very certainty is imaginary but fetchest not one step in the light and when thou awakest and comest to behold the vanity of thy dreams O how sick wilt thou be of them Thou walk towards happiness O Man thou canst not so much as desire happiness Thou canst not but desire happiness and yet thou canst not for thy heart desire happiness As thou comest from the flesh so thou centerest in the flesh and fain wouldst come to rest in a fleshly happiness from God but thou wouldst chuse to go to Hell rather then come near true Life which will one day be more tormenting to thee then all the Hells thou canst imagine O how tormenting is the Life and Love of God to every thing but it self tormenting in its nature tormenting in every motion of it Every creature can imagine an excellency in his life in his love but none can groundedly acknowledg it nay none can bear it They call that so and can very well bear that which they fancy in him if God were that which man imagines him to be he could not but love him and honour him exceedingly and desire the greatest intimacy and communion with him but they cannot call that so which is so in him for when they come near it their very sense and experience will undenyably evidence it to be otherwise to them Wisdom cryeth aloud to thee O Man she hath long uttered her voyce in thy streets but thou canst not hear nor understand her language the way of life thou canst not know The light shineth in thy darkness but thy darkness cannot comprehend it therefore must thou dye in thy blindness and folly while WISDOM laughs at thy destruction and mocks when thy fear cometh This is thy Judgment written which will at length overtake thee how skilful soever thou art at present to put it far from thee Of the Seasons varieties and changes in the inward World which answer to the seasons varieties and changes in the outward World which is a map or picture of them according to the description given by that wise Observer of the Course of Nature ECCLES 3. Vers 1 c. To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the Heaven A time to be born and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted A time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up A time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together a time to embrace and a time to be far from embracing A time to get and a time lose a time to keep and a time to cast away A time to rent and a time to sow a time to keep silence and a time to speak A time to love and a time to hate a time of war and a time of peace What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth I have seen the travel which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therein He hath made every thing beautiful in his time also he hath set the World in their heart so that no man can find out the Work that God maketh from the beginning to the end THis is the whole course of things here below In living and dying coming into the world and going out of the world planting and plucking up killing and healing breaking down and building weeping and laughing mourning and dancing c. the world passeth away Some come in some go out Some plant some pluck up Some kill some heal Some break down some build Some weep some laugh Some mourn some dance c. Yea the very same persons have their several seasons to go forth in these several motions so contrary one to another Man is ordained to walk retrograde to himself to go quite contrary ways to fetch contrary steps to throw down all that he builds to build all that he throws down to go so many degrees of death as he hath gone degrees of life to run through so many passages in the dark world as he hath gone through in the light World one while to make himself an universal transgressor and anon to justifie himself in all his transgressions and he is but a vain fool in all a fool living a fool dying a fool planting a fool plucking up a fool killing a fool healing a fool weeping a fool laughing a fool making himself a sinner a fool making himself a Saint There is no man hath so much life and so much pleasure allotted to him but he must taste death answerable and there is no man undergoeth and runneth through so much misery anguish grief trouble but he shall have happiness joy rest peace content answerable when his season comes when those superior Orbs which carry these influences in them are circumvolved by that power which moveth them and produceth these effects by them There is an inward World much like this outward it is the Copy after which this was drawn There are such Elements in it as in this after the same manner compounded by the same art and skill There are creatures there of the same manner of make as these here There is an inward man to govern this inward world There are the same seasons of night and day Winter and Summer with the several concomitants of each and with the several alterations in each which have their force influences upon the inward man and the inward world as these here have upon the outward but none of all the Beings in this inward world hath any sight or understanding of the state of things here but the inward man as none of all the creatures have any understanding of the state of this outward world but the outward man though every outward thing hath its place and state in it yet unknown to it self none here knoweth either where it is or what it is but man or rather in that manner that man doth for man doth it not truly neither There are here also winds some nipping some cherishing and rains some refreshing some overflowing and drowning There is likewise here a Sun to rule and give light by day and a Moon and Stars to give light by night And this world hath its course just like the outward it begins with Life first traversing the several paths of it and then runs backward retiring into the chambers and degrees of death And herein will God deceive the thoughts and expectations of all men both the inward man and the outward man for the inward world shall dye and pass away so as the inward man could never imagine it possible and the outward world shall live and remain so as the outward man could never imagine it possible The one shall meet with such a death as it never dreamed of and the other with such a life as it never dreamed of The one for
that which is the foundation of this and has the main influence into this by vertue whereof this is wrought O vain Man thou wouldst fain be wise though thou beeft born a wilde Asses Colt Thou art still searching after knowledg and erecting a fabrick of wisdom though thou hast no capacity in thee of receiving or entertaining either If God throw down the edifice of thy Religion about thine ears thou presently with thy wisdom wilt rear up another When thou seest thy self impoverished by those ruines which he bringeth upon thee thou immediately returnest to build the desolate places But what come all thy buildings to They are onely permitted to be raised for greater throwings down This wisdom must not stand nor any thing that it brings forth O that thou couldst be still and that this might be thy wisdom Cease measuring God and spiritual things till he give thee a measure wherewith to do it When thou knowest Christ the Wisdom of God then shalt thou know God and when thou knowest God the Original of Christ then shalt thou know Christ what God is in Christ what God hath done by Christ But if thou wilt be measuring the things or actions of God by what thou feelest in thy self thou canst not chuse but miss and wilt be as much befooled herein as thou seest others to be in what they have uncertainly received and held forth from an outward sight and knowledg Of the two Principles Seeds or Creations their different Natures Motions and Ends. THere are two Creations made by one and the same workman which have both of them their several distinct Natures Motions and Ends according to their frame and constitution and are both excellent in