The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God, Part 2 · Subpart (2 of 3)

The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God · Part 2 · Subpart (2 of 3)

p. 461All the parts of your Bodies themselves, the lowest, and least, even to a hair of your Heads, every thing that befals you in every part of your Body in the meanest, and slightest circumstance, is formed exactly by the Divine Wisdom, and Power, according to the Divine Will, to answer the Pattern in the Mount, to be the holy figure of an eternal Glory in Christ. We read Psal. 29. 9. Every thing in his Temple speaks Glory. Every thing in thy Body, O Believer, so far as thou art a Believer, speaks Glory. For this is his Temple. O live alwaies in the Spirit, that thou maist alwaies be in thy Body, as in the Temple, that there thou maist see, understand, and enjoy the Glory in every thing!

2. The Temple of God is filled with the Glory of God. There is a Prophesy in Malachy, concerning the times of the Gospel, that he shall come into his Temple. You, O Saints are the Temple, which is here Prophefied of. Jesus Christ, as God in the Glory of the Father, in the Third Person, the Holy Ghost, comes into you, into your Bodies also, and fills them with his Glory. The same word in Hebrew signifieth a Temple, and a Pallace. The name of a Temple in Greek, signifieth an Habitation, or dwelling place. It is a note of a learned Divine, that the Temple had Tables, and a Throne, and a State in it, which was the Golden Mercy Seat called in the Gospel, the Throne of Grace, to signifie that the Temple of God was his Pallace, as he is the great King. The Eternal Spirit is present in the Body of a Believer, as in his Pallace. He keeps his Court there. There is his Throne, with all the blessed Angels, and all the Heavenly Company, waiting round about it.

It is called his resting-place. Arise, saith David to God, thou, and the Ark of thy strength into thy resting-place. God shineth forth in his Temple, filleth it with his Glory within, resting upon it, and overshadowing it with his Glory without. In the 50 Psal. at the beginning the Psalmist speaking of the Temple saith; God shineth from Sion, the perfection of Beauty. What a perfection of Beauty then, what a Divine Pallace, how full of Glory within, how encompassed with a clear, & shining Glory round about is that Body of a Saint, which is the living, eternal Temple of the Holy Ghost? In what Majesty doth this Eternal Spirit appear here upon its Throne of Love? In the midst of what Divine Pleasures, and Delights doth it rest for ever here. What a Court does it keep here with all its Train of Angels, and heavenly Attendants, waiting round about its Throne, as in another Heaven? O Believers, honor your Bodies. For these, so far as you stand in a Spiritual Principle, are as another Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens, the Pallace of the great King, which he fills with his Glory, where he heeps his Court, & sits upon his Throne.

p. 4623. The Saints have communion with God in his Temple. In the Temple was the Golden Mercy-Seat. There, saith God, will I commune with thee. This was overspread with Cherubims of Glory, as St. Paul calls them. These Cherubims covered this Golden Mercy-Seat with their Wings, and so made the State, or Glory about the Throne. This is therefore called the secret of the most high, and the shadow of the Almighty, where a Saint is said to dwell, and to lodge. Hear, O ye Saints, what glorious things are spoken of your Bodies; be Spiritual, and behold in these Temples the Golden Mercy-Seat, which is the glorified Person of Christ, and the Cherubims of Glory covering it with their Wings, and God here upon this Golden Mercy-Seat, the glorified Bosom of Christ from between the Wings of the Cherubims, ready alwaies to commune with you, yea taking you up upon this Golden Mercy-Seat, within the Wings of the Cherubims, to commune freely with him at all seasons in this secret of eternal safety, rest, love, joy, and glory.

This Temple is the Body of a Saint while he liveth below; but now it is in too great a degree covered with a cloud of Flesh, filled with the smoak of the Spirit of this world, that a Saint too rarely enters into this Temple of the holy Ghost in his own Body, and more rarely seeth with any degree of clearness the Glory, or heareth the voice of the blessed Spirit there. What joy is it to think, in what a purely sacred, and Divine Temple, in what a clear, and shining Pallace of the eternal King, in what open, and unstained, unvailed visions of Divine Glory, in what a secret, in what a presence of glorious Angels, and Eternal Spirits, in the midst of what sweet overshadowings, dear encompassings, naked outshinings of the Eternal Spirit, in what most blessed, most ravishing Communion of Eternal Light, Life, and Love with this Spirit, in what sight, and embraces, with what kisses of incomprehensible Beauties, in the sound of what words, what salutations, what wooings, what expressions of the highest Loves, and Joys from the Eternal Spirit a Saint finds himself even in his own proper Body in the very moment of his Death, when departing out of this Life at once he departs for ever out of the Fleshly Image, and the Spirit of this World?

4. The Divine Presence, and Glory was the defence of the Temple, Esa. 4. 5. There is a Prophesy concerning the times of the Gospel expressed by figures taken from the state of things under the Law: And the Lord will create upon every …welling place of Mount Sion, and upon her Assemblies a Cloud, and smoak by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For upon all the Glory shall be a defence, or a covering. When the first Temple was to be destroyed, the Prophet Ezekiel saw the Glory removing off from it; afterwards, when the second Temple was near its end, a voice was heard in it saying; Let us be gone from hence, which was understood to be the voice of God, and of his holy Angels with all those invisible companies, and Ministers, which made up the Glory of the Divine Presence, as Nobles, Officers, and Guards make up the Court of a King.

p. 463O Saints! why do you fear for your Bodies hidden Conspiracies, or open force, diseases, the fury of the Elements, the malice of Men, or Devils? These Bodies of yours are the Temples of the Holy Ghost. Here are the Holy Assemblies of all the Heavenly Company in the unity of the Spirit, whose Temples your Bodies are. Of these it is Prophesied, to these it is promised, that God will create upon them a cloud, and a smoak by day, the shining of a flaming fire by night. Upon these the Glory is a defence, or a covering. God himself with all his holy Ones, his Angels, his Watchmen, his ministring Spirits is this Cloud, this Glory, which is the defence, and covering upon your whole Persons your Bodies, as well as your Souls: both have together with Christ a hidden Life, a secure Life, in this secret of God within this covering of this Divine Cloud, Flame, and Glory. From off these Temples of your Bodies this Glory never removes. From within these Temples of your Bodies this heavenly Company never departs; for as much as the union in the Spirit of Grace under the Gospel is Eternal.

Thus the Bodies also of Believers in this Life are the Temples of the Holy Ghost. All things in them here are divine Figures of a divine Glory. They are filled and covered with the Glory itself. They are the seats of the freest Communion with this Glory, being the Temples of the God of Gods, and so the Pallaces of the King of Kings. All this is true of them here, as they stand in a Spiritual Principle, and in union with Christ by the new birth.

But this Life is a mixt State. We stand partly in a Spiritual, partly in a Fleshly Principle. These Temples of our Bodies are covered with a corrupt Flesh, that we can hardly discern their Spiritual Beauties. They are too frequently in too great a part filled with a smoak of Hell, the smoak of the Spirit of this world, that a Believer can rarely enter into this Temple of his Body to behold, and converse with the Glory there.

This is the precious, the blessed work of Death in a Believer. It breaketh the union, it maketh a separation not between Christ, and a Believer, not between the Soul, and Body of a Believer, as they are joyned together in Christ by the band, and unity of the Eternal Spirit, and make one Spiritual Man, or Person in Christ; but between the precious, and the vile, between the Carnal and Spiritual Principle of a Saint both in Soul and Body.

Now in the moment of Death the Soul, and Body of a Saint come forth immediately, clear, and shining Temples of the Spirit; the smoak, and clouds of the Fleshly Principles, and of this worldly Image being for ever driven away from within them, and from without.

Thus you understand St. Pauls sweet, and blessed sense of Death, when he speaketh of the Body, and saith, 1 Corin. 5. 1. 2. That, we shall not be found naked, but be cloathed upon from above with a building of God Eternal in the Heavens, which shall swallow up mortality in life. Our Spiritual Body, which we have in this life by our new Birth, as we stand in our Spiritual Principle is this Divine Building sprung from a Divine Root, of a Divine Nature, or Substance, p. 464of a Divine Form, and Workmanship. This is ever in Heaven, being inseparably united to Christ, and being ever in the Spirit. This is Eternal, when we die, this casts off the Cloud of corrupt, and cursed Flesh. This springs forth out of its Spiritual Principle, as out of Heaven, and the Bosom of God. This rests upon us, takes us in, cloaths us entirely, universally with itself. Thus we are never found naked not for any one the least moment. All that life, all those objects, entertainments, and joys, which we possessed before in the Cloud, in the Captivity of a mortal Image, yea the very Image of mortality itself, besides innumerable new and unconceivable Glories, are all the very same things present with us in this Heavenly Building; this Heavenly Body; but after a new, and more excellent manner. We have our pleasant things a hundred-fold more pleasant. We have our unpleasant things with an unmixed, pure, and perfect pleasantness, as they stand within in the Divine Mystery, and Love. Thus desirable, and delightful is death to a Saint, which now indeed is no more Death, but the flood, the Fountain of pure Light, Eternal Life, the Divine Love breaking forth in his Soul, and Body, and swallowing up every thing of Mortality into itself.

Give me leave here to take occasion to shir you up to the love, and pursuit of Spirituality in Religion, by a short exhortation.

