much upon that the most do consent that all the creatures are Angels The word it self signifies especially in this plaâ—e an ambassador or a messenger now all the creatures being so messengers or ambassadors from God they must needs all be Angels But if a man should speak now unto the wisest in Israel and tell them that God sent Angels into every womb there to frame and create the Infant would he not wonder But what if I should say that the very forming-power is an Angel This could not be digested yet it is true for every particular influence in every creature is an Angel observe this that never any one Angel was sent on two errands nor never any two Angels on one errand for all the whole creation do joyntly together sing the infinite praise of their most wise Creator there is not the wickedest man alive but sings and sounds forth Gods praise as much as the holiest though it may be against their wills for if they sing not the praise of his mercy yet they sing as much to his praise the glory of his Iustice. God makes even the very worst of his creaturs sing a part of his praise Ask the craggy Mountains what part they sing and they will tell you they sing the praise of the immutableness unchangeableness of God Ask the flowers of the field what part they sing and they will tell you they sing the wisdom and liberality of God who clothes them beyond Solomon in all his glory Ask the Sun Moon and Stars what part they sing they will say the constancy of Gods promises that they shall hold their course and not alter it Ask the poor received sinner what part he sings and he will tell you he sings the infinite free mercy of a most gracious Father And ask the wicked obstinate sinner what part he sings and he will tell you he sings the praise of his patience and Iustice. And truly my beloved not one creature but sings apart and yet all together all that ever were and that are and that ever shall be put all together yet they do not sing no not the thousand thousand part of this infinite eternal God As the Queen of Sheba when she came and heard Solomons wisdom she confessed that what she heard of him in her own Countrey although incredible yet it was not the tenth part of that she saw and heard so though all creatures sing Gods praise yet All and all if they were a thousand times more then they are yet they all do not yield the thousand thousand part of that honour and praise that is due to him for he hath all perfections in him and he also gives and distributes to the several creatures those several parts and portions they have As I have often told you the perfection of any one species cannot be known by any one individual And so Gods Church is a glorious Church taken not as being in any one member but in the compleat body As the perfections of a man cannot be known by any one man for if one man have wisdom another hath sobriety if one hath patience another man hath temperance so that the beauty of the Church cannot be known by any one member be it never so excellent If Abraham hath faith Iob hath patience if Ioseph hath chastness Moses hath meekness c. so that as you must not look for the perfections of a man in one man for if one be as fair as Absalom another is as proper as Saul if one hath proportion another hath sobriety c. so neither must we look to see the admirable perfection of the Spouse of Christ that is all fair and hath no spot by one member neither by all that are now living upon the earth or that were but look upon all that ever were are and shall be and adde to them their Head Christ and then it is a beautiful Church indeed and in her no spot at all So though every creature express God One one attribute another another and they speak his praise wonderfully yet they come infinitely shorr of him and though altogether they say somewhat yet not the tenth part of him not the tenth part of his Iustice not the tenth part of his patience not the tenth part of his Mercy c. One is sent to deliver a message of his love another a message of his justice another a message of his patience another a message of his liberality and bounty all of several errands and whatever message he sends any creature on he is alwayes just they all do but his will Though they sin and transgress and therein think they do their own will that makes it sin but they all do his wil therefore it is said Ps. 103. 20. Bless the Lord all ye hosts ye Angels that do his pleasure and although it be more properly spoken of those Angels that are invisible in the air in the heavens yet it may well be also applied to all creaturâ—â— for he hath made them very little lower then the Angels onely in the Angels below matter prevails above the form but in the Angels above form prevails over the matter for if our forms were not bounded and fastned to the earth by their matter even we should be as the Angels of God so that we should no sooner think or desire to be in any place were it never so far off but we should immediately be there for how soon can my spirit convey it self in thought thousands of miles but my body cannot be there but by times and succession of gradation and by steps The reason is because the form is imprisoned in the matter earth goes to earth and ashes to ashes and dust to dust naturally because it is its center but the spirit goes upward naturally the higher we go from the earth the more pure the elements and the nearer the earth the more gross the more dull the more sad and lumpish it is impossible that a heavy body