The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God, Part 1 (3 of 6)

The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God · Part 1 (3 of 6)

p. 633. The Discovery of this Sonship. This is by the sending of the Spirit into our Hearts. This Spirit is manifold. Ephes. 4. 3. Keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Where the Unity is kept by a Bond, there a Multiplicity is clearly signified.

1 Cor. 12. 13. We are all baptized by one Spirit into one Body. Christ and his Saints are there spoken of. All these together are one Body of Divinity, and Glory. Each particular Saint is a Member of this Glory, a Son, or Child of this Divinity. Each one hath the same Spirit, which comprehends all the Persons of our Saviour, and his Brethren.

God in his own time sends down this Spirit upon every one of his Sons. When it comes, it discovereth in itself, thy Saviours Person, and thine, in one Light, Life, and Form; in one Relation to God, as being both Sons.

The Spirit shining forth in thy Spirit, shews itself at once, One with God, and One with Thee. So it becomes both the Witness, and the Evidence of thy Relation to God, as of a Son to a Father.

Therefore St. Paul teacheth us: Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit beareth witness with our Spirits, that we are the Sons of God. The Spirit is the Brightness of the Godhead; which, as it descends into our bosoms, opens the Godhead to us, there discovers us to our selves, as we were Eternally comprehended in that Root, as we grow up out of it, as we abide, and flourish in it.

This Spirit being immediately united to God, immediately united to our Spirits, is an immediate Testimony of our Sonship.

4, The Effect of this Discovery. He hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our Hearts, crying; Abba, Father. The natural Effect of our Sonship made manifest in us is a natural Affection to our Father. While we are in the State of Nature we know not whence we come, nor whither we go, when once we have received the Spirit of Sons, we then see God to be the Father, who did bear us in his Loyns from Eternity, who brought us forth into this World; who can never forget us, though a Woman should forget her only Child; who hath ever Bowels of a Father, care, tenderness, sweetness towards us; who cannot always hold, but He must discover himself to us.

When a Saint feels these Workings of the Spirit of God in his own Spirit, then his Bowels turn within him, then he melts, then he casts himself into the Embraces of his God, and cries; My Father: Abba, Father.

Thus God gives a Check to our Lusts, changing them into a divine Love, by Discovery.

p. 64This is the First place of Scripture.

2. Scripture. 1 Joh. 4. 16. 17. He that dwells in Love, dwells in God, and God dwells in him. For God is Love. In this is Love made perfect, that we may have Boldness before him in the day of Iudgment. Because, as He is, so are we in this World.

Two things are taught us in these words:

1. The Relation between God, and a Saint in an Evangelical State.

2. The Affection of such a Saint towards God.

1. The Relation between God, and a Saint in an Evangelical State. The Relation between a Father, and a Son in Nature hath three Parts.

1. Part. The Nature of the Father is in the Person of the Son. It is one in both, as the Sap, and Seminal Power is the same thorow the whole Tree.

2. Part. The Person of the Son subsists in the Nature of the Father; as the Body of the Tree in the Root.

3. Part. The Person of the Father propagates and multiplies itself in the Person of the Son; as the Body of a Tree runs out into Branches.

Such a Relation with so many Parts is there between God, and a Saint, as between Father and Son.

1. Part. The Divine nature is in the Person of a Saint, as the Fountain of his Being, the Fulness of his Person. Thus St. John saith: We dwell in God; not in the Fleshly Image of God, as a Servile Christian; but in the Spiritual Image, the naked Bosom of the Godhead.

2. Part. The Person of a Saint is in the Divine Nature, as in his Root, in his Element, in his proper Principle; as that, which comprehends him, communicates itself to him, sustains him, flows in upon him, shows itself in all things, possesseth, acts him entirely. Thus saith St. John: We dwell in God: that is, as a Worldly Spirit dwells in the Spirit of this World.

3. Part. God propagates himself in a Saint. Both are one Life, one Spirit multiplying itself into various Forms: Both unitedly, and in One, pass thorow all Forms. So St. John again teacheth: As He is, so are we in this World.

This is the Relation between God, and a Saint in an Evangelical State, as that between a Father and a Son.

2. The Affection of a Son-like Saint towards God. To dwell in God, and dwell in Love: to have God, and to have Love dwelling in us, are both One thing. For God is Love.

God is an Infinite Sweetness, which is both Fountain, and Sea in one: a Fountain sending forth many Streams, many Sons: a Sea drawing all into its own Bosom again by a Natural course.

He then that is a Son of God is a Son of Love: Love of that first Love, coming forth from it, and returning thither, whence it first came.

This Son-like or Filial Love hath Two Characters.

p. 651. Character: The Degree.

2. Character: The Extent.

1. Character: The Degree of Love, Love in a Son-like Saint riseth to a Confidence, a Boldness in the presence of God, even then, when he puts on the most terrible Appearance in the day of Judgment.

The Ground of this Boldness in a Filial love is Three-fold.

1. Reason. A Saint, that is, a Son, knows, and feels God to be Love.

2. Reason. He knows himself to be in this Love, to be One with God in his Heavenly Glory.

3. Reason. He knows this Love to be in him, God to be one with him in his worldly Disguise: We have boldness; because as he is, so are we in this World. All these Three Reasons are wrapt up in this One Clause.

As he is in the World; Love itself: so are we with Him, sensible of Him.

As He is in the World, and at once above the World, in Glory: so are we in Him.

As he is in the World, clothing his Divine Substance with Fleshly Appearances: so are we, because he is in us. This is the first Character of a Filial Love.

2. Character: Extent of Love. A Saint, that is a Son, hath not a particular Love to God, or any Object. He is, as his Father is, Love in its full Latitude. He dwells in Love. Love is the Air, in which he breaths, in which he receives all Shapes of things, in which he communicates himself to them.

A Son of God is like his Father in Two Things:

1. He is a beautiful Light shining upon all things equally, stamping its own bright Form upon them, so beholding them.

2. He is a Cloud of Sweetness, like gentle and soft Rain falling upon every thing, till it have sweetned it by degrees to the same height; and enjoying it in that Sweetness:

Exhortation. Make God your only Mark, and Aim. What is it, which you seek for? Love? God is Love. What is it, which makes every Action, or suffering sweet? This, if Love be the beginning. What gives you Rest in every End of things? Love. Then seek God above all things. Make him the Beginning, and the End of your way. So you shall have a sweet Rest in all. For He is Love.

How strange is that perverseness, which is in the Nature of man! When man was first made, he was placed in a Garden, where he had liberty to eat of all the Trees, excepting one Tree only, which bare all manner of Curses for Fruit, the Forbidden Tree. Yet then man eats of this one Tree, and lets the rest alone. Now all the Trees in the same Garden, which are all Creatures in the World, have wo, and death growing upon them. There is one Tree only in the m'dst of the Garden bringing forth Glory, and Immortality. This Tree is God. Now man will feed plentifully on all the other Trees; but will not touch this Tree of Life.

p. 66We all have Notions in our heads, and Expressions upon our Tongues concerning God; that, if we speak of Wisdom, He is Wise; if we speak of Strength, He hath power; if we speak of Glory, He is beautiful; if we speak of Joy, and Delights, He is sweet. But oh that there were such Hearts in us to set up this God in our Spirits for the supream Wisdom, Power, Beauty, Sweetness!

I will divide this Exhortation into Three.

1. Exhortation. Seek the Knowledge of God. As our Saviour once spake passionately over the Jews: O Hierusalem, Hierusalem, if thou hadst known the things of thy peace! In like passion doth my Spirit breath forth this over you, that now read it: O Man! O Woman! If thou knewest the One thing of thy Peace, the Knowledge of thy God. This is the Chief, the only thing, the Allthings of thy Peace. For when thou knowest him, thou knowest Love in truth, the Life of Love; and this is Eternal Life. John 17. 4. This is Eternal Life to know thee.

Press the knowledge of God upon thy Spirit by these Three Motives.

1. Motive: The Knowledge of God is the Inlet of all Grace, and Comfort, Rom. 10. 14. How shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? If Faith be the mother, and nurse of a Spiritual Life; the knowledge of God is the Father, and the Food of Faith, and of that. If Faith be the Fountain, that sends forth the Streams of Divine Strengths, and Consolations; the Knowledge of God is the Sea that supplies this Spring.

Rom. 10. 17. Faith cometh by Hearing, and Hearing by the Word of God. The Word of God is the Image of God, which is Jesus Christ. This Word represents itself Three ways: Eternally: Internally: Externally.

1. Eternally the Word of God represents itself to Glorified Spirits. That Knowledge of God, which is begotten upon the Spirit by this Representation is call'd Seeing. For it is a Representation in a clear Light, as before a man, as face to face. 1 Tim. 3. last, Seen of Angels.

2. Internally to men on Earth by the Principles of Natural Reason, or by Supernatural Principles from the Spirit, or from the Written Word.

3. Externally by the outward Creatures, by the Senses, and Objects of Sense. These two last ways of Representation are call'd; Hearing or Report. For they are Representations of God conveyed thorow the darkness of our Natures, as a Voice speaking from behind us, from behind the wall of our Flesh.

When God is pleased thus to give his Word, to put forth a Discovery of himself thorow our dark Principles, as by the Hearing of the Ear, in our Souls; then God, in all that he appears to be, appears to be Love. This Sense of God thus imprest upon the Heart, unites it to God, makes it to believe him, trust itself to him, repose itself on him, rest in him, leave its desires, and hopes with him; that as He lives, so this Heart may live; as he works, and carries on his own Desire, so he may work on this Heart, and advance the Happiness of it. Th…s Faith cometh by Hearing.

p. 67Hear then what Nature without you, speaks aloud of God: that He is good, true, just, full and free. Listen to that report, which is made of God by all your Senses, by all the things of Sense, in the several Languages of their Beauty, Power, Plenty, Pleasure, Variety.

Listen to the inbred voice of your own Reason. Hear the clear report, which that makes of God; that there must be One, the First, and so the Best of all; above All, in All, gathering up all into himself; the Beginning, and the End of All.

