weary world our Souls and Bodies are joyned to this fleshly Image by the natural spirit the spirit of this world as Horses put into a Waggon to which they are fastned by their Harnes and Traces The Body is as the fore-horse but the Soul as the filler which draws most and bears the chief weight All the day long of this life we draw this Waggon heavy laden with all sorts of temptations and troubles thorow deep ways of mire and sand This only is our comfort that the divine will which is love itself in its perfection as a hand put forth from Heaven thorow a Cloud at our Birth put us into this Waggon and governs us all the day In the evening of our life at the end of our Journey Death is the same divine will as a naked hand of pure love shining forth from an open heaven of clear light and glory taking our Souls and both Bodies out of the Waggon and Traces of this â—leshly Image and Spirit and leading them immediately into their Inn into a place of freedom rest and refreshing into the unity of the eternal spirit into the Bosom of our Lord Jesus Obj. But before I proceed any farther I will indeavour to make my whole way more clear by answering an objection which perhaps already ariseth in most of your thoughts You may be ready to say Is this your meaning as you seem clearly to express it that the Bodies also of the Saints suffer no dissolution in Death but return immediately to a state of purity and perfection This seemeth to contradict the common sense of all the faith of the Saints and the plain letter of the Scriptures Do we not with our Eyes see every day the dead Bodies of the best Persons thrown into the Grave turning to Corruption and Putrefaction either before or in the Grave dissolved to Worms and
truly and properly itself is intirely for ever gathered up into the unity of the Eternal Spirit the heavenly Body and Bosom of our Lord Jesus In the Epistle to the Hebrews ch 9. 23. The Blood of Lambs and Goats were said to cleanse the figures of heavenly things in the Tabernacle but the Blood of Christ the heavenly things themselves The Soul and Body of a Believer are the heavenly things themselves For these are that true Temple of the Holy Ghost of which the first Tabernacle and Temple were figures As the death of a Saint is a conformity to Christ and a fellowship to Christ on his death so doth the Blood of Christ that is the divine virtue and the life of the God-Head in the death of Christ cleanse these heavenly things the Soul and Body of a Saint at his death from all their dust rubbish and filth from all mixture with the fleshly Principle and Image Thus now the Body of a Saint as well as his Soul is made compleatly a pure and heavenly Temple of the Holy Ghost It subsists alone in an immediate entire and mutual union with this blessed Spirit It lyeth wholly in it as in the Fountain of life immortality love peace and joy It is filled with it as the Temple with the smoak of the sweet incense and with the Glory of God How unhappy are you How bitter is death how full of deformity how dreadful how dark how dismal to you who leave this life before the Fountain of Eternal Life hath opened itself in you Death to you is a devouring fire from below which burns upon your Spirit and flesh consuming the order the beauty the sweetness of both and changing them into a ruinous heap of utter darkness desolation and confusion But blessed are you thrice blessed are you whose Souls and Bodies are both married by one Spirit unto Jesus Christ before Death comes to separate them one from another whose Souls and Bodies are become Temples of the Holy Ghost and are inhabited by the Holy Ghost before Death comes to demolish the fleshly frame and building Death to you is a lovely form it which your Jesus himself comes into your whole Person both Soul and Body as into his Garden or Vine-yard to drive out the wilâ— Beasts all the powers of darkness to pluck up by the roots and to caâ— out the Weeds every thing of this worlds of a fleshly Spirit and Image that the Divine Shades the Spiritual Plants the fruitful Vine of his own Life and Love and of his own heavenly Image may alone flourish here and himself alone may delight himself in the midst of these as in a Garden shut up Jesus Christ comes by Death to your Bodies and Spirits aâ— to a Beloved fountain to cast out of it every thing of filth of earth and flesh which polluteth it that he may see his own face clearly all over it that he alone may drink of it that he may lye in the midst of these waters for ever bathing in them that you in both may be a fountain sealed up to himself Death is to you who believe a rich Marriage-bed of Gold and Purple into which your naked Souls and Bodies quite stripped in the twinkling of an eye of all their râ—ggs are taken to lye in the naked bosom and imbraces of your beloved Bridegroom the Lord Jesus Thus much for the twofold Body 2 Dist. The 2. Distinction next to this of the twofold Body in a Saint is that of the twofold dust in Death In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes v. 7. we read That in Death the dust shall return to the earth as it was and the Spirit to God who gave it Gen. ch 3. 17. God passeth this Sentence of Death upon Adam after the Fall Thou shalt return to the Ground For out of it thou wert taken Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return There was a Dust before the Fall out of which the Body of Man was made Gen. 2. 7. God formed man of the dust of the ground First observe here by the way that the ground from which the dust was taken of which the Body of Man was formed was the ground of Paradise For so we read immediately after at the 9th v. That out of the ground God had made to grow every Plant that was pleasant to the eye and good for food with the Tree of Life in the midst of them The Jewish Doctors teach us that the dust of which the Body of Man was made was a fine and precious powder in which all the excellencies of the whole Creation were exactly tempered and mingled together in one Body The Scripture seemeth to give us a foundation for this belief When Moses saith That God made out of the ground to grow every Plant pleasant to the Eye good for food and the Tree of Life in the midst of them he seemeth to signifie that this was a divine ground in which God from the beginning had sown the divine seeds of all the beauties pleasantnesses sweetnesses and of all the beautiful and pleasant Lives of Paradise itself and of the whole Creation as it was in a Paradisical state The dust then of this ground which composeth the Body of Man was the manifold beauty sweetness virtue and life of Paradise of the whole Paradisical state of things gathered together contracting themselves into one and shading themselves like the beauties sweetnesses and virtues of a flower in its precious seed But that which is chiefly to be considered here is the state of all things before the Fall Sin was not yet entred which brought in Death The Unity of the Creature among themselves between God and the Creatures was yet entire The divine life and Image flourished thorow the whole Creation All the Creatures stood upon their divine root and were filled with a divine Sap like flowers upon their stalks and trees at the height of the Spring St. John gives us a sweet and beautiful Image of the whole Creation in its first state before it lost its life sweetness and unity by Sin Joh. 1. 3 4. All things were made by him that is Jesus Christ and without him nothing was made that was made In him was life and that life was the light of Men. There are two things observable in this Scripture 1. That which we read without him was nothing made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth properly nothing was made apart or separate from him The Holy Spirit seemeth here to point out the primitive union of the whole Creation and all the distinct parts of it with the Lord Jesus the living Root the glorious Head of all and in all 2. Where we read Without him nothing was made that was made this latter clause that was made addeth nothing to the sense and looketh like a vain repetition Some therefore place it at the beginning of the following verse and read it thus that which was made in him was life This describeth to us the
effect of that union Jesus Christ put a life a divine life into every Creature by his union with it St. Paul seemeth to relate to this Scripture and to confirm this living beautiful and Divine State of all the Creatures as they came forth from God Colos. 1. 16. All things were made in him all things were made thorow him unto him and into him v. 18. All things stood together in him Well then the Dust the Ground the Earth the Darkness in the pure state of the Creation were made in Christ were life in him were made in union with Christ. They were made thorow Christ as their mould and channel They were made by Christ as their Original pattern as the immediate power putting forth itself in them They stood together with the rest of the Creatures in the Divine Unity in Christ. Thus had this Dust of which we speak a Divine life in it a Divine Beauty upon it a Divine Seed in it this life was the life of Christ and so comprehended according to its kind all the lives and vertues of all the Creatures and of Paradise It s beauty was the beauty of Christ in which after the like manner all created beauties centred and met in one Christ himself was the Seed in this Dust and so not only the excellencies and virtues of the whole Creation but all the uncreated Treasures of Life and Glory lay together shaded and vailed within this Dust. But their vail and their shade was a living beautiful and pleasant Picture of themselves all filled with the sweet Odour of those hidden Ointments I have one thing more to say to describe this Dust. Man who was the last days work the comprehension and perfection of the whole Creation was made in a shadowy Image of God For so the word Image in the first of Genesis signifieth and the Scriptures in their whole course testify In the beginning all things came forth from God in an universal Darkness before the Light of the first day This Darknâ—ss is remarkable in several eminent circumstances 1. It was cast forth immediately from the Divine Nature and from the glorious Person of Christ to be a vail round about upon the Eternal Glory itself and to be a ground of the whole Creation 2. It stood in an â—immediate union with the Divine Nature and the glorious Person of Christ springing forth immediately from it and depending immediately upon it 3. The unsearchable riches of the God-Head and of Christ with all the various Excellencies of the creatures as they were in their eternal patterns and principles lay hid together within this shade 4. Out of this ground did God make to spring all the creatures in their primitive paradisical purity and pleasantness being wrapt up here as in their first matter and having their proper seeds sown here Thus was this Darkness a shade indeed but pure indued with a Divine Life cloathed with a Divine beauty and lustre bearing a Divine figure breathing forth a Divine sweetness spread forth every moment fresh with a new lustre and sweetness from the Divine Nature vailing within itself all the Joys and Glories of God Christ Heaven and Paradise and as it hides all these in its Bosom lying itself in the Bosom of Christ. Such is the Ground such is the Dust of the Ground and the Earth out of which the Body of Man was first taken and into which the Body of a dying Saint returns Such is the Darkness of Death that overshadows a Saints body like the Nights in Paradise But there is this advantage now that this pure primitive Dust and Darkness are heightened have a new and greater beauty and sweetness by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead This is the first Dust the Dust before the Fall 2. The second Dust is that after the Fall understood in that sentence Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return This is the Dust of that Death which sin brings forth a cursed Dust the Dust of the cursed Earth which bringeth forth Bryars and Thorns That former beautiful and blessed Dust lies captivated in this as in a Prison or Grave of contrariety and enmity This Dust is composed of three things 1. A Separation Dissolution and Desolation from the â—orce and power of Enmity 2. A Blackness of Darkness from a cloud and storm of wrath 3. The seeds of shame pain anguish horrour and torment hidden in it This Dust is that which the Body of a Saint casts off in Death upon this worldly Image and Spirit together with the Spirit and Image of this world This is that which suffereth dissolution which representeth deformity and striketh the horrour in Death All which are now of the Image of this world and to the Image of this World in the Spirit of this World and to the Spirit of this World within the Kingdom of the Devil having no more relation to a Saint in Death than the filthy raggs of a Prince in a Dangeon to the Prince at Liberty and in his Pallace Death rubbing off the Rust of this cursed Dust from the Body of a Saint leaves it all a shining rich incorruptible Dust of pure Gold His Body is now entirely with Christ a precious pleasant and living Dust in the Garden-Beds the Beds of Spices or perfumed Flowers in Paradise This is the second Distinction of the two Dusts 3 Dist. The third distinction is of a twofold sense Rom. 8. 6. St. Paul teacheth us That to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace The Greek runs thus the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit The word mind is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a practical understanding and comprehendeth a twofold act one of the understanding to disâ—â—rn and judge another of the will to tast and rellish So the mind is here a sense and a favour both in one Thus you have here a twofold sense Spiritual and Carnal or Fleshly 1. The Spiritual sense is set forth three ways 1. By the Principle 2. By two effects of this Principle 3. By two companions of these effects 1. The Principle of a Spiritual sense is the Spirit this holy and blessed Spirit is the only and proper Principle of a Saint and Saintship of a Son of God and a Sâ—â—ship to God Art thou indeed a Saint then thou art in the Spirit of Glory and of God as in thy Root and Element as a Tree of Life in the Root of Eternal Life and Love as Fishes in the water of Life as Birds in the pure air of Divine Love as Angels in Heaven Rom. 8. 9. You are not saith St. Paul to the Saints in thâ— Flesh but in the Spirit Art thou indeed a Son of God Then is this Spirit of Grace and Immortality in thee as thy natural Principle as the power of Nature according to the new and Divine Nature which acteth thee Rom. 8. 16. As many as are led by the Spirit of God are
the Sons of God The word led is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acted As the Soul acts the Body as the principle of reason the Soul of Man as the nature of the Sun acts the Sun in its shinings in its motions thou also art acted by the Divine Spirit to which the Sun the Soul of Man the principle of reason are empty and weak shadows so far as thou in truth art a Child of Light and a Son of God the Father of Lights Let me here by the way touch a three-fold string in your Souls 1. A mournful string 2. A string of desire 3. The string of praise 1. Is the Spâ—â—it the principle of a Saint how then should we mourn thâ—â— this Spirit of Grace this Comforter is grieved that this Spirit of Light and Life is quenched by unbelief sensuality unkindness and neglect how should we mourn that this Holy Spirit this Spirit of Truth is slighted and spoken evil of as a Spirit of licentiousness or as a fancy and delusion and all this among Saints at least in profession when as this Spirit is the only principle of Saintship St. Jude in his Epistle speaketh of this as the Sin of Devils for which they are cast down to Hell and bound in Chains of Darkness that they did forsake their first state and their own habitation It is in Greek not their first state but their first principle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Saints is not this a Sin greater than that of Devils not only to forsake but to grieve and cast shame upon this first and most blessed Spirit which is your only principle a principle of Divinâ— Life Light and Purity your own habitation a habitation of Divine Rest and Glory 2. O all you who desire to be Saints or to grow in the new and Divine Nature of a Saint let your hearts burn by day and by night with continual longings for the Spirit This alone is that of which a Saint is bred by which he is nourished This alone is the Heavenly Root the Sap the sweet Dew Showers and Influences the warm and cherishing Sun-shine to every Spiritual Plant Cry therefore and wait for this Spirit wait upon it minister to it seek it suck it in by all means thorow all its own manifestations and ordinances of Nature or of Grace When this world was first made a beautiful frame out of a dark Deep the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters When Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin the Holy Ghost overshadowed her and rested upon her In both places the expressions seem to allude to a Bird or a Dove spreading itself over its Nest to hatch its young Ones When the Lord Jesus was Baptized the Holy Ghost descended and rested upon him in the form of a Dove Dost thou indeed desire to have thy dark defiled dead heart made a new Creature to have Jesus Christ to be born or to grow within thee and to be Baptized yet more into Jesus Christ the Sea of all Heavenly Beauties Loves and Joys O then pray to the blessed Spirit to make thy Soul his Nest to move upon the face of thy Spirit to overshadow thee to descend and rest upon thee in his Dove like form 3. O all ye Saints sing the praises of the holy Spirits let the high praises of the holy Spirit be ever in your mouths Say to the Spirit this is the womb of Divine Life and Power which hath born us and brought us forth to be Children and Heirs to God these are the Breasts of Divine Life and sweetness which give us suck this is itself the Heavenly Milk of the Eternal word by which we live and grow Do you see any glympse of Evangelical Light and Truth do you feel any workings of Grace any sweet springings of Love and Joy Give Glory to the Spirit it is this blessed Spirit which now shines in you enlivens you and acts you The Children of Iracel in the Wilderness in a great want of water met with a Well then they sang to it in these words Spring O Well the Princes have digged it with their Sâ—aves When ever thou meetest with any fresh stream any sweet drop of the water of Life rising up within thee in thâ—s parched Land and weary Wilderness sing to thy Well sing to the blessed Spirit and say in thy Song my Well springeth my Jesus hath digged it in my heart with the Golden Scepter of his Gracâ— and Love Thus let every gracious thought gracious moving of thy mind will or affections put into thy mouth a new Song of joyful praises to the Spirit as the dear and inseparable principle of Life of Heaven of Eternity within thee thine ownâ— principle Thus much of the Principle 2. The two effects of this Principle are a Spiritual sense savour both comprehended in that expression to be heavenly minded How often doth my Spirit labour in the Bosom and power of the Eternal Spirit for these two things 1. That all Men were brought forth into this Spiritual Principle 2. That all who have the Spiritual Principle within them were continually acted by it How sweet would life be to them for the sight of their Eyes and rellish of their Spirit They that live in the Spirit see all things by a Spiritual Light It is indeed a pleasant thing to behold this Light Every glympse of it infuseth a heavenly joy into the Heart and scattereth all Clouds of grief or melancholy These see all things in a Spiritual Image that is in a Divine and Immortal Glory They tast the sweetness of a Heavenly and Divine Love in every thing Every thing presenteth itself to them in an Heavenly Appearance and every appearance of things entreth into their Souls with a heavenly taste and rellish far sweeter than Hony to the Palate All our converse with things of every kind of Nature or Grace of Sense or reason proceedeth from a union with those things in one Principle and is a communion with them in that Principle Such as the Principle is such are the Appearances and rellishes of things to us such is our converse with them All Appearances of things to Men or to Angels in every natural Principle to our senses or to our understandings are no more than shadows or dreams The Spirit alone is Truth When melancholy forms and Images of things in this world afflict our Spirits when the pleasant things here lift them up to vain joys and glories if the holy Spirit awaken himself and arise in us all these fly away all other appearances of things break up into an appearance of Eternal Beauty and Blessedness springing forth from this Spirit like the shadows of the night when the Sun is seen and a dream when a Man awaketh We are taught by natural Philosopy that the Images of things are seen thorow a Christalline humor in the Eye as a fine Glass If this Christal be dyed with any colour all things which we see appear
