may be of no effect Christ may be to thee infatuate unsavoury good for nothing as he is in reprobates Now I hope is answered that Question What if the salt hath lost his savour wherewith shall it be salted Christ who is the true salt in himself he cannot be unsavoury and good for nothing but he may lose his favour in thee and to thee may be as a thing good for nothing because he dyed in vain to thee his cross is of no effect and so may be as he saith himself good for nothing but to be cast out and troden under the feet of men Alas brethren Christ blessed for ever he in himself cannot be said to be good for nothing noâ— he cannot be troden under the feet of men but till their eyes be opened to see him and acknowledge him as he is that they be aware of Christ and oâ— his presence and greatness and filling all things they as it were tread him under foot And as it is said Heb. 10. 29. How much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy of who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the convenant an unholy thing wherewith he was sanctified and hath done despite unto the spirit of Grace But beloved none of all these things can any creature do to Christ in himself for to him all Angels cry aloud Rev. 4. 8. The heavens and all the powers therein cry continually Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabboths heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory No creature can dishonour him in himself but in â—hemselves and to themselves they tread him under foot because he lives not in them and so they see not neither acknowledge him or his workings in them Then my beloved let us make this use of this If this salt be in us and that wee see it is he that is our life and our motion then let us not onely give ear to him but let us love reverence and obey him and hearken to what he woâ—ld teach us and work in us let him be sole Lord and Saviour to us to deliver and save us from our lusts and from Satan nay if this salt be in us these will be the fruits and effects that will follow To love reverence and obey him God himself proclaims him to be his well beloved Son in whom onely he is pleased hear him Silence then your selves deny your own life hear no longer your selves nor your own lusts what honour saith what profit saith what self and your own by-ends saith But hearken now to what he commands This shall be your wisdom before all people this shall be your life and he that findeth his life shall lose it but he that loseth his life thus shall find it Beloved Christ being once dead dyeth no more saith the Apostle and yet he saith again That we crucifie to our selves the Son of God afresh He in himself cannot dye cannot be crucified no more but to our selves and in our own soules he maâ— be and is crucâ—fied daily that is when your lusts and your sins live then Christ he is dead and you have crucified him of whom you have been the betrayers and muâ—therers as Stephâ—n said to the Jews Acts 7. 52. so that he hath then losâ— his savour and his taste in and to thy soul for thou tastest him not seest him not nor feelest him though he be in thee Further know this that Christ himself is that salt himself hereâ—ommandeth â—ommandeth To have salt in our selves is to have Châ—ist himself in us as if he should say Though I be in you as I am in all things in all creatures yet my being there doth you no good except you feel and see me there except your faith believe me there and your life express me The third and last point is What is it to have salt in our selves We must have salt in us 1. Exclusively and 2. Inclusively not onely to see Christ in our selves and in â—ll creatures as we have shewed you but to have it in our selves is to be sure we look to our own 〈◊〉 whether we have this salt or no and this is a necessary Exhortation now in these times when men are so ready to neglect themselves and are so much in questioning the estates of others We are too ready to â—udge and condemn otheâ—s that tâ—ey have not this salt but heâ—e we are admonished 〈◊〉 others alone and first be sure to look circumspectly that we have it in our selves Another mans grace will do thee no good if thou haâ—â— none in thy selfâ— Warm thy self at thine own fire and drink the waters of thine own Cistern as Solomon counsels Prov. 5. 15. And who made thee Iudge over others what hast thou to do to take Christs office from him he is appointed to be Iudge of quick and dead Acts 10. 42. Yet thou wilt take upon thee to be Iudge and to sit in Christs throne thou wilt be judging and censuring of thy Brethren before thou hast censured thy self Christ is not in such and such men thou canst spy motes in thy brothers eye and perceivest not the beam in thine own Mat. 7. 5. whereby thy sight is quite put out as to thy self You know Christ himself when he was here in the slesh when they brought to him the woman taken in Adultery sayes he Hath no man condemned thee neither dâ— I. John 8. 11. Beloved did he disclaim this Iâ—dicature and shall we presume to take it up shall we overlook our selves and judge reproch and condemn other men This man hath no grace and that man hath no grace away away with all these things such a man O he is a wreâ—ched sinner and thou wouldst have God destroy him and plague him thou wonderest God doth not strike him down dead and seest not thy self how vile thou art Lord shall we call for fire from heaven said some of the Disciples away away saith Christ Ye know not of what spirit ye are of Leave off then â—udging of others and leave all â—udgement to God Vengeance is mine saith the Lord Christ could have writ every mans sins in his forehead as his are whom thou despisest to be read and seen of all men But thy sins are more secret and hidden and yet as odious to God as his and this thine own conscience knows what would become of thee I pray thee â— if all thy secret sins were written visibly in thy forehead But know that this gift of having salt in our selves is not in any mans power to take but God onely must give it where and when he pleases to bestow it they shall have it and none else And in his time and not sooner nor later But this command to have Salt in our selves is as much as to say before you go about to search other mens cellars that you see your cellars be
