first Sun they shine in the midst of them shine quite thorow them They behold not the Figures ascending like a Pillar of Smoak perfumed with all the Spices of the Apothecary from this golden Altar of Christs glorious Form comprehending them and being ever beneath them how they lose themselves by degrees in the sweet shade of Christs Death how they spring again new in the brightness of his Resurrection how they lie continually in the Original Glory where the whole mystery is entirely comprehended perfected and finisht These men set not their hearts upon this glory of the Father in Christ to make that their Righteousness their Strength and their Song in every other Appearance as in the house of their Pilgrimage They take no pleasure in the joints of all the members in this Divine Body which are Jewels wrought by the hand of a skilful workman this Unity being itself the mysterious joynt every where setting all and binding all together in itself in that Wisdom of God which is this Beautiful Person of whom we speak But enough of this Caution and of the Second Part of Beauty in our beloved the Harmony in the variâ—ty 3. The Third Part is the Light in the Harmony John 8. 12. Our Lord saith of himself I am the Light of the World As the Sun the chief and most glorious Body is the Light of all Corporeal and bodily Beings so this blessed Person of our Saviour the first and best Spirit is the Light of all Spirits the first and most Glorious Form is the Light of all Forms of Things Bodies and Spirits He is the First the Supream the universal Light He is that highest Circle of Light which rideth forth upon every Circle or Beam of Light each point in every Beam Psal. 36. 9. David saith to God In thy Light shall we see Light The Light of the Father is Jesus Christ the express Image and Glory of the Father These words of the Psalmist have Two senses 1. As colours are seen in the light of the Sun so every colour Light and Being the Light of the Sun itself is seen only in the Light of Christs Person as this pure and eternal Sun shineth upon every other Light and Form in it and thorow it 2. Every thing as it is seen in the Light of this Heavenly Form is a precious stone of the new Hierusalem It hath a spark of this everlasting Light which playeth in it and is incorruptible The Sun is changed into Sack-cloath at the presence of an Angel whose Light so much excelleth that of the Sun that it hath no Light when that other Light shineth forth The highest Angels vail their Faces with their Wings lose all their Light and Glory when Jesus Christ appeareth upon the white Throne of his proper Forms and naked Person What manner of Light is this then how pure how full of Glory how unexpâ—essible incomprehensible This Light this Lustre of the God-Head is that Scene that Circle in which all the variety the ravishing Harmony of Things lieth in Christ. This is the Form of his Person 4. The last Part of Beauty in Christ is the Life in the Light Life is a Spring of Beings which maketh every thing fresh and new every moment Newness is attributed to the Spirit The oldness of the Letter and the Newness of the Spirit are opposed one to another because the Spirit is Life Life is the Spring of Motion which is the Chiefest Charm in Beauty and in which all Pleasures consist Jesus Christ John 8. 12. calleth Himself the Light of Life The Person of our King is that Light which is the Flower and Crown of the Divine Life and that life which is the lustre the Sparkling the Perfume of this Crown and Flower He is the Fountain of Life Psal. 36. 9. With thee is the Fountain of Life This Lovely Person is the Fountain of Life in the Bosom and Heart of the Father Himself He is the Quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. The Lord is that Spirit which is in its own Essence and proper Form Life itself in the Fountain where it is most pure most plentiful most powerful most pleasant How do all Varieties of things 〈◊〉 in the Youth of all Beauty in this Fountain of Life How do they renew their youth their Beauties every moment endlesly Into what mutual traffick of Beauties and Sweetnesses into what uncessant Sprightly Pleasant motions what Divine Acts of Love Joy Delight do they spring up How is the Beauty and Joy of All fulfilled in every one How are all the Beauties and Joys of All eternally varied multiplyed and increased when all lye together in this Fountain of Life and every One hath this Fountain of Life in Himself This Person of Christ is the Fountain of the Divine Life that Springing Fulness of the Divine Nature in each Form Here the Father the Supreme Love eternally generateth the Son the Original Beauty Both in the Spirit eternally embrace each other infuse themselves into each other renew themselves each in other which is the First and Universal Joy the Fountain of Delights Use. Make the Single Person of Christ the Sole Ground of your Faith the onely Object of your Love the Fountain of all your Comfort and Ioy. 1. Make the Single Person of Christ the Sole Ground of your Faith Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God Our Jesus in His Spiritual Form of Glory is the Word of God as the Sun itself is Lux the First Light The Scriptures are the Word of God as the Sun-shine Lumen the Secundary Light The First is a Living Light a Light of Life The Second in it self is Light alone without Life Look thorow the outward Word for the Person of Christ. When He cometh in to thy Soul by His Spiritual Appearance He will be a Light of Life in thee at once revealing His Excellencies in thee Giving thee an Eye to see these Excellencies by this Sight Setting them in thine Heart Setting thine Heart upon them as a Root of Faith Esa. 45. 22. Look to me and be saved all ye ends of the Earth saith Jesus from His Throne High and lifted up on which Esay saw Him sitting which is His Divine Form Behold the Person of thy Saviour setteth it self before thee to attract and allure thine Eye by the Light of His Beauties When thou lookest to Him He holdeth thine Heart fast for ever fixt as a Seal upon His Heavenly form by the Fulness of all things Good Great and Glorious in Himself He soweth the seed of his own Form and Fulness in thee by the flowing forth of the Life together with the Light of his Beauties All Objects for Faith to fix upon the answers of all objections against believing the way to believe the power of believing the act of Faith itself with the Sweetness and Fruits of it all these lie folded up in the rich Treasury of Christs Person all these flow in
Individual and Substantial Body of mine as it was in Flesh the Other the awakening of Spiritual Senses in you the Shining forth of my Glorified Body and my Divinity by their own Light upon these thorow this Sign of my Natural Body reassumed for this Service But now beware that you make not this Sign a Stumbling-block to you to make you think me now like your selves and such a one as formerly I was to have a body of an Earthly Substance or Figure consisting of Flâ—sh and Bones No the Days of my Flesh are past I was put to Death in my Flesh and to the Flesh I am now quickened by the Spirit to live for ever in the Spirit A Spirit hath not Flesh nor Bones as you see me now to have This seemeth to be something of our Saviours sence in this place St. Paul Rom. 8. 6. saith To be carnally-minded is Death but to be spiritually-minded is Life and Peace The Greek word comprehendeth an Act of both the Faculties of our Souls our Understanding and our Will To look upon things in their Fleshly Forms to savour and rellish a Fleshly Sweetness in things is Death To see things in their Spiritual Appearances to savour and rellish them in a Spiritual Sweetness This is Life and Peace which is the Harmony the Musick the Crown of Life When the Disciples looked down into the Grave for Jesus Christ the Angels reproved them saying Why seek ye the Living among the Dead He is not here He is risen He is gone before you into Galilee as Himself spake unto you The Flesh was our Saviour's Grave and is still the Grave of the Spirit All Forms and Beauties of the Flesh are Grave-cloaths bound about Him Let us no more seek the Living and Immortal Person of our Beloved nor His Living and Immortal Beauties which are all Spirit and Life among the Dead things of the Flesh. He is not here in Flesh any more He is risen and gone before us into the Spirit Let us follow Him thither I have done with the First Rule to direct us in the Knowledge of the Person of Christ Spiritual Things are to be discerned Spiritually Rule 2. Spiritual Things are to be compared with Spiritual 1 Cor. 2. 13. The Holy Ghost teachâ—th comparing Spiritual things with Spiritual This Rule bringeth me to the Mark and White which I aim at That I may hit it the more exactly I must â—ix a while upon that Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 35. and so forward I lay this Groundwork for the Building which I intend to raise upon this Scripture The set Design of the Apostle here is to discourse of the Resurrection of the Body He therefore frameth this Question to himself which containeth the Great Subject of his whole Discourse in this place How are the dead raised up and with What Body do they come v. 35. In answer to this question he treateth of the Bodies of the Saints in general of the Body of Christ in particular as the Root and Rule of the Resurrection to all the rest Upon this ground I shall raise three Propositions as three Stories in my Building which will take in the greatest part of St. Pauls words upon this Subject in this Scripture Prop. 1. The Body of Christ risen from the Dead is not to be compared with the Body of Christ living upon the Earth or Dying St. Paul likeneth by a large similitude the living Body to a Seed the Body raised to a perfect Plant sprung up out of that Seed v. 36. 