describing that which was Above all Affirmation or Position it was fit to Begin and Establish the Fundamental Affirmations from that which is most Proper and Nearest unto it But now when we go by way of Taking away from that which is Above All Ablation or taking Away it is likewise fit we should begin our takings away at Those things that are furthest temote from it For is He not Rather and more properly Life and Goodness then Aire or A Stone And may it not Rather and more Properly be said that he is not Weak or Angry then that he is not Spoken nor Understood CHAP. IV. That He that is eminently the Cause of all sensible things is yet no sensible thing at all 1. VVE say therefore That the Cause of all things and that which is above all things is neither void of nor without Essence nor Life nor Reason nor Mind 2. Neither is it A Body nor hath it shape nor Form nor Quality nor Quantity nor Bigness neither is it in Place nor is it Seen nor hath it any Sensible touch 3. It neither Perceiveth by Sense nor is it Perceivable by Sense it hath neither Disorder nor Trouble as if it were Agitated by material Passions 4. It is neither Impotent as subject to sensible Passions or Accidents neither is in Any want or Indigence of light neither needs it any Light to see By or Withal 5. It hath neither Alteration nor Corruption nor Division nor Privation nor Flux or a Continual flowing and Succession of Parts nor any other Sensible thing Nor is it Any of all these Chap. V. That he that is eminently the Cause of all intelligible things is none of those intelligible things 1. AND going downward again we say it is neither Soul nor Mind nor hath it Phantasie nor Imagination nor Opinion nor Reason nor Understanding neither is it Reason nor Understanding nor is it Spoken or Understood 2. It is neither Number nor Order nor Greatness nor Littleness it is neither Equality nor Inequality nor Likeness nor Unlikeness 3. It neither Standeth still nor is Moved nor Resteth It neither hath Power nor is Power nor Light It neither Liveth nor is Life It is neither Essence nor Eternity nor Time nor is there any Intellectual Touch thereof 4. It is neither Knowledge nor Truth nor Kingdom nor Wisdom nor One thing nor Unity nor God-head nor Goodness 5. Neither is it a Spirit as we can know or understand or after Our manner of knowledge nor SON-SHIP nor FATHER-HOOD nor any other thing Known to us or to any Other of the things that Are. 6. Neither is it any of the things That are Not Nor any of the things that Are neither do the things that Are know it as it is nor doth It know the Things that Are as they Are. 7. There is no Speech of it nor Name nor Knowledge it is neither Darkness nor Light nor Errour nor Truth 8. There is of it No Position or Affirmation nor Ablation or taking Away or Negation But when we make Affirmations or Negations of the things That are After it yet we do neither Affirm nor Deny 9. Because He that is PERFECT Compleat Onely and Singularly the Cause of All things is Above all Position or Affirmation And the SUPER-EMINENCE of Him which is most Simply and Absolutely freed from all things and is Above All things is likewise Far Above All Negations The end of the Book of Dionysius the Areopagite concerning Mystical Divinity Blessed be he that is that was and that is to come AMEN Dr. Everards ADVICE upon these following Sentences in Latin and English REad not what follows till thou have Read and Felt and dost Understand what goeth before For here follow certain Grave and Notable sayings whereby the diligent Disciple of Christ may examine himself and know what is to be thought or determinated of the True and Inward Union to the Onely and Supreme Good that we may depart from our selves and being dead to our own will may live to God alone and to his will Grant it O God by him which resigned up his own will to his Heavenly Father who liveth and reigneth with the Holy Spirit in a perfect Trinity for ever Amen These in regard of their succinct and pithy shortness they were hard to be understood if put into so few words as the Latin I have therefore not onely translated them into English but also annexed the Latin to them that where the one Language shall be obscure it may be helped by the other 1. DEus est unicus unitas existit manat ab eo solo nec tamen de eo alioquin enim decresceret fieretque minor 1. God is onely One and Unity is in him and flows from him alone yet not of him nor any way from him otherwise it would decrease and become less 2. Ubi sunt duo quae una servari aut convenire oportet fieri potest ut inter ea oriatur discordia 2. Where there are two things that must be kept or agree together it may come to pass that discord or dissention may arise between them 3. Haec duo non nisi voluntate dissidere possent id quod esset summa causa occasio omnis dissidii etiam in Deo sit duo possent esse in eo 3. These two could not disagree but in Will which would be the greatest cause and occasion of all discord or disagreement Even in God if Two things could be in him 4. Nihil enim est quod dissentionem pariat inter omnia quae dissentire queant nisi dissimilitudo voluntatum 4. For there is nothing can breed dissention among all things that can disagree but the dissimilitude and unlikeness of wills 5. Hoc unum Deus vult unum estque omnibus binis contrarium 5. This one God willeth One thing and is contrary to all Two things 6. It aque ergo quicquid etiam creavit ipse super unico illo creavit alioquin ei defuisset ordo 6. Therefore also whatsoever he created he created upon or To that One alone otherwise it had wanted order 7. Praeterea nullam potuisset ejus creatio sive creatares habere consubstantiam propter voluntatem contrariam quemadmodum videlicet nunc fit ideoque eam interire oportuisset 7. Moreover His Creation or created thing could have had no constancy because of the contrary Will to wit as it is now done therefore it must needs have dyed 8. Ea unit as metiri cogitari tractari cognoscive non poterat nisi duntaxat ab uno per unum idque interdum in suo contrario 8. That Unity could not be measured thought handled or known but onely of One and by One and that sometime in its contrary 9. Contrarium existit a se ipso sine culpa adversarii 9. The contrary is or exists of it self without the fault of the Adversary 10. Hinc apertissime perspici potest oportuisse ut uni optimo esset aliquod
other have split their vessels in these days But the Author so clearly distinguishes that he misseth both Rocks and carries on the truth Amain with Top-sail against all battery and opposition Here ye shall finde the vail rent and the last shadows vanishing and some Rayes of the glory of the holiest of all appearing being hid from ages and generations but in these last times upon the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles and for the calling of the Iews more brightly breaking forth revealing the mystery of the Scriptures or the marrow of the true word of God which endureth forever wherein the Life and Spirit of the Holy Word is clearly distinguished from the outward and killing letter comparing spiritual things with spiritual that all those errors differences revilings and bitter censurings so much broken forth of late occasioned by resting in the letter may now vanish and make haste before the presence of the Lord and the glory of his coming whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather the wheat into his garner but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire And will baptize his own people with his own Spirit with the Holy Ghost and with fire Howbeit we speak wisdom onely among them that are perfect yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the Princes of this world which comes to nought But we speak the wisdom of God in a MYSTERY even the hidden wisdom which God hath ordained before the world unto our glory which none of the princes of this world knew 1 Cor. 2. It is written Eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for those that love him having revealed them unto us by his spirit And if in this life onely we had hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. We are fools for Christs sake but ye are wise we are weak but ye are strong ye are honourable but we are despised 1 Cor. 4. 10. Let no man deceive himself if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world or to himself let him become a fool that he may be wise 1 Cor. 1. 18. For the preaching of the CROSSE is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God verse 18. But the foolishness of God is wiser then men and the weakness of God is stronger then men verse 25. He that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man verse 15. The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. And the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 1 John 2. 27. If any man have an ear to hear let him hear Verse 10. Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Jude 24. and to do exceeding abundantly for you above all that we can ask or think according to the mighty power which worketh in you unto him be glory and majesty dominion and power in the Church by Iesus Christ thoughout all ages world without end Eph. 3. 20. The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen Rapha Harford An Approbation THe publisher of this Book is desirous that it might pass with some testimonial into the world but it needs not testimony from man for I find it imprest with such a Divine Image and bearing such clear lineaments of Heaven-born truths as testifie it to be of God and therefore strongly bespeaks us to receive it as into our houses so chiefly into our heaâ—ts I dare assure thee Reader if thou hast received a spiritual relish thou shalt taste much sweetnes in it And if thou canst rejoyce to be laid low and made nothing that God may be exalted and made all in all then shalt thou find here that which will help thy joy and let me intreat thee That as thou readest the Book to read also thine own heart and by this thou mayest come to find thine heart in the Book and the Book in thine heart and will make thee fall upon thy face with that Ideot and worship God and report God is in this word of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. Some are casting off the letter of the Scripture others resting in it some are despising Ordinances others overvaluing them I find the Author walking warily betwixt both giving due honour to the letter and the form while he is exalting the Power and the Spirit incomparably above both And thou shalt find him laying the Ax of truth and the Edge of his Spirit to that cursed Root of Self-Approbation in man which is daily bringing forth such bitter fruits in his heart in his life and in the world and yet remains unseen and untouched in the hearts of many that would be thought to be arrived at the brink of perfection while they scarce understand wherein the great imperfection of the natural man doth lie Some expressions in thy reading may seem harsh or obscure to thee as they did to me but if thou comparest one place with another thou wilt clearly see what the Author means and shalt find his whole discourse to have a Sacred tendency to lay man low and so to put him into a Rich capacity of coming in to the nearâ—st fellowship with God so that while some seek to build up themselves upon the deceitful foundation of corrupted nature and struggle though in vain in the light and power of it to advance towards perfection He is planting his spiritual Artillery against it to throw it into the dust that man may come to be surely bottomed upon the Righteousness Power and Wisdom of Iesus Christ which is the onely foundation that God hath laid and the Gospel revealed And in some things you must give him a latitude to his judgement as thou desirest to thine own in other If thou findest some truths delivered and inforced with reiterated expressions consider they were delivered for the most part in several Congregations so that in some particulars the same things may be re-inforced but yet with more lustrâ— to make Truth more clear And that thou hast them as they were Preached and Pressed in Sermons to the Capacity and Conscience of his Auditors and taken from his mouth by a Notary yet afterward owned and approved by himself and compared with his own notes Read Consider and Try and hold fast that which is good March 26. 1653. Tho. Brooks M. Barker Imprimatur Ioseph Caril Decemb. 6. 1652. In remembrance of the Author and upon view of his Essigies and SERMONS HIS ICON curiously