know what a many woes Christ pronounced against the Pharisees for making Religion a colour for their Hyprocrisie and covetousness under pretence of long prayers devouring poor widows and their houses Matt. 23. 14 15 16. where he instances in many other particulars insomuch that by their evil example which was then much looked upon they shut up the Kingdom of heaven against men for they neither go in themselves nor suffer them that are entring to go in This was the case of the Shechemites Gen. 34. you see how desperately the two sons of Iacob Simeon and Levi played the hypocrites pretending Religion to the Shechemites that if they would be circumcised they would marry with them and give their daughters in marriage to them again This was the Cloak but what was their End and Ayme you shall see Verse 23. say they when they are circumcised and not able to stir shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours And so in the 28. Verse They fell upon them and took their sheep their oxen their asses and that which was in the field and all their wealth c. Thus the Devil is transformed into an Angel of light he will be religious to serve his own turn and to accomplish his own ends when men instead of making Godliness great gain which is pretended 2 Tim. 6. 5. they make Gain godliness And that is intended 4. COMMANDMENT Fourthly For the Sabbath Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day six dayes shalt thou labour but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt do no manner of work c. The covetous man commonly is of Pharoahs Religion Exod. 5. 17. Ye are idle ye are idle therefore ye say Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord They count that day a lost day One day in seven is above seven weeks in a year say they and what loss of time is this And those covetous persons in Amos who were weary of one day in seven Amos 8. 5. When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat Many keep their Sabbaths in their Saddles riding up and down for profit and gain about their worldly occasions Nehemiah when he saw how they prophaned the Sabbath how zealous was he the course he took you may see Neh. 13 15 16. If he were alive now and should see what is now done to see how thrust the Lawyers chambers are on this day what would he say But you see all this is the fruit of Covetousness 5. COMMANDMENT The fifth Commandment is Honour Parents by which is meant not onely in brief that we owe them first Reverence Secondly Obedience But thirdly Maintenance also but Covetousness will keep back all these As Levi in a good sense said of his Father and Mother I have not seen him Deut. 32. 9. so it is through Covetousness more often practised in a bad sense as Prov. 28. 24. He that robbeth his father and mother and saith it is no transgression the same is a companion of a destroyer This will Covetousness do and wipe its mouth and say I have done no evil This was the practise of the Pharisees Matth. 15. 4. saith Christ God commandâ— To honour father and mother and he that curseth father or mother shall dye but ye say whosoever shall say to his Father or Mother Corban It is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and honour not his father or his mother he shall be free They would give a small gift to the Temple to be excused from a greater duty and further charge Still COVETOUSNES is in all this 6. COMMANDMENT I but you will say though Covetousness be a breach of all the Commandments hitherto yet the covetous man doth not kill and break the sixth Commandment yea Covetousness also is a Blood-sucker and the covetuous man-slayers those that are gold-thirsty are blood-thirsty also especially now in these hard times in hard times those that pinch the poor grinde their faces do as it were such their very lives and blood see Prov. 1. 11. My Son if sinners intice thee consent thou not if they say Come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause let us swallow him up alive and whole as the grave Why do all this We shall finde all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil and verse 19. saith he So are the wayes of every one that is greedy of gain for it taketh away the life of the owners thereof Therefore Covetousness and Blood are joyned together Ezek. 22. 13. I have smitten my handâ— at thy dishonest gain and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee I need not instance the case of Ahab and Naboth Ahab taking away his life to get his vineyard nor of Iudas who for gain betrayed Jesus Christ his Lord to death for thirty pieces of silver And if the hands of many covetous persons are not defiled Actually with shedding of blood It is the Law and not Conscience keepeth them clean they have bloody hearts thoâ—gh not bloody hands and to God they are in that regard guilty of blood as if they had shed blood and though mans Law cannot finde them culpable yet Gods Law doth for that forbids the Murther of the wish and of the heart 7. COMMANDMENT But sure he is not guilty of Adultery yea for you know Covetousness was the cause that Tamar suffered Iudah to lie with her Gen. 38. 16. What wilt thou give me to lie with me saith Tamar to Iudah What is the cause of the permission of so many Stews and Brothel-houses in the Popes Territories at Rome and Venice and Dance and other places but Covetousness for Gain they will a give dispensation for any sin And on the other hand how common is it even among us That many refuse Marriage meerly out of Covetousness to avoid the charge of marriage 8. COMMANDEMENT 8. I but He doth not steal yea surely for the world having stollen the heart of a Covetous man from God he himself will make no bones to steal from men and Thieves and Covetous are immediately joyned together in that I Cor. 6. 10. Iudas was a Thief why Iohn 12. 6. This he said not that he cared for the poor but because he was a Thief and had the bag and bare what was put therein You see he was called a Thief because he was covetous Defrauding oppressing over-reaching cozening cheating gaming extortion vsury all of them Worms bred in the dunghill of a covetous heart Nor is it any excuse to say there is as much evil or more in spending it prodigally that excuses not thee at all as the end of evil asking may be to spend it upon their lusts Jam. 4. 3.
