first abus'd his soul and then his body he swel'd within pride puffed up his spirit the man would be God pride is spirituall wickednesse which had suitable justice man is made naked within as well as without body and soul stript of God and he that would be a God is no man but a beast Man that was in honour became as the beast that perisheth that is perishing all over for you know so is the state of a beast soul and body perishing Justice works like justice she makes suitable revenge to cut off a finger when the man deserves to have his neck cut off humane justice doth not go forth so unsuitably neither doth divine Man abus'd his glory his soul and therefore God turned this glory into shame man defiled this with sinne and therefore this is subjected to wrath and made to need deliverance most and therefore is this deliverance here from sinne noted as the grand deliverance Who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse c. Man is in soul-misery universally Wrath death soul-death Universally is passed over all men The whole world is a great field of slain souls not a man in the world but lies under a deadly soul-wound Unbelief hath shut up all and that 's a soul-plague and yet the plague of all saith the Apostle Jews and Gentiles The whole world is shut up in sinne and misery and needs a deliverance what a great goal is one sinne become a gangrene keeps not at one part it runs over all There were many lepers in Israel saith the prophet and he also saith there were many widows but I cannot say of this world that there are many lepers and many widows but all are lepers and widows unmarried creatures to Christ not one good Who can say his heart is clean Prov. 20.9 There is a plague of the body but that is not every ones plague but there is a plague of the heart and that is every ones plague there are mortall diseases upon the immortall souls of all and the expression in the Text here speaks it plain Who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse who hath taken us out of the common deluge Use The truth is plain before you man is in soul-misery he needs a soul-deliverance Apply this point to your selves are you sensible of the truth of it do you set your selves to work answerably Bodily misery begins to creep towards you and you are very sensible of this bloud and wounds are like to be common to catch hold of every one and every ones flesh shakes O what misery are we in saith one and what misery are we in saith another yea but what misery is thy soul in art thou sensible of that dost thou feel that plague of plagues that misery within which hath made all so miserable without Bodily misery is but to make sensible of soul-misery 't is Gods pulling the rope without to make the bell speak within and 't is many thousand mens unhappinesse that they consider not this and it comes as the last means to do this The sunne shines a great while as the onely kind means to open mens eyes and to bring them to see their state but when this will not do the sunne sets and darknesse comes in the place thereof that is misery and calamity to beat open these doors which love could not unlock Look about thee England thy last remedie is upon thee to make thee good to make thee know thy lukewarmnesse thy settlednesse upon thy lees thy soul-misery Thou beginnest to grow very poore in temporalls dost thou yet begin to see that thou art poore in spiritualls Thou beginnest to be made naked in body dost thou yet begin to see thy soul-nakednesse what a poore blind wretched and naked Church thou art what a pitifull soul thou hast Bishops may be and Common Prayer book may be and this and that unwarranted thing may be in Gods worship such language as this speaks how soul-miserable thou art still But I will not be so generall in the application of this point I will speak particularly to you In the night owls eyes are open and they see 'T is night now in England and very dark ye blind creatures are your eyes open do you yet see any thing that belongs to your souls doth sinne revive now things without are kill'd your iniquity hath found ye out have you found out it Can you lay your hand on your heart and say Here 's that iniquity that hath made a kingdome bleed my family desolate undone me and mine Paul when the Law was preached to him sinne revived and he died in the consideration of his wretched condition God preaches Law now all the kingdome over because Gospel will do no good doth sinne revive now and can you see the wretched state of your souls When the sonnes of Jacob were cast into bodily misery then their soul-misery came to sight what they had done to their brother Joseph and they could lay their hand distinctly upon that within which brought so much misery without upon them When ponds are stirred and water let out then frogs and toads appear and we see what uggly things they are Thus hath God dealt with many of you Londoners you had great estates like great deep ponds and now God hath let out all almost that you may see what mud toads and frogs are at the bottome of it in your souls with what hearts ye got and kept your wealth do you see any uggly creatures yet stirre in your souls ye are almost I think some of you in Josephs brethrens case ready to starve for want of bread Can you now like them tell that within which hath made such clean work without which hath clean'd your teeth and your states Sensibility of soul-misery is the thing that is driven at in all this The man that complains not of soul-misery amongst all other miseries he undergoes I am afraid is not sensible of the main evil upon him Where there is a new man and an old in one heart there is a perpetuall warre and this very sensible I find a law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind That which will be death to the soul is death to it and the soul groans under it as in the pangs of death Who shall deliver me from the body of this death Corruption according to its qualitie and according to its quantity a soul sensible of its state is sensible of both what corrupt bloud is in him and how much and how it runs up and down in every vein and pricks as it goes and no Physician like him that can do good to this diseased body Who shall deliver me from this body of death What a burthen corruption is to you in the body of it and in the branches of it and what a death it makes to your life what a blessing desired is Christ and what pantings daily about these things you know there is no way like
all transgressions utterly out of remembrance and esteeming our persons in crucified Christ as Christ the dearest to himself and so held communion with and dispensed to both here and hereafter I say 't is an act of God this act is evangelicall pardon springs from compassion kindnesse makes God ready to forgive and not any motive from without him Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive plenteous in mercy Psal 86.5 The latter expression explains the former good that is plenteous in mercy and this makes readinesse to pardon were not God plenteous in kindnesse a God rich in love he would never be ready to pardon sinne because it destroyes his visible being all this world and all things in it yea it destroyes his invisible being God is no God without nor no God within The fool hath said in his heart There is no God He affirms it to Gods face within the fool doth this that is the man that lives in his sinne Can you forget such as would crush you to nothing 'T is a conditionall act Men must repent and then God forgives Repent that your sinnes may be blotted out thus runs the Gospel throughout Repentance hath two things sence of sinne and faith in Christ which grace is said to justifie because a necessary condition of justification and without which though not for which doth God forgive Abraham believed and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse which is as much as if the holy Ghost had said Abraham went in the right way of justification and so found it he sought it not by works but by faith for you know that 's the dispute there This was imputed to him for righteousnesse this that is not nudus actus credâ—ndi the naked act of believing the act abstractively considered but conâ—unctively considered as such a hand laying hold of such a person this is the condition which the Gospel calls for that Christ be trusted in which also God works which work beeing wrought justification follows actually 'T is actus numeratas a numerall act an act repeated in order to sense though not in order to the thing it self to wit sinne a repeated act in order to chastisements though not in order to condigne punishment We are forgiven this day and we are forgiven to morrow and when to morrow comes a man must be in this to â—e again we must pray daily for the forgivenesse of debts or else they are as not forgiven in order to internall sense and externall suffering Forgivenesse is a daily thing with him are forgivenesses saith Daniel and God doth multiply to pardon saith the Prophet Esay 55.7 Forgivenesse is actus multiplicatus and this with the property thereof and this property essentiall and which destroyed as many misled persons now do destroy forgivenesse and destroy their souls As such a multiplied act doth David apprehend mercy and maketh towards it According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Mercy thou hast ordained to go forth in a multipli'd way in a repeated and a renewed way and in this way I come unto thee saith the Prophet Forgivenesse in the court of conscience est actus repetitus I have now opened to you the weightiest point in Divinity that vpon which your temporall and eternall good depends a very considerable point and circumstanced with a very considerable time 't is a bloudy time a very bloudy deadly time Sinners are your sinnes forgiven A dreadfull throne is palpably errected the judge of all the world is now riding his circuit in England and his trumpets sound sadly in every Countie Drunkards swearers bad good come away to judgement Sinners are your sinnes forgiven Execution is generall great and small are truss'd up every where bodies leave bloud bloud leaves spirits spirits leave this world apace but ah Lord to what world do they go England wicked England where dost thou bury thy dead thy dead souls which depart by troups in heaven or in hell One sad thing let me tell you all Death is at your doore therefore let every man smite his breast and say Shall I die in my sinne or shall I die in thy favour Coloss 1.15 Who is the image of the invisible God the first born of every creature YOu have heard of Christ according to the dignity of office a Redeemer a redeemer with his bloud you are now to heare of him according to dignity of person he is as in action so in person the noblest He is the image of the invisible God the first born of every creature Christ is admirable in action and person altogether lovely so in the judgement of God and so in the judgement of those who can discern what God and what the highest beauty is Christ hath his encomium here by men truly discerning and heare what they say and be taken For his office 't is the noblest 't is to make peace between man and God for his person 't is the noblest 't is the highest representation of God that is in this world no creature in this world yields the like he makes similitude to him who otherwise is without similitude if you look at calling if you look at countenance if you look at birth in all these he is beyond all if you look at calling none is imployed like him for he brings souls out of the devils power with his bloud if you look at countenance he is the image of that God which is so glorious that no mortall eye can behold and therefore called here an invisible God if you look at birth he is Reuben a first born not in reference to this little family or that but in reference to Gods great family which consists of two worlds three worlds all that compasse and every one of those rooms which contain every creature Who is the image of the invisible God the first born of every creature Some have beauty onely by their place and office and so had Saul and in this sense merely I think called the beauty of Israel the beauty of Israel is slain Saul was the shame of Israel and the plague of his family if personally and practically considered all his beauty then lay in his chair So others onely have their beauty in their face and skinne as Absolon and others in their birth and pedigree as Esau all over rude and hairy a rough man but of a beautifull stock the first-born of a brave family some have all these beauties without but none within of a good family of a good countenance of a good rank but not of one good quality but none of these are wanting in Christ he hath a generall beauty in place a King in countenance the image of God in birth primogenitus cunctae creaturae inside and outside both are as beautifull as the other his goodnesse as beautifull as his greatnesse therefore both are joyned together by the Prophet Zachary and admired How great is his goodnesse and how great is his beauty Zach. 9.17 Christs
Blessed be one good neighbour or how solitary should we be in earth Defile not the land which ye shall inhabite wherein I dwell saith Christ Numb 35.34 The earth would be hell did not Christ dwell in it you have much misery kept off by one good neighbour you have and you might have more if you did but get more acquaintance with him You have lived a great while in the earth and so hath Christ do ye know him do ye love him he maketh the earth a blessing as base as 't is to such A mans felicity dependeth altogether upon the favour of God let his dwelling be where ' twill Earth is heaven hell is heaven when God dwelleth with one there Mourning creatures tell me where do ye dwell In a vally of tears In earth doth Christ dwell with you doth he dwell in earth too in your hearts then be cheared for he will wipe all tears from your eyes and if your hearts be a rest for him he will be a rest for them when you have none in earth When the earth trembles and melts you have one that dwelleth in it that will see you shall do well Christians visit your next neighbour often lie in his bosome whilest you live on earth you will live very desolate else were the earth a better place then ' t is I pitty all that live in this world 't is so base and miserable but them that live without God in this world my heart bleedeth over them Some live where they have no good neighbour nor no friend and they truly have a bad life on it some live so in earth that it were as good they were in hell almost whipt in body tortured in soul longing for death and yet it must not be because not yet full ripe for hell Ah Lord here is a dwelling in earth indeed what difference now between earth and hell All you that live in earth and live in your sinnes expect such a life every houre The earth groneth it beareth so many and so naught sinners do not you grone too Do not you grone to Christ to be better The earth will be eased of her burden quickly but not you your place will be changed quickly but not for the better all that are now in earth will be anon in hell that do not leave their sinnes quickly the sword and strange diseases are going about for this purpose and do you not see how they sweep the earth Coloss 1.16 Visible and invisible c. THe works of God afford man a full soul-imployment Some things are subjected to sence and these are called visible but other things are not subjected to sence but ordered for more noble powers of the soul to make at and these are called invisible The soul is manifold in its acts and operations and so is Christ that all the soul may follow him There is a manifold grace of God as the Apostle speaketh a grace visible and a grace invisible and the soul can make at both and so Christ would have it The eye can see the eare can heare the heart can conceive here is working without and within Conception is operation about invisibilia unseen things 't is a spirit at work upon words shaping out to it self what they but mentioned as countries and creatures where the body never was nor never saw but onely shall divine conception 't is a spirit taking shiping as it were in the word and sayling round the world taking in visible and invisible things to leave out none of Christ The soul is noble in its acts and Christ would lose none for want of imployment if visible things be to low to be busied about there be invisible if there be nothing without doore to be found for imployment to wit in earth it may find something within about invisible things by going to Heaven Creation is laid by Christ with gradation higher and higher visible and invisible if one room be too low the soul may go higher as high as it will as high as it hath power the works of Christ lie as high as the tallest spirit can reach The soul is not forc'd but drawn to noble action Creation is temptation the works of God are laid so as to entice the soul higher and higher like Jacobs ladder till it come as high as it should be When the eye of the body is weary of looking upon bruits trees and such like visible things as are here then the eyes of the soul may go one room higher in the ladder towards Heaven to things which are not seen to that invisible place and societie above The soul is remiss'd in his acts in works as well as in words Christ leaveth this without excuse Man was never without full imployment Adam had it and the sonnes of Adam have it There is a double book of words and a double book of works to reade and one higher then the other one visible and the other invisible one for the eyes of the body another for the eyes of the soul and I wonder what idle souls will say for themselves when Christ cometh to reckon with them You have a talent and imployment for it a soul such a noble soul and such noble imployment both neglected will lie heavie upon you Bodily sloth you cannot bear and soul-sloth Christ cannot bear soul-sloth is enraging sinne and observe how angrily Christ chargeth it Thou wicked and slothfull servant shouldst thou not have imployed what I gave thee to my advantage Matth. 25.26 take from him what he hath saith Christ A man hath his soul taken away that imployeth it not an idle soul becometh a besotted soul a besotted soul is no soul a spirit dead and buried in the flesh powers and parts are blasted and withered when neglected Soul-idlenesse about divine things springeth sometimes from too much imployment about humane and such men neither know their hearts nor yet this time worldly now and you will be worldly when the world cometh to be burnt The soul is first let loose from divine things and then when 't is abroad it will not be lured in again by them though held up to them Wicked worldlings you know not what you do when you let your souls loose to the world there 't is curst and becometh wild and will not return though words of God and works of God all that God is and doth be held up to it and therefore is the prodigall said to be lost for this my sonne was lost c. Sometimes soul-idlenesse about divine things springeth from dislike of them Some the God of this world blindeth them and 't is idle to talk to these of visible or invisible things for all that is good is invisible to them they know not how to set their spirits about any thing but to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it Ah Lord how blind how base are some souls No word of God no work of God visible to them under a divine
over the earth or who hath disposed the whole world Job 34.13 These things speake the nature of providence what it is 't is a divine condescension to the necessity of the creature Christ becoming an ark for every species and for every individuall power floating upon mercy with the whole creation in its bosome Providence is power made out of mercy into food and raiment for the body grace and glory for the souls Providence is either common or speciall Common providence Common providence is the naked supportation of being and but a little more at best That the wicked in hell are is providence but it were better for them they were not that their misery did nihilate them unlesse their mercy were more Common providence is an act of power dispensing things commonly the heavens give their wealth to all and so do the earth and the sea the sunne lights good and bad all in and out of the world God upholds all that fall There is a generall compassion upon our fallen condition by which it is upheld and lies in the way of speciall compassion Some things Christ carries upon his back others in his bosome the one is common providence and the other is speciall He upholds all things by the word of his power he carries all things saith the originall Common providence lasts but for a time God will not alwayes be good to bad men The triumphing of the wicked is short saith Jobs friends They flourished like a gree Bay-tree but were suddenly gone saith the Psalmist of the wicked Divine dealings shall be exactly suitable to condition wicked men as they have not a drop of grace so they shall not have a drop of mercy to cool them though now they have a great deal Providence is very promiscuous for a time all comes alike to all but 't will be very proper precise and distinct in its way divine dealing shall speak the man the hand of God shall plainly speak out the heart of man as the Lord will be known so shall men be known by the judgements which he executeth this is a Cain the brand of a vagabond is upon him this is a Judas the character of perdition is upon him providence marked the one and pointed out the other 't is he that dippeth with me Both these examples rypifie that divine carriage shall be such to all of that side as plainly to speak out love and hatred Goats shall be known by their places providence will be so exact If the Bore cannot be known by his hair and his tusks yet he shall be known by the knife that is in his throat and his roring Time shall be when this expression in him all things consist shall loose its latitude above half the world shall be shut out of the common providence of God utterly and then will be the devils harvest O what a deal of businesse will he have then and how will hell enlarge it self when he shall have the ordering of all his own in the world as he will Speciall providence Speciall providence is wisdome ordering all things about man to an eternall good using the rod and the staffe to comfort giving and taking away clothing and stripping the body to make the soul divine Providence seems to be a heap of confusion but it hath alwayes a proper scope and all its acts which to us are strange still make very directly to it There are two sorts of vessels in the world and these are fitted to their proper end saith the Apostle one to honour and the other to dishonour not an act of God in the world but it hath a fitting scope in it not an act of God about a Christian but it hath a fitting scope to shape his soul for Abrahams bosome to fit in Christs arms for ever A man is not to measure speciall providence by an externall successe of action towards him as most do but by an internall successe how doth poverty or riches health or sicknesse better the heart Right-hand providence is speciall providence Why with-drawest thou thy hand even thy right-hand pull it out of thy bosome Psal 74. When that hand orders all to me upon which I shall stand for ever and orders all so as to bring me there and set me there this is speciall providence David speaks much of Gods right hand towards him then is a right hand upon me when all is ordered to bring my soul to its right end and this is in Christ In him all things consist In him grace is upheld ordered and brought to glory Grace cannot live without Christ glory cannot live without Christ In him all things consist Speciall providence is perpetuall but yet with respect to our abiding in him with whom it is in him all things consist and out of him Saints cannot consist If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and withers which men gather and cast into the fire saith Christ Christ carrieth as he is leaned upon cast burdens upon him as many as you will and he will bear them all lean not upon him and he will let you fall and all your burdens upon you Christ cannot endure to have his children out of his bosome if they keep in his arms he carrieth them for ever and is never wearied with them but let them go out of his arms and he is tired with them presently Speciall providence worketh in order to faith though it work not simply or faith Christ doth all freely but yet in his own way Go teach all nations to observe whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alwayes to the end of the world In such a way Christ walketh walk out of that way and you will never meet him This is divinity not understood mens ignorance is to be pittied when we presse dutie as in order to which Christ moveth they say we presse it as merit for which Christ must move unbelief destroyeth speciall providence à tanto licet non à toto in part though not in whole Some things Christ doth to the soul when it doth not beleeve and that is to make faith and other things he will not do till it doth believe and yet doth all freely In him not out of him do we consist Use Having opened unto you the doctrine of providence I will give you the use of all 'T is a hard time many are much put to it I have nothing to subsist saith one and so saith another What hast thou not Christ to subsist with In him all things subsist and canst not thou make a subsistence in him Extremities put poore hearts besides themselves this is the misery of miseries when the soul cannot see in whom all is My husband is dead my trade dead but Christ is alive and therefore all is alive a husband is alive in Christ a trade is alive in Christ better then any you can drive to maintain It was enough to Jacob that Joseph was alive though
Christ is spirituall he is head in the heart The kingdome of God is within you there are his Laws written and there is his throne Aarons rod and the tables of the covenant were in the inner Court and the Manna in the golden pot The command of the purse may serve a man but it doth not Christ he commands the heart My sonne give me thy heart You suit your seats so doth Christ he makes his throne in that which is nearest him to wit the spirit Christs rule is one soul bound up in another Paul bound in the Spirit and that bond bound all to good behaviour Christs rule is perpetuall Some heads may be cut off this head my text speaks of cannot Death hath slain many commanders but Christ hath slain death and him that had the power of death Satan is the executioner of Justice and therefore said to have the power of death as well as in other respects Christ hath destroyed all and hath his life in jeopardy by none he liveth and reigneth for ever he ruleth by his power for ever Psalm 66.7 He shall rule till he hath put down all rule and all power and all authority 1. Cor. 15.24 Untill he and his be one as he and his father are one till the kingdome be resigned up There be now many powers against Christ but he must reign till they be all down yet not any to help him The rule of Christ is Monarchicall there may be many lords over the body but there is but one Lord over the soul The government is upon his shoulders that is upon his alone Christ had none suffered with him and he hath none to reign with him here Christ hath trod the wine-presse alone he slew Goliah alone and is that stone alone that sunk into his brain he maketh his kingdome alone and ruleth it alone He shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne Zacharie 6.13 Vse This point is irksome most hearts can bear no rule contradiction is death though it be the word of life that maketh it Office destroyed the soul destroyeth it self where Christ can be no King he will be no Jesus such as stumble at this chief corner stone are crushed by it that soul that killed Christ is killed by him his bloud is upon every heart that nullifieth him The Lord be mercifull to the souls of men do ye know what ye do when you secretly say this lust shal reign and Christ shal not reign over me You commit Adoniahs treason treason against the crown that you may put by Solomon from the throne your bloud and your life will go for this When Adam committed treason against the crown would become a God God cutteth him off presently though there were no more men in the world Justice hath its heights and depths as mercy hath treason against the King hath exquisite torture such a death as hath many deaths in it so 't is in this case spirituall treason hath double death By dying thou shalt die thou traitour against the crown of Heaven said Christ to Adam and in him to all that do as he did There is death unto death and this the punishment of every traitour against Christ This is too generall a more particular application shall be made Your souls are under command you have a spirituall head You have fathers of your flesh and you obey them you have a father of spirits and why do ye not obey him Most men look least at their hearts all the care is to order the tongue and the outward man Hypocriticall creatures you overlook the kingdome of Christ you look at the outside Christ looketh at the heart who ruleth within all is under command body and soul the soul principally and yet this principally neglected must needs be the death of all thoughts must be brought into subjection to Christ as well as words Loose hearts have their plague upon them their holinesse is painted but their judgement will be reall they have sould their souls to do wickedly and will be paid in hell The behaviour of the heart is all dethrone Christ and he will fight it out with you to the death a disloyall soul shall never have the sword depart from him not a quiet day as long as he liveth Our temporall king which ruleth in this land doth but imagine that you go about to dethrone him or take off some flowers from his crowns and you see and feel that he fights it out with you to the death and seemeth resolved not to give England a quiet day as long as he lives Make spirituall application of this ye Hypocrites ye painted toombs that come here and professe Christ and go out like Judas and betray him you dethrone Christ in your hearts you destroy the flowers of his crown the rule of the soul is the onely flower of his crown and taking away this from him he will fight it out with you to the death the sword shall never depart from your souls you shall not have a quiet day for the hypocrisie which you know Tremble Hypocrites fearfulnesse will surprise you your secret basenesse will generate a secret hell justice shall rule where truth and love cannot the rottennesse of your hearts shall have a corasite to feed upon it for ever let every one lay these things to heart and consider whether Christ be head there yea or no. Two things demonstrate the heart indeed ruled by Christ sin universally hated and truth universally loved Passions are false strength speaketh out their truth and who ruleth in the heart Some spirits are indifferent for truth or errour and hold a virtue to be hot for neither but to stand in all times of contradiction so as to keep the skinne whole Hypocrisie ruleth in this heart and not truth and this temper is the plague of this generation neither hot nor cold Cold sweats are death pangs the soul is near his end that thus liveth If God be God worship him halting between many things is nothing this speaketh the prince of darknesse yet ruling affections which break through obstacles to discharge duty speak Christ head in the heart I will not stand on qualities themselves but at what every quality maketh and this will be more plain to you to demonstrate who ruleth in your hearts Fire encounters all opposites so doth every element from a naturall instinct and so doth grace where it reigneth Sinne is the proper object of hatred and every sinne is made so where Christ indeed is head Dominion speaketh all subdued if any sinne reign Christ doth not Weak hearts must not here wrong themselves the being of sinne and the stirring of sinne which the Apostle calleth the motion of sinne do not necessarily speak the reign of sinne Many precious hearts when they feel sinne strong in them conclude it reigneth in them and censure their souls exceedingly and so make their life a hell they
pit out of the mirie clay and set my feet upon a rocke and established my goings Psal 40.2 Horrible pit a vault of hideous noises saith the Originall Christ can bring a man downe to such a condition as if his soule were in a vault where are all manner of hideous and dolefull noises and yet then raise the spirit as into Heaven where all manner of melodious and reviving noises are Vse Afflicted Christians should sucke the sweetnesse of this point Doth the paine in thy flesh rage inward to thy spirit Is the cup thou drinkest of bitter to thy soule yet it is a cup of love 't is no other then of what Christ hath drunke and left the sweet of his lips upon for the next to drinke 't is no other then what he gives to the best of his Misapprehension makes burthens intolerable which is heavier then ever Christ intended to any Saint When any twig in the rod stings the soule when any thing stickes and presses hard upon the spirit the conclusion is wrath made this rod and 't will kill me if I had a thousand lives These are our conclusions meerly ours and Satans Christ hath no hand at all in them Fatherly displeasure is love a God setting himselfe against your sin not against your persons he hath imbraced these with an everlasting love Satan visits much when the soule is in paine 't were well if good hearts did know when he comes his counsels his prescriptions are all desperate when the heart is heavie then he shewes such the nailes of that hand that is upon them how long they be and how hard they pinch and what deepe dints and blacke and blew markes they make i he makes an exact collection of circumstances about every stroake of God with his own comment in the margent As to instance Love doth strike her beloved ones indeed but doth shee strike so strong so long so deep Doth shee strike and not stroake a jot Not with her own hand nor no body else Doth shee wither every other womb of love when shee leaves bringing forth her selfe 'T is a frowne of God 't is a pang of death upon the soule certainly thou canst not recover it saith that cursed spirit One would construe the Devill under a notion of simplicitie in this there may be charitie to the Devill he is so under justice himselfe that he can see nothing else and this is the strength of the torment that is upon him but yet then he is to be judged no fit leader in such a case as this when he hath to doe with spirits in a better station then himselfe The workes of God are wonderfull especially such as reach the soule and need to be read over often ere a man venture to make a positive conclusion upon them that this and no other is the meaning Afflicted Christians you are too rash too venturous paine puts you into passion that 's a very mis-judging condition You judge things before the time this in small matters is no small fault nor of no small evill event but what is it when a man doth thus about the greatest acts that relate to him in all the world The tranquillity of the soul is embarked in a right judgement of things let Satan your own passion any wile whatsoever overturne this and you shipwracke and sinke your consolation irrecoverably therefore studie long pray long waite long ere you draw up a judgement upon that hand-writing that is in the wall against you Doe as that Heathen judge others better able to interpret the hand-writing against you then your selves And if you would have the exact meaning of this strange stroake or that doe as he did send for the most experienced spirituall man in all the world Some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and let him rather then thy selfe make a judgement upon that hand that writes bitter things against thee Open thy breast and say Sir doe you see any plague-spot in my breast one cannot look very well in his own breast 't is so high open it fully to another Pray Sir deale faithfully with me Do you see any plague spots in my breast There be spots there are they the spots of Gods people or not How black be they How broad be they How many be they If thou wilt make many curious questions about thy state and drive things to an exact disquisition be sure that thou take one by thee better able then thy selfe to guide thee or thou wilt condemne the innocent and execute thy selfe Judgement setled and something may be spoken to the man to doe him good There are two considerations which may much relieve when trials pinch the soule 't is for some through and noble good to the partie and for some through and noble use for Christ The throne of iniquitie is struck at the head of the Serpent is trod upon powers within are Satans strongholds things which paine and shake these come to Satans bed-side and holds a knife to his throat where he lies tumbles and sleepes The Granadoes which are cast into the soule burne the devill in his bed they burne the branch yea they burne the root of sin 't is an axe to the roote Sin considered as it lies lodged in the heart is the root of it therefore saith the Apostle Covetousnesse is the root of evill it being as it were the heart to all other sinnes Exorbitant affections which lie all within these are the roots of all the sin you act that which is so ordered and steeped as to affect these dis-affected passions strikes at the root of sin Seest thou a man prickt in soule Stand still thou wilt see pride come downe branch and root Seven Devils turned out a floare throughly cleansed drosse purely purged away a man made cleane every whit outside inside all faire in the eye yea in the vote of Christ yea in the vote of Christ to the soule it selfe And now and not till now is a Christian fit for noble service thus throughly dead and thus throughly raised Pride slaine all her children that is loose affections murthered in their bed the meek and pure spirit crowned with a vision of God you may send this dove forth any where he will come home with an olive branch in his mouth Set this soule about what worke you will that belongs to a Christian and he will doe it truly and if it be to cloth the naked to relieve the oppressed hee l powre out his soule or state to the needie and he will doe it with tender bowels because he hath needed them himselfe and hath tasted how sweet they are When the soule goes forth in action then is action done nobly indeed The Lord is with them that uphold my soule says David and we thinke he points at Jonathan when he had scarce any else to cleave to him When every ones heart was as Iron Jonathan loved David as his own soule Jonathan had been put to it he knew what
of love be to thee what I shall further do beside setting mine own weak house and heart in order to go home I know not more then breath out my dying breath in the bosome of Christ for thee that thou and all thy Worthies in thee may do well and worthily from generation to generation till Christ come Nicho. Lockyer To the READER T Was a very Christian expression that once a very Learned and worthy friend of another Nation and of another judgement to mine own wrote unto me Sir though there be two opinions between us yet I desire there may be but one heart to which my desire doth so concur that my requests to Christ are that this Spirit may be powred out amongst all his people in all the world There are many and I think too many opinions amongst the godly already but if there were as many more I hope I should be one in heart with them all which are in Christ and walk in him Variety of faces is not an affliction but matter of much admiration to behold to such as are but humanely ingenious So truly variety of judgements simply considered is not a grief but a glory to me to behold when one Spirit of grace and heavenlinesse is in them all for I account it a glasse of Gods own making wherein to behold his manifold Wisdome and I further think that he is setting many nobler spirits then mine own at work to dig up some pearle and precious truth for me which yet I have not I differ Reader with none but them that differ with Christ As for them that vary in judgement from me whose lives are holy I am jealous that they are better acquainted with Christ then I and so I lay my hand on my mouth and leave them alone to their Master and mine believing that we are as Laban said to Jacob * Chinissather ish meregnehu Because we are hid a man from his friend Gen. 31.49 but hid from one another neither hid from Christ Our light is so dark that a man a Christian man is hid from his Christian friend in matter of judgement but there is a Mitspah one God watching between us both which will bring us to see one another and himself plainly in heaven Let this be my Apologie for my spirit and opinion to thee Christian Reader and to all the people of God that so Satan by no spirit of prejudice hinder the profitable participation of this work which speaks of no controversie between Christian and Christian betweeen King and Parliament or between man and man but of that controversie which is between God and I fear all men in these Dominions under which we are and how this controversie will end give him that loves Christ and thee leave longer yet to study and pray ere he give thee in an answer under his hand As for errata's the Author Scribe and Presse are too full there need the lesse in the Reader or else things will be too bad A childe wrote from Christs mouth and another from mine which truly I had hardly ease or life to overlook and then when to be printed as hasty in this by other hands I cannot say by other ends then mine own for the undertaker I take to be truly godly as slow in the finishing of it three Presses were employed at once two in the City one in the Countrey and he hardly one that should review them so that doubtlesse many things will displease others more then my selfe who expect to suffer much in preaching and printing by them that have little in them and as for others they will be candid noble and do like themselves take in good part parts and fragments of him whom they honour more then I NICHO LOCKYER COLOS. 1.13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the kingdome of his dear Sonne FItnesse for heaven is generally acknowledged in the foregoing verse and particularly and fully explain'd in this and that which follows and put into two branches Deliverance from the power of darknesse and translation into the kingdome of Christ Who hath made us meet for the inheritance of saints in light c. What is that meetnesse He hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the kingdome of his dear Sonne Deliverance undergoes a double acceptation it means temporall deliverance sometimes Attend unto my cry for I am brought very low deliver me from my persecutours for they are stronger then I Psal 142.6 Sometimes it means eternall deliverance soul-salvation deliverance from sinne it self and the dominion of it and not barely from such domineering evils as sinne sets up to make this life miserable Deliver me from all my transgressions Psal 39.8 Deliver me from bloud-guiltinesse Psal 51.14 These expressions speak soul-deliverance eternall deliverance and of this nature is that deliverance here mentioned in my Text as the words themselves explain Doctr. Man now is in soul-misery our eternall estate is undone our eternall life slain the bloud of our souls is spilt upon the earth There is death and death with Emphasis Who shall deliver me from the body of this death Soul-death is here meant man is spiritually slain stabbed at heart undone inwardly he needs a deliverance from this death So there is wrath and wrath to come wrath that works hereafter upon spirits when then they have laid aside the bodies of flesh in which they dwelt here Even Jesus who hath delivered us from the wrath to come 1. Thess 1.10 That deliverance and this in my Text mean one thing soul-deliverance which every soul stands in need of but some onely enjoy Who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse Naturally Man is in soul-misery naturally we are children of wrath by nature wrath works against us in the very wombe Jacob have I loved Esau have I hated and this ere they had seen the world Corruption is got into the bloud generation is marred man the noblest creature cannot beget a happy creature when he goes about this work he layes the first foundation in sinne In sinne was I conceived c. David was marred from the beginning and made miserable as soon as crudled in the wombe as soon as any matter was laid together for such a form Treason stains the bloud the first man proves a traytour and never since any otherwise but one The first man poisoned his nature and then begat as he made himself and not as God made him and so doth all the posterity to this houre and this makes so many men so many worms and no men so many base miserable things and not one worthy of the name of a blessed creature but the name of an uncreated thing a piece of mere putrifaction a worm so in body and so in soul mere putrifaction in all Judiciarily Man is in soul-misery judiciarily Justice hath traced sinne to its rise and plagued it at the fountain head Man
this to find out what soul-sensibilitie is in you Consider these things and as you find your selves indeed sensible of soul-misery shew it every one of you by seeking deliverance from it it should be all your work what else in this world have you to do 'T is an imployment for life for all to get our souls out of sinne and into Christ and yet some of you make it a work by starts and marre all sink your souls lower whilst you give but a half lift that is lift and let fall again the devill a little stirred and not cast out takes stronger hold Know your work and know your time know this time You are not like to die the common death of all men Gods sore judgements are abroad you may have your throats cut quickly in your beds and how sad will it be when bloud shall touch bloud a body in bloud touch a soul in bloud this will be a bloudy sight indeed Sinners me thinks you do not stirre as if justice were near you there is killing and slaying round about us and we in the midst of all are asleep is not your bloudy cloud gathering too There is a great crie of peace and I think God means no such thing yet sinners take heed justice doth not seize on your souls ere you know them or it You are making bulworks and forts to deliver your bodies but what do you do to deliver your souls You would not have your bodies kild and your souls are slain already and stink so that God cannot indure them do you think that your bulworks will be any defence for such bodies as have such souls in them Will not the justice of God beat down all to take her prey and seize upon malignants You have more malignants in the citie then you are aware of you have a great deal of malignancy in your souls and this will betray you all if you look not to it there are many of you desperate malignants to God which yet are not so to the Parliament What souls you have and what the condition of them is look to it and work out salvation for them with fear and trembling I will not give a rush else for all your forts to defend you justice will break through stone-walls and mud-walls and through all through your flesh and through your bones till it come into the very spring of sinne which is your souls there it will lie burning for ever as things when they are at their center there rest The soul is the center of sinne and wrath and wrath will to its center do what you can and make what fortifications you can if your souls be not delivered and saved from that wretched condition wherein naturally they are Colossians 1.13 Who hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caught us out of the power of darknesse I Have been more generall in former attempts upon this verse I shall now be more particular and undertake each term as the holy Ghost hath here laid them in which undertaking I still beg your prayers you can tell when you misse Christ in my labours and I can tell when you misse me in your prayers Oyl our chariot wheels well or else we shall drive heavily the weight of Christs words and your souls is so great Salvation as accomplished the authour of it noted in these two tearms Who hath delivered c. I purpose not to stand on but the manner of Christs going forth to miserable man noted in the next word Who hath snatched us or catched us out of the power of darknesse Doctr. Christ snatcheth souls out of hell fire the metaphor is used highly to adorn the love of Christ in his motion towards miserable man and it doth it indeed gloriously as it may be I may set forth to you in severall particulars and all within the compasse of the metaphor 1. Christ moves strongly to save Snatching speaks an act of force Christ overturns all that stands in his way when he puts forth to deliver a soul omnipotence stretcheth forth his arm in this work devils tremble iniquitie is subdued captivitie carried captive the soul in the midst of violence violently rescued The Lion of the tribe of Judah moves to save as a lion strongly terribly none can resist his will sinners devils nor men Who hath resisted his will Which way the will of God moves power irresistable seconds he drives all before him and takes his prey to wit the poore soul that is preyd upon Two Lions contend about the soul of man the Lion of the tribe of Judah and that roaring Lion you reade of in Peter The Lion of the tribe of Judah is too strong for that Lion and snatcheth the prey out of the devils mouth Who hath snatched us out of the power of darknesse 2. Christ moves swiftly to save Snatching notes swift motion Power puts forth in order to miserie there is but a step between hell and that soul that is under the power of darknesse what therefore is done must be done speedily or the soul is lost Christ is a present help he moves as a Roe as a young Roe very swiftly to apply remedie to miserable man My beloved is like a Roe or a young hart behold he standeth behind our wall shewing himself through the lattice Canticles 2.9 When the devil hath the soul in his arms Christ is behind him as the spouse speaks he is behind our walls at hand when Sathan assaults and makes him let go his hold The devil doth not bite gently nor pull weakly remedy therefore must be swift in this case or else no remedie the soul quickly dyes with deep wounds Poison is of differing strength some kills suddenly and insencibly all the devils poison doth so if not overruled in working an antidote is answerably applyed and upon this ground the Church so prayes Make haste my beloved and be like to a Roe the companions hearken to thy voice make me to hear it Some creatures take their game gently Spannels take a duck and bite not deadly but the devil is not such a dog when he bites he bites deadly quickly and therefore doth Christ snatch out of his mouth before all be desperate and past remedie 3. Christ moves throughly to save Snatching out of the power of darknesse 't is an expression that speaks a full and totall assuming that which was fully and wholly anothers it notes a taking out of the devils arms into Christs arms a personall surprise Christ fights for his wife as Samson and David did he catches his spouse out of the devils arms and then she becomes intire his Christs spouse is no harlot she doth not lie embraced between two the soul lies not in the bosome of sinne which Christ hath catched Snatching from another varies not the proprietie with us but such a catching of a thing as is made in and by warre doth what I snatch or catch from my enemy in warre is wholly mine own Christ gets
every soul by the sword by the sword of the spirit what he takes out of the devils kingdome he takes by warre and the proprietie is varied What was not his is his they that were not his people now are they are his in the quality and propertie of the thing They are catched by the heart whom Christ catches that catched and all is catched the captive now acknowledges the arms that overcame him and stirres not from the power of these arms neither can be taken again Christ takes often out of the devils hand but the devil nor no instrument of his can snatch out of Christs hand Christ keeps all he catches as wholly his Whatsoever lies wrapt up in this term us saith the Apostle the devil hath lost and Christ hath catched Who hath catched us out of the power of darknesse 4. Christ moves preventingly in the salvation of man catching speaks an act unthought of force surprising the surprised dreaming nothing Christ catcheth sinners asleep in a dead sleep souldiers are sometimes so catched the devils souldiers are all so catched Corruption was another life in Saul he did breath out slaughter he did move in sinne in foul sinne with no more pain then you breathe so secure and senselesse and in this condition catched surprised and knocked down utterly unawares Many a sinner hath confest this way of Christ I went to hear such a one and thought nothing and was catched my heart convinced and overcome which before never cared for the word of God Christ comes behind sinners and ere they are aware seiseth upon them Ye shall hear a voice behind ye saith God I was found of them that sought me not Christ comes to every carnall soul before sent for but brings his stool with him and makes his own welcome he catches no soul but that soul is as much caught with him ere he leavs him Salvation is come to thine house said Christ Christ comes before sent for he takes every sinner before up and before ready and helps him up and makes him ready washes him face and hands and heart puts on clean raiment The devils souldiers are all sleepie and keep no watch Yet a little more folding the hands this is every sinners tone when Christ comes No saith Christ no more sleeping now O soul the voice of the turtle is heard I have gathered my myrrhe with my spice I have eaten my hony-comb with my hony I have drunk my wine with my milk Come away dear soul come away unaware such a sweet voice is heard behind a man and the man is catched and cannot withstand it 5. Christ moves ravishingly Caught sounds so much in my eare Christs way of salvation is a ravishing way nakednesse is discovered and glory is apparrell presented with this sweet language Sinner wilt thou wear it I freely give it to thee This is love smiling and the soul is taken Sinne made burthensome and shoulders presented an able porter to bear it this is the manner of Christs motion towards miserable man and 't is taking and ravishing Know thy nakednesse and buy of me great deformitie is discovered and absolute beautie presented souls fall sick of love upon this and are they not catched now indeed out of the power of sinne which did so please Light appears to him that saw none and 't is so glorious so transcendently pleasant that the soul can indure darknesse no more and is not this soul catched out of the power of darknes Catching speaks a double power active or passive by the motion of a thing or by the quality of a thing and Christ takes both wayes The sweetnesse of Christ overcomes frovvard souls There be fingers put out to sinners these fingers drop myrrhe and that takes souls Christ doth bemyrrhe his motion naked motion vvould not take his ointments have their odour Because of the odour of thy ointments therefore the virgins love thee Use It is a great time of catching and taking of all hands Who hath catched your souls Christ or the devil I do not knovv vvhat souls you have nor in vvhose hands they are but you should or else vvo unto you if your souls be in the hands of any but Christ you are lost men Command is a yoke men are considerate under vvhat povver externall they stand but under vvhat povver internall they stand vvho is considerate in this point Sathan preys upon poore souls and yet none complain to be pulld out of his pavvs the roring lion goes up and dovvn devouring and do you heare any noise shrieking and crying out as if there vvere any such soul-devouring beast abroad or any in his pavvs There is bodily sense since the fall but no soul-sense you vvill not let your Prince do vvhat he vvill vvith your bodies you vvill fight and die rather and yet you vvill let the prince of darknesse do vvhat he vvill vvith your souls enslave them and lead them captive at his will rend and tear them and yet the devill is no tyrant vvith you not a petition preferred in point of soul-slavery I doubt all this Parliament time to the great State above Sinners have you no souls Yes Where be they vvho hath them Christ or the devill Christ This should be experienced to us to do vvell Whom Christ hath snatched out of the devils povver they admire him the person is very beautifull that redeems the soul Hovv beautifull vvas David as a Redeemer of Israel from Goliah Heaven and earth rang what a man he was Much more beautifull is a soul-redeemer Who is this that cometh from Edom with died garments from Bozra this that is glorious in his apparrell travelling in the greatnesse of his strength I that speak in righteousnesse mighty to save Esa 63.1 Great things unlooked for amaze Who is this that comes from Edom Did I ever imploy Christ to take me out of the hands of the devill and yet he came and did it Was I not his enemy and yet he became my friend Was not my soul an abstract of evil enmitie dirt and not dirtie and yet in a sink he came and poured out love Here the soul dwells and admires Glorious in apparell c. Inside and outside of him that redeems are glorious to the redeemed Christs spirit is first admired that he would come and then his outside admired all that that he brings with him to manage such a spirit and pleasure the apparrelling of his will is red and glorious heart hand head of the redeemer all is glorious in the eye of the redeemed That Christ would die his outside red with his inside his skin scarlet-coloured with his heartbloud for me what glorious apparrell is this That a Lamb would incounter with a Lion and surfet him with his own bloud for a prey to make him let me go out of his pawes who is that Lamb and what is my soul that such a deadly fieght should be made to save it O my soul is not the price
of bloud upon thee is not thy nakednesse covered with scarlet of such price as puts a God in debt The redeemed adore the redeemer this is in the text Giving thanks to the Father who hath delivered us from the power of death c. a redeemed soul feeds two with every mercy himself and God he admires love this is feeding himself and then he praiseth God and this is feeding of God too Paul could not speak about soul-deliverance but he must make a breaking off and a breaking out Who shall deliver me I thank God Christ The soul is naturally active but as 't is freed by Christ 't is much more active and ascending it sends to God all that is done upon it The soul blesses necessarily as 't is blessed Soul-blessings make their qualitie in us suitable to themselves and to their own nature so much of God as they bring with them so much of God they leave in the soul and the soul necessarily carries as much of God to Heaven as it hath of God from Heaven in any mercy In the Devils arms there is singing drunkkards sing and worldlings sing In Christs armes there is singing too there is singing of halelujahs here the redeemed lift up the Redeemer every soul in Christs arms sings to him all Christs children can sing sweetly there are songs of Sion songs of deliverance Divine love makes gladnesse of heart a heart gladded gets into that bosome that made it so to dilate it self and that makes more gladnesse A redeemed soul is every day more admiring more praising him that redeemed him then other So many souls snatched out of hell so many sweet instruments of melody hath Christ in this world Christ glorifies to be glorified not a soul that Christ pulls out of the devils mouth but he is like Jonah when he came out of the belly of hell a humble relater of wonderfull things to God and man All that Christ takes out of the devils bosome and sets in his own stroke him and kisse him 3. The redeemed obey their redeemer Not a lambe taken out of the power of the wolf but follows the shepheard Your obedience is come abroad unto all saith the Apostle Whom Christ takes they become followers of him in the sight of all Redemption from the power of Sathan and the power of sinne are the same redeemed souls are out of both and obey neither they onely observe him that hath taken them I will run the waies of thy commandments when thou hast set my heart at liberty saith the Psalmist He speaks as a captive set at libertie that was glad of his legs and observe what wayes he takes to runne in I will runne the wayes of thy commandments The soul still is in behaviour as the power under which it is if under the power of sinne it walks sinnefully if under the power of Christ it walks holily in his commandments The soul is still according to the hand in which it is would you know in whose hand and power you are observe well then of what behaviour your souls are Sinners you wallow in your lusts and live according to the power of your corruption and yet many of you plead and glory in your redemption by Christ Your heart gives your tongue the lie and your life speaks you slaves to the devil and your lusts Is it a small thing to you to belie Christ and belie your souls to distract and make void divine redemption Are your souls redeemed and yet are they in slavery to sinne Acknowledge truth that discovers you and confesse your sad state this would better become you A bad state is remedilesse whilest 't is plead for as good the wicked may justifie themselves but God justifies none it will be double death to justifie that which God and conscience condemn Sinners you cut off your souls from grace by wicked confidence God does nothing for the man that thinks all is well but prepare double miserie for calling evill good As corruption is in strength let every soul complain O wretched man that I am c. Corruption makes wretchednesse according to its strength in every soul for as lust lives it misleads sinne will beare sway where 't is not thrust out the old man is not as some old men that sit still and do nothing but is very stirring corruption as it lives is imperious all must be her servants gifts parts yea the very heart Lust as it lives will bewitch your affection adulterate your judgement creep into your bosome and become your full delight then are you wretched souls indeed then are you galley-slaves Sinners consider this point corruption as it is in strength keeps its propertie in all the best of you all will find the devils heaven a hell Ah Lord what will his hell be then You will be weary of your lives as lust lives in you 't is such a bondage make what sweet out of it you can the more artificiall you become in acting and managing corruption the more power it hath in you and the sooner will it kill all your felicitie dead you will suddenly in the flame of lust cry out as that Martyr in a flame of fire in an other case Hell is come is come Sathan is come is come as he cried out Christ is come is come We may releive our selves from this point too respecting this land If power work irrisistablie to save the soul the salvation of the body is much more easie to it One devil is more strong then all the wicked men in England and yet the power which opposeth him about the soul which he most looks at and contends for is too hard for him Fearfull souls be strong you will see irresistable power snatch poore England as a brand out of the fire Power it self as irresistable should releive and as it hath such a propertie and so works snatching creatures when almost ready to be destroyed this should much more releive and raise the heart Were we much lower then we are yet irresistable power can put forth of a sudden and snatch us out of the mouth of lions and 't is its propertie so to do You are left now to fetch in your relief from God onely strike in to do it as you behold any propertie of any divine attribute to put forth it self Now you heare that this is the propertie of divine power to work irresistably Redemptio à nihilo que dam creatio est Means are still enough to that power which is absolute and to work so of a sudden to snatch out of miserie when all is ready to be swallowed up feed your weak souls with this and move at the throne of grace upon it and surely you will heare of God and England will be raised from the dust and have beauty for ashes Before your pots can feel the thorns he shall take them away as with a whirlwind both living and in his wrath And the righteous shall see this and joy
