wonder what means that rough and rugged carriage in those that say they live with Christ and in Christ and injoy Christ yet their life is much in seeking to defame others and to set up themselves This is not to live as saints this is farre from the carriage of saints this is not to live in loves to grow fruitfull by loveing the carriage of a saint is you have heard to seeke anothers good as their owne These then live not in Christ but they live in the world Christ and they live in two contrary Regions these declare they yet live in the Creature in selfe in flesh these seek for honour of men and not of Christ so they may but set up themselves it matters not what becomes of their brethren As those that love Honour or Riches or what else in the World so they can but get them for themselves they care not how many suffer for it so they have it are these beloved brethren such as live as Christ lives those that revile because they are reviled nay revile when not reviled how farre is this below the practice of saints such men proclaime and hold it forth they are no saints in practice what ever they would have the World or Gods people thinke of them The saints you see they undervalue all mans reviling it is to farre below them to revile againe to returne evill for evill you see they are passive in suffering but active in loving the other are proud selfe-seeking selfe boasting and they yet live in the flesh and are not come to live in and with Jesus Christ Againe observe from the second thing that the saints grow fruitfull by loveing and delight in loving then they are not constrained by the law to duty but they love it of themselves it is no forced thing in them they do not task and force them selves to obey Christ but it is their nature and they work freely their lives are in loving and in loving they have their life Till men come to live this life these things to all men else are a hidden mistery and if a mistery no marvell then men so much mistake in setting out this life and what a Christian is for no man knows it nor hits it right but he that lives it for all else live and grope in the darke and few attaine to it Some men say this is the Christian and some that is the Christian and it may be mistaken in both for they make Christians according to their owne fancy if he do but jump with them in opinion this is enough to hold him up a Christian oh he must needs be the godly man and and yet see not that rule the word holds forth in the life marrow mistery of it but beloved it will be so every man judges by what light he has if his light be false or dark so needs must his judgement be Yet in my experience I see but as it were a dram of that weight of glory that is to be revealed upon the soons of truth And I wil tel you what my thoughts are I am perswaded ere long God will pick out himselfe a choise people now here is some what to do about Churches and selected Congregations but you will see if I mistake not ere long Congregations pickt out of Congregations of Men that have experience of this life of living with God And the ordinances shall be yet more and more purified and yet they not rest in ordinances but shall haue the marrow of ordinances I say the time will come that there will be a people who kisse and embrace one another in spirit and shall live in loving and in joying one another farre more then ever yet our eyes have seene Wee should now have further proceeded to the next points namely these from the words My Dove my undefiled is one Doct. 2. That Christs Dove is not a defiled but an undefiled company Thirdly that Christs undefiled Dove is but one though they be scattered and divided here to men yet to Christ they are but one where wee should have shewed the folly of many in these dayes that they ty their loves only to that congregated body of which they are in fellowship with and if they differ in judgement from them they have no love to them neither doe they account them of the number of Christs one undefiled Dove this is grosse ignorance and proceeds from weaknesse pride and folly and is indeed meere Antichrist and the fopperies of men congregated or uncongregated so they bee Christs Doves we ought to love them But my strength faileth me and so I commit you and what hath been delivered to the blessing of God PHIL. 4.11 I have learned in what ever estate I am therewith to be content THe first point from these words is this Doct. That contentation is a Saints lesson first let us see what a Saints contentation is Secondly the benefits that flow from a Saints contentation First what a Saints contentation is it is this to bee content with God and in God in all conditions herein is only a true rest if it be in any thing else but God it is no true rest If honour or pleasure or profit or credit or applause or riches or any thing besides God doth give thee rest thy rest and content is in the creature and not in God for then as these things ebbe and flow so doth thy content But hee whose content is in God his content is as God ebbes and flowes to him so that if he have God and enjoy him hee cares not how the creature comes or goes If hee have riches and not God in them he hath no true rest And on the contrary if he have poverty disgrace bannishment or imprisonment and enjoy God hee hath his rest still Because his content is not in and with the creature but it is in and with God Gods will is his rest Hee that lives in the will of God hee sees Gods will is best for him and his will is so swallowed up in the will of God and made one with it that hee hath no peace but in this And this life hee hath and enjoyes not by reasoning himselfe into this condition as for a man to say thus this is Gods will and I must be content it is but a folly to resist his will it must bee so and I cannot helpe it therefore I were better be content then to fight and strive against it for I cannot remove it till God please Now this is not the content of Saints but that which reason dictates to a man which a man without grace may reach and in this content most are satisfied and take it to bee a Saints submission and contentation when it is not But a Saints rest content and satisfaction is not from reason but from a sweet enjoyment of God in every condition so that in every condition hee findes God so sweet so ravishing that hee concludes these
Practicall Divinity OR A HELPE THROVGH the blessing of God to lead men more to look within themselves and to unite experienced Christians in the bond and fellowship of the Spirit Delivered in sundry exercises lately spoken by Cap. PAUL HOBSON Upon these Texts Prov. 28.1 The righteous are as bold as a Lyon Cant. 6.9 My Dove my undefiled is but one Phil. 4.11 I have learned in whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content Published by an hearty Wellwillerto Peace and unity among the dissenting Godly and to the promotion of spirituall and experimentall truths without affectation or opinions or prejudice against persons Tending as to the edification of the reader chiefly so also somewhat in vindication of the Authour Licensed and Published according to Order And sould by R. HARFORD at the Bible in Queenes-head-alley in Pater-noster-row 1646. The Publisher to the Reader READER THese Sermons allthough not intended by the Author to to be made thus publike he being absent when they were taken in hand But being very much desired by many and pressed hereunto conceiving truth herein held forth so cleare that the spirituall and experienced Christian will rellish and seale thereto Being desirous to owne truth wheresoever found not daring to oppose it truth carrying such a light power and demonstration in it selfe James 2.1 we durst not have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory in respect of persons It could be wished the Author would publish his owne labours but they appearing to many worthy the communicating they are here presented to thy view And although they may not be so full and emphaticall as they were delivered being taken by writing them from his mouth yet love will make thee not curious to spy faults which is too common a fault in our times but to take in good part what is here held forth to thee by him who aimeth at thy spirituall good and somewhat also in vindication of the Author of these Sermons whose I believe they are not only in regard of expression but also in experience in a good measure an imputation of errours being laid on him as on others more then true And indeed we beleeve as it was lately said before a solemne Assembly there is it may be abroad a greater cry of errors then really there is allthough with griefe be it spoken there be many foule errors broached and some very blasphemous which deserve as severe punishments as the word of God requires yet let not reall and glorious truths suffer under the