in the fire of affliction Observ 4. Fourthly observe that the Lords sweetness and life lies now under a vail and covering that is the reason it is so little owned in the world A feast but not seen he that will see the Lord he that will feed at this feast must not look at the things that are seen but at things not seen which lie within the vail Obser 5. Again Fifthly take notice that there is no destroying the vail but by the Lords coming forth until the substance come forth the shadows are substances No perfect destroying the vail untill the Lord be fully come forth All the Ministers in the world cannot do it Observ 6. Sixthly Observe this That all people have a vail or a covering cast over them not one excepted He will destroy the vail of the Covering cast upon All people spred upon All Nations Though the Lord be not far from every one of us yet the Vail keeps us from seeing him and whilst we lie under the vail we grope and feel after him Till God destroy this vail we have foolish fancies and false apprehensions of God What wonder seeing All nations are under the vail All have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. God suffered all nations to walk in their own ways They that remain under the vail judge their brethren that see further then themselves of Error and Heresie but they that have the vail destroyed by the Lord will not be harsh to their brethren that lie under the vail although whilst the vail and the face of the Covering was spred upon them they were so grosly ignorant as to cry out against others Error Heresie Blaspemy Observ 7. Seventhly Observe the twofold expression in the Text The vail and the face of the covering And it is not only Cast but Spred also There is exactness in it Quest If you demand what this vail is that the Lord will destroy I Answer This Creation in its purity and perfection You will say The Creation declares the glory of God Psal 19. The heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shews forth his handy work Sol. True but in a vail Christs flesh was a vail Heb. 10. 20. This Creation in its purity and perfection is a vail but when Satan the world sin and death have gotten root in it then its a thick a dark vail or a shadow of death To those that sate in darkness and the shadow of death is this light come All Gods manifestations in it are vails till he get above it and cover it which he will do He is sunk into it as a seed as he riseth up in it it is in a vail Quest But how comes this vail Who casts this vail Answ 1. The Lord He makes darkness and light he makes vails and open Manifestations 2. Satan hath cast and spred this vail 3. We have every one of us cast it and spread it and we are shrowding our selves under it as God appears and God is righteous and holy in it and we and Satan are in the same sin We are all running into the vail as much as we can But God will destroy the vail and then every eye shall see him Behold he cometh with Clouds and every eye shall see him He is not seen now but he shall be seen his manifestation is life and death Life to those that are of him who feel themselves under the vail death to those that rest and have their life in the vail There 's everlasting destruction from his presence and from the glory of his power We are a sweet Savour of Christ to God in those that perish To some we are a savour of life to others a savour of death That is the Ministry of the Spirit It follows in Verse 8. He will swallow up death in victory Observ 1. Destroy the vail and destroy death The taking away of the vail is the taking away of Death Death is dead Death upon a true account is nothing but a vail upon God who is our true life We live because he lives You heard before what this is even all this Creation in its purity and perfection but much more a vail a thicker and darker vail when sin and death and devil are gotten into it The Scripture expression is elsewhere The vail of the shadow of death Darkness and Death Light and Life are the same even Christs flesh was a vail Ordinances are vails No disparagement to Ordinances If God appear in them t is well Mans ministry is a vail if we see God in it it is but darkly If we be refreshed it is but in part This life and body is a vail while we are at home in it till it be changed and made spiritual till we be cloathed upon with our true life which is from heaven The Apostle saith While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord While we are absent from the Lord we are absent from our life for our life is to be with him We are not perfectly quickned perfectly alive till we be cloathed upon with our life which is from Heaven Therefore take notice that the pulling down of this body is not properly death to the Saints but the destroying of death He will destroy the vail and swallow up death in victory So then that which we call life is not so indeed but death This body this present appearance is but the face of the covering and the rending of it is the swallowing up of death Let us mend our account if we can We have judged things by the outward appearance by the face of the covering by the vail now let us judge righteous judgement The flesh judgeth that to be life which the Spirit knows to be death Our friend is not dead but gone out of death into life Those that know not God but have all their life in the flesh in present appearances they live not indeed They that live in pleasure are dead whilst they live If God be our life then the less we are in these things the more we are in life If our life be in the vail when this vail is destroyed our life is swallowed up of deaths victory and the second death seizeth on us Refer this to the feast that the Lord makes it is himself that is the feast it is himself that makes the feast he dyes into our weakness and when through his death his life is manifested in us in a spirit of Love of power and of a sound minde then death is swallowed up in victory It goes into the draught we hear of it no more The Lords life manifested swallows up death in victory Death is sorrow and tears See if you can imbrace this account of death He that hath ears to hear let him hear He that hath not it may be will cry whimsey fancy and turning the Scripture into an Allegory Further it s said And the Rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth All the Saints Rebuke is whilst they are under the vail They are judged by the vail the world knows them not We live in the vail whilst we are in sorrow and tears whilst God who is our life is hid we are under the worlds Rebuke In the mean time we wait till God appear and whilst God appears not the world jears us saying Flee to your mountain Psal 11. 1. All the worlds joy is in the vail when the vail is rent then comes the second death then that is made good Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus his evil but now thou art tormented and he is comforted And now have I walked in a vail and in a cloud unto you Do you not understand The time was when my self did not and it may be my weakness in expressing as well as yours in hearing It is my weakness that cannot put the vail from off your eyes Consider what hath been spoken that you may understand it rightly If it please God to bring it home as a seed sown to any of you I shall rejoyce I leave it to the blessing of God FINIS Isa 50. 1. Isa 2. 2.