he that hath suffered in the Flesh hath ceased from Sin The Holy Ghost clearly relates to the death of the Lord Jesus and of a Saint He speaks of the time perfectly past he that hath suffered in the Flesh that is he that by dying hath compleated and finished his sufferings in the flesh he hath ceased from sin He that dyeth in union with Christ in the vertue of his death and in a conformity to it in the first moment of death ceaseth from all the Evils of Sin the Guilt the Power the Pollution the Punishment and so from Death itself See the inseparable connexion between the Flesh Sufferings Sin and Death All these continue together and cease together O you that hear or read understand these things and lay them to heart This Flesh which is so dear to us which we are so loath and unwilling to part with which we tender as our nearest and dearest self is our only division from our self a bed of Snakes and Enmity It is the root the seat the food the fewel the fruit of Sin and suffering and death This Fleshly Principle and Sense this worldly Light and Image which we account Life and the Sweetness of Life in which we think all the dear Treasures and Joys of Life are comprehended is no other than a deep dark and miery Dungeon where we lie in the midst of the hissings stings and poysons of innumerable Toads and Serpents This Sin which so easily besetteth us and winds itself into our bosoms is that weight which presseth us and sinketh us down that chain of Darkness which tyeth us down and fastneth us here below in the horrible Pit and Dungeon of this Fleshly Principle and Sense this Fleshly this worldly Spirit and Image This Death which seemeth so dreadful to us which we so tremble at and fly from is that dearest Friend come down from Heaven from the bosom of God that beautiful hand put forth from the secret of Eternal Life Love and Glory which taketh off this weight which knocketh off this chain of Darkness and restoreth to us our silver Wings and golden Feathers by which in a moment we fly forth from this Cage of unclean Spirits this Dungeon of the Fleshly Principle and Sense never to return into them any more O Believers fear not fly not from Sufferings Be willing to sacrifice and offer up this Flesh as a whole Burnt-Offering in the Flame of Sufferings unto Death Kiss Death as a lovely Bride as those perfumed Flowers those Beds of Spices the Cheeks of the Heavenly Bride-groom mentioned in the Canticles For the Flesh the fleshly Principle and Sense the Spirit and Image of this Flesh of this World together with the Sufferings Sin and Death end all at once in the Death of a Saint in the very first moment of his Death A Holy Divine when he was dying lay upon his Death-Bed singing this often over Now I shall sin no more We read Isaiah 59. 2. That our Iniquities separate between us and our God our Sins hide his face from us Death is indeed a separation but it is not the separation of the Soul from the Body The separation of the Soul or the Body from God this is Death indeed this alone is Death This world this worldly Spirit and Image is the Curtain or Vail the Partition wall between us and the Face or Bosom of our Heavenly Bridegroom our Lord Jesus So saith St. Paul Our Gospel is hid to those whose Eyes the God of this world hath blinded that they should not behold the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face or Person of Christ. The Fleshly Principle or Sense is the unpassable gulf between us and the unsearchable Treasures of the Divine Nature of the Blessed Persons in the Divine Nature the Father the Eternal Word the Holy Spirit Sin digs up and keeps open this Gulf sin builds up this Partition wall Sin draws this Curtain between us and the Divine Beauties the Divine Blessedness O dying Saints break forth into singings O all ye Saints rejoice and triumph at every thought at every approach of Death Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoyced to see it saith our Lord Jesus in the Gospel The word rejoyce in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he danced a Galliard When the Virgin Mary with Christ in her Womb came to the Mother of John the Baptist the Babe within her sprung for joy Thus O Believers let your hearts spring for joy within you at the approach and presence of Death So Death coming to you as a beautiful and a heavenly Virgin with Jesus Christ in its Womb not after the Flesh but in the Glory of the Spirit to be delivered of him immediately into your Bosoms as a Bridegroom that at once in the same moment appears to you in Glory makes you worthy of himself by being like himself and one Glory with himself makes all things Life Immortality Glory round about you Behold the day of your Death both afar off near at hand as the day of Christ as a day which the Lord Jesus makes rising himself as the true Sun upon you so iurning this Sun into Darkness before the brightness of his own appearance enlightning all within you and without you with another Light infinitely greater infinitely sweeter At the sight of this day as Abraham did so let your hearts spring with a pleasant lightness and dance Galliards in your Bosom Now sing of Death and say in your songs every one of you as you lie upon your Death-beds I shall sin no more I shall be in Flesh no more no more for ever in this Fleshly Principle and sense which hath so long bewitched me and held me by their â—orceries in the House of Whoredoms and of Death I shall be in this world so loathsome and so hateful to me I shall see this world and this Image of things which hath been so long so tempting and tormenting to me no more for ever Farewel for ever all distances all divisions between me and my Jesus my God Henceforth shall I with open face in my Soul and my Body behold the open and unvailed Face of God Henceforth shall I with my naked Soul and Body lie for ever in the naked Bosom of my Glorified Saviour my King and Husband giving him of my Loves drinking in abundantly his Loves and bringing forth continually by him all the Spiritual and Heavenly fruits of Life and Immortality The morning is called Rosy-fingred because the morning Beams as Rosy-fingers seem to open the Curtains of the night and let in day upon us Death is to a Saint of a truth this Rosy fingered morning which by sweet beams breaking forth from on high draws aside the Curtains of this night of Flesh and lets in upon us the Eternal day which at once in a moment overspreads our Souls and Bodies and fills all things to us with its blessed Light making us and
Saint with what quietness and security mayest thou lye down to rest and sleep in the midst of all wants enemies and dangers Thy Body itself is a Fellow-Member in the Body of Christ with all the glorious Angels and Blessed Spirits with Christ the head of all and the Father the Head of Christ. All these have the same care of thy Body for every part of it in every State as for themselves For it is themselves a Member and part of themselves They all are present with it they encompass it they minister unto it all things seasonable for its defence and comfort 2. There is a Communion of sufferings Whether one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it O Christians what a sweetning is this to the bitterest affliction How doth this take away the solitude the sadness the sting from Poverty a Prison a Sickness the Grave You are in the heart of all Angels and Saints of Christ and of the Father to suffer to live and to die together with you All the Heavenly company that are by one Spirit gathered together into that one glorious Body of Christ lye down with you in the Dust in a Dungeon on a sick Bed in the Grave How is the Spouse of Christ now in its most solitary and afflicted State indeed as two Heavenly Companies according to the expression in the Canticles 3. The Fellow-members in the Body of Christ have a Communion of Joy and Glory Whether one Member be honoured all the Members rejoice with it A Believer is ever glorious ever blessed St. Peter saith that when we suffer for the name of Christ the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon us Every suffering of a Saint so far as he is a Saint is for Christ. Why art thou ever melancholy why is thy Heart heavy within thee O Believer Open thine Eyes to see them open thine Heart to take them in Behold the Joys and Glories of all the blessed in Heaven are thine are present with thee and ever rest upon thee I will conclude this Communion with that most remarkable expression God hath tempered the Body together The word is hath mingled the Body together How full an expression is this How doth this mixture sweeten all our sufferings and make all our Joys far more pleasant Thou O Believer with all thy shame and sufferings art tempered and mingled together with all the Saints and Angels above with Christ and the Father with all their Joys and Glories All the same Heavenly Company with all the same Joys and Glories are tempered and mingled together with thee with thy shames and sufferings here below Thus are all one piece and that one piece whole and entire in every one Thus is the greater the greatest comeliness put upon the most indigent Thus is there no Schism in the Body As in many Spirits tempered into one Spirit many Liquors tempered into one Liquor many Spices beaten into the smallest Powder mingled into one costly Ointment every portion of this Spirit this Liquor this Ointment hath all the Spirits all the Liquors all the Ointments of the whole in it so is the Body of Christ in general and every Member in particular 3. The proportion or suitableness There is no Schism in the Body of Christ. If this be pure precious living immortal heavenly and glorious then is thy Body also O Believer so far as it is a Member of this Body pure precious living immortal heavenly glorious How living how immortal how beautiful how glorious how divine a thing is that Body of a Saint which is a Member of Christ in Glory What Life what Joys are those of this Body which is in so dear so inseparable so intimate an Union and Communion of the same Life Joys Beauties and Spirit with all the glorious Angels blessed Spirits Christ himself the Head of all the Father in Christ This is the State of the Body of a Saint as it is a Member of Christ. But while a Saint lives in this world his Body is partly the Member of this Heavenly Husband the Lord Jesus and partly the Member of a Harlot this World and the Flesh in as much as a Saint here below hath his life and conversation divided between the pure Spirit of Christ and the Whorish Spirit of this world O sweet O beautiful O precious and blessed Death By Death is the joyful and glorious separation made in the Body of a Saint between the precious and the vile between the heavenly Bridegroom the Lord Jesus and the Hellish Adulterer this World Now it ceaseth for ever to be in any degree any more the Member of the Harlot to be in a Carnal or worldly Spirit Now it 's for ever singly entirely gathered up into the Spirit Body and Bosom of Jesus Christ. O! how pure how shining in what Angelical in what Spiritual in what Divine a form and fulness of unexpressible rest beauty and delight is the Body of a Saint in the very moment of Death when like fine Gold purged from its dross or a Heavenly Sun that hath cast up its cloud it now comes forth out of the Whorish Spirit of the Flesh and this World a single and pure Member in the pure and divine Body of our Lord Jesus These are the three things contained in this Membership of the Body of a Believer in Christ Union Communion and proportion From this I shall raise a threefold short exhortation 1. Set a value upon the new Birth upon the Regeneration Content not your selves with being once born By your first Birth you have Souls and Bodies Members of this world By the Spirit of this world they are Baptized into the Body and Society of Darkness Corruption Death Wrath the whole Company of wicked Spirits and Devils Give your selves no rest till you are born again By the new Birth which is from above you have new Souls and new Bodies which are Members one of another Fellow-members of Christ. Your Souls and your Bodies both are by that one Eternal Spirit Baptized into one Spiritual Immortal and glorious Body with the Spirits of all just men made evangelically perfect by the Blood and Spirit of Christ with all the Holy Angels with Christ and the Father Press into the Fellowship of this mystery Here you shall see it indeed to be true that Grace is Glory begun in your Souls and Bodies both that when you believe a Spirit of Glory rests upon your whole Person by your Union with Christ. 