Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	aaron_n	belly_n	manna_n	16	3	10.4513	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38823	The Gospel treasury opened, or, The holiest of all unvailing discovering yet more the riches of grace and glory to the vessels of mercy unto whom onely it is given to know the mysteries of that kingdom and the excellency of spirit, power, truth above letter, forms, shadows / in several sermons preached at Kensington & elswhere by John Everard ; whereunto is added the mystical divinity of Dionysius the Areopagite spoken of Acts 17:34 with collections out of other divine authors translated by Dr. Everard, never before printed in English.	Everard, John, 1575?-1650?; Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.; Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1657 (1657)	Wing E3531; ESTC R29421	513,595	936

Divine Nature he cannot accept or regard them So also if this be so then is there not onely holiness within flowing from A Natural principle of a new Nature but there will be All External glory there is the Ark of the Covenant overlaid all over round about with pure gold to shew that from this spring and fountain cannot but proceed all purity and holiness in our external actions then they cannot but must shew forth the vertues of him who hath called them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Then there is such a power and such a burning desire in the soul they must shew forth their good works that they may glorifie their father which is in heaven neither can this be attained really till we be admitted within the vail True it is while we are in this worldly Sanctuary we may do many External good actions as to our selves and other men And also Good in themselves but they are not done for this End to shew forth the vertues of him that hath called them nor to glorifie their father which is in heaven but t is to glorifie themselves and to set up themselves Either for praise or esteem or for fear or for hope of advantage c. they serve not God as the Devil said of Iob for nought not for love of Holiness not for that Excellency that is in its self but to get something by it they use it as men do a bridge to carry them over to some desired place to some self-happiness or advantage and were it not for these the man were dead and you should find if the heart were searched throughly and the●e ends hopes and fears removed the man would stand stone-still But the other man he who is ascended and gotten within the Vail He works freely and naturally He cannot do otherwise though there were neither fear of hell or punishment or hope of the reward yet he must work And he will work this is that I still say Let but the heart be set to rights let the man be regenerate and partaker of the Divine nature and then with such a man you need not keep such a stir with Laws and Precepts and Rules and Disciplines He hath that within which will not onely inform and teach but reform and compel by the power of Love For saith the Apostle the Righteous are a law to themselves Beloved this is the service God loves He loves A cheerful giver He cannot abide that which comes forced and grudgingly and as a forced imposed task that by sinister respects they must be held to it but I say this man needs no such thing but turn him loose at all turns he hath an Informer and a Reformer in him Those that are led by the Spirit are not under the Law Gal. 5. 18. but under Grace and under the power of love and of a free mind for the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient This man is no longer under the law but is Dead to the Law that he may live to God and not unto himself for self is in him conquered and dead and Christ now is alive and exalted and set in his throne to reign for ever and ever In the third place there was the Pot of Manna which Manna God gave the Israelites in the wilderness some of which by the providence of God was preserved many hundreds of years together until the time as it is thought and affirmed by some of their last destruction by Titus and Vespatian He that hath gotten within the vail he hath gotten food sufficient to nourish him for ever He shall Never hunger more nor never thirst more as in that of Rev. 21. He that lives according to this new li●e he is ●ed with Hidden Manna He eats of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God His comforts are pure and ravishing and full of Everlasting delights his waters Ever●low ●low and never cease there is in his belly a spring Ever springing up to everlasting life In the next place there was Aarons Rod that budded that was laid up by the pot of Manna Those that are accepted to look into the Holie of Holies Their fruit is alwayes flourishing and green their good works never dye but they ever after bring forth fruit like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth fruit in his season his lease shall not wither and whatever he doth it shall prosper and not onely shall they bring forth fruit but Ripe fruit in their age Psal 92. 