Listen to Supernatural Principles. If you cannot hear, or understand the language of the Spirit; yet hearken to the sound of the Written Word, which cries in your Ears: God gave his Love, and Glory to man, before he gave a Being to the World. When man had made himself Miserable, God gave Himself to misery, and death for man: God all along quite thorow Time to Eternity carries on this work of making himself wonderful in man, and Man a wonder of Blessedness in Him.

He that stops not his Ears against these sweet Reports of such a God, a God of Love, cannot but be charmed by them. A man that hears this, will beleive, he will at least cast himself on God, and say: Whither-ever thou goest, carry me with thee: Where ever thou stayest, be thou my Rest. To thee only, O my God; to thee entirely, O my Love, do I trust my self. This is the first Motive to the knowledge of God.

2. Motive: The Knowledge of God emproves, and exalts the Soul. Psal. 90. 14. I, saith God, will set him up on high, because he hath known my name. None can tell, but they, who have tasted, what a Divine Height, what a Height of Divine Strength, and sweetness there is in the Knowledge of God. I will set him on high: the word in Hebrew signifies: I will seat him in a strong Castle situate on a high Rock. Such a Castle is the Knowledge of God for Air, Prospect, and Strength. As a man grows in the Knowledge of God; he feels himself lifted up into a Divine air, in which purity, peace, pleasure, Angels breath; he perceives himself walled in with an assured safety, and rest, which nothing can reach, nothing can shake.

The Knowledge of God opens a man's Eyes, to see Fields of Glory, and Rivers of pleasure, in the midst of which he is every where; together with Horses of Fire, and Chariots of Fire, which continually plant themselves between him, and every Enemy.

3. Motive: The Knowledge of God preserves a man from Evil. Gal. 4. 9. After that ye have Known God, or rather are known of him, how come ye to turn back to those weak, and beggarly Principles, to which ye desire to be in bondage.

These Beggarly Principles are the Principles of this world, in which we lye by nature, as in a Prison, …n a House of Bondage, where Sin binds us, Shame p. 68covers us, Death feeds upon us. What shall deliver us from this Prison, this Slavery? The Knowledge of God will do it, and that alone can do it.

When God puts forth his own Image in us, he then owns us, and makes us to know, and own him. Thus we know, and are known by this Image of God living in our Spirits. As the Serpent of Moses devoured the Serpents of the Magicians: So this Image of God in our Spirits swallows up all the Images and Shapes of this inchanting World, which are as Serpents tempting, and stinging us, casting forth the Poyson of Sin, and death upon us. This Image presents us with Heavenly Forms; plants us in itself; cloths us with itself; so furnisheth us with Treasure, and Armour. Now having thus known God, and the sweet Freedom of his Love; how can we desire, or bear to be again in bondage to our former Vanities.

4. Motive: the Discovery of God shews us, all, that our hearts cau wish to see. Psal. 37. 4. You have this Counsel given you: Delight thy self in the Lord, and he shall give thee thy hearts desire. Acquaint thy self with the Lord, and he shall shew thee thy hearts desire, in shewing thee himself.

What is God? Esa. 57. 15. He is the High and Holy One, that inhabits Eternity. What then shalt thou see in the Discovery of God? Thou shalt see Excellency, and Joy at their Height, and fixt there, unchangeable, Eternal, as Eternity itself; without any Change, which is the cause of all Loss, and Death; without any Shadow of Change, which makes all Fear and Melancholy.

What is God? See by Jesus Christ, who is the Image of God. You read of him: Ephes. 1. 10. God hath gathered up all things into One, in Him. What then shalt thou see in the Appearance of God? Thou shalt see all those Forms of things, which affrighted, and opprest thee in Shapes as Delightful, as Delight itself. For thou shalt see all things in One, in Christ. Thou shalt see all Varieties of things in One Beauty, as the various Mixtures of that with itself, or Multiplications in itself. Thou shalt see thy self immortal in a State of full Glory: according to that, which St. Paul speaks: 2 Tim. 1. 9. The Grace, which was given us in Christ, before the World was. Thou shalt see those dear Relations, those sweet Contents, which thou hast lost, and over which thou bitterly mournest, breaking thine Heart; or which thou fearest to lose, and so livest ever trembling in this Fear: Thou shalt see all these living together in one Blessedness; present before thee in one view, never to die, never to be lost, when once thou seest God in thy Soul. For all things live to God. Thy dead Joys are still living in him; Death itself, which kill'd them, and threatens thee, lives a lovely life there.

What is God? God is Love. What then shalt thou see, when thou seest God? Thou shalt see a pure, unmixt, absolute, unconfin'd Love. Thou shalt see all things having their Being in Love▪ because they have their Being in God. Thou shalt see all things animated by a Life of Love, inspired by a Spirit of Love: p. 69because God is the Quickning Spirit of all. O Sweet Sight! To see every thing quickned by Love, and so made perfectly Loving; every thing clothed with Love, and so made perfectly Lovely. This he sees, that sees God made manifest to him.

Now, as the Woman said of our Saviour: Behold a man, that hath told me all, that ever was in my heart: may not we say this of the Knowledge of God: Behold a Light, in which you shall see all, that ever was in your heart to hope, wish, or imagine?

Is not this the Wisdom, which is sweeter than Honey? Richer than Pearl? Better for traffick than fine Gold? Even the Knowledge of God, in the opening of which, all delights flow forth, all Beauties sparkle, all wares of Blessedness offer themselves, and press in upon your Spirits, Seek then the Knowledge of God in the first, and last place, in all places, for it is in the place of all things.

This is the first Exhortation.

2. Exhortation: Let nothing keep you at a distance from God? Where can you be so well, as in the Bosom of Him, who loves you? Nay, who is Love? Nay who is Love to you if you will receive Him? For he is all Love.

Whatever departs from God, departs from Love, and goes towards Wrath, Enmity, Hatred, take heed how you trust your self to any thing, that tempts you from God, whatever it pretends: It cannot come from Love, or bring Love with it. It is an Enemy, and seeks to betray you by winning you from your sweetest Strength. The Blossom of a Vanity, or Sin may be fair to the Eye. But Hatred is the Root, and will be the Fruit.

Every thing of Love is of God, and carries the heart to God. Hatred, faith Solomon breeds strife. Canst thou look for Peace, I say not, Pleasure, in that Temptation, which draws thee down from Love into Hatred.

3. Exhortation: Walk worthy of God; If you be His Sons, you are Sons of Love; a Love which is untainted with Particular respects; a Love, which is Invincible by any unsuitableness, or opposition, a Divine Love. Cherish such a Love in your selves, shew it to others.

Let your Love be your Selves, as it is in God, that you may as soon cease to be, as cease to Love. Let Love appear, wherever you appear like your Selves. Let your Love be as Universal, as your Conversation. Let it be your Nature.

Let your Love be like Aarons Ointment poured forth upon the Head of things, the Godhead, and running down thorow all the Creatures, to the very lowest Skirts, the least of Things.

Be you Love, as God is. Love exalteth not itself. For it dwelleth with all things as One, in One. Love thinketh no Evil. For it looketh upon all things thorow One, and judgeth of them, as they appear in that One. Love is not angry. For Union is its Life, and all its Streams are sent forth from that sweet Spring. Love is not suspicious. For it makes itself One with All, and gathers p. 70up all into One Principle with itself. Love worketh no ill. For it possesseth, converseth with, enjoys each several thing in One. So every thing to Love is Love's Self. Thus God is Love. Thus be you, if you be Sons of God. This is to be Perfect, as your heavenly Father is.

2. Property: Life, Heb. 7. 16. Who, (that is, Christ) was not made according to the Law of a carnal command, but the power of an Endless Life. A Comparison is made in this Scripture between the Priesthood of Aaron, and our blessed Saviour. Aaron was a Priest of the first Covenant, the Law: The Lord Jesus was the Priest of the New Covenant, the Gospel. He that lives under the Priesthood of the One, is a Servant. He that lives under the Priesthood of the Other, is a Son.

We have a Threefold Opposition between these Two States, the Servile, and the Son-like.

The First Opposition is between Law and Life. A Law is something imposed, a Compact, a Treaty between Two▪ Life is something Inbred. A Principle, a Spring, a Unity.

The Second Opposition is between a Law-command, and a Life-power, A Command works by violence, and force, from without, uncertainly: A Power of Life works kindly, constantly, inwardly, and sweetly.

The Third Opposition is between Time, and Eternity. The Law of a Carnal Command, a carnal, or Fleshly Command decays, and dies, it begins, and ends in Time, as every thing of Flesh doth. But the Gospel is the Power of an Endless life.

He, that lives, as a Servant under the Law, lives in Fleshly Principles, which are frail, false, and fading. The impressions, which he hath of goodness are made by terrour, and work unkindly. They are like Images in water, dark; ever vanishing, if they be not maintained by outward objects, Ordinances, Duties, Sermons, Books, Men.

He, that lives, as a Son, under the Gospel, lives in a Divine Principle, is naturally good. If you ask, why this man is good against the stream of all earthly things, which are evil. It is his Nature to be so. For he is made partaker of the Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1. 4. If you ask, how he comes to love, imitate, grow up into an unseen Glory, the Eternal Spirit. It is his Life to do so. As every Plant hath its proper Life, by which it is formed, and grows. So to this man his God, his Jesus is his Life. You may wonder, that a Son of God should continually flow forth into Spiritual Discourses; continually bath himself, in high, hidden, heavenly Joys; continually be mastering Lusts, and Passions, in despight of Temptations without, and within him; continually maintain a Lowly, and Lovely temper in this froward world. But all this is no wonder, for he is carried on by the Power of an Endless (indissoluble, invincible) life.

This is the Second Property of a Son-like State.

p. 713. Property: Spirituality, 1 Corin. 3. 1. I could not speak to you, as unto Spiritual, but as unto Carnal, Babes in Christ. Galat. 4. 1. The Heir, while he is a Child, differs nothing at all from a Servant, though he be Lord of all. These two places laid together shew, that a Babe in Christ, and Servant in religion are both the samething; as also, that a Servant and a Son are distinguished by their Spirituality, and Carnality. He is a Son, that is Spiritual.

