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
lead him and bring him unto salvation but this is the condemnation Joh. 3.19 that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light because their deeds are evil I make no question but are all here pretend at least to be seekers of God Now enter into thy owne heart and tell me what is the end of all thy Religious actions are they not done for this purpose that thereby thou mayest gain and get a good opinion to and of thy self that thou hast served God in a way he commands and when thou hast done thinkest thou now art accepted is this thinkest thou the free-will offering that is in Jesus Christ wherein we serve him not as Slaves or as Servants but as Sons Sons that are begotten out of love and out of love serve him without fear all the dayes of our life Now I say Luk. 1.74 when thy Religious actions are onely made use of to hide over thy sin and to get a good opinion of thy selfe this is not the work of the spirit of God this is not a drawing to God but from God this is a drawing into thy selfe to depend on flesh and to feed on the dead ashes of thy own heart Esa 44.20 and not to know that there is a lye in thy right hand But now if thou didst but see thy owne sinne and thy owne evil heart thou wouldest not dare to speak of God but with much trembling but know if thou speak of him or of Divine things thou speakest as vainely and as dissemblingly as wickedly and hast nothing of Divine nature more then another then the world of men for all thy many words and large professions thou wilt not say We see for then thy sin remaineth But if thou goest out mourning and weeping over thine owne misery and over thy cursed heart to thee I say the Lord will draw thee and lead thee in the everlasting power so that thy own carnal heart and all the power of hell shall not be able to keep thee from Christ but thou shalt understand and find that it is the power of the Father onely that draws every man unto Christ And he will cause thy captivity to return as the streams in the South Psal 126.4.6 and thou shalt find that he that goeth forth weeping shall doubtlesse come againe with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him that so thou mayest rejoyce and magnifie him alone utterly renouncing thy selfe and all the power of man as having no hand in His Almighty work THE CLOUD taken off the TABERNACLE that the ISRAEL of God might journey Preached at Alhallows Lumbard-street EXOD. 40.36 37 38. And when the Cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle then the Children of Israel went onward in all their journeys But if the Cloud were not taken up then they journeyed not until the day it was taken up For the Cloud of the Lord was upon the Tabernacle by day and the fire was on it by night in the sight of all the House of Israel throughout all their journeyes THis Book out of which we have taken these words is called EXODUS that is the Book of the goâ—ng out or the Book of the goings forth for it shews the manner of the going forth of the children of Israel out of Egypt being brought out thence by a strong and mighty hand But Beloved if we look on the things contained in this Book of the goings forth or going out onely as an History of the Jewes going out of that Land of Egypt wherein they were inslaved in their cruel bondage we fall farre short of what the Holy Ghost intends For their going out is the type and representation of all the people of God in all generations and of their going forth from under the bondage of spiritual Pharach and out of the Kingdome of Darknesse When Moses as you may see had obeyed the command of God he shewing him the form of the Tabernacle and Moses setting up all things therein according to the pattern then 't is said Heb. 8.5 Ver. 34.35 in the preceding verses when Moses had finished the work then a cloud covered the Tent of the Congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle so that Moses was not able to enter in for the glory thereof Which Tabernacle was alwayes to be carried before the children of Israel and if the cloud was not taken up from off the Tabernacle then they journeyed not but sate still but if it was taken up then they were to arise and goe on upon their journey this rule they must observe and this was to be their Leader and their Guide in all their journyings Thus it is in the History and this is the Letter now if there were no more in it then so what advantage is it to us but onely to deduct and raise some moral observations and directions which every carnal man may do and be never the nearer the meaning of the Scriptures or to eat of the tree of life and of the Hidden Manna or knowing the mind of God and having no more we have but the Letter that kills Gen. 3.3 and is no other but the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil whereof God hath commanded ADAM that is whole ADAM all Mankind not to eat thereof For to think that that eternal infinite and most spiritual and divine wisdom should have no greater depth nor no farther wisdom to imploy it self in then in relating Histories of an outward Tabernacle and of silken blew and purple curtains and of the Pot of Manna and of outward sacrifices and washings what depth of wisdom answerable to that infinite wisdom in the Almighty Jehovah were this in him To tell of Solomons State 2 Chro. 9. and his Throne and his Majesty of his Gold and Silver and of the magnificent stately Temple that he builded of the workmanship and great cost and the like what