of my own Righteousness Rom. 6. 14. Tit. 3. 5. but I am under the Law of my own Lord which is to receive him and own his Righteousness as my own for he is the Lord my Righteousness When I believe then I obey for I am commanded to believe in the Name of the only begotten Son of God when I cast my self on him that fulfilled the whole Law then I fulfil the whole Law when I cast my self on his Righteousness I am in God's sight as white as Snow my sins in this new state are rather accounted my diseases than my faults for if I am not my own my sins are not my own but accounted his who loved me and washed me in his Blood This Obedience of Faith has the sight of Christ's Fulness and the Promises of the new Covenant to lean upon and so it takes its Journy from Flesh to Spirit from Weakness to Strength in the Name of the Lord. And from this Obedience in believing which is the highest and mysterious Obedience proceeds all manner of holiness as the fruits thereof which receive their Sap from this Root this Root makes them to be living Obedience as Branches from the same Root Children of the same Parent The first Subjection is to the Righteousness of Christ's Person to submit all Fear and Guilt to the fulness of Pardon and Life that is in him as the Store-house and there to enjoy it in the enjoying of him and then by the Spirit of Life which is in Christ the Soul with freedom acts forth answerably in some measure to such a renewed state from whence all Actions of Holiness are called the Fruits of Faith and Fruits of Righteousness Phil. 1. 11. 2 Cor. 9. 10. Col. 1. 6. 2 Pet. 1. 4 5 6 7 8. After my Return from One of Faiths dark days and yet delivered I found sore Breaches made upon my Soul my inward Man had suffered loss while I travelled up and down my Soul was violently shaken the Bands of the wicked one conspired with my wicked heart and carried away my treacherous Soul so that my Glory was captivated into the Enemies hand A Wind from the Wilderness laid me in confusion the Tempest prevailed and I suffered Shipwreck all my own feeble Endeavours and former Meditations gave way and the raging Sea of filthy and foolish thoughts did beat sore upon me My Ship of former Resolutions of heart and my poor discovery of the Salvation of God was bulged and ready to sink yet my heart yerned after the Lord my Rock I cried secretly though confusedly to my God and he yet reserved a Plank for my almost drowned Soul to swim to the Shoar He has not utterly removed Mercy from me he has been yet preaching his own Free Grace to my Soul through a Voice of Thunder and Lightning Let me yet hear thy Voice O thou Preserver of Men let me yet gather up advantage through my loss help me yet to receive recovering and establishing vertue from my strong Hold. While my thoughts were thus working I endeavoured to get once more into the Sanctuary of God and there I found that although I carry about a Hell within me yet that Hell cannot devour the infinite Covenant of Peace which God made My Unbelief and Disobedience cannot make the Faith of God to be of no effect I would have lived upon Grace and Strength recieved and I trembled to see those selfish Confidences shaken to the Earth but now methinks Christ calls me again from my Father's House and promiseth me a better Name than that of Sons and Daughters of my own a Name in himself an Off-spring in himself Psal 45. 16. Isa 56. 5. which shall not be cut off I have had a Sentence of Death in my self that I might not trust any more in my self but in God who raised the Dead I am a dry Tree but he who was raised from the Dead is a green Tree and in him is my Fruit found O the Mystery and Power of this Salvation wherewith I am saved O that I might pass as it were through the Eye of a Needle into Christ's Power and there rest from the days of adversity And this Rest is glorious because 't is uncompounded it receives no Ingredients from abroad 't is singly made up of Christ and in him alone Venture O my Soul upon this naked Arm for 't is an Arm of Faithfulness and Mercy This Strength alone is a Fountain of Strength this is the River whose Streams make glad the City of God Wilt thou not be undone O my Soul that thou mayest be saved How long wilt thou set up thy Post by the Pillars of that Salvation which is wrought in God for thee and wrought in thee by single Union with God in Jesus Christ Is not his Arm stronger than thine Be thou translated by Faith into Divine Strength Let not thy Wine be mixed with Water Thy Confidences are rejected make a Voyage to the everlasting Hills enter into the Mount of God Thou hast broken both the Tables of the Covenant and yet the Prince of the same Covenant lives Wait for the Spirit to draw it over again and again by the indelible Character of his own Finger who lives to enliven thee for ever How hard is it to depart from Self from righteous Self and sinful Self I am wounded by sinful Self that I might flee from righteous Self and sinful Self also and cast Anchor only within the Vale. I am weary of the instability of the Streams Oh let me go to the Fountain When I am saying I shall die in my Nest my Nest is soon fired about my ears and turned to ashes Certainly there is a better Rest than this and it lieth in trusting Christ and trusting in him only I both trust Christ and trust in Christ when I believe that he is the Standard of all saving Righteousness communicable to Man and all my Righteousness and Holiness is but the Reflection of his I trust in Christ when I live resignedly at his Feet to be made holy And whatsoever composure of heart I do at any time receive I do not nor cannot hold it but 't is held by him while it remains and when it withdraws it lives in the Root for me I am ready to think if I had all Graces in my own dispose I would manage them to the Glory of God but how can God be glorified more than in a holy Content to live at his Allowance All his design is to allure me and so to force me out of my self to live in him as well as to live by him he bestows his Grace within doors I must not take his Graces to my self to put it to Usury for Increase but must fetch the Increase as well as the Principal from him by Union with him through Jesus Christ and my work is to rest on his Faithfulness Wisdom Willingness and Readiness to supply me as if every Grace of the Spirit were fully in
the way who is a Guide also and therefore great is the loss of that man who walks alone and compasseth himself about with his own sparks if he fall as Solomon speaks he has none to raise him up again Eccles 4. 10. and thus Christ is held forth as a comfortable Leader and Companion Isa 57. 18. Jer. 3. 14. And the Church improves this Privilege by leaning on her Beloved as she comes forth out of the Wilderness This blessed Companion makes way for his peoples safety in the Fire and in the Water of Affliction Dan. 3. 25. Isa 43. 2. 8. And by this means also Faith has got a true and faithful Witness on the Believers side to clear off Accusations and from hence are those expressions used in the Psalms Plead my cause Be surety for me c. and the often Appeals made to God who trieth the Heart and Reins and who standeth up on the side of his people and on their behalf These and infinitely more Privileges do arise to every Believer from the Interest that he hath in Christ's entire and incommunicable Person by the Union of Free Govenant and Mystical Ingrafture and the Communion of Vertue derived from the Person of this Mediator in which Mystery of Grace he enjoys Christ as the Hand enjoys the Head yet both of them are distinctly considered in the Body or as the Eye enjoys the influence and vertue of that very light and heat which is in the very body of the Sun although the body of the Sun be many thousand Miles distant from that Eye which doth actually enjoy that Sun in the light and heat of its influence and doth as truly enjoy it as if it lay in the material Body of the Sun and in a way of greater advantage fitted for its capacity and use So is the Person of Christ enjoyed really and truly with all Privileges relating to Believers whiles he retains his Personality uncommunicated and undivided to any other as the very Water of the Fountain is enjoyed in the Streams and the Sap of the Root enjoyed in the Branches and yet the Stream is not the Fountain nor yet the Branches any part of the Root The way of the Souls enjoyment Christ's Entrance upon the heart works Renewing there of Christ in all the Privileges of his Person and Offices of his Mediatorship and in all the Influences of Spiritual Unction and Transformation of the heart into the power and likeness of Jesus Christ is wrought by the Spirit of Regeneration through Faith which causeth the Soul to pass over from its self from all its strength from all its own carnal hope fear and selfish care into the Death Life Righteousness and Perfection of the Person of Jesus Christ and so is enabled to say in truth I am not mine own I live yet no longer I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God viz. by the very Life and in the very Life of Christ apprehended received enjoyed and working effectually in me by Faith in him who loved me and washed me from my sins in his own blood Gal. 2. 20. Rev. 1. 