you compare me therefore he that compares God to any thing he hath not smitten The City of Kiriathsepher and taken it he hath not married Achsah So likewise the Third Commandment The letter of it commands not to take Gods name in vain or blaspheme his name Now if a man hath â—ot in words blasphemed nor swore an oath but when he hath been called to it he hath done what Moses required and No man else was externally punished but he that externally broke the Letter of the Commandments But Gods name you know signifies his attributes his Power his Wisdom his Iustice his Mercy c so that the Spirit of this Commandment is He that takes or appropriates this Power or Wisdom or Mercy or any other Attribute and saith They are His That he hath either power or goodnessâ— or wisdom or justice or mercy or that any creature hath any of these or whatsoever is Gods Name or That he shall apply These to any sinister by or self-end and doth not at all times use them onely â—o glorifie serve and honour God with them I say this man hath fearfully and desperately broke this Commandment this man hath not onely Buried his talent in a napkin and been An unproâ—itable servant for which the Lord Commands from him to be taken away That which he hath that is That which he seemeth to have To himâ—elf and to other men like himself for which â—nprofitableness he is to be cast into Outer Darkâ—ess where is weeping and gnashing of teeth But then what shall become of him that hath Arrogated purloined and appropriated those things which were but lent him to imploy for his Lords 〈◊〉 to his own self-ends and advantage Nay moreover This man hath subjected God himself to â—erve his turn and his own carnal ends as the Lord himself complains by the Prophet You have made me to serve your iniquities that is you have served your selves with my power and strength and wisdom and goodness and not me nor my ends O Beloved that we could but see all these things in oâ—r selves to shame us and to bring us to nothing that we may put our mouthes in the very dust for these high indignities against the Throne and Scepter of Jesus Christ in our souls Beloved know This is the substance of the Commandment the other part is but the shadow this is the Commandment it self the other is but the Sacrament the symbol the Image And so likewise in the fourth Commandment he that refrained his hands and feet from servile labour and rested did no work nor gathered 〈◊〉 sticks Moses found no fault with them but the Spirit of this Commandment goes farther for he that goes but thus far keeps but the Sabbath of the Ox and the Ass but the Sabbath is to be sanctified what 's that onely to go to Church and hear or read and make a prayer or to do the like at home No no But blessed is the man who keepeth the Sabbtah from polluting it Many think because they are constant in such things as Those that they have sanctified the Sabbath But as I said He that truly keeps the Sabbath Holy he must keep Gods Sabbath Object You will say What is that Answ. He is called The God of Sabbaths not because as many ignorantly think that he is the God of the Sunday more then of the Munday or Tuesday oâ— of the seventh day more then of any other day But because He is the God of Rest for Sabbath is as much as to say Rest Because the creatures are all in motion in vegetation and action and no creature can be at Rest till they return to Tim He Onely is at Rest. All creatures were created by him and are as it were gone out from him as Noahs Dove sent out of the Ark and they rest not One minute till they return into this Blessed Noah again And till He be pleased to put forth his hand and take it in again Beloved know this The most stable and most durable creature that is is in Motion is still and always inchanging It remains not the same not one tittle of time The iron the gold the silver the stones none are at rest no not One minute For could you but shew me any one creature that is at Rest but for one minute I would be so bold as to say It were God and that creature were immortal and everlasting but it is God onely that is at Rest it is He onely that is immortal and therefore no creature can be God Almighty He is the True Sabbath and those that return to be One with Him they onely keep a True Sabbath for God Rested on the seventh day and sanctified it six dayes He was in creating and working while we are absent from the Lord we are in continual travel and labour and so in continual changing till the seventh day come while we are in the world and in the body we must work and be in changing and removing from place to place and doing the actions of creatures as creatures But know as the Prophet saith Arise depart hence for this is not your rest Remember your Sabbath To keep it Holy without turmoils and hurryings after the creatures and learn to live above while you are here below I say Above in the quiet and still Regions Above All the creatures and things below for here in these things you can never Rest But Return to God Return to thy rest O my soul saith David where onely you shall find Rest and there keep your Sabbaths All other keeping Sabbaths is but External and bodily labour and bodily labour profiteth nothing sayes the Apostle yet most men those that not onely profess religion but also most Teachers they are gotten into such a Form of religion and External holiness of Outward and Bodily labour in keeping Sabbaths and other things in religion so that true and real godliness is almost lost and which is most dangerous of all Herein they rest and bless themselves and their disciples Therefore I would gladly disturb them and Rouse them from their Lees whereon they are setled Therefore I say look not among the creatures nor in your External duties nor in Outward keeping of Sabbaths to find your true Rest but onely in your God who is the God of your Sabbaths Then for the fifth Commandement God by the Letter commands us to honour Father and Mother that is to be done To honour and obey those that are our Fathers and Mothers of the body and according to the flesh and those that are termed Fathers and Mothers in regard of their office For my aim is not in this nor in any other Commandement â—o dehort you from doing the External part thereof But when you have done that there you Rest and think you have done some great Act but this is that I say this is not that God chiefly intends but God would by them
