thy love for his relief he wants thy help behold he is sick When he hears this he stirs not one step but stays still where he was two days together as if he would be sure to give him time enough to dye Secondly Another cause of his death was an hidden design of glory to God This sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Vers 4. I know the meaning of this sickness it shall not end in death but that death it must lead to shall be as it were no death it shall be so soon and so powerfully swallowed up in life But for the glory of God for the advancing of the glory of that Power and Love of his which this shall occasion the putting forth and discovery of in his Son that the Son of God may be glorified thereby There was also a design of love to Lazarus that he might gain a further testimony a further sight a further experiment of the Love and Power of Christ that he might receive and enjoy a further degree of life from Christ God doth not meerly use us as Instruments for his own Glory but he loves that we should have a taste of that Glory he raises to himself out of us He brings us to sickness to death to destruction not only to exercise his skill and power in healing in raising in restoring us but that he might also cause a more sweet fresh health a more precious flourishing life a more pure perfect Salvation to spring up out of that sickness out of that death out of the ashes of that destruction There was another design yet in it which had also an influence upon it and that was the confirmation of the Faith of the Disciples So Vers 14.15 Lazarus is dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent ye may believe God had an intent besides the glory of the Work to confirm the Faith of the Disciples Miracles can neither work nor confirm Faith they cannot reach that Principle whence Faith springs and grows but God can either work or confirm faith by them All the Miracles that ever Christ wrought could not bring any one to beleeve but they still ask for a sign these were not evidencing and convincing enough but yet God made use of every one of them when and to whom and as he pleased He who hath an eye may see the Power of God in every thing and may observe the several eminent putings forth of it and so be strengthened in his Faith towards him but he who hath not this eye can only toss it up and down in his own uncertain reasonings but not spiritually discern it And I am glad for your sakes He was not glad of Lazarus's sickness of Lazarus's misery of Lazarus's death but he was glad of the advantage it yeelded him to set forth God the Glory of God to make Lazarus taste of his Love and his Power to strengthen the Faith of his weak staggering Disciples in this respect he was glad of it God delights not simply in misery in death in destruction but in that which he works by them and out of them which could not so advantagiously any other way be brought forth and discovered as through them 3. There is the sad lamentation over dead Lazarus The lamentation of the Jews of his kindred of the Disciples but especially the lamentation of Martha and Mary is very observable Vers 21 32. Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed Wherein they secretly tax him for his neglect for his delay as if they had said Lord we sent to thee soon enough and if thou hadst come we had not now been thus mourning and weeping over our dead brother thou mightest easily have prevented all this if thou hadst pleased Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not dyed And this is the language of the poor desolate Soul of the poor dead spirit Lord if thou hadst been here my life had not gone out If thou hadst stood by me and stuck to me and put forth thy skill and power for me as I thought thy love to me would have enforced thee to do I had never tasted this cup of desolation this cup of death O it is the absence of Christ that kills the Soul whose Life is in his presence 4. The unexpectedness of any restauration of him to life The Disciples it never enters into their thoughts but let us go and dye with him V. 16. The Jews wonder that Christ loving him so well did not preserve him from dying but never once thought of raising of restoring him to life Vers 37. Martha who seemed to be full of Faith in this very respect Vers 22. was so far from it that she even mocks at Christ that he should make any offer to go about it Vers 39 Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days If thou hadst come sooner thou mightest have preserved him from death but now it is too late to think of any thing he is not in a case now to be visited or recovered by this time he stinketh what dost thou mean to speak of taking away the stone Resurrection from death is very unexpected He that is shut up in the grave seemeth quite out of the capacity of life In misery in affliction there may be hope of relief but who can look for Redemption from death to be raised out of the grave Alas we little think ever to meet with any such grave much less to be redeemed from it Christ was thy Type herein though somewhat more also Thou must taste of his Death thou must into his Grave and lie there thy season though the holy One in thee shall not see corruption Thy life shall not dye shall not not there it shall but sleep and when thou awakest thou shall awake in his likeness and live for ever As Christ was raised from the dead to dye no more for death to have no more dominion over him so shalt thou Thou shalt sit on the Throne with him and that life which hath been hitherto in weakness in bonds in slavery in misery passing through and bearing the weight of death and destruction shall then reign shall then enjoy it self in the Fountain from whence it did flow and where alone it can sweetly and perfectly live 5. The great Love and Power Christ shewed in recovering him to life There was great Love which he variously expressed both in disregarding himself and his own safety in going thither which his Disciples put him in mind of vers 8. and in his behaviour when he came there His affection vented it self exceedingly so that the Jews could not but take notice of his great Love to him vers 36. He groaned and troubled himself vers 33. He wept vers 35. It went to his Heart it melted his very Soul to see the condition of his beloved one
earnest to bring others unto also as being very sensible that it tends both to his and their happiness whereas all other things tend apparantly to the misery and destruction of the creature And herein lieth the excellency of man this is the best he can desire or hope to attain and a Birth to or in this is the best Birth that can be produced by him But this is not the new-birth this is not that which God calls Regeneration this is not the heir but the son of the bond-woman which shall never inherit this is but the fruit but the off-spring of the first Adam which is of the earth earthly not of the second Adam which is the Lord from Heaven heavenly in himself and begetting an heavenly nature All these come from man the nature of man the blood of man the desire and skill of man the corruption of man or at best the excellency of man But the Child here spoken of the Child God delights in the Child he will own as his Son is of his own Seed is begotten by himself is born of him He is of the Seed of Eternity of Immortality and therefore Eternity of right belongeth to him He is the Child of God by a new Nature by a new Life he is the immediate off-spring of his own Son formed by his own Spirit But of God This whole Birth belongs to God 1. It is he that sows this Seed in the heart the seed of this Life his own Seed the Seed wherein the very Godhead is contained and which cannot but grow up into God God hath his Power to generate as well as man and the other creatures he hath his Seed to sow as well as they and his Seed doth a truly and fully contain his Nature as their seed doth theirs He is the great Sower that sows his own grain in his own Vineyard He is the great Builder that lays the foundation of his own House He hath begotten us again c. 2. It is he that quickens the Seed and causeth it to grow And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2. He casts a vail of death upon Eternity upon Immortality for a season he maketh it as it were to rot in the heart that he may quicken it again that he may cause it to grow up in its own shape and fulness And when it shoots forth it is he that causeth it to thrive and flourish Paul may plant and Apollos water but God giveth the increase This Life floweth only from God and groweth up only by the breath of God 3. He doth this by his own Power by his mighty Arm He puts his whole strength to it It doth not cost him nothing to sow this Seed to beget this Son but it costs him the very Power and strength of the Godhead even an exceeding greatness of Power he works with the very might of his Power when he begets this Child when he brings forth Faith in this Child even with the very same strain of strength that he exercised upon Christ when he raised him from the dead and exalted him above all other power Ephes 1.19 20. 4. He does this also by his own Will The other births are by the power of man by the will of man this is as by the Power of God so by the Will of God He is not at all moved to this by any thing in the creature by any thing from the creature but meerly by his own Will of his own Will begat he us He soweth his Seed according to his Nature as other things do theirs according to their nature Lo this is the New-Birth The Spirit breatheth where he listeth No man knows whence this breath comes no man knows whither this breath goes but it keeps within its own Circuit which is only known to it self Thus is every one that is born of God Of the Excellent Nature of this Birth or of the Child thus begotten thus born FROM JOH 3. Vers 6. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit SPirit denotes excellency purity strength durableness of nature its constitution is more excellent more clear more strong more lasting then that of flesh Flesh is weak corrupt fading hath little loveliness it and that loveliness quickly perishing the Egyptians are men and not God and their horses flesh and not Spirit Spirit is a sublime an excellent kind of nature both in its inwardness and in its outwardness its way of Being of motion either within or without of generation far exceeds that of flesh and so doth the Child begotten this way it is of the same nature with that which begets it That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit That which is begotten by the Spirit is of a spiritual nature of the same nature with himself of the very divine nature who hath made us partakers of the divine nature He observes the Law of Generation which is to beget and encrease his own nature and kind to multiply himself So that this Child is divine what ever is in this Child what ever flows from this Child cannot but be divine its Faith its Love its Hope its Joy its Meekness Sweetness Holiness Righteousness are not such as grow in Natures garden but in the Paradise of God and from a more inward and spiritual seed then is sown in nature That which is born of the flesh is flesh All the excellency that man can attain to all the Faith Hope Love Joy c. that man can have from any of the Births fore-mentioned is but fleshly but weak corrupt fading but that which is born of the Spirit that which flows from this Life that which grows out of this Seed is spiritual and hath the Spirit of Life Eternity and Immortality in it The flesh profiteth nothing Christ speaks that to persons who were bending their whole strength to understand him all this avails nothing The greatest fleshly desire moves not God the greatest fleshly industry and endeavour furthers not the creature What ever is thus received what ever is thus understood what ever is thus obtained is but fleshly and will not avail All the faith in God all the love towards God all the desire after God or delight in him all the obedience unto God thus gained thus put forth hath no true life in it and must needs wither and come to nothing The fleshly understanding of any thing revealed by Christ is of no value It is the Spirit that quickeneth It is the spiritual part in the Word the spiritual part of the Word engrafted by the Spirit in the heart that quickeneth it at first or causeth it afterwards to thrive and grow This Child hath a generosity a nobility an height an aspiringness in him He can never rest out of his own Country nor out of his own place of habitation in his Country He cannot endure to live beneath himself He must possess and enjoy God to the full or he is not satisfied He must live
one another There is none comes between the Father and the Son they know one another indeed The first act of the Fathers knowledg passed upon the Son and the first act of the Sons knowledg passed upon the Father and there it is fullest and strongest God knew the Son first and all for his sake Christ knew the Father first and all for his sake Their knowledg is concentred in each other there they fix it there they make use of it there they delight in it Just such a knowledg as this is there between Christ and his sheep Christ knoweth them as those he himself hath begotten as those whom he hath breathed the Image of the Father into as those that were taken out of him as his wife formed out of his own side as Eve was out of Adams They know Christ as the everlasting Father as the Fountain of their life as their onely Lord and Shepherd And therefore it is the first and most natural act of the Soul so soon as it is begotten and born to beleeve on Christ to love Christ to hope in Christ So soon as ever it opens its eyes and sees it sees Christ the original of its own life and it clings unto him all its motions are goings forth of it self towards him and receiving and letting him into it self It cannot live further then it enters into Christ or then Christ enters into it this is its proper element where it onely can rest and delight it self As Christ did hang on the Father from that knowledg he had of him and the Father did continually communicate himself to Christ by that knowledg he had of him So Christs sheep presently hang on him as their Shepherd so soon as they are made sheep and he naturally taketh care of them as the Father doth of him Look after what manner and upon what grounds the Father and Christ know one another and what the effects of this knowledg are just such a knowledg and such effects of knowledg shall you finde between Christ and his sheep Knowledg is the acquaintance persons have one with another their comprehending of one another in the same light wherein they are and live wherein they understand the dispositions the ways the counsels of one another God is said not to know wicked men because he holds no acquaintance no correspondence with them but he knows Christ he holds intimate acquaintance and correspondence with him he lets him see what ever is in him and what ever he intends to do and so Christ also advises with his Father about every thing desires to hide nothing from the Father desires to know nothing but from in and with the Father Such an acquaintance is there between Christ and his Christ opens his excellencies and the mysteries of his ways to them and they open their hearts and thoughts and burthens and every thing to Christ it is a knowledg accompanyed with and begetting the most intimate familiarity the most mutual communion delight and confidence And this knowledg onely is certain all other knowledg all from without all from within that is any other ways received then from the lips of Christ is but a lye and cannot but deceive We know Truth by knowing Christ and it is in and from Christ that we know it Christs sheep cannot take up truth at any time when it is held out nor from any hand but onely when they see Christ going before them Though they see Truth to be their food yet they desire it not they meddle not with it but when their Shepherd picks it out for them and as he distributes it to them It is the subtilty of the Devil to be beforehand with Truth to hold it out first on his false grounds and principles that afterwards by felling them he may supplant the Truth it self when Christ comes to hold it forth And though other persons may take up Truth thus held forth by drinking in the outward notion yet they cannot They do not know this kinde of voyce they are not used to receive things thus from principles or from the light of Reason after the manner of men but when Christ leads them by his Spirit when he thus speaks to them they know his voyce and follow him They regard not what Creatures speak in or through the Creation They regard not what spiritual men speak of God or Christ or any other spiritual thing They regard not what is spoken within them they know the root of vanity and deceit is deep within But what Christ speaks either from within or from without is exceeding welcome to them when he opens that ear and that heart that can hear and know his voyce And this is their kinde of knowledg which having once tasted of they are not able to relish any other Christ relisheth no other knowledg in them nor do they relish any other knowledg in themselves When this is at any time darkened hid or buryed from them or within them though they have never so much left of that which men call knowledg yet they cannot look upon it or own it as knowledg Such kinde of knowledg is not knowledg with them is not their knowledg they have neither interest nor delight in it As Christ knows them by his own light by his own knowledg by the knowledg of his own divine spiritual Nature so they know Christ and spiritual things by the same light by the same nature with the same knowledg He hath the peculiar knowledg of such a Shepherd as he is and they have the peculiar knowledg of such sheep as they are Their relation is distinct different from any relation in this world of another nature and kinde their union is such an union as is not to be found here below and such is their knowledg and communion I am the good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine Of the New Covenant FROM HEBR. 8.10 11 12. For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my Laws into their minde and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying Know the Lord For all shall know me from the least to the greatest For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more A Covenant with us is that agreement which is concluded of between man and man between two several parties It contains in it the agreement between them and the terms of the agreement This is sown every where in every thing throughout the whole Creation and in all affairs and transactions there may be seen and read the force and vertue of a Covenant written either in open letters or secret characters Every union every relation contains a Covenant in it the bounds whereof makes the union and relation
the flesh be thrown into the furnace the spirit goes with it and is burnt and melted in the fire as well as it Therefore all the life the spirit gains possesses pleases it self with it must part with again and must dye a bitter death with the flesh that it may be quite rid of the flesh all its life must sink back into its principle and lie there as if it were dead while the flesh is truly mortified and slain for ever And if it were not of an excellent nature if it could not bear the force of that fire which kills and burns up the flesh it would also be slain and consumed with the flesh if it were not pure gold it could not but waste and perish in the heat of that furnace which is still consuming and at last when it is heated hot enough will quite devour all fleshly dross whatsoever that is cast into it 4. The restlesness of the spirit under this Remedy For this thing I be sought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me He useth the best means with the utmost vigour to get rid of it Nothing more effectual then prayer then fervent prayer then constant prayer We have no strength of our own our strength lies in God faith and prayer or faith in prayer is our readiest and surest way of recourse to him for it Paul prayeth once yea again and again and fain he would be heard and mark the earnestness of his spirit that it might depart from me He doth not pray for strength to bear it for submission to the Will of God for spiritual benefit and advantage by it No nothing will serve his turn but to have it taken away to have it removed to have it depart the pain the shame is so great that he can by no means be content to lie under it This is such physick as we would never take if we might chuse it maketh us so sick that we would rather be without health then come by it this way If this remedy were not forced upon us this sickness would always remain with us 5. The support of the Soul under this restlessness the Cordial that is of most force to refresh the spirits under the violent workings of this physick which make the spirits very faint and bring the Soul very low My Grace is sufficient for thee The Grace of God the good will of God revealed to tasted by the