had or John or any of the Apostles if thou experiment not the same things without question this is the truth and the life whatever the men or the Masters of the Letter or of the City of the Letter say unto you The words that I speak unto you saith our Saviour they are spirit and they are life Joh. 6.63 they are not onely a dead Letter to the ear and to the understanding but they are quickning spirit declaring true death and true life in us The Scripture in every part there of holds forth either evil or good death or life light or darknesse heaven or hell the Temple of God or the Temple of Idols Christ or Belial that is either man in his lost miserable blind dark undone and helish condition or else Christ the Saviour the life the light the glory the happiness the Redeemer of man Now if we have not experience of either of these two in our selves all reading hearing preaching praying sacrificing is in vain 2 Cor. 3.6 and the Scriptures are no other to us but the killing and deadly letter Lastly we will name one more of their Sorceries and Inchantments and so conclude and t is a very great one In that they take upon them the very Office and place of Christ they think themselves and call themselves Teachers and Divines and men must come to them as to the Oracles of God and they are the Priests lips which shall preserve knowledge come to us and hearken to us and we will direct you and teach you what means and what rules and ordinances ye shall use and which is the way to Heaven when as Christ saith plainly call no man Father nor no man Master upon earth for one is your Master and one is your Father Luke 14.11 c. Joh. 6.44 which is in Heaven but he that is greatest among you let him be your servant And whosoever shall exalt himselfe shall be abased and he that shall humble himselfe shall be exalted And saith again No man can come to me but by the Father and except the Father draw him And again I am the way the truth and the life And yet they say come to us joyn your selves in fellowship with us and conform to us and walk with us for we have the best means we will shew you the best way we have overlookt and examined all other Church-fellowships and none like ours we are squared according to the primitive pattern and to the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 and the word it self justifies all our rules and our way of worship And they say moreover we have the word of the Lord with us and for us and we have the mind of Christ with us we have a dream and we have a revelation and we have seen a vision when indeed they have seen nothing but have stole the word of the Lord from others and borrowed of their neighbour of this and that Authour and have searched what this man saies or that man writes of such and such points and then come and cry the word of the Lord when the Lord hath not spoken in them nor to them but boast of things without their measure 2 Cor. 10 14 c. 1 Joh. 1.1 speak not the things that they have seen and heard and that their hands have handled of the word of life but as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 10. Who seek to commend themselves boasting of other mens labours and experiences and not of their own boasting beyond their line of things not distributed to them 2 Cor. 10. Vers 15. Ezek. 13.6 7. and yet will say The Lord hath spoken and this is the Word of the Lord and yet never found it The Word of the Lord in them or to them neither have they seen any thing nor the Lord hath not spoken unto them And therefore what ever they may say they cannot make it out to the hearts of others but they talk of it at random and by guesse and they say t is so and it must not be questioned for all other received Orthodox men forsooth have said it Are these Prophets think you of the Lords sending have these received the Word at his mouth Ibid. 3.17 No no but they are furnished by their learning and parts and acquirements and so of and from Man And so likewise not onely is the Prophet deluded but the people also for they have joyned themselves with these Prophets and there they will stick and their faith is pind upon their sleeves Oh such a man he is a sound man and he cannot erre and they will heare no where else And so this Prophet as thou takest him to be becomes Thy Pope and thy Holy Father for to him thou givest heed and him thou followest and obeyest And this is the great inchantment in our times when men forsake Jesus Christ the true and only Teacher and depend upon men This is a great mischiefe and a grievious plague but the world is not sensible thereof but blesse themselves in this great evil What say they shall we forsake our Ministers shall we let the Gospell and the preaching of the Word fall to the ground God forbid As though men upheld the Gospel and men could teach the Gospel It is then Gospel to thee when Jesus Christ makes it glad tidings in thy heart and when there is nothing in Heaven and Earth more wellcome to thee and when thou hast forsaken and laid down thy selfe to receive it But till we come to see that there is no other father no other Master but Jesus Christ in all the world in heaven or earth we are certainly inchanted and deluded and are under a spirituall CHARM But be it so Object then what reason is there that we should heare you or receive what you say T is true if I should say otherwise in regard of my selfe Answ I should also be a deluder a lyer and a charmer and a Southsayer I would by no means you should look at me or regard me as if I could doe anything I desire to be no other but as a dead instrument used by the Lord and would not be thought of or esteemed any thing I am no more fit to speak then any of you all if God will speak by you ye may all prophesie one by one as the Apostle saith God forbid that I should think my selfe better then any other Saint of God or think my selfe more honoured by standing in a high place above you the Lord hee knows my heart An hill or a mountain in the field were as fit for me any place I passe not but onely for conveniency of Hearing So the Lord wil but set up himselfe and magnifie his own name which he will doe let my praise my glory lie in the dust and I would be no more stirred and disquieted in spirit with any such thing then a man that is naturally dead And therefore let them look to it Math.
Christ no hand can help him but only the infinit bottomlesse mercy of the Son of God He sees now nothing in Heaven or earth no righteousnesse of men or Angels could suffice for his ransom but Jesus Christ alone the Son of God himself must lay down his life to redeem him out of the nethermost hell Now Christ revealing this to him he hereby ascends up into this mountain and there he feasts and there he hath all his wisdom all his power all his life all his meat Jer. 17.13 all his living waters here he now hath all his teachings he now sees Christs mountain exalted upon the top of all mountains above the top of all mans mountains of wisdom power holinesse c. though they have been raised in mans esteem never so high and esteemed as the mountains of the Lord he sees his knowledge now meer folly his wisdom darkness his righteousness sin his power weaknes his glory shame his Heaven Hell this he sees in himself and he can see nothing else but this misery and this blindness upon the face of the whole earth every man is under this darknes is under this Covering the face of the Covering of all Nations Christ went up to the mountain and taught the people Mal. 2.2 The truth is this is that mountain where Christ alone teacheth all other teachings are folly and ignorance till we hear the word at his mouth Here in this mountain the soule beholds visions and receives the manifestations of Christ and the mysteries of the kingdome hereit sees from the bottom to the top of Jacob Ladder Mat. 24.15 here he sees the Abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet that had it not been for the love of Christ the meer power and hand of Christ he had been gon for ever lost for ever swallowed up in a mystery of iniquity but when Christ brings him into this mount then he sees himselfe escaped then he sees Sodom and Gomorah all on a flame all self flesh and al mans wisdom and righteousnes burnt up and the smoak thereof ascend as the smoak of a furnace and then he can say experimentally Jehovah-jireh Gen. 22.14 In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen Saints can testifie of these things because they have seen and felt them done in themselves and t is that which their hands have handled of the word of life 1 Joh. 1.1 they can give testimony to the wisedome of Christ to the power of Christ to the righteousnesse of Christ to the evrlasting and unexpressible goodnesse of Christ as it is expressed and put forth in their hearts they can give no testimony of man of any goodness wisdome power c. in themselves but they know Christ to be all in all he see man and himselfe and all things of man to be nothing but a pit of darknesse a lump of sin a gulf of misery without the least wisdome goodnesse or power but whatever is good or strong or holy in him t is not himself t is not of man but of an from Christ alone he sees experimentally that he hath as of himselfe no power no strength to resist sin no repentance no minde to hate or resist the least sin but the contrary He findes a cursed hellish demned unbeleeving heart full of evil and that continually Gen. 6.5 a heart instead of loving God it fights against God in stead of doing good to his Neighbour really he seeks not his good but his own ends in all he doth that he doth nothing at all for God but himselfe is his supreame and ultimate end so that his highest and best actions are loathsome defiled abominable Now the soule seeing these things to be really thus Then all his strong high towering conceits fall down before the light wisedome power and excellency of Christ and he sees that there is none of all these through all the whol earth but in Christ alone no wisdom at all but his no power at all but his no righteousnes at al but his and no creature to receive any glory but hm alone then he falls down and cryes out O'wretched man that I'am who shal deliver me from that body of death Rom. 7.24 who shal deliver me from this bottomless gulf who shal deliver me from this monsterous fiend my own self Rom. 9.3 he now sees the Locusts of the bottomles pit covering the face of the whole earth every one running after his own ways and following his own laws every man setting up new Gods every man setting up the Image of his Imagery and the abomination of desolation in himself every man making himself his own god and seeking to be somthing and making the eternal glorious God to be an Idol and nothing He sees himself with the whole earth besides saying with the builders of Babel Gen. 11.4 go to let us build us a Tower and a City whose top may reach up to Heaven that we may not be seattered and destroyed they will save and deliver themselves from hell wrath and destruction by their own power by their own wisedome by their own inventions by the brick slime and morter that they have made Now the Lord looking down from Heaven to see what the Children of men are doing and he in himselfe sees how God hath said Let us go down and confound their language God in them hath discovered the evilnesse of their wayes the evil of self-seeking self-glory of their selfe-wisdome selfe-power self-righteousnesse and they in whom or to whom the Lord discovers these things all this contrivance and all this work n them is made BABEL Confusion a heap of Lyes t is all deceit destruction and misery but in Jesus Christ he hath righteousnesse indeed life indeed power indeed heaven indeed And then he can adde and say with the Apostle Thanks be unto God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15 54.55 Oh grave where is thy victory then hath this corruptible in him put on incorruption and this mortal put on immortality and then is brought to passe in him the saying as it is written death is swallowed up in victory Herein the Saints finde Jesus Christ to be their joy to be their feast to be their mountain to be their glory to be their All. In this mountain they finde and receive all these good things and are fully satisfied and that they are to be had nowhere else If they look anywhere else they know there is nothing but sin corruption death hell mortality and the grave And they having found this mountain they finde themselves escaped delivered from all those things And now they sit down with Abraham Isaac Mat. 8.11 and Jacob in the kingdome of Heaven They have found Abrahams bosome they have found the tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God they have found the Hidden Manna Rev. 3. they have received the
