in husband and sometime in children in houses and in lands but never in Heaven when it setteth about this 't is tired presently As the body so the soul goeth downward with ease but up hill with much pains-taking you must be full of complaints to Christ to keep your souls in his bosome Finally as idlenesse so wilfulnesse destroyes divine contemplation Pride puffeth up and swelld souls go more to hell then to Heaven like-spirits bosome The heart swelld thoughts are all prest and taken up to make vent for this that there is scarce a thought to be spared to ascend to Christ When the heart is high and haughty Christ and Truth are under foot and thoughts never bosome themselves in that which the heart tramples upon Every thing that crosseth will vex a wilfull man though it be truth and vexation and contemplation are as opposite as Saul and David as Heaven and hell I look upon some men and they are puft up will leads them and not truth I smite my breast and say Ah Lord where do these souls dwell In hell certainly and not in Heaven Errour is the fruit of pride the soul goeth away from God and bosomes it self in a lie as it groweth heady and high minded Citizens look about you I see an ignorant idle proud spirit amongst you Christ may be much in such mens tongues but surely he is but little in their hearts The excellency of Christ you do not indeed dwell upon nor find sweetnesse in nor cannot as long as these evils are in your hearts Let us all know our dutie and do it all Christ is to be considered so did David so did Paul and so must we consider him I will meditate of all thy works and talk of all thy doings Psal 77. what Christ hath done as a Redeemer and what as a Creatour what he hath done with his finger what with his hand what with his spirit and what with his bloud we must meditate on all his works Divine things are still unfruitfull as unthought of when we seek after Christ then he brings us into his chambers the efficacy of all that Christ is cometh in by contemplation Every thing in Christ is usefull the very leaves of the tree of Life are healing consider Christ under any notion in which the Scripture holds him forth as a Redeemer or but as a Creatour as the image of God as the first-born and the like or under any other more remote consideration and they are all powerfull to take off the heart from earth and send it to Heaven Christs action and Christs person yea and Christs garments all he said and all he did and all he wore very virtuall and instructing Know your duty and know your felicity you have now but a few things to think upon this world is bleeding and dying apace he that giveth all being me thinks every one should now much think upon when all creatures cease to be so fast A mans tranquility is permanent when his thoughts dwell upon Christ let friends means towns kingdomes die and yet his Heaven lives because his heart is lodged in one that can die no more that ever lives Misery is double because losse of the creature doth not reduce thoughts to Christ the end of affliction not accomplished you will be afflicted seven times more till your prodigall souls return home to their father and leave feeding on husks Coloss 1.16 For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers c. I Have given you the respect which this verse bears to those which precede and I am now to give out to you as I am able what it hath in it self If you read this verse you will find it to consider creation in reference to two parts and two causes two parts heaven and earth visible and invisible two causes efficient and finall the first is in the beginning of the verse and the second is mentioned in the latter end the one saith all things were made by him and the other saith that all things were made for him Christs method pleaseth me best I will therefore take terms as they lie and suck as much out of them as I can for my self and you For by him were all things c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him were all things created saith the originall Christs method and Christs expression pleaseth me best God doth create and new-create in Christ. God doth all things respecting the creature in his Son the Father works in the Sonne the Sonne in the Spirit and the Spirit in your spirits The order of divine action is admirable the beauty of God in his out-goings is held out to us Christ is the wisdome of the Father all that God doth he doth in wisdome The Lord by wisdome hath founded the earth and by understanding hath established the heavens Prov. 3.19 a like place to this you have Jeremy 10.12 He hath made the earth by his power he hath established the world by his wisdome and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion Divine action is made with delight you have many prime agents but God hath but one you look more at abilitie to your work then suitablenesse to your spirits in the agents you imploy but God doth not you can beare discontent in the agent so his work be well done but God cannot he so moveth as to have delight in both not onely in the work done but in the agent that doth it and therefore doth all in Christ I was daily his delight rejoycing alwayes before him saith Christ speaking of God when in the creation of all things Prov. 8. Successe The comfort of the godly is in this point all divine action going forth in Christ we may conclude successe successefulnesse to their good Christ is mighty in strength and wisdome our agents are unsuccessefull for want of power and for want of wisdome but the agent in and by whom God acts is mighty in both God is mighty in strength and wisdome he preserveth not the life of the wicked but giveth right to the poore Job 36.5 Where great humane power is it is Elihu his speech to Job men think to evade the bent and force of divine action and to shun what God intends as they shun what man intends to get out of his reach as out of ours but no such matter for all his action shall acquire his intention and no man shall evade it for he works in him who is mighty in strength and wisdome God intended a world did he misse the accomplishment of it Godly souls you look much in and by whom the king acts such and such skilfull men and mighty men and shake and fear but look in and by whom God acts and comfort your selves Hath the king such an agent as Christ is for strength and wisdome Full successe All divine action going forth in
and him that loveth violence that loveth violence i that doth aime at it and make it his scope as his life and pleasure this is so wicked that it goes to the soule of God because 't is complacentiall sin Vse Motion is a tickle thing your life is rapt up in it You should not worke at randome with your owne hands you my cut your throats by your works you shall be judged or justified if they be judged wicked so shall you and be made to eate the fruit of your wayes for ever Man is a rude creature 't is too strict to worke by rule any thing done is enough Yea 't is enough well enough to be called wicked enough to judge you Carelesnesse is a graduall thing man begins to be remisse a little about his worke and then a little more at last by divine judgement upon the soule the man throwes off all care and conscience how he doth his dutie to God or man Am I my brothers keeper This spake he who a little before said as much in action to God himself by a carnall offering to him Consider seriously at what pitch and posture of remisnesse in divine action you are if you doe ill tremblingly stop there acknowledge that power within that jogges you to look better to your way if the feare of God be quite gone that you doe wickedly freely merrily thinke of that of Solomon that God will bring every worke into judgement Wicked workes have a double judgement a judgement here and hereafter All motion to well being is succeslesse much gotten comes to nothing because heaped together by wicked workes Name withers state yea strength withers judged without and judged within Conscience lights a fire with some wicked worke or other and no worke so good can be wrought as to quench it They shall feele a paine in their bellies saith the text Job 20.20 What you worke outward God makes to worke inward in the guts to torture there and make roaring You that make nothing to speake wickedly and doe wickedly God makes as light to doe justly You are undone sinners if God ingrave but one wicked worke upon your conscience this will ever be before you and then a devill will ever be behind you and between these two you will erect a gibbet and hang your selves if the Lord be not gracious and what a fatall wicked worke will this be Some heare such things as these and then goe merrily to mending their workes in all post haste and never thinke of their hearts nor Christ The hand goes after the heart doe yee look without look within too if ever you meane to mend things In sin was I borne saith David when he looked upon that bloudy wickednesse