Soul is able to refresh and support it under sense of the greatest misery There are two things of very great efficacy in it 1. There is a taste of sweetness at present which doth secretly relieve refresh revive the spirit He who ever knew God let him at any time taste the favour and love of God though in the lowest darkest deadest most oppressed state he can be in he cannot but find a secret touch of life in it in thy favour is life yea thy loving-kindness is better then life it is better to taste the sweetness the kindness the love of God in the most bitter pangs of death then to enjoy the sweetest touches and motions of life in ones own spirit 2. There is an assurance of a good issue and of all this tending that way He who sees the Grace of God the vertue of its nature its skill and efficacy in operation will see his physick administred to him from that Grace and working by that Grace He sees no more the temptations of the Devil in the Devils hand or his own sins in his own hand doing him mischief but in Gods hand doing him good He sees his own weakness not any longer his snare but his advantage making way to rid him of his weakness and to give him full possession of the strength of God for my strength is made perfect in weakness The strength of God is not made perfect in the discovery of it self to the creature in the creature for the creature till the creature be made perfectly weak While there is any strength left in the creature there is some room left there which the strength of God doth not fill the strength of God may be there but not all his strength the strength of God may act there but not perfectly The strength of God can never do that it hath to do for the Soul to perfect it before the Soul be first made perfectly weak and then the strength of God will soon be perfected when the Soul is brought to perfect weakness When we are brought into perfect captivity and perfectly weakened in captivity so that there is nothing left nothing remaining nothing visible to be delivered but the whole life of the spirit is perfectly dryed up and lost even for ever then is there nothing to hinder the breaking forth of perfect deliverance 6. The exultation of the spirit from the sense and experience of the good that the Grace of God works for it by these it can hereafter sport with misery play with death laugh while it is in the very jaws of destruction Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities I will not be so ashamed of my weakness now I know what it is and whither it tends but I will glory in it I will rejoyce in mine own inability to withstand temptations to keep back the breaking forth of any corruption in me to secure my self from the meanest messenger of Satan and I will not do it as a forced thing but most gladly it shall be a free motion of my spirit that which it shall most freely give it self up to namely to rejoyce in and because of its weakness most gladly therefore c. Yea I will rather do it I will chuse to rejoyce and glory in them before I would do it in Revelations I like them better they tend to bring me nearer to that which my spirit longs after whereas Revelations tend to set me further from it That the Power of Christ may rest upon me My life my happiness lies in enjoying the Power of Christ Revelations tend to strip me of it but weaknesses tend to possess me of it yea to cause it to rest upon me not only to seize upon me but to abide with me Our weaknesses are not only to fit us for some more vigorous aid and assistance from God but for the inhabitation of God there will he dwell thither shall the Power of Christ resort and there shall it rest Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities I will never be so unwilling to be weakened again Since I knew the meaning of it I cannot but take pleasure in it It is my delight to be made weak to be thrown down to be reproached to be bemired in my own filth I could not endure shame immediately after my Revelations but now I can please my self to behold mine own shame Yea I love to be brought to necessities to distresses that I know not which way to turn my self for all this is for Christs sake to give him more hold of
AN ECCHO FROM The Great Deep CONTAINING Further Inward Openings Concerning divers other things upon some whereof the Principles and Practises of the Mad Folks do much depend As also the Life Hope Safety and Happiness of the Seed of God is pointed at which through many dark dismall untrodden paths and passages as particularly through an unthought of death and captivity they shall at length be led unto Through ISAAC PENINGTON junior Esq PSAL. 14.2 3. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one PSAL. 82.5 They know not neither will they understand they walk on in darkness all the foundations of the earth are out of course LONDON Printed by John Macock and are to be sold by Giles Calvert neer the West end of Pauls MDCL To the Mad Folks Poor shattered Souls YE little think how dear ye are unto me because of your breakings such of you as have been broken by power and not by notion That which I have felt in the same kind for I have been broken all in peeces once and again yea and yet again My life and my strength hath been led nay driven into captivity yea I have been made to taste the death of the whole lump and the death of every parcel over and over and the bitter relish of it is yet very strong upon my palate That I say which I have felt in this kind hath made me beyond measure tender towards you and I cannot but own you before all the world as the greatest objects both of my delight and expectation I am most pleased in beholding you your sickness is more lovely in my eye then that health which others enjoy and please themselves in My expectations of the next discovery of Light Life and Glory are fastned upon you as the most proper materials which wisdom hath fitted to disclose it self in most unexpectedly to the world My heart tells me that ye are not thus shattered broken and made so odious for nothing yet let me withal tell you that my spirit thinketh you never the neerer either for your principles or practises which carry more unloveliness to me then any principles or practises of any sort of men upon the face of the earth It is not your new Fabrick but your old desolations that kindle in me any desire towards you or hopes concerning you They are not your new notions of God Christ the death of Christ the life of Christ the coming of Christ the Judgment hell heaven the equality of things the community of things c. that represent you any thing lovely to me No really My palate doth in no wise relish this new wine but rather saith the old is better But 't is your broken state your desolate condition your being stripped and made naked of all your garments ornaments beauty glory this is it takes with me and if I could see you yet more sick yet more stripped stripped of these new fig-leaves also wherewith you cover your old nakedness mine eye would more pity you and my heart more love and embrace you As ye live I loath you nay I loath your life more then the life of any else So far as ye are dead I cannot but hug you And for such of you who break forth through Visions and Revelations into new apprehensions I profess I know you not this is not the way of the breaking forth of my life which must not be steered by these but be able to judg these which when once I feel with cleerness Majesty and power I may then be drawn to beleeve that I begin to taste life But oh how I long to see your new life with all the motions of it swallowed up by death There is a cup prepared for you a baptism ye are to be baptized with which shall wash you clean within and make you vomit lustily even till ye are quite emptied of all that froth and scum of vanity which now swims up and down in your stomacks and fumes up into your brains This is not HE whom ye now hold forth This is not God nor any thing which ye now take to be all things The child is not yet born in you that knows how to chuse the good or refuse the evill This is not the Land of promise wherein ye now set up your rest but a strange land a land of dearth and barrenness a land of darkness and of the shadow of death This is not light not true light it is but a painted light wherein ye now walk not the light of the Lord but the light of the vain imagination of the creature O quit your station your present habitation the wilderness is better though not as an abode yet as a passage Depart ye depart ye this is not your rest for it is polluted Life lives not here This is not the chamber of the Bridegroom for him to embrace and enjoy his Bride in This is poor gain This falls short of what ye have lost The meanest enjoyment of a living God in the lowest dispensation is better then the highest transportations from airy notions O my Beloved where dwellest thou where is thy Temple where is thy Turtle where dwellest thou where dwells thy love Where shal God and his people meet to know and enjoy one another When shal the Son put off his servile Form and be admitted into his inheritance When shall the creature be made free which hath so long groaned under the bondage of its corruption Awake arise save with thy right hand that thy Beloved may be delivered Gather into thy self that which cannot be happy out of thee Put an end to death to destruction by thy life by thy Salvation Bind up enmity in the bosom of thine own love O let us at length see the conquest of love Overcome all by thine own goodness Swallow up all in thine own perfection and nothing shall remain weak or imperfect any longer Visit thy fainting Spouse for behold the very strength of her heart faileth which she desireth only to preserve to entertain and embrace thee with Her spirit is quite spent therefore contend no longer but yeild up thy self at length to the desire which thou thy self hast kindled in the bosom of thy Beloved Revive that precious life by thy presence which is expiring for want of thee and can no longer live but in thee and with thee Thou who hast prepared food for every thing thou haste made satisfie that hunger that thirst which is immeasurable after and can only be allayed with the presence and possession of a living God Thou who invitest him that is a thirst give to him whose very tongue faileth for thirst that he may drink of the water of life freely and fully What shall every desire be satisfied but that which is kindled after God Is this the true