1. Understand your loss. How many precious, and glorious truths of the Gospel? What Heavenly, and Divine growths in Grace? How many sweet, unexpressible consolations, and joys in life, and in death are we unacquainted with, are we uncapable of for want of the Spirit, and Spirituality? I have many things to speak unto you, saith our Lord Jesus to his Disciples before his Death; but ye cannot bear them now. Why? Hitherto they knew Christ after the Flesh only. The Spirit was not come, which was to lead them into all truths, and to be their eminent comforter. I could not speak unto you, as to Spiritual, but as to Carnal, saith St. Paul to the Corinthtans, who yet were pussed up with a conceit of their knowledge.

2. Consider the danger from the want of Spirituality. St. Paul saith in one place, that what the Law speaketh, it speaketh to those that are under the Law. The Law in Scripture is called the Letter, which is the Figure, and Image only: The Gospel the Spirit, which is the Life, and Truth. This then is the dreadful curse, which the Law pronounceth upon those, who live, and worship God in the oldness of the Letter; not in the newness of the Spirit: that their Eyes, their Ears, their Hearts shall be closed, made fat, and hardned, that seeing they shall not see, hearing they shall not understand, that they shall be taught line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, and there a little, that they may fall backward, and perish, and never rise more; because, when Christ was presented to them in the Spirit of Life, and Glory to be their rest, and refreshing for ever, they would not obey the heavenly Call. O dreadful danger! O deadly curse! Hear this O Professors; O Believers, p. 465who are Carnal, and not Spiritual! Tremble and fear to be eternally imprisoned in the dark Image, and killing Letter, being for ever excluded from the marvellous light of God, from the Eternal Life, and from the most glorious truth itself of all Heavenly, and Divine Things, to wander perpetually in a barren Wilderness of Graves, and of fiery Serpents, never to enter into the rest of God, nor the refreshing of the Eternal Spirit. O Silly Men, and silly Women, that are ever learning, ever hearing Sermons, ever praying, ever reading the Scriptures, ever sounding forth the name of Christ, and God; yet at the end of one, ten, or twenty years, still laden with the same diversity of Lusts, and Passions, still moving forward, and backward upon the same Carnal, and literal sense of things, never coming to the knowledge of the Truth, as the Truth is in Jesus, as the Spirit is Truth!

3. See the advantages of Spirituality, as they are laid together, 2 Corin. 3. At the latter end.

1. Liberty, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty; a pure freedom from the servitude of hellish Lusts, and passions; a pleasant freedom from fears, cares, consinements; from the Law, Death, and Wrath; a Divine Freedom from the vale of the Flesh, the Law, the Letter of things, from every Earthly, Created, Darkning, Dividing Principle, Life, and Image; the liberty of a free access into the purity, power, rest, joys, glories, immortality, infiniteness of the Spirit, and of the Divine Nature.

2. A clear discovery, evidence, and seal of the new Birth in you. We with open Face behold the Glory of the Lord. The open face there (as appears clearly by the context of the words) is the Spiritual, and Heavenly Man within us unvailed, appearing evidently with the Seal of his own Spiritual Beauties, and Glories upon it, in the openness, and freedom of a Spiritual, and Divine Light. Where are doubts, where are fears now concerning our condition? they are fled away, and vanish, as the shadows of the night before the Sun rising, and shining forth with open face.

3. A clear vision of the Lord Jesus in Glory within thy self. We all with open face, as in a glass, beholding the Glory of the Lord, saith St. Paul. It is in Greek beholding, as in a Looking-glass, where the Face, that is seen, is the Face of him who fees, reflected upon itself. O blessed State of a Spiritual Saint! The Spiritual Man in him is a Divine, and living Looking-glass, in which, while he beholds the face of the Lord Jesus in Glory, he sees his own Face, and the glorious form of his own Heavenly Person reflected upon itself. The Person which sees, the Heavenly Person which is seen, and the Glass, are all one Spirit. All these dwell together, see, possess, and enjoy one another in the same Life, and Image.

4. Spirituality brings a lively, and lovely growth in all Grace. We are changed, saith St. Paul, into the likeness of the same Image from Glory to Glory. These words import three excellencies in the growth of a Spiritual p. 466Person. 1. It is continual, which is implied in that expression from Glory to Glory. One degree of growth immediately follows another. The Kingdom of Heaven, which is the State of Spirituality, and in the Holy Ghost, is compared to Corn, which grows by day, and by night, in Winter, and in Summer. It is growing every moment, till it be ripe for the Harvest. 2. Spirituality groweth by great increases. Here the name of Glory is put upon the growths of Grace in a Spiritual State from Glory to Glory. In another place St. Paul expresseth it by the increases of God, that is, swift, great, glorious, divine increases, as by the immediate springings of the Godhead, and bearing the likeness of God in Glory. 3. Spirituality makes the Glorified Person of Christ the Pattern, the Measure, the Mark, and End of its growth. So saith St. Paul, Beholding the Glory of the Lord, we are changed into the likeness of the same Image. A Spiritual Person hath the Lord Jesus cloathed with a Spiritual Glory ever in his eye; is continually taking him into his Heart, continually bringing him forth into his whole Person and Life, with an increasing clearness and fulness. As the Object is to the Faculty, and to the Soul; so is Jesus Christ to a Spiritual Person, his Pattern, his Object, his Food, his Feast, which spreads itself quite thorow his Person and Life, which all throughout turns into Life, Strength, Beauty, Cheerfulness, and Joy to him.

5. A spiritual person in a sweet and sealing manner sees the Spirit himself presenting the Lord Jesus to him within himself in a spiritual Glory; feels the Spirit himself springing up immediately within him in all sights of Christ, in all his changes, and growths into Christ. He sees, and feels this Spirit to be Jesus Christ himself. He sees and feels this Spirit, and this Jesus to be in himself, and one Spirit with himself. So the verse forementioned runs; We all with open face, beholding, as in a Looking-glass, the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the likeness of the same Image, from Glory to Glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord; or, according to the Greek, by the Lord that Spirit.

These are the sweet and blessed Advantages of a Spiritual State. I will add some few and short Directions to this State.

1. Look to the New Birth in You. See that you be born again, that you be born from above, that you be born of the Spirit; that this which is born in you, be Spirit, Jesus Christ saith, That which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit. This only is the New Birth. Newness is only in the Eternal Spring, the Spirit.

2. Take care of your Union with Christ, that it be a Spiritual Union; that you be united to Christ, as he is risen from the Dead, and in Glory, as he is a Spirit, the King and Bridegroom of Spirits; that you be united to Christ in the Spiritual Man; that your Union be a Spiritual Marriage; that you be one Spirit in the Unity of the Eternal Spirit, which is Love.

3. Pray for the Spirit, for a Spiritual Understanding, for the Knowledge of things in the Spirit, as they are Spirit and Life, and so alone Truth. Suck in the Spirit by day, and by night, from the lips of Christ, from the kisses of his mouth.

p. 4674. Die to every thing of the Flesh, that you may live in the Spirit. Bear about in your Bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the Life also of the Lord Jesus, according to the Spirit, may be manifested in your mortal Bodies. At the young Phoenix is said to spring new and fresh out of the Ashes of the Old One; so doth the Spirit in the newness of an Heavenly and Immortal Glory spring out of the Grace of Christ.

5. Live purely, live in Love. These two, Purity and Love, are the principal fruits of the Spirit, by which the Spirit himself is drawn down, and held in our Hearts, being fed, and delighted with them. Every kind and degree of impurity and enmity quencheth the Spirit and maketh him to withdraw himself into Heaven again. The Scripture saith, The Flesh lusteth against the Spirit, to bring forth its own Beauties, Delights and Fruits all over the Spirit of Man in the place of the Eternal Spirit. The Scripture saith also, That the Flesh envyeth against the Spirit: The Flesh hath an envy, and an envious malice to see the Spirit with its Eternal Glories, Joys and Fruits to flourish in the Soul.

6. Lastly; Take heed of thinking that you know enough. He that thinks he knows any thing, knows nothing as he ought to know it, saith St. Paul. He that thinks he knows any thing, knows things only after the Letter, which is a knowledge of shadows only, and a shadow of knowledge. This is that knowledge, which pusseth up, which swels a man with a windy conceit of knowledge. But that knowledge which is from the Spirit, as its Fountain, and in the Spirit, as its air, and element, and of the Spirit, as its only object, this makes a man at the highest degree of his knowledge on Earth to be sensible, that all his knowledge is, but as the light of the night, a light shining in a dark place, not the day-star, and the Sun itself risen upon him. This man thinks himself at best, as a door-keeper only, or (as the Hebrew word signifieth) one standing at the threshold of the House of God, who looketh in at a distance, and hath only a weak glimmering prospect of the Glories there, but is not yet entered into the Light of those Glories to behold them, as they are, to know them, as he ought to know them, and is to know them. He therefore, as a new born Babe from the Womb of the Spirit, keeps his Eye ever fixed with wonder, and pleasure upon the light of the Spirit, and ever thirsts to drink in more, and more the sweet milk of this Light.