name of error Our Lord Christ himselfe was counted among the transgressours and St. Paul confesses after the way that yon call heresie so worship I the Lord God of my Fathers and let us not judge all that error which we by reason of darknesse or not being come to the same experiences cannot see to be truth but let us try all things and hold fast that which is good 2 Cor. 10.12 Neither as the Apostle saith ought we to boast of things without our measure as the manner of some is that is of other mens labours and experiences in another mans line of things made ready to our hand for we are very ready to think higher of our selves then is meet or wee have cause Gal. 6.3 2 Cor. 10.17 having built up our selves in our owne conceits to be something when we are nothing That because the Apostle Paul Luther others through affliction and high experiences of Gods assistance and thriving by the Crosse were transcendently hold in God and for God therefore they are ready to appropriate and boast of their labours and experiences as if they were their owne and were come to such an high pitch and had the same enjoyments But it were far better safer for us this something were brought to nothing and wee convinced of our owne weaknesse ingrace and how carnall we are and how far below the life of Christ and true boldnesse This man should goe home justified rather then the other But he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord that Christ may be all in all Gal. 5 22.23.25 for not he that commendeth himself is approved but whom the lord commendeth for self being set up and gotten into the chairt it will swell boasting itselfe above what is meet or what it hath received and then others better then themselves must be their footstoole that by the degrading of others they may advance themselves but sayes the Apostle they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts the fruit of the spirit is joy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance against such there is no law if we live in the spirit let us walke in the spirit and let us not bee desirous of vaine glory provoking one another envying one another But read I pray thee these Sermons seriously and with a single eye if so it be given thee and weigh the subject of them and whereto they tend and apply them to experience and thou shalt see how much or how little thou hast of the life of Chirst And if thou beeft enabled to aime at thine owne good in perusing them I doubt not but thou wilt accept and not quarrell at them So I commend both them and thee to the blessing of him who only is able to make us grow up into him in all things who is our head Ephe. 4.15 that speaking the truth in love Phil. 2.1 and having fellowship in the spirit wee henceforth be no more children Ephe. 4.14 tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftinesse whereby they lie in wait to deceive But holding forth the word of life till wee all come in the unity of the faith and knowledge of the son of God unto a parfect man unto the measure of the stature of fullnesse of Christ In whom he desires to serve thee Fare well DEarest friends that which I purpose to speake this morning very briefly that I may give way to our Brother that is to speak also shall be out of the 28. Prov. part of the 1 ver But the righteous are as bold as a Lyon It will be necessary that wee read the foregoing words in regard of this word But having some reference to some what said before the wicked flee when none pursueth but the righteous are as bold as a Lion most of the sentences in this book of the Prov. are without any dependence but are intire speeches having their full sence in themselves but here we have 2 sentences in one verse one explaining and setting out the other two affirmative Propositions in opposition one to another whatsoever can be spoken of a wicked man and one that lives from God without God the contrary in opposition may truly and properly be said of a godly man here called a righteous man because he lives in God lives with God he acts by the
power of God he lives in another Region hath a contrary life he is elemented in Divine loves partakes of the Divine nature 2 Peter 1.4 and lives in the divine glory These words we have now read they are an affirmation of a saints priviledge and of a Saints property All soules which are brought home to God that live with God this is their priviledge they are made righteous by God made righteous by Justification a righteousnes held out to them and also made righteous by the glory and righteousnesse of God in them and such a man cannot chuse but bee bold for such a God And not only bold in opposition to wicked men because they flee when none pursueth Psal 53.5 and feare where no feare is but the highest resemblance of the highest creature is too low to set out what such a mans boldnesse is in God and for God and therefore you see the Holy Ghost makes use of the choyfest of all the creatures for courage and boldnesse to set out the temper of a saint when he lives in God and God in him nay the highest and most raised sublimity in the creature is too low to set out the lowest acts of a saints spirit I may draw one point from the former words of wicked mens feare because it leads to unfold the other points concerning a righteous mans boldnesse The wicked flees when none pursueth Doct. The Doctrine That man that lives without God although made by God he is so far a man of feare and not of faith But I shall let that goe and come to the words intended There is not onely a difference in the spirits of wicked and righteous men but a direct opposition the one acts all together downe-ward to the earth to self to carnall low and base ends the other acts all-together upward to God to heaven to self denyall to high and pure ends Doct. First observe That the people of God are a righteous people They are righteous not only in regard of Justification that is a righteousnesse held forth and made out to us but also in regard of that you call sanctification that is a righteousnesse revealed in us and this is peculiarly a saints priviledge He not onely lives under life but he lives in life is life it selfe I confesse it is a great and precious priviledge to live under life to have and use Ordinances but to have them and not live by them nay to have them and not to haue lives above them this is below a saints priviledge the world hath thus much priviledge But the saints they use not onely the Ordinances but they are a meanes to put them into life to make them one with life they know what the Anoninting is what the unction of the Father is But now if you aske me what is mēant by a righteous man Ans Some take it to be meant of Christ himselfe The righteous are as bold as a Lyon that is say they Christ for he onely is righteous and not any man therefore he is cald the Lyon of the tribe of Judah Revel 5.5 But my light sayes this a discription of a saints spirit for there is nothing can be said of Christ but may all so be said of Saints as saints for he lives in the same life with Christ in the same region in the same glory nay he lives in the same Soveraignty and authority is Christ a sonne and heire of his fathers glory So are all Saints they partake of the same sonship the same inheritance is Christ a King so are the Saints partakers of the same Kingship Hath he put downe all rule and all authority and subjected all his enemies under his feer so have the Saints so farre as they live with and in Christ they set their foot upon all their lusts upon all the world they are conquerers over Death and Hell they have set their foot upon the very neck of Sathan I know beloved there be degrees to this life there is a dying before we come to this life but this is certaine as a Saint comes up to this life so he puts downe Principalities and Powers when he lives as a saint he puts downe all rule and all authority that before he was subjected to and captivated under And the very matter of Christs glory the same for nature and kind though not for degrees in this life is a Saints portion Doct. The 2. Observation these words hold forth is from this expression of boldness the righteous are bold Doct. That the people of God are a bold people full of courage Doct. The 3 Doctrine Men and women must of necessity be made righteous by Christ before they can be bold and conragious for Christ All other boldnesse is a false deceiving boldnesse except it proceed from hence in that we are freed set at liberty made righteous by Christ many are bold t is true but t is no true boldnesse t is a presumptuous boldnesse there is a naturall boldnesse and there is a legall boldnesse and there is a pharisaicall boldnesse boldnesse of divers kinds but this true reall unconquerable undeceaveable boldnesse is only to be had and injoyed in the life of Christ being made righteous by him not only by a righteousnesse made out to us but by a righteousnesse revealed in us The next Observation is from the resemblance here used The righteous are as bold as a Lyon T is a comparison taken from the highest and choysest of all Creatures for undaunted boldnesse and courage in that hee fears no creature nothing can turne him out of his way the holy Ghost upon every occasion when he would set out the property and priviledges of Saints he still chuses the choysest of all the creatures to set it out by to set out of what a high choise and raised spirit a Saint is off as he is a Saint the high frame of a Saints spirit that lives with Christ is not to be set out by the choisest of all the creatures and that may be next the point Doct. Doctrine That the highest of creatures is too low to declare the glory of a Saints spirit T is impossible by the choisest of all creatures by the perfection of all creatures to make it out to men in the full glory beawty excellency thereof He that injoyes it knowes it best but he is not able to comprehend it for he is comprehended by it And therefore he himself is not able to make it out to the full but is swallowed up by it These pointes the words hold forth to us but I shall not handle them severally but we will rather chuse to gather the full sence of them all in one conclusion viz. Doct. That Soules made righteous by God are in the injoyment of God transcen dently bold Here are 3 conclusions in one 1. Here is Saints are made righteous 2. Saints thus made righteous they are bold 3. They are transcendently bold For the opening this
point we must open all the words 1. To be made righteous what it is We shall not now speake how we are made righteous by justification as righteousnesse is purchased for us and held out to us Because I conceive the words intend a man in the other sense a man made righteous by revealing of righteousnesse in us in that we are made one with the life and glory of Christ we speak now of a righteous spirit a freed spirit a spirit made one with Christ a spirit overcome in the enjoyment of Christs spirit a spirit wrapt up overwhelmed by the sweet inflowings and comings in of the glory of Christ a spirit wherein Christ sits in glory and displayes his loves to the soule so that by the very coming in and injoyment of Christ they are made one with Christ transformed into the very nature and glory of Christ So that all selfe and the very forme of the old creature is annihilated and all turned into Christ Hee is removed from his former center his owne bottom there is a new ingrafting and being carried up into Christ so that he is transformed into the hidden divine superexcellent glory and riches and life of Christ so as he is as I may say christed with Christ made glory with the very glory of God and Christ so that this they not onely know in their understandings but have feel and enjoy it and it works in them a life and fruit sutable to this glory and transformation Those that lie in the heart of Christ that have found themselves transplanted from themselves transformed into Christ by Christ they finde their heart transformd with loves ravishments towards him to him and none else but as they see them and enjoy them in him and him in them there are intercourses returnes of love to each other This is not the righteousnesse of Justification when Christ holds out a righteousnesse purchased for thee and thou by faith laying hold on it for the acceptation of thy person but this is Christ himselfe his hand taking hold of thee bringing thee over from thy selfe into himself and transacting thee into himselfe and this is that that causes interchanges of loves so that Christ in loving thee he loves himself and thou in loving him lovest thy selfe in one and the same act and in all your acts Christ acts and in all Christ acts within you you act so soone as ever you are brought over into these injoyments you are swallowed up in Christ and in your lowest acts Christ acts as well as in your highest in the very lowest estate you may have the highest injoyments that when you are trampled on by the world when your enimies think they have got the day and have their will of you then may you have such sweet injoyments of Christ Mat. 5.11.12 that in this regard you may rejoyce and be exceeding glad when you enter into divers temptations Jeames 1.2 when the world and persecutors thinke they have taken from you all your comfort and bereft you of all your life then may you be more then conquerers injoying a life hidden from them that when they think you are captived they themselves are captived and you the conquerers as deceivers 2 Cor. 6.8.9.10 and yet true sayes the Apostle as unknowne yet well knowne as sorrowfull Col. 3.3 yet alway rejoycing as poore yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things you are dead to the world but your life is hid with Christ in God by this you may take a sight and small tast of what is meant by a righteous man in this place the righteous are as bold as a Lyon Secondly what is meant by this word bold truly friends I must confesse I have been along time mistaken what this bold spirit in a saint was I tooke it to be this and that and mistaken in all time was when I had a naturall boldnesse which many men have which is borne with them being of a resolute bold hardy temper of spirit yet this was discovered to me to be but nature and many a wicked man is possessed thereof then afterward I came to be a civill man then in that I paid every man his owne and lived uprightly to menward so that no man could taxe me of doeing any man wrong herein I grew bold But this also was discovered to be but civill boldnesse and upon false grounds Then I came to Legall boldnesse attaining to such a degree of obedience to the Law that I thought my selfe all most blamelesse and herein I grew bold indeed and I thought it was true boldnesse but it was discovered this was not the true boldness neither and there is many other kinds of boldnes there is a sinfull boldnesse men being ignorant of themselves and what sinne is and what God is they are bold to sinne and sinne with a high hand daringly with brazen faces So also there is a pharisaicall boldnesse when men are bold because of their externall conformity to the Law and externall submitting to Ordinances because they are in a right Gospell way because they are of a fellowship where they injoy pure Ordinances And am not I say they as good as you what doe you more then I I doe not speake this that you should neglect Ordinances and forsake fellowship for I know the High God may be injoyed in a low Ordinance And you ought also to hold forth God in Ordinances to others to men of the World and Saints below you though you injoy that which is farre above all Ordinances even the reall and lovely presence of the Lord Christ in himselfe Many men because they injoy Ordinances in puritie and hold forth a great Profession they gather hence a great boldnesse and looke bigg upon themselves and think who may walke more bigg bold and confident then they what they not Saints who is a saint then I that have gon thus sarre and tied my self constant to duty what not I of thus long standing But beloved none of all these is the true boldnesse a Saints boldnesse is from other principles of a more noble and higher frame His boldnesle is because he lives with and injoyes the highest God In that they are gotten above all the world Things below are too base for their spirits they count it gain to lose themselves the other count it gain to gaine themselves And hence it is because they see themselves gottē above all things they live undaunted noble lives They live in the upper Regions where Christ lives above all things inferior to himself They are so much drawne into Christ that they cannot much minde these things below they are not much troubled how they ebb or flow because they are aloft They are not tumbled to and fro as they in their Tides tumble too and againe They are fild with noble bloud divine bloud the Spirit and Glory of Christ and God rests upon them and runs in all their veines Beloved