and living of its own nature O how richly hath God prepared for thee O Child of Eternity He hath sown his own life and perfection in thee he hath reserved his own life and perfection for thee and he feeds thee with no less then life and perfection at present onely a little prepared a little qualified and corrected for the queasiness of thy stomack in the state of thy weakness Some Properties which attend this New-born-Childe in his nonage while he is growing up to his inheritance FROM MATTH 5. Vers 3 c. 1. HE is poor in spirit stript of all his life of all his beauty of all his excellency of all his wisdom of all his strength of all his righteousness of all his holiness of all his happiness a peece of perfect weakness emptiness vanity and misery He is nothing he can do nothing He cannot pray he cannot beleeve he cannot wait he cannot hope he cannot love he cannot so much as desire Indeed when God breathes any of these into him then he has them when God draws forth any of these in him then he acts them when God lives in him then he lives but of himself he is nothing knows nothing can do nothing Other men can resist temptations but he lies open to all evils Other men can conquer corruptions but every thing is too strong for him Other men have a stock of duties of mortification of holiness but he is poor Other men are strong but he is weak Other men cannot but trust God love God live in and upon God but he sees he knows he feels he can do none of them He hath nothing of his own nothing in his power but is shut out of all the possession and possibility of life in himself Behold a poor one indeed There are none else so poor but they are rich in themselves rich in the esteem thoughts and conceits of themselves But this Soul is emptyed within as well as without is stript of his inside as well as of his outside is made naked to purpose his very spirit is unclothed he hath nothing to cover support or refresh himself even there 2. He is of a mournful spirit cannot but grieve at the sight and sense of this poverty As he is the truly poor one so he is the truly afflicted one As this is the greatest the deepest poverty So it pincheth hardest it causeth the greatest the sharpest smart It overwhelms his heart to see how he is fallen short of the glory of God to finde himself destitute of the life and presence of God He cannot rejoyce while he wants him who is the light of his countenance The Primitive Christians indeed had a taste of joy but that was from the riches which were then dispensed unto them which did not long last They were poor outwardly but rich towards God as having nothing but yet possessing all in him but this was no abiding state the Bridegroom was soon taken away and ever since hath been a time of mourning 3. He is of a meek spirit by being continually emptyed broken and stript he is made very meek His haughtiness and roughness is tamed and subdued by his constant sense of misery He knows what it is to be miserable to be subject to vanity to be destitute of the life and power of God He hath nothing in him to lift up it self against any to accuse any of He can neither act roughly towards others nor oppose any rough actings towards him He knows the meaning of nothing and so is silent and meek towards all and concerning all He is not a fretful outragious mourner but he bewails himself and the sad condition of all things with a meek broken spirit 4. He is hungry and thirsty after Righteousness He is very poor altogether stript of them yet not contented so to remain but there is a great hunger and thirst kindled in him after them He feels the vanity and misery of unrighteousness and would fain be rid of it he tastes the sweetness and excellency of righteousness and is very eager to be filled with it to be possessed of it to have it brought forth in him It is his own natural temper and he cannot rest until he return into the freedom and fulness of it until he finde nothing but righteousness within nothing but righteousness flowing forth perfect righteousness within perfect righteousness flowing forth even the Righteousness of God himself communicated to him living in him and displaying it self through him When he is perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect then and not till then will he have enough 5. He is very merciful full of compassion of bowels Merciful to every creature merciful to all men to their Bodies Souls to every thing that is liable to suffer He loves no cruelty no oppression but would fain have all tendered all pityed all relieved He is touched with every ones want and would fain have them supplyed He would not have the Bodies of men want food or rayment He would not have the Souls of men want God the life of God satisfaction in and from God 6. He is pure in heart Though he is overspred and covered with abundance of filth and impurity yet the principle of life in him is pure and uncapable of being tainted 7. He is a peace-maker does not love quarrels and contentions but meekness and quietness There should be no fallings out no jarrings between Creature and Creature or between God and Creature if he could help it and he is still making peace so far as lies in his reach He loves peace exceedingly and because of his abundant delight to reap it he is ever sowing and cherishing it He is the very Image of his Father still moving and working towards Reconciliation 8. He is persecuted for righteousness sake for that righteousness sweetness meekness c. that God bringeth forth in him There is no cause why he should be persecuted but yet he is persecuted and this kinde of temper layeth him open to persecution the Dove-like Lamb-like spirit is a temptation to the Hawk to the Wolf Christ was persecuted for this very cause and the same spirit in the world that persecuted Christ will also be still persecuting such as these upon the same ground and speaking all manner of evil against them falsly for Christs sake because of their reference and likeness to Christ whom by a secret antipathy the spirit of the world when most refined and spiritualized cannot but oppose They cannot for shame before men and in their own spirits speak against these things in them therefore they invent lyes and falshoods that they may represent them odious to men and their own spirits thereby and so more freely without check of Conscience persecute them under colour thereof But these notwithstanding all their present miseries and hardships though they be looked upon as the scum and off-scouring of the world and so used by the world yet they are the blessed of God of whom the
world is not worthy A dram of their life is worth a thousand worlds They are blessed in their likeness unto Christ blessed in their present communion with Christ in their fellowship in his death and sufferings and shall appear to be blessed when they are taken up into his glory and come to inherit both God Heaven and Earth in and with him which he who cannot lye hath promised them and hath reserved for them and which none shall ever come to partake of with them but this way Of the Fathers care over this Childe and his readiness to provide for him every thing he needs FROM LUK. 11. Vers 13. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him NAture among other of her lessons teacheth Parents to be tender over their Children to give them what is for their good and not for their hurt While they are babes unable to chuse for themselves they provide for them what they know needful when they grow up and begin to feel what they want they are still ready to furnish them with those necessaries which Nature directeth them to seek to them for God hath his Children his Children need provision and his Nature teacheth him to take care of them to be tender towards them as well as the nature of man teacheth him That which these children chiefly want is the Spirit of the Father to live in them to dwell with them to guide them to enlighten them to quicken them to comfort and refresh them They came from this Spirit and all their content lies in union and communion with this Spirit in the presence and power ot this Spirit in them He is their meat their drink their light their life their strength their clothes their house their inheritance their way their end their all They are as it were at present severed from him as the seed is from the body but they cannot be well till they return into him and that which they want in the mean time is him to enter into and dwell in them And as they grow up to any distinct understanding of themselves and their state they feel this want and are led by their nature to ask accordingly of their Father That which this Childe begs is the Spirit he cares not for any thing else It is that which his Soul which every part of him wants it is that which he needs in every motion in every condition He cannot tell how to shift any where how to do any thing without this Spirit of life There is no life more vigorous then this when it lives in this Spirit nor no life more flags without it To them that ask him This Childe asks it is natural to him to be asking what he wants of the Father He is taught to ask and according to the nature and degree of his want And Oh how he begs for this Spirit for this Holy Spirit He loathes the unclean spirit of the world but he loves and longs for the pure Spirit of the Father His Nature is pure and he loves purity His Nature is spirit and he loves spirit but not every spirit but that spirit which is suitable to his Nature the Spirit which he himself came from and for this he cries and groans unto the Father night and day Now there seems to be a great hardness in God to part with this Spirit unto them which may be gathered out of this question here and may be further confirmed by their experience for though they cry hard for him they obtain little of him little of his presence little of his power little of his comfort They are ever and anon complaining that they have not sufficient of him to rub on with They do not onely want the delight of his presence but they have hardly enough to keep life and soul together hardly enough of Gods Spirit to keep life in their spirits But for all this there is a great propensity in God to furnish them with his Spirit with so much as their present state needs though not with so much to their sence yet with so much to his knowledg How much more shall your heavenly Father c. He is not an heavenly Father for nothing but is as ready to give heavenly good things as earthly Parents are to give earthly good things How much more If your Nature which is weak derived which came from him teach you to carry your selves thus towards your children how much more shall his Nature which is strong