The Subject of our discourse hath been the passage of a Saint by Death, not only in his Soul, but in his Body also, into a State of purity, pleasure, perfection, and immortality. One of the objections against this was taken from common sense, to which Death presents the Bodies of the holiest Persons liveless, ghastly, dissolving to dust. We have answered this objection by a distinction between a twofold sense, Carnal, and Spiritual. But this objection was enforced from the Body of Christ, which was a rueful, and bloody spectacle in Death, which lay three days in the silence, darkness, and restraint of the Grave. It is necessary therefore to say something, particularly to the State of p. 468Christs Body in Death, by the application of this distinction to that also.

I shall ground this discourse upon that Scripture, Luke 12. 50. They are the words of Christ: I have a Baptism to be Baptized with, and how am I streightned till it be over. This Baptism is generally, and as I humbly conceive, rightly, interpreted to be the sufferings of Christ at his Death. The Baptism of Christ, and the accomplishment of that Baptism were both at the time of his Death. The sense of this Baptism before it came, was an unexpressible streightning, or affliction, and oppression to the Soul of Christ. He cries out, how am I streightned?

The words thus opened, afford this observation: The Lord Jesus had his greatest trouble, and his greatest Triumph at the time of his Death. Then was this bloody Baptism; and then was the blessed accomplishment of this Baptism. I shall open this in seven Propositions, whereof 5 set forth the trouble, the other two the Triumph of Christ at his Death.

1. Propos. It was the most glorious, and eternal Person of God himself in two Natures, Divine, and Humane, which was our Jesus.

2. Propos. God in his own Person, as the Divine Nature lived in our Nature here on Earth, stood at once in a twofold Principle, one Natural, and Temporary; the other Supernatural, and Eternal.

3. Propos. As this Eternal Person our Jesus with his God-Head in the Humane Nature, stood in a Natural, and Temporary Principle, he stood under the curse, receiving, and feeling all the stings, and bitterness of the curse to the utmost extremity.

4. Propos. This our Jesus, as he at the same time with his Divine Nature in his Humanity, stood in a Supernatural, and Eternal Principle, he in his Humanity comprehended his Humanity itself, in its natural Principle, together with the natural Principle itself, the Curse, all the stings, and bitterness of the Curse, in a light of Divine Glory, in a life of Divine Love, as so many varieties of pure Love, Joy, and Glory with Immortality.

5. Propos. The Curse with the stings, and sense of it upon the Natural, and Temporary Principle, as also the conflict between the Natural, and Temporary, the Supernatural, and Eternal Principle in the Lord Jesus through his whole Person, as it lived in a Humane Soul, and Body, were highest at his Death.

These are the five Propositions, which set forth the trouble of Christ at his Death. In the other two followeth his Triumph.

6. Propos. This Eternal Person our Jesus with his God-Head in his whole Humanity both Soul, and Body, in the moment of Death by dying, went entirely forth from the Natural, or Temporary Principle, and so from under the Curse.

7. Propos. This same Jesus in his whole Person with his whole Soul, and Body, in the moment of Death by dying went forth entirely into the simplicity, p. 469and singleness of his Supernatural, the Eternal Principle, and so into a State of pure Eternity, unmixt Joy, and Glory.

I shall briefly open these Propositions in their order.

1. Propos. It was the most glorious, and eternal Person of God himself in two Natures, Divine, and Humane, which was our Jesus, John 1. 14. The Word was made Flesh. The second Person in the Trinity, from which the other two Persons, the Father and the Spirit are inseparable; the eternal, and essential Son of God, which hath the fulness of the God-Head in himself, in its most express Image, and greatest Glory, he in his own Person, in this Eternal Person, and Sonship, was made Flesh. This Eternal Person, this Essential Son of God was that Flesh. This Flesh was that Person, that Son, which had the Father, and the Spirit inseparably with himself, and was essentially one with them.

O Christians, study this union of the two Natures Divine, and Humane in one only Divine, Unchangeable, and Eternal Person, which is the most glorious, and Ever-blessed God. This is the deep and rich ground of the Christian Religion, out of which, as the true ground of the Heavenly Paradise, the God-Head itself makes to spring all the precious mysteries of the Gospel, all Evangelical Truths, Graces, and Joys in their most Spiritual Beauty, Sweetness, and Life. Understand this: Pray for the understanding of this, for a sight, sense, and feeling of it within your own Spirits, that it is God, God himself in his own only Divine, unchangeable, undivided Person, in your own Form, in your own Nature, in your own Persons, and Spirits, which is your Jesus, your Saviour, Redeemer, Husband, and King, your Ransom, Atonement, and Righteousness, your Beauty, your Life, your Joy, your Root, Branch, Flower, and Fruit. This union between the Divine, and Humane Nature in one Person in our Lord Jesus, is the Original, and Reason of the union between you, and this Jesus, which is God in Person, to which Person, thorow this union, you also are immediately, eternally united in one Spirit, in one mystical Person, which is Christ, as St. Paul speaketh, as there is one Body, and many Members, so is Christ.

A Spiritual knowledge of this union of two Natures in one Person, and that God himself is this Person, will sweeten all sufferings of life to you, and perfume the Grave. Open the Eyes of your Spirits, and behold with joy, and wonder the going of your God, and King in the Sanctuary of this Earthly Body. It was the ever-glorious, and immutable Person of God in the most high, and holy Trinity, which made itself Flesh in the Womb of the Virgin, which was that Flesh, which in that Flesh eat, drank, slept, talked, and walked upon the Face of this Earth, which passed under all the clouds, thorow all the storms of life here, which hung upon the Cross, dyed, and lay down in the Grave. O with what a Divine, and delightful Glory hath this Divine presence, and Person silled, and cloathed this Flesh, this Earth, all the p. 470natural actions, and passions of this Flesh, on this Earth, Clouds, Storms, the Cross, Death, and the Grave to the Spiritual Eyes of Believers? What living Plants of Paradise; how beautiful, how laden with most pleasant, and Immortal Fruits are all these springing up out of this Root, this Divine, and Eternal Person? What Jewels are they of incomprehensible virtue; sweetness, and lustre hanging upon this Person?

See your selves O all ye Saints, even the lowest, and the least, conformed to this Image. It is the immortal Seed, and Son of God in you, it is your Jesus, the most glorious Person of God himself in this Seed in you, which is made partaker of Flesh, and Blood, which walks on Earth, and acts all the parts of the natural Life here, which passeth thorow all the Clouds, and Storms of life, which suffers, dies, and lies in the Grave. The Spoase saith of Christ, he is a bundle of Myrrh; he shall lye all night between my Breasts. Thus the Humane Nature of Christ saith to the Divine Nature. Thus the Earthly Nature saith to the Heavenly Nature, to the Divine Seed, to the Lord Jesus, to the Divine Nature in the Lord Jesus: thou art my bundle of Myrrh, thou liest all the night of this life, and death between my naked Breasts. What corruption can I see in the Grave itself? What Divine Sweetness breaths forth itself in all States? What Divine Treasures of Life, and Immortality fill, and overflow all; while we thus lye most intimately united, entirely wrapt up in each other, in the most sweet, and glorious Unity of one Divine, and Eternal Spirit, one Mystical, Divine, and Eternal Person?

2. Propos. God in his own Person, as the Divine Nature lived in our Nature here on Earth, stood at once in a twofold Principle; the one Natural, and Temporary; the other Spiritual, and Eternal.

The Lord Jesus was truly, and really a man in every point like unto us, sin only excepted, as the Scripture speaketh in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Thus he did bear in himself the Earthly, and Natural Image, he stood in an earthly, and natural Principle. He came forth from the Father into the World. So was he made a Servant, and made under the Law.

But the Lord Jesus was in Person the Eternal Son of God. In this Person alone did the Humane Nature of Christ, with its Natural Principle, and Fleshly Form in this world subsist. The second Person in the Trinity was the Glorious, and Invisible Root, which, through the Divine Nature sent forth, sustained, lived, and appeared in the spotless Flesh of the Lord Jesus. Thus the Manhood of Christ in its Earthly State stood in a natural Principle, according to its proper essence, and created Form; but in a Supernatural, and Eternal Principle according to its Personal subsistence in the Eternal Word.

How patient should we be of Life; nay with what delight, and wonder should we pass the time of our Pilgrimage hero, if with a Spiritual Eye we beheld the Lord Jesus in Flesh, and saw our life in flesh a conformity to his? What a Divine Spectacle, what a mystery of Divinity, how full of Sweetness, p. 471Beauty, and Glory doth the Life of Christ in Flesh appear, when it is rightly seen? The Natural Spirit of this world with its natural Image in its full compass stood in the midst of the Lights, Immortalities, Glories of that Divine Person which is the Brightness of Glory, the Sea of all Sweetnesses, and Loves, Eternity itself, God himself. This was the Eternal Principle, which brought it forth from itself, which bears it up in its own Bosom, which acts it, fills it, comprehends it, as itself, one Person with itself, itself Personally in a Divine, and Mysterious Figure, in the midst of all its Divine, and Substantial Glories.