thy love who ever art the Reader desiring thee to remember that whatsoever is ministred to us either by men or books though of the most spiritual subjects is no better then the Mantle of Elijah unless the God of Elijah be there if the truth dwell in thee I am Thine in the Lord C. Worsley To the memory of Mr. Goad PErfections Samplar draught of spotless life Envy of Preachers and of Hearers strife Wrapt up in silence and laid by Till death unfold the mystery Some Teach but Live not Truths usurping part Shining not burning of the Glow-worms Art But this was onely his mistake He was much more then what he spake Experience was the mistress of his Art He spake not from the lips but from the heart The rise of many was his fall A Form of words Traditional Such fallings Consummations call we may So morning twi-light falls into the day His stars did shrink into their skies When Sun in him did once arise A State Religion counsels Synods stamp Which yet admits of a far higher vamp Riddles Believe it he that can The Word of God made so by man Thus bankrupts vouch their credit by Record Their obligations pass but his bare word No forraign teacher by him used Light not acquired but infused And yet how commonly such borrowed fire Obtruded is as of divine inspire What He presented to our sight Did sparkle from the Fountain light The all-inditing Spirit did him fill That scorns the Rival of a second quill Till grown in Notions pure so ripe He did resolve into the Type The Road-Religion doth it self maintain By partnership in worldly pomp and gain For Rivers can no higher grow Then to the Fountains whence they flow But his Religion was in Mysterie And in his breast did contradictions lie His life was unto Christ to dye His Glory flesh to Crucifie Dulness in him did cut we did espie In his rude plainness a bright majesty His spirit pure his Notions choyce Judged by matter not by voyce How sweetly was he ravish'd 'bove the life Of the Scripturian and the Letter strife Where water-Baptism that should quench Is made the ground of difference Fire was his Baptism and his common food Not signs but very body very blood Thus had in him each Sacrament Its true and genuine intent His middle Doctrine by Gods sacred Clue Did cut betwixt extreams of either hue Legal profession here doth stand Seraphick looseness on that hand This th'high-born spirit labours to depress That sets it out in the most careless dress 'Twixt both Our VVatchman did descry The Spirits Bounds and Liberty He steer'd an even course in numerous throng Chaining attentive Hearers to his tongue Soft showrs did fall in 's dropping words Yet quick as lightning sharp as swords His Doctrine so proportion'd limb by limb Truth was not Thrown in but Laid up in him Yet 's Method was the meanest thing Matter was Jewel of the Ring His soul was lifted up 'bove common track Of Themes and Systemes True Religions wrack Thus set he pitties common crew Which yet put in for Preachers too When grosser bodies judg'd by bulk not merit Are by skill'd hand Alembick'd into spirit The dregs and bulk flye not from hence 'T is but a Dram mounts Quintessence This Dram was He Scruple Iota tryed In every Dispensation rarified Till his pure soul did glories vye With th'oneness of the single eye His first fruits did to Law and Sinai tend Which to some Preachers is their journeys end No marvail he out-did their worth He gain'd half way at setting forth His second step more glorious was and better Knowledge of Gospel truths but in the letter Yet this gave not a lasting rest 'T was Moses vail'd with th' name of Christ For where the Legal spirit rules in Might There 's little diff'rence 'twixt the'xternal rite Whether that Baptism doth obtain Or Circumcision still remain In 's third appearance and most glorious scene Were naked glories and perfections seen Truths not yet owned to their merit Gospel-knowledge in the Spirit Who can this blessed state with that compare Where Sinai's thundrings and Laws threatnings are Where Selfe and worldly interest Goes half Religion with the best But his pure soul wandring in boundless sense Delighted Hearers with rich Eloquence Whilst he discovered unto them The light of new Jerusalem Here sublimated souls joyned in one By Divine Unction mount and grasp the Throne Thrice happy soul for here it findes What others seek in Marks and Signes Yet here short-sighted zeal by illustrious ray Is strook quite blinde and gropes though at Noon-day And in its rage at truths past ken Takes men for trees and trees for men Hence 't was Goads Doctrines most Seraphical Mistaken judgements counted notional Thus zeale boyld up 'bove due degree Proves poyson and not remedy But he 's translated by discerning Fate Beyond the hand of Envy reach of Hate Whence he bequeaths this Legacie to All May on their spirits his rich Mantle fall Blest soul thou' art fixt and at thy rest Whilst we with Gog Magog contest Yet sweet to us shall Sufferings be Since they can but Bring us to Thee To the memory of Mr. Goad on the Publication of his Excellent SERMONS THat soul is upward flown whose rays so bright Through a Clay-prison did send forth their light The want of such a guide we drooping bear Here clouded in a dusky Hemisphere For a more ample Orb this Sun requir'd Whose heavenly breathings sweetly once inspir'd Our lesser fires and darted forth a flame From which at once both heat and light there came Divine Creator-like 't was he that gave To pictures life now shadows substance have How pure and how refin'd the spirits were This Heaven-taught Chymist did extract when here Below he wrought from his full soul there came Such sweet resultances so clear a flame As melted preaching from its grosser Oar In place of Form we had the Spirit and Power The pith and kernel for the Bark and we Into that body of Divinity That 's in the world so must discour'st of finde Infus'd by him the soul and purer minde When on his Sermons we but cast our eye And in so plain a dress such beauty spie A native splendour which not tincture'd is With skill or art we can experience this That treasures in an earthen vessel lie And we a burning shining light descrie In Camels hair attir'd How did the fine And brighter Colours in his preaching shine Which were not subt'ly woven with a shade Of Self-applause and yet they were not made All rude and unprepar'd for we did finde In that plain garment Majesty inshrin'd Such was his Doctrine such his life that we Saw not a loose but Christian Liberty In all its parts exactly by the Law That Spirit that keeps even Libertines in aw Of his own compass steer'd for as he taught The life of God he up to it was wrought Immortal Goad let this thy Motto be Thou