against Vriah Alas for me I brought a wicked soule with me into the world this hath brought forth this horrid and bloudy act into the world My misery lies deeper then every one is aware I shall shed bloud againe and againe I shall make Vriahs bloud touch the bloud of many other men if the Lord be not mercifull to my wicked soule Doth thy hand worke naught use it to smite thine heart that 's the first step to get it to move well O if Christ were in my heart I should worke admirable well I can doe all things through Christ yea and I can doe all well There needs many things in the soule to make action holy exact knowledge exact faith c. and Christ is all these In the darke men worke naughtily a blind soule cannot act well Action must be squared by truth but ignorant persons know not the rule Christ is light he is so in the darkest soule as a pearle he sparkles and glisters in a dungeon in what ever breast in what ever darke cell you put him Scales fell from Pauls eyes but 't was Christ in him that did it and he knew Christ presently and to doing good workes he would goe presently Lord what wilt thou have me to doe He understood much in a little while his Master his service and wanted nothing but divine mission as before he had diabolicall Lord what wilt thou have me to do A man is made very knowing with one Tutor Affection tends to make good action If I do this and that and have not love Love alone doth not well If the blinde lead the blind c. Here is a great deal of love but both fall into the ditch and drown both it and themselves Light and love together do well Christ is both he is a light of life in the soul where he is Coldnesse is the property of a stone there is no soul in this body a stone stirs not unlesse it be downward Folly talks to the grief of the wise I do not love sudden pangs some will do great matters presently and what noble works they will perform when in the company of some a little warmer then themselves and no sooner these more lively spirits departed from them but they return to their proper temper as cold as stones and doing nothing but descending downward to their place these mens ears were warmed and not their hearts The heart fired with love to Christ 't will give name state every drop of blood to Christ and these are noble works indeed Noble actions are of severall sorts that 's the noblest that offers up all to Christ that forsakes all to follow him father mother husband wife self love doth this she offers nothing but whole burnt-offerings holocausts Finally faith also bears its proper part to make a good work 'T is the highest art in the world to do a good work a man must pray with the mouth of Christ and then 't is a good prayer a man must give with the hand of Christ and then 't is good almes a man must do all that Christ sayes but then must lean only upon what Christ is to make a good action A man must do all and then undo all to make it throughly good i. deny all and account all my actions nothing my self nothing and make Christ as fully and purely all to rest on as if I had never so much as thought one good thought in all my life A man not himself is but a bad Artificer but a Christian when not himself i. when out of himself is a brave Artist then a Christian works bravely nobly heavenly indeed when quite off himself and wholly in the bosome and armes of Christ in all he doth There go many things to make up this or that secular thing good but one to make a Divine good to wit Christ there is none good but one and there is none that properly does good but one to wit Christ There is as few good Artists for the practick part of Christianity as of any calling many actions go through our hands only and never through the hands of Christ and these are all lost as wicked works All that goes out of our hands must be put by faith into the hands of
have that expression in the Scripture we are but trifles and yet Christ cannot put these trifles out of his mind he carries our souls as he carries his own thoughts he minds us up and down the world till we come home Compassion is when things are laid to heart and so carried up and down and they are choicely carried indeed which are so carried Compassion carries Christ and us compassion gathers about his heart and that gathers his children about there too and so they are bound up together in that bundle of life and carried through sinne and miserie to eternall felicitie into his kingdome Christ saves surely a father bears over his children to make sure work that they may not fall in Between nature and grace is a great gulf and a remove from one to the other is not without great danger soul transaction from corruption to grace is with perpetuall fierce conflict the soul cannot put out a step for heaven but Sathan lets fly at it and Christ therefore is a convoy and he transferres from sinne to grace and from hell to heaven As transactions of state removing this and that have their bloudy contests so transaction of that great State for eternity within pulling down and setting up have deadly contest and the soul will be killed in the way to heaven if not born along When Israel went out of Egypt not a dog barked but when a soul goes out of the bondage of sinne into the libertie of Christ many dogs and devils bark and bite Christ therefore as he doth pull out so he doth carry in whom he fastens hold on he lets not go whom he takes into his arms he keeps there and still carries them there in all conflicts to make sure work all Christs children fight in his arms if the devil can kill them there so they all fight upon this advantage every battell passage to heaven is secured the great whale that is master of the deep bellies us and saves us from all storms carries us and conveyes us to our haven the kingdome of his dear sonne Christ saves sweetly 't is pleasant travelling in his arms a man may go a great way with ease upon anothers legges the way though long and dirty goes away one knows not how when bravely carried Christ will have none destroyed nor none tired in the way to heaven Wisdomes waves are pleasant they go all in coaches and chariots to heaven 't is the honour of the way the state of the king in his kingdome below to be born up and down so The king brought me into his chambers saith the Spouse Christs yoke is easie easie indeed because born upon anothers neck you yoke creatures so that their yoke may not pinch you use art to lessen labour and make work no work and pains pleasures Christ is excellent at this art he doth so yoke every one that he draws with ease he makes every ones yoke big enough to put in his own neck together with the man and so he draws himself and the man too and that is an easie yoke indeed and a little burthen as you put something of weight sometimes into a childs hand and you carry the child with that in his hand therefore the child easily bears because he and his burden both are born by another This is substance according to shadow this sweet way of salvation was typified in Noah Noah was transferred by an ark from an old world to a new and that shadowed out salvation in Christ and the very manner of it Christ transferring the soul from a bad state to a good So Israel was brought out of Egypt to Canaan and the Scripture tells you how just as an Eagle carries her young and as a father carries his children Have I conceived all this people that thou shouldst say unto me Carrie them in thy bosome as a nursing father carries the sucking children Numbers 11.12 God was more tender then Moses it was tedious to him to bear so many and so froward in his bosome to Canaan yet so did God and so would he have had Moses done and because he had not patience enough to do it he died ere he came there 't is dangerous not to be compassionate according to expresse command though ones burden be never so great God took up the burden that Moses would not and he tells you how he carried them As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them and bears them upon her wings So the Lord alone did bear them and no strange God with him Deuteronomie 32.11 12. God can bear much alone and will for a sinners good and his own glory that is to answer types and fulfill truth Use As Christ does bear souls to heaven so does the devil bear souls to hell evil spirits are very painfull too Who bears your souls Sathan carries by delusion some are carried about by winds of Doctrine the devil is in that wind when errour rules the life Sathan rules the heart this soul is born in the arms of an evil spirit 'T is a light soul that a ly will carry but his fall will be heavy Whom Christ carries truth carries the word of God and the Spirit of God are the two wings upon which Christ carries souls to heaven Upon what wings do ye flee By these you may know who carries you whether Christ or the devil Christ wraps up spirits in the word and so away with them to heaven Sathan carries by violence The Apostle Peter tells