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall bring forth fruit in their old age they shall be fat and flourishing These men They are never satisfied with God They are never weary they shall run and not be weary nor faint they never have enough of Him his comforts are always fresh to them flourishing and green They are never satisfied with the knowledge of God This is such Manna such Meat The more they eat the more they may The more God communicates himself to them they are the more Hungry the more thirsty the more Vnsatisfied They have overcome and are still Overcoming they go on Conquering and to Conquer they are still conquering and subduing all their Enemies and getting their sins and lusts under their feet And so long as there is Any To overcom and conquer they can never Rest till they have brought All under Every high thought and Every strong hold and Every imagination That exalteth it self against the Power Kingdom and Soveraignty of Jesus Christ. Within the Holies of Holies There was also The Cherubims of glory Overshadowing the Mercy-seat and we may say as the Apostle there Of which things we cannot now speak particularly Those glorious Cherubims they looked face to face beholding one another Overshadowing the Mercy-seat Beloved were you but once come to this sight you should behold God Glorious and Amiable Full of love and mercy and tender Bowels All wrath And All frowns blown clean away We then shall behold in Him Not so much as any shadow of Anger but there will be a most sweet and amorous beholding of one another He wil love and delight in us we shall love delight in him we cannot look so delightfully upon him as he will upon us there will be Nothing but Amorous imbraces and we shall then see How Sure All his mercies are to them that love him and that they are The Sure Mercies of David we shall find in Our Hearts All his promises made good and we shall then call him Our God and Our Iehovah making good and giving Being as to all things So to all his promises that we shall say feelingly Not One hath failed of

is in them both meat for nourishment and also excrements buu who can say when he looks on either This is the meat and This is the Nutriment and this Other is the excrements and this is that which goes into the draught and is good for nothing Yet you know The stomach will sever these and divide to either their proper way and places and to their proper uses and a skilful Physician which knows the body the arteries and the veins and all the parts how they lie he knows how nature disposes of all these things and knows both the things and the causes And so likewise in Physick ye can have no Physick without excrements though ye cannot see the virtue and the Life and the Spirits yet ye may see the effects and though in meat you cannot see the nourishment yet you may see the thing nourished by it So we cannot have the true word of God without the letter God could not as I may so say considering our state as we are he could not give us meat or Physick by the word but by the Letter And although it be not the Physicians intent to give excrements but onely Physick and we do not eat meat for the excrements sake but for the meats sake and for the nourishment So my Brethren we being of so low a nature and quality so earthly so fleshly so sensual so far from a spiritual nature That I say God cannot give us His Mind and the soul of the Scriptures which is so Divine Heavenly and Spiritual without the Letter without the shell without those excrements● Yet His meaning is not to give us the shell or the excrements but the nourishment his meaning is to give us Living water springing up to eternal life and to feed us with Hidden Manna and to give us the white stone wherein there is a new name that no man knoweth but he that rece●veth it But we must not therefore Throw away the Letter because there is excrements with it as we do not throw away meat or Physick because excrements are in it because if you throw away the meat you throw away the nourishment as well as the excrements But if you take the Carnal letter as carnally spoken The literal letter as literally spoken Then you have not taken the City of the letter If you look for no more in the Scriptures we do but cast pearls before swine you go no further then the Pharisees The Jews and the Pharisees before Christ came they were so literal sensual and carnal they thought that whosoever did not break the letter of the Ten Commandments If they did nothing against the Outward Literal letter they thought themselves blameless As in the seventh Commandment They thought If they had not actually layen with a woman then they had perfectly kept that Law but Christ goes further and tells them He that looks on a woman and lusts after her hath committed adultery already in his heart And so for murther they thought if they did not lay hands on their brother to murther him they thought they had gone a great way in keeping that Command but our Saviour goes further then every eye can see and saith He that is angry with his brother without cause is guilty of murther So they rested on the Letter and the Letter perished They had not married Achsah they had still The vail before their eyes and those that are come no further they are still Jews as the Apostle saith They have still the vail before their eyes even while Moses is read and Christ is a mysterie Hid to such even from the beginning of the world Beloved we have many Chatechisms now adayes and They say they are for children and I believe so to Onely for children to get by roat and be never the better for them and I am afraid there are Too too many such children who think themselves Tall men who have most of the Scripture at their fingers ends And because they can answer any Catechistical point in Divinity they must be accounted The greatest Proficients and tallest Ch●istians But you see by this we have said how far men may go herein and yet know nothing to