the soul then and not before expect to hear and see God God is never seen or heard but when all things in us as of us are at rest Those that come and acknowledge him and deny themselves and all they are even all their parts both of Nature and Grace these are come to enâ—oy their rest these onely keep Subbaths these are they that have overcome and are set down with him in his throne even as he hath overcome and is set down in his Fathers Throne In the evening it is said God came into the Garden and called to Adam in tâ—e cool of the day Gen. 3. 8. that is when the heat of Adams lust and self-will was over till then lust made such a noise in Adams soul God could not be heard Then the Lord God puts Adam upon the examination of his soul Adam where art thou whâ—t hast thou done hast thou tasted 〈◊〉 eaten of thine own will that forbidden frâ—it whiâ—h 〈◊〉 shalt find the very eating or tasting will be death to thee which every soul thâ—t God hath really spoken to findes true in his own feeling and experience Thus have we run through this hour allotted it may be God may open your eyes that you may see into these things and I pray God you may even far beyond what I am able to express that you your selves may say and feel that this knowledge is that one thing necessary For this is that word which if you believe not will be the savour of death unto death but if believed and received will be the savour of life unto life THE STARRE IN THE EAST Leading unto the true MESSIAH 1 COR. 2. 2. But I determined to know nothing among you save Iesus Christ and him crucified In two Sermons Preached at a Private meeting at KENSINGTON BEloved there are such things In-wrapt and folded up in the sacred Sriptures of God Almighty which being once known he that knows them in a right way he need not with the Apostle here being taught by the holy Spirit deire to know any thing more And because the treasure that is in these words and also in all the words of God is so fast lockt up so that no natural man can come at them he knows nothing of them for he perceiveth not the things of God neither indeed can he for they are spiritually discerned Therefore let us implore and beseeâ—h his help who hath the keys to open the seven seals as it is in the Revelation of S. Iohn He who onely was counted worthy to open the book that He may unloâ—k and reveal to us these precious mysteries I determined to know nothing among you c. What doth the Apostle mean by these words was he a man that knew nothing or was he an ignorant in all those other things and therefore sleighted them That because he had no learning therefore sleighted learning No 〈…〉 me leave to tell you He was no Fool he was 〈…〉 he was no Babâ—â— no not in all that great and â—hiefest learning which was in his time accounted so highly of for he was as great a proficient Therein as most of them all He was brought up as he â—aith of himself at the feet of Gamaliel and he waâ— a great man in the learning of the Pharisees who were at that time the onely learned men of the Church yea of the whole world Insomuch that they were had in reverence of all because they thought these Rabbins had all knowledge that these were the onely men to whom God himself opened and revealed himself So that he was counted a madman or a fool one led with the spirit of error and schism that should dare to oppose or speak a word against them Yet our Apostle here being inferiour to none of them all and could have gone their paths to have gotten their estimation in the world if he had then seen any excellency in them as before he did he could have gloried after the slesh as well as they But now having to do with these Corinthians and seeing the vanity of all humane learning without this knowledge he layes all aside and undervalues all as dross and dung and comes to them in wonderful plainness of speech that he might preach to them Iesus Christ and not himself as they did to gain honour and profit in the world and to make themselves great in the esteem of others it was death to them to fail of these ends These they put so 〈◊〉 confidence both Preachers and People in this kind of way and in this learning being onely litterally learned and knowing in the Scriptures onely Externally so that all the world was undervalued to them for so it was at that time All this great fabrick of the world was divided into two parts onely viz Iews and Barbarians if they were not Iews they were Barbarians and Heathens And this kind of learning was then and so alwayes is accompanied with all manner of riches and honour with all the glory and splendour of the world every man bowed to their parts and worth they were presented with gifts and it was accounted a great honour to have them accepted by them they were repaired to at all times As to resolve doubts and give counsel c. they were as Oracles in the peoples esteem generally And he that went not this way was like to lead an obscure beggerly life no body taking notice of him scarce having a hole to put his head in nay He should be sure to be trampled down and cast under foot by these great men by their great blustering and by their great parrs and by their great learning The foxes have holes and the birds of this world have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head Well notwithstanding all this our Apostle sticks not at it but layes all aside learning credit honour and dishonour riches poverty he tramples all under foot and is content to expose himself to whatever their malice could bring about he reposes no confidence in whatever Parts he had equal with them and sayes that he expected and was content to be accounted a Fool and to hide himself and be as one that had nothing in him He will never go about to dispute it out with these great Rabbins that is not the way he knew that would do no good for he had experience that of disputations there was no end for every one stuck so fast and unmoveable to his opinion one to shew his wit and eloquence another to gain honour and riches another because he had declared what he held and being once past the bars of his lips he must not recant and be a flincher and discover his ignorance wherein he had declared so much confidence but must then stand it out to the death so one for one end and another for another mens Ends being infinite and unspeakable so that therein he had no hope Well
keeps the Sabbath Holy being void of skill and Will is subject onely to God In Him to go Out Work Will know Both How What When and Why he pleaseth Now The Whole World lyeth in This Death and Sin for that it doth nothing else but kiss iâ—s own hand That is Adore the Purpose Counsel Invention and wisdom of it self To this purpose are all things Intended Aimed Drawn and Bent Even the Holy Scripture and Words of God Namely to be consonant to Our Reason and not to cross Our Wisdom Course and Way But all these things must be Overthrown and unlearned again if we will see God For therefore do the Scriptures so Vehemently urge us to becom Children and Fools Vomiting up again all the Art and knowledge of this Forbidden Tree To be purged by the strength of the Tree of Life and consequently let Every man in this case look and observe Himself narrowly what he doth And He shall find all this True in his Own Breast THE Gospel-Treasury Opened OR The Holiest of All unvailing The Second Part. Containing I. Two Sermons on Psal. 68. 17. intituled Militia Coelestis or the Heavenly Host. II. Two sermons on Cant. 1. 7. Where Christ feedeth and where his flock resteth III. A Sermon on Rev. 2. 17. Of eating hidden Manna IV. Heads of Sermons on Ier. 6. 13. Covetousness anatomized or the generality of Covetousness V. A short Exposition on Psal. 148. The Plus Ultra of the creatures VI. The substance of several Sermons on Luke 7. 40. Milk for babes meat for strong men VII Two Sermons on Exod. 3. 1 2 3 4 5 6. The mysterie or the life and marrow of the Scriptures VIII The substance of several Sermons on Mark. 1. 25 26. True and divine Exorcism or the Devil conjured by Iesus Christ. IX A Sermon on Mat. 28. 18. All power is given to Jesus Christ in heaven and in earth Also added I. Dionysius the Areopagite his mystical Divinity II. Grave and notable sayings in Latin and English III. Sayings of a certain Divine of great note IV. Taulerus his holy glass or example of our Lord Iesus Christ. V. Another short instruction by the same Author VI. A short Dialogue between a learned Divine and a beggar LONDON Printed for Rapha Harford At the Bible and States-Armes in Little Brittain 1657. Militia Coelestis OR The Heavenly Host Two Sermons upon Psal. 68. 17. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand thousands of Angels The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the Holy Place Out of which the Bishops pretended matter of high accusation against the Author in their High Commission Court Preached at Giles Cripplegate when those masking Chariots and great shews were presented and acted at the Court the Temple and in the City after which there was so much running to be Spectators He chosing Texts on purpose constantly as his manner still was and being our Saviours practice in the Gospel he making use of present things most in use and most affected to take men off from admiring such vanities or rather to take an advantage by them and thereby improving them to raise up the mind to real Glories which have so few Lovers and Followers Saith our Saviour Matth. 11. 17. But we have piped unto you and ye have not danced we have mourned and ye have not lamented And again saith he Wide is the Gate and broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction and many there be that go that way but strait is the Gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Mat. 7. 13. SERM. I. AS this Psalm was undoubtedly Davids so it is more then probable the occasion of penning it as you may see at the bâ—ginning thereof was upon the removing of the Ark to Ierusalem the City of David from the house of Abinadab 2 Sam. 6. At which time David with the rest of the people of Israel played on all manner of Instruments and danced before the Ark Whereupon Michal his wife Sauls daughter despised him for a fool An extasie of joy seizing upon his spirit he enjoying so much of God in it caused him to leap and dance before it She hereupon takes upon her to reprove censure and revile him and in her heart scorned him sayes the text v. 16. But David being lifted up filled with divine joy slighted her and told her he would yet be more vile And the reason of this conjecture is because this Psalm begins with that very Proverb that was appointed to be said at the rising of the Ark out of its place Num. 10. 25. Arise O Lord and let thine enemies be scattered let them that hate him flee before him I dare not offer at any Method in the whole nor at any connexion in the parts For I find that all your curious Dichotomizers do but dream play with the Scripture feeding themselves with fancies and not truth For sure I am the onely method that holy men of old observed was to speak as they were moved by the holy spirit 2 Pet. 1. 21. But these words we have now read they being a clause in this Psalâ— I take them as a Melchizedeck without Father without Mother Heb. 7. 3. so having no dependance We will come to open the words as having a sufficient sense lying within themselves There be many Expositions on this place which I will not trouble you withall for men speak according to men but the Scriptures were written by Gods spirit dictated by his own finger for holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit 2 Pet. 1. 21. We must therefore labour to find out if it be possible what is Gods mind in the Scriptures whatever men say I may call this Text as it is Luke 2. 13. Militia Coelestis the Heavenly Host There was with the Angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God or as Iacob did the Angels Gen. 32. 2. when he saw the Angels he said This is Gods host for there is in them both greatness and terribleness which is proper to the Angels of God But that we may give you the parts of the woâ—ds There are four things represented in them 1 Their Nature they are called Chariots 2 Their Number they are said to be twenty thousand or thousands of thousands that is they are innumerable or numberless 3 In regard of their Names they are here called Angels 4 In regard of the Commander of all these numberless number of Chariots and Angels and that is God himself The Chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels â— Their Nature they are called Currus Chariots The mention of Chariots is as ancient as any History either sacred or profane they being used both for peace and warre In the first Book of Moses Gen. 41. 43. there is mention made of Pharaohs triumphant Chariot for Ioseph he that exalted Ioseph And again in
knew him in the â—lesh in his latter dayes for those savoury and experimental Truths wrought in you by the power of Christ which he was an instrument to bear so clear witness unto And I for my part if I had the most precious Balme or the most Odoriferous ODOUR in the whole Earth I could freely pour it forth upon the NAME and Memory of that man as upon any English man I ever read or heard or ever were acquainted with But I have it not and he needs it not for he is far above all things of that nature or the most precious things the whole Earth can afford For He Resteth with Christ. But that which makes me now remember Him is That Mystical and Divine Exposition he gives of those 2 or 3 verses in the 15 Iosh. 15 16 17. being very suitable to the MYSTERY we are now unfolding I will read you the words and then I will give you the Interpretation in His own Words for I cannot give you a better And although the Men of the Letter or the Masters of the Letter will not cannot endure an Interpretation but what the bare Letter bears but presently they cry out ERROR and HERESIE according to their wonted manner In vilifying that which they do not apprehend but we leave them to themselves I pray give ear The words are these The Holy Spirit speaking concerning Caleb And he went up to the Inhabitants of DEBIR And the Name of DEBIR before was Kiriathsepher And Caleb 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 Saith he Kiriathsepher signifieth The City of the Book or The City of the Letter And Debir signifieth THE WORD And Caleb A good heart OTHNIEL The Lords Opportunity and Achsah The Rending of the Vail So that the Dr. reads the verses in English thus And A good Heart said He that smiteth the City of the Book or the City of the Letter He onely shall marry Achsah and have the Rending of the Vail And Othniel The Lords fit Opportunity he onely smites This City of the Letter and takes it and to him alone are the Scriptures made DEBIR The Word from whence he draws most Heavenly and Divine Conclusions c. But I refer you for your better satisfaction to the Book it self And return to our business in hand To all Those Blessed and Precious Souls Wheresoever Scattered Throughout the World Yet united in One Spirit Which Rejoyce in the Revelation Of the Mystery of Christ Being also reconciled unto God In One Body By the Cross He Having slain the Enmity thereby And do or may Comprehend This LANGUAGE To Them Is the Word of This Salvation Sent In all Humility Greeting A light to lighten the Gentiles And To be the Glory of the People of Israâ—â— To make known among the Gentiles The Manifold Wisdom of God And The Unsearchable Riches of Christ. THE RENDING OF THE VAIL OR Some Rayes of Glory from The HOLY of HOLIES MARK 9. 50. Have Salt in your selves In one Sermon Preached at Islington at the Publique Meeting-Place MY beloved now you are here gathered together in this place I beseech you hearken diligently to what shall be now â—poken I will use no other Preface then a word or two from that saying of our Saviour in the Paâ—allel place to this Luk. 14. 