and here he is in drudgery hunger and thirst have I not a father saith he I 'le go home to my Father He came to himself This is the quickning and awaking of the Spiritual Seed the new man the new creature in us that is born of God knows God and can never be at quiet as long as flesh and sin do raign It lusts against the flesh This mourning brings in power from God whereby to discharge it self from the evil that oppresses it Godly sorrow saith the Apostle works repentance unto Salvation never to be repented of In spiritual mourning there is a kind of dying of flesh and denying of flesh an owning and honouring of God The man goes out of himself I am undone He goes out to God Crying My destruction is from my self but in thee is my help I am not able to deal with these enemies with Sin Hell and Death Now help me Lord. This is the travail of the Soul with Christ until he be formed in us Spititual mourning Godly mourning it is the mourning of the Spirit in us with sighs and groans not to be expressed There is worldly mourning and there is Godly mourning There is fleshes mourning and Spirits mourning Fleshes mourning is for Affliction for trouble Take away this plague saith Pharoah The Spirits mourning is for sin I have done foolishly take away my sin saith David Fleshes mourning is sins mourning it would be delivered it would not be plagued The Spirits mourning is against sin take away the plague of the heart Spiritual mourning is to lament after the Lord. 'T is said of the children of Israel They mourned after the Lord 1 Sam. 7. towards the end of the chap. This is what the new man doth the Spiritual man the heavenly man in us the new creature when he is awakened when he is quickned which indeed is the conversion of a sinner the awakning the new man in him and this new man being the seed of God cannot endure to abide in filth in the dark but is making out making from whence it came making to his Father making unto God in mourning in a deep sense of its wretched condition in darkness in weakness in the power of lusts O miserable man who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ Here was a mighty proof of the Corinthians delivering their own hearts and delivering this person that the Devil had much power over I had an intent to have enlarged this further but I will rather break off and may goe on at another time SERMON II. 1 COR. 5. 1 2 3 4 5. It is reported commonly c. HEre is a great and foul sin that doth veil a dear Saint a sin not named amongst the Gentiles such a sin as the Gentiles are ashamed of is found in a Congregation of Saints It is there and they do not see it nor take notice of it they are all asleep the whore hath put her cup to their mouths and they are all drunken with the world and pride Ye are puft up and have not rather mourned That is it we were upon in the morning That security and spiritual drunkenness may befall Saints The devil may get in among them in the basest practises and they not take notice of it but dream of righteousness and glory This Church were all asleep Saint Paul he awakens them he mourns and awakens them he comes to them in the spirit and sets them a mourning and so they go forth together in the power of the Lord Jesus and quit themselves and this poor deluded soul among them from the snare of the devil The Apostle before he brings them to judge this incestuous person he judges the whole Church and brings them to judge themselves and that is it that must be first we must be judged before we can sit in judgement Before we come forth in the judgement of the Lord against others we must be brought before the Tribunal of the Lord. The Apostle charges the whole Church with sin and delivers them first to Satan and then with them delivers this person from Satan He shews them that they are in the snare of the devil This is to be delivered unto Satan and this was the delivery of this incestuous person unto Satan A spiritual discovery that he was in Satans hands He was in Satans hands before but now the spirit of God came forth unto him by Paul and the Church to discover it to him and so he was delivered unto Satan and after he delivers the whole Church to Satan and after delivers them from Satan and then goes to work with them to deliver up this person to save him They were all partakers of his sin in that they were not sensible of it but were puft up He tells them what did rather become them what concerned them and that was to mourn ye have not mourned rather this is that you should be found in spiritual mourning Through spiritual mourning the power of God comes upon the Saints to discharge their own hearts and their Congregations from sin and wickedness This kinde saith Christ goes not forth but by fasting and prayer He speaks of a child possessed of the devil The Disciples could not cast him out and they ask Christ the Reason This kinde saith he goes not forth but by fasting and prayer By spiritual mourning by earnest contending with God by the power of the spirit in mourning and wrastling with God as Jacob did who had power with God we shall obtain power against sin Hos 12. He wept and he made supplication c. You will never have power against sin unless you have power over God You will never overcome the wicked one unless you first overcome God and God is overcome no way but by his own power in mourning and supplication 't is his power made out when flesh is denyed and he is owned 'T is by his own power his hands are bound Let me go saith God I will not let thee go saith Jacob until thou bless me He wept and he made supplication as you may see in that fourth of Hosea This same mourning out of which God comes forth in power against sin it is the spirits mourning the spirit in the Saints in Sighs and Groans It is the reviving and quickning of the new man that lay dead in the flesh who seeing himself thus besmeared thus imprisoned thus captivated with sin and Satan he is breaking out of it he cannot have rest in that state he sees he is not at home Whither am I carryed from my Fathers house saith the Prodigal when he came to himself It is the travel of the spiritual man as Christ expresses it Joh. 16. 20. in which the man-childe is brought forth the spirit as it was here in Paul and in the Saints which being brought forth was able to deal with Satan and with hell to send Satan to Satan and hell to hell What doth hell
