Physick and to them Christ becometh a Physician Luke 5.31 by the shedding of his blood or love out of the Divine nature into these Soules by vertue of which they come to be restored to health Secondly His blood issuing out of the Divine Nature becometh purifying and purgeth the soul from that which is the cause of all its diseases and pain viz. sin and selfness for that is the cause of all sorrow and where this love of God or blood of the Divine Nature is shed in the hearts there sin becometh purged out by the power of faith which worketh by love And this faith God useth as an instrument in the purging by love which made the Apostle say that God put no difference between the Gentile and the Jew purifying their hearts by faith Acts 15.9 Now this faith is always accompanied with suffering as in nature purging is some cause of pain but this faith which is grounded in love overcometh the World with all the glory thereof 1 Joh. 5.4 And it beareth up the heart in all afflictions and tribulations making one vertue to arise out of another as tribulation begetteth patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in your hearts Rom. 5.4 5. So as the soul is purged from sin both in affection and action so is the conscience purged from its blindness by which it kept the soul in bondage to outward actings and the captivity of weak ordinances which cause the soul to look at Christ in a fleshly way and in its blindness tormented the soul when it would not know Christ so and the truth of this purging the Apostle witnesseth as you may see in Heb 9.14 And whosoever hath this love of God or blood of the Divine Nature shed in their hearts the vertue thereof doth ingraft that soul into Christ in his Divine Nature by the way of pure loving and pure beleeving as the Branch into the Vine and every branch so ingrafted into him and bearing fruit in him he purgeth and maketh it bring out more fruit Joh. 15.2 Thirdly The property of this blood of the Divine Nature is to comfort and revive the soul for whom and in whom it is shed for when the soul hath undergone the bitterness of purging out of sin by way of affliction and have passed through all the sorrows and sufferings of death devil and hell whereby the powers of the soul became much weakned and the heart broken to peeces c. then by the vertual property of this blood the spirit is revived and comforted as may be seen Isai 61.1 2 3 c. And this was that water that Christ spake of to the woman of Samaria John 4.10 And thus his blood becometh drink indeed John 6.55 And who so eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood in this manner live in the Divine Nature of Christ and Christ by the Divine Nature dwelleth in that soul and such a soul shall not see death Iohn 8.51 But whoso eateth or drinketh the Body and Blood of Jesus any other way the same becometh a stumbling block to them and as the effect of Wine is to hurt and breed ill humor and dazel the brain when it is not taken in moderation with wisdom in its vertual properties but when mens lust causeth them to drink the same then do they befool themselves in it for want of wisdom and so thereby they oft become to be made weak and sickly yea and many are brought to death thereby Even so the Blood of Christ being drunk in a wrong sence viz. by way of the Historical faith which looketh upon Christ in the flesh and making applications of what he suffered in the flesh and so taketh the efficacy from the Divine Nature and giveth the same to the humane or corporal nature This Faith or looking upon or eating or drinking of his flesh and blood becometh to work no other work in these souls but onely keepeth lust sin or selfness alive and so by this false faith Christ is made the cloak of sin and the Minister thereof Gal. 2.14 And because the sons of men have neither wills nor wisdom to examine themselves in this very thing therefore much weakness is in their understanding that they cannot know the truth as it is in Jesus and much weakness is in their wills in fighting against sin and therefore that sin being unpurged out it becometh cause of much sickness viz. the soul having an issue of blood because the veins thereof is loosened and so it is carried out to love seek and live in created or things acted and by this means such sickness if not cured bringeth death And this was the very thing that the Apostle Paul would have the people to take heed of when they were to observe this Type 1 Cor. 9.28 c. But for the matters in this Type I will let them pass with these small hints and will proceed and speak a word of the manner of this Type or the Form Christ used therein viz. He took bread and blessed it and brake it c. By which blessing is to be understood sanctifying which holds out the power and vertue of the God-head in it self which vertue and power was in himself and by the same he sanctified himself Ioh. 19.17 by which he blesseth and sanctifieth all who live in him and he in them and in this case he is our sanctification 1 Cor. And likewise he brake the bread breaking being the parting of a thing into peeces whereby many may be partakers of the same which holdeth out the fulness and wholeness of the Divine Nature which doth freely and liberally disperse it self into several particulars that many may be made partakers thereof not that the Divine Nature is or can be parted or divided in itself no more then the Sun in the Firmament which remaineth whole in it self yet all are partakers of the light and heat thereof So the Divine Nature is whole and undividable in it self but by its fulness doth fill so many particular Creatures and herein standeth the division in respect of the corporallity of the Creature and the fulness of the Divine Nature is whole in it self and by its fulness and freeness doth fill all particular souls And this truth Iohn Baptist verifieth where he saith Of his fulness have we all received c. Iohn 1.16 And the fulness of the Divine Nature issuing out of it self into any soul doth draw the same into its own nature whereby the same is made fit to live in the same nature and by the living in it that soul becometh rooted and grounded in the same whereby it is made able to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth and length height and depth c. And so becometh to be filled with all the fulness of God Eph. 3.17 18 c. And when he had shewed the Disciples the freeness of the fulness of the Divine Nature breaking