salvation As we said The children of Israel how expert were they in the Scriptures so as they thought themselves the strictest observers of the Commandments yet you see how our Saviour undervalues all their knowledge and strictness And now seeing it is fallen in our way we will touch upon each Commandment briefly The Israelites they thought if they observed the litteral Ten Commandments there was no more required As in the first Commandment if he worshipped either Sun Moon or Stars or any creature then he thought he should dye the death but if they never bowed to any creature in a way of worship then they were innocent But This they might do and be never the better for saith the Apostle The end of the Commandment is love out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned To have any thing in the world for thy God Either to love or fear so that it draws away the love and fear of thy Creator that thing is to thee a God and thou givest it that worship fear and love that is due onely to God So far as any creature hath caused thee to offend thy Creator thou hast broken this Commandment If either riches or beauty or honour or promotion hath weighed down thy love from obeying God Almighty thou hast set it in the room of God and cast Him behind thy back And that thou hast worshipped and served thou sacrificedst to it thy heart thy fear thy love thy trust which is onely due to God They never came to this To observe what they set up in their hearts for God and herein lay The marrow The nourishment the meat of the Commandment and all because they had not smitten Kiriathsepher they had not crackt the Letter And so the second Commandment Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image Here let me tell you thus much In making of Images God loves Carvers better then Painters It may be The strangeness of the expression will cause you to take the more notice of what I am to say Be not offended a● the expression for I shall open my intentions in so saying Quest. Why sir what do you mean Answ. I le tell you Carvers you know in their work they lessen cut pare and take away but Painters they do not so but they adde in their work they put colour here and there So this is that I mean God loves those that seek him in poverty in a way of emptiness and self-nothingness And as for those that seek him in riches and greatness and in high things in mens esteem they go farther and farther from him The Virgin Mary found it so in experience when she said The hungry he fills with good things and the rich he sendeth empty away he hath regarded the

see what fruits follow any other smiting The heart that seeks liberty to it self it abuses the Scriptures It comes in privily to spie out our liberty that it may be an occasion to the flesh I say a Caleb must smite this City and not a heart that seeks for liberty to satisfie its own will and its own desires for such Smiters there be too many that would cast away the Letter of the Word They would have no Law to rule or curb them but this is not a good Hearts A Calebs or an Othniels smiting But to it I say viz. to this Good Heart Let it smite the Letter and spare not nay I counsel ye Take it and Tear it And Rend it all to pieces as we do meat else ye get no nourishment for in the Letter lies the nourishment hid there is no getting out the Nourishment and vertue without we do as it were Tear it with our teeth and Chew upon it to get out all the vertue As cleane Beasts Chew The Cud and that by a power given from above and the more we can tear it and chew it in that sense the more and the better nourishment it gives Nor do I bid you do it as of your selves by your own power but by the wisdom and power of God who will enable you to find the Treasure if you dig for wisdom as for gold And search for it as for Hid Treasures With a resolved heart To dig for truth for truths sake and not for self and for sinister ends and advantages but out of love to truth thus I say let a good heart use the Letter of the word and spare not Take it Strike it Smite it Tear it all to pieces not because he hates the Letter but as men do by meat they tear it champ it chew it between their teeth not because they hate meat but because they would get all the nourishment out they possibly can Beloved in this manner Strike Kiriathsepher In the Name of God and the Almighty prosper ye Go on and the Lord of heaven give you good success that he may enable you to get out Those pure waters of life proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb That Hidden Manna that may nourish you to Everlasting life that ye may have that Treasure that Pearl hid in the field that white stone and that New Name that ye may be enriched with gold purified seven times as David in that 12. Psalm sayes the Wo●d of God is Do you think he means the Letter No no but That thou mayest have That white raiment to cover they nakedness and that eye-salve to anoint thine eyes that thou mayest see then also art thou Him that overcometh to whom it shall be given to sit with him in his Throne even as he also overcame and is set down in his Fathers Throne Then shall ye come to be marryed to Achsah Calebs daughter Then shall Othniel Gods fit time or opportunity give you possession of this City Kiriathsepher that it may be unto you The Word of God That the Vail being Rent you may look within and see the glory of the Holie of Holies and that you may behold The Beauty of the Lord and may visit His Temple and there fall down and worship and desire