it may not come at them When man is once gone out from God who was his life and his light and his rest and his happiness being not content with him alone Gen. 3.1 nor with the tree o life of which he might eat freely but casting his eye upon the tree of knowledg of good and evil he lusts to eat thereof V. 6. for t is pleasant to look upon man would by no means live upon God and have a dependance out of himself but he will take a secure course and provide for himself he likes well this tree and here he feeds and eats he travailes in this pleasant plain of Shinar and here he begins to bethink himself to dwell and take up his rest here he can sleep quietly under his own labours and sit reposedly under his own vine and here now is the place where all men consult together to raise a Babel This is done by and in every man man having lost himselfe and gone out of his way having no House nor Tabernacle having departed from his house built by God without hands he bethinks himself of building himself a house made with hands by his own study and invention 2 Cor. 5.1 and this shall be his abiding and here he will dwell and here with his own hands he will make himself a shelter from all storms and from all destruction And they say one to another Goe to let us make brick and burn them throughly They say to one another that is not as if men singly spake thus to one another but every man enters into a consultation with himselfe and with the Prince of Darkness And now they having forsaken God the true guide they hearken to the Devil and to the Father of deceit and lyes and take his counsel Joh. 8.44 and him they will follow and his works now they do and not the works of God And what do they And they say one to another Go to let us make brick and burn them throughly That is they think and resolve to act like wise men and make all secure for themselves their building shal be strong and durable and their materials accordingly Bricks throughly burnt which shal not fail and moulder away that is the things that he chuseth shal be things agreeable to his own liking and they must be of his own inventing else he wil put no confidence in them none shal chuse for him whatever it be that wil advance man and make him something and great as to himself and others and things that men esteem highly of those he chuseth Nay and not onely so but he wil have something of his own to trust to to come into the presence of God with and he wil frame to himself a religion and a righteousnesse that shal avail before God which he shal accept and in which himself may put confidence And here now poor man hath deluded himself and they have made themselves aprons Gen. 3.7 and as they think a secure Covering here hath he made himself a shelter and a Tabernacle and built up to himselfe a Tower reaching to Heaven and so shall prevent destruction and condemnation When man begins thus to build he chuseth as he thinks the likeliest and the probablest means for his security and in his conceit builds so strong that no winds nor no storms can shake him nor no deluge overflow his building and so confident he is that he thinks the power of Heaven and Earth can never shake this building for the Top thereof shall reach to Heaven he is so far safe that he is sheltered from the wrath of God and from the frowns of God he hath gotten such a righteousness and such a conformity of the rule and mind of God that he is as it were a perfect man he sees little amisse in him and though he may in words confesse he is a sinner yet let but any one sin be charged upon him and he hath as he thinks a sufficient excuse and wil clear himself from all sin But is this all the end of this strong and stately building no But let us make us a Name least we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth Least we should be in as bad a condition as others are and as the wicked of the world are we wil be wiser and condemn them we wil not be like the Publicans wicked and prophane but we wil forsake sinne and live uprightly and we wil do something that we may get us a Name that we are holier then others Esa 65.5 1. Cor. 3.10 and we wil be no less then Master Builders no such wise man as we no such strict holy men as we and the end of all this is least death and misery and sin hell and condemnation should break forth and seize upon them with the rest of the world But now in all this time what does God doe He beholds their works and their doings and their contrivings vers 5. And the Lord came down to see the City and the Tower which the children of men builded which is not to be understood as if God removed or came down Locally as leaving Heaven to come down to the Earth as men when they remove from one place to another But God came down that is he began to manifest himself to shew himself to the Sons of men before he let them alone and they thought themselves secure and all was right safe and well which they had done now the Lord he begins to appear to confound their thoughts and inventions and to shew all the sons of men their folly vanity and madnesse in all this they were so confident of they think they are securing themselves from ruine when alass poor soules they are running as madly upon their own ruin and destruction as any else in the whole Earth nay are farther from returning then any other in as much as they are more wise more holy and more confident then others Luk. 13.28 And herein is their misery the greater therefore it is high time for the Lord now to come down to scatter this building and to make it BABEL and Confusion Behold the people are one and they have all one Language and this they begin to do and nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do As if he should say all the sons of men are running headlong to their own destruction they are all as one man all do one and the same thing and they have one Name and one Language and all go one way Satan hath almost gotten his full possession and they will be wholly guided by him and follow his counsel they are all departed from me and he is almost quite irrecoverably lost and gone and yet every man thinks he is right and no man considers what he doth nor once thinks of returning for every man is right in his own eyes and nothing will be restrained from them and if I go not down
none to boast of none to talk of none to represent as good and holy or excellent but Christ alone And thus ye shall finde it was with David frequently exprest and so it is with all the Saints 1 Sam. 2.2 2 Sam. 22.2 3.32 Ps 18.31 36 Ps 31.2 3 c. 2 Tim. 6.15 Hee alone is their strong Rock and their Fortress and their Deliverer He is their Song and their Praise and their Salvation and no god nor rock like theirs He is their King of Kings and Lords of Lords He is with them above all Principalities and Powers He is their Head King the blessed and ONLY POTENTATE and exalted alone be thou the rock of my Salvation do we read that ever the Saints had any other Hymns or any other Songs Father let us Hence take notice If Jesus Christ is the only Tree planted by the Father then there is no other Tree of the Fathers planting but only HE He is the true Tree and the whole tree there is not one Heavenly or Spiritual branch or a sprig but what is of Him t is most certain there is no other tree of life no other chosen OLIVE to stand up for ever before the God of the whole EARTH Rom. 11.17 of whose root and fatnesse all the Saints partake But truly Beloved he that will bear out this Testimony fully and freely Oh! let him be sure he must prophesie in Sackcloth Rev. 11.3 c. the Religious World could never endure these Preachers nor these great Eternal Witnesses they have been hated and persecuted in all ages by this Beast which ascendeth out of the Bottomless pit For the world cannot but hate the life of Christ even then when they Crown him and array him in a purple robe Mat. 27.29 Mark 11.10 and when they seem most to honour him and cry Hayle King of the Jews HOSANNA to the Son of David then they are neerest to crucifie him But know as this Doctrine discovers Christ to be the onely tree so it also discovers the Hand that hath planted it and that hand will root it and establish it Deu. 32.4 Esa 28.16 2 Tim. 2.19 Psal 110.4 Rev. 13.8 He hath laid the foundation thereof in Sion and his work is perfect His work is like himself perfect infinite everlasting and standeth sure whatever men say He alone shall be established on Mount Sion He hath sworn he shall be a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck and he alone is the Lamb slain from the beginning when a mans eyes are opened then all the whole Scripture and the whole Earth and the whole Creation give Testimony to this One Tree of the Fathers planting and there is no salvation in any other Acts. 4.12 there was never any other in whom the Father was well pleased Mat. 3.17 The world talk of obeying Laws and keeping the Condition on mans part but there is no Law nor no Condition but himselfe and if he be the Law and the Condition in us then we are in Vnion with him and there is no other way of acceptance Christ is he alone that remains and is established He stands and grows up to Eternity and all his members in him Mat. 15.18 18. 1 Pet. 1.25 2 Pet. 3.10 Heaven and earth shall passe away but the WORD This great word of the Lord indureth for ever And all the Elements shall consume and melt with fervent heat as the Apostle speaks the earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up And he shall be the only plant and the only tree When the New Heavens and the New Earth shall appear then nothing shall hide this tree nothing shall ALTER it nothing shall darken the glory thereof from the Sons of God Then this will be the DAY of the exaltation of Jesus Christ and this is the day of the Revelation of the Sons of God Rom. 8.18 Heb. 13.8 Christ in himselfe is yesterday and to day and the same for ever but when this day comes he shall be so to all the Saints this is the day of which the Apostle speaks Rom. Rom. 8.18 c. 8.18 Rom. 8.18 c. c. When the glory of God shall be revealed in us and this is the day when the Creature also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God when man is delivered from the bondage of corruption then is the Creature also They shall not serve the sinful and corrupt will of man as now they do but remaine in that free state in which they were at first created and they shall yeild their service freely If men be not grafted into this true Olive they are no other but Castawayes if they be upon any other root they are miserable and undone if the happinesse of a Christian lay in himselfe in his own Power Wisdome Will Endeavours Alasse where were he and what would become of him man is a Dead Esay 40.6 1 Pet. 1.24 Fraile Deceitful thing he changes like Grasse he stands to day to morrow he is cut down and withereth but the work of the Almighty that shall stand fast and shall abide for ever for in him is the root of all power wisdome life goodnesse Oh that men would but hold to this as they hold it forth in words and notions in words they confesse it but in the power and practice thereof deny it Againe this is most certaine as Christ is the onely root and the onely Tree planted by the Father so 't is as certaine that every Believer is planted in him and he hath no root no life but in him he is a mystical member of this Tree as he is planted in him And so far and upon no other account he partakes of the power and vertue and the riches and priviledges in Christ even of the very same nature sap and fruit that is in the whole Tree by this alone he comes to partake of all when Christ is in us and we in him become the hope of glory Col. 1.27 then we partake of his nature of his fellowship of his Communion of his life glory riches Then there is also that true Communion of Saints which men so much talk of and know so little Life you know is onely in union when we come to that that the root beares us and not we the root for so 't is with most professors in the world they altogether bear the root they think they must work and do and act and prune and water and cherish and plant and pull up and maintaine their spiritual life and communion and hereby they make themselves the root and so upon that account they bear the root and not the root them And hence we may know 't is no wonder though they are accursed and bear no fruit to God but leaves which must be cut downe and cast into the fire and shall be cut
