THere is Nothing but offence and war (both in the cause, and in the effect) between God and the Creature. Every thing in God, as it is beheld by the Creature, trou­bleth the Creature, and inciteth and draweth forth the enmity of the Crea­ture against it. Every thing in the Crea­ture, as it is beheld by God, provokes his jealousie and indignation likewise: So that there is nothing but a constant inveterate War between Heaven and Earth, which should and must be assistant and [Page 2] subservient one to another, or lose their own delights.

But shall it always be thus? Shall God and the Creature ever thwart and cross, and never please one another, nor be pleased in one another?

No, it shall not always be so: When the great Peace-maker cometh to put forth his skill, he shall prevail to make peace be­tween them. He will go through his undertaking, though he lose his life in it: and yet will he not lose his life in it, unless he be sure thereby to accomplish it. If he dye, the root of Enmity in the Creature, and in God too, must dye with him: (for the oppositi­on and enmity in both is equal, or if in either it be superior, it is in God; and it is an harder task to reconcile God to the Creature, then the Creature to God; and therefore in wisdom, that was first undertaken, and Reconciliation never preached to the Creature, until the foundation of Pacification in him, was layd.)

There is no approach, no converse, no sweet intercourse between God and the Creature, but in him, by him, through him. If he had not been the Propitiatory Sacrifice to reconcile God first, there should never have been any motion to the Creature to be recon­ciled. But now he hath offered up that Principle of life whereby he lived, and whereby the Creature lives, freely giving it back into his hands from whom he received it, that now he himself can live no longer, nor the Creature neither (the root of its life being slain) there is no foundation of offence or controversie left between God and him, or between God and the Creature, so far as it is found dead or dying in him. So that we, who are dead in Christ, who are dying into Christ, who are filling up the remainders of his pas­sion in our own spirits, are now at peace; And he, by his death for us, by his death in us, by his blood which he poured out and pours out to death in us, is our peace; which till he hath poured out perfectly, we shall never finde him perfect peace unto us.

There was but one at first: yet in this one was all manner of [Page 3] variety and distinction. As all was produced out of one, so all was in that one before it was produced. There was but one mass of Earth, and yet what multitudes of things were brought forth out of it? There was but one Adam, and yet this one was made into two, and out of these two, what thousands of generations have proceeded?

And this great lump being brought forth, though they are all the same, all of one blood, yet they are cut out into two parcels, Jews and Gentiles: And they are as distinct as may be. Distinct in their race, in their God, in their Laws, Ordinances, desires, ends, hopes. The Jews must not be like the Gentiles in any thing: The Gentiles will not be like the Jews in any thing. Oh how diverse, how distinct, nay how contrary are they! But this diversity, this distinction, this contrariety must not always last. When Christ comes forth to give up that principle of life in himself, and to slay it in them, whereby they have thus lived, the leaves and fruit of variety and distinction will soon wither, and they will all shrink back into unity and harmony again.

The Jews and the Gentiles were both one, but were made dif­ferent: But there is a time for that difference to be unmade, to be taken away, and then they will become one again.

But how can this be? Why the Next words tell you.

There is nothing hinders them from being one, but that which parts them; if that be broken down, they must needs be one. If Adam and Eve had not been parted, they could never have become two: If that partition be taken away, they cannot but become one again.

Here are three things held forth.

1. What it is that maketh the difference between things, and that is a wall set up in the midst. It is by a wall set up betwixt them that they come to be severed and parted one from another. God and the Creature are severed by a wall: Man and woman severed by a wall: Jew and Gentile severed by a wall: Beleever and Ʋn­beleever severed by a wall. There is a wall set up; On this side there's Ʋnrighteousness, on that side Righteousness: On this side [Page 4] Ʋnbelief, on that side Faith: On this side Ʋnholiness, on that side Holiness: On this side Darkness, on that side Light: On this side Evil, on that side Good.

There is not such an Original and real difference between them, as we fools imagine, It is but a made difference, a difference which becomes so by the setting up of a wall, which is very vast and ir­reconcileable to that eye which seeth onely the difference, and can­not pierce into that Original Union and Oneness that was between them, and could alone be discerned before this wall was set up.

2. How this difference shall be taken away; and that is by the breaking down of this wall, by the laying this partition flat, by the taking away all those Ordinances, Laws, and Considerations, which make either the one or the other so to be. That which makes Righteousness and Ʋnrighteousness, Holiness and Ʋnholi­ness, Faith and Ʋnbelief, as it had a time to be set up, so it shall be pulled down again, and where will then the difference between these things be? There will be a difference and a vast difference, while the partition wall lasts, but when that is gone, there will re­main not so much as a shadow of difference any longer: When that is wholly taken away, which did in any wise part them, they can­not but become perfectly one.

3. Who it is that takes this difference away, that breaketh down this middle wall; and that is Christ the same who set it up. It was the letting forth, that life he received, into several varieties, that caused the distinction; and it is the drawing back of that life again into its original, that brings all back into union.

And this he doth by sacrificing his own flesh, (as the following words hold forth;) by offering and giving up through the Eter­nal Spirit his own life, and, in it, the life of the whole Creation (which did flow from his life, and depended upon his life) unto him from whom it first came. Hereby all Ordinances, Laws, and Consti­tutions, which take hold of the Creature in its creaturely state, and follow it to death, fall to the ground; and that difference and en­mity which did arise between them from hence, fall with it also. A taste whereof was given upon sacrificing the head, in that visible and demonstrative Reconciliation between Jew and Gentile, the foundation whereof was then made manifest: But the full fruits thereof cannot be reaped, until the whole body be burnt in the [Page 5] fire, by the same Eternal Spirit; until every member likewise hath wholly returned back its life also; and then there will remain no more offence in or from any part of the Creation, when there is no­thing left them wherewith they may offend.

That which nourisheth distance and division is Enmity. There is an Enmity sown throughout the whole Creation, between God and the Creature, between one Creature and another. The life of one creature is made fit to feed another, and there is a desire in that other of that food, which Nature hath made fit for it, and yet Na­ture also teacheth the other to preserve its life and Being: Here is the seed of enmity in all this thus secretly sown in the nature of things, and so continually springing up throughout the whole Cre­ation. There is an Enmity between the Creatures themselves, one Creature is an enemy to another: There is an Enmity between Man and them; Man is an enemy to them all: There is an Enmity be­tween Man and Man; one man is an enemy to another: Heaven and Hell, Holiness and Sin, Christ and Belial, The Temple of God and Idols; Oh how high, how sharp, how intense is the enmity here!

That which causeth and continueth this Enmity, is a Law of Commandments consisting in Ordinances, which are appointed to all according to their make, which are written in the nature of all, by the contrariety whereof they come to fight and clash one with another. All things that are brought forth, are brought forth under some Dispensation or other; and according to the Dispensation, they are subjected to Ordinances of one kinde or other, suitable to the state wherein they are; which are written both in the state it self, and in their own hearts, (though neither are very legible now, there being a vail cast over both; yet if man could once attain to read here, he would finde these more certain and satisfactory books, then those he usually applyeth himself unto.)