there to be for ever and for ever AMEN Shadows vanishing SOME Rays of Glory appearing The two last SERMONS on JOSH. 15. v. 16 17. And Cale● said he that smiteth Kiriathsepher and taketh it to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife And Othniel the son of Kenaz the brother of Caleb took it and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife THE last Sabbath I told you that part of this Chapter was as the One Cher●b and that in 2 Cor. 3. was as the other Cherub which as the two Cherubims lookt directly face to face to each other so doth this Chapter look forward to that and that turns it self and looks face to face upon this that is the One is the interpretation of the Other and you may remember as a Prolog●e to our Text we gave you a brief Epitome of the History of Moses his sending the twelve Spies to discover and view the Land of Canaan whereof Ioshua and Caleb were two of the twelve and they bring news of the goodness of the Land with the other Ten which Ten All but Caleb and Ioshua they brought up an Evil report though they All confessed the Land was Excellent and good and abounded in plenty of all things flowing with milk and honey yet they said it was impossible to get it or conquer it for the men were mighty sons of Anack Giants and the walls Thick and high The people hearing this began to murmur Then Caleb and Ioshua standing up they clear the slander and encourage the people and for this confidence and saith of theirs they two onely entred the Land all the rest being about Six hundred thousand that murmured died in the Wilderness and not one entred the Land And as we related the History we raised some observations and endeavoured to bring the History home to our selves and shewed how these things were daily in fulfilling spiritually and really within us Then we came to our Text where I also told you that this Text as I have now read it It is Hebrew and reading it but as it is printed is still Hebrew But as I then told you we may not nor will not deny the Truth of the History and of the Letter but we must take heed we rest not in the Story and go no further for the Word of God Endureth for ever There is a secret in the whole Letter of the Word which lasts to Eternity which is accomplished not onely in that time and of that man of whom it is written but fulfilled as well and as Really in all times in all ages in all men ever after and before As Ambrose said of Ahab and Nabal These Histories are old in time but new in practise for there are many such persecuting Ahabs and many such churlish Nabals So may I say of this History and the rest of the Scriptures Old in time but ordinary in use To this very day Caleb proclaims Whosoever shall smite Kiriathsepher and take it he shall have Achsah his daughter to wife This was done Once in the Letter but Ever doing in the Spirit for the world of God lasts for ever as David saith Thy Word O Lord endureth for ever Often in the 119. Psalm and elsewhere They are such things as not onely instruct one age one season but every age and every season that follow it The meaning and the mind of God we must look at and not to the bare History hear what the Apostle Paul saith Bodily exercise profiteth nothing or rather hear it from our Saviours own mouth The flesh profiteth nothing but the Spirit giveth life Caleb here signifieth A good 〈…〉 or the City of

the 〈◊〉 which is to be smitten and he that doth So ●hall marry Achsah which signifies The Rending or the Tearing of the Vail and so by that means Kiriathsepher the City of the Letter s●all be made unto us Debir the Word So that if you put them together you must read it thus in English And A good Heart said He That smiteth the City of the Letter and taketh it to him will I give the rending of the vail asunder and he shall pass into my holy place and enter into my secret Pavilion or into my Tabernacle he shall behold and enjoy the glory of the Holie of Holies as it is promised in that 15. Psalme This is that S. Iohn wept sore for when the Angel 〈◊〉 proclamation in Rev. 5. with a loud voice Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the seven seals thereof and no man in heaven or earth was able to open the book or look therein but at length it was revealed that the lion of the Tribe of Iudah the root of David had prevailed to open the book and loose the seals The Letter is not this sealed book for every one reads that humane abilities will reach the Letter and the Grammatical sense The Letter is not the Tree of Life nor the Waters of Life which god promiseth to give unto us The Letter is not the Secret Place of the Most High Every unclean Beast may hear and read therein and drink of these waters But He that hath the word of God shall live for over How many are and have been exercised constantly in That viz. in the Letter and yet not live but perish for ever Many thousands have taken great pains and writ many Volumes and preacht many Sermons and yet never reacht This Living for ever many have read it heard it preacht it and therein have thought they have done God good service and expect to enter and shall say Lord open to us and yet Christ shall say to them Depart ye workers of iniquity For by them the City of the Letter was never smitten and taken but he that shall be admitted to come into this Sanctuary and to eat of this Manna he shall find and say from a true and feeling sense thereof This is heavenly Manna indeed I find these are waters of life indeed for I find they give life to read