should hang in the air for every thing tends and bend to his center if it be a heavy body it will fall downward the water is purer then the earth the air then the water the light then the air the fire then the light and so more and more spiritual till you come to him who is All Spiritual Spirit it self And for those Angels are out of our sight which are said to be in heaven you know there are degrees of them some are Angels some Archangels some Cherubims and some Seraphims 〈◊〉 therefore if you have observed it if ever ye saw Angels pictured they were drawn with compleat bodies from head to foot but yet to shew they are above a man and more spirit therefore they have alwayes wings which shew that they are above us in their Nature and are carried above our element but Arch-angels they are pictured with half bodies cut off at the middle with wings shewing that they are further off
all Helps All Prophesies tend to him and all actions end in him But in what sense is he here set out In this Vision T is true All actions are from him and all tend to him and end in him but all representations are not fit proper nor useful for all occasions in what sense therefore is this action or representation revealed in this place to Moses I Answer In effect this Vision was the same that Iacobs was the end of it was to encourage Moses in the work in hand Christ Jesus is often in Scripture compared to fire The light of Israel shall be for a fire and his Holy One for a flame It shall burn and devour his Briers and his Thorns in one day He was and is that Burning fire that burns and consumes every thing but not it self as you know fire doth Though it consumes every thing else yet it cannot consume it self nay indeed I may say Fire it burns every thing and consumes Nothing for fire doth but separate every thing to its own Element Air to Air Fire to Fire Earth to Earth and Water to Water Fire makes a change but there is nothing lost Such a Fire is Christ Jesus in this place who changes and alters things according as he pleaseth He it is that causes creatures to rise out of the Elements and creates them of the Elements and brings them All at his pleasure back again He Creates them and saith when he pleases not only Return again ye sons of Men but to all Creatures Return Return And so thousands of thousands of millions of ceatures have been and are daily Made of the same Elements and having continued their Creators pleasure they must dissolve return whence they came And out of That same matter successively creatures have been and are daily made Trees grow out of the earth and having fulfilled their work and their time they fall to the earth from whence they again arose All things are in a continual change Operation and Distillation Even as you see Water put into a glass put on the fire to still Being close stopt the vapors and the spirits ascend by heat To the very Top and the heat being allayed they fall and descend again Now observe There is a change made but there is nothing lost for being close stopt nothing could go out of the glass Even so Things are Altered Changed by Christ Jesus He makes Creatures of the Elements they Ascend and Descend but he consumes nothing for Whether should they go They cannot go out of the world And nothing They cannot be made but by God himself for All the creatures cannot bring the least Gnat to nothing This is an undeniable Maxime There is required the same power to Annihilate it as there was to Create it All the Kings in the earth cannot bring One creature to nothing if they should burn this body of mine to ashes and scatter the ashes in the air or cast them into the River Yet there is nothing lost of me but onely every Element hath its part to which it Returns Now I say Christ Jesus is this FIRE It is He that burns the Bush but consumes it not It is He as Iob saith that Turns them as wax to the seal You know wax is Altered and changed to any form and change it as often as ye will The Seal the Form you last gave it that stands till you destroy it and give it another So doth Jesus Christ of one and the same Elements doth he make and unmake and remake daily new forms and new impressions and that impression it last had That stands Till he cause it to Return till he unmake it and new make it again And I dare be bold to Affirm That if our great and glorious God should weigh the heavens and the earth now as he did at the making thereof For the Scripture saith He measured the waters in the Hollow of his Hand and comprehended The dust of the Earth in a measure and weighed The Mountains in Scales and The Hills in a Ballance I say it would be found That Nothing were lost For all he hath Created and Raised Made and Unmade Altered and changed All the whole world as he doth continually having raised thereout such infinite millions of thousands of men beasts trees c. and is still in changing and making them New and Unmaking them again yet I say If He Weigh the whole matter of Heaven and Earth of which they are made they would not weigh One Grain less or more then at the first Creation I say It is He that weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a ballance It is He that measures the waters in the hollow of his hand It is He that Spans the heavens and Measures the earth he it is that alters all things And metes out his workmanship out of the four Elements and yet preserveth the substance thereof so that nothing is lost Behold I make all things new Rev. 21. yet he consumes nothing