LIGHT OR DARKNESSE, Displaying or Hiding it self, as it pleaseth, and from or to whom it pleaseth: Arraigning, Judging, Condemning, both the Shame and Glory of the Creature, in all its severall breakings forth from, and appearances in, the Creature. Held forth to publike view in a SERMON, a LETTER, and severall other Inward openings.
Through ISAAC PENINGTON, ( junior) Esq
I beheld the Earth, and lo, it was without form and voyd: and the Heavens, and they had no light.
I beheld the Mountains, and lo, they trembled; and all the hills moved lightly.
I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the Heavens were fled.
I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the Cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.
LONDON, Printed by John Macock. M. DC. L.
TO THE READER.
BEhold, (if thou hast an eye to pierce into the inward state of things,) look stedfastly, and thou shalt see a strange sight: One who hath been deeply affected with Wisdom, true Wisdom, heavenly Wisdom, spiritual Wisdom, inward Wisdom, and vehemently pursuing it from the womb; being still encouraged by some tastes of it, and certain lively hopes of further attaining and enjoying its sweetness; at length wholly stripped of all his riches in this kinde, and his desire after it again (though it remained strong a a good while after the loss) quite taken from him also.
Never was I perfectly at enmity with any thing but folly. It was not simply sin that I was at variance with, but the foolishness of sin. I knew well enough that God and the Creature had an hand in the same act, even in every act of sin: I could bear with it in God, because He knew how to do it wisely; but I could not bear with it in the Creature, because it did it so foolishly. That which made God so lovely in my eye, was chiefly His [Page] Wisdom, which to me was the Crown of His Love, Power, Goodness, and all his other excellencies, which, unless possessed by Wisdom, and managed by Wisdom, would, to my eye, have had no lustre in them, but deformity. That which made the Creature so unlovely still to me, as it hath always been, was its folly, which hath made all the excellencies of the Creature (wherewith it hath at any time been clothed, and whereby it shined in the eyes of others) so fulsom to me, that my spirit hath stil turned as much from them, and from it in them, as from its greatest pollutions.
But now, I have been so toss'd and tumbled, melted and new▪ molded, that I am changed into that which I thought it utterly impossible for me ever to be. I am grown at peace, if not in love, with folly. I begin to prefer Folly at my very Heart above Wisdom. I am half perswaded, that there is a more sweet, quiet, and full enjoyment of ones self in a state of Folly, then in a state of Wisdom; besides its being a neerer, readier, and easier passage to somewhat else. I confess, I am not yet so far subdued and changed, as to be content to take up a state of Folly to perpetuity, but onely for a season to lie down in it, to obtain a little ease and respite, and to have the visage and remembrance of that Wisdom perfectly blotted out, which did formerly so ravish and enchant me.
In this state of Folly I finde a new state of things springing up in me, and representing themselves to my view; which I entertain like a Fool, not wisely enquireing what bottom they have, or how they will endure the tryal of the fire, but letting them in or out very carelesly, not regarding either what they are, whence they [Page] come, or whither they go. I see, I feel, I am a Fool, I know not (nor can know in the state wherein I am) to whom they belong, I know not how I come by them at any time; They are strangely formed in me: Let them look to themselves if they are afraid of injury, either from me, or from any else because of me; Let him look to them to whom they belong, if he set any value upon them, or have any esteem of them. As for me, I have nothing to do with them, but to let them have their course in me, and through me, which I am now at length become very free unto; nay, indeed in the present state wherein I am, I am altogether unable to stop them in it. I finde my self powerfully forming into somewhat, which, what ere it be, it will be no thank to me, for I did not like it, nay, resisted as long as I could; but now I am vanquished, and so broken all in peeces, that there is no more strength or wisdom left in me; I begin to yeeld up my self somewhat freely into the Hands of this unknown Potter, to mold me into what he himself has a minde. I am weary of, and much weaned from, my own will and desires, even those which were most pure, most spiritual, and now I begin to lisp to this hidden Power which I know not, yet feel working in me. Thy Will, Thy unknown Will, thy undesired Will (by any but thy self) be done. What ever thy Will be concerning any, let it take place in them, and upon them, to the utmost. Bend thy felf no longer to please the desire of the Creature in any thing, but henceforth apply thy self to please thy self in every thing. Let not me nor any else be what we would; [Page] but what thy Will pleaseth to have us; and fulfil thy whole Will and Counsel upon us, without giving us the least account of it, until thou pleasest. If thou wilt lead us into Folly, Sin, Death, Hell, any thing, every thing, do what thou wilt, carry us whither thou wilt. Let our Will wholly dye in us, that it may never avoyd any thing more, nor chuse any thing more in any kinde, but as thy Will chuseth for us.
Ye cannot but be offended at this kinde of voyce O ye wise men, who know groundedly, and from Principles of Light and Wisdom, how to frame your desires and requests; yet, if ye be able, give liberty to him (who is made a Fool by the forcible breaking of all these Principles in him) to speak according to what he hath (though very unwillingly) been made.
I have nothing to say to perswade or invite thee to cast thine eye, bestow any pains on, or give any regard to that which follows▪ What thou mayst finde here, I hold out but as the words of a Fool, yet I will not give thee leave to judg them so: For as I my self (feeling my self to be a Fool) do not, so I know thou canst not judg them. This is a kinde of Scripture which thou art not acquainted with, and though thou wouldst fain be approving or condemning, yet thou canst not, until thou comest to know and understand it. This Light, This Darkness (be it what it will) is of a deeper kinde then thine is, (thine must be blotted out before this can be written) and thine eye cannot discern it. This is of a new stamp, of a new nature, of a new edition, and lies open onely to the judgment of the new eye, which [Page] alone can discover what it is in its kinde, whether true or false, unfeigned or countefeit. The lowest in this Region can see into the highest in thine: But the clearest eye of the highest in thy Region, cannot discern the lowest here.
Therefore look to thy self; Take heed what thou thinkest, or sayst, lest thy Wisdom (which is now exalted, and can distinguish and judg things, to the satisfaction of it self and others) whereby thou scornest Folly and the Fool, come under the just sentence and condemnation of the Fool. He who made all things, and hath often prepared Folly to bring Wisdom down, may be about the same work again in a way as uncouth, strange, unexpected, yea, impossible to the present wise man, as those ways he formerly picked out still were to the wisest in those Generations.
This is an angry Age, and men can hardly bear any thing, though they are throughly crossed in it, for the less they can bear, the more is layd upon them: yet methinks the wise man should be able to bear. He can gladly suffer a fool, who knows himself to be wise. And yet who is more offended then the wise man? None is less careful of offending then the fool, and None more capable of offence then the wise man. So far as I have any tincture of what I formerly was, left upon me, I am very loth to offend: But as I am a Fool, I am no whit shy of it, but can delight to lay snares and stumbling blocks, and to see Wisdom entangled in them, and breaking its shins upon them. Therefore have no regard to me, but use thine own freedom in thinking, speaking, judging: It is onely in regard to thy self that I [Page] should advise thee to be sober and silent concerning that which thou canst not yet reach; which counsel, if thou canst receive, it may be for thine ease and advantage, which, when thou comest to feel what belongs to true torment and loss, thou wilt then know how to prize. And when thou findest what changes they will make in thee, which all the strength of thy Reason and Religion shall not be able to withstand, (nay, they will break both Reason and Religion at their pleasure; and the more they oppose them, the faster wil they break them;) I say, when thou findest this by evident sense and experience past all denial or gainsaying, that enmity, rage, or zeal, which is now in thee so hot against others, will quickly abate; and thou wilt grow silent concerning them, if not friends with them.