37 38. St. Paul maketh expresly three Differences 1. The Life of the one is a Death compared to the life of the other and so the world in which it is a Grave to that Image of things in the Resurrection v. 36. That which thou sowest is not quickned except it die 2. They differ as two several Bodies for Substance and Shape Thou sowest not that Body that shall be v. 37. 3. One is as bare Grain naked dark deformed little slight the other hath a Body a Substantial Beautiful Distinct fulness It hath a Form of Light and Beauty proportions of greatness and magnitude a fulness of Substance It hath a Divine Body a Body drawn forth from the Treasury of the God-Head God giveth it a Body v. 38. It is a Body a Form and Fulness sprung forth from the Divine Wisdom and Will bearing the Glorious stamp of these in which themsâ—lves rest with a full Complacency God giveth it a Body 〈◊〉 himself pleaseth v. 38. It is also to the Seed it s own Body and to every Seed it s own Body v. 38. As John the Baptist saith of Jesus Christ he is perfer'd before me because he was before me as in the purity and Paradise of the Creation the perfect Plants were first in the Fulness of their Beauty and Fruit bearing their Seed in them so in the Paradise of Eternity before the World which is Christ the Word the Wisdom of God the Immortal the Glorious the Divine Bodies and Forms of things were first as the Flourishing Tree comprehending in themselves the Bodies and Forms of Flesh as Shadows or naked Seeds hid in the Light or Bosom of the beautiful Substance and Fruit. Then came forth the Earthly Forms of things into the State of this Creation These are Shadows under which the Divine Substances are vailed These are Seeds in which the Tree itself lieth hid as a Divine Mystery By the breaking up of these Shadows and the dying of these Seeds the Immortal Bodies and Glorious Substances themselves spring forth thorow them So every Seed hath its own Body in the Resurrection 1. It is that Body of Glory in which it lay and to which it relateth as its Divine Original or first Idea in the mind and will of God 2. It is that which lay hid virtually in it 3. It is that which springeth up out of it and changeth it into itself Thus the Body of our Lord risen is the same Body in relation to the same Idea or Pattern in God to the same Soul to which it is joyned as its proper Form in the Person of Christ to the same first Matter out of which it is taken God giveth it a Body as it hath pleased him and to every Seed it s own Body v. 38. My Brethren what joy is it to think that the Body of our loving and beloved Jesus that our own Bodies that the Bodies of our dearest Relations and delights lose nothing of themselves in Death yea are much more themselves by Death in the Resurrection as a man awake is much more himself than in a Dream a King upon his Throne than in the Grave and Tomb We shall lose nothing of our selves nor of our distinction But I fear I go to far for common understandings to follow me I will therefore conclude this Proposition with a plain representation of the Truth to you As the thing figured exceedeth the figure so the difference between the Body of our
the Evil and Ugliness of Sin in the Light and Glass of their own Heavenly purity 2. Ans. Hatred is an intellectual contrariety The Unity and Love of the Divine Nature in the King of Saints and all his Holy Ones is essentially and formally in itself an irreconcilable opposition an active contrariety to Enmity and Sin as Light Day and Immortality are to Darkness Night and Death 3. Ans. God seeth Sin in order to his Wrath. God seeth his Wrath in ordeâ— to his Glory his Glory as the full object of his Love order is the Chain and Band of Unity Thus God beholdeth all at once as they lie comprehended in the Unity of Eternal Light and Love by their several Subordinations God beholdeth Sin as it is swallowed up into a flame of wrath the flame of wrath as it is heightned to a Light of Glory the Light of Glory as it shineth and liveth in the Eye of his Love the Fountain of all Lights Life and Joys Love is the Eternal and rich Root of all Glory is the Tree that springeth up out of this Root the perfect and full Image of Love in which it liveth diffuseth and delighteth itself within itself This Tree of Glory spreadeth itself into many flourishing Branches among which are Holiness Justice Wrath against Sin Wrath by the force of the contrariety raiseth up Sin as a mark to shoot its burning Arrows and cast his fiery Darts at Love thorow these Attributes letteth in Sin by the Law that it may display itself more fully in its War with its Enemy in it Conquest and Triumph over it that it may break forth and rise up thorow it more powerfully purely and sweetly like a flame going up to Heaven from a great pile of Wood perfectly subdued to it The Unity of God is now the Glass of Love in which alone God seeth alâ— Things and the Diamond which he seeth set and shining in every Ring of Operative or Permissive Providences Sin appeareth to him in the Glass of his Wrath and Justice These sheweth themselves to him by their reflections and Images in the Glass of hiâ— Glory His Glory shineth forth from the Arms and Bosom of his Love which is the inmost Center and outmost Circle of the Divine Unity Here all things lie here all things present themselves to God as Mysteries of Divinity and Love in the Unity of the Divine Nature God beholdeth with a fulness of Joy his Love the reflection of himself his own Fountain the Fountain of his blessed Unity in which he lyeth Eternally bathing himself in pure floods of Incomprehensible Pleasures this Love this Unity this Fountain he beholdeth in all his Glory His Glory is the Object of his Eye in the Severity of his Justice and Wrath. He contemplateth his Justice and Wrath alone in Sin Thus God seeth every where the Mystery of his Divine Unity as the great and bright deep of Eternity He seeth every where the Seal the express Image of his Divine Unity where all the riches of his Glory and Sweetnesses of his Love unfold themselves and sport together Thus O Saint learn to look upon every Sin See it in this Glass of Truth the mystery of the Divine Unity See this secret and invisible Jewel the mystery of the Divine Unity sealed upon it sealed up in it Thus shalt thou see Sin so as to preserve thy Purity and thy Love both in one Thou shalâ— see Sin so as to be at once a flame of Wrath to it and a Light of Glory a flame of Love in that flame of Wrath comprehending both Wrath and Sin in the Wrath. So shalt thou see Sin hate and dwell for ever with God who is the Beauty of Holiness and Love 4. Ans. God looketh upon a Sinner as upon a Prison and a Grave where the Truth the Divine Seed the Light and Life of the Divine Image lyeth detained captivated slain by a Lie the Prince of Life and Light by the Powers of Darkness His Wrath and Hatred against the Sinner is a zeal of Love He cometh forth with Thunders Lightnings Tempests and Earthquakes in his Wrath to break down the Prison walls to break open the Grave that the Prince of Glory may come forth into the Light of Life and the liberty of the Glory of a Son of God God as a Sun breaketh forth with power and in his Strength to dissolve by the force of his Beams the Inchantment and Light that the Sons of Light and the Truth may be set free Thus God hateth Sinners thus do thou hate them with a perfect Hatred Let thy fire be no bitter zeal but a zeal of Love Let thy woundings be Divine Anointings I have hitherto passed thorow only one half of my discourse upon the description of Spiritual Love by the supream Unity in the Divine Nature I shall take my ground for the other half Galat. 3. 20. This shall be my Center for a time from which my Motions shall arise and whither they shall return to end thee The words are these Now a Mediatour is not of one but God is one This Scripture hath a sweet and clear depth of Love in it but unfathomable This depth is the Unity of God St. Paul stateth here the most essential difference between the Law the Ministery of Wrath and the Gospel the Ministery of Love One is established in the hands of a Mediatour in the other God is one The Love-union in the Gospel is too near too sure too sweet to need or admit a Mediator The Fountain of all Evangelical Grace and Love is the Unity of God The Unity of the Spirit is the Band of Peace between the Uncreated and all Created Spirits Ephes. 4. 6. But we shall more clearly see the Riches Treasured up in this Scripture if we look upon it by the light of another Scripture in the same Chapter v. 16. Now the Promise was made to Abraham and his Seed he saith not to Seeds as to many but as to one And to thy Seed which is Christ. The Holy Apostle in this Chapter maketh it his work to prove that Righteousness is not by the works of the Law but by Faith in Jesus Christ according to the Gospel God descending into Christ and taking up Christ into himself Jesus Christ in this fulness and Glory of the God-Head entring into the Soul and taking the Soul into himself by the free Revelation and immediate Union of Faith This is the Righteousness of God and of his Saints in the Gospel One Argument by which St. Paul maintaineth Righteousness to be of Grace and not by Works is laid down v. 15. the Covenant of Grace was long before the Law He confirmeth that here v. 16. The Promises were made to Abraham and to his Seed c. The Holy Ghost in this verse established the Heavenly Building of the Gospel upon three beautiful and firm Pillars 1. Pillar The Gospel is a meer simple pure Promise That which was called in the verse