Christ mans teaching can never bring this about but this teaching and learning is from the Father from Heaven men learn this lesson onely in the Schoole of Christ Joh. 6.45 there God is made something and indeed all in all and man is nothing but an infinitnesse of sin and misery Let every one therefore examine himselfe by this rule and lay it close to his own heart if he feeds himself or glories or feasts himself with any other thing then this that he is brought to nothing that God alone may in him and in the whol earth be all in all let him be sure he hath not his teaching from this one Father Esa 29.13 and this own Master but his teaching is onely by the precepts of men And till a man be come to know this in experience whatever he thinks of himself and whatever acquired parts or holinesse he hath and though he be never so much admired by others he feeds but on the wisdome of the flesh and lives and depends on that the World adores for their gods either on the external lusts and pleasures of the world or else on Silver and God riches and honour Lands or preferments c. which cannot profit a man in the day of wrath Prov. 11.4 or else they feed upon their own righteousnesse their own duties on their leaving this sin Prov. 11.4 or that sin or as they suppose all sin all grosse sin and it may be conceive that their obedience is according to the rule and mind of Christ conforming strictly to the highest and perfectest formes and fellowships and resting in this they feed but upon husks and vanity and delude their poor souls as the Prodigall he would fain have filled his belly with the husks but no man gave unto him Luk. 15.16 none of all these things can satisfie they will not deliver nor keep off the wrath of God they will prove no covering no shelter at all but the wrath of God will break in upon them and make them appear wretched and miserable vile naked and abominable And that soule that is brought to this to be stript of all its garments and made naked and lost and undone as to it selfe and all things of man this is the happy Soul the blessed Soul The other all others put their trust in the arm of flesh and are departed from the fountain of life Jer. 2.13 from the living God and therefore are not nor cannot be blessed but are those that are cursed Therefore we would that ye should take special notice of these two things First Note these two things Jam. 3.15 1. What the Vail is Gen. 3.6 what this Cursed disposition in man is what the Vail is wherewith he so deludes deceives himself and Secondly how this Vail is removed First what it is It is that earthly sensual and devilish wisdome in the hearts of the Sons of men perswading them to be that which they are not that they are holy and just and good that they have goodness and holinesse and wisdom and power c. and if they improve these say they as they may they may bring themselves into a happy and a safe condition and conclude that they can forsake sin and they can be righteous and holy this is that devilish wisdome that the Devil infused into Adam in his fall this was and is his eating the forbidden fruit When God had created him dependant upon himselfe for all his power wisdome goodness holiness he fell from this condition to have a dependance upon himself and on the creaturely being on his own wisdome and holinesse c. to have a power in himselfe and thus he departed from the fountain of all good to seek a happiness in himselfe in his own nothingness and thus he became lost cursed and miserable This is THE VAILE The Covering the deceit that is upon all flesh the Vaile of the Covering of all Nations And it is called a Covering because it hides and keeps away the light that so man cannot see himselfe as he is cursed and hellish and infinitly miserable Now this Vail wil not suffer the light to come upon him to see himself as he is because man by all means and wayes labours to maintain a good opinion of himself and for others to have the same and would by no means see himself lost and undone this Vail hides that darkness and gulf of sin that is in him and tels him that it is not so nor so with him but he is holy and righteous and hath wisdome and power and the like This is the Vaile that is upon the heart which must be rent if ever man come to be happy if ever he hopes to feast in this mountain of fat things You know we use Vailes that the defects and deformity of things may not appear and so man doth by his own heart he would by no means see the ugliness the monsterous deformity thereof he would by no means once think that hell and the bottomless pit is in him he would by no meanes see the smoak of that bottomless pit arise out of his own heart but t is certain though men hide this from their sight and Beholding yet all men have covered themselves with this Vail and 't is the covering of all Nations In Adam all die 1 Cor. 15.22 not a man upon the face of the earth but all have eaten of this forbidden tree and because we have eaten all the endeavour of man now is to keep away the sight of guilt he would not see his deformity his lost condition but with Adam he runs among the bushes and hides himself among the trees from the presence of the Lord Gen. 3.8 he labours to keep away the light that he may not see his own blackness and deformity What sayes he Have I no wisdome no power no holiness no love no faith no power to repent no ability to any good thing this he cannot endure to hear of this he runs away from as from death and the devil this cuts him to the very heart Therefore all his endeavour is to keep this Vail whole that is may stil phiremain thus he remains under the Old Testament 1 Cor. 3.14 and the Vail is unrent and is still upon the heart But in the day that the soule turns to the Lord it is content to see and acknowledge its own misery it s own darkness then is the Caul of his heart rent Hos 13.8 then is hell laid open in him and the bottomless gulfe seen in himselfe And that Hell men so much talk of he sees to be really in himself and that himself is the very Image of the Devil Secondly take notice how this Vaile comes to be removed and taken away Now this Vail is only rent and done away by Jesus Christ Secondly How the Vail is rent Rev. 5.5 9.1 not all the power nor all the art of all the Sons of men is ever
Son himself for not any of all those things the Jews themselves were to rest in though done exactly according to the Pattern But this MESSIAH was he that they should have eyed through and beyond all those figures and shadows for that Tabernacle was but pitched by man mark that though commanded by God but the true Tabernacle is pitched by the Lord himself So that the Apostle there we may clearly see expounds this last chapter of Exodus and reduceth all those shadows to the substance proving that Christ himself is the true Tabernacle and the true Ministry and the true Sanctuary and that those things are but the Patterns and Emblems of the heavenly things Now all things must be according to him for he is the true pattern and is that one and alone Sacrifice once ffered as in that ninth chapter of the Hebrews Heb. 9.11 c. and the eleventh verse and so on Christ being an high Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building and by his own blood he entered into the Holy Place and if the blood of Bulls and Goats sanctifyeth to the purifying of the stesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered up himselfe without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works c. Though all these things were done by Moses and all done according to the example and pattern yet saith he the things we speak of are not things done hy man not of this building that is not done by the wisdom power or will of man no nor those done by them according to the direction of God himselfe and in that sense commanded and unquestionable Ordinances yet these made not the commers thereunto perfect therefore saith he in the three and twentieth verse of that ninth chapter It was therefore necessary that the PATTERNS of the things in the Heavens should be purified with these Vers 23. but the Heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices for Christ is not entered into the Holy Places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us The Heavenly things themselves purified what 's that That is the soules of men which are of Heavenly natures and Immortal and if those External Sacrifices must be purified with blood it is much more necessary that that Heavenly and Immortal soul of man should be purified with the pretious blood of Jesus Christ Man having departed from God and defiled his soul by turning away from him and being gone down to earthly things to find himself a God and a Trust and a Refuge this departure is of that infinitness that nothing but this Eternal Priest and Mediatour could reconcile and bring together again the Majesty and Nature of God and polluted man thus at an infinite distance but He by himself and of his own mercy and good will hath reconciled us to his father 2 Cor. 5.20 Esa 63.3 and hath trod the Winepress alone and none stood by him and herein was the eternal and infinite love of Jesus Christ our alone Saviour seen And by the way let me mind you of one thing That when the Scripture speaks of Christ his Ascending and entring into the third Heaven and far above all Heavens and sitting down on the right hand of his Father Eph. 4.10 Heb 12.2 I would not have you so childish as to be deluded by those tricks and devices of the men of the Letter who not being able to see the mystery do take those things as spoken litterally as though Christ now had a material body flesh and bones the same which he had in the flesh when he was upon earth these are very fond inventions of men that Christ is in a local place and sits upon a Throne above in Heaven next his Father as upon his right hand or the like and when he comes to judgement he will set himself in the material Clouds and call all Nations before him just as Judges doe at the Sizes and there to sit in a Chaire of State above all or as Solomon upon a glorious Throne Truly the world hath been a long time deluded with these fancies Now as the Apostle saith plainly he is not entred into a place made with hands nor into any thing of this nature Heb. 9.24 nor of this building But we are when we speak of him to separate all our thoughts far from all carnal things and all creaturely beings For there is no tincture of the creature concernments in those heavenly and divine things but all those things are done spiritually and in a way far above the thought or comprehension of all creaturely conceptions But from all this which hath been spoken hence it is clear That the Tabernacle here spoken of is the glory wisdome power righteousnesse of Jesus Christ and whatever is HIMSELF who is nothing else but majesty purity glory wisdom love goodnesse fulnesse infinitnesse blessednesse and Alsufficiency and all good he alone is the Lord Mat. 6.13 he alone is King his is the Kingdom the power and the glory for ever and no creature can without blasphemy in the highest degree appropriate or assume any one or any part of these to himself Here now Beloved we have set before you the Tabernacle and the Fire in the Tabernacle This is that fire of the Lord which can never be put out nor extinguished Levit. 