St. Paul giveth Two Descriptions of Spirituality in this Chapter to the Corinthians.

1. Description: Spirituality feeds itself on Meat, not on Milk. v. 2. I could not feed you with Meat, but with Milk. A Spiritual Person feeds, and lives on Divine things; not only, as they are represented in Fleshly Types, and Images; but as they are presented in their own Shape, and Figures.

Our Saviour complains of Nicodemus: John 3. 12. If I have spoken to you of Earthly things, and you receive them not: how would you understand them, if I should speak of Heavenly. If now you do not understand me, when I speak of Heavenly things in an Earthly manner, by resemblances taken from below: how would you take in, or bear Heavenly things express'd in their own language, set before you in their own form, and Glories.

The Heathens have a Fable of Semele, a Lady, who had the chief God for her Lover. She desired that she might see him in the Form, and Majesty of a God. She had her desire, and dyed, opprest by the weight of Glory. In like manner, if you should shew the mysteries of God, and the Gospel to low, and legal Spirits by their own Light, without the Shadowings of Fleshly Similitudes, and Parables; you would undo their Religion, confound their understandings, drive them to despair, deadness, or profaneness.

This is the First Description of Spirituality.

2. Description: Spirituality keeps the Unity of things, 1 Cor. 3. 7. While there are divisions among you, are you not carnal? Every thing is Carnal, which makes Division; that alone is Spiritual which maintains the Unity.

1 Gen. 28. Man was made in the Image of God, and to have dominion over all the Fowl, Fish, and Beasts. Man was the Harmony, and Unity of this lower World. He knits up into one Frame of Life, and Beauty the divers Natures of all the several Creatures. Thus he was the Image of God. This First, Earthly man was the Type only of the Second, the Spiritual man.

Coloss. 2. 18. Many are blamed, not so much for looking into the Nature of Angels, as for not looking upon them by a right Light, in a right Posture: Not holding the Head: Not beholding the various glories of Angels in the Divine Unity of Christ's Person.

A Spiritual man takes not away the Differences of things, he allows, owns them in their utmost variety, latitude, and distance. But he tunes them, and attones them, 1 Cor. 12. 23, 25. St. Paul makes the Body of man a Figure p. 72of this truth. There are many Members. The greater Comeliness is put upon the more uncomely parts. So there is no schism in the Body. Thus the Son of God knows, that there are divers Parts of things: the pleasant, and the painful Part: the dark, and the light Part: the comely, and the uncomely, He knows also, that the highest Pleasures are put upon the most painful Part: that the eternal ligh… rests upon the greatest darkness, that the most uncomely Things are cloathed with a divine Comeliness, as the Death of Christ. So there is no Schism in the Body of things to him. He makes, or finds a Unity every where.

St. Paul sets out Spirituality at large: 1. Cor. 2. 10, 11. No man knows the things of a man, save the Spirit of man. No man knows the things of God, but the Spirit of God. The Spirit searcheth out the deep things of God. A Saint, while he is Carnal, knows those things only, which lie within the Compass of a humane Spirit: and divine things only so far as they are shadowed out in the Spirit of man. But he that is Spiritual, knows all things, the things of God, as they shine out in the Spirit of God. He sees the great Deep of the Godhead discovered in the Spirit; and all things, as forms floating upon this Deep, as the waters of this Abyss.

This is an eminent difference between a Carnal, and Spiritual Christian. A Carnal Christian sees Heavenly things only, as Images stamp'd upon an earthly Substance, represented in an earthly Principle. A Spiritual Christian sees earthly things, as Images in a Heavenly Substance, and Principle.

1. Cor. 2. 13. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned: Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. A Servile Saint is in the Fleshly Principle, as in his own Place. He therefore measures every thing by Fleshly Grounds, and Objects. He receives each thing, as it is proportion'd to fleshly Appearances, and Notions; or prompted by fleshly Apprehensions, and Impressions. A Son-like Saint is in the Spirit, as in his Element. He therefore receives things according to the Suggestions and Infusions of the Spirit: he compares them with the Appearances, and Workings of the Spirit: so he tryes, and judges them.

This is the Third Property of a Son-like Saint, Spirituality.

4. Property: Resignation. The Son of God practiseth this Resignation in Three Cases: in

1. Wants.

2. Woes.

3. Works.

1. Resignation in Wants. Matth. 6. 31, 32. Our Saviour takes off his Disciples from a Solicitude concerning Worldly Supplies, by putting them in mind of the Relation between their God, and them: After all these things the Heathen take care: Your Heavenly Father knows, that you have need of these things. A Son-like Christian, thus disputes it in himself: The little Child plays freely before his Father. He takes no thought, what he shall eat at Supper, what he shall put on to morrow. He leaves all that to his Father to provide. I also will cast off all care from me upon my Father. He knows what is necessary for the maintenance. p. 73of my Being, of the Beauty, Comfort of my Being, every moment. Let those be troubled with these anxieties, who know no God, or know not that God to be their Father. It is my Fathers Pleasure to take care of me. It shall be my only care to please him. If I be careful for any outward thing, my care shall be not a Solicitude for my self, but Obedience to Him. Yet the care of this also shall be upon him. For if my Father cloath the Flowers, and my Flesh, will he not much more cloath my Soul: if He feed the Birds, and my Body, will He not much more feed my immortal Part with food convenient for it.

2. Resignation: in Woes. When our dear Lord saw a black Sea of Horrours ready to break upon him, when he heard the Tempest of Divine wrath now roar about him: in the midst of all this he maintains a Calm upon his Spirit by a Resignation of himself, and all things to his Father: Father, not my Will, but Thine be done.

There is nothing so natural, as for a Child to run to the lap of its Parents in extremities, and to have a Confidence in them. It is as natural for a Child of God in pains, or griefs to cast itself into the arms of God, and there to breath forth its sorrows after such a manner as this: My God, thou art my Father; thou hast a greater share in me, than I have in my self. I was thine, before I was mine own. Thou gavest my Being to me, and me to my self. O how great is thy Dearness towards me thine own! How great is thy Delight in me! Thou art far nearer to me, than my Self to my Self. I have my Being not in my Self, but in Thee. I am the Branch, thou art the Sap, the Spirit that runs thorow this Branch, and quickens it. How much more quick, more deep, more full a Sense hast thou, my God, of all my Sufferings, than I can have? Thou canst do all things. Thou hast Strength, I have none. Thou knowest all things. Thou hast Wisdom, I have none. I then give over my whole Being unto thee. Bear me, as thou dost always, in thine Arms, and carry me, whither thou wilt. Comprehend me, as One with Thee. Let me be Thine, be Thou mine; and do, what thou wilt with me. I can fall no lower than thou fallest with me. When I am at lowest, I shall have thy Power, and Wisdom beneath me. As thou risest; thou shalt raise me together with thy self by These.

Application.

Use. 1. A Conviction of the Evil in Sin. Can I think, and not think, that I have a Being? Can I think that I have a Being, and not think, that I have it from God, the Fountain of Being? Can I think, that I have my Being from Him, and not think of Him, as my Father? Can I think of Him, as of a Father, and oppose my Will to His Will, and cherish in my Breast an Enmity against him? This I do, as often as I Sin. Is there any thing so Unnatural, as Sin?

I will press this Dissuasion from Sin by a Two-fold Aggravation of the Evil in it.

1. Aggravation. There is no Obligati…n like to that of a Child to its Father. A Mans Wife is his Glory, 1 Corin. 11. 8. But it is the Glory of an p. 74Image. For the Man is the Head of the Woman, who is of the Man. But the Father is the First, the Fountain Glory of the Child, its Head. For the Child is of the Father.

God is the Father of us all, our Head, our Glory. Do we then refuse to be guided by him? Do we chuse our Shame instead of him? Can we cut our selves off from him, to unite our selves to vanity, and make our Lusts our Head?

A Man should love his Wife, as his own Body; saith St. Paul: Ephes. 5. 28. A Man's Wife, is as Himself. But a Father is more. The Lord Jesus said: It is more Blessed to give, than to receive. The Child is to honour, to love its Father above itself as a greater, a more Blessed Thing; as that which gives itself to itself.

Our God is our Father. How unnatural then, is it to prefer our Self; nay the Brutish, the sensual part of our selves, nay the Disorders of that part before Him? The Apostle fitly joyned these Two: Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God: without natural Affection.

2. Aggravation: There is no such Father, as God is. God is twice our Father: once by Nature: another time by Grace. When we Sin against him, we are his Enemies four times over. 1. We deface his Image in our Natural man. 2. We obscure, and oppose his Heavenly Image. 3. We grieve the Spirit of His Grace. 4. We crucifie his Son. Shall we be less than Men to him, because he is more than a Friend to us? Shall we be worse than Single Enemies to him, because he is better than a Single Father to us?

O Let us take heed, how we refuse the Commands of our God, as a Father; lest we receive not from him the Comforts of a Father in our Confusions, and Desolations, when we shall most need them; lest we be not received by Him into the Bosom of a Father, when Death shall take away all other Refuges.

Use. 2. Exhortation, Consolation to the Children of God. Maintain the Affections, and Obedience of Children towards God. Have the Confidence, and Comfort of Children in God. Remember this always, that God is your Father. It was this, that carryed on Jesus Christ with so much Integrity, and Industry, thorow Life, thorow Death: Jobn 17 4. Father, I have finished the Work, which thou gavest me to do. It was this comforted Jesus Christ in the Darkest Night of Affliction, when he was forsaken by all his followers, and Friends: John 16. 24. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

Would you have Oyl for the Wheels of your Spirit to make it run swiftly, smoothly, and sweetly thorow the hardest, and roughest Employments? Say this over often to your Spirits: This is the Work of my Father. Would you have Oyl for the Lamp of your Hearts, to make it burn with a bright, and chearful F…ame in the greatest Trouble: Say this over often to your Hearts: This is the Will of my Father.

Enforce this double U…e upon thy self by Three Considerations.

p. 751. Consider. God is by Nature more than a Natural Father to thee. Thou hast thy Being not only of, but in Him. In Him we live, and move, and have our Being: Acts 17. 28.