c. Psalme 58.9.10 Both living and in his wrath as living as his wrath is the originall like that expression used of Chora and his company who went down quick into the pit as living as the wrath of God that took them off There is snatching of wicked into hell as well as snatching of believers into Heaven 1. Coloss 13. Power of darknesse I Do approve this translation and possibly might joyn issue with it and do well but give me leave rather a little to touch a more strict translation according to the originall The word which is here translated power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies licentia a generall leave such a kind of libertie wherein one is freed to do what he will of one hand or the other So the Apostle uses the word to the Corinthians If a man eat or not eat he offends not onely saith he use not your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 licence in this case to offence As this may be a genuine signification of the word so I believe it may give here a genuine sense Who hath delivered us à licentia tenebrarum from the libertinisme of darknesse and blindnesse the lawlesnesse of Gentilisme for darknesse here notes the rude estate of the Gentiles their rudenesse in sacred letters made them a loose lawlesse generation Ignorance pollutes the will That I may have the favour to be candidly received in this reading of the text I would note this to you to stand on That darknesse makes loosnesse ignorance of the word of God makes a lawlesse soul a Gentile Nature is powerfull as truth is wanting for corruption puts no yoke upon her self but doth what seemeth good in her own eyes when nothing to contradict Nature yields up all to will soul body gifts parts and that 's the God she sacrifices to of her self and to none else when she hath no light As you have yielded your members servants unto uncleannesse and to iniquity unto iniquity Rom. 6.19 Nature yields up to will will yields up to iniquity one iniquitie yields up to another iniquity a lesse to a greater and this is the progresse of fallen man till all be yielded up to the devil and himself to hell Nature acknowledgeth no supreme but Iust lust is a king of her own crowning to this though never so base though never so unclean all shall serve and to none else As you have yielded up your members servants to uncleannesse c. Nature is as licentious as hell darknesse is her supreme and the prince and power which onely leads her The flesh hath reasonings if the spirit cannot answer them The practice understanding the soul is overcome by the power of darknesse that is darknesse is put for light bitter for sweet and this in a way of argument for nature is loose and yet a justifier of her self in her way by some blind mediums or other which is the damning power of darknesse If we say we have no sinne saith the Apostle intimating that nature can argue for it self the old man hath a tongue in his head though scarce any brains or eyes and he will speak for himself the grave can open her mouth and speak as rotten as 't is this is a voice from the dead sinne saith 'tis no sinne and who can stand up and say 't is when the soul hath no light when there is no sunne in the heavens but all powers of the soul in darknesse Darknesse calls not it self so the crow is beautifull to himself the blackmoore fair in his own eye sinne saith 'tis no sinne this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loosnesse and lawlesnesse with a witnesse licentiousnesse protested Darknesse pollutes conscience conscience erroneous The conscience the soul is loose indeed the man will then kill Saints and call them devils the man will kill and slay whom he should not and think he doth God good service Conscience polluted judgement is reprobate judgement reprobate the life is so judgement misjudging and Samsons both eyes be out and all in thick darknesse and how strong soever other limbs and parts be yet you may lead the man whither you will and set him to grind or to what slaverie else you will till the man hath killed himself this is licentia insana mad libertie bloudy loosnesse Corruption is infecting and one facultie defiles another corruption works unto desperate lewdnesse when conscience carries the man to do wickedly this person will kill men and kill Christ in men Why dost thou persecute me How long will you resist the holy Ghost Ignorance Satans proper advantage Finally darknesse is the devils element and things are powerfull in their own element Sathan can lead a world of blind souls at once whither he will Sathan and corruption are the councel of State in dark souls both consulting and consenting and they discern neither and when these two carry all the soul is under a full power of darknesse and a generall liberty Sathan hath a kingdome and t is a kingdome of darknesse the devil is in his kingdome in a dark soul and a king in his kingdome rules all Kings give laws in their kingdome What Satan and the flesh say is a law to a blind soul how loose then must the life needs be There is a law in the members and the execution of this law is not accounted rebellion where the eyes be out and the man in the dark Dark souls are as obeying as the devil is commanding he that follows the Lambe whereever he goes is very holy and so he that follows the wolf the devil whithersoever he leads you may conclude is very unholy very licentious and under the power of darknesse Vse To the dark Church of England I will speak a word from this point Thy darknesse hath made loosnesse and lawlesnesse bloudy desperate gentilisme and heathenisme thy children are risen up against thee to kill thee for keeping them without light O English earth drink not up the bloud of thy slain take the bloud of thy body and the bloud of thy soul and throw it in the face of Bishops Deans Prebends Parsons Vicars Curats and all of that kind which have and do keep thee in blindnesse and taught thy children to kill Christ and one another For some years together loosnesse in tenets loose doctrines and pamphlets filled the kingdome directed against the Sabbath and other main parts of Christs will Prelates brains hatched nothing but toads they crept out of their mouths all the land over and then I did sadly foresee what all was drawing too apace loose tenets make a loose life When I saw mens gifts and parts under the power of darknesse I did believe that their persons and fortunes would not be long behind toads and serpents when they are generated must live who ever be stung and poisoned to death Unhappy Prelates must England bleed and die rather then your pompe all her bloud yet cries against this generation Was not this
and fortunes favour persons as they will troubles may be great but yet your mercy will be certain many may sink under them but surely you will not if the mercy of a God be enough to keep your head above water Others have nothing sure you have all sure the mercy of God sure in which is all If Ephraim be a dear sonne then my bowels are troubled for him and I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. Dear children of God rejoyce in these sad times your blessednesse hath as sure a foundation as truth it self if God can insure any thing you will never miscarry Your blessednesse will be certain let times and states turn and overturn as they will yea your mercies will be great What God is in heart to any he is in hand where he loves much he gives and forgives much Dear children of God I cannot tell exactly how great you will be you will all have a kingdome let this kingdome stand or fall the naturall sonne and the adopted sonnes have all kingdomes and the one doth not envie the other but joyes in it the naturall sonne is still moving and mediating that this wretched world may have as full a demonstration of this as can be that the naturall sonne and the adopted sonnes may be loved with the same love and honoured with the same honour is one passage of Christs prayer and dear children read it often I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me John 17.23 Your mercies will carry correspondency with Christ and can you tell what felicity the sonne hath in the father And if you can such a felicity will you have in the sonne I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one Dear sonnes of God tell the world your greatnesse in your meannesse that you are beloved as Christ and shall be as happy as he let men and devils do their worst We are ready to impart to you our own souls because you are dear unto us 1. Thess 2.8 God is ready to impart his own soul to you because you are dear the greatest things are given to the dearest souls Coloss 1.14 In whom we have redemption c JUstification hath here a double expression proper and borrowed and so 't is called redemption proper and so 't is called forgivenesse of sinnes The cause of justification hath here likewise a double expression remote and proximate Remote Christ noted in these words in whom c. Proximate his bloud which is not put abstractively but concretly or comprehensively In whom we have redemption through his bloud c. Justification according to its double expression I purpose to prosecute and in that order which here by the holy Ghost laid down beginning first with its borrowed expression Redemption In whom we have redemption c. Redemption notes four things a person in bondage a prise paid a release and a free state all which it may be I may little open to you Redemption notes bondage a destressed state and such a distressed state to wit one thing under the burthensome and destructive power of another so was Israel under Pharaoh Egypt was a house of bondage many together under a burdensome destructive power and it was to preach their spirituall condition and their stubbornnesse occasioned that strong way of instruction God made a fescue of the body to point to the soul fallen man is a soul slave under the burdensome destructive power of sinne and wrath lust carries him captive to sinne sinne carries him captive to wrath and wrath carries him captive to hell which is the great house of bondage for eternitie where many are together under a tormenting destructive power as long as God is Prisons have various rooms but some more sad then others much lower and darker then others hell is the dungeon of the house of bondage which fallen man is in all the rooms are under the same roof under the same power and wrath and doores out of one into another and but a wall between room and room but a wall between a man in sinne and a man in hell this is a sad condition yet universall not a child of Adam free born Jews and Gentiles all are under sinne so many men and so men slaves I am carnall and sold under sinne saith the Apostle As a slave is sold from one bondage to another so one sinne sells my soul to another and all sinne sells me to the displeasure of God me thinks this is the Apostles fancie of the thing I am upon Not a man but in miserie and not a miserie but in sinne sinne is the great house of bondage here in which we are all in which you are and I am I am carnall and sold under sinne and so are you and this is the case of all naturally which is intimated in the text In whom we have redemption the Apostle puts in himself and those to whom he wrote Fallen man is under the power of sinne and under the power of wrath sinne can do what it will with the soul and so can justice with soul and bodie and yet be just Sinne is Gods enemie and hath made God mans enemie man is under the power of the greatest adversarie in the world a punishing power is fallen mans keeper and it follows him whithersoever he goes some dead have a waking ghost to tell under whose custody they are as after a man is brought home to God and goodnesse mercy follows the man to the end of his dayes whereever he goes and the man under the custody of love and of a friend for ever so before brought home to God man is a prisoner to wrath and under the custody of a ruining power and this follows him up and down the world to the end of his dayes They shall follow close after thee Jer. 42.16 Or cleave after you saith God speaking of sword and famine Wrath is ordered to follow close after sinners as its prisoners lest they should escape away before satisfaction be made This as the other I spake of ere while is a generall condition as all are under the power of sinne so are all under the power of wrath and not a man but a captive to divine displeasure naturally ceased upon by justice and under custody for hell if no redemption come The house of bondage hath three rooms sinne wrath and destruction and they all lie one within another There is a bondage of sinne and a bondage of wrath and a bondage of corruption as the Apostle calls the languishing state of the whole creation and all these mutually depending and a common condition the earth perishing every creature upon the earth perishing man the noblest creature under the bondage of sinne wrath and destruction and all hinted here in these words we have redemption that is from sinne wrath
in husband and sometime in children in houses and in lands but never in Heaven when it setteth about this 't is tired presently As the body so the soul goeth downward with ease but up hill with much pains-taking you must be full of complaints to Christ to keep your souls in his bosome Finally as idlenesse so wilfulnesse destroyes divine contemplation Pride puffeth up and swelld souls go more to hell then to Heaven like-spirits bosome The heart swelld thoughts are all prest and taken up to make vent for this that there is scarce a thought to be spared to ascend to Christ When the heart is high and haughty Christ and Truth are under foot and thoughts never bosome themselves in that which the heart tramples upon Every thing that crosseth will vex a wilfull man though it be truth and vexation and contemplation are as opposite as Saul and David as Heaven and hell I look upon some men and they are puft up will leads them and not truth I smite my breast and say Ah Lord where do these souls dwell In hell certainly and not in Heaven Errour is the fruit of pride the soul goeth away from God and bosomes it self in a lie as it groweth heady and high minded Citizens look about you I see an ignorant idle proud spirit amongst you Christ may be much in such mens tongues but surely he is but little in their hearts The excellency of Christ you do not indeed dwell upon nor find sweetnesse in nor cannot as long as these evils are in your hearts Let us all know our dutie and do it all Christ is to be considered so did David so did Paul and so must we consider him I will meditate of all thy works and talk of all thy doings Psal 77. what Christ hath done as a Redeemer and what as a Creatour what he hath done with his finger what with his hand what with his spirit and what with his bloud we must meditate on all his works Divine things are still unfruitfull as unthought of when we seek after Christ then he brings us into his chambers the efficacy of all that Christ is cometh in by contemplation Every thing in Christ is usefull the very leaves of the tree of Life are healing consider Christ under any notion in which the Scripture holds him forth as a Redeemer or but as a Creatour as the image of God as the first-born and the like or under any other more remote consideration and they are all powerfull to take off the heart from earth and send it to Heaven Christs action and Christs person yea and Christs garments all he said and all he did and all he wore very virtuall and instructing Know your duty and know your felicity you have now but a few things to think upon this world is bleeding and dying apace he that giveth all being me thinks every one should now much think upon when all creatures cease to be so fast A mans tranquility is permanent when his thoughts dwell upon Christ let friends means towns kingdomes die and yet his Heaven lives because his heart is lodged in one that can die no more that ever lives Misery is double because losse of the creature doth not reduce thoughts to Christ the end of affliction not accomplished you will be afflicted seven times more till your prodigall souls return home to their father and leave feeding on husks Coloss 1.16 For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers c. I Have given you the respect which this verse bears to those which precede and I am now to give out to you as I am able what it hath in it self If you read this verse you will find it to consider creation in reference to two parts and two causes two parts heaven and earth visible and invisible two causes efficient and finall the first is in the beginning of the verse and the second is mentioned in the latter end the one saith all things were made by him and the other saith that all things were made for him Christs method pleaseth me best I will therefore take terms as they lie and suck as much out of them as I can for my self and you For by him were all things c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him were all things created saith the originall Christs method and Christs expression pleaseth me best God doth create and new-create in Christ. God doth all things respecting the creature in his Son the Father works in the Sonne the Sonne in the Spirit and the Spirit in your spirits The order of divine action is admirable the beauty of God in his out-goings is held out to us Christ is the wisdome of the Father all that God doth he doth in wisdome The Lord by wisdome hath founded the earth and by understanding hath established the heavens Prov. 3.19 a like place to this you have Jeremy 10.12 He hath made the earth by his power he hath established the world by his wisdome and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion Divine action is made with delight you have many prime agents but God hath but one you look more at abilitie to your work then suitablenesse to your spirits in the agents you imploy but God doth not you can beare discontent in the agent so his work be well done but God cannot he so moveth as to have delight in both not onely in the work done but in the agent that doth it and therefore doth all in Christ I was daily his delight rejoycing alwayes before him saith Christ speaking of God when in the creation of all things Prov. 8. Successe The comfort of the godly is in this point all divine action going forth in Christ we may conclude successe successefulnesse to their good Christ is mighty in strength and wisdome our agents are unsuccessefull for want of power and for want of wisdome but the agent in and by whom God acts is mighty in both God is mighty in strength and wisdome he preserveth not the life of the wicked but giveth right to the poore Job 36.5 Where great humane power is it is Elihu his speech to Job men think to evade the bent and force of divine action and to shun what God intends as they shun what man intends to get out of his reach as out of ours but no such matter for all his action shall acquire his intention and no man shall evade it for he works in him who is mighty in strength and wisdome God intended a world did he misse the accomplishment of it Godly souls you look much in and by whom the king acts such and such skilfull men and mighty men and shake and fear but look in and by whom God acts and comfort your selves Hath the king such an agent as Christ is for strength and wisdome Full successe All divine action going forth in
the least superiority that can be discerned Of his own will he begat us with the word of truth As Christ doth otherwise receive so he doth otherwise impart light then any other teacher Christ was taught none like him and he teaches none like him Christ teacheth internally eternally instantly Our teaching is discursive we can do nothing within Christs words are of authority and make their impression upon the heart not a word that Christ speaks but goes to the heart though many words which we speak come not to the heart yet every word that Christ speaks goes to the hearts Did not our hearts burn within us whilest he talked with us Christ sets the soul on fire with his breath blows up internall powers and breaks open everlasting doors The prince of darknesse fortifieth within us and Christ can mount ordnances where the forts are shoot off terribly within and destroy the works of the devil that is sinne or the soul at every shot Christ doth with his cannon within as you do with yours without rend and tear wofully You take off bodies in the very midst so doth Christs cannon take off sinnes and souls in the very midst as Beza renders that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle useth I will destroy the wisdome of the wise 1. Cor. 1.19 tollam è medio I will cut it off in the midst Sinne is in the midst of the soul and Christ can mount such gunnes as to cut it off in the midst As Christs ministery is internall which none of the Prophets was so it is eternall Christs words are words are words of eternall life or eternall death and this simply as his words We speak words and they stick but a moment Christ speaks words and they stick for ever We make wounds and you lick them whole in an alehouse Christ makes wounds that no art can heal Thy arrows stick fast in me saith the Psalmist The arrows which Christ shoot they stick fast none can pull them out but that hand that shot them Christ can instruct and seal it That is make things so impressive as beyond obliteration O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto I have declared thy wondrous works Psal 71.17 so Psal 119.102 I have not departed from thy judgements for thou hast taught me Christ can teach beyond all other teachers he can open the understanding that is open powers to take in and then close up these powers to keep in for ever Christ can teach internally eternally he can do all this instantly his ministery is an instantaneous ministery We are long hammering and beating to make persons understand and yet all will do nothing but when Christ takes the work in hand he makes the most ignorant creature that is wise to salvation presently Then opened he their understandings c. Luk. 24.45 Then at that instant he made them see throughly what they never saw Use You see what an able teacher Christ is what hath he taught you The wisdome of the world is foolishnesse with God I do not ask you how knowing you are in your particular calling as such and such trades-men but how knowing you are in your generall calling as Christians how knowing of Christ and your souls Light is come into the world a great light Do you see the way to heaven Confidence speaks not saving light but desperate blindnesse many ignorant men conceit they know much when they know nothing as they ought The fool is wise in his own conceit and the world is full of these fools yea the Christian world is full of these fools but Christ is emptying it Blindnesse and confidence makes us all bloudy at this day and the Lord grant it make us not bleed to death We have a Laodicean plague upon us and God seems to be spuing us out of his mouth and yet our Laodicean spirit lives in the midst of us We all of us think highly of our selves that we are rich in all spirituall excellencies and they that contradict our conceits are fools We are fools saith the Apostle but you are wise How strong and how generall this spirit is now you that are spirituall may see and what it presages Christ will explain fully if you can but hold fast a little Let every man look without and look within look abroad and look at home the plague of the multitude is it not your plague Are not you wiser in your conceits then your preacher is not spirituall preaching babbling When things touch your consciences then you rage and then the Minister is mad because you are mad Alas for us Lord thou makest us men of contention our life is a fighting with beasts that will not understand us nor thee If you had no other Prophets but us or did reject no other prophet but us some dispute might be made in the day of account but we will not judge you to the Father there is another prophet which you hear in us and yet will not heare and it is he that will judge you to the Father and to your own consciences If this will not beat off men from deluding themselves and from bearing off Christ I will go on Some spirits are wanton as there be light bodies so there be light souls such as go a whoring after lies Fansie sick longs after fresh speculation if this may be had it satisfies let it be in what it will in things as farre from Christ as earth is from heaven yea as hell is from heaven It is otherwise with the soul that is taught of God he hath a little light of Christ and now cares for no other vision all light is darknesse and all wisdome folly that relates not to make Christ more known I purpose to know nothing but Christ and him crucified Paul had many endowments but they were all sleighted Christ teacheth the heart as the heart is taught love burns nothing satisfies love but what stird it if such an object made love nothing but the fruition of that object will satisfie it You may know whether Christ hath opened any thing of himself to you by your love to him the purity of your light will speak out it self in the purity of your love and the purity of your affection in the purity of your action Should you say nothing yet a man that stands by you may tell what your light is and who hath taught your hearts Christ or the devil Some of you will swear and curse and lie some of you your love as fleshly as base as the earth it self Hath Christ taught such things as these No certainly the devil is the tutour of these and they will take their degree in hell I have a word to you all and conclude A loose life broadly speaks out an uninstructed heart what secretly swayes Christ sees and so shall all the world use what art you will to hide it wherein you are intractable to the teaching of Christ God will discover
But I am afraid he will be gone If Christ do go will he leave his dear ones behind him Doth not the eagle carrie her young so doth Christ I carried you upon eagles wings Coloss 1.18 The first born from the dead THere are two first-born mentioned in this chapter the first-born of every creature verse 15. and the first-born from the dead the one respects being the other respects well-being and Christ is first in both these first in being in reference to all the creation and first in well-being in reference to the new creation the first that came forth from under the power of sinne alive which is the first-born from the dead here meant which the Apostle calls the first-born amongst many brethren elsewhere that is the first in our nature in the state of divine favour Christ broke the ice as we speak in reference to that body of death under which the state of mankind lay and so the first that came forth alive from under the guilt of sinne and the killing justice of God This time is sad so is our text it leads us to behold a world of dead men From the dead c. The term is indefinite and speaks our condition universally We are all by sinne dead without power to please God and liable to wrath for ever and Christ the first that made way out of this condition the first that broke through that displeasure which spoild us all Bodily death is sad soul-death a thousand times more sad we must walk amongst the tombes for an houre we are to rip up the dead to set out the nature of soul-death Demonst 1. Breath is gone the spirit of God is not in a dead soul Union speaks life Sathan not Christ lies in a sinners heart he is alive to sinne affection strong action that is evil action free among the dead Such light hath such motion ghosts walk in the dark wayes of death dead souls walk in Spirituall death is a soul cast out from God a soul cast out from God casts out God the word of God the operations of God a dead soul fights against life quicknings are as stabbings sermons which stirre are conjurings his eyes stare his heart quakes let Paul be gone Felix will be in hell else before the time the words of life are death to a dead soul Felix soul is in departing whilest a world of life was imparted to him nothing will keep life in a dead soul but the departing of Christ and his quickning spirit The dead deny the resurrection they would not be raised out of their grave means that are used this way are to them as conjuring from the dead gastly Christs yoke is easie wisdomes wayes are pleasant so the devils yoke is easie and his wayes are pleasant the dead are at rest in sinne they feel no pain though in the way to hell till they come there Eyes closed this also belongs to the dead in sinne The dead see nothing godlinesse is a mystery and the word of life a parable to a dead soul Confusion covers the dead reason is rebellion doing is undoing and yet the soul thinks all is well Light is darknesse sweet is bitter life is death to a dead soul Jacob is Esau the blind miscall every person and every thing O that thou hadst known in this thy day The sunne brought out of heaven and set at the doore and yet not discerned the dead see nothing in the day time day is night to the dead sunshine darknesse Christ close by yet not apprehended by the dead Christ knocks at the doore the voice though just behind or just before yet not heard our Gospel is hid though this be light more sparkling more shining then all other light Pride buds as the Prophet speaks sinne spreads God frowns hell gapes yet the dead see nothing Spirituall death 't is spirituall understanding quite lost one not able to discern divine things however externally advantaged hold a torch to the eye of the dead yet he sees nothing and if ye could hold the sunne close to the eyes of a dead man yet could he apprehend nothing the wisdome of the world is foolishnesse in it self the wisdome of the Scriptures is even also the same to a dead soul he knows nothing as he ought not the things he gathers and looks upon in wisdomes house Carcase stinking The dead smell lothsome the dead in sins do so Malignity hath got victory the whole state is corrupted all the bloud black and filthy in the dead Temptations overcome what Sathan saith is law and Gospel imaginations evil and all so and onely so evil the whole bulk and carcase of Christianitie stinking to Christ Christians The dead are all dead all filthy from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot full of sores plague-sores and all run and bloud filth is wallowed in Spirituall death is the soul under the rule of sinne sinne ruling the heart sleights truth the heart sleighting truth life is evil and yet pleaded for as good this stinks abominably in the nostrils of God Havvoth pravitates wickednesses Spirituall death is the inward parts very wickednesse the heart given to a harlot a strumpet is base and stinking Affection false and your lungs are rotten the opening of your mouth to God is as the opening of a sepulchre Spirituall death 't is a man abominable to God person action in life in death the dead stink alwayes God hates a wicked soul forever Sinne is everlasting so is justice the soul that lies in it is an abomination from generation to generation The grave and hell do not purifie the dead Spirituall death is a soul eternally lothing and lothed Stretched out coffin'd and buried this is the last property of the dead Dead in sinne are stretched out with a witnesse conscience is racked Conviction is the proper divine operation in a dead soul men under the power of sinne are under the power of wrath here spirituall death is a heart under the mere sence and guilt of wrath Worms eat the dead conscience gnaweth souls that lie in their sinnes The dead are stretched out and buried the dead bury the dead There be black bearers below and they are fetched up when wicked souls depart and thousands of them stand ready to carry the dead to their place This night they shall take away thy soul A dead soul is stretched out carried forth and buried in the night saith the Text This night they shall take away thy soul Dead souls are all buried in the night in utter darknesse The summe of all is this Spirituall death is a soul seperated from God under pollution and conviction untill condemnation Vse 'T is a time of slaughter fields cities towns dipped and dyed in bloud Dead bodies are many but dead souls are more the dead are in every house yea almost in every bed and yet no Lord have mercy at the doore Husband dead wife dead child dead and
yet no mourning for the dead This generation affrighteth me what are become of spirituall bowels are they ript up too are bad men dead and good men dead and is there no life left Ignorant men dead men of light dead death passeth over all passion swayeth high and low 't is a pang of death and presageth the death of all if the Lord heal it not Prepare coffins and graves for the dead dead sinners dead Christians buy your winding-sheets make your wills if there be any life in me your condition is dangerous The axe is laid to the root now I beleeve every dead tree will down ere Christ lay down his axe Danger onely stirreth some men sinners stand up from the dead do you see nothing coming towards you God is against you is not he all enemies and all engines the sword of man may be sheathed yet will you be cut off not a wilfull sinner will be spared for the anger of the Lord is against you justice visites but seldome but when she doth she sweeps every room Every one that is proud and every one that is lofty Esay 2.12 Proud flesh is dead flesh every one that swelleth against Christ shall be lanced every one that stoopeth not shall be broken Without Christ will sweep clean within he will do the same even amongst his own he will throughly purge his floore If you have any life in you think of these things Londoners Londoners now trading is dead think of your dead hearts these two yeares and upward trading hath been very dead why this tenne yeare this twenty yeare thy heart hath been dead a dead name a dead state a dead body suit a dead soul If you have any love to your bodies or any love to your souls looke out after spirituall life or all will die for ever Two things tend to spirituall life Christ strongly applied his ordinances throughly pursued Christ is the first risen from the dead and whom he taketh by the hand arise next after him Death and him that had the power of death Christ hath destroyed and all that would do the like must come to him Perversnesse will kill sinners quite the dead want life because they will not come to Christ You will not come to me that you may have life Dead hearts look to it your sinnes loved and Christ rejected you cannot live you must let Christ kill any thing so he will but make alive your souls cut off any thing a right hand so he will but unite what remaineth to himself Our merit must not be thought of for alas what can the dead do but Christs merit and order both must Christ killeth and then maketh alive he slayeth pride and bringeth souls to fall at his feet willing to be done any thing with and then he doth all for them Waters of life are given to swouning persons they that grone and are heavie loden with sinne and come to Christ they find ease a spirit of life and joy Coming to Christ is application of Christ He hath loved me and given himself for me He satisfieth for me he intercedeth for me he appeareth in the face of perfect righteousnesse for me All these are vitall acts the soul that indeed this moveth is joyned to all the living and is a lively soul indeed Christs merit and Christs spirit is this mans he hath eternall life abiding in him and is passed from death You must drink of the waters that Christ profereth you and then you will find a well of waters springing up in you to everlasting life He that shall drink of the waters which I shall give him c. If the stomach be weak to this lively ordinances must be looked out dead ordinances make dead souls Ordinances that are as the tree of life of the Lords own planting speak Christ to the life and make dead souls alive Coloss 1.18 That in all things he might have the preheminence THe latitude of Christs dominion is here exprest 't is without limits and without parallel Some are great in such a compasse every ones Sun hath a circle every ones glory hath circumference every ones Sceptre hath bounds they can command onely within such a countrie none are over all not the greatest Princes that are but Christ hath an universall command in all things he hath the preheminence Evill hearts swell bigge and sometimes rise high pride nesteth it self among the Stars and yet then it is below Christ No man is so bigge in conceit as Christ is in deed nor so high in thought as Christ is really Vice when at highest is below Christ Virtue when at highest 't is below Christ all is under his feet Evill men cannot over match Christ by their sinne good men cannot over match him in their virtue he is sweeter then the sweetest soul alive He is the Rose of Sharon and the Lillie of the valleyes he is above opposition and above comparison things averse to him can take nothing from him and things congruous to him can adde nothing to him Our righteousnesse extendeth not to him Our righteousnesse no nor Angels righteousnesse among all things in earth and in Heaven he hath the preheminence The command of Christ is proclaim'd in this expression how large his commission is to controll all Universall dominion is large too long and too broad for any creature to travell it speaketh many things we shall touch some We will travell as farre in Christs dominion as we can in an houre The word speaketh power destructive power instructive power inspective Christ hath a destructive power over all he hath many enemies yet not one above him many have fought with him but he hath slain them all In the field Christ hath preheminence I will instance but in one battell that Christ fought Exod. 14.28 He destroyed Pharaoh and all his Host that there remained not so much as one of them saith the Text. Which is admired again Psal 106.11 The waters covered their enemies there was not one of them left He had amongst all the preheminence indeed Enemies are many and they are upon Christs back and there for a long while and make long furrows but he fetcheth them off his back and layeth them under his feet all of them He must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet 1. Cor. 15.25 If you have many upon your back 't is very disadvantageous in fight you cannot so easily fetch them off all but it is all one to Christ to have many behind him as before him those that are upon his back he can fetch them off and lay them under his feet with ease he is the best at the use of his arms he hath the preheminence in warre a destructive power over all Christ hath an instructive power over all he can teach all nations his commission is so large English Dutch French he can make knowledge cover the face of the earth as the waters do the sea Christ can as the sunne till all
the world with light and life he hath power over all flesh and he speaks it in regard of instruction Joh. 17.2 Some spirits are very fleshly and very sottish yet Christ hath power over these to make them wise Who so is simple let him turn in hither Prov. 9.4 Wisdome keeps a free-school universally receptive that is for all comers though never so simple yea universally instructive whoever comes thrives Wisdomes house hath seven pillars and sends out maidens every where a complete light and a complete power to impart it to any soul in any place Some hearts are very hard to learn and yet not too hard for Christ to teach he can teach blocks and stones of stones he can raise seed to Abraham Christ hath an inspective power over all he hath the preheminence for sight he is oculis eminentior his eyes runne through the earth and behold all his eye is very strong nothing can be hid from it Some could over-rule such and such things were they but aware of them craft carries it with you ofttimes when power cannot but it cannot do so with Christ he discovers deep things out of the darknesse not a mote in the sunne not a hair on your head but he numbers it knows one by one which is very exact knowledge 'T is like that expression in another case Not a thought in our hearts but he knows it altogether The sunne is the eye of the world and 't is a very fair one and looks far and yet looks not so far as Christ who is the eye of worlds of this world and that world as heaven is called Luke 20.35 Christ looks beyond Luther beyond Solomon beyond Abraham who looked a great way and saw Christ very farre off yea Christ looks beyond Adam beyond all that are or ever were All things are naked before him not onely bodies but spirits whose vastnesse is farre deeper and more then all the creation beside in his book are all our members written yea in his book is written that which hath no members and hardly no terms to expresse to wit our souls the fabrick and motion of them He can tell where Sathan is when hid in a sheepskin he knows his voice when he speaks in a Saint as well as when he speaks in a serpent Get thee behind me Sathan said he to Peter And adde but one thing more and it will exceedingly tend to the glory of Christs sight he hath a presentiall sight not a sight of any one at a distance as we have every thing is full in his eye and fast by him because of the vastnesse of his presence All runnes into this Christ hath an universall preheminence a dominion over all Use Let universall power be universally laid to heart so I come to apply this point our reach is short and shallow and yet according to this we frame thoughts still of him that is above us Thoughts of things above us must be carefully shaped by truth and not by fancie divine majesty will fall else and we shall think of Christ as of our selves Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one at thy self Psalme 50.21 Christ will not bear mens base conceptions of him Christ misapprehended his majesty falls majesty fallen in the heart man runnes wild when men flie out God flies out and now you shall see one underfoot presently Christ or the creature that riseth up against him Tremble proud profane hearts at the universality of Christs power he will have the preheminence over you Sinners propose to themselves what pleaseth them though it displease God and bear out themselves that this shall hold they propose what is amisse and yet promise felicity to themselves and that is more amisse A soul at this height is near falling Christ will have the preheminence of this proud person wherein he deals proudly Christ will be above him Watch your hearts sinners they grow desperately wicked quickly a presumptuous soul denies the universality of Christs dominion to his face and stands upon his guard against all the host of heaven truth shall never command me in this Now the man hath made his will he will die presently desperate hearts have suitable justice they go down quick into the pit Stoop to the universality of Christs commands as God hath set him so do you over all in all things Oppose Christs least commands to the commands of the greatest men in the world follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth Moses parents did their duty to Christ in him and kept him alive not fearing the commands of the king Hebr. 11.23 Pharaoh puts forth an universall command every sonne that is born to the Hebrews ye shall cast into the river and Moses parents opposed to this the universality of Christs power and pursued their duty not fearing the kings command What command soever or from whom soever opposing any command of Christ destroyes the universality of his authority and speaks sinfull fear if we obey it The universality of Christs dominion is the great jewell of his crown that which distinguisheth him from all the great ones in the world 't is his Motto King of kings his grand prerogative and yet fear destroyes this quite Let flesh and bloud attend to this nature weak passion strong men transported with pride do they know not what throw down Christ to keep up themselves England thou art unhappy at the practise of this point to raise the Lord Jesus above all to give him the preheminence in all things the Lord grant it be not required of us Is our long bondage so soon forgot Is our present bleeding nothing Can we tell whether we shall live or die Shall we not put Christ inprimis in our will Shall we not give our dying breath to vote up Christ above all are we not low enough yet to set Christ high to give him the preheminence in all things Surely we shall be Let us all look about us and know our duty truth not men must be our rule and blessed are they that can receive this love is bountifull she will give Christ all she seeks not her own she sets Christ as high as God sets him whatever it cost her Affection must have judgement to guide it or else men erre on the right hand and judgement must have love to quicken it and warm it or else men erre on the left hand good men will become very bad and speak and do against their conscience and break their peace to keep a bubble whole their honour with men and the like I know not what hearts you have for Christ I know what hearts we all should have to set Christ at this height my text speaks of Love must be very strong conscience very tender the heart very humble grace very sincere to give Christ the preheminence in all things Cold hearts brawnie hearts proud hearts rotten hearts your plague is great you can never advance Christ to his preheminence and look how farre you are
lost intense affection makes through action what you coldly act you doe by halves Sin makes more then scars upon us it makes deep wounds you stirre with all your might when you see such distresse if there be any bowels in you God wants not bowels he lays our condition to heart though we doe not our dying condition puts life into him unlesse I stirre this sinner is lost unlesse I stirre uncessantly this world is all lost all are under sin wounded gasping giving up thus God puts home necessitie of vitall action upon himselfe This is our plague we cannot put home the necessitie of things upon our selves we are so carelesse and forlorne could we it would make us restlesse to worke out our owne salvation you may see it in Paul Necessitie is upon me and I cannot be quiet unlesse I preach unlesse my soule stirre uncessantly 't is lost for ever alas for us wee cannot put home necessitie thus though our lives lie on 't and therefore doth the Devill fetch away all under our very Citie-wals What we cannot doe God can and doth God pities man because no eye else doth our desperate condition is still in his eye and O how his heart beats he can neither slumber nor sleepe he watches continually because we are groaning and dying some hope of life and then and not till then he rests It gave rest to the Father c. Vse The propertie of divine motion you see 't is restlesse to good the contrary to this is diabolicall and yet oh Lord how common is this in the world to be restlesse to evill Bowels worke not at all but braines worke that they foame and froth againe The losse of meate nothing the losse of sheepe nothing the losse of Heaven nothing so men may goe in their owne way A man cannot be too slow to sin nor bogle enough at a bad businesse nor doe too little of that which is naught 't were better a man had no legs then run to evill no braines then acute and restlesse to doe evill well What grieves not you grieves God but if this will not doe persons shall have their course and take as comes 'T were better I had nothing no parts then all Satans Restlesse soules to evill you are all Satans you serve him with your might with all your strength you serve him when you are up and when you are abed you give the devill foure and twenty houres to his day God you know had his Holocaust under the Law his whole burnt offerings haire and hide and all burnt so the devill hath his Holocaust his whole burnt offerings Restlesse soules in sin you are Satans whole burnt sacrifices you are all on fire of hell heart tongue hand you offer up all your rich parts wealth you are in the depth of sin in the gall of bitternesse and if you can sucke any sweetnesse out of this doe What is wholly Satans is firmely his give the Devill hold with both hands and heel ' hold fast Restlesse soules to evill you are close prisoners to the Prince of darknesse such as are double bolted and chain'd who ever get loose you will not 'T is sad to see the bent of mens spirit 't is nothing to them to resigne up all to the Devill you are well pleased so is Satan but know that he doth not so easily resigne all back againe he fortifies as he takes and will not lose an out-worke gain'd easily If Satan have got hold but on a mans tongue or eye or some such like out-part this is not taken away from him againe presently but when he hath all he makes impregnable works Satan secures his throne if he get into the soule that soule shall sinke to hell ere he will rise out of his chaire Satan will not let you goe said I You will not let Satan goe which are restlesse to sin Two knit in love who can part them Satan and you burne together in affection and God will not breake the match you shall burne together in hell Till this marriage day you shall not want tokens can you tell how many blacke letters are written to conscience whilst affection burnes to evill When you see sinners sin and smile aske them Doth God and your conscience smile Face mirth is nothing to me mens courses must not gaine credit because they are impudent I beseech you deale truly with your eternall soules how oft doth your consciences smile upon you There is no peace to the wicked What then to him that is nothing but wicked What nothing but warre and wounds and bloud inwardly and yet smiles and flaunts and flouts outwardly against good What a bad condition is this If you will talke of your wayes talke without to others as God talkes to you within and then 't will be worth the hearing if you will write write as God writes within and 't will be worth the reading Active spirits in ill want not imployment conscience takes them up with reading newes from beneath Eye time to come eye time present the condition is dreadfull where affection in strength workes to any evill Let it make soules breake off from this course and become imitators of God who is restlesse to contrive good Gods motion is exemplary you may safely make his spirit your pattern and 't is a blessed soule that can move as he doth Bodies bleed to death soules blead to death all England giving up and we are not restlesse in prayer nor restlesse in preaching nor in wrestling with God and man to save The houre of Christs crucifixion is come and a spirit of slumber is upon us we cannot watch nor pray what ever temptation be at our dore Jacob was renowned he wrestled for himselfe and familie all night he was restlesse till he had gotten the blessing but alas our night is not over and God knowes when 't will and we are tired alreadie purse tired spirit tired men will doe nothing but God will if we wrestle restlesly with him A man may doe much with God a righteous man may one unrighteous man may by importunitie Was not the unrighteous Judge overcome by importunitie Keep on to move as a Christian to God and to men and make no conclusions at home take wing and to Heaven and die not in the nest Mercy still is in travaile for them that are in travaile for it Error of one hand must not make error of tother wee have our mercies by degrees that dutie may be hightened not flatned Let 's better every one by our unwearied goodnesse Wee must serve God for naught let issues be what they will paines must be perpetuall 'T is Gods case as he hath to doe with us he is restlesse in meanes to gaine us all but alas how few doth he gaine If men were restlesse till they had done their part God would be restlesse till he had done his Be restlesse till you are in Gods garden and he will be restlesse to make a hedge about
death in sin to which the death of Christ is without profit this is when the soule will goe his own way Many walke by no rule all is fish that comes to net all is contentfull that sutes to a carnall affection conscience jogges these soules sometimes and then they talke of Christ that he hath dyed for their sinnes but poore soules they doe but talke If the faith of such persons forementioned were faith indeed and no fancie the soule would be crucified with crucified Christ I am crucified with Christ They which indeed appropriate the death of Christ die with him in affection first and then in action by little and little according as the death of Christ is more and more beheld The death of Christ is of double vertue it makes a death of guilt and a death of the very being of sin The bodie of sin as well as the soule of sin is dead The bodie is dead saith the Apostle speaking of corruption Corruption keepes in a bodie all that while 't is alive all powers combine to beate out their owne way as will best carry the world afore it and winke at if not scoffe at the way of Christ this soule crucifies Christ but is not crucified with him The sin of this age is bloudy wickednesse therefore doe we bleed Surely we bleed not so much for small sin our sin is crimson and scarlet coloured wee crucifie Christ his truth his people therefore doth he crucifie us Light rises so doth malice 't is nothing to the men of this generation to speak bitterly to murther bloudily their own convictions Christ shall die at the dore rather then they will open love to him to destroy the advantage of this time A man crucified to Christ is crucified to the world you that kill not the lusts of the world you kill Christ but not believe on him and his bloud shall be upon you not to take off guilt but to bind on guilt till you die till bloud goe for bloud 'T is a very bloudy time in which we live trials murther love to Christ to one another heartie affection to Christ can hardly be found men are so taken up with their own ends Povertie is marching towards us like an armed man all is falling flesh shakes at this and treads upon Christ and treads out his bowels to keepe up such wretches as these know not their wretched condition they have not tasted of the bloud of Christ nor know what Christ is now doing Christ is now avenging the bloud of his Covenant upon all that tread upon it men that doe not so take hold of his bloud and death as to bleed and die with him in name in state in person shall bleed and die by him this time is a discovery of unbeliefe and a recompence Unsensible persons are below discipline these therefore I must let goe Where conscience bleedes the bloud of the crosse may be of use and to these in the last place I will addresse my selfe Soules are loaded and troubled about many things but where the distresse is about eternall life whether shall I live or die Whether shall I live where Christ is or not 'T will be reliefe to such a burthened heart to thinke what Christ can doe for him in this case Thou hast a tender friend in Heaven and thy soule is precious to Christ he hath shed his bloud that thou mightest not die nor more despaire Things are very well between God and Christ he hath stood in the person of many and discharged well his undertaking the favour of God is at his dispose whom he intercedes for with his bloud escape the wrath of God 'T is sad to me to see how some soules sinke they thinke peace an impossible thing for them ever to attaine What is not peace Christs Is not Heaven Christs Is not kingdome power and glory Christs That all is Christs methinkes should quiet the cryings of conscience That God is at peace with Christ should generate faith in the most complaingest soule 'T is a facile thing for Christ to procure the favour of God but how should one get Christs favour And Christ is solicitous how to get thy favour Christs favour comes farre easier to us then Gods favour did to him he doth not expect your bloud to get his favour to accept him is to gaine him his favour is free all that he expects is that poore soules would but trust him and imploy him with their estates that they would imploy him and none else to procure the love of God and eternall blessednesse Could I trust Christ with my estate I know all would be well but I cannot believe Why know this that Christs bloud hath ingaged God to give faith and every grace else unto thee what thou wouldest doe and canst not let not that deject put out that grace you have When a man cannot goe into the poole 't is hopefull to lie neere it for one or other may take him up and carry him in thither whither he cannot goe himselfe Pained soules speake of nothing but the bloud of Christ prize nothing in comparison of this hence must come thy ease if ever out of these pantings spring faith unto joy Christ takes up these creeples of a sudden and carries them into the poole of his bloud You that have the Kings evill stand in the way of the King and though you cannot cure your selves yet you will lie as faire for cure as you can In a spirituall sense be thus prudent in the middest of all your soule-paines say If ever any thing give me ease it must be the bloud of Christ if ever any thing quiet my conscience it must be Christs bloud sprinkled upon it out of these honourable thoughts of proper remedie proceedes remedie to the soule Matter of faith and matter of love should spring from this point if one had time to goe this way The bloud of the crosse speakes love in strength love as strong as death what speakes it in Christ should make it in us No such Sermon of love in the Bible nor in the Creation as the bloud of the Crosse Enlarge this your selves in deeds COLOSSIANS 1.20 Whether they be things in earth or things in Heaven DIvine friendship according to its formalitie and causalitie I have handled according to its extent I am now to pursue it to wit how farre it reaches which is noted in these last words To things in earth and to things in Heaven This Scripture is difficult yet other Scriptures compared with it will helpe us to see something into it By things in earth is meant the Elect called and uncalled By things in Heaven is meant Saints and Angels By reconciling of all these to himselfe is meant the gathering of them all into one spirituall bodie under one head the Lord Jesus Christ by vertue of which the state of fallen man is restored the state of blessed Angels confirmed all to concenter in one common blessednesse for
ever according to that Ephes 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulnesse of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ which are in Heaven and which are in earth Gathered together in one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to renew the state and condition of all Angels and men in and under one head which is here mentioned Jesus Christ That Angels have the same common head with Saints and so consequently the completion of their state in the same head together with us is apparent Col. 2.10 And yee are compleat in him which is the head of all principalitie and power Angels are of the quire above together with the Saints and they all sing one tune and they are of the fellowship below also they are brought in as joynt members of the universall invisible Church You are come to mount Sion to the Citie of the living God to the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels The condition of the greatest states is here considerable The noblest creatures are beholding to Christ things in heaven as well as things in earth Nothing is absolute but God men are noble Angels are noble but they all lean upon one more noble then themselves or else they would fall and become as ignoble as those cursed spirits below us Man is a little lower then Angels Angels a great deal lower then Christ their being is founded in his greatnesse and is confirmed in his goodnesse That grace which is redemption to the lower world is confirmation to the upper There would be no place for pride if this point were well digested None apter to swell in spirit then man man sets us up externally a little and then the Devill sets us up internally much few but swell and break eternally when gotten high in the world I wonder at it were you as high as heaven as high as Angels yet were ye below Christ The body of Heaven in its brightnesse is under his feet Exod. 24.10 What is under Christs feet he can trample upon at pleasure pride is no small sin and yet it growes up the Lord knows from very small things What hast thou that thou hast not received What have things in heaven which they have not and hold not from Christ The lesse may be said for sin the greater 't is and the worse that heart in which it growes Pride is a grand plague 't is one that hath taken leave of Christ and conscience to humor himself but Ah Lord when will this man content himself A man will sooner breake his heart then content his heart which pursues the proud lusts of it A soule devoted to it self is as cruell a Master to serve as the Devill to pursue the dictates of a proud spirit is endlesse work and hell enough for any creature if there were none else to come Soules in this consumption should consider their disease and their cure The remedy of every vice is in Christ this tree hath leaves to cure all diseases There is no distemper in the spirit but Christ may be considered under such a notion as to rectifie it Consider Christ as the keeper up of Angels and 't is enough to keep down the spirit of any man COLOSS. 1.20 Whether they be things in earth c. AS the expression points at things in heaven 't is usefull you see as it speaks of things in earth 't is more proper to us The latitude of divine love downward is as large as upward it reacheth all things in heaven and all things in earth That he might reconcile all things to himself whether things in heaven or things in earth The grace of reconciliation as it works towards things on earth is very vast as it works towards creatures above 't is unexpressible a man cannot tell how many love smiles upon in heaven and therefore generally exprest all things a universall term to note the vastnesse of that kindnesse So as it works towards things on earth 't is inexpressible 't is called all things to note the vastnesse the unexpressible company which Christ embraceth here below A man cannot tell the number of spirits in earth which Christ doth reconcile to his Father in heaven Grace works unexpressibly vast to us ward Doct. Grace doth abound The Lord is upon many waters Psal 29.3 As providence externall so providence internall doth reach forth it self to many Many bodies are saved from sinking in the sea because the Lord is upon the waters So many soules are saved from sinking into hell because the Lord moves upon these many waters too The world is full of troubles as the sea of waves not one but meets with enough to over-turn all if God did not uphold the whole world would fall into a consumption and die as big a body as 't is if God did not uphold Not one nor two nor three but all creatures share in upholding mercy or else all would sink 't is so in a proportion in spirituall respects Satan is an industrious creature to overthrow mans welfare he goes about seeking whom he may devoure none would escape hell if God were not exceeding rich in mercy Satans desire is to destroy all and his malice is attended with such art that it would certainly bring forth its end did not the speciall providence of Christ prevent which it doth and doth it to many the grace of Christ unto life is powred out upon many souls There are many last which are made first as well as many first are made last Many are eternally saved out of the power of Satan as many are prey'd upon by him Grace did work more compendiously then now it doth before Christs coming in the flesh lost sheep of the house of Israel found all that dropt from heaven and they were but few the Lord knoweth one of a City and two of a Tribe But since a great dore of love is opened and many hundred soules in one City yea many thousands in one Countrey come in to the Lord Jesus Christ The white sheet of mercy that is let down from Heaven now is great saith the Text and it hath all manner of beasts in it and the Apostle makes a Comment upon it as I do My vision saith he speaks the grace of Christ working now very richly God hath shewed me that I should call nothing common or unclean He speaks it in the case of Saul not a man so vile so bloody and malicious but the blood of Christ may reconcile him to God the love of God doth now so richly work Mercy is infinite and it works so God shews mercy to thousands from generation to generation Abrahams seed are as the stars of heaven for multitude God hath but one Son but Christ hath many he brings many sons to glory Infinite mercy generates infinitely what is in Christ derives it self to all the nations of the earth Aarons rod buds Christs blessing buds it multiplies into many blessings and spreads all the world over In thee
a reason of Gods love to any thing but to Christ if any thing incite him towards us 't is that which deters us from him to wit our desperate condition The poore man that lay wounded when all passed by Christ took compassion upon him Grace doth so worke as best to shew its own nature the lesse you see in your selves the lesse you can say for your selves the likelier to find favour and friendship with God Christ is come of purpose to make favour and friendship for such that see themselves worthy of none Let what will be said of this nature yet tempted soules will put all off something must be on my part to get the favour of God and I can doe nothing I am under the power of darknesse and cannot stirre a limbe what can become of me but ruine I cannot pray nor heare nor believe yet thou maist be blessed When we have no legs to goe forth to fetch in good things they make legs to themselves and come to us As Solomon saith of riches that they make wings to themselves and flie away from us so divine favours make wings and legs to themselves and come to us Salvation is come to thy house Joy comes in the morning I will not leave you orphans I will come to you The doctrine in hand answers this objection too grace is in all points and according to all circumstances free The preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue what to thinke what to say what to doe to make you blessed you shall have all from the Lord. Poore creatures at an utter losse in themselves conclude God is so too otherwise why should you give up your condition as desperate When you can doe no more can Christ doe no more to set the wheele of mercy going Yes he can but he will not for mee Why Because of this and that This is all one to say that his love is not fully free which is a direct contradiction of the doctrine in hand Grace hath riches in it unsearchable riches it workes beyond what you can aske beyond what you can thinke it blots out uncleannesse bloud guilt treason against the highest State grieving quenching resisting the holy Ghost All this is to tempted Christians to men in their carnall condition a word more and this discourse will end Your condition is not supposedly miserable but indeed so You are not the people of God you have not obtained mercy and yet all this may be because grace is in all respects free Conscience though in a dead sleepe is startled now and then and then rages terribly cuts and wounds raves and teares and then lies down againe as your bedlams doe this is a wofull condition and by so much the more wofull because such pangs come and goe and nothing done by them but naked torment and despaire Such distempers of soule are much like those distempers of body which you call convulsions falling sicknesse it takes men by fits upon changes of weather condition and the like such as are troubled with these fits should doe well to have in readinesse such Scriptures as that 1 Pet. 2.10 Which in times past were not a people which in times past had not obtained mercy but now all is otherwise And that Scripture Ezek. 32.36 I will wash you and cleanse you but not for your sakes Though at present you are such and such sinfull livers you may have mercy from the Lord and be changed Diabolicall convulsions wry and wrest your mouthes and eyes gastly against good and make you foame at mouth against Christ and yet as fearfully wicked as you are you may obtaine mercy The Apostle speakes of such a generation as these in the text And yee which were enemies in your minde by wicked workes hath he reconciled God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beare mens manners and then beares their soules out of them at last If these things harden you in your sins they will hasten your ruine but if they melt you and make you inquire after God who is so sweet so giving and forgiving you will be blessed for ever COLOSSIANS 1.22 In the body of his flesh CHrist can make worke with any instrument out of the dust can he raise seed to Abraham he assumes a body of flesh like ours and in this body saves the soules of men Earth is the basest Element and yet out of this Christ makes a body and doth by it the noblest things The meane and low wayes that God goes in to bring about the greatest and bravest workes is wonderfull he chooseth weake things and with these destroys strong Flesh is weake and with this he destroys spirits the strongest spirits principalities powers all the enemies of our salvation Yea he taketh things which are not to bring to naught things which are One is not meaning Joseph which was slaine and by this one which was not by this despised person were all the rest made to stoop yea by this one that was not was all the rest father and children sav'd Joseph was in this a type of Christ by taking a body a humane body he was sold into bondage slaine one that was not and by this brought to nought things that are sin Satan hell and made the way open to heaven which was shut with everlasting dores 'T is no matter what the instrument is so the power used be vast Sampson with a jaw-bone of an Asse slew heapes upon heapes the arme was mightie though the instrument was weake and unlikely The power Christ hath to worke with is absolute he hath much within him he needeth little without him whether he hath any or none it is all one he is himselfe so mightie he is a Sampson every haire of his head stronger then a Goliah every finger stronger then an arme every gloâ—e of his eye more terrible then legions of devills Christ is the power of God the great power of God as they falsly said of the Sorcerer he can with his own hand worke salvation That which can doe a thing alone can doe it with a small concurrence if the hand be the hand of Sampson then whether a bone or feather be in that hand 't is all one the worke intended will be accomplished Sampson will be mortall to his enemies and accomplish his will what ever instrument he workes by The things wee use must contribute joyntly with us to the worke we set upon because we are too weak for it we take up no instrument but wee borrow something from it which we need and therefore picke and choose when wee take up tooles lest we faile in our end 'T is not so with Christ he takes up no instrument from necessitie he is so compleat himselfe and therefore any thing that comes next to hand a jaw-bone a sling a nayle a clod of earth a body of flesh like ours weapon enough to overthrow all the powers of darknesse 'T is