35. from which he makes this conclusion He that hath ears to hear let him hear Let him now hear the word of him by whom he shall be judged at that great day Let him now hearken to that word which shall certainly one day either sooner or later rise up in judgement against him Let him hearken to the word of him who spake as never man spake for his words are like the wine he made at Cana no wine like that wine nor no words like his words fot the best words that ever man spake had somewhat of Self and Carnal ends in them but in his words there is no tincture no concourse or tast at all of the Creature no Allayes of humane weakness but they are all words of grace and peace the words of spirit and life insomuch that all that heard him wondered at the gracious words that proceeded frrom his lips who in all his words never sought himself nor his own glory as men do but the glory of him that sent him Nay hearken I pray you to his word that could have spoken far beyond all that ever he hath spoken had he but had Auditors fit to have heard and understood him I beseech you therefore silence yourselves a while I mean your own Wit and Reaâ—â—â— and your own blind understandings And let there be silence in Heaven for half an hour that you mâ—y learn to know what it is to have salt in your selveâ— that you may have salt in you that you be not spewed out of Gods mouth as unsavoury and loathsome to his stomach It were far better you had never heard then that these words should prove unprofitable to you But as you are here in this your so great zeal to hear and in such thronging and â—locking together this day to whom should we address that our zeal and meeting may not be in vain for as the woman of Samaria said to our Saviour Iohn 4. 11. so may we say The Well is deep and we have nothing to draw with mans reason and understanding cannot reach Truth ad quem ibimus then whether shall we go saith Peter Iohn 6. 60. and he answers it there himself truly O Lord Tu habes verba vitae aeternae Thou hast the words of eternal life Therefore let us pray with the Disciples Mat. 13. 36. O Lord declare thou to us this Parable And I humbly pray and beseech that God who opened the mouth of Balaams dumb Ass that he would be pleased to open my lips and then my mouth shall shew forth his praise for the instruction of those that are his servants here And I pray God you may rouse up your attention maugre fulness drowsiness wandring thoughts custom in sleeping and the like The things that I intend through Gods assistance to open to you and answer are these three Questions O Lord In lumine tuo lumen Psal. 36. 9. In thy light we shall see light And by no other light Then Let us see 1. What salt is 2. What it is to have salt 3. What it is to have it in our selves 1. What salt is Christ saith in the Verse before my Text That every one shall be salted with fire and every sacrifiâ—e shall be salted with salt We must first find what fire is and then we shall know what salt is This fire is Christ and that very properly as you may see he is so called Isa. 10. 17. The light of Israel shall
and sold under sin and ye are yet carnal saith the Apostle Carnality never judges carnality never look that flesh should find fault with its own actions neither doth the Reasonable man find fault with his reasonable actions but sâ—ith the Apostle The Spiritual man judgeth all things that is the Spirit of God as David saith Exalt thy self O God above the heavens and shew thy self thy glory and thy majesty Come thou unto us O Lord and judge the heathen be thou judge among the judges among the gods among those that are and still would be gods and judges Do thou O Lord put all thine enemies to silence and Rule THOU in the midst of thine Enemies But to silence our own reason all our own affections our own will our own joys our own fears our own hopes and then hear what God shall say There is no hearing of God till all these be put to silence as it is said Gen. 3. God came into the Garden in the COOL of the day what do you think was meant by that that God came at evening when the sun was going down do you think that the day was too hot for God to walk in no no that cannot be but t is meant he came into the soul in the cool of the day that is when lust was cool when the heat of Adams desire was over when his own will was silent and there was a calm then God spake and said Adam where art thou Till then there was such Noise and such a Hurly-burly in his soul This lust would be satisfied and the other lust would be satisfied such crying and calling making such clamour and noise there was then no hearing God speak but these being All put to silence God comes in with a still soft voice not while the thunder and mighty rushing was and speaks in the soul Hear now what God saith Hear him judge you hear him condemn you and if ye do this This delivering over to Satan is not unto death but that your spirits may be saved in the day of the Lord This casting of our souls into the lower hell as David complains is that we may be saved from the condemnation irrecoverable I came to send fire on the earth saith our Saviour and what if I will that it be already kindled The kindling of this fire is a happy kindling t is that you may escape the Unquenchable fire suffer therefore this condemnation to be wrought in your souls it is a blessed a happy condemnation The day that this work comes into thy soul is the blessedst day that ever thou sawest the happiest hour that ever passed over thy head the brightest and gloriousest day that ever dawned to thee Indeed it is The day of the Lord A day of darkness and gloominess of clouds and thick darkness but it dawns to everlasting light and glory I told you wherein and how you might examine your selves And that you might have a glass large enough to see your whole body open your eyes to see the glass of the Law and view your selves round by it and then I will warrant you you shall see cause enough of condemnation then you will see so much in your selves that you will have no wisdom nor leisure left to judge other men if you did but see the true resemblance of your selves you could do nothing else but be alwayes judging and condemning your selves you could do nothing but lay all the Bitter curses you could devise upon this Meroz Even upon your Corrupt Self you would so Hate and lothe your selves in your own sight you would not others praises which formerly you have so much sought for It may be we have read and heard the Ten Commandments over and over a thousand times but that is not enough But as the Scripture requires an ear in an ear so we must have an eye in an eye He that hath ears to hear let him hear and He that hath eyes to see let him see I opened to you the sins of the first Commandement from which I know you will free your selves most in you think That of all the rest you are most free from having other Gods you were taught That from your Cradle Thou shalt have no other Gods but me But as I then shewed you you that do worship any other god as all of us do some make their belly their god some pleaure their god some profit their god some credit and praise their god and these we obey and worship and fear and love Whatever it was that drew you from obeying Gods Commandments was it for pleasure was it for honour or whatever else consider what you have done you have made them your gods and done more then bowed your knee to them so that as often as thou hast said the Ten Commandments so often hast thou dissembled with God and rebelled against that which thine own mouth hath acknowledged And I doubt I may say of you as the Prophet said of Israel So many Cities so many Gods Shall I say so many men so many Gods Nay so many LUSTS so many Gods And those that have many Gods have no God This is generally acknowledged for even among the Heathen there was not one learned and wise man but did confess there was a God and that there could not be any more then one God although they gave several names to the divine power in several creatures for the Apprehension of the ignorant and called them Gods yet they knew that God was but one Take therefore that sacred spotless Law open it and look upon it view thy self well and it will shew thee clearly all thy Gods Do but look upon the actions of this very day nay since you came into this place and see if there hath not been matter enough to cause this work of Condemation Besides consider this seriously you are not represented to God as doing of one action but according to the Tenor of your lives thou art not presented to God as thou art dying when thy mouth is full of holy words nor as thou art doing any good action not as thou art sitting in the Church at thy prayers not as thou art hearing a Sermon not as thou art relieving the Poor c. but all thy whole life every minute being always as present with him as if every particular action were now in doing there is no passing of time no succession of time with him so that from hence conâ—lude and resolve it to thy thoughts if ever thou swearest an Oath thou art with him alwayes swearing if ever thou blasphemest thou art ever blaspheming if ever thou toldst a lye thou art with Him alwayes lying if ever thou committedst adultery thou art alwayes doing that act as to him if ever thou brokest Covenant and Promise thou art with him alwayes doing so if ever thou trampledst the bloud of the Conant under thy feet thou art alwayes
being life and a quickning spirit they are dead and sluggish And men may be full of Notions and Literal knowledge and yet have no power The Letter it suffers men to be dead idle sluggish as to the Life of Regeneration and the power of godliness The Letter never binds The strong man it never conquers the will and a mans Own Self it never makes a man to deny the World To rejoyce in the Cross To sell all and follow Christ. If the letters or the Grammatical sense were the word of God Christ would never have so often condemned and expressed so many woes against the Scribes and Pharisees for who took moe pains in them then they who had them or observed them outwardly more exactly and for That The people had them in High Honour and great Esteem yet Christ He condemns all their knowledge learning holiness parts c. for they sought not after the minde of Christ in them if they had known the Word of God they would have known him who was The Word If the Literal Scriptures were the Word of God why doth the holy Ghost so often say He that hath ears to hear let him hear And why doth the Prophet Esay say That hearing they may hear and not understand and seeing they might see and not perceive make the heart of this people fat their ears dull and their eyes heavy lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I should heal them This is spoken not in regard of those that are ignorant but of those that are very knowing and very much conceited of their much knowing and yet their knowledge and gifts and Precise Holiness according to the Letter is but a stumbling-block and an occasion of their falling death and destruction and Thus to know all things is but to be ignorant of all things And God accounts these knowing men among the number of those the world accounts The onely Prophane and he esteems them farther off the Kingdom of God Then Theeves and Harlots and saith That these shall go into the Kingdom of Heaven before them and therefore Christ himself sooner conversed with Publicans and Harlots and preferred them still before them as knowing there was more hope to work upon them then upon these Great Conceited puffed up Professors And therefore I have the more and the larger insisted upon this that if it were possible These men might come to know the Truth and so themselves that they might be saved Thus to understand the Scriptures is that which the Scriptures call Eternal liâ—e and That good part which Mary hath chosen this is to â—at Christ to believe to put on the new Man to be regenerate to be born again to live to the Spirit to be baptized to receive the Word to be ingrafted into Christ and the like The other Carnal Knowers they reach none of these things though they think they are possest of them and enjoy them but Even from this very knowledge and holiness they eat death and this is that forbidden tree of good and evil From whence they Enquire much after knowledge and Aime to be Like God and so live for ever and this is nothing but the Seed of the Serpent in our hearts whereby these men much admire themselves and kiss their own hands that is they much set up their own wills their own wisdom and their own carnal reason and cover themselves with fig-leaves as Adam did whereby also they are come to that pass that as I said before they are ready to teach God knowledge and To bring God to School to them and to prescribe and direct him what he shall do in the world and how he shall govern according to their wills and their prayers The word of God is Pure High Holy Heavenly Powerful Reviving Quickning Spirituallizing But the Letter is not onely dead in all these regards But killing and destructive in that sense formerly exprest If you live and dye with this word I mean the letter of the word and the Grammatical External sense which These men call the word of God All is nothing If you have it exactly by heart that you have it as ready at your fingers ends to apply it to all occasions as the Devil himself yet this can be no service of God this is but bodily labour and bodily exercise as the Apostle calls it which profiteth nothing this is but the flesh this is but mans teaching the Spirit of it The WORD of God Debir you never yet found But yet as I said let us not say If the Spirit be all then what do we with the Letter Let us then cast it away No no by no means the letter is of use to regulate the flesh and the outward man in bodily exercises But I say it reaches not the inward man and the heart That must be That bread which the Father giveth which comes down from Heaven Neither Moses nor the knowledge of the whole Law and of all the Scriptures can give us That bread as Christ saith Iohn 6. 32 33. Verily verily Moses gave them not that bread from heaven but my Father giveth you the bread from heaven for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world And besides as I said As the spirit of a man you cannot have without the body Nor you cannot have the Oyster without the shell so neither can you have these mysteries these Allegories without the flesh without the shell without Excrements that is without the letter of the word for we being of a dull low corporeâ—â— substance must have these high divine sublime things brought to us in such vessels and represented by such things as we understand feel hear and see and so come to know them We are not able to conceive of the spiritual meaning and Gods mind without something represented and pâ—oposed suitable to our Element to our language to our sphere to our condition something bodily must be presented that we may conceive of that which is in the same proportion done in us spiritually And therefore this is that I advise still Be sure still To maintain the letter of the word Undefiled Untouched Uncorrupted And let his tongue cleave to and for ever Rot in his mouth That goes about to abrogate the Letter for without the letter you cannot have the Spirit even as we cannot have Meat and Nutriment but you must have necessarily dung and excrements and if you cast away the Excrements you cast away The Meat with it Not that the Letter is dung and excrement as of it self or killing or dead but occasionally made so to us and to all those who crack it not smite it not and so suck not life but death from it Therefore it is said My heart or a Good heart a Caleb must set us a work and an Othniel must smiâ—e it for you