their kinde and for that use to which they were intended The one is weak frail perishing made and appointed as a foyl to set off the beauty excellency and perfection of the other which if it were of the nature of the other it could not do and so should lose its own proper excellency vertue and use for the excellency of every thing lyeth in its own nature and in its suitableness by its nature to its end and use If sin were not black in its nature vile in every motion did not tend both in its nature and motions to death and destruction it were not excellent it would be a dull tool without an edg which is no way lovely or commendable The one hath all manner of excellency in it but appears weak poor low The other maketh a great shew of much worth beauty excellency but is nothing but emptiness and vanity at the bottom The one spreads little but hath abundance of life and strength at root The other spreads abundantly its branches leaves fruit are very fair and flourishing but it is putrified at the root These two have their distinct Natures and accordingly their distinct motions and ends which they still retain in all the varieties and changes which they are made to undergo Clothe the first Creation how you will it is but still Earth carry it whither you will mount it up to Heaven it remains Earth there let in what glory can be let in upon it it is still but Earth The other the second Creation lay it as low as you will bring it down into the Earth clothe it with Earth bury it in the very bowels of the Earth it still retains its own heavenly life and nature So for their Motions They still move according to their Natures Let Earth be tryed to the utmost throughly frighted into Spirituality driven to seek shelter in the life and power of God to preserve it self from perishing be put upon moving towards God towards Heaven or it sees it is undone for ever it cannot for all this move spiritually but will be like it self though moving to the utmost yet earthly in all these motions On the other hand Let the spiritual Principle be thrust out of Heaven into the Earth be shut up from all spiritual life and motion there have no happiness peace rest content day nor night but what it can suck in from and through the Earth alass for all this it cannot move earthlily it cannot rest or take in delight from the Earth if it cannot finde its own life it will refuse to live it will chuse death rather then the life of the Earth And for their Ends they are according to their Natures and Motions The one tends to Condemnation to Death the other to Justification to Life Involve Earth as much as may be in Heaven in Life it will be sinking into Death and Hell again Binde Heaven as much as may be in the Grave in Hell its life will be breaking all bonds and mounting upwards when its strength is grown it will not be held back but will return into its own Country and Inheritance These two they differ in their seed or root in their bulk or body in their branches leaves fruit in their substance vertue quality from their very rise unto their very end in every thing The Scripture holds out this abundantly every where testifying concerning two distinct trees trees of righteousness trees of Gods planting trees that grow in his Garden in his Vineyard and trees of wickedness wilde Olives wilde Vines their Vine is the Vine of Sodom These Trees have distinct roots of distinct natures the one whereof is earthly of this Creation and so weak and corrupt the other is heavenly of the other Creation of a nature more inward strong and pure They have likewise distinct branches leaves and fruit which as each grow from their own root so they have their distinct vertue keeping that nature which they have from the root The one is still sowing and bearing fruit to the flesh the other to the Spirit They have also both the tree leaf and fruit their distinct shape and Image the one the Image of the earthly the other the Image of the heavenly There is the Image of God of Christ every where throughout the New Creation in every peece and parcel of it in every motion of any part of it The Faith Love Hope Joy Peace Humility Patience Praying Waiting c. of the new man have the Image of the Father and of Christ in them whereas the best of these in man and from man are but earthly And they have their distinct ends The one with all that comes from them with all that belongs to them shal be cast into and perish in the fire shall be like chaff before the wind tossed up and down by it shall return from whence they came shall receive their death where they had their life The other shall only be purified in the fire from that which encumbereth it and is death unto it and its end shall be rest and peace Justification in it self with all its ways and motions and perfect union and communion with God which the other shall never be admitted unto Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth
calling to minde the former sweetness of these its former activity in these which are now become so difficult so impossible to it and a lively remembrance of the sweetness of what was formerly enjoyed doth much encrease the trouble of the present want of it 2. It encreaseth the sense of the present bitterness by making it more lively It doth not onely encrease the sense of the want of these but encreaseth also the sense of that which lieth upon the spirit The remembrance of former life and liberty makes the present bonds and pangs of death a great deal more sharp and weighty 3. It encreaseth the Devils rage that he now layeth load upon the Soul To finde that life yet striving to stir which he hath bound so fast this makes him seek for new cords to binde it yet faster for stronger poyson to strike it yet more dead Now if I should tell you of a strange Mystery viz. of embracing this subjection of putting your necks under Nebuchadnezzars girdle of receiving quietly all the buffetings of Satan not onely of entering again willingly into your Captivity but of bearing your whole burden in your Captivity of letting your life hope strength and all suffer death and be layd in the grave if I should speak after this manner to you ye would say this were a very hard doctrine yet this is certain that the Bird in the Cage doth but tire yea perhaps bruise and hurt it self by fluttering to get out or the Bird in the net or snare doth but entangle it self more by straining to get loose and fly abroad There is no way like to lying still and yeelding up even the spiritual life as a sacrifice following Christ as a Lamb or Sheep to the slaughter without the least resistance gainsaying or reluctation O sad sad sad will this Captivity be Never was there destruction desolation and anguish like unto it Then shall every member feel the pains of the head and then shall every member so afflicted complain with the head and say Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger From above hath he sent fire into my bones and it prevaileth against them he hath spred a net for my feet he hath turned me back he hath made me desolate and faint all the day But when this Captivity is ended when life shall again come forth from under this bondage O how sweet how fresh how pure will it be how pleasant to look back upon the several yokes bonds snares deaths in the Land of our Captivity Then we shall glory more in those multiplyed deaths then in our former life Our former life and enjoyments tended but to lead us to Captivity but this Captivity tends to lead us to that Life which cannot enter into Captivity which cannot feel Captivity but will be master of it where ere it meets it Our life led us into that Captivity where we felt unutterable anguish death misery but our Captivity leadeth us to that Life which is so strong and vigorous that it is able to lead Captivity captive even in its own Land The Way to true Knowledg FROM 2 COR. 5.16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more THat which God