no matter what the instrument be so that it hath but the advantage of divine ordination to such an end All the means that God useth are effectuall to his end because he hath appointed them and not for any cause or reason naturally in themselves If there be no likely power in an instituted means yet it shall accomplish its end because instituted I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ 't is the power of God unto salvation To speak a few plain words of a despised person and think by this to convert the souls of men from their wicked wayes and to bring them to heaven and to wave a lofty strain of humane wisdome more likely to take I am not ashamed to do this this course may seem folly yet certainly it shall accomplish its work 't will be the power of God to salvation because the will of God hath instituted it That Christ should have such a frail instrument and no other to wit a body of flesh a substance capable of death to conquer death withall was of Gods appointment a body hast thou prepared for me and therefore effectuall to such an end God eyes himself in all he doth by us He doth so order action and instrument as may most advance his own glory When the instrument is great God is little we cannot see much of Christ when he takes up much of any thing here below to do his will by Mans argumentation generally is very destructive to the glory of God That hand which is most visible still that did all Saul hath slain his thousand David his ten thousand God none God therefore leaves all which we so much look upon and goes alone and doth work with poor despised ones which we cast off The Stone which the builders refused he must be head Weak and unlikely things to sense are trampled upon by us Can death bring about heaven Can base things bring about glory Thus we reject and refuse things and then God uses them and then he is seen as God The humanity of Christ was the fittest medium in the world to demonstrate the Divinity of Christ by to all the world For such an organ as ours to be made do mighty things made beholders put that question What manner of man Christ was We admire power wisdome and every attribute else when they put forth themselves by poore and unlikely things and not else If means be likely to such an end according to our reason we usually never look at God but bury the glory of all that is done in instruments Enemies to Christ should tremble at this point The kingdome of the Devill is strong men are confident and rage Round-heads shall not live a man of them God suddenly blast this pride with a little power Men despised for valour and skill God makes to drink the blood of despisers so he will do 't is his way Great men and great spirits should abase themselves if they will not weak things Worms Flies Frogs shall devoure a king The heart secretly riseth but the man is openly puld down the ruine of the stout-hearted is very notorious by two circumstances in that it is done openly and utterly that God useth weak means to overthrow strong and so as never to rise more They sank as a stone saith the Text. Doth a stone rise again Jael nails Sisera to the ground could he rise again Ah! what is become of many thousands of the Lords enemies in this Land which were mighty in battell Are they not sunk as a stone pinned to the ground gone to their center to their place whence they cannot return and this by poor despised means With weake instruments God doth through work David strikes down the Philistine and that is not all he is used to make sure work with him he runs and cuts off his head which shadowed out the utter ruine of the kingdome of the Devill by Christ a despised man God is upon a design the world will not believe not a man shall stand before him that stands against him The baiers of the Lord shall be destroyed that is all of them If any ask how this shall be because things are so unlikely I answer The Lord creates evill he can take any thing a hailstone a wounded man and form them into deadly instruments for his enemies The fan in Christs hand 't is but a weak thing a despised company yet he will throughly purge his floore he will out with all that offends When some bad humors are let out they gather and swell again there is no end of action in an evill heart till there be an utter end of the man 'T is sad to behold how enemies gather ino a head again when blasted from heaven we shall prevaile we shall prevaile The Devill befools wise men How can ye prevaile and cannot conquer the weaknesse of God Poor weak things if you cannot conquer an army of men how will you conquer a legion of Angels God hath a reserve which you are not aware of you choose out your stoutest for a forlorn but God his weakest and yet these are too hard for you and yet you feed your fancy that you shall prevaile The Devill is in this would bloody wretches were aware of it that he may have all he would not have a man sit down in an evill way till he come to his journeys end which is Hell the destruction of the body and soul Christ hath many sorts of enemies all should tremble at this point that God doth great things with small means There is a corporall war and a spirituall war in England and both bloody in both Christ will conquer how weak and poor and despised soever his instruments be which he useth When Christ drew out a party to go out against the kingdome of the Devill observe how he furnished him with munition Go saith he and take neither sword nor staffe nor money yet these carried it in the businesse they went about Externall advantages about internall works are much lookt at and much sway with sense what power what honour and wealth goes along with the wayes which are profest Christ takes neither and yet raiseth up his Kingdome in the world sends out men not a whit seconded from secular advantage no power from man but the sword of men against them no honour from men but the frownes of all against them and yet turnes the world thus opposite with two or three upside down These are they which turn the world upside down The world is a vast body and holds very hard in its way and yet this turned upside down by two or three despised ones Thus hath Christ done thus doth Christ do and thus will he Choller is a scurvie humor it burns black mens throats and tongues The Devill hath shot thousands in the mouth if not in the heart in this war between Presbyterians and Independants O how wickedly do some good men talk now and yet Christ will live and every
that might speake matter of hope to thee Despaire in strength is very peremptory in conclusions but never deliberate in examinations of grounds 'T is a soule so tossed and tumbled between Satan and conscience day and night that it hath no power to ponder any thing Pressus ab exemplo discat sperare secunda Thou shalt goe to hell O my soule when thou diest Why I have sinned So did all the Saints that are in Heaven when they were in earth as now thou art did not David sin much in life and yet what a brave hope had he in death Sin enough in life to make him a type of Satan for bloud and unmercifulnesse and yet hope enough in death to make him a type of Christ Thou wilt not leave my soule in grave Yea but some persons sins have a very sad consideration over others have This is a truth but no sin or misery must have any such consideration as to sinke the soule Hold this position all that God doth is to bring us nearer to him If he whip us and strike never so hard or never so strangely 't is to bring us nearer him not to drive us further from him If he strike the body or the soule if he let loose Satan to tempt and let loose the heart to fall 't is to bring the soule nearer to God God doth nothing to drive away thy soule from him nor would he have any thing else doe it and wilt thou doe it thy selfe by every thing thou seest hearest feelest c Despaire makes use of externall senses all together more then of the Bible and construes all things amisse it harpes much upon the intention of God God intends my death he holds me for his enemie fury guides him in all that he doth about me one may run and read his frownes in all his actions Thou frownest alwayes O tempted soule and thou thinkest God doth so Thy soule is precious to Christ he doth not desire its death 't is more precious to Christ then to thy selfe Christ would save it and thou wouldest destroy it he meanes nothing else in the blackest saddest things that are upon thee but love and mercy therefore be not prejudized concerning his intention the saddest things that are upon thee if thou couldest but turne them upside downe thou shouldest see in them the smiling face of God Hold one position more that Gods intentions toward us are accompanied with the readiest means to accomplish them in us Good is long a coming this principle swallowed is destructive to Hope the next step will be this 't will never come Christ long a coming the next crosse makes the soule conclude he will never come Wee may not construe Christ tedious in his motion and yet 't is hard to doe otherwise when much put to it when tryals are sharpest mercy and deliverance is nearest The Heathen rage The Lord of hosts is with us saith the next verse Hold fast I come quickly When 't is as much as ever one can hold tryall being so strong then Christ makes hast and salvation is neare This principle well laid into the soule would make one hope to the end hope to the last man in a battell to the last breath in a sicknesse Jacob comes hindermost of the company Christ comes after all means are done Isaac which signifies laughter is a childe of old age Christ comes out of a withered womb the man-childe that makes us laughter comes out of means given up as barren When Christ throwes a man downe and throwes him very low then is he about to raise him When Christ kills then is he readie to make alive If this were received who could despaire Who would not hope of life when every one gives him over Yea of eternall life Finally hold one position more that Satan and thine own unbelieving heart conspire against thy tranquilitie hope is the joy of a mans life Satan hath none and it addes to his sorrow when he seeth any else have joy it greatens his hell when he sees any else have but a little of Heaven Finall despaire shuts up that cursed spirit and all those that are with him the worme that gnawes me will never die the fire that burnes me is unquenchable the chaines that hold me are everlasting chaines the pit I am in is bottomelesse no possible passage from hence not a drop of mercy falls in here to cole any scorched creature in the space of eternitie this is the tone of Tophet these are the dismall complaints which those restlesse soules below throw out as they role to and fro in that fiery furnace Despairing sinner Satan is fallen in with thy conscience to conjure thy soule into this condition Thou art in hell upon earth as that other phrase is of her that is dead while shee lives Tell me How dost thou sleepe How dost thou eate How dost thou walke How dost thou talke How dost thou looke Is not thy moisture turned into the drought of summer Thy body turned into skin and bones Alas for thee poore soule God never made such a way as this to Heaven 't is Satan and thy owne despairing heart one evill spirit tormenting another just as they doe below and the designe is to seale the soule up for wrath despaire is the black seale of the bottomlesse pit Lay all this together now and doe but thinke how unkindly you deale with Christ for all his love and paines which hath done so much for the tranquilitie of your life to make you hope here and possesse hereafter Christ hath taken upon him your debts there is not a sin that ever you committed not a trespasse against any rule but he will be accountable for it and in your stead and all to make you hope Some friends will undertake for part of ones debt to make one chearfull and this is much love too much to be slighted but then there remaines something behind and that sads and sinkes the heart How shall I pay that Bleeding soule Christ leaves thee no debt to pay no sin to answer for 'T is lively set out in that Parable Luk. 18.32 O wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desirest it shouldest not thou also have compassion on thy fellow-servant What should make feare when all is discharged If I did know it were so Dost thou not desire it should be so Wouldest thou not have all right and sweet between God and thy soule rather then any thing Yes Why this may be a demonstration to thee that all is right and even between God and thee Did I not forgive thee all thy debt because thou desirest me God forgives debts to Christ upon exact satisfaction but Christ forgives debts to us upon complaining of them and groaning under them and desiring their discharge upon a heart panting to be clean the voice goes forth from Christ I will be thou cleane Panting languishing soule for mercy thou hast obtained mercy thou desirest to
like his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Phil. 3.21 no condition desperate to Christ he can give sight to one that is born blinde he 〈◊〉 change the spots of the Leopard plague spots all things touching the fallen condition of man are possible to him 't was spoken you know by himself upon a sad fight which none of Christs Disciples could do good to to wit one rended and torn by Satan which Christ cured with ease There be many thousand impossibilia to us yea in us not a sin in a mans soul the least but is impossible to us to subdue because in our nature Can a Leopard change his spots any one of his spots He may lick at them but can he remove them 'T is as if Christ had said Can a sinner take out any stain in his soul he may lick at them by prayer and the like but he cannot remove them because as a nature to him yet I can do it as if Christ had said I can take out any spot out of any cloth out of any part soul or body He is able to save all that come to God by him Christ hath this vast power and he cannot suspend it If he refuse to do what he can for any distressed creature that comes unto him and be the most miserable in the world he will displease his Father which we know he would not do he would undergo hell first The power that Christ hath for the good of sinners is necessarily acted The Sun shines upon all the world and it cannot do otherwise Christ in the 6th of John when he had discoursed largely according to what latitude and compasse he wrought for the salvation of souls he puts it to this conclusion I can do no lesse saith he for this is the will of my Father that every one that seeth the Son and believeth on him might have everlasting life if it be the tatterdst the forlornst creature in the city that looks pitifully upon me I must look pitifully upon him if he hang about me for soul favour I must in no wayes cast him off but take him out of the jaws of death and carry him in my arms to eternall life What is the will of the Father is the will of Christ the will of Christ naturally not artificially in a way of self-deniall and contest as the will of God is said to be a Saints will so that what the Father would have Christ own Christ cannot but own for the same Spirit is in him and in the same measure and therefore you have him setting himself forth by the Prophet just as I do as one bound by that Spirit which anointed him The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and he hath anointed me to preach unto these and these and to comfort all that mourn a Christ doth not say the will of the Lord is nakedly revealed to me how far I shall shew mercy and how far not but the same Spirit that speaks to me saith he is upon me i. in the same measure that it speaks to me 't is in me and so necessitates me to obey or captivates me as my own nature and as my own affection God is captivated with love toward all captives so am I saith Christ he would have all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth Jewes and Gentiles so would I too saith Christ the same bottomlesse sea of love that fluctuates in his breast is in mine the Father and I are one and often Christ uses this expression when he speaks about love to the creature Vse Sinners if ever you would be saved consider this point well how wide the arms of Christ are how big the bosome of mercy is it hath many thousands between her breasts already and yet there is roome for you The love of Christ is not coy 't is not humerous ' thath not naturall antipathy against any but persons that sleight it Sinners sinners I beseech you consider it at what height you love your sins Do you love your sins above your bodies above your estates and names yet there may be hope Do ye love your sins above your souls this is sad yet there may be hope But do ye not love your sins above that love which stands with her arms open to you yet for all this What hope can there be in this case How can you escape the damnation of hell as Christ spake to this generation There is no art to make the soul set open the everlasting dores like telling him of the King of glory which would come in I conclude so because 't is the art the holy Ghost useth Mercy held out in the extent of it is the King in visible glory drunkards swearers adulterers set open your everlasting dores the King of glory would come into you he would forgive your sins against the light of Scripture your sins against the light of nature your beastly sins I those wherein you have been worse then beasts your sins against your own bodies as well as against your own souls Love would get her self a name upon you by cleansing and kissing of Swine by laying a Toad in her bosome by bringing a devill out of hel to heaven Can you spit in the face of this Love now in the sight of all this congregation and turn to your lusts again Mercy comes to all your dores she falls down at all your feet will you tread upon her Mercy shews you what she would have you do Christ humbles himself to the dust laies himself at all your feet if you would but do the like to him not a soul of you should perish We hold out to you now the riches of grace if it work kindly you shall know it by this the soul longs to be partaker of it this grace must be nourished if longing die ere it obtain the soul is guilty of stifling the Spirit What buds in the soul will blossome do but keep it in the Sun all that are weary and heavie laden have ease all that are opprest with the devill are healed 't is the thing we are upon If this grace work not kindly the soul hardens it self in its sin If love be so large I may go on in my sin yet a while longer and do well enough at last God rejects none not young sinners not old sinners I will make as much as I can of my sin and lie as long as I may in the lap of Delilah if I must part with it I will part with it at last when I must part with all Death is seised violently upon this soul he vomits his excrements Would a Judas speak worse then this man I will keep my covetousnesse and treachery as long as I can if I must leave it it shall be at last when I leave this world my master and my hope for ever You cannot imagine the depth of guile that is in our hearts naturally
owne it is least considered when so but not least of importance for God hath some great designe upon the man when hee strikes every stroke himselfe Sometimes God stands behind Shimei and le ts fly at a man and wounds deeply and then t is not so easie to see him because an earthen breast-work is before him Sometimes he appeares in the front in person himselfe like Goliah and makes the incounter by duell hand to hand with the Creature the creature smites and God smites Name State Flesh and Spirit God would faine be seene and knowne of the soule when he does thus if it cannot be he lets the creature lick himselfe whole if he can Afflictions from man immediately are here meant and not such as are from God immediately Creatures of the same kind are used to spit in one anothers face to scratch and teare one another a Cat a Cat a Dog a Dog a Man a Man Creatures of the same kind to say no more are used to tread upon one anothers toes to afflict one another All earth beares thornes chuse out what earth you will sift it how you will appoint it to what you will to be a pillow for repose a breast a bosome a bed of flowers to solace in yet there will grow up thornes and pricke Creatures one by creation one by redemption yea one by mutuall election differ fall out afflict one another man afflictes man that was Pauls case here saint afflicts saint husband afflictes wife wife curses husband things made and chosen of purpose to delight sad thornes will grow in ones bosome here You cannot take a rose to smell to here out of any Garden but hath prickles unlesse the Rose of Sharon All is vanity yea vexation all below us all equall with us onely that all excepted which is above us which onely is indeed all and in him is light and no darkenesse sweet and no bitternesse in that earth growes no thornes Man afflictes man yea man oppresseth man that is affliction in strength malum multiplex a manifold evill which is the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here used t is translated by some compression a den of theeves a nest of hornets many afflictions in one or under one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.25 simul malis vexari to be vexed with many evills together 't is spoken of Moses who cast himselfe upon oppression with Gods people in Egypt which expression sets out fully what oppression is 't is some vitall wounded some maine part trod upon as name state body soule something brutishly bruised and torne that maims or marres livelyhood internall or extenall some such thing troden to death as hath many little ones in the belly of it t is a Kid killed and seethed in such liquor as should nourish many in Mother-milke t is a Mother-mercy destroyed whilst in travaile for the good of the whole Good name is a Mother-mercy many are nourished by it so is estate so is the body so is the soule all these travell perpetually in this world for the tranquillity of the whole and of the maine to beare up great things Heaven and Earth the glory of God and the welfare of every relation wherein such a creature stands any of these therefore torne and ript up whilest thus in travaile for the good of the whole is cruelty and oppression Oppression speakes injury but no small injury not the dashing ones cloathes accidentally or intentionally as one goes by but it alwayes notes something that dashes the person in one main thing or other 't is a Dog that flies at the throate at something that is vitall and teares that at something that tends to throw downe the person and welfare of such a creature 'T is a diabolicall quality insinuated by a cursed spirit whereby one creatures being is too blessed in the eye of another Men one in birth from the Earth yet wisdome hath ranked them variously upon it some higher some lower some have much some lesse all have wisdomes portion and therefore it should be accounted enough and content but it doth not one mans mansion is not fine enough anothers not big enough one person better beloved better indowed better succeeded if hee were dead dead in esteeme or dead in being all these deepe waters would turne and run into my cisterne if Abel were dead if Iacob were dead if Mordecai were dead then I should be all and have all I should be the onely favorite in the world and so quietly abide Yee kill and desire to have and cannot obtain James 4.2 oppression is a bloudy spirit striking still at something that is vitall at the person livelyhood or life it selfe if one will not fall without the other 'T is an evill springing from the root of all evill to wit covetousnesse yee kill and desire to have 'T is a man of the Earth saith the Psalmist and hee would be alone upon it though there were no Rivers and houses in it for delight but such as hee hath made with the bloud and bones of all such as live neere him That the man of the earth may no more oppresse Psalme 10.18 the word oppresse signifies to terrifie and so you have it noted in the margent intimating what an oppressor is t is a brute that terrifies all that come neere him to eate or drinke by him that he may have all alone and what hee cannot eate or drink he puddles and spoiles Oppression is made vi aut dolis by force or by fraud man can use both as hee is advantaged and as his game lies Parts internall are all subdued by that lust which rules and taught to tumble and set this or that poore innocent soule for their master Innocency sleepes the most securely of any thing dreams of no affrighting things of no injurious usage but from Dogs and Beares and Wolfes from beasts not from any man innocency thinkes every man a man not a Fox nor a Serpent nor a Crocodile where as an oppressor conjureth his wits his parts his practises and so himselfe into all these to catch his prey Therefore is an oppressor imblazed by the Scripture in a Lyon couchant as one lurking for his prey as one whose words are Oyle yet sharpe speares as one who shootes his Arrowes in darkenesse and hits privily the upright in heart Over-reaching is oppression t is strong parts setting their feete upon weake and wringing bloud out of a brothers Nose 't is grinding the face of the poore words and dealings which are the face of a man to the World all by craft and wile ground to such dust as to choak and cheat the man that utters them What fraud cannot doe force externall is pressed to second Oppression commands all within and without to squeese out her will where shee fastens it turnes Iudges into evening Wolfes Kings Nebuchadnezzars into Beasts and gives them Nayles like Eagles-clawes that is makes them turne all their externall advantages
against providence because it doth not jut and jumpe with my will now all is slaine and not till now Heaven and Earth on fire body and soule killed with a canon from Hell and all the powers of darknesse crying victory Doe Serpents sting murmure not remember where Christs church is of which thou art yet a member t is in the Wildernesse yet and but going to Canaan and such places are full of hurtfull beasts Be not overcome of evill then misery dissolves it selfe into sinne then God is stung and thou wilt have secret blowes for this indeed where men cannot pinch thee thou wilt have salt throwne where the spring of unsoundnesse lies and then thy Spirit will burne within thee for something We should not onely be submissive to but joyfull under the crosse of our Lord Jesus You cannot tell how much mercy t is to be any of that body of which Christ is the soule if it be but a foot a bare foot and still in the dirt still upon prickes briers and thornes to be any of that company that is travelling to Heaven though the meanest the hindmost the most misused c. But you will know when you come there The crosse keepes off some from being of the Church militant they cannot militare they had rather die then fight and kill what they love more then Christ Sinne effeminates the soule love any lust more then Christ and you will die ten thousand deaths rather then strike a stroke in good earnest against it or discharge one Piece with a Bullet against that fort where your heart lies Satan deales by stratagem sinners looke to your soules he can kill none that take up Armes against him and stand to it he either betrayes affection with trifles and makes the soule yeeld and so stab conscience and sweare a damnable peace or else he terrifies the soule with corporall dangers and makes men flee and all that flee in spirituall warfare die every one are cut off eternally by the pursuer When there are fightings without there are feares within When I came into Macedonia my flesh had no rest troubles on every side fightings without and feares within Men now love their flesh Paul in this had no rest no neither in his spirit he had stood to it upon pure principles Hee wants fellowes in this age of the world wonderfully The Church of the Lord Jesus travels groanes dies for want of them This generation will have more then the advantage of truth to encourage them to set forth to wit the advantage of time quiet time Deluded soules when will this be you so dote upon your skin that you have quite forgotten the state of Christs church upon earth t is militant You will live in Egypt that you may see no warre that you may save your skin your pompe your wealth this your wisdome is your folly Egypt shall not save you the Sword shall follow you into Egypt into your Egyptian huts and coverings Read Jeremy 42.13 14 15. But if ye say We will not dwell in this Land c. No but we will goe into the Land of Egypt where we shall see no warre nor heare the sound of the Trumpet nor have hunger of bread and there will we dwell c. Then it shall come to passe that the Sword which ye feared shall overtake you there in the Land of Egypt and the famine whereof ye were afraid shall follow close after you in Egypt and there ye shall die COLOS. 1.24 For his bodies sake which is the Church THe word notes a company called out of this world and the scope according to which it is used here carries it in its full bredth to comprize all the blessed company both which are in Heaven and in earth this generall society was shadowed by the generall Assembly at Ierusalem and is called by that name by the Apostle Heb. 12.23 Ye are come to the generall Assembly the Church of the first-borne This Catholique company is great and farre divided some in Heaven some in Earth some in this part of the Earth some in that and yet all have but one spirit and therefore essentially the same and what is done for the good of one part necessarily redounds to the good and glory of all He is of a publique spirit that layes out for the good of a City of a Kingdome and the like thousands will blesse him generations yet not borne will blesse God for such instruments but he is of a publique spirit indeed that layes out his state or blood for the good of the Church of Christ many thousands in this Kingdome in other Kingdomes all the Earth over all Heaven over will blesse him This generall assembly comes all out of one loine and divide themselves into two bands one turnes to the everlasting Hills 'tother to the Plaines and Valleys of this world There is a Lilly of the Valleys and a Lilly of the Hils there is a Church on Earth and a Church in Heaven The great King whom we subject to hath a Chappell of ease a Church in his house the condition of this is farre different from that here below the Lilly of the Hils is another gets Lilly then that of the Valleys the pursuit of each shall be distinct which will demonstrate the condition how it differs The Church which Christ hath in his house is a society of perfect spirits in perfect rest triumphing with Christ over all enemies The Congregation above is very big thousands and thousands of thousands from all parts quarters and countries yet all perfect not one dwarfe in grace in Heaven not one Zacheus a person of a little stature there are no spirits of little stature in grace above though it be all our case here every one is as tall as Christ to any ones beholding I cannot tell else how to interpret that expression of the Apostles Eph. 4 Till we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ They that are come to that unity and society above are all compleat their measure is the fulnesse of Christ their demensions his stature so tall so big limmed so faire and so accomplished to looke upon What a perfect man now is Christ in Heaven of what a brave stature in grace and in glory an Absolon without spot from the crowne of the head to the soule of the foot so are all that Noble society which are with him without spot or wrinkle and therefore called a glorious Church That he might present it to himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing c. Ephes 5.27 the word here translated spot is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies such spots as are in garments by dashing and dirting outside spots they have no spots within nor without above not in their skin not in their clothes nor any such thing that is
sang the song of Moses and the song of the Lambe The head triumphs and then all the members Christ triumphs in himselfe and all that glorious company triumph in him Coloss 2.15 And having spoiled Principalities and Powers hee made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in himselfe so is the originall and so 't is translated in your margents Christ viewes all the slaine death and him that had the power of death the old Serpent with all his seed and triumphs in himselfe all the rest of that royall company triumph in him as the jaw-bone stone and sling with and by which they have slaine Goliah and all the Philistians heapes upon heapes Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne and unto the Lambe and all that stood about the throne Angells and Elders c. said Amen blessing and glory and wisdome thanksgiving honour and power and might bee to our God for ever T is a heavenly practice this and spoken of the Church Militant as imitating the Church triumphant and as guided by one and the same Spirit indeavouring to do the Will of God on earth as the tother part of the same company doe in Heaven You know the state of the new Church is shadowed out in the booke of the Revelation by Heaven and all the lineaments of it it comes so neere to it The very first draught and modell Revelation 4. J was in the spirit and a throne was set in Heaven c. As Moses was made to come up to the top of the Mount neere Heaven and God saith the Text talked with him from Heaven to shew him the pattern of the first house so Iohn was taken up into Heaven and God talked with him in Heaven and shaped his patterne of this last house and the affaires of it by Heaven as that which should come neerer to it then any yet had done But this by the way Vse I have opened to you now a brave state but all will not nay all cannot come to it I wish they could Corruption cannot inherit incorruption if it be true corporally it is true spiritually if the uncleane bodies of the Saints cannot come to Heaven surely the uncleane soules of the wicked cannot Satan hath a synagogue too a great one here and a greater below and a great many will go thither few will believe this and this is the seale of death The Congregation above is holy very holy but this is not heeded here but it must or no man shall see God nor that glorious society which is with him Flesh and bloud cannot inherit the Kingdome of God and yet the Lord be mercifull unto the soules of men this is the generall rule by which men walke Above flesh for our bloud we cannot move 't will sink Persons Kingdomes 't will make the society below wonderful big What a Congregation hath the Devill in his house but not one at rest all at worke hard tearing rending and rosting one another and yet have no meate nor drink but the flames and fire in which they worke Have any of you a mind to be of this Congregation No why then doe you pursue your flesh your will sense selfe sinne this sinne that sinne any sinne that will serve your turne in these bad times The temptation of this time is terrible not a soule almost but undone by it Heaven and earth shake Church and State crack the Grave and Hell gape the glory above forgotten the dread of these crush parts brave parts yea that which hath gone for brave grace to nothing to worse then nothing many Christians like Cackarells change colour white all the winter like those fish and spotted at spring what with the bloud and filth of bodies and the bloud and filth of soules ah Lord what a stinke is there in all societies all this Land over and yet no body holds his Nose all is sweet as long as any course may be stumbled on to rise and be but to flea the skinnes of the dead to go fine will this bravery be admitted above Where do you finde a soule that longs and pants because of all these things O that I were of that glorious Church above That I did know to what Officer of that society to speake to helpe me in there If any so inquire I will tell thee go to Christ he is the doore by which all enter hee will serve thee as he was served himselfe he was Baptized and the Heavens opened Christ will Baptize thee with the holy Ghost and with fire and then the Heavens which containe him till the restitution of all things shall open and receive thee Thou must be contented to be Baptized with Christs Baptisme his second Baptisme after both there was a Heaven opening At his first Baptisme the Heavens opened but did not take him up and take him in at his second Baptisme they opened againe and then they received him and containe him Thou must be contented to be Baptized with Christs last Baptisme if neede be to leave all as hee did a very Heaven if thou hast it as Christ did riches honours pleasures blood life to follow after Christ After such a Baptisme the Heavens will open also and take in thee into that glorious society above Christ surely is prized but little therefore his Congregation is so small below and above The sinne of the Jewes is become the sinne of the Gentiles my heart trembles to thinke what will become of us What ever wee talke of Christ and boast of his Temple above and below we bid basely for all Though Christ will take nothing for any thing he hath yet you must come to him with all that ever you have in your hand and lay it at his feete thinke nothing too good for him so you may but have him here is now state wife children yea here is body soule selfe doe with all what thou wilt drowne all burne all if thou wilt onely rake the ashes when thou hast done and finde my soule that Jewell of Jewels which cannot be burnt any where but in thy displeasure and put it in thy bosome for ever This is a Gospell frame of heart and miscaries not all the Jewels which Christ weares in his bosome above are raked out of ashes here below out of meere nothings His beloved is one but one a Phenix and it comes out of ashes learne to lay all in the dust if you would have Christ take up all and lay it in his bosome All that he takes up in his bosome here he sets downe in glory above to triumph with that glorious company there COLOS. 1.25 Whereof I am made a Minister DIaconos a deacon the word is a title given to all sorts of Officers almost in Gods new-house as signifyng that which is behoofull to them all especially them that dispence soule vitall things diligence promptnesse speedinesse Soule dangers are all desperate what 's done for reliefe in this
feated so it will abide if sinne be feated in the heart it will abide there till all the bloud of the man be spilt on the ground yea till all that which is ten thousand times more noble then this to wit the soule be lost I will tell you the property of the Word of God in order to such a foule as still keepes his sin t is though sweet in it selfe bitter to such searching piercing tormenting The word of God is quick and powerfull sharper then any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing of soule and spirit and this hee spake in order to them which abode in the stubbornesse of their heart and flighted the promise of perfect rest in that Canaan above The heart strongly ingaged to evill truth is very piercing he that so loves sinne that he slightes the rest above he shall have no rest here You cannot imagine the sad boutes and fearfull expectations that unsound soules have and yet this must continue because the breath of the Lord like a River of Brimstone keeps in this Hell as it doth that below The breath of Christ which you spurne against by your spurning lights a fire and shall serve to burne you though it will not to lead you Christ puts to the sword all they which yeeld not burnes and blowes up all that he cannot take Did not our hearts burne within us whilst he talked with us The breath of Christ is hot it burnes within men according to that degree of unbeliefe and resistance it findes in every one without respect of persons Did not our Hearts burne Sinners consider these things and repent sucke in the dying breath of Christ charge folly upon your selves Who is it that speakes to mee what would he have who is it within me that answers and what answers doth it make There are fleshly reasonings and carnall motions take heede of them Everybody will plead for it selfe the body of death will do so which is the death of the soule but methinks the Word of God should silence all If the voyee that speakes to us were considered as such a voyce surely it would In what posture your soules sit in an ordinance is all in all If you thinke I speake these things as a man as Paul saith that it is onely a mans word you will hush your soules asleepe againe as soone as gone from the presence of a man and yet ingenuity would honour mans voyce The beast that spake to Balaam that beast was honoured to speake with mans voyce and that was throwne in Balaams face that mans voyce from a beast would not calme his madnesse The dumb Asse spake with mans voyce But when man is honored to speak with Gods voyce and to forbid your sin and your madnesse therein will you on for all this how much more will this be throwne in your face Consider with what voyce we speak and for how little while this Oracle speakes in this earthen Tabernacle and see how it will worke To day if you will heare his voyce this Tabernacle in which his voyce is and speakes lasts but a day to day if you will heare his voyce sinners doe to morrow the tent will be removed the vaile will be drawne the Oracle will besilent his voyce and our own too will be gone out of our Mouthes and hid from your Eares COLOS. 1.26 Even the Mystery THe carryage of Christ since the fall is here hinted hee doth worke and speake above our reach when he goeth he maketh a path like a Ship in the Sea that no man can finde any thing after him not a step when hee speakes his words are a great deepe a Sea bottomlesse i of such vastnesse in all noble property that no man can mouth them nor utter them after him but stand dumb and silent they are as the title saith here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is compounded of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 occludere shut up the Tongue and Lips of man that hee can say nothing Divine prerogative we are to stand upon There is a power opening and shuting things of eternall consequence in order to man in this life This power is purely spirituall action is used to close the Eyes of the dead but it is invissible mans doome is written in the wall and no hand seene nor caracter legible in order to the man concerned though all big and plaine and hee spelled and personated in them because Organs within enervated in which case man hath Eyes and sees not Eares and heares not They that see are made blind but do they know how action is used in this sad worke but can any one explaine it to sence for the time when it was done or for the thing it selfe that is done when went the spirit from me to thee The poore creatures eyes are out but when was it done did the man feele it can he tell the agent or the instrument that did it or what wheele in the Clock is crackt that the motion goes so false The nature of this spirituall occlusive act is this two spirits run their course at last one is finally left and so in the darke and able to see nothing according to the spirituall nature of it so as to stir any noble operation in the soule Faith a Ridle Selfe-deniall a Ridle Regeneration a Ridle a going into ones Mothers belly againe the death of the body of death the Resurrection and the Life all these great things of the Gospell strange things and like the talke of a son to a barren wombe laughed at The sâ—uting up or the opening of the Kingdome of God in order to any is a transaction onely by the spirit cannot enter into the heart of man to conceive but God hath revealed them to us by his spirit for the spirit searcheth all things the deepe things of God There is an internall caelestiall vertue coacting with the soule the giving or the suspension of which is mans onely advantage or disadvantage to understand Gods Will the suspension of internall influence keepes the soule spiritually darke what ever other advantages it hath and shuts it out from the Kingdome of Heaven This spirituall occlusive power is feated in Christ For Judgement am I come into this World that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind Concerning spirituall judicature it is proper to me there is none good at this worke but I saith Christ to cast amist before the Eyes of the minde and to darken the light that is in men this onely I can doe to cast a mist before the Eyes of mens bodies this divells may doe and such men as give themselves to them but to cast a mist before the Eyes of mens soules and to darken the light that is in them and to make the things of eternall Life mysteries and meere ridles this is only Christs work Christ can put out the
the last the noblest so doth spirituall nourishment Hope is the last concoction of the soule the last digestion of words and workes by which pure bloud spirits substance and strength is delated and defused all over the state The Scripture makes three concoctions as Nature doth corporall and Hope is the last Tribulation worketh Patience Patience Experience Experience Hope and now the spirit hath spirit hath it self strength setlednesse therefore it followes and hope confounds not Providence toumbles the soule and the soul toumbles providence and the first result of this is patience the second result experience what God is at present and in the breast of this sits hope what God will be and smiles till things worke to this last issue the soule is confounded as the Apostle speaks Hope sucks the sweet of the words and works of God to the bottome that which lyes in the bottome of all God saith and doth to a Christian is heaven what ever lyes utmost the end is eternall life still to a Saint what ever things are a this side Things looke variously sometimes to a neare sight and explicite repugnancy betwixt words and works between such an end and such meanes ordained to it and yet all in an ultimate interpretation carry an exact subordination to the soules highest good Hope is a great Peere privy to the depth of wisdome to the intentions and resolutions of God and to the harmony of all changes and turnings how when and where they will meet in such a blessed end and lies and bathes and sports her selfe in the consistances of all varieties with and towards her prime good 't is a grace to which felicity is alwayes in view a halcyon that findes out a quiet place upon the most moving and boysterous body to wit the sea Hope t is a soul free from a Consumption fat and merry eates not out it s owne spirits nor its owne marrow Some kinde of Spiders eate out the Dam which sits upon them as soone as hatcht so do the thoughts and apprehensions of some souls kill the minde and spirit that brings them forth they are such poysonous and eating things they are so venemous so fiery so dark so gnawing so voyd of heaven of any glimpse of it and so full of hell I reckon upon my afflictions from morning to night saith Hezekiah and I have cut off mine own life his soule hatched such thoughts in time of distresse as did gnaw out the bowells and. life of it selfe that affliction became as death and death as hell which is the property of despaire and unbeliefe to render persons as destroyed and damn'd already as that expression is As there be soules damn'd already and in hell already so there be souls saved already and in heaven already in heaven whilst looking for it apprehension of it in Christ so strong so clear what ever accidentals turmoile the outward man the while Accounting that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 t is a soule that hath so clear an apprehension of the issue of all sufferings for Chirst that the issue of them is in him already what he expects is to him already in a degree in judgement and account judging that the long-suffering of God is salvation yea not onely in judgement not onely in strong evidence and conviction but in sweet contemplation delectation and fruition for 't is a grace that speaks the love of God shed abroad in the soule and experience hope and hope makes not ashamed why because the soule now hath a good part what it hopes for Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given to us Rom. 5.5 Vse Our felicity lies in noble principles 't were well if we had an impregnable estate in these times Every thing is unsetled and almost hopelesse how is your spirituall condition Every thing without hath made its will and bequeathed it selfe to Death Devills Ruine have your soules made their will and bequeathed themselves to Death and Devills too Ah my soule what a sad state is this Sinne reignes though every thing runne to ruine this doth not The Sword of the Spirit can kill no sinnes therefore it doth soules O how consciences bleed how ghastly are many soules now more to seek for eternall safety then temporall I know not what these wretches will doe God and man are upon you and against you whither will you flee what will you doe for relief Nothing destroyes hope like an evill conscience Now sinners tell me what is sinne now to you Where is that sweet that did ere while so extraordinarily take you what is that in your sinne that did hold you so fast and so long from Christ Shew me now the kirnell of your course You have been cracking shells a great while and what now is the in-side of all nothing but Death and Hell and in stead of your wonted joy an afrighted soule and a fearefull looking for of judgement and fiery indignation Now that which you chose should stand you in most stead doth it thus cheat you then write upon thy sinne Vanity upon thy heart Thou hast deluded me I know not what will be the issue of these evill times death is gathering to the heart apace to the heart of Kingdomes Estates and the like if it be there already in order to your soules truly Justice is quicke with you and you had neede looke about you In swoning fits cordials be necessary something to be taken inwardly that is Christ he fetches life and hope Christ in you the hope of glory Sinfull fearefull wretches there is nothing in you but nature and the old man therefore are you so weake and wicked in your course so dreadfull in apprehension about the end Men would do much sometimes in their owne strength when a lively word takes hold on them but this cannot be never considering how desolate all within is Your eyes are not in your head as the wise man speaks that is they are not in your heart you see nothing within as you should When conscience is fired by the word you thinke to do this and that presently and then all will be well and then fayle in the action and so increase the flame Conscience when a fire must have something dropt in to it things done without are nothing to wit the bloud of Christ Not a sparkle of hell is alayed without bloud without the bloud of Christ or the bloud of the soule Application of remedy must be as the distresse lies your hell is within you and Christ must descend into hell to do a sinner good to set his soule in rest and hope he must goe into the World to save it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.5 Christ must come into this World and then into the heart of man that is in it into the great World and then into the little World which he is willing to doe and so expresseth himselfe Heb. 10.5 When
be in-entereth the World sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou fitted mee Christ is fitted and ready to make in entrance and this in-entrance is that which makes peace and hope in the soule Christ centered in the heart is at rest when Christ is at rest in us wee are at rest in him COLOS. 1.27 Hope of Glory T Is hard to open this terme yet it will be meete to make at it a little if one can but get a glimpse of glory by humble industry it will be worth the while a little of Heaven and for but a little while as Paul had when on earth t is very sweet in our sad and forelorne state Glory is absolute perfection as things come short of this they are defective all defect destroyes glory as glory is strictly and properly taken so it is here there be severall glories the utmost of every such a being is its glory That may bee called glory in order to a Plant or a Brute which may not be so called in order to man his being is so vast and so receiving unlesse this vast being be fild up and every veine and rivelet run as many fadome deep as they should and as they did when first made out from the fountaine man cannot be said to be in glory And therefore to speake properly glory is a garment which God only weares and such as sit in his bosome who have there that which is else no where the utmost of such vast beings this is generall We must by the command of our Text speake of glory precisely in order to man and what that is you shall see in Christ who brought mans glory from Heaven for him and in the person and nature of man wore it here though the World could not see it a curtaine of flesh being drawne before it but the Saints then living saw a glimpse of it in him And the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory as the glory of the onely begotten of the Father full of grace and truth John 1.14 The first Adam lost his glory Christ held it though the World far otherwise and far worse then when Adam lived in it What was Adams glory The Image of God What was Christs glory The same full of grace and truth Were we but full of grace and truth wee should be in glory in Heaven here as Christ was What was Christs glory is our glory his fulnesse was in way of unction and Office and so shewes and assures what is and what shall be our glory Glory is holinesse and joy in fulnesse therefore is Heaven called a holy Heaven Psal 20.6 Christs fulnesse fully imparted grace for grace The soule come to the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ The glory of the eyes is to see and to see perfectly and so of the eare and so of every other Organ Sinne hath rackt the soule and pul'd every lim out of joynt bu◠they are set againe by Christ here for a little use but not so as they shall be we go lame and go in paine our very holinesse is halting and afflicting there is no glory in that So farre as we come short of the Will of God habitually or actually wee come short of glory Wee all sinne and come short of the glory of God The expression notes what is glory to wit full congruitie to the Will of God such a congruity as excludes all sinne Our inheritance is undefiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.4 it is unspotted and cannot be defiled the word used in the originall is the name of a pretious stone too which do what you will to it you cannot blemish it throw it into fire t is taken out still more bright and cleare such is our inheritance and state above a glory that hath no in-glory or dis-glory nor nothing can make disglorious can any spot the Sun though they should throw dirt at it not the shaddow of sinne above or imperfection nor can by any diabollical art be made there be that set their mouthes against Heaven Psal 73.9 that blaspheme the Tabernacle of Heaven and yet cannot spot grace and truth here much lesse can it be spotted above Every one goes all cleane above inside outside and nothing can defile either they are of such an amiantous nature there is no having and then losing above Fulnesse of joy this necessarily springs out of the other for as holinesse is so is joy t is the flower that holinesse beares the greene leafes and fruit of the Tree of life If wee could attaine a fulnesse of holinesse here wee should have a fulnesse of joy they are so connaturall if we were in the condition of Christ for the one we should necessarily be for the other Our Saviour is expresly cleare in this Jf yee keepe my Commandements yee shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Fathers Commandement and abide in his love these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remaine in you and that your joy might be full Could wee walke in Christs Commandements as he did in his Fathers we should live in his bosome here and be embraced with such embracements and raptures as he was If we had Christs holinesse wee should have Christs joy remaine in us and then our joy would be full these things have I spoken to you that my joy might remaine in you that is such a joy as I have that hath no want nor no expression t is so full of glory and so full of sweetnesse for that is the reason Christ gives it such a name my joy because the nature of it is unexpressable in our termes or in any Language amongst the Sonnes of men in a suffering condition when the soule holds tite in obedience through the power of Christ it comes then mighty neere Heaven and then observe what it hath it hath Christs joy joy full and beyond expression joy unspeakable and full of glory Full joy is full of glory 't is the spring of the Yeare all things greene and florishing smiling and singing These things hint their state above and what glory is t is fulnesse of holinesse and joy as the one is proportioned to Christ so is the other we have his stature and his measure in both brim-full Our state here is a state of reception and therefore asking and praying continuall worke their state above is a state of plenitude and therefore praying and asking work quite over aske and you shall receive saith Christ aske that your joy may be full John 16.24 Aske that asking worke and begging worke may be over there be no beggars in Heaven no not for joy though that be a top mercy Defect in joy is from the distance of something that the soule reaches at there is no longing in Heaven that which wee account a mercy here is an affliction there to thirst and pant after such and such Divine things such and
great world over all the little world into every roome of the soule into joynts and marrow and set downe himselfe where he will in conscience in affection in what inward part he sees good in some one part or in all parts that is the greatest good in the world when truth is in the inward parts i. not in one faculty but in all not onely in the understanding but in the conscience in the affection in every faculty this Christ loves mightily and what hee loves hee can accomplish there is no torture upon him affection larger then power as t is usually with us All power is given to him to worke without to worke within in Earth in Heaven that is in the more internall and heavenly part Hee giveth wisdome to the heart I will give my Lawes into your mind By Lawes is meant all grace and yet all this made a gift and given into the soule that desires it Christ gives things into the hand yea into the heart all precious things and derives them into all parts and when all this is done in us and the like laboured for to be done by us in all others then is internall operation in power or then Christ workes in us mightily which terme pointing onely at a gradation in the same operation hath raveld out it selfe according to what is difficult in unfolding the former A concluding Speech WHich worketh in me mightily The concurrence of this power wee have had in our measure all along our labour which I would should be much acknowledged to Christ by vertue of which wee are now come to our period of this Verse and of the whole Chapter Our pace in this long journey hath been slow that you might all goe along with mee in the well understanding and imbracing of weighty things and yet how many notwithstanding our double industry are left behind in the blindnesse and mis-beliefe of their soules I know not If our Gospell be hid after all pains fully to lay it open such soules have great reason to feare themselves Child-bearing is no easie worke to any but doubly hard to some so that life out of death may that which comes forth betweene the legges be called This birth though but a hard-favoured child hath beene hard travell to us 'tas made many a sigh and groane many a heart pang and crying out to God What you will doe with the child now borne whither you will be a Pharaoh or a Pharoahs Daughter to it murther it or keepe it alive in your hearts I know not This I know that no man can spill all the blood of any child of God some will stick upon you doe what you can to tell the murtherer at the great day Sighes and groanes are the teares of the heart the heart venting it selfe at the mouth when it cannot at the eyes and other lesser pores every drop that hath fallen from our heart and head from our Eye-lids or Eye-brows shall be all gathered up and put as marginall notes along by all our labours and all put in one Volumne together and this volumne put in your hand at the great day and opened Leafe after Leafe and read distinctly and exactly to you and your soules made to attend regard and remember better then here many of you have done and when all is thus read over this booke shall be closed and this question solemnly put to you all now O soules what have you profitted by all Words Prayers Teares Sighes Groanes As Conscience can answer to this for nothing else may then speake so shall your sentence be and I shall be called out to give witnesse to the justice of it and say Amen Lord Jesus righteous is all that thou hast pronounced upon these soules Our labours lost if this were simply all truly 't were nothing but our labours lost and your soules are lost and yet what is losse to you shall be gaine to us for wee are a sweete savour to God both in them that are saved and in them that perish As wee dresse and as wee water Trees in the Lords Vinyard so shall wee have our wages and not as these Trees beare if Trees be dressed and watered well though they never beare well wee shall have a good Vintage You Londoners are Trees watered choisely indeede 'T is storied of the Plane Tree that at its first transplanting into Italie 't was watered with Wine to make it take and prosper in those parts of the World you are Trees watered with Wine I cannot say that you have beene so watered by mee I dare not but this I can humbly and truly say that if our choisest strength and spirits may bee nam'd in steade of Water Wine or if the blessing which hath gone along with these Waters at any time have turned them into Wine in vigour upon your soules then hath God by mee watered your Rootes with Wine and yet if after such costly watering you grow not nor beare not certainly such Trees are neere unto cursing which sad effect that my Ministey should be an instrument to hasten to this place or to any soule will make mee to continue mourning still in secret for you all and so spend and end my dayes * ⎠* FINIS TABLE MAn is in soule misery page 1 So naturally judicially universally p. 2 3 Whether sensible of soule misery moved and what demonstrates insensibility p. 3 4 5 Christ snatcheth soules out of Hell P. 7 Christ moves swiftly throughly preventingly ravishingly to save p. 7 8 9 Whom Christ hath snatcht out of Satans power p. 10 11 12 That power which workes irresistibly to save the soule with much ease can save our body p. 13 Ignorance makes prophanenesse p. 14 Ignorance pollutes will the practicke understanding the conscience and is the Divels element p. 15 16 The darke Church of England spoken to p. 16 17 Christ carries soules to Heaven p. 18 Christ saves laboriously fatherly surely p. 19 20 Satan carries soules to Hell and how p. 22 23 Demonstrations of Christs Kingdome in this world p. 25 26 Some not far from the Kingdome of God and yet never come there p. 30 31 Love gives forth preferment to all Gods children p. 32 God gives orderly purely solacingly p. 32 33 The folly of men that looke after humane favour to rise p. 34 35 The blessednesse of them which are beloved of God p. 36 37 What redemption meanes p. 38 39 40 41 Bodily bondage lookt after but not soule bondage p. 42 43 What a spirit of bondage and a state of bondage are p. 43 44 What men in bondage and those which are out of bondage should doe p. 45 46 The choicest mercies come through the greatest miseries p. 47 48 Grounds to give God the glory of his way let it be how t will p. 50 51 52 53 Great things comming to us in way of hardship exhorted to prepare for hardship p. 54 What sin meanes p. 55 56 What reconciliation notes p. 56 57 What