them before others insomuch that some may judge them to have received something of God but yet this is but the proper work of wit which hath power to metamorphise man into any shape which it conceiveth to be most in fashion and wherein most safety seems to be But others amongst you I know that their pride and malice is so great that they will beat down truth both with word and sword and their zeal is so great for the advancing of the glory of God that they will both preach pray and fight against the truth and by all means seek to devour and destroy all persons in whom the truth appears But it is no marvel for truth always found many enemies amongst men but especially among Priests in all ages and it will be so as long as the order of Priests is in date Yet I confess though your coming into the Ministry be absolutely against the minde and command of God as was the first order of Kings in Israel and that God hath winked at you above thirteen hundred years and suffered you to come into the Ministry by the ordinance of man yet as God owned some of the Kings in Israel so I make no doubt but that God hath owned some amongst you but yet I beleeve Solomons account may be their number and those amongst you whom God hath owned or to this day do own they are made to see and confess the emptiness of their wits and schollarship in the understanding of the minde and will of God and findeth their art learned in the Universities to be one of the greatest enemies against the truth of God the which they have to deal withal and they can speak by experience that Universitie learning is but a meer cheat and a foolish thing to make a right Minister of the word of truth and so is made to renounce all the curiositie of art and schollarship And as they have received the truth from the Fountain of truth so are they made to speak and these souls cannot envy any man in whom the truth is but rejoyceth to see them and hear them speak and accounteth them as the Ministers of God though they were never put to the Holy Universitie for the same spirit proceeding from the same Fountain maketh no difference and these men accounteth it their joy to be in the societie of people who be experienced and they seek no Lordship over the people nor are they so hungry hearted after Tithes and great Benefice but can rather condescend to work with their own hands for their Bread But I beleeve you have not many of these amongst you for the curse hath covered the faces of the most of you in your generation under which you are close sealed from the right knowledge of truth and can no more beleeve your deceit then the Apostle Paul before his Conversion But seldom doth God execute justice upon any people before he give them warning of their sin and after that a time to repent But who is it that dare bring such a Message from the Lord as shall declare the iniquitie of the Priests and give them warning to repent and forsake their sin and falshood and foretel them of their destruction if they repent not Who I say dare be so bold as proclaim such a thing seeing the Authority of Nations stands for them and accounteth them men worthy of honor and sit men for the promulgating of the Gospel and most of the people esteem them little less then gods yea and themselves account themselves the onely men fit to be forewarners and instructers of all others May not such a one as bringeth such a sad Message to them expect to be envied and evil spoken of yea and persecuted to death I know the man that shall be sent with this Message cannot escape no more shall I for when first the Lord put this into my heart the which my Pen hath put down in these lines I was very unwilling to yeeld obedience thereunto because my Reason set before mine eyes the great hazard I should run if I should meddle in any such thing but the Lord would not suffer me to be quiet until I undertook this Message and better had I abide your fury and the displeasure of all men then to be disobedient to the voice of the Lord And as the Lord liveth in me my malicious part hath not caused me to write these lines though you may so judge of me for I protest in the presence of God I unfainedly wish all your good and should very much rejoyce to know of your repentance and should no less be heartily sorry for your destruction if I should live to see it For that which I have received of God teacheth me to love all men and wish well to all men and I am glad at the welfare of all men and cannot but be sorry at the suffering of any though he be my greatest enemy and would lend him my help if I could do him any good if he came into distress either of body or minde Therefore my spirit being free I hope to bear all that any of you shall either inflict upon my name or person and though you shall hate me yet I cannot chuse but love you as you are my fellow Creatures and of the same flesh and blood with me And my advice to you is that you slight not these lines but search your own hearts and if the light of God go along with you you shall finde that I have not wronged you at all for what I here declare unto you shall be found true either to convince you or to be a witness against you But my Friends I would have you to know that I have not said the tenth part of what I have committed to me to speak concerning you for I have been as much sparing as possible I could be in what I had to declare to you and if this my first Message be slighted by you and return upon my self it is very possible it will draw out a fivefold heavier message with it but I will not be too tedious at present If I may pray for you I wish that God would open your eyes and make sensible your hearts that you might be acquainted with the great Mystery of sin and selfness in you and out of the true knowledge and right sence thereof that you may be made fit to discover the mysterie of sin and selfness in all other And that you may be rightly made partakers of the mystery of the Divine Nature that from the enjoyment thereof you may be made able to know and comprehend with all Saints what is the height and depth c. And to know the fellowship of the love of God which passeth knowledge that so you may be able to hold out to others the mysterie therein contained and then shall you be acquainted with the Will and Minde of God and what you know that shall you speak and then you should see that
our power is terrible as an Army with Banners against all who will not worship God in our way For our way of worship is the onely way of worship in all the world and all other are but erring Sects We helped both with our Prayers Blood and Purses to overthrow the whore of Rome and the King and his wicked rabble but now far worse is risen up in their place and by those we be more perplexed then ever for they have taken away our power by which we upheld the Faith and so are become into a very ill condition for we are no more but a mock amongst the people and we stand but as cyphers nay which is worst of all many of our own Faith declineth from us and adhereth to these new-come Sects And thus the pure Church becometh rent in peeces and all is because we want our power to compel and to execute justice upon the opposers but seeing it is so we will wait with patience for this is but the tryal of the Church for we know that hereafter our God will deliver us for although these things be faln upon us yet have we not departed from the way of our God nor dealt unfaithfully in his Covenant nay we appeal to our God for witness who knoweth our hearts that we keep close to our Religious worshipping of him for neither do we allow of any to be our Pastors but such as have come in by the right door men chosen of God made fit by the godly Universities confirmed by the approbation and laying on of the hands of our holy Presbytery and such we receive according to their worth and these and none other can speak the Language of Christ to us and with them we joyn in hearing them both Preach and Pray and in the holy Sacraments in which we have our Faith confirmed to our souls finding them very much comforted thereby so that we are made