A SERMON TO All Sorts of People: Tending towards the Allaying that Bitterness & Enmity of Spirit, which abounds every where, among all Sorts, towards such as differ in any eminent degree from themselves.
The Preface.
O How thick hath Misery enwrapped it self about the bulk of this Creation! Where is that eye that can see through it into Happiness? That Happiness which most have dreamed of, is already to many swallowed up in Misery: But where is that Happiness, which can swallow up this unexpected inundation of Misery, which drowns [Page 2] both Heaven and Earth? There are waters above, as well as beneath, (though it is hard to conceive so) and when both meet, they make a dreadful deluge. O how is Truth drowned, Light drowned, Life drowned, Purity drowned, in the great Abyss of Confusion! Where is that that remains certain, after this sharp vehement shaking? They perhaps may boast, who have not yet felt the violence of the wind; But it would somewhat interrupt their exultation, if they could but consider, that their Day is also coming; yea, it might wholly quash it, if they knew how near it were upon them.
O what a brutish thing is man, that can never beleeve or be made sensible of any thing, until he come to feel it! Though houses round about him be on fire, and he have that within which kindles the flame, yet he makes no question but he shall live secure. From the day that Man has been upon the face of the Earth, still has he been blessing himself, and pleasing himself with his own condition, magnifying it beyond others (whom he is very wise in accusing and condemning,) in the mean while not truly knowing, either whence he came, what he is, or whither he goes. O foolish justifier of thy self, O foolish condemner of others, being ignorant both of thy self, and others! Thine eye is dark. The light whereby thou seest is darkness; What meanest thou to be so forward & confident in judging either thy self or others? O God, put out this eye of Man, put out this light of Man, cover it with an Eternal Night. Bring forth a true, a substantial state of things, with an Eye that may behold it, an Heart that may comprehend it, a Life that may quicken and live in it.
Awake, awake O Sons of men, How long will ye love vanity? How long will ye seek after lyes? How long will ye love shadows, and please your selves with them, as if they were the Substance? Your condemnation is written on your foreheads, and in the palms of your hands: Ye accuse, condemn, prosecute, for calling Darkness Light, Error Truth; and yet which of you doth otherwise? Come forth O God, and triumph in the condemnation of all: Throw down the Great Justifier, and lay him flat with the lowest that he has condemned. O that my spirit might be once satisfied, in beholding that thrown down which it abhors, and that exalted which it loves. And this is that which my Soul in its inmost part desireth, [Page 3] That the Tincture both of good and evil, in all its varieties and expatiations, might be blotted out; and things reduced into, and produced in their Originality, which comprehends both good and evil in an absolute perfection. And then we shall see all things, no more with one kinde of eye appearing to be evil, nor with another kinde of eye appearing to be good, but as they are indeed in their inmost bottom, where alone is true Knowledg, Peace, Rest, and Content, eternally to be found and possessed.
Perhaps, Reader, Thou mayst expect an account of this ensuing Discourse, which I must profess to thee I am driven to by a kinde of inward impulsion, which I know not of what Nature it is: And I am made so weak by continual different exercises upon my spirit (which I finde powerfully destroying and blotting out in me, what ever I have been, or have desired to be, and molding and forming me to somewhat else, which I neither expected, nor desired; hereby I say I am brought to so much weakness) that I am become altogether unable to resist it, otherwise it is likely at this time I should not have troubled thee.
One word more. There was a Passage in that Book last set forth, which I hear hath administred offence to divers. The Passage was about Pure Sporting with Sin, which they think cannot be. I will not say that I spake that upon a deeper ground then Man usually speaks upon; yet this I cannot but say, It is my interest, and I must stickle for it, though not with men, yet in mine own spirit. Some questioned with me, whether I meant the act of Sin? I confess my eye, or thoughts, was little upon the act, but upon the inward Nature of it, which must not remain in perpetual enmity, but at last be owned as an excellent Servant to him, by whom and for whom all things were made, out of whom they came, and into whom they return, according to his own Will and Guidance. And Sin could never have done him that service that it has, if it had not had that Nature that it has. And Sin must have its due from the Righteous Judg, who will as well be glorified in being just unto Sin, as in shewing his Wisdom and Power in conquering of it.
In a word; To the Creature, in the present state of the Creature, under the present Law of the Creature, according to the [Page 4] Judgment of the eye of the Creature, every thing is unlovely; and he that sees them not to be so, falls short of the perfection of the creaturely eye. But come deeper, beyond this state, beneath this Law; Look with a true eye, and there you shall finde all this unloveliness pass away, and an excellency appear, that the Creature could never so much as imagine or dream of. And now come back with this eye into the present state of all things, and behold them through the true glass, and you shall see them all new here also, and very far differing from what you did or could take them to be in your creaturely apprehension.
If this may tend to afford satisfaction to any concerning the further discovery of my minde in this respect, it will be pleasing to me, who delight not to have it hid, but would fain have it opened and presented to the view of all, not as desiring either their approbation or condemnation, but to satisfie the desire it self. This is all I have to express by way of Preface.
A SERMON TO All Sorts of People, FROM JOB 9. 22. This is uniform, thereupon I speak: He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
JOb was a very excellent spirited man, and very exact in his practice; so exact under that present Administration wherein he was set, that his life, temper and motions were exceeding pleasing to him, who had so formed and acted him; in so much as he was not ashamed to boast of him, even to the face of the great Opposer, Disturber, and Destroyer of such kinde of buildings.
This Job as he was perfect under that Administration, so he was in a proportionable manner blessed with Children, Sheep, Camels, Oxen, Asses, and a very great Family.
In a moment all these blessings are snatched away, rich Job made poor, by being stripped of all; which he takes very patiently, retaining [Page 6] as sweet a temper of spirit under his affliction and misery, as had attended him in the time of his prosperity.
After this, (as if there had been a design to wear him out) his whole body is smitten with disease and pain, and his mind wounded to purpose too: and yet at first he takes this kindly also, his spirit not at all deviating out of that path of perfection, wherein hitherto he had walked.
But at length, anguish overcoming him, it opens the very depths, and causes that to come forth which had long layn hid in him, if not also from him.
Certain friends of his (in this state of his) come to visit him, sit silent by him as astonished at him, not knowing what to think of him, nor what to say to him: But at length foolishly and weakly take occasion, from some distemper in his words, to nourish in themselves groundless jealousies concerning him, and with all the strength of arguments they can lay hold on, to impose them upon his belief.