3. Propos. As this Eternal Person our Jesus with his God-Head in the Humane Nature, stood in a Natural, and Temporary Principle, he stood under the Curse, receiving, and feeling all the stings, and bitterness of the Curse to the utmost extremity. The Scripture saith he was made a Curse for us. Although together with the Natural Principle, he took not the Corruption, yet he took the Curse. You that read, or hear this, prepare your selves to receive a Relation of Divine Love, which will at once break your hearts, and make them whole again: That God, who is Blessedness itself, the purest Light of Life, Joy, and Glory in Person, cloaths himself with Flesh, even with the Fleshly Spirit, and Principle, that he may make himself a Curse for your sakes, in your stead. Thus he receives immediately into his own Person, into his own Breast, and Heart, all the stings of the Curse, of Separation, of Loss, of Shame, of Pain, of Guilt, of Grief, of Horrour, Amazement, Death. All these stings he receives into himself, as they are dipt all over in the most unmixt, and fiercest Poison of the Divine Wrath. All these stings he felt at once, envenomed with Wrath in the tenderest, and most sensible manner, with the quickest, and sharpest sense. Never was, never can there be such a sting, such a sense of any sting in the Spirit of Man, or Devil, or any Creature. Do we hear all this, and that all this was from love to us, and are we not by a sympathy of love wounded with a sense of those stings, which thus stuck in our Saviours Heart? Do we not feel our hearts wounded with a sense of those Sins of ours, which fixed those stings there? But doth not this sense also fall like drops of precious Balsom upon our Hearts to heal those wounds immediately, or to turn them into Fountains of Love, and Joy, when we hear, that it was Love, and infinite Love in the Heart of God himself, which took these stings out of our low, and wretched Persons, to fix them in that most High, and Glorious Person, which is Eternal Love, and Life itself? He was made Sin for us, that is, a Sacrifice for Sin in a flame of Wrath in our stead, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him, to ascend in the Bosom of his glorified Person in a pure flame of Love, Delight, and Glory above all Heavens.

4. Propos. This our Jesus, as he at the same time with his Divine Nature in his Humanity, stood in a supernatural, and eternal Principle, he in his Humanity comprehended his Humanity itself in its natural Principle, together p. 472with the natural Principle itself, the Curse, all the stings, and bitterness of the Curse in a Light of Divine Glory, in a Life of Divine Love, as so many varieties of pure Love, Joy, and Glory with immortality. Our Jesus, at the same time in his natural Principle, and in his Flesh was encompassed with a blackness of darkness, and was filled with the bitterness of the Curse; at the same time in his supernatural Principle, the Eternal Spirit, even in the natural Principle in the Flesh, in the midst of the darknesses, & bitternesses he saw them all, he conversed with them, he tasted them, feasted upon them, enjoyed them, and himself in them, as the Light, and Sweetness of Heavenly Love, as Roses, and Lillies, the Hony, and the hony-comb in the Paradise of God, as the delicacies of Eternity, and a banquet of Wine in the Kingdom of God. For he received, he saw, he rellished them in the will of his Father, and the will of his Father in them. Thus he speaketh of them, when he cometh first into the World, I come to do thy Will, O God. All things, which he met with in the World, and in Flesh were to him the pure, and entire Will of God alone presenting itself in so many various Forms, where the Substance, and the Forms both were the same Will, like a Feast in several Dishes, where the Meat, and the Dishes too are alike delicate food. So Christ himself expressed it, John 4. It is my Meat, and Drink (a Divine Meat, and a Divine Drink) to do the Will of my Father. All the sufferings, and passions of Christ, were an active accomplishment; an active entertainment of the Will of the Father, of that Will, of that supream Will, which is the pure Fountain, Measure, Essence, perfection of all Good, Loveliness, Love, Sweetness, and Joy.

The sufferings of our Lord Jesus appeared to him in a Spiritual Light, as Heavenly Beauties cloathing his Person, making it so much the more lovely in the Eye of his Father the truest Judge of loveliness, and Beauty. My Father loves me, saith Jesus Christ, because I lay down my Life for my Sheep. How sweet, and dear a sense hath the Lord Jesus of the Curse, and of Death, when he had this sense of them, that they made him lovely to his Father, attracted his Fathers Heart to him, and made him more in love with him.

The blackest Cloud, that resteth upon Christ, discovered itself to his Spiritual Eye to be in truth a Glory surrounding him. All the griefs of his Heart appeared to be Jewels of Glory, and Immortality hanging in his Bosom. For, saith Christ, when he was now to suffer; now is the Son of Man Glorified; and again, he saith, the Father is Glorified in the Son. O! how d…fferent is the truth of things in the Spirit from the outward appearance in the Flesh? When Jesus Christ was spit upon, Scourged, Crucified, as this World gives, forms, and names of things, then in the sense, and language of Heaven of Eternity, of the Eternal, and Spiritual Principle in himself, he was glorified; all these were as so many fresh Lights of Glory, in which his Person shines forth to itself, and to the Father, in which the Fathers Person shines forth in his Person, as in a new Heaven with new, and increasi… Beauties.

p. 473O you, that are Followers of Christ, what a mystery of Spiritual Joy, and Heavenly Glory is there in the life of a Saint, if this be to be a Saint, to walk on Earth, as Christ walked, that is, in a Spiritual Principle, in the midst of the Natural Principle, and Fleshly Image of things governing, comprehending, seeing, handling, rellishing all in the Divine Light, Beauty, and Sweetness of the Eternal Spirit? When the blackest Cloud of melancholy rests upon thy Spirit, when the sharpest Sword of Grief pierceth thy Heart, retire into thy Spiritual Principle, there thou shalt be, as on Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration, where the Face of thy God shall be as a pleasant Sun of Joy, and Glory shining forth in its strength within thee, and the whole Image of things in thee, and round about thee, as a Garment of Light all weaved, and wrought with the freshest, and purest Beams of this Sun in all living, and immortal Figures of the highest Joys, and Glories.

5. Propos. The Curse with the stings, and sense of it upon the Natural, and Temporary Principle, as also the conflict between the Natural, and Temporary; the Supernatural, and Eternal Principle in the Lord Jesus thorow his whole Person, as it lived in a Humane Soul, and Body, were highest at his Death. The Lord Jesus saith, the Prince of this World cometh: This is your hour, and the power, or principality of Darkness. The Devil came now to make his two last, and most furious assaults upon the Lord Jesus in the Garden, and upon the Cross. He therefore comes with all the powers of Darkness, and Legions of Devils, with all the blackest, and most dreadful Furniture, and force of Wrath from Hell below, from Earth, and Heaven above, as the Prince of this World, and the Prince of Darkness. The Battel was so sore against the Lord Jesus, that he himself, who was the Wisdom, and Power of God was amazed. He, who was the eternal delights of his Father day by day cries out, My Soul is very sorrowful even unto Death; The word in Greek is foreign; which signifieth an excess of sorrow, and a surrounding sorrow. All things round about the Lord Jesus were hung with a blackness of Darkness, and amazing horrours, that he himself, who bears up the weight of all things, could hardly sustain the weight of his own fears, and sorrows, or sustain himself in Life under them. He falls beneath them to the ground. His whole Person is so prest, and opprest with them, that through the agony of his Spirits, the boiling blood is strained forth through all the parts of his Body. He cries to his Father thrice: Angels are sent from Heaven to strengthen him, and comfort him.

But after this, the conflict upon the Cross was yet sharper. Now the Prince of Darkness grows desperate, knowing that this is his last effort, and that now at once he fights for his Kingdom, Liberty, and Life, that his whole Kingdom of Darkness, and his Person too depend upon this one Fight. The Earth-quake, the rending of the Rocks, the total Eclipse of the Sun, and the Universal Darkness upon the face of the whole Earth were Types of what Christ the p. 474Prince of Glory, and the Devil the Prince of Darkness suffered in this last Conflict; the like to which never was before, nor shall ever be. The whole frame of things shook, and trembled under the Feet of the Lord Jesus, and round about him. The Rocks, all the supports of his Soul, all the Foundations, and Pillars of his strength, and life were rent in pieces, and dissolved. The face of the Creature, the face of Heaven, the face of his Father were all covered with a thick, a threatning, and an amazing Darkness, as in a dreadful Tempest above the course, and force of nature. The Lord of Life, in whom all things subsist, is now sinking, and ready to give up all for lost. How deeply was his Heart pierced, how cruelly wounded, how were every glympse of Light, every drop of Comfort intercepted and with-held, when he cried out; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What potent inchantment from Hell was this, what power of Darkness, what infusion of Wrath, what separation ten thousand times more bitter than Death, which so wrought, that he, who is God himself, seems divided from himself, and totally deserted by all the power, and sweet lights of the God-Head?

Thus you see in this 5th Proposition the trouble of Christ at its height: In the two following Propositions, you shall see, that notwithstanding this dreadful storm in the evening, and latest hour of his life, this beautiful Sun in his dying moment, as in the close itself of the day; casts up its cloud, comes forth Triumphantly, and no night follows.

Before we pass to the other Propositions, let us make a few short observations upon these.

1. See how dreadful, and hateful an evil Sin is by the effects of it in the Person of God himself, our Lord Jesus. Let not that be a light thing to us, which lay with so great weight upon him, neither let us be secure in our Lusts, Vanities, Covetousness, Sloath, playing with these, which were so many Serpents in the Bosom of Christ, and shot deadly stings into his Heart. Can we stand under those things, which had almost sunk the Son of God into despair, and Eternal Darkness? It is true God brings good out of the evil of Sin, order out of its disorder, and reconciles all into a beautiful Harmony of Divine Love, and Joy. But how? by how dear a price? by how precious an atonement? by how costly, how cruel, how bloody a Sacrifice? by how violent a conflict between all the powers of light, and darkness at once? by how dreadful a dissolution of the whole frame of things, with the blackest Tempest of Divine Wrath from above? by what horrours of Death in its ugliest shape, with its most venemous stings; and all this in the Person of God himself, our Jesus?