able to walk in holiness of life and perform all holy duties to our God and he in his loving kindness answers us again in giving us his holy Spirit to inspire us and by that Spirit we are made sure of our Salvation and know that we are elected from eternity and by that Spirit we call God Father and Christ our Brother and Mediator and in this we rejoyce continually walking in the ways of our God in holy life and Christian conversation making our calling and election sure by well-doing Hearing this voice I mused a little and thought in my self there is an appearance of some godliness here I will hold my hand and not shoot at such a holy object as this before I very well understand the truth of the matter for said I it is not for me to shoot out this Arrow but against them that God aimeth it for and those be such as are his enemies therefore I will consider a little and see what the minde of the Lord is before I let out this Arrow But not long had I considered hereupon till there was brought before my sight the object that had thus spoken and it seemed in appearance no less then what was expressed by the voice and me-thought there was much of God in it For it had a godly garb upon it a fair covering it was to look upon wrought with divers works and variety of colours all of them seeming to be dyed in grain and well-grounded So drawing somewhat nearer to behold this comly Garment the nearer I came to it the worse it seemed and in the skirts of it I espied much blood And I likewise saw that all the various work was but a gloss set on by the cunning of some witty Painter who had been very cunning in that art But while I was looking there was a voice said Look what thou seest under and within that garb and so the garb was somewhat drawn aside and under it I saw a monstrous Creature which is called Self and this Monster had as many heads and horns as the Beast which John saw in the Revelation And this Monster was closed fast to the heart and kept it under its power and captivity I saw also other Beasts with divers heads and horns and I saw several Epithites engraven upon these heads as namely Cruelty Blood-shedding Persecution Pride Love of the World Love of praise Love of honor Envy Anger Impatience Murmuration Hatred toward God and his people Hard-heartedness Carnal-mindedness Ignorance of God Self-conceitedness Good thinking c. And out of and from amongst these I saw a chain come from the Monster called Self and it reached out to the fair seeming Garment and kept the garment fast about these other Beasts so that they could not be discovered and this chain consisted of five links viz. False Faith false Love and false Hope and false fear of God and false-feeling of inward Joy and the name of that chain was called Hypocrisie And I saw one of the Beasts before said and he was like a Leopard and his name was Self-wisdom and I saw another of these Beasts and he was like a Dragon and his name was Self-power And I saw another of these Beasts and he was somewhat seemlier then the rest having two horns like a Lamb and his name was called Self-righteousness And these three I saw in Unity consulting together and I heard their consultation and it was against the most high God and against his own people And I saw the work they wrought and all their work was to make Robes and Garbs to hide themselves under them and so I saw how they had wrought this Garment aforesaid and the stuff they used in making it for it was made of ten several mixtures viz. Sanctifying the Sabbath hearing of their Minister Praying two times each day refraining from gross acting keeping from the company of the wicked assembling together to repetitions receiving the thing they call a Sacrament otherwise called Bread and Wine Lords Supper or the some small charity to those they call godly turning up their outward eyes towards the Element in their devotion reproving of other who worship not God in these things And all these are mixt together and made up very handsomly by and with a work-tool viz. Seeming zeal for the glory of God And I saw who helped to put this Garment on and he had a look as though he had been sore frighted and seemed as one who was not a very wise one and his name was called Conscience And I saw a Girdle that kept that Garment close to them that wore it and that was called Fear of Hell And on this Garment I saw a badge or mark as though it had been the Livery of some great man and his arms engraven therein and in that badge there was this Epithite engraven viz. The Saints sign and this was called Baptism And I saw an hollow Pipe that was fastned to this Garment and that went inward and the end that went inward and reached to the mouth of the frighted
confirmed and strengthened thus you have wrested the command of Christ herein to the end he never aymed it for for in this your doing you differ not from the Papists themselves in the substance of this thing only you differ in the circumstances and that is all for they pretend they eate the Body and Bloud of Christ substantially and by so doing they say they live in Christ and he liveth in them thereby and you say in this you eate him Spiritually and by so doing you live in him and he in you and that you have your faith much confirmed to you in this your act O poore blinded fooles you are herein misled by your blinde Priests for this is but one of their owne precepts by which they have undone you for they have played the Mountebankes with you herein and have made you beleeve lyes for truth for this your act doth not at all confirme your faith in case you have faith but I will tell you true what you have confirmed viz. conceit or fancy and no more I shall prove it true whether you will beleeve me or no for there is nothing that doth confirme faith but that same that giveth faith but no act of the Creature giveth or createth faith or maketh faith to grow in the heart of any man and the giving and receiving of Bread and Wine is but an act of the Creature which is within the compasse of its owne power to doe or not to doe this I thinke you will confesse and if this act had that vertue in it to give faith who would want faith but I thinke you are not yet so farre blinde as to say plainly that faith is given to any by vertue of this act but yet you may as well say that faith is given thereby as say that faith is confirmed thereby for the giving faith and confirming of faith is both from one and the same fountaine and God himselfe is the Giver of faith as you may see Eph. 2.8 then if God be the Giver of faith he is also the confirmer of it without the acts of the Creature and this truth the Apostle affirmeth to the Corinthians and thanketh God on their behalfe for the graces given them of him whereby the testimony of Jesus Christ was confirmed in them and that they waited for a further manifestation of Christ who should confirme them to the end that they might be kept blamelesse 1 Cor. 1.5 6 7 8 9. and as God in and by his Son Jesus is both the giver and confirmer of faith so by him he alwayes upholdeth the soule in faith whensoever it hath need of the operation of the same for he is both the beginning and the ending of faith yea the author and finisher of faith Heb. 12.2 And this the Disciples knew when they said Lord