They all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed And who is it That doth all this but onely Jesus Christ the Son of the Father who works all things according to the minde of his father who is always Changing always Renewing There is not one Creature be it never so glorious be it never so solid but it is still In changing no creature is One and the same not one minute onely God is One God is the Same there is no house no wall no stone no man no Angel no Arch-angel no Cherubim no Seraphim but is still in motion it is still changing Onely Thou O Lord God Blessed for ever Thou alterest not nor changest not Thy years are the same They shall perish but thou sâ—alt indure They all shall wax old and change as a garment and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end Though some be so durable that they move not nor change not in our apprehension yet they do As you know the Dial is in continual motion though you perceive it not so Though to your weakness they are insensibly moved yet there cannot be Any thing at Rest and Unchangable but onely God Almighty Now then Moses unto whom God spake in this Sacramental Vision he saw what was the Meaning the Substance thereof t is as if the Lord should say Moses as thou seest me Externally Burn This Bush and consume it not the same am I in thee and in All things else And if I be So Present In every thing and with every thing what needest thou to fear what needest thou to fear thine own inability what needest thou to fear Pharaohs hard-heartedness what needest thou to fear the Peoples believing and obeying thee If I be with thee and with them what needest thou doubt of any thing though thou seest things cross
place saith he Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul So say I were the Apostles crucified for you are they those that suffered for you and redeemed you are they those that are the Salt Life Strength and Support to you no no for themselves had need of salting therefore they were not The Salt but they were the Instruments or Ministers which Christ used to convey to us the true Salt and in no other regard were they called The salt of the earth And again Christ saith in the same sense Mat. 5. 14. Ye are the light of the world and again S. Iohn saith and more properly Iohn 1. 9. He is the true light which lightneth every man which cometh into the world and himself saith Iohn 8. 12. I am the light of the world He it was also that was typisied in all the Oblations under the Law and throughout the old Testament He was the True Paschal Lamb He was the true Sacrifice he was that Fire that must alwaies burn upon the Altar Levit. 6. 13. He also was that salt commanded for the salt was never wanting and in the verse before my Text Christ himself cites that place Every sacrifice saith he shall be salted with salt he was that salt which must never be wanting he seasons every Oblation Lev. 2. 13. he is the Salt of the everlasting covenant unto thee and thy seed for ever he was that Salt that Elisha threw into the waters and healed them and those many waters are many people as it is expâ—essed in the Revelation in sum he is the Substance the MIND of the whole Scriptures As he is the fire by reason of burning â—nd because of heat and light so he is the salt that sweetens and savours evâ—â—y thing As he is the light that enlightneth so he is the salt that salâ—eâ—h â—very man He it was thâ—â— was wanting in that people which God upbraideth Ezek. 16. That were cast forth to the world in their blood and filâ—hiness and their navel was not cut and they were not salted at all that is they had not Christ that true salt applyed to them that shoâ—ld have made then savoury to God That which is unsavoury shall it be eaten without salt Iob 16. 4. It is this salt that must season the venison that must be savoury meat for old Isaac it is not your salt no nor your VENISON not the daintiest meat you can provide not the best duties you can perform will please him except they be salted and seasoned by his own Son let them be the best actions that ever man performed never so well purposed never so good and excelling both for the matter and manner of them away with them without This Salt it is onely in his son that he is well pleased Never think that all your prayers your tears your alms c. please him but onely that which is his Sons own action and work in you else they stink and are abominable in his eyes he will not he cannot regard them The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to him The Devil made as true and as large a Confession of Christ as any man can do look upon the words and not upon him that spake them and you would think they were the words of a Saint O thou Iesus of Nazareth Son of the most high God I know thee who thou art even the holy one of God indeed it was extorted and came from them against their wills but Christ accepted it not because this glorious confession was without salt it was not from a sweet feeling experience of him in them but from some self-ends Therefore I have observed that the Devil where he is worshipped to imitate God hath brought in in all his Sacrifices the use of salt nay so eminently true is this that as the Devils cry out and attest unto him though against their wills so by their practice we may note that under salt was hidden that great mystery and secret of all Religion by their great care to use salt thereby to imitate the worship of God as Iosephus noteth against Appion and Ierome