hear and pray and the like they give no life they are no service to God without the life and power but kill and slay those souls that rest therein as most men do The words as I told you divide themselves into two parts Onus and honos The burthen he that strikes or smiteth Kiriathsepher and taketh it And the honour or reward to him that so doth He shall have Achsah to wife but see here it must be a Good heart must do it not a heart that seeks liberty to the flesh To make the knowledge of Christ as a more easie way to sinning to facilitate encourage them to please the flesh No no my Text sayes it must be a Caleb a good Heart such a Heart as seeks not rest in sinning but such a heart as seeks its Rest onely in God such a heart as hungers and thirsts after God Such a one as labours with all his soul night and day and never can be at Rest in any thing below God And then as it follows here Othniel the Lords fit opportunity or in his good time● he struck it and took it Concerning Onus the burden I intimated that it is not sufficient To Read the Scriptures No though we could say all the Bible without Book and understand it according to the Letter It were nothing to salvation If they would read the whole Old and New Testament over every year as I have known some have made it their task yea and made it their boast nay I say more If it were possible they could read it All over every day in the year yet this were nothing for the Devil can do as much what man can come near him in bringing out Scripture upon all occasions As the flesh of Christ Till it was broken and his precious side Pierced and His Blood shed there was no profit could redound to us as he himself said This is my body which is broken for you this Letter of the Scriptures is As the body of Christ till this side of his be Pierced till this Letter be broken till this Rock be smitten there is no water for us Till the Lord give it down from Heaven there is no Manna no bread for us else we may live and dye with the Scriptures and yet hunger and starve and dye but this body being once broken and this Rock smitten and this Side pierced then we shall find a fountain of living waters springing up to eternal life and precious blood gush out and hidden Manna to nourish us so as we can never dye nor perish neither in this world nor in the world to come As you know bread is not food till it be broken whole bread and whole meat goes into the body and through the body into the draught and yields no nutriment to the body The Nourishment and the life and the spirit of it remains untoucht but if it be broken and chewed then the stomach separates the One and the Other The Vertue and the Excrement which divides and conveys to each way its part Truth it is many toss and tumble the Letter and have it much in their mouths and rowl it up and down but never crack it never break it though they seem so to do and make you believe they expound it and give you the sense and the vertue yet how shallow how literal how humane how low how sensual and carnal do they make the Word to be even your Rabbies your Doctors your great Schollars Which shews If that God himself if the Lion of the Tribe of Iudah If the Root of David do not open the Seals t is not all the learning or all the Universities in the world can help us to the Mystery And the Mind of Christ as the Apostle calls it Truth is The worst of men wicked men they feed but upon husks upon Excrements upon the Letter and keep a great stir and a great noise about that they indeed champ that in their mouths but they let the nourishment the vertue and the marrow escape They eat not of the childrens bread that is not for dogs as our Lord saith to the woman of Canaan As in Luk. 15. in the History of the Prodigal there wicked men the worst of men Carnal men they are there compared unto Swine because that any trash any Excrement or the refuse of any thing will serve their turn they feed upon Husks and it agrees well enough to their stomacks that satisfies and they neither desire nor know any better food and as their meat is so are they carnal and fleshly and earthly

therein who can stand before his indignation and who can abide the fierceness of his anger his fury is poured out like fire and the rocks are thrown down by him and darkness shall pursue his enemies Think upon this all you that forget God lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver Psal. 50. ult But saith he Psal. 61. 3. The Lord is good and is a strong Hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Oh Beloved Let us all then give glory from our souls to this our great God to this infinite and everlasting Being who fills all things let us all poure out o●r souls before him like Water and be melted to nothing in his presence And to that end First Let us subscribe to the infiniteness of our ●od in all his Attributes in all his ways in all his Creatures Let us alwayes believe it and have him continually before us that we may tremble to offend him even the wickedest man And that godly men may both fear and love him and that they may with strong confidence be rooted resting and depending on him who is the rock of Ages And Secondly Let us cry out with Moses in continual acclamations in that powerful Orarion when ever we think of him or behold him There is none like the God of Iesurun who rideth upon the Heavens for thy help and in his excellency upon the skie For the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the Everlasting Arm. Thou canst be in no trouble but he is by thee with thee in the fire or in the water where ever thou art Ps. 34. 