increase our faith Luke 17.5 And it was Christ himself that strengthned Peters faith Luke 22.32 By all which you may see plainly that the receiving of Bread and Wine is not faith confirmed strengthned or compleated for you are but in blindness in this your affirmation But I would have you to know wherein you are blinded if perhaps you might hereafter grope after the truth For though this your act be a command of Christ himself yet I would have you to know the minde of the Commander in the putting out of the command for he put not out this command thereby to detract from him what did belong to himself and in this you affirm you detract from him and give that to the acting in the command and herein you transgress But to tell you the minde of Christ in this command I would have you to take notice of his own words and let them not be wrested by your wit and you shall know that he gave out this command for no other thing but for a help of the weak memory of men who are very subject to forget the love of their dearest friends in a little time after they be departed from them yea your own experience will tell you the truth of this that after the death and departure of your dearest friends how that a very short time will wear the thoughts of them out of your memory And so some dear loving friend at his death will leave a Ring or some other token of love to his beloved friend or friends and bid him remember him when he looketh upon the same the which beholding doth raise or renew fresh thoughts of his deceased friend and so becometh the weak forgetful memory to be strengthned Even for this very end did Christ leave his Disciples that command that in the observing of the same they should keep him their dear loving Master still in their memory and think of him when his bodily presence was taken from them and that they in the remembring of him should think of his example of life and walk accordingly in all his other commands the which he had enjoyned them and in the keeping of these his commands they should be known to be his Disciples and should live in him and he in them and that they should have communion with him and the Father and likewise he tells them how the world would hate and persecute them and kill them with many other exhortations to them and commands given them before his departure after he had left them this love-token of remembrance as you may see in Luke 22.19 For Jesus knew after he was gone from them that they should have many temptations and tryals whereby they should be much troubled and therefore he would have them to keep him still in memory for if such things were done to the green Tree what would be done to the dry Trees Luke 23.31 But yet I know you may object and say that there is something more included in this command because of the act and the other words spoken by Christ when he gave out this command It is true for as in the time of the Law there was in their sacrifices things killed and offered which was Types of the first appearance of Christ in the Humane nature and the life of Christ in the Humane nature and the death of Christ in the Humane nature and the Resurrection of Christ c. So in this act of Christ there is a Type also in which there is something typified In which Type there is these things to be observed First The time Secondly The matter Thirdly The manner And fourthly The end First for the time It was at the very same time of the Jews Passoever which was to be kept in their generation until the death of Christ which Passoever was instituted before the death of the first-born in Egypt and this was the preservation of the children of Israel from that death so that where the blood of the Pascal Lamb was on the posts of the door there the destroyer had no power and by the slaying of the first-born in Egypt Pharaoh and his people was constrained to let
Israel go And this Passover was kept of the Jews for a memorial of what was done and at the very time of the Jews keeping this Passover it was that Jesus instituted this Type which Type holdeth out a more clear beholding of himself to the world then the other Type of the Passover did for that Type of the Jews Passover was but as a shadow whereby to know the substance and a shadow is but a dark representation of a thing and so this dark shadow was to be done away that the Image is a clearer representation of the substance then the shadow and yet both the shadow and the image are but representations of the substance the one more clearer then the other the darker done away and the clearer established And this was one reason why Christ instituted this Type or Image at that time that after he was departed the sons of men might have a more clear sight of him after his appearing in the flesh then they had before for then they lived under the shadow or dark representation but now under the Gospel we have the Image or clearer representation as you may see Heb. 11.1 Likewise at the time of the institution of this Passover God had a marvellous work to do viz. To bring the Israelites out of Egypt from under the bondage of Pharaoh and the Egyptians so at this very time of Christs instituting of this Type God had a wondrous work to do viz. To bring the souls of believers out of the captivity of the Devil Sin Death and Hell for after the death of the Paschal Lamb the first-born of Pharaoh and all Egypt were slain and so their proud hearts were made to stoop So by the death of Christ the first-born of the Devil viz. Sin was destroyed and Death and Hell conquered and so a way was made for all souls to come out of their captivity for sin is the first-born childe of the devil his beloved and his power and strength For this is a truth in nature that the first-born is the strength and power and dignity of the Parents as Jacob saith to Reuben his first-born Gen. 49.3 So sin being the first-born childe of the devil therein consisteth his power and strength and when this is slain then is he overcome and so death being the childe of sin loseth his power for as sin is the first-born of the devil so death is the first-born of sin for death is brought out by sin Jam. 1.15 And as death is the first born of sin so Hell is the first-born of death and alway follows its father Revel So all these first-born were to be destroyed by another first born and that was Jesus the first-born of God a Type of whom we have in the Levitical Law by the first-born of all things which should be called holy to the Lord Numb 3.13 And as this first born Son or Lamb of God overcame the Devil Sin Death and Hell by himself so that they had no power over him so by the same power he overcometh all these for those who are the true followers of him in his life and example obeying his commands and taking up his cross and bearing it to the very death those shall know the power and vertue of his life death and resurrection and shall live with him in the union of the Father and when he instituted this Type he would have them to remember this whensoever they would do the like Likewise as the first-born of Pharaoh and Egypt were slain so on the contrary the poeple of Israel was saved from the power of the destroyer by the efficacy of the blood of the Paschal Lamb where it was sprinkled upon the two side posts and