hath given all to him we can have nothing but by him and in him we are coheirs as the Apostle hath it in Rom. 8. God hath chosen us in him hath blessed us in him by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise Christ is Temple he is Altar he is Priest he is all the whole body of our sacrifice by him let us offer the sacrifice of praise No acceptable sacrifice but by him Every one then that deals by sacrifice that deals in praise and thanksgiving or supposeth that he doth so let him consider by whom he comes Do you come by a Mediator or no If you come by a Mediator do you come by him that is gone without the gate and sits in the reproach of the world if you come not by him all that you do whatever fair shew it hath to men is but abomination in the sight of God There is nothing acceptable to God but in him All the Incense you offer up it stinks unless there be the sweet odour of him How is it then you bring your praise you bring your thanks by whom do you come doth Christ lead you in do you do it by him We use his name we come with words and letters and syllables we say Lord we come to thee by Jesus Christ we come in his name when we say so let 's consider what Commission we have Remember what the evil spirit said to them that conjured them in the name of Jesus whom Paul preached Jesus we know and Paul we know but who are ye and that of the Psalmist Why dost thou take my name into thy mouth when thou hatest to be Reformed Is the name of Jesus in thy mouth Yes but consider is the love of Jesus and the Faith of Iesus in thy heart If we come by him let us see that he is with us let us look for his minde in us for his spirit in us Are we spiritually minded or carnally minded Are we his reproach or is he precious unto us he must needs be so if we come by him unto God and know him the onely way and the truth and the life Are we let unto God by his spirit To come by Iesus is to come in the light and power and grace and life of Iesus To come in our own names what can we expect to come by our own works by our own righteousness this is to make another Iesus another Mediator To use onely the name what an abominable mockery is this and how hath Satan and sin and all wickedness been brought forth under the Names and Titles of Iesus Christ The devil hath brought forth all sacrifices to himself under the name of Iesus Christ and under such Titles By him Let every one of us look if we be in praise and Thanksgiving unto God whether we come by him To come by him is to come with him Know ye not that Christ is in you If any have not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his We are branches of his root members of his body and so we are to grow up if we be planted in the house of God through the sap and fatness that we have in him We have great things to do which cannot be done but by him We have principalities and powers death and hell to wrastle withal how shall we do it but by him we have God himself to overcome and how shall this be done but by his son Consider what a promise there is whatsoever you shall ask in his name it shall be given you We have heaven to open and shut we have Satan to binde and loose and how shall this be done without him But you will say where is he that doth go forth by him where is this power where is this light and where is this grace O 't were well if all our hearts were stirred up to look after it where it is O that we were awakened to look for it that we were rows'd up out of spiritual security and stumbling out of that form of Religion we walk in to look after power and life and spirit Where is it Surely when we begin to look after it we shall finde it is not far from us But the truth is it hath been a long time absent a long time withdrawn in respect of the manifestation of it God hath been pleased that there should be an hour of darkness and a time of temptation God is pleased there should be a time of Apostacy that the man of sin should be revealed and that he himself during this time should be hid Christ himself did not always go forth manifestly in the name of God for that thirty yeers from his birth 't is true he did all by the Father but how little manifestation was there of the Father in that time his working by the Father in the name of the Father was manifested in him by degrees And he tells his Disciples that they should go forth mightier then ever he went forth himself Joh. 14. He that believes in me greater works shall he do then those that I do When Christ came to suffer and to be a reproach he went to it by the Father he went to all by the Father and we go to all by him and the Father did not presently manifest himself or lead him out to a willing and a joyful suffering but comes to him by degrees after begging and entreating and earnest Prayers with strong cries and tears if it be possible let this cup pass away The Father comes in at last takes him by the hand and then he goes on cheerfully and for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross and despised the shame The manifestation of Christ with his people to lead them to God hath been low and dark but it shall be cleer it shall be bright it shall be powerful We have been in an exceeding puzzeled lost condition and still are that we scarce know when we go by Christ and when we go alone but he shall come forth cleerly and manifestly to lead his people and we shall see that he hath us by the right hand He will come forth in his brightness to destroy the man of sin after the time that he is fully revealed and by him the Saints shall go into greater glory then ever they have yet seen we shall judge the world and we shall judge Angels How is it to be wished that we were sensible of that confusion and darkness that lieth upon us that we have seen and do see very little of Christ our way I am the way the truth and the life When the time comes that Christ shall manifest himself unto his people to lead them unto God to be their light and their direction and their life he will make us sensible of our darkness of our weakness at what a loss we have been and we shall begin to cry as the Prophet Elisha did when his Master was taken up where is the spirit