created was flesh He brought forth every thing in this Creation in a state of weakness All the Images and representations of himself here are fleshly The eye he made to behold them was a fleshly eye The content the happiness that cometh by this sight is a fleshly happiness The enjoyment of God in this way is a fleshly enjoyment There was emptiness weakness vanity written in the very state yea in the very make of the Creation Indeed it might have enjoyed a kinde of happiness if it had remained as it was made but it would not have been true happiness nor could it have lasted It was as impossible for Adam to have stood as it is for God to fall for there was mortality mutability written in his state in his nature as there is Eternity Immutability written in Gods Adams nature disposed him to what befell him it was flesh walked in the path of flesh hastening towards the end designed unto flesh Henceforth know we no man after the flesh The eye the created eye the eye of this Creation in its best in its purest in its perfectest state is no better then fleshly This eye as it is fleshly so that which this eye seeth is flesh it can see nothing which is spiritual The eye of sence cannot see the reason of man nor can the reason of man see the Nature of God Man may see God as the creatures see man not comprehending not understanding him He may see the fleshly part of God the fleshly appearance but not the spiritual Substance He may see outward visible Demonstrations of God but not his Nature not his Spirit which alone is God The manner after which this eye seeth is fleshly after a weak shallow fleshly manner not comprehending not piercing into things not gathering things into it self but by gathering deductions and conclusions from principles and experiences this is mans way Henceforth know we We. There is a parcel of this Creation in whom Eternity in whom the seed of another-ghess life then this Creation is acquainted with or can comprehend is sown in whom this Creation is in part pulled down and the Foundations of Eternity laid in the ruines of it All things are not one all things are not alike do not your senses perceive a vast difference in things There is an inward world and there are inward senses which have felt and can tell you that the difference there is more vast and more substantial In this world ye see that excellent things are rare there is abundance of dross but little pure mettal in comparison abundance of stones but pearls are not so common abundance of chaff and off all but not so much pure seed So is it in the inward world The jewels of God the grain of God the seed of his own Spirit is very scarce and precious We know As there is such a seed so they have a life and knowledg suitable to them and indeed their knowledg is the only knowledg before which all the knowledg of man vanisheth and shrinketh away like a shadow It is true man hath knowledg man hath life if ye speak in one kind of language but if ye speak in a pure language he hath not He doth know God he doth live in God he doth live to God in a sense in a shadowy life and knowledg and so do other creatures in a sense too in a more dark and more shadowy life and knowledg but in truth he doth not But we know this seed this man the new man doth
Lord. Christ was once here in this World in a fleshly body like ours causing the glory of the Godhead which dwelt in his Spirit to shine in it and through it as he pleased conversing with men but more especially with his own going in and out before them as the shepherd doth before his sheep He came unto the world and he came unto his own He made an offer of himself to the world he enforced himself upon his own or which is all one made them willing to receive him in the day of his power Now after he had thus lived a while he went away again appeared thus no more was to be seen or known thus no longer The Comforter was to come to sustain their hearts until the coming of Christ again but Christ himself was to be seen no more until his return from that far Country into which he then went when he took his leave of his dearest ones The Seed of God they are the Spouse of Christ and their life consists in the presence of their Husband If they might have the Spirit of God dwelling in them never so fully it will not serve their turn they must have Christs company There is that foundation layd in the spiritual Nature between Christ and them that neither could enjoy God with content without the other neither can they enjoy themselves any where without one another They cannot enjoy themselves in the earth till they enjoy Christ there nor can Christ enjoy himself in Heaven till he enjoys them there Their content their life their happiness is bound up in one another and there alone can they reap and possess it The Coming of the Lord. Christ is gone removed out of the world from the eye of flesh a cloud hath taken him out of our sight He is hid in God even where he was hid before he was manifested in the flesh and thither is he retired again whither no eye can follow him whither I go ye cannot come and there must he stay the appointed season But he is to come again he will come again he shall come again He that shall come will come If I go and prepare a place I will come again and receive you unto my self There are two things comprized in the Coming of Christ two great effects of his coming which make it on the one hand so terible to some and on the other hand so desirable to others There is the death of the world in it and the life of his people He will come to Judgment to reveal declare and execute Judgment And this is the Judgment which he hath already pronounced though not in the same way as then he will he hath but talked of it yet but then he will make good what he hath hitherto held out but in words viz. Death to the old earthly man he will strike him at the very root and in all his branches and fruit wo to every thing that hath sprung from him wo to him in every thing wherein he hath appeared and acted Life to the new spiritual man Destruction to Babylon everlasting destruction Salvation to Sion everlasting Salvation Your God will come with vengeance even God with a recompence he will come and save you He will come with gloominess with darkness over-spreading all the light of the Creature but he will come with the light of life to you Because he lives ye shall live also He will cover all the glory of the Creature with shame but he will cloath you with glory It doth not yet appear what we shall be but when he appears we shall appear with him in the same glory wherein he himself appears His absence is your death your misery your torment but it is the joy happiness and life of the world they cannot live nor enjoy any thing nor rejoyce in any thing in his presence Ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoyce why what is the matter O! very great cause for both Christ hath left the Earth and now the men of the Earth can enjoy their life very quietly that which disturbed that which interrupted their joy their life their peace is removed But it was that which fed the life of his people therfore they weep and mourn But saith Christ chear up your spirits poor hearts your grief and sadness shall have a better issue then their mirth and jollity your seed-time though it be very troublesom and boysterous though ye sow in tears and deep anguish of spirit is better then their harvest your sorrow shall be turned into joy when their joy shall be turned into sorrow I will turn the scales one of these days I will see you again and your heart shall rejoyce and your joy none taketh from you O how will the heart of the People of Christ leap at the sight of Christ who is their full and onely joy And if he remain always with them as he then will their joy can never be taken from them more Be quiet therefore be patient wait but till this time till the Lord come and you will finde amends made for all your