God t is onely his well-beloved in us and who also is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared and revealed him Whatever it be that a man sees or comprehends that cannot be God that cannot be truth It can be at most but the Emblem the shadow of truth as in a man we cannot see his life but we may see him live even so truth cannot be seen but you may see the Effects and Fruits of truth But he that marries Achsah To him will I give The Rending of the Vail that is He shall see as much As a creature Can See and live as God said to Moses Achsah She will give you A glimpse A sight through the cleft of the rock as was to Moses The Back-parts of IEHOVAH But Truth cannot be seen In the True glory and splendor thereof onely the back parts of her She will admit you into the Sanctum Sanctorum she will beg of her Father to give you a blessing that seeing he hath given you the south-land as it is here in this Chapter that he will give you Springs of water That you shal not onely have the Nether Springs The Letter of the Word External Ordinances and outward Duties Bodily Worships and the like but you shall have The Upper Springs The life of the Letter the power the quickning Spirit to see not onely Christs body and touch it but you shall have the vertue of The breaking of His Body and the benefit of the sheding of his blood And When the Vail is Rent take but a short view of those priviledges and precious things you shall then have Though I have hinted at them in general as I went along yet let us view a little the particular things contained within the Holie of Holies as time at present will give leave When ye came to the Tabernacle there was first as I told you A worldly sanctuary as the Apostle sets them down Heb. 9. 1. And therein was Ordinances and Divine service for so the Apostle calls it in the first verse And therein was the Candlesticks and the table and the Shew-bread and thither came the Priests and did their office there was sacrifices and offerings for themselves and all the people And All they could learn there was but worldly and external Ordinances bodily worships which concerned not the heart and the inward man But if they offered such and such External things as was required this was all But into the second Vail within the Holie of Holies thither the High Priest must come but once a year for we shall onely at present touch at those particulars mentioned there by the Apostle And first There was the golden Censer which typified Christs offering the prayers of the Saints as it is exprest Rev. 8. there is an Angel which had the Golden Censer and there was given him much Incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the Saints upon the golden Altar which Angel is Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant shewing unto us thus much that he is the Mediator between God and man for whose sake all our services are accepted nothing is accepted from us with the Father But what his Son doth in us Be they never such glorious actions and done with never so specious religious pretences yet if they be Our actions they stink they are abominable In him onely he is well pleased They are his actions onely that can be savourâ— meat to him Although as they be our actions they may seem beautiful and glorious to us yet to him they stink A dead man hath the shape of a man but he stinketh So thy duties though they have the shape of Right and Holy duties to us yet they are to him but dead works Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God who through the eternal spirit offered himself When your services are not from an Internal prinâ—iple from the work of the Eternal Spirit but are like the Motion of Clocks and Watches which is from Art and External weights not from nature all such services are dead works Within the Vail we come really to see All our works nothing they are abominable yet we think highly of them While we remain in the worldly Sanctuary and are gotten no farther But here within the Vail God speaks to us as he did to Iob and we are convinced of our Vileness Behold saith Iob then I am vile I will lay my hand upon my mouth I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee I abhor my self in dust and ashes Iob had oft made confession of sin before in words and in the notion And practised dayly External worship but yet we may see all along for all thaâ— what an high Opinion Iob had of himself of his strictness and righteousness Iob sacrificed often and constantly and observed the letter very strictly and thereby Iob maintained a high opinion of himself But now the vail must be rent and God must appear himself to darken and confound all Iobs righteousness before Iob could say I am vile Iob was strict in Externals but Iob could not Really loath and Abhor himself though in words he might as many can easily and frequently do that dayly but to be really VILE in themselves this work is from above from Heaven from God And so we come to see what it is and for what we or our actions are accepted it must be his sons work in us else he loaths all even the best of your Sacrifices if it be not Jesus Christ in us that doth All viz. that loves God and Fears God and obeyes God and believes in God c. his Father regards it not that may seem a Paradox but yet it is a truth for indeed and in truth there is nothing fears God but God nor Nothing obeys Godâ— but God nor Nothing loves God but God He aâ—cepts his own work in us and nothing else God cannot accept any thing any creature doth out of himself but what himself doth what his Son doth that pleases him that he cannoâ— but accept This is that Achsah that so pleases her Father that he can deny her nothing This is the first thing we shall have after the Vail is rent and none can attain this Really and in good earnest But He to whom the vail is Rent The next thing there Exprest is The Ark overlaid with Gold the Ark of the Covenant overlaid with gold overlaid round about with pure gold Having married Achsah we shall also have power to break open this Mystery Christ is He in whom all the promises are Yea and Amen they are all fulfilled in him As all our actions must be derived from him as from the fountain that is if they be not quickned and animated with the power purity holiness excellency of Jesus Christ that they are of himself and of his own