2. Be good Soldiers of the Lord Jesus. Endure hardships. Endure the fight of Sufferings. Think not strange to have the Clouds blackest, and the Storm greatest with Thunders, and Lightnings round about you in your latest hour, in old age, and death. Thus you bear the Cross of Christ. Thus p. 475you fight under the Banner of Love. A Husband in Bloods art thou to me, saith the Wife of Moses to him, concerning the Circumcision. Jesus Christ hath been a Husband in Blood to thee, O suffering Saint. Now art thou also indeed a Sister, and a Spouse to him in Blood. This Life is the Season of suffering. Christ suffered here. Can you not suffer with Christ one hour, the short Season of this fleeting Life? Think how glorious in the Eyes of all the Holy Angels, and of the Blessed Saints of Christ, and the Father you shall come into Heaven? How dear to the Bosom, and Embraces of them all, when you come most covered with Dust, and Blood, when you come immediately out of the greatest sufferings; when you come so much the lovelier, by how much the liker you are to Christ; when Christ, and the Father have been so much the more glorified in you; when they in their Glories have so much the more clearly, eminently shined forth in your Persons, and rested upon them, by how much the more extream your sufferings have been? When the Father hath thus accomplished his will in you, what a Feast of Eternal Pleasures, what a Crown of Eternal Glories will he make this will of his to you, how will he accomplish your will in himself to the utmost height of all delights, & blessedness?

3. See here a threefold comfort against sufferings, and Death.

1. He, who hath conquered them is your Captain the Lord Jesus. We read Heb. 2. That the Captain of our Salvation, being to bring many Sons to Glory, was made perfect through Sufferings. There are four things in that word Perfect. 1. There was a perfection of sufferings in all kinds, and degrees. Nothing of any evil of sufferings in the evil of it was absent, or could be added. 2. Jesus Christ perfectly endured these sufferings in the sense of them, in the continuance under them, in pressures, and oppressions by them. 3. He was a perfect Conqueror over them. 4. To be made perfect, signifieth an initiation in Sufferings, as in Sacred, and Divine Mysteries. So Christ was at once in his Sufferings the Priest, the Altar, the Fire, the Sacrifice, the Temple, the God. This Jesus, thus a perfect, and a Divine Conqueror, over all Sufferings, who holdeth all evil of Sin, and Sorrow, as Captives, in Chains of Eternal Goodness, pure Love, Light, and Joy, He leads you upon Sufferings; he goes before you into them; he turns them all into Holy, and Heavenly Mysteries of Divine Life, and Love, and makes you in the midst of them, as Priests, like Aaron in his Priestly Robes, and Ornaments, and Anointings in the Temple of the Eternal Spirit.

2. You, O Saints, have nothing to do in your greatest Sufferings, that you may be Conquerors over them, but to abide in the Lord Jesus. He himself in his dying discourses, thus comforts his Disciples in the Gospel of St. John; In the World you shall have trouble, but in me you shall have peace, be of good chear, I have overcome the World. Stand still, be stedfast, and unmoved in the Lord Jesus; so shall you never have any other sight of your Enemies, or Troubles, but such as the Children of Israel had on this side of the Red Sea, p. 476when they came forth with their Timbrels, and Dances. You shall see them drown'd in the Sea of your Saviours Blood, in a Sea of Glory in his Victory, never to appear more in any melancholy shape. When thine Enemies encompass thee on every side, like mighty Floods, with greatest force and fury, lie down upon thy glorified Saviours Bosom, as the Bed of Love, have his high praises in thy mouth, sing aloud of his Love, his Loveliness, his Victory in his Death, his Resurrection, and return in the Spirit. So shalt thou see all the powers of Darkness, Death, and Hell under thy Feet, bound in Golden Chains of Love, Immortality, and Glory.

3. Look forth now with a Spiritual Eye, and see, that Sufferings, and Death are a name only, and empty shadows without any substance. The things themselves are for ever destroyed by the Death of Christ, and buryed in his Grave, never to rise more. A good Woman, a Martyr, being reproved for going with joy to the Fire, when Christ was sad at the approach of Death, answered; My Saviour was sad, that I might be joyful. Sufferings, and Death are now to Saints, like Snakes, out of whom the Lord Jesus hath taken the Sting, that we may take them into our Bosoms, and make them our soft, and shining Play-fellows. They are become now in the Blood, and Spirit of Christ like Vipers in Wine, which have lost their Poyson, and are high Cordials; like Bees they have shot their stings into the Lord Jesus, and lost them there. They have Hony now without any sting for thee to suck forth, and feed upon.

6. Propos. This Eternal Person, our Jesus with his God-Head in his whole Humanity both Soul, and Body in the moment of Death by dying, went entirely forth from the Natural, or Temporary Principle, and so from under the Curse. I shall open this by four Scriptures.

1. Scrip. Heb. 10. 19, 20. The Lord Jesus is said to have con…erated a new, and living way for us to enter into the holiest through the Vail, that is, his Flesh, Math. 27. 50, 51. You shall see, that as Jesus Christ yielded up the Ghost, immediately the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. The Temple was a Figure of the Person of Christ, as the Vail was of this Flesh. How particularly, and emphatically is it expressed, that the Vail was rent from the top to the bottom, to its utmost extent in the Person of Christ? The Flesh was as a Vail lying upon the Divine Beauties upon the Eternal Person, and the Heavenly Image in the Soul, & Body of Christ. The Flesh of Christ was a dividing Vail, separating between the Lord Jesus, & the naked Beauties, the naked Bosom of his Father keeping his Soul, and Body, his blessed Person, and Divine Nature, as they subsisted in his Soul, and Body out of the holiest, out of the pure, and open Glories of the God-Head. As the Lord Jesus dies, in that same moment this Vail is rent from the top to the bottom, from the the highest part of his Soul, and Spirit to the lowest part, and appearance in the Body. Now the Holiest, the Heavenly Image, the pure, and naked Glories p. 477of the Eternal Person, of the God-Head were opened, and discovered thorow his whole Soul, and Body. His Soul, and Body both entered into the Holiest, into this Heavenly Image, into these pure Glories in the unity of the Eternal Spirit.

2. Scrip. John 19. 30. When the Lord Jesus was now breathing his last, he formed his last breath into these words, it is finished. As he spake those words, he bowed his Head, and gave up the Ghost. What was that, which was finished with the life of Christ? Not the work of our redemption. Many great, and principal parts of that remained still behind, the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, his Ascension, his Intercession, his return in the Spirit at the pouring forth of that his last Appearance, his Judgment, and Kingdom. What then was that which was finished with the finishing of the life of Christ? The days of his abode in the Flesh without the Vail; his Humiliation, his Sufferings, the State of Nature, the Curse, the Wrath of the Father were now finished; the Spirit, and Image of this world, the hour, and power of Darkness, the bloody Fight with the Prince of Darkness, the Prince of this World were now at an end, as the life of Christ ended.

O you, who are followers of Christ, and predestinated to be conformed to him in your Lives, and in your Deaths▪ meet Death with Joy, with the shout of those, who cry out for victory. Now is your Warfare accomplished; now is your Captivity in the Fleshly Spirit, and Image at an end. You shall dwell now no more in Meshek, at a distance from the Divine Glory, nor sojourn in the Tents of Kedar, in the Land of Darkness. The Vail of the Flesh is now rent from the top to the bottom thorow your whole Soul, and Body. In both, as you seem to fleshly senses to enter into the shade of Death, you in that moment enter into the Kingdom of Light, the Glorious Pallace of your Father, the Divine Beauties, and Joys of the Heavenly Image. You have now fought the good Fight, and finished it. Henceforth from this moment it is, that the Crown of Righteousness, the Crown of Life, and Immortality hath been laid up for you to be set upon your Heads, and worn by you, which God shall now give you from his own presence, from his own hand, in this day of Glory, which now breaketh, and riseth upon you.

3. Scrip. Colos. 2. 15. The Apostle speaking of Christ saith thus; and having spoiled Principalities, and Powers, he made a show of them openly, and triumphed over them in it, that is, his Cross, which was mentioned in the latter end of the foregoing verse.

There are three parts in this Scripture, which is a glorious description of the Victory of our Lord Jesus. 1. The Subject of his Victory. 2. The Victory itself. 3. The Seat of his Victory.

1. The Subject of Christs Victory are Principalities, and Powers. The first word foreign, signifieth Principles. The second word foreign, signifieth Dominions, Principalities, and a power of ruling. By these names the Angels p. 478are expressed, as they are the Invisible Springs, out of which all visible things continually flow; as they are the Supream Glories, Virtues, Powers, among things created, to which this present world is subjected, by which it is enlivened, enlightned, formed, acted, and ruled. Thus the Victory of Christ extendeth itself over the whole Creation, the whole frame of Nature in its Heavenly, Angelical, and unseen part; in that which is Earthly, and visible; in the Fountain-Glories, and flowing Streams; in the Princes on high, and their Principalities beneath.