us of some that are carried about by a tempest Sathan certainly is in that tempest souls born by that evil spirit are hurried Tempests are beside rule and beside resistance so are souls carried by Sathan the heart hath chosen its own way and reason must not stirre nor divinity lesse every thing is irksome that opposeth nothing that contradicts can the man heare this soul is in the devils chariot tumbling to misery apace if God stop not no man can The Lord seldom stops souls when they run apace till they have fallen and hurt themselves much if not ruin'd themselves quite Christ drives gently he goes truths way and truths pace souls carried by Christ go no faster then truth such make a stop at every turning and look out they go slowly and surely Christ kicks at wilfull spirits but he doth not carry them they are meek souls willing to be carried onely by Christ whom Christ carries The devil bears to destruction to ruine grace and the soul he bears as he did bear Christ to ruine all body and soul Souls carried by Sathan are carried away from God to the glory of the world to a god which is not God Carrying away from God is a graduall thing some are carried away more then others and some are carried away quite which I will stand upon a little I see some carried away extremely which makes my heart tremble to behold Men are carried away captive that is
unworthy spirits amongst you tell such from me their doom is coming your bloud is dear your money dear but how dear Dearer to you then Christ then Christ will trample upon both Christ is lavish because we are nigardly he spoils all money goods bloud because men have no heart to offer all to bring him in all to this blind land yet this men will not do this men cannot do till better qualified in heart The heart must have precious principles ere it will part with its bloud like Christ to bring great favours into the world for others How noble spirited was Christ he had principles which if you labour after will make you as he ready and able to part with your bloud to bring more of truth into the world he onely eyed and magnified the truth of God and the glory of God he sought not his own will nor his own glory and therefore so easily parted with all that was his own to bring in God and his love to us let him be your pattern in this and you will do likewise Coloss 1.14 Even the forgivenesse of sinne THe essence of Christianity and the foundation of all felicity providence now puts me plainly to speak of to you This last clause of the verse is an application of the former what is first borrowedly is here properly expressed if you understand not spirituall redemption 't is forgivenesse of sinne In whom we have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of sinne Forgivenesse notes two things and so doth sinne which shall be touched in their order Forgivenesse necessarily notes transgression and therefore are they here both joyned together forgivenesse of sinnes Sinne is transgressio legis man out of his way his action is trespasse he eats forbidden fruit his life is disallowed by truth and his person abhorred by God Man in his best state was an inferiour inferiority is minority and hath alwayes some observation upon it to speak it out to beholders the will of God was mans law and his felicity the observation of this was was the acknowledgement of his distance and yet his fellowship with God and his heaven upon earth The state of inferiority though so blessed yet disliked man would be no inferiour but equall another god Dislike of condition made transgression the soul did sinne as that expression in Ezekiel is as well as the body the eye changed its object and carried the heart with it fruit forbidden was looked upon and then pleasant to the eyes and to be desired to make one wise That heart which had the will of God perfectly written upon it and the glorious presence of God as the daily majesty of it broke out against both to the prosecution of its own private will as such an absolute being venturing its prerogative to raise or ruin his condition which made Adams transgression without similitude as the Apostle speaks who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression Our transgression is the transgression of the law written in books his was the transgression of the law written in his heart sinnes of the latter sort the Apostle did mean here forgivenesse of transgression against the externall written word of Christ Sinne notes transgression and it notes guilt sin is an abiding thing the act dies as soon as done but the obliquity of the act lives as long as the soul is Miscarriage of the hand in making a blot that 's over presently but the blot abides as long as the paper is Now you say We see therefore your sinne remains saith Christ These words materially considered died assoon as spoken but the wickednesse of these words lives remains Where upon record in the breast of God which is beyond all record to meet the man when he goes out of this world Sinne hath two things in it obliquity and obligation transgression of truth and obligement to wrath God layes sinne to heart and keeps it there though we do not Trespasse makes debt obligation to Gods displeasure is the debt of sinne this is bloud upon the man that shed it the spots of the bloud sticking fast upon the murtherer to detect him and bring him to the gallows His bloud be upon us said they that is whatsoever it obliges to in this world or in the world to come let that fall on us Sinne in the text notes three things act obliquity obligation and forgivenesse takes off all these and I will now tell you what that is Forgivenesse notes remission which is the term in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remissio remittere quasi retromittere which signifieth the sending of a thing back again from whence 't was taken the unravelling and undoing of a thing misdone the nullifying of a disallowed and unlawfull action As sinne makes void the law and nullifies it so doth forgivenesse nullifie and make void sinne obliquity and obligation not onely nullified but the very act that bare these all nullified by forgetfulnesse and therefore is forgivenesse called forgetfulnesse I will remember their iniquities no more Iniquity notes the crookednesse of the action and the incongruity of it to rule and this is as if it had never been remembred no more And not onely iniquity is blotted out but the very act that bears this obliquity therefore as you read of subduing so of destroying the work of the devil and therefore is pardon elsewhere called blotting out iniquity as a cloud a cloud is by superiour power of the heavens nullified neither form nor matter to be found not any circumstance like it to note that ever such a being was and this is our state in Christ we are remitted we are retromissi sent back again to our first condition as when we were in Paradise no more mentioned nor no more thought os rhen of Adam before his fall What we were in our own person then that we are now in the person of Christ which lived and died for us Forgivenesse notes reconciliation reconciliation notes acceptation to favour and acceptation to favour notes peace of conscience joy in the holy Ghost and fruition of glory as many blessings as heaven and earth can hold as many blessings as a God can hold which is greater then heaven and earth Sinne separates God and man are out and God-man interposeth with his life and gives up this wholly to the last drop of bloud in this quarrell and in this is justice satisfied and all truth fulfilled and Christ as a generall person designed so to act in the person of many and so hath reconciled two in one body God and man and hath slain the enmity that was between them And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the crosse having slain enmity thereby Ephes 2.15 16. that is Jews and Gentiles one unto another and borh unto God by the expiration of such a noble life in such a cursed death as the Crosse The summe of all is this Forgivenesse of sinne is an act of God putting