forbearing one another in love condescending one to another bearing one with another by humble mindedness meekness Every one is for unity and every one stands that he would rule and he would set down what should be done and he complains of dissentions and want of peace because all will not come unto him when we should condescend one to another and submit one to another with all lowliness of minde Quarrellings and contentions they are very unbecoming Saints contentions about outward things Why do ye not suffer wrong saith the Apostle Controversies in matters of Religion and Differences in Judgement these differences should be soberly carried there is but one Umpire but one Judge and that 's the Spirit of God So though thou and I differ who shall resolve the Resolution is the Lords why therefore wait quietly till God reveal and God will reveal the same to him saith the Apostle Phil. 3. 16. Is there any that fear God you shall all grow up to a perfect man What God hath revealed to one he will reveal to the other Wars Contentions quarrellings brawlings they become not Saints If any seem to be contentious saith the Apostle we have no such Custom and they that live in the Spirit will own no such Custom All differences they are commended to the Spirit commended to God and so when we differ we sit down waiting until God shall teach us till the Messiah come From whence come Wars and contentions among you T is good to enquire and examine into the root of all manner of evil that is amongst us From whence comes this and from whence comes that here 's this evil here 's the other evil t is good to look into the root and spring whence every one comes We shall have a better sight of things when we see their original and when we see their principle T is the evil principle that makes a thing evil t is a good principle that makes a thing good every thing is good and evil as the principle is good or evil God is the good principle and Satan is the evil principle as God hath a hand in all all is good and to the pure all things are pure saith the Apostle to him that is defiled nothing is pure and we are not able to judge of any thing whether it be good or evil till we know the principle The same thing that is good in one is evil in another because it comes from a good principle in one and from an evil principle in another From whence come wars and contentions It concerns us to look to the root and spring of evil to see the evil and from whence it comes Again we had need to have our eyes turn'd unto the root of evils and to see that they have their root within us and their cause within us Come they not hence even from our lusts Because we have a trick of shifting off things translating them we can hide our sins like Adam The woman thou gavest me saith he The Serpent beguiled me saith she We cry out such occasions such company such evil times Satan nay God himself But let no man when he is tempted say I am tempted of God for God tempts no man to evil every man when he is tempted is drawn aside of his own lust Whence then comes evil Whence comes wars and contentions come they not hence even from your lusts They come from your lusts Men do get children and lay them at other mens doors men binde heavy burthens and lay them on other mens shoulders the Apostle here would have every man take up his own burthen and we shall never be eased of our own burthens till we first take them on our own shoulders and then Christ will say Come to me ye that are weary and heavy laden and I le refresh you and ease you he will first have us feel the weight of our own burthens and then he will ease us and take them off The Apostle James here shews the cause of all trouble that is in us when we are in quarrels and contentions we lose our peace And whence is this thank your selves saith he it is your lust Do not say that such a one is contentious look into your own hearts All the trouble that is upon us we are the Authors of it hath its root in us we may thank our selves for it Thy destruction is of thy self saith the Lord God though he doth appoint every thing and order every thing his providence is in every thing yet that that man doth he doth freely and he is drawn aside by his lust and therefore there 's no shifting it of When the Apostle is mentioning Gods taking whom he will he brings in an Objecting Then why doth he finde fault Why here is the reason why he findes fault though he hardens Pharoahs heart yet Pharoah doth harden his own heart and is carried to do that he doth by his own lust and enticed We must see in our selves the fountain of all evil and then if we be of God we shall also see in our selves the fountain of all good There is that that is born of the flesh that hath all evil in it there is this nature that comes of God that hath all good and no evil in it From whence come wars and contentions come they not hence even from your lusts Yea hence they spring and here 's the root of all Your lusts which war in your members Your lusts What 's lust earnest going forth of your hearts after the creature and here 's the work of lust which is to war and here 's the place where this warring is In your members your lusts which war in your members What are these members in which lust doth war There is a natural body which hath members and there is a spiritual body which hath also members of these spiritual bodies there are two sorts Thère is a spiritual body the body of Christ there is a spiritual body the body of Satan there 's the man Christ and there 's the man of sin These same members in which lusts war are the members of a spiritual body which Paul expresses in Rom. 7. 23. he speaks of the Law of his members which did war against the Law of his minde he complains in the next verse of the body of death of the body of sin Who shall deliver me from this body of sin for it s a spiritual body and these members are members of that body And the Apostle mentions these in the Epistle to the Colossians Col. 3. 5. Mortifie your earthly members fornication uncleanness covetousness The members of the natural body are these hands feet eyes the members of a spiritual body the body of sin the body of death Satans body are fornication uncleanness covetousness here lust wars and this is that body the Apostle speaks of 2 Cor. 9. 37. when he says I beat down my body I keep it in subjection Papists look