So may we to our Beloved in every form in the Ghastliness of Death fall down ravished with the greatness of his Glory and cry out My Lord and my God Every thing of our Jesus seen into the depth and inside of it or in a right Light is an Heaven of Heavens John 1. 14. The word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory the glory as of the Onely-begotten Son of God 3. The last and highest consideration of our Saviours Beauty is as he is God One with the Father the Onely true God This is the Head of fine Gold of solid Gold to which all his other Beauties are as the Locks and Curles of his Hair blacks as a Raven Shadows and Foils Can. 5. 11. This is your Beloved and this is your Friend O believing Souls I shall now give you a Proof from Scripture and Reasons concerning the whole Person of Christ after this explication of his Beauties in particular Forms and States Man was made in the Image and Similitude of God of the whole Trinity For so Divines expound that Gen. 1. Let us make man in our own Likeness of the Three ever-blessed Persons in the God-Head Some make it a consultation of the Deity in the Assembly of all the Holy Angels to make man an Image where all their various Excellencies should meet in the Unity of his Person to make Man a Musical Harmony of which every Angel makes a part only Upon either of these Interpretations Man is the most beautiful of all Creatures having the perfections of all Summed and Sealed up in himself to make a compleat similitude of the Divine Nature like mystical Letters in the Living Word of which the First Adam is a Figure In the 1. of Ezek. The living Creatures full of Wings and Eyes by which the Angelical Nature is represented among their other manifold Forms which appear in every particular Angel is the Form of a Man This Humane Form is the Image of God the Beauty of the Angelical Essences and the proper Essence of man Let us then enlarge our Doctrine and confirm it in its Latitude If Jesus Christ be fairer than the Sons of Men He is the fairest of all Things Proof Câ—n. 5. 9 10. The Spiritual Bride which is the Church in general and each believing Soul in particular testifieth of Christ by the Spirit of Truth that He is white and ruddy the chiefest of Ten Thousand We have here the Beauty of Christ set forth first Absolutely then Comparatively First Absolutely He is white and ruddy The Hebrew word for white signifieth smooth clear shining brightness like that of the Body of Heaven in the fairest and calmest day That for ruddy imports the purest and most sparkling red like that of a Ruby The same Word for the substance is set for the richest Ruby Lament for the Ground out of which the First Man was made Gen. 2. which say the Jews was the fairest Composition of all the finest parts of the Earth with its most precious vertues far beyond the finest Gold The same word also is used for the First Man in his First Make when he was the fairest Flower in Paradise The most perfect white is the purest Light which hath no Darkness in it The purest red is the most exact mixture of Light and Shadow In General these words import a compleat beauty in the Person of Christ. a beauty suitable to us fitted to the Eye of our Faculties our Sense and Understanding It is the manner of Men to express the most perfect beauty of a Face by pure White and Red. We have also a signification that the choicest beauties here are Shadows only of Jesus Christ. White and Red in the loveliest Face below is the Type and Figure in that glorious Person it is the Truth the Original Divines call the Creatures with all their Excellencies Vestigia Dei the Foot-steps of God If the Print of Christs Feet in the Dust make such Beauties in Flesh and Blood in these Heavens in the Angels what are the Beauties of his own Divine Person 1. In Particular 1. White is the Unity of Light in its simplicity This is the Person of Christ Red expresseth the variety of Light and Darkness with all their Degrees and Mixtures as they lie in the Unity of a pure and simple Light This is Light in its several Forms and Dresses This is the high and Universal Harmony which maketh all sorts of Musick and Beauty thorow all things in Heaven and Earth as it sendeth forth Sounds and Glympses of itself any where This hath all things in itself in their several perfections This maketh every thing in itself a Divine Musick and Beauty to the Spiritual Eye and Spiritual Ear. 2. White is the God-Head in Christ making a Day of Beauty whiâ—h hath no night going before it or coming after it Red is the Lord Jesus as he is God-man where the Day and the Night make one entire Day of perfect Beauty the Night sweetly shadowing the Day the Day shining beautifully thorow the Night Here Beauty hath all its Charms and Sweetnesses of its Mornings and its Evenings 3. White is Christ in Glory Red is this Christ this Glory descending to the Depth of all Sufferings Red is the Colour of Blood Nothing is more apt among Natural things to delight and ravish our Souls than the Musick of an excellent hand carried down in just degrees by soft and melting strains to the lowest and there as it were quite silenced then on a sudden carried up again to a Sprightly and Triumphant height How agreeable how delightful a Spectacle is this to the Eye of the Spirit to see the Lord Jesus who is Glory itself descending with beautiful Conformities to the Wisdom of the Father with sweet meltings of himself into the Will of the Father thorow all degrees of Sufferings into the Silence and Darkness of Death itself then in a moment to spring up into Glory and Immortality by the Resurrection from the Dead What believing and loving Soul when she seeth these beautiful goings of her Jesus on the Earth on Mount Golgotha in the Grave would not gladly go â—own with him in the Fellowship of his Sufferings into the same Grave as inâ—â— a Spiritual Marriage-bed to come forth immediately in the glorious Mornâ—â—g of the Resurrection as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber I have hitherto spoken of the Absolute Praise of Christs Beauty in this Scripture He is White and Ruddy I am now to speak of the Comparative Praise He is the chiefest of ten thousand Ten thousand is a particular number set for All. The Hebrew word signifieth the greatest number it is applied to Angels Psal. 68. 18 The Chariot of the Lord is ten thousand Angels are understood The Angels are the fairest of all creatures Our Saviour is the fairest of all the Angels The word Chiefest is in Hebrew a Standard-bearer The Standard-bearer carries the Banner The Banner is the Mark and
a Sight of that Heaven which is the Principle of the Lord Jesus in Glory This lyeth clear before us that the Heaven understood in this place cannot be any Visible or Common Heaven no not any of the Created Heavens This is an Heaven above All. For He who cometh forth from it is Lord of All. He is made Higher than All Heavens by ascending into this Heaven which is of another Make different from all things of the First Creation and hath a New Name above every Name that is named in this World or that which is to come the World of Sense or the World of Angels Heb. 7. 26. Eph. 4. v. 10. The Earth then of which we speak cannot be the Common Earth It must be as large as that mentioned Gen. 1. v. 2. out of which the Heavens themselves were made The Earth intended here by the Holy Ghost taketh in all things below the Heaven mentioned and meant by Him Angels with all the Invisible Glories of the First Creation are Gods arising up out of this Earth and comprehended within the Compass of it I will set up Three Lights before you by which I shall endeavour to give you a Prospect of this Earth and of the First Man arising out of it so as to be a Shadow and a Figure of the Heaven we aim at with our Bridegroom coming down out of it coming down in it as His Mother of Eternal Love His Garment and Crown of Divine Beauty His Chariot of Life and Light of Power and Pleasure 1. Light God as He is the Head of the First Creation cometh not forth Naked but in a Shadowy Image of Himself which He casteth as a Vail over the true and proper Beauties of His own Person which the Eye of no Creature ever saw or can see Psal. 104. The Psalmist singeth the praises and wonders of God in the Creation After the preface he beginneth thus Who coverest thy self with Light as with a Garment and stretchest out the Heavens as a Curtain v. 2. You have a manifest allusion here to the Works of the First and Second Day Gen 1. The Jews say from this Scripture in the books of their wise and learned men that God to make this World appeared not in His naked Beauties but cum Indumentis suis with a Garment for a Covering upon Him The Light in which God shineth forth at the Beginning to form a Mass of Darknes into a beautiful Creation was onely a Shadow of the Eternal Light of His own Nature and Substance and a Vail upon it The Glory itself the Divine Presence and Appearance at the Head of this Creation which was spread over the whole Compass of it as an Heaven was a Curtain drawn before the true Heaven the true Glory which stood behind this Curtain like the Oracle in the most Holy place while the First Tabernacle was not yet removed This is the First Light 2. Light God in this Shadowy Image of himself is that Earth the Divine Earth out of which the first Man is made with a Divinity resting upon him Gen. 1. 26. God said let us make man in our Image after our Likenâ—ss The word Image in Hebrew Tselem seemeth to be a contract of two words Tsd Maveth the Shadow of Death It is used Psal. 39. 6. Man walketh in a vain show they are disquieted in vain or in vanity That other word used Gen 1. 