7 8. The Angels of the Lord encamp round about them that fear him O taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him O fear the Lord ye his Saint for there is no want to them that fear him The young Lions may lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any thing Iacob when he went from his fathers house was afraid he should have wanted Gen. 28. but God appeared to him in a dream and he beheld a Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven The longest Ladder that ever was read of or ever heard of and the greatest builder hath made it and onely for his own use And Iacob by it saw that the providence of God was every where and Angels were continually passing up and down upon it being sent of the Almighties Errands not onely for protection but to be ministring spirits sent forth not onely for the good of those who shall be heirs of Salvation but for the good of all his Creatures So that we may say of the providence of God as David saith of his presence for they are both one Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy presence if I ascend into Heaven thou art there there is the top of the Ladder if I descend into the deep thou art there there is the bottome of the Ladder The builders of Babel aimed to make such a Ladder but that which they could never do the builder of Heaven and Earth hath done but were they not very fools to think to build a Tower of ten thousand times 1000000 miles high But let us labour to see the eternal God at the top of this Ladder and everlasting arms at the foot of it then how can we doubt He that hears the Ravens when they cry unto him who have neither faith nor understanding shall he not hear thee O thou of little faith It is against both the promise against the practice of your Father that any of you should want any good thing Yet how full of complaints are all the sons of men one wants children another friends others honour others riches others health others preferment some all these but certainly you are deceived you do not want any of them for if they were good for you you had them not then indeed you wanted them but being not good for you you want them not for they in such a case will do you more hurt then good Therefore I say let the servant of God that thinks he wants any of these things pray for what he will he shall have it if he do really want them for not onely all inanimal or unreasonable Creatures which are Gods Angels when he pleaseth do owe their Suit and Service unto those that fear the Lord but even all the Angels of God in heaven they are all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for their sakes which shall be heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. Nay let me tell thee if thou wilt command the Sun to stand still and the Moon in the valley of Ajalon as Ioshuah did it shall be done or the Sun to go backward upon the Dial as Hezekiah did or the Rocks to gush out water and the Heavens rain down Manna or the waters to be divided and the Sea to stand up as a wall as Moses did all shall be done and they shall obey rather then any of Gods people shall want any good thing Or if he will command Iron to swim as Elisha did Nay let him command the Covenant of night and day to be broken and time to be no more and it shall be done for Gods word can never fail nay heaven earth shall pass away but not one jot of his word shall fail But for all this I know and methinks I hear your murmuring thoughts still for all this you are not yet satisfied And you say with Iob Doth the wild Asse bray when he hath grass or loweth the Oxe over his fodder can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt or is there any taste in the white of an egg We are sure we do want these things or else we would not complain we are sure we have them not and is there any sweetness in nothing had we fodder we would not lowe nor complain I answer Indeed that may be that you are without them 1. It may be you are not of the family of your heavenly father then what right or interest have you to expect them but you are servants to sin and to his enemies and yet would have him let you want nothing 2. There is a great difference between not having and wanting It may well be that you have not riches and honour and preferment c. but if you be the true servants of God it cannot be that you should want them David saith it was good for him that he wanted and that he was in trouble There is oftentimes more mercy from God and more comfort to us in Gods Rods then in these outward things which are onely esteemed Blessings for they are often no other but rods or else meat to fat us for slaughter for our happiness and comfort lies not in that which the tender