which is the Fountain of Strength and Perfection teach him to empty his Goodness into his Children according to their need If ye being evil know how to give good gifts c. If your nature thus prevail to instruct you who are corrupted and in whom it is corrupted how much more shall his pure his heavenly his incorruptible Nature teach him tender-heartedness towards his Children How much more shall it encline him to give not outward things earthly things but heavenly things and that heavenly thing which they all want which is his own Spirit Be silent O Sense Be confounded O Experience who art still witnessing the contrary in our spirits We see not we feel not we taste not we apprehend not God or any of his Ways aright through thee A strange Occurrence which may befall this Darling of God and of Christ in his pilgrimage and travel towards his native Country hidden in a Parable JOHN Chap. 11. IN which Parable there are several strange things covertly held forth or represented to that eye which is taught and enabled to pierce into them under a vail 1. There is the sickness and death of one dearly beloved of Christ he whom he loved was sick His love was so great to him that he was known to be an especial object of it Christ who cured others had power enough to have preserved him in health if he had pleased or to have recovered him at a distance but for all Christs Love and Power Lazarus falls sick and his sickness tends unto that which we count and call death 2. The true causes of his death which were Christs neglect and an hidden design of glory to God and love to him I reckon not his sickness as any that was but an instrument an engine so inferior a cause as it deserves not to come in number with these First Christs neglect and that was very great Vers 6. When he had heard therefore that he was sick he abode two days still in the same place where he was Though he had notice of it and that in the most pathetical maner that could be the news was directed to his heart and so directed as it might best touch and wound his heart Behold he whom thou lovest is sick There is one whom thou hast professed and born much love to he now stands in need of thy love of the putting forth of
sweet but beyond those limits it is very bitter And O how sweetly things go between God and his people within the bounds of his Covenant but he who passes those limits shall finde it an evil and a very bitter thing God hath two seeds to sow and cause to grow up two earths or wives to conceive and bring forth children to him from the seeds sown in their wombs and he hath two Covenants wherein are his terms of agreement and theirs too for each sort readily by their very nature desire and cannot but assent to the terms of each Covenant how far in what respect and upon what ground he will own them as his be with them be what they desire unto them Now as these seeds were in several seasons to be brought forth and appear So were these wives to be taken and owned and accordingly were the Covenants to appear in which respect the one is said to be old the other new vers 13. When God speaks to us he speaks in a language suitable to us and suitable to so much of his minde as he intends to express whereas those very things he speaks to us he can represent open and call otherwise He can call that old which he tells us is new and that new which he tells us is old yea and he can confound this language also and bring them both to an equality in this respect There never was any deep any wise understanding of God nor ever can be till the great depths of the Godhead are broken up till then God can and may hide himself in his whole Being in every motion in every thought of his heart in every word of his mouth He may speak what he pleaseth He may speak one thing now and in the very next breath speak clean contrary to what he spake before and make both good and yet make him a lyar that spake either from him or pretended to understand him in either He can call the same thing old that he calls new and the same thing new that he calls old He can call this a new Covenant and if thou thinkest to understand him and speak the same thing with him he can tell thee thou art a lyar and call it an old Covenant If thou wilt fall in with him here and say with him 't is old he can confound thee here also and say 't is both new and old If thou thinkest thou canst comprehend him in this he can confound thee yet again and say 't is neither new nor old If thou wilt yet be wise and understand both how 't is new and how 't is old and how neither new nor old he can and will confound thee again and shew thee that thou art now the greatest fool of all That very understanding which was made by the Lord enlightened by him made wise to know him must be darkened and confounded again A deep wise man can order his words so as others shall think they know him by them yet shall not but he alone understand and comprehend himself When he will he can open himself to the understanding of the meanest and when he will he can hide himself from the understanding of the deepest He can open himself in his deepest mysteries and he can hide himself in his plainest conceptions of things and this is an excellent peece of skill to be able to open and hide as one pleases Wilt thou deny to God this skill O Man Or if he have it wilt thou deny him liberty to make use of it Wilt thou say that if he speak to thee he must speak to thee so as thou mayst understand him Or if he speak that which seemeth plain to thy Reason wilt thou presently conclude that thou dost see and understand him O the boldness of man who will be measuring the minde of God in his words and say thus far must his meaning go and no further To what an height doth every sort of men raise their own Babylon some out of the Scriptures some out of inward Revelations comprehending God Christ Life Blessedness within their line But the building doth no where come to perfection nor ever shall for before it doth or can confusion shall overtake it and the City alone shall stand whose builder and maker is God That which God speaks shall stand for Truth onely as he opens and onely so far as he opens it and man shall one day see let him be as confident now as he will that he never understood one jot or tittle of God in the plainest thing that ever he did or spake Vers 10. For this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord There is a Covenant to be made to be established between God and his People which hath not been as yet I will make but I have not yet made The seed are to be brought forth but they have not as yet been brought forth and the Covenant is to be made and set up but hath not as yet been made and set up There is a Covenant that hath been already made an old Covenant a Covenant of works of labor and toyl of bondage slavery misery wrath death And there is a Covenant to be made a new Covenant a Covenant of Rest of Liberty of Love of Life and Peace evermore God hath his several sorts of things to bring forth and set in an excellent order one by another And this is it it contains this in it this is the description of it which here follows this is the Covenant that I will make With the house of Israel What is here meant by the house of Israel whether the natural seed of Abraham which were so in one sence or the spiritual seed of Christ which were so in another sence or both for though they have hitherto been separated yet the shadow and the substance may one day be gathered into one I shall not now declare After those days saith the Lord. After the days of their visitation destruction and desolation shall be ended after he hath plucked up both the natural seed and the spiritual seed and hath done breaking down destroying and afflicting them after that then will he begin to raise them up to build and to plant them Jer. 31.28 And when the time of restitution when the time of refreshing when the time of this seeds springing up anew with its new-purified life comes then shall this new Covenant appear then will I make this Covenant with them saith the Lord. I will put my Laws into their minde Their minde The minde is the inward part of the man the understanding part wherein the light of the man lies it is that wherein the principles of light or darkness of life or death are sown The constitution of man the state of man is according to his minde the changes wrought in man one way or other is by an efficacy upon his minde the minde being changed the man is changed otherwise
had but the Light of God he could not but have the Life of God also for the Life lies in it This is life Eternal to know thee the only true God If a man were in the light as he is in the light he could not but walk in the light with him This is the great misery of the Creation God is shut up from it and it is shut out from God and there is nothing but emptiness vanity and misery to be met with while God remains unknown Mans excellency lieth in knowledg Wherein doth man excel the other creatures but in his knowledg The light of this world the creatures have in common with him but not the light of his mind Wherein doth one man excel another but in knowledg He that knows much in any kind excels others in that kind who fall short of him in that knowledg He that knows most most certainly most clearly most fully in the deepest kind of knowledg excels all others The proper object of knowledg is God there is nothing else worth knowing the knowledg of any thing else begets and increases misery And there is but one kind of knowledg of God neither that tends towards happiness and that is that knowledg of himself which he giveth out to his people in his own Light all other knowledg is death and carries destruction in the bowels of it The knowledg of God as it springs up in the creature destroys the creature that life it seems to feed and nourish it doth but fatten for destruction and so moveth towards destruction even therein that knowledg alone preserves the creature which comes immediately from God into the creature and carries the creature out of it self into God where it lodges and lives save The knowledg of God since the broken dark state of man comes by teaching by such a Ministry and Ministration as God pleases to set up among his people who are the persons he alone picks out to know and to make himself known unto The Law was given to the Jews by Moses and he and Aaron the Priests and the Prophets were still to open the Law unto them and to teach them to know God by it The Priests lips should preserve knowledg and they should seek the Law at his mouth Men were also