5. This is that translating renewing changing and quickning work which the Scripture doth so often mention as the design of the Gospel And 't is with reference unto this that Christ is called a Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offence sinful and selfish Nature strives to preserve its life against the killing vertue of the Spirit of Christ in the Gospel preached to the World This is the reason of so much Carnal Profession and Barrenness in Christianity when the hearts of Men turn the nature of the Gospel which is a Law of Grace and obeyed only by Faith into the similitude of the Law of Moses and make it a matter of Man's working and subject it to the poor and lame endeavours of unrenewed Man not remembring or at least not understanding that the Tree must first be made good before the Fruits can be good This was meant by the Apostle when he bewails the Jews who though they followed after Righteousness attained it not because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law Rom. 9. 31 32. Ever since the Fall of Man Righteousness forsook the created Nature of Man which is largely shewed Rom. 3. 10. and is only now in Christ revealed from Heaven in receiving of whom by being baptised spiritually into his Death and Life his Righteousness is enjoyed Every Command of the Gospel doth first require Faith which is the great Commandment and in the vertue and power thereof requires and works Holiness in all the Fruits of a new Life by the vertue of Jesus Christ working in every Precept and Command of God in the whole Scriptures being Gospellized by his Spirit And here my heart begins again to groan while I find so little of this killing renewing power accomplishing its work upon me How far am I from this renewed State I am weary of the lifeless Notion of the thing I faint in my sighing and find no rest I long for the breath of the Lord and lament out my Complaint before him When will the Lord come into his Temple My flesh trembleth 'twixt hope fear and desire I am as a Bottle dried in the Smoak my heart is pained and in Travel O preserver of Men make no tarrying lest I be like them who go down to the pit Oh let Death feed upon me till the Foundation of Life Power and Peace be laid in my Soul and Deliverance come from another place Droopings are deadly O my Soul do not say thy Wound is incurable the Creator of the ends of the Earth doth undertake for thee he will yet reveal abundance of Truth and Peace Come then O Fountain of Help and do thine own Will upon me How easie is it to say the word Renewing in comparison of the thing really executed and done All that can be spoken about it is but words the Change it self is the thing I long for my eyes fail with hoping for the very Salvation of God in this work Oh that the Heavens might drop down their Dew Why are the Influences of the Clouds with-held Oh for the sounding of his Bowels who is gone into a far Country and has promised to return My musing heart cannot fetch him but my groaning is before him and the tears and cries of my Soul is in his sight O Earth cover thou not my blood let the cry of my distress be heard Anguish is upon my heart and Oh let the Season of my Redemption come According to the measure of the power of Christ given to me I would yet struggle against this Gyant unmortified self I would rather take a Sling and a Stone in the power of Christ than all the Weapons of a Carnal Arm and Understanding Christ well knew the length of that Petition Thy Will be done
Glory of God and the day of refreshing which is promised to appear Even so come Lord Jesus And now if I might out of all these Considerations but take home to my own heart a few Chips to kindle mine own Fire and be really resigned one Inch nearer to Christ I should think the Meditations of this day happily given in What else doth my Soul long for Some Crumbs of this glorious Banquet that my Soul may inwardly commend the Feast and say The Lord hath done great things for me Yea Lord let thy Kingdom come and thy Will be done I wait and cry Amen Amen How to find God a SANCTVARY in time of Trouble With the manner of the AVTHOR'S entring into Covenant with God PErceiving a dark Cloud and tempestuous Storm to be rising and being called to enter into the Chambers of Divine Protection Isa 26. 20. and finding it the practise of the Lord's people Psal 57. 1. and 143. 9. and Jesus Christ having declared himself a Shelter from the Storm Isa 32. 2. and inviting me to enter into his Rest Matth. 11. 29. I judge it my duty to follow his Voice and betake my self to the Horns of the Altar but being hindred by my own Guiltiness and Unbelief am forced either to wander into Desolation of Mind or else to endeavour to cut my way through the Incumbrances of my own darkness by the Sword of the Spirit If the Lord shall be pleased to favour me and bless this Attempt I shall be safe under his Wings And seeing nothing makes Calamities terrible but Guilt of sin I judge it my duty to set my main Battery against that Strong Hold And to that end having chosen out for my help that blessed Word Rev. 1. 5. He that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Which Scripture yields excellent Relief to that Soul that can mix it with Faith The words He that hath loved us do import the Ground of a Sinner's Union with Christ for such is the nature of Love and we must be one also with him before ours can be made his and his made ours And the words our sins and his own blood How Christ's blood doth wash being compared together shews that from Union with him flows a transferring of our sins upon him and as it were mixing them without any personal stain with his Blood and so made his Our Infection by his own Will entred as it were by Imputation and Burthen into the Blood of the unspotted Lamb. He suffered himself who was personally without sin to be all over laden with the real Imputation of the loathsome Nature and absolute Guilt of our sins and so became sin for us and yet his Blood remained pure and himself without sin The word Washed alludeth to legal Washings for Purification He removed our sins from us making them no longer ours but his own as the filth of a Garment is washed whereby the Garment becomes clean so our sins passed away Zach. 3. 4. by Imputation and burthen of the Curse into the living Body and life-Life-blood of Jesus Christ And so the Sinner as the original and principal Malefactor and Christ as Surety do stand both of them before God the righteous Judge and both in some kind equally liable to Sentence for if Christ had not been able to have freed himself from those sins they would have sunk him and the Sinner too And herein the Metaphor of washing a Garment comes short of this Mystery for the filth being gone from the Garment into the Water the Garment is thereby actually cleansed though the Water be never cleansed from the filth that it borrowed of the Garment because the Water and the Garment are two seperated things but in this mystical Washing the Person washed and the Blood washing are joyned together in the Union of Christ's Mystical Person so that if Christ who is the Surety miscarry in his work all they whose hope of Redemption lies only through Mystical Union in their Interest in him must needs perish with him and if he prevail they are delivered for this Washing at his Agony and Death was in some sence Inchoative and yet accounted perfect and was so as it stood in relation to and connexion with his Resurrection which made him a compleat and perfect Author of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5. 9. But how Christ could bear our How a pure Christ was made Sin for us sins and be made Sin for us and yet be personally pure this is a great wonder and he must be without sin all the while else he could not have done away our sins One Contrary expels another but he doth it not at a distance as the Light of the Sun drives away Darkness before it but he enters sinlesly into the state of our Sin that we might enter into the state of his Righteousness He cures not as a Physician who cures by Medicines but was himself touch'd with our infirmities he was made Sin for us he espoused not only the punishment of our Sins to himself but was married also to our Guilt and to all the dreadful workings of it so far as that it made him sick and sorrowful even to the very death He had the guilt of our delight in sin without any delight in it He made himself guilty of all our sins but had none of his own nor no defilement to his Nature by ours If one Man be guilty of another's sin he is defiled himself without lessening the defilement of the other Man because the Guilt is not translated from the one to the other but extendeth and spreadeth its poysonous nature from the one to the other and so fills as it were both Vessels without any remove of the Guilt but Christ's Nature being capable of no personal Infection gives liberty and scope to the Guilt of a Sinner to vent it self wholly into the bottomless and endless Satisfaction Merit and Righteousness of Christ the Mediator till the last drop of it be gone and the Fountain dried up through Union with his spotless Nature Our sins touched him as to an experimental sence of the filth and burthen of them He bare our sins in the Body of his Flesh but that Flesh being personally united to the Godhead remained pure and uncapable of any Corruption through the purity of that personal Union But how unexpressibly far he took in the sense and burthen of all sin and made it his own in the utmost measure and how infinitely pure he still remained the knowledge of this the Angels desire to look into and must be reserved till the Saints come to know as they are known of him Sin dwells in our Nature habitually and actually but lay upon him by Imputation and so passively his Nature bare our sin but could not act it But how should a Sinner come to enjoy Redemption from his Sins by a Mediator thus wonderfully qualified and so admirably sustaining a sinner's guilt This is worth the Enquiry I