misery Then ye are to have your happiness then ye are to reap and enjoy and ye shall reap and enjoy that which will give you full content if ye can but stay your time But before the coming of the Lord expect it not If in the mean time ye may have but so much of the Spirit allowed you as may help you to rub on as may keep you from sinking under your burdens and miseries it is well but as for any enjoying of life or sweetness it is not till then to be had Be patient therefore Therefore Because your happiness your life your content will be so compleat so full and satisfactory then because ye shall be so full of joy so abound with true riches when they who have hitherto been rich shall mourn over the loss of all when the world shal lose all their life all their substance all their hope all their joy then shall ye enter into the possession of yours which shall be as full as lasting as your hearts can desire Be patient therefore Be content to be without it a while and to feel misery and anguish under the sense of the want of it ye now therefore have sorrow ye must sow in tears before ye reap in joy and be content to do so to go forth weeping to sow your precious seed and stay for your crop till the harvest it will be worth your staying for Be patient therefore Behold the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain Ye see it ordinary in the course of Nature Precious things take time to grow and the Husbandman doth not expect to reap so soon as he hath sowed but waits the season waits for the former rain and after that waits again for the latter The Kingdom of Heaven is like seed
AN ECCHO FROM The Great Deep CONTAINING Further Inward Openings Concerning divers other things upon some whereof the Principles and Practises of the Mad Folks do much depend As also the Life Hope Safety and Happiness of the Seed of God is pointed at which through many dark dismall untrodden paths and passages as particularly through an unthought of death and captivity they shall at length be led unto Through ISAAC PENINGTON junior Esq PSAL. 14.2 3. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one PSAL. 82.5 They know not neither will they understand they walk on in darkness all the foundations of the earth are out of course LONDON Printed by John Macock and are to be sold by Giles Calvert neer the West end of Pauls MDCL To the Mad Folks Poor shattered Souls YE little think how dear ye are unto me because of your breakings such of you as have been broken by power and not by notion That which I have felt in the same kind for I have been broken all in peeces once and again yea and yet again My life and my strength hath been led nay driven into captivity yea I have been made to taste the death of the whole lump and the death of every parcel over and over and the bitter relish of it is yet very strong upon my palate That I say which I have felt in this kind hath made me beyond measure tender towards you and I cannot but own you before all the world as the greatest objects both of my delight and expectation I am most pleased in beholding you your sickness is more lovely in my eye then that health which others enjoy and please themselves in My expectations of the next discovery of Light Life and Glory are fastned upon you as the most proper materials which wisdom hath fitted to disclose it self in most unexpectedly to the world My heart tells me that ye are not thus shattered broken and made so odious for nothing yet let me withal tell you that my spirit thinketh you never the neerer either for your principles or practises which carry more unloveliness to me then any principles or practises of any sort of men upon the face of the earth It is not your new Fabrick but your old desolations that kindle in me any desire towards you or hopes concerning you They are not your new notions of God Christ the death of Christ the life of Christ the coming of Christ the Judgment hell heaven the equality of things the community of things c. that represent you any thing lovely to me No really My palate doth in no wise relish this new wine but rather saith the old is better But 't is your broken state your desolate condition your being stripped and made naked of all your garments ornaments beauty glory this is it takes with me and if I could see you yet more sick yet more stripped stripped of these new fig-leaves also wherewith you cover your old nakedness mine eye would more pity you and my heart more love and embrace you As ye live I loath you nay I loath your life more then the life of any else So far as ye are dead I cannot but hug you And for such of you who break forth through Visions and Revelations into new apprehensions I profess I know you not this is not the way of the breaking forth of my life which must not be steered by these but be able to judg these which when once I feel with cleerness Majesty and power I may then be drawn to beleeve that I begin to taste life But oh how I long to see your new life with all the motions of it swallowed up by death There is a cup prepared for you a baptism ye are to be baptized with which shall wash you clean within and make you vomit lustily even till ye are quite emptied of all that froth and scum of vanity which now swims up and down in your stomacks and fumes up into your brains This is not HE whom ye now hold forth This is not God nor any thing which ye now take to be all things The child is not yet born in you that knows how to chuse the good or refuse the evill This is not the Land of promise wherein ye now set up your rest but a strange land a land of dearth and barrenness a land of darkness and of the shadow of death This is not light not true light it is but a painted light wherein ye now walk not the light of the Lord but the light of the vain imagination of the creature O quit your station your present habitation the wilderness is better though not as an abode yet as a passage Depart ye depart ye this is not your rest for it is polluted Life lives not here This is not the chamber of the Bridegroom for him to embrace and enjoy his Bride in This is poor gain This falls short of what ye have lost The meanest enjoyment of a living God in the lowest dispensation is better then the highest transportations from airy notions O my Beloved where dwellest thou where is thy Temple where is thy Turtle where dwellest thou where dwells thy love Where shal God and his people meet to know and enjoy one another When shal the Son put off his servile Form and be admitted into his inheritance When shall the creature be made free which hath so long groaned under the bondage of its corruption Awake arise save with thy right hand that thy Beloved may be delivered Gather into thy self that which cannot be happy out of thee Put an end to death to destruction by thy life by thy Salvation Bind up enmity in the bosom of thine own love O let us at length see the conquest of love Overcome all by thine own goodness Swallow up all in thine own perfection and nothing shall remain weak or imperfect any longer Visit thy fainting Spouse for behold the very strength of her heart faileth which she desireth only to preserve to entertain and embrace thee with Her spirit is quite spent therefore contend no longer but yeild up thy self at length to the desire which thou thy self hast kindled in the bosom of thy Beloved Revive that precious life by thy presence which is expiring for want of thee and can no longer live but in thee and with thee Thou who hast prepared food for every thing thou haste made satisfie that hunger that thirst which is immeasurable after and can only be allayed with the presence and possession of a living God Thou who invitest him that is a thirst give to him whose very tongue faileth for thirst that he may drink of the water of life freely and fully What shall every desire be satisfied but that which is kindled after God Is this the true