2. Possess this Vessel of your Bodies in holiness For so you shall possess it in honour Possess it converse with it in a Spiritual Principle So you shall enjoy it and your selves in it as a Member of Christ. You shall see feel enjoy within your selves in this Body the Spirit the Life the Immortality the Joy the Glory of the whole Body of Christ the society of all things Heavenly Blessed and Eternal to wake and to sleep to walk and lie down to live and
these so far as you stand in a Spiritual Principle are as another Heaven the Heaven of Heavens the Pallace of the great King which he fills with his Glory where he heeps his Court sits upon his Throne 3. The Saints have communion with God in his Temple In the Temple was the Golden Mercy-Seat There saith God will I commune with thee This was overspread with Cherubims of Glory as St. Paul calls them These Cherubims covered this Golden Mercy-Seat with their Wings and so made the State or Glory about the Throne This is therefore called the secret of the most high and the shadow of the Almighty where a Saint is said to dwell and to lodge Hear O ye Saints what glorious things are spoken of your Bodies be Spiritual and behold in these Temples the Golden Mercy-Seat which is the glorified Person of Christ and the Cherubims of Glory covering it with their Wings and God here upon this Golden Mercy-Seat the glorified Bosom of Christ from between the Wings of the Cherubims ready alwaies to commune with you yea taking you up upon this Golden Mercy-Seat within the Wings of the Cherubims to commune freely with him at all seasons in this secret of eternal safety rest love joy and glory This Temple is the Body of a Saint while he liveth below but now it is in too great a degree covered with a cloud of Flesh filled with the smoak of the Spirit of this world that a Saint too rarely enters into this Temple of the holy Ghost in his own Body and more rarely seeth with any degree of clearness the Glory or heareth the voice of the blessed Spirit there What joy is it to think in what a purely sacred and Divine Temple in what a clear and shining Pallace of the eternal King in what open and unstained unvailed visions of Divine Glory in what a secret in what a presence of glorious Angels and Eternal Spirits in the midst of what sweet overshadowings dear encompassings naked outshinings of the Eternal Spirit in what most blessed most ravishing Communion of Eternal Light Life and Love with this Spirit in what sight and embraces with what kisses of incomprehensible Beauties in the sound of what words what salutations what wooings what expressions of the highest Loves and Joys from the Eternal Spirit a Saint finds himself even in his own proper Body in the very moment of his Death when departing out of this Life at once he departs for ever out of the Fleshly Image and the Spirit of this World 4. The Divine Presence and Glory was the defence of the Temple Esa. 4. 5. There is a Prophesy concerning the times of the Gospel expressed by figures taken from the state of things under the Law And the Lord will create upon every â—welling place of Mount Sion and upon her Assemblies a Cloud and smoak by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night For upon all the Glory shall be a defence or a covering When the first Temple was to be destroyed the Prophet Ezekiel saw the Glory removing off from it afterwards when the second Temple was near its end a voice was heard in it saying Let us be gone from hence which was understood to be the voice of God and of his holy Angels with all those invisible companies and Ministers which made up the Glory of the Divine Presence as Nobles Officers and Guards make up the Court of a King O Saints why do you fear for your Bodies hidden Conspiracies or open force diseases the fury of the Elements the malice of Men or Devils These Bodies of yours are the Temples of the Holy Ghost Here are the Holy Assemblies of all the Heavenly Company in the unity of the Spirit whose Temples your Bodies are Of these it is Prophesied to these it is promised that God will create upon them a cloud and a smoak by day the shining of a flaming fire by night Upon these the Glory is a defence or a covering God himself with all his holy Ones his Angels his Watchmen his ministring Spirits is this Cloud this Glory which is the defence and covering upon your whole Persons your Bodies as well as your Souls both have together with Christ a hidden Life a secure Life in this secret of God within this covering of this Divine Cloud Flame and Glory From off these Temples of your Bodies this Glory never removes From within these Temples of your Bodies this heavenly Company never departs for as much as the union in the Spirit of Grace under the Gospel is Eternal Thus the Bodies also of Believers in this Life are the Temples of the Holy Ghost All things in them here are divine Figures of a divine Glory They are filled and covered with the Glory itself They are the seats of the freest Communion with this Glory being the Temples of the God of Gods and so the Pallaces of the King of Kings All this is true of them here as they stand in a Spiritual Principle and in union with Christ by the new birth But this Life is a mixt State We stand partly in a Spiritual partly in a Fleshly Principle These Temples of our Bodies are covered with a corrupt Flesh that we can hardly discern their Spiritual Beauties They are too frequently in too great a part filled with a smoak of Hell the smoak of the Spirit of this world that a Believer can rarely enter into this Temple of his Body to behold and converse with the Glory there This is the precious the blessed work of Death in a Believer It breaketh the union it maketh a separation not between Christ and a Believer not between the Soul and Body of a Believer as they are joyned together in Christ by the band and unity of the Eternal Spirit and make one Spiritual Man or Person in Christ but between the precious and the vile between the Carnal and Spiritual Principle of a Saint both in Soul and Body Now in the moment of Death the Soul and Body of a Saint come forth immediately clear and shining Temples of the Spirit the smoak and clouds of the Fleshly Principles and of this worldly Image being for ever driven away from within them and from without Thus you understand St. Pauls sweet and blessed sense of Death when he speaketh of the Body and saith 1 Corin. 5. 1. 2. That we shall not be found naked but be cloathed upon from above with a building of God Eternal in the Heavens which shall swallow up mortality in life Our Spiritual Body which we have in this life by our new Birth as we stand in our Spiritual Principle is this Divine Building sprung from a Divine Root of a Divine Nature or Substance of a Divine Form and Workmanship This is ever in Heaven being inseparably united to Christ and being ever in the Spirit This is Eternal when we die this casts off the Cloud of corrupt and cursed Flesh. This springs forth out of its Spiritual Principle
Death This World with all its Powers and Principalities the life of this World the Cross itself and Death which had so long captivated the Lord Jesus with all the Powers Beauties Joys and Glories of his Heavenly Image binding them in Chains of Darkness within the Dungeon of this Earthly Image whose light is darkness are now themselves in the Person of our Lord Jesus in his Soul and Body together with his Captivity itself carryed up as he ascends and made Captives to that Heavenly Image which they held Captive Here in this Pallace of the Spirit and of Eternity where Darkness itself shines as the Light they are seen as the Captives of the Lord Jesus bound in Chains of Glory spectacles to all the Holy Angels and Blessed Spirits in which the Beauties of Christs Victory and Triumph as so many ravishing Wonders of an Incomprehensible of a Mysterious Power Wisdom Love Glory Divinity subduing all things entirely to themselves eternally shine This honour have all the Saints in their Deaths by the vertue of their Saviours Death by vertue of their fellowship with him and his fellowship with them mutually in their several Deaths all in each Death dying together Where now is the Melancholy of Death and of the Grave It is swallowed up into the Divine Pomp and Pleasure of a most Glorious Victory and Triumph O Saint What fearest thou in Death Or thou who fearest not to be dead why fearest thou to die If thou rejoicest in the Glory of thy departed Soul why mournest thou over thy Body as left behind in a naked and loathsome Prison The act of dying to both is the gaining of a Glorious Victory over the Life and Death the Powers and Principalities of this whole World The passage itself out of this Life is a Glorious Triumph to thy Soul and Body both which with all the Triumphal Ornaments of the Light of Life and Immortality ride forth in the Chariot of the Heavenly Image and the Eternal Spirit over the Spirit and all the forms of this Creation which lie conquered under your Feet In the very moment of your dying all the Powers and Appearances of Nature which rule in the Kingdoms of Sense and Reason are lost for ever so that their place where once they reigned in your Persons knows them no more You sit down upon the Throne of Christ and the Father together with them All the Births Images and changes of time are swallowed up into the bright the beautiful the most delightful depths of Eternity the unfathomable depths of purest Light Love and Joy immediately as Triumphant Conquerors and Kings you are encompassed with the ravishing applauses and shouts of innumerable Angels of Immortal and Glorious spirits springing up and shining forth in all the places of this World where its Light or Darkness Life or Death seemed before to stand You see all these with a Heavenly Musick and Songs of Triumph setting Garlands and Crowns of Victory on your Heads immediately as you pass out of the Light of this Life you see your selves received your Souls and your Bodies both with the most delicious kisses into the Eternal Embraces of the Father and of Christ in that Unity of the Spirit which is the unfathomable center of all Lights Loves and Joys of all beautiful and blissful Spirits created and uncreated All now for ever are filling full your Joys in themselves and fulfilling their Joys in you 4. Scrip. Heb. 2. 