what can that man feare that is thus transacted transplanted united to God drawne up into God in whom all selfe and flesh and carnall ends 2 Cor. 12.9 is perished dead and buried and he made a new man in Christ rissen in and with Christ Here is the man is here spoken of Here is the boldnesse of a Saint No marvell all the world nor all the fluctuation of and in the world cannot disturbe this mans Spirit for he is above all aloft he is in the bosome of Christ Oh dearest friends this life is a hidden thing and you that injoy it know it and none else I know your experiences of this life farre exceed what ever my tongue can expresse when men have imprisoned you and thinke they have overcome you then are you most at liberty When they have brought you to poverty then have they most in richt you when ye die ye live when you have all things then have you nothing 2 Cor. 6.10 when you have nothing then have you all things Phil. 3.8 you are so taken up with Christ that all below Christ is as drosse and dung Gal. 6.14 and you say with Paul God forbid that I should rejoyce in any thing save in the Crosse of Christ by whom the world is crucified unto mee and I unto the world While you are with Christ what can hurt you all the troubles in the world sease no more on you then water on a Ducks back While the world is reviling you are singing while the world is imprisoning you are imbracing While the world is hating and persecuting you are loving While the world is casting you off for sects and scismaticks you are in your injoyings While the world smites Christ is kissing such a mysterious hidden secret is the life of a saint that it befooles all the world When the world thinks they deserve their hatred they love and pittye them while you think they look upon you they looke above you their eye is not upō their opposers but what they injoy from Christ they are of more noble higher spirits then to fasten their eyes so low as upon their opposers I professe when God brought mee of from one condition of boldnesse to another but especially when hee fetcht mee off from legall and pharisaicall boldnesse in so much that I saw that all boldnesse which had its rise and birth in self from self and to self it must bee confounded and I came to see that all true boldnesse must run out from the very heart and loves of Christ it must bee from a spirit fild with such royall noble divine bloud as none but the sonnes of God pertake of and then I saw the world was of a bloud so low and base that it cannot bee sensible what this life is The second thing we would come to shew is wherein this boldnesse dothcōsist A soule thus made one with God made righteous by God in the injoyment of God and by the righteousnesse of God revealed in us he is bold in these three regards First He is bold with God Secondly He is bold in declaring for God Thirdly He is bold in undergoing any thing laid upon him by God First He is bold with God he is free and familiar with God There is such intimate communion between Christ and him that he can freely and with a sonlike spirit and affection ask any thing of God his enjoyments embolden him For he sees God so unbosome himself to him that his very heart is not too much for him Hee asks not as a servant with slavish fear but as a sonne as seeing all his inheritance is in God He knowes what ever is in God in Christ is as freely his as they are Christs he hath as true right to them as Christ Hee layes claime to all the beawties and glories of Christ to all the riches life and treasures in Christ as his owne proper portion He does not aske with a daunted fearfull spirit he approaches into his very Bosome to his very Heart and what ever is there hee knows is his owne to aske and injoy and this he does freely fully he layes claime to all Divine loves And by this injoyment he makes returnes of loves all the loves his heart can hold shall all run out to God againe by this very imbracement he comes to act in God and God in him And I pray you observe this and think of it when you do not see mee The very injoyment of God carries over your spirits all you are to God to give up your selves to him you will not stand upon such needlesse questions Whether saints are bount to duty they by that very act of injoying God make themselves over to God to be acted and ruled by God their owne will ceases and Gods will is become one with theirs and theirs with his you cannot chuse but love act for God for you are with God in God Friends I hope some of your spirits doe eccho to these truthes and finde them true by your injoyments in some degree Doe not thinke that this is the life you must look for only hereafter when you are come to Heaven after this life I tell you this life is now and I verily beleeve the time is coming that saints shall come to see this life made good to them and in them more and more Object But it may be some will say you speak of a very high life is it possible that such poore Creatures such poore Wormes as we are should be so imbraced by the Eternall God How comes this to passe Answer Answ In three regards the Saints have experience of these things First In regard they know they have a propriety in him Secondly In regard they have knowledge in experience of recourse to him Thirdly of a constant familiarity with him First They have a knowledge of propriety in him they know that God hath made himselfe their Father and they his sons this makes them bold who can be more bold with a Father then his sonnes Though Abraham be ignorant of us yet thou art our Father Isal 63.16 behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God They know God does not cast them off because of their sins this does not make them no sons but they look upon God as an infinite gracious loving Father They have experience that coming to their Father is a meanes to purifie their hearts and if they stand off till they have clensed thēselves this has been a means to throw them more into sin and though they have sinned yet they throw themselves into his armes they have experience that he dos not upbraid them for coming to him in asking themselves how durst they aproach to him being so defild with sin But they finde that bringing their hearts to him is the only way to cleanse themselves they finde such loves in the bosome of the Father such bowels to pardon such embracements that they know no
way in all the world comparable to this to breake their hearts and to make them throw sin far away Time was when they said true it is Christ calls and invites mee to come but I am so defiled so sinfull I dare not come I will reforme my life and get more power against sin and then I may goe with boldnes But this soule who hath injoyed the loves of God so sweetly so intimately he findes this is the way to remaine foule still And though hee might refraine sin yet he was not purged from sin This end and that end wrought with him something from self and to self but sin as sin was as strong as ever But he found this way the only way to heale sinne and get a new heart a new nature viz. to throw himself upon his Father into his Fathers armes Though Abraham be ignorant of us Isai 63.16 yet thou art our Father And this going to God frees us from our sinnes and nothing else To say I am legall and I am full of corruption I am weake and I can doe nothing all this while we stand at a distance and weaken our selves more We are not free we are lockt up in our selves and strive by our own strength But if you would be holy throw your selves into the loves of God this very injoyment will give you an inlarged a free and broken heart then sin will be hated from a new nature God dos not say I love you if you be holy but I love you to make you holy Beloved this is the new covenant that the Gospell holds out to us and herein lies the power of the Gospell to make of unrighteous righteous to work by love not by constraint Men that never had experience of this life they lay Lawes and Constraints upon men to duty and know not the power of love When the Prodigall had but a resolution to throw himself upon his fathers loves you see how he was received No sooner dos God open his heart to a poore sinner but he sees the everlasting roling bowels of a Father toward him and then they interchange loves and bowels Hos 11.8 That their repentings are kindled together Ier. 31.22 I doe earnestly remember him still my bowels are troubled for him Jer. 3.22 Bowels role towards one another and then the poore sinners come to see their own names writ in their own hearts that before was writ in the heart of God And see his dearest loves have ever been toward them for good He sees now he was not excluded from God because he had departed away from him and blacksliden but was the rather cald to come to him because hee had blackslided and defiled himselfe Jer. 3.22 As Jer. 3.22 Returne ye backsliding children and I will heale your backslidings Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God He has experience that he had laine long striving against sin but found no power from a right ground from a right principle But when he it may be after many years striving with his lusts to subdue them and bring them under he resolved at last to goe to God and said Lord here is my heart as bad as can be the more I strive with it the worse it is I have striven long and cannot conquer one sinne but Lord doe thou now take it doe with it what thou will all this while I was asham'd to come to thee my heart was so bad now I commit it to thee and then