2. The Victory itself is exprest in three steps. 1. The Spoil. 2. The Show. 3. The Triumph.

1. The Spoil. He spoiled Principalities, and Powers. The word signifieth to uncloath. The Lord Jesus, as a conquering Prince, uncloathed the Invisible Princes of this World of all Power, Principality, and Appearance, by which means the whole Creation, and the frame of Nature, which stood by these Powers, in these Appearances, according to their first, and natural State, were dissolved, fell into the depths of Darkness, and confusion, disappearing for ever.

2. The Show. Our Victorious Saviour brought forth all the Principles, Powers, and Appearances of Nature, into the open light of the Eternal Spirit. There he led them as Captives through the Streets of the Heavenly Jerusalem, showing them, as the subjects, and marks of his Victory to all the Innumerable, and Glorious Inhabitants of that Blessed City of the great King.

3. The Triumph. He Triumphed over them. All natural Powers, Glories, Lives, and Images lay beneath the Feet of the Lord Jesus, as his Footstool, while he sat down upon a Throne of Glory, cloathed all over with Garments of Glory, and wearing a Crown of Glory upon his Head. These are the three Parts of Christs Victory.

3. The Seat of Christs Victory was his Cross. He Triumphed on it. Hea… this all ye, that are one Seed, one Spirit with the Lord Jesus, that are made conformable to his Death in your Lives, and Deaths. Hear this; let it be written upon your Hearts in Characters of Glory with a living Beam from that bright Sun, the Face of our Lord Jesus, as he shines in the Eternal Glory of his most Blessed Victory, and Triumph. It was upon his Cross, it was upon his Cross, that the Lord Jesus spoiled, made a Show of, Triumphed over the Principalities, and Powers of this World.

Our Blessed Saviour, in dying, by dying, in that very moment, by that very act, dissolves, and defaceth at once the whole frame of Nature, and of the first Creation. He taketh away from it all Power of being, subsisting, acting, or appearing. He blotteth out every natural Image, and form of Light, or Darkness; Life or Death, Beauty, or Deformity; Shame, or Glory; Grief, or Joy for ever. You have this excellently painted out in a clear Prophesy, Psalm. 73. 20. As a Dream, when one awaketh; O Lord, when p. 479thou awakest, thou shalt despise their Image. The word Image signifieth a Shadow. The Eternal Word, the Heavenly Image, our Lord Jesus was in this Creation, as under the Vail of Darkness, and Night; as in a sleep. He bringeth forth, and beareth up all the Powers, and Forms of Nature, as a D…eam in this sleep, and as shadowy Images in this Dream. By dying he awakes out of this sleep, he sets an end to this Dream. The whole frame of Nature with all Forms, and Images of things within the vast compass of it either Visible, or Invisible, break up, fly away, and vanish, as a Dream, as the shadowy Images in a Dream, when a Man awaketh.

But neither are they quite lost. They only change their Principle, and Appearance. In the same dying moment doth the Lord Jesus, who is that Eternal, and Essential Image, in whom they all subsist, appear, and pass thorow their several changes, carry them with himself into the Divine Light, and Life of the Eternal Spirit. There are they seen again, as the Fruits of his Conquest, spoiled of all their own Life, Light, and Form, having put on a new Life, Light, and Form according to the Will of the Conqueror, to show forth his Power and Glory, to make them pleasant, and Eternal Spectacles of his Divine Triumph to all the Inhabitants of Heaven, and Eternity.

Now, before he is taken down from the Cross, even upon the Cross itself, the Lord Jesus, as he gives up his Spirit with his last breath, Triumphs in his Soul, and Body too, whose proper Seat the Cross was: In both, cloathed with Triumphal Robes of an immortal Beauty, and Blessedness, he rides forth in the Glorious Chariot of the Heavenly Image, and of the Eternal Spirit. All the Powers, and Forms of Nature, of Life, and Death, the Cross itself, and the Crucifiers, as Captive; follow his Chariot, bound in the Golden Chains of Divine Light, and Love, making up the delight, and Glory of his Triumph.

This also doth the Psalmist clearly Prophesy of, Psal. 68. 18. Thou hast ascended up on high, thou hast led Captivity Captive. The descent of our Lord Jesus was finished with his Life. He begins his ascent upon his Cross the first moment of his Death. This World, with all its Powers, and Principalities, the life of this World, the Cross itself, and Death, which had so long captivated the Lord Jesus with all the Powers, Beauties, Joys, and Glories of his Heavenly Image, binding them in Chains of Darkness within the Dungeon of this Earthly Image, whose light is darkness, are now themselves in the Person of our Lord Jesus, in his Soul, and Body, together with his Captivity itself, carryed up, as he ascends, and made Captives to that Heavenly Image, which they held Captive. Here, in this Pallace of the Spirit, and of Eternity, where Darkness itself shines, as the Light, they are seen, as the Captives of the Lord Jesus, bound in Chains of Glory, spectacles to all the Holy Angels, and Blessed Spirits, in which the Beauties of Christs Victory, and Triumph, as so many ravishing Wonders of an Incomprehensible, of a Mysterious p. 480Power, Wisdom, Love, Glory, Divinity, subduing all things entirely to themselves, eternally shine.

This honour have all the Saints in their Deaths, by the vertue of their Saviours Death, by vertue of their fellowship with him, and his fellowship with them mutually in their several Deaths, all in each Death dying together. Where now is the Melancholy of Death, and of the Grave? It is swallowed up into the Divine Pomp, and Pleasure of a most Glorious Victory, and Triumph. O Saint! What fearest thou in Death? Or thou, who fearest not to be dead why fearest thou to die? If thou rejoicest in the Glory of thy departed Soul, why mournest thou over thy Body, as left behind in a naked, and loathsome Prison? The act of dying to both is the gaining of a Glorious Victory over the Life, and Death; the Powers, and Principalities of this whole World. The passage itself out of this Life is a Glorious Triumph to thy Soul, and Body both, which, with all the Triumphal Ornaments of the Light of Life, and Immortality, ride forth in the Chariot of the Heavenly Image, and the Eternal Spirit over the Spirit, and all the forms of this Creation, which lie conquered under your Feet.

In the very moment of your dying, all the Powers, and Appearances of Nature, which rule in the Kingdoms of Sense, and Reason, are lost for ever; so that their place, where once they reigned in your Persons, knows them no more. You sit down upon the Throne of Christ, and the Father together with them. All the Births, Images, and changes of time are swallowed up into the bright, the beautiful, the most delightful depths of Eternity, the unfathomable depths of purest Light, Love, and Joy immediately; as Triumphant Conquerors, and Kings, you are encompassed with the ravishing applauses, and shouts of innumerable Angels, of Immortal, and Glorious spirits, springing up, and shining forth in all the places of this World, where its Light, or Darkness Life, or Death seemed before to stand. You see all these with a Heavenly Musick, and Songs of Triumph, setting Garlands, and Crowns of Victory on your Heads immediately, as you pass out of the Light of this Life, you see your selves received, your Souls, and your Bodies both, with the most delicious kisses into the Eternal Embraces of the Father, and of Christ, in that Unity of the Spirit, which is the unfathomable center of all Lights, Loves, and Joys, of all beautiful, and blissful Spirits created, and uncreated. All now for ever are filling full your Joys in themselves, and fulfilling their Joys in you.

4. Scrip. Heb. 2. 14. That he by dying might destroy him, who had the power of Death, that is, the Devil, and set them free, who all their life time were subject to bondage by the fear of Death. The word Power, in this place signifieth properly a Prince with a Principality, or Dominion. This whole world is the Principality of the Devil. For the Devil is called in Scripture the Prince of this world. All Flesh, every thing of Nature, and of p. 481this Creation is comprehended under that name, as it is distinguished from, and opposed to the Spirit, and the new Creation in the Spirit, the Kingdom of God in the Holy Ghost, and is the Principality of the Devil. All Darkness every shadow, every evil of Sin, or Suffering; of Corruption, and the Curse; of Shame, Deformity, Pain, Grief, and Wrath, as all these are expressed in the Scripture, and in common Language, with every other kind, or degree of Evil, by Darkness, are the Principality of the Devil. For the Devil is called the Prince of Darkness. Death is the Devils Principality, who in this Scripture is called the Power, or Prince of Death. All this then hath Jesus Christ by dying destroyed in his own Person, this World; the Principles, and Forms of Nature; the Life, and Images of Flesh; every Darkness inward, or outward, of mind, or sense; Death itself. For all these lie within the Principality of the Devil, and are his Region, his Kingdom; without the bounds of this Dominion all things are Light, Life, Love, Joy, Immortality, Spirit, and Truth.