Blessed be one good neighbour or how solitary should we be in earth Defile not the land which ye shall inhabite wherein I dwell saith Christ Numb 35.34 The earth would be hell did not Christ dwell in it you have much misery kept off by one good neighbour you have and you might have more if you did but get more acquaintance with him You have lived a great while in the earth and so hath Christ do ye know him do ye love him he maketh the earth a blessing as base as 't is to such A mans felicity dependeth altogether upon the favour of God let his dwelling be where ' twill Earth is heaven hell is heaven when God dwelleth with one there Mourning creatures tell me where do ye dwell In a vally of tears In earth doth Christ dwell with you doth he dwell in earth too in your hearts then be cheared for he will wipe all tears from your eyes and if your hearts be a rest for him he will be a rest for them when you have none in earth When the earth trembles and melts you have one that dwelleth in it that will see you shall do well Christians visit your next neighbour often lie in his bosome whilest you live on earth you will live very desolate else were the earth a better place then ' t is I pitty all that live in this world 't is so base and miserable but them that live without God in this world my heart bleedeth over them Some live where they have no good neighbour nor no friend and they truly have a bad life on it some live so in earth that it were as good they were in hell almost whipt in body tortured in soul longing for death and yet it must not be because not yet full ripe for hell Ah Lord here is a dwelling in earth indeed what difference now between earth and hell All you that live in earth and live in your sinnes expect such a life every houre The earth groneth it beareth so many and so naught sinners do not you grone too Do not you grone to Christ to be better The earth will be eased of her burden quickly but not you your place will be changed quickly but not for the better all that are now in earth will be anon in hell that do not leave their sinnes quickly the sword and strange diseases are going about for this purpose and do you not see how they sweep the earth Coloss 1.16 Visible and invisible c. THe works of God afford man a full soul-imployment Some things are subjected to sence and these are called visible but other things are not subjected to sence but ordered for more noble powers of the soul to make at and these are called invisible The soul is manifold in its acts and operations and so is Christ that all the soul may follow him There is a manifold grace of God as the Apostle speaketh a grace visible and a grace invisible and the soul can make at both and so Christ would have it The eye can see the eare can heare the heart can conceive here is working without and within Conception is operation about invisibilia unseen things 't is a spirit at work upon words shaping out to it self what they but mentioned as countries and creatures where the body never was nor never saw but onely shall divine conception 't is a spirit taking shiping as it were in the word and sayling round the world taking in visible and invisible things to leave out none of Christ The soul is noble in its acts and Christ would lose none for want of imployment if visible things be to low to be busied about there be invisible if there be nothing without doore to be found for imployment to wit in earth it may find something within about invisible things by going to Heaven Creation is laid by Christ with gradation higher and higher visible and invisible if one room be too low the soul may go higher as high as it will as high as it hath power the works of Christ lie as high as the tallest spirit can reach The soul is not forc'd but drawn to noble action Creation is temptation the works of God are laid so as to entice the soul higher and higher like Jacobs ladder till it come as high as it should be When the eye of the body is weary of looking upon bruits trees and such like visible things as are here then the eyes of the soul may go one room higher in the ladder towards Heaven to things which are not seen to that invisible place and societie above The soul is remiss'd in his acts in works as well as in words Christ leaveth this without excuse Man was never without full imployment Adam had it and the sonnes of Adam have it There is a double book of words and a double book of works to reade and one higher then the other one visible and the other invisible one for the eyes of the body another for the eyes of the soul and I wonder what idle souls will say for themselves when Christ cometh to reckon with them You have a talent and imployment for it a soul such a noble soul and such noble imployment both neglected will lie heavie upon you Bodily sloth you cannot bear and soul-sloth Christ cannot bear soul-sloth is enraging sinne and observe how angrily Christ chargeth it Thou wicked and slothfull servant shouldst thou not have imployed what I gave thee to my advantage Matth. 25.26 take from him what he hath saith Christ A man hath his soul taken away that imployeth it not an idle soul becometh a besotted soul a besotted soul is no soul a spirit dead and buried in the flesh powers and parts are blasted and withered when neglected Soul-idlenesse about divine things springeth sometimes from too much imployment about humane and such men neither know their hearts nor yet this time worldly now and you will be worldly when the world cometh to be burnt The soul is first let loose from divine things and then when 't is abroad it will not be lured in again by them though held up to them Wicked worldlings you know not what you do when you let your souls loose to the world there 't is curst and becometh wild and will not return though words of God and works of God all that God is and doth be held up to it and therefore is the prodigall said to be lost for this my sonne was lost c. Sometimes soul-idlenesse about divine things springeth from dislike of them Some the God of this world blindeth them and 't is idle to talk to these of visible or invisible things for all that is good is invisible to them they know not how to set their spirits about any thing but to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it Ah Lord how blind how base are some souls No word of God no work of God visible to them under a divine
of the point What condition but is full of mutation Brave estates brave Kingdomes bleeding to death and brought almost to nothing our sin is ripe wrath is gone forth England that was as the Queen of Nations for all fulnesse is wasting to nothing Natives that for a while have left us and now return'd to visite us scarce know their mother-Land her face which looked so pleasantly is now so besmeared with bloud Here was the seat of my ancestors but 't is burned there had I brave and sweet kindred but now they are slaine and those that live wish for death because nothing left to live upon Wee had treasure as the flints of the brooke estate to accomplish any thing but now we faint in every undertaking for want of silver-sinewes Wee had many callings as so many severall ornaments and pillars of state now all is turned into one all grave-makers one for another every one with his spade by his side to dig into the heart of his brother to dig out a subsistence Light was little but love was much truth could not be found but if it could O how sweet said wee should it be to us dearer then all Truth now shines in our consciences and we care not for it Ah Lord this is the saddest change of all The living are dead the soul-living are slaine with an evill time Gods vowes were upon us but now throwne off and because the times will not beare them Outward changes are bad but inward changes are farre worse England where are those flames of love which blazed so gloriously a few yeares agoe Brethren in New-England were precious O that we had Ilium in Italium New-England in old Brethren in Holland were precious O that wee had them againe and the mercies which there they injoy and now they are with us they are trampled upon as the dirt and all their paines to hold forth Christ and truth to us Are not these sad changes Englands outside inside all changed from vertue to sin from love to malice from wrath to bloud and thus lies weltring and no eye pities her neither Gods eye nor her own Is this Naomi 'T was Naomies friends speech to her her condition was so altered that they knew her not Is this pleasant O no saith shee call mee not pleasant call me Mara bitternesse for the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me So may I say now Is this England Pleasant England O no call it Mara bitternesse for affection is turned into gall and wormewood shee deales very bitterly with God and his people and the Lord deales very bitterly with her Contemplate truth sadly fulfill'd and then set your selves to draw instruction from it Mutation preaches submission Doth God give and take blesse him 't is wis way he doth so with Christ God filled Christs veins with brave blood and then drew it out all he prepared him a body and then destroy'd it he gave him a being on earth and then turn'd him into hell Christs tranquillity was turned into the strongest extremity outside and inside changed he that heard that sweet voyce This is my beloved Son c. cryes My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Condition varies rich are made poor whole are wounded men cannot beare this therefore the land is full of discontent Sin multiplies and hightens it self as misery doth if God be not very mercifull 't will make misery last till there be not a man of us left We feel the rod but do not beare it sense stirs up passion we rage and this foments divine displeasure the heart listens not after Gods meaning in