one of his People in Jesus Christ and my heart assenting to and being somewhat refreshed in those Truths of God about the nature and advantagious effects of this misterious Union and considering how greatly the Faith and Improvement of this astonishing Privilege would conduce to carry on the ends of my Covenant with God and his for so he persuaded my heart to believe with me I thought it necessary to employ a present providential Retirement this 29th of January 1663. and so from time to time as God shall permit and assist me to improve this Gospel-truth of a Believer's Union with God in Christ for my Soul 's further Nourishment Strength and Establishment as the principal In-let both of new Life and all spiritual Chear Vigour and Activity My Enquiry now then is how to set up this Myrror so before the eyes of my Mind that I may by Application thereof be throughly transformed into the same Image and to clear the Pipes that the Life and Spirit of this Union with Christ and the Father in him may enter into my Soul and make me effectually a partaker thereof live thereby and act therein Breath O Almighty Spirit upon my thoughts fetch in my heart and prostrate it at the feet of thy infinite Grace and Power for Purging Help and Healing for Light Life and Blessing in this most necessary Travel of my Soul How long shall I view Mysteries of Life without a suitable living Transformation When shall the Light of Life appear When shall Christ be so formed in me that the Man-child of Power and Glory may be brought forth ruling and new-forming my poor Soul Say Oh say to my Soul I am come yea I am come not only to make thee to understand but understandingly to receive the Mystery of this Union and to be efficaciously united and actually live in the Motions and Exercise of this Union-life So be it O my God who art the Spirit of all Grace So be it 1. The Son of God emptied himself This Vnion is pure in its nature in descending to assume and be united to the Nature of Man and therein to the likeness of sinful Flesh and so works up every adopted Child through emptying it from all the Wisdom and Strength of the first Adam and from all the Guilt and Pollution derived thence to the Participation of Union with him in the Spirit No unclean thing can enter in thither there can be no Union but under Consideration of perfect Purity essected by the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ He took on him our Nature and was personally united thereto By which means the sin of our Nature was imputed to his Person but could never be united to his Person for he was still sinless while he bare the likeness of sinful Flesh Heb. 4. 15. And therefore the real spiritual Union which Believers have with him is in the nature of it pure and sinless and their persons as they stand in that Union without spot Col. 1 22. for in that respect they are wholly brought over from the Stock of the first Adam into the Second adn return back no more although the polluted Nature of the first Adam sticks in their flesh till its dissolution and compleat change And from thence it follows that the Spirit of Christ in applying this mystical Union with him to the Soul by faith draws the Soul of a Believer having sprinkled it from the Conscience of Guilt into a most quick and lively distaste of all Pollution and so divides between that which is born of the Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit throwing aside the Pollutions of the Flesh that the Union may be purely made in the Spirit through faith Gal. 2. 20. for He that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit Hence it is that while Guilt and sinful Pollution invades the Soul even of a Believer the Application of this Union lies suspended and during that season a Believer abides dark and weak and though he be in a state of Union yet he cannot have the comfort of it but is as a strong Man that cannot find his hands And now O my Soul consider thy own state consider the Centre of thy happiness the Call of the Gospel the privilege and necessity of being transplanted into the pure Stock of the second Adam and what thou art to do in the strength of Free Grace for entring into and of being made partaker of this wonderful Privilege and most secure Rest 2. This whole Work is wrought It is inconsistent with Vnmortifiedness by the Lord both in what his eternal Purpose of Grace did decree and was carried on in the Person of Christ for thee and also in that which he worketh in thee by his Spirit to make thee actually interested established and daily growing up in the Light Life and Vertue of this Union-state with God in Christ Thy Nature is dead in sins thou art wholly polluted and without strength but the least serious Conviction of this doth import some step of Free Grace towards thee nourish it and so rowl all thy Guilt upon the Lamb of God be laborious diligent and frequent in this weighty Exercise There is no seeking this Union with any Idol in the heart Ezek. 14. 3. for that provoketh to Jealousie even an impure thought may not lodge in this Bed a dry earthly sapless frame of heart cannot be refreshed there because this Bed is green Cant. 1. 16. but such is the Bounty of Free Grace that through the Sense and Conviction of this Indisposition of heart it leads the Soul to Jesus Christ and sprinkles it with his Blood Oh this efficacious Remedy and doth wash it again in pure Water removes away the filthy Garments gives it Access into the King's Presence The pure in heart shall see God But thy innumerable Impurities O my Soul and the continual Recursion of Guilt and Darkness Hypocrisies loathsome Uncleannesses Unmindfulness of God Back-sliding and impenitent stupifying Fits are so many and so often and many times so captivating this Sincerity and Strength and spiritual Taste that no Balm can be found nor any thing to help but the free Bounty and Atonement of him who is Michael thy Prince And even this is my Case at present Oh how little doth my heart relish and digest these things while I am musing and writing them I am estranged from inward Converse with God this day and yet cannot soakingly relent I mention the Blood of Sprinkling without prizing it at its due value Oh let the watchful Eye and tender Heart of him whose Compassions fail not consider and visit me But however O my Soul this is thy Work Let not Evil lodge within thee be separate touch no unclean thing declare thy Chastity by crying out and then the Promise lies fair and free before thee I will receive you 2 Cor. 6. 17. yea cry out and thou shalt be rescued for thy Redeemer is strong Here
be so When he says Sin shall not have Dominion over you I will circumcise your hearts to love me I will redeem Jacob out of all his trouble I will be with you and deliver you his words are all true but our little exercise of Faith is either like a weak handed Gripe or a leaky Vessel yet our Faith it self is in his keeping and his Intercession is incessant and therefore it cannot utterly fail Dear Sister wait on him pluck up your Soul to the business your labour will not be in vain nor any unfaigned desire after him return disappointed and ashamed Throw Husband Child and self upon him into his Bosom and there lodge together by Faith in the Joy of the Holy Ghost and so take your rest I mean a laborious and yet a sweet Rest for He gives his Beloved Sleep His own Concernments are mixt in ours though his own are chief in his eye yet he can look upon them without beholding ours for the Covenant is made and the Blood that concerns it is already shed and fully accepted the Redemption compleat and the Lord's portion and delight is his People So that he as it were if I may say as it were in so true and real a business raiseth in himself an endless delight by loving his ransomed Seed and in dressing them according to his own heart and shedding out a measure of that Love into their hearts also for carrying on a Spirit of Conjugal Affection in the Souls of his People towards him now till the shadows slee away and we come to know him as we are known of him and so love him without interruption as we are loved of him Is the day near when a thousand fold more of this will really appear than words can utter For who can speak how much there lies in God's Purpose yea in his very heart to do for them for whom he died bought so dear and rescued with so high a hand Deut. 10. 15. How then should we look out to awaken our faith and lift up our heads because our Redeemer is alive and risen and our safety is in him Oh that my own heart and yours were more warmed in such a view I have no more but to recommend you to the Bosom of him who is the God of all Grace Pity Power and Consolation Yours in the hope of this saving Health and Relief c. 1663. To E. D. N o 70. I Received your Letter though not so well spelled as that I received before but as bad as it was a Father can pick out the meaning of his Child for Love is quick-sighted and the best Interpreter of words in the World God is so to me and teacheth me the same to you You wrote you would fain have a tender heart such as the Prophet calls a heart of Flesh but not a fleshly carnal heart What then must become of the hard heart Your earthly Father cannot take that away nor give you the other but beg of him who made the Promise and he can and will both give you the one and do the other also Be not a stranger to him I would part with some of your Affection towards me as far as he allows me that you might spend it on him You cannot speak to me but by a Letter at this distance but you may to God all hours of the day and night Read the Scriptures as the Word of him who deserves all your love and desire I am contented to have it only at the second hand Muse over as oft as you can by what you read and hear how sinful your Nature is and loathsome in God's eye and how wondrous his Goodness is to tell you he lays that loathsomness