Jobs state they know not, neither in the nature of things, nor in their own experience; yet a great mind they have to say somewhat to him, with an intent to help and relieve him; but for want of a true bottom of light, they fall to imagining and ghessing, and feeding these their imaginations with reasonings that flow in upon them, and take it very ill, that these dark conceptions of theirs cannot overbear that more illuminated principle that was in Job.
They take it for granted, That sin must be the cause, or God would never have dealt so with Job.
They urge this from the Justice of God, from the experience of all ages: and therefore wish Job to look to himself, to acknowledg his sin, and humble himself before God, and not to fly out into such extravagant self-justifications or accusations of God, as his present distemper might dispose him to.
Job here endeavors to take them off from these excursions, and draws the point between him and them to an head. He denies the bottom whereupon they go, and lays down his own bottom. This is uniform, This is every way true. That which ye speak is true; It is true, That Sinners are met with, Oppressors must have a time to be themselves oppressed, Hypocrites shall not always flourish, [Page 7] The Righteous shall be blessed, &c. But this will not hold so far as ye extend it, that every one that is thus dealt with must needs be such an one. But that which I lay down is uniform, has no such exception, is a deeper, a fuller Truth, Perfect and wicked he destroyeth. How exact soever a man be under his administration, yet it is in the power of him, who made him and formed him into what he is in that administration, to bring him to destruction in it at his pleasure. He that bringeth both the perfect and the wicked upon the stage, may turn either of them off from the stage, when he will. There is no more to hinder him from destroying the perfect, then there is to hinder him from destroying the wicked. They are both equally his, They are both at his dispose, They are one and the same under several Representations, and he has appointed them both to one and the same end, which is destruction. This is it I will stand to, overthrow it if ye can, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
Perfect and wicked. Perfect are such as are upright under that administration under which they are set, who in their state and motions suit with the Law of it. God has a Law for every thing he brings forth in this state of weakness: He that suits with the Law of his administration (that administration which he is set under) is perfect; He who deviates wholy from it, is wicked. Adam had his Law of forbearing the forbidden fruit, The Jews theirs of Circumcision, keeping the Passover, &c. Christians theirs likewise, of Faith, Love, Spiritual Obedience, Spiritual Worship, a sweet, meek, humble, heavenly Conversation, &c. Now so far as each of these did answer their peculiar Law, they came towards that perfection, towards that righteousness, which they were appointed to, and which was to be measured thereby: So far as they deviated, they came towards and into a state of sin and wickedness; both which are not absolute, but only under and by the force of the Law of the present administration.
He destroyeth. Destruction is putting an end to the state. When the life and being of a person is put out, he is destroyed. When the plagues of God light on his outward man unto the death of the body, his body is destroyed: When the plagues of God light on his inner man, and put out the life of his Spirit, his inner man is destroyed. We think, in every dispensation, 'tis only the weak, the imperfect, the wicked, that wrath must light upon, but the righteous, [Page 8] the perfect, they shall escape, they shall meet with blessedness: But Job tells you, that they must be consumed too.
Doct. God hath stored up destruction both for the perfect and the wicked, and they shall both be sure to meet with it. God when he pleaseth falls either upon the wicked or the perfect even to destruction.
This is uniform (saith Job.) What ground soever ye speak on, I am certain of this. I dare lay this as a bottom to build upon, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
Our God is a consuming fire, (saith the Apostle.) It may be used as an Argument to draw men on to heighten holiness in their dispensation: and yet after it is heightened, the same Spirit may speak to them in the very same dialect, and tell them yet further, that they must be consumed by this fire for all that.
Reas. 1. from Gods Soveraignty. He is Lord of all, He has the dispose of all, and his Soveraignty delights to shew it self. All the Excellencies of God have their seasons of putting themselves forth to the utmost, His Wisdom, Mercy, Power, Love, &c. So has his Soveraignty. Now nothing doth so much discover his Soveraignty, as his falling upon the righteous, upon the perfect. Ye think to secure your selves by his Faithfulness, his Word, his Promises, to which he must be faithful: and will ye not have him faithful to his Soveraignty? He is Lord of all, and has the dispose of all, and let him make never so many deeds of gift, he cannot give away any thing from himself; but still he has the Power of Life and Death in his own hands, and may let it out as he pleaseth. And this doth wonderfully set forth his Soveraignty, his exercising it upon the perfect, that when he has tied it up, as fast as may be, by never so many Promises, yet it should still have its scope, and be able to deal with whom it will, as it will. By this means he that is Lord indeed, truly Lord, originally Lord, vindicates and manifests his Lordship, when he can subject that unto his Will which seems most exempted from it, as well as that which lies most open to him in the way of clearest and most acknowledged Justice.
Reas. 2. Because all Dispensations are but for a season, They are not everlasting; Therefore Eternity delights to swallow them up▪ Perfect and wicked are both of the same lump, only differently clothed to act their several parts, which when they have done, their [Page 9] cloathes must be taken off, and they turned back into the lump again. There is nothing durable but the eternal state of things. Now therefore hath God treasured up destructions for all dispensations, because it is sutable to all dispensations. It is as fit for the King to be stripped of his gorgious apparel when the Play is done, as the Begar of his rags. This is but a momentany Righteousness or Perfection, a momentany wickedness or imperfection, according to the Law of the present dispensation: and the Righteousness, the wickedness, the Law of the Dispensation, the Dispensation it self, all must pass into the dust again: When they have lived out their transitory life, and acted their several parts, they must return to death.
So that though there be Righteousness, and Wickedness; Righteous Persons, and Wicked Persons; Blessings to the one, Woes to the other: Yet all this is but under the Dispensation, for the season of the Dispensation, which when it comes to an end, all this passes away.
Object. Against this it will be easily and readily objected, That this will destroy all Religion towards God, and Righteousness amongst men. What need any man care, what he thinks or does? How can any man desire to be Righteous, to be Perfect, if his end must be the same with him who is most imperfect and wicked?
Answ. No, It will not, it cannot, if rightly understood. It will not destroy any true Religion in any way of administration whatsoever; but only that Corrupt Enmity, Corrupt Hope, Corrupt Desire, Corrupt Selfish-interest, which every Administration inclines very much to breed and nourish, but Perfect Love cannot suffer always to stand: which if it were once eaten out, every Administration would be sweet and pleasant. If we knew our selves, and one another, our own parts, and the parts that others are to act, we should with more rest and satisfaction act ours our selves, and with more peace and pleasure behold others acting theirs.
Besides, The Righteous have a double advantage: One in their present life, Another in their ensuing death.
In their present life, they both enjoy themselves and their God, in such a way as the wicked cannot, nor are in any wise capable of, [Page 10] in their state and practise of wickedness.
And in their ensuing death they have another advantage, it being a more immediate step to somewhat further then the death of the wicked can be, (I speak not of the shadow of death, but of that which is death indeed, the dying of the Spirit in and to its present state.)