26. Our Likeness signisieth similitude silence an imagination a cutting off Both import thus much that the Divine Image the Mother of the first Adam in whose Womb he was formed out of whose Womb he sprung forth upon whose breasts he hung was a shadow a silent vanishing Shadow of the Eternal word in which that slept as in its Night or Death As Dreams are Imaginations in the Fancy which act their parts while the Man sleepeth such was this Image after which Man with the whole World was made This was the Mother-Earth which broughâ— him forth which beareth him which nurseth him in her Bosom and dandleth him on her Knees We read Gen. 2. 7. God formed Man of the dust of the ground The word Ground is the same with Adam It signifieth in its root a sparkling Lustre and Ruddiness like that of the best Rubies to express which it is also used A sweet and glorious Light shining thorow a dark shade like a rosie morning or the Sun setting red in a lovely evening because being low he shineth with his bright Beams thorow the rising mists and vapours of the Earth is properly intended by this word The Light of the God-Head sparkling in a Shadow of himself glowing under a Cloud like a living Ruby from the Rock of Eternity this was Adamah the Ground the Mother of Adam God formed Adam of the dust of this ground The learned Jews paraphrase after this manner upon the dust here As the skilful Apothecary beateth his Spices to a small and â—ine powder that by a more curious and exact mixture of them he may make them into a rich ointment or cordial so God in the smallest and least parts perfectly mingleth and uniteth all the Principles Powers Forms and Vertues of the several Creatures as they lay together in their first and fairest Image in their First-born state in himself Of these thus tempered he sormeth Man the Second Image of the whole Creation next to that in his own Person Thus Man is as a living Crystal in which the entire Form of all the world visible and invisible is seen transparently in the whole Glass and in every point of the Glass by a ravishing concurrence of all parts in each the mâ—nutest part with a most beautiful and divine Harmony arising from the accurate Mixture of that Precious Dust. Thus Man is an Universal musick where the well-measured Motions and sweet Sounds of all the Strings meet in every skilful Touch of every String as a New Circle of Heavenly Melody and Delights spread from a New Center of Life and Love Thus I pass from the Second to the Third Light 3. Light The First Adam was the Golden Head of the First Creation next to God in Jesus Christ. St. John in the 1. chapter of his Gospel describeth the order and manner in which the unfaln World came forth from God The Word which was Jesus Christ as He is God the Essential and Eternal Image of the God-Head was made by His own Almighty Power according to the Unsearchable Counsel of His own All-Gracious and All-Glorious Will a Shadowy Image of Himself As upon the Vail of the most Holy Place were wrought in pleasant Colours the Figures of those Cherubims which stood within the Vail shining in a rich Substance of Massy Gold So was it in the most Holy Person of our Saviour the true and living Temple of the Divine Nature The Glories of the Essential Image figured themselves upon this Mystical Vail of the Shadowy Image So the Beloved Apostle saith to us while he openeth the Mysteries
healeth these breaches But it preserveth entire all distinctions of things in God in the Divine Unity The God-Head the Manhood the Soul the Body the Persons of the Saints and of their Saviour ever keep their proper parts in the variety to make the Musick of Heaven pleasant As Spirituality heightneth the Unity beyond every Created comprehension that the Sweetness and the Glory may be heightned in like manner so doth it enlarge the variety beyond all finite proportions that the Marriage-Joy may be more free more fresh more full 2. Cant. Preserve carefully the distinction between God and the Creature God is that which he is in himself and of himself The Creature is that which it is by its Union with God This is the Incommunicable Name of God I am that which I am The name of every Creature on Earth and in Heaven is I am that which I am in God I am that which God is in me I have now made an end of my third Proposition which was this that the Spiritual Body of Christ is to be compared with its Spiritual Principle and Pattern Jesus speaketh to this sense in one place If they had known the Father they would have know me if they had known me they would have known you they The Person of the Bridegroom is known aright only by its Pattern and in its Principle which is the Father as he is the brightness of the Fathers Glory the express Image of his Substance and sporteth eternally in his Bosom The Person of a Saint is then only seen aright when it is seen by its Pattern and in its Principle which is the Heavenly Bridegroom as it is the brightness and fulness of him who shineth thorow and filleth All in All the Glory of Christ in Christ like the purest Light rejoycing continually in the Bosom of the Sun I am now arrived at the end of my second Rule to compare Spiritual Things with Spiritual And thus I have concluded my present use which is a direction to the knowledge of the Person of Christ and his Beauty Use 3. An exhortation to Holiness and Comfort thorow Faith in Jesus Christ. This exhortation is raised upon these three Grounds 1. Ground The Person of our Lord is unchangeable For he is in his true Person when the Vail is taken off from him an Eternal Spirit in an Eternal Glory John 8. 58. He saith of himself Before Abraham was I am I am is the name of Eternity and unchangeableness See how the Lord Jesus comprehendeth all the Successions and Distances of Time before Abraham from Abraham to that moment as one present sixt undivided point in himself As a Rock standeth firm on the Shore while Millions of waves rise and fall at its foot such a Rock of glory and Eternity is our Saviour While all the Streams of Time roul along successively and pass away while all the waves of change life up themselves reak bury themselves onein another this Beautiful and blessed Personstandeth unchanged unmoved in the midst of them all How great an Encouragement is this to you who are tost with the Tempests upon the Sea of this world and find no rest to retire and withdraw your selves into Jesus Christ by Faith His glorious Person is a perpetual Calm with Sun-shine Here in him in the midst of all the Storms of this world is the same sweet untrou-bled Calm which was in Eternity before the woâ—ld was Mal. 3. 6. Our Saviour is brought in speaking after this manner For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed The unchangeableness of the Lord Jesus is founded upon the unity of his Person in which he comprehendeth beholdeth converseth with himself and all things It is said to this Jesus by the Psalmist cited Heb. 1. 8. Thy Throne O God endureth for ever and ever This Throne in the same Epistle is stiled a Throne of Grace that is of Love The Person of Christ in its Unity is the Throne of Love and Eternity Hear this Word all Sinners and Saints Hear this you who have an ear to hear what the Spirit saith of the Person of Christ. You that have none let this word come to you and make in you a hearing Ear. Hear this you who believe not that you may believe you who have Faith that you may have it in greater abundance The same Eye with which Jesus Christ looked upon you the same Beauty in which he beheld you the same Love with which he embraced you in himself in Eternity before that Sin or the world had any Being with the same Eye he now looketh upon thee in the same Beauty he now beholdeth thee with the same Love he now embraceth thee in the midst of all thy Pilgrimages through so many Darknesses and Deaths For he is unchangeable All the Waters all the Fires of Temptations and Troubles thorow which thou passest cannot drown consume or at all empair thy Beauties thy Joys For thou awakest and findest thy self ever with thy Beloved thy Jesus thou findest him the same to thee thou findest thy self the same in him For he changeth not So those Waters and fires vanish as a Dream 2. Ground The Pâ—rson of Christ comprehendeth all Changes in itself after an unchangeable manner Heb. We are commanded to look to Jesus the end of our Conversation the same yesterday to day and for ever As all successions of Time lie united in one point in one present undivided moment in Eternity where all things past and to come are ever present and every thing of Time appeareth cloathed with the Form of Eternity so do all changes lie in one unchangeable Glory in the Lord Jesus The Yesterday of Inâ—initeness before the world this worlds Day Eternity after this world are 〈◊〉 one 〈◊〉 one Eternity of Life and Love in this blessed Person This world in itself lieth as a small Island in the midst of the Ocean of Eternity bounding it on all sides In the Heavenly Person of Christ this Island is sunk and swallowed up into the Depths of that Ocean Which way soever you look there is nothing but Heaven and Eternity Are you wearied with the Changes of your own Heart and This World Retire into the bosom of your Loving God and Saviour There every Change lyeth in an Unchangeable Beauty and Blessedness Do variety of Objects with their Changes distract and divide you making you unsetled and unsafe Would you be unchangeable in a Holy and Heavenly Frame of Heart Would you be unmoved in the Work and Joy of the Lord Fix your Eye on Jesus Christ Abide in Jesus Christ. There you shall see the Same there you shall be the Same Yesterday to Day and for Ever The Lord was buried in a New Tomb hewed out of a Rock in a Garden What a Mysterious what a beautiful what a blessed Figure is this Let us fear none of those things that are to come upon us A Sick-bed a Prison a Grave