of yours on Christ and he has by his death brought in eternal Redemption for you Consider his exceeding love and the great travel of his Soul and bitter Agony that you in prizing and flying to him may be freed from the dreadful state of a hard and polluted heart you cannot ask any thing of him to this end only do it reverently and with reliance on him but he is as willing to give it You may open all your heat to him yea you must do it for he loves to have you do it that so your whole heart may be cured and my Child be found at last among the number of them who sing for ever Blessing and Honour Glory and Thanks to him who loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood I leave you to his care c. 1663. To D. H. N o 71. I Have not yet found out a way of Employment but am looking out and do desire to be looking up for my advice and help comes from the Hills as David speaks Disappointments as a wise and faithful God orders them are as useful many times as Success God has not cast me out of his gracious Covenant nor my Soul into murmuring discouragement but tells me the Trial of my Faith is better much better than Gold However 't is with my outward Man yet my chiefest Want is not there and although my sinful and corrupt heart wars strongly against the Spirit and the new Creature yet I believe the Spirit in the Operations of his Grace in the new Creature will carry the day when all is done for our Redeemer is strong I am laden with Darkness Weakness corrupt Lusts Vanity Distrust unsteady and uneven Walking deadness and hardness of heart but I find the Fountain of Mercy for cleansing still open and the Grace Mercy and Truth of God in the Covenant unchangeable and in this stands all my Salvation all my chiefest desire 1 Sam. 23. 5. I want nothing but more Faith more spiritual Light and Furniture more of Christ's Image more renewing in the Spirit of my Mind to have less carnal Carefulness Luk. 12. 22. and more of the just Man's Life Hab. 2. 4. Sin makes a Man poor weak and fearful the Grace of God which brings Salvation makes a Soul rich strong and confident for the Covenant of Grace and the Promises are more than words The Treasure is full and if I could bring my empty Sack in earnest it would be filled in earnest I give you a short hint of my Convictions my Conditions Travels and desires that in the like you may see you are not alone and that we may strive in Spirit together towards the glorious Prize of our high Calling I commend you to your and my strong Rock the blessed and ever-living God c. 1663. To D. H. N o 72. I Am attending what the Providence of God will direct further to Now and then some Doors of Providence seem to open themselves a little but as yet nothing effectually but the God of Providence who is the God of all Grace also rules them and every thing is and will be most beautiful in its season He has glorious Lessons to teach me and others in such a method and Discipline as this is and
DIVINE CONTEMPLATIONS AND Spiritual Breathings OF Mr. HENRY DORNEY Comprised in I. Practical DISCOURSES 1. Of the Nature Means and Method of Salvation on Isa 45. 17. 2. How to find God a Sanctuary in time of Trouble With the manner of the Author 's entring into Covenant with God on Rev. 1. 5. 3. Of Union with Christ on Joh. 17. 23. 4. Of Glorifying God on 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. With an Appendix how to pursue a Lawful Thing Lawfully II. His LETTERS III. His Last and Dying Speeches and Prayers Also an Account of his Life at the Close of the Preface LONDON Printed by James Rawlins for John Wright at the Crown on Ludgate-Hill 1684. THE PREFACE WHEN we see any extraordinary Effect 't is usual for us to enquire the Cause whether it be in things Natural Artificial or Moral Every new Appearance in the Heavens invites us to consider its Reason Any useful Engine framed by exquisite Art tempts the Curious to examine its inward Springs and Movements And when we observe a Person to manage his Province or Affairs succesfully we are willing to know the Rules and Measures by which he guides himself There is the like Tendency in the renewed Soul when it sees any one of extraordinary Elevation in Religion and Holiness to consider the inward Principles that act them The AVTHOR was observed to be a Person of great Wisdom and singular Holiness equally admired and loved by those who knew him And some who had the happiness to be intimately acquainted with him and have heard with what Clearness and inward Sense he would discourse of the sublimest things in Religion have been ready to say what was once said of Christ Whence hath this Man this Learning Whence did he derive his Knowledge and Holiness But the following DISCOVRSES lay open unto us the inward Springs of them both It hath been observed that there is nothing more influential upon the Divine Life than a constant and deep Impression of our own Corruption and Impotence together with a continual Dependance upon the Redeemer's Grace both which were in an eminent degree visible in him There is throughout the whole of his Discourses an admirable Depression of Sin and Self with an Exaltation of Christ and Divine Grace and a believing Admiration of his Person with a continual living upon him in the Exercises of Faith and Love And indeed there is no true Spring of Holiness but Faith in the Mediator the Purchaser of all Grace and the Spirit the Conveyer of it from which some having turned away have made Shipwrack both of Faith Holiness and even of Moral Vertue too There hath not been there cannot be any steady and firm Principle of Holiness but Faith in Christ Jesus the abundant Efficacy of which upon the Divine Life the AVTHOR was a very sensible and full Instance of If there be any thing in the following DISCOVRSES which may recede from Theological Accuracy you must know that he was but a private Person The Manner of his Phrase is somewhat peculiar yet such as he found most proper to express his inward Sentiments and whereas he could as he said to a Friend have altered and refined the Phrase yet he did rather let it alone writing it only for his own private use judging too that as he had his in Meditations a very special Assistance from the Spirit of God so the words which cloathed them were most genuine natural and agreeable to his purpose And indeed there is such a lively and sensible Affection in his Style that nothing else but an intimate feeling and experience of the things themselves could suggest which doth at the same time equally instruct and move In the Discourse of finding God a Sanctuary he doth in a very express manner enter into Covenant with God which may both encourage and direct in the performance of it Some holy Divines in their practical Discourses have advised to this but there are few who have put it in practice nay many have alledged this as the reason of their backwardness to it the sense that they had of their inability to perform it and the making it in so solemn a manner and then transgressing the same it might but involve them in the greater difficulties of Mind But the AVTHOR doth it in that way and manner as to take off the force of this Objection which doth much arise from the ignorance of the nature of the Gospel-Covenant wherein God calls us to nothing but what he hath promised his Grace shall enable us to perform He addresseth himself unto it in a very great sense of his own weakness and the Riches of Divine Grace relying on that to enable him to perform the Covenant on his part By which means his entring into Covenant was so far from being a Snare to him of which he was very cautious as that it became a mighty Support to his Faith and Assurance So that his Sins and Infirmities which were more discernable to himself than others did not make him as he said to question his Interest in the Covenant he found that an undue way of procedure but did excite him by a fresh Application of the Blood of Sprinkling according to the Tenure of that new Covenant to seek out both their Pardon and Mortification there being a Provision of Righteousness and Strength in it through him who is the Mediator and Head of it His LETTERS are but a very few in comparison of those multitudes that he wrote of the like nature and import more of which could not be procured And for Brevity sake the Preface and Close are sometimes omitted with what related to Civil Affairs He had a most earnest desire to do good So that what was said of Timothy may be well applied to him That he did naturally care for the Good of Men. And therefore he would both by his Exhortations when present and his Letters when absent endeavour to promote the spiritual Welfare of those who were blest with his Acquaintance As to his last and DYING SPEECHES and PRAYERS they were taken from him without his Observation by those who were constantly with him and were greatly affected therewith In which there may be some things a little abrupt by reason of his great weakness and pains diverting him But they have in them that deep savour of Religion and express so powerful a sense of Divine Grace as 't is thought they would not be unacceptable to serious Persons To conclude What is here exposed to view was without the AVTHOR's design and at the desire of Relations and Friends who being greatly affected therewith judged it might leave some good Impressions on those who read it wherein we have an useful Systeme of practical Divinity written with an inward Sense and Experience manifesting the vigorous and lively actings of Grace and giving us a clear and distinct Anatomy of his excellent Spirit How sublimely doth he soar in his Contemplations viewing Christ both in his Person and