What makes the Day and Night so fly from one another, (dark­ness and light cannot endure to be together) but the several Ordi­nances prescribed to each? Before which time light could lie still in [Page 6] the darkness (for the light was caused to shine out of darkness) and keep company with the darkness, as it could not but do, before they were separated. But when God separated the light from the darkness, and gave to each distinct natures, names and ordinances, they are henceforth debarred from any meeting together, or com­munion with each other.

That which differenceth the several sorts of men, is the light and the darkness in them, and the Ordinances thereupon. Every Dispensation under Heaven hath its Light and its Darkness. There is a Day and a Night to man, in every state, whereinto he is cast: And all under every Dispensation walk either in the light or dark part of that Dispensation: And Ordinances are suited to every Dispensation. There is the Law of Light, and the Law of Dark­ness; the Law of the Night, and the Law of the Day: And these are made contrary one to another hereby, so that they cannot meet together in love or peace, but in their neerest conjunction they keep their distance. There is no possibility of communion between Light and Darkness under any Dispensation. Indeed he that riseth out of a lower Dispensation into an higher, may comprehend both the Light and the Darkness beneath himself, (as God comprehends both the Light and the Darkness under all Dispensations, the Dark­ness and the Light every where are both alike to him) but there is no possibility of doing this in the Dispensation. So he that riseth out of one Dispensation into another; as he riseth out of that en­mity he was in before, so he riseth into a new enmity: And he that was a Lamb, a Dove, hunted, persecuted in a foregoing Dis­pensation, may turn a Wolf, a Lion, a greedy, cruel persecuter, in an ensuing. He that was all love, all sweetness, meekness, patience, in a former Dispensation, may be all wrath, fury, malice, in the following Dispensation. It is now a quick time, and little will men beleeve, what changes will be made in them, now passage through Dispensations is become more swift.

That which caused, and so heightened the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, what was it but their Ordinances? which the more strict and observant each were of, the greater was their enmity, and the fight the more sharp between them. The Heathen cannot but look upon the Jews as disturbers of the whole world, as persons who would engross both Holiness and Happiness, [Page 7] as a people who had written among them, in their Rites and Sacri­fices, their own acceptation and salvation, and the rejection and condemnation of all others. The Jews cannot but look upon the Gentiles, as wicked, unclean persons, as persons serving Idols at present, and such as could not but, in the issue, meet with vanity and a lye. The very Laws, which God giveth the Jews, will not suffer them to be, in any thing, like the Nations. The Laws that the Heathen make, are likewise framed according to that root of En­mity, which was in them against the Jews.

Now when Christ comes, he taketh upon himself both these, and abolisheth them both in his own flesh: He receiveth them into himself, giveth them full scope upon himself, that so he may termi­nate them in himself, and suffer them to pass no further. He suffer­eth no more the Ordinances of either to remain, but throweth down the Idolatry of the one, the Worship of the other, causeth both the Light and Darkness of each to pass away by a new Light and a new Darkness. Into his flesh he receiveth these, and in his flesh he causeth these to dye, and setteth up somewhat else, in and by his Spirit, which will never suffer them to live more.

Now the end why Christ did this, why he did abolish these Or­dinances, and consequently that Enmity which flowed from them, was,

The reason why he pulled down this old Dispensation, was, to set up another. The reason why he pulled down both these old houses, was, to make one new one of them both. He meant to cast both these old vessels into one new one, and therefore destroy­eth the old shape in them both: To make of twain, one new man.

He had two things in his eye, two intents in his heart: To make these twain one, to bring this vast diversity into unity; Nor did he like either of them so well, as to change one into the shape of the other; therefore he casts them both over again, that he may make them new as well as one.

And this fabrick he worketh in himself. He taketh the old build­ing into himself, the Laws and Ordinances into himself, and abo­lisheth them in himself: He likewise frames the new building in [Page 8] himself, and brings it forth in himself. All things, though they seem to us never so outward (and indeed are so) yet they are also inward: They are within God, who is the Life and Substance of all; and within Christ, who is his immediate Shadow and Image. God and Christ frame every thing within themselves, and also form themselves within every thing: And O how excellent a sight will it be, to see every thing giving up Christ and God who are within them, and also taken into Christ, and into God; when the weak­ness of the outward part shall be swallowed up in the perfection of the inward part, and the perfection of the inward part shall break forth and appear in the weakness of the outward part!

This is the way to make peace indeed, to make things one. Peace flows from Ʋnion: it is difference that is the root of Enmity. How can things fall out with one another, that differ not from one ano­ther? No man hateth his own flesh: Man could not hate or afflict the flesh of any other, if he did indeed see and feel it to be his own.

Yet Ʋnion will not make perfect peace in this old building: Man hath the skill and subtilty to hate and fight with that in ano­ther, which he loves and cherishes in himself. Therefore Christ, that he may make sure work, makes a new man of both; makes an union, not in the oldness of the letter of any old carnal Com­mandment, but in the newness of the Spirit. Oh how compleat is this union! how sweet is the harmony that flows from it! There is as great an harmony between them as can be in any man, for they are made one; yea far greater, for they are made new, and there no ingredient in this new make, that may cause the least dis­like, dissent, or division; so making peace.

He had a further end in it, in breaking down the wall, in abolishing these Ordinances, which was, that he might recon­cile [Page 9] both unto God. They were not at so great an enmity one with another, as they both were at with God. The Gentiles they were all worshippers of Idols, but had nothing to do with the true God: And the Jews professed they could not bear his presence, which they evidenced sufficiently all along, for they loved at heart the Idols of the Gentiles, and were still running after them, but from the waters of life, which flowed from the Sanctuary. And God could endure neither of them, but still ap­peared with terror, as an affrighter and devourer of them. Their Ordinances set God at a distance with them both, as well as them­selves at a distance one with another.

But now Christ brings them both into one, takes them both (with all their differences) into his own body, destroyeth all their differences, offers up all that God dislikes in them (in his own body) on the Cross, new-makes them in himself, takes the enmi­ty, in God towards them, and in them towards God, into him­self; slays in them all that God dislikes, and so changes and new­makes them, that they can dislike nothing in God any more. O the sweet fruit of the Cross! What pity it is Christ should not dye, who maketh such an harmony between the jarring Creatures, and so sweetly heals up the difference between God and the Creatures, by his death!

TO trust God with all one is, or hopes for for ever, this is True Faith. To trust God with Body, Soul, Spirit; with his Promises, with his Covenant of Grace, with his Christ, with any thing whereby I might secure my self from being subject to his pleasure; This is Faith in good earnest, This is Faith grounded upon true Knowledg: He knoweth God [Page 10] indeed, who dareth thus trust him. Let others trust God for Sal­vation, but my spirit can never rest, till it dares trust God with Salvation.

To love God meerly for what he is, this is true Love. To love God, not because of any appearance of his to us, not for the need we have of him, the good he does to us, or for that we hope for from him; but for his own Nature, for his own Loveliness, This is true Love. To love him and his motions in tormenting us, as well as in cheering and delighting us: To love him in making Sin to estrange us from him, in making Hell to cast us into, as well as in making Holiness or Heaven. This is a Love, which no Creature, no Christian, can attain to, or comprehend; but he alone knows what it is, and whence it came, who is possessed of it.