Can then thy God forget thee, or thou neglect Him, while thou art in his Power, his Presence, his Arms, his Bosom? There thou art ever. Canst thou lie in his Embraces, grow up out of his Heart, and see him frown at Sin, and yet Sin, and yet not melt under his Frown? Can he hold thee in his Spirit, as one Spirit with him, and hear thee groan, and feel thy heart beat, and yet not melt over thee?

2. Consider. God is by nature many Fathers to thee: The Continuation of thy Being is a continued Creation. For it flows forth from God fresh every moment. So many moments as there are in thy life; so many times over is thy God thy Father. Gen. 2. 7. God breathed into Man the Breath of life, and he became a Living Soul. The issuing forth of our Life, and Being from God is compared to Breathing. 'Tis as perpetual.

Can God cast off all affection, and care for me, in the same moment, in which He brings me forth? Or can I in that very moment, in which I receive my Being from Him, rob Him of it, pollute it, turn it against Him. This I do every moment in which I sin. For but now came I forth from God; that Appearance, which fill'd the last minute, being vanisht, and giving way to this. A Mother forgets her Sorrows so soon, as a Man-child is born into the World. Sure then God cannot forget his Delights in me, his Loves to me, so soon as He hath brought me out from Himself into this world: and this he doth freshly each minute of Time.

3. Consider. God is my Father, a sweeter, and nearer way, than by Nature; by Grace too. The relation of a Father is the Top of all Sweetness, and Nearness in Nature. But as much as Heaven is above the Earth; Time above Eternity; God above the Creature: so much is a Father by Grace sweeter, and nearer than a Father by Nature.

If a Natural Father plant his Image, and place his Affection, his Care upon his Son: shall not thy Heavenly Father much more love thee, make thee like Himself, make all Provisions of life, and joy for thee? It is the rule of God, He that provides not for his Family (in Nature) hath denyed the Faith, and is worse than an Infidel. Can Himself then ever deny Himself so far, as to prove unfaithful, or unnatural towards h…s Family of Grace, his own Children that way? He will certainly take all care of them with all tenderness.

He that blasphemed, or disobeyed his Parents under the Law, was to die. What deaths then is he worthy of, who doth not think sweetly, speak sweetly of, obey chearfully this Father of his Spirit?

Use. 3. Direction. If you would attain to the State of Sons, and know God, as your Father: feed well upon this Four-fold Meditation.

p. 761. Medita. I lay Eternally in the Fulness of the God-Head, as in the Loyns of my Father. Ephes. 1. 5. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of Children by Iesus Christ to Himself, according to the Pleasure of His Will.

When God had his First and most retired thoughts before the World; then was I in his thoughts, as a Son of Delights, all lovely, without a spot. When no other thing yet was, when no Creature was yet made, when God lived alone in the highest, and purest Joys of his own Nature; then in the midst of all those Joys was I in the Fulness of the Divine Nature presented to him, as an Image of Himself springing up in him, to be sent forth into this world, again to grow up out of this world into that Eternal Image of His Pleasure, and Will. Thus was I Predestinated a Son.

2. Medita. God hath made me his Son a second time by Purehase. He hath given his Son, his Beloved, his Only Son for me, that I might be his Son, 2 Cor. 5. 21. He was made Sin for us; that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him. God hath given the Body of his Son to reproaches, and pains; his Soul to Guilt, and Horrours; His Person in both parts to Death; his Name to Infamy. Thus he wa… made Sin for us. And all this that we might be made the Righteousness of God, Images of his …ull Beauty, Sons of his highest Glory, in Him, as He is, who is the Substantial Image, the Essential Son.

As the Seed is by Nature placed lowest in the Earth, at the bottom of the Plant, that by the Dissolution of itself, it may bring forth its kind: So was the Son of God laid below, at the bottom of the Creature, in the depth of Darkness; that by his Dissolution he might resolve himself into us, and as by an Exchange bring forth his Son-ship in our Persons.

3. Medita. God hath made me his Son yet once more by Design. He hath joyned me in Affinity with his only-begotten Son. Marriage on Earth is a Type of that True Marriage between my Saviour, and my Spirit, Ephes. 5. 30.

He hath joyned me with Him in Consanguinity, Heb. 2. 12. He that Sanctifies, (which is Jesus) and they that are Sanctified are both of One.

He hath made me One w…th his Eternal Son Mystically. The Mystical Union is a Mysterious one, hidden, Divine, the highest Union, such as is among Divine things; not to be resembled by any thing among the Creatures, not to be comprehended by any mere Creature. I in them, and they in me; that all may be made perfect in One, John 17. 21. 23.

4. Medita. God hath made me his Son finally by Generation, 1 Pet. 1. 3. He hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the Resurrection from the dead. As the Eternal Spirit lay like a Seed in the dead body of our Lord Jesus, which putting forth itself, brought forth Eternal Life, and Glory in it: So God the Father sends forth the same Spirit into our Spirits by which the Divine Life, and Image of His Glorified Son spring up in us, making us also Sons to Him in the same manner.

p. 77Thus if you would lead Son-like lives with God, consider him as your Father. There is no Earthly Relation, or Form, which more sets out the Spiritual, Evangelical, Eternal Union between God, and Man, than this of a Father. Trace it, apply it from the beginning to the end, and it will lead you into all the Mysteries of Eternity. Only remember these two Cautions. 1. Take away all the Imperfection, which this Relation hath in the Creature. 2. Add to it all Perfection, that it is capable of, or can be imagined. So apply it to God, and a Saint. For the Brightest Beauty in Nature, is but a Shadow of Spiritual Glories.

I have finish't the Second Part of my Text, which is the Race to the Kingdom.

3. Part. The Royalty, or Kingly State itself: Enter into the Kingdom of God.

Doct. 3. The Third Doctrine from this Third Part is this: The Third, and last State in Christianity is a State of Royalty, or a Kingly State.

This Kingly State is described by St. Paul, Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdom of God is Righteousness, Peace, and Ioy in the Holy Ghost.

The Kingly State or Royalty of a Saint hath Four Properties.

1. Righteousness.

2. Peace.

3. Ioy.

4. The Holy Ghost.

1. Property. Righteousness. This is the Conformity of a Saint to God, as to his Rule, Genes. 17. 1. Walk thou before me, and be perfect: Saith God to Abraham. To be Perfect, and to be Righteous are the same thing. Set thy God, the Supream Glory, continually in thine Eye, as thy Pattern, and thine Aim: So shalt thou be perfectly Righteous.

I will endeavour further to unfold the Nature of this Righteousness by two Illustrations, and one Distinction.

1. Illustr. Then a thing is truly Right, when it answereth to its Idea, that is, to its First Principle, and Pattern in God. God himself in the Fulness of his Person is the Principle, and Pattern of Man.

Righteousness is the Image of God in Man. Coloss. 3. 10. The New man, which is the Righteous man, and the Righteousness of man is said to be Created in Knowledge, after the Image of Him, who hath created Him. There is a Twofold Image of God, one Earthly: the other Heavenly: The Earthly Image of God in Man, is the Righteousness of Nature: The Heavenly Image is the Righteousness of the Spirit, or in the Spirit.

2. Illustr. Then a thing is truly Right, when it answereth its End in God. God is the End of all things: Prov. 16. 4. God made all things for Himself. The End of Man is the Possession, and Fruition of God as his only Portion of Being, Beauty, Blessedness, Psal. 16. 5. The Lord is my Portion, saith my Soul.

This then is the Righteousness of man, his Union, and Communion with God, to live in Him, by Him, with Him, to Him. For this reason is Christ said to be made of God Righteousness, and Sanctification to us, 1 Cor. 1. 30. Because p. 78in the Person of Christ it is, that God and Man are made One, one Love, one Life, one Likeness.

Distinct. There are two sorts of Righteousness.

1. Imputed.

2. Inherent.

1. Righteousness imputed. You may read of this: Philip. 3. 9. That I may be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is of God, by Jesus Christ. There is a Righteousness of the First, and of the Second Adam. That of the First Adam, is our own, the Righteousness of the Law. It riseth out of the Earth, it is but a Shadow, at best, the Gilding of an Earthen Ves…el, a Reflection upon a Brick Wall. That of the Second Adam comes down from Heaven, is of God, is the true Gold, the sure, substantial, everlasting Righteousness.

As when a Cloud is placed in that part of the Sky, on which the Sun shoots forth his Beams, the Cloud is over-spread by those Beams, and made Glorious in their Glories: So are there four Things in this Imputed Righteousness.

1. The Person of Christ, as the Sky, or Heaven.

2. The God-head, as the Sun shining in this Sky.

3. The Cloud, poor man drawn up from the Earth into the bosom of his Saviour, by his Union with Him.

4. The Glory of the God-Head falling upon him, encompassing, and clothing his whole Person in Jesus Christ. This is that Righteousness, which is of God by Jesus Christ.

1 Cor. 12. 26. St. Paul teacheth us, that if one member be honoured, all the members rejoyce together with it. When a Crown is set upon the Head of a King, it puts a Royalty, and Majesty upon his whole Person. The Head of Man is Christ, the Head of Christ is God. The Glory of the God-Head in Christ is the Crown upon the Head of the Heavenly man; this puts a Royal Beauty of Holiness, the Majesty of that Divine Righteousness upon every mystical member upon each Soul, how mean soever, that is united to Jesus Christ in one Spirit thorow believing.

The Beauty of the God-head shining thorow the Humane Nature of Christ, thorow his active and passive Obedience, thorow his Wounds, and so falling upon that Soul, which hath cast herself into the Arms of her Saviour: this is the Imputed Righteousness of man.

Take this Caution concerning this Righteousness. It is said to be imputed, not because it is not truly Ours, and in us: but because it is not Primarily Ours, but by our Union with another Person.

The Colours in the Rain-bow are said to be Apparent, not Real; because the Rain-bow is not their Spring, though it be their Seat; but they are reflected from the Sun shining on the watry Cloud. So this Righteousness is said to be imputed to us, because it is First seated in Jesus Christ, and then reflected from p. 79Him on us. Yet it is a true Righteousness, it is truly, immediately on our Persons, in our Persons, as Jesus Christ is.