to teach one another according to the light they had according to the relation they stood in according to the conveniencies and opportunities that were cut out unto them for the instruction and exhortation of one another Thus every man was to teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying Know the Lord This is your life this is your happiness this is that ye were chosen by him for to be his people to be acquainted with him to understand his mind therefore what ever ye do look to it make it your main business to know the Lord. So in the times of the Apostles there was the same way of teaching we shall find men there likewise communicating the knowledg of God to one another and pressing them earnestly to receive and retain this knowledg there was a tang of somewhat further but it was neither universal full nor lasting But now when this Covenant comes to be set up there shall need no more of this teaching this teaching shall continue no longer God will so himself diffuse the knowledg of himself into every one according to what they need and can hold that none shall need to look abroad for it Every one shall drink water out of their own Cistern or rather out of their own Fountain for all shall know me There shall not remain one among the whole people of God ignorant of God there shall not any one need any other teaching or be taught any other ways then as the anointing teacheth him From the least to the greatest God produceth every thing in great variety There are smaller and greater in every sort of creatures Though they are much one yet they differ much also They differ in their shape in their dimension in beauty vertue strength and spirit some are of mean low spirits others of high noble excellent spirits So is it in his Seed In the natural seed the Jews there was a difference both in the Tribes and in the Families and in the particular persons in each Tribe and Family And as there were many other differences so there was particularly this in respect of the knowledg of God some having much knowledg of the Law others little some none at all So in the spiritual Seed there are little ones babes in Christ young men old men experienced men strong men men strong in Faith in Love in the Life and Power of God c. But this was the common way of all their learning viz. by teaching one another Indeed the Apostles were not taught by men but immediately by God but that was not usual it was in reference to their particular work but the Churches were taught by one another by the Officers and by the Brethren in them So that this hath been the common way hitherto But when this Covenant is set up in full force every one shall be taught by the Lord all thy children shall be taught of God and so taught that every one shall know God Man can but lay what he teacheth before the understanding but God can infuse it into the heart he can presently leaven the heart with it when he teacheth there is none shall avoyd learning but they shall all know the Lord from the least to the greatest They shall all learn of him and they shall all learn him from the very least to the greatest The hardest lesson that is for there is nothing harder then to know God God will teach his meanest schollar God will not have any blockhead or dullard in his School but the least there shall be able to comprehend himself From the least to the greatest He that is least he that hath least yet he shall not receive it from others but from God He that hath least light least life shall have that he has pure from the Fountain The least of his he will teach and the very least thing that is to be taught them he himself will teach them He will suffer none to teach his but himself indeed the least thing that can be known cannot thus be taught by any but himself And he that is greatest fullest who had need have much to fill him yet shall not draw one jot of it from any Cistern but all from the living God The greatest in the Life Liberty and Power of God he will teach yet further the least he will teach sufficiently he will teach every one from the very beginning to the end of all his School and he will teach every one effectually so as they shall need no other Teacher so as they shall need no otherwise to be taught so as they shall not chuse but learn that lesson every one of them wherein lieth their whole life and happiness they
know his is knowledg and shall appear knowledg when it cometh to be tried when the day comes and the shadows fly away this shall stand and remain we know He that is born of God he that feeds upon and grows up in the Life of God he doth indeed know He that sees with his eye in his light sees truth sees himself and that not any way painted but in his own native nakedness beauty and excellency But all other eyes all other lights all other sights of things with these eyes in or through these lights are but shadows tend but to hide and deceive and after their appointed season is over must pass away Man must dye his eye be closed at the time of his death after which it can see no more and then must he into the grave and all his light and knowledg be buried with him Go on O Man study the creatures study the Scriptures gather a stock of knowledg and experience from these Admire God love God live in God live to God be perfect walk exactly with God This is knowledg this is life this is excellency I cannot but give it its due as I am a man I love it and O how is my heart taken with the person in whom I find this vigorous But again This is not knowledg this is not life this must perish and thou with it This will not save thee but kindle the flames upon thee and help the more to scortch thee And if I do not know this more certainly then thou knowest any thing let me be proved a Lyar and shamed before the whole bulk of mankind for so unjustly arraigning accusing and condeming man so long and so deeply in mine own spirit and now at length so publiquely in open view We know no man after the flesh This Seed of God who are begotten and born of God who live in the Life of God who walk in the Light of God they see nothing after the manner of men they know nothing as man knows It is not by reason or experience by the sight of the eye or hearing of the ear that they come to understand but by the springing up of their own life in them Indeed while the man remains in them he will be knowing even spiritual things as other men know them and making use of them as other men make use of them but this is not the life in them that doth thus The Life only knows it self and it only knows by it self by its own living it comes to know There is light sown every where in this life and as the light grows the life springeth up in it They need nothing to make them perfect but the perfect growth of their own life they need nothing else to teach them to guide them to refresh them all that they can desire dwells in that life which they already have They are like God his Seed cannot but have his likeness their happiness their perfection lieth in themselves in their own life They walk in the light as he is in the light the knowledg the fellowship they have with things is by feeling them in their own spirits They know God by feeling him there and they know other things by comprehending them there in God in whom they are originally and most fully Yea though we have known Christ after the flesh The Word became flesh The Word appeared in flesh the Word tabernacled in flesh dwelt in flesh discovered himself in flesh and the Word may be known after the flesh Those spiritual Excellencies and Glories of God which he in his fleshly Appearance held forth may be seen by the fleshly eye and after a fleshly manner All his Preachings all his Miracles all his outward Manifestations of the Power Goodness and Love of God in these were but fleshly Manifestations and he who thus knew him knew him but by these knew him but after the flesh Christ as he was here in a fleshly state so he had a fleshly knowledg of God and held forth a fleshly knowledg of God which was useful to him and might be also to others in the season of it but it passed away with him he dyed to it and is to live no more to it and with his Apostles after him in part and must pass away in all in whom the other seed is sown according as that comes to live in them Yet now henceforth know we him no more We have been weak we have been babes in Christ and then the man did much live in us and we knew by outward receptions of Light and by visible demonstrations of Power While the seed is young and tender the weeds are suffered to grow up with it that it might also grow If you should at first pluck up all the knowledg of the man ye could not but pluck up the knowledg of God too which is weak and as it were hangs upon it but let them both alone let them both grow till it hath taken thorow rooting and then it will keep its ground and be able to bear the violence of the separation Let but the New-Man grow strong and hearty enough he will spue up the other of himself henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more Not as if Paul or any else then had perfectly attained unto this but life in him and in others was working apace towards this and had in part also attained And now let me tell thee O Man if thou canst bear to hear it that though thou hast a great deal of knowledg in thy kind yet not one dram of true knowledg not one grain of knowledg in the right kind Thou canst not read aright one line throughout the whole Creation nor one tittle of the Book of God Thou dost not know God or the creatures or that which thou thinkest cannot but be known that God made the creatures Thou dost not know sin or the Law whereby sin is sin or Christ who is the Redeemer from sin That which thou callest the knowledg of these things which indeed thou hast is not knowledg and when they come to be opened in the light of the Lord which shall put out thy light and discover thy darkness which is now painted as if it were light thou shalt find thou dost not know them Thou art so far from Redemption that thou never knewest what sin was even thou who canst talk of sin and seemest to thy self to be able to open it in the several kinds natures and degrees of it Ah poor perishing man how wilt thou be deluded in thy hopes of Salvation Thy ways are the ways of death all thy motions towards God towards Life towards Happiness as thou thinkest are but so many steps from it Thou dost but dream of things in the night and it is not much material whether thy dreams please or disturb thy fancy for whichsoever it be it is but imaginary thy