To resign up all to God; all outward things, all inward things; all Relations, Ordinances, Gifts, Graces, Desires, Hopes, Heaven, Christ, every thing: To having nothing left to Self, Nothing left of Self, but every thing gone. Let it be so that I perish for ever, I had rather have it so, then have mine own will fulfilled. I know mine own will so well, that I desire to have it crossed, even in the things that nearest concern me. I would not be saved, as I have a minde to be saved. I have such a taste of the Excellency of an hidden will, that I would not have it crossed, no not in the things that tend to my greatest prejudice. This may deserve the name of Resignation.

O what a stir there is with Christians to resign up a few Iusts to God, which they know and sensibly feel that 'tis their happiness to part with, and yet how far are they from attaining this too! But who durst resign up his righteousness in Christ, and go and lie in the grave with the wicked? It is no very easie task with Christians to give up themselves to God at present, for him to do what he will with them, so he will bring them to heaven at last: But who durst say unto God, Take me and throw me into Hell, and let me lie there till I fall in love with it; till I come to know and feel thee there, and fall in love with thee there, and become able to enjoy thee there.

Ah! Miserable is that man that is afraid of Hell, and is fain to court God to free him from Hell, and to cross and deny himself for fear of being in danger of Hell. That Life deserveth not the name [Page 11] of Life, that can lose any of its strength, vigour, pleasure, sweet­ness, enjoyment, in the midst of everlasting burnings. If sin could defile God, where were his holiness? and if death could intrench upon his Life any where, to damp or interrupt it, it would prove but a weak, a perishing Life, obnoxious to intermixtures with Death.

Thou canst trust God, O Christian, in this present appearance of his to thee as a Saviour of thee. Thou canst love this sweet­ness, kindness, grace and goodness of his to thee. Thou canst give up thy self to him, to do what he will with thee, so he will bring thee to this Salvation. This thou hast attained to in some measure with much difficulty and striving.

But canst thou measure the ways, thoughts or various appear­ances of that God whom thou thy self callest infinite and immea­surable? Art thou sure he can appear no otherwise then according to what thou expectest he will? Thou seest that the Jews were cozened (who were as confident, as thou canst be, that it should not be so;) is it impossible that thou shouldst ever be deceived in what thou further expectest, because thou hast gone a step or two beyond them? Is that which thou hast attained, and hoped for, of such an enduring nature, that it can never pass away? Cannot thy Christ dye, and go away, in that which thou hast known, enjoy­ed, or hoped for of him? Look into thy Religion, is it indeed pure and undefiled? is it not self-ish at the very bottom? Is it from true and original Light, that thou desirest and seekest for thine own Salvation, or from a self-ish Principle? Is thy Faith, thy Love, thy Hope, thy Joy, any thing that thou hast, spiritual? are they not all self-ish? do they not all rise, or sink, from self, and in reference to self?

O Christian, if thou hast an ear to hear, hear. Assuredly there is no staying here. This Heaven, This Hope, This Life, This Happiness, there is corruption, there is vanity writ in the very root of it. If thou couldst see into it, thou couldst not but see it to be of a perishing nature; and if thou hadst thy Senses about thee, thou couldst not but feel it passing away: and if thou hadst but the heart of a man, thou couldst not but desire and rejoyce at its dissolution.

HArken, O Christians, such of you as have ears, for it neerly concerneth you.

That excellency which ye set up, is indeed excellent. Gospel-faith, Gospel-love, Gospel-obedience, patience, meekness, humi­lity, heavenly-mindedness, &c. are glorious in their kinde, and far surpass any legal qualifications or performances whatsoever. But withall consider this.

May not the glory of these fall before a greater glory? May not this Dispensation pass away? and when it doth pass away, is not all the glory and excellency of it rouled up like a scrole, and cast a­side with it? Every Dispensation hath but its season wherein the light of it is to shine, but afterwards it must be put out, and be buried in the dark. The Jews knew Christ under the Law, and it was an excellent knowledg compared with any thing the Heathen had; but what became of that knowledg? Christians have known Christ under the Gospel, and this kinde of knowledg did far ex­cel that which was imparted to the Jews; but what shall, nay what is become of this?

And when this is out of date, persons are to be valued no more by it; but the highest in this Light, Worship, Faith, Love, Obedi­ence, will be layd as even with the meanest, as the highest and strictest Jews were (when their Dispensation fell) with the lowest Gentiles.

Thou mightest easily see, by the nature and course of the Dispen­sation under which thou hast been, and because of which thou hast lifted up thy self above others, that it must fall, cannot but fall, hath still been falling, (being not of a make to endure;) Thou canst save neither it, nor thy self, by all thy strugling and contend­ing. [Page 13] If thou beest wise, cease doting on this which is still sliding from thee, and look out after somewhat which will stick by thee, when thou and this come to part, which will be sooner then thou art aware of.

This hath been evidently written in the signs of the times, and in the experience of many, but he that wants an eye cannot read, and he that thinks he hath an eye, cannot forbear mis-reading. Little did the old Israel think they could have been so deceived about the coming of the Messiah: Little did they think the Messiah could have layd their Laws and Ordinances so flat, at his coming, as he did. It is impossible for that eye of wisdom to pierce into the va­rious ways and appearances of God, which he greatly delights to hide them from. Nothing is darker then the foregoing Glory, when a new one succeeds. None are further from espying God in a new discovery, then those that had the clearest sight of him in the old. And there is ground in the nature of things for it, for they are hardliest drawn off from the old, which they must necessarily be, before they can be capable of entertaining the new. Look to thy self in time, lest this strange Catastrophe overtake thee unawares, lest thou, while thou art looking for most Happiness from God, for greatest neerness to and intimacy with God, shouldst meet with most misery, by being cast behinde his back, when others (whom thou much undervaluedst) are admitted into his presence.

EVery Creature hath some kinde of sense of its state: It feel­eth its weakness, its wants, its misery. It hath some sense of that Power from which it came, who provideth for it, who is leading it some whither: And it cannot but cry and complain to this Power, according to what it feels and desires. The young Ravens cry to it for food: The whole Creation groaneth and pant­eth to it, to be delivered from its bondage.

[Page 14] Man, as he hath a clearer light then these, so he hath more clear addresses to it.

There is a New-Man, a new-born Childe, begotten by the spirit of life, in an higher kind of life then this Creation knows: and this Childe hath a more spiritual, a more distinct, a more illumina­ted breathing towards this Power; which however it may for a season be interrupted, through the height of distemper, yet there will be a natural returning to it, when the new nature begins to strengthen again; and then it will last, till it hath attained of that Power, all that it is lead by him, to desire of him. Christ, in the time of his agony, sent up strong cries and tears to him who was able to deliver him: and as his anguish increased, so he prayed more earnestly.

By Prayer, I do not mean any bodily exercise of the outward man; but the going forth of the spirit of life (in this state of weakness, whereunto it hath subjected it self) towards the Foun­tain of life, for fulness and satisfaction: The natural tendency of the poor, rent, derived spirit, towards the Fountain of spirits. And this may be very vigorous in us, when it is untaken notice of by us. We can take notice of that, which we call the new Birth, and the motions of it: But that is not the true Birth, which is or can be taken notice of by the Childe, which is always insensible when it is born, and of all its motions while it is a babe. The Creatures, they cry to God, expressing their wants to him, as they are lead and taught by their nature; but yet know not, either God, or that they pray. This Childe may be lead as strongly in his kinde according to his nature, and yet be as ignorant either what he is, or what he does, as the other is.