live And With those men which Live â—pon the shadow and content themselves with Shels and Husks There is no peace to be had with them except ye make the Substance Vail to their Shadowes And the True God to stoop to their Idol Baal Otherwise They are like Saul Before He was converted Acts 9. 1. Exceedingly Mad against them like Inraged Mad Bulls and Breathing out Threatning and Slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord And are still seeking to the High Priests and the powers of the Earth to assist them with Commissions To make Havock of the Church But Oh! that the Lord would graciously Shine Round about them And smite them to the earth Causing them to hear That voice Why Why persecutest Thou Me It is Hard for thee to Kick against the Pricks But St. Paul â—e was now come to those things of which he knew and found Christ His bod was but A shadow He now possest the 〈◊〉 let the shadow go And if men woâ—ld never sleigh the Shadow or the Letter or the Shell Till the did it on the same ground the Aposâ—le did 〈◊〉 instead of blaming them I should Highly commend them But this is that which is too common in these dayes they throw away the shadow and the shell too soon they throw away the Letter and Ordinances upon a meer supposition 〈◊〉 they are in S. Pauls condition and this is thâ— very ground of the Error of Many in these dayes and therefore I caution hence 〈◊〉 much and charge you Not to throw away the Letter noâ— sleight the body of Christ in the least exâ—epâ— inrelation to the Spirit the Life and the Substance Onely comparatively And you as come Really 〈◊〉 enjoy these things not to cast them quite 〈◊〉 as I said before but not to rest in them 〈…〉 the Handmaid before the Mistress or the 〈◊〉 before the Marrow or the Casket before thâ— IEWEL or the â—ield before the PEARL Le no man saith the Apostle Iudge you in Meats 〈◊〉 Drinks or in respect of an Holy day New 〈…〉 of The Sabbath dayes which are shadows of Thing To come But the Body is Christ. For beloved Christs body was Symbolical 〈◊〉 well as his actions they all held 〈…〉 that we might not rest in them bâ—t this is 〈…〉 flesh in us is ready to abuse to our own 〈◊〉 and condemnation The cunning politick Devil in us when he cannot hold us in prophaneness by the Chains of ignorance then he labours to do it by the Chains of knowledge Sayes he in us if the letter be a shadow and nothing then we will neglect it we will throw it away there is nothing now to be done we will live as we list we Owe No duties to God or man we will please our selves and deny our selves nothing for we are gotten above Word Ordinances Sacraments Worships and all Oh Beloved these are the Devils strongest Chains of all These Chains of Knowledge to abuse the highest liberty and glory of a Christian to the Idleness and Luxuriousness of the flesh He that is taken in These Chains a thousand to one if he ever get out as the Apostle saith Heb. 10. There is after this no more Sacrifice for sins such will hardly ever recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil and as he expresseth it in Heb. 6. It is impossible for those who were once inlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away it is impossible to renew them again to repentance and he so goes on and explains it by a similitude For the earth which drinketh in the rain which cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God else it beareth thorns and bryars and is rejected and is â—igh unto cursing and in the end to be burned This caution I thought good to mind you of that in taking you off from Resting on these things that you do not quite slight them nor think your selves come to the Spirit when ye have scarce Attained The letter and Outside But as I was saying Christs body and his actions were symbolical for though he healed the lame and cured the deaf and raised the dead and the like yet this was not the Substance nor the End of his coming for he by them shadowed out to us what he doth internally in our souls For Iesus Christ is yesterday and to day and thâ— same for ever He did then Those actions of curing the blind cleansing the lepers casting out devils and the rest So he doth the same still as David saith Psal. 103. Praise the Lord O my soul which cureth all thy diseases and healeth al thy infirmities which redeemeth our lives from destruction and crowneth us daily with loving kindnesses and tender mercies These are the diseases Christ cures daily and so cures that they never mortally fall sick again Those he cured then they might fall to the same diseases again or worse it may be and besides that curing them saved them not from death as this curing doth The young man that was raised from death dyed again and Lazarus dyed again but those he cures in soul they are cured for ever them he quickens for ever them he so raises from death that they dy no more As old Simeon said of him Luke 2. 34. That he was for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and he was for a sign which shall be spoken against He is for a sign in the flesh and in his Humane nature of what he did from the begining and of what he is still in doing He himself in the body in his humanity and All his actions were typical These things I often represent to you because we are Backward to reâ—eive them we are loth to turn our eyes inward in hearing and reading the Scriptures To see all those things fulfilled in our selves Nay we do not yet feel and believe That we are those that Christ came to cure that we are the dumb and the deaf the halt and the blind Little do we think that Devils are to be cast out of us but those whom Christ hath cured they are able to see really that they are The men that Christ then by them represented They see when they read of the Iews crucifying of the Lord of life of their cruel whipping mocking c. crowning him with thornâ— and the like they can say to themselves as Nathan said to David when by a parable he had represented his sin sayes he and so can this man say to himself Thou art the man And so likewise in all his other actions Far be it from any one to think that to heal those External diseases was the End of his coming But thus think Did he arise from death to life he doth the same
not onely represent and point to but they are also those which hide and blind him from our sight Isa. 12. 6. Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee He that is an Inhabitant of Zion will upon the sight of God in any Creature fall down before him in a holy extasie and amazement of spirit fall down and worship him The seeing him to be so Infinite and Great and filling all things that they must with the Prophet in an holy ravishment and extasie as being made drunk overcome and swallowed up cry out and shout Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee The word in the Original signifies in the inmost inwardest part of thee When this Divine Being shall arise discover and rouse up it self before the poor soul that never saw him before Oh! how amazed ashamed confounded is it in it self This seeing of God is onely peculiar to the Saints God is onely manifested in them and to them but not at all in Reprobates but he is hidden and removed from their sight and believing though not at all out of them The Chariots of God are 〈◊〉 thousand yea even thousands of Angelâ— the Lord is among them as in Sinai You see I hope by this what sweet and glorious truths are couched in these few words These words I think many of you have read oftten but how few have 〈◊〉 them You may see now by this Doctrine what a glorious privilege the Saints have to have Christ dwelling in them by faith so that they see not onely that their bodies are the Temples of that great Holy One but they by faith see him filling and dwelling in all Creatures And know this that God is not revealed or manifested but onely in and to the Saints not effectually and operatively though notionally and in words men may acknowledge these things but they are not inwardly thus filled amazed overcome and swallowed up with the glory of the Lord even as the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle For they can and must say and cry out of all 〈◊〉 Oh! How amiable are thy Tabernacles O Lord of Hosts my soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God when shall I come and appear before God! A day in thy 〈◊〉 is better then a thousand elsewhere I had rathâ—â— be a Door-keeper in the house of my God 〈…〉 dwel in the Tents of wickedness Those are 〈…〉 wickedness where God is not seen and 〈…〉 in 〈◊〉 and have their habitatioâ— the Tents of â—edar But that man that enjoyes God thus his soul is filled with the fulness 〈◊〉 â—reatness of his presence even as the house 〈…〉 with the odour of that ointment Ioh. 12. 3. How was blessed Mary taken with those sweet drops that fel from her Saviours lips Luk. 10. 39. who made it her whole business content happiness nay whos 's All it was so she could but sit at his feet stare in his face hang upon his lips and hearken to his honey-dropping healing words Oh! blessed is that man that thus seeth thee trusteth in thee no marvel that these men undervalue all the afflictions and all the glory of the world and see that they are not worthy to be compared with this glory revealed in them as the Apostle saith concerning afflictions Rom. 8. 18. All glories are nothing all afflictions are light and vain compared to this fulness of God filling all things The next thing considerable is their number they are said to be twenty thousand even thousands of Angels many Interpreters differ in the explanation of this number but I having viewed al or most of their judgments I conclude that here a certain number is put for an uncertain as it is often in Scripture as Numb 10. 36. when the Ark was set down and rested this Proverb was appointed to be said at its seting down Return O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel there is put an uncertain number but in the margin you may see the word signifies a certain as well as an uncertain number and an uncertain as well as a certain either of both Which Interpretation gave Hierome and Novatianus the hint to say in plain words twenty thousand or thousands of Angels that is they are innumerable infinite immense And I think that interpretation is best and most agreeable to the manner of the Scriptures expressions and to the meaning of the word here used and elsewhere For the Hebrew word Ribboth signifies ten thousand in all numbers and Ribbaboth is interpreted 2 Sam. 18. 7. ten thousand and Rebaboth the plural number is rendred Numb 10. 36. the many thousands of Israel which come all from the Verb Rabbah multiplicavit and Rabmultus which gave Hierome and Novatianus that hint before expressed Then the Chariots of God are numberless that is no man can number them not but that God can number them and call them all by their names as David sayes of the Stars Psal. 147. 4. for any number that can be numbered is but like the number of the Beast Rev. 13. 18. which is according to the number of a man but God numbereth all things for as he made all things in weight and measure so in number Wisd 11. 17. Suppose as great a number as can be numbered as great as can be called or named yet Gods numbering is beyond all thought and to us it is impossible to number them If all the words that ever I spake or ever shall speak were unmbered if the minutes that are past since the world began were numbered this is beyond the number of a man But God can number all things he hath made all things both in number weight and measure but himself is the plot the standard the measure of all and the measure scales and weights are all his own for he numbers not according to the number of a man nor he weighs not as man weighs It sufficeth therefore that the number of his Chariots are as the number of his wayes both in difficulty and number no man can find them out they are unsearchable and past finding out so that we may well with the Apostle Rom. 11. 33. cry out Oh How unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out He weighs the World in a ballance but what is all the world to him t is but as the drop of a Bucket and as the dust of the Ballance and as the drop of the morning dew to the Ocean yea infinitely far less inconsiderable T is true that in Esay 40. 12. He measures the waters in his fist and metes out the Heavens with his Span and comprehends the dust of the earth in a measure but the Omer Ephah are both his own And t is true he telleth the number