very certainty is imaginary but fetchest not one step in the light and when thou awakest and comest to behold the vanity of thy dreams O how sick wilt thou be of them Thou walk towards happiness O Man thou canst not so much as desire happiness Thou canst not but desire happiness and yet thou canst not for thy heart desire happiness As thou comest from the flesh so thou centerest in the flesh and fain wouldst come to rest in a fleshly happiness from God but thou wouldst chuse to go to Hell rather then come near true Life which will one day be more tormenting to thee then all the Hells thou canst imagine O how tormenting is the Life and Love of God to every thing but it self tormenting in its nature tormenting in every motion of it Every creature can imagine an excellency in his life in his love but none can groundedly acknowledg it nay none can bear it They call that so and can very well bear that which they fancy in him if God were that which man imagines him to be he could not but love him and honour him exceedingly and desire the greatest intimacy and communion with him but they cannot call that so which is so in him for when they come near it their very sense and experience will undenyably evidence it to be otherwise to them Wisdom cryeth aloud to thee O Man she hath long uttered her voyce in thy streets but thou canst not hear nor understand her language the way of life thou canst not know The light shineth in thy darkness but thy darkness cannot comprehend it therefore must thou dye in thy blindness and folly while WISDOM laughs at thy destruction and mocks when thy fear cometh This is thy Judgment written which will at length overtake thee how skilful soever thou art at present to put it far from thee Of the Seasons varieties and changes in the inward World which answer to the seasons varieties and changes in the outward World which is a map or picture of them according to the description given by that wise Observer of the Course of Nature ECCLES 3. Vers 1 c. To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the Heaven A time to be born and a time to dye a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted A time to kill and a time to heal a time to break down and a time to build up A time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together a time to embrace and a time to be far from embracing A time to get and a time lose a time to keep and a time to cast away A time to rent and a time to sow a time to keep silence and a time to speak A time to love and a time to hate a time of war and a time of peace What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth I have seen the travel which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therein He hath made every thing beautiful in his time also he hath set the World in their heart so that no man can find out the Work that God maketh from the beginning to the end THis is the whole course of things here below In living and dying coming into the world and going out of the world planting and plucking up killing and healing breaking down and building weeping and laughing mourning and dancing c. the world passeth away Some come in some go out Some plant some pluck up Some kill some heal Some break down some build Some weep some laugh Some mourn some dance c. Yea the very same persons have their several seasons to go forth in these several motions so contrary one to another Man is ordained to walk retrograde to himself to go quite contrary ways to fetch contrary steps to throw down all that he builds to build all that he throws down to go so many degrees of death as he hath gone degrees of life to run through so many passages in the dark world as he hath gone through in the light World one while to make himself an universal transgressor and anon to justifie himself in all his transgressions and he is but a vain fool in all a fool living a fool dying a fool planting a fool plucking up a fool killing a fool healing a fool weeping a fool laughing a fool making himself a sinner a fool making himself a Saint There is no man hath so much life and so much pleasure allotted to him but he must taste death answerable and there is no man undergoeth and runneth through so much misery anguish grief trouble but he shall have happiness joy rest peace content answerable when his season comes when those superior Orbs which carry these influences in them are circumvolved by that power which moveth them and produceth these effects by them There is an inward World much like this outward it is the Copy after which this was drawn There are such Elements in it as in this after the same manner compounded by the same art and skill There are creatures there of the same manner of make as these here There is an inward man to govern this inward world There are the same seasons of night and day Winter and Summer with the several concomitants of each and with the several alterations in each which have their force influences upon the inward man and the inward world as these here have upon the outward but none of all the Beings in this inward world hath any sight or understanding of the state of things here but the inward man as none of all the creatures have any understanding of the state of this outward world but the outward man though every outward thing hath its place and state in it yet unknown to it self none here knoweth either where it is or what it is but man or rather in that manner that man doth for man doth it not truly neither There are here also winds some nipping some cherishing and rains some refreshing some overflowing and drowning There is likewise here a Sun to rule and give light by day and a Moon and Stars to give light by night And this world hath its course just like the outward it begins with Life first traversing the several paths of it and then runs backward retiring into the chambers and degrees of death And herein will God deceive the thoughts and expectations of all men both the inward man and the outward man for the inward world shall dye and pass away so as the inward man could never imagine it possible and the outward world shall live and remain so as the outward man could never imagine it possible The one shall meet with such a death as it never dreamed of and the other with such a life as it never dreamed of The one for
the sound of a milstone shall be heard no more at all in thee Filthy nakedness in stead of precious garments and ornaments for she was clothed in fine linnen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls The plagues and downfall of Babylon they may be put together for her plagues shall quickly make an end of her shall be sudden violent and utterly destructive Sudden like the taking up of a stone and throwing it into the Sea her plagues come in one day Vers 8. death mourning famine yea utter burning nay in one hour Vers 17. Violent Thus with violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down besides its own weight which will make it descend downward amain there is the strength of him that casts it added to it and it is a mighty Angel who is chosen out to that purpose And utterly destructive she shall be so sunk that she shall be found no more Sion though long drowned and lost in Babylon shall be fought out and found again her Land shall be married though she fall she shall rise again though her light be put out and she sit long in the dark sighing and mourning over her widowhood and desolation yet her Sun shall rise again light shall spring unto her out of obscurity But Babylon shall be utterly destroyed eternally destroyed shall be put to such a death as it shall never recover from shall be buried in that Sea where nothing can never be found more that is cast into it and shall be found no more After this manner shall Babylon be destroyed It shall not only be rased to the ground but it shall be plucked up by the very roots God will not only cut off some branches of Babylon and cast them into the fire but he will lay the Ax to the root of the tree and cast the whole tree with all its branches leaves fruit trunk root and all into that fire which shall prevail over it utterly to consume it Sion shall be purified with Judgment but Babylon shall be destroyed with Judgment Sion shall be purged by the fire but Babylon shall be burnt to nothing in the fire This dross the fire will lick up for ever and suffer to be or appear no more An Exhortation to such in whom the seed of life is sown to wait for the growth and happy success of it FROM JAMES 5. Vers 7 8. Be patient therefore Brethren unto the coming of the Lord behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the Earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh BRethren They in whom the Seed of God is sown are brethren They are begotten by the same Father in the same nature and life They are members of the very same Body whereof Christ is the Head They have such a relation one to another such a knowledg of one another such love towards one another such delight in one another as that which is in the world among natural brethren even where it is highest and purest is but a dark shadow of Christ is the Head of this relation the Foundation the top stone the corner stone in this new building he is the first-born the eldest Son the elder Brother but all the rest have a share in it they are also the children of God and having the same sonship from God they must needs become brethren with him and among one another I will declare thy name among the brethren Be patient Every thing is exposed to suffering the first Creation the second Creation Man Christ God every thing That which sweetens sufferings and makes the sufferer hold out is patience If man were not endued with patience he could never go through those hardships which he ordinarily meeteth with If Christ had not been furnished with patience he could never have born the contradiction of sinners the weight of sin and the absence of his Father If God himself had not patience he could never suffer his Name and Glory to be so trampled upon in the world There is a patience formed in every thing proportionable to its nature and kind of sufferings God and Christ as their sufferings are great so their patience is of a very deep intense nature they are not capable of being provoked further then they themselves please to give way to it And the new-man as he must drink of the same cup of sufferings with them so he hath the same patience given him There is none knoweth the nature of his sufferings nor doth any know the nature of his patience Be patient Give your selves up to patience