Therefore there is no ground, why the Righteous should be discouraged in pursuing Righteousness, nor why the wicked should please himself in abounding in wickedness, though ground sufficient for both to be weary of either, and to long after somewhat more perfect.
Ʋse 1. Not for any to magnifie themselves much above others, nor to promise to themselves any such great blessedness beyond others, or to look upon others as objects of such great Misery, because of some appearing-difference between them and others. Indeed there is a difference at present in this Dispensation, but it is no thank to them that 'tis so. Nor are the wicked so much to be blamed as they think: (They have their parts to act, and they are fitted to their parts.) This Dispensation will have its end, and then you will find no such great difference between you and them, as you thought there was. Destruction will make an end of their wickedness, yea and it will make an end of your Righteousness also, and then ye will become both one lump of Clay, without either Good or Evil.
Ʋse 2. Not to grieve over-much when you find Destruction seizing upon you. If your body or spirit moulder away, If God consume your Righteousness, your Holiness, your Perfection, by the blast of his Spirit; Grieve not beyond measure at it: Alas it must dye, This must not last for ever. You thought to have been made happy by this, your happiness lies in being delivered from it. This is not the true treasure, or at least not in its true and lasting shape, and therefore must undergo death and destruction in this its present appearance.
The Apostle James raises it higher, bids you rejoyce in it, Chap. 1. 10. and he gives a strong Reason, Vers. 11. For the Sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass; and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. [Page 11] Therefore be glad at the death of that that must dye: ye have undergone that sorrow which there was no avoyding; This is great matter of Joy. The pain of having the sap and moisture of your spirits dryed up by the scorching heat of the Sun, if it be in any degree past, 'tis great matter of Joy. Better is the Day of this Death, then the Day of this Life. There is greater matter of Joy in parting with, in putting off this Excellency, then in putting it on.
Now for a conclusion to all this, I intend to lay down the brief sum of the whole matter, even of the whole course of man under every Administration, wherein he is either lifted up or thrown down, or both lifted up and thrown down, (first lifted up, and then thrown down,) and through which he passes to his lasting state. Take it thus.
We were all made by him who is the great Potter or Former of all things, (what e're we are, whether righteous or wicked, under what Administration soever:) And this, not so much for any ends we can conceave or drive at, as for his own pleasure; which will have its course upon us, and will toss and tumble us up and down into several sorts of Deaths and Lifes, as great and as often as it pleaseth; till it hath quite confounded and brought us to a perfect loss in all our own Hopes, Desires, and Apprehensions, yea till at last it hath quite swallowed us up in it self: where when we are dead, buried, and cease to be, know, or desire any more; that Life may at length spring up in us, which till then we are uncapable of any distinct desiring or possessing. And the passage to this, though it be very dreadful to the flesh, being even through the Gates of Hell, Death, and Destruction; yet it is in no small measure joyful to the eye of that Spirit which discerns it to be but a passage, and a necessary passage too. And what brave Royal Heart would refuse to joyn issue with this request? O let all shadowy Perfections, all Perfections that come in and by Administrations, dye and pass away, be swallowed up by a Death, by a Destruction, more powerful then themselves; that so way may be made for the discovery of true and compleat Perfection, that it [Page 12] may come forth to swallow up, both destruction, and all that it hath destroyed, for ever; and to bring forth it self and every thing again in its Primitive Glory, that they may return to that beauty wherein they were, before they were stained by that Vanity, Misery and Vexation, whereunto all things are at present subjected.
A LETTER Impleading A CONVERSION, (whether real or pretended is not material;) And all such kind of Changes in the Creature, (backward or forward) by principles, either outward or inward.
I Have seen your recantation in a Letter of yours, which doth wonderfully please me. I like well to see the creature with its waxed wings mounting up towards Heaven, and soaring aloft beyond the reach of the sight of its fellow creatures: But I like it much better to see the wax melted by the heat of the Sun, and the poor foolish forward creature tumbling down into the Sea, or unto the Earth again. What should the creature do in Heaven? The light of God should not quit it self like it self, if it did not at least dazle, if not wholly extinguish the fleshly eye, and turn it back into its fleshly principle again. So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord, So let all the principles the creature either sucks in from others, or beats out it self by its own purest searchings and reasonings, come to nought, be so throughly and effectually thrown down, that the quite contrary may easily be reared up in their stead.
But where are you now, Sweet Anne? You see the rottenness of your former foundation, are you sure you now build upon firm ground, upon the inmost Rock? You have seen a Light, which [Page 14] clearly shakes that great Light which did so transport you while it appeared Light, but are you sure this Light is so clear, so deep, of so inward perfect a Nature, as it shall never be shaken? What pretty sport doth Original Wisdom make with us! He tosses & tumbles us, makes us be or not be, own or not own, what and when he pleases; and well▪ he may. While he hides from us the true and original colour of things, and that skill whereby he colours things, he may cosen us as often as he pleases; He may put what colour he will upon things, and what eye he will into us. And we in beholding the present colour with the present eye, may be confident in what we see, yea in both judging it, and other things by it, not knowing either the root of it, or of that eye that judges it, nor considering what changes both the colour and the eye may undergo.
Let me run over your Letter a little.
I who am unworthy of the esteem of a Servant,
Do you know your self, that you call your self unworthy? I cannot bear, that the creature should either exalt or throw down it self, for I am sure it does it not from true knowledg, but from imagination. Though by the light in them at present it is knowledg, and true knowledg, unto that eye that is in them; yet to me (or, if you will, to somewhat in me, which searches, judges and condemns both that eye, and that light) it is but imagination. Yet again, beholding how the creature acts, I can bear with either or both, both the creatures lifting it self up, and throwing it self down, according to the different eye, state and principle which it has, and wherein it is and acts. So that though in one sence I am an utter enemy to all persons, principles, things and actions, yet in another sence I am perfectly reconciled to them all. I like none of them as such as they take themselves to be, but I like them all as they are, and as I know them to be.
Do make bold to declare unto you, what the Lord, through his great Love, hath done for me,
You speak here of the Lord, of his Love, his great Love, of the working of this Love, and what it hath wrought for you. Do you know the Lord, or his Love? What if I should tell you, that both the Lord and his Love, with all the workings of it, both upon you and others, shall pass away, and never again be acknowledged, or known, as now they are, by yours, or any others, creaturely apprehension? [Page 15] What would you say to me? You might be drawn forth to judg me wonderful deeply and clearly by your present eye, but can you or any else throughly resolve this? I tell you truly, when I can speak I will not be silent, for fear of mans judgment and condemnation. And I will venture to add thus much in the mean time. My God would not please me, if any creature could measure the least part of him with that eye which they call spiritual; Their heart must not know the least spark of his Nature, nor their tongue be able to utter the least tittle of his Name. They may have, and shall have, while the time lasts, a knowledg suitable to them, but not the least tittle of the true knowledg.
In the discovering me the error of my principle.
Do, condemn it, it must come under condemnation, so must the light that judges it. All principles have their course of springing up, growing, living flourishing, and at length of returning into death, into condemnation. That present principle, that present light, which lives now in the death, in the condemnation of this, shall feed another with its death.