nothing but the Vail of Gods word and the truth is concerning some God hath commanded Make their eyes heavy and their ears dull lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them that in seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand That is And I will be bold to give the interpretation That seeing the Letter they may not see the Life that hearing the words they may not understand the Living sense Having premised this let us now come and take inpieces some part of these words nowread that we may come to eat of the bread of life and of the hidden Manna that is as yet fast locked up and except God open our hearts as he did the heart of Lydia it is and will still be A Book Sealed up to us And Moses kept the sheep of Iethro his father in Law the Priest of Midian and he led the stock to the back-side of the desart and came to the mountain of God even to Horeb What may be the meaning that the Holy Ghost doth describe Moses to be a Sheep-keeper setting down so expresly that particular and still all the Patriarchs are described to be Sheep-keepers certainly there is something to be observed and learned from Shepherds because Shepherds are oftner mentioned then husbandmen and not onely the men preferred before them but all their actions also are preferred before the others Cain was a Husbandman Abel was a Sheepkeeper they both offered sacrifice one of his cattel the other of his ground but the Shepherds offering was preferred before the Husbandmans and so all the Patriarchs are commended for being Shepherds and following that trade and David he followed the Ewes great with young and from that imployment was taken to feed Gods people and to be King over them 2 Sam. 7. 8. I took thee from the Sheepcoat to be Ruler over my people Israel Well we need not to instance any further What may be the meaning of the Holy Ghost in all this in one word I will tell you what a Shepherd is A Shepherd is one that lives meerly and most properly by the providence and blessing of God upon his Trade for they fructifie and increase onely upon Gods will blessing and providence He acts not much but resigns up his will all he hath to God onely depends altogether upon that but a husbandman is he who with his expectation of Gods blessing joyns his own endeavours plowing sowing reaping changing his ground rising early and going to bed late Well I pray is there any hurt in all this No I forbid them not to do so but this I say a Shepherds life is preferred with God far before a Husbandmans because he that hath given up all to God all that ever he can do or say or think his whole man is Resigned to God confessing that they are nothing that they can do nothing and from their very souls acknowledge and not in words onely they have no wit no reason no will no understanding their whole man all that they are or can do is wholly resigned up to God and his will Nor will they joyn any of their works with Gods but let God act all do all think all speak all in them This is the life of a true Shepherd who hath his eye single on God and looks to him in every thing let him increase his stock or decrease it he is all one he is nothing grieved at the one nor lifted up with the other because he accounts nothing he hath his own Nor doth he think That he lives by his own taking care or by his own industry but depends meerly on the blessings of God and the works of nature but the other They moil and Toil themselves They must do something and this ye cannot beat out of them they must joyn their wits and their doings with Gods and do not ascribe all to God while they do it As do the other And therefore Shepherds are accepted with God far before Husbandmen the one doth think verily his own care and industry is the staff of his life They cannot deny all give up all that they are and can do They cannot but think say what ye will but they have some power some wisdom some understanding some ability to bring about their actions but the other The truly Resigned man he sees and acknowledges as the truth is That God alone doth All And that His is all the power all the might all the wisdom and he hath nothing at all he will not by any means obscure or darken Gods power nor his wisdom nor his praise as the Husbandman doth Though perhaps they may say in words it is their endeavours and the blessing of God thereupon and then they think they have made up all when indeed in their hearts in their thoughts and in their practises they do not give God his praise and glory but sacrifice to their own nets to their own wisdom power and parts And in effectwith them T is MAN alâ—nâ— doth All. You may see then how this mighty truth is hid under a mystery and is couched in two or three words how Moses doth but as it were by the way glance at it by the by and if God open your eyes you may see how this secret warp and woof runs through this Web So this Mystery runs secretly along through the whole Scriptures unseen And take notice of this that above all men the Egyptians cannot endure this kind of men and such as live this kind of life for saith the Holy Ghost Shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians It is a life so contrary to them that they hate them deadly and esteem them The silliest and ridiculousest and most improvident people in the word But it matters not God prefers them sbove All kind of men insomuch that he is pleased to stile himself The God of shepherds the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob very often because they were these kind of Shepherds most certainly to these men God ever did and ever will speak most familiarly and to these onely he will to Shepherds reveal himself and His Secrets above all the men in the world the other are too much buried in themselves and their own wayes to have God shew them any of his secrets Let us then learn to be Shepherds rather then Husbandmen if we desire to be acquainted with God for it was Mary whom Christ commends who had chosen the better part which could never be taken from her And not Martha who is troubled about many things Although he doth not discommend or altogether condemn Martha for such things must be done yet know this Mary hath chosen the better part which shall never be taken from her Mary is far to be preferred before Martha because she yields and resigns up
such mighty miracles should be done daily and we not see them Truly the fault is in our selves not that Miracles are ceased but our eyes are blinded and we cannot see them and therefore it is we say There is no miracles now adays Miracles are ceased you are deceived for there wants not either power or willingness in God to shew thee as great miracles as he shewed them and he is as willing to shew his face to thee as to Moses and the Patriarchs but thou wantest that measure of faith that they had to see him thou art so deep set in the earth and so buried in unbelief that he can do no mighty works in thee as it is said concerning our Saviours working miracles in his own Countrey Matth. 13. 58. The next thing is the Vision it self And the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush and the bush burned and was not consumed and Moses said I will turn aside and see this great sight why the bush is not burnt and when he turned aside to see God called unto him and said Moses Moses and he said Here am I and he said Draw not nigh hither but put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place where thou standest is holy ground c. Here is now a large field before us Here is a vast Sea before us and like the river and holy waters in Ezekiel at the entrance into the Sanctuary which though at first it took a man but to the ancles and then to the knees yet at length it became a vast Sea to swallow up all those whose vessels are large enough may now lanch out into the deep But first Put off your shoes from off your feet before ever you adventure into this holy ground that is put off all self-conceit of your own understanding all conceit of your own knowledge or of your own abilities to discover those depths that are hid in these words The ground you are now going to set your feet on is marvellous holy ground it is not for every unclean beast to touch this mountain it is onely a Moses may or can ascend this mountain if you bring with you the judgment of flesh and blood or your own abilities to search these mysteries and to judge of these things I must tell you Other men shall see miracles but you shall see none Paul shall see the vision when they that are with him shall not see it Strip your selves therefore of all manner of conceits and confess you know nothing and give up your selves to be taught of God neither regarding me that speak to you nor your own abilities to judge of these things cast away all things of that nature for you have to do with God not man if you see no Miracles I believe you may blame your selves and your too great wisdom for now adays men are too wise to learn any thing And I for my labour look for no other recompence from such wise men but that they shall turn again and all to rent me But in the entrance into this 2. Verse here is one thing which I before touched at and that is why it is said the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses and in the verses following it is said to be the Lord God that called to Moses how can it be God and yet an Angel I finde not one Interpreter unfold this Mystery but either slides or slubbers over this thing wherein indeed there is such a depth of truth included as is able to make the man of God perfect and wise unto salvation and to build him up in all good works And to that end know That every Creature is an Angel of Gods being considered as Angel or Messenger for so the word imports it is a name not of nature but of office and every creature is sent of an Errand they all come out from him and when they have done their errand they return to him again And the sole business every creature comes about and is sent for into the world is to glorifie and magnifie God I say the whole work the business all creatures have to do is onely to magnifie and praise our great God after it hath done its errand and sung an Hymn to God Almighty then it departs and returns to him again For All creatures do sing his praise in whatever they do if not the praise of his goodness yet as much to his praise the glory of his justice the most senseless creature that is is a Messenger from God An Angel of his sending the winds the sea the flames of fire the earth the air the lions and all beasts and what creature you can name they are all his Angels and do his pleasure Balaams Ass was made an Angel to him when his eyes were opened But Because I say these are Angels I would not have you presently conceive that there are no other Angels above us not so but what they are we know not they are such as God Almighty hath appointed them to be and because we cannot know what they are let us not say there are none for they being in a sphear above us we are ignorant of them ignorant of their Nature and cannot Comprehend it As bruit beasts they are in a sphear below us and although they have not Reason in that degree that man hath yet they have some reason yet man is called the Reasonable creature though even beasts have something like man yet because he is so many degrees above these creatures he is denominated The reasonable creature as if nothing had any reason but him but it is otherwise Now these creatures are not able to understand though they have some reason the life and happiness of a man because they are so much below man So neither can man created in a sphear so far below Angels know the life happiness being and nature of Angels though something they may know yet far short of what they are But every creature hath his happiness in his own sphear a fool he is called a fool not because he hath no reason in him but because he is so far short of that understanding that is in other men There is reason in a kinde in all the creature in beasts and trees c. their life doth express reason though themselves understand not their own reason for they grow and increase and therein they express reason for God doth not in any creature work unreasonably but Man being made as it were The Master of Reason he is led altogether by reason as he is a man and what is above that he is not able to judge of because he never knew no life above it no happiness above it And therefore man if he go about to define those Angels that are nearer to God then himself he must make use of that which is within the compass of his own sphere therefore he would fain define them by