Ah poor fleshly Creatures! How have we been buried in carnal Forms and exercises, not knowing either God as a Spirit, or any spiritual motion towards him! Indeed we have the outward part, an outward description of God as a Spirit, and so of many other spiritual things, and a sense answerable thereunto, but not the in­ward sight of them. Who knows either God, Christ, Faith, Love, Hope, Prayer, or any thing else, spiritually? We see these things with that eye which we call spiritual, but not with that eye which is truly spiritual: and so we have such a sight, such a spiri­tual sight of these things, as we call so; but not such a sight as is in­deed so.

SIn is the transgression of a Law; which of what kinde and nature it is, of that nature the sin is. As the Law is more gross and carnal, so is sin; as the Law is more inward and spiritual, so is sin likewise. It is from the Law that sin hath its being and force, and according to the Law which gives it its being, is its na­ture. It would be very offensive (to weak blinde man) to draw the pedigree of Sin from God, who is holy and pure, who perfect­ly hates sin, and removes every thing from him that is tainted with it: yet for all that, God will not lose his honor, in giving that nature to the Law, which gave to sin its nature.

Now sin hath the same reality in it, that the Law, which maketh it, hath; or the Creature that commits it. Sin is not a nothing, but as fully real as Holiness, and as truly real as the Creature it self. It hath such a kinde of reality and substance as other shadows have; but truly substantial it is not, nor cannot be. If the Creature it self be not substance, how can any thing else be so that comes from it; that hath what it hath, in and throught it?

Sin hath its part to act in every Dispensation, and it is still the black engine of death, staining the beauty and glory that else would shine in every Dispensation. But sin coming from the Creature by force of a created Law, is neither Eternal in its rise, nor in its foot­ing, and therefore cannot live to Eternity, but as it had a Being in [Page 16] time, so it must end in time. How can the spurious brat of the Creature come to attain Eternal Life? No, as it came in, so it must go out, it came in with the Law, and it must go out with the Law; and as Dispensations change, so the Law changes; and when all Dispensations end, all Laws end. There is a time to draw out the line of Sin with a pencil prepared for it, and a time also to blot it out again.

The blotting out of Sin is the taking away the Being of it, the striking it off from the score; the destroying of it, that it is no more; no more what it was, no more what it stood for, but is returned into the womb from whence it came, and is onely what it was there, before it came forth. It is sometimes expressed under this phrase of drowning in the bottom of the Sea; Sin shall be drowned in the great Sea, so as no eye shall be able to discern it, so as no Creature shall be able to finde it out. Iniquity may be sought for, but can no more be found, after it is perfectly blot­ed out.

There is a double true blotting out of Sin, which is effected, either by satisfying the Law, or by breaking down the Law and making it voyd. And this course God takes when he blots out sin: He satisfieth the Law for the time past, and breaketh it down for the time to come, whereby all old debts are fairly absolved, and no new ones can possibly be incurred; Whereas the Creature does it by changing its own imagination, which is of no true force and efficacy, but onely pleasing to the humor of the Creature.

It is a great vanity (and that which now much abounds,) The Creature thinketh, that if it imagine sin to be no longer, that then it is no longer: but it shall at length finde, though sin be blotted out of its minde, to its view, yet it is not blotted out of Gods mind. Though they think him altogether such an one as themselves; yet he will reprove them, and set their sins in order before their eyes.

Yet he hath a season himself also to blot out iniquity, and to re­member sin no more. And he will effect his counsel when he sets a­bout it, though man, in setting about it aforehand, fails, and makes himself a greater fool then he did in sinning. Man thinks he can do it, and sets himself very confidently about it, and makes no que­stion but to accomplish it; He changeth his notion, and now all [Page 17] is changed, sin is gone, he doth, he can sin no more; when, alass poor Soul, sin and all the effects of sin (which would also be gone, if sin were gone) excepting such as flow from mans imagination concerning sin, stick close to him.

There are multitudes of things (as we call them) which have onely a Being in the imagination of the Creature, and many sins there are of that kinde: Now all such things fall wholly, when they are rased out of the imagination of the Creature, which gave them their Being.

But besides these, there are things of another nature, and sins of another nature, which depend not upon the Creatures imagining of them so to be, but upon their own frame and constitution: And sins of this nature have as great a reality (for nature, though not in degree) as the Law which makes them so, and as the creaturely state it self (they being all of the same stamp and kinde) which abide the same that they are made, according to the wil of him who made them, being no whit changed in their frame and posture, how vast soever the changes in the apprehension of the Creature be concern­ing them.

This World hath a real existence in its kinde (though indeed, in respect of inward Truth, it is not, it hath no existence:) And there is a general Law of the whole Creation, and a particular Law of every Creature in its peculiar state; And there are fulfillings, and breakings of these Laws: All which are so in themselves from their own nature (and will one day be judged so) and do not vary according to the imagination of the Creature, but stand firm ac­cording to the rule whereunto they are set, and whereby they are made. And the Creature is not bound or set free, by its own imagination, under any Law; but must answer for every thing it acts in that state wherein it is, according to that Law which is pre­scribed to it, the force whereof it must feel and be subject unto, what ever it conceives concerning its present state, or freedom in it.

So long as Dispensations last, Sin lasts. So far as the Creature falls short of answering that Dispensation, whereunder it is set, so far it sins: which sin is not measured by what the Creature imagi­neth concerning it, but by the Dispensation it self. An high and deep inspection, into the inward and spiritual state of things, may elevate the minde of the Creature, but yet it cannot change the [Page 18] state of the Creature, or lift it out of that Dispensation, wherein it is, for its season, fixed.

In this outward world, and outward state of things, The Day and the Night, Summer and Winter, and all things else in it, have their appointed times and seasons; and are what they are appoint­ed and made to be, what ever any one thinks of them. If man imagine Summer to be Winter, Winter Summer, Day to be Night, Night to be Day, or that both are one, or that there is neither one nor the other; all this makes no alteration in the things themselves, but the natural man, with the eye of Nature, can discern the per­son, who thus dreameth, to be defective and distempered in his naturals. And in the inward state, things remain the same also: Sin is the same, Christ the same, Heaven, Hell; Happiness, Misery; God, Devil; all the same they were, and vary not as we vary, thinking them one while to be thus, and another while thus. The Spiritual Man may have his sick fits, yea his fits of Phrenzy, wherein he may imagine very strongly and confidently, yet this nothing alters the state of things, but they remain the same still both in themselves, and in their reference to him and others. He is never the further from sinning, by losing his fight and know­ledg of sin. Sin is of a deeper dye, then to be blotted out by no­tions of the brain. It was no mean piece of art to bring in sin (the Creature could never have done it of it self) and it requires the same skill to blot it out again, which nothing but the blood of a living Christ hath the least efficacy to do; and that cannot but do it, for it contains in it both the things above mentioned, viz. both satisfaction to the Law, and destruction of the Law.

Yet, for all this, I must confess I cannot but think, that Eternal Life, Love, Power, and Wisdom (from whom all came, to whom all belongs, and in and for whom all is, what it is) may take pof­fession of whom it pleaseth, either of a particular person, or one sort of persons, and act them how it pleaseth, even contrary to all the Laws and Dipensations that himself hath set up, and this to be neither evil in him, nor in them. He who made the Law, may by a power above the Law act, in any he hath made, contrary to the Law, when he pleaseth. The Spirit of the Lord is not bound by those Laws, which he made to binde us with: Nor are we bound, when he, by his almighty power and presence, looseth us.