I made account to have gone on through your whole Letter, but I find my flesh weary, and my spirit likewise shutting up. I shall therefore only glance at two or three things more, and so close.
You say, that God is not all things. You speak as true as those that affirm him to be all things. When either of you come to see indeed, ye will acknowledg both the one and the other in a larger extent then as yet can be conceaved. Then you will tell me the meaning of this Riddle, which man cannot but account madness, There is every thing besides the Lord, and yet nothing but the Lord; Every thing so filled with creatureship, as if it were quite empty of the Creator, and yet the Creator every where so every thing in every thing, as quite to drown the whole creatureship in all its being and motions.
You say, There is evil. So say I too, to all eyes but one: But if you will say there is evil to that eye, you speak beyond your bounds: you know not that eye, what it is, nor what it sees, and you venture too far if you say it sees either good or evil. These are the colours wherein things appear to your eyes, but the colour wherein that eye sees things is not yet known, nor can be seen by any eye but that which dyes in perfection, and rises in perfection.
This is the great quarrel that I have with you and all, That ye [Page 16] will be measuring all things by your own measure. And all shall lye under condemnation in this respect, for judging things so to be in themselves, as they appear to them. The Painter shall be justified for putting several colours on one and the same substance, and for making several eyes and lights to see each of them by, but all shall be condemned who justifie any sort of these colours in opposition to the rest, and so pass sentence both upon all the rest, and upon the substance it self. And this is the whole work of man, to be picking out the colour that suits with his eye, and to be exalting it, and laying all others flat. And as often as he changes his eye, his light, his colour, still he takes the same course, and therefore still in all his changes deserves to come under the same condemnation.
You say, There is a Hell, into which they shall be cast who violently break the Law of God, but do you know what this Hell is, what this Law is, or who are the breakers of this Law? I know according to your present measure you do, and so do others according to theirs, but do you know by the true standing measure? Man by several measures judges righteousness and unrighteousness, but when God comes to measure, that which man calls righteousness will be found unrighteousness too. That which is righteousness in the scale of God is very weighty, but that which man heaps up in treasures, thinking to be very rich, and of great value, when it comes to the true Touchstone will prove but dross. Who shall scape Hell, when all the unrighteous in the eye of man, when all the unrighteous in the eye of God, are cast into it? He that can be content to please himself in escaping Hell, where others must scorch in unutterable torment, is he righteous? Oh how my Soul loaths all that which all men call Righteousness! I see as much need of a proportionable fire to burn it up, as to burn up wickedness. And oh that the everlasting flames were once universally let loose upon the foundations of it, for it, and the misery by it, stands more in the way of true Righteousness, and true Happiness, then wickedness, and the misery by it, does.
Coleman-street, London, April 21. 1650.
SEVERAL Inward Openings.
I.
HEarken, O Man, and try if thine ear can let in knowledg.
There is an inwardness of all that outwardness which thou beholdest, which is the Spirit, Strength, Life, Substance, of the outwardness. This is that which thou callest God, who is within all that appears, which are but his several garments, wherewith he clothes and covers himself from every eye, but that which pierceth through the inmost vail.
This Life, This Strength, This Spirit, This Inward Substance, doth please himself to contract himself in, and to thrust forth shadows, which he quickens with a shadowy life, and infuses into them an instinct of preserving that life, that he may make himself the better sport, in hunting it up and down, and catching it, in his snares of Death and Destruction. It is no sport to us (no more then it is to the Birds in the air, the Beasts of the field, the Fishes in the waters) to be hunted and caught: But it is pure sport to him, to see the feveral subtle workings of that life to save it self ineffectual, which was made to be taken and destroyed.
And this is his maner of proceeding herein.
First, This Life, This Original Being, thrusts forth an outward Being, which he endues with a life suitable to its outwardness.
2. He provides food for to maintain this Life, and means to [Page 18] preserve it against the danger of Death
3. He prepares a strong one to hunt, conquer, catch and kill this Outward Being in this outward state of life.
Thus he does, and then lets the Creature loose, and his engine of Death loose, and pleases himself in beholding the several windings and turnings of the one and the other from first to last.
The great thing that tends to preserve the life of Man is the knowledg of God: (The Bestial part may feed on other things, but that is not the Man.) But Man cannot reach the inwardness of them; He is shut out from the tree of Life, that he cannot come to eat of it, and therefore he must dye. The same Power that quickens in him the desire of life, and chalks out unto him the way to life, hath so shut it up and fenced it, that there is no entering so much as into the Paradise where the Tree of Life groweth.
God hath took great pleasure in presenting himself to the view of Man, in making discoveries of himself unto Man; and these in several gradations, that some go far beyond others, some even abound with the knowledg of God in respect of others. But he hath another greater pleasure, which is to strip the best of these naked, and make them see that theirs is not knowledg neither; only comparative knowledg, not true knowledg; It is not an understanding what God is, but a likening of God to somewhat. And this is the great difference between men, Some set up Idols of Wood and Stone, Others of Silver and Gold: Some have very carnal gross imaginations and resemblances of God, Others have more refined, and more spiritual ones.
II.
THere is no true knowing of God by the understanding of the creature. Yet it is the pleasure of the Lord to present himself to the eye of the creature, and to quicken in that eye a desire to see and discern him.
Every eye was made to see God with, but no eye can, therefore it sickens, languishes, pines and dies under a curse, that through death and destruction it might pass into a capacity of attaining that, without which it cannot enjoy it self.
As God made all things to shadow out himself, the excellencies [Page 19] of the creature in every kind, to shadow out his excellencies in their several kinds: So particularly he made the eye of the creature to shadow out his own eye; and it is his own eye in a shadow, has all the properties of his own eye in a shadow; but being but a shadow, it can never in its utmost exaltation attain to the sight of that which is Substance.
No man can live and see God; He must first dye throughly, and rise up again in the Substance, before he can apprehend or comprehend the Substance at all in truth. He may have a taste, a glimpse, of the substance in the shadow, but yet it is but a shadowy glimpse, That which is seen (though by him that sees it, it be accounted very substantial) is but shadow, just like the eye that sees it, which cannot possibly reach the view of any thing beyond its sphere.
The created eye is fitted to see nothing but colours, as colours are suited to the created eye: And though fools think they see more then colours, they see things in their own apprehension, (this thing, and that thing, and the other thing,) yet those that are wiser know they are mistaken, and that they do and can see nothing but the colour.
We see Good and Evil which colour the whole Creation; But do we see that Substance which is coloured with these? Or do we know whence these colours came, or what they are in their root? They indeed put several glosses upon the Substance, representing it variously to the eye of the Creature; but do they not hereby hide it from the Creature? Does not Truth lie hid under the colour? and is it not vailed by the colour from that eye which can pierce no further then the colour, and so must either view that or nothing, judg by that or by nothing?