Divine Nature he cannot accept or regard them So also if this be so then is there not onely holiness within flowing from A Natural principle of a new Nature but there will be All External glory there is the Ark of the Covenant overlaid all over round about with pure gold to shew that from this spring and fountain cannot but proceed all purity and holiness in our external actions then they cannot but must shew forth the vertues of him who hath called them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Then there is such a power and such a burning desire in the soul they must shew forth their good works that they may glorifie their father which is in heaven neither can this be attained really till we be admitted within the vail True it is while we are in this worldly Sanctuary we may do many External good actions as to our selves and other men And also Good in themselves but they are not done for this End to shew forth the vertues of him that hath called them nor to glorifie their father which is in heaven but t is to glorifie themselves and to set up themselves Either for praise or esteem or for fear or for hope of advantage c. they serve not God as the Devil said of Iob for nought not for love of Holiness not for that Excellency that is in its self but to get something by it they use it as men do a bridge to carry them over to some desired place to some self-happiness or advantage and were it not for these the man were dead and you should find if the heart were searched throughly and theâ—e ends hopes and fears removed the man would stand stone-still But the other man he who is ascended and gotten within the Vail He works freely and naturally He cannot do otherwise though there were neither fear of hell or punishment or hope of the reward yet he must work And he will work this is that I still say Let but the heart be set to rights let the man be regenerate and partaker of the Divine nature and then with such a man you need not keep such a stir with Laws and Precepts and Rules and Disciplines He hath that within which will not onely inform and teach but reform and compel by the power of Love For saith the Apostle the Righteous are a law to themselves Beloved this is the service God loves He loves A cheerful giver He cannot abide that which comes forced and grudgingly and as a forced imposed task that by sinister respects they must be held to it but I say this man needs no such thing but turn him loose at all turns he hath an Informer and a Reformer in him Those that are led by the Spirit are not under the Law Gal. 5. 18. but under Grace and under the power of love and of a free mind for the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient This man is no longer under the law but is Dead to the Law that he may live to God and not unto himself for self is in him conquered and dead and Christ now is alive and exalted and set in his throne to reign for ever and ever In the third place there was the Pot of Manna which Manna God gave the Israelites in the wilderness some of which by the providence of God was preserved many hundreds of years together until the time as it is thought and affirmed by some of their last destruction by Titus and Vespatian He that hath gotten within the vail he hath gotten food sufficient to nourish him for ever He shall Never hunger more nor never thirst more as in that of Rev. 21. He that lives according to this new liâ—e he is â—ed with Hidden Manna He eats of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God His comforts are pure and ravishing and full of Everlasting delights his waters Everâ—low â—low and never cease there is in his belly a spring Ever springing up to everlasting life In the next place there was Aarons Rod that budded that was laid up by the pot of Manna Those that are accepted to look into the Holie of Holies Their fruit is alwayes flourishing and green their good works never dye but they ever after bring forth fruit like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth fruit in his season his lease shall not wither and whatever he doth it shall prosper and not onely shall they bring forth fruit but Ripe fruit in their age Psal 92. 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree he shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall bring forth fruit in their old age they shall be fat and flourishing These men They are never satisfied with God They are never weary they shall run and not be weary nor faint they never have enough of Him his comforts are always fresh to them flourishing and green They are never satisfied with the knowledge of God This is such Manna such Meat The more they eat the more they may The more God communicates himself to them they are the more Hungry the more thirsty the more Vnsatisfied They have overcome and are still Overcoming they go on Conquering and to Conquer they are still conquering and subduing all their Enemies and getting their sins and lusts under their feet And so long as there is Any To overcom and conquer they can never Rest till they have brought All under Every high thought and Every strong hold and Every imagination That exalteth it self against the Power Kingdom and Soveraignty of Jesus Christ. Within the Holies of Holies There was also The Cherubims of glory Overshadowing the Mercy-seat and we may say as the Apostle there Of which things we cannot now speak particularly Those glorious Cherubims they looked face to face beholding one another Overshadowing the Mercy-seat Beloved were you but once come to this sight you should behold God Glorious and Amiable Full of love and mercy and tender Bowels All wrath And All frowns blown clean away We then shall behold in Him Not so much as any shadow of Anger but there will be a most sweet and amorous beholding of one another He wil love and delight in us we shall love delight in him we cannot look so delightfully upon him as he will upon us there will be Nothing but Amorous imbraces and we shall then see How Sure All his mercies are to them that love him and that they are The Sure Mercies of David we shall find in Our Hearts All his promises made good and we shall then call him Our God and Our Iehovah making good and giving Being as to all things So to all his promises that we shall say feelingly Not One hath failed of
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