hee found a subdued heart and never before So long as I look upon my obedience and my conformity and when I see a want I hold off from God this breedes obstructions between the soule and God Your praying and your duties and your obedience doe declare that you live in God and not that they may bring you to God Brethren this is the way have you finned and falen from God stay not but returne to God then he will heale your backsliding Stay not as men usually doe till your selves have healed your own backslidings and then you will beleeve This way doth never rightly overcome the heart but be ye weake Christian or be ye strong try this way and you shall find a wonderfull change in your spirits you may draw nigh to God with boldnesse the way stands open God never chid a soule that throwes it self upon him Againe this often recourse to and familiarity with God it makes a man rightly to understand God to know his very nature men that live out of God mistake God they judge otherwise of his nature then it is Saints by injoying God they know God what a God of sweetnesse and loves he is how free in communicating of himselfe what an unchangable God he is how ready to receive a sinner what loves run from him into them when once they are come in to him though God frowne they know his nature is nothing but unchangeable loves however he deales with them in his Providence they know all his wayes are wayes of love to them He cannot hate them nor doe any thing as a fruite of hatred They understand God they know his wayes with his Saints though he kill them yet will they trust in him Isai 55. Though in externall Providence hee seemes to frowne yet they know what 's in his heart they take all in good part their Father doth unto them This is that which raises up their hearts to a holy boldnesse of spirit What ever men intends they know God smiles what ever his providences are they know his loves are constant unchangable This makes their hearts rejoyce and triumph to live above though the body be under sufferings yet their spirit is free walkes up and downe in loves is compassed about with joyes swallowed up in GOD and lives amongst Divine Crownes If a man have no experience of these things he lives darkly mournfully he measures God by himself if men be angry he thinks God is angry if providence change they think God changes and this raises not but overwhelmes the spirit of a man this sinks his spirit for he judges God like himselfe but what sayes God are my wayes as your wayes and my thoughts as your thoughts Isai 55. As high as the Heavens are above the Earth so high are my thoughts above your thoughts and my wayes above your wayes Secondly they are bold for God ye never see any principle but it works sutable to itself so the Saints have a principle from God which qualifies them so that they can stand for God 1. In suffering for him if it be his will they shall suffer losses ignominy derision yea Death it self they have a principle from God will beare them out Look upon Paul what a spirit had he when they told him of bonds Acts. 21.13 what meane ye to weepe and breake my heart for I am ready sayes he not only to be bound but to die for the name of the Lord
Jesus And so the three Children what resolutions had they to suffer Wee know our God whom wee serve Dan. 3.17.18 is able to deliver us but howsoever be it known unto thee wee will not worship this Image Frownes nor scornes from men will not turne them out of their way And the reasons of this are First the reall conviction of security in God before they ingage themselves for God as 2 Tim. 1.12 For which cause I also suffer these things neverthelesse I am not ashamed for I know in whom I haue beleeved and I am perswaded he is able to keepe that which I have committed to him against that day The soule seeing God such a buckler and seeing himselfe so secure this makes him not stand at any thing but to ingage himselfe and all he is for God Object But you will say then this is but self-love not to ingage but that hee knowes heshall be secure I answer no t is not selfe love but love to God But here lies a great mysterie in a Saints thus ingaging for God It arises from being partaker of the very nature of God and his will is so swallowed up and resigned into Gods that he acts Gods will not his own So that his security is not in any outward protection but in what the will of God is and if his spirit live in and with God what ever fall to him this he accounts his security Rea. 2 Every spirit acts sutable to that spirit it is in conjunction with Now Christs spirit is the most noble most high most raised spirit and the spirit that is in Christ is in the Saints their spirits are in conjunction with the spirit of Christ therfore they must needs be of noble high raised spirits that though they be in the flesh their life is in the Spirit their life is in Christ though they have thornes and afflictions in the flesh yet to them they are as none they are not much troubled at them for their spirits live among divine thrones and Crownes The 3. reason of a Saints thus boldly ingaging for God is Though they suffer externally yet there is within a supply of contrary love and smiles Men indeavorto throw scornes and derisions upon the Saints and invent such deriding names that they would make them odious even as the very offscouring of the World and that they may render them as the vilest men upon earth It matters not God visits them with his loves Hee communicates that to their spirits which abundantly makes up their suffering and makes amends a thousand thousand times One comes and he calls you Sectaries another Independents another Scismaticks another Anabaptists another Antinomians another comes and tells you they are this day going to petition the Parliament against all your Independents now what of all this were you but carried above and did you live in God these would be like so many small puffes of wind that would scarse blow away a straw For a man never feares a man when hee knowes himselfe above a man when he knowes himselfe free from him and out of his reach to hurt him All the men in the World cannot hurt a Saint nor all the Divells in Hell a man will never feare his Enemie especially when he knowes he is kild before hee comes neare him Christ hath overcome sin Death Hell the Divell the World and therefore what need the saints feare any of these 2 Cor. 4.17 The afflictions of this life are but light and momentary but there is an exceeding weight of glory to be revealed Will a man regard a small crosse when he has a weight and an exceeding weight of Divine loves of Divine Crownes This is enough to make a man not only to be content to beare afflictions and frownes from the World but also to love the crosse to love the frownes When thou hast a losse in thy Estate in thy name or any way Christ comes with his loves and makes an over abundant supply I doe not say he gives thee the same things but he gives thee that which is a thousand times more worth If thou losest farthings and gainest pounds if thou losest strawes and gainest pearles what losse hast thou Thus Christ doth to a Saint at the very instant of his suffering if he live with in Christ for Christs way is not to send the affliction and let it lie heavie and presse a man downe and then he afterwards lets men reason themselves into content for a Saints content as a Saints is not from reason but from a present injoyment of Christ which is communicated at that very instant immediatly from the very bosome and heart of Christ Intercourses of loves runnes out from Christ which alone is their satisfaction without reasons helpe The fourth Reason why the Saints are so bold in declaring and ingaging for God is because in all their sufferings they ingage not at their own cost and charges they live not by their own life they live not by their owne strength but they ingage at Christs charges they live by Christs life they spend upon his strength Ti 's a Phrase wee have often up especially in the Country they may spend freely that spend upon other mens Purses So the Saints they goe on in their way and walke like Saints because they live not by and of themselves their life and their strength and their comforts are all Christs they spend upon his Stock This makes them so free and so bold spend while they will they have a vast Treasure never to bee exhausted Still Christ supplyes them with new strength and new life Let men goe on to revile and abuse the Saints and study names of Factions and Independents and the like to make them odious No matter Christ assists them Christ hath names full of Love and sweetnesse for them And if they should proceed to persecution as they may and imprisonment no matter There comes a new suppy from Christ answerable to their sufferings But the Saints being weake and not knowing this they many times needleslly trouble themselves with forethinking what they shall doe if Suffering and Afflictions and Troubles increase And the reason is because they apply and compare Future Troubles to present strength But those that live in Christ and with Christ they know they cannot ingage upon any new affliction But there is a new supply of Strength and Courage and life from Christ and therefore they reason thus If Bonds Reproaches and imprisonment or Death it selfe doe attend mee There is Fresh Joy New Life and more Srength attends The more opposers the more Strength the more Joy the more Glory the more Loves the more Imbraces The more overcomings of Loves And therefore this is that which makes them Bold in Declaring for God Who more bold for God in declaring truth then the Apostles in Acts the fourth though they knew troubles and persecution attended them Acts 4.10 and bonds in every place be it knowne