his dealing to accomplish that and when is it likely that our calamities will cease God makes changes without to make changes within he makes broken estates to make broken hearts he brings much to nothing that he may make you contented with any thing with mean things There are many turnings in your heart do you consider them No God writes them out in your life that you may God takes a copy from within for all that he does to us without Mariners are cheerfull when tossed if their Ship be good because they know the nature of the seas The Ark is very good which a Christian sails in 't is Christ the things we meet with here are common to men much more common to holy men tossings tempests All men are partakers of these saith the Apostle Christians therefore should be cheerfull Finally the point in hand should commend the life to come to us and make us long much for it Job from a tossed state here falls a commending the state of the dead They that are in the grave are at rest c. The earth is the grave of the body heaven or hell will be the grave of the soul they that are in heaven are at rest I pity the state of men that live in their sins they are tost and tumbled here and will be worse tost and tumbled hereafter Wicked men you will never have rest there is no peace to you none here nor none hereafter Godly hearts be cheerfull you shall have a condition without all distraction you shall be tossed and tumbled no more Labour and sorrow the Scripture makes the proprium of this life incident to it as the sparks flie upward but there is no labour above much lesse sorrow least of all greatest sorrow which falls out by great changes Every ones labour follows him and they sit still above and eat the fruit thereof they solace themselves in the travell of their souls as Christ doth as for changes they above know none there are no misty foggy dayes above no clouds no clapping in and out of the Sun they are above those regions which make such mutations of weather Were one above those impure regions of aire we breath in and close by the Sun one should have the strong influence and glory of it alway every day alike Here we sojourn and God sojourns God is as a wayfaring man that stays here but a night but above we shall all dwell together and no sojourning to make alteration of condition If there be any felicity here 't is to know that our misery shall end Lord let me know my end and the number of my dayes how long I have to live c. COLOS. 1.20 Made peace through the blood of his crosse DIvine favour according to its formality we have handled to wit Reconciliation according to its causality we are now to pursue it which is here mentioned Synecdochically the blood of the crosse as including all other passions and actions prevening and conducing to make this last act effectuall to so great an end as mans deliverance from the wrath of God Some persons in a businesse bear the name of the whole so some actions in work carry the denomination of the whole The blood of the crosse was the finishing act of our redemption and therefore here and elsewhere mentioned in stead of all other acts Having
ever according to that Ephes 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulnesse of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ which are in Heaven and which are in earth Gathered together in one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to renew the state and condition of all Angels and men in and under one head which is here mentioned Jesus Christ That Angels have the same common head with Saints and so consequently the completion of their state in the same head together with us is apparent Col. 2.10 And yee are compleat in him which is the head of all principalitie and power Angels are of the quire above together with the Saints and they all sing one tune and they are of the fellowship below also they are brought in as joynt members of the universall invisible Church You are come to mount Sion to the Citie of the living God to the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels The condition of the greatest states is here considerable The noblest creatures are beholding to Christ things in heaven as well as things in earth Nothing is absolute but God men are noble Angels are noble but they all lean upon one more noble then themselves or else they would fall and become as ignoble as those cursed spirits below us Man is a little lower then Angels Angels a great deal lower then Christ their being is founded in his greatnesse and is confirmed in his goodnesse That grace which is redemption to the lower world is confirmation to the upper There would be no place for pride if this point were well digested None apter to swell in spirit then man man sets us up externally a little and then the Devill sets us up internally much few but swell and break eternally when gotten high in the world I wonder at it were you as high as heaven as high as Angels yet were ye below Christ The body of Heaven in its brightnesse is under his feet Exod. 24.10 What is under Christs feet he can trample upon at pleasure pride is no small sin and yet it growes up the Lord knows from very small things What hast thou that thou hast not received What have things in heaven which they have not and hold not from Christ The lesse may be said for sin the greater 't is and the worse that heart in which it growes Pride is a grand plague 't is one that hath taken leave of Christ and conscience to humor himself but Ah Lord when will this man content himself A man will sooner breake his heart then content his heart which pursues the proud lusts of it A soule devoted to it self is as cruell a Master to serve as the Devill to pursue the dictates of a proud spirit is endlesse work and hell enough for any creature if there were none else to come Soules in this consumption should consider their disease and their cure The remedy of every vice is in Christ this tree hath leaves to cure all diseases There is no distemper in the spirit but Christ may be considered under such a notion as to rectifie it Consider Christ as the keeper up of Angels and 't is enough to keep down the spirit of any man COLOSS. 1.20 Whether they be things in earth c. AS the expression points at things in heaven 't is usefull you see as it speaks of things in earth 't is more proper to us The latitude of divine love downward is as large as upward it reacheth all things in heaven and all things in earth That he might reconcile all things to himself whether things in heaven or things in earth The grace of reconciliation as it works towards things on earth is very vast as it works towards creatures above 't is unexpressible a man cannot tell how many love smiles upon in heaven and therefore generally exprest all things a universall term to note the vastnesse of that kindnesse So as it works towards things on earth 't is inexpressible 't is called all things to note the vastnesse the unexpressible company which Christ embraceth here below A man cannot tell the number of spirits in earth which Christ doth reconcile to his Father in heaven Grace works unexpressibly vast to us ward Doct. Grace doth abound The Lord is upon many waters Psal 29.3 As providence externall so providence internall doth reach forth it self to many Many bodies are saved from sinking in the sea because the Lord is upon the waters So many soules are saved from sinking into hell because the Lord moves upon these many waters too The world is full of troubles as the sea of waves not one but meets with enough to over-turn all if God did not uphold the whole world would fall into a consumption and die as big a body as 't is if God did not uphold Not one nor two nor three but all creatures share in upholding mercy or else all would sink 't is so in a proportion in spirituall respects Satan is an industrious creature to overthrow mans welfare he goes about seeking whom he may devoure none would escape hell if God were not exceeding rich in mercy Satans desire is to destroy all and his malice is attended with such art that it would certainly bring forth its end did not the speciall providence of Christ prevent which it doth and doth it to many the grace of Christ unto life is powred out upon many souls There are many last which are made first as well as many first are made last Many are eternally saved out of the power of Satan as many are prey'd upon by him Grace did work more compendiously then now it doth before Christs coming in the flesh lost sheep of the house of Israel found all that dropt from heaven and they were but few the Lord knoweth one of a City and two of a Tribe But since a great dore of love is opened and many hundred soules in one City yea many thousands in one Countrey come in to the Lord Jesus Christ The white sheet of mercy that is let down from Heaven now is great saith the Text and it hath all manner of beasts in it and the Apostle makes a Comment upon it as I do My vision saith he speaks the grace of Christ working now very richly God hath shewed me that I should call nothing common or unclean He speaks it in the case of Saul not a man so vile so bloody and malicious but the blood of Christ may reconcile him to God the love of God doth now so richly work Mercy is infinite and it works so God shews mercy to thousands from generation to generation Abrahams seed are as the stars of heaven for multitude God hath but one Son but Christ hath many he brings many sons to glory Infinite mercy generates infinitely what is in Christ derives it self to all the nations of the earth Aarons rod buds Christs blessing buds it multiplies into many blessings and spreads all the world over In thee