It is therefore said to be imputed, because it is not ours Primitively, but Consequently; because Christ is ours; yet not as Absent from us, but Present in us, possess'd by us.

2. Righteousness Inherent, 2 Cor. 3. last. We all as in a Glass beholding the Glory of the Lord, are Translated into the likeness of the same Image from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit. The Lord Jesus at once enters into a Two-fold Relation to man: one of a Sun shining all over him: the other of a Root growing up in him. We see his Glory in our selves, as in a Glass, we bring the face of Glory with us. We have the Glory in our selves, and are our selves the Glass. There is the Sun shining, which beautifies, and justifies a St. We grow up into that Image, by the Lord, the Spirit of that Glory, planting itself in us. There is the Root growing, which purifies, and sanctifies us.

Our Saviour, when he discovers Himself, appears at once, without us, and within us. Without us he riseth upon us, as a Light of Loveliness. Es. 60. 1. Rise out of the Dust, and shine, for thy Light is come, the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Within us He riseth, as a Light of Life, Galat. 1. 16. When it pleased the Father to reveal his Son within me.

This is our Righteousness, Imputed, and Inherent.

This Righteousness is the Crown, Robe, Scepter of Royalty in the Kingdom of God.

1. The Crown. So St. Paul stiles it, 2 Tim. 4. 8. Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness, which God, the righteous Judge shall give me in that day. The Righteousness, the Glory of God resting on Man, is that Crown, which both entitles him to, and enstates him in the Kingdom of God.

As a King ever possesseth his Crown, though he wear it only on high days, at solemn meetings of the people: so a Christian may have this Crown, though laid up, while he is on Earth. But he doth not appear with it openly, till that great day, the Resurrection, when the whole world shall meet.

2. The Robe. The Righteousness of God, and Man is the Imperial Robe, which both, as Kings, are cloth'd with, Es. 61. 10 He hath covered me with a Robe of Righteousness, as a Bridegroom d…cketh himself with Ornaments. Behold, a Royal, and a Bridal Robe! It is Righteousness which puts upon the Spirit the beauty of a Bridegroom; the Majesty of a King. That Soul, which shines forth in Righteousness makes itself a King not by Right only, but Choice too; by Love, as well as Law.

Psal. 45. 4. 5. In thy Majesty ride prosperously, because of Truth, Meekness, and Righteousness, &c. Thine Arrows stick in the hearts of thine Enemies, the people fall under thee. This was sung of the Lord Jesus; Righteousness cloth'd him with so sweet a Majesty, that he pierc'd the Hearts of His Enemies with Arrows p. 80of Love. Such a King is every Spirit, which is Brother to this Jesus. Righteousness sits upon him, and shines from him, as a Garment of Light, Truth, and Wisdom; it shews, as wrought into a Harmony of Courage, Justice, Temperance; it sparkles with Tempers of Goodness, Gentleness, Meekness, Humility. These things, like Arrows, wound the stubbornest Hearts with a Liking, and a Love; that a man's bitterest Enemies bow to him.

3. The Scepter. Psal. 45. 6. It is said to our Saviour: The Scepter of thy Kingdom is a Righteous Scepter. Righteousness is the Scepter of Strength in the Kingdom of Christ, by which all things are swayed, and governed, Psal. 16. 7. If a mans ways please the Lord, his Enemies shall be at peace with him. Holiness, or Righteousness is such a Harmony, such a Musick between God and Man, as all things hear, and obey.

They that make use of hellish Charms, make the Picture of a Person in Wax, and as they work the Wax by the Fire, so they work upon the Person. Goodness hath a Heavenly Charm in it. For a Righteous man hath in himself the Heavenly Image of God, which is the First, and radical Image of all things. By this Image, he hath a power upon all things.

Thus Righteousness is the Crown, Robe, Scepter in the Kingdom of God.

1. Use. Learn to hate Sin by the Rule of Contraries. For, if Righteousness cloath you with the highest Honour, Worth, Strength of Kings; if it crown you with the Glory of God, if it carry you up to the Life of God: then what doth Sin? Sin by the Rule of Contraries puts upon you the Baseness, Badness, Weakness of Slaves; Sin wraps you up in the Shape, sows in you the Seeds of Devils.

Let us then look on Sin in this Five-fold View: As it puts on us. 1. Weakness. 2. Badness. 3. Baseness of Slaves. 4. Shapes of Devils. 5. As it plants in us Seeds of Devils.

1. Sin puts upon us the Weakness of Slaves. Gen. 49. 3. 4. Reuben, thou art my First born, the Beginning of my Strength, Excellency of power. O Man! O my Soul! consider what thou wert in thy Beginning. A Divine Flame shot forth from an Angels Bosom into this lump of Clay, not to abide imprisoned in it, but to feed upon it, as fuel, so to return, and make its way upward, making all things that resist, its prey, and nourishment, What is it, that hath thus enfeebled, and cool'd thee, and chang'd thee from Fire into Water? Sin hath done this. Now thou lyest spread upon the Earth, swayed by every weak Breath, or Spirit, that blows upon thee; unable to contain thy self; casting thy self into the Figure, and Shape of every Object, on which thou touchest. Thy Sword… hath thus weakned thee.

Man was the Reuben of God, the First-born in the first Creation, the Excellency of Dignity, and Power; the Head of Strength. He was the Chie… Image of the Divine Nature, made to be the Spouse, and Queen of the God-Head p. 81the OnelyOnly One of her Mother. The Rest of the Creatures were to be, as Concubines only, particular, inferiour Images of God, The Soul foolishly forsakes the Bosom of her God, to throw herself into the Embraces of these Concubines; so she defileth herself, and them; so she dishonoureth her King, and Husband in both; so pours forth her self loosely upon the Ground as spilt Water.

2. Sin puts a Badness into men. It puts into us a Three-fold Badness; of Folly, Filth, Fury.

1. Sin fills us with folly. Sin so far befools thee, O vain Man, as to despise, deny Blessedness, Beauty, Eternity there, where they are, in God, the First, the Fountain, the Substance of all Beings: and to seek them there, where they are not, in Fleshly, shadowy, fleeting Trifles.

This is that Folly, the Head-Spring of all Sin, which St. Paul complains of, Rom. 1. 21. They became vain in their Imaginations, their foolish Heart being darkned. This was the Folly, The Eternal Substance, and Fulness was darkned and disappeared in their Spirits, which brought forth instead thereof empty Images. So St. Paul explains it at the 23. v. Changing the glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to Corruptible Man, and Birds &c.

What degree of Folly is this, to refuse to acknowledge, or own the true God, who is Eternal Life: and to make each painted, perishing Vanity a God to us, while we make it the Object, and Spring of our Hopes, and Happiness?

But thus it is most just, that they to whom the true God, is but as an Idol, an empty name; to them each Idol, each empty Appearance should be their God. This is the First Badness in Sin, Folly.

2. Sin fills a Man with Filth. Carnality, and Corruption signify both the same thing in Scripture. To be Spiritual is to be Holy; to be Fleshly, Sinful, To be Carnally minded, (that is, to be Fleshly-minded) is Death: but to be Spiritually minded is Life, and Peace: Rom. 8. 6.

Is there any thing more foul than this; for a Soul, which was made, as a Spirit, for Spiritual Joys, and Glories; so to mingle itself with Flesh, as to see, receive, rellish nothing but by Senses of Flesh; so to drown itself in Flesh, as to be uncapable of conversing with, taking conte…t in any, but Fleshly objects? This is the State of a Sinful Soul: Thus is she over-spread with Flesh, as one great Spot.

The Interpreters of the Proverbs teach us, that the Young Man there, is the Soul, which is naturally Immortal, ever young, ever flourishing: the Matron, the chast Spouse, that woes this Young Man, Divine Wisdom, the Heavenly Image of the Divine Nature: The Strumpet this Worldly Image of things. O say now, when thou Sinnest; Alass! How do I dishonour, and defile my self? I, who should, who might live chastly, constantly, sweetly with the Eternal Image of Glory, my God, my Spouse, mine own: I pour forth my self into the lap of Strangers, p. 82of Unconstant, Whorish, Flattering, Fading Beauties in Flesh.

O Filth! O Shame! That Spirit, that should tread upon the Stars, ride upon the Angels, rejoyce with God everlastingly; that Soul labours and sweats in Dust, and Death, as a Slave; rowls in the Mire of Flesh, like a Beast; rakes in the unsavory sinks of all various Lusts, as an unclean Spirit.

3. Sin fills a man with Fury. Solomon in his Proverbs tells us of One, that throws about Fire-brands and Swords, and saith, Am I not in jest? Prov. 26. 18. 19. This is Solomon's Fo…l, which is a Sinner. Can it be, that any should make Ruines, and Reproaches their Delight, nay their Devotion too? Jonah said once. He did well to be angry even unto Death. Can it be, that any should cherish a Rage to the Death, Destruction of Men, Kingdoms, and Souls; and then think such a Rage, Religion; such a Fury, Zeal; and that these things they ought to do? Can it be that any should draw Tears, and blood from others, from Millions, from such as do them no harm; and then say, With such Sacrifices God is well pleased; that God, who is Love?

O take heed of Sin, it blows up in a mans Breast, the Fire of Hell; it strangely corrupts Nature itself consumes all good Nature in Man. There is no Notion so common, no Principle so plain in the minds of men, which it will not darken, and deprave. It will make you believe that Hellish Passions, are Heavenly Motions; and that there is Fury, and Fire in the Bosom of Sweetness itself, of God.

This is the Second Evil in Sin, Filth.

3. Sin puts upon a man the Baseness of a Slave. Prov. 28. 1. The wicked fleeth, when none pursues. Sin makes a man the veriest Coward in the World, the object of the greatest Pity and Scorn. When thou hast committed a sin, how art thou asham'd to see the light, to look up in the Eyes of God or any man, to behold thine own Face in a Glass? How dost thou start at every Motion, tremble at thine own Shadow, fly from the Reflection of thy self in the thoughts of another? How dost thou wish to be transported into some Wilderness, where thou might'st be a Stranger to all things, and especially to thy self?