against Vigilantius Pliny Plato and others Christ spake altogether in Parables for sayes the Text without a parable spake he nothing unto them yet know he alwayes spake in such parables as were not absurd ones but they had a most fit correspondency and resemblance to the things themselves and those speeches of his which to us seem not congruous had we but eyes to see even every one of them they would be like apples of gold with pictures of silver so aptly and fitly are they spoken as no man can speak like him As there is not a word nor a syllable in all this blessed book of God but is really true so all the words therein they are spoken with infinite wisdome there are Wonders in all Christs words but our eyes are shut that we cannot see the wonders of Gods Law and as Christ spake much in Parables so doth God much in Allegoâ—ies the truth is hid under shadows and Mysteries in the Letter But the reasons as I conâ—eive why Christ is compared to salt are these First There is a healing power in salt Little do you know the vertue that is in salt to cure all manner of diseases for Antidotes against poysons to heal all manner of wounds as some have written thereof at large I do not say salt rudely taken as it is in our common use but salt duly prepared and made â—it to every use nothing more useful nothing more excellent In this regard salt having such an healing vertue for all wounds poisons diseases Christ is more truly salt to the soul then salt is to the body he is precious salt and duly prepared and â—itted for all our diseases no infirmity or malignant disease in us though never so desperate but This Salt will cure it If you have gotten such a wound that you are as a man fallen from an high place upon a heap of stones so that you are bruised all over if you be covered with the leprosie of 〈◊〉 from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet so that no part no member no faculty is free His everlasting mercy and His never failing goodness and his Almighty power is a never failing Medicine that can fit and compound such ingredients that shal answer the disease of every part If there be an utter enmity between God and you in your apprehension so that you have no hope of ever coming into his favour and nothing you can do can prevail with him set but Christ between God and you and he will heal this enmity When he was here upon earth in the flesh no disease could withstand him in the body so I am sure none can in the soul But if you have not Him there is no way but you must dye
every where But shall I tell you how yoâ— may come to handle him with your hands and see him with your eyes Thus Can you but take off all accidents from every thing and then that whiâ—h remains is Christ Their Angels alwaies behold the face of their father which is in heaven As if you take from me all heighth and depth all greatness and littleness all weight and measure all heat and cold and all kind of matter and form for these are all Accidents and then that which is left is He which BEARS â—p all even Iesus Christ blessed for ever even He that dwels in Heaven and in the bosome of his Father in his Pavilion and in his Secret place He clothes himself with light saith the Psalmist as with a garment Light is the next thing to God himself the purest Accident For all that may be smelt felt tasted seen heard oâ— understood all these are Accidents and therefore saith the Apostle the fashion of this world passeth away for the fashion of this world are but Accidents for take away all kind of fashion visible and every thing that can be imagined under any form whatsoever and then you shall find Jesus Christ the Son of the father the first-begotten of all creatures the Beginning and Foundation of all the works of God The IMMANUEL God with us All accidents must pass away all the fashion of the World and whatsoever must passaway let it pass away and that which perisheth or is to perish let it perish but still Christ remaineth he changeth not he is not subject to Accidents or any change but he remains alwayes the same He is yesterday and to day and the same for ever Therefore lay not hold on these transitory things but lay hold on the Anchor of your souls which is Both sure and stedfast and that entreth into that which is within the vail Heb. 6. 19. Highness and lowness pass away greatness and littleness pass away youth and age pass away weight and lightness pass away and all the beauty and glory of the Creature but still Christ who is the salt and the substance that still remains For there was something of me before I was either high or low great or little heavy or light old or young c. and that was Christ The beginning of all things And Christ being thus as we have shewed you you then see what ground Christ had to call himself The salt of the earth for all these things being taken away ye shall find him to be as the salt of every thing thâ—t is Christ he is the Strength the Holder the Knitter the Composure and Compacture of all things His name is The word of God Rev. 19. 