is no chaining of him but by eternal by everlasting Strength He dares venture upon any thing even upon Christ himself and if God with his infinite Power and Wisdom had not stood by him and stuck close to him he had without doubt vanquished him And he is not only strong but armed He hath his fortresses his bulwarks his ammunion both of offence and defence in every kind whereby he can set upon his enemy or strengthen and defend his own as occasion serves Lo this is the great Destroyer he that dwells in death he that leads unto death and what can be proper for him but death but destruction He that hath slain the creature is it not fit he himself should dye He that hath shed the blood of man is it not just and equal that by man his blood should be shed He that hath marred and destroyed the whole Creation doth he not deserve his wages and is it not fit he should be payd in his own coyn even with death and destruction And as for such as are led captive by him whither can they be led but into death and destruction with him Surely there are none can escape from him or from suffering that torment that is cut out for him and his but the redeemed of the Lord those who by his Power his Love his Purchase are fetched out of the claws of this cruel one Obj. But how can God be just in punishing the Devil if he appointed him to his work and fitted him for his work How can the Devil be blameable for acting as he was made for fulfilling the will of him who made him Answ Hath not God power to make what he pleaseth May he not make use of his Power to shew his skill in making several kinds of things of several natures and appoint them distinct courses and ends according to their natures May he not make Hell as well as Heaven darkness as well as light evil as well as good I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things The Lord made all things for himself even the wicked for the day of wrath If he hath a black seed of death and destruction which he soweth in ground suitable to it and causeth to grow up unto death unto destruction what hast thou to say to him O shallow man when wilt thou cease measuring God by the eye of thy Reason Wilt thou say it must be thus and thus it cannot be otherwise because thou canst not see how it can be otherwise Thou knowest not any one creature throughout the whole Creation and yet thou wilt be taking upon thee to know God Thou knowest not the heart of any man and yet thou wilt be determining what is in the heart of God Thou knowest not what any man can do what any man will do and yet thou wilt be chaining up the infinite One and be telling how far he shall or can go and that he can go no further If thou hadst far more knowledg far more wisdom far more considerateness a far deeper insight into things yet God would be still beyond thee and able to out-reach thee in any thing and could shew thee when he pleased himself to be somewhat else then thou didst conceive of him and at liberty to act other-ghess things in an other-ghess manner then thou couldst possibly apprehend Of Righteousness Holiness and Happiness RIghteousness is the conformity of persons things or actions to a streight Rule To make persons things or actions righteous there must be a Rule that Rule just and the person thing or action conformed to it Holiness is the purity of any nature Gods Holiness is the purity of his Divine Nature mans holiness is the purity of the humane nature its constitution and current in its own immixed channel In every thing there is an uncleanness an impurity and a purity We see this in the nature of bodies and also in the nature of spirits in the constitution and actions of both Happiness flows from Righteousness and Holiness God cannot but be happy because he is both righteous and holy Not as many understand that whatsoever he should do he could not be unrighteous or unholy but because he cannot but keep within the limits of his own holy and righteous Nature in his motions and actions Shall not the Judg of all the Earth do right It is not right because he doth it but because he is what he is he cannot but do what is right And he in whom the seed of God is cannot sin because he cannot but do so likewise he is free only to that to which his own nature inclines him which is an holy and righteous nature and can run but in its own channel The Devil is the unclean the unrighteous one therefore also the miserable one He is the fountain of impurity poyson in himself and poysoning every thing he comes near and so long as any thing is within his verge within his kingdom it can be neither righteous holy nor happy The subjection of the creature at present to him is its vanity its bondage its death its misery and it can never enjoy it self until it be delivered from his dominion and be purged of that tincture of uncleanness which he hath breathed and infused into it It requireth no small skill power and love to redeem the creature and when the misery of our present state appears in its own colours we shall see the need of and know how to prize Redemption Miserable is that man whose God is the Devil but happy is he under whose feet he is trodden who is passed through the kingdom of Satan into the Kingdom of God Of Redemption REdemption is the buying of the creature out of its captivity the bringing of it back into its former state into its conformity unto God into its union and communion with God The creature slipped from God the creature was gained by the Devils wiles into his possession Redemption is the recovery of the creature by that price which Wisdom Power and Love weighed out and layd down for the rescue of it He who redeemeth us is God he payeth the price for us He who made us paying the price of our Creation redeems us too paying the price of our Redemption He who layd out so much Wisdom Power and Love in forming us is also at the cost of all the Wisdom Power and Love that is requisite to redeem and renew us He whom he redeemeth us by is his Son he doth it by the blood of his Son Wisdom and Love hath prepared in and by him a Ransom not to bribe but justly to stop the mouth of Justice by paying it its full price He to whom he payeth the price is himself He payeth it himself and he payeth it to himself His Love payeth the price to his Justice His Justice is himself it will not be bribed but will stand upon its right while it hath a Being
in some considerations but yet he is still there in other considerations and where he is his Love is And how remote soever things appear at present from him yet he will have a time to discover himself and consequently his Love in them 6. It is Conquering it is Subduing it subjects all things to it self Love is stronger then death The Love that is in every thing will one day when it discovers its strength conquer the Death that is in every thing and the Conquest must be where the Combate is even in the heart of every thing Nothing is able to stand before Love If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink hereby thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and he shall not be able to hold out against the engines and art of Love If we had but Love enough we might conquer our greatest enemies God hath Love enough and therefore can conquer his greatest enemies He can chain them up by Power but that is nothing so noble a Conquest as to change them by Love The letting loose of pure and perfect Love will charm all the enmity and opposition in the bitterest and fiercest adversary Now do not say O Man these things cannot be There is certainly such a Love in God who cannot but delight to give it full vent And when Wrath hath had its full scope why should not Love which cannot be always bound have its turn Wrath comes from Love and in its greatest heat is subject unto Love and why should it not at length be swallowed up in Love Love cannot be perfect in its work while it suffers an enemy to remain and its Conquest being so sweet excellent and universally good how can it