6.13 but is ever one and the same it can never decrease nor increase in regard of himself but onely in regard of manifestation to us and which cannot be procured one day sooner by all the Wisdom Learning Industry of man but onely when he is pleased to remove the cloud then have ye liberty to journey and walk and woâ—k and not before whatever the dark and blind and the poor deluded sons of men make you believe And further be assured that until you come to possess and enjoy in your selves these spiritual and divine things you cannot know what they mean and whatever you do and whatever you see or adore below these you adore nothing but the patterns and the images of them wherein no man ever yet had any other but a false rest and they lived in a false light and enjoyed not the things themselves nay though we should know and behold Christ after the flesh and look upon him in his Conception Life Death Crucifying Burial Resurrection Ascention yet all these things are but the patterns of the Heavenly things and of the Lord himself Heb. 9.23 which are to pass a way and be forgotten when that Christ himself is personally manifested Hence forth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 saith the Apostle When the Eternal Majesty and Splendour of that which is the Truth comes in all the glory of all other things vanishes before its presence These are
the things which are purified with better things then the blood of Bulls and Goats nothing could purchase nor purifie these things but onely the blood and the death of the Son of God Here the soule comes to fee clearly and to handle and experiment and tast the Heavenly things themselvs which were from the beginning 1 Joh. 1.1 which we have heard and which we have seen with â—ur eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life Then the soul truly falls in love with Christ then it eyes him and surveys him then it magnifies and adores him then it loses it selfe in him and dotes upon him then is he all beauty and all perfection to it and then it loseth self-seeking and self-interest and self-glorying and the like and sees him onely to be the Lord of life life alone glory alone riches alone mercy alone light alone pretious alone and nothing in Heaven or earth to be desired but him alone Then it can say experimentally and feelingly with David and not complementally as most professours do Psal 73.25 26. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none in the earth that I desire in comparison of thee And my flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever This soule is indeed the Temple of God and hath in it the true light Majesty and Glory of God but all other men do but play with shadows and are but exercised about the patterns of these things which are to come and have not the things themselves notwithstanding their confidences and strong conceits And now this light being in thee this is to be thy guide this is to be thy teacher thy Master and no other can be till this come in the Scriptures themselves nay Christ in the flesh and all things whatever ye can name are but Dark lanthorns without these divine teachings for he is only a light and a guide a Master and Ruler unto spiritual men and he is only Riches Peace Power Love Glory onely unto these men 't is not those that can talk much of him and who have high notions and speculations of him that can love or adore him truly but onely those who thus enjoy him He that walks by any other light or any other guide then by the light of the Tabernacle Esa 5.11 he walks in his own light and in the sparks of his own kindling and they never did Esa 5.1 nor never can receive other at the Lords hand but to lie down in sorrow But this is to lean upon the highest and purest wisdom to depend and rest on him who is only Alsufficient this is to be taken off all other things all other sufficiencies which are so to other men They can really see there is nothing in man nothing in the world but that all are full of emptiness and vanity and deceit this man sees and really knows all this other men talk much of them as if they were to them the onely excellencies and that all below them are nothing but shadows and delusions but secretly in their hearts they do not think so and their practices tell us otherways their eager seeking them their close holding and hugging them plainly declares that they lye with their tongues Psal 78.36 and dissemble in their hearts And they teach to others that which they never yet touched with one of their fingers And to them the things themseles to act in them to live by them Luk. 11.46 are those heavy burdens which the Pharisees laid upon other men shoulders but not touched them themselves He that is guided by any other light or by any other teachers he forsakes the light the life and glory of Christ and goes down into Emptinesse Darknesse Misery Sin and the delusions of his own heart He that thinks the Scriptures to be a light and a teacher or a rule or a guide without this Heavenly and Divine Teacher in him he depends upon that which can never teach nor guide aright without him and therefore when men talk so much of the Scriptures and misse this light they are but in darknesse and meerly delude themselves and others While Adam in the state of innocency beheld this light in him he adhered to it alone he saw no other light no other fire no other guide this was the Tree of life to him this was Riches Glory Fulnesse Gen. 3. all in all but he casting his eye upon the tree of knowledge of good and evil this false light misled him and led him down into darkness death blindness irrecoverable misery and never to return to the tree of life and this was by following the counsels and teaching of his own heart and indeed this is the condition of all the sons of men not one excluded no not one can return for there is a flaming cherub turning every way to keep the way of the tree of life And there is none can remove this Cherub but only the Son of God man with all his wisdom and power can do nothing in it he with all his excellencies is gone down for ever into the pit of Darkness Job 10.21 never to return Now only Jesus Christ is the new and living way the gate to life the true Teacher the only guide the only VNDERTAKER for all those that shall return He alone saith to Adam Where art thou hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee thou shouldest not eat Gen. 3.9 and in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Jesus Christ alone is he that discovers man to be naked to see himselfe undone and miserable by following his own will and wisdom he alone can set up a light in the soule to shew man his folly and madnesse he alone can set before him Hell Death the Curse Damnation and Destruction And if man goe about to return in his own light or by his own wisedome he sets himself but more into misery and darknesse and even Publicans and Harlots shall sooner return then these men Mat. 21.31 Ibid. 23.15 who in their own and others eyes are the wisest of men the highest the holiest of the sons of men And these men for all they take so much pains and are so strict over themselves as they would be thought to be and require it of others yet they are no other but those Pharisees and Hypocrits which compass Sea and Land to make if possible ONE Proselyte and when he is made Gen. 2.25 they make him two-fold more the child of Hell then before While Adam lived in that state wherein he was created in the Light of God and in the Glory of God in the Wisdom and Life of God man was not ashamed though he was naked for the glory and light of God was in him which was his life excellency and glory but when he went hence and followed other Counsel Ch. 3.6 the whispering
or owne them before his Father Those that are ashamed to bear this testimony of him and to be Witnesses and Martyrs for him he will be ashamed of them He is not ashamed to own thee in thy blood and filthiness and shall we be ashamed to owne him and to ascribe that to him which is his due But in stead of giving testimony to the glory of HIS name thou studiest and contrivest which way thou mayest be something that thou mayest be esteemed and that Christ may be nothing that he may be debased but be assured In that day all these things shall be laid open And God is a jealous God and will not suffer his honour to be polluted Esa 42.8 nor will give his glory to any other Further from all this which hath been said it appears that t is in vain to seek for or expect any light to guide any of the sons of men any where else but from the Tabernacle T is in vain to follow any other Star but that which led the Wise men to Jesus Christ he that sets up any other Sun of righteousness to guide him Mal. 4.2 any other light any other rule to walk by that thinks he can teach himself or offer any sacrifices or prayers to be accepted with the Father but his alone or assumes any power to command himself in any thing this man is no other but a lyar a thief and a robber a blasphemer and a traitor for he robs God of his honour and denyes Jesus Christ to be King Priest and Prophet which is alone his right Beloved happy is that soule who hath forsaken himselfe and all other lights and minds onely this light from the Tabernacle that cannot follow any other counsel that knows the voyce of Christ and the light and life of Christ from all other Lights or Lives Joh. 10.5 and that will not follow the voyce of any stranger They know the Light and shinings forth of God from all other shinings These are the true Wise men the spiritual and true Magicians if they see any other Star any other false Meteor they can distinguish it and follow his Star alone they have found in experience where they have followed any other light or guide they stumbled and fell He knowes if he do he shall be led into the Land of darkness into a Wildernesse of sorrows and miseries where are Tygers Leopards and the Owles and the scrith Owles the Jims and Ziims of the desart or Night-Monsters as the Prophet esaiah excellenly and elegantly speaks And again saith he Ye shall kindle a fire and walk in the sparks thereof Esa 34.11.14 13.20 Ibid. 50 11. but this ye shall receive at my Hand ye shall lie down in sorrow Man naturally follows that light that he hath found out not regarding the fire of the Sanctuary and as with a Stone and a Steel he strikes fire for himselfe and gathers up some combustible matter Wood Hay 1 Cor. 3.12 and Stubble of his owne finding some things of his own getting together and here he makes himself a light and a fire and he thinks by his Wisdom and by his Learning to hammer beat and finde out the truth of the Scriptures Rom. 2.19 Esa 55.4 and he thinks that he can teach and he can counsel and he is a leader of the blind which is only Christs work and office and he can define out errours and restrain them by his rules and directions when alas poor blind man he never yet found the darknesse of his own heart he never yet saw the errours of his own heart are not these then blind leaders of the blind as our Saviour saith and both must needs fall into the ditch Mat. 15.14 This is the very same thing which Nadab and Abihu did to offer strange fire of their own before the Lord when thou bringest all thy duties Levit. 