an Angel to worship him I sin or if I fall down to Jesus Christ as included in that man or in any Creature I sin likewise But if in men and beasts and trees and in all I behold God 〈◊〉 Immutable Incomprehensible Incircumscriptible Essence so I may praise God and take any occasion to fall down before him and say O thou God That Fillest Heaven and Earth O thou God that Fillest and movest every thing and thou thy self art not moved nor changed in all things I see thee who art One and for ever the same If you shall now ask me how you may behold God thus I will tell you In every Creature is a beam of the Divinity which is an Angel and that Angel be it never so small beholds The face of God Almighty that beam that lives in me or thee that beam I say sees the very face of God And therefore saith our Saviour Christ Take heed ye despise not one of these little ones for their Angel always beholds the face of your Father which is in Heaven Although you see not the Sun when you behold a beam that comes in at the window yet if you do but lay your eye in that beam you shall see the Sun it self So though you cannot see God Almighty in any Creature yet if you do not despise any of these little ones They behold God and if you lay your eye in that beam you shall come to behold God himself and then in the name of God praise God even with all your might and with all your strength then you can never praise him enough in all his Creatures Only take this along with you Thar so long as you are capable to see touch or understand what you see so long you see not God it is but a Creature but if you let that little spark guide you That Angel within you it will bring you to the very face of God For God is in the Midst of the bush in the midst of the Creature yet he is not The burning bush though he be in the Creature yet he is not the Creature So long as he appeared to Moses under any form he was but an Angel The Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in the midst of a burning bush And if Moses had worshipt that burning bush he had been blamed as well as S. Iohn But God is Hid he is Vailed from our sight by Accidents He is not in the Out-parts but he is Within Beloved if God would be pleased to unfold these things to you and me and make us understand them aright I know that Then neither heights nor depths nor Angels nor Principalities nor any thing should ever be able to separate between us and these blessed truhs nay nothing could hinder us from union with this Our ever Blessed God for these are such infallible Truths such glorious Truths Against which the gates of hell shall never prevail When Iacob was to go three or four hundred miles from his Fathers house He saw a vision in his first nights sleep and it was a Ladder that reached from heaven to earth and the Angels of God went up and down ascending and descending on it and at the top of the Ladder stood God himself What do you think was the meaning of that Ladder We deny not the truth of the Story for let that heart that hath such a thought consume for ever in endless flames but let us labour to find out the mind and meaning of God in all his words God stood at the top of Ladder what God is in himself we meddle not with we have nothing to do with that O blessed God! be thou what thou art thou hast said I AM that I AM and we say so too THOU ART that THOU ART Holy and Blessed be Thou in what thou Art for ever and ever And as Thou art in Thy Self we neither know thy Name nor thy Sons Name But the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us Christ Jesus is the Substance and Being of all things Hee is Hee in whom all Types and visions ended This Book of God is a great Book and many words are in it and many large Volumes have been drawn out of it but Christ Jesus Hee is the Body of it Hee is the mark all these words shoot at Hee is the Truth and Substance of all those Types Shadows Metaphors Allegories Parables and Paradoxes Hee is The MARROW in that Bone and the Kernel in that SHEL There cannot one Creature come into the world nor go out of the world not one Angel ascends or descends upon that Ladder but it comes from God and by Jesus Christ He is the Substance and Being thereof and there is not One Creature but doth the Errand God sends him on And therefore David ascribes the very worst of actions to him when Doeg curst him he said Let him alone for God hath bid him He knew no Creature could move towards him to do him either good or hurt but what God bid it do And therefore saith he in whatever befel him I held my tongue and spake nothing because thou didst it Beloved know this the interpretation of visions is from the Lord as Ioseph said to Pharaoh It is not in me to interpret dreams or visions but God shall give Pharaoh an Answer of peace And so say I of this A vision it is and we shall find it no where expounded but God hath set it down It is thrown amongst us and writ for every one to read some take it one way and some another As Pilate said What I have written I have written he that can find the interpretation let him Beloved we spent much time the last Sabbath but we could not get from under the cloud nor espy the bright pillar of light and comfort to discover the meaning of the VISION but you know I was forced to leave my discourse as to the Vision it self Muâ—â—led up in those Sacred and Holy discontents which yet are like physick though a little distastful yet exceeding whollom My beloved is a garden walled about and as a fountain sealed up And saith Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of dreams and visions is from the Lord. There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets And he that Ploughs not with his heifer shall not find out his riddle He which sent that vision to Iacob taught him also how to interpret it For in the bare relation of the vision what is in it to comfort Iacob in the condition he was in And so here to what purpose was this vision shewed to Moses what concerned this the business in hand as you may conceive Beloved He that can find out Gods meaning in these visions shall find Hidden Manna to nourish him But he that thinks by his wit and by his policy and by his own strength to find it out be sure shall find nothing but a bone to choke him
we see what A Great work it is To bring the soul out of Egypt spiritually and which is woâ—st of all That we with the Israelites after the Lord hath thus gloriously and triumphantly bâ—ought us forth that we should have so much as a look toward Egypt again or any inclination to be under Pharahs bondage again which desires of ours will certainly bring us nothing but sorrow and vexation we shall not get so soon to Canaan as otherwise we might but the Lord will exercise and sit us forty years in the wilderness Oh! the difficulty of the New-birth Oh! The Throwes Here is iron labour women if ye talk of iron labour and many times Throws to no purpose the child sticks somewhere in the birth and there is no strength to bring forth Here needs a skilful Midwife indeed a faithful practical Physician one that hath the Practick part as well as the Theorick or else the childe may miscarry But here is our comfort the work is in the hand of the Lord and this childe being designed for life shall 〈◊〉 miscarry though the birth be the worst of â—â—â—ths And as cross as cross may be Oh WONDER wonder That ever childeâ—hould â—hould be saved This simile the Apostle â—imself uses to the Galatians My beloved of whom I travel in birth till Christ be formed in you And Christ being once born in the soul then he grows and by degrees comes to perfection as it is said of him Luke 2. 52. And Iesus increased in wisdom and stature and favour with God and man then he begins to work all those miracles in our souls that he did in the flesh cures the blind casts out Devils blind and dumb so that we could not hear nor see nor believe our selves to be in this miserable condition we cannot See our selves in Egypt in bonds in slavery or if we see yet we are dumb we are not able to open our mouches to express our misery fain we would express what we feel but cannot utter it Therefore you shall find our Lord in one place mingling clay and spittle to anoint the eyes Iohn 9. 6. in another place opening the eyes of a poor blind man that cryed after him so that he would take no nay Iesus thou son of David have mercy on me Mark 10. 47. in another place Raising the dead in another place causing the poor lame Cripple to walk and dance and all sounding out his praise through all the Regions before they could not speak and now they cannot hold their peace but must proclaim what great things the Lord had done for them Out of Mary Magdalen he cast seven Devils and then she sate attentively at Christs feet to hear his words O Beloved Such words from such an experimental Teacher from such a faithful High-Priest who knows our condition as they are powerful so to an experimental soul they are as sweet as honey and more desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold His words were so sutable so aptly spoken to what she experimentally found in her own soul No marvel Mary sate so contented and quietly at Christs feet while Martha was troubled about many things and minded not so much her inward condition And though I have a little digrest yet I hope it is for yours and my good I could not but follow my thoughts and express them to you which came in of a sudden and beyond my premeditation Beloved seeing we are so full of these unclean spirits t is but necessary they should be cast out and that will be effected when our Saviour shall be pleased to cast them out and to do to us as he did here in the Text Rebuke him in us and bid him hold his peace and Come out of us for he hath the Onely power and strength to do it Therefore this Text may betermed a New And a true Divine EXORCISM let not the word offend you for Satanis here Conjured by Jesus Christ and commanded forth here needs none of the Papists fooleries no holy Water no Copes Vestments Adjurations Crucifixes Relicks Lights Candles nor any mumbling Mass-Priests nor Christned Bells Nay no use of ordinances nor all your duties can do it simply no t is Virtus the Power and Word of Christ that onely expels Sin and these foul spirits out of the soul not but that we should use the word of God and pray often to him that he would be pleased to exercise his power over these great and potent enemies And when he will please to work A short work hâ— will make of it when he pleaset to begin nothing shall stand up in his way and blessed shall we be when the Lord himself shall effect it for us for he doth it with two words here in the Text 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hold thy peace Come forth And therefore let us pray unto him and say Lord speak thou the word onely and thy servant shall be healed And Genesis 1. it was no more but one word Let there be light and Let there be a firmament c. and it was so and such is the power of God in the soul when ever he will arise and till then where is your power And note this also further that as our Saviour speaks by way of Authority and Rebuke unto Satan Come out of him So in this particular Satan counterfeits them in himself who will in all things turn himself into an Angel of light for he will sometimes in men silence himself and Rebuke himself and seem to help to destroy his own Kingdom but he doth it as Augustus Caesar once said of Rome Inveni lateritiam relinquam marmoream that is I found it built of mud and bricks but I will leave it of the hardest marble He seems to be cast out in one sin But he doth but change shapes to root himself the surer in another Shape he many times makes a Retreat but he doth it to take breath as I may so say to Rally up his forces for a stronger encounter And when the unclean spirit returns he enters with seven other spirits worse then himself So it is in many men Even by Beelzebub they cast out Devils as when outward respects and the fear of shame onely keeps them from some sins and exorbitances As many who love the upper end of the tables and the uppermost rooms at feasts Mat. 23. 6. but yet abstain some to avoid the cost others for fear of censure so divers do refrain from lust because they are afraid to lose their reputation and credit so many forbear to do actions of violence as Murther c. but t is for fear of the Law so also many forbear to be drunk because none but base people use it so many resrain themselves from committing whoredom for fear they should get noisome and infectious diseases so many turn religious and use constancy in duties of Religion publique and
Ghost In them for all Scripture was given by inspiration 2 Tim. 3. 16. after they were once set apart by God to write the holy Scriptures they all spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost as Dan. 12. 4. God commands Daniel Shut up the words and seal the Book even till the time of the end These holy men being once set apart for this use they prophesie Beyond themselves and out of course and latter and after-times shall make known that which they themselves which wrote them knew not for they spake as inspired by God but Christs words are alwayes absolute and perfect truth he knew and saw very well what he said there is nothing useless in his words there is no Tautologies as we call them no vain repetitions when Christ speaks they are words of weight words of power they carry vertue with them as for instance if ever the winds blow and the storms arise in thy soul Then thou shalt find experimentally and feelingly that One word from Christs mouth will do thee more good then all the words and all the power of men To Still those winds and storms those who have experience here of know it full well as we see when the ship was like to be Overcome by the winds and storms and Christ was asleep you may see there how One word from him Ceased them No more but Peace and be still and t is the same in the soul and Psal. 107. 