know this life in experience you would never rest till you were in it and were comprehended by it for I pray mark that this life must comprehend you and not you it you do not know beloved what manner of men you should be were you in it it doth not yet appeare sayes the Apostle what wee shall bee but when he shall appeare in us we shall see him as he is we shall be made like him Christs life shall be in us and we in him We may talke of this life but when we live this life then we shall know it then we shall be swallowed up of it I my selfe knew it not what it meant though I often spoke to you of it till of late and alas that we see and have of it is but little small glimerings of this life In truth I now perceive there is but little injoyment of Christ in the world this life is a hidden life men talk of it Christians talke of it but alas how coldly without affection withoutlove without overwhelmings which shewes they live without it did you know this life and did you live in the heart and loves of Christ in the embraces of Christ it would make us live otherguesse lives then we do Oh beloved how full of loves and sweetnes should we be how full of selfe-deniall how much seeking the good of others as your own it does not make men of that harsh censuring judging spirit that is now so rife in the world it does not make men so sweld fly-blown with their own parts and with the good opinions of others if you had it it would make you live farre above all these things And so far as any mans life and comfort runs not parallel with these things truly let him be never so great in profession in good earnest he lives yet in the flesh and is not gotten into the life of Christ Christ and they are not of one but of two contrary spirits and lives But oh the sweet transcendent loves joyes overcommings that Saints enjoy who live with Christ and in Christ they live in loving and love in living Christ and they are of one spirit 16. Eze. 6. as 16 Ezek. 6. When I passed by thee I saw thee polluted in thine owne bloud I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blond live and I caused thee to multiply c. and then thy time was a time of loves c. then wast thou comly through my comlinese that I had put upon thee Christ makes his Spouse beautifull with his owne beauty but we for the most part thinke highly of our selves and of our own beauty and are comly to themselves through their own comlinesse and therin they glory and most in the world runne this way in practise though in judgement they deny it but he who is come up to Christ to have his beauty put on him his life and his injoyments he hath put off himselfe he hath put of his own life his own beauty his own comlinesse and what ever injoyments come from selfe all these he is crucified too But this is a life none come too nor none knowes what it is in the injoyment of it but he that has it So much for that Head Wee come to a second thing to be considered that is why they are called Doves and that is in regard of the Saints property The property of Doves is to be full of innocencie and secondly full of love and thirdly full of delight First full of innocencie a Dove is the harmlessest creature in the world so are the saints the meekest the harmlessest of all men if they be reviled they revile not againe they esteeme not of the praisings or revilings of the world because they have no life in the world nor of the world as saints If they have they live below themselves they live apart from Christ they are of so mortified a temper in any worldly respect if they live with Christ and in Christ that they cannot thinke any thing a gaine in the world nor any thing a Losse if they lose any thing houses lands wives children honours these they account no losse because to them they were no gaine if they gain any thing they count it not gaine except they gaine their life in it and that is God himself christ himself to have God in all they have or else they account they have nothing if they have nothing if they live as I before shewed you in the very bosome and heart of Christ and in the mutuall embraces of each other that they can say experimentally and feelingly and enjoyingly my beloved is mine and I am his This is their gaine this is their all and they have no thoughts of gaining in the world For if they gaine these things and not God in them they thinke themselves loosers 'T is true they love wife children friends honours so Christ be in them with the discovery of his sweetnesse and loves then they are well and at rest They think it no hard thing to bee reviled in the world if God speake love let blind selfe-seeking selfe-advancing men of the world say what they will And therefore beloved friends observe your spirits doe you find your selves moved and disturbed by others revilings so far you live in your selves so far you are unmortified uncrucified you live not as Christians according to the life you hold forth if you did you would see where their life is how far below Christ and how much in themselves that live in reviling defaming others and in stead of being angry or to your selves and in your selves returning like for like you would pitty them and pray earnestly for them that God would open their eyes that they also may see upon what low and base principles they live and move Againe Doves are single-hearted and full of love so are the saints as saints they love and delight in loving It is observed by some of some Doves and so of Hindes that if their Mates had died they were so affected with it they would die also such a resemblance is in the saints they are full of love to each other are sensible of each others sufferings they doe not seeke to undoe vex and defame one another but pitty and helpe one another they doe as they would bee done by they will not requite evill with evill as do the men of the world and all those that are not come up to the life of Christ to live as Saints for they delight in loving they live by loving and love by living for 't is said of the Hindes and Doves they have these three properties first they live by loving secondly they grow fruitfull by loving and thirdly they die without loving The saints do thus they delight in love they grow fruitfull by loving and dye if they doe not love 1. They live by loving they are carried out in the first place in love to Christ as the cause of their
love for Christs love to them causes their love to returne to him and they love Christ also in the Saints these loves are the saints feast they live by Christs kissing and embracing them and by their kissing and embracing Christ and also in kissing and embracing one anothers spirits by communicating to each other their experiences and enjoyments of Christ there 's no greater joy nor higher act in them then to act love these are the dainties they feast on then are they transcendent in their spirits and then are they most full of Christ Secondly Doves are made fruitfull by loving so are the saints when thrive they more then when they have the sweetest communion and are most open to one another to each others injoyments and so kisse and embrace each others spirits No sooner hath a saint kist the heart of Christ but it is made fruitfull by that very kisse by that embracement and by that enjoyment The very enjoyment of Christ makes them fruitfull And they cannot be otherwise They being once come to this to enjoy Christ they cannot be unfruitfull Here is a saint then his very love his very nature provokes to fruitfulnesse if he be not fruitfull what ever he may be taken for as a great Christian because a great professor hee never yet enjoyed Christ never yet knew what the loves the overcomming transcendent loves of Christ were Fruitfulnesse is made over to the soule at that very instant it is like the opening of the pores of the body then the bloud interchanges and have free course and mingles it selfe through