Chapter and beginning of the Second the Loveliness of the Spouse and the Love between her and the Heavenly Bridegroom in her Sufferings and Death as they are acted upon the Stage in the glorious Scene of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ in the State of Espousals and in their Union in one Spirit The dying Spouse there singeth to her Lord Behold thou art fair my Love yea thou art pleasant also our Bed is green v. 16. Jesus Christ is fair to a Saint Eye in his Divine Loveliness being risen up into the Glory of the Father He is pleasant to her in his Loves which are his Loveliness in Motion acting beautiful parts transforming itself into delightful Shapes with endless variety in all pouring forth itself into her Bosom taking her up into itself with Blessed Changes of one into another The Unity of the Spirit is the Bed of Divine Loves which is ever green that is as the word importeth ever encompassed with a Heavenly Calm and Serenity ever flourishing ever fruitful Death itself is the mutual embracing of these two Heavenly Lovers in this Bed of Spiritual Loves in the midst of a Divine calm and clearness while out of these embraces they spring up into innumerable Forms of Eternal Beauties and Joys which are the flourishing Fruits and Blessed Children of this Marriage-Union It is said that nothing was made without Christ apart from Christ that was made in the Creation John 1. 2. Remember O Christian that in the new Creature thou art thou sufferest thou doest nothing in life or in death without thy Jesus in Glory apart from thy Jesus in the Unity of his Spirit which is the Center and Circle of all Blessed Spirits with all the Train and Treasures of the Divine Nature While thou livest all the Body of Christ Heavenly Spirits Innumerable Angels live with thee thy life All these all the Lights and Loves of the Supercoelestial State die with thee thy Death 4. Pos. All this Resurrection Ascension into the Heavenly places Fellowship of a Believer with Christ is in Christ. He hath raised us together and hath made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus See now those places above the Heavens those more than Heavenly Things in the midst of which a Saint is set They are all in the glorified Person of Christ who is made higher than the Heavens The Learned tell us that there are three Worlds 1. This which is visible 2. The Angelical World 3. The Divine World All things of the upper and greater Worlds are in the lower as in the Seed All Things of the lower are in the Superiour as ripe Fruit. Every thing is in each according to the nature of that place Behold This is the Divine World the Person of our Lord and Love ascended up on high above all Heavens of Angels Here in him the Fulness of the God-Head dwelleth Bodily that is not shadowily or seminally in its Shadow or Seed but in its Substance and Perfection While here thou standest fast in this thy Jesus thine own proper habitation Death itself is an Angel nay more it appeareth in a Divine Form is become a Divine Glory a rich and ravishing piece of variety in the Unity of the Divine Nature In the World of Angels every thing is a distinct Angel In the Divine World all things are cloathed with the form of God As a Child lying in its Mothers lap a branch from the Mother bearing her Image with its mouth at the Breast looking upon her Face falling asleep in her Bosom yet not so sleeping but that still it sucketh as it sleepeth such is a Saint dying in Jesus Christ. He lieth in the lap of the Supream Glory encompassing him on every side and bearing him as its own Birth and Image His mouth is at the breast of this Glory His Eye is upon the Face of this Glory He sleepeth in its Bosom But it is a Divine sleep While he sleepeth he is awake and keepeth his Eye still upon the Glory and sucketh in the Glory still in Death We have this excellently represented in one place by the Prophet Esay where the Heavenly Hierusalem which is our Jesus in the Spirit is said to bear her Children on her sides and to dandle them on her Knee In another place they are said to walk in the Light of the new Hierusalem These Dandlings and Dancings in the Arms of that Glory which is our Mother our Father and our Husband our Heavenly Jesus such walks in its sweet and living Light are all the Motions and Changes of Life and Death to those that are in Christ Jesus I shall conclude my Observations from this Scripture with the difference between the Death of a Man standing in the Root of the First Adam and a Christian in Christ. Death to one is a Poyson In eating of the Forbidden Fruit he dieth out of the Earthly Paradise yet remaining in its ruines in this World into a Land of Briars and Thorns into a vast and howling Wilderness where the Light is Darkness and where there is no Order The Death of the other is a Cordial of dissolved Pearl In eating of the Tree of Life he 〈◊〉 out of a Land of Briars and Thorns into a Heavenly Paradise the Paradise of God I have done now with the first Scripture 2. Script Verily verily I say unto you except a Corn of Wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much Fruit John 12. 24. These are the words of our Saviour concerning himself upon a report made to him hy Philip that some Greeks desired to see him The design of Jesus is partly to raise them from a Carnal view of him on Earth to a Spiritual sight of him in a Heavenly Glory after Death partly to signify the difference between his State of humiliation in this Life where he is single and Barren in the Flesh and his State of exaltation after Death where he â—iseth up an Universal Person reconciling comprehending All in the Unity of the Spirit a Fruitful Person being a new head and root in the Love Life and Glory of the Father to all Mankind Jews and Gentiles to all Creatures Our Saviour while he lived was as a single naked grain of Wheat But when he sprung up out of the Grave he became a pleasant and flourishing Plant bearing much Fruit many grains of Wheat in one Ear many all Persons all Angels and Spirits in Glory in that one his own Person and Spirit He was in the Flesh as one Rose one Apple pull'd off the Tree He is in the Spirit as the Rose-Tree the Apple-Tree All Angels and Saints all Forms of Things are glorified in his Glory all in Heavenly and Immortal Persons are in his Heavenly Person as full-blown Roses growing upon the Rose-Tree as full-ripe Apples upon the Apple-Tree The Death of a Saint is upon this ground made most beautiful and pleasant Can. 2. 3. As the
save as this Unity itself the one Seed is the Mediator There are two Promises made to Abraham concerning his Seed one thâ—â— they shall be as the Stars of Heaven for number the other that they shal be as the Dust of the Earth for Multitude The Seed is Christ. The Lord Jesus one Seed in all the uncreated Glories which are fixed as innumerable Stars in the Heaven of the Divine Nature The Lord Jesus is the same Seed in the Dust here below sown in the form 〈◊〉 Flesh and Dust. When the Lord Jesus cometh in the Power of the Gospel into any Heart this one Seed at once shineth down from all those Glories of the God-Heâ—â— above and springeth up out of the Dust here below It awakeneth itself froâ—â— above and below It meeteth with receiveth itself and twisteth into 〈◊〉 with itself the Glory from on high and the Dust from beneath It continually ascendeth and descendeth into its own Bosom and feasteth itself eternally upon itself with all Divine Substance and Sweetness I have endeavoured to draw aside the Curtain from this Scripture to shâ— you the Joy and Glory of the Lord in the Gospel the Unity of God 〈◊〉 the Fountain of Love with him in that Unity Let me add one Scripture to this to bring in more Spiritual Light into a Rooâ— so rich in so full of Heavenly Beauties It is that Rom. 4. 16. It is of Graâ— that it may be sure to the Seed You whose hearts the Love of God in Châ—â— hath touched from Heaven that you pant after the Water-brooks and Fouâ—tain of this Love opened in the Bosom of the Lord Jesus why come yâ—â— not to your Saviour that you may drink abundantly of the Divine Love Are you discouraged and driven away by the sense of your own unworthâ—ness and weakness by unbelief Hear and believe and come with boldâ—â— to the Fountain of Love Love is made sure and tyed fast from the Thron of Love in Heaven to the Hearts of Believers on Earth by a three-fold Cord. 1. Cord. The first Cord is the Promise By the immutable tie of a Promise in which it is impossible for God to lie hath he assured and secured his Love to thee The two chief Attributes of God on which all the rest wait in which they are comprehended are Goodness and Truth Both these must fade and pass away before one tittle of the Promise can fail of its accomplishment For Goodness maketh the Promise but Goodness and Truth both are obliged to the keeping of it 2. Cord. The second Cord is Grace The Promise is of Grace that it may be sure You who are apt to despair of Love and Blessedness let down from Heaven into your Souls by the Golden Line of a Promise because your hearts are unfit Mansions to entertain such Heavenly Guests hear and consider this As the Beams of the Sun descend upon the Earth infuse a precious vertue into it quicken and call up the vertue and Seeds of the Sun there make it green flourishing and fruitful yet lean not depend not at all upon the Earth but have their root in the Bosom of the Sun above from which they shoot themselves down into the lap of the Earth so the Promises of the Gospel as Bâ—ams of Eternal Love are fixed in the Sun of the Divine Nature as their Heavenly root From that they are bred by that they are nourished and maintained This Sâ—n poureth them down upon thee to enlighten enliven and transform thy earthly carnal heart into a Spiritual and Heavenly Garden But