O God, How art thou miscoloured! Man thinks he hugely pleaseth thee by putting the finest kind of paint upon thee, not understanding how it difigures thee, and how loathsom it is unto thee, because it makes thee lovely in his eye. But know, O Man, O refined'st Man, God loaths to be lovely in thine eye. True Excellency can be justified by nothing but that which is the same with it self. Gods Excellencies were not deep enough, if mans eye could pierce into them, or approve them, if Man could acknowledg them excellent. God likes nothing of Man, and Man likes nothing of God. Indeed Man hugely likes the God that he frames in his own imagination; [Page 20] The God that his eye sees and acknowledges, is very excellent; He likes God as he paints him: But God as he is, God in Substance, God throwing off all this paint, and not acknowledging himself to be any such thing, but somewhat else which the creature never thought, nor could imagine, nor could desire him to be, This is a dreadful God, and in no wise desireable. The Creature may live, and see such a God as it frames, yea the more it lives the more it seeth him, and the more it seeth him the more it lives; But the true substantial sight can never enter into any, till after perfect Death.
O how poor Creatures cosen themselves! They think they love God, would fain see God, know God, live in communion with God: And this is true in their sence, Such a God as they have framed to themselves they love, and would fain see, know and enjoy. But he who is indeed God, they are not able to bear in the least in what he is. There is nothing that they so perfectly hate, there is nothing which they so study to avoyd, nay, there cannot be a greater Hell to them, then his true presence; and how can it be otherwise? for he carries in his Countenance the death of all that is their Life, Joy, Hope and Happiness.
O what an astonishing sight will it be at the opening of the Heart of Man, when he shall come to plead his love to God, his delight in God, his love to others for his sake, &c. that the contrary should be mani [...]ested to him! And he shall plainly be made see and confess that he was only the Lover of an Idol, the lover of a God he had framed to himself in his own understanding, which is in truth nothing; it is not God, but the Creatures creature, a creature which the understanding of the Creature hath made, whether by the help of Nature or Scriptures it comes all to one.
Is it not time for you, O sons of Men, to look about you? Ye little think how quick and piercing the approaching Judgment will be. Ye think your selves very able now to justifie your selves, and condemn others: But the Light whereby ye shall be judged, will be far different from that Light whereby ye now judg your selves.
O what a strange thing is it, and utterly incredible, that Beleevers, Lovers of God, Performers of Righteousness, in the [Page 21] highest and strictest strain, should have so much deep intense spiritual Unbelief, Hatred of God, and all manner of unrighteousness discovered in them, and in their purest actions and motions, as to lay them even with, if not below, the common sort of men, whom they themselves condemn from the glory of Gods presence, because of their wickedness!
Wo be to thee, O holy man! O righteous man! O strict exact man! It is against thee that true Righteousness and true Holiness hath the greatest quarrel, because thou standest most in its way. It is thy wickedness and remoteness from Righteousness and Holiness, that is now to be discovered. Under thy skirt are found all the abominations that thou condemnest. It is not thy Paint that will hide thee from the eye that now searches thee, though it doth hide thee from thine own eye. Thou must come to Judgment; The High Court of Justice is chiefly erected in reference to thee, to examine and finde thee out. And wo unto thee, for thou shalt not stand in Judgment, what ever thou thinkest of thy self; Nay, it shall be easier for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgment, then for thee.
III.
ANd what if I should say, that this should be the course and progress of the Judgment?
First, That Ʋnrighteousness should be set before the Judgment seat in all the sorts and degrees of it, according to the several Rules and Administrations of it, and it condemned; and Righteousness in its several kindes and degrees justified.
Then that Righteousness should be brought upon the stage in its several kindes and degrees, and it condemned; and unrighteousness justified.
Then that both should be brought in again, and the justification of both be taken off, and both be utterly condemned for ever.
(It is a Seat, a Throne of Perfect Judgment, and therefore Righteous Judgment must be passed on every thing according to every consideration and aspect that it hath; and things must be throughly judged, they must be scanned and judged under every consideration.)
[Page 22]And lastly, After the condemnation of Man, of all Man, of Man in all wherein he expects and desires to be justified, that then Everlasting Righteousness, Righteousness which shall stand for ever, Righteousness which can in no respect be impleaded, but is every way true, full, and perfect, should break forth in its lustre, and swallow up this condemnation, and the fear of it.
It is but a weak righteousness that can justifie only such as are under such or such a Law, whether of external or spiritual faith and obedience: But that which hath the true vigour and strength of Righteousness in it, can swallow up all unrighteousness under all Laws and Administrations for ever. That Righteousness is universal which fills all, it is like God who leaves nothing empty of his own Life and Being. That Righteousness is indeed Everlasting, which will suffer no unrighteousness to last or appear after it is discovered. Where God appears, the Creature must vanish, it cannot stand in his presence: And where the Righteousness of God appears, both the righteousness and unrighteousness of the Creature fly away.
O how dreadful will the day of Judgment be to the Creature, to the whole Creature, in one part of it or other! dreadful to the unrighteous in one respect, dreadful to the righteous in another respect; But how pleasant in every part to the Creator! To see all things fall before him, and all his own adjudged to him, and recovered by him. There is none shall be able in any wise to stand this Tryal, but the Son, who hath learned this point of obedience, to give up his Life, Righteousness, and all his Excellency (though by very painful suffering) into that bosom from whence he received it, that it may never live more in him, or in it self, but in that fountain from whence it did flow, and whereunto it could not but return, where and where only will it suffer it self purely and perfectly to be embraced and enjoyed.
IV.
BE silent O Flesh: yet speak while thy time lasts; Speak until I silence thee. Open thy fleshly mouth, utter thy fleshly minde, till I stop the one, till I confound the other. Profess that thou [Page 23] knowest the Lord, till I convince thee that thou knowest him not. Say and think thou lovest me, and longest to be one with me, till I shew thee that thou hatest nothing so much as me, and communion with me. Worship me according to thy present light and apprehensions of me, or thou shalt feel the smart of neglecting it: And though thou dost, yet will I not spare thee, but destroy both thee and thy worship. I am come to judg thee and thy light by my light, and thou shalt not stand but fall in Iudgment, thou thy self into nothing, and thy light into utter darkness. And by how much thou exaltest thy self above others, by so much will I lay thee beneath others. By how much the higher thou hast soared, by so much the lower shalt thou fall. The greater thy pleasure, hopes and confidence have been in thy foregoing life, The greater shall thy torment, amazement and distress be in thy approaching Death. My glory shall chiefly spring out of the destruction and desolations of thine. I am now whetting my glittering Sword to pierce into, and fetch out, thy very heart blood. I am about to say I live for ever, and when I speak it, thou shalt dye for ever, in thy purest, in thy highest enjoyments of life. My life and thine cannot consist together, but while thou livest I dye, and when I come to live thou shalt dye. Thou hast hitherto sucked and enjoyed thy life out of my death; and now is my turn and time come to gather and enjoy my life out of thy death. Thou hast appeared, and I have not been; Now will I appear, and thou shalt be no longer. Thou hast been unrighteous in killing me, and detaining mine own from me; But I will be righteous in killing thee, and recovering all into mine own possession again.