SInce this great Fabrick of Heaven and Earth hath been made to appear, God hath ever been hiding himself: hiding him­self in his Life, Being, Motions, Operations, so that no eye can see him, know what he does, or what he means, but that eye which is with him, where he is. There is no life but his, there is no power but his, there is no motion but his (as all came from him, so all is and must be his own for ever) and yet He, his Life, his Motions are so covered and kept so close within the vail, that it is impossible in any degree to discern them. We see the life of the Creature, the motions of the Creature, the intentions of the Crea­ture, the love or hatred of the Creature; and this we may see, for it is presented to our view: But that which is beneath these, that which is within these, with whom or before whom these are not, we cannot possibly see, until the scean be turned, and our eye changed.

Heaven and Earth, at their first coming forth, were but a vail, behinde which God intended to hide himself, and did hide himself even from Adam, in his highest and purest state. God indeed shewed himself to Adam, as he appeared in the Creature, as he shined through the vail; but hid himself as he was in himself: so that Adam could in no wise reach to the true Vision, but onely to such an appearance as God pleased to dart forth of himself through the vail.

When this state was broken, the vail was made thicker and the eye of flesh grosser; so that now God hath more advantage to hide himself more deeply. The eye being so unapt to see, though there were no covering, and the covering being so condensated, that it were able to resist the nimbleness of almost any piercing eye; God may lie still and act securely what he pleaseth, without [Page 20] the least jealousie of having his mystery discerned, or so much as suspected by flesh.

After the breaking of this estate, there are assays to restore it. The whole Creature is groaning, and panting, and striving after somewhat it hath lost. There is a Light let out, both to discover the loss, and to guide to the recovery. There are several Dispensa­tions, both to the mass in general, and to some peculiar sorts picked out of it.

Now in all these motions, in every Creature, under every Dis­pensation, in all I say, whether direct motions or oblique motions, is God hidden, is the mystery of God hidden. God lies hid under­neath in his secret shop: it is his Head contrives all, it is his Hand acts all. There is nothing, either in Heaven or Earth, acts of it self; but as he moves, so it is moved by him.

Now when God hath done his whole work, when he hath ac­complished all that is in his heart to do, when he hath acted all that he hath to act under board within the vail; Then he will rent the vail from himself, and rent the vail from the eye of the Creature, and present his own workmanship to his own eye in the Creature. Then ye shall see what Dispensations meant, what all his motions, (under every Dispensation) both on the right hand and on the left hand, meant: Then ye shall acknowledg, that not one motion that ever hath been throughout the whole Creation, could have been spared in this workmanship, no not the most deformed; but as it came equally from him with the most beautiful, so hath it its pro­per place and lustre in this his intricate piece of work.

But before this, the Creature must pass through all Dispensati­ons, and come to judgment; every Creature according to the Dis­pensation it hath been under.

And O how strict and exact will the Judgment be! According as it is found guilty must it be dealt with, and have death propor­tionable to its desert measured out unto it; Eternal death, it shall dye for ever and never live more, The smoak of its torment shall ascend for ever, and never be forgotten more. But the life which was in it, which was underneath it, shall not dye, but break forth and enjoy it self, and rejoyce in the destruction of its enemy. And though this death be not Eternal as man hath imagined it (for E­ternity consisteth not in duration of time, but hath a nature proper [Page 21] to it, whereby it is known and distinguished: Eternal life liveth its own life, its own eternal life, every moment,) yet it is truly Eternal, and the pain of it unutterable and lasting. This fire shall burn upon the flesh, till it hath quite consumed it; The worm shall never dye nor leave gnawing, while there is any thing of flesh to be eaten up; The prison doors shall not be opened, until the utmost farthing be payd.

And then at last, when all is done, when it is wholly finished, then the meaning of all these things, the mystery of God, God in the mystery, the mystery in God, shall be opened: And then, Eternal Joy, Everlasting Life shall break forth. Flesh shall grieve no more, feel no more, complain no more, when the fire hath spent its whole force upon it: The Spirit shall suffer no more in flesh or because of flesh, when flesh is made a meet companion for it. When every thing in God appears, when every thing appears as it is in God, as it came forth from God, as it was managed by God, in that excellency, perfection, universal love and loveliness, that greater cannot be: When every Creature shall see it was ever tendered, even when it seemed most neglected; it was improved to the best advantage, when it seemed most cast off; it could ne­ver have wished so well for it self, as it is provided for; its Death, Life, Misery, Happiness, were all acted under a vail, and were none of them what it took them to be, but were all of them what it was best for it they should be:

Then shall Glory shine round abound him, who is what none else is, who works as none else can.

THe Moabites were bastard- Israelites: Not the children of Abraham, but the children of Lot; nor the legitimate chil­dren of Lot neither. They were of kin to Israel, of the blood of Israel, but not in a direct, but in a collateral line.

Now God, who orders all things towards all persons, acts very differently towards the Israelites and these. He is very sharp and severe towards his own people, but very gentle towards these. Israel was afflicted from his youth up, he is ever and anon scour­ging Israel: Moab hath been at ease from his youth; Moab meets with nothing to dissettle him, nothing to trouble him, no­thing to disquiet him, but enjoys his portion, his habitation from his very youth: enjoys his God, his worship, hath plenty, prospe­rity, all goes well with Moab. Famine often befalls Israel, that [Page 23] they are fain to run for relief into the land of Moab: but Moab meets with no such misery or distress, Moab hath been at ease from his youth.

Israel hath been tossed and tumbled up and down, emptied from vessel to vessel, carryed up and down into several captivities one after another, never suffered to rest in his own Land: But it hath not been so with Moab, Moab hath not been thus emptied, Moab hath not thus gone into captivity.

This is the different Dispensation of God towards Israel, and towards Moab.

Now there followeth a different effect. Moab setles upon his lees, enjoys, possesses his rest, and that strength which flows from rest, has that in his state which keeps it fresh, quick, living, which preserves his excellency, as the lees do the wine.

There are two excellent properties in wine, The taste and the scent, both which are preserved by the vessel wherein it is kept. Let a Nation settle in peace, and it will gather and keep its sweet­ness, its freshness, its beauty, its glory: but toss and tumble it, remove it out of one place into another, it quickly loseth all. Emp­ty wine out of one vessel into another; the taste, the scent quick­ly changeth.

And this is the common lot of the people of God, his dearest his strictest ones; by his continual tossing and tumbling of them, by his continued, sharp, vehement exercises upon their spirits, they come to lose their taste; their taste changes, their scent changes; that sweetness, that freshness, that vigor which was once in them, quickly wasteth and passeth away, after they have been a while emptied from vessel to vessel.

O what a sweet taste is there in a true Israelite, a lively Israel­ite! How lovely is the Israel of God when it is new-made, when it comes newly out of the fingers of God! Moab is not worthy to be compared to him, for taste, for scent. But how suddenly is this changed, by Gods emptying him from vessel to vessel?