13 He is The word by whom all things were made in him was life and the life was the light of men this light shineth in darkness But the darkness comprehendeth it not All Accidents are darkness and hide God from us He is the image of the invisible God the first-born of every Creature 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 all were created by him and for him and he is the beginning of all things and by him all things consist Object But it may be you will say to me How can that be true of Christ Salt is good but if the salt saith he hath lost its â—avour wherewith shall it be salted It is neither meet for the land nor yet for the Dunghil but men cast it out He that hath ears to hear let him hear What shall he be seasoned withal can he be infaâ—â—ated or unsavoury Answ. The decision of which doubt falls propeâ—ly under the second general question of my 〈◊〉 My second question answers this viz. What iâ— is to have salt He in regard of himself seasons all alike He in himself doth not season some more and some less or some have him and some have him not but as it was in the gathering of Mannâ— they all gathered enough thoughsome gathered more some less they lacked not nor they had none left so Christ is in every one in regard of himself alike that is in regard of their real and essential perception and participation of Christ. He is the form of forms the soul of the soul and he cannot be more in one place then in another But here to have salt is to see to know to feel and believe and assure our selves that we have this salt and that Christ is in us Christ is in regard of himself every where and in every one alike but every one believes it not alike If we should attempt to speak of God as he is in himself in his essence as abstracted from all creatures so he is unknowable neither Creating nor in possibility of being Created as t is said in Prov. 30. 4. Who can declare his generation his name or his sons name if thou canst tell he is unknowable unnameable Canst thou by searching find out God We cannot conceive of his manner of being in the creature but acâ—ording to his manner of working in the creature As Iacob when he awaked then he saw that God was in that place then he cryes out Oh how terrible how dreadful is this place this is none other but the House of God God was there before as much as he was then but Iacob was not aware of God The whole creation is Gods house Gods Temple but we see it not so we see not God in all places nor in all creatures as Iacob did then till our eyes be opened God is alwaies in every creature and he is there alike in his Heaven in his Holy place and he cannot be more in one then another but till we be awaked till our eyes be opened till the scales of ignorance and the thick darkness be removed we cannot acknowledge it But as soon as ever they are open then we see God was and is in us we were not aware and we shall then cry out of every place and of every creature O how dreadful is this place I see now this is Gods house and Gods Temple and I knew it not Till then God had made as David saith darkness his secret place and his Pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies but when he pleaseth to discover himself then it follows in the next verse At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed hailstones and coals of fire then the Lord was seen and heard for he thundred in the heaven and the Highest gave out his voyce they saw then that it was He alone that wrought in and through all the Creatures that it was he alone that gathered and scattered and discovered the foundations of the world He it is that turneth the Nations of the
you have as really found done in you as if you had been with Sampson himself and seen him do what is related of him for t is all done in you There be two names more but the time is past and I can but name them The nineteenth name is Sathan for he opposeth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped And his armour is Infidelity The twentieth is the Evil one and his armour is pleasure to do evil So much for this time SERMON V. ROM 8. 17. If so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together IF we would know what these sufferings are we are to endure if we would be glorified with Christ said I to endure nay that we should be glad to entertain yea and rejoyce in it is not meant of scorn or scandal or poverty or imprisonment or whipping or death it self for then what shall become of them that never suffer any of these things and yet do suffer with Christ therefore I told you wherein every one must suffer with Christ if they will be glorified with him and that is in two things 1 In Emptying of himself 2 In humbling himself If we imitate him in these though we are not called to the former it is no matter so we be ready in affection and are in preparation to suffer them if we be called to them for those two are the Original of Christs sufferings the foundation the root The Fountain all His other outward and external sufferings are but the effects the leaves and the fruit From these two do all the rest stream and flow as from the Spring their Fountain and Well-Head Well then This Ground-work and Corner-stone being laid Let me tell you it will bear All it will bear any building God shall rear upon it and wanting this foundation though we suffer all poverty all disgrace all tortures that can be named yet we suffer not with Christ and therefore they will not nor cannot bring you to glory with him And Again let me tell you The least mite of sufferings though it be never so smal yea as small as the two mites being but half a farthing the poor widow offered coming from this foundation and fountain it is great and precious in Gods sight for it is from God and of God when as all tortures name what you can are not regarded by him without they come from this foundation and Principle And as I told you there be six degrees in these sufferings