29. He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still These words we have now read All power is given to me in heaven and earth They signifie that Christ is God equal with the Father but there seems to be a great difficulty in the words in that Christ never said before he was ready to leave the earth All power is given unto me in heâ—ven and earth The question is What power had Christ now committed to him that he had not before what new power received he that when he was to leave the earth and had given his Disciples a Commission and it was to be sealed at the day of Pentecost that he should say now and never before All power is given me in heaven and earth what addition of power had he now which he had not before if he be God equal with his Father and he saith many times The Father hath committed all judgement to the Son and again Before Abraham was I am and many such like words which shews he is God and of Equal power and Authority with his Father and yet he saith in the 14 of Iohn The Father is greater then I Can God receive any new Access of power No certainly but these words are so hard and difficult to reconcile that in the daies of Arius it filled the Church full of Errors and Heresies the Church fell much at Odds for many from hence denied the Divinity of Christ because they could not reconcile these Scriptures And by the way if he be Lord of all power then he leaves none for man to claim to himself But that I may answer this doubt and make it clear I will lay down two grounds First Although God receive no new power in himself yet he doth receive power by being made further known unto man And Secondly By mans being made further known unto him First By his being made further known unto man the revealing and discovering of God unto man making himself more known the manifestation of this is said To Adde power to him but not That any thing can be added to him who is infinite if there could he were not infinite and He were not God But know this whatever attribute God hath ascribed to him it is in regard of his creatures not in regard of himself for there are no such things in God Neither in regard of his incommunicable or communicable Attributes as Eternity Infiniteness Omnipotency Immensness c. Or in regard of his communicable as Wisdome Iustice and Mercy and Patience c. as if these were several things in God for God is One and cannot be more for when he is said to be any of these Iust or Good or Severe or the like these are all One and the same thing in him they are but Attributed to him that we may conceive of him it is but spoken of him according to the several workings of God on the creatures As for instance the Sun makes the Roâ—e to smel sweet and pleasant and it makes the Nettle to sting it makes the fields to grow and cast a Pleasant savour but it makes the Carrion and the Dunghil to stink and all this variety is by one and the self-same Sun the same light and heat doth divers things causes divers effects in the subjects Says the Rose it makes me fragrant and sweet and says the Dung-hill but it makes me stink and be unsavoury says the Wax it makes me soft and pliable but says the clay it makes me hard and obdurate yet the Sun doth not do one thing to one and another thing to another Even so Beloved it is with our God One man He finds God A comfort and a rejoycing to his heart another he finds God A Terror and an Amazement to him One he finds God A sweet guide and direction to him and thereby and therefore he draws nearer to God loveth and embraceth him Another apprehends God an enemy to him and this makes him run away from God Is God therefore thus various no no He is the self-same God to the One and to the Other and the self-same action in him is to the One and to the other He that is a Hammer to the Hard heart he is also mollifying and softning Oyl to the Penitent soul He that is A comfort to the fatherless and widow he is as an Enemy A Revenger and a consuming fire to the obstinate and rebellious And yet for all this Our God is always the same he is not nor cannot be changed in him is no shadow of change And therefore we cannot imagine that he can grow greater or less in regard of himself but as To us he doth that is if he manifest himself more to us more within us in our souls then he is said to be greater and if he lessen the knowledge of himself As to us then he is said to grow less And in this sense also he is said to come nearer to us and go further from us As also he is said so to do when he expresses as to us more or less some act of justice or mercy or any other artribute then I say he is onely said to be so in regard of us To grow greater or less to come nearer or depart further but He in himself is for ever blessed and perfect Unchangeable Immoveable always the same we can no way Touch him or Alter him but it is onely We the Creature is Altered and he is altered to us as to
our feeling to our sight to our apprehension and comprehension but not at all in himself We cannot Honour him no nor dishonour him as to himself he is infinitely Far Above our praises or dispraises neither toucheth him as David saith My goodness extendeth not to him and Iob If I sin it toucheth not him He is neither better or worse by all our works either by sin or righteousness Beloved be sure of this we can neither diminish nor increase his praise in Himself though in regard of â—s we do for though we hold our tongues though we run upon our own destruction yet All as Creatures Praise him if he be not glorified by us in his Mercy he is and will be in his Iustice. It is said in Phil. 2. that he emptied himself of all his glory that is he as it were drew a curtain between Our eyes and His glory not between his own eyes and his glory for he was the same in himself but as to men He drew a Curtain or Vail before his glory for he honoured himself most in that he Emptied himself and therefore he saith here All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth not but that he had the same power before But now All power is given me that is Now men shall see it how in this very thing I honoured my self How in this very thing I manifested my self to be the Saviour of the world And though he seemed to Unclothe and dis-robe himself of all power and glory yet men shall now see and acknowledge that he still At that very instant retained it as much as ever yea manifested it more to them I seemed to lay it down and now to them I will be seen to Take it up again and they shall see that it never departed from me nor I from it But now it may be you will say to me We see you have partly cleared it and made it appear in what sense it is to be understood that All power is given to him in Earth but how is all power given him in Heaven do the Angels add any thing to him or is any thing added to them yea certainly for by the Church these things are More made known unto them for they were not created in such an estate but they may be made better nor are they so perfect but that they desire an increase in their perfection for it is said 1 Pet. 1. 12. The Angels do stoop down to pry into these mysteries therefore their knowledge and perfection is increasing And indeed it is certain They see their imperfections more then man because of the great light they have they are nearer to God who is light and therefore see their darkness and imperfection more then we for we are more dark and further off the light but alas Vain men think they see a great deal and because of their blindness they think themselves such excellent Creatures being thereby puffet up in themselves looking on themselves as Lords of all every thing was made for Him and that Christ was sent Meerly to Redeem him to save him God overlookt as he conceives All Creatures both above him and below him and had respect to none but to him as proud Haman said I onely am in the Kings favour O poor Creatures you are deceived think not so this is onely a fruit of your ignorance of your blindness limit not Gods Church to so narrow a scantling The Dominions of his Church reach infinitely further ther then you are aware of but we must not now enter upon that But hereby you may see that things in Heaven have a revelation and manifestation of Christ unto them and his power is given unto him There as well as on earth if so it be That you do take Heaven according to our general and common Notion of taking Henven which we Vulgarly conâ—eive to be above the Circumference of the Sun and God to be present more especially there but this also is a limiting The bounds of his Church and Kingdom His Kingdom as I conceive is every where and Heaven is where he is for he is Every where Yet I remember I was taught when I was a Child either by my Nurse or my Mother or Shoolmaster that God Almighty was above in Heaven viz. above the Sun Moon and Stars and I thought of a long time afterwards that there was his Court and his Chamber of presence and I thought it a great Height to come to this knowledge but I assure you I had more to do to unlearn this principle then ever I had to learn it and I am afraid too many of us are gone no further then this Childish principle whereupon follow many errours But it is more safe Taking Heaven in the largest sense Eiâ—her as God Filling all places and all things as well above the Sun as below and below as above and so Heaven to be where God is that is ever where for he cannot be excluded from any place but he is not onely in every place but in every place Alike Or else to take Heaven in that sense the Prodigal doth Luk. 15. 18. Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee to take Heaven to be in our souls When God comes into our souls and dwels there that is when he manifests his presence in us and to us then he is said to dwell there not but that he dwelt there in regard of himself as much before but then he is there as in his Temple As in his glory to Us-ward then we see him there In the Beauty of Holiness Then He is compassed about with our praises as it is exprest in that 68 Psalm It is well seen O God how thou goest How thou My God goest when thou art in thy Sanctuary The singers go before and the minstrels follow after in the midst are the damsels with timbrels c. When God is not onely in us as he is in all Creatures but when he is there sensibly to us that we feel him and see him and Rejoyce to behold his Presence and Glory and so we come Thereby to glorisie him more Whenever we come to this Sight then are we come into a degree of the kingdom of Heaven Into Gods Chamber of Presence There we shall see all Creatures all Angels and Saints and the whole Creation compassing him round about with Glories and Hallelujahs Then as to us is He set upon his Throne And till then he is As Crucified As upon the Cross as Buffetted as Spit upon as Emptied as disrohed as Slighted Trod upon As upon the dunghil as separaâ—e from his glory but all this is but as to men not as to Himself as I said before For to him all Angels Cry A loud the Heavens and the Earth and all the Powers therein and all Creatures cry continually Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabbaths Heaven and Earth are full of the majesty of thy glory And He knows His own glory and praise Infinitely Beyond our apprehensions but as I said He is more praised and glorified As to us and by us And in this sense are our Saviours words here
glorious and beautiful yet Christ is crucified and Self is alive and set in the Throne As David saith Up Lord why sleepest thou Avenge us on our adversaries God is asleep in men till this work be brought about in them and again Arise O Lord exalt thy self above the Heathen Till thou Till thy self be brought down the Heathen are exalted and Jesus Christ is trampled down as the heathen in old time typically got the upper hand and took possession of the Land and the fair houses of God and banished and carried captive the people of God kept them under made them tributary and overrun the Land Even so are those very things accomplished in us when lust and sin commands and bear rule and over-run the soul like locusts which are the very locusts of the bottomless pit Which also are ANTICHRIST and they keep him under and daily crucifie him that is crucifie his life in us And these are those enemies we continually ought to make war with and hate and pray against these are that Meroz that we ought to curse bitterly as the Angel commands and not men nor any thing which God hath made for all creatures As they are made by God are good very good but the seed of the Serpent we must war with and persecute Even to the very death and nothing else These things Brethren we ought still to find in our own experience Not onely to hear and read the history of them as done in and by others but to see and feel how they are really accomplished in our selves for except we see This fighting and resisting accomplished in us except we have found the strong man bound in us and felt those fightings and resistings that he makes till he be bound and overcome we are yet in our sins Strangers possess the Land and the Temple of God lies waste and the enemies of God roar in the midst of the Congregations and they set up their Ensigns for signs and break down the carved work with axes and hammers Could we but see all these things in our selves then we might be sure that Light was approching to us And if This Light were but set upon a candlestick then it would give light round the house and we should discover these things more and more but till then the lights is hid under a bed or under a bushel as our Saviour saith And if we have not found these things in our selves we have not been so much as in the way to union with Jesus Christ but having found it we have cause infinitely to rejoyce for then Those Masters and Lords that formerly commanded thee now thou shalt command them and they shall obey then thou shalt find that he hath in thee broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder Psal. 107. 16. thou through him shalt have power now to rectifie thy understanding thy will thy affections to rule and govern them As a King because Christ is exalted as King in thy soul then thou shalt be taught of God and shalt receive An unction from that holy one and thou shalt know all things In our selves indeed and in our own strength we can do nothing but by the power of Christ and by his strength in us we shall be More then Conquerours and we shall find these words true to our selves that our Saviour here saith All power is given to me in heaven and in earth you shall feel it true in your selves for you being united and made one with him you shall so derive his power to your selves that you may say All power is given to me in heaven and earth then you shall come to see such things as never eye saw nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of man things unutterable For till this comes to pass within you you shall never see the new heavens and the new earth so often promised in the Scriptures not till then shall we ever see the day that old things shall pass away and all things shall become new as it is exprest Rev. 21. 4. Then is the day come that God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes And thou shalt heare Christ himself in thee proclaiming Behold I make all things new Then shalt thou have power over the earth then also art thou that blessed Meek one spoken of Mat. 5. That shalt inherit the earth then shalt thou have power to meet thy Saviour Prepared And adorned as a bride to meet the bridgroom at his coming then indeed shall all those spiritual promises be fulfilled and accomplished in thee And all this by being risen again and united to thy Bridegroom Jesus Christ. And the way to this life is by being dead to the world and dead to the flesh the world being crucified to us and we to the world I le tell thee such a pass thou art now come to that as thou stinkest to the world so the world stinks to thee As all things are ready to forsake thee so thou art as ready to forsake them so that thou beginnest to see no excellency in any thing the world presents to thee no not in PROPRIETY which the whole world yea generally al esteem so highly of and are of all things lothest to forgo I say to this man even propriety begins to dye to him and he to it It departs from us and we depart from the love of propriety or with affection laying claim to any thing in the world but having it as having it not as 1 Cor. 7. That both they that have wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for all the fashion of this world passeth away This man is an a man dead and clean cast out of sight as David saith clean out of mind he is as a bubble that no body sets by but yet be contented hâ—ppy yea thrice happy are those men that are come to this to be dead men You know dead men are not affected with any thing dead men lay no claim to any thing dead men cannot so much as say This is I they esteem not of themselves they boast not of themselves praise and dispraise is all one to them they can let men do what they will with them they are all at one pass they claim no interest no propriety in any thing let them be merry while he lies by or let them be sad all is one to him let them be sharers of his goods One will have one part and another another part let them make merry and spend lavishly of His goods He is not moved why The reason is because he hath lost all his SENCES in this world his life is gone he is a dead man Beloved This was the condition