14. That he by dying might destroy him who had the power of Death that is the Devil and set them free who all their life time were subject to bondage by the fear of Death The word Power in this place signifieth properly a Prince with a Principality or Dominion This whole world is the Principality of the Devil For the Devil is called in Scripture the Prince of this world All Flesh every thing of Nature and of this Creation is comprehended under that name as it is distinguished from and opposed to the Spirit and the new Creation in the Spirit the Kingdom of God in the Holy Ghost and is the Principality of the Devil All Darkness every shadow every evil of Sin or Suffering of Corruption and the Curse of Shame Deformity Pain Grief and Wrath as all these are expressed in the Scripture and in common Language with every other kind or degree of Evil by Darkness are the Principality of the Devil For the Devil is called the Prince of Darkness Death is the Devils Principality who in this Scripture is called the Power or Prince of Death All this then hath Jesus Christ by dying destroyed in his own Person this World the Principles and Forms of Nature the Life and Images of Flesh every Darkness inward or outward of mind or sense Death itself For all these lie within the Principality of the Devil and are his Region his Kingdom without the bounds of this Dominion all things are Light Life Love Joy Immortality Spirit and Truth As it is Jesus who dies again in the Death of every Saint as the Death of every Saint is the Death of Christ acted over again in the similitude by the vertue of his Death so doth every Saint as he is one Spirit with Christ after the like manner by dying destroy the Principality the Kingdom of the Devil in his Person also For this is said to be the end of Christ in his Death that he might free all the Saints from the fear of Death O Believers Let your Saviour gain his end upon you and end of most tender Love Be no more in bondage to the fear of Death Let the Lord Jesus see the seed of his Death springing up in your Deaths a Glorious and Divine Seed of Life and Immortality springing up in the place of Death and swallowing it up into Victory Lay aside now for ever those melancholy and delusive Imaginations of Death as a separation of those tenderest Bosom-Friends Soul and Body a separation from your dearest Relations and entertainments the delights of your Eyes an extinguishing of the sweet Light of Life a dismal solitude a perpetual Darkness the Confinement of the Body to the nakedness coldness streightness and horrour of the Grave Dust Stones and Bones covering it and ratling over it Worms feeding upon it the Soul naked and alone taking its flight through a vast distance of empty air and space to another place These are the Forms and Appearances of Death to the Dead only Those who follow Jesus Christ in that living and shining way in which he went thorow Death meet with none of these appalling and affrightful Apparitions Let the Dead bury their Dead saith Jesus Christ to his Disciples but follow thou me Understand this O Believers that all Shadows all Forms of Darkness and of Death are from below Earthly Sensual Devilish from the Earth from the Natural Soul and from the Devil as St. James speaks All this Image and sense of things is that Kingdom of the Devil which together
Inhabitant of Paradise was the Divine Nature in the Earthly Image and in an Earthy Person which stood singly in a shadowy Joy and Glory The Heavenly Person and the Heavenly Image which were the Life itself were hidden and Vailed beneath this Shadow like the Glory of a Flower in its seed beneath the Earth when the Plant begins first to appear or like the ripe fruit hid in the Blossom In the New birth that Divine Person and Form which died in the Shadow riseth again in the blessed life and most beautiful Truth of the Eternal Substance As the Accorn which was first an Oak being sown in the Ground and dying springs up again into a fair and flourishing tree But there is this difference the Accorn is not the same Oak which at first it was but only another of the same kind But here the Shadow in its new birth riseth again in that Individual Person and proper Essence of Glory out of which it first descended As Jesus Christ saith I came forth from God into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father So Saith this new-born Child of God I was before the World with my Elder Brother in the bosom of the Father I was with the Father in the bosom of my Elder Brother one Spirit one Heavenly Image one Brightness of Glory together with him I came forth from this Glory into a Shadowy similitude of it into an Earthly Paradise From thence I fell by sin into that Death which is my Life in this present evil World Again through the Death of Christ by the Resurrection of the new Birth I leave both this living Death in the World that Shadowy Life of Paradise return to my first Glory with Jesus Christ in the bosom of the Father Moreover that Earthly Image and shadowy Paradise are not lost These also rise again in their Regeneration They arise again the same Individuals but in a far different Form and in a far differing manner of subsisting The Earthly man of the first Paradise is born anew subsisting in the Person of the Heavenly Man as the Humanity of Christ subsisted in his Divine and Eternal Person The Earthy Man springs up in the bosom of the Heavenly Man It is no more now as at the first a vail on the Sun-like Face and Spiritual Beauties of the Heavenly Pattern and Original But it is to it as the frâ—shest Beams and the most Flowry Light of the Sunshine is to the Sun It Flows immediately from the naaked Form and fulness of the Heavenly Glory it is transparent to it filled and covered with it The Earthly Paradise now flourisheth in the midst of the Heavenly Paradise which shineth all through it bringing it forth as one Person and one Spirit with itself This is the new Heaven and the new Earth the Heavenly Man and the Heavenly Paradise newly and nakedly discovered so as it never before was in this Creation The earthly man also and the earthly Paradise brought forth into a new state and Glory by their Union and fellowship with the Heavenly Man and the Heavenly Paradise as a Bride adorned by the presence of her Bridegroom coming forth like the Sun Thus Jesus Christ makes all things new in the new Creature and brings forth the new Creature together with himself in himself as St. Paul speaks 2 Corin. c. 5. v. If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature or a new Creation For behold saith Christ I make all things new This new birth and Resurrection of the Heavenly and earthly Glories united in one Person in a Saint is excellently represented in that forementioned place of St. John 1. Epist. c. 5. v. Having said There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit he adds There are three that bear record on Earth and saith he these three agree in one The first three were one Heavenly Spirit and Image The last three agree in one Earthly Image with themselves and in one Heavenly Spirit with the Heavenly Image and the Heavenly three A Believer as is before noted is said to have the Record or Testimony of these Witnesses in himself He hath then also the Witnesses in himself for these Witnesses testifying of themselves to the Soul are in their own unvailed persons and Divine presence the Tâ—stimony the Truth of the Testimony the Authority the Witnesses all in one The second Trinity of Witnesses is 1. the Water 2. The Blood 3. The Spirit 1. The Water is the natural or Earthly Image washt as by a Baptism of Water from its filth like a piece of Gold fallen into the dirt The first Creation is exprest by Water It was a pure and clear Sea of finest Christal The Face of God shining forth upon this Sea of Chrystal at once filled it with the sweet Light of his Beams and figured his Beauties upon it which Light and Figure were the Light of Paradise and the Life of the first man in it Sin by a mixture of Earth with this pure Water pollutâ—th it troubleth it changeth the Light into Darkness and the Beautiful Figure of the Divine Glory into Confusion The clear and sweet calm is now changed into a black and foul Tempest The new birth separating the dark dâ—filing Earth from the clear pure Flood gives a Resurrection to the Divine Light the Divine Form the Earthly man in its puritiâ—â— and the first Paradise in its Beauties 2. The Blood is the second Witness joyned together with the Water This is the Earthly Image heightened with a more excellent washing than that of Water which is this of the precious Blood of God himself This Blood taketh away by the vertue of Christs Death the darkness of the vail which interposeth between the naked Glories of the Heavenly Image and the Earthly Image keeping it in the state of a shadow only Now this most precious Blood as a rich Flood of Divine Light and Life breaks in freely and fully upon the Earthly Image in its new birth that it is no more the shadow to that Heavenly substance but the face in the Glass answering to the living face of the supream and Eternal Beauty Thus the Earthly Man and the Earthly Paradise returneth and riseth again in the Regeneration not by Water only but by Blood not as the shadowy Similitude of a concealed Beauty but the shining brightness of a present and unclouded Glory This is the second Witness on Earth The Spirit is the last of the three Witnesses in the Earthly Image This giveth his Testimony joyntly in both Images the Heavenly and the Earthly This Spirit is the same in both the Mother which bringeth both forth from its own Eternal Womb the Life which dwells in both the Glory which fits and cloaths them both the Love which Eternally sports in both which fills both with purest perpetual Pleasures in themselves in each other This Spirit is that band of perfection which