10.1 all thy parts all thy endeavours and though thou offerest them as pretended on the true Altar Jesus Christ yet if offered by thy self thou art that Nadab and Abihu there described And the fine of the Lord will break forth to thy utter ruin and destruction for never any thing ever pleased the Father but that one alone and Eternal sacrifice which is continually offered onely by himselfe he abhors that any of thy duties any of thy menstruous rags should be joyned in with his most perfect Esa 64.6 Deut. 22.11 yea onely righteousnesse This Garment of linsey-woolsey his people may not wear All things that are done in the world proceed but from two principles there is not one action of any of the sons of men but proceeds either from the power or wisdom of man or from Jesus Christ if from man as man its loathsome stinking abominable though never so refined though they bestow never so much labour industry learning all their Wits and Parts To put upon it the neatest cut and the finest dresse Jam. 3.15 Nah. 1.5 2 Pet. 3 20 they are all but earthly sensual and devilish which must to Hell and the earth with all the works thereof shall be burnt up for ever Every sacrifice that is offered in the world must be kindled with fire from Heaven by the fire of the Sanctuary offered on this Altar which alone is Jesus Christ and that alone perfect High Priest else t is kindled by this strange fire which is no other but devouring fire either t is of the earth earthly or else t is of the Lord from Heaven 1 Cor. 15.47 if it be from Heaven it shall be raised up to heaven It is sown in weakness but t is raised up in power if it be from man t is from the bottomless pit it is from fin and weaknesse and thither it must return and in this state and condition are all the actions of the world even all the actions inventions forms in dustrys of men and they all tend to crucifie the Lord of life and power that so man and his doings Joh. 18.40 his contrivances his Idols may stand and be adored All the sons of men cry out for a Barrabas that so the wisdom of the flesh and the power of man may be established and that that everlasting righteous Son of God which would be working living raigning in man may be crucified and utterly destroyed This they may do and doe do and yet may talk much of an outward and external Christ which once dyed at Jerusalem and pretend much love to him Never any of the sons of men ever received that true Christ we speak of though much cryed up in the world for never any received him but to them he gave power to become the sons of God Never any received him nor followed him but he denyed himself Joh. 1.12 and took up his Cross which never any man did that is not emptied of himselfe made nothing in his own sight Luk. 14.7 that is not stript of
and whither they shall be led For in this case Esay 30.7.8 and under this dispensation they are not to walk or work but Their strength is to sit still But I know these things greatly offend some who are wise and strong in themselvs Yet saith the Lord vers 8. Write it before them in a Table and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever First we have shewed that the divine fire of this Tabernacle is that onely which guides and directs the souls of men in their way towards the spirituall and heavenly Canaan we have shewed thereupon the happiness of the soul that follows and keeps with this Tabernacle that alwaies sees and beholds this fire of the Altar that knows the fire that commeth down from Heaven that burns up all things but it self but that remains and abides for ever And this is the soul that in not a stranger unto the Lord and the Lord is his Guide Oh! happy is the soul that knows this waits upon it is onely led councelled and conducted by it We have likewise spoken of the misery of all men In offering strange fire upon the Lords Altar in seeking for another Star but not the Star of Jacob Levit. 10.1 c. but following the Tabernacle of Molech and the Star of their God Rempham Amos 5.26 Acts 7.43 Esay 50.11 and thinking to goe on in the light therof and shewing the misery of those men who are kindling fires of their own compassing themselves with their own sparks and thinking to goe on and walk in the light thereof yet this they shall have of the hand of the Lord to lie down in woe and everlasting sorrow The next thing we shall observe is concerning the Cloud that is over or upon the Tabernacle wherein in the first place this is apparent that the Tabernacle that contains all the Mysteries of life and mercy all the glory of life and eternal Salvation But this Tabernacle hath a cloud upon it that it cannot be seen till the Cloud be taken away and removed which all the power of man can never remove And secondly that the remover and taker away of this cloud is God and not man that God I say is he alone that draws and takes up the cloud from the Tabernacle and again lets it descend upon the Tabernacle when it pleaseth him T is the Lord that draws away the vaile and man with all his wisdom learning industry c. cannot pull it off of himself t is the Lord alone that opens the eys of the blind and not the holiest man can doe any thing in this work of himself T is the Lord that circumciseth the heart 1 Cor. 12.13 t is the Lord who baptiseth the spirits of men with the true baptism and all by one spirit into one body whether they be Jews or Gentiles and I have shewed that one man cannot baptize another as they undertake to doe in an Ape-like imitation of the thing for it is the Lords work only he alone can remove the cloud from off the Tabernacle and gives the true Baptism otherwise it abides and must remain thereupon and the soule is not washed nor baptized Thirdly take notice that no man naturally walks by a true guide and he that when the cloud is upon the Tabernacle offers to journey or move towards the heavenly Canaan I say when he offers or attempts any things in the way of God and Christ he acts but blindly and presumptuously and he cannot chuse but stumble and fall for when the cloud is not taken off the Tabernacle by the hand of the Lord then he ought to sit in his tent and abide in his habitation till the Lord remove the cloud and then is the time of his travel and day of his journey and not before First then it is clear that by the Tabernacle is meant the Mysteries of the Tabernacle for whether it be the pot of Manna the Censers or Rod of Aaron and the rest All these be the mysteries of Christ and all these have a cloud upon them so that none can see them or discern them or behold the glory that is in them till the cloud be taken away and removed In the beginning God made the heavens and earth Gen. 1.1 2. and the earth was without form and void and darknesse was upon the face of the Deep till God commanded the darknesse to withdraw and say Let there be light so till God make a separation between light and darknesse otherwise there is a darknesse on the whole depth the depth of HUMANITY or Creaturely nature there was and is a darknesse on it all till the Lord said Let there be Light and there is light there is a darknesse on all flesh till the spirit of the Lord blowes upon it and saith Come thou spirit of the four winds O Breath Ezek. 37.9 and breath upon these slain and dry bones that they may live When the Spirit of the Lord that blows every way and where it listeth comes and blows on these dry bones and they heare the word of the Lord then they are moved and finews and nerves and flesh come upon them and then they are joyned together and breath enters into them that they may live so that darknesse is upon the Deep and the cloud is over the Tabernacle none can remove it take it up or disperse it but the Lord alone When the Lord takes away the cloud from the Tabernacle then the Tabernacle and the MYSTERIES thereof appears otherwise they are hid and no mortall eye nor the sharpest understanding nor the greatest Scholler nor by the use of all externall Ordinances are they able to discern them Secondly when this cloud is removed then is the time for the souls of Saints to act and walk when the cloud is upon the Tabernacle then they should sit still and therefore saith James We ought not speaking of the Saints to determine this or that we will goe this way or that Jam. 4.13 c. threatning a woe to them that say To morrow we will goe to such a City or place and remain there a yeere and there we will buy and sell and get gain but we must from our soules say if the Lord will when we once come under the tuition and tutorage of the Sonne of God and come to be of the congregation of Israel then we goe not when we list or would but we are to attend the Lords hand in removing the cloud from the tabernacle and if he remove it not to day we are to stay till the next day and whensoever he removes it then is the day of our journey and going onwards Therefore the Apostle tels us of a Councellor and Leader they had and I know also the world tels of a guide and rule but it is a Rule which they themselves know not nor understand when it is crooked and when t is straight
that is in thee be darkness how great is that Darkness Are they repentings beleevings actings and workings if these be as thou thinkest the means to remove the Cloud off the Tabernacle is not this to trust in man Jer. 2.13 Ch. 17.5 in the power of man and to distrust the living God But is not this rather to repent and believe and trust in God to say Lord I am really blind open thou my eyes thou Son of David have mercy upon me why Luk. 18 39. now this soule seeing this it cryes to and waites upon none but God and then indeed is the heart fixed upon him where it should be from whom comes salvation and deliverance Psal 57.7 And whoever waited upon him that is faithful and strong and only can deliver and was not in due time delivered And from hence it appears when the soul walks in the light he knows full well it will be in vain for him to think to remove the cloud till the Lord remove it It may be the time hath been when thou hast felt the heat of the Divine displeasure and thy ear was then boared and thy uncircumcised heart circumcised and then light appeared and thou blessedest the Lord in that day But now there begins to come darknesse over thy eyes again and thou beginnest to see thy selfe lost again and the Cloud is upon the Tabernacle and thou art gotten into the pathless way Jer. 2.6 and alas thou sayst to thy self and concludest though I am out of my way I will up and be doing I will come to it again and I will recover it and so the poor man begins to wrestle and struggle it out now at this thing and then at that thing so that the poor Saint having lost the light he once had he runs through mire and dirt thinking to come to the light by his prayers and holinesse and so recover himself Then the poor soul thinks he is running to Canaan when indeed he is going back to Egypt And therefore it is clear to me both by the Scriptures and by the experience of the preciousest Saints I ever met with that in this condition its best to sit still For he that believeth maketh not haste Esa 28.16 but waits till the Lord will remove the cloud but if thou wilt turn from the Lord and go by another guide and captain and not by that Moses God hath sent and art going to make a Golden Calfe and and Idol to go before thee if so thou mayest expect that thy carkass shall fall in the Wilderness for thy unbelief Num. 14.29 and not waiting the good pleasure of the Lord for not one entred the promised Land but Caleb and Joshuah know this is the condition and disposition of a Saint that he only rejoyceth in the Lord all his expectations are from him who hath made light and darknesse I have learned saith the Apostle Phil. 4.11 in whatever state I am therewith to be content So that the happiness of a Saint is