Gen. 4. 14. Cain complains: I am driven from thy Face, and from the Face of the Earth; a Fugitive and a vagabond shall I be in the Earth. Behold the weight of Shame, with which Sin oppresseth a Guilty Soul. Who would buy all the pleasures, and profits of Sin at such a rate, as this? To be driven by Shame from the Face of God, and every Creature? To be hunted by the wretched Sense of Guilt, as a Deer with the Arrow sticking in his side? To run restless thorow all Companies, and Conditions, as a Fugitive, and Vagabond in them all?

Gen. 3. 7. It is said of our first Parents, when they had eaten the forbidden Fruit, their, eyes were opened, and they saw, that they were naked, and now they were ashamed. Do you ask, what is Sin? There is an inseparable Peace, and Pleasure goes along with every good deed; There is an unavoidable sting p. 83of Shame, and Horrour in the tail of every evil Act. He that doth evil, hath his Eyes immediately opened by that, which he feels in himself; and now he knows what he hath done.

What is that, which when you have done it, takes away your sweet Peace, and Rest from you? which makes you wish for a thick Darkness to fall upon you, that may hide you from every eye? This is Sin, hate it, and fly from it.

This is the Third Evil in Sin.

4. Sin wraps up a man in the Shape of a Devil. Man being in Honour continues not, but becomes like the Beast, that perisheth. What doth the Body of a Man now differ from that of a Beast more than the Body of one Beast differs from that of another? Nay the Bodies of many Brute Creatures excel it in Beauty, Strength, Vertue, Sense.

What hath thus chang'd Man, and put upon his Body the form of a Beast? Sin hath done it. But if we could see the Soul of man, as plainly, as we see his Body; we should see that far more like to Devils, than this is to Beasts. The Evil Powers, and Spirits might well say of Man, when he had sinn'd; He is become as one of us.

What reason hath man to abhor this Poysonous, this Potent Evil, which transforms him into this monstrous Shape, that he appears, as a Beast among the Beasts, in his Body; as a Devil among the Devils, in his Soul?

5. Sin plants the Seeds of Devils in Man. Daniel teacheth us in his Prophesy, that the Messiah should come to take away Sin, and Iniquity. Dan. 9. 24. We read in the Promise, Gen. 3. That there should be Enmity between the Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent. The Seed of the Woman is the Messias: Then the Seed of the Serpent must be Sin. Each Sin is the Seed of a Devil in us, which as it grows up, becomes a perfect Devil. A Lying Spirit entred into Ahab's Prophets, and possest them when they became Lyars.

Happy were we, if as often, as we feel motions to Lust, Covetousness, Falshood, Ambition in us; we would then say: Now a Lustful, Covetous, False Ambitious Devil enters into me; if I yield to him, he will carry me away into the Waters, and Fires, of Confusion, and Torment, he will be still growing into me, till I become one Devil with him.

2. Property: Peace. This is the Second Property in the Kingdom of God, that is, in the Royal State of a Saint on Earth.

The name of Peace in the three Learned Languages signifieth Three things: a C…ssation: a Combination: a Perfection; a Cessation from trouble: a Combination, or league with all things: Perfection of excellency, and joy to give Rest.

There is a Three-fold Peace.

1. Natural: the Peace of the Elements in the great World, and the little World of Man's Body.

2. Civil: the Peace of men among themselves in their outward Conversation.

p. 843. Religious: this is the Peace of the Soul in relation to God. This Religious Peace is Two-fold.

1. Rational: that which is built upon the Principle of Reason.

2. Spiritual: that which is sprung from a Divine Light. This is the union of mans Spirit with the Spirit of God, which is the Band of peace.

It is a Spiritual Peace, which I now speak of: This hath Two Parts.

1. Part: Silence.

2. Part: Satisfaction.

He, (that is, God) makes me to lye down in green pastures, and leads me by still waters.

1. Part: Silence. Psal. 23. 2. In this Psalm God is brought in, as a Shepherd; the Soul as a Sheep. In this verse Three Things are put together.

1. The Prosperity of the Soul.

2. The Repose of the Soul.

3. The Stilness of all things about the Soul.

1. The Prosperity of the Soul is express'd by green pastures. The Lord Jesus makes the Soul to feed on the green Pastures of the Fresh, and Flourishing discoveries of his Person, and Excellencies. That this is the Souls Pasture appears by that place of Scripture, John 6. 57. As the living Father hath sent me; and I live by the Father: So he that eateth me, shall live by me. As the Father is the Pasture-ground of the Son, on which he feeds, and out of which he is taken into this World, to be made a Sacrifice: So the Pasture-ground of the Soul is Jesus Christ.

2. The Repose of the Soul is signified: He makes me to lye down in green pastures. Jesus Christ, as a Shepherd makes the Soul to lay herself down to rest with security in the midst of his appearances springing up round about her.

3. The Stilness and Silence of all things about the Soul is set down: He leads me by still Waters.

Waters are often used by the Scriptures to represent the nature of Spirits, John 7. 38. 39. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow Rivers of living waters. This he spake of the Holy Ghost, which they, that beleive in him, should receive.

The Scripture maketh two resemblances between Waters, and Spirits. 1. As the Springs of water nourish the Earth, and make it fruitful: So every fleshly thing hath a Spirit, which sends forth its streams upon it, to refresh it. Psal. 46. 4. There is a River, that makes glad the City of our God. The Holy Spirit is the River, that maintains, and renews the life, and appearances of God in the Flesh, which make the City of God on Earth. 2. The Second Resemblance is this, 2. Pet. 3. 5. We read of the Earth standing in the Water, and out of the Water. In like manner we learn, Heb. 11. 3. that the things which are seen, were not made of things, that do appear. Some read it thus: the things which are seen, were made of things that do not appear

As the Earth stands in the Water, and out of the Water: So every Visible Thing stands in a Spirit, and stands up out of a Spirit.

p. 85The Tumultuous workings, and agitations of these Spirits in us are the cause of all unquietness in our Spirits. But when Jesus Christ leads forth our Souls into the Fields of his Excellencies, and gives us of his Love: He calms all; so that every Spirit by which we pass along, as by a River side, is still, and silent.

The Peace of the Soul dependeth upon the Silencing of a Three-fold Spirit in her.

1. The Spirit of Wrath from God.

2. The Spirit of the Devil.

3. Her own Spirit.

1. The Spirit of Wrath from God must be silenc'd in us that we may have peace, Iere. 25. 30. You may read of this Spirit of Wrath. The Lord shall roar from above, and send forth his voice from his holy habitation: He shall roar upon his habitation, and cry aloud, as they that press the Grapes, against all the Inhabitants of the Earth.

The terrours, and troubles of the Soul do not always come from, or by some Secundary cause; but sometimes they come immediately from God Himself. God comes forth into the Soul, like a Lyon: He sends forth his voice quite thorow the Soul, as the roaring of an enraged Lyon: He presseth, and squeezeth the Souls with his own weight, with a cry of Wrath; as Grapes are troden. This may be the case of any Soul, even the most Holy Habitation of the Lord, while she is the Inhabitant of an Earthly body.

What shall the Soul now do, that is in this case? To what Creature shall she call to help her against the mighty God? What course will you take to find rest to this Soul? No creature, no course can give any rest, till it please God to change Himself from a roaring Lyon, to a still, and quiet Lamb in the Soul. He can make this change in a moment, and by this change make the Soul, though she were but just before, as a dreadful Forest to herself, now to become a safe, and silent Fold, that she may lye down quietly, and take her rest.

See, what Iob complains of, and what he prays for, Iob 10. 16. Thou huntest me, as a fierce Lyon: Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me: v. 17. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me: Changes, and War are upon me. v. 20. Cease, and let me alone, that I may take a little comfort.

Oft-times God pursues a Soul fiercely, and swiftly, as if she were some great, and mighty creature. He hunts her from thought to thought, from place to place, from creature to creature; not suffering her to take her breath. He reneweth his Witnesses against her; He maketh her guilt, her miseries, her fears, his wrath, eternal horrours to appear continually before her in fresh, and new Shapes, as witnesses against her. So he makes himself marvellous upon her in those various, and heart-shaking Forms of darkness, with which he clothes himself in the midst of her. He brings Changes: He suffers her not to abide in any temper or state, but tos…eth and changeth the whole appearance of things to her; till she be quite lost in confusion, and amazement. p. 86And poor Soul, whither shall she go? What shall she do, that she may have ease, that she may have some comfort, though never so little? She can have no ease, no comfort at all, till Gods time be come, till his will be, to cease, and take his plague away from her, and silence the Spirit of his wrath within her. All that the Soul can do in the mean time is; and that by his Strength alone, to wait, and cry: Cease thou from me, O God. There is a Time to break in pieces: and a Time to bind up, that which is broken.

Obj. But some one may say: How can God trouble or disquiet a Soul, immediately, and by Himself, Fury is not in Him, Es. 24. 4. There is no Principle of Evil or Torment in the Person of God. There is no Spirit of anguish, or vexation in the Divine nature. We read of him, Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence is fulness of joy. When God brings forth his own presence into the Soul; he brings along with it all peace, and pleasantness, a Fulness of Joy.

Ans. You must distinguish upon the Appearances, and the Person of God.

Distinct. You must distinguish upon the Appearances of God. God puts forth Himself immediately two ways, either in his own Appearance, or in a strange Appearance.

1. First, God puts forth Himself immediately, sometimes in his own Appearance: and then he ever makes peace. This Apppearance of God calms, qu…ets, and sweetens all in the Soul, Es. 4. 5. Upon all the Glory shall be a Defence. The Presence of God in his proper Glory, the naked Face of God looking froth in the Soul is a Defence from trouble, and terrour. This is the Holy Moun… on which nothing can hurt, or spoil. This Discovery of God is a Light, which hath no darkness in it, no trembling, or fear,

Therefore, when the Holy Ghost had said, Psal. 16. 11. In thy presence is the fulness of Joy: He adds for explication: At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. The presence of God at the right hand of his own proper Sweetness, and Glory; which is his Strength: this is ever accompanied in the Soul, with a Fu…ness of Joy, and everlasting pleasures.