the lintel of the gate viz. The Will the Understanding and the Conscience the Noble Faculties of the soul for as the two posts and the lintel do differ in their property yet in close joyning together they make but one so in their properties they may be distinguished but in unity they are not distinguishable And these three in their distinct properties being sprinkled by the blood of the Lamb the destroyer viz. the justice of God can have no power to enter to destroy any of the Inhabitants contained within the habitation of that minde viz. Faith Hope and Love c. In case that none of the Inhabitants went out of door beyond the sprinkled post and to the very same purpose our Saviour gave command to abide in him Joh. 15 4. for herein is the safety of the soul with all its affections c. And this blood of the Lamb being sprinkled upon the posts as before said is the mark or sign of Gods sanctification or setting that soul apart in the more noble parts until he have executed justice of and upon the world flesh and devil death sin and hell who have their habitation in the inferior parts of the soul viz. the sensuality and the reason and imagination which by their great power have kept the inhabitants of the noble part in bondage But to illustrate a little more the sprinkling of the two side posts and the lintel in their threefold property I will shew you how the Scripture in other places pointeth at them and first for the property of the one post and its sprinkling viz. the Conscience First for its property As the one post of the gate having hinges whereupon the one leaf of the gate is hung so that thereby it hath the glibness to open and shut so the Conscience hath two hinges viz. the outward teachings and the inward dictates of God upon which the one leaf of the gate hangeth viz. the fear of God And the understanding as the other post hath other two hinges on which the other leaf hangeth and these two hinges is true wisdom and right knowledge upon which the other leaf hangeth viz. the pure desire of God and these two leaves being close shut and safely kept together the adversary hath less power to enter But these two posts are not fit for the bearing of the two leaves of the gate until the lintel couple them together So neither the Conscience nor the Understanding can be suitable for carrying the fear and desire of God in their right order until the will with its property yeilding obedience in its ghostly acting bee conjoyned to both and so when all their threefold properties meet in union then are the two leaves of the gate hung in right order Now to come to the sprinkling of the first side post viz. the Conscience As for Conscience before it be sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb it is but the leader of men into error as well as into truth as may be seen in the Apostle who by and through the leading thereof persecuted the Saints And likewise the Scribes and Pharisees that put Christ to death and though man have never so much zeal for God yet his conscience not struck or sprinkled all his works is but sin and dead
works and this made the Apostle Paul write the same truth as in Heb. 9.14 And while any mans heart or will yeeldeth obedience to such a conscience all his obedience is evil because his conscience is evil Heb. 10.22 And so long as man findeth any life in these conscientious walkings he hath but besprinkled his conscience with the blood of Bulls and Goats and his own mark is upon the post and saveth himself from the destroyer as he thinketh But the conscience being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus then doth man truly know himself to be a sinner and by that blood his peace and safety is to be procured and full wel knoweth that all his good actings are as bad as his evil actings And from hence it cometh to pass that sin becometh to be out of measure sinful and by this means all the bloody offerings and sprinkling of his own conscience becometh to be rubbed off and blotted out and then the blood of the Lamb becomes to be sprinkled upon the conscience whereby the same hath no power to condemn This made the Apostle say there was no condemnation to those that were in Christ c. Rom. 8.1 Secondly the understanding as holden out by the other side post before it be sprinkled with the bloud of the Lamb is but darke in the conceiving of truth and in its darknesse mans Conscience cannot give out right commands to the heart or will for the right command of the Conscience proceedeth from the purenesse of the understanding and the understanding being darke how great is that darknesse Luke 11.35 and while man walketh in this darknesse he is deceived himselfe and deceiveth others also his condition being nothing else but deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3.13 yea stumbleth and falleth and knoweth not whereupon Prov. 4.19 But when man once knoweth his darknesse then doth he cry after wisdome and knowledge and seeketh them more then silver and then it is that the Lord sendeth his Angel to seale or set a marke on the forehead of such a soule before the destroying Angels worke their worke Revel 7.2 viz. To give man the right knowledg and understanding of the great Mystery both of sinne and godlinesse and by that the destroyer is kept out for then he is that wise man that fore-seeth the evill and hideth himselfe Prov. 22.23 and when the eyes of the understanding are opened the soul is sealed with the character of wisdome and all this is by the bloud of the Lamb which is that eye-salve spoken of in Revel 3.18 and where the understanding is thus marked then the soule can truly see Christ and close with him in the propitiation of his Blood but not before But the sprinkling of the lintel which holdeth out the heart or will is that which keepeth all together and maketh the safety compleat for it is the sealing of the heart by the Blood of the Lamb that bringeth the soule into the union of the Father and then is it with all the affection kept in under the wings of the Almighty and then is the Blood of the Lambe rightly sprinkled upon the intellectuall powers of the soule viz. the Conscience understanding and the will and fitly framed and being so marked with the sprinkles of the Blood the destroyer passeth over and the sprinkling of the Blood in this manner doth bring us out of all danger of ghostly enemies so that our soules passe safely out of Aegypt from the bondage of Pharaoh and the Aegyptians and over the red Sea through the Wildernesse into the Land of rest and this the Apostle affirmeth where he saith We are not come to Mount Sina c. but we are come to the Mount Sion c. And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things for us then the blood of Abel Heb. 12.18 19 c. And of this our Saviour made a promise to his Disciples that they should live in the union of him and the Father Job 17.24 And the truth of this Promise they were all partakers of for having their understanding sprinkled marked clensed or made pure by the Blood of the Lamb thereby they were made able to see and understand the truth as it was in Jesus and by the cleare vision of that Light their Consciences being purified by the same Blood did beare witnesse to the truth of that Light and their hearts being