have him p. 291 What the word Paul signifies p. 293 The freenesse of God in all dispensations of grace and place should be matter of admiration p. 294 The Land full of mercies and full of nothing but brutes which tread upon them p. 295 The proper worke of Christians to admire the grace of God p. 298 299 Duty at last is sweetest p. 300 Obedience rejected because of its issue a damnable fault p. 301 What magnanimity is p. 302 303 The great need of magnanimity in these times p. 304 The soules of Gods people as well as their bodies suffer in this world p. 306 307 Comfort when paines rage inwardly p. 309 A man should be very long ere he make a positive conclusion upon some workes of God towards him p. 310 Two considerations which may relieve much when trials pinch the soule p. 311 To fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ c. This opened p. 401 The fury of man implacable ibid. Malicious men fire-shovels p. 402 Christ hath left all his prime businesse in this world to Christians ibid. At what height we are to be for Christ p. 403 None should be secure sin and justice will meet any where in a City walled with Brasse ibid. Christ hath drunke of the bloody cup in his turne the next is this Saint or that p. 404 Gods people are not all in prison at once and why p. 404 405 The order of trials to Gods people hints the order of judgements to the wicked p. 407 The sufferings of a Saint but his turne p. 408 A great honour to drinke of the cup that Christ did ibid. All earth beares thernes p. 409 What oppression is p. 410 How many waies oppression is made p. 411 Great men incident to the sin of oppression p. 412 The greatnesse of the evill of oppression the cause of civill war p. 413 The goodnesse of Christ to be admired as delivering from oppressors p. 414 The Church Militant described p. 415 The misery of the Militant Church to be laid to heart p. 419 How Christians finde their hearts moved to wrestle for the land p. 420 The Crosse keeps off some from the Church Militant p. 421 The Church Triumphant p. 423 All cannot be of the Church Triumphant p. 427 The soule that pants for Heaven spoken to p. 428 What 's done for the soules reliefe must be speedy p. 429 Two things incomparably swift in bringing forth p. 430 Of a sudden sinners are undone ibid. Forbidden fruit agrees well enough with some stomacks p. 431 Family distribution mans blessednesse p. 433 We should not content our selves with common mercies p. 434 They that feed on family favours owe much to God ibid. Christ peculiarly applies himselfe in all his dispensations unto his owne people p. 436 Towards whom Christ inclines we should p. 438 The heart of Christ hanging towards his people they should sucke this Honey-combe p. 439 How the heart of God inclines cannot be gathered by his hand p. 441 Not safe to calculate kindnesse by the motion of outward things p. 442 The word of Christ pure pleasant p. 444 The Gospell rejected p. 446 We are spectators of sin and justice in height p. 447 VVho it is within us that speakes and what answers we returne p. 448 There is a power opening and shutting things of eternall consequence in order to man in this life p. 449 VVhat Christ can doe to a perverse soule p. 451 Sweet to consider that sacred concealments are but for a time p. 452 Mercies have their severall demensions p. 453 Love heightens dispensation till the soule be lifted to Heaven ibid. Growth not regarded speaks unsoundnesse of heart p. 454 We have greater things then our fathers and regard them not p. 455 What the demonstrative light of the Gospell is p. 456 Some have Jobs wish they give up the ghost in the wombe p. 458 The most are finally left ibid. Two things hint a soule finally left p. 460 Gods people shall not be utterly forsaken ibid. A Christian is a hungry thirsty soule and the grounds of it p. 464 465 What is a Christians game p. 466 Growing Christians a great blessing to a Land p. 467 Such as would be strong in affection directed p. 469 What the riches of the mystery of the Gospell is p. 470 Heaven proferd as in Heaven p. 474 Christ and his Ministers to be prized p. 475 What a Gentile is p. 477 The danger of conviction stifled p. 461 Gentiles in heart should be so in name p. 480 Mercy for Gentiles p. 481 Christ in man what it is p. 482 Christ chuseth a very forlorne seat in this world p. 483 Our soules are the spirituall grave of Christ and he will be the victory of this grave p. 487 VVhat hope is p. 488 Our felicity lies in Noble principles p. 450 VVhat glory is p. 491 492 Gospell administration makes exact illumination p. 496 Christ slaine his blood cries in conscience p. 498 The vindiction of conscience p. 499 Divine words put themselves into the mind p. 501 VVhere the word is magisterially in the heart p. 504 VVhat to doe when the word is of no spirituall force p. 506 Gospell purification is full p. 508 I am so filthy that I shall never be made clean this objection answered p. 510 The soule of man is with much difficulty brought home to Christ p. 514 The severall waies the heart hath to keep off the power of the word ibid. VVe should consider well to what our hearts are facile p. 516 How we are to put price upon the soule p. 517 All our perfection is in Christ p. 519 Most in their pursuit after a perfect state mistake p. 521 The employment of a Minister of Christ very laborious p. 524 525 The soule very precious to Christ p. 526 How to ease a Ministers labour p. 528 Bad contention what it is p. 531 Good contention what it is p. 532 The divine nature of contention wherein it lies p. 533 The contention of most voyd of divine property p. 535 Efficiency sufficiency alsufficiency in Christ p. 537 Externall inducements nothing to make one truly religious p. 541 Our life beares upon the operation of Christ p. 542 VVhat internall operation is p. 544 Internall operation of eternall force p. 546 Our greatest maladies are internall and yet cureable p. 547 The greatest good is that which Christ loves p. 549 FINIS TABULAE
ENGLAND Faithfully watcht with In her Wounds OR Christ as a Father sitting up with his Children in their swooning state Which is the summe of severall Lectures painfully preached upon COLOSSIANS 1. By Nicho. Lockyer M. A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX I will stand upon my watch and abide upon the tower and intensely fix my meditation to perceive what he will speak in me and what I shall answer when upon my argumentation Hab. 2.1 But watch thou in all things bear evils fulfill thy Ministery 2 Tim. 4.5 Published according to Order LONDON Printed by M. S. for John Rothwell at the Sun and Fountain in Pauls Church-yard and Ben. Allen at the Crown in Popes-head Alley 1646. To the distressed DOMINIONS OF ENGLAND EVery Creature since the fall is very unruly * Paerae Adam all the earth is wilde 't is the Scriptures Motto upon the creation and of the more magnitude any way the more unruly the bigger in bulk or brain the bigger bent upon it to destroy all neither God nor self excepted The misery of the creatures is distinguished in this point by Solomon oft into folly and madnesse there is a kinde of madnesse in all inferiour creatures and as such are cast into prison Job out of the grate of his own prison saw such a truth and instanceth some of the creatures below him instead of all the rest though not so meekly I think as should have been considering whom he spake to Job 7.12 Am I a Sea or a Whale that thou putt'st gnalai mishmar a prison upon me Job grants madnesse in creatures below him and their imprisonment upon this ground to be just but saw not his own strong distemper by which he did so criminate Christ which neither the Whale nor the Sea nor any creature else below man doth which was not only madness but folly and madness i. reason forced into more then unreasonablenesse Kingdomes and Nations may for their magnitude be fitly compared to Whales and Seas and the one as easily as the other doth the great God cast into prison when mad and truly thus have the Dominions of England for the generality been a great while and 't is well if all our bleeding hath any whit asswag'd it and therefore though wee have suffered much and yet may much more we cannot look out at the grate of our prison and criminate him that cast us in A contented person cannot be miserable no more can a contented Kingdome Contentednesse hath much when she hath but a house over her head A prison-house is a house * Yea a pit is a house beth habbor Jer. 37.16 although not all-out so well furnished and accommodated as other houses there is something harder fare lodging and usage but yet some shelter and some nourishment to keep life beside opportunities to cry out at prison-windows to enlarge short allowance and many a refreshment comes in at windows when dores are shut and the man still a prisoner The prison-house of the Whale is its own element which lessens much his bondage so I may say to these Nations our prison-house hath been our own Land which considering how small 't is how wasting and desolating our triall and how neer many big mouths which gape after us is the unexpressible love of Christ this mercy is more then all our misery Besides we have not been close prisoners we have had the liberty to cry out at our prison windows and have got many refreshments from Heaven this way in our greatest straits and hardships which indeed also addes much to the magnitude of our mercies Some stars which seem but small and scarce to twinkle with any visible rayes at first looking upon yet biggen much both in magnitude and lustre by a fixed eye upon them So truly will all the mercies of Christ to England in those Christians eyes who can seriously fix upon them Misery look't upon as mixed with mercy is as course earth inlaid with precious Ore very delightfull and gainfull but otherwise lookt on it imbitters and worsens those on whom it is of which great evill England take heed Many now complain much of bad times which should amongst Christians have a Christian construction but to speak properly in this point times are bad only to bad hearts and unto them indeed they are very bad Sinners have worsen'd very much I grant in these few yeers of Gods heavie hand upon us more I think then in many yeers before thousands look now very black in the face as neer death wrath and cutting off which lookt but a little while ago as Cedars in Lebanon and as if they would have liv'd a long life even life for evermore From marad which signifies to rebell comes marud which signifies poor afflicted cast out They which rebell under the hand of God against the will and wayes of God may talk and vaunt of impoverishing afflicting and casting out others but Christ will bring all these upon them The trialls which were upon England in the Bishops time occasioned many apostates so have those which have been lately upon us between the King and Parliament which generation of men are the sharpest swords to kill a Land * When changes in a kingdome make changelings i. from Christ so the Hebrews call an Apostate Deut. 21.18 Moreh signifies saith Mr. Ainsworth one that turns inwardly to the worse and such a one I may call Morah novacula a Razor If there be any Razors in a Kingdome to cut the throat on 't these are they The Eastern parts of the world had a prison which they called Maphecheth from Haphach vertit to turn because evertuntur sontium corpora the limbs and bodies of men were wrested and turned out of joynt But though these prisons were bad yet those are far worse which wrest and turn the soules of men out of joynt i. further off from Christ and his will then they were before and yet so hath thy prison poor England done to many Such sad events of Gods hand call every heart in his place to be a faithfull watch-man to be more then vigilantes to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Shepherds which gave tidings of Christ were called Sub dio degere Livers in the field One may be vigilans in his bed as the Critick speaks though he stir not out of his house but our condition calls every one in his place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to watch at home and abroad in the city and in the field to lay out and lie out to know no canopy so glorious as the open heavens my meaning is we should so intend the good of Church and State publike and private so watch over all as to give out all in the work At this height for thy welfare England and the glory of Christ I have sincerely aimed and endevoured and shall do in the few daies and little strength I have left An acceptable testimony of what I have done let this labour
the desire of that company of men I would not have them now imitated by any other to throw down light every where and keep the kingdome in darknesse and so in loosnesse that every one might rise up one against another to accomplish their will even children against father to cut the throat of purity and Puritans through the land To you more particularly let me speak from this point See here the spring of your neutrality you are dark you can do any thing because you know nothing Truth hath the power of God in it your hearts bend any way because you cannot set up God before them Sinners how have ye heard and what have you learn'd Your course speaks you loose to Christ and to many Christians what does it to your own consciences Have ye light what and live loosely Then you withhold the truth of God in unrighteousnesse and you will suffer doubly namely for the abuse of light and conscience A Libertine against light fights desperately against conscience or else hath kill'd it quite God is very angry with a man that is a sinner in the day O that thou hadst known in this thy day sinners in the day provoke God much and will be beaten with many stripes The prophet Esay speaks of darkning light in the heavens thereof Esay 5 30. Libertines against light darken the sunne in the heavens thereof they can snuff out the sunne that shines in their souls as one snuffs out a candle they pull the sunne out of heaven to make pleasure to themselves in the dark and make as if they knew nothing what they do Your hypocrisie is reigning and if not lookt to t will be ruining quickly these do not perish for want of knowledge but for want of conscience Coloss 1.13 And hath translated us into the kingdome c. WE have been at the border of hell and now we are come to the borders of heaven nature is as near hell as grace is heaven From nature to grace and from grace to glory is lost mans journey home again this journey is long and mans legges weak and not able to go it and therefore doth God bear him from one to another and transferre him along Transferring notes motion from one place to another but upon some bodies shoulders or in some bodies arms by bearing Observe the road to heaven and you shall see none going that way but in Christs arms you will see the way narrow and full of cripples carried along from tithing to tithing from sinne to grace from one grace to another till they come home to glory which is their kingdome Doctr. Grace is Gods carrying the soul to Heaven Christ carries souls in his arms unto eternall blessednesse Fallen man can neither stand nor go his fall hath killed him and the dead stirre not but as they are carried When the Angel stirres the water I have no body to put me in said the cripple if some bodie would take me in their arms or take me upon their backs and carrie me in I might come to health and happinesse The emblem speaks our state we are born from a miserable condition to a blessed from sinfulnesse which is soul cripplednesse to holinesse which is soul soundnesse and blessednesse Some can prevail with their wounds and weare them out but man is not so slightly wounded nature is deeply wounded and lies by it The Samaritan put the wounded man upon his own beast and brought him to an Inne and took care of him saith the Evangelist Luke 10.42 We are born from wounds to health from nature to grace from the kingdome of Sathan to the kingdome of Christ by Christs own power we are transferred into the kingdome Things have their nature and the result of this is their will man moves not heaven-ward nor will not things that will not go to such a place must be carried thither or they will never come there Christ puts himself to no more pains then needs must They will not come to me saith he of some which is true of all I must go to them and fetch them or they will never come to me else Christ speaks all our conditions in these words There is not bare indisposition but opposition resolute and in cases of this nature all must be carried by superiour power or nothing is done 'T is a hell to man to come out of hell and they are as devils tormenting before the time that meddle about this matter you chain and carry distracted creatures to means of remedie corruption hath its destructive haunt They are a perverse and a crooked generation Deuteronomie 32.5 they will not go Gods way and that they may not they wreath up their legges like a Tortoise contorti so saith the originall when a Tortoise wreaths in his legges under it you must carrie him if you will have him Christ saves laboriously he makes a sea of his bloud so deep as to bear the soul he makes arms and shoulders chariot wheels carriages to bear a sinner heaven-ward which is wonderfull heavy A sinner is a heavier burthen then all the creation he sinks all but Christ he makes the creation grone and crack under him he presses a world to nothing with his weight and yet Christ shoulders him The bearing up of the world is not so much burthen as the bearing up the soul of man he does the one with his word but to the doing of the other goeth word person bodie soul arms shoulders heart bloud all and yet Christ submits all these and becomes a porter a servant a slave and bears till his back and and heart break Labour if honourable helps to bear it self the labour it self lends one shoulders and gives one legges but base labour loads it self the servility and basenesse of it is more burthen then the burthen and pulls away all shoulders from it who will put himself to drudgings base service that is of any qualitie And yet Christ did this Drowning waters are up in this low world and Christ strips himself and wades and carries over poore souls upon his back and weaklings in his arms some one way and some another as may be best ease to them though most pain to him Christ saves fatherly Parents know no pains nor cost for children knees arms bosome soul all open to bear them Jacob wrapt up Joseph in his soul and carried him up and down in his bosome Christ is a father and moves just so to his children for every one of his children is a Joseph to him he takes up a child when complaining like the Shunamite and sets him in his lappe and keeps him their till he die all Christs children die in his arms like the Shunamites sonne If a child of God live an hundred years his father never sets him down out of his arms but carries him unto death beyond death as the Psalmist speaks Christ wraps us up in his soul and carries us there alwayes he is ever mindfull of us You
have that expression in the Scripture we are but trifles and yet Christ cannot put these trifles out of his mind he carries our souls as he carries his own thoughts he minds us up and down the world till we come home Compassion is when things are laid to heart and so carried up and down and they are choicely carried indeed which are so carried Compassion carries Christ and us compassion gathers about his heart and that gathers his children about there too and so they are bound up together in that bundle of life and carried through sinne and miserie to eternall felicitie into his kingdome Christ saves surely a father bears over his children to make sure work that they may not fall in Between nature and grace is a great gulf and a remove from one to the other is not without great danger soul transaction from corruption to grace is with perpetuall fierce conflict the soul cannot put out a step for heaven but Sathan lets fly at it and Christ therefore is a convoy and he transferres from sinne to grace and from hell to heaven As transactions of state removing this and that have their bloudy contests so transaction of that great State for eternity within pulling down and setting up have deadly contest and the soul will be killed in the way to heaven if not born along When Israel went out of Egypt not a dog barked but when a soul goes out of the bondage of sinne into the libertie of Christ many dogs and devils bark and bite Christ therefore as he doth pull out so he doth carry in whom he fastens hold on he lets not go whom he takes into his arms he keeps there and still carries them there in all conflicts to make sure work all Christs children fight in his arms if the devil can kill them there so they all fight upon this advantage every battell passage to heaven is secured the great whale that is master of the deep bellies us and saves us from all storms carries us and conveyes us to our haven the kingdome of his dear sonne Christ saves sweetly 't is pleasant travelling in his arms a man may go a great way with ease upon anothers legges the way though long and dirty goes away one knows not how when bravely carried Christ will have none destroyed nor none tired in the way to heaven Wisdomes waves are pleasant they go all in coaches and chariots to heaven 't is the honour of the way the state of the king in his kingdome below to be born up and down so The king brought me into his chambers saith the Spouse Christs yoke is easie easie indeed because born upon anothers neck you yoke creatures so that their yoke may not pinch you use art to lessen labour and make work no work and pains pleasures Christ is excellent at this art he doth so yoke every one that he draws with ease he makes every ones yoke big enough to put in his own neck together with the man and so he draws himself and the man too and that is an easie yoke indeed and a little burthen as you put something of weight sometimes into a childs hand and you carry the child with that in his hand therefore the child easily bears because he and his burden both are born by another This is substance according to shadow this sweet way of salvation was typified in Noah Noah was transferred by an ark from an old world to a new and that shadowed out salvation in Christ and the very manner of it Christ transferring the soul from a bad state to a good So Israel was brought out of Egypt to Canaan and the Scripture tells you how just as an Eagle carries her young and as a father carries his children Have I conceived all this people that thou shouldst say unto me Carrie them in thy bosome as a nursing father carries the sucking children Numbers 11.12 God was more tender then Moses it was tedious to him to bear so many and so froward in his bosome to Canaan yet so did God and so would he have had Moses done and because he had not patience enough to do it he died ere he came there 't is dangerous not to be compassionate according to expresse command though ones burden be never so great God took up the burden that Moses would not and he tells you how he carried them As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them and bears them upon her wings So the Lord alone did bear them and no strange God with him Deuteronomie 32.11 12. God can bear much alone and will for a sinners good and his own glory that is to answer types and fulfill truth Use As Christ does bear souls to heaven so does the devil bear souls to hell evil spirits are very painfull too Who bears your souls Sathan carries by delusion some are carried about by winds of Doctrine the devil is in that wind when errour rules the life Sathan rules the heart this soul is born in the arms of an evil spirit 'T is a light soul that a ly will carry but his fall will be heavy Whom Christ carries truth carries the word of God and the Spirit of God are the two wings upon which Christ carries souls to heaven Upon what wings do ye flee By these you may know who carries you whether Christ or the devil Christ wraps up spirits in the word and so away with them to heaven Sathan carries by violence The Apostle Peter tells us of some that are carried about by a tempest Sathan certainly is in that tempest souls born by that evil spirit are hurried Tempests are beside rule and beside resistance so are souls carried by Sathan the heart hath chosen its own way and reason must not stirre nor divinity lesse every thing is irksome that opposeth nothing that contradicts can the man heare this soul is in the devils chariot tumbling to misery apace if God stop not no man can The Lord seldom stops souls when they run apace till they have fallen and hurt themselves much if not ruin'd themselves quite Christ drives gently he goes truths way and truths pace souls carried by Christ go no faster then truth such make a stop at every turning and look out they go slowly and surely Christ kicks at wilfull spirits but he doth not carry them they are meek souls willing to be carried onely by Christ whom Christ carries The devil bears to destruction to ruine grace and the soul he bears as he did bear Christ to ruine all body and soul Souls carried by Sathan are carried away from God to the glory of the world to a god which is not God Carrying away from God is a graduall thing some are carried away more then others and some are carried away quite which I will stand upon a little I see some carried away extremely which makes my heart tremble to behold Men are carried away captive that is
I see one man make a god of another to get up and he that is indeed God and the onely giver of honour and worth neglected Men move according to their principles sense undoes all greatnesse is neither from East nor West advancement is by a very invisible hand and you onely catch hold of hands which you see to lift you up to a kingdome to such a great felicitie which you aim at How low do most men move to be high The soul is enslaved which makes humane industry all his endeavour to be blessed The countenance of God sets up or throws down man if all the world did love you could they make you blessed could they raise your eternall estate Deluded sycophants men may give you fields and vineyards but can they give you a kingdome an everlasting kingdome and yet so doth God to his favourites to adopted sonnes and to the naturall sonne Know your errour 't is ruining you that look onely after the love of men to rise which make so much of the love of man and so little of the love of God Both may be pursued but subordinately and candidly otherwise a man makes flesh his arm and himself liable to the curse of such a condition A great many men love me but what will this do me good when I die if this be all the favour I have Can mens shoulders carry me to the kingdome of heaven Will the vapours of many mens mouthes make silver wings to carry my soul to heaven What will conscience cry out for think you when that pale messenger comes to call you hence Ah my soul thou art now to leave every body indeed thy very own body in which thou hast lived so long Doth God love thee conscience will ask this question again and again O soul soul thou art to be gone out of the body presently doth God love thee dear soul art thou dear to God One spirit is going to another two spirits must reason together about all things done in the flesh and standers by may not plead a jot onely what is in the breast of God to plead for thee or against thee Sinners what is in the breast of a God towards you love or hatred So will be your great happinesse or your great misery in this world and that to come Love speaks it self and so hatred speaks it self by Gods dealing with you you may know whether he loves or hates you God is dear to them which are dear to him relations are indearing on both sides God loves all his children dearly and they love him dearly Christ was dear to his father and his father dear to him he would rather die then disobey his will The spirit of the naturall sonne is in all the adopted if God be your father where is his honour Death is easier then disobedience to a child of God Relations have their proper nature they that are begotten love him that begat God hath no unnaturall child Some of you stand upon your sonne-ship and yet transgresse the will of your father with ease is he indeed your father which you call so and use so Are relations the highest relations without bowels can you use your father at your pleasure Do you love God and fight against him against his spirit within and against his truth and people without Our war in England certainly discovers a great many dear children of the devil as well as a great many dear children of God 'T is a time of great thoughts of heart a time of great-stirring and 't is a brave time to know your hearts and who is in them whether God or the devil when humours stirre much 't is the onely time to know the state of the man and what is his distemper God lives in every heart he loves and stirres as he lives how divine are the strings of your hearts now how generally divine how strongly divine There are not two better things to demonstrate any ones estate not any love speaks the love of a father Christ looked upon the young man and loved him but 't was not with any indearing love so not any love speaks the love of a child but that love which takes up the heart and indears God there How precious are thy commandments my soul loves them saith the Psalmist and so elsewhere My soul thirsteth after thee Psal 143.3 Weak souls should warm and comfort themselves in that flame they feel in their souls towards Christ and his wayes I am to be generall in consolation to all Gods people from this point think how you are to God very dear and refresh your souls with it in all sad conditions Misery sinks us because we think every humane distresse speaks divine displeasure or at least an abatement of love Afflicted Christians adde not to your load God is never out with them he loves all misery speaks not divine displeasure Misery speaks divine displeasure onely when it makes the soul wicked more adherent to sinne and lesse to Christ and Christians Some mens bitters from God make them bitter and sowre to good I like not that state God would make a bastard a sonne and he will not be corrected Miseries which make you groan under sinne and groan after Christ speak you very dear children to God how heavie soever they be and you should account such bitters sweets Let such mourners chear themselves God is very mindfull of your condition As things are dear to us so we think of them Is Ephraim my dear sonne is he a pleasant child Since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still Thy folly may be spoken against and yet thy person very dear and thy distresses compassionately carried in mind when thou thinkest all are slighted Christ strikes with one hand and strokes with the other 't is his usuall carriage to children Speak against them before men and speaks for them at the same time before God his Father Since I spake against him I remember him still I do earnestly remember him as yet recordando recordabor ejus adhuc as they read the text which is very lively When misery is upon a child of God he thinks then he is forgotten and then he is most remembred then 't is not recordabor ejus I will remember him but 't is recordando recordabor I will certainly remember him or I will earnestly remember him now in that very time that I have spoken against Ephraim a dear sonne notwithstanding all that I have laid upon him I do as yet earnestly mind him as divine love is towards us so it works if it be strong towards a person it is very earnestly intent about him for good Dear hearts in affliction believe that God remembers you and that he remembers you earnestly your deliverance is shaping day and night and thoughts shall never lie still till it be finished and you confesse what a deal of love is set upon you Dear children your blessednesse is above all mens here let times
and the fruits of it Redemption notes satisfaction power holding and loosing it self as having found a ransome Redemption is no free thing simply though so in order to us what is free to us is not to Christ satisfaction is made to justice and so the prisoner set free We are bought with a prise Power commanding proposeth its will will proposeth its justice justice proposeth its violation to the delinquent and demands it recompence according to this violation of truth of the least truth is the death of Gods will and so the death of himself the death of one thing in justice calls for the death of another and without delay will have it In the day thou eatest thou shalt die The death of God is more then the death of all the men in the world and therefore justice demands more for satisfaction then mere man-dying for if man-dying would make God satisfaction then when all men are dead justice would be satisfied and so the drowning of the whole world would have been its ransome and the burning of this world its redemption whereas it is but the breaking forth of justice unsatisfied and laying up the debters which are many in a sure prison the death of God is unvaluable with us and calls in justice for more then the death of mere man and therefore God-man dies to redeem And for this cause he is the mediatour of the new testament that by means of death for the redemptions of the transgressions that were under the first testament c. Hebr. 6.15 Legall redemptions had this law to propose worth to worth and so to make satisfaction as exact as might be E. G. an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and bloud for bloud and the most precious bloud for the most precious bloud the bloud of a man for the bloud of a man and without bloud yea without sanguine tali such bloud their was no redemption no redemption in a humane sence because no satisfaction and that pointed to this in my text which is exactly noted redemption through his bloud Redemption notes discharge actuall and full discharge Death paid bonds are cancelled nothing in will and if their were yet nothing in power to prosecute further justice satisfied nothing is charged nothing in the will nor power of any no not in the will nor power of God to charge man Who shall lay any thing to their charge If ye say God he justifies because satisfied and can do no otherwise 't is the Apostles strength of reasoning Redemption takes off obligation to justice though not obligation to mercy We are not under the law but under grace The law can charge no guilt upon a believer because grace hath satisfied the law can charge no guilt but grace can charge duty that is what soever the royall law and what soever the whole will of God requires that grace which hath died obliges to We are under grace that is under all the commands of it to fulfill all that righteousnesse as farre forth as we can which grace hath fulfilled exactly we are under grace immediately and under the law mediately as love to Christ sets the soul to the fulfilling of the whole will of God quantum in se est Redemption notes release from guilt and from rigour sinne doth not dame nor duty doth not discourage precepts bind graciously to the utmost of what imperfect man is able and not to the utmost of what a perfect rule may require Redemption is from a yoke of bondage and not from all yokes from a yoke of bondage to an easie yoke and a light burthen from legall bondage to Gospel bondage which is perfect libertie which is a law as James calls it but yet a perfect law of liberty Redemption is from all sinne but from no service which the Gospel calls for Gospel release is likewise double in heaven or in earth their is a loosing in heaven and a loosing in earth a discharge in the person of Christ and a discharge in our own person a generall discharge in a generall person and a particular discharge made out by that generall person to every particular There is peace in Jesus Christ and preaching of peace by Jesus Christ deliverance made for captives and deliverance preached to captives a ministeriall discharge Divine discharge hath a double administration one above and another below heaven is made to speak and explain her self out of earth and to tell to whom it belongs and then the redeemed can say that his redeemer lives and this is Gods bearing record in earth Much love breaking forth in earthen ordinances and running out of earthen vessells to the sensible apprehension of the beloved a voice from heaven in earth in a frail corrupt state a distinct artificiall voice Thou art all fair and yet understood by none but the party to whom 't is spoken a white stone with a name fairly ingraven in it and yet none can see it or reade it but he that receives it Our discharge in heaven in what state and glory 't is is peculiar to those agents 'tween whom things first passe and without hint I think to us here Our discharge here in what state and glory 't is carried within in the soul ask not me but ask your own souls for 't is honour peculiar and private to every redeemed soul and carried with more state or lesse according to the pleasure of God The summe of all is this Redemption is a sinner discharged by the death of Christ from the power of sinne and wrath Use Is this condition yours My question is generall are you bond or free Bodily bondage is very discernable but soul-bondage is very indiscernable We are Abrahams children and never were in bondage to any said the Jews and yet were never out of bondage to the devil Senses pleased conscience asleep the man blesses himself in his condition as the freest man in the world he hath what he will he can do what he will and none within cry out of him he can eat what he will and drink what he will and nothing tumbles nor wambles in his stomach in the afternoon troubled with no bitter regurgitations from conscience and what freer condition then this in supposition and yet what condition more desperate slavery then this If these men be free they are free among the dead and therefore if you have any life look about you Soul-powers are dead and therefore is the soul so free to do what it lists without controll Loose souls you are no free-men but dead men and all friends are dead that should look to you understanding is dead affection dead conscience dead and therefore are you so lively in sinne so free to do what you list The soul dead in sinne wrath tolls and rings out but the dead heare nothing The dead are buried out of Gods sight ere they are aware hell is the grave of a dead soul which is farthest out of Gods sight of any
your affections burn and your hearts beat to be redeemed That 's well then there is but one step more believe and you are redeemed out of bondage and this will be wrought it will spring and grow insensibly out of those pantings and breathings which are upon you I have seen the bondage of my people and I have heard their cry saith God When bondage makes crying out O what shall I do and who shall deliver me Enemies are got into a body and are deadly strong a body of death besets my soul and in the midst of this body shall not I loose my soul Now the sinner is turned from iniquity and now the redeemer comes to Sion Let the redeemed admire and adore the redeemer this one thing I will touch and give up the point and I am the rather induced unto it because 't is the use made in my text In whom we have redemption through his bloud Which words are spoken in way of admiration and thanksgiving and are but the continuation of that thanksgiving which is begun in the verse fore-going The redemption of the soul is precious silver would not reach it gold would not reach it onely the precious bloud of Christ would do it precious bloud must stirre and precious spirits leap from this consideration as high as heaven and spurtle up in Gods face Freedome binds man all must be sent to heaven that is saved from hell Let the redeemed say this and say that saith the Psalmist Redemption is obligation who ever hangs by his harp a redeemed person must not because he hath his advantage with him above all others his lesson set and laid before him yea his instrument tuned and put into his hand his lips are opened as the Psalmist speaks 't is but stirre thy tongue and matter cannot be wanting nor affections be able to lie still He that died for us must be perfumed and carried home honourably and buried in his own countrey as Jacob was he that died for you on earth must be perfumed by praises and carried to his own countrey and buried in heaven You must not bury Christ in his works but take him up out of his works and words and carry him to heaven and bury him there Nature abhorres burying things in their own bloud you must not bury Christ in his own bloud but take him up out of his bloud and bath him and perfume him and lay him to sleep in the arms of his father The redemption we speak of here and would have you thankfull for respects your souls and your bodies what mercy comes to either is a blessing from Christ as a Redeemer Not a deliverance in these bloudy times but from the bloud of Christ from that great redeemer that sits in heaven Bodily redemption is but the outside of soul-redemption I hope the blindest sight will be able to see the out-sides of mercy Blind wretches look upon temporall redemptions which now Christ makes and see if you can blesse him for these you had not had the lives of your bodies nor the livelihood of your estates at this houre had not your redeemer pleaded for you had not he pleaded for you w th his bloud you had been all ere this tumbling in your own bloud you had had your bloud trod under foot by those which have long trod under foot the bloud of Christ One redeemer works all redemptions for soul and body one redeemer pleads in soul-cases and in bodily cases See a full plain place Prov. 23.18 Enter not into the fields of the fatherlesse for their redeemer is mightie he shall plead their cause with thee It is but one redeemer that pleads for us in spirituall things and in corporall and therefore in all mercies both spirituall and corporall let Christ be honoured and praised Coloss 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his bloud THe way of grace is here considerable life comes through death God comes in Christ and Christ comes in bloud to save The choisest mercies come through the greatest miseries prime favours come swimming in bloud to us Through a red sea Israel came to Canaan Many a man lost his life and much bloud shed the very land flowing with milk and honey made to flow with bloud ere Israel could inherit the promise seven nations were destroyed ere the land of Canaan was divided to the Israelites Acts 13 19. Israel came to Canaan through bloud and kept in Canaan through bloud Samson was strangled in his own bloud like Christ to keep bloud and life in that blessed people The harlot had her life by a scarlet thread and so had the rest of her faith As the promised land so the promised crown came swimming to David in bloud how many men died and how near was David death many times ere that promise of his honour did live Josephs garment was dipt in bloud and he dead alive for so many years and this was the way to his greatnesse and to the saving of the life of all the holy seed Sinne makes mercie so deadly hard in bringing forth to cristen every precious child every Benjamin Benoni every sonne of Gods right hand a sonne of sorrow and death to her that brings him forth Adam's sweets had no bitter till he transgressed Gods will one mercie did not die to bring forth another till he died One creature was a felicitie for another and none a death to or for another mercy generated mercy and man fed upon the cream and top of all and yet the bottom as sweet as the top mans felicitie was no creatures misery under him they were happy in him and he in them and all in the presence of God to each I will rain bread from heaven saith God to Moses and this was an extraordinary thing then and yet ordinary to Adam before his fall spiritually understood he had all his provision without cost or toil his felicity descended from heaven upon him as dew heaven and earth opened and not any ones sides or veins and so mercy streamed upon him he had his felicity with no more hardship then Angels Man would have his pleasure and God would have his too divine pleasure hath turned the course of love The sea hath runne so many thousand years in such a channell yet God can when he will turn it into another though so broad and big an element The sea is bottomlesse but not boundlesse 't is ordered by the pleasure of God and so is mercy the will of God bounds it orders it keeps it in and lets it forth through what channells it will life through death heaven through hell The first covenant was sealed with life the tree of life was the seal of Adams first grace and favour the second covenant is ratified with death the tree of life must die or else none could live by eating of it 't is not life out of life now as out of the first covenant but life out of death and this necessarily because
goodnesse is admirably glorious and beautifull as any other beauty so is the beauty both of inside and outside of every thing belonging to Christ and here loftily expressed and admired Who is the image of the invisible God the first born of everie creature The admirablenesse of Christs person makes the admirablenesse of his action as things are made so they act he is incomparably made and therefore incomparably acts he is made higher then the heavens and therefore of more power and glory in action then they though they be most admirable bodies in the world in operation Christ is in his form more noble then the heavens those noblest bodies according to the nobility of form so is action and therefore are his actions mentioned in that place as all suitable to this supreame form wherefore he is said to save to the uttermost for evermore which action is suitable to his form he is made of an everlasting shape above the heavens these last a great while but he longer because higher and because made above them the heavens can make no everlasting operation because they have no everlasting form but Christ being made above them he acts above them and produceth everlasting things suitable to his form See this argumentation used by the spirit of God himself Hebr. 7.25 26. Wherefore he is able to save them to the utmost that is for ever that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them for such an high Priest became us who is holy harmlesse undefiled separate from sinners and made higher then the heavens Christ is made higher then the heavens and therefore can produce higher effects he is made as high as the Highest and therefore suitable to him in action he redeems from hell from the torturing power not onely of men but of devils Alike place is that Luke 1.32 He shall be great and shall be called the Sonne of the Highest as things are in the greatnesse and glory of their birth and formation so in the greatnesse and glory of their action if a Sonne of the Highest he will do the highest things things incomparably great all shall see it and say so if in the image and form of God and equall to him he will do equall to him things which no man can do destroy principalities and powers and lift souls out of hell to heaven This lies along in the story here In whom we have redemption through his bloud the forgivenesse of sinnes who is the image cf the invisible God c. Complement is to expresse and to gain love Christ is in person and action complete to expresse and gain affection God is invisible and hath no image nor lively expression of himself but Christ what he is for wisdome for power for mercy all these are out of sight and have no expression but in Christ the excellency of an invisible God shines visibly and expressely in him in his person and in his action and this to gain man unto him and therefore is it said after the mentioning of his endowments his name shall be called Wonderfull Counsellour the mighty God the government shall be laid upon his shoulders and then he shall be called this and that c. Transscendent honour shall be put upon him by God and this to gain the like from men they shall call Christ as God hath made him and indowed him as they see the image of God in him his wisdome his power his love Invisible things do not work upon sensible creatures therefore are the invisible things of God made visible in Christ in his person and in his action and this to work and winne therefore are all the beauties of Christ so exactly and so loftily related it is the mystery of the Apostles art here in drawing out God in Christ and telling you who Christ is like that he might draw love to both The fumme of all is this Christ is admirable both in person and action Vse Matter of consolation springs from this point what Christ is in compleatnesse of person and action that he is for us his fulnesse is our fulnesse and we are complete in him person and action this very use the Apostle makes In him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead and then observe what follows and ye are compleated in him Coloss 2.9 10. Christs completenesse is ours what he hath as Christ that is as one anointed he hath it as a designed person in the stead and person of others and therefore may you that beleive say I am complete in person and work and so doth the Psalmist apply this point to his comfort Thou art perfect and makest my way perfect person is comprehended under action the perfection of Christ makes us perfect person and action all together lovely The Lord himself doth approve of this application of him and calls an applicatory beauty our beauty and a perfect beauty And thy renown went among the heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect through my comelinesse which I have put upon thee Weak souls learn to comfort your selves as you should your hearts need never droop for want of holinesse and comelinesse in the eye of God as long as Christ is and he is everlasting and so are all his perfections Pride kills faith you would have an absolute beauty in your selves to commend you to God which will never be pride springs from ignorance and both have a hand in your weak state Weak souls you think duty makes beauty but it doth not it is onely Christ the glorious sunne makes starres glorious Sathan tells penitent spirits that to believe is to presume appropriation is no act of presumption in qualified persons Broken hearts you are commanded to believe Ho every one that thirsteth and every one that is weary come to me saith Christ and you that do not see your uglinesse are wished to come to buy eye-salve that you may see Every state of man hath its proper command and injunction of God upon it men that do not see their deformity the injunction of the Gospel is that such should come to Christ for eye-salve and such as have spirituall sight and sense the injunction of the Gospel is that such should believe that Christ and his comelinesse is theirs and weak hearts you may as well justifie your selves in an act of self murder as in unbelief the one respects the body the other your eternall souls Coloss 1.15 Who is the image c. SCripture expressions are above us where lowest and plainest but how much more where deep and utterred exact to reach the loftiest beings and in such a stile and strain doth the holy Ghost speak here Men over-matched should have help from others your prayers are doubly needed and I intreat that they may be answerably powred forth that our labours may be solid and sweet to the salvation of your immortall souls and to the joyfull giving up of our own account at the great day Christ hath
so doth Christ neither will he be deceived therefore deceive not your selves Death is at your doore do you not see him after him the next dispatch will be for eternity and it will bear but upon the resolution of this question whose image and superscrition is upon this soul If you would seek to delude at that day it will not do in the least for conscience then shall manage its office fully without any confront from an unsound heart it shall speak out then and unmask the face of the inward man to the judge of all Deluded souls I dread to think of you you have used a damnable art a great while to mask a naughty heart and a naughty life this trade must down now the sword of the Lords vengeance is come to rip you up you shall be known as you are judged as you are This man is as like the Devil in heart as he can look let children swimme home to their father in bloud I will make no better conveyance for them Let them have marshall law will the Lord of hosts say slay them in their beds slay them at their doors uggly souls I cannot endure any longer to look upon them But as for you that bear the image of Christ lift up your heads sing for joy of heart now though all the land be so sad Christs image is his mark upon you for mercy he will know you by this in the midst of the bloudiest battell in the midst of a fired citie You being like the Sonne of God you shall have one like the Sonne of God to embrace you in fiery flames as the three children had Coloss 1.15 Who is the image of the invisible God THis is said of Christ eminenter he is what none else are in heaven or in earth for likenesse to God They are exclusive words and make a proper rule for our right apprehension of God When we would conceive of God as he is we are to conceive of him as he holds forth himself in Christ and no where else for God hath no representation for divine adoration but Christ God hath no artificiall similitude nor no naturall similitude nothing grows like him nor nothing can be made like him Nature keeps her compasse and attempts nothing this way and yet art is venturous I admire it much for no man hath seen God at any time that is as he is onely he that lay in his bosome thus saw him Sight is the rule of art fancy cannot work upon nothing not our fancy Folly makes her self visible and not God when the man goes to make the likenesse of him he never saw Fancie is but bad at recollection when at a losse yet a little it can do sometimes this way call to mind such a countenance which at such a time it saw but that which it never saw it can do nothing about that but befool it self No man hath seen God at any time Fancie can draw to the life and it can work at second hand fancy can go after nature and fancie can go after art and make good work she can draw from a thing drawn from a thing it self or from the shape of that thing it can shape again to please it self and continue so contemplative but it hath neither wayes relief respecting God neither the naturall form of God nor any artificiall shape can be got Ye have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape John 5.37 No man hath seen God to draw him to the life nor none hath seen his shape to copie him out ye have neither heard his voice nor seen his shape Christ as man is not the shape of God There was apparition frequently under the old covenant vision was an ordinance and although it were an ordinance yet God did make vision still under the shape of some other thing not of himself under the shape of men or of an eagle or a dove The form of man gives not a shape of the form of God Christ as man was not the image nor the shape of God but called so as he had a divine essence and action as the godhead and the fulnesse of the godhead dwelt in him and wrought by him Though fancy hath no full shape as a copie yet from a little from an eye or from a toe she can form the whole if she hath but the shadow of a shadow any rough draught any ground-work or any glimpse of such a similitude she can with some applause set her self on work but there is not this relief to make the image of God Take good heed for ye saw no manner of similitude when God talked with you in Horeb If there were any times to get some glimpse of God it was in Horeb but yet then there was no manner of similitude The result of all is this There is no image of God but Christ nor can be There is no representation for relief of apprehension in adoration but Christ Use Mens principles are strange which conceive otherwise and yet persons abusing their light make what apprehensions of God they please Look how the heart is engaged so it fancies God and represents him to it self A vain heart makes vain imaginations will guides affection affection guides fancie and fancie guides action when the soul is given up to sinne and death the heart chooseth its way and then fancy other powers set up a god in similitude to this way to go before the man to confirm the man in his way and to seal his destruction and yet thus men generally live and die Some mens principles are strange yet they will venture their souls upon the practise of them the pride of man and the wrath of God is in this what is the idole of any mans heart shall become the idol of his life to his death God will have what is in the heart under the mans hand to condemne him Professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and foure-footed beasts saith the Apostle First they became vain in imagination then in action the idol of the heart begins the idol of the hand and outward man necessarily if you would know any mans conception of God look upon his action if you would know what idol is in any mans heart be but patient a while and he will draw it out himself in his life How Romanists conceive of God they give it you under their hand by the many sensuall helps they use in their devotion their images and multitudes of carnall representations whereas God is a spirit and under the same notion and apprehension alone must be worshipped Carnality speaks corruptibility and that is admirable abominable to relieve apprehension by respecting an incorruptible God and yet this is the abomination of Rome and the persons which we stand to defend our selves against at this day Men which have corrupted their own
and gives off its office God hath not one adequate to render him visible to a mortall eye neither matter nor form neither longitude nor latitude neither white nor ruddy without any dimension and without any circumscription of time or place or any accident or shadow of them The summe of all is what I said in the beginning That God is wholly invisible invisible in person and action Vse Each of these are distinctly usefull that God is invisible in action tremble before him Sinners look not after their souls I tremble to see it because there lies the action of God principally a man is killed invisibly Sinne is best pleasing the man will have his way now God with-draws and this action is not seen but yet is the eternall death of a soul thousands are thus slain and no wounds seen felt nor complained of There be a great many bodies visibly slain and this makes you shake but there be a great many souls invisibly slain the sword of the spirit cuts off the spirits of men utterly from God apace therefore is hypocrisie at such a hellish height and so many great men become as devils and making damnation a court-complement There be a great many slain and fallen but weep not for these there be a great many more slain that are not yet fallen invisibly slain utterly cut off from God O weep for these for when these fall they will fall very low Fear not Christian they have their deaths wound that warre against you a deadly wound at heart from heaven which you see not stand still and you will see them fall fearfully hell pangs are upon them do you not hear them grone to be there by their horride imprecations Our warre hath slain more then we see how do men give up the holy Ghost daily and souls breathe out their last good breath What making of graves tolling and ringing out is there in the other world below if a man could see it Sinners tremble at these things for I tremble to think of some of you I see that in some of you which I fear is yet invisible to your souls invisible judiciary action upon your souls beg that your eyes may be opened that you may see Gods actions within you in some measure or you are lost men Gods action is invisible trust in him when Gods action carries not that in it visibly which we look for we think it hath nothing in it at all nor means nothing for our good and so let fall faith and fall a quarrelling with God and one another 't is our great disadvantage at this day and nothing more with which God is displeased which will be more and more disadvantage to us onely Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God When we cannot see God going along with us in every thing we think he hath cast us off the godly despair and the wicked presume when things are thus carried both which are much alike good one looseth his comfort the other looseth his soul When we are in the dark and know not where we are God knows where he is variation of action doth not prove variation of intention one end may be intended in travell though every day the way turn In countreys full of mountains wayes are necessitated to turn and take compasse much there are great mountains in the Churches way these make many turnings and put us oft to a stand to see our way and him that goes before us Christians be not discouraged it is the manner of God to hide himself oft when he intends to shew his face gloriously I cannot let down my faith respecting Gods intentions of love to this bleeding land that that God now hides himself let it make matter of prayer as it did to David in like case and not matter of unbelief and impatience Hide not thy face from thy servant for I am in trouble heare me speedily deliver me out of the mire and let me not sink let me be delivered from them that hate me and out of the deep waters let not the water-flouds overflow me neither let the deep swallow me in let not the pit shut her mouth upon me c. Finally for as much as God according to person is invisible to a mortall eye long to be out of the body that mortality may put on immortality a mortall eye become an immortall eye that you may see him that dwells in that light to which no mortall eye can reach The body makes misery and not felicity to the soul here our mortall eye beholds nothing but mortality and so all our vision in the body makes misery and not felicity to the soul What is this world but a great body filled with the curse of God! and what are all the creatures of this world but each others deadly executioners and the dust of one a grave to turn another into the same and this is our dolefull vision throughout our dying life here our eye affects and afflicts our hearts and yet do not we long to go home to have better vision the vision of Saints and the vision of Angels and the vision of God in which is heaven Know your errour now you carnall wretches all is going away whither are your souls going to see God or the devil Know your errour Christians the glory of this world hath taken your eye and the shame of it will take your persons unlesse the Lord pitty What bloudy objects do I see in the countrey and what bloudy objects may I see in the citie But were I in that holy city above I know whom and what I should see and feel to all eternity Coloss 1.15 First-born of every creature FIrst-born notes two things precedence in affection and precedence in being in reference to all the creation Christ is before all chosen beloved and indued with grace and in this sence is called the first-born Whom he fore-knew he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his sonne that he might be the first-born among many brethren Christ and all the elect are here resembled by a family and Christ the first brought forth in the image of the Father of this family and all the rest conformed to this image Christ the first chosen and indued and then all others chosen and indued in him In this sence namely in regard of precedence in affection is Israel called Gods first-born that is in reference to all other people the first chosen and beloved And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh thus saith the Lord Israel is my sonne even my first-born Let my sonne my first-born go or else I will slay thy first-born Exodus 4.22 First-born notes precedencie in being there is a first coming into the kingdome of God and a first coming into this world First was the word begotten and then all other things begotten by him before any thing had being Christ had The Lord
above earth and above heaven above visible and above invisible things above thrones and dominions above every being as the being thereof Soveraignty is peculiar state Christ must have glory in the highest that salutation was but due which they gave when Christ came into Jerusalem Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord peace in heaven and glory in the highest Christ set highest in the soul is set no higher then he should be the king is but set in his throne men fancie that they thus set up Christ in their thoughts but they do but fancy it I doubt I will give you some things to demonstrate where this is reall that the soul doth indeed as the Apostle here look upon Christ as supreme and above all Where Christ is indeed looked upon as above all there is fear soveraignty holds forth majesty divine majesty indeed in sight is humbling you may see an instance of this in Job who thought he had as right an apprehension of Gods soveraignty as any man but God reasons with him about this point and Job fails Canst thou do this and canst thou do that saith God and holds out his soveraignty over all before him Then Job answered and said I know that thou canst do every thing and no thought can be held from thee Job 42.12 Job did but fancie this point before that he apprehended God as over all but now he comes indeed to behold it his heart shakes and he draws doctrine upon doctrine from it I know that he which is over all can do what ever he will he made me of the dust with his word and he can turn me to dust with his word I cannot hide a fault from him he that made the eare shall he not heare if I speak sin he that made the eye shall he not see I do sin and he that made the heart shall not he discern if I think sinne The soul is full of strong argument with its self when it doth indeed behold God as the maker of all his soveraignty Where Christ is indeed looked upon as above all there is he esteemed One set above all carries all soveraignty holds forth glory and this makes love If I see Christ indeed a chief corner-stone he is precious if I see him the sonne of the highest I give glory in the highest to him As things are in height so in honour honour carries glory and glory carries the heart the one seen and the other is more seen and swayes glory is a very taking thing The Lord is high above all nations and his glory is above the heavens If I indeed behold the person of God above the earth and above the heaven I see him in glory above all these and if I see him in glory above all these I am taken with him above all Most vaunt of light and yet have nothing in love such apprehension is fancy and not reall apprehension Can I indeed see the sunne and not be taken with it Soveraigntie holds forth remedie soveraignty is soveraigne the soul in the midst of all tossings knows where to rest persons very high oppose me yet there are higher then the highest that is the quieting argument If thou seest the oppression of the poore and violent perverting of judgement in the Province marvell not at it for he that is higher then the highest regardeth and there be higher then they The soveraignty of Christ indeed beheld takes off disquiet though powers opposing be never so great the soul can argue with its fears and find out shoulders for his burthens as long as God is above all He that made all is above all and will maintain his universall soveraignty the highest shall know they have one above them and here the oppressed rest A man that indeed looks upon God as a Creatour rests his soul upon him as a faithfull Creatour that is as one that will regard the beings which he hath made although various and so many Great troubles make great fears and great fears make great shifts and sinnes What a fearfull time and what a sinfull time is this Princes are but men and yet humane soveraignty makes us do any thing Fearfull souls you do but fancie Christs soveraignty that he is King of kings and the Creatour of all you have no apprehension of what you speak you fear God and offer to Baal as the expression is that is you set man above Christ what ever you say Some of you may possibly see your sinne by this point that you are not so noble spirited as you dreamt that you have but low conception of Christ You that are proud in spirit carnall in affection and fearfull of men have a base and low opinion of Christ and Christ will require it As long as God is supream a brave spirit flincheth not a step but others do like themselves which will be their shame and judgement He judgeth those that are high saith brave Job to his friends which carried themselves high Job 21.22 he saw his opposites high yet this daunted him not a jot because he beheld one higher Judge not light of this point in hand you cannot heare one more usefull in this trying time A man fears nothing that sees Christ above all neither what men can say nor do a man fears where no fear is that sees not this Also now behold my witnesse is in heaven and my record is on high my friends scorn me but mine eye poureth out tears unto God Job 16.19 20. Men think of me thus and thus but it troubles me not a jot I look at one that is above all men that made all and knows all and will judge all to him I referre all all cannot daunt one in good that sees God above all Low souls look upon him that is high if you would become high as high as Christ and heaven Coloss 1.16 For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they he thrones or dominions or principalities or powers c. HEaven and earth and the Authour and end of both are wrapt up in this verse and what we shall say of either for the good of your precious souls depends wholly upon the blessing of Christ Christs house is stately but of few causes efficient and finall first by him and secondly for him were all things created Christs house is great but of few rooms Heaven and Earth For by him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth Christs family is but of few kinds visible and invisible From one cause to another from the efficient to the finall from one kind to another from visible to invisible from one room to another from Earth to Heaven is a Christians journey quite home and lies all along in this text for us to travell Christ is considered under much variety of notion and still sweet under all as a redeemer as the image of God as