upon him as intending this natural body so they betake themselves to fasting whipping themselves such bitter doings but it s the body of sin and the body of death where lust doth war War against whom Against the soul saith Peter I beseech you abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul war against the Spirit the flesh lusteth against the spirit Gal. 5. as the spirit lusts against the flesh They war against God and the Spirit and God against them there is Satan death and sin in these lusts the wisdom of the flesh is enmity to God the friendship of the world is enmity to God it wars against God This is that James saith in Verse 4. from this Text Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity to God c. These lusts do war against God they are the bryars and thorns that are set in battel against God as it is in Isa 27. 4. Who will set the bryars and thorns against me in battel I le go through them and burn them together Lusts they war against God God comes forth in his appearances these oppose him God appears in a Law why Lust stands up in a Law I must have this I must have that says Lust God he calls he would have the heart and he would have love and he would have righteousness Lust says I must have it It wars against God and think you what Lust shall get by this warfare against the great God That you shall see here in the second ver Ye lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not And so Lust is miserably disappointed Lust wars and fights and kills and it does not onely war and fight and kill but it preys too Lust will be Religious Lust will murther and devour and commit all outrages and it will be as civil and as Religious as any in the outward shew Ye ask too and yet ye have not and so here 's nothing but disappointment in Lust in going out to the world ye fight and war and ye have not Ye have not what ye would have ye have not enough Disappointment in respect of Satisfaction and Rest that is the lot of Lust of all desires going out from God going out to the creature go out to any thing but God ye shall never have it Ye shall have this thing ye shall have the other thing but ye shall never be happy and the thing ye seek is happiness Every man seeks it Lust calls for this thing and the other thing ye may have the thing but ye shall never be happy He sends leanness into your souls he gave them their desires and sent leanness withal into their souls There are two things that cause the disappointment of worldly and fleshly Lust The one is that it wars with God which is Omnipotent Lust crucifies him The other is because it seeks satisfaction and rest in those things that cannot afford it and so t is like the grave and hell still it cries give give It desires shadows it clasps about them it cannot desire God It desires nothing but to kill him It would kill him that is onely desirable that is onely life and onely happiness How happy are they in whom God is killing Lust How miserable are they that are serving their Lusts when will be an end of this drudgery While ye are walking on in your Lusts you 'l set upon any thing If you can't move heaven you 'l see if you can move hell You 'l try if you can get it by Prayer if you cannot you 'l get it by fighting but you shall have it neither way You do but kill your selves all the while You war against the soul you war against God and man and must needs war against your soul While that Lust lives it brings nothing but torment It s a very hell unto a man It s the very devil therefore when James prescribes the remedy he says Resist the devil and he will flie from you Serving lust is serving the devil Its drudging in hell You 'l ever be poor you 'l never be rich you 'l be drudges while you live or else be thieves and murtherers you 'l fight and war ye kill and yet ye have not God says that hee 'l famish all the Gods of the Heathen this Lust is the great God famish this and they are all famish'd and God will famish this and what will you be famish'd with it O awake rather that it may be slain you will suffer continually while you live in it whiles you are led by it it will be with you as with a man that hath a dogs stomack it will never be satisfied like one who hath a wolf in his body it will eat him and devour him there is no satisfying him Who is it that would live in peace and not in torment if you will live in peace give up your lusts submit your selves to God let him dispose of you as James expresses in that which follows Turn to God and desire nothing but him all desires and prayings which are not after God they are only stretchings out and inlargings of heart and there is nothing but filling with wind nothing but emptying it self O that God would come in and destroy all these hungry dogs and all these greedy hell-hounds these same lusts and devils You lust and have not you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye war and fight and have not Here 's the progress of your lust it comes to fighting The devil is a murtherer lust is angry even unto death if it cannot have what it would have it throws firebrands and arrows t is hungry and it breaks stone walls much more through flesh walls Ye lust and ye kill whom doth it kill why it kills man 't will make you kill your neighbors Ahab for the liking he took to Naboths vineyard must have the vineyard he is sick he could not live without it here was the lust of Covetousness David must not live because he was better then Saul here 's the lust of envy Saul he 'l kill him Vriah must not live because he had an handsome wife here 's lust in David Mordecai must not live because he will not stand up to Haman a pair of gallows is built for him here 's the lust of pride it hunts for the precious life of his neighbor ye kill one another and ye kill your selves O I pitty you Lust wars against the soul it sucks the very blood of body and soul it blinds mens eyes that they do not see it and these Lusts they kill one another squable one with another there is contention among Lusts which should have the mastery and as fishes in the Sea the greater devour the smaller so it is here and many a man blesses himself in a fools Paradise is overcome while he thinks he is Conquerour Ye kill But whom do these Lusts kill They kill