But now it is otherwise with Moab, with the more bastardly fort: Their excellency, their life, their beauty, their religion, their [Page 24] loveliness remains still the same. They are not thus emptied from vessel to vessel, and therefore they keep that taste and scent they had.

But shall it always be thus? No, there shall be a time for Moab to be met with too. Though Judgment must begin at the house of God, yet it will not end there, but after he hath done with Israel, he will begin with Moab; after he hath done emptying Israel, he will empty Moab, and then he shall lose his taste and scent also. And then he shall finde, that it was not for his excellency beyond Israel, that he scaped all this while: His Religion, his God, his Worship, was not of so much value beyond Israels, because he thrived in it, and kept up the life and vigor of it, when Israels was falling, and a great degree fallen: But he shall be ashamed of that God that he framed to himself, as well as Israel was of that God they framed to themselves.

That which might carry the bell for excellency, O Christians, is fallen, is smitten to death. That Knowledg of God, that Life, that Zeal, that Holiness, which did sparkle with lustre and heavenly beauty, hath not been spared: But that which is of a more dege­nerate birth, doth yet live; But shall it live? Can God be just in making Israel ashamed of Bethel, and suffer Moab to go on pro­sperously in worshipping Chemosh? No certainly, it cannot be thus; but Moab shall be made ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.

YE have been very eminent (many of you) formerly in your generations, the springing up and sprouting forth of your Religion, strictness of conversation, sweetness of deportment, hath yeelded an wholesom savor to all with whom ye have con­versed. Ye have sweetly enjoyed God (though ye have now for­got [Page 25] it) not onely at a distance in longing desires, but neerer at hand, even in close embraces: Gifts, Graces, Ordinances, Duties, spi­ritual exercises of all kindes ye have been well acquainted with▪ and have known how to suck life through them, and (if ye have been skilful indeed) how to let them fall, and fasten upon the life it self

But now ye are dead to all this. All this is gone and passed a­way: ye have been slain to this by him who was wont to convey life to you through it: He that built you, hath made you desolate. And as your frame and fabrick, was more beautiful and glorious, then was elsewhere to be found: So proportionable have been your ruine and desolations from the Lord, who hath dealt so sharp­ly with none, as with you: It hath not been done to any under Heaven, so as hath been done to Jerusalem. And it is not fit a book of Lamentations should be written for you, because nothing that can be said is deep enough to express your misery. Ye are so slain to your Religion, that the very sweetness, life, vigor, power, purity of it stinks in your nostrils. That which, to others, carries the greatest excellency, carries to you the greatest abomination.

Thus far are ye dead indeed: And because ye have felt so great a power of death seizing upon you, ye think ye have felt all the pangs of it, and have nothing now to look for but the breakings forth of life, and are ready beforehand to name every thing so that passeth through you. The Creature is passed away, and whatso­ever now appears in you or to you, is God. Sin is now gone, ye are not under any Law, and therefore cannot sin. The Creature is swallowed up, there is nothing left but the Lord in Being, the Lord in motion and operation, in whom can be no evil, from whom can come no evil. All things, all actions are alike, there is no differ­ence; God is all and in all, who is every way full, every way like himself, in all he is, in all he does.

How now Sirs? where are ye? Are ye dead? Are these the postures of death? is there any such knowledg in the grave? Hath the dead man any such reasonings, such light, such principles in him? This is a Life of an higher Nature, then that which ye had before. Your bottles are not empty, but filled with new, with fresh wine. Ye dissemble, if ye say ye are dead, who thus speak: ye can praise your own notions, your own principles, and condemn [Page 26] all others: ye have a new desire, a new hope, a new interest, a new strain of life in every kinde! Are ye dead Sirs? Doth not the faine Life live subtilly in you, as did before, under a strange dis­guise? O that ye were indeed dead! O that ye were as sober and silent as those that are in the grave! If ye be dead, make it ap­pear; take your rest in the grave, stir not thence, till life quickens you. Have no party, no interest, no principle, no desire, no end: but lie like the clay before the Potter, free to be molded any way. But ye are very skilful; ye can tell what ye shall never be more, and what ye must be next, what in the issue, and the way ye must pass to it: O depth, O height of wisdom! here is wisdom in its very life and strength. How strangely do your hearts deceive you, to make you think, ye are dead!

I am sure, ye had need have life, to carry you through what ye undertake: for ye set about two of the greatest works, that ever were undertaken, viz. to pluck down, and to plant; to destroy and to build; to throw down the greatest glory of God that ever yet was discovered, and to set up a greater. Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the Life of Christ, the Salvation by Christ, are all no­thing before you; these ye lay flat without any scruple: All manner of sin, wickedness, filthiness, abomination, these ye set up. Ye magnifie what ever God expresseth himself to loath; and ye loath what ever God sets a price upon.

But harken, O mad Souls! ye have understanding to speak, to reason; make use of a little to hear.

Are ye sure that Sin shall be thus lovely? Nay are ye sure that it is so lovely at present, that ye make no bones of it in any kinde? Is not the whole Creation under some Law, which judgeth sin in what kinde soever it be, and hath proportioned smart unto it? May not ye your selves sin, and be met with for sin, though ye can acknowledg neither? That ye will live before your time, is not this your sin? and that ye will be holding out Eternal Life before ye have received it, and d [...]clare how things are in the bosom of Eter­nity, before ye know how they are in any creaturely Dispensati­on? And may ye not be met with for this? May ye not be given over (for a season) to such a bastardly life as is far worse then death; as falls short of your former life, even the life of your Re­ligion, which ye now so much despise, having no true excellency [Page 27] in it, but misery and vanity written so plainly in the face of it, that the very eye of the Creature may read it?

And are ye sure that Christ the Life of Christ, Salvation by Christ, are passed away? If not, why do ye hold it forth? if ye be, why do ye say ye are dead? Can ye consider what is now to be spoken?

Ye are both dead, and alive: Dead to Principles, and alive to Principles: dead to one poor weak shallow state, and alive to another inferior to it. Ye are far yet from tasting of Eternal Death, and far­ther from tasting of Eternal Life. Ye have been too hasty to con­ceive and bring forth, and therefore the birth must miscarry, and the womb be destroy [...]d. What ye have said must fall, as well as what others have said before you. Your testimony, either for or against things, deserveth not to be received. Indeed, that which Eternal Wisdom hath written upon your state and condition, de­serves to be diligently read, and wo be to him who mis-reads it, or neglects to read it: But the words that ye speak in this state and in this condition, are of very little value, further then they make the state it self more clear and evident.

Come Sirs, Let us be [...]ill. We are broken, we are distressed, our life is slain, our eyes are put out, we cannot see; let us not pretend to it. Let us not say what shall be, nay not so much as what is: Let us not say what shall not be, nay not so much as what is not. Let us not be too forward to throw away Christ, and Sal­vation by Christ, we may come, for ought we know, to stand in need of them. Let not us be imagining a new Christ, while we are blaming others for imagining an old. Let not us come forth with a new imagination of God to be all things, and lay this down as a Principle, and thereupon work it out in our Reason, that all things must be alike, all good, &c. but stay till we see, and know what he is in his own light, and with his own eye: And then when any of these things appear to us certainly, infallibly, let us without fear hold them forth, so far as that light, that life, that power guideth us. Till then, for mine own part, I am resolved to be very still and silent, and not to speak a word concerning these things, further then mine own spirit within presseth me: And if I be made a fool or mad (for sure I am, I may be made any thing) so long as I have so much ingenuity left in me, I will confess my self [Page 28] so to be, and (if it be I that speak) that I speak after that rate, and not wish any to regard any thing that comes from me, but to seek out a bottom on which they may safely build. Yet as I can­not advise any, to receive any thing that passeth through me; so neither can I advise them to neglect and slight it: because I know not what it is that speaks, nor what it is that is spoken, and there­fore must needs be ignorant how it is to be entertained; which I am not at all solicitous about, but very indifferent in my spirit con­cerning.