ever observing that blessed Rule of our Saviour in Matth. 7. 12. And when he had hired or made use of Persons in any Work or Labour he would not only pay them their due which was agreed to and promised but most frequently he would give them somewhat over and above especially if he judged them to be poor and needy That whilst he had bodily His Diligence in his Calling with a holy Frame of Spirit therein Strength and Health to manage Worldly Employments he was always active and industrious therein and he could not be ever charged with any wilful Omission Yet all the while he had his Mind so composed that he was ever in a readiness to a due and regular Attendance on the solemn Duties of his high Calling not suffering any outward Occurrence of what kind soever to distract or unsettle his Mind But when he approached to God in the actual Exercise of any Religious Duties he was still furnished with such variety of Matter and Divine Rhetorick as if all his preceding time had been taken up in and about spiritual Work Such was the habitual Frame of his Soul towards heavenly things And he gave this Advice That we should do Worldly Business with Diligence Patience Moderation and Faith and with such a self-denying respect as if it were the sole Interest and Concern of another rather than our own And when we would make a Judgment of our selves or Actions in matters doubtful we should put our selves in the Room of a third Person in the Case His great Love to the Church His Love to the Church and People of God and People of God rendred him a restless Supplicant and Intercessor in Prayer for them That upon whatsoever Immergency relating to the Church of Christ in general or any Member thereof in particular even for such whom he never knew or saw on the first notice of their Distresses he would be wrestling with God in secret Retirement And if other Christians were at such a time near or occasionally present he would be also urging them to the same Work saying Come let us lift up our joynt Requests to God for them And this at any time of the day and constantly at set times for Prayer he presented their Case and Concern most affectionately before the Lord as a thing which always lay very much on his heart And for the Church of Christ in general his Petitions were observed to be such as these That God would visit Zion the whole Church and visible Body of Christ here in this World That it might be a Glory in all the Earth That as he hath taken hold of the Plough he would carry on his own Work That he would look upon his Son look upon his Covenant look upon that Redemption he hath contrived and designed for the bringing in of Souls unto himself to bestow his own Free Grace upon in making them Vessels of Mercy and Glory That his Church might prosper and every faithful Member of it and become Glorious in Holiness That the Son of Righteousness would break forth and sparkle upon it That his Ordinances might be maintained his Gospel run and be glorified and get Ground every where That God would tender his People as the Apple of his Eye as a Royal Diadem in his hand and as the Object of his Delight That he would give a mighty Check and a dreadful Rebuke unto the fury of all such as bear ill Will to Zion And that all Oppositions and Combustions against his Interest might tend to the Advancement of it of his Glory and the furtherance of the Gospel That Holiness might spread it self throughout the World and the Mouth of Iniquity be stopt in all the Earth That all that Enmity against God and his People which hath been in the World ever since the Infection crept into our Natures from Satan the Prince of Darkness might be destroyed and come to an end That his People might glory in his great Salvation procured and purchased by the Vndertaking of Jesus Christ on their behalf That he would rule in the midst of his Enemies bearing down the Spirit of Wickedness and all the Contrivers of Mischief That he would remember his People under sore Trials and be in the midst of the Storm and say unto them It is I be not afraid and prepare them for every Shock they shall meet withal before the Son of Man appeareth That the Throne of his Grace be lifted up and the Rise of his Glory made conspicuous That the Sceptre of Jesus Christ might sway it self and become Glorious Counter-working all the Wisdom and crafty Counsel of the Serpent's Seed And that he would not suffer his People to be in any Pit out of which his Arm cannot help them That he would keep his Ministers as Stars in his Right Hand that his Enemies which are as the Tail of the Dragon might not scatter them That all his People might be enabled to meditate Terrour and not be afraid when he shall arise to shake terribly the Earth That Salvation might be for Walls round about his People and that God would cause his Glory to shine forth That God would save these Nations with a mighty Salvation and undertake for his own Glory in the midst thereof That for such as are under Bonds of Guilt he would deliver them by his Rescuing Pardoning Grace That he would be mindful of those under inward Trouble by reason of Pollutions within and Wounds of Temptation from without That spiritual Objects might be great in their sight and that he would bring them out with some notable advantage over all the Powers of Darkness that lay Siege against their Faith and Hope His whole Life attested the Tenderness of his Conscience His Tenderness of Conscience and it was particularly remarkable in these two Instances First When he had at any time Moneys lying by him to any value he would lend the same without demanding a Penny Interest And when-ever he received any Interest he would be sure to bestow it wholly in charitable and pious Uses Secondly Whilst he had Trading abroad on all Goods Exported and Imported he was very careful of paying the full Duty or Custom thereon rated and required without Diminution His high Esteem of the Grace His high Esteem of Repentance and Applications to Christ of Repentance with his Applications to Christ shewed it self in his frequent lamenting Confessions of Sin and praying for great measures of Repentance for himself and exhorted others to the same necessary Work And he was a diligent Searcher and curious watchful Observer of his own heart who could not bear with any Guilt but would make fresh Applications to the Blood of Sprinkling saying To be under Guilt was sad but when we are laden in the sence of it if we carry this Guilt to Christ and venture on him for Pardon and Mercy we shall not be cast out And how it was an evil and a bitter thing to
when he taught his Disciples that Prayer Could I but pray this Prayer in the Latitude of it I should think my foot within the threshold of Heaven The main Gospel-killing work lies The blessedness of a mortified Vnderstanding and mortified Will. in mortifying the Understanding and the Will into the Wisdom and Dominion of the Spirit and in regard my present Controversie is against my own Carnal Will I would deal with that first did not my unmortified Understanding stand in the way My unmortified Understanding can easily dally with all the Notions about the Trinity Law and Gospel Promises and Covenant Faith and every Grace of the Spirit and every Duty of Godliness and yet but trifle all the while The renewed Understanding sucks in the lively Evidence of the Mind of God in all those things and is called the Demonstration of Spirit and Power 1 Cor. 2. 4. and the very Mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. 16. This Mind of Jesus Christ represents to Faith the infinite God wrapped up in every Particle of his Word and is the Spirit of every revealed Truth Hence comes that Expression You have not so learned Christ Ephes 4. 20. A renewed Understanding is not taught by Words and Sentences be they what they will and though never so good but by the Mind of God and Christ in them Ephes 4. 21. The whole Volumne of the Scriptures is but as it were a small hint of the unmeasurable Will of God And this is the reason why the Scriptures though the words are the same and not altered yet do they by the Spirit speak variety of Instructions in the Unity of the same Truth as the Spirit pleaseth to reveal it self therein which doth not at all argue defect in the Scriptures but infiniteness in the Mind of Christ therein contained This Fulness of the Mind of Christ in the Word is that which makes it divide between the Soul and the Spirit the Joynts and the Marrow and is a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4. 12. A renewed Understanding makes use of the Word and all the Expressions therein but as the Door by which to enter into the whole Vision of God in Jesus Christ and the Revelation of his Will and so takes up the Truth truly in the method in which the infinite God is pleased to condescend A renewed Understanding sees the Mystery of Truth to be Substance and Life through that report of it which words do speak It converseth with Life through the Conduit of Words Phrases and Terms It gives way to the Truth as it is in Jesus by believing and not mangle it with carnal Reason and so makes way for the renewed Will to give Obedience by believing doing and suffering the Pleasure and Will of God The renewed Will is one with God's Will in a way of Submission thereto It lies down broken heartedly in the pleasure of God 'T is zealous in Obedience secure in believing quiet in suffering because the Will of God reigneth and cannot be disappointed It makes the Soul in all things give thanks and rejoyce evermore It grieves where the Holy Spirit is grieved and it delights where God delights If God say to Abraham Offer up Isaac he doth it with joy Reluctancy is gone because the Will of God dwells in the renewed Will and the Consultations of Flesh and Blood are mortified It grieves for Sin because it crosseth the revealed Will of God and yet rejoyceth in Hope because all things shall work together for good to them that love him The renewed Will is always renewing it self by Faith in Christ and looking into the Law of Liberty It thanks God heartily for Life Death Health Sickness Success or Disappointment in High Degree or Low Degree because 't is baptized into his Will And that the nature of this new Creation in the Will may provoke my heart to withdraw from the Servitude of my corrupt Will I would ponder the nature of it a little further The first Parent of the Grace of Adoption by Jesus Christ was the good pleasure of the Will of God in his Decree Ephes 1. 