when he can glory in infirmities as Paul saith and rejoyce in darkness and misery 2 Cor. 12.9 10. for he sees this is his portion and he cannot remove the cloud and he is willing to sit still there till the day dawn and the Day-star arise in him 2 Pet. 1.19 Esa 50.10 Happy is the soule that can sit in darkness and when he hath no light can stay himselfe upon the Lord his God Happy I say is that soul though there be a cloud on the Tabernacle that can sit still and wait the Lords good pleasure and cry unto the Lord till he please to lead him onward towards Canaan And there was a cloud on it by day and a pillar of fire appeared on it by night Know this further from hence That in the time of a Saints greatest light there is stil a cloud upon the Lords Tabernacle at the greatest height of light liberty and enjoyments to his own feeling and apprehension even then there is some darknesse upon the Tabernacle especially immediately after such great light and glory When Paul was wrapt up into the third heaven 2 Cor. 12.7 there was a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him least he should be exalted above measure there was again a cloud let fall over the Tabernacle when he was in the height of his joys a prick was sent him in the flesh a Messenger of Satan to buffet him and therefore he concludes in another place we walk by faith and not by sight T is so with every Christian in the day of his light 2 Cor. 5.7 and the time of his greatest shinings usually and then especially there is a cloud upon the Tabernacle why to let man know thus much that he must not live upon the GIFT but on the GIVER that man must not gather to day for ever but he is to gather to morrow and every day as the children of Israel in gathering Manna for if thou layest up store it will be dead the next time thou commest to feed on it it will all stinke and it will not nourish thee but wait still on the giver and then his mercy will be sweet fresh flourishing and green Lastly from this that the fire shined on the Tabernacle by night we shall onely note that when the Light of the Tabernacle shines upon the soules of men all things else become dark t is night in that soule to all things but the light of the Tabernacle in the night there was a fire and in the day a cloud now I say when the fire shined all things were dark round about it And herein observe these two things first when mans spirit is shut up and sees he no light then is the time for the appearing of this light And secondly this light never appears but when all things are dark in man for light discovers darknesse if any thing else be light to thee and all things else be not darknesse thou never yet discoveredst this light To this soule there is nothing in the whole creation that seems to be glorious and excellent but when the Sun of righteousnesse in him hath shined upon it then it appears to be all darkness when the light of the Tabernacle shines in the soule of man then riches honour pleasure preferments all things below God are darknesse Then the light of his reason wit moralitie and holy qualities that seemed to be a great light and shined before gloriously being compared one with another or with things inferiour Now when the light of the Tabernacle appeares then all these things appeare to be nothing but darknesse emptiness and blindness and are all as meer vapours before the Sun of righteousnesse as the Prophet saith Therefore thy goodnesse is as the morning dew and as the cloud that wears away so that I say Hos 6.4 whensoever the fire in the Tabernacle shines on man then this will be the sure effect in that soule
he shall look upon all things in himselfe as nothing but darknesse and man will then no longer call light darknesse nor darknesse light but he will say Woe is me verily I thought my righteousness my holinesse my performances and duties and worshippings of God I thought these to be BRIGHT THINGS but now the Lord hath appeared upon me I see that all my goodness is as the morning dew and as the cloud that passeth away And he alone is my help my deliverer my holinesse my Sanctification and my Redemption He alone is my song and my salvation and of him alone will I make my boast THE SECRET SOUTHSAYER OR Hidden SORCERER discovered By Mr. Jo. WEBSTER Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street MICAH 5.10 11 12 13. And I will cut off the Cities of thy Land and throw down all thy strong holds I will cut off Witchcrafts out of thine hand and thou shalt have no more Southsayers Thy graven Images also will I cut off and thy standing Images out of the midst of thee and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands BEloved there is in all the sons of men a spirit of hatred and opposition against the wisdom power and righteousnesse of God ever since their going out and departing from the presence of the Lord having forsaken him their rock and their stay they have turned down into their own wisdom and power and having chosen that for their God and their guide they will not by any means be turned back to the Lord to forsake themselves their own wisdom and righteousnesse power and parts but they use all their study and endeavours to goe on with all confidence after the gods of their own hands which they have made and chosen and man never returns to that love peace and amity with the Lord but by the Almighty hand of the Lord by the very same power and no other but only that which can raise the dead out of their graves Rom. 4.24 ch 8.11 Jer. 2.13 and the same spirit that raised Jesus-Christ from the grave And ever since this departing from the fountain of life to the broken and empty Cisterns of the creature there are but only two Leaders two Guides two Masters two Teachers which all the sons of men follow there are but only two seeds Gen. 3.14 15. ch 4.2 1 John 3.9 the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent There are but only two Brethren Cain and Abel the Immortal and perfect seed of God which is holy pure and undefiled which cannot sin and that wicked cursed hellish seed of Satan which never did nor never doth nor never shall doe any thing else but sin rebel and fight against the wisdom light and power of God There is no middle seed between these two All actions all thoughts all industry all inventions all Religions are either from the wisdom which is from above Jam. 3.15 17. 1 Cor. 15.47 48 49. or else from that earthly and humane wisdom which is from man and from below As the one is from Heaven Heavenly so the other is from the earth earthly the first man is of the earth earthly the second is the Lord from Heaven heavenly And as are the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly and as we have born the image of the earthy so shall we also bear the Image of the heavenly The one of these Guides is light and truth and glory and leads to rest peace fulnesse satisfaction the other leads to darknesse misery and destruction and yet pretends to light and truth and wisdom but the waies thereof goe down to the chambers of death This earthly guide alwaies draws downward to seek rest in the creature Pro. 7.27 in something either without man or within him and so drawes and deludes away the poore soule of man from that Eternal Al-sufficient JEHOVAH to sit down satisfied with the empty and broken comforts and helplesse Idols that the inventions of men have made and set up and say These be thy Gods O Israel Exo. 32.4 which will bring thee out of bondage and give thee possession of the land of Canaan the one is the true light and the true vision the true URIM and THUMMIM which never can mislead or deceive Ibid. 28.30 the other is the spirit of darknesse ignorance deceit witchcraft sorcery a lying and a familiar spirit And it pretends to seek after God and after holiness and after peace and rest but t is meer Sorcery and Witchcraft This is that Jannes and Jambres that alwaies will withstand Moses for they pretend to imitate Moses but they are no other but Wizzards Southsayers and deceivers they pretend for the truth and yet withstand the truth and saies the Apostle As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so doe these also resist the truth 2 Tim. 3.8 being men of corrupt minds and reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed no farther for their folly shall be made known unto all men as their also was They shall be found to be no other but Deceivers Magicians Southsayers These words we have now read they shew us what man is and what all men doe before they come to the light of God they shew that he is blind in himselfe 2 Tim. 3.13 deceiving and being deceived that he is confident in his own power in his own wisdom and that he chuseth to himselfe Horses and Chariots for his defence and preservation and he will have a Captain and a Leader of his own chusing whom he will follow And he useth all his inventions to secure himselfe against all that shall oppose him Esay 30.16 Jer. 2.23 he hath builded himselfe Forts and Castles and Strong-holds and Bulwarks and he hath the Charitos of Egypt and swift Dromedaries as the Prophet speaks to secure and deliver him on which he rests trusts and depends and on which he rides and thinks that those things shall defend and deliver him And the truth is so great and so deep and so subtily contrived are all his witchcrafts that all the wisdom of all the sonnes of men is never able to discover them to be so but only the wisdom spirit of God and that onely can discover these seeret and close and fine contrived inchantments like Pharaohs Magicians how did they act and imitate and doe the same things Moses did for a long time as if they had wrought by the same power Moses did Exo. 7.11 22 c. when as they were no other but Deceivers and Enchanters and Magicians In the same way doe Magicians worke in all ages Whatever the Saints and people of God doe by the power of God they can contrive and imitate the same in all their spirituall inchantments they have their Temples and their Worship and their Groves their forms and inventions Mark 13.21 and cry loe here and loe there when these are
thy goings forth to this thing or tother thing been any other then Jonahs Gourd Jonah 4 7. to sit under the shadow thereof to shelter thee from the burning sun and heat of Divine wrath examine thy heart Didst ever take up any dutie any form any way of worship purely for love to God because thou sawest him the fairest of ten thousand Cant. 5.10 because that he was the joy of thy soul thy portion thy inheritance thy All in All For till then God is not thy God if any other thing be thought good or excellent but he thou hast not chosen him for thy God doe but examine thy thoughts and thy ends in all those things and thou shalt find satisfaction to thy selfe securing thy self getting happiness and rest for thy selfe was the chiefest moving cause And being so as I am sure it is till man see himself empty naked and a miserable Prodigal what 's all thy acting doing sacrificing washing breaking bread Forms Modes what 's all thy highest rules and strictnesse and walking up to the rule as thou callest it but working for thy selfe Mat. 20.13 2 Cor. 5.14 and working for a penny and meer mercinary working by force thou doest nothing by the constraint of love t is not for the excellencie of holinesse and love to the Lord himself but so thy own head may be covered and thou mayest be cloathed and that thou mayest have Cities to dwell in and live happily Saith Satan Job 1.9 doth Job serve God for naught thou hast peace and riches and satisfaction to thy selfe and therefore thou servest him if thou hast not thy pennie thou wilt rather stand idle in the market Mat. 20.6 thy working is to be freed from miserie and to get that which thou callest HEAVEN These are thy Horses to carry thee from wrath and to the place of rest where thou mayest with the Prodigal live upon thy own and spend lavishly and indeed it tends