I Have looked upon thee, as the Captain of that Generation, whom my Soul loveth, whom, of all persons, my spirit (through the strength of love) turneth most vehemently towards, and most vehemently from. Your life I love, though it be deeply hid and covered; your covering I love likewise, because it is so fit to hide that life, which must not yet be seen: But that the thick, black, dark covering should exalt it self, as if it were the life, before it be swallowed up in the life, is very nau [...]eous and dis [...]el [...]shing to me. Your brave resolute spirit, that dares trample upon Heaven and Earth, laying your levelling line to all things, is of much value and excellency with me; yet your creaturely coming forth in weak­ness and darkness, your managing this from Principles of Reason and creaturely understanding, which hath deceived all men that have leaned upon it, and cannot but deceive at last, though it may give very firm [...]ooting to some: in respect of others at present, This my Throat cannot swallow, nor my Stomack digest. And let me a little open my heart to you, and if in true light you finde it dark, send it back to me further opened by that light.

Ye hold out certain Notions and Principles, such as these, That God is all, that all things are good, that all things are alike, &c.

[Page 29] Understand ye what ye say? Speak ye these things wildly, or comprehensively? Can ye shew the several lines and gradations of good and evil, how far they go, on whom they take place, in what respect, and how long, and where, and when, and how, they come to be swallowed up? Otherwise, though ye may speak a truth; yet from you and to you it is but a lye. In former days, and under former Dispensations, ye could speak truth, yet not understanding it, ye found it a lye to you: Ye are gone but one step further in that which must pass away as vanity, unless your feet be indeed fix­ed upon the onely bottom, not as it appears, but as it is. Tell me, See ye these things in Original Light? Not in that light, which streamed forth in you, or to you; but in that light which dwells in the Fountain? All the streamings forth of light have colours, which cannot but deceive every eye, which saw them not before they were coloured, and how they were coloured, and is not yet able to pierce into them, or through them, while they are coloured. Things so refracted, as appearing all to be good and in God, what excellency is there in this, what certainty is there in this? Indeed in some respect it may excel other appearances, but in other respects it must fall beneath them. To look upon my self as God by virtue of a Notion (how ever conveyed or received) and finde my self but a Creature in life, in motion, in power, is very irksom to a Noble Spirit, which loves not to make a sound above what it is or feels. This I have felt, Power enough to batter to confound me in every thing; but no power to build any thing, or so much as to fix me in a state of confusion. But ye are differently acted: ye know, ye understand things: ye have Principles to bottom upon: ye have received the light, and life, with certainty and satisfaction in that light. Well let it prove so; but my spirit is ready to say it cannot prove so, but that all that ye have received (as yet ye have received) must pass away and prove a lye: and that ye will be as sick of say­ing. God is all, all is good, all is alike, &c. as ever ye have been of any of your former Notions.

Shall I tell you what my spirit in the dark saith concerning these things? It speaketh thus:

That it will be so one day, as ye say; God will be all, all good, all alike, yet not so as you or I speak, or can understand it: and therefore though we knew these things, yet had we not whereof to [Page 30] boast, because our knowledg in this kinde will vanish and deceive us, as well as the knowledg of others in other kindes hath, and must deceive them.

My Spirit saith yet further:

That it is so at present, to him who doth not vary, and to whom nothing else can vary; and also to those who are one with him, and perfectly live in him. But, That it cannot be so to the Creature in its creaturely state, while it remains under any Dispensation, or hath any Dispensation to pass through. It is not the changing of the Imagination of the Creature, that maketh any real change in things beheld by the Creature, or in the state of the Creature it self. And the present frame of these earthly moldering Tabernacles seemeth to me suited onely to different Administrations, but quite voyd of any capacity of entertaining and enjoying absolute per­fection, though perfection cannot be hindred by them, from en­joying it self in them.

THere is a time to speak, and a time to be silent. When the Light of the Day discovereth things as they are, it is then a time to utter and declare what they are: When darkness and con­fusion covereth them, it is not proper for the Tongue to be uttering, what the Eye cannot see. Nothing is more beseeming, though no­thing more difficult to the fool, then silence. The wise man can hold his tongue when he should not; but the fool must be babling, though he himself cannot but confess, he hath nothing to say.

O God, what a strange kinde of Night is this, which affords no rest, which admits of no stilness! What a noise the empty Creature makes, talking as if it were filled with all the fulness of God, when as yet it is far from being emptied of it self! Where is the tongue of the learned, to speak a skilful word, a true word, a word in season! Vain Man may easily trample upon Christ and the Apostles, and dash their glory out of countenance, as weak and fading; but who [Page 31] can bold forth a glory beyond them? nay, who can yet shew a glo­ry equal with them? who can speak, or act like them?

We have Prophets who see great strange visions, wonderful vi­sions and revelations, beyond all that yet hath been. We have spi­ritual men who see into the mysteries, into the depths of God, who can fathom every thing, and laugh all off from the stage that suit­eth not with their measure. Ah wise flesh, whither wilt thou go? or whither art thou leading? where wilt thou stop? when wilt thou crouch, and take up that sentence of condemnation which thou hast layd upon others, which doth as properly appertain to thee, as unto any others?

No flesh shall glory or be justified in his presence, who is now breaking forth. The Prophet is already a fool, The spiritual man is already mad. Into the fool wisdom cannot enter, ( bray him never so much in the mortar, yet his folly will not depart from him:) Nor is the mad man capable of a right, sober, true under­standing of things: Nor is it possible for either to be silent, until they be cast as powerfully into it, as they were into this prophetical folly and spiritual madness; and then they shall be as unable to speak, as now they are to forbear speaking. When their brains are weary of imagining, their tongues of expressing, and their hearts speak plainly, that all is vanity; that which springs up from with­in, as well as that which is received in from without; both head, heart and tongue will begin to fail, and at last faint, and cease from these kinde of motions: And then it will be time for him, who tru­ly understands things, to speak, when every mouth else is stopped.

HOw prone is Man to be judging! Man hath an eye and light, in his Day; and he cannot forbear passing his judgment ei­ther [Page 32] upon things or persons. The Natural man will be judging na­tural things; and the Spiritual man will be judging spiritual things. Men will be judging men, and Christians will be judging Christi­ans, yea both will be judging both. And as men grow in light and experience, so much the more confident are they in their judgment: And 'tis so with Christians too; a Church, a gifted Church will not spare passing their sentence on the very prime of the A­postles.

In this place three things are held out.

1. The nature of this judgment. 'Tis but mans, 'tis but in mans day, in mans light; 'Tis a judgment passed by man. Mark it well; The judgment of the Churches in the Apostles times, when the Spirit was poured out so abundantly, yet it was but mans judg­ment. That was not the Day of God, it was but the Day of Man. There was not so much light even then broke out from God, as to make the day of God appear in man.