were all this if there were not more in it then the Letter and what every man by his study and reason and learning can finde out but without all question there is that Mystery and depth of wisdom and knowledge hid and covered in all these things which none can find or know with all their utmost endeavours unlesse we be anoynted with that holy anoynting which teacheth all things 1 Joh. 2.27 Mat. 19.11 neither can we ever know them except they be given us from above that so these things may be spoken out onely by that divine teaching in us And for that History for which this Book is called Exodus that we are now upon the Book of the goings forth without all question and to be briefe Satan in us is that true Pharaoh which keeps the true Israel in bondage which is here held forth by that external Pharaoh for what is that Pharaoh to us except we find in our selves all those things acted and done And Egypt there to us is no other thing
all his power wisdom parts righteousnesse and whatever man as man adores All true Saints are brought to see this in experience they see all the world seeking themselves following after the gods that they have made and crying up their Diana they see all the whole earth alwaies and continually crying out Not this man but Barabbas Mat. 27.21 And they know them to be all Theeves and Robbers But these onely come to the light and walk in the light Joh. 10.8 And the light of Christ in them hath discovered that in man is nothing but sin and darkness and misery and condemnation This they really see both within themselves and without themselves that he that would be exalted is in them brought low and he that humbleth himself is exalted Luk. 14.11 Christ in them and to them is all in all and this is their Glory this is their Kingdome this their Pearl for which they have sold all this is their Heaven Then they come to see Mat. 13.46 as the truth is that they have no power wisdom excellency nothing at all but what is to be condemned and that all their works which are accepted are wrought in God Joh. 3.21 1 Cor. 1.30 That Jesus is their Wisdom Rgihteousness Justification Sanctification and Redemption they come to this light and they walk in this light they continually see that Jesus Christ hath all power and wisdom in himself he hath not given any part of his excellencies out of himselfe but whatever is wrought in them is wrought by Him they dare not say I must doe and I must act and I must pray that I may be accepted nor think as others do I must perform the conditions on my part to do Heb. 6.6 and then I shall be accepted All Doctrine of this nature is no other but crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting him to open shame and walking in darknesse Those that preach this Acts 20.29 John 3.31 are those grievous wolves which Paul speaks of Acts 20.29 30. I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them Of your own selvs that is men that hold forth the same doctrine and preach Jesus Christ too and hold him forth for a Saviour yet under that pretence crucifie him and make him as no Christ and his Crosse of no effect But those that are in the light they come to the light and follow this light live in this light that their deeds may be made manifest whether wrought in God or no Then he sees this is the true wisdom from above Jam. 3.17 which is pure peaceable easie to be entreated full of good works 't is not high and stern and subtile and rigid to keep at distance from all but whom they like but they are easie to be entreated meek ready to doe good to all they see no such excellency in houses inheritances money honour praise but for the love of Christ they are not deare to them they know if they have these they are not given to make them great or high or praised among the sonnes of men but that by them Christ in them may make himselfe great That they may be of another spirit then any other naturall man in the world Acts 26.18 shewing forth the vertues of him that hath called them from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God Then is their Tongue Touched with a coal from the Altar Esay 6.6 and they must declare Jesus Christ to make him alone glorious powerfull wise mighty eternal c. And then it is no longer they that speake Mark 13.11 but the spirit of their Father that is within them My beloved breathren if men were but come to the sight of this light and were able to stand in it and walk in it They would not goe forth as they doe in their own name and in their own wisdom and power having furnished themselves by their study and by their Books and by their borrowed matter but all this is because they have no light in them How many Speakers be there now in the world and with what confidence doe they come unto you when this spirit from on high never came upon them Pro. 8.34 Luke 24.49 they never yet waited at Wisdoms gates never yet stayed at Jerusalem for the promise of the Father but runne before they are sent and they of themselves have found a way to be furnished they can goe to the Vniversity and there lay the foundation and they can have the laying on of the hands of the Presbyterie and then they can study Authors and they have wisdom and parts and eloquence of their own and thus they come furnished and are as they think able Ministers of the Gospel 2 Cor. 3.6 John 10.1 Alas poore soules Christ cals these no other but thieves and Robbers which come not in at the doore they come not in by him but climb up some other way These have not made Christ the doore and the way