2. Secondly, God can put forth Himself immediately in a strange Appearance, without the interposal of any Created Substance between God, and that Appearance; between that appearance, and the Soul, Joh. 20. 15. Jesus Christ appeared to Mary, and conversed immediately with her in the likeness of a Gard…ner, which made her weep for fear, that she had lost her Saviour, who was … under this strange Shape; which drew forth her tears.

So God can set his own Person, and presence in our Souls in the Shape of a Stranger, of an Enemy, of a devouring Tempest, of a burning Fire, Psal. 18. 11. It is written of God: He maketh Darkness his Secret place: and thick Cl…uds of the Sky his pavilion. God can make Darkness in thy Soul His Secret place, out of which he shoots his invenomed arrows into thy heart. He can make thick Clouds upon thy Soul, his Pavilion, from whence he will make p. 87war upon thee. Thus we must distinguish upon the Appearances of God.

2. Distinct. Secondly, we must distinguish upon the Person of God, as He is in Himself; and as He is in Jesus Christ.

1. First, God as He is in Himself is One, One rest, and blessedness in every State? Thus God is All in All, all that sweetness, peace, joy in every Appearance, which he is in any Appearance.

It is said in Job of the Earth, as it was in its first State: No stranger passed thorow it. So it is true of the God-Head in its first State, in its simplicity; that there is no Strange Appearance there. This Throne of God wherever it is set up, is a Circle; and every hand is the Right Hand there, every Shape, in which God puts forth Himself is Love.

2. Secondly, God, as He is in Iesus Christ, hath his Right, and his Left Hand; his Sweet, and Strange Appearances; Light, and Darkness; Love, and Wrath: Revel. 6. 16. They cry to the Rocks, and the Mountains to fall upon them, to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb.

Jesus Christ witnesseth: John. 5. 22. The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son. This distinguishing, and dividing Judgment, by which God puts forth Himself in Love upon some, in Wrath upon others, is not exercised by the Father, that is, by God, as He is in Himself; but by the Son, that is, by God, as He is in Jesus Christ.

This is the Kingdom of God, the shining forth of the God-Head from the right hand of the Lord Jesus, in its own proper Glory, calming, and clearing up all in the Soul; scattering, like Clouds, those strange Appearances of Darkness, and Terrour, into which God had before put himself.

This is Christ shewing us the Father, discovering God in his First Light, as He is the Fountain of Love, where there is neither Fear, nor Torment.

Use. 1. For Tryal. By this we may try our selves, whether we be in the Kingdom of God, or no. The Kingdom of God is Peace. If you be truly in Peace, you are of a truth in the Kingdom of God.

I will enlarge this Tryal by Three Instances, which are the Glory, the Grace, the Blessing of God.

1. Glory: First the Glory of God, and the Peace of God ever go together, Luk. 2. 14. In the Angels Song these two are united: Glory to God on high, Peace on Earth. Jesus Christ, when he came down from Heaven, and was incarnate: Angels in their Praises, and Prayers at the Incarnation, joyn these two, Spiritual Glory, and Spiritual Peace, as undivided in their Life, and Death, in their absence, and presence.

The Soul, that is without Peace, is indeed without in that Darkness, which is without; whither nothing of the Glory of God comes, whence no Glory is given to God. If thou canst live without Peace; thou livest in a true Hell, where there is nothing of the Light of the Glory of God; nor any desire of it.

p. 88If thou hadst any taste or glympse of the Glory of God in thy Soul; thou wouldst feel a sweet peace within thee, with thy God, with thy self, and with all things.

The Glory of God is a Healing, a Uniting, a Perfecting thing: it makes all perfect in One, Mal. 4. 2. A Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in his Wings. The Sun-shine of Glory falling from the Face of God upon the Soul in any degree, sweetly and soundly closeth up wounds, maketh up breaches, and divisions in the Spirit. The Wings of the Sun are his Beams. Each touch of any one Beam of the Glory of God upon the Soul, carries a healing, lenifying, appeasing vertue.

2. Grace. Secondly the Grace, and the Peace of God ever go together. St. Paul, when he prays for the Saints at the beginning of all his Epistles, joyns these Two: Grace, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. So much of the Grace of God, as goes forth into the Soul; so much of Peace goes along with it. Where there is no Peace, there is no Grace.

There is a Two-fold Grace of God, the Love of God towards the Soul; the Loveliness, or Image of God in the Soul.

1. Where there is nothing of Peace, there is nothing of the Grace of God, that is, of the Love of God, yet appearing to that Soul. Where the Love of God is poured forth, it is an overflowing Sweetness, 1 Corin. 13. 5. Charity thinketh no ill. This Charity, which is said in the same Chapter to be perfect, to remain for ever, can be no other, than the Love of God let down from Heaven into the Soul, and revealed there, gathering the Soul up into itself, to dwell in this Love.

The Soul, that dwells in this Love, thinks no evil of God, of itself, of any thing: but is at peace with all, hath sweet thoughts of all. For the Love of God is its Eye, by which it sees, and its Heart by which it thinks. It sees God, itself, and all things by the Light of this Love: it thinks of all things by the Strength of this Love.

2. Where there is nothing of Peace, there is nothing of the Grace of God, that is of the loveliness of God, of the Beauty of Holiness in that Soul. So much of Peace, so much of Holiness, and Spirituality: So much of Distraction, and Disquiet, so much of Corruption, and Carnality.

Where things begin to descend, there begins Flesh, and Division. As things descend, and go lower, so these things increase. Where things begin to ascend, there begins Spirit, Spirituality, Unity, and Peace. The more we ascend, and go upward, the more we increase in these.

3. Blessing. Thirdly, the Blessing, and the Peace of God ever go together, Prov. 15. 17. Better is a Dinner of Herbs with Love, than a stalled Ox with hatred. Love is the Womb of Peace, and Hatred is the Mother of Unquietness; as appears by that place, Prov. 10. 12. Hatred stirreth up strife: but Love covereth a multitude of Sins.

p. 89Didst thou live at the highest rate of all content in thine outward man, and hadst no peace in thy Soul; thou couldst have nothing blest to thee. All thy delicacies would have a bitterness on thy palate, and a venom in thy bowels, that will never suffer thee to have a true joy in any thing, which thou enjoyest.

Hadst thou but a Dinner of Herbs the lowest fare, such as the Cattel may have together with thee; and hadst Spiritual peace with it: these Herbs would have such a blessing in them, that they would be, as the food of Paradise was to man, when he had Herbs, and all Green things given him for meat.

If thine inward man had a stalled Ox, those Oxen, which Wisdom slays, Prov. 9. 2. prepared for it; the strongest notions, the highest Mysteries set before thine understanding: if thou hadst not the peace of God in these, these could be no Blessing; thy Soul with them would not thrive, it would be but as Pharoah's lean Kine, that devoured the fat ones, and were still, as lean: All thy notions, and Mysteries would be but a tinkling noise, an empty sound vanishing without any profit, or lasting pleasure.

But Herbs, the lowest administrations, the darkest discoveries of Christ together with peace, is a Feast of fat things, and Wine upon the Lees, which though it have not so clear manifestations, yet may have, as sweet, and strong consolations.

Obj. But now some good Soul may cry out: Alass! this shuts me quite out of the Kingdom of God: by this I have nothing of the Glory of God, or of His Grace in me, or of his Blessing going along with me, for I have no peace. My Tears are my Drink, Day, and Night.

Ans. Thou art no good Judge in this cause. For thou mayst be deceived two ways, and this is the Two-fold Answer, which thou art to make to thine own Soul.

1. The Kingdom, and the Peace of God may both be grown up to a good degree in thee, though thou discern them not.

2. The Kingdom, and the Peace of God may be sown, though they be not grown up in thy Soul.

Ans. 1. First, the Kingdom, and the Peace of God may be grown up to a good degree in thy Soul, though thou discern them not.

Mar. 4. 27. The Kingdom of God is compared to Corn, which while a man Sleeps and Rises, Night and Day, Spring and Grows up, he knows not how. The Image and Peace of the Lord Jesus may be springing, and well sprung up in thy Spirit, while thou sleepest in the Darkness of some Temptation, and hast no sense at all of this Spring, and Growth, though it be continual, and flourishing within thee. This is hard to believe, or understand, how it should be. Yet thus the Lord tells thee, that his Kingdom, which is Peace puts forth itself in the Ground of thine Heart, and prospers, and grows a tall plant there, while thou hast no sense of it, but sleepest; though thou knowest not how.

Our Saviour distinguisheth this growth of the Kingdom of God in the Soul into a Three-f…ld State: v. 28. The Earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; First p. 90the blade; then the Ear; after that the full Corn in the Ear.

The Earth is the Lord Jesus in his Earthly, or Fleshly Image; as he is the Ground out of which we all Spring forth in our First State, or Image. He in us of Himself sends forth and shoots up his Kingdom naturally in our Souls, as Trees set or planted in Him.

The full Corn in the Ear; the Ear; the Blade signify a Three-fold Evangelical State of a Saint on Earth, in the Body.

The First is the Royal, or Kingly State, of which I am now speaking. The other Two are distinct degrees of the State of Sonship, or Child hood, as it is different from the State of a Servant, which hath the Kingdom of God only Sown, not yet grown up in him.

1. First is the full Corn in the Ear. This is the Royal State, in which the Mysteries of the Gospel are displaid, the Spiritual Person of the Lord Jesus in all his Proportions is form'd, and puts forth himself in the Soul with a fulness, a fulness of Spiritual Light, Peace, Strength, and joy. Yet all this clearness, and fulness is under a vail, in the Husk still of Flesh. It is the full Corn in the Ear, not thresh't out by Death, and winnow'd by a Resurrection; but still standing in this World.

Thou mayst have this State in thee, and yet not see the Corn for the Husk: but mistake, and mis-interpret Christ in thee; because thou seest the Flesh still; and feelest thy self shaken with Winds, and beaten with Storms, as being still in the open Field of this world.