5. and actual Conversion by the Word is the Operation also of the Will of God Jam. 1. 18. which bringeth forth a Birth in the new Man of the same likeness Psal 110. 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power and by this the truth of all Obedience is measured Isa 1. 19. It is also the first thing the Spirit of God hath in its eye and which doth in a way of Acceptation fill up the defect of all other Service 2 Cor. 8. 12. The State of Death in Sin is Captivity to the Will of Satan and the Flesh and Subjection to the Will of God is the First-born from the Dead it first appears and so goes on as the living Token of true Christianity and never ceaseth till 't is filled with the Fulness of God who brought it forth and so it is the undoing Principle to Flesh and Blood and captivates Fear Care and Bondage into the Liberty of Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God and makes Christ and a Believer no longer twain but one in the Union and Operation of the Spirit whereby the Dominion and sure Protection of God secures the Soul as the Waters cover the Sea Here I stick and here I groan Alas alas for this day of the Lord Oh for this day spring from on high to reveal this light and breath in the Life of this renewed Understanding and Will from the rolling bowels of his own Grace and Spirit I am sick yea I am sick my Pen shakes my heart quivers with desire after this renewing Work Give way O Carnal Mind of Unbelief Darkness Sin and Vanity that my heart may faint away into the bosom of this changing Power of the Spirit of Christ who has redeemed it This glorius Work of renewing The use of the Scriptures the Mind is carried on by the eternal Word of God by which he made the World All Creating Work is effected through the eternal Word the Son of God by the eternal Spirit from the everlasting Father in which God is all in all This eternal Word hath declared himself by a word of Faith Reconciliation and Comfort contained and expressed in a way suitable to the Capacity of Humane Sense Reason and Understanding in the Scriptures that so the incomprehensible Will of God might look into the heart of Man through the inlets of natural Sense and the faculties of a natural Mind making them subservient in this renewing Change Therefore is it made visible to the eye and receivable by the ear retainable by the memory and meditable by the heart in the use of the Scriptures and so doth in a rational way by Reproofs Instructions Convincements and Comforts bring forth the new Creature and hold it in a Spiritual Union and Fellowship with the Father Son and Spirit through a daily Increase tending to the
may not rush into this Mystery I must be unshod that I may enter in and stand upon holy Ground No man cometh to the Son but whom the Father draweth I may get the notion of something about it but can come to no heart-enjoyment without the Unction of the Spirit of Christ to possess and so to lead me in within the shadow of this Almighty Redeemer 'T is wearisom and barren work to gape towards this Mystery by a meer speculative Search and therefore I would fain make it my design to give away my whole self in every step of this Enquiry to Jesus Christ that I may be taught this mysterious Privilege as the truth is in him whom thus to know is Eternal Life And therefore with a holy fear and tenderness I desire to wade according to the Scriptures into this Deep by the Spirit which searcheth the deep things of God As a foundation for further search How to enjoy Christ actually I find that Christ himself 1 Cor. 3. 11. and a Conscience purged from guilt by means of his death Heb. 9. 14 15. are things enjoyable and so offered and held forth in the Gospel My work in the next place is to enquire how I may actually enjoy an Interest in so high a privilege I am in the first place under a sense of my own necessity to lie down at the Foot of God and suffer Jesus Christ as crucified and risen again to march with all his Train into my heart and take Possession there and then am to suffer his Spirit shutting my eyes and stopping my ears against carnal Reasonings to lead me into a willing Resignation to this crucified and risen Christ my Redeemer which is a spiritual Marriage to his Person A notional Landskip of this state will not serve my turn O thou in whom all the Promises are Yea and Amen renew a right Spirit within me and let my very Soul be moulded into the Truth by every Meditation My Guilt has increased upon me this day I have lost my Thirst after God and do find my strength to waste my Drift is not pure and am carried away into a withered frame and my heart cannot return The sounding of thy Bowels is able to bring me back and enlighten me with the light of Life An impure Eye cannot behold thee nor a surfeited Mind eat of this Manna My Disease is great but there is no healing Medicine to be had but in thee O my Redeemer Wouldst thou in earnest O my Soul be cured and effectually enjoy the Redemption of Christ Then retire thy self only to him and let thy eye be singly fixed there Render up thy Guilt to him who has bought it out of thy hands Withdraw thy sholder from the burthen and with a loathing of thy self and thy sin leave it upon Jesus Christ his Father and thine laid thy Guilt upon him already upon the Cross and when thou dost by Faith lay thy Guilt upon him thou dost not crucifie the Son of God afresh but dost only put to thy Seal that he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World He bought thy sins to destroy them he shed his Blood that thy Guilt might be condemned and waits upon thee to bring them forth to him for Execution 'T is not a pain but a pleasure to him that a Sinner delivers up his sins to him because the Vengeance he sustained for sins has fixed a day of Vengeance in his heart against the daily Guilt of his Redeemed and Revenge is sweet Whatever Bryars and Thorns are set before him in Battel he will go through them and burn them together Isa 27. 4. and 63. 5 6. He sustained the Curse satisfied Justice and returned to his Father with the tokens of his Conquest and now attends in the Gospel upon the Elect to cause them to shake themselves from their Dust and bring forth their Dead the Slain of the Lord to the Burial A Sinner then lays his sins on Christ when he believes that God the Father laid them upon him God the Father imposed the burthen and a Sinner by Faith concurs and melteth under the sight of Divine Justice and cries out Even so O Father because it pleased him to bruise him Even so O dear Redeemer because thou lovedst not thy Life to the Death that thou mightest redeem me by thy own Blood I leave my sins upon the Sacrifice of thy Flesh and would crave leave to look upon him whom the Father made an Offering for my sins and whom I have pierced and in the view of this costly Redemption would mourn over him as a Man mourneth for his only Child But yet that I may improve this mysterious Happiness to the more full advantage I would beg help from the Lord to assist me with a true view of the real Existence of those things which relate to Jesus Christ and God's Covenant concerning me and with me in him and what is the mysterious method and power of the actual exercising of Faith thereupon The real Existence of all Gospel-privileges The Gospel is a real thing is witnessed by the Scriptures which do positively attest that those things are so and so as is exprest But such is the cursed Treachery of my heart that the custom of reading and hearing those things makes them seem common and debaseth their Majestick Worth and so beholding them through a literal and common Estimate my eye loseth at once their true colour and certainty which infeebles my Apprehensions as to the lively Belief of their real Existence And in order to the curing of this Disease I am waiting on the God of Light and Truth to breath upon my heart such a quickned frame of Meditation as may humbly and effectually steer my Soul to the Mark which I aim at Unmortified Invention would be busie to hammer out some Answer to my Query but alas 't is a Physician of no value For who can reason a blind Man into the use of his sight He only who brings Life and Immortality to light is able to make the things that appear not to be seen Hast thou not heard O my Soul that thy true and only welfare lies in things which neither the eye of the Body nor the natural eye of the Mind can attain to How self-denyingly then shouldst thou attempt this Search And therefore lest thou catch a shadow instead of substance turn thy self once more by Prayer to him who opens the eyes of the Blind who hath promised he will not give thee a Stone when thou askest Bread for thy necessity And then First Consider To what end dost thou profess that thou believest the Scriptures to be the Word of God unless also thou puttest to thy Seal that it is the very Will and Mind of God exprest in those words of truth Consider also that 2. The most serious discourse of the people of God about spiritual things although their hearts are not under an equal degree of