for did They but live in the true light they durst not doe thus they durst not speak till he had opened the dore they durst not walk till the fire of the Sanctuary guided them till this cloud of ignorance not knowing themselves nor the work of Christ were taken up else they sit still And I say there would not be so many speakers as there be they would not covet so much to be some body that they may be taken notice of to be wise to be learned to be holy to be sober to be endowed with the gifts of Christ as they would be thought to be All this is but putting new wine into old bottles Luk. 5.37 and both are lost but if this light of God this spirit from on high this fire of the Sanctuary were upon them then this new wine would be put into new bottles and both preserved Oh my brethren it woes my very heart to see how confident and bold men are in their own light and he that will say to the contrary but that 't is the light of God he must be a deceiver and he must be a Schismatick a Familist any thing yea the most odious of all men Oh that these men did but know from whence they speak Oh that they did but know whether they were Moseses or Magicians whether sent from God or the Divel whether from Christ or Antichrist who indeed sit in the Temple of Christ as if sent from Christ Nay let me tell you they come with such deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse with such signes and lying wonders 2 Thes 2.9.10 that they are able to deceive the very Elect of God if it were possible but the truth is t is onely they can discover them t is only the spirit of Christ that can lay them open onely He that hath the true
his own heart But when once Jesus Christ hath thus declared his power in this soul and brought forth his eternal counsels in it then he comes to see that all this is done in faithfulness and loving kindness and in tender compassion then he comes to see that he was deluded Hos 12.1 and fed himself with lies with wind and vanity and that the way to safety was not to build up this Babel Esay 25.4 but to bring it into confusion for saith he in the fourth verse Thou hast been a strength to the poor and needy in their distresse a refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat So that you see the matter of Saints praises is only to magnifie and set up and exalt and make Christ great and wonderful They cannot say any thing of themselves or of men for they see them to be nothing but sin and the fountain of misery desolation and destruction even the very best the highest the holiest in their own esteem And so he goes on Thou shalt bring down the noise of the strangers c. the branch and the Terrible ones shall be brought low V. 5. And all this is but to shew forth what further work Christ makes how he goes on making more Havock in Satans building Mans work or the work of Satan in him is to set up and exalt the wisdom of man and power and holiness of man and to sleight and debase the wisdom holiness and power of God all this is foolishness but his own is wisdom indeed and holiness indeed Now the work of Christ is to pull down these strong holds and high imaginations 2 Cor. 10.4 Babel must be confounded and Bethel must be erected Christ wil himself set up his own Temple his own house his own Kingdom and wil bring man to see that he is nothing but want and misery Note emptiness and confusion sin and death Hell and condemnation And that Jesus Christ alone is fulness riches life light glory and all that can be named or esteemed good and man s nothing but what may be named and esteemed evil And this is certainly the work that Christ makes in every soul wherever He enters And Christ brings the soul really to see All this true in it self all done and acted in man that this Babel and this Antichrist is set up in him and also that the power and wisdom of Jesus Christ hath ruined and destroyed them in him and that this can be no other but the work of Christ conquering and bringing all things even every thought into subjection in him Jude v. 5. and he gives him the sole praise and glory of these mighty works in him why for he knows he had no hand in it himself he could not believe of himself repent of himself never would the strong man bind himself ruin himself Luke 11.22 but when a stronger then he comes then he is disarm'd and never before and thus he sees himself delivered from bondage set free from the divels chains brought out of Babylon and that Christ alone is all in all he is all fulness and no emptinesse all riches and no want all wisdom and no folly all righteousness and no impurity at all But contrary himself to be nothing but emptiness and nothingness darkness misery folly madness folly and madness is in his heart while he lives Eccl. 9.3 and afterward goes down into the pit while men thus build up themselves and have these high opinions of themselves they are in the pit in darkness in misery in bondage but they see it not till at length they fall down and sink into it for ever But where Christ appears in mercy there he brings down the noise of strangers all this in man and of man is but the noyse of strangers though man have a high opinion of himself and glories in these conceits and thinks himself in the Kings favour and if any shal be saved he shal and so blesseth himself and all is wel and no wrath nor no divel nor no hell shall come neer him yet alass this is but the noise and the voice of strangers which must be brought down Christ cannot own this voyce for 't is the voyce of strangers but will bring