that he emptied himself of all his glory took upon him the form of a Servant made himself of no reputation and One action from him was sufficient this you will not deny And therefore in all the Scripture you may observe that from the very instant of the Creation the second person in Trinity took upon him a body he had a body from the beginning from the first man and shall have a body to the last man as David saith of him a Body hast thou prepared me consider of this and compare it with the Scriptures and see if this be not more agreeable unto the vastness of the largness of Christ then to confine his body onely to the short time of 33 years He it is that suffers in man in the first man and shall suffer in the last man from the time of his suffering in the first righteous Abel to the last to the last righteous Abel from the time of taking his Kingdom of his Father till the time that he shall render up the Kingdom to his Father it is he that suffers I know when at any time ye hear of Christs Body and of his sufferings you presently fly to that short time that he lived upon Earth to those 33 years that he was visibly seen to walk upon Earth and I doubt many Divines intend no less when they speak of his sufferings they presently have recourse to that time and to Pontius Pilate and Herod and the Iews and intend no more but Beloved Christ is yesterday and to day and the same for ever Christ suffers now as much as he did then and before that as much as he doth now for while any of his members suffers he suffers I appeal to you examine this truth whether this be not more agreeable to truth and to the Scripture to acknowledge this Vast Largness of Christ then to narrow and scant his body to that short time for if ye say he wrought our redemption and satisfied Gods wrath in those whole thirty three years then you contradict your selves for none can deny but any one of his actions alon● considered was abundantly sufficient and the Apostle Paul saith That he did fill up in his body the measure of the sufferings of Christ and certainly he that thus suffered in him doth still and shall do so to the end of the world And so I say concerning this request of the Spouse to Christ it is a strange question if ye consider it according to the three thirty years he was on earth in the dayes of Herod for to ask him where he fed and where he rested we know in that regard where he fed and where he rested at that time but she asks where he feeds now and where he rests now to the very very last day and from the first day this is the Spouse her question where he feeds and where he feeds at noon But by the way God forbid that we should go about to deny Christs coming in the flesh for he did come in the flesh and whatever the Scripture saith he did in the flesh is really undeniably true and let his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth that shall deny it But yet give me leave to tell you that is but the History there is a mystery in all the words there is a symbolical truth hid in them that is not obvious to every eye T is true he cured the eyes of the blinde and healed the lame and cured the deaf but that is but the letter the history that dyed with them for they are dead their eyes are shut up and their members are dissolved and returned into their first elements But he by that resembled to us how he hath ever since and before and will for ever cure the eyes of the blind and heal the lame and cast out Devils and cure the bloudy Issue in our souls for the other was but the outside the visible sensible part of his actions and miracles but that which Christ would represent to our understanding by that that is the fixed and eternal truth And so Christ still hath and shall have his food and his resting place And whoever shall eat of this Food shall never hunger again whosoever shall drink of this water that he shall give them shall never thirst again Your Fathers have eaten Manna in the Wilderness and are dead saith he but whosoever shall eat of this manna shall never dye Those actions Christ did then but these actions that those represents he doth alwayes those were visible representations presentations of them which he invisibly and mystically doth now yet as really Not onely I say as truly but more truly The spirituality of those actions never end for put all together that ever Christ raised from death or cast out devils out of and healed c. they were but few he could have healed and cured all if he pleased but that was not the end of his coming but he did so much and enough to manifest God come in the flesh that he will always do the same things to the end of the world Spiritually Where thou feedest what then may be Christs food for even Christ now hath his diet and food though not of figs after which he hungred nor of flesh which he did eat nor of boiled fish which he seemed to eat c. But Christ himself tells us My meat is to do the will of my Father and to finish his work and he tells us where he rests Cant. 6. 2 3. Among the beds of spices among broken and contrite hearts and his delight is to be among his lilies and among his roses in his garden there doth he refresh himself Christ is fed in his members Take heed then ye suffer not Christ to starve within you lest at the last day it be laid to your charge I was a hungry ye gave me no meat thirsty and ye gave me no drink naked ye clothed me not in prison and ye visited me not c. But do you think that Christ is fed with corporal food I assure you this for your comfort that those that feed Christ shall never perish but now to feed the hungry with bread externally to put clothes upon the naked to give drink to them that are A-Thirst to go to them that are shut up in prison this every man may do by his natural power ye may do this and yet give where there is no need you may do this and yet suffer your Saviour to starve This is not a true feeding on Christ no no it is Another-guess feeding that he requires or that he will Reward The meaning is I had a spiritual hunger and a spiritual nakedness this ye did not relieve satisfie and supply when I lay begging knocking at your door for relief in this kinde ye would not hear me and now I will not Hear you You suffered me