Live then bravely O flesh, flourish as well as thou canst, come off bravely at last however. Eat and drink, for to morrow thou shalt dye. Eat and drink lustily, that thou mayst be fatted for the slaughter, and fitted for my Table: for as I live, saith the Lord, I will feed on thee, and devour thee, and thou shalt never be any thing any more but what thou art in me, but what I by the power of my life, by the warmth of my stomack, convert thee into within my self.
V.
GOd who is one and the same, altogether unchangeable in his own Nature; yet is full of various changeable appearances to the eye of the Creature, and can onely be seen by the Creature in some shape and appearance, but not at all as he is in his own Nature. According to his design concerning the Creature, so he fits the present state of the Creature; and according to the state of the Creature, is his appearance to the Creature, and the Creatures sight of him.
To the Creature in its pure natural state he appears as a Lord, as a good kinde bountiful Lord, and so Adam in his state of innocency looked upon him; as one who did lay out his Wisdom in the frame of the Creatures, and his treasures of goodness and kindness in his tender provision and care for the Creature; as one who loved the being of the Creature, desired to have it go well with the Creature, and delighted himself to have communion with the Creature.
To the Creature in its fallen sunk estate, he appears as a severe dreadful Iudg, as an Enemy to the Life, Being, and Happiness of it; as a Tormentor to it, as a Destroyer of it.
To the Creature in its servile state he appears as an harsh Lawgiver, as one that propounds Life and Death, Misery and Happiness, upon very hard conditions, such as it is easie to miscarry upon, but very difficult (if at all possible) to attain the end (the Creature hath in its eye) by.
To the Creature in its Son-like state he appears a tender Father, one who communicates his own Nature, Life and Blessedness freely to the Son; who as he hath begotten, so he taketh care of him, maketh him his Heir, keepeth his inheritance safe for him, and him for it. And this is an excellent sight of God, a true, a substantial sight in compare with any of the former. This is his Image wherein he is seen: His Goodness, Wisdom, Power, Love, Iustice, Mercy, &c. which were very darkly held out in the rest, shine here in their lustre.
Now all these appearances are written in the state and in the heart of every Creature, the present kinde of appearance being still [Page 25] suited to the present state: so that man findes them, not so much by the hearing of the ear, seeing of the eye, or by searching into any Books, whether of Creatures or Scriptures, as by looking into his own heart. And man is much deceived in this, He doth not, he cannot learn so much either from men or books (as he thinks to do) further then they occasion the opening of his own heart in him: for let man strive never so much, he can learn no more then is written in his own heart, and in that state wherein he is.
Let Adam look into his own heart in the state of innocency, he shall presently read there a sweet, a good, a kinde, a bountiful God.
Let fallen man look into his heart, he shall presently read there a severe accusing condemning Iudg.
Let the servant, the slave, look into his heart, and (in plain terms) he shall presently read God a Tyrant. He may strain other thoughts of God into his understanding, but let him look into his heart, he shall finde, he thinks and can think no otherwise of him, then as of an hard Master.
Let the Son look into his heart, and he shall read God a tender Father, one who loves and takes care of him, as of himself.
But what is all this? All these are but several appearances of God in the Creature, of God to the Creature. This is not the first, and this shall not be the last. This is not God as he is in himself, but God as he appears to us. All this, as it hath a time to be sown, born, spring up, and live; so it must have a time to dye, and pass away. None of this is the true knowledg, if you speak properly. It is not the knowledg of God, but of the present appearance of God. It is not the knowledg of the Substance as it is in it self, but as it lurks and makes resemblances of it self under a Cloud. And as he often blots out one resemblance by another resemblance, so he will at last blot out all resemblances by discovering the Substance.
O poor Man! why art thou so puffed up with thy knowledg? It is not the knowledg of the true God, at best it is but the knowledg of his likeness, (and alass, how little is there of this kind too?) Nor is it true knowledg, but onely the likeness of knowledg. Both this knowledg, and the thing as thus known, must pass away for ever.
[Page 26]As certainly as there was a Beginning shall there be an Ending, (All things that have a beginning must have an end,) and nothing shall be last but that which was first.
VI.
THere is a double condemnation lying upon all men; both upon the World, and upon the People of God.
One is, in that they do not seek to know and worship God according to that light of Reason or Religion that is sown in them, and would spring up and break forth through them, did it not receive checks and quenchings from them.
The other is for idolizing that which they do in any degree know or attain, which is or can be but a Shadow, and yet is still set up by them, and magnified, as if it were the Substance.
Man falls short, in reaching after, and comprehending the shadow: But for all that, how short soever he fall, though he catch hardly the shadow of the shadow, yet he will not endure it should go for less then the Substance.
Search the course of Man throughout the whole World, Where is he who sees, knows, worships the true God? Search all sorts of Christians, Where is he that knows the true Christ, the true way to God through Christ? Hath not every one set up the Idols of his own heart, the stumbling block of his own iniquity before his eyes? They think they behold God, worship God, &c. but alass, it is but their own Idol.
Search the course of Man (Vain Man, or Religious Man) throughout the Scriptures, how finde ye him there? The Jews they can judg the Heathen as Idolaters, and God he judges the Jews as Idolaters all along. And yet what a continual inveterate enmity is there between these? the Heathen still striving either to convert or root out the Jews, and the Jews still striving either to convert or root out the Heathen. They were both so drunk in their own Imagination, and so hid in their dark state one from another, that they sought to destroy that in one another (or one another because of it) which was their own Life.
And what opposition is there at this day between Turks and [Page 27] Papists, Papists and Protestants, Protestants and Puritans, Episcopalians and Presbyterians, Presbyterians and Independents, Independents and Anabaptists, Anabaptists and Seekers? &c. and yet the same sap runs through them all, the same principle lives in them all, and fighteth thus vehemently with it self, because it knoweth not it self in this darkness, which hath so long been spread over all. They None of them truly know God, but every one sets up his own Idol, the imagination of his own brain, by virtue of this one and the same Principle according to its present tincture in them; And it is the variety of the tincture that produceth this variety, and by that means setteth them at such a wonderful distance, as if there were no similitude nor possibility of conjunction between them, who are already one and the same both in their principles, motions, and end. And though they judg one another very partially and unjustly, yet they shall finde when true Judgment is given, that they are indeed one, and justly come under the same justification or condemnation. How different soever their appearances are, yet their root, their life, their principle, is one and the same. And the best of these, in judging the worst of these, do but judg themselves, and in justifying themselves, they justifie the worst of these, for they are the same in the main.
O poor Man, how art thou vailed from thy self! How are all others vailed from thee! How art thou befooled with the eye of thy wisdom! Thou canst not see any thing as it is. If thy heart could take scope to it self, and judg them quite contrary to what thine eye seeth them to be, thou wouldst come neerer to Truth by such a mad thought of thine heart, then by the soberest sight of thine eye. Thou art thine own utter enemy; All that thou desirest, tends to undo thee: All that thou judgest to be good, life, happiness, is far otherwise. All the knowledg thou hast of good and evil comes by thy fall, by thy darkness; and the clearer and clearer Revelations thou hast of both, are still but to this dark eye, to thee in this dark state, to thee fallen from, and uncapable of beholding, true light in any kinde. When wilt thou know and acknowledg thy friend! This is the character of him, It is he who plots thy Destruction, who hunts after thy life, who follows close the scent of thy feet, and will not leave thee till he hath overtaken thee, torn thee in pieces, and quite devoured thee.