it down to hell and to the sides of the pit for Esa 14.15 all this language is nothing else but the language of death and the language of Babel the language of the divel and the language of confusion all this is but the branches of the Terrible ones Esay 25.5 the branch which hath enlarged and spread it self over the whole earth Psal 14.3 Every one is gone astray and there is none that doth good no not one And all the imagination of mans bea rt is evil Gen. 6.5 and only evil continually not a man upon the face of the whol earth but this branch hath spread it self over him Esay 30.3 and he sits under the shadow of it he hath something of man to shroud and cover himself withall This is the branch of the terrible one that Jesus Christ wil cut down Mans holines bears great sway and who dare speak against it It s high and lifted up and reacheth to heaven yet the power and faithfulnesse of Christ shal bring it low it shall fall and never rise again Ibid. 24.20 and the transgression therof shall be heavy upon it And cursed be he that buildeth again the walls of Jerico And then he comes to the verses read what shall come to passe after the accomplishment of all these things In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a Feast of fat things c. He spake not of any mountain before but of a branch and he presently changeth the metaphor and speaks of a mountain It shews us thus much by the way that there is not any one thing in the World but it holds forth Jesus Christ Note all the whol creation is a representation of Jesus Christ all tipes all metaphors are resemblances of him In this Mountain Mountains are things of the greatest strength most stable most immovable most durable and he is in Scripture often call'd The mountain of strength The mountain of holiness Jer. 31.23 Esay 33.6 The strength of Salvation and the Mountain of his Glory No man ever comes into the mountain of strength nor into the mountain of Glory nor of Holiness nor of Salvation till they come to Jesus Christ strength and glory and riches and power and righteousness peace is only to be had in him and no where else only In this Mountain will the Lord of Hosts make a feast of fat things full of Marrow Esay 12.3 Rev. 2 17. wine on the Lees well refined in him only can we drink out of the wells of Salvation and eat of the hidden Manna So that these words contain a further making out of the excellency and glory of Jesus Christ unto
White Stone with a New Name which none can know but such as receive it They see themselves delivered I and are at rest from themselves They see their owne wisdome their owne power their owne holinesse to be as it is nothing but sin and hell and misery and a delusion And this they rejoyce in to see this Pharaoh overwhelmed in the sea this makes themselves sing the song of Moses and the Lamb and to see all this to be done not by their power nor by their wisdom nor by their watchfulnesse nor by any endeavours of theirs but that the whole work in every part of it was Christ alone that t is he alone that is mighty to save he that is also glorious in apparel Esa 63.1.2 and travelling in the greatnesse of his strength none assisted him no man stood by him but he alone made bare his own arme that so he might have all the glory These things seen and accomblished in themselves is their feast of Fat things their Wine on the Lees their keeping the Sabbath their day of praise and Thanksgiving They have none to praise nor to speak well of but of him alone They find that he alone was their deliverer and he was their Captain and their Conquerer that he alone was their leader their guide their teacher And that all teachers were but Deluders Southsayers Lyars and Deceivers but onely Him they can call no man Master and Father upon earth Mat 23.9 for one is their Master and Father which is Christ alone As Paul saith he received not his Gospel of man or by man Gal. 1.12 but by the revelation of Jesus Christ so they receive not their power not their wisedome nor their teaching of or from man but onely by and from Jesus Christ alone Then also Vse 2 in the next place let us farther make this Use of this point to take notice of the misery and desperate condition of all men by nature what a deluge of destruction is upon them because of the face of the Covering of all people because they seek help and strength and riches and glory and wisdome in other mountains besides this Mountain because they find strength and wisdom and rest and rejoycing and feasting in their own mountains And the more comfort and delight men take in their own wisedome or holinesse or the like so much the more miserable so much the farther from the Kingdom of Heaven when men look upon themselves as being strict or holy more then others because they are under such and such forms such rules and are so comformable to the word and mind of Christ and here solace and feast themselves Luk. 17.21 and cry Loe here is Christ and there is Christ in this form or that fellowship and think therefore they are in a safe condition but it will go ill with all others Esa 65.5 stand farther off I am holier then thou The dangerousnesse of these mens condition I say you may discover from the present point when they make any other thing their rock or their mountain but Christ alone when they think they can guide themselves provide for themselves teach themselves these are in a very miserable condition these are those of which Christ saith go not after them for they are deceivers and deluders Luk. 17.20 for