these Beams that come to warm and beautify thee lean not at all upon any thing in thee They depend singly and entirely upon their proper Sun which is Love the heart of God 3. Cord. The third Cord is the Seed That the Promise may be sure to the Seed Lawyers say that no gift by any deed is good without a consideration They say also that there is no consideration which bindeth more than that of Fatherly affection when a deed runneth in those words I out of my Fatherly affection give to my Son c. This is the consideration in the New Testament the Love of a Father All the Promises of Grace and Glory of Heaven and Earth Time and Eternity are made to the Seed The ground of a Fathers Love is the Unity A Father loveth himself in his Seed His Seed is one with himself The Seed lay first in the Father It cometh forth from the Father It is one Nature with the Father and beareth the Image of the Father before him The same Seed in the Father is the Father and the Son in the Son All Relations the Loves and Sweetnesses of all Relations are Unions that is Participations and branches of Unity Paternity the Relations and Love of a Father is Unity the Root and Head of all Unions Relations and Loves The Philosopher teacheth us that the reason of a Fathers Love to his Children is Self-love and the Love of Immortality He seeth himself ever-fresh and flourishing propagated to Immortality in his Off-spring All numbers are said to be the first Unity multiplied Each number springeth from Unity is made up of Unities consisteth in an Unity Thus God is one in his Seed The Seed is the Unity of God multiplying itself into many Self-Images in the same Divine Nature in the same Essential and Eternal Image the Lord Jesus Is not the Promise now sure when it is to the Seed in which the Unity of God the Love-spring of Eternity is the Band of Love I have not yet sounded the Sea of Sweetness opening itself to us in this Scripture Now a Mediator is between Two but God is One. God is said to have created all things by Jesus Christ Ephes. 1. 9. To have made all things by him and in him Colos. 1. 16. God then is One in Nature and in Grace in the new Creature and in the first Creation There is one Seed of both the Lord Jesus All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made John 1. 2. As no Wheat springeth without a grain of Wheat cast into the ground as no Rose groweth without the Seed of a Rose so no Flower of Divinity no Divine Work no Divine Image cometh forth any where in this World or that which is to come without the Divine Word the Seed of God which was in the Beginning with God and was God Acts 17. 24. St. Paul maketh this his great Argument to convince the Athenians and to persuade them to Faith in Jesus Christ the Unity of the Divine Seed They feel after him saith he if so be they may find him although he be not far from every one of us In him we live and move and have our Being as in our proper Seed and Element For as one of your own Poets hath said We also are his Off-spring The Apostle in the Authority and with the Seal of the Holy Ghost confirmeth the Testimony
Behold the true Figure of Passionate Persons whose Wrath Envy Hatred Malice are Fire-brands Kindled from Hell and fastned to their Lusts as to their taâ—ls in which they carry them burning about thorow all things In the Holy of Holies was placed a Mercy-Seat all of Beaten Gold the Throne of Grace the Throne of Love Out of this Throne of one piece with it rose up two Cherubims of Beaten Gold They stretched forth their Wings they set their faces one to the other They together looked down to the Mercy-Seat This is the Heavenly Figure of your Christ and you O ye Children of Love in your Love-Union and Spiritual Communion God in Christ Christ in the Glory of the Father is the Golden Mercy-Seat the Throne of Love The Saints are the Cherubims the Children of Love rising up from the Throne of Love of one piece of Gold of one Love-Spirit with it With their Faces their Divine part they look one to another and maintain a mutual society They spread their Hearts their Spiritual understandings their Spiritual affections to each other and so meet so embrace With united Spirits they look down to the Throne of Love in the midst of them out of which they grow up together from which they continually draw fresh Beams fresh Love life and Joy O Saints O Holy Souls be rooted in Love grow up out of this Throne of Love Shine forth with Faces of Love spread forth wings of Love Be in all things one piece one pure Gold of Divine Love with the Throne of Love the Divine Nature For God is Love I am now come to the period of my discourse upon the first part of my Doctrine The Love of God The second part is the Effusion or pouring forth of Divine Love I shall express this to you by six Properties The Love of God is poured forth in Jesus Christ. 1. Freely 2. Purely 3. Plentifully 4. Powerfully 5. Essentially 6. Eternally 1. Property The Love of God is poured forth in Jesus Christ freely 2. Sam. 7. 21. David is brought in as a Type of Jesus Christ. He sitteth in the Temple beâ—ore the Lord when he was setled in his Kingdom and at the height of his Kingly Glory Thus Jesus Christ sitteth upon his Throne in the highest Heavens before his Father He discourseth to his Father of the wonders of his Fathers Love and his own Glory What is my Fathers House that thou hast brought me hitherto v. 18. I was a Man a poor Creature a Worm of the Earth Earthy as the Dust of the Earth as low as the neathermost parts of the Earth as low and naked as the first principle of the first Creation when the Earth was empty and void when darkness covered the face of it This was my Fathers House Yet thou hast brought me hitherto thou hast brought me to thy right Hand far above all Principalities and Powers all Heavens to thy Throne Thou hast given me a new Name above every Name a Name that eminently comprehendeth all Names in it a Name that infinitely transcendeth all Names Thus Love is poured forth in Christ. Jesus Christ goeth on in the Person of David And this was yet a small thing in thy sight O Lord God thou hast spoken of thy Servants House for a great while to come v. 19. This O my Father which thou hast wrought so wonderfully these mighty Works these Miracles of Divine Love and Glory in my Person seem a small thing to thee Thou hast spoken of my House my Church my Members my Seed to reign with me in the same Kingdom of Glory to Eternity Then Jesus Christ raiseth this Love to the highest point of Admiration to a state of transcendency above the capacity and comprehension of all Humane Hearts of all Created understandings Is this the manner of Man O Lord God! Is there any thing among Men in the compass of the Creation to which this Love can be likened or with which it can be compared Is there any where any Image Figure or Resemblance of such a design such a work of Love and Glory Thus Love is poured forth in the Person of the Lord Jesus See now how freely it is poured forth According to thine own heart hast thou done all this v. 21. Indeed he bringeth in first For thy Words sake for thy Promise for thy Sons sake thine Eternal Word thine Essential Image the Ground of thy Promise the Subject of thy Love and Design the Pattern and Model of thy Work But this word springeth from that Root to which all is ultimately referred the Heart of God According to thinâ— own Heart hast thou done all this The Heart of God is the Fountain of living Loves which springeth up freely of its own accord to Eternal Joys and Glories in the Person of Christ. The Love of God in Christ receiveth its Beginning Force Form Fashion and Finishing from the Heart of the Father All the Works of God are said in the Epistle to the Hebrews to have been Finished from the Beginning of the World All the Loves of God all the Works of Divine Love manifested and wrought in the Blessed Person of our Lord Jesus were finished from Eternity in the heart of his Father All Tides are from the Aestuation of the Sea The Sea boyling up from its Bottom as it riseth and dilateth itself poureth forth floods of Waters into all Rivers which run along in the Bosom of the Earth The Heart of God is the great Sea of Love This from its own Divine Heart Height and Fulness filleth all Spirits with its Heavenly Floods in the Bosom of Jesus Christ. The Will in the Soul is said by a learned Man to be Amplitudo Intellectûs the understanding in its full extâ—nt The Love of God poured forth upon the Person of Christ and upon all the Saints upon all things â—n him is Amplitudo Cordis Divinâ— the largeness of Gods Heart the Heart of God in its full extent and latitude So David addeth in the same place that God doth all this to shew his Greatness the Greatness of his Heart for he faith This is to make thy Servant know v. 21. To display thy self to draw a perfect draught of thy self in the Person of Christ. In what The next verse expresseth it Wherefore thou art Great v. 22. James 1. 5. God is said to give to all men liberally and to upbraid none Love is implyed in the gift Freedom in the liberality and gentleness without reproach The Person of Christ is signified in the universality All Men. Christ is one among the rest of Men Christ is the Fulness of Mankind He took not upon him the Person but the nature of man unrestrained to any particular Person His Humane Nature was not a Branch or an Apple but the Apple-Tree There are two expressions which St. James maketh use of here to set forth the Freedom of Divine Love in the effusions of it 1. He giveth Liberally The Word in Greek is Simply