or six steps Typified by the six steps that led unto Solomons Throne These six steps we must ascend before we can sit down in the Throne of rest peace and perfection having overcome all our enemies and having brought all into subjection and that all things are put under Christs feet and that he rules in the midst of his enemies And made his Enemies his Footstool The first Blessed step is 1. Condemnation of our selves as worthy to be destroyed 2. Annihilation of our selves reducing ourselves to just nothing That whereas sin hath made us something in our own esteem and it hath built up a tower in us to reach up to heaven Grace may scatter it And confound our language and bring it again to nothing 3. Abdication or for saking all resigning up all to God all that ever we are or have 4. Indifferency to be equally disposed to every thing to want and riches to cold weather and hot to peace and war c. knowing that nothing can be better ordered then it is All being done according to his will 5. Conformity to Christ in all things that what ever Christ would do were he on earth in my case in my calling and condition the same do we 6. Deiformity that is That though you see us move wish affect will rejoyce c. yet it is not we but it is God doeth all it is God that moves it is God that wishes it is God that wills it is God that rejoyces And we are now come after much striving to set out foot upon the first step namely Condemnation of our selves confessing our own vileness and wreâ—chedness for so far as we justifie and approve oâ—r selves so far are we from ascending this first step of condemning our selves Friends I would not have you think my labour lost in opening those several names That kept us from ascending â—hese steps for if ever you ascend these yoâ— muâ—â— see those things all in your selves and they 〈◊〉 be removed before ever you can look towards these steps with so much as a purpose to ascend them If you have not lookt all this while within your selves and lookt to find there The Devil Sin the red Dragon the Serpent Lucifer the roaring Lion Antichrist c. my labour is lost I have but be at the air and spilt water on the ground And it is but a folly to proceed to open these steps for as ye understand not the One so neither can you the Other they are both to you As a fountain walled about and a spring shut up and as a book Sealed And he that after all this is not able apparently to see and confess that all these are in himself he is blind and sees nothing The subject of our Coudemnation Being The strong Man The Old man This Goliahâ— of Gath c. as you may remember we have arraigned and indicted him by several Names because he may not escape and shift off the indictment so that he may be accused arraigned and condemned in every heart here present that if you find him not by one name yet you may by some other either by the name of Adam or the old Man or the Serpent or Lucifer or the red Dragon or the Roaring Lion or the Devil or Antichrist or Sin or by the name of Rebellion or False Light or Darkness or the Flesh or Selfness or Propriety or Self-Love or our Own will or lastly by the name of Errour For we shewed you that in Scripture he had all these names with many more if he be not known by any One of these yet by them all you may know him But lest you should think you have no Commission to ride this Circuit and sit as Judge and say Quis me constituit judicem Luk. 12. 14. Who made me a judge I answer We have not onely a Commission but a Promise annexed to it to encourage us to this judging 1 Cor. 11. where the Apostle commands Iudge your selves and you shall escape the judgement of God and Christ himself gives out this Commission annexed with a Promise Iudge your selves and ye shall not be judged But know this also though this work be done in thee it is not thou that doest it but God is judge himself yet God himself judgeth no man but all judgement is committed to the Son Ioh. 5. 22. and not onely the sentence but power and authority to execute that Office belongs to
laid down the first being Condemnation of our selves the second is Annihilation bringing or reducing our selves to just nothing Mistake not for your own sakes I do not mean to be really nothing at all of no substance that is more then any earthly power can do more then Potentates or Kings can do they may attempt such a thing but their arm can onely reach to division or separation of soul and body and dividing of the Elements one from another they may grind us to powder they may burn us to ashes and when they have so done cast the ashes into the river as in some case they may justly do but they cannot make us nothing for the same power that Creates can onely Annihilate for every thing retires to its own proper place every thing to its element the water to his the fire to his the air to his the earth to his so that when I tell you of making your selves nothing I do not mean you should destroy your selves but I speak of such a making nothing and destroying as that you keep all your members such a making nothing as Iob complains of himself ch 16. 12. I was at ease and he hath broken me asunder he hath taken me by the neck and hath shaken me to pieces and hath set me up for his mark he cleaveth my reins asunder and poureth my gall upon the ground Iob there complains that he was broken to pieces and yet Iob had all his joynts and all his members therefore that which I mean is the turning of a mans self into dust and powder before God to be emptie in our selves to be Nothing less then nothing in our own esteem that all those huge bulwarks that we have raised in our souls of our somethingness and of our own esteem may be all laid flat to the ground and brought to nothing as Abraham Gen. 18. 