the Kingdome of God cometh not with observation as they say by observing this rule and this form or that fellowship or any way that man hath found out to cover himselfe withall All these are but fig-leaves which will not bear out the wrath of God these are but mens Coverings which cover themselves with a covering as they think from all evil and wrath Esa 28 20 but 't is not the Lords Spirit The Bed is too broad and the Covering is narrow it will not defend them from the Lords fierce wrath These are they that have kindled a fire to warm themselves at Ibid. 50.11 but they shall lie down saith the Lord in the fire that they have kindled and in the sparks that they have gathered together And for all their forms and prayers and duties and ordinances and holinesses and washings and baptizings and receiving the Sacraments and the like yet this is that they shall receive at my hand They shall lie down in sorrow for when you did all these things did you them at all unto me and not unto your selves did you at all fast unto me though ye pretended to seek me early and to seek me daily and did delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did righteousnesse and as if they forsook not in the least the ordinances of their God and take delight in approaching to God yet for all this saith the Lord to the Prophets Cry aloud Esa 58.1 lift up your voices like a Trumpet and shew my people their Transgression and the House of Israel their sins All these things will not deliver thee from wrath but thou rather then any other shalt lie down in sorrow and Publicans and Harlots for all your holinesse and strictnesse shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven before you Mat. 21.31 11.22 And it shall be easier with Tyre and Sydon in the day of judgement then for these that have done these and these things in his name yet for all this will Christ say depart from me I know you not ye workers of iniquity there was nothing but iniquity in your righteousnesse in all your duties in all your forms and professions you of all other I will not know you of all others depart from me you of all others are workers of iniquity you above all shall lie down in sorrow and in the sparks that you have kindled you thought your selves better then others holier then others when you are indeed and in truth the vilest and worst of all others Therefore most desperate and most miserable are these above all in as much as they thought themselves before all when they think because of their holiness because of their conformity because of their moderation because of their abstinence because of their meeknesse because of their gravity therefore they are better then others here is the great and unspeakable delusion of their own hearts For grace and true religion never teacheth any man to think highly of himself but to think highly of Jesus Christ grace debaseth man more and more and brings him to see the Bottomlesse deceit and delusion of his own heart It teacheth men not to think better and better of themselves but worse and worse and makes men not to desire praise or high esteem from others but it would have Christ have all the glory and praise and it selfe to be less and less and worse and worse it its own esteem for the more grace the more light which discovers more and more the infinite and bottomlesse vilenesse and delusion of their own natures Beloved this is the true teaching which comes only and alone from Jesus
Mat. 5.15 He is the light set upon the Candlestick giving light to all that are in the House and Hee is the Hidden Manna to nourish us to eternal life Col. 1.19 2.9 and it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell even the fulness of the Godhead bodily Oh Beloved He is that true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and not man From this Tabernacle must the soul expect all its leadings all its teachings and not from the wisdom of man or the ordinances of man for here they are all taught of God and they shall no more teach every one his Brother Heb. 8.10 11. saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest And whosoever is not led by this light and by this Star onely to behold the Lord Jesus Christ as his only and true Guide if he look any other way he does the same thing that the Prophet said of old to them that followed the Tabernacle of Moloch and the Star of their god Remphan and followeth after lyes and the inventions of their own evil Adulterous hearts Acts 7 42 Amos. 5.25.26 figures which they have made to worship saith the Holy Ghost in the fifth Chapter of Amos and the twenty fifth and twenty sixth verses Now then you may hence see and take notice that until the cloud be removed by the Lord himself there must be no journying no going forward by any of the sons of men and t is the Lord and not man can remove it the children of Israel must wait the Lords time when he pleaseth man he is alwayes furnished and ready your time is alwayes ready saith our Saviour Joh. 7.6 but my time is not yet There are certain days and times while the Cloud is upon the glory of this Tabernacle and till the Lord remove it man can do nothing but wait he must sit still in his Tent And that is when all things are in darknesse in man both within him and without him and he sees himself lost as to all his own wisdom power endeavours in this case t is in vain for man to arise and think to create a light and a wisdome and a power to himselfe for then he goes on in his own power and light and not in the light and power of God Ye