the whole body this love of Christ I tell you friends it opens the pores of the soule love and fruitfulnesse runs from Christ into the saints interchangeably as Christs heart is open to you so is yours to him there is a secret convayance to each other in the acts of loves And thirdly they die without it saints as saints except they love they die I pray observe saints as saints cannot die but their life dies their joy dies they live uncomfortably and as dying as if they had no life I speak now in regard of actings a saint when he acts not love he dies he may have ordinances and use externall intercourses to Christ and with the saints and yet he as good as dead no more life in act and comfort then the men of the world if the warm heart-bloud of Christ doe not run and have free course into his soule the saint acts not as a saint but yet he may act in religion worship but t is but to him selfe to his own credit and honour and esteeme among men or for some other selfe-end and yet have no life as a saint The new man and Christ is as dead and acts not and therefore it is sometime a saint has overflowings of spirit mightily inlarged his spirit has no bounds another time he is bound up straitned the pores of his soule are lockt up he hath no intercourse of loves from Christ and therefore has no breathings no declarations of Christs loves to him no experiences he is wrapt up in himselfe and to himselfe and therefore this makes him the soule being as sensible of this as of death for 't is a death to him this makes him to goe to Christ and complaine heavily oh how he grones in spirit till he be revived till his spirit till his loves come into him againe and cause him to act and live Oh! sayes he let my Christ come into me or I die I cannot live 't is true sayes he here is ordinances and here is a fellowship externally but what 's all this if my soule be frozen if my heart be bound up if I live within my selfe if I have not intercourses and returnes of loves from my beloved I die I die Now beloved would you have me make some use of this point from the particulars thereof I hope you have done that your selves as I went along but I will a little make out some uses I cannot be large because of the time and my owne weaknesse and I would make it out to you of what I have found in my own experience though I must confesse it is but lately and no great light neither there are depths there are glorious transcendent truths in these experiences but oh how dark at how small a crevice doe wee see How short doe we come I tell you though I have many times spoken of these things yet how coldly no ravishings no inlargings no overcommings of spirit how bound up truth is I had the Theorie in my understanding and I thought I had practised them because I knew them but 't is but new 't is but small the experience of them but God wil reveale and lead on his saints from step to step that they shall go from strength to strength digging up fountaines till they appeare before the Lord in Zion Professors talke much of heaven but I professe they never were in heaven nay never will be if they come not to this life you hope it may bee this life will bee hereafter But I tell you your heaven is here as well as hereafter in a degree be not deceived to pers wade your selves you are saints and you are Christians and have not this life we have described so farre you are in your sins you are yet below Christ you are yet in your selves you are not come up to the life of a Christian to the life of a Saint Vses from the particulars first are the saints so happy in their priviled ges that they are Christs Doves and so precious to him is it the priviledge and portion of the saints to be so precious to Christ then take this as the first consectory this will follow if it be so Then they will not long to be precious to the world you will not bee troubled though the world though men though friends though enemies regard you not so you be precious to Christ this is enough for you what though such a friend speake evill of you what thongh such a Professor loves you not and there another professour suspects you and you are troubled VVhy saints where is your life in the world or in Christ if in the world no marvell you are troubled no marvell you are offended if your life bee in Christ you will say what matter so Christ thinkes preciously of you if you have the sweet and mutuall embraces of Christ and your spirits run into each other and kisse and embrace each other here would be your rest Secondly observe from the next particulars is nothing in the heart of Christ too good for saints does Christ embrace salute kisse ravish the saints in his transcendent loves Does he endow them with the same glory he himselfe hath with the Father for I must put things together strength will not hold out to take them all severally as the things deserve Have any of you felt these things in your owne experience I do
not aske you if you have had the knowledge thereof in your understandings but haue you enjoyed them and found the loves of Christ so large so overcomming to your soules doe you see and feele that Christ thinkes nothing in his very heart too good for you The Scripture indeed is very full to prove this I need not cite them but have you made proofe thereof are these things so to you are they proved by your injoyments then I will tell you what it will worke First nothing that you have will be too precious for Christ Christs very heart his life his riches his loves his glory is not too precious for you And your very heart your life you will not think too precious for him much lesse your honour your riches your credit I tell you friends nothing will be too deare to part with so you may be taken up to these injoyments you will tread upon all as dirt as dung so you may gaine the loves and embraces of Christ Will friends will honours will parts will ordinances stand you in such stead as the loves of Christ will they lay you in the very heart and bosome of Christ will they redeeme you from the law and set you free will they take you from under the power of the killing letter which threatned nothing but death and hell will they take all advantages to do you good by sin by afflictions will they come in and helpe you when you are quite worne out will they helpe you out in straits No no they will not they cannot but all they can doe is but to lay you in their owne bosomes they cannot helpe against the terrours of the Law they take all advantages to doe you hurt they cannot helpe you out of straits but rather helpe you into straits c. The saints as saints they looke on all outward comforts thus and how then can they bee in love with them they looke on them as chaffe as stubble as nothing their life their loves their treasure is in the loves of Christ and having Christs heart running out to them and theirs to his Ioh. 17.23 Thou in me and I in them and they in me Thus much you hold forth by your profession of Christ and if it be so then I wonder why something of yours is too good for him if you loose your honour your good name your estates for him you thinke much you thinke Christ deales hardly with you and well you may if he bestow not himselfe upon you but had you as good a thing in the roome of that you lose you would never repine if Christ be such happinesse such riches such ravishings so that he is better then all things else what 's the reason you sticke so much upon the creature what 's the reason you come not off to this life what 's the reason that ye come no sooner make no more hast have no more longings to it But friends were you in the armes in the embraces of Christ you would repent you came no sooner into these joyes and loves that you were no sooner crucified to the flesh and to your selves Oh! beloved I tell you you would sleight all things as they stood in opposition to Christ But as I told you before they doe love wife friends children but 't is in Christ as Christ appears to them in them But friends where is your great boasting of your profession and Christianity and living to Christ if these things be so If Christ take away strawes and give Diamonds and Pearles what cause hast thou to complaine If thou dost complaine for the losing of these strawes it is signe for all thy boasting thou hast no Pearles but these strawes these nothings were thy Pearles and thy Diamonds Againe is a saint made glorious by Christ and is Christ and his glory all one then were you made glorious by Christ you would be swallowed up in the loves of Christ you could not live apart from Christ but you should live in Christ You have heard this is your priviledge as saints you shall not live in one region and Christ in another but you shall injoy the same life the same joyes the same loves with Christ Againe is the presence of Christ in himselfe then 't is