As it is Jesus, who dies again in the Death of every Saint; as the Death of every Saint is the Death of Christ acted over again in the similitude, by the vertue of his Death: so doth every Saint, as he is one Spirit with Christ, after the like manner, by dying destroy the Principality, the Kingdom of the Devil in his Person also. For this is said to be the end of Christ in his Death, that he might free all the Saints from the fear of Death. O Believers! Let your Saviour gain his end upon you, and end of most tender Love. Be no more in bondage to the fear of Death. Let the Lord Jesus see the seed of his Death springing up in your Deaths, a Glorious, and Divine Seed of Life, and Immortality springing up in the place of Death, and swallowing it up into Victory. Lay aside now for ever those melancholy, and delusive Imaginations of Death, as a separation of those tenderest Bosom-Friends, Soul, and Body; a separation from your dearest Relations, and entertainments, the delights of your Eyes; an extinguishing of the sweet Light of Life; a dismal solitude, a perpetual Darkness; the Confinement of the Body to the nakedness, coldness, streightness, and horrour of the Grave; Dust, Stones, and Bones covering it, and ratling over it; Worms feeding upon it; the Soul naked, and alone taking its flight through a vast distance of empty air, and space to another place. These are the Forms, and Appearances of Death to the Dead only. Those, who follow Jesus Christ in that living, and shining way, in which he went thorow Death, meet with none of these appalling, and affrightful Apparitions. Let the Dead bury their Dead, saith Jesus Christ to his Disciples, but follow thou me.

Understand this, O Believers, that all Shadows, all Forms of Darkness, and of Death are from below, Earthly, Sensual, Devilish, from the Earth, from the Natural Soul, and from the Devil, as St. James speaks. All this Image, and sense of things is that Kingdom of the Devil, which together with the p. 482King himself, which the Lord Jesus by dying, in himself, in thee, hath everlastingly destroyed in his own Person, in his own Death, and in thine by the vertue of his own. As an Inchantment, so is this whole Frame, and Form of things dissolved, so doth it vanish at the going forth of thy last breath. If thou seek now for the region of Shadows, and the Land of Darkness thou findest it no more for ever, as he that would seek for the Night, the Nightly Shades, and Forms of things when the Sun is once risen. Let thy Soul, and Body both then rejoice together, and rest in this assurance, that in their departure out of this Life, in the passage of Death they shall meet with nothing of loss, nothing uncouth, nothing unpleasant, nothing of Darkness, of Division, of Death, of the Devil; but the most beautiful, and blessed Face, the most dear, and delightful Embraces of the Lord Jesus, as a Glorious Lover, as a Heavenly Bridegroom immediately presenting himself, immediately receiving them. In the same moment do all things here disappear, and all things appear again, as they are reconciled into a most ravishing Harmony of Divine Beauty, and Love: As they are gathered up into their Head, into their first Glory, their Eternal Unity in the Glorified Person of Christ.

7. Propos. This same Jesus in his whole Person, with his whole Soul, and Body, in the moment of Death, by dying went forth entirely into the simplicity, and singleness of his Supernatural, and Eternal Principle, and so into a State of pure Eternity, unmixt Joy, and Glory.

I shall endeavour to explain, and confirm this Proposition by the fuller opening of a Scripture, which I have often touched.

Psalm. 16. 9, 10. 11. Thus we read: Therefore my heart is glad, my Glory rejoiceth, my Flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of Life; in thy presence is the fulness of Joy, at thy Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore. This is a Prophesy of Christ in his Death. David, as a Prophet, speaketh concerning Christ, and in the Person of Christ. So St. Peter interpreteth, and applieth this Scripture. Acts 2. 25.

This then is the Triumph of Christ in Death, over Death, which Triumph consisteth of four Parts. 1. The Subject. 2. The Triumph. 3. The Ground. 4. The manner of the Triumph.

1. The Subject of Christs Triumph. This is threefold. 1. The Soul. 2. The Glory. 3. The Flesh of the Lord Jesus.

1. The Soul. This seemeth to be that unseen, and principal part of the Natural Man, which in our common language is opposed to the Body, as the Visible and inferiour part.

2. The Glory hath a twofold acception. Davids Harp, and his Tongue, were his Glory upon two accounts; both, as he was a sweet Singer, a most skilful Musitian; and also as he was the sweet Singer of Israel, as his Harp, and Tongue recorded the Praises of God, and made all things p. 483round about him to resound the perfections and loves of the Lord Jesus. Thus the Tongue of Christ was his Glory, as he is the sweet Preacher in Jerusasalem, the Heavenly Interpreter, one of a thousand, who sheweth to Man his Righteousness, and his rest. But again this Glory in David was the Spiritual Man, the birth of the Spirit, the Seed of God, the Life of Christ, Christ in David. This Glory in Christ was the Spiritual Man, the Heavenly Image, the Divine Nature, the God-Head. For so Heb. 1. 1. Jesus Christ is said to be the brightness of the Glory of God, as he is the express Image of his Person, and Substance.

3. The Flesh of Christ is his Body, as it is distinguished from the Soul, and is covered with a Vail of Flesh, under which Vail it contains within itself those other two, the Soul, and the Glory. This is the threefold Subject of the Triumph; the Natural Body, the Natural Soul, the Eternal Spirit, as it inhabiteth in these.

2. The Triumph itself is exprest in those four words; Gladness, Joy, Rest, and Hope. Gladness is the same with Joy. The State of Blessedness in Heaven, and Eternity is expressed by Joy. The Lord Jesus saith to the Good, and Faithful Servant; Enter thou into thy Masters Joy. St. Peter calls the Blessedness which we have here in believing, and loving the Lord Jesus, which is Heaven upon Earth; a Joy Glorious, and unspeakable. As our Lord Jesus dyed, the Humane Soul of Christ before imprisoned in a Fleshly Body, went forth to be comprehended, and swallowed up in that Joy, which it could not take in, nor comprehend, because it was boundless, and infinite. His Divine Nature, which in this Humane Soul, together with it, had been vailed by an Earthly Body now breaks forth and shines out into the freedom, and full liberty of its own unconfined delights, and unvailed Glories. My Soul, saith Christ, is glad, and my Glory rejoiceth.

The Triumph of Christ in his Body, and his Flesh is set forth by Rest, and Hope. which two words import Life, Sense, a Sweetness, and fulness of Life, and Sense with Immortality.

The Sabbath in the beginning of the Creation, as it figureth the perfection of a Sanctified, and blessed State in Christ, and in Heaven, is expressed by Rest, the name Sabbath signifieth Rest.

The Land of Canaan, as it was a Land of Rivers, and Springs, and floods of Water; as it was a Land flowing with Milk, and Hony, and so a Type of that good Land, that flourishing Land of the Spirit, and of Eternity, where the Fountains, and full floods are of all Divine Goodness, and Truth, is expressed by Rest. Joshua, who gave the Land of Canaan to the Jews, is said to give them Rest.

That perfect Cessation from all trouble, that perfect Consummation of our Happiness in the quieting of all our desires by the full accomplishment of them, that terminating of all our motions to good in their most wished for p. 484end, the chief good, which the Lord Jesus, which the Gospel, which Faith bringeth us to in an immediate, entire, eternal Union with God; all this the Holy Ghost expresseth by Rest. Come to me, and I will give you Rest, saith the Lord Jesus. He that believeth, entereth into Rest, saith the Epistle to the Hebrews. Thus the Body, and Flesh of Christ rest in Death. These are the words, as he dies, in his Song of Death: My Flesh also doth rest in hope.

The Hebrew word for Hope, signifieth two things, Confidence, and Hope.

Confidence implies a double certainty. 1. A certainty in the object, which is the good in prospect, or in possession; hoped for, or already enjoyed. 2. The certainty of the Subject, which is a sweet, a deep, a clear Sense, and Seal upon the Soul of the certainty of the object, of the certainty of that Good, which it hath in fruition, or expectation. This twofold Certainty maketh that confidence, or assurance which compleateth, or crowneth the Souls Rest.

In this confidence doth the Flesh of the Lord Jesus rest in Death. It hath no more for ever any Conflicts, or Allarms. It is overspread with a sweet, and clear Heaven. It breaths in a gentle, and delicious air, where there is no storm, no rain, nor cloud. It is in a State of immutable joys, where there is no Death, no Shadow of Death, no trouble, no fear, no shadow of fear, or any such thing. All things sing an eternal requiem, and rest to it.

As the Flesh of the Lord Jesus resteth in Confidence; so it resteth also in Hope. Hope is good in prospect, or in progress, At our first conversion the Eternal day breaketh upon us. While we live on Earth in a State of Grace we have sweet, and clear streaks of the Light of Life appearing thorow our Spirits, which still grow clearer, and brighter unto a perfect day. But all this while there are dark, and black shades of the Night, Sins, and Sufferings every where mingled with the pure Light of this blessed Day. At Death it is perfect Day. The shadows of the Night are perfectly drunk up into the rising Light, that now they appear no more in dark Forms, but are seen only, as by a lovely temperature with the Light, they make beautiful, and pleasant colours of Saffron, and of Roses. In the Resurrection the body of the Sun, the Eternal Sun, the Lord Jesus, in the Glory of his God-Head ariseth upon Soul, and Body both, and is nakedly seen, nakedly enjoyed, without the Vail of any dark, and nightly shade, or any Floury, Spicy, or morning shade. From the Resurrection to the utmost point of the ascention, this Divine Sun is rising higher, and higher in Glory upon us, till he comes to that Noon-sted of Eternity, and of the God-Head, where there is no more any ascent, or descent, where the Unity is entire, where god is one, and that one God is all in all. In the Confidence, and full assurance of this Hope doth the Flesh of our dying Saviour, and of every dying Saint rest.