know the fire in the Tabernacle never went out there was alwayes light there Lev. 6.13 but if there be a Cloud upon it and thou canst not see it and yet wilt be journying and doing and acting this will be thy fall and stumbling and a curse will be upon thee and not a blessing and thou shalt not prosper When that fire kindled the word in the mouth of Jeremiah the Prophet then that word was a light to them a command to depart out of their Captivity and to return to their own land till then the cloud was upon their way and they were as in a waylesse wilderness where no man passed a land of desarts and of pits a land of drought and shadows of death where no man dwelt Jer. 2.6 as in that second chapter of Jeremiah While man is in this condition and in this night of blindnesse and darknesse and land of death and drought he knowes not his way until the Lord shew him a light till He remove the cloud there is no finding the place of rest nor any feeding on the Hidden Manna nor drinking at the Wells of Salvation Esa 12.3 When man is in this dark night how can he arise but if he sit still as to all his own powers really seeing his own weaknesse and utter inability then this light in due time will shine forth and if he ever stir before this day he arises and works and walks unto his own ruin and destruction It may be this Doctrin may seem harsh and very unwelcome to most men That they shall not be doing and going on and journying Phil. 2.12 and working out their own Salvation many are hereat much offended at which I do not wonder for they not being able to see the Mystery of the Scripture onely rest in the Letter and know not the teachings of the spirit and think they must do something by way of condition or else all is nothing And herein is the great mistake of most men who though never so highly esteemed by themselves and others Luk. 6.39 yet herein are no other but blind leaders of the blind and both fall into the ditch But those who are acquainted with these things in their own experience know and feel this mysticall interpretation to be the truth and all other in the Letter to be but resemblances and shadows under which the truth is hid and covered from all save onely such to whom it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdome Mat. 13.11 but to others in parables that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may bear and not understand As in that seventh and eighth Chapter to the Hebrews where the Apostle speaking of the Law and of many particulars appertaining to that Priesthood he shews that the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by which we draw nigh unto God and so there by several arguments he proves that Jesus Christ alone was the true Priest and the true ORDINANCE Now in the first verse of the eighth chapter Heb. ch 7. 8. he applyes all that he had before spoken to Jesus Christ alone that perfect high Priest Ch. 7.19 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the summe And so he goes on and applyes it to Jesus Christ that true high Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man which things serve but unto the example and shadow of Heavenly things Ch. 8.1 c. he having obtained a far more excellent ministry by how much he is made the mediatour of a better covenant and established upon better promises he is not a high Priest of a Temple or contained in any Temple made with hands 2 Chron 6.18 but he is such a one whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain And he offers not sacrifices but himself his own body And He and all his members are the true Tabernacle wherein the Lord is served and well pleased for the Law made High Priests which have infirmitie Heb. 7.28 saith the Apostle but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who only is consecrated for evermore But what shall we say then of all those things wherein Moses was commanded to be so exact and to make all things according to the pattern and here he calls Christ the true Tabernacle what was theirs a false one I Ibid. 8.2 it was in regard of Christ who is the
1. Henceforth know we no man after the flesh no though we had known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know we him no more This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven that is whatever has been done by him to your sight shall be done in a Heavenly and Spiritual manner after that same manner shall all those things be done over again of which all those things were but the symbole the pattern and the resemblance of the actions of Christ in the soul for ever You know it is all along prophesied of the Messiah what a great and mighty King he should be and that the Government should be upon his shoulders and that he should rule over all his enemies with a rod of Iron and the like Esa 9.6 Psal 2.9 That none of all the oppressing Conquerors and Nimrods of the Earth should be able to stand in the day of his power Now we know these things were not fulfilled in the days of his flesh neither are all the strong and mighty Nimrods destroyed to this day but cruelty and oppression and the Monarchyes of the World are in their full power still Therefore there must needs be a further meaning Certainly therefore they are the Mighty Nimrods in the spirits of men which are to be brought down those high thoughts and strong holds and towering Imaginations that lift up men in their own thoughts that say I am and there is none besides as Babylon Isa 47.8 Rev. 18.7 I sit a Queen and shall see no sorrow I have the onely