sprinkled by the same Blood it was freed from the power of Sin and Death and errours of an evill Conscience Heb. 10 22. and did enjoy the vertue of that Light so that the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts whereby they were made able to love one another and thus it was they became freed from sinne both in the understanding in the Conscience and in the will and this made the Apostle Iohn say that the blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all sinne 1 Ioh. 1.7 And when our Saviour instituted this Type hee would have them to remember and not to forget what was to be fulfilled in them by the power and efficacy of his Blood but I feare your understanding is too weak to conceive any further explaining of the Mystery of the second Type instituted by Christ else I would have proceeded further in laying open more in this particular therefore I give you but these short touches and glimpses that thereby you may somewhat grope after the great Mystery herein contained So I will proceed and give you some glimpse of the manner of the preparation of the Passeover in its signification for the Paschall Lamb was not to be eaten raw nor to be sodden in water but to be roasted with fire Exod. 12.9 Now I would have you to understand the Mystery in water upon this occasion and why the Lamb was not to be sodden therein First Water in its signification here pointeth out the overflowing of Sin and Lust which compasseth about the Soule and by the out-breaking of its flouds the Soule becometh in danger of drowning and David knew this when he prayed to God to deliver him out of the deep waters Psa 69.14 15. Likewise water is unstable which signifieth the unconstancy of man in Nature and how subject to waver and turne from one sinne to another and how easily to be drawne to all iniquity and this made Iacob use these words to Reuben unstable as water c. Gen. 49.4 Likewise water is but weake yet of a destroying nature when man is over-head in it for there is no hold to be taken of it whereby man can save himselfe so is sinne a weake deliverer when the soule is in the depth of it for there is no hold to bee taken by it whereby the soule can save it selfe but rather to be drowned in the depth thereof Likewise whatsoever is sodden in water it looseth part of the vertue thereof for the water draweth part of the vertue into its selfe Under these considerations
speaking only of the time when Christ instituted this Type so I will goe on a little and speake a word of the matter in this Type As for the matter you know it was the elementary things viz. Bread and Wine and the Bread was such as the Passeover was kept with viz. unleavened Bread which was not made by Art or had any mixture of bitternesse or sournesse in it but had all the sweetnesse that the nature of the graine afforded as for Bread it is to be understood in its originall community and properties First for the Originall it is of the vigour and vertuall strength of the earth which doth give and communicate it self into the Grain cast into it whereby the same receiveth life and so is brought out and brought on still to its maturity and fitnesse for the use of man Secondly for its community as the Grain by being cast into the earth and lying in the wombe thereof the earth communicateth its vigour and strength into it so the Bread being cast into the stomack it doth communicate the same vigour received from the earth into the corporality of the fleshly substance of man and so by way of communication the body hath its support from its originall viz. the earth And Thirdly the properties of Bread is to give life and strength and keep away weaknesse and death from the body and this Bread Christ made choyse of to typifie what was the vertue of himselfe and therefore he said by way of Metaphor This is my Body c. Now the Body of Christ typified by Bread was not that corporall Body which was then visible amongst them neither was it that Body that he bad them eate for that corporall Body of Christ it selfe was but a Type and whatsoever he acted or suffered in that Body were al typical having them a in spirituall signification and Christ himselfe witnesseth the truth when he said he would give the Disciples his Flesh to eate which saying was a stumbling block to many that heard him which when he perceived he told them plainly That his Flesh viz. his corporall Body did not profit but it was the Spirit that quickeneth and that the words he spake they were spirit and life Ioh. 6.63 So here is to be understood Christ in the Spirituall substance and not in the Corporal and this Spirituall substance is the Divine Nature which hath in it selfe these things typified by the Bread viz. it s originall from the Father and of the same nature and substance with him oned with him in unity as the Graine is one with the earth and of the same nature and substance not differing in community but they differ in matter and likenesse in the coporality so Christ and the Father are distinct in respect of the matter and likenesse in the corporality viz. the Flesh while he lives in it but did not differ from the Father in union as himselfe faith Ioh. 14.11 which unity consisteth of the originall communion in the eternal substantiality of the being of God and from the eternall substantiall and essentiall being or Divine nature proceedeth these properties held out to us by the Bread viz. to strengthen and give life and to keep weaknesse and death from the soules of those who have the Divine nature in them and such soules by the community and vertue of the same nature become incorporated into the union of the Father and these Souls by the properties of the Divine nature or Spirit brought into the same substance of its originall and receiveth all its vertue and nutriment from the same as the branch doth from the Vine Ioh. 15.1 2 3. and as that Bread had no Leaven mixed in it so the Divine nature hath no mixture in it but what is in it selfe and will not admit of any Leaven viz. any of the Creatures Art Wisdome Righteousnesse c. and this was the Leaven Christ bad his Disciples beware of Matth. 16 6. and the Soules of men becometh to be made partakers of the Divine nature by way of pure beleeving which ariseth out of the operation of Divine nature it selfe and not out of the observation of the Type for that is but Historicall and looketh upon Christ in the Human Nature and this is but the faith of Hypocrites and that will perish Iob 8.13 but the faith which is of the operation of the Divine nature is that which overcometh the world 1 Ioh. and by it the soule liveth and abideth in the Divine nature it selfe and thereof is made partaker and in this respect the Divine nature typified by Christs flesh becometh to be meat indeed Io. 6. and this would Christ have his followers to know and live in and thus would he have them to discerne him and understand his saying and what he meant when he said This is my Body c. and because the Corinthians were blinde in the mysterie therefore the Apostle Paul blamed them much and giveth them a caveat of the unworthy and not right eating of that Bread c. and how that not right eating did indanger them much because they in their eating did not discerne the Lords Body 1 Cor. 11.29 Likewise