a first-born and here as a creatour Doctr. A holy soul cannot tire it self in the contemplation of Christ. Their is variety of excellencie in Christ varietie of time he is Alpha and Omega Varietie variety of beautie white and ruddie varietie of qualitie mild and fierce a lion and a lamb a servant and a sonne a Man and God a Redeemer and a Creatour Christ is all varietie of excellency he hath all the powders of the Merchants Canticles 3.6 In things below Christ some have excellency and some none some this excellency and some that but none have all and this checks the soul in his game and withers contemplation at the root Contemplation is soul-recreation recreation is kept up by variety one thing tires quickly unlesse that one be all which so is Christ and none else he is all Colossians 3.11 All belonging to well being and all belonging to being Redeemer and Creatour for by him were all things created There is congruity of excellency in Christ Congruity what things are in Christ are all suitable to a holy soul and suitable things tire not we lie down where we are pleased 'T is with a holy soul as 't is with a holy God unsuitable things tire him presently Your new moons and your appointed feasts that is their hypocritical observations I am weary to beare them saith God Esay 1.14 Holy persons and holy actions things congruous to his will in these he takes up his dwelling his thoughts though vast and noble hire themselves here so farre are such things from wearying of him his thoughts respecting this world the people and practices of it rove and wander and tire as weary of all till he come to Sion and then observe what he saith of her This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Psalme 132.14 Affection makes motion and thoughts go after desires desires suited thoughts sit down and take up their rest and their dwelling and like the place of their habitation 't is thus with God and 't is thus with godly men one holy spirit roves and tires out it self till it meet with another the soul of a christian flies from creature to creature and pitches down upon this and that but rises up again presently as one wearied because it can find nothing suitable and thus it doth in reference to all the creatures till it come to Christ and in him it finds all suitablenesse and then sitteth down suitablenesse to being and well-being Christ is my redeemer and my creatour enough for all that I can wish and therefore here I rest saith the soul Transcendency There is transcendency of excellency in Christ variety and congruity of excellency and all above expression more then can be reached A holy heart is deep and loves to bath it self in deep waters contemplation is a soul making one deep to swallow up another and this is so farre from tiring that 't is the very Heaven of a holy heart Contemplation is a soul widening it self to swallow up infinitenesse what ever God is if it can Not a step of Christ towards man but 't is a great deep Redemption is a great deep and Creation a great deep and 't is delightfull to a divine heart to dive where sweetnesse hath no bottome Carnall contemplation tires because though it find something suitable in the creature yet but very little and that little in a little time turns to nothing and then the soul is not ohely tired but vexed which makes thoughts retreat disorderly Divine contemplation cannot tire for it finds out suitable things and yet there are more besides these still it finds out one Heaven and when the soul is in this and it seeth another beyond this when it beholdeth a Redeemer it seeth a Creatour more plainly Use This point plainly discovers many hearts not to be holy divine contemplation is so burthensome and tiresome to them You have vagabond persons so you have vagabond spirits which had rather be any where then at home Christ and Heaven are the souls home thoughts and spirits are all vagabonds whilest they are from this home and yet few souls care to get here and keep here The soul is sublime of it self but pravitie bowes it down men have their corruptions and these make their thoughts cleave to the dust You do not observe whither your hearts go nor what journeyes they make you do not observe their going out nor their layings out whither they wander nor how prodigall when abroad nor possible will not because 't is pleasing men do contentedly lose their souls in things below Christ Three things destroy divine contemplation blindnesse idlenesse wilfulnesse Some men know nothing of Christ the soul cannot dwell upon nothing Thoughts are soon tired when confounded they clash much where there is no apprehension one fighteth against another and the spirit dieth in this fight because condemned to abide in a dungeon Confusion makes distraction distraction makes madnesse men throw off all when they can understand nothing in divine mysteries and I perswade my self that this hath undone many a soul I have known learned men who though contēplative enough in their way yet when they set to contēplate divine things can make no sweetnes to their souls but knots tricks and fancies to cavill with and 't is impossible but that the soul should tire quickly that can find out nothing in Christ but knots and bones to feed on Learned persons look about you your contemplation is highest and yet lowest the hid things of nature wrap you up and the high things of Christ tire you presently which is nought and speaks the heart bewitcht with curiosity high in fancie but low and carnall in affection such a soul as this makes its nest in the starrs of this world but God will from thence pluck it down every soul that nests not it self in Christ and in those glorious excellencies which shine in him will be judged and perish as carnall As ignorance so idlenesse destroyes divine contemplation thoughts are vain they must be watcht man hath power to observe his spirit which beasts have not The spirit of a man knowes the things of a man You know how carnally your hearts work and what do you do to reduce them You keep no watch sloth-betrayes your souls to lust and lust will betray your souls to the devill How secretly doth many a mans heart steal away Christ and yet not so secretly but 't is seen and the man for want of activity lets it go and so is accessary to the betraying of his own soul Ah Lord what will that man be able to say for himself in judgement that stood still and saw his heart steal away from God to the creature and did nothing to turn it back made no prayer nor shed no tears Men complain of losses now but who complains O God I have lost my soul I can never find it in Christ 't is sometime in wealth
Toads Snakes 2. Common Serpents and Men are all in one room in earth good men bad men yea and devils all in one room together in earth this room is so common that the devil is not shut out of it he hath a doore out of hell into earth and leave to walk from one end of the earth to the other when he will And the Lord said to Sathan whence comest thou and he said from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it The earth is the devils heaven he hath his walk allowed him here Earth is such a common place that you cannot walk alone in it if you would give never so much go never so privately yet if in earth you will have men or devils with you and just in your walk Many together is troublesome especially when of contrary spirits the devill and man never do well together in one walk Community lessens priviledge here 't is a hell to be where all variety and all contrariety dwell together and yet so 't is here scarce two of one spirit throughout the earth and yet these must live together in one room agree together as they will fight or scratch or kill one another all is one there is no remedy in seventy eighty ninety no possibly not in a hundred years Heaven hath some community in it there dwelleth East-country West-country North-country South-country men but then they are all one spirit no walk above in which there is hearing seeing tasting or smelling any contrary thing though there be many millions more above then are here as having been the receptacle of all travellers from hence for this many thousand years besides the natives of the place and yet not two spirits amongst all these innumerable numbers that disagree or will in the space of eternity But here one cannot walk any where but one contradicting and afflicting thing or other meets a man here I see a Toad there I feel a Serpent here I heare a Lion there I smell a Fox and yet all these claim a dwelling just where I do in earth This is the second thing earth speaketh a common room 3. Dark 'T is a dark room In earth we see earth but nothing else we cannot see Heaven in earth no not any mansion there how stately 't is we cannot see Heaven nor any heavenly thing in earth Angels are invisible Christ is invisible Christ cannot be seen now in earth though the Sonne of the bravest world The Father is invisible the Sonne invisible yea the Spirit by which these two work here in earth as the wind which bloweth in your eyes yet you cannot see it invisible We are here a great wide Common full of moles and mole-hills all heaving and heaping up earth but blind and do not see what we do Bring forth the blind that have eyes and the deaf which have eares saith God Earthen creatures look one another in the face as if they had eyes and yet are all blind some sitting in darknesse others walking in darknesse not knowing whither they go The best persons here are as Samson when his hair was gone and taken by the Philistines of some good stirrings and desires but weak and blind not able to find a pillar but as led to find a pillar but as led to it Man is but of yesterday and knoweth nothing because his dayes upon earth are but a shadow saith Job Earth is a great room full of fools which know nothing and set alone by themselves to wrangle and talk non-sence to no bodies disquiet but their own This is a third thing earth speaketh a dark room 'T is a filthy room the earth is corrupt full of snails 4. Filthy that with creeping up and down leave their slime and pollute all One creature polluteth another and man polluteth all the earth he treadeth on Bloud defileth the land saith God Sinne rendereth not onely the person but the very place where that person liveth detestable The earth is curst from Heaven all over which speaketh out the strength of divine detestation 't is a great brave body with face blasted breasts seared bowels torn guts and filth hanging out poysoning and putrifying the inhabitants which first poysoned and putrified it All runneth into this we dwell in a very base place A low common dark filthy room in earth and so indeed is the originall Hebrew word Adamah for earth used Vse How do you like your dwelling Men are carried by corruption against truth and pitch affection upon that which is base O how damnably do many love their dwelling in earth When the body dwelleth in earth and the soul too Ah Lord that is damnable dwelling in earth indeed Though God hath placed your bodies in earth yet he looketh that you should place your souls in Heaven but shew me a man that thus doth God made your bodies earthy but you make your souls earthy your selves and you will answer for it I wonder what you find in earth that you should make your souls dwell here Do you not find it a low common dark unclean room And yet must your souls dwell here because your bodies do then you will perish as beasts worse I might go along this way and do well but I must turn another way and tell you that you have a base dwelling here and therefore expect things answerable Christians have no art to quiet their souls when things go hard you may gather patience from the very place you dwell in you live in a base place and what can you expect but base usage When your dwelling is removed from earth to Heaven things will be better presently as well as you would wish You dwell in earth and in earth dwelleth all sorts and every one will act according to his property and how can it be helpt here Some are back-biters and they will kill your name some are sycophants and they will kisse you and hug you to death like Judas some are hypocrites wolves in sheeps cloathing and they will not onely kill your bodies but your souls too The earth yields variety of deadly vermine and you cannot tread upon all some will tread upon you some will crawl about you and sting you do what you can Distresse should make mortification but not vexation so it did with David it tooke him off from all in earth but one whom have I in earth but thee Distresse should not disturb but subdue the heart and yet 't is hard to keep the spirit quiet when basely used tell it what one will Fallen creatures are full of passion and strong passion can bear nothing and yet must bear it self which is the heaviest burden of all All things in earth do like themselves and therefore turn aside my soul from them whom have I in earth in comparison of thee O Christ There is one good in earth and that 's all I know get acquaintance with him yea that would find comfort in your dwelling here
notion Idlenesse maketh profanenesse profanenesse putteth all powers under the black rod to wit the devill A soul under the power of Satan and the world cannot imploy it self well Poore bond-slaves seek your freedome by Christ or you will be condemned You whose soul-powers are under no power but Christs from you is this expected that you make full imployment to your selves about the various works of God that you travell this world over and the next above it as farre as you can into visible and invisible things and if you loose your souls this way you will find them in Heaven the soul getteth his perfection by much travell Bees fill not their hives from one flower nor in one journey they are fain to go farre and near from garden to garden from field to field from flower to flower so must we from visible to invisible things to fill our souls with the sweetnesse of Christ 1. Coloss 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers c. INvisible things are here named by visible for our sakes thrones dominions principalities and powers are all terms used amongst us and we know what they mean some chief in place and office superiority and rule over others and so have Angels over this lower world at the appointment and pleasure of Christ therefore called chief Princes in Daniel The Prince of the kingdome of Persia withstood me one and twenty dayes but loe Michael one of the chief Princes came to help me Daniel 10.13 Greek tearms here sound the same with the Hebrew word Shinan a Shanach to second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 next to the first as these which have the prime office and command under a King are said to be next to him Hester 10.3 Mordecay was next to king Ahasuerus so Angels they are next to Christ in ruling the visible world and therefore called Shinan in the Hebrew and principalities and powers in the Greek that is chief governours next to Christ in reference to all the creation beside Tearms are here multiplied synonymically which when they are so 't is for our weaknesse there being no tearm comprehensive enough below to expresse things above Angels being so transcendent in all eminences both of nature and office Multiplication like to this you shall find in the first to the Ephesians 21. Farre above all principalities powers might dominion c. There is variety of offices amongst the Angels as appeareth by that place forecited in Daniel but this is not pointed at here in my text as I think by the variety of tearms which are used because they are all of the same signification according to the letters and point joyntly at one main thing which Christ would have all his know That the worlds are subordinate that the visible world is under the dominion of the invisible world that Christ hath an unexpressable power and strength by him at command to over-rule this world and all things in it thrones dominions c. that is transcendent powers which all the powers in this world call them what you will will not fully expresse I will demonstrate this truth unto you by some angelicall properties Angels are unexpresseable for number the visible world is populous but the invisible world much more populous they live not one upon another as we do which makes great consumption here and yet live near together much nearer then we can do who are corporeall beings The chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands or many thousands of Angels His meaning is that God hath more for number then any generall can muster up here if he should muster up all the creatures in the world You begin to number here from tennes and twenties they do not begin to number above so low thousands and twentie thousands are Gods units there he doth but begin to number If men will go to numbring God will out-number them for his number is innumerable Ye are come to an innumerable company of Angels Hebr. 12.22 Our Saviours expression doth plainly demonstrate it that the invisible world is very populous and that God hath a mighty vast command thereof souldiery to still tumults here with ease or to do what else service he will When one of Christs company pull'd out his sword to fight for him Put it up said Christ think'st not that I can now pray to my Father and he shall presently give me more then twelve Legions of Angels and every Legion according to the Romanes was six thousand twelve six thousands and more His meaning is innumerable numbers and all these raised presently at a word sighed out Certainly they are very populous above You are here along while of raising an army of tenne thousand and when you have done it 't is longer ere you can raise such another and when you have done it you cannot spare so many to wait up one person about this poore creature and that poore creature and yet this is an ordinary thing with God When Jacob went from Laban Angels met him innumerable and he admires it This is Gods host saith he and calls it Mahanaim that is two hosts or two camps Gods host one is as bigge as two of ours ten of ours and yet these imployed every where about this and that Saint of God Certainly the invisible world is unspeakable populous Angels are unexpresseable for number Angels are unexpresseable for majesty the sight of their face is death to us A man of God came to me and his countenance was like the countenance of an Angel of God very terrible said Manoahs wife to him Judg. 13.6 it was so terrible that it would have killed her and her husband too if God had not mightily upheld they are so fearfully made to flesh and bloud He hath made his Angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire What is more terrible then a flame of fire it conjures naturall spirits and makes them all croud in upon the heart ready to croud the heart to death 'T was the presence of an Angel that rendred the bush as a flame of fire to Moses it was a multitude of Angels which rendred mount Sinai a burning mount which was a terrible sight so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Hebr. 12. Fire is a supreme element for dread it s an element that sits nearer God then all others do and goes forth with more of his majesty when it descends Angels have the advantage of a perfect image this advantage when it was upon man rendred him very terrible to all the creation They have not defiled their scarlet robes as God did put them on at first so they wear them still which render them full of majesty Man hath but a little of God in him and with him now and yet this holds him up and holds him out as a creature of much state but Angels
him Neutrality is condemned by this point some will be neither for nor against Christ which cannot be all must be for him Conceits are strange where the heart is naught can a man onely be a looker on in matters of God which concern his glory and our eternall welfare Flesh is fearfull and where this predominates all the care is to look to one and that one is self and not Christ which will be the shame of that one unto all forever O how dear is name and state wife and children now But how dear is Christ Men of the world look into your hearts now if ever you would know them throughly would you not fain stand Neuters now in our cause to give your purse some rest Is not the pulling of your purse-strings as the pulling of your heart-strings Alas for me what shall I and mine do all will be gone I shall be quite undone What is Christ beleft is all gone Nothing will be for Christ as it should be when the heart is not I would you would all look to this Give your selves to the Lord and then you will give all that is yours This they did they gave their own selves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God Make your hearts throughly for Christ and you will make all other things with ease Lusts unmortified the heart is unruly the heart unruly will part with things according to its own will and not according to Christs An unruly heart becomes froward frowardnesse knows none but its own will Who is David and who is the sonne of Jesse that I should take up what is mine and give to I know not who Many things go for Christ a while plate horse money men and of a sudden all is checked and nothing shall be for him the plague of this is at the heart this was never for him but yet men do not consider this but plead a thousand things of this side and that speaks all more miserable Two things speak the heart for Christ the rise and the scope of action the heart is not for Christ let the action be what it will when it springs not from love Peter lovest thou me Feed my lambs Naked action though never so good speaks not the heart for Christ but the spring of that action Do ye love Christs Lambs and feed them I will tell you a sad thing many a souldier hath a hand for Christ and a heart against him and what a pittie is this So many a Citizen hath a purse a little open for Christ and a spirit quite shut against him Certainly our motion for Christ is heartlesse motion love oyls her own wheels as long as she hath any work or any power and we are quickly weary of well-doing The spring of action and the scope of action speaks the heart for God not what you do but at what you aim He that seeketh his glory that sent him the same is true and there is no unrighteousnesse in him John 7.18 The generation is spiritually plagued which is worse then all the plagues which are upon us men do little and mean lesse scarce a true heart amongst us The body hath two eyes but the soul should have but one looking onely at Christ but shew me such a man now We are a kingdom of squint-eyed persons states are broken any way will serve to mend them let whose will lose is there any way for me to gain Trialls are quick spirits perverse kingdomes reel nothing to be had you must comply and do as others do and seek your self for you cannot rid it out thus we reason Simplicity is a rock I see but few of these in our seas Surely surely souls are drown'd apace in the deluge that is upon us Men that did look bravely at Christ now look basely at themselves which speaks more wounds to a wounded kingdome the Lord heal such hearts or else when will this land be healed Coloss 1.17 And he is before all things c. Doctr. HEre is a term of connexion in the front of this verse which calls for something to be spoken relatively Circumstances are multiplied to winne respect to Christ Much is said before and here is more and yet all expression too little to winne affection The heart of man naturally is damnable cold One ornament is enough to set a man dear in your breast but all ornaments not enough to set Christ dear Affection naturally is no whit divine Christ is very honourable in gifts and so in years he is the ancient of dayes He is before all things and yet all nothing Let us all bleed under the basenesse of our affection so much should not be said to quicken were we not all very dead There must be some divine principall in the soul ere any divine principall held up to it will take it if heaven were open to you yet would you have no heart to go in unlesse your hearts be opened too Should Christ himself come from the dead and stand in that glory before you in which he stands now at the right hand of God yet unlesse something be done within this sight without will not gain you to him you will tremble and intreat him to depart Sinners know the plague of your heart Christ is not revealed in you and therefore all that here he saith to you is no more stirring You have glory after glory here and yet nothing gains you spit out the sowernesse of your souls in the face of him that is sweet to you I am afraid nothing is yet done within you and is this nothing to you And if so your state is the more grievous to Christ When we do not love Christ we should confesse it to him a plague hid Christ looks not after it but lets it ramble and kill the soul Yet must we Christs servants strive with you still and fight with dead men as long as we are in this dying tabernacle and all that Christ saith of himself we must say to you though you grow worse and worse into every chamber of the king of glory we must lead you though it be of no taking glory to you My text puts me now to speak of the eternity of Christ to you he is before all things which is one of the highest things of concernment in the world to see what this will do We must be sweet to sowre souls though they grow more sowre by it we must put sweets into filthy stomachs though they cruddle in their stomachs and spue them up again in the face of him that prescribed them Coloss 1.17 He is before all things c. LIke to this is that expression of Christ Before Abraham was I am They are expressions onely competent to Christ as God and put us to speak of that which is altogether above us to wit the Eternitie of Christ Eternitie is continuation without termination quae nnllo tempore finitur that is bounded with no time Melchisedeck is made a
shadow of eternitie he is said to be without beginning of dayes and end of life You may call eternity life for 't is an essentiall attribute to the highest life but then you cannot measure this life by dayes and years no not by beginning nor endding for 't is without both saith the holy Ghost Without beginning of dayes or end of life Eternitie is a life of and to it self without term or dependance any denomination from any thing without it self You may denominate some things by some accidents that belong to them as long short great little but eternity is without all accident and can be called by none of these neither long nor short great nor little but what it is essentially within it self a life without all term a life everlasting a life from everlasting to everlasting and such a life did Christ live whilest on earth a life that had no term that was before all things and after all things Eternall life is consistent with humanity though not with iniquity with humane nature though not with sinfull nature The God-head dwelt bodily with us that is in our nature dwelt that life which is eternall that is of and to it self without any term dependance or denomination but from it self There is principium ordinis principium temporis a beginning of order and this is competent to Christ as the Sonne of God First the Father and then the Sonne There is a beginning of time and this is competent to Christ as the Sonne of man but principium essentiae a beginning in regard of that essence and life which is the same in all the three Persons so there is none The Father is eternall the Sonne eternall and the holy Ghost eternall without termination or denomination known to us The Sunne is appointed for times and seasons for dayes and moneths and years Gen. 1. 'T is a long met-yard to measure the Heavens which is wonderfull spacious and it doth it speedily 't is mensura motus the measure of all motion above and below but there is no measure for eternity but it self but the Sonne of righteousnesse who fully comprehendeth his own being in all the properties of it it can be put under no definition in our terms and so consequently into no humane conception and therefore when spoken of 't is very brokenly and yet as may best reach to your apprehension as calling it something before the eldest thing you can think of He is before all things As Christ is in being so in office the one giveth fitnesse to the other He is a King eternall a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck Every being hath proper action as Christ is he doth he hath eternall life and doth eternall actions he blesseth for ever curseth for ever he blotteth out sinne for ever and writeth down sinne for ever Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever that this is a rebellious people lying children that will not heare the Law of the Lord. Esay 30.8.9 If thou forsake him he will cast thee off for ever 1. Chron. 28.9 The works I do they bear witnesse of me saith Christ when he would convince them of what a being he was As things are so they act such a life generateth such a life Whosoever shall drink of the waters that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life Our dutie must be suited to Christs being and moving both which are for ever and so must our obedience be I will extoll thee my God O King and I will blesse thy Name for ever and ever Psalm 145.1 the being and moving of Christ should not be separated his Person and Office should go joynt and answerablely be observed in conversation God and King are here coupled together by the Psalmist and Christ as God and King lifted and extolled I will extoll thee O God my King Christ is eternall in both and in all other attributes he is God-King and God-Priest and God-Prophet that is of suitable action in all these Offices to the nature of an eternall life of a God-life I may so speak and therefore ought joyntly still to be considered and observed Naughty hearts suspend duty at pleasure they consider not with whom they have to do to day they will be holy to morrow they will not and in this undoe themselves for ever as falling under an eternall stroke Beings and Offices over us must be acknowledged as they are they are eternall and must be obeyed eternally Ever follow that which is good Thes 5.15 Religion if it cost you money or if it cost you bloud yet you must obey for he that liveth for ever will otherwise make you die for ever O England take heed of eternall blows if thou wave thy fidelity to Christ to wave temporall strokes thou wilt have eternall stroakes thou wilt be judged as Elies house for ever and as the Churches in the East with a perpetuall desolation and Ziim and Ochim shall dance here and thou shalt heare the voyce of the Turtle no more for ever Esay 13. Thy bending affrighteth me more then thy bleeding but I spare thee O weak England Truth should be managed according to its nature and according to its Father 't is eternall and so must we cleave to it if thou canst not receive this the Lord have mercy upon thee England I leave generalls and speak to particulars 't is an eternall God ye have to do with he is before all things and will be after all things wherefore tremble and consider your state every one what eternall things are done upon you An eternall agent hath an eternall subject to work upon your souls are everlasting and there Christ specially worketh as most suitable to him little is to be heeded what is done without in comparison of what is done within you complain of many strokes upon your states names bodies but is there not a stroke of strokes an eternall stroke upon your souls Hence forth let fruit never be on thee more Ah Lord here is an eternall God striking a stroke like himself Barren souls is not this eternall stroke strucken upon you You of this congregation let me wash my hands of your bloud ere my glasse amongst you be quite out what hath my eternall master done in your eternall souls by the eternall words which he hath spoken by me since the day I came amongst you Are not your hearts the same as sowre as bitter as cold as carnall as worldly as ever Are not these symptomes of an eternall stroke that God hath cursed you for your barrennesse under brave means which you a long while have had never to be otherwise then you are Take time to give me an answer till I come to this place again Christ being eternall eternall mercy may be
Persons that cannot reade are set to spell words by works their own works by Gods works God can draw out himself in any attribute to any mans understanding in justice in mercy God can suit action to any person to any condition and so exactly that at first sight every eye shall see himself Divine action is to make conviction Christ worketh so as to convince the world he fitteth his hand to stop any mouth Some are not onely blind but stubborn and dogged and now is man an Asse which was Balaams case and now God opens the mouth of an Asse to rebuke him The Asse rebuked the madnesse of the Prophet An Asse is a dogged wilfull beast and so was Balaam and God suits him in reproof to convince One Asse was upon the back of another and the worst a top and God tooke his advantage as they lay one upon another and useth one Asse to convince the other one is wilfull to go on and the other is wilfull and stops 'T is not easie to convince stubborn souls God must more immediately and more exactly speak then ordinary in this work Divine action suited is an immediate speaking from Heaven and proud hearts fall at the sight of this when nothing else will do it Some must have every thing openly told to their face ere they will be convinced and take shame and God doth use this way with the world to convince them Who shall declare his way to his face and who shall repay him what he hath done saith the Scripture of God in order to wicked men Job 21.31 Justice suited to sinne in word and work speaks sinners sinne to their face that they cannot possibly deny it Sinners look to your selves God will be even with you walk as craftily as you will with the froward he will be froward Some men swell in pride and yet please themselves in their way that they shall carry all before them without controll Lofty hearts you shall find a high and lofty one to deal with you The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and this is the speech of a lofty God Esay 2.12 title is advanced brows bended a souldiers face put on by God when flesh swelleth and groweth proud The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon the proud c. A stern spirit shall see nothing but a stern God Sinne is a lie sinners perish in the heat of their pursuit one fire kindleth another ere firy spirits are aware they are cast into everlasting burning and this is the way of God to fit things one to and for another Tophet is prepared for the King the Kings of Israel made a Tophet for the burning of little ones and God suiteth this wicked action with righteous justice and maketh another Tophet for them you sacrifice your children to the devil and I will sacrifice you as if the Lord had said God maketh burning for burning bloud for bloud tooth for tooth Poore distressed England comfort thy self thy Princes and Nobles make a Tophet for thee they burn thy houses thy goods and sacrifice thy little ones and great ones to devillish men and God will fit them home if they repent not he will make a Tophet for them he will burn their honours their powers and sacrifice all to destruction he will turn them out of all as they turn thee and thine Because thou hast dealt by taking vengeance thou shalt know my vengeance saith God to Edom. In great extremities it is hard to keep poore hearts quiet the spirit woundeth it self when men wound the flesh God is just to me in this and that I was thus and thus Is God just to thee and will he not be just to them that spoyled thee Hath he paid thee home and will he not do it to them that are worse then thee Justice in the exactnesse of it doth but hint her self to the godly it doth but nod upon them as it were but she strikes full blowes at the wicked she prosecuteth her own nature in full strength and maketh a compensation upon these creatures because none made nor to be had any where else Weep not for your selves but weep for them that have spoyled you Heaven and Earth shall reade the justice of God against the bloudy wretches of England and Ireland They that kill with the sword shall be killed with the sword Stand still and be quiet let God alone to suit wicked mens plagues if thou dost not see them paid in their own coyn then do not believe me England justifie Christ he hath fitted one thing to another such a body hath such a head like Priest like people like Prince like people You cry out of your king and I cry out of you Are not Gods wayes equall Say no who dares You will not have a man rule over your bodies according to his will and you let the devil rule your souls as he will Looke into your hearts the best of you all do you not make truth a slave to be at the beck of your reason and at the beck of your lusts you make Christ a slave and he giveth you to be slaves you make your spirituall king a slave and your temporall kings make you slaves Doth not Christ fit you in your kind Our king is so and so misled saith one and siths and whispers take it to thy self so art thou misled by many base lusts every one reapeth as he soweth can a man gather figs of thistles England dost not thou reap as thou hast sowed Hast thou not had the guilt of bloud upon thee a great while hast not thou the guilt of the bloud of many abroad and of many faithfull ministers and Christians at home upon thee which could not swallow thy basenesse Hast thou not made truth bleed this many years and that Christ maketh the bleed a few moneths and a few years is it not fit and right To justifie God is the first step to repentance men that can do nothing but wrangle at divine action forget the main work Do not bite the stone that is thrown at thee but bite thy heart for one is as hard as the other I dare say Pride meriteth much but can bear but little but justice will have its way for all that Men that cannot be silent shall have their mouths stopt misery becometh mortall when impatience groweth strong the burden killeth when the soul will use no shoulders to bear it No life so bitter as that which taketh all ill at Gods hand this is hard and that is hard c. and yet all is no harder then thy heart nor yet so hard God doth not an action without us but to suit it to something within us This point may be usefull respecting time to come and the mercy you look for You look for great things but how are ye fitted for them Christ doth fit one thing to another Great things are already but you prise them
not the doores of Gods house are open but you have no hearts to go in the day of small things is despised and yet you expect great things Israel expected milk and honey flowing and yet could not eat the Manna that was about their tents and did God give them their expectation doth God give great spirituall mercy to full stomacks doth he satisfie the loathing soul The Israelits were judged in the basenesse of their hearts and their bodies fell in a wildernesse Just as they kept their souls Do you not keep your souls in a wildernesse out of the fellowship of the Gospel as the rest of the world do you will be judged where you lie where your souls lie cold and dead their shall your carcases fall and die God is spuing out hovering spirits that are neither hot nor cold but hot and then cold that will and then will not obey Christ Discreet stomacks do not expect great feasts you must have a vomit first you are bid to come into the feast and you have excuses the high wayes and fields shall yield guests to Christ and you shall die in your shame The poore unknown parts of the world possibly may possesse what Christ is now dishing out Simplicity fitteth for great things God maketh such a spirit and then bestoweth all upon it the choycest spirituall favours England thy misery is double were it but single thou mightst soon recover Thou hast no knowledge of God but this is not all if it were means might soon make this but thou hast no truth nor knowledge of God there is no truth nor knowledge of God Some spirits are wanton and they know not what they would have others proud and this and that they must have others politick and they say this we should have but not yet who can expect brave things in the midst of such a base people Christians deceive not your selves with dreams for God is not mocked he will make you open your mouths wide ere he give great things Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Psal 81.10 You purse up your spirits and wring and squeez your consciences so that there is no capacitie for the reception of full soul-mercies The new heaven will have a new earth the holy land shall have a holy seed come into it Can you cleanse your selves from all your abominations and can you do this speedily Then may you see the good of Gods chosen but otherwise expect as you are Coloss 1.18 Who is the beginning c. THe Apostle is in a rapture every word speaks admiration of Christ he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is principium praecipuum first and chief The term we are now upon speaks dignity a heart taken with Christ as chief in order to all blessednesse which is a blessed frame He is the head of the body the chief the first born this I think may be the reading of this text Doctr. Divine property sparkles in this expression A gracious heart is taken with Christ as chief No honour no felicity like that which Christ hath and which he gives Some are sonnes Christ is an onely sonne some are kings but Christ is King of kings some are honourable none above Angels but Christ is so To which of the Angels said he c. Some are wealthy Christ hath all the sheep on a thousand hills the utmost parts of the earth some are beautifull Christ is the fairest and so in the eye of those that are best discerning in the eyes of every gracious soul Paul personates all the godly here in admiring Christ as chief Judgement is clear things are discerned as they are where the heart is truly turned to God Bables take fools reall excellencies wise men Gracious hearts are wise none of Christs children are fools all that truly fear him are able to discern things that differ and so call them The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome assoon as a man becomes a disciple of he is made a good scholar Carnall understanding is enmity to truth it scoffs at what it cannot comprehend with its own power Grace hath a higher reach Christs children have spirituall understanding they admire things not by out-sides but by insides not as they are among men but as they are with God Christ is the lowest amongst men but chiefest with God and therefore so with the godly This is wisdome and all wisdome I may apply the latter to a Christian compared with worldly wise men all wisdome is taken with that which shall be all in another world that which is all and shall be all to all eternity He is the beginning the chief Judgement is clear and love is sincere in a called soul he calls things as he finds them and nothing tasts so sweet as the dainties which Christ gives Sense carries you to call things as your palate relishes them according to this you say This is the sweetest dish at table Love is divine in a divine heart and as things rise in the divinity of their nature so divine affection calls them and admires them One Christian hath much grace I tast it in his discourse and he sits high in my breast another hath much more and he sits much higher but Christ hath most of all and he sits highest he is chief Affection is working if it be carnall it tumbles carnall things and sets its mark upon that which is most carnally advantagious this is best this will serve this time and my turn best if it be divine it will do the like it will tumble divine things and that which is most divinely advantagious this it marks this is best this is chief this will best accomplish my soul Paul personates the godly here they call Christ as they love him as they find him in sweetnesse to their souls in his words and works none speak like him to their souls nor none does like him and therefore they crown him and style him chief Vse Christians consider your condition who is chief with you Times are evil the world ensnares justice kills men loose their souls by thousands Ah Lord what tolling and ringing out is there above for sick and dead souls here below Persons sick after the creature their spirits are dead in the flesh some mens palates are quite out of tast this speaks a foul stomach they cannot savour the things of God Words of Christ harsh rules of Christ scorned these call Christ in their hearts base not chief however they call him with their tongue I know no mans heart but Christ knows all as the creature is preferr'd Christ is undervalued as you love your souls look to this Who will shew us any good some can call nothing good but what is carnally good trading is good money is good but nothing else no nothing else indeed not the heart that sayes so Not Christ but the bag was chief to Judas though he heard so much and saw so
no grace What 's the reason Could he have none or would he have none To one I answer saith God he might have had grace and life and it would have pleased me to have enriched him with these To the other I will answer saith conscience This wretched soul would have no grace he loved iniquity and hated righteousnesse therefore is he here unrighteous he thought himself rich and vvell cloathed and therefore stands here novv poor and naked 'T is remedilesse wickednesse to deny free grace The miseries of man are many and yet there is but one remedy Free grace hath balm for every wound which rejected every wound is mortall The least sinne is death The wages of sinne that is of every sinne is death For bodily distresses there be many remedies if men will not pitty me when I hunger ravens may If Christians will not pitty when I am sore dogges may but in soul distresses there is but one remedy to wit what God will please to do if God will please to do nothing for me none else will or can No eye pittied thee to do any of these for thee Gods eye pitilesse and there is no eye pittifull nor can be to the soul 'T is storied of the balm that it groweth in the Holy-land and no where else which is the reason of that speech Is there no balm in Gilead Mercy for your souls is in the pleasure of God and no where else Sinners make no more of the favour of God then of the favour of man I live not upon one the heart layeth this conclusion and swelleth and lifteth up the heel Ah wretches you cannot say so of God you live upon one yea upon one thing in God upon the smiles of his countenance upon this that he is free in mercy that it pleaseth him to save souls This point hath been applyed to convince and humble and it may also be applyed in the next place to chear and revive There are burdened hearts I beleeve among you but let no distresse discourage you How great soever the wants of any be let them come to God it pleaseth him to lay out for you Are your wants more then Christ hath where withall to supply What ever Christ hath or can do and what is it that he cannot do it pleaseth God to the heart that he should imploy it for you Men under guilt fancy hard thoughts of God my sinnes are great and God will not pardon yes he will he is ready to forgive it pleaseth him to forgive he hath furnished Christ of purpose and laid out all upon this very designe which is reall demonstration of his pleasure this way If distresse lie any otherwise yet it should not distract because free grace speaketh supply to any distresse that you can mention t is a fountain a fountain open every one may draw and yet none draw drie Your straits are many and you cannot tell which way to get out remember the point in hand that it pleaseth God to contrive relief To undo knots is a troublesome thing especially such knots as unbelief knitteth in the soul and yet God is pleased with this work he is a God of peace made up of peace his whole pleasure as well as his whole imployment lieth this way The God of peace establish and strengthen you saith the Apostle The Apostles words are of great emphasis the Godhead bendeth strongly and delightfully this way to settle poore weak souls which can do nothing themselves Doubts cavills and complaints are many and God quieteth all because his pleasure and delight is in the peace and tranquillity of poore souls He is a God of peace his pleasure is to make peace and a Heaven where he cometh 'T is the pleasure of things to do things naturall to them 't is the pleasure of wicked spirits to torment and vexe and to make hell where ever they come and in this sense the devil may be called the God of warre so 't is the pleasure of God to do things naturall to him to comfort and cheere poore souls to strengthen and establish them to make a Heaven where ever he cometh as a God of and a God at this work Coloss 1.19 For it pleased the Father c. THe reason of what Christ is to man is rendered by the Spirit of God in this Text the cause of his greatnesse and fulnesse to maintain it is the will of God it pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell 'T is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word speak will and delight such a pursuit and such action as wherein there is transcendent souls rest Behold my servant which I have chosen my beloved which my soul hath willed Esay 42.1 In whom my soul is at rest saith the Evangelist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same word here in my Text which noteth that the will and the delight of God are in the furnishing of Christ for us Scriptures compared the word you see soundeth double the will and the pleasure of God are wrapt up in it which we shall unfold one after another Doctr. God shapeth every thing to man according to his own will The will of God is absolute he moveth by a perfect rule his motion is without errour and yet guided in all by that which is no guide in us his own will We have many things from earth from Heaven and all shaped out to us according to the will of God Things below man Things below man are many and various and yet God turneth and windeth them all according to his will Can you tell how many good bodies come out of the earth to wait upon one bad Not one of them would do this but that God giveth them such bodies and shapeth them by his will to such qualities and properties and to such ends and purposes as to give their life to keep up dying man That which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but God giveth it a body as he willeth 1. Cor. 15.38 Things equall to man 'T is the like respecting things equall to us No creatures would serve one another man would not serve man member would not serve member the eye would not serve the hand nor the hand any other part were they not all shaped to this by the will of God God hath set the members in the body every one of them as he willeth 1. Corinthians 12.18 A foot with so many toes a hand with so many fingers a head with so many hairs bodies with such variety of members soules with such variety of gifts have all their shape according to divine will But all these worketh that one and the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will 1. Corinthians 12.11 One hath much wisedome another much knowledge another but a little of either onely enough for a toe to be carried and guided by a bigger and nobler member and yet as much
any time Christ makes it up so that the soul is still full full of content full of joy and that 's a blessed life that cannot be made miserable Thou hast no righteousnesse but Christ hath enough which is all thine if thou couldest see it Thou canst not pray but Christ hath the art on 't for he is full of the Spirit and he makes thy requests thou hast no spirituals no corporals but Chist hath all and thou mayst from hence as the Apostle doth conclude that he will supply all thy wants Phil. 4.19 Christ will do for you according to his riches and that will amount to very much to the supply of all your wants let them be what they will But now my God will supply all your wants according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ According to that all fulnesse which now Christ hath in glory will he dispence Lord how full how rich how blessed will all Saints be I leave them to admire this till I can speak of it more COLOS. 1.19 That in him should all fulnesse dwell c. Opportunity and assistance hath continued to pursue our work both beyond our expectation God must have all the glory We spake last day of Christs wealth and we founde his revenue very great we are now to tell you where it lies Much may be nothing so it may be situated situation is the glory of our inheritance Christs inheritance lies very commodiously very blessedly it lies all in him It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell You dwell in your inheritance but Christs inheritance dwels in him You have a hint here how to raise estimation Doctr. We are to prize persons and things according to the wealth and worth that they have in them Christ hath all worth in him Felicity makes estimation as we contrive things to contribute to this so we put price upon them Mans felicity lies inward as his soul and not as his body is in wealth so is he blessed Sin is a gangrene the bowels are gnawed the plague of man is at his heart health is best wealth that 's wealth indeed that makes the soul well Faculties fight the Devill sets them on the heart cannot still its own stirs if God in this case do nothing within the man is a poor creature for all his riches a million of money cannot give a moments ease the man wil be distracted in the midst of abundance and curse his gold as an Idol god and wish his bags his winding sheet things ill within and nothing can be well without but the spirit full of God though the purse be not full of money the condition is blessed and to be admired as possessing all 'T was Christs case and is here admired by the Apostle It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell without him he had nothing Internall wealth is great outward things are but seemingly big like watry vapours internall wealth is the Sun himself and no seeming big rayes of the Sun Know ye not that Christ is in you c. So much grace in the heart so much of Christ himself soul-fulnesse is nothing else but one spirit filling up another Magnitude makes admiration a â—rum of grace is great 't is God the great God in you Judgement amongst us is false things should be weighed in an even ballance to make right estimation of persons and things We value the casket only and not what is in it if vastness of estate makes difference in price that 's greatest which lies within The weaknesse of God is stronger then men So may I say the least of God in the heart is more then all the world A thing may take up little compasse and yet be vastly big in price What a great estate lies round together in some little stones can you value one vertue The price of Wisdom is above Rubies and yet the seat of this is within the inner man hath many Jewels about his neck of inestimable price the Bride hath a chain of Pearls given her when married to Christ so had Christ of his Father when married to the flesh which is that according to which he is admired here as so wealthy the Jewels which he had within him in that casket of flesh Internall wealth is delightfullest riches are of two sorts earthly and heavenly base and glorious grace is riches of glory as delightfull as heaven Read how grace is called Colos 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit according to the inward man The riches of the inward man are riches of glory Stars twinckle and make the heavens all glorious so Grace sparkles and makes all glorious within Christ is transient in the world but he dwels in the hearts and where he dwels is his chair of State that 's glorious The Kingdome of Christ is glorious that 's within you the killing of sin is sweet the soul drinks the blood of the slain and growes fat 't is heaven to any soul to be conquered by Christ his smitings are precious balm what are his embraces then Not any thing in grace but most contentfull to the soul the bitterest things about grace are sweet the very bark and rind of grace sweet Persons have not heaven as they have much without but as they have much within Heaven is all the person that hath this in him is admirable though never so contemptible in the world It pleased the Father that in him should be all the sweetest delights that are in the bosome of God and therefore admired here by the Apostle Internall wealth is the lastingest Much for yeers begets it self little every hour to think of its end riches yea life is a death under this notion that they will end Life is dated all things here are dated Such a yeer such a moneth such an hour and all mine yea I my self shall die this lies cold about the heart to consider and lessens much Internall wealth is lasting grace is a tree of life Mercy that runs only into the purse runs out again but Mercy that runs into the soule abides there for ever You value estates not as things hazardous but according to what is sure What wealth is in the heart is sure riches leave the bodie but God never leaves the soule Riches and honours are with me yea durable riches and substance Things have a naturall advantage to wit the advantage of their kinde long lived by kinde spirituall life is begotten by him that lives for ever and so long lived by kinde That which is borne of the spirit is spirit so I may say that which is borne of one that is eternall is eternall All wealth within us is borne of the everlastingest Spirit and is everlasting it selfe Things have also an accidentall advantage or an adventitious advantage the advantage of their station In Heaven wealth is sure saith Christ there be no theeves
Vse Friendship is the thing we all make after only we mistake the main and are undone Whose love do you principally make after Things here below smile and your hearts are at rest No man is out with me yet God may Divine wrath works as divine love doth not very visibly You cannot discern love nor hatred saith the Holy Ghost by externals You cannot tell whether God be in or out with you by the countenance of men and the concurrence of outward things God can give great earthly things when he is greatly displeased he can give a King in wrath royall gifts and yet rage You may be kings and yet God in wrath with you men that have least friendship with God have many times most friendship with the world 't is their portion Do not lose your souls in a snare your table may be your snare the things about you may be ordered to delude you Some undo themselves with what they have others with what they want Times are hard friendship of the world needed and they fall out with God to get in with than truth sleighted to get favour with the world Ah me the man hath thrown off God God will shift well enough for himself but what will such a soul do This hard time is an affliction to hundreds and a curse to thousands Wretched hearts cannot tell what to do with themselves in straits and therefore they will rather venture upon the displeasure of God then displease a man from whom they expect something such buy a bubble deare and it speaks a very ill state I am afraid such have not tasted the blessednesse which I am upon to wit what the love and friendship of God is they sell it for so little Persons in with God would not be out with him again for all the world Blind consciences can do much sleepy consciences can do more but seared consciences can do any thing and not be stirr'd this speaks not peace not a reconciled state Reconciliation makes tender consciences 't is too much that Christ was crucified once I cannot crucifie him again Sin is slain the new man tender some friends may fall out and fight but Christ and a reconciled soul cannot The heart cannot beare a disagreement after it 's once reconciled to God much lesse strike a stroke against him The soul bleeds a fresh when Christ doth by any one 's crucifying of him much more when it doth it it self Temptations transport then a good man is not himself such cases must be spoken to alone Reconciliation makes a very tender union Sinners view these times they are very bloody God is out with us certainly how much doth it trouble you Are you not the same men you were in the same wayes you were Can a man live in his sins and be at peace with God Can a man be at peace with his lusts and with his God Securitie slayes us nothing will breake our hearts therefore God breakes our names our states our bones Wee flatter our selves but rise not to our dutie men thus in with themselves are certainly out with God 't is Englands heavie plague if it be any of yours here present abase your selves God speakes peace to the contrite if you cannot judge your selves you will be judged not justified of the Lord. Men that doat upon themselves are seldome cured of this plague till they die God lookes not as man lookes When you feast he mournes Victories speake not God reconciled What victories doe you see truth make upon mens lusts Are not men as dead hearted as stout-hearted as rotten-hearted as ever The workes of God must be acknowledged but not abused you must have other things then this or that externall victory to make a true medium to demonstrate God reconciled to you When justice kills bodies on one side it may kill as many soules on tother side wrath workes without and within Lord how many are hardened and fatned by the bloud of others Evill men understand not judgement but they that seeke the Lord understand all things Pro. 28.5 A man had need pray over one act of providence a thousand times ere he venture to interpret it once 't is the highest wisdome in the world to understand the workes of God The words of God are ambiguous the workes of God are more ambiguous yet compared they will illustrate one another but few doe this at all not one of a thousand an artist this way and hence 't is that persons and Kingdoms cry peace peace when there is no peace Wee take up words and workes by rote and ruine our selves and others If all the Kings side were slaine yet were we never the neerer peace with God if wee continue to resist his will He hath many wayes to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant and to make all sides know their owne Nationall peace and personall peace have one foundation a through imbracing of Christ as you see persons or Kingdomes pursue or faulter herein so feare or hope He is our peace which hath made two one and broken downe the wall of perdition Christ is our peace as we become one with him we become one with God and the creature Christ and we two God and we are two God and we out wee must needs be out with one another and with all the creation Christ is the knot that knits God and man together faith is the bond that knits Christ and man together some of you complaine that you have no peace surely you have no faith Broken bleeding hearts remember who is your peace-maker and how able he is at the worke Christ is the Prince of peace he commanded the Seas to be quiet so he can command your consciences Christ hath balme at command what ever the Father hath to refresh Christ hath under his dispose God rests in Christ Infinite justice resteth in him therefore the soule cannot but much more finde rest in him This is my beloved Son in whom I rest Doth God himselfe finde rest in Christ concerning sinne whose puritie is so exact And canst not thou God can object nothing but Christ answers it and canst thou non-plus Christ Satan is a sophister temptation abuseth troubled spirits such cannot see neither the sufficiency nor the willingnesse of Christ to settle their condition 'T is a trouble to Christ that you bleed so inwardly he would have but one bleed his bowels turne and beat within him to see your wounds raw and open he would bind them up and powre oyle into them and carry your soules to his lodging and lay them in the breast of his Father and your Father where is rest indeed and you will not Reconciliation is either virtually or actually considered the foundation of our peace between Christ and the Father was laid a great while agoe but actually finished between Christ and us when wee believe the first act doth ingage to the second that God is at peace with Christ O troubled soules 't is an assurance that