Fellowship between the Father and Christ and the Spirit and the Saints in the Spirit at the coming of the Spirit is this 1. The blessed Person of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity is the beautiful band of that sweet and sacred Union in which the two other Persons the Father and the Son most nakedly most entirely at the utmost heighth of their Beauties and Loves possess and enjoy each other The same Person of the Spirit in the mystical and Marriage Union between Christ and the Soul is that sweet and sacred Unity by the Virtue of which the Father Christ and a Saint in the Purity and Perfection of all Heavenly sweetnesses and excellencies behold love and take Pleasure in each other as one Spirit By this you may see how the Spirit is the Promise and the Seal and what this Seal of the Spirit means The Lord Jesus fully expresseth it in the verse mentioned At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you This day is the day of the Spirit the day of the Spirits coming into the Soul and appearing there In the Revelation of this third Person the Holy Spirit when he shines forth in the Spirit of a Saint the Father Christ and a Saint are all seen together in one Glory the Glory of the Father in the Fellowship and Unity of this Spirit which is the Spirit of Glory This Union and this Vision takes the Saint up into itself fixeth itself in a Saint displayeth itself there by the immediate Brightness and Glory of that Heavenly Person the Spirit himself which is the Spirit of Truth This is the Seal of the Spirit this is the Banner of Love Thus he sets himself as a Seal upon the Heart of his spouse thus he spreads himself as a Banner of Love over her head in his Banqueting-house How clearly in this Day in this Vision and Unity of the Spirit doth the Beloved Spouse of Christ see Heaven and Paradise ten thousand Heavens and Paradises new-born and risen within herself herself new-born and risen into the midst of them and enjoying them all Dost thou mourn O dejected Soul that thou hast not received this Seal of the Spirit Alas how few have How hath this Seal been withdrawn since the Nations of the World received the mark of Anti-Christ Mourn thou together with all the Saints for the absence of the Heavenly Bridegroom in this Vision of his Glory and Seal of his Love But mourn not as without Hope Press forward to this Day of the Spirit and to the Brightness of the rising of the Lord Jesâ—s together with the Father upon thy Soul in the Person of the Spirit which is the Union of all Loves Joys and Glories as all Lights are United in the Sun This Day hath already dawned some few have seen the dawnings of it and rejoyced to see it when it hath shone forth upon the tops of their Spirits as the Sun in the pleasant morning of a Summers-day gilds the Tops of the Mountains 2. The Second Evidence is the Witness of the Spirit Of this Paul speaketh Rom. 8. v. 16. The Spirit itself beareth Witness in our Spirit that we are the Children of God This Witness of the Spirit may be more interrupted and be accompanied in the Soul with less Glory and a less triumphant Joy yet is it clear and sweet and sure although the clearness and the sweetness have their different degrees The Witness of the Spirit is as tho Voice of God in the Soul received and ecchoed to by the Soul The Seal of the Spirit is the Glorious Face of God unvailed in the Soul and by the kiss of its mouth Uniting it to the Soul so that it stamps its own Heavenly Image upon the Soul and Ravishing the Soul into one Life and Form of Glory with itself becomes its own Reflection there equally embracing and embraced enjoying and enjoyed in the Unity of the Spirit Thou who feest not the Seal of the Spirit upon thy heart open thy Spiritual Ear hearken unto the voice of the Spirit hearken to the voice of thine own Spirit These two by a sweet Consent and Harmony may testifie together the Love of God in thee Their voice may be low and not to be heard in the Tumult and noise of thy Fears and Doubts In the calmness quietness and rest of a meek and resigned Spirit hearken diligently and thou mayest hear this low voice Though this voice be low yet is it clear and sweet The Love and Peace and Joy of the Spirit the Spirit of Love Peace and Joy himself are in this low voice 3. The third Evidence is the Instinct of the Spirit which seems to be mentioned by St. Paul as a less degree of Evidence going before that of the Witness of the Spirit Rom. 8. 15. Ye have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby ye Cry Abba Father The little Lamb newly yeaned and come forth from the Dam in a great flock amongst many Lambs and Ews knoweth its own Dam discerneth its call from all others runneth to it keepeth by its side when it is in any fear seeketh and sucketh its Milk and the nourishment of its Life from it This is the Instinct of Nature which faileth not the Births of Nature Thus every Child of God hath much more a Spiritual and Divine Instinct which is inseparable from the Divine Nature in it The Spirit of God in it when the Light of the Divine Nature is most obscured is a Spirit of Son-ship or Childhood in the Soul by secret Impressions leading it inclining and carrying it to God as its Father giving it a secret sense and discerning of the Voice of God and of its Relation to God as by the instinct of the Divine Nature Consider this ye doubting fearful and distressed Saints consider this and be comforted Thou hast no clear sight of the Face of God Thou hast no clear Testimony of the Love of God in thy Spirit Thou hast no distinct understanding of thy Union with God or of the Nature of God or of the things of God Thou hast no Evidences by which thou canst satisfy thy own Reason thorow any discourse of Reason But thou art inwardly carryed in thy desires and inclinations to God to please him to be with him Thy Soul secretly hangs upon God and cleaveth to him Thou inwardly longest and thirstest to suck in from his Breasts the milk of Spiritual Life Comfort and Light In the day of thy fears and distress thine Eye looketh to God thine Heart cryeth and hasteth to him The call the voice of God in his Providences his Word and the inward motions of his Spirit touch thine Heart and turn thy Bowels within thee How often in the greatest doubts and distresses of thy Spirit dost thou sigh forth to God the name of Father Behold this is the instinct of the Divine Nature in thee This is the Spirit of Adoption by which thou art acted and by
with him so shall it be with thee A supernatural Power a mighty Angel from Heaven shall bind up thy Tempters thy Spiritual Enemies in chains of Darkness as in a deep sleep shall remove the great Stone the most powerful Lusts and Temptations from the mouth of thy Grave God himself in his Power in the greatness of his Power as it excelleth and transcendeth all Powers all things all thoughts of men or Angels God himself in his Almightiness in the infiniteness of his Power and God-head God himself in the immediate naked most potent most high most Glorious Appearances and Operations of his God-head shall come down upon thee shall arise and shine in thee and as he riseth raise thee together with himself into the Light of Life Whil'st thou lyest in Sin thy true Person or Life lie together dead in thee as to thee But beneath thy Soul at the bottom of it they lie hid in God who is the ground of every natural being and the Treasury of all Spiritual Beings At the season of the new birth God discocovers himself in thy Soul as a glorious ground out of which thy Life and thy Jesus spring up together by degrees like Twin-lillies Roses from the same stalk or root which is Christ. Thus shalt thou rise from the Dead with a shout of Heavenly Joys 5. Christ is the Companion in the Resurrection St. Paul tells the Galatians he travels in birth again with them till Christ be formed in them We read 1 Corin. 6. He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit A saint and Christ are one Spirit by a Spiritual Marriage which makes two Spirits perfectly one yet so that they remain perfectly and distinctly two in one When thou risest from the dead in Regeneration thy Jesus riseth together with thee out of that Grave in thy Heart into which thou hast cast him by thy Sin at the Fall when thou in thy true Life and Paradise in thee fell into the same Grave together with him Jesus Christ and the Soul spring up together in the first Creation as Twins For St. John saith in his first Chapter of his Gospel that without him that is in a single state disjoyned from Christ was nothing made that was made Christ and the Soul like two Twin-lillies flourished together in Paradise Together they died by the Fall Many times since thy birth into this world have Jesus Christ and with him that Beautiful and Blessed Life which thou enjoyed'st in Paradise been rising again into thy Heart into a more excelling Paradise that in the Spirit and in Heaven which is Eternal But alass thou hast still thrown them back again into the same Grave in thy flesh by the new wounds which thy renewed Lusts and Unbelief have given them Notwithstanding all this when the set time is come nothing can withstand the rising in thee Jesus Christ and thy Soul are together born anew in thee from the womb of Eternal Love where they lay hid and wrapt up together in the Grave itself They now come up together in one Spirit into one Spiritual Life and Heavenly Image in which Paradise also comes up new and fresh together with them By the same immediate and glorious operation of the God-head they break irresistibly forth thorow the darknesses of the night and scatters them and breaks them up as it shines thorow them How blessed is this Union and Fellowship Christ and the Soul ever undivided grow up now together in the mutual sight in the mutual embraces of each other thorow every state and degree of the Regeneration or Resurrection Light or Darkness Solaces or Sufferings Life or Death In all by the Heavenly Union they are mutually a Crown of rejoycing one to another 6. Christ is the Life of this Resurrection So himself testiâ—ieth in the 11 of St. John I am the Resurrection and the Life How sure how sweet is thy Life O Believer who art risen from the Death of Sin and born again to thine Heavenly Father Thy Life is sure It is Christ himself the Power God eternal Life itself who is thy Life the Life of thy Graceâ— here the Living Hope of Glory in Heaven the Life of God in thee which never dies in the midst of Death Thy Life is sweet O Believer How unexpressible is this pleasure to feel Jesus Christ himself the only delight of the Father in Eternity the only Delight of all the Holy Angels and Glorified Saints in Heaven