27. when God had appeared to him said Now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes he seeing the infinite vast difference between God and him he cryes out O Lord I am but dust and ashes And I tell thee O man pulvis es in pulverem revertâ—ris Gen. 3. 19. Dust thou art and to dust thou must return But give me leave and I will yet be more plain to you For my beloved My mouth is open unto you my bowels are not straightned to you-ward my heart is enlarged though the Jews should forbid me to speak any more in this name as they did the Apostles yet I will not keep back any part of Gods Counsel from you And I pray God you do not take the childrens bread and cast it unto dogs and I shall express my meaning briefly All that thou callest I All that selfness All that arrogancy propriety that thou hast taken to thy self all this must be brought to nothing whatsoever creates in us Iness or Selfness this is pulvis cinis Dust and Ashes and Vanity for take away these and we are glorious creatures the workmanship of God himself but these things Iness and Selfness being let in These these things make us deformed this is that makes us like the Devil himself for take from him this I I am something and take away Selfness I will have mine own will and I will be Lord and King and take away Propriety I will have and I will enjoy something to my self and for my self and then the Devil himself is a glorious Angel there is nothing then left but what is good all things were at first very good It is true That Man at the best is but created of the dust of the earth but what is he and what a case is he in when sin enters into him I do believe there are thousands at this instant in Hell that do wish from their souls that they were or could be reduced to nothing at all But that man that is reduced in this sense to nothing and hath truly considered himself he cryes out and complains See O Lord how I am become Vile Lam. 1. 11. and he acknowledges as David 2 Sam. 6. 21. that if I be Vile I will yet be more Vile Doth Gods book require that he should be Vile and abominable and low in his own sight his heart Echoes and answers I will yet be more vile I will be more nothing as the Prophet Esay sayes ch 40. 17. We are nothing we are less then nothing all Nations are but as the drop of the Bucket they are nothing they are vanity it self we are but as a bubble as David confesses we are but as a broken pitcher that can hold no water Psal. 31. 12. we are but as dead men cast out of sight and clean out of mind David was then in a most miserable condition in the eyes of flesh and blood But Oh happy thrice happy are those men that are once come thus to be Dead men whatever men think You know dead men they cannot so much as say this is I they esteem not of themselves let men do what they will with them they are all one strike him he feels it not they claim no interest nor propriety in any thing let them be merry while he lies by or let them be sad all is one to him let them be sharers of his goods One will have one part Another another let them spend lavishly and make merry with his goods he he is not moved why because he hath lost his sense he hath lost his taste so he that is dead to himself he hath lost his sense he hath lost his taste in this world let others rejoyce in heaping up riches and adding land to land and making themselves and their posterity great in the world these things concern not him and likewise poure any thing into a broken Pitcher it can hold nothing it can hold no honour no praise no price so likewise into this man pour what ye will into him pour wealth into him pour health pour honour into him pour praise pour credit or the contrary he can hold nothing whatever ye do to him or take from him he is all one if ye take his cloak from him he will give you his coat if ye strike him on the one side he will turn the other curse him and he will pray for you and this he learns of his sweet and dear Saviour Jesus Christ who hath set him a pattern for him to follow and commands him to learn of him and thereby ye shall find Rest to your souls for saith he with Iacob Gen. 32. 10. I am less then the least of thy mercies These things Selfness and Propriety being taken away Then there is a Fair Table for Gods Spirit to write what he pleases for if a sheet of paper be blacked all over can a man write any thing thereon but if ye can take away that which blacks the paper and defiles the soul