of the point What condition but is full of mutation Brave estates brave Kingdomes bleeding to death and brought almost to nothing our sin is ripe wrath is gone forth England that was as the Queen of Nations for all fulnesse is wasting to nothing Natives that for a while have left us and now return'd to visite us scarce know their mother-Land her face which looked so pleasantly is now so besmeared with bloud Here was the seat of my ancestors but 't is burned there had I brave and sweet kindred but now they are slaine and those that live wish for death because nothing left to live upon Wee had treasure as the flints of the brooke estate to accomplish any thing but now we faint in every undertaking for want of silver-sinewes Wee had many callings as so many severall ornaments and pillars of state now all is turned into one all grave-makers one for another every one with his spade by his side to dig into the heart of his brother to dig out a subsistence Light was little but love was much truth could not be found but if it could O how sweet said wee should it be to us dearer then all Truth now shines in our consciences and we care not for it Ah Lord this is the saddest change of all The living are dead the soul-living are slaine with an evill time Gods vowes were upon us but now throwne off and because the times will not beare them Outward changes are bad but inward changes are farre worse England where are those flames of love which blazed so gloriously a few yeares agoe Brethren in New-England were precious O that we had Ilium in Italium New-England in old Brethren in Holland were precious O that wee had them againe and the mercies which there they injoy and now they are with us they are trampled upon as the dirt and all their paines to hold forth Christ and truth to us Are not these sad changes Englands outside inside all changed from vertue to sin from love to malice from wrath to bloud and thus lies weltring and no eye pities her neither Gods eye nor her own Is this Naomi 'T was Naomies friends speech to her her condition was so altered that they knew her not Is this pleasant O no saith shee call mee not pleasant call me Mara bitternesse for the Lord hath dealt very bitterly with me So may I say now Is this England Pleasant England O no call it Mara bitternesse for affection is turned into gall and wormewood shee deales very bitterly with God and his people and the Lord deales very bitterly with her Contemplate truth sadly fulfill'd and then set your selves to draw instruction from it Mutation preaches submission Doth God give and take blesse him 't is wis way he doth so with Christ God filled Christs veins with brave blood and then drew it out all he prepared him a body and then destroy'd it he gave him a being on earth and then turn'd him into hell Christs tranquillity was turned into the strongest extremity outside and inside changed he that heard that sweet voyce This is my beloved Son c. cryes My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Condition varies rich are made poor whole are wounded men cannot beare this therefore the land is full of discontent Sin multiplies and hightens it self as misery doth if God be not very mercifull 't will make misery last till there be not a man of us left We feel the rod but do not beare it sense stirs up passion we rage and this foments divine displeasure the heart listens not after Gods meaning in his dealing to accomplish that and when is it likely that our calamities will cease God makes changes without to make changes within he makes broken estates to make broken hearts he brings much to nothing that he may make you contented with any thing with mean things There are many turnings in your heart do you consider them No God writes them out in your life that you may God takes a copy from within for all that he does to us without Mariners are cheerfull when tossed if their Ship be good because they know the nature of the seas The Ark is very good which a Christian sails in 't is Christ the things we meet with here are common to men much more common to holy men tossings tempests All men are partakers of these saith the Apostle Christians therefore should be cheerfull Finally the point in hand should commend the life to come to us and make us long much for it Job from a tossed state here falls a commending the state of the dead They that are in the grave are at rest c. The earth is the grave of the body heaven or hell will be the grave of the soul they that are in heaven are at rest I pity the state of men that live in their sins they are tost and tumbled here and will be worse tost and tumbled hereafter Wicked men you will never have rest there is no peace to you none here nor none hereafter Godly hearts be cheerfull you shall have a condition without all distraction you shall be tossed and tumbled no more Labour and sorrow the Scripture makes the proprium of this life incident to it as the sparks flie upward but there is no labour above much lesse sorrow least of all greatest sorrow which falls out by great changes Every ones labour follows him and they sit still above and eat the fruit thereof they solace themselves in the travell of their souls as Christ doth as for changes they above know none there are no misty foggy dayes above no clouds no clapping in and out of the Sun they are above those regions which make such mutations of weather Were one above those impure regions of aire we breath in and close by the Sun one should have the strong influence and glory of it alway every day alike Here we sojourn and God sojourns God is as a wayfaring man that stays here but a night but above we shall all dwell together and no sojourning to make alteration of condition If there be any felicity here 't is to know that our misery shall end Lord let me know my end and the number of my dayes how long I have to live c. COLOS. 1.20 Made peace through the blood of his crosse DIvine favour according to its formality we have handled to wit Reconciliation according to its causality we are now to pursue it which is here mentioned Synecdochically the blood of the crosse as including all other passions and actions prevening and conducing to make this last act effectuall to so great an end as mans deliverance from the wrath of God Some persons in a businesse bear the name of the whole so some actions in work carry the denomination of the whole The blood of the crosse was the finishing act of our redemption and therefore here and elsewhere mentioned in stead of all other acts Having
all things to be seen of men A meer professor fails and flats in his noblest action if men observe him not his zeal dies if the breath of men blow it not Come see my zeal c. A meer professor is a Chameleon he lives by the aire of mens mouths he christens his children himself and calls all vertue that he doth Come see my zeal c. And it was but vain-glory a vice and no vertue a stinking weed and no flower They are ugly brats that Hypocrites bring forth no body else can endure to lick them to any beauty and therefore they lick them themselves Come see my zeal Rotten lungs use art to breath sweet they are not troubled when they smell it themselves they only blush when others smell it stinck and therefore use skill to make their breath smell sweet Come see my zeal Integrity hatches good and runs away can scarce own her own children though they run after her a good man cannot tell how to lay hands upon any good action as his but Hypocrisie calls evill good and yet openly appropriates it Come see my zeal If an upright man be any thing or do any thing 't is not he but Christ in him he doth not say come see my zeal or my wisdome but come and see the Wisdome and Life of Christ in me Naked profession is time-serving 't is a Christian squaring his religion to please all sides A meere professor would have all men speake well of him though Christ nor his own conscience doe not which is a wofull thing Woe to your when all men speake well of you i when you so order your religion and course of life as to please all sides though God be displeased Religion is lovely sometimes but not for it selfe some take it up to drive designes and can taste sweetnesse in it no longer then it will conduce to some secular advantage Christ is an abiding sweet where the heart is upright Christ is deare upon the Crosse when torne to pieces deare every limbe every drop of his bloud deare so for ever The way of Christ is more then the strewings of it to a reall Christian all the wealth and all the honour in the world are not so pleasant as one despised and persecuted truth of Christ They are joy'd in the way they remember thee in thy wayes Esa 64.5 They respect the way not the strewings of the way no other strewings but what Christ maketh by his going before them They remember thee in thy wayes i. Christ For he maketh his own wayes sweet to them that simply walke in them Times vary oft and all present new temptations yet one thing is constantly made at in all where profession is reall i to injoy Christ let my soule lie still in the bosome of Christ and move steadily in his wayes and then let times and fortunes change as they will Reall profession pursues realitie in every condition it hunts one hare how many soever crosse the way in which it goes Distraction of times naughtinesse of men make not Christ unpleasant but more precious If the world will frowne O that I could see Christ smile more If truth be slighted O that I could so walke as to live some beautie into it Integritie holds on her way as Solomon saith I tremble to thinke of this generation wee are clouds without water carried as the winde sits that 's Judes description of naked profession When the Parliament prevailes then their wayes are honoured when the King prevailes then his wayes are honour'd when mens persons are honour'd and prosper'd then their religion is honour'd meere profession is a bable a humour any thing nothing a double minde unstable a double mouth sweet and bitter from the same fountaine as the cisterne will best receive that is powred into and this may be the motto of the profession of this time All that hath been formerly said to distinguish in this matter is but one thing and may be plainly rendered thus Naked profession is without internall reformation Spirits can transforme themselves they can speake like Angels and yet abide Devils men can doe much this way Put yee on the Lord Jesus Christ c. The tongue can doe this when the heart hath never a rag upon its backe Their inward parts are very wickednesse There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a turning and a turning inwardly The Author to the Hebrewes useth the latter word Wee have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence Heb. 12.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and wee were inwardly turned the spirit recoiling as asham'd An internall turning i when the heart is turned as well as the outward man according to that in Malachi The heart of the children shall be turned to the fathers which is reall profession The Temple was the same in the outside in Christs time that it was in the Prophets time before yet he could not own it because the inside was not the same it had a den of theeves in it My Temple hath a better inside saith he and whips out these theeves and overturnes their Tables it shadowes out this that where there is a reall Temple a true Christian the power of all lusts though never so many is overturned in the soule by the power of Christ which worketh in us I will speake no more by way of discovery but let the discovered lay to heart their condition You which are but seeming professors you will be reall persecutors The punishment of one sin hardens to another The proper plague of hypocrisie is searing burned spirits are fit to burne others so they doe in hell 'T was a generation of seared hypocrites which contrived the bloud of Christ are they not such many of them which contrive Christs bloud and torment at this day in the Christian world The crosse wee beare is the wound of friends the enemies which cut our throats are of our owne house of our owne Land and pretend to be of our owne Religion Would not that bloudy Army abroad be accounted Protestants and for Protestant Religion I send you forth as lambes amongst wolves and yet those wolves wore sheep-skins they would be accounted of the seed of Abraham 't is our case and it makes our triall the greater our burthen is heavie but God is lightning it glory be to his name The axe is to the roote of the tree which bare but leaves and they are cut downe apace If this side would but mend as fast as tother side end wee should be a very blessed people quickly The ripest fall first we shall not hang long after if our profession also be found hypocriticall COLOSSIANS 1.20 Through the bloud of his Crosse AS this expression speakes crueltie we pursued it in the last Exercise as it speakes the causalitie of divine friendship I purpose now to handle it Christ hath by his death accomplished the favour of God Having made peace through
will know what a man hath been out of his own mouth ere he make him better Christ will know what a man hath been what a man is and what he would be and then goes to work hard indeed to make a miserable creature blessed Take this Item we can do nothing of our selves the least good is above us to look back upon a bad life 't is of grace as well as to reform a bad life Creepies must take hold of something when they would go In our weaknesse to duty we must lean upon the Word of God If you want a word to lean upon I will give you one And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives because I am broken with their whorish heart and they shall loath themselves for the evills they have committed in all their abominations Ezek. 6.9 'T is hard to finde a looking glasse to see ones life from one end to tother yet Christ can help us to one and he hath promised this and more to make us look upon all our abominations and to loath them and our selves for them a soul got thus far will grow in grace apace no motive to the soul to grow kind to Christ as to think well how unkind it hath been What a hater and then what a lover of Christ was Paul To look back upon badnesse 't will raise goodnesse when the heart is turned O how oft have I kickt against Christ How oft now should I kisse him How basely did I tread him under foot and how tenderly now should I lay him in my bosome Paul laboured more abundantly then they all If you would be eminent for the strength of love and for the truth of love look back COLOS. 1.21 You that were sometimes alienated c. THe Garden of God is pleasant ' thath variety yet in all congruity to make perpetuall delight We are come to consider a sad state yet surely this will be sweet to souls that desire to know their condition God and all creatures were in a league all good in common infinite felicity every ones mercy God in the bosome of every soul throughout the creation Sin hath broke this league the fat and fertill cloud that covered Adams Tabernacle and the Oracle upon his Mercy-seat that was so universally audible is drawn up and God that was neer every one is now far from all naturally And you which were sometimes alienated Alienation speaks all misery man quite gone from God and God quite gone from man body and soul under the perpetuall influence of infinite wrath God is all or nothing to the creature all favour or nothing but displeasure Displeasure orders every thing about a sinfull State as love orders all about a good condition poison is in every dish at a sinners Table not a bit he eats not a rag he wears not a thing he does but 't is cursed from heaven This is the proper expression of alienation The fruit of thy land and all thy labours shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway Deut. 28.33 These expressions suit a stranger he is one that is blasted in all things the divine hand of God doth only oppresse him i. only punish him only crush and curse him always Some men live so far from the Sun that they have nothing but hard weather only Winter and storms Alienation is a state shut out from all divine privilege Divine priviledges are of severall sorts some signifie more favour then other a man alienated from God is cut off from all he is none of the Commonwealth of Israel if he be called an Israelite if he be called a Christian he is mis-called The proper title of an alienated person is a Heathen a Publican a Dog A title is a small thing a shadow yet God allows not this to some an alienated person hath not the shadow of love he may not call himself by the name of Israel he shall answer for this that he bears the name of a Christian that he carries the name of the living and is dead that he calls himself homo and is cadaver a man and is a carkasse There be many things in the Commonwealth of Israel common and speciall yet nothing so common as an alienated person can challenge any interest in There were Candlesticks Basons Tongs Snuffers and there were Pins and Ashes about the Tabernacle an alienated person is not a pin not a dust of the Tabernacle he cannot write himself by the title of one Cinder of the Sanctuary not the least scruple of the Church of Christ militant he is not the dust of the ballance of the Sanctuary and yet 't is strange to consider the spirit of strangers they think they are wronged when they are denied the greatest priviledges of Church state and they are wronged when they have the least Alienated persons are strangers from the Commonwealth of Israel Yea they are stranges from the Covenant of Promise If from the lesse from the greater much more such steps as these the Apostle makes when expressing this thing Aliaens are alienated from the name of God and from the life of God that 's one expression to the life which the Apostle useth Ephes 4.18 Having their understandings darkened being alienated from the life of God because of the blindnesse of their hearts Alienation speaks God gone respecting externals but the weight of the expression lies in this God gone from the soul the heart without the life of God through darknesse The life of God is heart-panting to follow Christ Life makes pulsation Did you see my Beloved Which way is he gone that I may go after him Blind hearts beat out themselves after other things no pulsation of spirit after Christ this speaks the soul dead alienated from the life of God through darknesse As mens principles are so they stirre to or from God after or away from Christ strangers to God their principles are strange divinity is no rule reason is no rule That we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men That 's wickednesse indeed which destroyes divinity and reason and yet 't is spoken of aliens whose lust is their law their belly their god not one lust but many lusts they serve divers lusts 'T is a strange life that strangers to God lead they obey that which God and nature forbids they serve lusts against religion and reason Reason is low divinity teaching things necessary and comly to the body it runs forth into many principles and makes conscience to keep them till temptation be strong and then an alien becomes unreasonable unnaturall a brute beast Every man is brutish by his knowledge the founder is confounded by his graven Image Jerem. 51.17 Pastors brutish people brutish temptations came and instructed persons waved all divinity reason and moved as nonsensically as wilde brutes and this is the Proprium of an alienated state in strength one
their fleshly minde Satan makes the spirit fleshly first and then makes all fleshly If the eye be dark if the heart be carnnall all is so 'T is not enough to Satan to live he is a Prince seeks a kingdome and so plants and seats himself as to be Lord over all where he sits down and this can be no where but in the mind Finally sin is so seated where it may best reigne and best ruine where it may be most lively and most deadly Inward diseases are most mortall There was a plague of the skin and a plague of the skull Levit. 13.31 If the plague go deeper then the skin then saith God it is a plague of the skull and the person must be shut out from all his friends I may tell you that there is a plague which goeth deeper then the skin yea and deeper then the skull a plague of the brain and of the minde and this is mortall it shuts out from heaven and all good Plagues that go deeper then the skull exclude from all They do erre in their hearts and they have not known my wayes their plague was deeper then the skull it reached their hearts and observe what followed they were shut out with a witnesse So I sware in my wrath they should not enter into my rest Hebr. 3.10 That which goes to the heart kills and cuts off for ever the Devill seated in the soul that soul is lost for ever such a one shall never have rest for God hath sworn it Vse You see where Sin and Satan are seated naturally Are they disseated by grace 'T is the greatest blessing in the world to get Sin and Satan throughly out of the minde I am affraid that few of you consider your own danger there is malignity in you you have taken poyson down in the first Adam hath the second given you any vomit and made you throw it up Physicians purge your bodies Doth Christ purge your mindes and your consciences from defilement Within lies defilement which if not purged out will spoile us for ever Naboths vineyard was gotten into Ahabs minde 't was neerer to him internally then externally though in the latter sense it lay very neer and it proved mortall to him he sickn'd upon it and died for ever Observe well with what vigour you sin if you would finde how sin is seated action that comes from the mind is intent Thoughts beat pangs are strong the party is with childe what it longs for it must have or it dies this is minding sin or sin gotten into the minde which was the case of Ahab before mentioned Sin gotten into the minde nothing can beat it out 'T is sad to consider how some men sleep how some men talk and walk in their sleep yea how they talk and walk when they are awake just as if they were asleep especially if one be talking to them of heavenly things 'T is dolefull to consider how some sit here for an hour thoughts quite gone to this thing and to that Ah wretches vanity is got into your minds it holds its seat there the plague of it is this God cannot enter the soul will be vexed to death 't will become a sot or a Bedlam Observe with what continuation you sin Action is lasting that comes from the minde the minde is an untired power that way it takes only evill and that continually Gen. 6.5 Such another power is Satan Satan roars like a Lion one would think it should tear his throat such violent action one would think should make him breast and lung-soare and tire him out yet it doth not he goes about gaping and roaring day and night and never gives off he is cordiall in what he doth he mindes evill and this is the ground why he is untired The minde is an untired power that way it takes in all creatures the spirit evill and it is so only and continually What the heart is taken up with 't is very intense at it so that one may in a manner say that its only about such a thing and then it holds its vigor thus is the soul towards one sin or other whilest corruption keeps it's seat in the mind There is a busie immortall substance in the midst of you 't were well if you did know about what Some minde earthly things saith the Apostle i. upon the matter only and continually this man is carnally minded and it will be his death if God be not gracious to him If sin hold its seat in the minde against all means there is no way but one with the man if sin die not in the soul the soul dies in it Ye shall die in your sins 'T is the greatest blessing in the world to get sin throughly out of the mind not only by way of negation but by way of actuall fruition not privatively only but positively too Sin throughly out of the minde and the soul is altogether in heaven That which cuts our wings when we would mount up where Christ is is that so many naughty things are in our mindes Contemplation pure and the man is an Angel taken up wholly with the admiring of God and the glory of another world Sin throughly out of the mind and all tears are wiped from the eyes already What makes mourning and sadnesse amongst Saints here but that sin keeps still in their minds the evill working of their mindes The minde pure and conscience is quiet peace is setled nothing can burthen when the minde is free Sin throughly out of the minde and it becomes presently the Presence-chamber of the great King in no creature is Christ so present as in a pure minde the full explanation of this is above us COLOSS. 1.21 Enemies with the minde c. ACcording to the former reading of these words we were led to consider the seat of sin and according to this reading we are led to consider the voluntarinesse of sin We are pressed to many externall services of men but we are by nature the Devils volunteers so and so bad and with our mindes desperately set against Christ and this with our minde Enemies with your minde The expression speaks intention Some things we do that which we do not mean the will is redeemed corruption not emptied this upon advantage surprizes and carries the soul captive to what it did never intend this is transgression of the rule but not sinning willingly i. with the minde a captive under another is no volunteer I finde a law in my members carrying me captive to the law of sin Powers within clash sometimes severall things in view which to be followed not agreed debates determined the way proposed actus voluntarius est actus pleno consensu pursued with full consent is an act with the minde And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel where he sojourned and come with all the desire of his minde be colarath naphsho in all the desire of his minde then he
lay any thing to heart Such was â—abals heart and such is ours stones as wee came from the rocke from whence wee were digd Affections follow sense where nothing makes impression there can be no compassion Wee are dead in trespasses and sin dead folkes consider not who mourne for them who die with griefe for them Faculties hardened the childe will throw aside what the mother which bore him underwent the pangs the screeches the teares of her that traveld in birth with him Abilitie to dutie springs not so much from things without as from things within as the soule is disposed not as the man is ingaged so the partie moves I will demonstrate to you that disposition to this dutie of being throughly and kindly affected with what others undergoe for us is hardly attain'd It springs from goodnesse purely contemplated this is a very high thing to doe Such a one did much for me I did as much for him or I may doe If such be out in flesh I am in purse Now is others goodnesse kild with our owne now is not the love of God nor the love of man thought of and how is it possible that either should be beautifull in my eye In such a spirit love hath her wings cut and no matter to worke upon which is that that gives disposition to the soule to keepe him alive for ever in my breast which hath done any good for me We can doe nothing for Christ nor his people and yet all that is done for us by either we thinke to be deserved 'T is certain that infinite love moulders to nothing in our breast under the notion of our owne merit one way or other though we observe it not If a man lose his state his arme his life for me if I thinke he was bound to it by any thing of mine the life of the action dyes the memory of the man and his kindnesse cannot live long Not an act that Christ doth but we dash it to death against some industry of our own That any creature loves me is all love that any one shews mercy to me whether God or man 't is all mercy I am vilder then the earth below all desert desire as far as hell is below heaven a heart at this height stoopes and takes up kindnesse fully sweetly and keepes it in memory firmely Things taken up as meere love stick otherwise not This is a high and hard thing I may instance this to you in God he merits every thing at our hands we doe and more then we can doe and yet he takes up all under the notion of kindnesse and love and this makes him to remember all we doe and all we suffer exactly I remember the kindnesse of thy youth and the love of thine espousalls All is kindnesse and love which man shews to God And when I was hungry yee did give me this and give me that God looking upon all that we doe for him as gift and as kindnesse this makes him to remember it alwayes 't is hard to get to that pitch which God moves at It springs from love strongly warm'd the heart must lie very neere God which hath this benefit God hath but few that lie neere him Things of life will not live in a dead sea the acts of God which he doth they are very lively and yet these will die if the soule be not suitable which observes them Every degree of divine life is not enough to keepe favours done for us so divinely alive as they should be 'T is more then hinted in the text These Colossians had their Christian life but yet not so as to remember the love of Christ to the life alas who have 'T is hard to melt some things much fuell much blowing and paines used and yet all this must be to dispose the matter fitly to receive a lasting stamp and forme upon it A heart melted with love layes to heart the least paines and kindnesse shew'd to it Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me said Elizabeth to Mary Vse As our hearts are below any duty it should humble us but as they are below things which are very weighty it should humble us much more The doctrine in hand beats hard upon us for melting hearts Christ suffers much for us man suffers much for us but neither considered by us What any Christian suffers for you you are to account it as Christ suffering he makes men willing to die for you to preach themselves dead to pray themselves dead to fight themselves dead and all these dyings the dyings of the Lord Jesus O that there should be so many persons bleeding in the fields for us and so few hearts bleeding at home for them and for our selves The strokes of God are various they are most mortall which kill the soule Our bodies are turned to dust apace and our soules into stones as fast Ah Lord how brawnie how bowellesse how hard-hearted is England become since a seate of war Husbands lose armes legs lives abroad and wife and children let starve at home Our war is very bloudy conscience in every man slaine not a tender heart scarce amongst us to consider the condition of the greatest sufferers for us in the Land Naball had his ease at home his quarters quiet and plentifull but what David underwent abroad to make it so at home did not move did not nor would not Nabal consider 'T is your case Londoners During all these bleeding times Christ hath been Quarter-master for you and so appointed your quarters that you have been very quiet very blessed in peace and plenty but what your brethren undergoe abroad to procure all this for you at home which of you doth lay to heart Vriah refused rest and solace at home because of the sufferings and hardship which the Armies of the Lord were in abroad The backes and bellies of thousands of you speake no such thing Ah Lord what will cure the pride and wantonnesse of this wicked Citie Drunkennesse and surfeiting now Can you laugh when your brethren mourne and when God frownes yee Epicures Can yee drinke wine in bowles and the bloud of your brethren in bowles You should at all your exorbitant meetings thus set fancy at worke The cup at my nose is the bloud of the slaine My curious napkins and table-clothes are the skins of Christians my guests the ghosts of the slaine my mad lascivious songs the groanings gaspings and shreechings of the wounded and dying Canst thou not thinke thus when thou art in the midst of thy jovall society O no 't would spoyle all my mirth 't would be like the hand-writing on the wall to Belshasar Dost thou tender more the spoyling of thy carnall mirth then the spoyling of thy eternall soule The guilt of all the bloud that is slaine will fall upon thee as an unsensible soule Hadst thou rather howle for ever then forbeare mad-mirth a little while If thou wilt not turne
sinful mirth into mourning God will turne it into howling God loves not revenge yet what he is exemplarily eminent in he cannot endure that men should altogether slight God layes to heart all that we undergo for him in all our afflictions he is afflicted so should we lay to heart all that he and his undergoe for us 'T is the grand medium of conversion this that I touch What will melt the heart if that love which bleeds to death for us be forgotten Sinners Christ hath suffered the wrath of God for you he left more wealth then this world is worth and became poore he left a mansion in glory and took a body of flesh a house of clay and in this house dyed and left you all that you might live for ever in the fruition of all Is all this nothing Will you regard your sinnes more then this Christ Shall your lust live though Christ have dyed The death and bloud of the Lord Jesus will be upon you Can you looke upon pierced Christ and not mourne He will shew you your owne hardnesse of heart in a like carriage he will looke upon the wounds and torments of your consciences in the houre when you make your will and not be affected When mercy cannot bring forth justice becomes the mid-wife and this cryes save the womb save the womb let what will become of the childe if this childe die and bee puld to pieces between the legges yet another may live if the womb be preserved God much eyes the meanes he uses to doe us good he will preserve the honour of these though thousands die which trample upon them What Christ hath suffered for us shall gain and save thousands though it destroy you though you lay not Christs love to heart yet Christ will have a great many to do it When I am lifted up I will draw all men unto me Christ makes means and then blesseth them to their end men eye not this and so die without the benefit of them What Christ hath suffered for us he hath promised so to order as to make it drawing and winning of us that his lifting up upon the crosse and from thence to heaven shall lift up our souls from sins and from thence to him and to the place where he is These words should be believingly urged and then the work of our welfare would go on an end As mercy stoops lowest it takes up us for God to make means and blesse them is mercy stooping very low to take up them that are quite down Doct. There is one point more I would willingly touch ere I part from these words and that is The mortality of all earthly and fleshly things Death passeth over all now The body of beasts flesh the body of our flesh the body of Christs flesh dies In the body of his flesh through death Some worms are small to look upon and yet will penitrate and consume an Oak Sin is such a thing small in the account of men and yet gnawes asunder the strongest sinews the body of Christ transcendently compacted not of this creation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.11 as the Author to the Hebrews speaks and yet sin dissolves moulders this stately fabrick From the greater to the lesse we may argue safely If the body of Christ cannot live in respect of sin surely no body else can The body of Christ would have born more then all the world and not have cracked Vanity of vanity all is vanity the body of Christ dies the body of all other things die which stand further off from sin then the body of Christ and the body of man do The body of Christ and the body of man stand in a more immediate relation to sin and the fruit thereof then other things of the creation do and yet sin eats out every body of the creation those that stand furthest off from it the whole world waxeth old waxeth languishing ' thath made its will 't will die in a moment the glory of this world passeth away the forehead of this world to wit the heavens will become wrinckled and wax old Wisdome will have no heaven here Death shall gnaw the greenest goard the strongest mans body and every body that bears respect to it We and our best friends die your fathers where are they My father my father the chariots and horsemen of Israel c. and yet this would not hold him his dearest friend in the world must be gone It shadowed out Christ he is our Father our Father twice as good and as dear as all other friends that is he is the dearest friend man hath in all the earth and yet a fiery chariot fetches up this Father from his children here Christ goes away I go away and yee shall see me no more So said Paul to his spirituall children and it did cut to the quick Justice doth retaliate We killed God in all and so doth he us we did run away from God and left him solitary and he makes every thing run from us husband wife children one dearer then all Christ and leaves us alone The spirit of the Angels which fell was in us when we fell pride and malice would have puld down God we shew'd our will but could not accomplish it upon God but he hath upon us not we nor any thing in our similitude can live if God see but our shadow and Image he strikes at it as we did at his Christ fared the worse for us he dyes for having to do with us Vse What God means in all this should be inquired into What every carnall thing dying and yet carnall affection alive There is demonstration enough without of the mortality of all things but no demonstration of this within us our inward thoughts are that our habitation shall indure for ever England all over is a demonstration of this point that all things are bleeding and dying Christ had rather that a thousand thousands of bodies should die then one soul one thing is aimed at that all things die to wit the death of your lust the life of faith and this is your lesson from this Doctrine Can you receive it Every thing shall live for ever when you can love all in Christ and admire all in Christ and make an advantage of love by all to Christ All the ruines you behold in this kingdom or in the whole creation all the seas of blood wherin the world is at this day are but to wash our hearts that 's very foul which must have all without even Christ himself turn'd into blood to cleanse it 'T is long ere carnall affections be slain every thing must die and its blood be thrown in the face of conscience ere the man will spit out what offends God The stability of all about you bears much upon the rectitude of your affection Take heed how you love husband wife children you may hug them to death with a sinfull love You complain of Cavalleers for
for the thing though uncertain for the manner Christ doth number our haires at all times but what doth he do then when the head is going to be cut off He doth make all our darknesse light that which is upon nature state person Christ is with us alwayes according to an externall goodnesse one way or other They have Rosemary and Bays or some sweet thing or other in their hand in the view of all that go to the grave with Christ But internally they have much of him indeed that cleave closely to him What a box of ravishing odors did Christ open to Maries soul which did perfume his body and go along with him to his grave Can any one explain the depth of divine love wherewith her soul was filled That was heaven in hell What 's heaven but the love of Christ without measure powred into the heart To hearten on Abraham to follow the commands of God throughly to forsake Chaldea Babel and all the confusion of a blind proud generation and to go to the land of divine ordinance observe how God heartens him Thou shalt have exceeding much of me without and within I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward And this promise repeated to him and his â—â—sterity in all straits and dangers Can you measure that love which exceeds all bounds Through action makes through reception through action is a soul giving up all to Christ against all opposition from men When we give all to Christ hee gives all to us and what a deal is Christs all I have all saith the Apostle when he wanted for Christs sake All What all A divine all When you speak of your all i. of all you have it rises sometime to a great deal to many thousands but what Arithmetick will expresse Christs all Shall I call his estate thousands millions millions of millions I shall mis-call it 't was never told never guessed nor never will by all those exquisite beholders and enjoyers above 't is infinite Can any finite creature guesse what infinitnesse is Can you tell the starres all their numbers all their influences Then may you tell all the smiles kisses and embracements which Christ gives to such as follow him to death This is Christs all he sits at the right hand of God embraced with that glory he had with his father before the world was and embracing all with the same glory which are with him COLOS. 1.23 If you continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel TErmes in themselves have been considered their intimation also may be usefully taken up which is that man advantaged is an uncertain creature in a good course The state of man is a hid thing what he is what he will be a man looks well and yet that poison lurks in his body which some yeers hence gathers about his vitals and pales him that friends scarce know the man he is such a changling Nothing lurks so secretly as sin not a man that knowes his heart to the botome 't is deceitfull above all things who knowes it A man smiles upon a holy course this yeere and frownes and breaks out against it next So much is hinted here if you continue in the faith and be not moved away Man advantaged is an uncertain creature in a good course Light is a brave advantage to a steady course Demonst 1. We set our compasse by lucid bodies by the Sun and by the Stars and know whither and to what part of the world we are going which setles our minde and makes our journey sweet and our labour and travell lasting Dubitation tires every step is irksome when a man knows noâ— whether he be out or in his way and yet where no dubitation is the soul tires When light unto information when light unto perswasion is made concerning the way and the end the soul is still in danger to turn off If ye continue in the faith i. the truth â—e have understood and believed Pravity at some height will beâ—â—…wn conviction spurn against an Angel in the way turn for Tarshâ—sh when it knowes it should go another way Conviction is a noble advantage to a steady course consolation is a nobler to be convinced of the way and comforted in the way the man hath a coach from heaven to prevent tiring Fruit that is specious to look upon is inviting to appetite but when we bite it and finde it to have no sweetnesse to our taste we throw it away but that which hath colour and taste too we retain firmly we incorporate such substances with our selves we eat them and so keep their vertue so long as we are The Gospel hath these two properties 't is cleer light and glad light They were glad when they saw his starre there was vision and consolation a light of life one would think now none could kill this and yet pravity at some height will put this to death a consolatory light They rejoyced in his light for a season here is light and joy light and life add yet this dies this brisk sparkling wine vapors away all its own spirits and dies This truth lies in the Text too be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel i. that word which makes hope and sets the soul at heaven door and can one be there and not joy Hope sets the soul like Moses within sight of the Holy Land Can a man see heaven and not joy A man may not see heaven and yet joy In whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoyce c. But can a man see heaven and not joy Can a man enter within the vaile and yet not joy And yet when at the border of Canaan when at heaven doore there is danger of turning back yea when something of heaven is given out at the door some tastes of the powers of the world to come may come to de distasted A vertuous property is inducing and the more generall this property is the more inducing That property is pleasant to one palate which is unpleasant to another that is fair in ones eye which is ugly in anothers but that which is glorious to every eye that sees it sweet to every palate that tastes it this we are doubly taken with and cleave to Such a thing is the Sun of a generall vertue and glory so in every ones eye no man ever saw the Sun but confest it a very glorious body and a very reviving body Such is the Sun of righteousnesse never soul saw or tasted him but confessed him surpassing all the fairest the sweetest of ten thouâ—â—nd Now 't is a strange stomack that disagrees and nauseates 〈◊〉 â—hrowes up that which is pleasant to every palate that hath tasted it as well as to its own when it did eat it And yet such strange changes there are naturally and the like spiritually a throwing up and a throwing off of that which hath had its demonstration
be cleane why thou art clean Shall Christ doe all this for so little and wilt not thou hope and chearfully expect the sweet of that which he so freely gives Finally Doe but thinke what a double miserable life thou wilt have in these times if this grace of hope lie ruinous in thee through any wile of Satan Thou wilt be as a Ship without an anchor tossed terribly and no possibilitie of staying thee Which hope we have us an anchor of the soule both sure and stedfast If a man cannot stay upon God in distresse he can stay no where a soule that can stay no where will hardly stay in his wits when stormes grow very great What is by ordination a center and rest for such and such a bodie a light body or a heavie bodie that and no other thing will give rest to it Christ is by divine ordination the center of soules were there a thousand rockes to cast anchor upon yet no rocke like this the soule will not rest upon any else Their rocke is not as ours themselves being judges All men finde this by experience that what ever they pitch upon besides God to stay and relieve themselves it doth not doe it O that the war were ended that the war were ended Fearfull soule if this war were ended thou hast a war within thee which will never end till thy despaire end fighting without and fighting within others killing my bodie and my selfe killing my soule what a wofull life is this Hope alive this is the sweet course of the soule to wit when all is black deadly and dismall without then the soule drawes the curtaine and withdrawes from all these lower roomes and walkes in upper chambers where no noise is views the Citie and Country above and the inhabitants and priviledges thereof Hope enters within the vaile Heb. 6.19 Yet I know a Country where no war is an inheritance where no plundering is neighbours and Citizens that doe not kill one another but love one another dearely that have not their swords in one anothers breasts but each other Christ there I shall be quickly and the sooner that these miseries below are so heavy on mee COLOSS. 1.23 From the hope of the Gospel WEE have considered the grace of hope in it selfe and have found it a sweet flower as any grows in the garden of God wee are now to consider the stocke out of which it springs the mold that likes it The English word Gospel notes Good speech spel formerly signified speech Gospel quasi God spel God speech and that is glad speech indeed and out of which it growes is the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies a glad word or message When God smiles upon the soule then the soule smiles in its course our death or life sits upon the lips of Christ as Christ speaks the soule opens or closes lifts up or hangs downe the head Thou hast made my mouth like a sharp sword a polished shaft saith Christ of the Father Esa 49.2 What a wombe the Gospel is it brings forth twinnes two and the greatest that can be thought on death and life 't is a polished shaft not simply a shaft to kill but a polished shaft to make death in order to life The Gospel is a wombe that brings forth twinnes indeed earth and heaven heaven here 't is like the Hebrew women quicke of delivery They were Gospel-words which God spake to Adam after his fall when he spake about the seed of the Woman and these words re-instated him in earth and in heaven he had lost both else His soule sunke within him which made him hide and run away and these words fetcht life againe to the soule and the man againe to his place Doct. The Gospel is a grand blessing a glad word a God-speech Our Sun was set at noone and yet no more to have risen in this Horizon God after our sin had shut up his loving kindnesse in displeasure and all this world was to lie under all the wrath of God to all eternitie without one good word without one good look man the glory of the world was proclaim'd a Traytor Absaloms doome was upon him Let him see my face no more in this case no Mediator durst appeare not one of all the Angels in Heaven would know man after his fall for any favour the King had withdrawne himselfe and all his traine he had bounded himselfe in universally like Abasuerus that none might come to speake to him for favour in mans behalfe upon paine of death no not concerning any matter of mercy towards man he that should come about any such thing came upon perill of eternall death yet in this desperate strait Christ like Esther puts forth and takes his life in his hand pleads with wrath it selfe for a few that they might be kindly entertain'd againe kindly thought of and kindly spoke to if thou must have bloud take my bloud onely write downe with it a few names in the booke of life a small company to be kinde unto for ever to looke pleasantly upon them and to speake sweetly to them here and for ever hereafter That which cost Christ so deare surely is no small favour he gave his bloud for a good word from God to man a good word therefore from God is certainly a great favour for Christ lays not out his bloud for trifles as sometimes we doe It s price its property speakes it a grand blessing The Gospel is light prime light it makes exact discretion it shines into the heart that 's the expression of it which the Apostle gives 2 Cor. 4.6 But God which commanded the light out of darknesse hath shined into our hearts You may discerne a moate a haire the smallest thing that is by a shining light the Gospel discovers beames moats yea these perfectly Then shalt thou see perfectly the moat that is in thy brothers eye Take in but Gospel-light and lay aside thine own conceited light and thou shalt see every thing exactly in thy spirituall state The light of the Gospel discovers thoughts and intentions of the heart it divideth between the marrow and the bones it shews how the soule is joynted marrowed how every sinew and string lyes and what oyle is in the vessels to supple them and make them last whether any or none The heart is call'd the hidden man and 't is hid indeed from all creatures in the world from the man himself that 's a notable light that gets into a dungeon a vault deep under ground that is full of damps and makes discovery there of all the mud and dirt of all the frogs and toads that lie there and yet such is the light of the Gospel where ever it comes though into never so dark a soule it lays open all very exactly that is to conviction He that is unlearned cometh in and he is convinced of all and fals downe saith the text it tels a man all that ever he did and
ruine of all will be charged upon you Know the symptome of a dying State when death is seized upon the vitals and blacke vapours beat up strong against the braine we cry draw the curtaines shut the windows keep them darke they will be mad else Light is scoft at now never more this makes thousands cry draw the curtaine shut the windows keepe soules darke they will be mad else and this is the glory of thousands that they keep where they were and shut out light it is I feare a deadly state Mayst not thou come as far short of truth as thou judgest others to overshoot themselves Dost thou thinke that none hit the white but thee Are not errors on the left hand as dangerous as errors on the right Is not a cold frozen soule a soule setled upon its lees as base a prizer of the Gospel as a wanton that is too lavish I have but one thing more let love be returned Doth God give grand favours returne answerable to him The light which shines sweetly and gloriously upon you let it gaine your soules to God Doth Christ speake kindly unto you Speake so to him Doth Christ speake for your hearts to lay them in his bosome and for no other use How can you deny him Give Christ your heart 't is no great favour yet Christ accounts it so because 't is your prime jewel Christ doth take things according to your account which is transcendent love what you account your jewel that Christ takes for one If you make a sin a jewel dearer then any thing yet if at the call of the Gospel you sacrifice this and offer it to Christ to doe what he will with it kill it or keepe it alive he accounts this for a great favour a jewel What you indeed and in good earnest account great that doth Christ when in plainnesse and in simplicitie you give it to him Isaac was esteemed by Abraham a great favour from God and when he was willing to offer this againe to God 't was taken by God as Abraham accounted it a great favour The Sunne loses none of its rayes by all the course it runs none darkened nor spoyled but sets as big as glorious and as smiling as it did arise Shall wee darken any beame of that light which shines upon us Shall we sad the face of that Sunne that smiles upon us And yet so wee doe when Christ cannot gaine us by his beames of love which shine upon us Consider how long time the Gospel hath been amongst you and how little good it hath done O that a heart should be so cold that twenty or thirty yeares lying in the Sunne will not warme it Hold a multiplying glasse upon the Sunne that shines upon your soules and see what this will doe say to thy soul How many precious Gospel-Sermons have I heard and how many thousand thousand secret words in them how have these ecchoed with a sweeter report from one within then they were at first speaking from the person without which delivered them how many sweet Gospel-words yea how many sweet Gospel-workes have I had how many heart-liftings heaven-ward and yet downe againe Hath any body such a cold heavie heart as I 'T is good to complaine of ones heart much for its badnesse to him that can make it better 't is good to complaine much of this badnesse badnesse under goodnesse prime goodnesse badnesse under the Gospel Cold-hearted sinners thus taber upon your breast when you are alone if any thing warme 't is well if nothing will draw the curtaine and take leave of friends if the Sun-shine of the Gospel can by no meanes fetch heat in thee thou canst not live long if thou wouldst give all the wealth thou hast the fruit of the body for the sin of the soule COLOS. 1.23 Which was preached to every creature BY creature here is meant the noblest creature to wit man 't is an expression borrowed from Christ the creator Goe and preach the Gospel to every creature Mark 16.15 i to all men make no distinction of persons nor Nations goe into every house Jew Gentile and proffer peace tender life unto every dying soule The expression in hand speakes of this as done wherein lies the difficultie Which was preached to every creature An expression like unto this you have at the sixt verse of this Chapter Which is come unto you as it is unto all the world These compared explaine one another By the coming of Christ the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile was broken down and their priviledges made common for any and according to this tenor was the preaching of the Gospel so that the tenor of Grace inlarged and generally dispensed to all sorts of persons Jew and Gentile is said to be the preaching of the Gospel to every creature Besides there may be more in the expression though there was not in the Apostles time an actuall tender to every individuall person under Heaven by preaching which elsewhere seemes to be prophesied shall be yet the sound of that grace which was thus generally preached went into all the earth and so their words at second hand unto the ends of the world Have they not heard Yes their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world Rom. 10.18 which makes the meaning of the expression in more words to this sense Which was divulged in the tenor of it for all and in the rumor of it to all Doctr. Mercy now is of very vast extent God is no respecter of persons nor respecter of nations David becoms a leader of all sorts every one that was in distresse and every one that was discontented c. 1 Sam. 22.2 Saving grace hath a universality in it Look to me and be saved all the ends of the earth The brazen Serpent was lifted up in the Wildernesse to be looked upon it did secretly hint to that unworthy people that God would not alwayes tie himself to them but give mercy a larger compasse that not only Israel but those that were dogs and as the brutes of the Wildernesse should have a Saviour lifted up among them to look upon our Saviour in his own expression gives this explanation When I am lifted up I will draw all men unto me not only Jews but Gentiles The Serpent that is now lifted up Lions Tigers Bears Wolves all the beasts of the vast Wildernesse of this world from the one end to the other may look upon Look to me and be saved all the ends of the earth Mercy is proportion'd to Misery All flesh hath corrupted it self and Christ hath power over all flesh to give eternall life to whom he will not a soul so black so speckled but Christ can cleanse him as white as snow no sin no evill spirit so strong but he can bring him under he is able to subdue all things to himself men devils sins c. he shall change your vile bodies and make them
no man will say so much as before said in words but thousands say it in deeds say what we will what we can of justice of mercy of the latitude of these yet sinners will drive on in their own courses as long as liberty strength and life will give leave These hearts are dead in trespasses Let what Sun will shine upon the dead it warms them not these sinners are twice dead dead naturally and dead voluntary they have tasted of the sweet of their wayes and they get much wealth and pleasure by it and they are not children to part with a reality for a fancie These are whole and need not a Physician our work is quickly done about these Burthened souls you are the proper subject of mercy and of this discourse the call of this doctrine is to you Come every one of you to Christ and ye shall have ease he excludes none Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavie laden A loded soul is self-condemn'd he cannot stand under the sense of sin and wrath alas who can A soul self-condemned hath a halter about his neck of his own making but do not hang thy self the King of Israel is very mercifull he hangs none that comes to him as thou dost with a halter about his neck hold a parly with him for thy life thou mayst bring him to what terms of mercy thou wilt almost Bid Christ make Propositions of peace Lord what wilt thou have me to do If he say that he wil have thee do this and do that deny thy self and follow him pluck out thy right eye and cut off thy right hand and the like tel him that through him thou canst do all things give me thy self and I will part with any thing lend me thine hand and I will rise draw me and I will run after thee Nothing is vile to me but that which thou forbiddest nothing dear but that which thou commandest only let me touch the hem of thy garment let me take hold of thy skirt and I shall accomplish thy will and mine own This request cannot be denied Make this conclusion and feed upon it under all desertion and temptation Christ is ingaged furnished yea about this very design to give himself to thee Christ is ingaged for thee by petition thou hast put up many petitions to him and he hath put them up all to God he could do no otherwise for he is by place an Advocate to mention and plead such cases as are moved to him Christ is furnished by concession for he is heard in all that he askes my Father heareth me always We ask many things and misse because we ask amisse Christ alwayes asketh well and speeds well therefore conclude of reliefe You that mourne after Christ he will send a Comforter The command of God is upon Christ he shall be a light to the Gentiles When Christ ingages himself by petition for any God doth alwayes ingage him by concession and by accomplishment for it See thou do this poor soul good my Son here is for him according to all that he needs let it be laid out upon him according to all thou sayest will make him happy Must he have my Spirit my comforting Spirit will no lesse nor no cheaper thing make him smile will not a little Saffron mixed with some spirituous liquid make him laugh No must he have my Spirit my Joyâ—s then here ' t is But be sure my Son that thou give it him The injunction of God is upon Christ He shall be a light to the Gentiles God doth trust no Doctor no Apothecary none but Christ himself about drouping souls and he puts into his hand cordials of infinite price and saith that he shall give them and his blessing with them that he shall be not only means of light but Light it self to dark souls that is the blessing of means as well as means That Christ is about and upon giving himself to thee O soul I will demonstrate to thee thus Christ hath looked upon thee this is the first thing a man doth when he intends to bestow himself upon any Abasuerus viewed the damosels first The Son hath looked upon thee that the Son hath looked upon thee is apparent for the beauty of his countenance hath taken thee and thou wouldest fain have his Image to wear in thy breast and if all thou hadst would buy it how willingly wouldst thou part with it the words which fall from Christs lips are as marrow and those which suit thy state as marrow and fatnesse Surely the King hath looked upon thee and more he hath a liking to thee Thou lovest him thou mayst conclude therefore that he loved thee first We love him because he loved us first the man makes love first Christ wooed thee long ere he thus far gained thee though thou take no notice of it Nay more then this Christ hath bestowed love-tokens upon thee surely he is bestowing himself to thee Christ hath given thee by us his messengers as Abrahams servant a golden eare-ring bracelets for thine hands by the word whch we preach he hath given thee his Spirit thou breathest as Christ doth very sweelty I do not smell it No one cannot smell his own breath when 't is sweet only when it stincks much but others smell it in every room where thou comest Would Christ were mine Is not this the period still of thy expression at the end of every discourse Such an one hath got so much and so much saith one to thee dost not thou reply would Christ were mine and then I had got more then he Dost thou not gaspe only after Christ when thou fetchest breath deepest That 's the Spirit of the Lord Jesus which makes sighs and groans which cannot be expressed he and thee sigh together one in another and one after another Love is mutually set the contract is made only 't is not published to the world some deliberate time is used about this 'T is a distinct thing from being Christs to know that I am his and that he hath bestowed himself upon me and all the wranglings quarrellings and gain-sayings of Satan and a mans own soul will not be quite dead till the soul be quite in the bosome of Christ When one argues from the beams of the Sun that there is a Sun me thinks the cavillingst spirit of unbelief that is should lie still Had no body ever taken notice of any ray of the Sun appearing in the soul to argue from only the word of grace pressed and the man that was al the dayes of his life a vile wretch beholding his own necessity and the riches of goodnesse and laying hold upon it he were bound to believe that Christ accepted of him and bestowed himself upon him I beseech you weak souls know two things and you cannot but be strong Know the riches of the Gospel and know the obligement of the Gospel it tenders mercy 1. freely and so it 2. must be owned