God to save and so is the word translated 2 Thess 2. Where t is used in order to the wicked having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pleasure in unrighteousnesse c. You may imagine how much the Word doth import being used to set out a sinners love and strongest affection to sinne What a pleasure is a wicked mans sinne to him Can you expresse it why so says God t is to mee now to looke towards poore lost man and to sit downe in his soule The Word is used by the Apostle elsewhere 't is my hearts desire that Israel might be saved c. Just as if the Apostle should have said it would be my Heaven that Jsrael might come to Heaven t is my Heaven to thinke that ever they shall have Heaven and O that they might be called and he speakes there but in the straine and spirit of the Gospell the riches of the glory of this mystery that I am opening the heart of God and the heart of Christ now to man Vse You see now what is the riches of the glory of this mystery t is the proffer of mercy to man with much strength of affection a proffer of Heaven in Heaven i as one in Heaven a proffer of Life in Life or with Life and so are all the dispensations of the Gospell typified Revel 4. A throne was set in Heaven to set out the things of Heaven Let poore sinners know what is the riches of the glory of this mystery and inrich themselves by it Blessed are they that know the joyfull sound which words point at Aarons bells his going into the holiest of all made a joyfull sound to them that could understand it it pointed at Christ offering up his life for us and yet doing it as it were with Musick cheerfully and delightfully You have had this mystery explained all along my discourse do you understand it sinners then inrich your selves with it The Sunne is the riches and glory of all the World such a Sunne is the Gospell of Christ desire that this Sunne may shine into the little World if the Sun did not shine in this great World it could not inrich it nor glorifie it The Apostle speakes of this very thing to wit the Gospell and under this Metaphor of the Sun and he uses such tearmes as signifie in apparition and illustration But after that the kindnesse and gentlenesse of God appeared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word is used to expresse the second comming of Christ and that will be bright and glorious indeed 2 Thess 2.8 i in apparition for otherwise it had beene of no force to those effects which he there mentions a like place 2 Tim. 1.10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospell It is plaine by these following words that the apparition here spoken of meanes in apparition death could not be otherwise destroyed nor immortality be brought to light And the learned agree that the word notes a mighty shining light that searches every corner of the heart is the light that you have of such illustration hath it brought life and immortality to light i a holy life that never end There is a great deale of light now in the World but when wee looke how it illustrates it selfe we are sad because it comes to no more ordinarily then the light of a comet that falles and the matter that bore it resolving it selfe into a filthy stinck to the great disgrace of the Gospel to the death of brave persons and Kingdomes What is it that makes such bloudy worke in the Christian World now but this that the riches of the glory of this mystery doth nothing in men this hath made a long night to our brethren the Iewes and is like to doe the like to the Gentiles The Gospell being riches prize Christ and his Ministers let them be glorious in your eye which bring glorious things Know which way the riches of glory comes to you it comes but by one gate Which puts me in mind of a story In the County of Saba which signifies a mystery when Frankinsence was brought into the chiefe City thereof it was ordered by the Priests that it should come in but at one Gate upon paine of death to wit that which they had consecrated for that purpose T is of lively use the riches of glory come in but one way by Christ and by the Ministry of his Word and therefore keepe open this Cate if all the money in your purses will do it if all the bloud in your veines will do it let all goe rather then this and the Gospel when this departeth the glory departeth the riches of glory departeth There is but one thing that is eminently accessary to the destruction of the riches of glory and that is hardnesse of heart The Balme-Trees when they had wounded them to get the vertue of them to drop forth they laid Wooll upon which the drops might fall that so they might be sure to save it so to gaine the riches of the glory of the Gospel to save the drops that fall from Christs mouth you must lay soft hearts tender and fleshy hearts otherwise you will die poore and miserable notwithstanding all the riches of glory that are amongst you COLOS. 1.27 Among the Gentiles or in the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ethnick This is the word in the originall by which we are called it may be from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two words which signify a minde accustomed to some thing a heart evill and onely evill that is stout enough and such neither can nor will be made otherwise it speakes a nature of sinne a body of death one in the flesh and led by the flesh I will discribe a Gentile to you generally and particularly t is one uncircumcised in flesh and spirit that hath not the externall ordinances of Christ nor the internall efficacy this is to speake properly and fully a Gentile though where the latter is wanting under the fruition of the former such are called Gentiles For that he hath brought into my sanctuary strangers uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh to be in my sanctuary to polluate it Ese 44.7 they which are called here strangers were Gentiles and their condition is described they were uncircumcised in heart and flesh and this to speake properly and fully is a Gentile one that is beside all culture that that is without the visible Church and without the invisible grace of such estate There is a Gentile in the flesh and a Gentile in the spirit and a Gentile in both The Apostle makes this destinction and in these termes Wherefore remember that yee being in times past Gentiles in the flesh were called the uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh which is made with hands Eph. 2.11 They were Gentiles in the flesh as well as in the
is this when Christ would perfect a soule in himselfe he turnes a man off and out of himselfe out of creatures of Gods making and out of creatures of the mans owne making out of his prayers and all his duties and this he doth sometime by letting the man fall into sin when proud of any parts or workes and sometimes in a more mild sweet way where nature is more meek and sweet and then when the soule is turn'd off and turnd out of all he that is indeed all presents himselfe to him and woes and wins the soule I will be a husband to thee saith Christ friends riches honours whatsoever can be desired to make one blessed the great world is han'gd upon nothing so is the little world to wit a Christian brought first to be nothing in understanding but a brute nothing in action but worse then a brute a devill very poore very poore in spirit and then blest with a Kingdom and now the soule that was nothing nor could do nothing for Christ or against sin can do all having regnum he hath proprium regni having a Kingdome he hath the proprium of that Kingdome which is dominion over all hee that is made a King and hath a Kingdom doth not rule in this Town only or that Town but over all parts in the Kingdom and this order Christ will move in towards you that desire it for this Kingdom and all belonging to it is a perfect gift COLOS. 