true worship and loe Christ is in my way and in my form and in my rules and I of all other Churches come neerest the rule when Christ saith plainly go not after them for if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect if they say he is in the street or in the wildernesse Mat. 24.23 Luk. 17.20 if they say he is in the secret chamber believe them not for the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation There is nothing to be known of Jesus Christ in the Spirit and in the Mystery by all the highest Forms and Ordinances as they call them in the whole world for we see how many men doe daily live in them use them handle them and never yet come to enjoy Christ in the Spirit And all is because they make these forms and duties and fellowships and washings and eating bread and drinking wine to be no other but graven Images wherein they rest and blesse themselves in their Idols Exo. 32 4. and say these be thy Gods O Israel For there is no one that ever entred into these Forms and Modes mending this and reforming tother and thinking this mans fashion is better then tother I say there is no one but blesses himself in kissing his Idol saying at least in their hearts now God will bless me now I am in a better condition now I have my hearts desire and to all other men they say secretly stand farther off Esa 65 5. I am holier then thou I am in a better way then any other Church and so censure all that go not in their new fashion and after their new Cut. But be assured for all these thy graven Images which thou hast so bedecked and that are so SACRED that no man may speak against them but he shall be censured for a Devil a Blasphemer a son of Belial yet the Lord when he comes with his light he will discover thy Nakedness thy Witchcrafts thy Sorceries and he will let thee see that thou art no Saint as thou wouldest be thought to be 2 Cor. 11.14 but a Devil transformed into an Angel of light and thou shalt be made to confesse this and all thy goodness shall be as the morning dew Hos 6.4 And thou shalt see that all thy Inchanters and Sorcerers and Magitians and Peepers and Southsayers with all their cunning and neat Interpretations of Scripture to serve their own turns to maintain their delusions and sorceries all these will not when Christ shall come in his light stand thee in any stead But thou and they shall be utterly ashamed and confounded together when Christ shal once speak that word in thee in the power of the Spirit Psal 97.7 Confounded be all they that worship graven Images then both the Maker the Former and the Worshipper thereof shall be in a most miserable condition In as much as men have taken more pains about their Idols and Images and made them more neat and curious and in as much as they have spent more time herein and have been OLD Worshippers of Old Idols so much the more will be their shame and their confusion 'T is true you may call them Ordinances and give them neat names but Christ will then ask who required these things at your hands And yet they were the things he did require Esa 1.12 But think you I am pleased with sacrifices or bodily worships which profit not at all and which never could make the commers thereunto perfect Heb. 10.1 If Jesus Christ appear not in these and strip thee of thy Idols and of thy Sorceries thy wayes lead down to darkness and to the bottomless pit and thou shalt never enter into the new Jerusalem but wilt be without among lyars and whormongers and sorcerers and dogs for even thou Rev. 21.8 22.15 who pretendest to serve Jesus Christ thou art the very man that hast crucified him and put him to death thou art Hee that hast slain the two Witnesses which lie dead in the street of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt Ibid. 11.8 where also our Lord is crucified When man thinks that any good thing is in him or shal deny that Jesus is alone wisdom righteousness power goodness c. he hath slain and crucified Christ and killed those two Eternal Witnesses And these are the two Olive trees Verse 4 5. and the two Candlesticks which shall for ever stand before the God of the whole Earth and these two answer one another for ever and run and empty themselves into each other for ever before the presence of God and if any man shall dare to hurt these two Witnesses which the Eternal God hath ordained to stand before him for ever then fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies and if any man hurt them he must in like manner be killed When Christ will arise and will raise up these two Witnesses which are slain by all the sons of men and which lie dead in every street in every Nation and in the streets of the great City of the whole Earth This is no other but spiritually Sodom and Egypt where our Lord was and is crucified and not onely at Jerusalem where he was Litterally and Externally crucified but here in Sodom and Egypt spiritually where was and