reason but herein man shews himself a fool for those Creatures above us are super-rational but man thinks there is nothing above Reason because he never knew any thing greater 'T is as if a toad or a horse should undertake to define the nature of a man he could not but he must of necessity make himself the measure of his judgement what he had not in himself he could not judge excellent So if men define Angels they would measure and define them according to the excellencies of a man But all those invisible Blessed Creatures that are next unto the Burning Throne of Almighty God what are they Alas if we should go about to define their nature as some have done we should prove our selves ignorant yea fools yet thus much we may safely say of them That the nearer to God they nearer to the spiritual nature of God because they are further off from matter though they have matter are bodies yet they have but so much matter as to distinguish them and separate them one from another God he is a pure spirit onely form without any manner of matter and all the Creatures the further off from him the more matter and the nearer the less For example If ye have observed it Angels are pictured with compleat bodies yet to shew that they are further off from matter then man therefore they have always wings and Archangels they being nearer God then Angels are pictured with bodies cut off by the middle with wings but Cherubims having less matter and nearer God himself then either are pictured oâ—ely with heads and wings but Seraphims being furthest of all from man and nearest of all to God they have no bodies at all but onely represented by a certain yellowish or fiery colour All this is to shew the very same thing that I am now unfolding to you it is a thing remarkable though it may be you have took no notice of it For the present let this be enough to limit our ranging thoughts in these mysteries In man matter prevails above the form because the form is limited and bounded by the matter that though the form be quick and full of agility yet the matter hinders it it cannot do what it would but in these Angels form is predominant over the matter that wheresoever the form would be the matter is obedient Then let us lay this for a ground for a maxime undeniable That all Creatures from the highest to the lowest are to God As a sweet-tuned Instrument They all harmoniously and with a joynt consent Sound forth his praise all the Creatures praise him from the highest and sweetest Treble to the lowest BASE of the immovable Earth they all express and sing aloud aloud and Harmoniously His praise It is the main business all Creatures do and shall do for ever to sing praise and Hallelujah to God on High this is the business the Commission that all these Embassadours are sent about Even the very destruction of evil Angels and wicked men do aloud sound forth his praise and glory for ever and ever Thus this name of Angels hath all this while detained us from answering our question Why God is here called an Angel and likewise in many other places as Iudges 6. It is said an Angel appeared to Gideon and afterwards ver 15. it was the Lord. The reason is this and included in that I have now said If we look upon any one Creature so far forth as it is a Creature it is infinitely short of God for God is nothing that we can see or imagine and therefore as long as you see or imagine any thing you are short of God for as the peace of God passeth all understanding so doth God himself and there is not one Creature but God is the peace thereof For whatsoever it be be it never so glorious and splendent a Creature that falls within the compass I will not say of a mans understanding though the soul be a spiritual and a divine thing but let it be within in the understanding and mind of an Angel above us that same is not nor cannot be but an Angel for God passeth all understanding both of Men and Angels none know what He is but his own Blessed Self Whatever comes within the conception of any created Being that is but a finite thing and falls infinitely short of the infinite God If an Angel should appear to me and tell me that he was God in that I can but either see him or hear him I know forasmuch as I hear him or see him or can imagine him under any form or name or expression that He was but a Creature be it never so high an Angel and if I should fall down and worship Him I were well worthy of blame with S. Iohn who would have fallen down and worshipt that Angel that had shewed him all those things for it is But our fellow-servant though it appear in never somuch glory for all the imaginations of Men and Angels poor drops as they are fall infinitely short of God Almighty But if in any Creature you strip it of all manner of form and imagination and behold God the Essence and Substance thereof as One Infinite Eternal Essence as abstracted from all manner of Creatures then I may with fear and reverence fall down before or take occasion by any Creature to adore God If we can behold God thus then the whole Scripture commands us to praise and magnifie him Then praise him in the Sun and praise him in the Moon Then praise him in â—ll the works of his hands not praise the Sun nor the Moon nor the works of his hands nor any Creature but praise Him As suppose there were a Religion that it were lawful to worship the Sun as I instanced last day if the worshippers should fall down to a bean of the Sun instead of the Sun should not he be an Idolater So he that shall fall down to a beam of the Divinity as included or represented in any Creature doth not he sin But if through that Creature we have recourse onely to him that is in the midst of the bush in the midst of the Creature Seeing God to be the existence and being thereof and fall down before him herein I do no more but that which is commanded If I look through the body of that Creature which body veils God from me then I will praise The High and Holy One in his Holy place then will I praise him in the firmament of his power and in all the work of his hands Then A Gods name praise him in a tree praise him in the wind and in all Creatures for the life of every Creature of every tree is Christ Jesus the Son of God and his first begotten of all his Creatures The power of the wind is Christ Jesus the life of a man is Christ Jesus c. But now if I fall down to a Man or