springing up in thy Heart flowing thorow thy whole Soul and Person working in all acting all as Life in thee Thus I have finished this fourth Head the way of the Resurrection in its first step the Regeneration or New-birth and the discourse itself upon this subject FINIS ERRATA'S PAge 15. line 22. for word r. world p. 19. l. 25. for and thou r. O thou p. 55. l. 1. for spirit r. letter p. 66. l. 15. for three r. four p. 115. l. 38. dele by p. 126. l. 2. dele the first have p. 139. l. 2. for ni r. in l. 14. for an r. any p. 151. l. 1. for no r. not l. 7. for diviness r. divineness p. 158. l 22. for thee r. the p. 175. l. uâ—â— for their r. there p. 189. l. 16. for because r. and 3dly because p. 194. l. 14. for word r. words p. 205. l. 11. dele the first 1 p. 206. l. 32. for beautiful r. beauty p. 208. l. 39. dele at the word below p. 210. l. 17. for of spirit r. of the spirit p. 211. l. 20. for creature r. creatures p. 228. l. 35. for forms r. form p. 236. l. 24. for each in r. each creature in p. 249. l. 20. for form r. forms p. 252. l. 33. for though be it r. though it be p. 279. l. 9. for Vse 3 d r. Vse 4 th p. 294. l. 35. for pants r. plants p. 297. l. 5. for the glory r. with glory p. 299. l. 27. for 4 r. 1. p. 300. l. 32. for so God is light r. so God is life p. 301. l. 31. for the Divine Sea r. the Divine Saint p. 311. l. 3. for 3 steps r. 4 steps p. 314. l. 11. for is vizor r. is a vizor p. 315. l. 28. for thine nature r. thy nature l. 39. for fields r. field p. 319. l. 39 for is it r. it is p. 321. l. 16. for thy will r. thy God p. 325. l. 22. for four r. two p. 329. l. 17. for nature of this thing r. nature of things p. 332. l. 33. for which the will r. which is the will p. 335. l. 35. for are r. have p. 341. l. 4. for flesh r. fleshly p. 342. l. 19. for beware r. 2 dly beware p. 349 l. 41. for it conquest r. its conquest p. 350. l. 39. dele the Light p. 352. l. 14. for to the end r. to the end are removed p. 380 l. 25. for thus r. thou l. 41. for o passionate r. of passionate p. 392. l. 36. for poureâ—h r. poured p. 423. l. 9. for are r. ere p. 433. l. 7. for tof r. of p. 448. l. 27. for it it r. it p. 450. l. 17. for so r. see p. 451. l. 21. for same r. next for 1 Cor. r. 2 Cor. p. 472. l. 32. for resteth r. rested p. 480 l. 7. r. form p. 512. l. 3. r. Look to thy Root
Dreams all peace from thy waking hours filling them wâ—th Tumult and Sorrow till Life become more hateful to thee than the most hateful Death I chose Strangling rather than Life saith Job Chap. 7. 15. What can help or comfort thee at such a time as this When an evil Spirit over-whelms all the Creatures to a man what can the Creatures do 5. Spirit of God I cannot express I tremble to think this God can make his own Spirit a stream of Fire and Brimstone in thy Spirit If. 30. 33. The breath the Spirit of the Lord a stream of Brimstone God can himself be an everlasting Burning upon thy Immortal part Who can lie down with everlasting Burnings Can all thy Tears or Pleasures quench these Burnings Well might Moses cry out Psal. 90. 11. Who knows the Power of his Wrath. According to thy Fear so is thy Wrath. You may read the latter Clause thus As is thy Wrath so should the Fear of thee be There is an unsearchableness an Incomprehensibleness in the Wrath of God No Creature can take it in but is swallowed up by it Let men fear God according to his Wrath. Let men fear to make him their Enemy or if they do let them meet so potent an Enemy betimes while he is yet on the way that they may cast themselves at his Feet with Submission Repentance Fears and Tears If you harden your Heart by Insensibleness or sensuality he can multiply the Stroak of Sorrow upon thy Heart seven times seven times more still seven times nay seventy times seven endlesly till thy Heart be ground to the smallest Dust and so lie under his Feet If thy Soul be as high rough untractable as a Whale or Sea He can tame and calm thee by Griefs If thy Soul were a Leviathan arm'd with impenetrable Scales over-looking every lofty thing God can make his Sword which is his Spirit to approach thee he can put hâ—s Hook into thy Nostrils draw thee forth out of thy swelling Seas of Lust and Pride lay thee Panting and Languishing upon the dry Shore before him Thus ends the Third Persuasive 4. Persuasive Fear what God will certainly do to punish and purge Sinners 1 Cor. 3. 13. The Fire shall try every man's work Mark 9. 49. Every one shalt be salted with Fire That which is the highest Principle the Supreamest Power in every kind will subdue all other Powers and Parts of things to itself So it is said of Christ Philip. 3. 21. According to thaâ— working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself If this Principle of power meet wâ—th any thing suitable to itself it cherisheth and hâ—ightens that till it be perfectly like perfectly one with itself Thus every Sacrifice is seasoned with the Salt of Divinity But where it meets with a Contrariety it conflicts and contests with it making the Conflict as fierce and lasting as the Contrariety till â—t have consumed it Thus every man shall be Salted with Fire Thus is Fire among the Elements Thus is God among the Creatures as a Fire Salting every man's Person trying every man's Work If he meet with any holy work he rests upon it in the Secret of his Glory as a Fountain of Beauty and Blessings If he meet with any pure and sweet Spirit like hâ—mself he closeth with it in all manner of gentleness and softnâ—sâ— as Two Flames embrace one another But where he meets with opposition he rageth He bâ—rns upon dark unclean untractable Hearts as Fire in the Iron-works till he hath poured them forth into the Temper and Mold of his Spirit and Image Take heed then of feeding upon fleshly Pleasures withâ—ut Fear as St. Jude speaks O men and women what do you while you live upon the World and in Sin As the Woman said of her self in the story of the Kings 1. King 17. 12. I am gathering sticks to bake a Cake for me and my Son that we may eat it and die This is your posture You are every where wandring and busied to gather the Greatnesses and Pleasures of this world that you may feed with these your Fleshly part fat and strong as a Sacrifice that the Fire of Divine wrath may come down upon you and devour you I shall conclude this whole use thus If there be a God which hath brought forth all the Sweet and good things which are before us here which now move Desire or Delight in us sure this God is Almighty and can yet heighten this Goodness this Sweetness to an Infinitâ—ness as well as an Endlesness Fear then for a Drop to lose the Sea for a Tast the Feast thy share in such Delights for the short temptation of a Darling-Sâ—n If there be a God which hath contrived and sent abroad all the Evils which now afflict affright amaze mortal men sure this God is this way too Almighty and can extend these Sufferings till there be no Bound to them in our sense no end of them in our Eye Fear then to dare this God by your Dalliances in Fleshly vanities If there be a God who is pure just true sweet meek sure he loves such things as these and hates the contrary sure he will set himself â—gainst all proud impure false fiery Ways and Spirits till he have conâ—â—unded them or consumed these things in them Fear then to be sound before the Eyes of this God without the Righteousness and Spirit of your Saviour as a Garment fast and close giâ—t to you Fear to be seen by him in your Nakedness For his Eyes are a bright and hot Flame which will dâ—scover thy Shame and burn thy Flesh as the Whore's in the Revâ—lation with Fire I have spoken of Two Signs of a Servile State in Religion Fear and Dependencies There Remain Two more Forms Solicitude 3. Sign Forms There are Two Sorts of Forms which the Holy Ghost mentions in the Scripture 1. Eternal Forms 2. Temporary Forms 1. Eternal Forms Philip. 2. 6. Jâ—sus Christ is said to be In the Form of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in that Form He thought it no Robbery to be equal with God This Form is the Substance itself Spirit and Truth This is the Essential Form which is no Shadow but One with the Substance no Appearance Separable from Truth but that Appâ—arance which is Truth no Letter or Outside but One Spirit with the Spirit having Life in itself St. Paul speaks of this Fâ—â—m Rom. 12. 2. Re ye transformed in the Renâ—wing of your Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again Rom 8. 29. He hath predestinated us to be conformed to the Image of his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is an Inward and Spiritual Fâ—rm It is the Evangelical Form which is seen by Evangel'cal Eyes which is fâ—lt as well as seen being â—ower as well as Form 1. John 1. 2. 2. Temporary Forms The Apostle speaks of these Fâ—rms 1 Cor. 7. 31. The Fashion of this World passeth away St. Paul useth the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
to sink altogether into your sensual and Corruptible Part. It will make you feed upon Dust seek a merit in and a Nourishment from your Sorrows When the Flesh hath Liberty to interpose it self in our mourning it makes our mourning Brutish or Devilish It makes our mourning Brutish by deriving it from outward and Temporal Things by terminating it on these So our Lamentations are as the howl of Dogs and cry of Bears It makes our mourning Devilish by mingling it with discontent and despair So the Roarings of our Spirits are like the yellings of Devils to Christ Art thou come to Torment us The Flesh is to be kept as a Hewer of Wood Drawer of Water We are to make use of the ways and weaknesses of it to help to break our Hearts and bring forth Tears at the direction of the Spirit in us The work of our Grief upon our Natural Part as it is in itself must be to keep it under to beat it as a Slave to destroy it as an Enemy This is the Ass which is not for Sacrifice but to have its neck broke except it be redeemed by its Subordination to the Spiritual Part. I have done speaking of the manner of Spiritual Mourning I come now to the Third Particular in the opening of the Nature of this Grief which is the Measure The Measure of Spiritual Grief hath Three Limits 1. Limit The casting out of Filth 2. Limit The casting down of Flesh. 3. Limit The clearing up of the Face of God towards us 1. Limit The casting out of Filth St. Paul 1 Corin. 5. 