it were dead and slain Rev. 5. John saw the Lamb as it had been slain he is as it were slain but he lives all this while and he raigns and rules but there is nothing seen but the Kingdom of Men of Devils of Death of Hell The Lord he is slain he comes forth at times and makes appearances and as he looks up still he is knockt down and the world cries Devil and Blasphemy In all the appearances that hitherto he hath made he hath been slain the Devil hath possessed all the Mountains that ever he raised up the seven Mountains the Whore sits upon them That the Apostle hath Heb. 6. They crucifie afresh the son of God and put him to open shame God makes his appearance and still he is crucified still he is slain whilst he riseth in flesh still he is killed If you ask who it is that kils him His enemies kill him sin and hell his friends kill him therefore Christ saith Father forgive them they know not what they do These are the wounds I have received in the house of my friends He kils himself he gives up his life for that which Pilat and Herod did they did by the determinate Counsel of God Awake O sword against the shepherd that is my fellow I lay down my life of my self and no man takes it from me saith Christ he gives up himself It is the blood of God in us that redeems this earth Thou hast redeemed us by thy blood There is no man shall live but he in whom God is dead in whom he lyeth slain for a while or as it were slain and by this God comes forth in a more glorious Kingdom His Kingdom is more glorious when he comes out of death into it comes upon Death comes upon Hell and all the powers of it God is pleased to make himself enemies that he may appear to be above them God is slain his blood is shed in Christ and Christ in the Saints he suffers still I fill up the sufferings of Christ saith the Apostle Here he dies and here he rises And this it may give us some light and instruction touching sin in the knowledge whereof we are exceeding defective All have sinned that the Apostle saith and sinned the utmost of sin Slain and murdered the Lord of life And think of it what you will you never see sin in a true light till you see your selves murtherers and betrayers of the Lord of glory the Spirit convincing of sin it convinceth of this and this is that that earthly-mindedness doth the earth in us this love of the earth this love of the creature it kils the Lord and buries the Lord it keeps down the Lord. Do you not know saith Iames that the friendship of the world is enmity unto God And you that know God and love God mind what you do whilst you go out after the earth Here is killing the Lord and burying him keeping him down Either we are crucifying God or else we are crucifying the world and the world is crucified unto us one of these two We are crucifying God while we do not look and long for his appearance all living in the earth being at home in the body is crucifying the Lord. The Devil is the god of this world he is a murderer and so are all those that serve this world murtherers and betrayers of the Lord of life The earth buries him the earth covers him the Princes of this world crucifie the Lord of glory You that profess to know the Lord of glory see what you do whilst you are climbing up in the world making after the greatness and the glory thereof the earth hides his blood and covers him here he is buried worldly lusts fleshly lusts these kill and flay and bury God in you keep down Christ in you This is the reason why the world makes so little account of God and makes no more of God then a fancy they have slain him and they have buried him and they raign but he will rise and then wo to the inhabitants of the earth The Devil is come among you and then you shall see the Devil the Devil is among you but you do not see him then you shall be delivered up to him It is a comfort to them that they cannot see God that their souls long after him and they love him but they cannot see him Why He is not discovered where he is he lyeth dead a great while He lyeth dead in the hearts and souls of his People And it should make us beware of passing judgement upon any That they are not the Lords and the Lord is not in them because he is not at present manifested he lyeth dead there is his blood and it may quicken though it be now as dead And it should make us very wary of judging any persons those that walk in the greatest opposition unto God God may lie dead in them and when he rises in them that shall suffer for him that did before persecute him and whosoever he be that lives he hath seen God dead in him and now he is raised This is indeed the conversion of a sinner it is the quickening of Christ in the heart He is dead in the earth here is his blood and he will rise up the earth shall discover her blood shall no longer hide her slain he will come out of his place he hath come forth in many appearances and hath been killed again but he will come forth in his own body and he will stand in the earth and rising from the dead he dies no more death hath no more dominion over him and he coming out of the grave will bring forth all his with him of which we had a type in the coming of the people of God out of Aegypt and out of Babylon they brought forth all the riches out of Aegypt returned with all the vessels out of Babylon When God brings us forth out of death and hell he will bring us forth with all the goods and all the riches that death and hell have robbed us of The earth shall no longer cover his blood And it cannot be it is impossible he should see corruption it is his blood and therefore must recover it is the Lamb but as it were slain he rules still he rules amidst his enemies he rules in death in hell but is covered is not seen He shall live and his people shall live with him And look we into our hearts what we find of the death of Christ of the resurrection of Christ of fellowship with him in his sufferings and the power of his resurrection This is that Pauls heart did beat upon Phil. 3. 10. We know him and the power of his death and fellowship of his sufferings Look what we know of him and look for his revealing in us When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me Know ye not that Christ is in you Prove your selves whether you be in the faith Christ