6. Did he heal the sick and diseased give light to the blind open the ears of the deaf untie the tongues of the dumb feed the hungry preach teach to pray sigh and groan and weep reprove with Authority Was he hungry and thirsty and went up and down doing good Was He Arraigned and condemned under Pontius Pilate did he dye rise again ascend into Heaven and sit at the right hand of his Father All these are true So let us in all these mind that these mighty works be done in our souls that they be cured from the putrified sores of sin and lusts Isa. 1. 6. and from our spiritual leprosie and cry Open thou O Lord mine eyes that I sleep not the sleep of death Psal. 13. 3. We should labour and pray that our understandings may be enlightned that we may have The seeing eye and Hearing ear to confess and praise him with our tongues that they may speak the language of Canaan and say Open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise And that we should hunger after righteousness and be watchful in prayer sigh and groan and weep for sins committed against God Mine eyes gush out with tears Psa. 119. O that my head was a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night c. Jer. 9. 1. Reprove and rebuke and loath our selves as Iob I do abhor my self Job 42. 6. Do good especially to those of the houshold of faith Condemn and accuse and judge our selves I called mine own ways to account saith David I dye daily saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. Christ rose again Arise and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Eph. 4. And so we should rise again to newness of life If ye be risen with Christ seek the things that are above Col. 3. 1. He ascended and so do we when our conversation is in Heaven He sits at the right hand of his Father All power is given unto me Mat. 28. 18. Now I live saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ in me And Jesus Christ cast out Devils too and so must we cast out spirtiual wickedness in high places All these are the works of Christ in us and happy are we if we can truly say This day are these Scriptures fulfilled in us But must our Saviour cast out Devils in us what in me If an Angel should tell me so I cannot believe it and I would ask with the Virgin Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How can this thing be Luk. 1. 34. If our Saviour himself should tell me 't is and must be so and except I cast the Devils out of thee thou canst not be saved I should ask him as Nicodemus did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How can it be Ioh. 3. 4 For where is there any Devils in me to be cast out Just so Peter said to our Saviour Ioh. 13. 8. Thou shalt never waâ—h my feet but certainly as our Saviour then told Peter Except I waâ—h thee thou hast no part in me So in this case except he cast out the Devils they are in us still for Beelzebub will not cast out Beelzebub But it may be Here you wil say to me as the Jews said to Christ Iohn 7. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certainly thou hâ—st a Devil To tell us such strange things To make us believe that we are Possest For this purpose it will be necessary to see what the Devil is for that which is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An unclean spirit in Luk. 4. 33. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Spirit of an unclean Devil Devils for substance are Angels for quality Evil ones or Angels of darkness A man is in substance a man though Evil and his Evilness of quality doth not make him lame or blind or deformed There are secondly many good Angels as our Saviour testifies More then twelve Legions of Angels Mat. 26. 33. And there are many bad Angels My Name is Legion for we are many Mark 5. 9. Whereas 't is said of both of them that they are spirits 't is true it taken comparatively not positively or simply for this word spirit hath divers Acceptions in Scriptuâ—e As 1. Spirit is taken for the Air Ve-ruach The Spirit of the Lord rested upon the waters Gen 1. 2. 2. 'T is taken for the Wind Ve-ruach The East wind brought in the Locusts Exod. 10. 13. 3. 'T is taken for the spirit of life All flesh died in which was Ruach the spirit of life Gen. 6. 17. 4. For the immortal part of man Ve-ruach The spirit of man returns to God that gave it Eccl. 12. 7. 5. For the purpose and mind of man Kol-rucho A fool opens and speaks all his mind or spirit Prov. 25. 11. 6. For the influences of the spirit As I will take of the spirit that is in thee and put it on them Num. 11. 17. 1. So then Devils are Angels yet different from good Angels Yet not in substance power strength agility or the like but in that one accident of Evil Therefore they are called Evil Angels Psal. 78. 49. And Angels that sinned 2 Pet. 2. 4. And The Devils Angels Mat. 25. 41. and Angels of Darkness Good and evil Angels differ not then in substance but in quality 2. The Devils are spirits who maketh his Angels spirits Heb. 1. 7. And so in the words of my Text The Unclean Spirit But yet they are spirits comparatively or respectively not simply or positively for so onely God is a Spirit it is his peculiar Title Iohn 4. 24. And as God is a Spirit so he is called the Father of spirits Heb. 12. 9. 3. They are Bodies But not Natural or Terrestrial but Spiritual and Celestial 1 Cor. 15. 40 44. Non ut nos yet have not bodies as we have So speaks the Nycene Synod Corpora multo tenuiora quam natura But much more subtile bodies have they then we not so gross and heavy as ours are but more Aerial and sublime so speak the Greek and Latine Father for God is Onely Incorporeal Yet know this That their Corporiety or Materiality hinders not the being of many in one place As a whole Legion in one person Mark 5. 9. and seven Devils were cast out of Mary Magdalen for the Penetration of bodies spiritual is not As of bodies Terrestrial For As the light of many Candles through One hole they are to our senses confounded yet in themselves distinct like the lightning from East to West Luk. 17. 24. And as all the Sun-beams make but one JUBAR till received by several subjects so is it with spiritual bodies 5. That every Devil is As the Star of His ORB as concentring of light to our sight is of things near or far off Ibi est ubi operatur There