the same is the Snare Poyson and Death of all Natural men Therefore As All Works before Faith and Regeneration are Sin and Unclean so also To Read the Scriptures to praise God to fast pray and the like and not onely to torture and kill men or to steal and the like for seeing that whatsoever is not of faith is sin and to the Unclean nothing is Clean but they are Reprobate to every good work It must needs follow that all their Seemingly good life exercises and vertues are sin and nothing but dissimulation So God doth often in Scripture reject the Fasts Holidays Sacrifices Prayers Praises Preachings Gifts and Charitable Deeds of the Pharisees as well as the known and gross impieties of the Publicans the wicked words of men and their Violences Usuries Murthers Adulteries Thefts c. Therefore is Regeneration Principally necessary before which All things are alike sin whatsoever thou canst Think Speak Do leave Undone Read Hear Write Give Love Worship Will Know Have or Be for as to them that Love God all things are to their Good so to them that love the world all things are to their Evil yea God himself is to them Perverse contrary and a Devil and his True word is to them hateful and deadly for it is meet that to the froward all things should fall out Untowardly and to them that are Contrary to God all things should be Cross wherefore as they are not Enough so they are not alwayes good those Sayings Fast Pray Give to the Poor Read the Scriptures c. But these before all things Be Regenerated and Born Again of God and his word and then Thou wilt be Fit to do All things which that New-birth will teach thee which Cannot Sin and whatever thy hand shall find to do thou shalt do it Well for God will be present with thee for then thou being Iust shalt do Iust things It is not enough to do a thing but to do it Well else better be idle and leave doing By this means the good deeds which good men do are not rejected but onely the shew and feigning of good deeds which that Herd of Apes do imitate It were expedient indeed to read and hear all things if a man knew how to read or hear but few there are that have the Art of God to hear and read his word and far fewer that can so pierce into this Thorny-thicket that they be not rent and torn Therefore I will not by these my writings scare any man from any right Art of writing learning or reading but do admonish all men to see they use and do all things rightly and first of all in the word of God to grow Fools and Infants and then at the length we shall know how to read do and Use all things profitably and then we may safely Philosophize even in the writings of the Gentiles or any others and like Natural Birds fly among all the boughs and branches not taken whereas before we could not safely be conversant no not in the Sacred Scriptures themselves without eating Death from God and his word Briefly by this you may See the conclusion of the whole business And be it thus determined Onely the Pious and Regenerate man can and doth use All things Well and with pleasure and profit read all Arts and all Heathen Books to him there can be nothing Prohibited or Corrupt He is a certain clean Bee upon what thing soever He Sits He sucks from it meer Honey and Life yea even from Death and Sin Again the old and Natural man which in Scripture is called flesh and blood can use nothing at all well and to him all Arts and all the Nature of things nay the very Scriptures and God Himself and His Word do bring Death and Evil He can neither Do nor Read nor Know any thing Profitably or Pleasing to God He is Abuse and Poyson it self and an Unclean Spider which Siâ— where it will sucks nothing thence but Poyson Sin Death even out of the Scriptures themselves Out of things Well done out of God and His word So it comes to pass that to the wicked all things are deadly and forbidden such as are good deeds to make or hear Sermons to read the Scriptures to do good to the poor to pray to fast and such like as is before said for to the unclean all things are unclean and hurtful so that it cannot be but the things that to the Good are profitable shall be to them Unclean and deadly Briefly the good man in point of God is never at rest till being Entred into God He have lost his own Pleasure Will Act yea Himself and all His things in God so that wanting Sense Will Desire He doth now as the word requires at his hands Covet nothing so that now God in him freely Wills Knows Desires Doth leaves Undone How What Why and to whom he pleaseth Summarily In such a man God hath freely his Will Kingdom Pleasure Place so that he is not now The man he was but is as A dead man who attributes nothing to himself yea so far that God is in him All things God in him Loves Reads Writes Preacheth Gives Prays Hears Knows and is All things and therefore it is that the great God hath determined to Crown own or Reward Nothing in us but His own work the rest which himself in us doth not Know Read Write Do leave Undone Speak Preach Hear Think are Sin and therefore saith St. Paul Now live not I but Christ liveth in me And I dare not Do nor Say anything which Christ doth not Say or Do in me To this Iudge let every man refer all his life he shall then soon find in what estate all his Affairs are and to whose Service he hath addicted himself and offered his members as a living sacrifice Let him observe himself and understand who it is that worketh in him And That he to whom he liveth and beareth fruit His Servant he is Now the fruits of the two Masters are reckoned up in the Epistle to Gal. 5. 22. The fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance c. against such there is no Law and they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit c. I would be glad with all my heart if by the help of God I might have so much power as to drive all natural men from their good Deeds Actions Omissions Life Arts Reading Writings and the rest unto God the True Sabbath that lacking both hands and feet and utterly void of will Art Desire they might keep Holy-day from their own works Truly then God which otherwise goeth not forth in our strength would go forth in them with great strength for indeed God must and will go forth and the time is at hand that the heavens must keep Holy day as it is in that