then I must stop that I may adventure to cast my self before him who has the Golden Scepter in his hand before I go any further who knows but that he will reach it forth and I shall find favour in his sight I come to thee O Lord. 3. This Union it self which I 'T is only and wholly of God's Free Grace would come at and actually live in is beyond and indeed another thing than the Notion of it 'T is the voluntary and delightful Captivity of my Will and Affections through the Knowledge of him who has called me to this Glory and Vertue it is my true Dwelling-place the very Foundation of my Rest and Repose the Palace of my Triumph the very Spring and Rise of Self-abhorring which makes Self-loathing metalsom and vigorous by issuing it self into the Soul's Participation of the Purity Light and Strength of the Divine Nature and into a sincere open-hearted Resignation thereunto It is begun and carried on wholly by the Free Grace of God it sprang from his electing and predestinating Favour who worketh it according to the Counsel of his own Will Ephes 1. 4 10 11. Rom. 8. 29. 'T is the scope of his free and gracious Covenant I will be your God and you shall be my people The actual In-stating of my Soul into it ariseth from the free Call of God 1 Cor. 1. 9. The overcoming and destroying all difficulties that may obstruct it is throughly managed in the Person of Christ who has made both one and died to bring me to God As for the Application and Enjoyment of this Union-state his Prayer Joh 17. 21. and Promise Joh. 14. 20. do stand in force day and night without ceasing to obtain it for me and effect it in me His Blood has confirmed the Covenant for it and has put into it the vertue and force of a Will and Testament which cannot be disannulled Joh. 17. Luk. 22. 20. compared with 1 Pet. 3. 18. and Heb. 9. 17. and the Manifestation of this is only by his Word and Spirit proclaiming and testifying this good Will of God to Men 1 Joh. 3. 24. whereby he doth effectually bring in this Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 8 9. and effecteth Union thereupon 1 Cor. 6. 20. Yea are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods So that I am wholly God's Workmanship who has ordained this Union and created me in Christ for it I believe Lord help my Unbelief How little do I see How little do I taste and applyingly possess this bottomless Privilege which the glorious Angels desire to look into 4. Having considered the Purity Improve then by Meditation of this Union and the Inconsistency that is betwixt this Union and Guilt and unmortified sinful Pollutions as to the comfortable Application of it and also the divine Spring the free Grace and Bounty of God in creating and carrying it on into which thoughts and considerations the God of all Grace is only able to put seasoning and heart-framing force to make way for the Application of it Now O my Soul compel thy self to the serious Meditation of it 1. The Reallity of this Vnion be persuaded the matter is real It is invisible but real wondrous incomprehensible but real and true God has made thy sins thy burthen his Holiness and his new Stamp thy greatest and most deliberate desire Whence comes this but from the Spirit of Christ in whom the perfection of Enmity against Sin lies and in whom all the Treasures of Grace are laid How comes his Spirit to work an influence of the same nature in thee but as thou art taken into Union with him as a Member of his Body partaking of the vital Influences of the Head And seeing the Fulness of the Godhead dwells in him whose Spirit dwells in thee Col. 2. 9 10. and the Divine Nature of the Father Son and Spirit one and the same 1 Joh. 5. 7. thou becomest in a way of Adoption and according to the created Capacity thou art in really at present an Heir together with Christ of the Glory of God and shall rightfully through free Grace fully possess that Inheritance These are mine saith the Lord Mal. 3. 17. I am thy God in me thou shalt be saved Isa 45. 7. Thy Maker is thy Husband Isa 54. 5. What is this but Union with him Now O my Soul meditate again Am I indeed brought in by Christ to Union with God Are we no longer two but one Spirit Can such a thing be I do not doubt it but admire it What! He that made Heaven and Earth and all Men upon Earth he who is the very Life of the whole Creation he to whom Abraham Moses and David and all the Worthies of old prayed whom they served and adored who carried them through all Trials to whose Truth Wisdom Love and glorious Power they did bear witness and do still testifie it to all Ages Is he my own God Is this God really mine Is it the Word of his own Mouth I am thy God How unsearchable is this Union is he whom Simeon embraced in his Arms and said My eyes have seen thy Salvation is he mine He who wrought all those Miracles who healed Diseases cast out Devils forgave Sins on Earth is he mine He who had compassion on the Leper and healed him He who had compassion on the Multitude and fed them who spied out Nathaniel visited Zacheus raised the Dead is he mine He who preached the Gospel from Heaven who did bear my Sins in the Garden upon the Cross in his own Body who did sweat Blood and was pierced through for Sins for Sinners is he mine His Satisfaction mine His Compassion mine Those tender Bowels mine Was I then comprized in his Prayer And is this Joseph yet alive and his Nature not changed but glorified to the perfection of Power and Sympathy Is he mine and am I indeed his He who comforted his Disciples buried their Sins and Miscarriages and blessed them immediately at his Ascention and in the full warmth of his Love ascended and sate at the Right Hand of the Majesty on high where Love never ceaseth Is this and none but this the Judge whom I expect even my Lord and my God he whom Paul saw whom all the Apostles did preach who converted the Gentiles has kept alive the efficacy of his Word to this day he who is the faithful Witness is he my own He who is exalted to give Repentance and Remission of Sins is he mine to teach purge justifie and quicken me As near as the Head to the Body the Root to the Tree and Branches as near and dear as the Husband to the Wife doth he call me his own Flesh and Bones Doth he live and breath in me and I in him Oh for more Faith Reverence Thanksgiving with all manner of becoming Thoughts Words and Deeds concerning him and concerning the reality of such a Privilege Oh when
Ground When we hear News that our Troubles will one day expire there is some refreshment with it and not a little support the while But Oh for ever blessed be that glorious Hope that not only outward Troubles but Sin also shall be no more yea and that while we are striving and toiling under a Body of Sin we are yet stated in the second Adam brought over from a state of Sin to a present state of Righteousness Acceptation and Blessing This is the Crown and Conquest of Faith Hope and Consolation All these things will I give yea said the Tempter if thou wilt fall down and worship me Ah cursed and deceitful Proffer Let my Portion and yours be found still and for ever in a crucified risen Christ If he loved us when he washed us in his own Blood then no slaying Providences can separate from the same Love so that we may musing the matter aright say he loved me when he hurried me hither and thither when he brake my Bones emptied me from Vessel to Vessel made me as the Mire of the Street Yet his Blessing once bequeathed can never be revoked nor his eternal Love change Though his Paths are in the Deep and his Ways and Judgments past finding out while he maintains in our Souls a Cry after him which is the voice of his own Spirit interceding in us he hath not forgotten to be gracious nor caused his Bowels to cease from yearning toward us Sin only makes outward Burthens intollerable Outward Troubles declare the venom of Sin and tends to open the ear to instruct us and so both of them sends the Souls of the Redeemed to the Atonement of Christ's Blood for Healing and into his Bosom for Refuge Certainly Brother his Promises are as good now as they were before the Storm rose upon us and the Covenant of Grace and Love and Good Will smiles as much as ever and when the Cloud is blown over and gone we shall see it Now to justifie God's truth and submit to his wise hand to maintain good and honourable thoughts of him and all his dealings when so many things from without and also from within do war against it this is like the faith of God's Elect and doth in some blessed measure betoken the knowledge of what God is in himself and what he is eternally to us and that the Seed of God remaineth in us I leave you in his hand and to strive under your Affairs as he shall give you Wisdom and Strength Lord purge and heal us he will do it and all will be well Let us hold on to pray for each other for the Vision will speak c. Yours to love and live with you in the Lord c. 1662. To P. D. N o 68. I Have no other thing to recommend to you but this that as you have already found this present World to be a slippery Foundation so beware how you lay the whole stress of your Expectation upon it or the persons in it A thirsty Man may dream that he drinketh yet when he awakes he may faint The drink of a Dream gives not nourishment 't is only the Water of Life issuing from the Rock Christ that is satisfying and healing He that drinks thereof shall never thirst Frowns and favours of Men are some of the strongest Engines the Devil has to shake a Soul from simple and single hearted following of the Lamb and besides them the treachery of our carnal and unbelieving hearts is ever watching to betray our poor