will is If grace and salvation be reckoned by us to be safe in sin and safe in the world and in the flesh we are in the Devils deceit in the deceivableness of unrighteousness among them that perish If you will have this made out to you by Scripture the Saints of God know this in their hearts and souls but will you have it in the Scripture His name shall be called Jesus a Saviour Mat. 1. Why because he shall save his people from their sins Here is salvation to be saved from sin What is sin 'T is opposition unto God breaking his Laws to be saved from falling out with God this is salvation And to be saved from sin is to be saved from wrath there is wrath and hell in sin though it be not yet come forth but it will come forth When sin hath conceived it brings forth death if you have a Saviour he saves you from your sins Another place is Acts 3. 26. God sent Christ to bless us to turn every one of us from our iniquities You look upon your selves as blessed by Christ if you be blessed this is the blessing Turning you from your iniquities enabling you to deny ungodlines and worldly lusts You may add a third place Acts 5. 31. Whom God hath made a Prince and a Saviour he speaks of Christ there to give Repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins You like forgiveness of sins well how like you Repentance where God gives one he gives the other where Christ is our Righteousness he is our Sanctification where he is both these he is our wisdom he gives us a new minde and a new heart writes his Law in our mindes this is life this is salvation here is grace and salvation teaching us to deny ungodliness t is a work supernatural as to old Adam the corrupt Man it is only in those that spring from the Spiritual man Jesus Christ they rise up in a new life and walk in it if ye walk in the spirit fulfil not the lusts of the flesh T is the Divine Nature springing up in us that doth not live the life of the flesh if a man hath no life but in the flesh that which is indeed salvation and grace is destruction and wrath to him Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts c. What is this denying ungodliness and worldly lusts T is that which is called in other Scriptures self-denying we have a self that is nothing but ungodliness If we be Saints indeed we have two selves a divine self a spiritual and heavenly self the new Creature the Heavenly man the Divine Nature and there is a carnal self an earthly self a self that is sin in which dwells nothing that is good There is another self contra-distinct to sin t is not I but sin in me there is a self that is Christ and a self that is corrupt Adam I do not live I of corrupt Adam but Christ lives in me Here is one self never to be denied one self that is godliness heavenly lust and heavenly desire makes after God only this self is to be pleased happy is he that pleases this self and knows this self But there is carnal self the Law of the Members this is ungodliness this carries wholly from God to the World wholly to that which is not of the Father this is to be denied And this is beating down the body that the Apostle speaks of I beat down my body What 's that is it as the Papists do to whip themselves to pine their bodies no there is a body of death a body of sin this corruption in me this self I beat down there is the old man that is to be destroyed The grace of God that brings Salvation teacheth us to deny this self this ungodly self this worldly self this self that is of the Devil And it is by bringing forth another self that this self is denied if it be truly denied for there is self denying self sin denying sin lust denying lust a master lust that starves other lusts this is not the denying that the grace of God teacheth There is a lust that is kept in with bit and bridle like a horse and mule there is denying ungodliness by the power of the Law but here t is grace that teacheth us to deny ungodliness grace that brings salvation Corrupt self denies it self but in some things the Law enables us to deny our selves but in some things some ungodliness and indeed it is not the denying of ungodliness the denying ungodliness only by a carnal man it is ungodliness T is the new man that is brought forth in true righteousness and holiness There is nothing but a shew of righteousness and holiness till this new man be brought forth after the Image of God The Law it teacheth us to deny this piece of ungodlinesse or to seem to deny it at least to deny the gross act of it but to deny it in the root of it it can never do it But the grace of God teacheth us to deny all ungodliness to come out of all that is not of God all that is not like God This life of God it purges out all filth He that hath this hope purifies himself as he is pure this life it rises out of its vail and grave and covering of worldly lusts yea it riseth from under the Law This grace of God appearing is the time appointed of the Father when we shall be no more under Tutors and Governors in the condition of Servants but Sons Heirs and Free-born SERMON II. TITUS 2. 11 12. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us c. TEaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts Denying implies soliciting ungodliness and worldly lusts will be soliciting even in those to whom the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared After grace hath effectually appeared there will be solicitations temptations and motions to sin ungodliness and worldly lusts soliciting and tempting to return again unto them but the grace of God that brings salvation teacheth us to deny them There is sin in our Members still there is soliciting and there is very far prevailing The grace of God that brings salvation sprouting forth is often struck back into a seed into the root again There may be a bewitching of the Spiritual man as the Apostle writes to the Galatians O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth There is many a blast that comes upon the Oaks and the tall Trees and there may be withering in the branches while the substance the holy seed abides in the root There are solicitations of death after grace and Salvation hath appeared and sometimes exceeding violent In so much that Paul cries out I am carried captive O miserable man Who shall deliver me Rom. 7. The reason of this is because ungodlines and worldly lusts are not quite destroyed at once But the work is