but desire and delight to conquer If Love be the best thing the most universally pleasing and profitable why should it not delight to diffuse it self how can it rest until it hath diffused it self Was there any thing but Love before things were brought forth in such a way as they might be exposed to hatred When there was nothing but God was there any hatred in him Doth any man hate his own flesh himself And how can Love be quiet until it hath reduced all into Love and loveliness again Surely saith my Soul Love must want strength or it cannot suffer misery always to remain If I had power in me answerable to the love I find sown and springing up in me I could not endure the misery of any thing Whence cometh this what is this being interpreted Is not this from and a shadow of that Love which wants not this power nor this good-will nor skill to do it in a way of Righteousness Is it not just for Love to recover all it once had and possessed if it can And this may God do to my understanding which since he hath broken it gives him his scope in doing what he pleases in speaking what he pleases in interpreting his own words as he pleases and not contradict any thing he hath said but only our weak creaturely apprehension of things who have measured his declaration of his Intentions not in his light but in our own Of Self-denyal SElf-denyal is the first step in Christianity that which Christ first teaches and requires to have learnt of any before he will admit of them into his School before he will undertake to train them up as his Disciples It is that which makes way for all the Lessons which he teacheth afterwards without which none of them can be learnt and by which they are all made easie He who hath learn'd to deny himself will quickly learn to bear his Cross to dye with Christ dayly yea to live and move towards God in and through Christ Self is the natural man the earthly principle Adam in his own nature which is of the earth and tends to the earth which is ever sinking into that corruption which makes way for death This Self where ever it is where ever it hath a Being it cannot but seek to preserve and make use of its Being in motion and activity which as it comes from it self so it centers in it self it may move towards God towards any spiritual thing yet it is from Self and for Self that it so moves This Self being corrupted hath most of its principles motions and ends in and from corruption yet it will not rest there but wanders up and down every where for security and there is nothing within its reach but it will lay hold on if it may hope for preservation from it or through it There is nothing can be propounded for it to beleeve but it will beleeve nothing can be propounded for it to practise but it will practise yea it will not fall short in the very accurateness of Self-denyal it self There was never yet any Fabrick that God reared for himself for his own Spirit to make use of or to dwell in but our spirits our Self hath entered in after him hoping to live there with him and to be safe there through him through his presence and help When the Lord built a material Temple which he appeared in how did the spirits of fleshly Israel cling unto it how did Flesh Self corrupt all those Ordinances and wayes of Worship which were once pleasing but by it made abhominable in the eyes of God There is no Form take the expression as largely as ye can either of outward or inward worship but flesh self will intrude thither will be making use of it will be corrupt there and corrupting it It will enter into all Duties Ordinances into all Spirituall Motions of every kind into Faith into Love into Humility Patience Meekness heavenly mindedness there Self will be in these postures will Self act and move There is not any strain of Religion so pure not a notion or apprehension so spiritual not a vision or revelation so sublime and seemingly remote from Self but Self will be climbing up and getting into it putrifying and preparing it for Eternal fire which will not be quenched when once it is kindled until it hath burnt up flesh burnt up Self where ever it finds it And though these now seem very glorious smell very sweet O how Flesh is pleased and ravished here yet when the Eternal fire is let loose upon them they will stink extreamly nothing scents worse then burnt flesh and then in stead of a sweet savor there will be a stink Ye begin to smell the flesh in your Ordinances in your Duties ye shall smell it in your Graces too yea in the purest intirest motions that ever your spirits went out in This sickness is so deep this leprosie so spread that it will be very costly to have it purged out and the person cured The whole house must be pulled down the whole building the spiritual Temple as well as the material and every stone burnt in the fire Every Ordinance all spiritual Knowledg every spiritual Motion must be rent confounded torn
thy love for his relief he wants thy help behold he is sick When he hears this he stirs not one step but stays still where he was two days together as if he would be sure to give him time enough to dye Secondly Another cause of his death was an hidden design of glory to God This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Vers 4. I know the meaning of this sickness it shall not end in death but that death it must lead to shall be as it were no death it shall be so soon and so powerfully swallowed up in life But for the glory of God for the advancing of the glory of that Power and Love of his which this shall occasion the putting forth and discovery of in his Son that the Son of God may be glorified thereby There was also a design of love to Lazarus that he might gain a further testimony a further sight a further experiment of the Love and Power of Christ that he might receive and enjoy a further degree of life from Christ God doth not meerly use us as Instruments for his own Glory but he loves that we should have a taste of that Glory he raises to himself out of us He brings us to sickness to death to destruction not only to exercise his skill and power in healing in raising in restoring us but that he might also cause a more sweet fresh health a more precious flourishing life a more pure perfect Salvation to spring up out of that sickness out of that death out of the ashes of that destruction There was another design yet in it which had also an influence upon it and that was the confirmation of the Faith of the Disciples So Vers 14.15 Lazarus is dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe God had an intent besides the glory of the Work to confirm the Faith of the Disciples Miracles can neither work nor confirm Faith they cannot reach that Principle whence Faith springs and grows but God can either work or confirm faith by them All the Miracles that ever Christ wrought could not bring any one to beleeve but they still ask for a sign these were not evidencing and convincing enough but yet God made use of every one of them when and to whom and as he pleased He who hath an eye may see the Power of God in every thing and may observe the several eminent putings forth of it and so be strengthened in his Faith towards him but he who hath not this eye can only toss it up and down in his own uncertain reasonings but not spiritually discern it And I am glad for your sakes He was not glad of Lazarus's sickness of Lazarus's misery of Lazarus's death but he was glad of the advantage it yeelded him to set forth God the Glory of God to make Lazarus taste of his Love and his Power to strengthen the Faith of his weak staggering Disciples in this respect he was glad of it God delights not simply in misery in death in destruction but in that which he works by them and out of them which could not so advantagiously any other way be brought forth and discovered as through them 3. There is the sad lamentation over dead Lazarus The lamentation of the Jews of his kindred of the Disciples but especially the lamentation of Martha and Mary is very observable Vers 21 32. Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed Wherein they secretly tax him for his neglect for his delay as if they had said Lord we sent to thee soon enough and if thou hadst come we had not now been thus mourning and weeping over our dead brother thou mightest easily have prevented all this if thou hadst pleased Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed And this is the language of the poor desolate Soul of the poor dead spirit Lord if thou hadst been here my life had not gone out If thou hadst stood by me and stuck to me and put forth thy skill and power for me as I thought thy love to me would have enforced thee to do I had never tasted this cup of desolation this cup of death O it is the absence of Christ that kills the Soul whose Life is in his presence 4. The unexpectedness of any restauration of him to life The Disciples it never enters into their thoughts but let us go and dye with him V. 16. The Jews wonder that Christ loving him so well did not preserve him from dying but never once thought of raising of restoring him to life Vers 37. Martha who seemed to be full of Faith in this very respect Vers 22. was so far from it that she even mocks at Christ that he should make any offer to go about it Vers 39 Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days If thou hadst come sooner thou mightest have preserved him from death but now it is too late to think of any thing he is not in a case now to be visited or recovered by this time he stinketh what dost thou mean to speak of taking away the stone Resurrection from death is very unexpected He that is shut up in the grave seemeth quite out of the capacity of life In misery in affliction there may be hope of relief but who can look for Redemption from death to be raised out of the grave Alas we little think ever to meet with any such grave much less to be redeemed from it Christ was thy Type herein though somewhat more also Thou must taste of his Death thou must into his Grave and lie there thy season though the holy One in thee shall not see corruption Thy life shall not dye shall not not there it shall but sleep and when thou awakest thou shall awake in his likeness and live for ever As Christ was raised from the dead to dye no more for death to have no more dominion over him so shalt thou Thou shalt sit on the Throne with him and that life which hath been hitherto in weakness in bonds in slavery in misery passing through and bearing the weight of death and destruction shall then reign shall then enjoy it self in the Fountain from whence it did flow and where alone it can sweetly and perfectly live 5. The great Love and Power Christ shewed in recovering him to life There was great Love which he variously expressed both in disregarding himself and his own safety in going thither which his Disciples put him in mind of vers 8. and in his behaviour when he came there His affection vented it self exceedingly so that the Jews could not but take notice of his great Love to him vers 36. He groaned and troubled himself vers 33. He wept vers 35. It went to his Heart it melted his very Soul to see the condition of his beloved one
me to give him more advantage to work himself into me this weakening of me by all these sharp corrasives to the flesh is but the pulling down of my strength that he may set up his and I sensibly feel it in constant experience for when I am weak then am I strong I am never strong but when I am weak nor never weak but when I am strong A strange Paradox that a mans strength should lie in his weakness that the time of his weakness should be the season of his strength that the way to make him strong should be by making him weak yet Paul felt and therefore ye may give him leave to speak he spake feelingly experimentally in saying when I am weak then am I strong Strength is both sown in weakness groweth up in weakness and is perfected in weakness 1. Strength is sown in weakness In our weakness God soweth his strength The time of weakening us of pulling down our strength is the time of sowing Gods strength in us When God plows us up makes long furrows in us rents and tears up all that lives in us then is his time of sowing the seed of his own Life and Strength in us Light is sown in darkness the Light of Eternity is covered in the dark bowels of the Earth Life is sown in death Salvation is sown in destruction and strength is sown in weakness 2. Strength grows in weakness By growing weak a man grows strong A Christian the more he is stripped of his own riches the richer he grows the more he is stripped of his own life the more he grows in life and the more he is stripped of his own strength the more he grows in strength There is nothing makes us weak but our own strength the strength of our enemies can only try not any way impair our strength therefore the taking of our strength from us is the taking away of our weakness it is the delivering of us from that which hindered the increasing and thriving of true strength in us 3. Strength is perfected in weakness When weakness is perfected strength is perfected As the shadow declines and is made to give way so the substance comes in and fills up its place and when the shadow is quite gone the substance comes wholly in and then there is nothing to be found there but substance Our strength is a shadow a counterfeit of strength but not strength indeed it is the strength of man who is but weak himself in his whole frame and constitution and what can his strength be Now as the strength of the man the shadowy strength decayeth so the strength of God true substantial strength grows up in him in the stead of it And when all his strength is quite spent quite gone utterly vanished there will be no weakness left nothing but perfect strength everlasting strength remaining The strength of God hath nothing to hinder it self in us but our strength He hath nothing to hinder him but the creature it is as it was made both a glass and a vail to represent or hide him as he himself pleaseth to make use of it Nothing to hinder his Being but the being of the creature Nothing to hinder his Life but the life of the creature Nothing to hinder his Wisdom but the wisdom of the creature Nothing to hinder his Strength but the strength of the creature Where ever he destroyeth these as he wil do perfectly one day in the great day at the great battel of the Lord God Almighty he himself fills up their room O happy is he who hath drunk his full draught of death and misery for full Life perfect Life and Happiness cannot chuse but spring up in him Doth the plow-man plow all day to sow Doth God rent and teer in peeces for nothing Do you think he cannot give an account of all the misery and desolation that lighteth upon his Creation It is his more then its own it ever was his it ever will be his it is but its own for a moment yea it is his while it is its own nay it is his in being its own He hath made it for a season to know and feel what it is to be its own shall it never know and feel what it is to be his It hath been long disowned and cast off by him as if it were of no value as if it had no relation to him but shall this distance and strangeness last for ever It is true he doth rent teer and make havock of it and speaketh terribly concerning future desolations and miseries which he will unavoydably bring upon it and it doth not please him to give an account of his Ways but tells proud man he doth it for his pleasure but he doth not tell him why it is his pleasure nor how long it shall be his pleasure Be silent then and rest here Do not say that he hath no other pleasure thou knowest not the thoughts of his heart thou knowest not what relation any thing hath unto him nor how he will dispose of it He is what he is He doth what he doth He will be what he will be He will do what he will do and he