are still in snares and lockt fast in their fetters for who else can deliver and set free the soule of man but he that is Lord of all Rev. 1.18 and is subject to none He alone hath the keyes of Hell and death he alone is the soules Captaine and deliverer This is that which all the Saints have experience of when they finde themselves delivered from the bondage of flesh of selfe of the world if they feel this work done within them they know experimentally t is the very finger and power of Christ and that he is only Christs free man that none hath brought it to pass to set them at liberty to knock off their chains and lead them out of prison and set their feet upon a rock but only the Almighty power and meer mercy of the Lord Jesus they know that it hath been he that hath opened their eyes and their eares Psal 40.2 that hath raised them from death and given them feet to walk and there is none know this truly but only those that feele it done in themselves And for proofe of this point though I might prove it by Scripture very pleatifully to shew how many yea all the Saints there spoken of have found it in their own experience that they were delivered from death and from prison by the power of God and by the hand of Jesus Christ yet what is this to thee except thou sinde their experience true in thy selfe else their experience is but notions and riddles to thee and such things whereof thou hast no knowledge except thou see and know thy selfe to be under deth and kept fast in prison and except thou hast found Jesus Christ restoring recovering delivering and redeeming thee from this death And that thou findest that he hath said to thy soule Arise and stand up on the feet Acts 14.10 and hath given thee strength and life to what end is it to bring all the examples in Scripture and in the world if this death and life be no experimented in us Insomuch that thou canst say This word is true to me because done in me as the Apostle saith in Heb. 1.1 2. Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers and by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things Those truths which he spake before by the Prophets he hath now spoken in us by his Son so that we now know them to be the word and speakings of God But as our Saviour saith Mat. 12.39 40. An evil and an Adulterous Generation seeketh after a sign They expect every speaking should be made good by an external word and ye must go no farther so that the truth is never witnessed to in their hearts but as he sayes there There shall no sign be given them but the sign of the Prophet Ionas For as Ionas was three days and three nights in the Whales belly even so shal the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth Except you find the same things done in you the same miracles the same death the same lying in the grave three days and three nights except you find Jesus Christ taking thee by the hand and restoring thee to life thou art of an evil and adulterous Generation seeking after an external sign and thou art a meer stranger to these things But I shall for their sakes who feel the work of Christ within them give you two or three places of Scripture being the experience of the Saints of old that you may see how the Saints bear witnesse to each other in experience First Scripture Esa 61.1 2 3. Esa 61.1 2 3. speaking there of Christ being the only deliverer saith The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anoynted me to preach good tidings to the meek he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound c. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion to give them beauty for ashes and the oyl of joy for mourning and the garments of praise for the spirit of heavinesse c. Christ only is the breaker open of the soules prison doors he alone gives deliverance to the Captives and he alone brings them forth from prison and sets them free and this he is to his people in all ages for he is yesterday and to day Heb. 13.8 and the same for ever and when the same word appeared in flesh he testifies the same of himself Luke 4.18 Luk. 4.18 21. where he rehearseth the same words and applyes them to himself vers 21. This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears And this was that which he still held forth in all his teachings that there is no other Saviour nor Deliverer but himself never was nor is nor ever shall be to the end of the world Moses was only an outward and external Captain or Deliverer but His leadings and deliverings are spiritual and there is none can be delivered but by him Heb. 12.24 as he is a better Mediator then Moses so he is a better deliverer t is he alone that frees the soul from the pit from death and hell his Kingdom is within us The Jewes and Pharisees they still excepted an outward deliverer and could not own Him as a Prince and Saviour but were blind and saw not what he still held forth in all his teachings They could not see the truth that they were blind and miserable and full of Hypocrisie and were no other but painted Sepulchres glorious outwardly but within were full of rottennesse stench and dead mens bones They could not endure to stand in the light of this truth Mat. 23.27 but hated it and persecuted him to the death for holding it forth What are we blind also what we the learned the wisest the holiest what we that are strict our selves and call upon others to be so this was death to them But now had they but seen this and owned it he would have been their righteousness their deliverer their redeemer to have set them free but because they said we see therefore their sin remained and their fetters and bondage was not taken off And again Christ tells them Iohn 8.31 32. If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free Now these things they could not see nor understand that they were in bondage but answered to him we are Abrahams seed and were never in bondage to any man how sayest thou ye shall be made free then Jesus answered them Verily verily I say unto you He that committeth sin is the servant of sin the servant abideth not in the House for ever but the son abideth for ever And if the son shall make you