in their full beauty and sweetness ever fresh never fading never failing As fast as one is gathered another springeth up in its room These Immortal flowers of divine love grow here for thee They have thy name written upon them They bend and bow themselves towards thee They invite thy hand to gather them They are ripe in every season and gathered with the least touch of thy spirit Thou who hast a Spirit black and burning with the deepest guilt take the flower of justifying love stick it in thy bosom This will take out all the heat of pain and take away all the deformity and stain from thy spirit Thou who labourest under the disease of any corruption See here the flower of sanctifying love Carry this in thine hand in thine heart It is a powerful a pleasent remedy against every lust or passion Doth the Instability of thy spirit the uncertainty of thy spiritual condition afflict thee The flower of electing love hath a soveraign vertue in it to establish and â—ix thine heart in a triumphant peace and joy above all changes or fears Art thou melancholy is thine heart cast down within thee for some apparent reason or thou kno west not why look upon this pleasant flower of comforting love smell to it wear it in thy bosom It shineth with a heavenly lustre which recreateth the Eyes and infuseth strange joy into the heart It breatheth forth a sweetness from it which will make you think your self in Paradise or kissing those blessed Cheeks of your heavenly lover your Jesus which are Beds of Spices It hath a spirit in it which is the extract of all Cordials which hath all comforting vertues in it which is the soveraign Comforter of hearts and spirits the only causer of delight and pleasure on Earth or in Heaven If any one be dejected with a sense of shame let him make himself a Nose-gay of these three Flowers regenerating adopting glorifying love Every one of these casteth a wonderful light from it which will make thee to see thy self in the unity of the eternal Spirit in the form of the Son of God Thou wilt see the whole face of things as a glorious Heaven round about thee all full of bright and shining Angels encompassing thee guarding thee attending upon thee as the heir of God Jesus in glory walking with thee hand in hand as his Brother God himself beholding thee with an unmoved and full Eye of esteem wonder and complacency as his onely one the Object of all his love the Ground of all his joy The State of a Saints Soul and Body in Death THe peculiar consolations and joys of Death to a Saint pour forth themselves into ten distinct channels or streams 1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul or Body of a Saint but a restitution and return of both to liberty peace and perfection 2. Both descend no more but ascend in Death 3. Death hath in it no melancholy overcast or unpleasant darkning to the Soul or Body but a sweet unexpected surprising and ravishing increase of a pure divine and triumphant light circling in and shining through all 4. Death casts no deformity upon either part of a Saint but cloaths both with an heavenliness amiableness and beauty 5. Death is no streightning or imprisonment to Body or Soul but a blessed enlarging of both to a divine state and freedom 6. The Death of a Saint hath nothing bitter in it but is a spring of pure sweetnesses and pleasures dividing itself into every part and making all the garden of God 7. There is nothing of the Devil in the Death of a Saint but Christ risen and glorified is all fills all and shines thorow all 8. Death hath nothing of wrath in it but is all divine love unvailing itself 9. There is nothing of Death in the Death of a Saint but life and immortality unclouded and shining forth clearly 10. Death is no other thing to a Saint than a heightning of his spirituality making him all thorough-out spiritual purely spiritual without any mixture unchangeably spiritual without any interruptions inconstancies or darkintervals 1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul or Body of a Saint but a restitution and return of both to liberty peace and perfection 2. Corinth 5. 1. St. Paul expresseth this ground of confidence and joy in Death For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens It is the observation of learned Divines that the Greek word here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render to be dissolved signifieth to take up ourâ—Inn from that circumstance of unloosing the Horses and taking them out of the Waggon or Chariot to bring them into the Inn and Stable that there they may be at their liberty to rest and feed and lie down From this word upon this ground an Inn or House of reception refreshing for Travellers hath its name in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At our Birth which is the morning of this life and our entrance upon our Journy through this weary world our Souls and Bodies are joyned to this fleshly Image by the natural spirit the spirit of this world as Horses put into a Waggon to which they are fastned by their Harnes and Traces The Body is as the fore-horse but the Soul as the filler which draws most and bears the chief weight All the day long of this life we draw this Waggon heavy laden with all sorts of temptations and troubles thorow deep ways of mire and sand This only is our comfort that the divine will which is love itself in its perfection as a hand put forth from Heaven thorow a Cloud at our Birth put us into this Waggon and governs us all the day In the evening of our life at the end of our Journey Death is the same divine will as a naked hand of pure love shining forth from an open heaven of clear light and glory taking our Souls and both Bodies out of the Waggon and Traces of this â—leshly Image and Spirit and leading them immediately into their Inn into a place of freedom rest and refreshing into the unity of the eternal spirit into the Bosom of our Lord Jesus Obj. But before I proceed any farther I will indeavour to make my whole way more clear by answering an objection which perhaps already ariseth in most of your thoughts You may be ready to say Is this your meaning as you seem clearly to express it that the Bodies also of the Saints suffer no dissolution in Death but return immediately to a state of purity and perfection This seemeth to contradict the common sense of all the faith of the Saints and the plain letter of the Scriptures Do we not with our Eyes see every day the dead Bodies of the best Persons thrown into the Grave turning to Corruption and Putrefaction either before or in the Grave dissolved to Worms and
Rest. In this confidence doth the Flesh of the Lord Jesus rest in Death It hath no more for ever any Conflicts or Allarms It is overspread with a sweet and clear Heaven It breaths in a gentle and delicious air where there is no storm no rain nor cloud It is in a State of immutable joys where there is no Death no Shadow of Death no trouble no fear no shadow of fear or any such thing All things sing an eternal requiem and rest to it As the Flesh of the Lord Jesus resteth in Confidence so it resteth also in Hope Hope is good in prospect or in progress At our first conversion the Eternal day breaketh upon us While we live on Earth in a State of Grace we have sweet and clear streaks of the Light of Life appearing thorow our Spirits which still grow clearer and brighter unto a perfect day But all this while there are dark and black shades of the Night Sins and Sufferings every where mingled with the pure Light of this blessed Day At Death it is perfect Day The shadows of the Night are perfectly drunk up into the rising Light that now they appear no more in dark Forms but are seen only as by a lovely temperature with the Light they make beautiful and pleasant colours of Saffron and of Roses In the Resurrection the body of the Sun the Eternal Sun the Lord Jesus in the Glory of his God-Head ariseth upon Soul and Body both and is nakedly seen nakedly enjoyed without the Vail of any dark and nightly shade or any Floury Spicy or morning shade From the Resurrection to the utmost point of the ascention this Divine Sun is rising higher and higher in Glory upon us till he comes to that Noon-sted of Eternity and of the God-Head where there is no more any ascent or descent where the Unity is entire where god is one and that one God is all in all In the Confidence and full assurance of this Hope doth the Flesh of our dying Saviour and of every dying Saint rest Object But you may say we have formerly seemed to affirm according to the Language of the Scripture that the days of Christ on Earth before his Death were alone the days of his Flesh that the Flesh of Christ was a Vail upon his Body which was rent in Death that it was not the substance of his Body nor its true proper and natural Form but a darkning and dividing Form in which the Body of Christ appeared and with which it was cloathed in the State of fallen Nature in the State of his Humiliation in his Earthly State This State ended this Form was put off in Death How then had the Flesh of Christ a part in his Triumph How did the Flesh of Christ rest in Hope Ans. In a Garden of Flowers by night the Flowers are seen in dusky and dark Forms while the shades of the night lie upon them as Vails upon their Beauties When the bright day riseth upon this Garden the Flowers appear in their naked and shining Beauties in their proper and lovely Figures their dark appearances together with their darkning vails the shades of the night are drunk up and transformed into the brightness of the Rosy morning The Body of the Lord Jesus and of all his holy Ones are the immortal Flowers Flowers of the Heavenly Paradise Their Fleshly Form is the shadow of the night upon them their dim and dusky appearance thorow this Shadow Death is the lovely and rosy Morning of the Eternal Day rising upon them The Spirit of Glory and of God is the brightness of this Day The Flesh is now changed into Spirit the