to no other but to run thy selfe out of all and to bring thee to misery Beloved from hence let everie one every particular form every several division and distinction of Worshippers examin themselves from what principle they act and work if it be not to carry them into a far countrie Luk. 15.13 that they may not see their miserie nor remember Hell nor the wrath of God and their forms have been their Horses and Chariots which have saved and delivered them quieted their consciences shut the mouth of Hell kept off the gnawing worm And when they have got into this Chariot of Religion and these Forms of Worship then they think themselves safe and well horst How many thousands of people are now got into these ways and joyned themselves to these rich Cttizens and never yet were emptied made miserable and nothing never lost their own lives never took up the Cross of Christ nor forsook themselves but having taken up a Form suitable to their liking say they now I am safe now I am well what ever others doe I am in a good condition I have secured One I am wiser then others I am holier then they stand farther off Esay 65.5 I am now somebody and every particular Form think themselves in the best way and censure all others and applaud and deifie themselves But in the day of the Lord all thy helps hopes Idols witchcrafts shall be cut off nothing of thy planting shall stand but thou shalt be left empty naked helpless hopelesse so that thou shalt be utterly stript of thy whole selfe and no way left to escape by all thy forms wisdom inventions and thou shalt be so distressed that there is nothing left to help thee but a naked Christ onely meer mercy and the good hand of the Lord. So that except thou canst stand in this light and bear this discovery there is no help for thee And when man is brought to this condition he wil look every way for help Gen. 4.16 any man to direct and offer him any likely way any Chariot to carry him from the presence of the Lord that Hell may not pursue him and that he may out-run his own guilt with Caine he will goe dwell in the Land of Nod thinking to get from the presence of the Lord he hath now with the Prodigal loft his fathers house that is he hath put himselfe out of his fathers love care and protection and he will mannage his own portion and provide for and direct himselfe but all this is to cover with a covering but not with the Lords Spirit Esay 30.1 To the Land of NOD what 's that that is to the land of Forgetfulnesse or to the Land of Dizzinesse And there he hath a portion and patrimony upon which he spends and there he happens among Harlots and lives by his own wisdome and inventions and he gets to himselfe any thing that will but uphold his spirit though he be come almost to Beggery yet he will shift still before he will discover and acknowledge his folly and beggery he will live upon Husks upon his own duties Luk. 12 19 and his own forms shall be his life though there is no nourishment no life in them And yet he sayes to his soule Soule take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years and there he feasts himselfe lives Deliciously every day he eats and drinks and is merry and will not think of returning to his father nor acknowledge his rebellions And this is the far Countrey that he is departed into that so he may not see his own misery his own lost condition But in this day of the Lord all these things shall be discovered and he shall see that he is deluded and hath fed himselfe with dreams and that there was nothing reall in all he enjoyed but all even the best of his dainties was but Husks a lye and a deceit Then shall even the very sinews of all his strength be cut asunder all his foundations removed and himselfe utterly beggered and undone the very earth and the works thereof and all things therein 2 Pet. 3.10 shall be burnt up and the elements shall melt with fervent heat and he shall be at his wits end And this day of the Lord shall be like the Refiners fire and Fullers Sope Then he shall discover the Magicians and Inchanters of Egypt Mal. 3.2 to be all lyers and deceivers when they told thee Loe here and loe there In this mountain and on that hill in this way and that form thou shalt finde peace and rest Then He whom thou hast crucified and murthered by thy sinnes shall appeare in the clouds to judge thee and will set all thy sinnes in order before thee Psal 50.21 Then thou shalt see that thou hast crucified and put to death thy innocent Saviour That meek one of the earth who is all mercy pitty loving kindnesse him who came to save thee and ransome thee from thy cruell bondage and
within that PRINCIPLE of darknesse from whence all evil actions come this is that our Saviour labours to clear and make out Now this was such spirituall doctrin and such soul-seardching teaching and that which the Pharisees in no age could ever abide No sooner come within them and turn them insides outward but presently they are offended and then they will shew what is within the poor blind world thought they were made up of purity and conformity but when Christ comes to preach he discovers that in their hearts is nothing but malice murther thefts blasphemies Mat. 15.18 19. hatred of the truth cruelty to the people of God and then all this shall come forth and be no longer hid by their fine words and smooth shews and pretences but out it shall come and be discovered This is that Serpentive wisdom that lies hid and lies lurking in the hearts of all the sons of men which can never be discovered by all the examinations and preachings of men but onely by the son of God and by his teachings in the soul and indeed HEE is that stone that is disalowed indeed of men refused and rejected by the Master Builders Psal 118.22 Mat. 21.42 1 Pet. 2.4 1 Cor. 4.5 but chosen of God and precious Now this Heavenly Doctrine the Disciples themselves could not well bear for they had as well as others a good opinion of these Eminent men and they thought this Doctrine was somewhat too harsh to call them Hypocrits Dissemblers rotten Sepulchres though gloriously painted They thought their Master might have been a little more moderate and they feared something of bad consequence might follow for these were the men of the greatest esteem and most in favour with the Magistrate and they for their parts could expect no other but reproach hatred and persecution these things much troubled them they not being sitted to suffer But now Jesus Christ their Master he was delivered from all these slavish fears he stood not in fear of man nor what he could do but would in despite of all their power and malice hold forth the truth and the light that is might discover the hidden things of darkness and the bottomlesse depth of sin and darknesse that was rooted in mans evil heart and in them chiefly reigning who were ignorant of these things and yet had high had great opinions of their own holiness and excellencies Hereupon our Lord to stay and quiet the troubled thoughts of his Disciples he makes them this answer we have now read to you Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted must be rooted up One would think this not to be a resolution or a pertinent answer to clear his former Doctrine but hee goes on Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man but that which cometh out of the mouth this defileth a man What fitnesse or congruity is there between these words and his doctrine formerly urged to be as a proof to justifie and maintain it Truly unto fleshly wisdome it seems to be a very impertinent and no wise answer But if we take it according to the spirit and the divine sense it is very pertinent fit and congruous For t is as if he should say Be not careful take no thought about them whatever they say act or do they indeed are very strict and careful to follow and obey all outward rites ceremonies and worships and they glory in these things and all others applaud and honour them for the highest and zealousest worshippers but for all this they are no other but Dissemblers and Hypocrits being onely gildedi over with a form of Piety and Religion but within they are no thing but rotten and stinking Sepulchres which are full of stench and dead mens bones Now be ye not offended though they are mad and rage against me and my doctrine and though they incense the whole multitude against me yet I am not troubled 1 Cor. 15.47 neither would I have you for this plant which they would make the world beleeve is from heaven it is not so but it is only of and from man is from the earth from beneath and this Religion in its true savour savours of the earth earthy For saith he Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up But that which is from heaven and is planted by the hand of my Father that shall grow and root and flourish and though to man it seem poor and weak and despicable and men will not own it yet it shall flourish and neither men nor the Gates of Hell nor all the powers of Darkness nor all the subtile wisedom of the flesh shall ever be able to prevaile against it Therefore I say these words are a pertinent answer to establish the troubled mindes of his Disciples in bidding them forbear and let them alone and not to be troubled to see them prosper and flourish in the world nor to see them rage and storm for my Father is Alsufficient and he is able to manage his own business and to maintain his own cause Ps 74 22. and I know also that they are blind and they lead the blind and you shall see both will fall into the ditch And therefore doe you mind what I say and not what they say for they are Blind and you by all your talking and reasoning with them cannot make them see you will but trouble your own peace and make them more mad for they are blind and there is a ditch before them prepared for Blindness and blind men wherein they are sure to fall So that these three things I would have you to take special notice of from these words First that t is the Heavenly fathers own hand that plants every plant that must grow and prosper Secondly that every plant which is planted by any other hand or power shall not prosper but be rooted up Thirdly that those which see not these things so and cannot leave them to God 2 Cor. 7.10 they bring upon themselvs much trouble and unquietnesse Worldly trouble and fretting brings nothing about but causeth death For the wrath of man accomplisheth not the righteousness of God Jam. 1.20 Though these great blustering Doctors undertake to Teach and others gladly and attentively hear them and they magnifie one another yet be not troubled they shall both fall together Every plant which the father plants not shall be rooted up Now if we should hold onely to the Letter and the Grammatical sense which the men of the Letter cry out so much for what an absurdity were here to call spiritual things by the name of A PLANT and they must be rooted as a Plant before they can flourish and grow but the Scripture is very frequent in this manner of speaking by Allegories Metaphors and Similitudes to set forth to our apprehension the nature of Divine things for if we look upon the bare Letter what is there in it But by an Adegory or