and so owned though with never so much weaknesse or with never so many temptations yet that it should be effectuall to your salvation the touch of Christs garment did the cure COLOSSIANS 1.23 Whereof I Paul c. 'T Is for some speciall emphasis certainly that the Apostle doth here articulate his person with his name I Paul onely wee are various at guessing at it Some thinke he points at the signification of his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cessare which signifies to cease As if he had said I that am stopped and ceased from destroying the Gospel and now made a publisher of it Divine love can quench hell-fire check violence stop and turne a man when in the height of rage against Christ This bloudy sinner had a remarkable stop by a word of love from Heaven Why dost thou persecute me Upon which his name was changed to print and perpetuate providence from Saul to Paul i one stopped and ceased No cords so strong as love a mad-man cannot break them when catched with them Paul was a mad-man a devill yet catched and tamed presently by a sweet voice from heaven If you would conjure a devill quiet if you would quench hell-fire in any ones breast if you would make cords strong enough to hold a Bedlam imitate Christ speake as one from Heaven in the sweetnesse and strength of the Gospel lay a mountaine of love in the mad-mans way Why sinner Why wilt thou goe over Christ This will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cease his course Others thinke the Apostle points at the signification of his name as a Roman name Paulus from the adjective Paulus which signifies little as if the Apostle had said Of which great mysteries I that am little and poore in gifts in place in esteeme little and base every way yet am made a dispenser and so an expression of great humilitie The more grace the lesse in our own eye The sight of God is humbling his majestie and glory is such that the soule necessarily fals at his feete The lesser and lower in our own eye the greater and higher in Gods all that he raises is out of the dust out of the dust he raiseth seed to Abraham and out of the dust he raiseth officers to look to this seede out of the dust he raised our Saviour and out of the dust he raiseth those Saviours which are in his stead Leaders in Israel He giveth grace to the humble i much grace grace enough for the man himselfe and many more Christ doth plow and sow altogether in low grounds these prove very fertile Mountaines are cursed if proud men be drawne out and set high 't is to be hanged by their preferment as Haman I think both significations may be eyed in this speech and the Apostle considered as one much admiring the way of God throughout that would look towards one so much as to intrust him with the care of all the Churches who a little while since was set against them all and now turned from so great wickednesse yet possessing but little goodnesse to discharge so great a trust That I should be turned is wonderful but that I should be so imployed is more wonderfull The freenesse of God in all his dispensations of grace and place should be matter of admiration Doctr. 'T is a brave eye that can tell all the rayes of the Sunne and all the vertues they worke and command all powers to sit downe and warme themselves in the consideration of them The heart is in frame when taken with goodnesse with all the goodnesse of God Thou hast been very pleasant to me saith David to Jonathan Thy love to me is wonderfull This he spake with an eye to all the love he had received from him which is the right frame of the soule in order to Christ and his Thou hast been very pleasant to me O Christ throughout my course and thy love to me hath been wonderfull to my soule to my body in person in office in every condition They are in a perfect frame above the spirts of just men above are all in a rapture because of all the love that shines upon them there is not a beame over-looked not a beame shines upon any soule in Heaven but 't is observed much and warmes him much our hearts are in frame as they arise to this Heat is the right temper of the soule I wish thou wert hot Heat is active activitie is a soule gathering up all the goodnesse of God and feeding upon it and then is the soule healthy and prosperous and not otherwise The constitution of grace is somewhat as the constitution of nature it feeds upon varietie but varietie of God God in riches God in honours God in every thing if God be missing in any person in any dish at the Table it stinkes Heat hath resolution divine resolution tires not in dutie though never so great Then is the soule well when it faints not in the praises of God Heaven is up-hill and to skim off the creame of every creature and to carry it up to Heaven and to present it to God is hard worke to finde out God in every thing here below and carry him home to Heaven and set him upon his throne and admire him is great labour and yet divine resolution doth this doth it in order to all divine dispensations throughout the terme of mans life and lays not downe the worke no lays not down the worke to all eternitie I will mention the loving kindnesse of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us and his great goodnesse towards the host of Israel according to the multitude of his loving kindnesse Esa 63.7 Nothing is so numerous as sin and mercie but yet of the two mercie is more numerous The world hath not so many sinnes in it as mercies and to act divinely in order to all these to play upon a Lute which hath I know not how many strings to string a mans soule with many thousand thousand mercies that befall him and to play upon this sweely all ones dayes and never lay aside the instrument this is a haile constitution and yet all this but dutie divine president is extant Divine presidents of this nature are doubly binding what any Saint of God ever did as a Saint in order to the rules of sanctitie that comes to me with double authoritie to be observed and therefore is the Scripture cited and the cloud of witnesses as another superadded motive Presidents of sanctitie speake not onely the precept to be obeyed but the possibilitie and honorabilitie of the precept to be obeyed Vse Saints should live at this height they have lived at this height this is good argumentation How doe you live Are your soules in health and are you strong How doe you travaile then up and downe after God The Land wherein we live is full of mercies no Land like it Doe you tread upon them or take them up The latter
brave spirits in his bloud and trades them out all for Christ and Heaven in long voyages to come home rich he hath no hand but to good but to this he hath hand and heart and nothing can fetch off either Then answered I thus and said The God of Heaven will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build but you have no portion nor right nor memoriall in Jerusalem Nehem. 2.20 A Christian indeed magnanimous hath truth in one hand and life in the other and this is his Motto Take one take both This is his Motto every where in libertie in bonds and this he speakes and smiles now I joy Vse Wee are put by providence to speake upon a seasonable subject times call us to move bravely every one in our place Furie is abroad and furie is at home nothing but a brave spirit can now kisse Christ and smile in the face of both Greatnesse will over-bear and jostle a weak spirit though otherwise good as a childe from his father and make him cry and take on dolefully for want of that countenance which did smile upon him Power generates pride unlesse it sit in a very sweet breast the effects of this are bloudie and not a man can withstand to any purpose but he that is steele to the backe 'T is said of Vzziah that when he was strong that is externally strong that he was lifted up to his destruction This Prince after his great victories fell upon the worship of God and carried it by his owne greatnesse as he pleased which is a plague proper to pride to be spiritually and desperately wanton to creepe into the Temple and to confront God as highly as may be And the Text tells us of Azariah and fourscore brave Priests of the Lord that withstood him saying It pertaines not to thee O King to burne incense but to the Priests of the Lord which are consecrated goe out of the Sanctuarie thou hast trespassed and it shall not be for thine honour There were fourscore of these magnanimous spirits then would there were fourscore thousand of these now in the Christian world they are much needed to withstand violence against the worship of God against the priviledge of Ministers and people Blindnesse hardens men fooles will as soone strike with a club as with a twig as soone stab with a knife as with a straw every one that bowes not downe to the Idol of their fancie this is stoutnesse to destruction as the forecited Scripture speakes and 't is pitie it should destroy any but such as are guiltie of it and yet it will if not withstood What a dolefull condition would all have come to if those few brave spirits had given way to all that the King in the blindnesse of his heart would have done A Christian indeed magnanimous is he that stands in the gap in a time of wrath and none else this man is a Phinebat an Azariah one that stayes the plague the sword the wrath of God that eates upon us and would eate us out all unlesse some such brave spirits appeared abroad and at home in the field and in the Citie You can doe no service to quench the fire of jealousie that now burnes unlesse you get more fire in your hearts Life and death is in the ballance and the scales stand which scale will weigh downe we cannot tell onely this I can say this grace of Magnanimitie put in that scale where the life of the Kingdome lies would turne the beame presently and life should weigh downe death peace and prosperitie ruine and desolation 'T is pitie that brave spirits are no more smil'd upon some such buddings of hope are now and then but they are blasted againe men are alive a while and then dead Persons which are in such a condition that are pretie well one while and at deaths-dore againe another while men have still feare lest some vitals wast in such a state which is not yet discerned England if death should cure all thy diseases at last for want of a little life what a dolefull giving up the ghost will this be Whither wouldest thou carry thy cold off-spring that they might grow more warme To such and such plantations beyond the Seas Between thee and them is a great gulph and it may be they that would goe to them shall not they that thou wouldest should come to thee will not they that stay in the Citie famine may devoure they that goe to flie out a sword may cut off A Serpent a Lion or a Beare sword famine or plague may divide all between them within dore and without Surely England thy giving up if ever that sad day come which the Lord grant it may not will be with such ghastly groanes with such hideous shreechings with such tabering of breasts and tearing of haire with such weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth as scarce ever any eye saw or eare heard since wrath and desolation began among the Gentiles Wherefore call upon thy selfe O England and call upon thy Physicians for Christian magnanimitie tell them what death thou fearest and what grudgings of it thou feelest alreadie in severall parts Where there be palsies and such diseases which are by cold which be numbe and dead the parts there rubbing is good to fetch heat and agilitie Rub one another frequently exhort one another daily strike fire in one anothers breasts admonish reprove but doe all in love Passion generates passion wild-fire is not magnanimitie this burnes all it doth not save all Magnanimitie springs out of love 't is a stout spirit candid with the sweetnesse of Christ and made a Lamb and a Lion as Christ was a Lamb when among sheep to be led by them but a Lion when among Beares and Wolves to awe and lead them Magnanimitie is the perfectest temper of Christ in all this world 't is a Lion lying downe with a Lamb and doing it no hurt and a Lamb playing upon the hole of an Aspe and receiving no hurt it is one that can doe no hurt but can and will doe much good 't is one that fels himselfe like Christ at a very low rate to doe good to all COLOSSIANS 1.24 Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SUfferings both externall and internall the word imports such stripes upon the flesh as did affect and afflict the spirit that did make passiones animi soule-passions There is such an affinite between the body and the soule that it is hard to separate them in suffering yet a divine hand of God who is father of spirit and flesh makes burthens pinch more upon the one then upon the other as pleaseth him Pauls cup was eminently proportion'd to Christs 't was to fill up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ and Christs cup had those ingredients which made his soule heavie to death they did deeply affect not onely his flesh but his spirit Body and soule were
as Simeon and Levi brethren in evill and God makes chaines to couple both together in misery and pinches that part most that is worst puts double bolts upon the leader to sin that 's the soule What God joynes he would not have us to part what we joyne he will not part we joyne body and soule in sin and he doth not part them in suffering not in the best Christ can distinguish between these two in the matter of affliction and so lightly touches the flesh that it shall never trouble the spirit but then man usually despiseth the chastening of the Lord yea the best are apt to doe so My sonne despise not the chastening of the Lord. God puts such twigs in all his cords for his children that he makes no wantons of them when they joy in sufferings under one notion they shall sorrow in them under another When they joy in sufferings it shall be against sense and against reason not as if they did feele a little but as feeling much onely apprehending the issue how glorious and how precious that will be Bonds and chaines are so heavie as to make our joy a pure joy the misery of Saints is so ponderous as to presse their joy pure to make it a joy of faith not of sense in the least body and soule being both in paine You squeese out the spirit and puritie of things so doth Christ Christ doth so affect the body and soule in his dealings that if any grace act forth it shall be pure grace such as is fed with no low principle If joy worke it shall be from faith not from feeling if faith worke it shall be from the word without not from any thing that it feeles else or sees without or within Our heights are necessitated with one medium or other When our soules are highest they are wound and screwed up to it with much paine and then when raised to this height 't would not be downe againe for all the world but kisses the rod chaines prisons any bitters that worke about so sweet so heavenly a life as to joy purely in Christ The nature of divine trials is the thing that I would stand upon how the arrowes of the Almightie are shaped now sharpe these are which he shoots at his people they pierce thorow all body and soule Wherefore is life given to him that is in misery and light to him that is in bitternesse of soule Job 3.20 These expressions aptly suite the point I am upon and doe open the nature of those trials that befall the godly they have misery that is not all they have misery wrapt up into such bitter pils as work upon the soule That 's strong physick indeed that sets all a trembling casting body and soule yet such God gives those he loves dearly in bitternesse of soule the expression is very emphaticall like that to Elymas in the gall of bitternesse it speakes a state steeped and soaked long in misery till soaked quite thorow every sinew stretched every bone put out of joynt no whole part within nor without not a thought lying still nor knowing where to find a pillow in any roome of the soule to lie downe on God makes no distinction of persons here I meane in the point that I am pursuing All things come alike to all alike sweet alike bitter alike for qualitie alike for quantitie a vessell of honour filled as full of sorrow here as a vessell of wrath waters coming into the soule I am feeble and sore broken I have roared for the disquietnesse of my heart Psal 38.81 None but evill spirits are broken and tortur'd below they are all cursed creatures that roare there but here good as well as bad are broken all to pieces all roare here wicked men Saints brave Spirits I am sore broken I roare What a dreadfull din and noise is all this world over One would thinke one were in hell whilest here in every Countie in every Citie in every house no dore sprinkled for a passeover in this point of sorrow sorrow at the heart The arrowes of the Lord are within me No house so walled nor so high here but God shoots into it when he will he moves in order to all trials with the godly as he doth in order to all judgements with the wicked according to an absolute will When he will he takes up whom he will amongst the wicked and trusseth him up so or so quarters him and hangs up his quarters makes him lesse or more notorious as he pleases so when he will he takes up whom he will of the godly prisons chaines them till the Iron enter into their soule sets them up as a mark and shoots them cleane thorow Why hast thou set me up as a mark to shoot at Job 7.20 And this a meere exercise of prerogative will which Job could not understand at present but did afterward Though God hath made over much to man yet hath reserved this priviledge to himselfe to have his Range in this great Forest here below to shoot at what he will at what goat he will or at what Deer he will and at what part of this Deer he will at the heart so he doth not make an incurable wound And this Christ can doe and this may be the reason of his priviledge He wounds as he pleases because he can heale as he pleases shoots the body and shoots the soule of his people because he can take out the bullet where ever it lies and heale that part as perfect yea perfecter then ever ' t was Poisons that gangrene and eate upward and inward towards the heart Christ can stop their secret motion and draw out the poison at the pores of the soule at the eyes at the mouth in spirituall breathings and kind soule-sweatings pantings mournings and turne this poison that drops out of these pores into a precious spirited liquid and bottle it up as a cordiall for himselfe to drinke of and to delight his palate withall for ever The rarest spirits are extracted out of the strongest poisons and Christ wants no skill to doe it he is an admirable Chymist and therefore takes whom and what he will to try his skill upon There are no such poisonous things in the world as sin and punishment especially when they meet together in the soule and yet then Christ can extract such a spirit out of both as all this world shall hardly match Christ can bring a body downe to the grave and raise him up againe and make his bones like Behemoth like barres of Iron David found it oft Thou hast renewed my strength like an Eagle So Christ can bring a soule down to Hell and raise it up againe to Heaven yea bring him up so full of Heaven that not one of a thousand not one of fortie thousand comparable and what Christ can doe in this point he doth when and as he pleaseth Mibbor sâ—â—on He brought me up also out of a horrible
't was to be in strait for his life so unfatherly was his father and therefore he proves a brave spirit for this noble service to save the life of David to raise him and Christ in him to his throne he was all heart and soule in it and God was with him God is doubly present with a man which he hath much exercised which is an incomparable advantage to all divine usefulnesse No man can speake so feelingly so healingly as he that hath much of God speaking in and with him this is the man of a thousand that can speake words in season like apples of gold in pictures of silver that can lend legges to the lame eyes to the blind that can comfort those which are cast downe with the same comforts wherewith he hath been comforted from the Lord. COLOS. 1.24 And fill up that which is behind c. THe afflictions of Christ are twofold in his person in those which hee personates the former are accomplished the latter are yet accomplishing Christs will and himselfe are one such as strike his will any part of this or any lover of this would strike Christ himselfe if hee were now present Christ is plaine hee cals actions as intended not as pretended The second Adam names things as the first when he stood according to their nature what is against truth is in the nature of it against Christ who ever be the professor of it and therefore so accounted yea and so openly called And fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ And fill up the word in the originall is compounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and full of emphasis it signifies re-action or re-passion the doing or suffering of a thing againe to doe over that which some others have done already readimplere as one translates The measure of suffering that tendeth to satisfie for offence and ransome man from the wrath of God Christ hath fild up to the brim the cup was big but Christ poured out blood enough to fill it one would have hoped that all suffering worke belonging to a Christian had been done then No 't is not saith the Apostle I doe iterum implere rursus implere fill up againe the sufferings of Christ Malice lives still Christ is crucified afresh in his members Christ doth bleed in my veines afresh saith the Apostle if there were any drop of blood left behind when he bled upon the crosse now t is fetcht out through my sides How implacable is the fury of man the fury of God was stopped when Christ had bled to death and 't was not his will that ever Christ should die any more or that any one should die more for Christs sake but yet the fury of man lives and that would have Christ die over and over iterum iterumque againe and againe 't would have every house pulled downe and burned that Christ gets into 't would crucifie his image his picture 't would make him bleed as long as this world lasts yea to all eternity therefore doe wicked spirits in hell blaspheme and teare his name a worke which they will never leave though it continually adde to their plague and yet these doe but shew the nature of all malicious men on earth which are everlasting blood-hounds which spend perpetually upon the sent of Christians upon the sent of Christ in any earth Malice should be looked upon as t is an implacable thing and men in whose breast it is should be looked upon as they are fire-shovels fetched from hell to carry everlasting fire from house to house from place to place where ever Christ is to burne him out of this world quite to burne him againe and againe till there be none of him left not a finger not a toe not a haire We are much given to wondring we know the reason of things so little to see a man drinke blood and never be weary of drinking such a fulsome drinke t is strange to us yet t is the property of that fire that burnes in the breast of the man to make an unquenchable thirst after this red Wine t is a damnable disease that the man cannot helpe nor no man upon earth for him every good body must keepe out of his way as well as they can I know no other remedy the man will set abroach any ones blood Pauls Christs any one that lookes like either Christians have a blessed keeper or else how rare would they be in the world Blesse God that there is a good man left in the land at this day in the middest of so many blood-thirsty O how much are good hearts put to it every where by this generation Mourne over both persecutors and persecuted they are both in hell fire Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word may signifie to suffer for another pro-implere to fill up in anothers stead according to his appointment Christ is gone out of this world and he hath left Christians in his stead and all his prime trust and businesse with them to doe it for him to accomplish his will to walke in his steps and to take in good part what befals them in this way Christs businesse left to Christians is comprised in that expression of bearing his crosse he did beare his crosse himselfe when he was on earth now he hath left it to his people to beare it for him to tread in his paths and take such lodging and fare at night as fals out When Christ died he left but one child to keepe for him but that one a precious child to wit Truth and this so to keepe as never to let it die what ever die I can doe nothing against the truth but for it I can doe any thing suffer any thing that truth may live I can die I can drinke off a cup deadly full deadly big which will hold all my blood to fill it This is our president in the Text. I fill into the same cup that Christ did saith Paul and the same liquor red Wine the blood of a brave Grape the blood of an upright heart and this for his sake At what heighth we are to be for Christ is considerable at the same heighth that Christ was at for us we are to rise to the losse of estate honour life Neither count I my life deare Life is the prime Jewell of nature t is the union of two great estates body and soule t is of more worth than rayment i. then all outward things and yet this of no worth and of no price in order to truth I account not my life deare I am about the worke which Christ was filling a cup that is deadly big that will hold my life-blood to fill it and yet it is nothing to me no griefe if it be any matter to me it is matter of joy Now I joy to fill up that which is behind c. Thinke how brave you should be and how neere you are
of blood of skuls and broken bones among many groning and tumbling to and againe with their bowels out holding up their hands Sir be mercifull I beseech you be mercifull and doe what you can to relieve me No I will not Now says Christ write downe the man for mercilesse What shall I say of this generation they are mourned to and yet lament not I have spoken to them saies Christ I have mourned to them but words teares stirre not when the most speaking things to move compassion move not then are a people written downe for mercilesse They have not remembred the afflictions of Joseph or condoled gnal Sheber over the breaking or the tearing to pieces of Joseph so t is very lively alluding to the state of Joseph whom his father thought to have beene torne with wild beasts When the extremity of misery moves not the least compassion the tearings and rendings of Kingdomes Townes Estates Persons then God writes downe men mercilesse Ye remembred not the tearings of Joseph When persons see the anguish of the soule of Joseph as one with death-pangs upon him and yet compassionate not this is written down We saw the anguish of his soule when he besought us and we would not heare we saw his heart-blood as it were ready to come out and yet we had no heart to pity surely we are judged as mercilesse wretches Genes 42.31 The order of trialls hintes the order of judgements sinners looke to your selves If Saints have their sad boutes their bloudy dayes surely you will have your turne too Men that love their sinnes love not to heare that ever they shall be whipt for them Evill is acted with confidence that it shall never be judged hee that sits in Heaven doth not regard since the beginning all things are as they were I have bin a sinner this twenty yeares and yet all is well This is grosse folly Christ laughes at it but we should mourne that men have no more grace hee sees that your day is comming yea hee sees that you cannot avoid it whilest in this state and therefore makes no more haste to take hold of you A creature that is fast in any Engine we lay we make not hast to come and breake the neck on 't and kill it outright because we know 't is fast and therefore wee come slowly Security is Satans deadly Engine you are fast in the bonds of iniquity justice is sure of you therefore it doth not make haste to come and break your neck and to dispatch you utterly When your day comes it will be a bloudy day indeed a day as long as a yeere as long as eternity a day that will never have night When your prisoning and chaining time comes your chaines will be everlasting your bout will be long mercy makes Justice therefore the longer a comming but if you presumptuously abuse this mercy even this mercy shall be shortned common mercy is shortened to desperate soules as it is lengthned to common penitents when they do but commonly humble themselves that is as poore brutes as in the case of Nineve And therefore you have a day of the Lord mentioned by the Prophet Zephany as hastened the great day of the Lord and hastening greatly to such a Generation of sinners as now I am speaking to Zephany 1.14 The great day of the Lord is neere it is neere it hasteth greatly the mighty man shall cry there bitterly t is a day of wastnesse mens bloud shall be poured out as dust and their flesh as dung the whole Land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousie and hee shall make a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the Land Your day when it comes will be like this day a day of dispatch that will make riddance of you wholly body and soule and if you slight this that I tell you now and goe on in your sinne know that this great day of the Lord hasteth greatly sinners t is neer t is neer But sinners merry sinners can you tell how neere t is How neere your sad day is No you can looke up into the Heavens and when the Skie lookes so and so you can tell what the next day will be and t is so saith Christ There will be stormes to morrow and they are so 't will be a wet afternoone and t is so And observe how our Saviour makes use of all this to a proud secure Generation Yea and why even of your selves judge you not what is right Luke 12.57 you can judge thus and thus and judge right respecting the Heavens why can you not judge thus of your selves Intimating 't were possible if men did but observe themselves their hearts and their lives as they do other things men if they would do this they might be able to give a neere guesse when a storme or a black gloomy day is neere them Looke sinners round about you do you see nothing in your lives that lookes like bloud and death Do you feele nothing in your consciences that speaks a storme a breeding The worme that never dies begins to live crawle and stirre here dost thou feele it knaw terribly now and then what and continue in thy sinne why hell certainly is not far off One may smell some fire sulphurous matter burning one may smell it and if in the next roome one smells it so hot that one can hardly indure the roome The fire below is brimstone dost thou not smell it in thy conscience How hot is the smell so hot as thou canst not indure that roome why then the fire is fast by thou art in the next roome to Hell Consolation issues from this point to all godly people under the Lords hand your turne is come now to pledge Christ hee dranke to you in a bitter Cup a great while agoe and a great many farre better then you have pledged him and you are honoured to do the like 'T is a great honour to drinke of the same Cup that Christ did Can yee be Baptized with the Baptisme that I am Baptised with and this asked when they talked of great honour to fill up that which is behind of his draught let what will be in it things never so bitter t is wholesome t is healthfull life is in our deadly Cup the bravest life springs out of our cruellest death If this be not enough think on this t is but thy turne 't will be over quickly the Cup will be taken out of thy hand and given to another Thou art sad but for a season And now for a season if neede be you are in heavinesse saith Peter there was necessity thou shouldest be in heavinesse for a little time and how long this time and season is the Scripture tells us 't is but a momens and then it resolves it selfe into everlasting consolation COLOS. 1.24 The Afflictions of Christ c. AFflictions are from God immediately or from man God strikes sometimes and uses no hand but his
to plume and prey upon whom they will It doth as the Devill where he raignes there is not a power in Hell but hee makes a fleshhooke on 't to teare and torture and fulfill his bloudy will so not a faculty not an office not any vires within or without but by oppression are all made tormenta killing instruments and to know none no not one like himself a man no not one like God but chaine him and rack him Thy Princes are roaring Lyons thy Iudges are evening Wolfes they know not the bones till the morrow Zephany 3.3 Here are all powers externall and internall combined and seconding one another Vse Matter of caution and matter of admiration may spring from this point Oppression hath beene opened and now wee have seene the nature of it wee should all take heede of so foule an evill especially men of place 't is an Aspe a Frogge that useth to craule up into Princes and great mens bed-chambers where it may lie softest and warmest and be best accommodated Cruelty is nothing without strong instruments it can doe nothing with strawes but vex and burne it selfe The Devill is a great Courtier hee gets among great men and there hee can shew himselfe as hee is play the Devill and make great earthquakes rend and teare whom hee will righteous and wicked what hee will body or soule at what compasse hee will Townes Cities Countries set whole Kingdomes a groaning bleeding dying Parts commend themselves to place place swells the soule too big for any due compass unlesse Christ bee gracious oppression is the first borne of pride in place after it comes to the Crowne 't is that child that will inherit all the outrage of greatnesse They are great mountaines that do crush Who art thou O great Mountaine before Zorubbabell great spirits and parts in great place The Devills children should be all strangled in the wombe or else they prove very long lived we should not have had so many bloudy oppressors at this day if pride had seasonably been bewailed As your naturalia so your praeternaturalia get such nests as to maturate themselves oppression maturates it selfe in high places there it can do all it will strike full blowes home blowes Oppression maturated is the crying'st provocation in a Land and brings downe the cryingest judgement Civill war a body tearing out its owne bowells see Zachary 11.5.6 Thus saith the Lord feede the flocke of slaughter whose possessors slâ—y them and hold themselves not guilty and they that sell them say Blessed be the Lord for I am rich and their owne Shepheards pitty them not therefore I will no mâ—â—â— pitty the inhabitants of the Land saith the Lord but loe I will deliver the men every one into his Neighbours hand and into the hand of his King and they shall smite the Land and out of their hand I will not deliver them which words meane civill war as the learned interpret which is the greatest judgement of all externall judgement doubly torturing for brother to sheath his sword like those Levites in the bowells of a Brother Father washing hands in the bloud of children and children washing hands in the heart-blood of Fathers wee may guesse our sinne by our punishment oppression set us together by the eares oppression corporall oppression spirituall our possessors to wit Prince Peeres Prelates did slay us as the Prophet speakes body and soule and held not themselves guilty Their steps trod in wrath will continue till it end us all and God will not deliver Matter of admiration also issueth from this point Let 's admire two things the badnesse of men and the goodnesse of God When wee see any praeternatural's any thing that nature did not properly intend any monstrosity in a thing if it bee but in a finger in a hand in a toe much more if in any maine part which maims the shape and almost varies the species wee wonder much as to see a Dove with a Bores tuskes to see a Lambe with a Serpents taile to see a man with a mouth and a throate as wide as a Sepulcher and a Tongue in it a fire of Hell and the spittle under the roofe of this Tongue the poyson of Aspes c. Wee wonder at what nature did never intend should wee not much more wonder at those monsters which grace did never intend such grace as workes toward man We meet a thousand thousand such monsters fore-mentioned in a spirituall sense and never make one thought stand still a jot divinely to consider it Spirituall monstrosity should affect us much to behold so noble a creature as man and his noblest part to wit his heart turned into a beast all his inside like a Wolfe or a Beare and onely his outside and scarce that like a man The worse some are the better others should be to make it up that God may not be altogether a loser in the greatest and costliest workes of his hands A tender heart will admire sigh and bleed over a hard O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets here is a patterne worth the following Christ beholds a company of bloudy tyrants stony-hearted hypocrites and he admires sighs mournes over them 't were but the discharge of our duty to mourne over this malicious bloudy Age wherein we live O England England thou that hast opprest to death many brave Prophets and worthies of other rankes sent unto thee When others kill and crucify Christ we should sit like Mary and weep over them Wee should admire the badnesse of men and the goodnesse of Christ Creatures in our own skin and of our own forme and yet Wolfes and Lyons how great is the power and goodnesse of Christ to preserve his people amongst such These wild beasts differ in their property from all more boundlesse more restlesse every way the more should that power be admired that keepes us Other creatures of prey keepe their place to wit the desert where no noble creatures trade is there range they keepe their time the night is their day Thou makest darknesse and it is night wherein the beasts of the forrests doe creepe forth the Sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them downe in Dens Psal 14.22 They are wild creatures and they keepe a wild place and a wild time when and where they may finde prey proper without injury to more noble creatures These wild Beasts before mentioned goe forth at all times when the Sun is downe and when the Sun is up into all places into Cities into Houses up to mens bed-chambers and pull persons out of their beds and sucke their bloud O the providence of God that keepes thee London from these Beasts of prey that hath saved thee and thy little ones from cruel oppressors so long This providence is lengthned and the mercy is by so much the more strengthned upon you the more to be laid to heart How often have these beasts of prey in great droves and with open mouthes
been driving this way and the Majesty and the justice of the Lord hath appeared and preyed upon them that would have preyed upon us fulfilling his word He shall breake in pieces the oppressor Psalm 72.4 As God remembers his word so we should remember him and write down his Noble acts upon our doore-posts bed-posts heart-posts to all which these beasts would have come for their prey These great acts of God prove mercies to men as laid to heart evill will returne and they which have beene so often driven back will be irresistible at length if he be forgotten which hath done all this for us COLOS. 1.24 For his bodies sake which is the Church ALL Christians in and under Heaven are related knit in one body by one soule to wit the same which breathes in God his holy Spirit Sacred society is glorious the Peers of all the world in a body robed and the great King of all the world in the midst of them such a fight as mortall eye never beheld His traine reaches from Earth to Heaven the foremost are in Heaven when the hindmost are here I helped you to a Scaffold to view the forepart the last day I would doe the like now to helpe you to view the latter that part of the traine which is going in at the everlasting doores but not yet quite in You may see a great deale of State at the doore of Heaven in the very hindmost soule of that company which are going in there That part which is gone in with the Bridegroome is mighty great so is that which is going in An innumerable company of believers conflicting with an innumerable company of enemies longing and waiting for the full redemption and liberty of the Sons of God The haires of our mysticall head grow not thin no not in this climate which is the most unhealthy they are thicke and bushy Can you number the haires of your head then may you number that company which Christ hath upon earth Can you number the Starres of Heaven Looke up to the Heavens saith God to Abraham and see if thou canst number the Starres so shall thy seed be which is fulfilled as appeares by the authour to the Hebrewes Therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead so many as the Starres of the Skie in multitude and as the Sand which is by the Sea shore innumerable Heb. 11.12 The haires of our mysticall head are many yet all of one colour blacke as a Raven that is beautifull and flourishing Gray haires are not here and there upon this head the Militant Church is for quantity great a Nation for quality holy the foundation of this Nation Christ the cement faith something above the revelation of reason something above the revelation of the best parts something above flesh and blood Peter there are strange carnall apprehensions of me in the world as if Christ had said how doest thou apprehend me My apprehension is vitall Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God Observe the reply of Christ Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona Bar is a Chalde word and the same with ben an Hebrew word which signifies a sonne and Jona signifies gracious and as some translate a Dove so that t is as if Christ had said in our language Blessed art thou Simon sonne of grace sonne of that same Dove which descended on mee flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven Thou art Peter and upon this Rocke will I build my Church Matth. 16.18 Ben which is the Hebrew word for a sonne is as much as the word building with us because the sonne is the building of the family our Saviour interprets so much himselfe in his allusive words upon this Rocke will I build my Church and Jona signifying gracious the metaphor is the same in sense with the former that Christs building here below is a gracious building foundation gracious to wit himselfe every stone gracious Bar-Jona's an innumerable company of believers I John saw a great company which no man could number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all sealed the cement of this building holy to wit faith a holy faith a most holy faith as the Apostle cals it Jud. 20. Conflicting with an innumerable company of enemies The Sea is a big body yet tossed perpetually so is the Church of Christ upon earth t is a body very big and very good and yet t is not so big nor so good but it hath as big and as bad a body to encounter it We are here troubled with Frogs and devouring vermin and the pit out of which they come is bottomlesse The gates of Hell are wide open against the Church of Christ here though they cannot prevaile against it they that take away mens soules come forth freely in what numbers they will and goe what compasse they will here all this world over of an instant and get at which hand they will of the best people when about the best worke they will take the wall of the Noblest soules and when about the Noblest worke get at their right hand The Sonnes of God were assembled and Satan stood at their right hand The locusts below goe forth by Troopes they are so populous in that land of death My name is legion for we are many Though but one speake when a poore soule is tempted yet the traine that attends upon this one is many I believe this roome is full of infernall Spirits and that not a soule of you now present but have a legion of them at your right hand jogging of you though these gates of Hell are not suffered to prevaile If there were no intermixing of Satans family and Christs in this world if those evill spirits which he hath at home by him did never come abroad so farre as into this world yet those that are here resident and weare the same skinne and clothes which Christs family doe are very many They that persecute my soule are many saith the Psalmist And he speakes of incarnate devils devils resident in our flesh and in our earth A doore is open to me a great doore saith the Apostle and there be many enemies how many that he could not tell nor no body else but him that set them on worke One doore open and many devils at it to shut it againe many devils at one doore so at every doore of hope that a Christian hath open to him surely Satans strength is great here that he can begirt every holy person and every holy action upon earth and yet this is the condition of the Church militant Elishaes condition shadowes the state of the Church militant mentioned 2 Kings 6.15 An Host compassed the City with horses and chariots in so much that the servant of Elisha cried out Alasse Master how shall we doe we are begirt with innumerable companies of mortall enemies many thousand deaths waite for us at every doore and this is the state
of the best men upon earth This makes longing and panting for full redemption which is the property of the Church of God upon earth 't would be in Heaven There is a voice in Rama and t is all over Rama mourning and lamentation Rachel weeping bitterly if you aske her why She will tell you I have many sonnes and daughters sweet children all and yet not one but very hardly handled sore shot at by deadly archers many are slaine and are not and the rest abused and vilified as the off-scouring of all things torne with Lyons and little wormes gnawing and eating up the carcasse pulled downe by great ones and when down trod to death by base ones Rachel hath not a child but sits like the Shunamites in her armes sighing groaning and mourning because of one wound or other within or without and I cannot remedy any of this saith she and this cuts me to the heart my children are slaine in mine armes slaine with the breast at their mouthes yea ripped out of my wombe Would my children were all in my husbands armes saith Rachel then they would all be safe would he would send and fetch me and all mine out of this plundered countrey into his owne city then all would be well soule well yea and body well The world heares little of this noise t is so inward but t is the panting and beating of every good mans pulse and bowels in a degree We which have the first fruits of the Spirit where these fruits lie is the noise we groane within our selves waiting for the adoption For the adoption This they had already The meaning therefore is for the full fruition of what they were adopted to which is explained in the following words to wit the redemption of our body The soule goes first to the society above the body last all is perfect when this comes therefore is this onely mentioned which notes that the militant Church groanes and pants after a perfect state every one sighing and bleeding inwardly inwardly earnestly willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Corinth 5.8 This was shadowed by Davids ascent to Mount Oliver And David went up by the ascent of Mount Oliver and wept as he went up and be had his head covered and he went bare-foot and all the people that was with him covered every man his head and they went up weeping as they went up 2 Sam. 15.30 Christ which David typified and all his followers here below are going up sighing and panting and mourning to that mount above Vse We are come to speake of a Militant church in a Militant time surely our course is steered by a supreame hand for speciall good to some of you Christians lay to heart the state of that body whereof yet you are can you Jerusalem which is above above the world and above Satan is the mother of us all that body which Christ hath upon earth groaned travelled with you and brought you forth this wombe which bare you those pappes which gave you sucke are now wounded with a thousand wounds doe you see them The haire of your mother is torne her bowels ript up her blood runnes in every high way O all ye that passe by have ye observed it Dogs licke the blood of Jezabel yea the blood of Rachel the Sword of the wicked sheds the blood of many a gallant man England a great Parke full of deare soules the pales now plucked up the game of Christ shot at by every base person many a brave Hart falne onely a few Fawnes left women and children crying and ringing their hands for their husbands and fathers doe you heare them Mother where is my Father when will he come home Sir where is my husband when will he come home And a lasse for them he is at home already at his long home Heathens rage on one hand mothers children angry on t'other hand the Boare is abroad the Fox at home one puls off the tender Grapes t'other squeeses and suckes their blood the worke is one the tailes of all the wilde beasts in the Land are together though their faces seem to looke severall waies one shoots at the body t'other at the soule both poison their Bullets the venome whereof feeds that Divine justice which now fights against us all as if it were resolved to consume us all for ought any one amongst us all can yet see Is not the Church of Christ in England militant Men Devils yea a God fights against it for the pollution in it Christians you are witnesses of all this what doe you in secret doe you mourne for the tearings and rendings of Joseph can you doe it doe you move according to your condition Military fight with prayers and teares doe you finde any aptnesse this way I aske this because displeasure sinkes deepe sometimes and drinkes up all Divine moisture in the soule the wombe of prayers and teares closes withers and dries up God secretly saith pray not for this people and then good hearts pumpe and pompe and nothing will come Abraham had some such secret checke surely when hee broke off struggling so strangely for Sodome when God seemed to be upon such an yeelding veine secret providence certainely was in it that he might not yeeld so farre as to null peremptory resolution which was to make an end of a generation whose iniquity was full God felt Abraham holding him and cries let me alone but Abraham did not feels God holding him nor cried let me alone Lord let me plucke a brand out of the fire let me quench Hell fire once with my teares Christians I beseech you observe your spirits the welfare of all is in this point I am now upon and not in your great Armies abroad which you so much looke upon if you feele God tying up and straitning your soules in regard of a Sodome which you struggle for a Land that looks as if it were ripe in all wickednesse and farre worse in some circumstances then ever Sodome was cry Lord let me alone let me draw buckets let me make my Study my closet a Bokim a place of teares let me quench a fire that hath almost burnt a brave Kingdome to ashes let me save a Nation a populous Nation thousands and ten thousands thousands of thousands from swimming to hell in their owne blood If I shall not pray out yet let me chatter so in thine eares that fifteene yeeres may be added to the life of three Kingdomes to set themselves in order to goe hence to be pilgrims and wanderers to any other part where thou wilt Thus doe your duty and then submit We should be affected with our condition but not cast down A state of hardship generates discontent and now Satan hath set Heaven and Earth on fire A man may have a Heaven in his soule when a Hell in his body if submissive still to the will of God but when fightings without make fightings within repinings
spirit they were such that had not so much as that circumcision which was made with hands much lesse that circumcision which was made without hands by the spirit A Gentile in the spirit is one ignorant without God in the World that is without the knowledge of God it is explained so by another expression like this that at that time yee were without Christ being Aliens Eph. 2.12 And by another expression to them that are without the Law as without the Law 1 Cor. 9.21 that is such as had no knowledge of the Word of God nor did acknowledge any such thing as a rule of life but their own blind traditions and customes Gentilisme is a meere Chaos a little World lying all in confusion darkenesse upon the face of the deepe the understanding which is as the face of the soule blind not able to finde out God in his Word or Workes what in essence or what in existence what hee is or what he doth in Heaven in Earth in the soule of man nor what hee will doe though all these exprest and told of at large a Gentile in spirit is one that cannot see God nor feele after him that can use neither head nor hand no reason nor sense divinely one that fits in darkenesse and cannot stir any power internall or externall towards the true God One that fits in darknesse wich is an expression I thinke in allusion to the Egyptians who had thicke darkenesse such obscurity of darknesse as the originall saith that they saw not any man his brother neitheir rose any man from his place for three dayes mittacheaif de sub se not from under himselfe or not from off himselfe and these were Gentiles and in this I thinke the lively type of all Gentiles who are in such thick darkenesse spiritually that they sit stock still not one can arise from of himselfe to apprehend any thing out of himselfe and above himselfe that which hee worships is himselfe the imagination of his own brain his zeale is seated in blind principles and this is his God that he knowes no God As I passed by and beheld your devotion I found an Altar with this inscription to the unknowne God and these were Gentiles and this blind principle was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Innâ—itten or written in them for the Altar was but an emblem of their heart they did hold out by this what was in them to wit a God adored but no body could tell what no not they themselves any further then selfe some carnall fancies hotly pursued and after no other light would they search with braine or sense The Apostle reproves them in this scope though you have not the Word of God yet you have had the workes of God if you had pursued these as blind men that use their hands in stead of their eyes and make a good shift to finde their way you would certainly have found out God to better purpose then this inscription quotes and then relates the story of the Creation viz. who hath made of one bloud all Nations if happily they might feele after him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word notes touching or groaping with the hand not able to imploy understanding nor sense about the Word or Workes of God to finde out God which is just the state of a brute and so are the Gentiles shadowed to be in Pauls vision there were all manner of Beasts in the sheet that was let downe to him but nothing else A Gentile in spirit is one blinde and obstinate he shuts his eyes against some things and none must open them opens his eyes to other things and none must shut them he loveth darknesse better then light and no body must stir nor wake his love till hee please this obstinacy is well exprest by Christ Mat. 18.17 if hee will not heare the Church let him be as a Heathen an Ethnick which is the same word with the Text I stand on if hee will not heare let him be accounted a Gentile a Gentile is a wilfull person Let a man be in Church-state and under-light yet if wilfull in sinne loving darknesse and against light hee is as a Heathen that is he is a Gentile in spirit hee is formerly and really a Gentile onely he is not outwardly called so he is not called so by men but he is so by God The Jewes the greatest amongst them the Scribes and Pharisees that instructed company although of the Jewish Church and eminent in Office yet as obstinate and raging opposers of Peter and his Ministery are cald by the Spirit of God Ethicks and in the second Psalme where the Prophet speakes of Heathenish great ones opposing Christ applied it to them as fulfilled in them Acts 4.25 when they were let goe they reported to their owne company that is to the rest of the Apostles and Disciples all that the chiefe Priests and Elders had said to them and when the Apostles heard it they lifted up their voice with one accord and said O God which hath made Heaven and Earth who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said Why doe the Heathen rage and so forth and there cals them Ethnicks Gentiles and because of this that they were wilfull and raging in their blindnesse and wickednesse against Christ This property also of stubbornnesse was lively shadowed in that Type of the Gentiles forementioned there were such and such kinds of beasts in the sheet that was let down to Paul and wild beasts saith the Text to note that this is one eminent property in an ethnicall spirit wildnesse headinesse obstinacy in his blinde course Spirituall gentilisme is opened have I not done two works at once opened the Doctrine and opened your condition are ye not Gentiles in heart though not so call'd truth should be own'd whether with us or against us or there is no remedy confession of sinne is a necessary Gospell requisite sinners can have no mercy without it if ye lay not open your sinne to God t will lay open you to God Angels and men and a soule laid open by the word is one found out in the fact when God hath found out and seised upon a sinner for him then to deny the fact or seeke to breake away from him as one that breakes bolts by being more boysterous in sin this man will die for it and not have pardon no not hope on 't hee 'l not have his booke there is not the least tender of grace to the soule whilst convictions are strangled but treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath to burne hornets in their nest seeing they will not come out convictions stifled is like Powder in a mine that when sprung it blowes up all and no fire so terrible as this stifled fire for renting and tearing the soule A mans soule discovered by truth God hath found out the man the effect will be this the man will now prove a deare friend or a desperate enemy to Christ the vision
Christs being in us carries some proportion to this and is so applied by the Apostle The eyes of our understanding being enlightned that we might know the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Ephes 1.19 God was in Christ that is he did put forth an exceeding great power in him and by this wrought in and by him exceeding great things raised him from the dead so saith the Apostle Christ is in us what 's that why he doth put forth an exceeding great power in us and by this raiseth us from the power of sinne satan and selfe and enables us to walke as spiritually alive that is according to the will of the Spirit of Christ and not according to our owne lust Divine communion at such a heigth as makes union and similitude to Christ speakes Christ in us according to the Scripture using of this phrase No act that Christ did for us but there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communion of the vertue of it in us life death resurrection ascention that is an importing of the same Spirit and power that did all these in Christ according to such a measure as to worke similitude to all these in us That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering or the participation of his suffering t is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being made conformable to his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 configuratus made together in likenesse one shapt and formed by another so exact that there is a consimilitude one forme in two as it were consimilitude with Christ is Christ in us The expression being opened doe but note one thing what a forlorne seat Christ chooseth in this world great ones choose seats sutable to their ranke places of great worth rich fertile pleasant You may see the course of great ones in this by Lot he chose the plaine of Jordan which was for fertility and pleasantnes like the garden of God Gen. 13.19 Christ chooseth the poorest and the meanest place in all the world the poorest and meanest place in all the world is the soule of man this is poore in extremity poore and naked Revel 3. your soules are starke naked your bodies have some covering and some estate but your soules are destitute of all not a ragge of covering not a farthing of estate utterly destitute That which makes wealth and worth upon the soule is the beames of loving kindnesse shining upon them and these are utterly gone from the soule My loving kindnesse will I not utterly take from you T is a speech of dread and hints what is our state naturally Christ is utterly gone from the soule not a beame of loving kindnesse shines upon it There is nothing to speake properly within or without that estate but that which hath loving kindnesse wrapt up in it things thus considered man is the poorest creature in all the world in the front of wrath not any thing he hath within or without that hath a beame of loving kindnesse What Job speakes of some externally that may be said of him and of all us internally and naturally considered He cald them children of fooles yea children of base men Job 30.8 Beni beli Sem children without name that is without any worth As some are externally of no worth so are all of us internally consider our condition naturally and our soules are namelesse soules worthlesse soules if you will give a name to your soules you cannot in justice give them any name that imports any worth but such as may import worthlesnesse to the utmost The prodigall when he came to see the poverty of his inside said call me not by any name of worth let my soule goe namelesse of any such title I am not worthy to be called thy sonne We may not be called possessours of any thing naturally no not heires to any thing that is Divinely good we are creatures of no hope in our naturall condition nothing in possession nor nothing in reversion and yet such beggerly creatures Christ useth to sit downe in Meeke sitting upon an Asse Math. 21.5 An Asse is the poorest and the despisedst thing one of them that is and yet this Christ chuseth to make his seat Base things of the world things which are despised hath God chosen saith the Apostle and as if this were not enough to set forth the worthlesnesse of the things he chuseth for his seat hee addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non existentia and things which are not that have no existence our soules are so farre from any bravenesse of being that it is most proper to say they have no being at all if you will call your soules any thing call them things which are not and yet in these things which are not that is of any worth doth Christ looke him out a seat and dwelling Which is Christ in you The seat which Christ chuseth is very mean and very unclean which is the second particular which speaks the forlornnesse of a thing Poore people and poore houses when cleanly are desireable but usually poore persons are nasty and filthy too which makes them loathsom to us and yet Christ chuseth the poorest and the filthiest places for his seat Your uncleanest part is your inside the soule is the sinke of the man very excrement very rottennesse Psalme 5.9 wickednesses Havvoth the expression notes extention not a roome in the soule but foule very foule so that it is more proper to call every faculty and every operation every organ and organization wickednesse then wicked You have Elihu setting out this to Job notably Why is thy spirit turn'd against God and then speaking about the spirit of man sets it out to the life what it is it is filthy saith he it stinks it stinks abominably this is the case of every man saith he What man is he that is borne of a woman that he should be cleane he puts no trust in his Saints Job 15.16 Nithgnab Nèèlach the heavens are not cleane in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is man abominable and stinking The same word is used Psalme 14.3 and so translated in the Margin stinking and this doth agree notably with the type the grave which is cald the heart of the earth doth but resemble the heart of man and there Christ took up his seat and his lodging and what more filthy than the grave t is stinking nothing like it stinking abominably and yet in this doth Christ take up his seat his rest his solemnest rest no place that is so solemnly possest and taken up as the grave the seat which Christ hath here is a grave our soules are a Golgotha and yet in no place doth Christ so solemnly seat himselfe as in the soule of man 'T is a mean place 't is an uncleane place that Christ chuseth to
sit down in here and yet this is not all 't is a place much haunted which is the last particular which speaks the forlornnesse of a place you take but a fancy that this place and that is haunted with evill spirits and you will not sit downe in such a place for all the world this is reall and no fancy concerning your soules there is no place in all the world hell excepted so haunted with evill spirits as the soule of man that room within us Come out of the man thou unclean spirit saith Christ and Christ askt him his name and he said my name is Legion for we are many but how many that the devill himself could not tell or would not Mark 5.9 The invisible world is more populous then the visible you have an innumerable company of evill spirits haunting one soule the numerousnesse of diabolicall spirits infesting the soule is hinted by that similitude of our Saviour comparing them to Fowles that flock to their prey Some fell by the high way and the Fowles came and gathered it up saith the Text Rev. 16.14 There be flocks of Crowes and Rooks and Ravens and black fowle in the aire And then they are called Locusts in the Revelation a creature more populous then any History writes of them that they foresee a famine and then leave such parts and flee in such a mighty company that like a great thick cloud they darken the Sun for a great compas that whole countreys of people see them as they flee and fear lest they will light where they live and devoure all There is another title given to diabolicall spirits to note etheir populousnesse in the pursuit of the soule of man the devill is called Beel-zebub an Idol or God of flies intimating that those evill spirits that haunt our soules here are as thicke as swarmes of flies There is another Scripture that speaks to this point Math. 7.21 This kinde goes not out c. There are it seems divers kinds of evill spirits The result of all is this Christ useth a very forlorne seat in this world There is a necessity of this if he have to doe with us for there are no other seats to be found here It speaks the great condiscension of Christ and should be taken notice of by us and mentioned to his honour Meek sitting upon an Asse Consider or this expression how divine condiscension is observed and extold Had not Christ been very meek and full of humility he had never stoopt so low as to take a dwelling in us the word you translate meek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latine word parvus comes from it which signifies little meeknesse and humility is that which doth little one The great God oh how doth he little himselfe to come to live in us how doth he obscure his glory to lie in a Stable and in a Manger brutish filthy places and yet those did but typifie where his internall lodging as God is to wit in a stinking loathsome hellish place the souls of men the highest the perfectest purity to seat himself in the perfect'st impurity The Apostle when he speaks of something a this side this he cals it humbling and debasing himselfe he humbled himselfe to the death yea to the grave yea to a spirituall grave not onely to at base place for his body which was quickly over but to a base place for his soule to wit our soules which grave lasts a great while Thou wilt not leave my soule in grave yes 't is left in our soules and what is this but a grave a place of rottennesse a continent of devills an uppermost though not a neather most hell Can a hell praise God Can the grave praise Christ The Scripture seems to put an impossibility upon what I exhort to I am exhorting the grave to praise Christ that hee would come there if it be possible let the grave praise Christ let your soules which are the spirituall graves of Christ open their mouthes and make a resurrection of him and of his love that lies there Take up Hannah's song The Lord killeth and maketh alive he bringeth downe to the grave and bringeth up the Lord maketh poore and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up He raiseth the poore out of the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dung-hil to set them among Princes and to make them inherit thrones of glory for the pillars are the Lords and he hath set the world upon them c. Vse 'T is mighty consolatory this point where Christ lodges himselfe yea be it never so filthy or forlorne a place he will make it absolutely blessed before he hath done Doe but observe what he saith O grave I will be thy victory and the Apostle applyes this spiritually and cheares the godly the grave death and hell they are all within you and there lyes Christ and he will be the destruction of all though your soules be as the grave full of rottennesse full of filthy smels a thousand times worse than any grave in the world yet he that sweetned the corporal grave by lying in it he will sweeten this before Christ hath done with the soule he will not leave the least ill favour in it not any thing that is sinne or lookes like it not any evill spirit not any wicked spirit shall fift you haunt you he will make the place where he lyes even as pure and perfect as heaven what is that which kils good people in this world but when the grave opens and they see their misdeeds and smell how loathsome they are you see the grave open you must also think who lies there as it were buried you must as she * Martha look for the living amongst the dead and remember what Christ hath said That he will be the victorie and rest and cheare your soules with this hath Christ conquered the greater hell and will he not conquer the lesser hath he made victory over the grave in which he lay under infinite wait of sinne and wrath and will he not make victory over that grave where some sinnes lye and no wrath Certainly he will turne the grave into a Palace and furnish it royally and so hang it that it shall doe any one good to behold it The soule is Christs in-room and he is very curious about this all appurtinances to it shall be like the possessour of it very exact there shall be nothing called lignum as the Roman Dames were wont to say that is meare wood COLOS. 1.27 Hope of glory DIvine things at a distance have their influence upon the soul a word of heaven sets the soul a longing and looking after it and this is called hope Hope speaks an heire under age knowing his inheritance and expecting possession writings are throughly read propriety plainly found out evidence about the man yea evidence in him to shew Christ in you the hope of glory As corporall nourishment passeth through severall concoctions and