dusky appearance thorow the Vail of Flesh into a Spiritual and Heavenly brightness In this brightness these bodies of which we spake shine forth in their naked native shapes and Beauties from all parts they shed a Divine Lustre they breath a pure sweetness of Divine Joys like the Flowers of the Spring in a fair morning Thus the Flesh of Christ resteth in Death 3. The ground of this Triumph is the inseparable union between the God-Head and the whole Humanity of Christ living or dying These are the words of the Lord Jesus by his Spirit in the mouth of David Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell Expositors agree that the word Hell signifieth not a place of torments according to the common acception but the State of Soul and Body in Death The Greek word by which it is rendered in the New Testament is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by its notation signifieth the State of things Invisible or the Invisible State of things It is also well known that the Soul in the language of the Old Testament is not used to express only one part of a Man but the whole Person It is a Maxim in Divinity laid down by all learned and holy Men that when the Natural Union between the Soul and Body of our Lord Jesus ceased in Death the Supernatural and Hypostatical or Personal Union between the Divine or Humane Nature in both parts of it remained inviolable and entire Thus it is frequently said that although the Soul of Christ was separated from his Body in the Grave yet the God-Head was never separated from either O sweet and sure truth A Spring of Holy Heavenly and Immortal Joys in Life and in Death This Truth rightly understood is a blessed Light which discovereth to us a Divinity in our Life here Immortality in Death and Heaven in the Grave This Divine Truth is the rich ground of our dear Saviours Glorious Triumph over Death in Death There was a twofold band of Union between the Soul and Body of Christ while he lived in Flesh one Natural the other Supernatural 1. The Natural Union was that composition of soul and Body by which he became a Natural Man and had the true Forms Substance and Essence of a Man sprung from the first Adam This band of union was broken in Death by which means the Natural Man now was no more for ever according to its Natural State and Principle but vanished like a shadow breaking up into the Light of a Spiritual Glory 2. The Supernatural Union is that of the second Person in the Trinity which is the Eternal God who at the Incarnation of Christ made himself Flesh that is a compleat Man himself subsisting as the single and undivided Person in this Man in both parts of this Man in Soul and in Body giving in like manner a personal subsistence to them in himself that the Divinity and the Humanity in its Soul and in its Body both were all one simple individual indivisible Person This is that which Divines call the Hypostatical or Personal Union in Christ which remained firm and altogether unimpaired in Death itself See now the beautiful and delightful consequences of this Union The Soul and Body of Christ continued immediately intimately sweetly triumphantly united upon the Cross in the Grave were both one Immortal
his spouse this Soul or this Body which he hath spoused as chast Virgins to himself to see Corruption No no my Bride-groom with all his Lights of Glory and the Father of lights in him will accompany this Darling-Soul and Darling-Body his pair of Doves which are to him as his two eyes through Death and the Grave There will he filling all things round about me with his shining Beauties make me to see the Path of Life Immortality all composed of innumerable Angels of Glory or the innumerable Glories of the Godhead as the Milky way in Heaven is said to be composed with innumerable Stars thick set Thorow all the shades of Death shall I behold all pleasantnesses in his Face shining forth upon me with a fresh Glory as a new Sun turning those Shades into a flowry and perfumed Arbour in the Heavenly Paradise I shall be continually at his right hand where pleasures are for evermore without mixture interruption or end Thus is his right hand which is the heighth and Fountain of Life and Pleasures the beginning of my Life my strength and guide in my way my end in Death We have finished the answers to the objection against the Immortality and Glory of the Body of a Saint together with the Soul in Death which was taken from the Body itself and strengthened by the particular consideration of the Body of Christ in Death and in the Grave We have finished the distinction between the two Bodâ—es the Body of Death in a Saint and the proper Body of a Saint which is an insâ—parable Member in the Spiritual and Heavenly Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Ghost as the Soul is We come now to the last objection taken from the resurrection of the Body at the last day which seems to be without any sense if our Bodies become Glorious and Immortal at our Death This Objection is answered by the distinction of three eminent steps or degrees in the resurrection from the Dead I shall take my ground upon which I shall build this answer and distinction from St. John Chap. 11. v. 25. these are the words of our Lord Jesus in that place I am the Resurrection and the Life He that lives and believes in me shall never die He that beliâ—ves in me though he were dead yet shall he live The Lord Jesus is here comforting Martha mourning over her dead Brother He propounds to her the comfort and Joy of his Resurrection Thy Brother saith he shall rise again That which would have been a present and powerful Joy looked upon with a Spiritual eye in a Light of Glory becomes to Martha a faint and far distant Joy while she looks upon the Resurrection a great way off at the end of the World So she answereth the Lord Jesus Yea Lord I know that my Brother shall rise again at the last Day The Lord Jesus scattereth this Cloud of Flesh by shining out upon Martha in the Brightness and Glory of his Heavenly and Divine Person as that Invisible and Eternal Sun which is at once the Fountain and Treasury of all Lights Lives and Forms of things in a state of Perfection and unchangeableness The Lord as he shineth out upon her annointeth the eyes of her mind with his Spirit and the Light of his appearance to see him as he is in the fulness of Glory as the fulness of the Glory of God and of all things dwelleth in him as he is the same and all things in him are the same yesterday to day and for ever I saith he am the Resurreâ—tion and the Life The latter of these is the cause and demonstration of the former It will not seem strange to him who seeth the Lord Jesus to be the Life of all things all things in their most exact distinction to be living perfectly and Eteâ—nally in him in the vast and unbounded Circle of the Unity of his Person and Spirit as in a secret Paradise a Field of Light and bliss above the Heavens and yet invisibly present every where that he should at his Pleasure bring forth things which have disappeared here by Death into new appearances as Resurrections from the Dead and present them again to our eye in the same Forme in which they before conversed with them not as Pâ—antasms or as empty Apparitions but real and Substantial Thus to Martha inlightned by this Spiritual Vision of Christ it was easie to understand that Jesus Christ could give her Brother Lazarus again out of his Grave living into her Arms even at that present time Having thus cleared my ground for my ensuing discourse by the opening of the words I procced to my distinction of a threefold eminent degree in the Resurrection from the Dâ—ad 1. The first eminent step or degree in the Resurrection from the dead is Regeneration which signifieth a new birth a second birth to be born again of God after the Death of that Life which we receive from him by our first Generation as Sons of God by the Creation 2. The Second eminent step or degree in the Resurrection from the Dead is the Natural Death 3. The last eminent step and degree is the Resurrection of the Dead at the last day 1. I shall begin with the first of these that the difference between these thâ—â—e Resurrections may more clearly appear I shall lay it down in the form of a Doctrine Doct. Regeneration is a Resurrection from the Dead St Paul clearly so expresseth it Eph. 5. v. 14. wherefore he saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the Dead and Christ shall give thee Light Behold three things here 1. A Sleep 2. The Awakening from this Sleep 3. The cause of Awakening 1. Here is a sleep Thou that sleepest Every man in his Natural state is a divine Spirit an Immortal Soul an Image of God a Son of God in a deep Sleep The Natural Sleep is defined to be a perfect ligation or binding up of all the senses outward or inward But this is an unnatural Sleep into which we are cast by the Enchantments and Power of the Devil It is the Sleep of Sin O man all thy senses and faculties outward and inward which were true pure and divine in the Similitude of God whilst they were awake and at liberty were continually feasted with divine Objects they possessed and enjoyed a Paradise in themselves But how are they now fallen asleep how are they bound up Thou now no more seest hearest tastest feelest understandest enjoyest any sweet beam of truth any thing of the Harmonious Musick of the delicate Relish of the soft Embraces of the immutable all-satisfying Reality and Substance of pure Love pure Light pure Beauty pure Joy pure Goodness Every thing pleasant every thing Real every thing Divine is to thee as if it were not at all Yet is not thy sleep quiet All this which thou seemest to thy self to hear to see to understand to converse with by any of thy senses or faculties