farther off from these Mysteries which out of the last and lowest of all things that are do frame and make the figure of the SUPER-EMINENT cause and think or say that it hath nothing more excellent or is no way better then their ungodly and MANY-FORMED Images whereas they ought both in it as the cause of all things to place and affirm the positions of all things that are and also more properly to deny them all unto it as being far above all things And yet not to think that the Negations are opposite to the Affirmations But that it is above and before Privations which is above all both Ablation and Position or above any thing that can be denied or affirmed of it 4. In this sense therefore S. Bartholomew saith That Theology is both MUCH and LEAST and the Gospel Broad and Great and again short and Concise It seems to me that he wonderfully understood thereby that the great and good CAUSE of all things may both be spoken of In Many words and in Few and in None as admitting neither speech nor understanding because it is SUPER-ESSENTIAL Super-Eminent to all things and shineth out or appears onely to them without Vail and Truly who do pass through all things both impure and pure and transcend every ascent of all HOLY HIGHNESSES and leave behinde them all DIVINE Lights Sounds and Heavenly words and enter into That MIST where He is Really as the Scriptures speak who is Above All things 5. For it is not without Cause that the Divine Moses is first commanded to be purged himself and then to be separated from them that were not such and after All this purifying He heareth the MANY-SOUNDING Trumpets and seeth the MANY LIGHTS which Dart from themselves Pure and much scattered RAYES or Beams Then is He separated from the multitude and with the Selected Priests He laboureth up to the top of the Divine Ascents and in them he doth not meet with God but he sees Not Him for He is invisible But Onely The PLACE where He is And this I think intimates oâ— signifies thus much that the most Divine and highest of things Seen and understood are but certain Reasons and significative Arguments of things subjected to Him who is Above all things by which His Presence which is Above All thought is shewn walking in the intelligible HEIGHTS of His Most Holy Places 6 And then is He freed both from the things that are Seen and the things that do see and is swallowed up into the Truly-Mystical-Cloud or MIST of Unknowing in which he shuts up all manner of Scientifical Apprehensions and is in Him that is utterly inattingible and invisible being All His Who is beyond ALL THINGS and NOTHING Neither His Own nor any bodies Else United after the best manner to Him that is wholly UNKNOWN by the Cessation of all Knowledge and in that he knoweth Nothing Knowing above any Mind or Understanding CHAP. II. How we must both be united and render praise to HIM that is the Cause of all things and above all things 1. IT is That we pray for that we may be in this MUCH-ABOVE Light-shining-Mist and by Unseeing and Unknowing to see and know that which is above All sight and Knowledge Even in that we do not See nor know at all For This is To See and know indeed and Super-Essentially to praise Him that is Super-essential by the taking away of All things that Are Even as They that would make A Self-ingraven Image taking away all the Impediments that stand before the pure Sight of that which is Hidden and onely by taking Away shew forth That which is Concealed and Covered by it self And we must as I think praise and commend TAKINGS-AWAY contrarily to Posâ—ions and Affirmations for them we appointed beginning at the first and so by middle ones ascending to the last but here making our Ascents from the last unto the Most-Ancient we take away All things that we may without any VAIL know that Unknown which is All things that Are or is covered under All things that are Known and that we may See That Superessential-MIST which is Hid by All the Light that is in things that Are. CHAP. III. What Speeches of God are Affirmative and what Negative 1. IN our Theological Descriptions we have expressed the most principal things of affirmative Divinity how the Divine and Good Nature is called One and how Three and what it is which in it is called PATERNITY FILIAL and what the Divinity of the HOLY GHOST meaneth How from the Immaterial and Indivisible GOOD sprung out the Cordial lights of GOODNESS which still abode not going Out the Mansion of being CO-ETERNAL to the Emanation or Germination both in It self in Themselves and in One Another 2. How Super-essential JESUS was essentiated in the TRUTHS of Humane nature as also Other things which we have Celebrated in our Theological Descriptions as delivered unto us from the Scriptures 3. Likewise also in the book of Divine Names we have declared How He is called GOOD How BEING How LIFE and WISDOM and POWER and whatsoever else belongs unto the Intelligible Divine NOMINATION 4. But in our Symbolical Divinity we have shewed what are the Metonymies or Translations or Borrowed NAMES taken from sensible things and applyed to Divine things viz. What are the Divine FORMS What the Divine Figures or Shapes Parts and Organs or Instruments What are the Divine-Places and Ornaments What the Anger 's Sorrows Furies What the Drunkennesses and Surfets What the Oaths and Curses What the Sleeps and Wakings and other-like things Appertaining to this Part of Divinity which they call Symbolical speaking of such Forms and Figures as have been Holily invented To Represent God by 5. And I think Thou hast seen as well as I how many more words are used in the latter then in the former For it behoved that the Theological Descriptions aâ—d this Explication of the Divine NAMES should need fewer words then Symbolical Divinity For by how much Higher we climbe towards That which is Above by so much the more are our words Contracted and Concentred in the View and Sight of Intelligible things As now when we enter into that DARKNESS which is above All mind and understanding we shall find not shortness of speech but utter silence and dumbness as also want of understanding And from thence our Speech and discourse descending from the Highest to the Lowest according to the Quantity of its Descent is Enlarged into a proportionable breadth or multitude But now Arising from the things Below to that which is Above according to the measure of its Ascent it is Contracted and grows Less till after all ascent it becomes quite Void of words and so united to that which is Unspeakable 6. But thou wilt ask to what purpose We laying down the Divine Affirmations began with the first and now begin the Divine Ablations or takings away with the last I answer That was because putting Down or
necessario debeas ad unicum hoc est ad Patrem venire qui Pater eum huic rei destinavit 29. This may and must be done Onely by the losing of that which is contrary to the One otherwise it cannot that is Obedience in Obedience to wit An Intire Resignation A certain Perfect Sacrifice which is Voluntary Briefly that Christ is the true Son of God the first begotten of his Brethren To whom it is Proper whatsoever the Father can who is the True Intercessor by whom alone thou mayest and necessarily must come to the onely One that is to the Father who hath appointed him to this end 30. Si quis hujus orationis rationem consequi nescit is caret spiritus testimonio cujus ipse disciplinam excludit repudiat Si quis eam intelligit judicet judicat autem Dei Spiritus omnia Si quis eo destituitur caret ejus culpa est quod de casu sollicitus non est ut corrigatur qui tamen corrigendus est Si quis haecdicat acutiora sciat maximam Sancti Spiritus stultitiam ut it a loquar acutiorem esse summa totius mundi sapientia 30. If any man understand not the meaning of these speeches he wants as yet The Testimony of the Spirit whose discipline He shuts out and reâ—uses If any man understand it let him judge and the Spirit of God Iudgeth all things If any man Want and be destitute of it it is his own fault because he is not careful of his fall that it may be Amended which yet must be Corrected If any say that these things are somewhat subtil and acute let him know that the greatest Folly of the Holy Ghost if that I may so speak not derogating from him is wiser then the Highest wisdom of the whole world * Non est mirum si haec carni acuta videantur sunt enim divina de quibus judicare caro non potest Ideoque acuta judicat quemadmodum si noctua neget se posse cernere claritatem diei quippe ut ens luce noctis cujus clarissima pars obscurior est quam obscurissima diei * It is no marvel if these things seem somewhat Acute and Subtil to the flesh for they are Divine of which flesh cannot judge and therefore it thinketh them Acute as if an Owl should deny that it can see the brightness of the Day when it useth onely the light of the Night the clearest part whereof is more dark then the darkest part of the day To the Eternal Trinity in Unity neither confounded nor divided be all glory and praise Amen The Sayings of a Certain Divine of great note and name IN conclusion I will hereunto Annex the judgment of Iohn Denqui concerning the holy Scriptures made in his Recantation not long before his death and printed I do saith he prefer the Holy Scriptures before all Humane Treasure yet so that I do not so much esteem them as the Word of God which is Living Potent and Eternal and which is Free and at liberty from all the Elements of this world for if that be God himself it follows that it is Spirit not the Letter written without peâ— or ink so that it can never be Obliterated And for this cause True felicity or the word of God is not tyed to the Letter of the Scriptures The reason is because it is impossible that by the Scriptures alone an Evil mind should be Amended though it may be made more learned but a good mind that is such A One as is endued with any spark of Divine study or knowledge is made better by All things so that the Holy Scriptures are Clean to them that are Clean Good and wholsom i. e. to those endued with the Holy Spirit but to the Unclean and Unbelievers they as all things else are Unclean and Deadly Thus then it is possible that a man chosen by God may be saved without Preaching or the Scriptures yet it follows not that therefore no witness taught of God is to be heard or that the Scriptures are not to be Read and Enquired into but on the other side that all Unlearned Illiterate men are not in the state of Damnation because they cannot Read neither whole Cities and Nations sometimes because they have No Preachers sent them from God Thus far He. All these things aim at this That we should by a Received power from God do our endeavour to hunger for God and his word and not go on so securely with the Killing Letter of the Scriptures but giving them all Convenient Honour should grant them to be a certain Image Splendour Lanthorn Scabbard Manger and Vestry of the Word but withal should know that there is more required namely A Sword to this Scabbard A light to this Lanthorn that it may cut and shine but we know that whilest these things are saying There are some that are much Troubled and Offended as in the case of Mary Saying we would reject the Scriptures whereunto we say There can never be Too much Honour given but the truth is whilest unto the Scriptures as unto Mary is ascribed the Honour due to God Alone it becomes the Worshipping of Idols and of the Scriptures as of Mary is made a certain Idol which is Put Honoured Accounted Adored and Consulted with in the place of God The Scriptures indeed as an Holy thing ought to be a Terror to men and to be Read with Religious Fear and Trembling and as before is said to be preferred above all earthly Treasure but not made Equal to God and His Word The Scriptures as the Law and all things else Are Good to the Good who onely know How to use them well But as now adayes many ignorant people handle them and are conversant in them without all doubt it were Better they were asleep the while For from the wrong understanding and abuse of them flow All Heresies Sects Superstitions so that not onely the Jews but the Turks also make them their Advocates and think the Holy Scriptures are the foundation of Their faith My self know at least twenty Christian Religions all which rest upon the Holy Scriptures and every one Hopes they are on their side all these things proceed Either from far-fetcht Expositions and Allegories nothing to the purpose or from the dead Letter of the Scriptures or lastly from a certain Arrogance and Abuse of them Now it is far better in many cases not to use A thing at all then so to abuse it therefore I must needs say Once again that the Scriptures are Shut up and Forbidden to all flesh because it can Never understand them for to that end there is required to them a Supernatural Divine NEW-MAN Born of God who may bring with him to them The light of the Holy Ghost Such a man can Compose Dispose Understand Interpret Place and Accommodate All things in their due places nay more that which is the Table Feast and Life of these God-born men