pious and precious proverb All things must be comprehended and keep Sabbath there must be no going up no running out nor no work done Seeing God desires not Our works but Our Sabbath and that himself in us Free and None Hindring him a MASTER and a GOD may Work Know Love Praise Pray Hear Crown and Reward HIMSELF in us Beloved without all doubt this is the ONE and Onely thing that pleaseth him And he commands All Flesh that in Divine matters it never Stir it self or desire any thing And therefore it is that I in this Book have Robbed man of all and Rejected him with all his Best Ware and most Precious Riches that he had in Divine businesses viz. Of all his Will Knowledge Wisdom Goodness All these must we Unlearn from all these must we Fast and keep Holy-day as from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil from whence Death is eaten And therefore there is in Heaven meer Peace Gladness Felicity as where there are Eternal Sabbaths and no Will but Gods Will Light Knowledge Art Wisdom in all his Saints whereby he doth Illustrate and Enlighten them And Christians do pray in the Lords Prayer that the same thing may be upon earth and that the will of God may be there done as it is in Heaven where no man Doth Wills Knows Speakes any thing but God who will have and in Christ hath Appointed this Sabbath also upon Earth This God grant unto us all Amen A most clear Glass and lovely Example of our Lord Iesus Christ which as he practised in himself so he propounded unto us to be followed and it may serve for an EPILOGUE or Perclose of this Book out of the 106 page of Iohn Taulerus his Works printed at Colen in Folio 1548. VVHosoever desireth to order his life according to the most Acceptable will of God and to be Partaker of his grace without any impediment ought warily to look into this Instruction following of the life of Christ which containeth all good things and to express it in his life and conversation Therefore every good and religious Christian ought in all things and above all things aâ—d at all times with all the strength of his soul in all his thoughts words and works purely to love and intend for God who is the eternal happiness and blessedness of all men as his own Portion which that he may the better do he shall most strictly observe himself within and in silence hearâ— what the Lord saith within him and avoiding all Imployments and Multiplicity he shall rest with God in unity He shall Shut up all his Senses in quietness Continually Praying and Calling upon God His eye being Fixt on him in all his actions He shall enjoy His Presence in every place time and thing He shall be A perpetual inhabitant of himself and shall Especially love Truth of heart and peace of conscience He shall be milde and Humble in heart as well as in word and be Divine and God-like in his life and conversation Taking Patiently All things at the hand of God He shall Praise Thank Honour and intend him in all his works He shall be always Endued with a certain humble Abnegation ordering of himself to what God wils shall submit himself not only to God but to All creatures avoiding those hateful vices Pride Envy Wrath and Arrogancy Moreover perpetually considering and marking the Goodness and Perfection of God He shall wonder and be astonished at the great love and faithfulness of God toward him and contrariwise at his own Unthankfulness and Infidelity judging himself from his heart The Least and Unworthiest of all men He shall more diligently take heed of his own Sense Estimation and of all the wickedness of his nature neither shall he think More of Himself then he hath from or of Himself which is indeed Nothing He shall alwayes take in hand a certain New life and exercise himself in New virtue and in New Truth He shall be Sober and Sparing in words but Plentiful in Holiness of life and shall desire to be Left and Despised of all men as men He shall much weigh Small sins and shall think The least defect not light He shall take so great care of Himself that he be never frustrated of the presence of God in his soul and that other men may be by him provoked to better things he shall do all his works in the most Perfect manner and shall Satisfie those things which he comprehends in his understanding He shall by his good will do nothing in this life to repent of hereafter He shall have In daily Adversity either within him or without him perpetual patience and in continual Multiplicity A Recollected mind he shall not 〈◊〉 either to Have or to Will any thing Proper in this world but be ready to distribute to others wants nor to have any Election oâ— Choise in things but receive thankfully The goodwill of His Father in every thing He shall admit nothing within himself but God continually He shall diligently Eschew and withdraw himself from all men as men and shall preserve himself Naked and Free from all Inwardly-received Images and his soul Untangled from all Accidents whatsoever that he may continually receive The Influence of His Heavenly Father into his soul. He shall often behold and Exercise himself in the Most worthy Life and Example of our Lord Jesus Christ As in a glass considering well How like or unlike He is unto Him and He shall in himself give an Ensample and Testimony to all men Of A Better life then This He shall be True in all his words Religious and Mature in His conversation He shall contemplate His beginning and Original From whence He and All things flowed forth and shall Strive with all diligence To return into the same again Finally tending diligently What He is whether He Ought what He Doth and for What cause he doth every thing and shall most constantly persevere in virtue and truth even unto Death And all this not by any power of his own but by Christ He alone Working all these things in him and not Himself nor Any His own Industry or Acquiring Another short Instruction taken from the same place in Iohn Taulerus his works pa. 107. VVE shall most certainly Attain The Various and Numerous exercises of this Book yea whatsoever can be written of a Perfect and Divine-like Life viz. by this means if we withdraw our selves from the love of all frail and mortal things if we study to attain an humble Resignation and inward Nakedness and embrace Onely God by faith and love in the bosom of our souls and hide our selves wholly with our Souls Spirit Body Heart and Senses in his Most Holy Humanity and labour by a certain lively imitation to become comformable thereunto and Finally by His life and merits Inhere and cleave continually and perpetually to his Divinity Whoâ—oever is enabled by Jesus Christ to do These things doth doubtless Obtain all
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