1.29 Whereunto I also labour TO take soules from off themselves and to set them downe in Christ beares much by divine Ordinance upon our calling and makes our worke very hard which is noted in this terme labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies such actions and industrie as faints wastes and weares out all such a labour as Solomon speaks of Eccles 10.15 The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them because he knoweth not how to goe to the City This Emphasis of the word is held forth to the Thessalonians to worke them to a reverend esteem of their teachers We beseech you brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which spend and waste themselves amongst you to take you off from sinne and selfe and to set you downe in Christ in whom onely soules are fully and perfectly blessed We are as Jonathans armour-bearer whither so ever our Master goes we are to goe after him though we creep upon all foure Your life is our death your fatning is our leaning your Raven-black haires are our milke white We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 3.2 Such as wax white with painfulnesse and watchfulnesse reading praing sighing mourning and groaning for your good Coaction with Christ is no idle imployment he doth not attempt small things neither is he of small strength to keep pace with such weak agents as we are 't is hard work to draw in yoke with one that is double and treble in strength above me We are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 workers together with Christ he attempts the greatest things that are and the most desperate the taking of holds strong holds Canaanites Hittites c. which dwell in Towns which are walled up to heaven and founded downe to hell he attempts the bloud and death of all the conquest of this whole world the generall making such desperate attempts and taking onely Rams-hornes a sling and a stone such a fraile party as we are you may easily think our work to be desperate full of paine and perill Had man been set to fight with man one man with one man that had been painfull worke but man is drawn out to fight with beasts the fiercest beasts with Lions Beares Wolves Serpents Scorpions yea with devills there was never such a fight in the grand Circue at Rome We wrestle with such creatures as have no hold-fast to be taken of them which have no armes no legs no flesh nor bones we wrestle not against flesh and bloud but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darknesse of this world against spirituall wickednesses in high places Ephes 6.12 We are drawne out to fight upon all the disadvantage in the world against creatures that are upon higher ground that have pitched field in high places that have no flesh to be wounded nor bloud to lose that can make ambushments at pleasure being the rulers of the darknesse of this world this is the Rhetorick of the Apostle We are Stewards of mysteries sentence is past upon us to dye according to the Law which we have broken onely we have the benefit of our book but this book is written as books of such nature usually are very mysteriously with an old strange Character our worke is to stand by and prompt soules concerning their neck verse which is very painfull and trembling worke the book in which sinners are to read for their life is written with bloud which is very inward and ominous inke The Characters and Syllables sutable when put together into words these words are spirit The words I speake saith Christ are spirit What is a more inward and hidden thing then this and yet this are we to interpret our worke is to be an interpreter betweene two of very remote parts that live as farre asunder as heaven and earth as heaven and hell I might say between Spirits the spirit of God and the spirit of man one whereof 't is more proper to say is in hell whilst out of heaven then in any middle place between Transactions between God and the soule are the deepest the weightiest the intricat'st things in the world A sinner is convicted sentenced carried to the place of execution his winding sheet wrapt about his shoulders his handkerchiffe tyed before his eyes his halter about his neck his sentence written upon his forehead in this shalt thou hang till thou bee dead and yet possibly no internall intention concurring or meaning the bloud of the soule Divining in this case at the foot of the Ladder what will become of him that is on the top on 't sitting trembling whether he will be turned off or fetcht downe with a pardon is extraordinary hard work to determine and yet beares not upon any extraordinary office no Angel is dispatcht from heaven to be an oracle in this difficult case but it lyes upon our shoulders by ordinance The Priests lips are to preserve knowledge If there be any divining in this extraordinary worke t is not by extraordinary but ordinary office there is not one from the dead to tell who shall dye next no one sent from hell to tell who is to come next thither Things belonging both to the death and life of the soule are made manifest by our ministration by our labour wee are the Heralds of Heaven the Trumpet of God in which he sounds Retreat and March fight and victory funerall and triumph we are to sound sad and dolefull sweet
much for their sinne though they die in the place Parts being considerable such habits are made use of iniquity establisheth it selfe by a law in such a soule what one can make 't out to be de jure t is a case to be pleaded and the soule will plead in these cases with man and the man will plead with any man that his soule may hold its owne and sin keepe warme where t is parts and parties are therefore now drawn out and strong reasons brought forth produce your strong reasons saith the Prophet Esay 41.21 Productions of this kinde made abortives by truth truth in strength drawn out against that which is false enervating and silencing sinfull disputes and practices is good contention Thus did Nehemiah contend Then contended I with the Rulers and sayd why is the house of God forsaken what evill thing is this that ye doe did not our fathers thus and brought all this evill upon them Nehem. 13. Man must not move as a beast which knowes not the ground he goes upon action must have authority and the production of this authority is sometimes necessary if this or that be not valid by rule 't is to be condemnd by the rule and this is every ones priviledge that hath ability and opportunity by vertue of a generall or a particular call by vertue of a generall call as a Christian to resist sinne and errour which is a publique enemy and traytor to the State which any one may lay hands on and therefore t is that Jude exhorted the Christians to put hand to this worke as well as himselfe when hee wrote to them of a common salvation he wrote unto them also about a common enemy and told them that they ought to contribute strength against such as well as he t was needfull for me to write unto you and to exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith You may thinke as if he had said that it is my worke onely to contend for the faith and against that which opposeth it but it is so mine that it is also yours by a generall calling persons by the advantage of a particular calling draw a greater force into the field against the common enemy but others are bound to contribute what they have to this worke as well as they Wee are as men designed and advantaged peculiarly as Generals to lead in this sad worke to which the Prophet speakes Jeremy 15.10 Woe is me my mother that thou hast borne me a man of strife Jeremiah had a particular call from the wombe to live as a Solamander in the fire all his daies these as gifted and wealthy persons raise more force and bring a greater strength into the the field then others can but the worke beares upon all The Apostle intimates it in that hee speakes as putting into this worke onely as one whereunto I also labour and striving according to his working in me My purpose is to be precise in this point and to pursue onely the divine nature of contention which lies in two things a holy rise and a holy scope Many bad things boyle in an evill nature these now and then boyle over and scald standers by in something that is worthy bitter language may come from a sweet spirit but then the person is in a temptation and his contest against sinne sinfull and successesse in order to what might be simply meant at first setting out opposition externall which springs from any such bad principle internall staines the nature of the act quite through there is a warre from ones lust as the Apostle James saith the spirit within dissents some person without and therefore spits in his face when it speakes to him that every one may know him and have as low an esteeme of him as he hath Affection prejudiced in order to the person I deale with and so opposition the fruit of an ill disposition this is impure contention Fire of this nature is heavenly when it springs from love to the man and hatred to his sinne sinne is such an ugly thing that it becomes no body no not a friend t is a blacke spot but not a beauty spot in any ones face set it where you will cut it how you will when love moulds words to discover so much to the face of him that thinkes otherwise I would not have any one that I love live