for the other Elementary matter viz. Wine its originall is from the earth which giveth life and nutriment to the Vine whereby the fruit is brought out to maturity out of which the Wine is produced and the properties of the Wine is Paysicall purifying and refreshing being seasonably taken but on the contrary it is damageable and hurtfull and this fruit of the Vine Christ used in this Type because of the sympathizing properties thereof with the properties of his owne Blood now the Blood of Christ is to be understood in a twofold sence viz. Typicall and Spirituall typicall in the blood of the corporall flesh which was shed or let out upon the Crosse but in this his corporall Blood was no more vertue then was in the corporall flesh and that profiteth nothing being but a Type but that Blood which is saving is spirituall issuing out of the Divine nature of Christ and that is his love and this love is the life of Christ and blood signifieth life as you may see Gen. 9.4 5. and this blood or love of Christ which proceedeth or is shed out of the Divine nature of his spirituall substance hath these properties in it viz. Physicall purifying and refreshing first Physicall for those soules who have had the same issuing out of the Divine nature into them knoweth that they have been recovered of divers Diseases by the same which diseases is the bitter tormentings of the guilty Conscience who keepeth the Soule in great paine under the lashes of Justice and under the shadow of death and under the bondage of the Devill and under the paine of Hell all these being of power to torment while the hand writing of Ordinances is unblotted by the same blood or love of Christ and those soules who are Soule-sick under these stands in need of
out or darting it self into each several soul typified to them by that form of breaking the bread Then he gave the same to them that they might eat it and told them in a mystical sence that it was his body that was broken for them as is partly shewed before And this form in the Type instituted had a sympathizing with and to that Type of his corporal body ready to be sacrificed and rent in peeces upon the cross till its coporal life was taken from it which holdeth out the renting to peeces the body of sin in us and the death of the same upon the cross of self-denial which is holden out by the form and manner of eating eating signifieth brusing or suffering being typified by the bitter herbs in eating the Paschal Lamb For as eating bruiseth and maketh the thing eaten to be fit for digestion whereby the same is turned into the same substance of flesh So afflictions and sufferings maketh us partakers with Christ and of Christ and to drink of the same Cup and to be baptized with him into his death and by the vertue thereof the body of sin becometh destroyed Rom. 6.2 3 4. And this Christ would have them to know when he commanded them to eat that bread that as in eating it they bruised it in peeces so it was that body of sin in them that was the cause why the justice of his Father bruised and brake his corporal Body and to be avenged of that body of sin in them he would make them partakers of the Divine Nature and that was by way of suffering whereby that body of sin should be destroyed And that in these afflictions the pure believing might be raised in the soul that thereby the Divine Nature might be made suitable for digestion and so turned into the nature of the soul and the soul into its nature by vertue of the blood or love of the same nature that so he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified may be one Heb. 2.11 Likewise the manner or form in this Type was further viz. in taking the Cup and giving of thanks and bidding them drink it c. As for giving thanks it is a well-pleasingness in the soul with what God doth or will do with it and a free submitting to the Fathers will wherein his goodness is made manifested whereat and wherein the soul rejoyceth under any affliction and so it was that Christ rejoyced in what was the will of his Father and in obedience to his will he was willing to lay down his life and by this he shewed to his Disciples what he would have them to do when like afflictions should betide them and those who were his followers in whom the Divine Nature was livingly felt and by its vertue had dashed in peeces the body of sin and by the blood of that nature viz Love these souls was incorporated into the same nature these followed the same example and in suffering could be well pleased witness hereof is the Apostle Paul where he saith Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress c. Now in all these things we are more then conquerors c. Rom. 8.34 35 36 c. And further Christ told his Disciples that that Cup was the Blood of the New Testament which was shed for many c. in which typical saying was signified the establishing of the second Covenant promised before of his Father by the Prophet Jeremiah where he saith Behold the day cometh saith the Lord that I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Jacob c. And I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people c. Iere. 31.31 32 33 c. Which promise our Saviour came to fulfil and at this time instituted this Type giving out the truth thereof in this his mystical saying and the compleat fulfilling hereof is in the souls of those who be incorporated into the Divine Nature whereby they become to have that law of God viz. The righteousness of God which righteousness is Christ or the Divine Nature stamped upon their hearts by which they know the truth of God in that Covenant and doth set to their seal that God is true Ioh. 3.33 And by the power and vertue of the same they are taught to know the truth and needeth not that any teach them because the same anointing in them teacheth them all things 1 Ioh. 2.27 And thus are these souls made to own God for their God and live in the love and life of him united to him by the vertue of this Covenant and so becoming his people owned by him and wholly set apart for himself in and through the sanctification of himself by his own Spirit But what might be said more upon this particular in the manner of this Type I let pass because somewhat that might be said is somewhat touched before in speaking of the material things in this Type and I would not too much over-load weak understandings with too much speaking of things that be too hard and heavy for them So I proceed to speak a word of the end in this Type for which Christ instituted it which was for this very purpose viz. That now when the time of his departure was at hand and that his bodily presence was to be taken away from the world therefore he would not leave the sons of men without some rememberance of himself and what he had said unto them the which he would have them to take notice of when he was gone and that his suffering should be kept still in minde and though the Type of his own Body should not abide amongst them yet he would leave them another Type instead of that whereby they should still be put in minde of him And this was to be to them as a glimpse of light shining in a dark place until the Sun it self arose and became as a light that shineth more and more until the perfect day and that while the sons of men were in their weakness before they were brought into the pure and perfect knowledge and full enjoyment of himself in the Divine Nature this was left to be as a mark in the way least by forgetfulness men might happily step out of their way in following him to the death of the Crosse and that was the chiesest thing which hee commanded and would have them to remember and Christ left not this Type only but he made to them who were his followers a promise of sending the Spirit to them who when he came should bring all that he had said into their remembrance Jo. 14.26 and this death of Christ in the corporall Flesh was still set before the eyes of those who were his dearest friends and truest followers and it was the thing they still pressed after to see how neare they could come to follow Christ