3. in the case of the incestuous Person blames the Church that they had not mourned that he who had done this Thing might be cast out from among them The Case is the same in our own Persons We are to mourn that every Evil Thing may be cast out of us We are to keep our Hearts in a melting temper till our Lusts be quite melted down till the Gold and the Dross be separated one from another We are to weep till we have washed our selves clean in our Tears Obj. But you may here ask What Power is there in our Tears or Sorrows to cleanse us from our Filth shall we say with the Papist that our mourning merits Grace if not of Desert yet for desire out of Congruity Or shall we say with the Arminian that our griefs are a moral way of working upon our will to mortifie that and make it weary of the Pleasures of Sin for the Pennance of Sorrow Ans. I answer to this that there is neither any merit in the Tears of any Creature to move God For if thou be Righteous it is to thy self And the Heavens with all their Hosts are Folly and Filth before Him Neither is there any Efficacy in the woes of man to purge the will of man For who can bring a clean Thing out of an unclean Can any one redeem his Brother from Death Can one Passion or affection in Man by a Death in Sorrow redeem his Brother another Passion or affection from the Death of Sin They must let this alone for ever But the Spiritual Griefs of a Saint are the Buddings of Aaron's Rod of the the Cross of the Lord Jesus in him And from hence they have their value with God and their Vertue on us 1. First my Sorrows have a value with God as they are the Sufferings of my Saviour in me St. Paul saith of himself 1 Colos. 24. I rejoyce in my Sufferings while I fill up that which is behind of the Afflictions of Christ in my Flesh for his Bodies sake All the Sufferings of Believers are the Sufferings of Christ propagating themselves thorow his mystical Members We are one Spirit with our Lord Jesus in our Tribulations as well as in our Consolations Our Groans as much as our Gloryings are the Breathings of that Spirit As the Soul is all in all the Parts of the Body making every Member a part of the Humane Nature putting upon it the Beauty of that Nature So is Jesus Christ in every Thing of the actings or Sufferings of Christ any where giving a Divine Beauty and worth to it by vertue of the Union 2 Corin. 4. 10. Always bearing about in my Body the Dying of the Lord Jesus that the Life of the Lord Jesus may be made manifest in my Body This St. Paul saith of himself The Tears from our eyes are the Blood from the Heart of the Lord Jesus Though not as our Tears yet as his Blood they have Power with God to bring forth his life in us Jesus Christ dies over again in thy griefs that so he may act his Resurrection over again in thy Graces The Father makes a Promise to the Lord Jesus Es. 53. 10. When he shall make his Soul an offering for Sin he shall he see his Seed This is an Everlasting Covenant between the Father and the Son that when he hath descended to the lowermost parts of the Earth he should then begin to ascend When the Image of the Invisible God hath put itself off into the Strange Forms of Darkness and Death then is it to spring up again out of these and again to behold itself in its own proper shape and power which is its Seed Thy Saviour and Husband makes his Soul an Offering for Sin in all the Sufferings of thy Soul Therefore mayest thou now challenge it of the Father in the name of Jesus Christ that he may see in thee his Seed which is the Power of an endless Life Thou mayest say behold O my God! by him whose the Signet and the Staff is the Glory and Power of thy God-Head by him am I in these Pangs and Sorrows Let then a Man-child be born in my Heart which may be called after his name that I may rejoyce in it and remember my Sorrow no more Thy Benjamin is come before thee into the Land of Aegypt as thy servant in my servitude Thy Darling hath brought himself into my guilt and griefs he stands before thee in them The Lamb of God a slain in my sufferings O then let it be a Passover that the evil Angel of Lust and Misery may pass from the house of my Spirit when he sees the blood of this Lamb in my Tears sprinkled upon the Posts of the Door 2. Secondly Our Sorrows have a vertue on us as they are the Sufferings of Iesus Christ in us Galat. 6. 14. God forbid saith Paul that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Iesus by which the world is crucified to me and I to the World As the Person of Christ is the Seed of God which springs up into many Sons to God so is the Cross of the Lord Jesus a Seed that remains not alone but brings forth much Fruit. It grows up into a multitude of Crosses a Cross in each good Heart a Cross in every Creature of this world This Cross of Christ is the wisdom and
Dust their bones scattered and cast up and down Church-yards The blessed Body of our Lord Jesus was taken off from the Cross a bloody liveless mangled Corps a sad and ruthful spectacle So he was laid in the Grave the same Body which after three days rose again and was taken up into Glory The Scripture plainly testisieth that in Death as the Spirit returns to God who gave it so the dust returns to the Earth as it was God passeth this sentence of death upon Adam for his transgression Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Do not we by faith grounded upon the clear letter of the Scripture expect the Resurrection of our Bodies at the sound of the last Trumpet Ans. I answer to these objections first in general I fully assent to all these testimonies of sense of the letter of the Scriptures of the common faith of all the Saints concerning the Resurrection of the Body Yet is it true that I mean this I believe this in this meaning and belief my Soul and Body rejoice and triumph together that not the Soul alone but also the Body of a Saint in the very first moment of Death meeteth with no dissolution but a restitution and most delightful return to liberty peace and perfection This is that sweet and comfortable sense of Death which the holy Spirit seemeth to have sealed upon my Soul from all principles of reason of Faith and from the letter of the Scriptures In this sense I wish that all were as I am to behold with the same spiritual Eye in the same light of the Spirit the beauty and loveliness of Death in the Body of a Saint the beauty loveliness and pleasant life of the Body of a Saint in Death I come now to give a more particular answer fitted to the several objections by four distinctions The four distinctions are these 1. Of a two-fold body in a Saint 2. Of a two fold Dust. 3. Of a two-fold Sense 4. Of a two-fold Resurrection 1 Dist. There is a twofold Body which the Scripture in its language attributes to a Saint There is a Body from which a Saint is to be delivered You read of this Rom. 7. l. Wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death There is a body in a Saint which is to be delivered St. Paul speaks of this in the name of all the Saints Rom. 8. We also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit wait for the adoption the redemption of the Body There is a Body which is the seat of Death a Body of Death as in the forementioned place who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death In all the members of this Body sin reigneth as a King establishing his Law For so in the same place a little before it is written With my Members I serve the Law of Sin This is the Body of Flesh in which there dwelleth no good as St. Paul speaks in the same Chapter There is again in a Saint a holy living immortal Body the seat of a holy heavenly and immortal Life in as much as it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost For so St. Paul testifieth as to an unquestionable and known truth granted of all the Saints in the primitive times 1 Corin. 6. 19. What know you not that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost Again a Saint carryeth about with him thorow his life a Body which is a partition-wall between him and his Beloved which divides between Christ and him which he must break forth from and cast off before he can be taken into the Bosom of Jesus Christ and be with him 1 Corin. 5 6. 8. St. Paul complains that while he is present in the Body he is absent from the Lord and breaths forth passionate longings to be absent from the Body that he may be present with the Lord. But a Saint hath a Body which is so far from dividing him and Jesus Christ that these two divine lovers are entirely united and both one in it It is Christs own Body as well as a Saints All the Members of it are the Members of Christ as they are of a Saint 1 Corin 6. 15. Know ye not that your Bodies are the Members of Christ shall I then take the Members of Christ and make them the Members of a Harlet God forbid Yea he carryeth this union so high that he maketh the Lord Jesus and a Saint in this Body of his of which alone he speaketh to be one Spirit and makes that the principal ground upon which he builds his arguments against Fornication v. 16. 17 18. What know ye not that he which is joyned to a Harlâ—t is one body for two saith he shall be one flesh but he that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit Flee Fornication he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own Body How manifestly here are a fleshly Body and a spiritual Body distinguished one from another A Body in which Fornâ—cation makes the Man one flesh with the Harlot a Body in which a Saint is one Spirit with Jesus Christ These two are one Body which standeth in two mixed Principles and Images The Body of a Saint while this life lasteth standeth partly in a carnal or fleshly principle and Image This is the Body of Death in which no good dwels which is subject to the Law of Sin While a Saint is present in this Body he is absent from Christ. This is that from which a Saint groaneth to be delivered The Body of a Saint standeth in part and imperfectly while we live here in a Spiritual Principle and Image Thus the Body of a Saint is the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Body and Member of Christ one Spirit with Christ by which one Spirit it is Baptized into his Spiritual and heavenly body This is that body of a Saint which groaneth to be redeemed and delivered from the Body of Death as from its Captivity Prison and Grave The Death of a Saint finisheth this Captivity breaketh open the Prison and the Grave and setteth free the Body of a Saint into the liberty of its Adoption or Sonship that is into its Spiritual and divine form of a Son of God As fire is said to separate things of different kind and to gather into one things of the same nature so is the Death of a Saint the flame of God the fire of Divine Love Jesus Christ coming in the invisible flame of this Heavenly fire to separate the fleshly Principle and Image from the spiritual Principle and Image both in the Soul and Body of a Believer The fleshly Principle and Image which is in the Body of a Saint as a foreign and strange thing as rust upon Gold is entirely cast off to the Spirit and Image of this world and of the Devil to which it belongeth The Body of the Saints in its Spiritual Principle and Image which are truly and properly its own in which it is