persecuting both men and women that were of that way that he might bring them bound to Jerusalem dragging them out of every City and breathing out threatnings and slaughter and compelled them to blaspheme Who now do you think turned Paul about and of a Saul made him Paul was there any other hand did this but the good hand of the Heavenly Husbandman who of a Devil made him a Saint No no he clearly saw he opposed salvation fought against it and he had onely a Notion of Salvation and Happinesse in his mind but really to desire Salvation he neither did nor Knew not what salvation was Gal. 1.16 1 Tim. 1.13 but it pleased the Father to reveal his Son and Salvation in me and to receive me to mercy because I did it ignorantly and through unbelief It was alone his good pleasure to cut me off from the wild Olive and to plant me into the true Olive And as the Apostle saith so say I Such were some of you but ye are washed 1 Cor. 6.11 but ye are sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God There is not one natural man in the whole world that can desire salvation but under a false notion as he thinks it will bring peace and rest honour and glory and happinesse but salvation indeed all men who are not possessed of it oppose it fight against it and should it be revealed to them in the true nature thereof they would persecute it and breath out slaughters against the Professors of it Then certainly no man loves Salvation nor no man seeks after it nor can use any means to attain it as men ignorantly affirm and beleeve For can a man love his own death can any man love crucifying and hate his own life I tell ye nay but he must be changed new moulded and be leavened with a new leaven that he may be a new lump And therefore when men talk of such things 1 Cor. 5.7 they know not what they say That man must do and man must act and man must use the means and the like it declares to me they were never yet met in the way going to Damascus they were never yet un-horst and laid flat to the earth Oh Beloved this work of Salvation it is a marvellous work for the Lord to reveal his Son in man Gal. 1 16. the world knows nothing of it but they have some notions of Heaven without them and of a Christ without them and Religion is now made an easie and a common thing almost every one is Religious Religion is the fashion of the Age and its a shame to be otherwise and they think this is enough But to make Christ in us the hope of Glory this is none of mans work but t is the Lords doing and t is marvellous in our eyes For Christ to dye for us when we were sinners and enemies to salvation Col. 1.27 Psal 118.23 Rom. 5.8.10 and for him then to dye for us and to reconcile us by his death this the world knows little of I appeal to every renewed soul here whence is it that any of you are come to be Christians and of men and women of a Devillish nature to be made partakers of the Divine Nature of a Bryar and a Thorn and a Bramble 2 pet 1.4 which was fit for nothing but the fire and burning to become a Heavenly plant and a branch in the true Vine Jesus Christ How came this about was it ever your own work or your own seeking nay did you not fight against this work and oppose it he that findes it not so never yet was partaker of it He never yet could say Vnto me a Child was born and a Son given whose name is called Wonderful Councellour the Mighty God the Everlasting Father and the Prince of peace except he have found in himself as the Lord saith there in Isaiah 9.5.6 Esa 9.5 6. Every battel of the Warriour is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood this must be with burning and fewel of fire This * As that precious instrument in the hand of the Lord Dr. Everard expounds that place in his Sermons call'd Gospel Treasure opened pag. 61. c. alwayes goes before that Christ is given to any of the sons of men Beloved do but examine your own hearts and you shall finde it was thus and it must be thus was ever the strong man bound and cast out of his house and possession without resisting will man lose his life and suffer all his riches and goods to be taken away and never strive nor oppose And was this work ever done by a still-work and using of Ordinances and joyning here and there and man never disturbed but that out of his natural and dead condition he hath dreamed and slept himself into a new nature and into the condition of a Christian No my brethren conversion is an otherguesse thing then most men hold forth And if men see but a want in themselves and then resolve that they must seek after a Heaven to fill up this want and to that end run to this duty and tother fellowship and think he must be constant in the use of Ordinances and if he do but beleeve in an external Christ then the work is done and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs Alas all this is but the way of man and by all this they do but make a Proselyte and those that teach thus they do but sew pillows under all arm-holes and cry peace peace when there is no peace but have made themselves Aprons Ezek. 13 18. and blesse themselves in an unsound condition and heale the wound of the daughter of my people slightly Wo to these Women saith the Prophet there for this is nothing but Weakness nay herein they have made them two-sold more the Children of Hell then before Mat. 23.15 Col. 3.1 If men are risen with Christ let them shew me how they were crucified dead and buried with him if they are come to Canaan let them shew me how the alone Mighty and Outstretched hand of the Lord hath brought them out of Egypt and how they came through the Sea and through the Wilderness Indeed I confesse these people they talk of signs and marks of the people of God Mat. 12 38 c. but to them there shall be no sign given but that of the Prophet Jonah as he was three days and three nights in the Whales belly so must the Son of man be buried in the heart of the Earth Go ye and learne what this means Art thou cut off from thy old root from the wilde Olive hast thou felt this burning hast thou lost thy own life art thou buried with Christ hast thou been three dayes in the heart of the earth and in the Whales belly hast thou had in thee the battail of the Warriours and the confused noise Esa 9.5 and the
escaped from the snare of the Hunter Hast thou really seen thy selfe lost undone made miserable hast thou seen that thy self was in Captivity and that thou wast deaf and dumb and blind and lame that thou wert shut up in darknesse and death and that there was none in Heaven or Earth able to help thee in the least but thou seeing thy selfe so miserable and hopeless that thou wert at thy wits end and no help at all appeared If this have not been thy condition though thou couldst speak never so excellently of the Letter and the History and though thou submittedst to the highest forms and to the soberest and most strict course of life being constant and austere in observing of thy rules for hearing and reading and set times of prayer and constant examining thy self to keep thy selfe up the stricter to thy Rules alas poor soul all this is nothing though thou couldest speak with the Tongue of Men and Angels 1 Cor. 13.1 and pray with such sweet words and language as might ravish all the men on earth If thou doest not finde Christ Jesus in thee breaking every bond and loosing every yoak and that no other in Heaven or Earth could do it but he thou wert never yet delivered but art still under wrath death and bondage The chief thing that every soul is to mind in reading and hearing is to examine whether the same thing be wrought in them whatever we find in the Letter if it be not made good in us what are the words to us we must see how Christ is crucified and buried in us and how he is risen and raised from death in us the chief thing I say is to look into our own breasts All generally that hold forth a profession of Christ they say in words that Christ is the Deliverer but that is not the thing but is he a Deliverer to thee Is that glorious MESSIAH promised Rom. 11.26 and the Deliverer out of Sion come with power into thy soul hath he exalted himselfe there and hath he made bare his arm and been a glorious CONQVERER in thee hath he taken to himself his great power to raign in thee Rev. 11.17 Is he King of Kings and Lord of Lords in thee c. Beloved all preaching and reading and praying and duties is to this end to examine thy inward man and thy spiritual condition Thou joinest thy self in fellowship and walkest conformable to all thy rules and thou art washed and thou breakest bread with them and thinkest herein thou hast obeyed the commands of Christ alas this is nothing if Jesus Christ have not joined thee to himself and made thee a member of him what good doe all these things for by all these outward actings thou dost not discern the Lords body To discern the Lords body is to eat him to be united to him to be made one spirit with him that so he may be made experimentally a Saviour and a Deliverer in thee That he hath taken thy soul out of the mire and clay Ps 40.2 and out of the horrible pit thou canst say experimentally and by feeling that it was an horrible pit and that there thy soul stuck fast and thou hadst no hope ever to get forth and if Christ hath set thee free thou knowest full well no power could do it but only his Eph. 1.19 only the same power which raised Jesus Christ from the grave and no lesse And thou whoever thou art who hast experience of this work thou art in one of these two conditions either thou art set free and delivered by the power of Jesus Christ or else thou seest thy self in the pit in straits in misery in a hopelesse condition and art sighing and groaning for deliverance and waiting when Christ will deliver thee And if thou beest but in either of these two conditions thou art in a safe and good Condition but if thou hast been in this misery and condemnation and thou hast used all means to put this off and sought out deliverance for thy selfe and by thy wisedome and strength and conformity and holinesse hast got thy selfe a covering by any thing under Heaven then Jesus Christ never was a Deliverer to thee but though thou thinkest thy selfe delivered yet thou art for all thy peace and for all thy Coverings under a worse bondage then before Therefore I say I would have every soul before me examine it selfe whether he be a true seeker of Deliverance which is to examine in which of these two Conditions he is in whether he hath been under these Terrors and death in hell and condemnation seeing himself lost and miserable and that instead of seeing any wisdom or power or righteousnesse in himself that he hath seeen and doth still see himself to be a meer sink of sin and a cage of unclean birds and that in him is nothing but weaknesse Rev. 18.2 wickednesse and all abominations And let me ask thee when thou wast in this condition whither wentest thou for help whether to dumb Idols that could not help that have eyes and see not and ears and hear not or to the living God in whom alone is help and deliverance And if thou art at present in this condition and distresse Joh. 5.4 thou art one that lies waiting at the pool till the Angel stir the waters expecting when Christ will put thee in Thou wilt not run to this duty and that form to ease thy self and to allay these Terrors and to quench these flames but if help come not there thou waist and there thou standest and remainest in this condemnation and goest up and down sighing and mourning all the day long and thou seest t is not in the power of all the Ministers under Heaven not in all the forms and rules that can be invented but only in the tender mercy and good will of Jesus Christ All other wayes thou lookest upon but as going out to Asher Hos 7.11 and to Egypt and to seek after dumb Idols that have a picture of eyes and ears and hands promising as though they could help but they can neither see nor hear nor help though to others they appear glorious and goodly things and they blesse themselves in using them yet to thee they are dead cold and helplesse so that now here thou waitest and sittest alone like the Pelican in the Desart Ps 102.6 and there thou mournest and bemoanest thy condition and with David thou hast no rest in thy bones because of thy sins Ibid. 38.3 Try thy self now in which is thy condition if in neither of these thou art in a most sad miserable condition indeed and so much the more sad because thou seest it not Or it may be thou hast cured thy self and healed thy selfe but art not cured nor healed Jer. 6.14 but the Prophets have healed the Daughter of my people slightly as the Prophet speaks have not throughly discovered their iniquity to turn