is in the Divine nature and the reason is because that the faith according to Christ in the flesh doth not take away lust out of the heart but rather conformeth the heart to lust and lust to the heart and lust is lovely to the heart and the operation of the Divine nature or faith issuing out of and from the Divine nature it killeth lust in the heart and draweth the heart with all its affections into the right center and from hence it is that many in their forms fal short of that which is the true center and becometh enemies of Christ and yet none preach Christ nor pretend Christ more then those but can you who are so compleatly congregated people thinke that you be any such as be the enemies of Christ I doubt you will hardly beleeve it but let me tell you in plaine termes you had best beware lest you be found in the number of such for whosoever are enemies to the Crosse of Christ shall be found enemies to Christ but I feare you doe not rightly understand what the Crosse of Christ is and then how should you be friends to it for I assure you none knoweth the Crosse of Christ but those who be rightly incorporated into the Divine nature and that is not an incorporating in Kirk-fellowship as you call it and while you are bound up in that incorporating I may upon safe grounds conclude that you as yet know not what the Crosse signifieth But it may be that some amongst you would know what I meane by the Crosse of Christ and would heare my opinion of the same for I know this is a time wherein man is addicted to heare new things but yet I have not any new thing to tell you for what I have to say to you is no more but such old tales as hath formerly been told both by Christ and his true follower but when the following of Christ ceased then the old sayings and tales which was formerly told grew out of fashion and new sayings and wise sayings and learned sayings and studied fictions being new became to be in request But to answer what some of you may desire I will bring old sayings to explaine the truth hereof to you and these shall be the saying of the Apostle Paul who oft insisted upon this very subject viz. the Crosse of Christ but this was not the wooden Crosse upon the which the Body of Christ was crucified that was a type indeed of the other Crosse spoken of by the Apostle and in respect of the reference the one had to the other made the Apostle use that Metaphorical speech in sufferings for suffering is this Crosse and by suffering we have fellowship with Christ and beare him company but what suffering is it that maketh man have fellowship with Christ and rightly may bee called the Crosse it is the daily selfe-deniall of our owne hearts with the inclinations thoughts loves and desires which is daily tending and bending downe to the creature in one kinde or other and the creature with its objects arising to meet the affections to carry them after them from the living and abiding in God as he is a Spirit and in Christ as he is in the Divine nature or the union of the Father and in that union of the Father and the Son to keep the heart with its affections that so the fellowship of the Father and the Son may daily be the fellowship of our hearts and this is that which ought to be the center of all hearts without which there can be no happinesse in any forme yea this leadeth the heart out of centering in formes and this was that which the Apostle would have those whom he wrote to to injoy and for that end he declared the truth as it was in Jesus that so they might have fellowship with them who were partakers of the truth and hee affirmeth that their fellowship was with the Father and the Sonne 1 Jo. 1.2 3. And where the heart is rightly called and rightly carried on in the way of Christ and those who were his followers they rest not in Formes and Kirk-fellowships for they finde in themselves other matters to goe about and that is to presse after the fellowship of the Father and the Sonne and their longing empty mourning spirit is not nor cannot be content with any thing below that fellowship and out of the great desire hereof the soule is set at varience with all created things or whatsoever may interpose or keep back the Spirit from that which is the object of its desire and when by pure inlightening the pure beleeving is fixed in the will or heart then I beleeve there will be suffering in the daily striving to keep the created object from the heart and the heart from the creature by objects and then shall appeare and be made manifest that which never did appeare before even the great body of sin and selfnesse which of necessity must be destroyed and crucified and made as dead as the Body of Jesus when it hung dead upon the Crosse of wood and this daily withstanding the body of sin in the heart and affections is the Crosse upon which the body of sin must be crucified for this body of sin or this selfnesse in the heart must dye or the soule must dye instead of it and it is not a few daily duties or being incorporated into a congregated way that will destroy it no no for this body of sin and selfnesse is of another nature then so for it will cost man the best blood in him before it be subdued and the Apostle who knew the evill of it and the necessity of having it crucified could not rejoyce in any thing more then in the Crosse of Christ by which hee was crucified to the world and the world to him Gal. 6.14 and by this daily denying of the out-goings of the heart into the creature and the incoming of the creature into the heart man becometh planted into the likenesse of Christs death without which none can be partaker of his resurrection Rom. 4.5 and being baptised into the death of Christ by way of suffering in the selfe deniall the body of sin is destroyed or the old man crucified Rom. 6.6 and the Apostle counted but all things dung and drosse in comparison of knowing Christ in this manner and to be found in him and to know the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering and a conformity to his death if by any meanes he might attaine to the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3.10 11 c. this was the marke he aymed at to which he walked by the rule of the suffering and example of Christ and in obedience to his commande which most was for selfe deniall he pressed hard after him in the way of his suffering that so nothing that was of selfe might live in him yea when he found that selfe got life and food by way of consolation then was