settle your spirits to wait quietly be content to meet with storms with blasts with troubles and to stay your time for the enjoyment of your life and happiness Every thing must be encouraged and cherished according to its nature and kind or it will not grow nor move freely and kindly The natural man who hath natural patience must apply himself unto it or his passions will over-master him and make his troubles very grievous and burdensom to him Man hath knowledg faith love joy patience meekness for these are not spiritual but where they grow in a spiritual seed from a spiritual stock yea all natural excellencies sown in him but if he hath not wisdom to draw them forth and manage them aright he cannot use them he cannot enjoy them he cannot reap that sweet benefit which he might from them The New-man hath faith love patience yea all spiritual excellencies in him but for want of spiritual skill these are not always drawn forth into act according to the strength of them within but many times in many cases the use of them and that comfort and refreshment that might be had by them is lost There are oppositions to every kind of motion to faith to love to hope to joy and so to patience now if there be not strength within to graple with and overcome the opposition met with these motions must needs flag I know this life is of such a nature as that it cannot be put out This faith this love this patience every thing of this impression must live for ever yet its life may be driven back exceedingly inward and it deprived of all the sense and sweetness of life or refreshment by life Vnto the Coming of the Lord. Here he tells them how long their patience should last namely until the Lord come then they shall wait no longer then they shall hope no longer then they shall desire no longer but enjoy what they have waited for hoped after and desired The Lord. Christ is the Head of both Creations he is the Lord of Life he gave life unto both he hath appointed every thing its course in life and motion and he will call all to an account concerning every Talent that they have been entrusted with by him The Coming of the
sown which must have seasons pass over it before it spring up must rot and dye before it live though in its rotting it doth not rot and in its dying it doth not dye and when it doth spring up must grow gradually and undergo many changes before it cometh to maturity There is a double sowing one of Christs another of ours Christ soweth and we sow Christ soweth in us and we sow unto him He sows the seed of life in us and this life in us sows the seed of living motions towards him and of living operations in him it moves spiritually towards Christ it works spiritually in Christ Every motion of life put forth towards Christ is a sowing Every act of faith of love of joy of expectation of contentedness and submission of spirit under his dispose is a sowing He that soweth unto the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth unto the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting To be spiritual to move spiritually to live spiritually is to sow unto the spirit as to be carnal to move carnally to live carnally according to the will and desire of the flesh is to sow unto the flesh Now all these all these motions all these operations this life with all the buddings forth of it must be thrown into the Earth dye there be gone and lost a long season before they come to any thing so that the flesh which had great hopes because of them great delight in them and great desire after them will lose all its expectation be weary of its delight and let fall its desire and will be vehemently perswading the spirit to do so also To what purpose is it to beleeve to what purpose is it to pray to what purpose is it to deny ones self and to suffer in so many kindes All comes to nothing he whose spirit multiplyeth in these multiplyeth sorrow unto himself c. True all these are thrown into the Earth lost and gone for ever to all sight and appearance they come to nothing a great deal of pains and trouble there is but to no purpose And how can it be otherwise seeing the time of reaping nay perhaps of growth is not yet come But wait run the venture as you see the husbandman is fain to do who expects a crop Be ye also patient Follow their example wait and wait long as ye see they do Stablish your hearts Do not give way to frights to discouragements from present pressures which may dishearten you and make your waiting irksom but stablish your hearts to wait It will come it will be worth all your waiting for it when it comes and the longer it stays the more weighty will it be in it self and the sweeter to you Be content then to stay for it and to expect nothing but trouble and misery until you meet with it For the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh It is a great encouragement to wait if one be neer the attaining of what one waits for And this great advantage Faith hath always had to represent things very neer as neer as they can be desired to be The Coming of the Lord is a great way off to the eye of man so far off that he can hardly forbear scoffing at the spiritual man for speaking of it as nigh at hand but close by to the eye of Faith even as near as Faith would have it Faith would have nothing wrought otherwise then it is he that sees every thing with a spiritual eye can dislike nothing it would not have any thing come sooner then it is appointed to come It is the flesh which shall never be saved that is so hasty after Salvation but he that beleeveth doth not make haste but stayeth willingly till Salvation be ripe and till he be ripened for Salvation It is the foolish flesh that thinks it self wise enough to cut out its own season and proportion of deliverance but the truly and spiritually-wise-childe knoweth his degree of wisdom the degree of wisdom allotted him doth not amount high enough for this undertaking and therefore yeeldeth it up to the dispose of the wisdom of the Father The flesh is much troubled that it cannot have things times and seasons at its own dispose the spirit or spiritual childe would not have them at its own dispose if it might The spirit in the spirit of the childe teacheth it contentedly from choyce and with delight to give up it self to the dispose of the spirit in the spirit of the Father Surely it cannot but seem strange to the eye of man that the Apostles should then in their times so many ages ago speak of the coming of Christ as so nigh and that it should yet be so far off but Faith can digest very well Faith sees the certainty of it the suddenness of it yea that it is already in motion Behold he that cometh will come and will not tarry He is certainly a coming and he will come on he will not stay He comes he comes he wo'nt step back again he will come on forward nay he wo'nt stand still he will not tarry Behold he cometh leaping over the mountains skipping over the hills Arise shine thy light is come Lift up your heads your Redemption draweth nigh Howl ye who have thriven and grown rich in his absence your delight your content your life your peace your happiness is ended your Sun is set Spring forth with joy and singing ye weak ye sick ye poor faint distressed spirits the Sun of righteousness is risen with healing in his wings he is coming to anoint you with the oyl of salvation and gladness to wipe away all tears from your eyes and so to fill you with joy as ye shall be able to grieve or weep no more He will appear the second time without sin to Salvation ye have been long talking of Salvation when he cometh again ye shall know what it meaneth ye shall feel what it is and it will not be long ere he come he is upon his march already hastening towards you coming on apace the appointed time of his absence is wearing out amain and the time of his return approaching The day is at hand the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh Even so Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly redeem the time of thy long delay and come quickly yea very quickly The Spirit of the Bride saith Come and he that is athirst saith Come Come O Water of Life or I perish come O Bread of Life or I famish Come Come ERRATA'S Pag. 24. l. 6. r. a new-man P. 30. l. 27. r. doth not onely P. 31. l. 28. r. this is the. P. 74. l. 28. r. lives safe P. 78. l. 23. r. diverts P. 79. l. 1. r. and bonds P. 109. l. 28. r. out of The Contents 1. OF the difference between God and the Creature Pag. 1 2. Of Good and Evil. Pag. 3 3. Of the Devil Pag. 5 4. Of Righteousness Holiness and Happiness Pag. 9 5. Of Redemption Pag. 10 6. Of Faith Pag. 12 7. Of Love Pag. 14 8. Of Self-denyal Pag. 21 9. Of Christ from John 1.1 Pag. 24 10. Of the two Principles Seeds or Creations their different Natures Motions and Ends. Pag. 35 11. Of the New-Birth whence Faith and Love flows and to which Redemption with all the priviledges of it appertain from Joh. 1.12 Pag. 39 12. Of the excellent Nature of this Birth or of the Child thus begotten thus born from Joh. 3.6 Pag. 42 13. Of the excellent Food prepared for this New-born-child to nourish him and cause him to grow from Joh. 6.63 Pag. 44 14. Some Properties which attend this New-born-child in his non-age while he is growing up to his inheritance from Matth. 5.3 c. Pag. 47 15. Of the Fathers care over this Child and his readiness to provide for him every thing he needs from Luke 11.13 Pag. 51 16. A strange Occurrence which may befall this Darling of God and of Christ in his pilgrimage and travel towards his native Country hidden in a Parable John 11. Pag. 53 17. Of the Relation between Christ and his and the Hold they have of each other from Joh. 10.14 Pag. 58 18. Of the New Covenant from Hebr. 8.10 11 12. Pag. 65 19. The way to Life which is through the death of that which we account and press after as life and particularly through the Captivity of the Life it self from 2 Cor. 12.7 8 9 10. Pag. 83 20. The Way to true Knowledg from 2 Cor. 5.16 Pag. 100 21. Of the Seasons varieties and changes in the inward World which answer to the seasons varieties and changes in the outward World which is a map or picture of them according to that description given by that wise Observer of the course of Nature Eccles 3.1 c. Pag. 106 22. The secret hidden most inward voyce and demeanor of Sion in the time of her Captivity from Lament 3.24 c. Pag. 111 23. The Ruine Destruction and utter Desolation of Babylon from Revel 18.21 Pag. 121 24. An Exhortation to such in whom the seed of Life is sown to wait for the growth and happy success of it from James 5.7 8. Pag. 125 FINIS