Object. But you may say, we have formerly seemed to affirm according to the Language of the Scripture, that the days of Christ on Earth before his Death, were alone the days of his Flesh; that the Flesh of Christ was a Vail p. 485upon his Body, which was rent in Death; that it was not the substance of his Body, nor its true, proper, and natural Form; but a darkning, and dividing Form, in which the Body of Christ appeared, and with which it was cloathed in the State of fallen Nature, in the State of his Humiliation, in his Earthly State. This State ended, this Form was put off in Death. How then had the Flesh of Christ a part in his Triumph? How did the Flesh of Christ rest in Hope?

Ans. In a Garden of Flowers by night, the Flowers are seen in dusky, and dark Forms, while the shades of the night lie upon them, as Vails upon their Beauties. When the bright day riseth upon this Garden, the Flowers appear in their naked, and shining Beauties, in their proper and lovely Figures; their dark appearances, together with their darkning vails the shades of the night, are drunk up, and transformed into the brightness of the Rosy morning. The Body of the Lord Jesus, and of all his holy Ones, are the immortal Flowers, Flowers of the Heavenly Paradise. Their Fleshly Form is the shadow of the night upon them, their dim, and dusky appearance thorow this Shadow. Death is the lovely, and rosy Morning of the Eternal Day rising upon them. The Spirit of Glory, and of God is the brightness of this Day. The Flesh is now changed into Spirit, the dusky appearance thorow the Vail of Flesh into a Spiritual, and Heavenly brightness. In this brightness these bodies, of which we spake, shine forth in their naked, native shapes, and Beauties, from all parts they shed a Divine Lustre, they breath a pure sweetness of Divine Joys, like the Flowers of the Spring in a fair morning. Thus the Flesh of Christ resteth in Death.

3. The ground of this Triumph is the inseparable union between the God-Head, and the whole Humanity of Christ living, or dying, These are the words of the Lord Jesus by his Spirit in the mouth of David: Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell. Expositors agree, that the word Hell signifieth not a place of torments according to the common acception, but the State of Soul, and Body in Death. The Greek word, by which it is rendered in the New Testament is foreign, which by its notation signifieth the State of things Invisible, or the Invisible State of things.

It is also well known that the Soul in the language of the Old Testament is not used to express only one part of a Man, but the whole Person.

It is a Maxim in Divinity laid down by all learned, and holy Men, that when the Natural Union between the Soul, and Body of our Lord Jesus ceased in Death, the Supernatural, and Hypostatical, or Personal Union between the Divine, or Humane Nature in both parts of it remained inviolable, and entire. Thus it is frequently said, that although the Soul of Christ was separated from his Body in the Grave, yet the God-Head was never separated from either. O sweet and sure truth! A Spring of Holy, Heavenly, and Immortal Joys in Life, and in Death. This Truth rightly understood is a blessed p. 486Light, which discovereth to us a Divinity in our Life here, Immortality in Death, and Heaven in the Grave. This Divine Truth is the rich ground of our dear Saviours Glorious Triumph over Death in Death.

There was a twofold band of Union between the Soul, and Body of Christ while he lived in Flesh, one Natural, the other Supernatural.

1. The Natural Union was that composition of soul, and Body, by which he became a Natural Man, and had the true Forms, Substance, and Essence of a Man, sprung from the first Adam. This band of union was broken in Death, by which means the Natural Man now was no more for ever according to its Natural State, and Principle, but vanished like a shadow, breaking up into the Light of a Spiritual Glory.

2. The Supernatural Union is that of the second Person in the Trinity, which is the Eternal God; who at the Incarnation of Christ made himself Flesh, that is, a compleat Man, himself subsisting, as the single, and undivided Person in this Man, in both parts of this Man, in Soul, and in Body, giving in like manner a personal subsistence to them in himself, that the Divinity, and the Humanity in its Soul, and in its Body both were all one simple individual, indivisible Person. This is that, which Divines call the Hypostatical, or Personal Union in Christ, which remained firm, and altogether unimpaired in Death itself.

See now the beautiful, and delightful consequences of this Union. The Soul, and Body of Christ continued immediately, intimately sweetly, triumphantly united upon the Cross, in the Grave, were both one Immortal, Glorious Person, by the Heavenly, and Personal Union in, and with the Eternal Word. Soul, and Body were separated in respect to their Natural Union, and Composition. All the Relations, and Delights of both; all the precious Treasures, all the clear Images, and Lights of Life with the sweet life itself vanished, and fled away, so far as they were founded upon the Natural Union, the band being broken, which tyed them all together in one, at the dissolution of this Union. But all these still dwelt together undivided, still possessed, and enjoyed one another after the most intimate manner without allay, or interruption in the Unexpressible, and Glorious Unity of the Eternal Word the Second Person in the Trinity. This Unity was a Divine Band, an undivided Center, a living Spring, an unfathomable depth of Loves, and Glories, where they lay perpetually enfolded in the warm embraces each of other, covered with all the sweetest Lights, and Beauties even upon the bitter Cross, and in the cold Grave never to be divorced from each other. Separation itself was here only a various, and delightful form of embracing in the Unity of this Eternal Person.

4. In the fourth, and last place follows the manner of the Triumph This hath three parts.

1. The Triumph over Corruption, exprest in these words; Thou shalt not suffer thy holy One to see Corruption.

p. 4872. The Triumph of Life, Thou wilt shew me the path of Life.

3. A Triumph in the Pleasures of Life, In thy Presence is fulness of Joy, at thy Right Hand Pleasures for evermore.

1. The first part in the manner of the Triumph is the Triumph over Corruption. Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption. The Triumphant Person here is the holy one of God, the holy Son of God, the pure Seed, Birth, and Image of God, Jesus Christ in his Divine, and Humane Nature, as he is in both the Holy One of God, the Holy Birth, and Son of God, Jesus Christ in himself; Jesus Christ in David, David in Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ in the Holy Soul, and Holy Body of every Member of Christ, as they are the Spiritual Births, and Spiritual Temples of the Holy Spirit. This is the Person, which Triumphs in Death.

That which he Triumphs over is Corruption. There is a complication of four Evils in Corruption. 1. Division, or Dissolution, which is the chief, and the Root of the other Evils. 2. Darkness increasing. 3. Deformity overspreading. 4. Decay, which is a tendency to a destruction of Being, or to a contrariety in Being, to all the good of Being. Over all these Evils of Corruption Jesus Christ Triumpheth, as he dyeth.

1. Jesus Christ Triumpheth over Division, or Dissolution in Death. The Eternal Unity of his Divine Person was at once, as a Root, and a Band to both his Natures, to both parts of his Humane, Nature, to all the Powers, and parts of his Soul, and Body, to the several Elements in his Body, to all Perfections of Glory, Grace, and Nature in all Powers, and Parts of the Humane Soul, and Body. All were, as an Immortal Nosegay, or a Mysterious Knot of Divine Flowers ever inseparably united in this Band, ever unfadingly flourishing in this Root of the Hypostatical Union, or the Divine Unity of the Eternal Person, which was indissoluble in Death itself. Yea those Separations, which are Natural, and necessary in Death, were themselves Flowers of the Heavenly, and Earthly Paradise bound up with this Heavenly Band in this ever-fair, ever-fragrant Nosegay.

2. Jesus Christ dying, Triumpheth over the gloomy horrours of the increasing darkness, which ariseth from the hateful Womb of Darkness in the dreaded vaults of Death. The Divine Nature, which is inseparable from the Humane Nature, the Personal Unity, which is really, and substantially one with the Divine Nature, which gives a subsistence in itself to the Humane Nature, and makes it in its Personal subsistence one with the Divine; this is a brightness of Glory shining in the Grave, this is a Golden Candlestick, in which all the seven Lamps of God burn continually by day, and by night before the Throne of God, and make the vaults of Death themselves a Temple of Gold, and Christal filled with the sweet Beams of the Heavenly, Eternal Sun. All things, even Death, and the darkness of Death are as precious Stones set together in the rich Jewel of this Person, or Hypostatical Union, p. 488where no one Stone contracts the least degree of dimness, but all in the midnight of Death itself ever sparkle with the sweetest, and clearest water of Eternal Life.

3. The deformity of Death, as it springs up out of the Corruption in Death, is the subject of our dying, and dead Saviours Triumph. The Heavenly Image of the God-Head, which is the supream Beauty the Arche-type, and first Pattern of all Beauties upon the Mount of Eternity, is the Person of Christ, in which the Divine, and Humane Nature with all its changes of Life, and Death stand, and subsist together. Can any thing be deformed in Beauty itself? Can any thing be Unlovely, where the highest, and purest Loveliness shines thorow all, and over all? What must the Harmony, what must the amiableness, and agreeableness be; how exact, and ravishing, as in Heaven itself there, where the Supream Unity, the most Sacred Unity of one of the most blessed Persons in the All-glorious Trinity, diffuseth itself thorow all the variety of things, Divine, and Humane, of Soul, and of Body, binding up all by itself immediately into the most perfect, and Divine Order, and gathering up all into one most perfect, and Divine Person in itself? How High, and Glorious is the Triumph of Divine Beauty over the deformity of Death, when thus the Eternal Beauty itself dies, dressing itself up in the Forms of Death, and giving to Death its own most lovely Face, which enflames the highest Angels, and God himself with Eternal, and Infinite Loves? In the place of Deformity, what potent, what attractive charms of Loveliness hath this Death to ravish Souls into the bosom of it, which are thus to die by a Fellowship with the Lord Jesus, as he dies?