such under your tuition as are Drons and sigh ah what a living plague have I pinn'd upon me I am very industrious to instruct to propagate wholsome principles I ravell out my Lungs my Reines my Braines my life and yet he sees not this silver cord to be led to any thing by it say what I will doe what I will all dyes at the doore equity will not enter Rectum non potuit ingredi 't will not goe in they were so crooked that right things and straghit things could not be made to goe in Thus you complaine and thus you see God complaines he is sensible of painfulnesse and successelesenesse as you are The Metaphor is taken from dense obdurate things as stones earth which are such things of all other that light can make least entrance into The earth is the most deading and repelling body of resplendency of any body They that are but a little way under the earth are darker many fathome then they that are under water because Sunne-rayes can enter this bodie and make light downe to the bottome though very deep As 't is with bodies under earth so 't is with soules worldlings earthy wretches your soules are under earth you are in great darknesse and light cannot come at you The things under which your soules are do so dead and dampe it out incarnall soules there are great damps which put out all the light that is brought in know therefore what God complaines of God burdened with any soule that soule can be in no good condition a soule in utter darknesse I meane in such darknesse where no light can come is abused both by fancy and conscience deluded tormented and finall and fatall wrath brings up the reare In darknesse fancy is a brave light an approved guide and alas what conception of divine things this makes Christ is I know not what and I know not from whence any thing that the soule will any thing that sinne will to make a long life for it selfe in the soule We know whence this man is but when Christ commeth no man knoweth whence he is Joh. 7.27 What a strange Chimera is Christ to fancy a big nothing to carnall apprehension Christ is such a one as comes no man can tell whence Fancy raises things so high that no body can see them this tumor in the spirit 't is such profound wisdome that it turnes man into a foole and God into nothing The foole hath said in his heart there is no God He doth not speake such words formally but his fancy resolved and his conception of God rightly exprest speaks God no God i. they speak such things of God as are inconsistent to such a holy being and so destroy God God murdered his bloud cries in mans conscience morall light is made to torment when Divine light cannot enter The higher rejection of God the greater guilt falls upon Conscience this is not all The light a man hath in this case shall not serve him so much as to shift with to evade the Huy and Cry of Conscience but be arm'd against a man and quickly to take hold on the Felon so guilty and very resolutely and irresistibly give the soule up to conscience shift how it will or how it can Shimei was a rough-spirited man and hid from the Hue and Cry of his owne conscience some space of time in that businesse about his dogged carriage to David wherein he resisted some divine beames but what they were and how many and how big and bright I know not all his carriage in that bad businesse he called perversenesse and against his Lord and King and was himselfe of the house of Joseph and therefore 't is probable had some principles of light more then ordinary distil'd in that Line and yet all those black circumstances of ill carriage towards David not seen by Shimei a great while at last they all revive and Shimei's light quickned upon him and by how much the greater in it selfe the greater now against him and gives him up will he â—ill he to a tormenting conscience The words of the Story are these and speak all that I have spoken and more Shimei came voluntarily to David as he passed over Jordan one of the first of all the house of Joseph and falls downe at Davids feet Doe not remember that which thy servant did perversely that the King should put it to his heart for thy servant doth know that I have sinned 2 Sam. 19.20 Did not Shimei know that he had sinned before now that he had rejected David as King and so in him Christ No doubt but he made shift to hide things from Conscience till now now his light was quickned and strengthned upon him and would serve to darken things no longer but to brighten and to cleare them and so irresistibly and with strong hand to give him up to the pursuer and thus will all your light serve you who reject the cleare light of the Gospell and rest in other dark lights The light a man hath and abuses to keep out more and better light Christ will make this in the conclusion to give up the man to conscience now is the man delivered up to the adversary indeed which is called in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vindicta such an adversary as doth make revenge against one when your carnall light hath delivered you up to conscience for abusing of it conscience will be a revenger against you 't will revenge the quarrell of Christ according to all that he hath against you Vindiction of Conscience ah what a thing ' t is 't is a Granado shot into the house in the night when all are abed and asleep which awakens with a witnesse breaks open teares open windowes doors eyes bowels and fetches the sleeper out peece-meale and doth Satans work to his hand and makes a slaughter-house at home and then brings every thing ready quarter'd out and laies all peece by peece joynt by joynt faculty by faculty at hell doore as neare Infinite Wrath as 't is possible for things to be laid in this life None kils so cruelly nor buries her dead so forlornely so neare Hell as Conscience doth You that finde the truth of this poynt that Gospell administration hath maturated understanding made your light exact you will be very blessed soules you will be very quick in application of divine things and proportionable in the fruition of them blessing of them you will not set short in duty nor rewards At what hight we are in the understanding of Christ we are in love to him if perfect in one so in the other if perfect in light perfect in love if perfect in affection perfect in action for love is fire fire doth ascend all of it every sparke and therefore your burnt offerings were called gnola ascension because they did all ascend in a flame Full Light will make you
instituted to be of spirituall interpretation and spirituall impression to pricke the heart yea to runne it through The weapon in the hand of the Spirit is suted and fitted to its end to its appointed worke t is very sharpe and very long 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 romphaea so t is cald Revel 2.12 jaculum oblongum a very long dart to make through worke save or slay and therefore is this rod of Christs mouth cald a slaying weapon Esay 11.4 Vse T is not safe I see by this poynt to have to doe with sinne any way not to meddle with it in any part neither with hand nor heart there is no hiding place any where for sinne no not within you the word of God will get into you t will ransacke every corner of your soules and discover deepe things out of darknesse t wil strike fire with your bones and kindle a fire in the midst of you bigge enough to discover and lay open all the very secrets of your heart but I purpose not to drive this way That which I would stand on is this this point in hand mee thinks hath not yet demonstration enough I would have you lend me one demonstration more Doe you finde this by experience that the Word of God reacheth your hearts and puts it selfe into your minds and soules our condition is very dolorous t is darke night and yet no man can tell how our night goes away we cannot tell whether it be mid night yet or what I am afraid t is not neere day yet because every ones doores are shut and fast asleepe many ghosts walking which is very affrighting yea the holy Ghost walking and knocking much at mens hearts heads estates ready to knocke downe all and yet cannot get in where he would be England when wilt thou throughly let in the Word of God thy veines are very empty of blood now is there no place yet for truth Some consumptions make the stomacke nauceate as others make it voraminous though all parts be empty yet no desire to take any thing in to any purpose but onely sip a little which notwithstanding the consumption continues and the body decayes and sinkes apace t is so with a body politicke as it takes in Christ and his Word so is it in a languishing or a flourishing condition The civill State and the Divine doe as the soule and body sympathize as the one prospers so doth the other t was noted a great while agoe worthily by good Mr. Fox upon the burning of some Christians in Norwich the same yeere there followed such a fearfull fire as almost burnt downe the City where note saith he that according to the state of the Church so is the Common-wealth in adversity or prosperity burne Saints and Christ will burne Cities Countries Kingdomes t is considerable therefore to observe how we take in or cast out the Word of God The Word is nigh thee England t is very nigh thee t is in thee as that expression is Deut. 30.14 t is so nigh thee England that I may goe on to say to thee as he there doth to Israel The Word is not in Heaven that thou shouldest say who shall goe up for us to Heaven and bring it downe to us that we may heare it and doe it neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldest say who shall goe over the Sea and bring it to us that we may heare and doe it but the Word is very nigh thee so nigh thee that in a sence it may be said to be in thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayst doe it that is formally t is in thee but not really ministerially but not magisterially according to naked aspect not according to energeticall inspect I will open this latter to you The Word of God gotten into the heart magisterially is the heart strong in love with the Word in love with the Word because the voyce of Christ the voyce of a husband The friend of a Bridegroome which standeth and heareth him rejoyceth greatly because of the Bridegroomes voice John 3.19 You may see under what notion Christ and his voice is taken as he is a Husband a Bridegroome and his Word as t is the voice of this Bridegroome The Word got within the heart marries the soule to Christ that is makes love to Christ above all and now ' tould heare more words from his mouth his first words are so sweet could ever heare his voyce and never be tired the friend of a Bridegroome standeth and heareth him No posture is painfull no continuance of time tiresome that is not of the Spirit though possibly it may be of the flesh t would heare him to day to morrow for ever rejoyceth greatly because of the Bridegroomes voyce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gaudio gaudet by joying or in joying he joyeth he is in good earnest his joy is a reall joy a joy that takes the whole heart The Greeke word also signifies to bid farewell the Word of Christ got into the heart the Bridgroomes voyce heard in the soule makes such a joy and such a delight that the soule bids farewell to all sinfull mirth and cals it madnesse yea it bids farewell to all other delights comparatively and cals them vanities empty things if not sinfull things vexing things and so polluting at second hand if not downe rightly naught and polluting at first hand as soone as ever toucht He that toucheth pitch is defiled with it some things are so naught as to touch them defiles to thinke of them or speake of them other things may be toucht and handled provided we goe no further but if hearted if they come into the soule they vex or bewitch and so will not out againe without becomming sinne The Word of Christ got into the heart bids farewell to all joyes fading to all joyes that will bid the soule farewell that doth not bid them farewell first it makes a joy transcending other joyes and so no need of them and not onely so but a joy sufficing such a vast being as the soule of man is for the soule doth not cast off old delights upon the meere excellency of some new found out that some of later invention doth something more content not upon this ground nakedly and simply doth the soule cast off old sinnes for there are returnes to the same filth unto mens old sinnes and yet going foreward to new too these two are consistent in a bad state the heart doth worsten it selfe still as it goes forth to any thing more carnally contenting and being made worse t will at last take up its vomit eate againe an old sinne by the strength and punishment of a new and so hold what he hath and goe backe and sinne over former sinnes againe with more senslesnesse and with more presumption than at first he did commit them and the reason is because in old and new delights he misses still something that he aimed at but the soule
doth cast off former delights utterly upon such a present excellency of delight and joy as doth suffice and fill up the soule now the Word of God got into the heart the voice of the Bridegroom heard in the soule or with the soule it makes a full joy such a joy as beside or beyond which the soule knowes none nor desires none John 3.29 This my joy therefore is fulfilled said John therefore is fulfilled Wherefore why that as a friend of the Bridegroome he could stand and heare the voice of the Bride spiritually heare Christ eare and heart his words take in and take downe the drops that fell from his mouth Though they are but drops that fall from Christs mouth here in comparison of what falls from his lips above yet they are so big that they fill the soule every Grape of this Vine ounce grapes There is a grape in forraigne parts which because of the greatnesse of it is call'd an ounce grape Every grape of this Vine to wit Christ is an ounce grape every drop from his mouth an ounce drop of so much juyce and liquor as fills the soule with joy and the soule filled once then it doth indeed bid farewell to all joyes and all delights parts with all parting things utterly If you finde that the Word is of no spirituall force that it doth not go into your soules Christ in this case must be move'd Divine institutions are not necessarily successefull all meanes are so ordered that the soule in the midst of them should looke up to Christ The word and Christ as well as the creatures and Christ are separable here below though not above and joyn'd together by faith and prayer Many brave things may be spoken to us from the word but we can receive in none unlesse we have a higher helpe then the meere Word which we heare There arose a question between Johns Disciples and the Jewes about purifying John answered the question briefly and pithily A man can receive nothing unlesse it be given him from heaven meaning not extraordinary graces and gifts for office nor ordinary as a Christian John 4.27 Receptions and takings in of divine things these are high things indeed gifts from heaven We may bring many brave things and lay them at your doore at your eares but the taking in of these into your heart this must be given you from heaven And blessed him that had the promises Heb. 7.6 't is more for a person to have the promises then to have meerly the Word preacht to him Abraham was one that had the promises and yet he needed a super-benediction to make all promises blessings to him something from heaven to make all the words he heard on earth heaven to him how much more need there a blessing from heaven attending men which have not the promise as Abraham had but onely the Word sounded to them The spring is in God still therefore let no man mistake himselfe when he looks upon the Trunke The Word is but a Pipe and conveyance of the Spirit All my strings are in thee To have springs in our soules to have words turned into works working words we must with the Spouse look up to God Thou that dwellest in the gardens the companions hearken to thy voice cause me to beare it Cant. 8.13 'T is the complaint of many poore soules that the Word is of no power in them that it gets within such and such and they are melted and delated and run out in strength of love to Christ Why tell your sad story to Christ as the Spouse doth the companions hearken to thy voice cause me to heare it such and such can eare and heart the Word cause me to doe so too COL 1.28 Teaching every man DIscipline is suted to the state of sinners some are obstinate unruly in thy filthinesse is lewdnesse Ezek. 24.13 to such belongs warning that is Blaming Warne the unruly saith the Apostle Obstinacy is not a first but a last growth of sinne it notes a sinner of so long standing a senior in sin one almost ripe for wrath The Word must be sharpe and keene when hearts are hard to make their owne way because the heart will not yeeld and give way Reprehension is not to goe alone without instruction whom we warne we are to teach Men are obstinate because ignorant as reprehension is proper to men as unruly so is instruction proper to them as ignorant the one doth but lop sinne the other doth grub it up by the rootes Christ aimes in the Discipline he uses at the rooting up of sinne he hath a double property in his breath he doth blast and then blesse blast by reprehension and then blesse by instruction by breathing in right principles The nature of a Christians cleansing I am to stand upon Gospell purification is full Doct. 1 Christ doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expurgare purge out filth filth is not detected and then cloakt and hid againe dust is not swept together and then laid behinde the doore but throwne out The eternall God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting armes and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say destroy Their enemies in Canaan shadowed the enemies in our heart which Christ did not onely detect but thrust out he saies to his Spirit and to ours thrust out sin purge out therefore the old Leaven kill and carry out the dead and 't is so Christs words are actions what he bids what he commands his Spirit and our spirits to do they doe opposition is strong between Christ and Satan and yet the spirit of Justice guides him in all that he doth to the most unjust and cursed things in the world Christ doth no other to Satan and sinne than they would doe to him they have killed Christ and thrust him out of the world out of the great world and they would doe so also to him in order to the little world they would kill him and thrust him out of the heart This and no lesse is in the nature of sinne and without possibility of any thing else and therefore compared to Thornes and in a type named children of Belial seeking to de-throne David yea to take away the life of David i. Christ and therefore are but justly served so themselves But the sons of Belial shall all of them as thornes be thrust away because they cannot be taken away with hands 2 Sam. 23.6 Belial signifies perversenesse sine jugo non ascendens things that are without yoak or things that will not ascend such things Christ do's make to descend Christ doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repurgare he doth purge out and then repeat this act for perfection sake 'T is in grace as t is in nature there is in nature an expulsive power and this can repeat it selfe till all that offend be throwne out and nature fully quiet and at rest Grace can doe thus it hath an expulsive power to throw
not we but Christ in us that doth it he is all in all as well as all for all He bids this and that be done and 't is so his words wash us Take away the filthy garments from him set a faire Mitre on his head Zach. 3. Christ lays out all and demands nothing which is admirable Behold I have refined thee but not for silver Esay 48.10 I chose thee in the furnace of affliction c. If one referre this Text to Egypt or to Babylon 't is of much life When I did good to you in Egypt and owned you it could not be for gaine and wealth for yee had none 't was a furnace of affliction a state of oppression and bondage for my owne sake I saved you there and so I will in Babylon and so he doth every sinner that Christ doth good to any sinner purifie cleanse and cloath him cannot be for any thing in him because he chuseth us as the Text saith in a Furnace of affliction in a stript condition in a state of captivity Captives have not store of treasure to ransome themselves this well deserves a note of admiration in the front Behold I have refined thee but not for silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction Finally this may be assured thee that Christ will compleat thy purification speedily take speed as the Gospell doth The heart is deep nothing in the world like it things of depth are not emptied nor filled presently as men call presently but allow Christ the liberty of his own Idiome and dialect in speaking and so he is not slack nor long a consummating the acts of mercy no he is not long in consummating the acts of Justice though he be longer ere he accomplish this then that a great deale The Lord is not slack as men call slacknesse saith Peter and yet hee speaks there about wrath consuming wrath and yet he goes a great deale slower about this being as I may say unnaturall to him then about kindnes and mercy being things in which he delights If God be not slack as men count slacknesse in consumamting justice upon wicked men surely he is not slack as you poor sinners count slacknesse in consummating grace and mercy impatient Creatures think a little time a great while unbeleeving Saints do this as well as unbeleeving sinners Doe but allow God so much time in order to all thine enemies internall as Jerome of Prague did in order to all his enemies externall and I will assure thee in such a compasse of time thou shalt triumph over them all cito vos omnes vt respondeatis mihi post centum annos c. thy strongest enemy cannot live above an hundred yeares once in a hundred yeare men devils sins vos omnes as he speaks they shall all answer to you for all the inâ—ury they have done to you you shall judge and burne them which have burnt you so long COLOS. 1.28 Jn all Wisdome VVHat these expressions as conjoyned with the foregoing import and then the termes of it in themselves may both worthily fall under consideration that which they import as conjoyn'd with the former is that the heart of man is very hardly throughly wrought upon all variety of action warning teaching all duration of action warning teaching termes Participly exprest to note the continuation of those acts all art skill and exactnesse of action wisedome all wisdome all these used to reach the heart throughly and to bring a sinner home to Christ The soule of man is with much difficulty throughly brought home to Christ Doct. There be many devises in the heart of man as Solomon speakes which make this that I say I will note some of them Every thing hath its defence the heart hath many and all usefull by which it beares off the power of Divine things from seasing and taking hold of it the heart will carpe and catch at the Ministery of the Word this is one device by which the power of truth is destroyed the dish that holds the meat is not turn'd well and therefore the meate in it overturnd the braine crackt the minde triffles out it selfe 'tas no power to pitch and fix upon things of weight this habit lost toyes and trifles only sute and take up the heart divine ordinance toyed with their heart is pluckt out that which hath no heart cannot go to the heart if a sinner by any art and craft can pull out the heart of an Ordinance he will abide there is no doubt unstir'd in his sinne There is a spirituall frensy and madnesse is not easily cure'd the old man sits at Table and playes with his fingers hee can scarce see what meat is before him and yet every dish is out of order one speakes too quick another too slow one too plaine an nother too darke the stomack is poysoned a worme is under the tongue the eare itches therefore every thing preached is beside the Text no word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bene significans the soule doth haerere in cortice choke it selfe with a shell teares Sermons into particular sentences sentences into words words into sylables sylables into Letters strips expression starke naked from matter and then hunts a shadow to hell this expression is used Mark 12.13 they sent to Christ certaine of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch him in his words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hunt him his words so the word signifies that soule that hunts Christ and his Ministers in their words is hunted by the divill from the matter a criticall spirit hath as many dores to run away from Christ and the power of truth as there be words in the Greek Lexicon This brings mee to speake of another device of the heart the old man can evade he can catch others very nimbly and get loose himselfe as nimbly The Serpent that dealt with Eve could turne in and out bend to and againe wrigle every way at pleasure that Serpent is in our bosome it was an emblem of our heart which will turne twenty wayes to evade the power of truth that which hath such a property to bend every way is not easily broken things that will bend double will wave double and treble force ere they will breake The art of evasion that the heart hath to put by the sword of the spirit and to save the life of sinne is of great compasse and depth and runs it selfe into many branches which I cannot run after now summarily see a little of this art shadowed by the carriage of Saul 1 Sam. 19.16 Saul had heard that David was at his house and sent him to kill him there and Michal let him downe at a window and laid an image in the bed and told the messengers that came to search that David was sick and thus turned the messengers away and then they were sent againe to fetch David in his bed that Saul might kill him in his bed and by this time David was gone far
enough and nothing but the image could be seised on which would endure wounds enough and then Saul said to Michal why hast thou deceived mee so and sent away mine ememy so when the life of sin is sought for by the word sinners can lay an image in the bed twenty excuses and pretences to conveigh the sinnes which they love out of sight and so save the life of Christs enemy How pleasing soever sinne be to affection 't is ugly to conscience because condemnd by Christ man can baffle one and mock the other We reade of mockers of God and they are such as baffle conscience with an image so double and involve their motion before the pursuit of truth likes a Hare before Hounds deceiving and being deceived deceiving i the force of truth is broken by wile deceived this the author to the Hebrewes explaines the heart is hardened by this practice least any be hardned by the deceitfulnesse of sinne the heart hardned is not easily wrought upon 't is the worst stone that any Artist can meddle with As the old man can delude so hee can collude as one faculty can and oft doth betray another so all faculties joyntly combine to plead an ill cause the old man can bribe every office in the soule understanding will conscience too as stout and as stiffe as this Officer seemes to be above the rest conscience indeed is the longest stander out for God yet at last may be and often is silenced yea seared and then it s not onely passive in sinne but joyntly active with other depraved and corrupted faculties Conscience seard the man is become a devill to convert a devill is difficult indeed Conscience seared darkenesse now is great and the sinner desperate the light that was in the man is beeome darknesse i put out the truth that was taken into judgement into affection and according to some degree approved is now disapproved what was approbated is now reprobated generally so all powers transported into malice and speaking joyntly like that rabble crucify him let the cleane spirit be not onely prisoned and tortured by violent action but quite outed and seven uncleane spirits come in the stead that is a perfection of evill Conscience once feard the sinner is as I may say a perfect sinner As there is a perfection in good perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect and exhorted to in this life which notes a degree of attainablenesse here so there is a perfection in evill a child of the divill perfect as his hellish Father is perfect now wee know he is according to all powers against Christ and truth understanding will conscience a Creature transported transformed into malice one without all remorse or reluctancy in pursuit of the greatest wickednesse All faculties do lie one to another mutually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recriprocally as that expression is and so conscience confirming and making restipulation to all The soule is with much difficulty indeed brought home to Christ t is a great deale of pitty there is facillity enough in the soule otherwise it will take in falshood presently easily in a moment is the soule a convert to sinne to the fowlest sinne Satans births are quick he shewed Christ all the Kingdomes in the World in a moment saith the Text Luk. 4.5 intimating how his children grow very big in a moment the wise man speakes to this likewise that their feet run to evill and make hast to shed bloud Prov. 1.16 evill is terminus inde terminatus its applicable to to any sinne the soule is facile to any thing that is naught blood is a terme that specificates points out the foulest the horridst child of hell Man is easily brought to draw weapons of wickednesse and stab the body yea stab the soule of an other to wash his hands in the heart blood of another and sport himselfe therein Nature is a greater advantage then education in any thing Christ carries it by principles Satan by constitution Engines are needlesse paines needlesse there is a current hellward The soule is of great price but not esteem'd so by it selfe a man will sell his soule for a lie and yet make the bargaine quickly Satan loves a quick change his commodities are deceitfull and off best least considered and therefore you have him shewing Christ all the Kingdomes of the world in a moment saith the Text Luke 4.5 as Satan loves quicke action so doth the deluded soule for hee is whilest deluded upon Satans wings the soule in temptation is lighter then vanity what should poyse to wit judgement is destroy'd by will and impure affections t is in a gawdy chariot of Satans that takes and he may run with it any whither with one horse with ease Vse Sinners we are upon things of great weight consider well to what are you facile to sin or to Christ what you are most inclinable to has your heart if that be sinne you are dead men there are variety of temptations the soule may pick and chuse but what he chuseth is destructive will is in the fact and such crimes cut off without remedy for Christ is deliberately refused in choyce there is debate two objects are in view at once and in competition with affection if the worst carry it by suffrage Christ is cast and given up to be crucifyed which is very bloudy action The rejection of Christ is simul tempore together in time with the election of sinne Sinne is ugly at first like an Harlot but by society and frequenting besots and infatuates and is more facily drawing then the mans owne wife although far more beautifull facility to sinne speakes the wards of conscience broken the lock of the Cabinet spoyled all the Jewells of the soule lying common gifts and abilities the servants of sin at pleasure the heart past feeling a beaten highway to hell The soule is of great price Christ makes this estimate from being we are to make it from property who and how doth the soule love such is the lovelinesse of it The heart of the wicked is nothing worth saith Solomon Prov. 10.20 Aversnesse to Christ is any mans wickednesse if the action be the action of the greatest person in the World 't is his wickednesse persons are not respected with God actions are impartially lookt upon above though not below they are weighed in a ballance as Job speakes nothing scand with more exactnesse then this how much of Christ is in this man and his course if this were but received the soules of some of you which heare me this day would bleed within you Oh what will become of you wanton Londoners which have so much of Christ before you and so little of Christ within you who are quickly any thing but understandingly and sincerely nothing a Harlot is quickly gained there needs not much wooing about her light soules make heavy judgements your spirituall crummes would be feasts abroad you have no minde to that food which thousands as precious with
and joyfull to tell who are slaine and who saved our Travells are to all remote parts that are into Heaven into hell into the heart of man where these two meet to search the book of life and the book of death to finde whose names are written in the one and to informe the persons Paul could tell Clement and others that their names were written in the book of life Phil. 4.3 And whose names are written in the other to wit the book of death and to informe likewise the persons Jude could tell who were of old ordained to condemnation we are to seek creatures lost in hel which is hard work to finde to search out things hidden in God from ages and generations which is harder worke Vse The soule of man certainly is very precious to Christ he sits up with it late watches with it very long burnes out many watch-lights to save it if possibly from dying eternally Estimation is to be made of things according to cost about it provided that the layer out bee prudent When you let houses or lands this comes in as a consideration to heighten rent what you are out in purchase and repaire Christ cannot be taxt for imprudence or improvidence and yet he is at more cost and paines about the soule then about any thing not onely here and there a man is pickt out to minister to the soule but all the creatures in the world are severally gifted vertued decked and adorned to minister to and worke upon the soule the words and works of God have all a harmony in this they all therefore are and abide which otherwise should all passe away were it not to take and gaine the soule there is a juice and Verdure a spirit in every living creature to incline it to serve man and so to by as his soule to God The multitude of preachers to the soul of man is great some he had at the third hour some at the sixth some at the ninth God and the Creation were preaching to man from the beginning all creatures brought their full goodnesse to mans full view and use to keep him fully good but could not he fell asleep in the fore-noon in the morning when the primest and sweetest sermons were made that ever the eares of man heard and dyed in his sleep Wee that come in labourers at the latter part of the day we preach to the dead our worke is to fetch the dead to life againe to raise Lazars out of their grave that have lain there long and stink and yet how unsavory soever how impossible soever our worke is and seemes to be we must upon the perill of the bloud of our own soules discharge it our labour is spending and ending we like Rachel dye in travell to bring forth sonnes and daughters to Christ and yet woe to us we shall dye twice if wee hold not on this labour and this travell Certainly Christ hath put an high price on poore soules I am sadded to thinke how mis-judging some persons are of Christ and their soules Doth Christ milke out his breast to bastards such as are base borne and no sonnes Can he summe up nought nought many noughts to a great summe and to a great price A naughty tongue a naughty hand a naughty heart a naughty conscience all these naughty parts to a precious whole I answer Christ doth prize naked beings the soule according to its esse though it hath never a good quality in it What shall a man give in exchange for his soule high price is put here upon the soule simply as it is such a transcendent being beyond others then againe Christ sets a price upon things according to what he can work them too he can lay out cost and paines mans meate horse meat seed and grain of this kinde and that and plow in hope Persons of art and skill put a price upon this and that grasse which others tread under foote as weeds and nothing worth because by such and such decoctions they know what precious things to bring them to Nero put great price upon Thapsis a gigantine Fennell his great men about him wondred to see him send so farre for it and put such esteeme upon it but hee did so because he knew how to order it with Frankincense and other things to take away the bruises of his body God hath Frankincense by him to wit Christ and though wee be but as Fennell a weede little worth yet hee can tell how to order us and shape us so as to bring us to great maturity and price and according to this to wit what he can do with soules doth he put price upon them though at present of little worth and therefore let empty creatures judge righteously concerning Christ and their soules Would Christ be at paines and at cost to lay pipes to the cisterne if he did not meane to fill it Be just in opinion concerning Christ and mercifull in practice concerning us and this is the last thing I have to say upon the point Our calling is full of wasting labour very painefull easen it to us by your plyablenesse to Christ Sinners are full of sores putrified from head to foot and yet will not be lanced nor drest this is the killing paine of all our paynes that all we do is rejected Ministers would not be gray headed so soone nor die so fast notwithstanding their great labour if it were but successefull but this cuts to the heart and makes us bleed in secret that though we do much it comes to nothing I am placed in an Hospitall where there are so many score Diseased creatures that 't would pity any ones heart to looke upon them and yet when I come to dresse them they all curse mee in their heart and one hides his wounds from mee an other sees and sweares he is as well as I in as good a condition as his Minister and yet lookes as pale as Death as black in the mouth and in the eyes as if he were in Hell already an other tumbles in blood and filth and sayth this is his Scarlet-shute hee hath no other habit to go brave and gallant in if he should not do so and so he should die in the neast and wishes those hang'd that contradict and trouble him there is so many filthy breaths and dampes in the places where wee worke these are the things that kill us more then our meere paine there is so much conjuring in the spittle where we are placed and so many eyes stare and looke so fiery and gastly so many devils walking among the Tombes and Graves where we are labouring to rowle away stones that lie at the mouthes of them These are they that teare our Lungs consume our Spirits Our worke dies therefore we die not so much that we labour as that we labour in vaine wee can send none out of the Hospitall where wee are Phisitians upon two Legs but all upon foure none goe out well all
them gave hee power to be called the Sonnes of God The reception of Christ makes the conception of a Christian as soone as the Babe stirres in the wombe as soone as love-thoughts begin to leape in the soule towards Christ and the things of Heaven that very quickning is from the power of Christ The Sonne hath power to quicken whom he will and none else The power of Christ doth make life and makes this life more abundant that is strong enough to shew it selfe in every action as such a life as such a noble-natured thing Not onely our efficiency but our sufficency is of Christ The being of grace and the lively actions of grace such a potent and vigorous being 'T is common to mistake speciall things a Christian man is a likely man to act Christianly therefore an able man 't will not follow for life and strength are two things a creature may have a specificall life proper enough to such a noble businesse and yet not be able to doe it As some workes and actions are proper to a rationall Life to a creature indowed with reason and yet such a creature not able to do such workes because not indowed with reason enough 'tas efficiency but not sufficiency 'tas not the maturity of its being the complement of its kind The Apostle speaking of himselfe as a Christian and in the person of Christians yea and speaking all this as under great advantages yet disclaimes a sufficiency as such a person to act like himselfe as a good man to thinke a good thought or as a good gifted man to preach a good Sermon not that wee are sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God which makes us able Ministers of the new Testament 2 Cor. 3.5 sufficiency hath its birth from God as well as efficiency one degree of grace doth not forme another but every degree form'd by Christ There is the grace of being and the grace of strengthning the sufficiency of a Christian to act as such a noble person beares upon the latter I can doe all things through Christ that strengthens mee hee doth not say through Christ that hath given mee life but through Christ that gives concurrence and sufficiency to this life in order to all that is to be performed by it The word strengthen which the Apostle useth in the place before mentioned is rendered by a very fit word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in-strengthning or corroberation as one would say an Oake and an Oake there must be an Oake and an Oake life and strengthning life and life more abundantly this is the ability of the soule to all things his making and his working and strengthning after made which is cal'd a workeing hitherto My Father and I worke hitherto we strive according to present working not according to first making striving according to his working which worketh in mee There is sufficiency and all-sufficiency a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able to all things A Christian is strong in one grace and weake in an other strong at one time and weake at another this is almost every ones case there is a state above all these ebbings and flowings possible a generall sufficiency a generall Christian an al-sufficiency an abounding not in one grace but in all not at one time onely but at all times in health sicknesse in plenty in poverty a full Sea that hath no ebbe at no houre in the day no at no season in the yeare of such an estate as this doth the Apostle speake 2 Cor. 9.8.9 God is able to make all grace abound towards us that wee alwayes having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good worke Wealth is an ambiguous terme when we say such a one hath a great estate we aske wherein in Money or in Land or in Houses in Wares or in Jewells or the like few persons have a great estate in all these and yet its possible there may be a generall rich man rich in every thing that is riches rich in Money rich in Land rich in Jewells rich in Houses c. So there may be a generall rich man spiritually rich in Faith rich in Hope rich in Love abounding in this gift in that gift in every gift That speaks Christianity if there bee any such al-sufficient man 't is of Christ being inriched in every thing to all bountifulnesse which causeth through us thanksgiving to God 2 Cor. 9.11 if there be any generall rich man inriched to every thing as the Apostle speakes hee tells us to whom it must bee acknowledged to God All good is of Christ habit act nothing is of us in me dwells no good no mans state is hopefull till this principle be well setled in the soule Mortall Diseases makes sometimes but little symptome 't is so frequently concerning the soule Pride is a mortall malady a soule that complements with Christ about his eternall condition wants are so few in number and so small of consequence the symptome of this is a senslesse spirit at the Throne of grace God hath many a lie told to his face God I thanke thee I am not as such and such J am in a very hopefull state over many are for I doe this and that There is a stroaking of selfe in and after some performances sometimes God is told of it but often man 't is an implicite contradiction of the point in hand all is not of Christ something is of the man himselfe hee observes his crawlings in Divine things and they are very glorious in his eye but doth not observe the Toade in his belly that he crawles with to wit selfe Selfe-action hath this property a man is much taken with his own motion some Artists will pride themselves much in a peice they draw themselves and will plead for it much though there be little Art or Workemanship in it in comparison of that which some others draw Swallowes catch vermin as they flee when they flee high 't is after Flies when they flee low 't is after Flies they live upon the vermine of their motion and keepe their wings so long and so strong with the imperfect animall they flee after Christianity of this property is common but I like it not the mans Religion is sometimes of a higher and nobler sometimes of a meaner and lower straine as will best correspond observers but still in its scope one to catch Flies to live upon some imperfect thing that is met with in the motion and when no Flies can be catcht neither by flying high nor flying low no carnall incouragement then keepe the neast the house and do nothing Christians that live upon the vermin of their motion are up and downe high and low very uncertaine in sanctity and consolation and this may characterise every man to himselfe that is not practically cleare in this point that habit and act are both of Christ By-things lookt at cannot bring in nor beare up such
Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readinesse of minde there was not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Willing but all readinesse to will all strength and life of affection to Christ and the Gospell which is the Nobility of a Christian These are the Noble operations that I would have you long and looke after COLOS. 1.29 Which worketh in me mightily Or in power IN-operation simply and in-operation extraordinary are both to be stood upon a little to open this expression unto you the one will open the first part of this expression which worketh in me the other will open the latter part of the expression which worketh in me mightily or in power In-operation simply considered is a supreme act making an eternall impresse upon the soule for life or death Things have their advantage by position so they may be put that every one cannot reach them nor finde them out the heart hath this advantage t is a hidden man an inward creature What you looke upon or touch when you have to doe with a creature of your owne making is flesh and bones but the manhood of this substance or that which makes this substance a man is hidden within so hid that none can reach but by supreme power of its owne or borrowed Among these Nations shalt thou have no ease but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and sorrow of mind Deut. 28.56 The Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart a stone may be stirred and toumbled sometimes when it is not broken Consider the heart under this metaphor as the Scripture doth for some refractory properties of it and this stone that lies at the center of the little world cannot be stirred nor the foundation of this little world shaken in the least but by a supreme power The Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart Those internall operations which make a wicked mans heart shake and tremble sometimes they are from the Lord and when the Lord takes off his hand the stone lies still againe lift and pull whoso will as long and as much as hee will the sinner stirres not which is authority enough that internall operation is a supream act If this be not Job gives further authority and makes a higher instance Consider the stone that lies at the center of the earth the foundation stone of the little world I meane the heart as shaken or as broken and God doth it God maketh my heart soft and the Almighty troubleth me Job 23.16 When a Christians heart melts and is dissolved take it in a refreshing sense or take it in an afflicting sense supreame power doth it man cannot doe this himselfe a sinner a Saint cannot move the stone in his bosome one jot t is an Almighty act that reacheth the heart of any man the Almighty stirs me within Internall operation is as I have said a supreame act This act makes eternall impresse Internall operation is from a high hand and of high concernment t is of everlasting force the Spirit is called an eternall Spirit not so much in order to being as in order to operation the things that this Spirit worketh in us and for us are life eternall the workman the workhouse the worke wrought in this house are all eternall the Spirit eternall the soule eternall the workes wrought here the carvings or cuttings are eternall unalterable if Christ make but the least dint upon the heart I may challenge all powers in heaven and in earth to even it Operations externall are not eternall not a worke you looke upon without though never so great or glorious but fades and shall be turnd into its fitst nothing but operations internall are eternall what God doth in the soule is to last as the soule if he drop mercy into us this drop shall last for ever though all the mercies without us may be gone in a moment if he drop justice and wrath into us this drop abideth for ever God is called immutable not so much in order to being as in order to action and not in order to all action neither but in order to internall actions such as are done about the soule I am God immutable and change not Change not in what in esse that is granted of all and needs no affirmation no this is not the thing but in operari and about this many doubt I have droped mercy into the hearts of the sonnes of Jacob and it shall never out I have begun a good worke a good internall worke and it shall last to the day of Christ it shall last unto Heaven that is for ever therefore is the Spirit according to his presence and internall operation called the earnest of Heaven and the scale to the day of redemption it makes impresse upon the soule so deepe that abides for ever the worke the Spirit doth in us outstands the gates of hell the Temple that Christ now builds in us not a stone not the least pin of it moulders to all eternity t is so wrought t is so on the other hand what he doth internally in poynt of justice he doth it to purpose All the world on fire without you may sooner quench it then one sparkle of the fire of Gods wrath which he casts into a man this is an everlasting fire an alway punishment as the Scripture speaks Bow downe their backe alwaies pointing at Doeg and Judas and such like wretches that were internally punisht A man internally smitten by the justice of God his backe is broke for ever take Job but as hee personates a wicked mans case forbeare the application of it to himselfe as he doth being then in a temptation let his person alone but take the thing as his apprehension is opened fully in this poynt to his triall for a time and you shall have him speake notably of the property of internall operation in order to evill men God is in one mind when he is at worke in wicked soules one cannot turne him what his soule desireth that he doth Job 23.13 If after great provocation workings and strivings without by words and blowes hee goe to worke within to fit the vessell for wrath if this be now the will of God there is no turning of him nor no turning of the point nor edge of the tooles hee workes with no terminating the effect short of the Authors intention the Trinity in their action internall to expresse this property of it are called agents hitherto The Father worketh hitherto and I worke observe about what works Christ was when he spake thus he was about internall action to wit the curing of the cripple which had laine so long at the poole which was a cripled soule as well as a cripled body Internall operation is of eternall force this is generall and indetermined therefore it followes in the definition t is of eternall force to such an expresse end to life and death that which Christ doth within about
the heart is vitall or mortall to dispatch the creature for his furthest end To make miserable or blessed here is not the furthest end of internall operation though the furthest end of externall operation Externall donations which are the workes of Gods hand their furthest end is to make a sweet condition here as riches and the like they will availe here Money answers all but they will not availe any further then here for the felicitating of man they will not availe in death much lesse in judgement to doe man any service but the furthest end of internall operation is to make cursed or blessed in death and after death in another world when and where nothing else can There be gifts that be meere Spirit which have not a jot of any carnall thing in them these we call internall these are moulded some by justice some by mercy and you shall see what their end is by an instance or two God hath given them a spirit of slumber Rom. 11.8 Here hee speakes of operations all spirit God hath given them a spiris of slumber internall workes and the Prophet tels the end and issue of these t is decisive to dispatch them they have a spirit of slumber that they may goe away in a slumber Shut their eyes lest they should see with them stop their eares lest they should heare with them and convert and be healed Internall operation wee see dispatches the soule one way or other Into whatsoever house ye enter say peace and if that would not take speak death These were but emblems of Christs internall action Into what house or heart Christ goes to worke by his Word and Spirit hee makes through worke the Axe is then to the root it makes excision or circumcision at least All internall operation is to cut off sinne off the soule He is a Jew that is one inwardly Circumcision is that of the heart When he goes to worke inwardly he doth excise or circumcise and thus I have opened the nature of internall operation The worst evill is curable the greatest good attainable this issues naturally from this point that there is such an engine to be found that can worke inwardly Our greatest maladies are those that are within that one plague that was upon Pharaohs heart to wit the hardning of it was more then the ten plagues upon his outward man Evils are not rightly weighed this is one of the greatest evils they which strip us most of externall things they are accounted greatest no they are not that which gnawes upon the soule after outward things are gone is greater There is death and the bitternesse of death as Agag said the one it is a greater evill then the other by farre The death of husband wife child or the death of estate is nothing if it be but a naked departure of these if their ghost doe not walke afterwards in the soule if there be not after their departure a bitter tang in conscience as evilly got or as evilly kept got with too little conscience and kept with too much affection the cup of affliction fill it as full as the world or as satan can if God doe not put one Ingredient in it or other to make it off with a tang and a touch upon the spirit t is nothing when a malady doth fester inwardly and lights of some blood-vessels that carries it more directly to the heart then it is a malady indeed and yet in these cases there is hope if taken in time because there are things inwardly vertuall and operative so we can say spiritually the strongest poyson that the soule hath taken in cannot render the condition desperate because there are things of an internall vertue operations that can reach the soule Christ can purge the inward man and can let the inward man blood with his Word he can pricke the heart any tumor or swelling in it and let out all the watery or fiery matter that is in it he can wound the spirit and then heale it make clouds and then expell them make darknesse upon the face of the deepe upon the soule that deepe part of man and then make a Sunne rise in this horizon in that more then halfe the little world that lies out of fight when more then halfe the little world is drowned when that in part of man is quite overwhelmed yet then is not the case desperate nor should any soule give it up as so Misery sometimes arises to extremity extremity is darknesse without any light a whole Army engaged and routed without fightings within feares the hand can doe no more the head doe no more all faculties have pumpt themselves dead in the place I cannot thinke a thought to refresh me the waters are come in to my soule and come in so deepe that I give up my selfe for lost This poore soule hath more sorrow then is godly Pressure is unkind when it oppresses oppression is not alwaies from another I may be an oppressor to my selfe and this is when I write death upon my person because Christ hath written death upon all my actions Wher thou canst doe no more wilt thou give up thy soule for lost if this should be generally practised there would not a soule be saved Waters are come into thy soule and thy heart is overwhelmed and yet in this deepe internall distresse a Rocke may be found something higher then thee may appeare for reliefe by a supreame hand From the ends of the earth will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed lead mee to the Rocke that is higher then I Psalm 61.2 When the water is got in to me and overwhelmes my heart yet then there is one higher and taller then I that can pull mee out of these deepe waters pull body out yea pull soule out and save the heart when it is overwhelmed The worst evill is curable the greatest good attainable I see by this point The greatest good in this world is that which Christ most loves that which he most loves is truth in the inward parts Wee are taken with outward beauty and outward glory Christ is not All the glory of this world was shewed to him by satan at once and yet no temptation to him affection not stird a jot internall glory takes Christ much truth in the heart himselfe seated in the soule is the greatest good in the world to him and to us and this takes him exceedingly If the Divell when hee tooke Christ and set him upon the top of a high place could have taken Christ and set him downe in any mans heart and seated truth in the inward parts of any one though it had been the poorest person in the world this would have taken him indeed but Satan cannot doe this for Christ neither doth Christ need it from him he can doe it himselfe he works inwardly at a greater depth and from a more underived strength then he hee can take Chariot in his Word and ride over all the
forgivenesse of sin is p. 57 Christ is admirable in action and in person p. 59 The excellency of Christs person makes the excellency of his action p. 60 How Noble action proceeds from the Noble forme of things p. 61 What Christ is in compleatnesse he is for believers p. 62 63 Christ as the Image of God to man explained p. 63 64 65 How to conforme to Christ as the Image of God p. 66 No representation for Divine adoration but Christ how nature attempts nothing this way and how fancie if it would is disadvantaged p. 67 68 God invisible in action and person p. 70 That God is invisible in action tremble before him p. 73 Gods action is invisible trust in him ibid. That God is in person invisible long to be out of the body p. 74 What first-borne notes Birth-right an honourable thing p. 74 75 They which have but a meere naturall birth-right spoken to and they which have both a naturall and a spirituall p. 76 77 Bâ—avenesse of spirit to maintaine priviledge wanting p. 78 Every thing a this side Christ a creature things therefore should be feared loved trusted in as they are p. 79 80 81 Men are apt to conceive too low and too meane of Christ p. 82 We set up things as we see them and as we love them p. 82 83 84 Demonstrations of setting Christ above all p. 84 85 A holy soule cannot tire it selfe in the contemplation of Christ p. 87 There is variety congruity transcendency of excellency in Christ p. 87 88 Three things that destroy divine contemplation p 88 89 T is our duty and our consolation to contemplate whole Christ p 90 91 God doth create and new create in Christ ibid. All divine action going forth in Christ is consolation to the godly they may argue for the choysest mercy upon this ground p. 93 Earth the room we live in here which is low common darke filthy p. 95 96 97 As our dwelling is so should we expect to find things p. 97 98 But one good neighbour in Earth ibid. The workes of God afford man a full soule imployment p. 99 The soule is noble in its acts and Christ would lose none for want of imployment p. 100 The soule is remisse in its acts Christ leaveth this without excuse p. 100 Whence soule-idlenesse about divine things springs p. 100 101 Thrones Dominions are explained p. 102 Christ hath an unexpressable power by him at command to over-rule this world p. 102 Angelicall properties p. 103 104 The pride and folly of men that war against God p. 105 Christians exhorted to trust in Christ because of his command of Angels p. 106 107 All things must be for Christ p. 108 Many will dye by this law that all is to be for Christ p. 110 Nothing will be for Christ as it should be when the heart is not p. 110 What speakes the heart for God in action p. 111 Affection naturally is no whit divine p. 112 What eternity is p. 113 There is principium ordinis temporis essentiae p. 113 Obedience must be suited to Christs being and moving p. 114 Christ as an eternall agent worketh in the soule p. 115 Christ being eternall eternall things may be had p. 116 In Christ all things consist and what this expression imports p. 117 118 What providence is common and speciall p. 119 120 Consolation to necessitous creatures that in Christ all consists p. 121 122 What to be observed to make Christ give out himselfe for sweet subsistance p. 123 There is store in Christ for all spirituall necessity p. 125 Grounds why not supplied with much from Christ our head p. 127 Many spirituall eonsiderations to quiet soules that are complaining for want of much of Christ ibid. Christ as head what his rule is and where p. 130 131 Men cannot beare the rule of Christ p. 131 Two things demonstrate the heart ruled by Christ p. 132 133 Severall considerations to draw the heart under the rule of Christ p. 134 135 The principality of Christs Priesthood demonstrated p. 136 137 Christs Priestly Office to be made used of p. 138 Hard to convince men that they trust in their woâ—kes two things discover it p. 136 Consolation in a double respect issues from the Priestly Office of Christ to believers p. 140 141 The superiority of Christs Propheticall Office set forth p. 142 143 Christ teacheth internally eternally instantly p. 15 146 Whether taught of â—hrist and what demonstrates it p. 146 147 Christ hath a generall glory a garment without seame p. 148 Gold proffered to sinners that hath no drosse p. 149 Persons that would love Christ are excepted ibid. God fits one thing to another p. 150 Gods way in this world is a tracing of man ibid. The Deity speaks out it selfe in apt action ibid. Divine action is to make conviction p. 150 151 God will be even with men that oppose him p. 152 England to justifie Christ in all her misery p. 153 The folly of some in looking for great things what fitteth for great things p. 154 155 A gracious heart is taken with Christ as chiefe ibid. Judgement is cleare and love sincere in a Saint p. 155 156 Persons exhorted to consider who is chiefe in their soules three things speake the undervaluing of Christ p. 156 157 158 I cannot believe this objection answered to p. 159 Saints prize Christ as chiefe and so doth he them the benefit of this ibid. We are all by sin dead the properties of spiritually death p. 160 161 Now trading is dead to thinke of dead hearts p. 163 Two things tend to spirituall life p. 163 164 Christ hath in all things the preheminence what universall dominion meanes p. 165 166 The power of Christ to be laid to heart proud sinners to trouble at it p. 167 As God hath set Christ over all so should we p 168 Love sets Christ as high as God hath set him over all ibid. The blessednesse of their condition that gives Christ preheminence in all things p. 169 How freely God contrives reliefe for man p. 170 Free motion the purest the noblest the surest the sweetest p. 170 171 That Gods motion to sinners is free should comfort them p. 172 T is pleasing to God to give grace but not so to sinners to receive it ibid. Deniall of free grace hath foure aggravations p. 173 174 Every thing is shaped to man according to Gods own will p. 178 Things below man equall to man above man are all shaped by Gods will p. 179 Though God yet no man may pursue his own will ibid. A man fast to his will was first very loose from God p. 180 A man pinned to his will hath three grand plagues upon him p. 181 182 Very comfortable in all conditions that things come to us according to Gods will p. 183 God restlesse till fallen man relieved p. 161 T is naturall to God to shew mercy he eyes the beauty of action the necessity of action p.