2. The Second State is the Ear. Thou mayst have the Blessing, Grace, and Glory of the Lord Jesus running up in thy Spirit to a good height, with great store of Sap: thou mayst be now near to a kind of perfection in Spirituality. Yet all this may be in a form of Darkness, Emptiness, and Confusion.

Take heed of judging the State, in which thou art; the power, and vertue in thee, by the appearance. For so doing thou mayst call Light, Darkness; because it shines in the Dark. Be not like a foolish Husbandman, that should look upon his Corn in the Field, when it were new Eared, and should complain, that all his hopes were cast away; that he had Straw or Grass, instead of Wheat; because he yet sees not the Corn formed in the Ear.

3. The Third State is the Blade. Do not deny the Kingdom of God with the Peace thereof to be come up in thee; because thou canst not discern it. It may be truly come up in thee; but perhaps 'tis yet in the Blade, in tender, weak, low appearances; hardly shewing itself above the Cl…ds of the plowed Earth, the trouble of thy broken heart; hardly distinguish't from weeds, the workings of the Flesh in thee.

Now take this Three-fold Caution.

1. Caut. First, take heed of over-seeing or undervaluing the full Corn, because it still in the Ear or Husk. Do not cast away from your self the Praise of Christ, and Joy of Spirit, which belong to a strong, and reigning Christian p. 91because you have Strong, and raging Temptations, as being still in the Flesh.

2. Caut. Secondly: Refuse not to acknowledge Jesus Christ in the Ear; because you have not yet the full Corn.

3. Caut. Thirdly: Deny not Jesus Christ to have appeared in you; because he is as yet only in the Blade or tender Herb.

Thus I have discours'd upon the First Answer to a Doubting Soul.

Ans. 2. The Second Answer is this: The Kingdom, and Peace of God may be sown, though they be not grown up in thy Soul. You must distinguish between the Devil's Madmen, and God's Mourners.

1. The Devil's Madmen are such, as throw abroad Swords, and Fire-brands in the midst of their own Spirits, and say; Are we not in Jest? They toss Vanity up and down in their Souls, and Lives; they brandish, and blaze their Pride, Passion, and Lusts. These are their Peace, and Kingdom; their Pleasures, and Glories. But they have no sense of the Peace of God, and his Kingdom. They understand not how they drive these far from their Souls, and kindle the Fire of Hell-torments in their Hearts, while they roul themselves in carnal security, and Fleshly Pleasures. Against these this use is directed, and the Terrours of God are discovered.

2. But Secondly, there are God's Mourners, holy Souls, which can take no Joy in any Worldly thing, because they have no sense of the Peace of God in their Spirits. These good Hearts are cloth'd with a Garment of Heaviness; but that Garment is as a vail only upon the Beauty of Jesus Christ, which is of a Truth in their Hearts, though as yet it be hid from their Eyes. And therefore their Eyes are full of Tears, they go on weeping; but they carry their precious Seed with them in the Secret of their Souls.

These are Gods Mourners, and these are to apply to themselves, that sweet Promise, Es. 57. 18. I have seen his ways, I will heal him; I will lead him also, and I will restore Peace to him, and to his Mourners, the verse before was: For the iniquities of his Covetousness I was Wroth with him, and smote him: I hid me, and was Wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his Heart.

How absolute, how sweet, how full is this Promise? What objection canst thou make against thy self, which the Lord doth not here punctually answer?

1. Object. Thou sayest: I have been very sinful, and still continue so. Mercies, Judgments do me no good; but make me more wanton, or more froward in an evil way. Ans. Hark, the Lord tells thee, that he knows all this, He hath seen thy ways, the Evil of thy ways, and every Aggravation of the Evil in them: yet he saith: I will heal thee. He undertakes to be Himself thy Physician.

2. Object. But thou …ryest …ut: I am Sick with my Lusts; I am wounded with miseries, I am broken with horrours. And I have no Strength to recover my self out of any of these. Ans. But the Lord Jesus saith: I will heal the… of all these Evils, of thy Sins, thy Sorrows, and thy Fears. I will do it for thee, by mine own Right Hand, and for mine own Sake.

p. 923. Obj. Still thou objectest against thine own Mercies, and complainest; that thou knowest not Jesus Christ, nor the way to Him: Or if thou didst; thou hast neither Will, nor Power to come to him, that thou mayst be healed by Him. Ans. But what saith the Lord to thee? I will lead thee also: I will first come to thee, I will stretch out my Hand towards thee, and take hold of thy Spirit, I will draw thee towards my self, I will direct thee in the right Paths of my Love, I will bear thee up in the way, that thou shalt not fall in it, nor fall from it.

4. Obj. But thy Melancholy, Dark, and Sullen thoughts still abound in thee, and suffer thee to have no Peace. These fill thee with Fears, and Tremblings, that thou canst not take comfort in any thing. Ans. But God will restore comfort to thee, and to thy Mourners. He will bring again, that Comfort, which thou hadst once in thy Spirit, which thou hadst in Paradise. It is now but laid aside, hid, sown in thee. God will bring it forth to Light, and set it before thee, and make it to grow up out of thine own Spirit, in the sight of thy Spirit, and in the sight of all thy Mourners; all those melancholy thoughts, which now fill thee with so much heaviness.

I will restore Comfort: Saith God. The Comfort, the Joy, for the want of which thou Mournest, is thine already, it was thine Eternally, it was the Grace given to thee before all times in Jesus Christ, as St. Paul speaks to Timothy. But as the Trees were first in the Creation, and then the Seed, and then again the Trees are restored to themselves out of their Seed. So thy Comforts have been hid in thine Heart, in which they lye in their proper Seed, and out of which God will make them to grow up, and so restore them to thee, and thee to thy Spiritual, and Heavenly self.

Thus much for the Second Answer: The Peace, and the Kingdom of God may be sown though they be not grown up in thee.

So I have done with the First Spirit to be silenc'd in the Soul that she may have Peace; which is the Spirit of Wrath from God.

2. The Spirit of the Devil. This is the Second Spirit to be silenced in the Soul for her Spiritual Peace. Read those Verses, Psal. 46. 2. 3. Therefore we will not fear, though the Earth be removed: and though the Mountains be carryed into the midst of the Sea. Though the Waters thereof roar, and the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. In the verse following you read of a River, whose streams refresh the City of God. This River is clearly the Spirit of God. This Sea then, which troubles the Earth, must be the Spirit of the Devil, the Natural Power of Darkness in the Creature, which, while it kept its own place, and order, had a Beauty in it; but forsaking its own habitation, as St. Jude speaketh, it brings Confusion.

You may confirm that sense of the Sea in this place, by comparing Two, or Three places of Scripture more, one with another.

Gen. 1. 2. That Darkness, out of which the Light, and Strength of the p. 93Creature was first raised, is express'd by a Sea: Darkness was upon the Face of the Deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters.

Revel. 20. 3. The Angel casts the Devil into the Bottomless Pit. The Word here, which is translated Bottomless Pit, foreign answer in Greek, to that in Hebrew, Tehôm; which is expounded, the Deep, in that First of Genesis. And the Sea is frequently called by this Name thorough the Scriptures; Teh…m; foreign; The Deep. The Devil was cast down into the great Deep of his own Darkness, and shut up there.

Revel. 21. 1. I saw a new Heaven, and a new Earth, and there was no more Sea. The Spirit of the Devil, and the Power of Darkness was now shut up in itself, and no more troubled the Peace and Beauty of the Creature. Though there was still Night, and Day; Darkness, and Light; yet there was no more Sea, the Darkness, was as a sweet Calm Stream refreshing the Earth, and mingled with the Light of Life.

This Sea of Darkness, and confusion lies at the bottom of the Spirit of every man naturally. It encompasseth us on every side. This often opens itself upon us, and the Mountains of all our Strength, Joy or Glory are swallowed up in the midst of it.

When the Waters of this Sea, evil Spirits roar upon our Souls; they fill them with Fear, amazement, and Horrour.

The Sea is accounted the Cause of Earth-quakes. The Earth in a Man, all the Foundations of his Life, and Joy are violently shaken in him, when this Sea swells beneath them.

What Peace, what Establishment can there be to the Soul, while this Power of Darkness rageth? As the World shall have no Peace, till it be bound up in its own Deep, so neither can the Soul.

This is the Second Spirit to be silenced.

3. The Spirit of a Man in Himself. Before the Soul can have Peace, her own Spirit must be silent in the midst of her.

Psal. 4. 4. We have this advice given us: Commune with your own Heart upon your Bed, and be still. This seems to be a Contradiction Commune, and be still. But the Selah added, points out a more hidden sense.

Here are Two Terms in this Scripture, which have a various Sense. Heart, and Bed.

1. Heart. Commune with your Hearts. What is the Heart? The Heart is the Inward Principle, the Life-Principle.

1. The Heart is the Inward Principle. So you read of the Heart of the Sea, Exod. 15. 8. and the Heart of the Earth, Mat. 12. 40.

Mark 7. 18. Whatsoever thing cometh from without, defileth not the Man. v. 19. Because it entreth not into thy Heart, but into thy Belly; and passeth into the Draughts. v. 21. From within, from the Heart of men proceed Evil thoughts, Adulteries, &c.

p. 94The Meats, which we take in from without, reach the Body in all the parts of it; and they reach the Soul, as it lives in the Body, working upon it, and making changes in it. Both these then are the Belly, the Outward Man, which is maintained from an Outward Principle, and passeth away into the Dust, and Darkness.

But the Heart is more Inward, and Immutable. It is that, which abides in the Invisible part of things, and is that Hidden Spring, the Principle both of Soul, and Body.

This Heart in the Natural Man is the Spirit of Man, in the Spirit of the Devil, or in the Spirit of Divine Wrath; or rather in both. So from the Heart come evil thoughts. So St. Iohn saith, 1 Iohn. 3. 20. If our Hearts condem… us, God is greater than our Hearts and knoweth all things. But if our Hearts condemn us not, then have we confidence before God. Every man hath in him a Principle more Inward, than the Spirit of the Devil, which is the Spirit of God, as it comes forth into his Spirit, and gives his Spirit, a Created Invisible, Immortal Being in itself among Angels.