not to be enjoyd else-where 't is not in fellowships 't is not in ordinances simply considered yet these ye are to use to hold forth the discipline of Christ to the world yet not to rest in these these distinguish you externally from the men of the world but you will be as of the world still for all them if you enjoy no more but bare ordinances This I speake because many satisfie themselves in this in receiving outwardly the ordinances and that they are accounted Professours and sequestred from the men of the world and because they are found in such and such fellowships being well thought on by others alas these will doe you no good for all these you may have no more life then the men of the world You see no man can live in the bosome of Christ and in the glory of Christ but hee is made one with Christ Saints they are not only made perfect hereafter as most Professours run away with that but they are admitted and have some entrance into heaven here they live as Saints they walke as saints they trade as saints they live with Christ they walke up and downe in loves love compasses them round about they are swallowed up of loves they live in loving and love in living ordinances are but shels but saints while they are cracking the shell to others they are eating the kernell themselves and live thereby Alas friends you may be partakers of all externall ordinances you may submit to Baptisme you may come into a right order of a Church way you may frequently break Bread together but what 's all this friends this is but the shell of the businesse the huske the bone but is Christ glorified in your spirit here is the life and you in his Spirit here is the kernell the marrow doe you live as he lives are you made one in spirit truly friends examine and look wel to your selves for mine owne part often have I spoken to you taught to you that which I found not in experience yet I thought I had but truly I find now I comprehended them yet I was not comprehended of them I knew not what eating the kernell was nor tasting the marrow the sweetnesse till of late Againe are saints well and fitly called Doves in regard of liveing in loves and by being made fruitfull by loving and in regard they cannot live except they love then observe that the people of God are an innocent people they are innocent to the Law Christ hath fulfilled it for them and freed them from the Law and brought them to peace and liberty from under the power of the killing letter Againe are the saints no selfe-seekers but selfe-deniers then I
creature must needes simpathize and bee sutably qualified to the creature But he that sits above with God is above all change in the creatures element hee is selfe-denied to the world and all in the world Againe this is the way to persection so far as we are satisfied with God and satisfied with truth so far we live in perfection I doe not say that person is perfect or without sin no but so farre as we live this life so farre we come toward perfection and live in perfection and live with God The new man carries us to God and perfection it assends and carries us upward to God and Christ but so farre as we come not up to this life so farre wee live below God and are drawne downward to the Creature to the World to Hell-ward to Divell-ward as one when he saw a Bird tyed with a stone to her Legg as she mounted to flee upward still the stone drew her downe to the Earth and thereupon he fell a weeping because it did so fully represent to him his own condition hee could not but weepe Grace carries and drawes a man on to perfection but the old man drawes downe to the Earth to defilement to destruction 3. Againe this conditon of a Saints rest is a gathering condition it puts him in a gathering way I pray you observe it this mā is the thriving man he only is in a thriving way this man is like to grow a rich man indeed All our wayes are scattering wayes if we live on the creature we gaine not but scatter and lose all he that lives this life of a Saint that God has taught him this lesson flowing from his own selfe from the very heart of God and the bosom of Christ he gathers such precious flowers of experience and gaines such precious Jewels and Pearles that he counts himself rich in them and in nothing else If hee live beside God he lookes on himself as a man that scatters all as a growing to be a banckrupt one that has no experience of the rich gainings of grace 1 Tim. 6.6 Godlinesse with content sayes the Apostle is great gaine Ther 's no true cōtent but in gaines by grace and the rich experriences of Gods workings in the soule to see which way corruption comes to be crusified and he kild to the world and the world to him to see how his power and life comes in and to observe the glorious outgoings of God and the manner of his glorious and Godlike proceedings with his soule this satisfies and composes his heart to see how sweetly God hath conquered his soule and brought his will into subjection that was so raging so rebellious Then he counts it all joy to fall into divers tēptations knowing finding by experience that the trying of faith worketh patience Isai 13.9.10 to be intire wanting nothing and so farre as he comes into this life of perfection to rejoyce in that he is made low and he that is of low degree in the creature to rejoyce in that he is made rich in God and high in God Ro. 5.4 and he sees how patience bringeth forth experience and experience hope and hope maketh not a shamed We will now come to some short uses and consectories from this point and from the benefits thereof Vse the first Is contentation a saints lesson is a saints spirit a satisfied spirit then so far as any one of us have not a satisfied spirit so far we have not a Saints spirit so far we are not saints So far as we are not satisfied contented at rest and composed so far wee are short of God and have not the life of God so far as we live not with God and in God For this is held out to us in the very nature of God God is in himselfe at rest serene composed no distraction in the Creature touches him he sits above that is hs is free from all changes and all alterations in the world so is that man so farre as he is a Saint being united and made one with God though he live among the creatures as God has his being in and through all the creatures yet he is not altered by the creatures So has this man as he is a saint not his joy his life his riches his treasure in the creature but in and with God above all creatures Againe is a saint as he is a saint of composed satisfied spirit composed of one spirit for that is promised in Jer. I will give them one heart Ier. 32.39 and one spirit then he is not of a devided discontented spirit hee is not troubled with those wishings and wouldings as men below are Oh that I had this condition or that condition but saies he let any condition come so I have God in it God is my rest and not the condition be it riches or health or the best condition wherein the men of the world and so farre as we are unregenerate to think therein is rest oh saies one had I but such a ones conditition such Lands such Honours I could be contented and satisfied oh saies another had I not such enemies were they but cut off overthro wne I should have rest this is not the temper of a Saint as a saint But he sayes I have found that promise fullfild I have the desire if my heart Psalm 37.4 my rest is in God and I cannot tell what to wish other then I have what I have I would have and what I would have I have if thou art not come to this thou hast a devided heart Some men they are ready to say and blesse themselves in their condition and say I thanke God I am contented but wherein is thy content thou hast a good estate and thou hast the desire of thy heart in the creature thou hast rare parts or thou art honoured among men herein thou art satisfied and thou thinks this is a gracious content thou dost not murmur but blessest God for thy condition alasse this is but sensuall this is but nature if thy content were right it would not be in the creature but in God Should God wheele thee into another condition and wheele away these outward contents then where will be thy comfort And some who are gone a little higher they can boast and say I blesse God I am content I am in poverty in disgrace in prison c. I am perswaded to submit to thē because it is so and it cannot be no other waies t is therefore better to bee content then to fight against the conditiō except I could help it this is but reasoning a mans selfe into content this content is not a Saints content that is to be content as seeing an excellency in this condition as seeing beawty and loves Psalm 68.24 and the glorious outgoings of Gods proceedings They have seen thy goings O God who art in the Sanctuary therefore the Virgins love thee oh the sparkling