Souls into a dis-relish of the pure paths of Life dulling the edge of Zeal and blinding the eye from beholding the Excellency that lies in the Person of Christ crucified and risen and the excellent Grace that has shone from Heaven for recovering poor Sinners out of the Snare of the Devil So that you and I have need to be much attending at the Foot-stool of that Throne where the Lord of Life sways the Scepter of Relief Mercy and saving Health for all Comers Let my Portion be in the Fountain of Life and not in the broken Cisterns of earthly deceitful Contents If you would save your self from grieving the good Spirit of God which I trust dwells in you retire your self as much as you can into the Contemplation of such things as may cause the fear and love of God to be and remain with some odoriferous Verdure and kindly grow in your Soul And take an ingenious and serious view whether the Plants of the Lord do flourish or else are blighted No less than an infiniteness of Power is requisite to such work and he only who engageth his heart to it lieth under the Promise of the Influences of Heaven to quicken and satisfie him with good things full of Marrow I have no more but recommending you to the Lord to keep you from declining in a declining time and that you may be preserved from evil and your Affections be where Christ is I remain c. 1662. To S. H. N o 69. I Know you yearn after the same Country which I have some hope through the Riches of that Bounty that has appeared from Heaven to Men to see and when the Groans here below are over to breath forth Blessing Honour and Praise to him who I trust has loved us both and washed us in his own Blood and I have some ground to hope the number there will be one the more for your company Only spend your love upon him your delight in him your desires after him and every part of his Will as well to carry the Cross as wear the Crown for both are privileges When your heart is opprest with sin or trouble then think Oh how free is he from sin who sits Conqueror at the Right Hand of God as my Advocate Surety Redeemer yea my principal self whose I am by his Redemption more than I am mine own Sins evil thoughts Heart-lusts dispondency of Spirit shall not always teare and torment for he has judged them in his Flesh upon the Tree and is risen on our behalf I could write a Volume had I words and time of the terrible Inroads which the Enemy especially my own corrupt heart makes upon me but I doubt not you know the same Warfare What remains but that with Faith Hope and Patience we cry out How long Lord holy and true how long ere the Canaanite be expelled and these Thorns in our Flesh be consumed for ever Oh what pure and uninterrupted Communion with Christ will that be when neither sin within nor troubles and fears without shall gaul any more when Melancholy Doubts and Uubelief as a black Cloud shall be dispelled and dried up for ever before the sparkling face ef the Sun of Righteousness solemnizing the Marriage of his Spouse We have no Oratory that can out-pass what he has already uttered concerning this and his words are not vain though ours are many times too too chaffy about these things the more is the pity it should
Affections The Lord's Promise is to satisfie the longing Soul To whose favourable Hand and rich Grace I commend you Faithful is God who hath called you into the Fellowship of his dear Son and thereby you have boldness to enter in within the Vail and he hath promised you shall never be cast out for your Iniquities he will remember them no more And though the Cross be somewhat difficult to bear yet the Reserve at last will fully recompence all and therefore lift up your head for Redemption is coming c. 1674. To B. D. N o 116. I Bless the Lord I can remember and mention you as one who is interested in that Promise Jer. 32. 41. I will rejoyce over them to do them good and that he will never leave you till he has perfected that which concerns you in a way of Grace Mercy and Love My great and often Request on your behalf is above all that God would preserve you from the Evil of Sin and from Snares in your daily Walk that he would sprinkle you with the Blood with the Merit of Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness that he would direct your Path and do all your Works in you and for you and cause you to lean strongly and chearfully on the Arm of his Truth and Grace in reference to all present and future Trials and that you may more than conquer through believing in every Exigence you do or may meet with till the Warfare be accomplished and the days of Trial finished in the Fruition of perfect Freedom For my own part I have reason to bless the Lord that he has favourably held me up and carried me along now these many years since we saw each other though exercised me with some difficulties and considerable Losses yet I hope and do think he has some way or other a Reserve of Kindness for me unworthy me and mine for the Earth is the Lords and the fulness of it And through this Grace I have in some measure and desire held on still to chuse him for my Portion as to things present and eternal As his time was writing of one deceased so your and my times are in the hands of God who is most wise and to be adored and submitted to The days of our anxious Pilgrimage are running out the Lord direct our eyes to that serene unchangeable State where Sins Fears Temptations Turmoils and Difficulties will cease for ever To the Care Counsel Comfort and Communion of whose gracious Spirit I commend you 1674. To T. M. N o 117. SOme time since I received from you a large and very savoury Letter which I do now and then peruse as a friendly Monitor and good help for taking the better view of mine own heart and that Letter together with the Acquaintance I had with you in London doth cause me the oftner to remember you with delight I have understood of your Health by several Friends which I desire if the Lord please may continue and prosper as I am persuaded through the Influences of the Spirit of Christ and his unchangeable Love your Soul prospers To that rich Grace of Christ and to his blessed Conduct in all your Concerns I commend you c. 1674. To H. W. N o 118. REmembring that ancient Amity and Respect that was heretofore between my Father and your self and the continuance thereof for a long time after his Decease between your self and his Family and being not at all conscious to my self that I have for my own part hitherto merited much less designed the Suspence of that good Will but being still heartily desirous of your Welfare I am though distant in place yet as occasion presents often enquiring how 't is with you and understanding that your days are yet drawn forth and that your Pilgrimage though under much infirmity of old Age doth yet continue I was willing to evidence my real Respects unto you by a Line or two and as I do not doubt but that your general aim throughout your days have been to employ your Talent in the Service of Christ while strength and time permitted so I earnestly desire that in the Approaches of a Dissolution you may find that fulfilled to you which David prayed for viz. That the Lord would not leave him in his old Age when Strength faileth Psal 71. 9. The same I desire for you even that you may now experience the refreshing vertue of all those Gospel-Truths which Christ hath so long intrusted you with as his Messenger unto others that you may have the Merit of his Satisfaction and Righteousness applied for your perfect Absolution from all Sin and Guilt the Influence and Conduct of his Spirit to water and steer all your Meditations thoughts hopes and desires the Consolations of his Grace and Love to sweeten your Travel through the Valley of Death and give you at last a refreshing Arrival at the Throne of eternal Rest and there harbour you after all the Incumbrance and Warfare of this present state in the Fruition of his immediate Presence without spot in Jesus Christ the Glimpses whereof I heartily desire you may before-hand partake of as an Earnest of that great full and perfect Revelation and Enjoyment when Time shall be no more So with my hearty and unfeigned Respects I remain yours in Truth and true Affection c. 1674. To H. W. N o 119. I Received yours of the 25th past which was exceeding welcome to me and therefore I return you hearty thanks both for it and your candid Acceptation of that Token I sent you being an Indication such as it was of the respect and value which from my very heart and that deservedly I bear towards you Your Letter written as I see with an aged feeble hand I have read over with great Acceptation and account it to me the same as a precious Balm I understand that Mr. Oxenb after a very small time of Sickness in a few moments space departed this Life And thus we are dropping away hastning towards a Dissolution where the eye that now seeth us shall see us no more Blessed be that Redeemer who will not call home any of his peculiar number before he has finished the design of his Grace and the purpose of his Will by them and in them And blessed are those Souls that are in any saving measure helped by his Spirit to creep out of themselves into his heart and in that Union partake of all the Benefits of his Death and Purchase both for present Grace and hope of Glory In which number I am undoubtedly persuaded that you are included and that you lie under the Aspect of that Divine Goodness and Love which will feed the Oyl in your Lamp and cause your Lamp to be ready trimmed and burning that so when the Bridegroom comes and calls you off to Immortality and Life you may be able to say Loe I come for all is ready Such a readiness the Lord grant also to my poor Soul To his