VII.
O How livelily is Death written upon all things! But who can read it? Who is so skilful as to understand the Characters either of Life or Death? Thou art weighed, O Man, in the ballance, and art found too light; Thou art but as the dust thereof, which weigheth nothing, but is altogether unable to sway the scale either one way or other. Why gaddest thou then to change thy way? Thou shalt be worried out of all the imaginations of thine Heart. Thou canst be safe no where; Destruction will find thee out where thou art, or whithersoever thou thinkest to remove for greater security. Thy time hath long been determined, and is now arriving at its period, and thou mayst not enjoy Life or Pleasure any longer. Give account of thy Stewardship, for thou shalt be no longer Steward. The Earth is sinking under thee, Thy Elements melting in thee, Thy whole Life and Being expiring; what wilt thou do? where wilt thou shelter thy self? There is no escaping that Death and Judgment which is seizing on thee. Thy Sun is setting, and that black night, which thou fearest, is hastening upon thee. I am stripping thee of all that is fweet and lovely to thee, and driving thee out of thy present Paradise of present enjoyments and future hopes, into the Land of Oblivion. Into the Wilderness must thou go, where thou shalt be stripped of all thine Ornaments, and dye in ignominy and torment. How wilt thou bear the loss of all thy beauty, wisdom and excellency, wherewith thou hast flourished like a God above the rest of thy fellow-creatures? In one moment, which thou lookedst not for, shall Misery befall thee, and make an utter end of thee. Though thou expectest to sit on a throne for ever, to live with and enjoy God in perpetual embraces, yet thine own mouth shall give thee the lye: And when I cause the power and pangs of death to fasten upon thee, thou shalt know and feel, that thou neither wast, art, nor shalt be; but I alone was, am, and will be, what thou by my disappearance hast foolishly imagined thy self to be: for I am resolved to gather back all that belongs to me, and leave thee no more then belongs to thee, which is neither Life, Being, Sense, nor Motion, but meer emptiness and vanity. And then live if thou canst in thine own imagination, when I have gathered all the reality of life into my self.
VIII.
TRemble, O Earth, at the presence of the Lord, and quake, O Heavens, for ye shall be shaken also: Your Sun shall be darkened, your Moon turned into blood, your Stars shall lose their light; The whole fabrick of Heaven shall fall into, and perish in, the bowels of the Earth. And who (or what) shall live when God doth this? Surely that alone which cannot dye. He then shall live, who gave life to all, and hath prepared a death for, and suitable to, every life: yea, he shall live who can swallow up death, and drown it for ever in the power of his own life. O LIVE, LIVE, LIVE, THOƲ ONLY, FOR THOƲ ALONE ART WORTHY. Thou art the Land of the living; Thy life lives only in thine own Land, and thou livest only in thine own life. This is the true Inheritance, the true Canaan, the true Happiness, the true enjoyment of God. This is Life Eternal, the rise and result of all.
This is Life indeed, which can quicken death it self, and make it as living as it self.
This is Power indeed, that can cloath the greatest weakness with its own immortal and eternal strength.
This is Light indeed, that can make darkness shine in its own brightness, where the darkness and the light are both alike, and where the Night shineth as the Day.
This is Purity indeed, which is every where, in every thing, and can purifie every thing in it self; A pure River, which gathers all waters into it self, purging and cleansing them, till it hath made them like it self.
This is true Happiness, that can swallow up all Misery, and make it equally happy with it self.
This is true Spirit, which can devour all flesh, and by the strength of its quickening vertue, turn it into Spirit.
This is a Philosophical Stone worth having, which can turn any thing it toucheth into perfect gold.
But where dwells this Skill? where dwells this Life, this Spirit, this Power? is it any where? is there any such thing? There is every one harping at it; Sure methinks there should be such a [Page 30] skill somewhere, and if there be, it cannot but delight to shew it self, and will have its season so to do. Only it may first contrive to bring forth Vanity, Misery, Weakness, Emptiness, Darkness, Death, &c. in their perfection, that it may give a true taste of its own vertue. When it hath prepared all the Eternals and Everlastings that can be imagined to swallow up, then will appear the efficacy and vigour of its own Eternity and Everlastingness.
These are the Bowels out of which all things came, which are still rolling, and will never be at rest, till they receive them in again; and nothing can truly rest, till it returns thither again. This was the first, and this must be the last; and after all the toilsom compasses and circuits that are now a fetching, the circle will end where it began, and then will that saying be indeed verified, The first shall be last, and the last first. But every thing must be throughly tired out of its own motions, desires, ends, hopes, happinesses, before it come to rest in this Center, yet this irksom and wearisom circumference will make it more lovely, both in its beginning and in its end.
IX.
BEfore this World, this state and Being of things (as we call it) was, Man will confess there was nothing but the Lord.
When ever this world shall cease to be, there will be nothing but the Lord again. It is his right to be the last, who was the first: And if he will be true to himself, he can no more suffer any thing to be after him, then it was before him.
And yet must nothing be lost, but every thing found; lost indeed in its own weak, fading, perishing state, but found in a standing, enduring, eternal state: Where when things arrive, that Vanity, Death and Mortality, which is now written upon them all, shall be swallowed up in perfect and immortal Life and Glory.
And what are things at present? Are they things that are, or things that are not? Have they a real, or an appearing existence? To our eye they are real, but is there not an eye to which they are but-Ciphers, which swallows them up in the sight of it self; which acknowledgeth him that was, and him that shall be, only to be at present also; who is so all, and so fills all, that he can leave no room [Page 31] for any thing else to be where he is? There is no object his eye can behold, but himself. Where ever he looks, his eye dispels and scatters every thing that falls short of his own substance and perfection: yet is there nothing to be seen, but he must see it. Nothing can escape his eye, nor nothing can abide his eye. It is the shutting of his eye in us, that makes ours open: But when his eye opens, ours will be shut, and there will be no eye left to see, but the Lords, and nothing left to be seen, but the Lord himself: yea, it is only to us that it is otherwise at present, but not to him.
O foolish Man! when wilt thou cease boasting of thy knowledg, and come indeed to know the Lord? If I should tell thee never so plainly, yet thou hast not an ear to hear it; therefore I will forbear perplexing thee any further at this time, with over-straining thee to hear, see or comprehend, beyond the compass of thy present ear, eye or heart; and leave thee to enjoy what thou hast; which as yet thou mayst, with some kind of quietness, for a short season, if thou canst be content so to do without over-exalting it: otherwise know, that the wind is too boisterous, to suffer any thing that is high and lifted up, to remain unshaken.