scorneth to let proud man know him in any thing The light which he giveth him without which he cannot so much as see after that poor weak silly manner that he doth is but to befool to bewilder him not to lead him to him Man thinketh to be wise by his light God by that very light maketh him a fool It is light to him but darkness in it self and what a fool is he whose light is darkness whose wisdom is folly whose life is death whose Heaven is Hell whose God is the Devil onely transformed at present into an Angel of light to please the fool with appearing light with his counterfeit light which is but darkness not light O poor shallow deceived man what a dismal time is coming upon thee a time of darkness of darkness that may be felt nay of darkness that cannot but be felt Thou wilt not thou canst not now see and acknowledg thy darkness No it is light but the time shall come that thou shalt not be able to avoyd seeing and feeling and acknowledging it The Sun that shines upon thee by the light whereof thou yet seest must be turned into darkness and if thou wilt think to get a little light in that night by the Moon if when the Sun is put out thou wouldst be content to descend and make shift with the light of the Moon thou shalt not neither for that shall be turned into blood That which was set up by God under God to give light unto man either in his day or in his night shall go out and there shall a day or night come upon him wherein he shall be perfectly lost wherein he shall see and feel and know that he is a fool and cannot reach to the true understanding either of God of himself or of any
the sound of a milstone shall be heard no more at all in thee Filthy nakedness in stead of precious garments and ornaments for she was clothed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls The plagues and downfall of Babylon they may be put together for her plagues shall quickly make an end of her shall be sudden violent and utterly destructive Sudden like the taking up of a stone and throwing it into the Sea her plagues come in one day Vers 8. death mourning famine yea utter burning nay in one hour Vers 17. Violent Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down besides its own weight which will make it descend downward amain there is the strength of him that casts it added to it and it is a mighty Angel who is chosen out to that purpose And utterly destructive she shall be so sunk that she shall be found no more Sion though long drowned and lost in Babylon shall be fought out and found again her Land shall be married though she fall she shall rise again though her light be put out and she sit long in the dark sighing and mourning over her widowhood and desolation yet her Sun shall rise again light shall spring unto her out of obscurity But Babylon shall be utterly destroyed eternally destroyed shall be put to such a death as it shall never recover from shall be buried in that Sea where nothing can never be found more that is cast into it and shall be found no more After this manner shall Babylon be destroyed It shall not only be rased to the ground but it shall be plucked up by the very roots God will not only cut off some branches of Babylon and cast them into the fire but he will lay the Ax to the root of the tree and cast the whole tree with all its branches leaves fruit trunk root and all into that fire which shall prevail over it utterly to consume it Sion shall be purified with Judgment but Babylon shall be destroyed with Judgment Sion shall be purged by the fire but Babylon shall be burnt to nothing in the fire This dross the fire will lick up for ever and suffer to be or appear no more An Exhortation to such in whom the seed of life is sown to wait for the growth and happy success of it FROM JAMES 5. Vers 7 8. Be patient therefore Brethren unto the coming of the Lord behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh BRethren They in whom the Seed of God is sown are brethren They are begotten by the same Father in the same nature and life They are members of the very same Body whereof Christ is the Head They have such a relation one to another such a knowledg of one another such love towards one another such delight in one another as that which is in the world among natural brethren even where it is highest and purest is but a dark shadow of Christ is the Head of this relation the Foundation the top stone the corner stone in this new building he is the first-born the eldest Son the elder Brother but all the rest have a share in it they are also the children of God and having the same sonship from God they must needs become brethren with him and among one another I will declare thy name among the brethren Be patient Every thing is exposed to suffering the first Creation the second Creation Man Christ God every thing That which sweetens sufferings and makes the sufferer hold out is patience If man were not endued with patience he could never go through those hardships which he ordinarily meeteth with If Christ had not been furnished with patience he could never have born the contradiction of sinners the weight of sin and the absence of his Father If God himself had not patience he could never suffer his Name and Glory to be so trampled upon in the world There is a patience formed in every thing proportionable to its nature and kind of sufferings God and Christ as their sufferings are great so their patience is of a very deep intense nature they are not capable of being provoked further then they themselves please to give way to it And the new-man as he must drink of the same cup of sufferings with them so he hath the same patience given him There is none knoweth the nature of his sufferings nor doth any know the nature of his patience Be patient Give your selves up to patience settle your spirits to wait quietly be content to meet with storms with blasts with troubles and to stay your time for the enjoyment of your life and happiness Every thing must be encouraged and cherished according to its nature and kind or it will not grow nor move freely and kindly The natural man who hath natural patience must apply himself unto it or his passions will over-master him and make his troubles very grievous and burdensom to him Man hath knowledg faith love joy patience meekness for these are not spiritual but where they grow in a spiritual seed from a spiritual stock yea all natural excellencies sown in him but if he hath not wisdom to draw them forth and manage them aright he cannot use them he cannot enjoy them he cannot reap that sweet benefit which he might from them The New-man hath faith love patience yea all spiritual excellencies in him but for want of spiritual skill these are not always drawn forth into act according to the strength of them within but many times in many cases the use of them and that comfort and refreshment that might be had by them is lost There are oppositions to every kind of motion to faith to love to hope to joy and so to patience now if there be not strength within to graple with and overcome the opposition met with these motions must needs flag I know this life is of such a nature as that it cannot be put out This faith this love this patience every thing of this impression must live for ever yet its life may be driven back exceedingly inward and it deprived of all the sense and sweetness of life or refreshment by life Vnto the Coming of the Lord. Here he tells them how long their patience should last namely until the Lord come then they shall wait no longer then they shall hope no longer then they shall desire no longer but enjoy what they have waited for hoped after and desired The Lord. Christ is the Head of both Creations he is the Lord of Life he gave life unto both he hath appointed every thing its course in life and motion and he will call all to an account concerning every Talent that they have been entrusted with by him The Coming of the