or die in any thing that Christ hates This is Divine contention precious balme Divine contention hath a divine rise a divine scope which is to convince and to convert truth is lovely in the eye as well as in the practice yet hath many gainsayers in both these must be replied to till they have nothing to say to any purpose objections of waight are a considerable spirituall army and ought to be encountered though fooles must not be answered in their folly There is gainsaying with tongue or conscience dispute must be so steeld with truth till one or both be silenced the Scriptures are sufficient this way they are given by inspiration and profitable for doctrine for reproofe for conviction 2 Tim. 3.16 Weapons drawne out of the word and so skilfully and reverently used till pride be stabd and conscience speechlesse and breathing out its last for the evill course it walkt in this is handling the Word of God and the soule of man not deceitfully but really and is holy strife deckes set a fire not to burne the ship but to blow up them at top that would take the whole vessell Contention is not onely to stop but to turne a sinner t is a travell and pangs cease not till satan be ruind and Christ formd Conviction and conversion are two things a man may feele the evill of his owne way and yet taste no sweet in Christs vomiting is painfull the stomacke takes great dislike and offence at what it opened its mouth greedily to take in one would thinke in this case t were impossible that what is so violently thrown out should ever be savoured and taken in againe yet not in this case therefore in no case with some creatures is there an abhorring for ever Dogs will returne to their vomit and sinners but shadowed in that metaphor spirituall strife is to make certaine the state of a Christian yea to give the ultimate or utmost of this state to make former vomitings old sinnes yea old graces i. graces in such and such a degree to be forgotten to put forward and to present every one perfect in parts perfect in degrees which is the emphasis and connexion of the frontice terme of the Text That wee may present every man perfect in Christ whereunto I labour and strive Holy strife tends to bring persons to perfection it is fighting a good fight the issue of which is the soule able to lay hold of eternall life able to let go hold of sin of any sin and to take hold of any grace of all grace of eternall life Running of this kind
a noble life as we pretend to when we professe a religious life this life is according to every dram drawne from Christ 't is not from the speciousnesse of our owne action nor from other folkes incouragement This time is full of straits externall ingagements byasse men much about internall and externall things if this temptation were over saith one I would take a better course No thou wouldst not courage to the things that are noble springs not from any earthly advantage if all secular authority in the Land should say they would secure thee for any dammage that thou shouldest suffer in pursuite of such a Religious cause yet would thine owne heart fall off like the Jsraelites from entring the holy Land and thou wouldest as they step back when at the doore ready to enter who though Moses and Aaron bid them to enter yet they fell off so though Parliament and Synod were at thy back and did incourage thee to enter yet if thou have no other incouragement thou wilt not step a step in the wayes of God by the grace of God J am that J am saith Paul let all the men in the World be never so gratious to thee yet wilt thou be as ungratious as thou art to the day of thy death if the grace of Christ do not put Spirit and Life into thee Externall inducement is nothing that mans Religion is nothing that thinks otherwise and 't will prove so to his shame and losse if his eyes be not opened to see it If a man speake meerly of a naturall life that is a life as a man as such a creature then a man may say of externall good things as Hezekiah of health and strength and other outward advantages in these is the life of my spirit but if you speake of Divine Life life to that which is Heavenly in riches honours friends parts in no exernall thing in no internall thing but in Christ is the life of my spirit according to his working not according to my own working shall I worke for God and for his glory Stratagents and wiles is much made use of in these times of woe Satan uses it too stay saith hee till Parliament and Synod put life into thee till they doe this and they do that 't is good to honour authority in that which is proper to such authority but so you may stay till the sword of Gods wrath that is in the Land kill you all Worke according to his working within you and take heed of checking this to waite for others working without you to set you forward strangle the quicknings of the spirit and expect quicknings from men and thou wilt be executed by conscience for the greatest murtherer in the World Our life beares upon the operation of Christ Le ts make Christ the fountaine and then le ts draw as much water of life from him as may bee You see how exact and expresse the proportion is made betweene Christs operation and our life such operation such life we strive according to his working therefore le ts set Christ at worke hard and get as much divine operation and life from him as may be Divine operation is the choysest mercy in the World how full of life is my spirit when in the Hands of God! when hee hath it working and moulding of it commend thy spirit therefore often into his hands send him much worke Spirits are so much imployed and over-wrought in the World that Christ hath little or no work sent him no house nor shop to work in A man no an image stands before God in duty a thing without a soule no spirit sent to God to talk with no soule no child of the soul at home to tell where the Parent is children of the soule I meane thoughts desires all sacrificed to devills at the end of the earth and thus farre from home must abide and never be sent for home who ere come to visit them though it be Christ himself what Divine operation can be in the soule when the soule is so given up to gadd after worldy things Divine operation is a very retired act two great Pears in conference may not be interrupted things in discusse being of such great concernment the Spirit of God and the spirit of man Divine operation it is a vision from Heaven of property like that of Pauls that bindes the soule in order to all carnall objects that may make the minde gad and in this vision as in that is a voyce a still voyce Saul Saul sinner sinner why dost thou do this and that against me but this still voyce is full of life to the soule that stilly listens this operation of Christ silenceth that noyse which is in the soule by the operation of other things and then is there a voyce from Heaven to the soule come up hither O soule thou must be above this and that for the tranquillity and felicity of thy life These are the operations of God in which is the life and Heaven of man All divine operation hath voyce the word and the spirit goe together still Christ workes and talkes makes peace and speakes peace makes war and speakes it to conscience You might know what God is a working in your soules hee speakes it now and then very plaine to conscience you that have eares to heare what the spirit saith the spirit workes and then it speakes what it workes the spirit saith now and then in still weather if you listen now and then you may heare what it saith The spirit and the word go together one moves and quickens the soule by the other Hell-ward or Heaven-ward the one should be much dreaded and the other much desired Divine operation is a thing of the greatest concernment in the World 't is as the spirits in the blood if the Pulse beate and worke not spirits are all wasted death is seized upon the state Sinners I know not how God workes in your soules how hee hath stirred or how he doth onely know this when he leaves pulsation that is ceaseth knocking know that your life is departed the operation and the pulsation of God is the life of the soule the life of the soules is the blessednesse of the soule as I am lively and agile in divine things carried upon Eagles wings to God in all duties so am I in Heaven Get as much therefore of this operation and life as you can I speake this because there is a great difference in Divine operation There is an operation that makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to will and there is an operation that makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all readinesse of minde to will 2 Cor. 8.11 Act. 17.11 they received the word with all readinesse of minde speaking of the noble Bereans There is a great difference betweene Divine operations and this makes a great difference betweene Christian and Christian one farre more noble then an other These were more noble then those of