2. The invalidity or worthlessness of this judgment in Pauls account. With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of mans judgment. Man cannot be more forward to judg me, then I am to slight him in that action. Alass, what is man! what value is he of! wherein is he to be accounted of! what is the judgment worth that he passeth upon things? Paul, though he had not seen the perfect light of God, yet he had seen enough to discover to him the shallowness of the light of man. The time is not yet come to judg, nor the light whereby the true state of things is to be discerned, and therefore a right judgment of things can­not be produced: And though man will be so forward as to judg aforehand by way of anticipation, yet it will stand for nothing then, nor is it of any true value now. It is a very small thing with me, a thing I make as light of as may be. Though ye are a Church of Christ, though ye have the gifts of the Spirit; yet if ye will set about judging once, I do not regard you one rush; it hath no manner of impression upon my spirit as a matter of any se­riousness, as a matter worth regard: with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you.

Or of mans judgment. I do not onely speak of you, but any else, any other Church: I see how blinde and ignorant the best of men are, and how unfit for any such undertaking, and can say to [Page 33] the best of ye all, who art thou that judgest another mans servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. I can except against the person who judgeth, be he what he will: who art thou? Pray how comest thou to be so exalted, as to come to judg another? art thou his Lord? art thou Master; it belongs to the Lord to be Judg: thou hast no more right to judg thy fellow-servant, then he hath to judg thee.

Besides, 'tis the day of man, and so but the light of man. The Lord hath kept his own light for his own day, and so thou canst not discern the true nature and state of things, what they are in themselves, what force there was from without; Thou canst not see how they lie in the heart, nor how they come forth from the heart: all which must be throughly seen, and duly weighed, before righteous judgment can be passed. Therefore the Lord knowing how unfit man is for this work, hath forbid him it, hath bound him up very close, left him to judg nothing before the time, till the Lord bring forth the hidden things of the heart, which is as necessary to judgment as any thing else. And man might easily dis­cern, how unfit he is to judg, in this respect: for there is hardly any sort of persons judged by others, but this is their refuge, they run presently for shelter to the integrity of their own hearts; and though at some times and in some cases it be very improbable, yet it is very hard fairly to overthrow them. Were it not therefore better to stay till the appointed time, when all things shall be made clear, then to be passing an uncertain, and consequently an unrigh­teous judgment, and thereby to expose thy self to judgment? Wherein if thou shouldst come off for judging aright, yet thou wilt not come off in this respect, for judging afore the time: nei­ther canst thou be justified in thy judging, though thou shouldst judg aright, because thou didst it but by ghess, and not in the clear and universal light of the day.

3. The Apostles modesty upon the knowledg and sense of this; yea I judg not mine own self-

A Man hath great advantage of judging himself. There is None can look into a mans heart so as himself may. The chief considera­tion in every action is the reference it hath to the heart. A mans heart may justifie him wherein all others condemn him, and a mans heart may condemn him wherein all others justifie him. [Page 34] And upon this ground a man may more safely judg himself, then he can judg any else, because he may observe the passages of things from his heart, and the influence they have upon his heart better then others can, or then he can observe in others.

The Apostle had greater advantage of judging himself then most men. He had that light which gave him a true insight into things, and a truer insight into his own heart, then others could attain to.

Yet saith the Apostle, I judg not mine own self: I see clearly that there is a greater a more searching light to judg me, then as yet I have received, and how things will appear by that, I know not. And therefore I value not mine own justification of my self in any thing. If man condemn me, I regard not that condemnation; and if mine own heart clear me, I set no great esteem on that neither. There is another judgment which I must stand or fall by, as like wise every motion within me, and every action that cometh from me: But what others think, or what I my self think in the mean time concerning these things, is not much material.

O how sober doth true light, spiritual light, powerful light, make the person in whom it is▪ He can enjoy it, and yet not be lifted up by it. He can use it, and go beyond any; in the use of it, to whom it is not communicated in the same degree, and yet not stretch it beyond its line. He can judg beyond others; more clear­ly, more truly; more certainly; and yet, in his own spirit, lay his own judgment lower and flatter then others can theirs, who judg weakly, foolishly, falsly.

But who writes after this copy? Man, now-a-days, is as short of this sobriety, as he is of this light. Where is the man that judg­eth not himself, that judgeth not others; that justifieth not him­self, that condemneth not others? Look upon the Natural man, upon the Religious man, upon the inward and spiritual man: They are all able to judg, all able to justifie, all able to condemn.

The Natural man, he hath his Principles of Reason, whereby he judgeth. So far as he himself or others walk up to them, he justifieth himself and others; so far as they differ or fall short; he condemneth them. Yea he is so bold that he will lay this very line to Religion and religious persons, and condemn it, further then it suits with the rule of his reason. But how little doth he consider the weakness, the shallowness, the uncertainty of these principles? [Page 35] and therefore is not drawn to set so low a rate upon this his judg­ment, as he ought to do.

The Religious man, he hath his light to judg by too. The Turks▪ their Alcoran: The Papists, their Church; or at best the Scrip­tures interpreted by men of their own Principles: We, the Scrip­tures interpreted by men of our Principles. (Indeed we go beyond them, in taking a further latitude to our selves then they allow of; yet withall we cannot but see the inconveniency of that latitude, but know not where to pitch upon an infallible remedy, for want whereof we are often endevoring to set up one much like theirs. Doth not every one almost see a necessity of deciding things in difference, and thereupon desire that the decision might be put to that sort of persons whom they most affect, and judg most able? And what is this but an hood winking our selves for quietness sake, a running in a circle into the same foundation of error and deceit, for which we blame the Papists?) Now we all judg one another very confidently. The Turks judg the Papists, and us: The Papists judg the Turks, and us: We judg both Turks and Papists. So a­mong our selves, There are several sorts and Sects, different Opi­nions about several things; Differences in points of Government and Worship, Differences in matters of Faith, in matters of practise, in interpretations of Scripture in reference to all these. What do we all do? why, every man thinketh and judgeth himself in the right, condemneth all others, making no bones of laying blame, of laying accusations of error and disturbance upon them.

The inward or spiritual man, he will be judging too. All things without, he casts by without any scruple; there is nothing can stand before him, but the light within: And all things within or from within, that vary from his track, that differ from his light, from his sense, from his experience, must come under his lash. And this is a great exception which hath been very strong in my spirit against all that hath appeared in this kinde; that they break forth with a great vehemency of unbounded judging; They come forth with a fleshly interest, and for that they fight very vigorously with all that stands in their way.

Now what shall become of thee, O Man! Is it not high time for thee to be taken down? Thou, who hast ever been judging, dost thou think thou shalt never come to judgment? Thou, who [Page 36] hast still been judging the things of God in thy day, by thy light, without the light of God, must be judged for this in the day of the Lord, and by the light of the Lord. Thou now justifiest thy self, that thou keepest within thy bounds, thou judgest no further then thou hast ground and warrant to do: We shall see what will be­come of this plea then.

Judg not, saith Christ. And he himself forbare judging ( I judg no man, Joh. 8. 15.) though if he had judged, his judgment had been true, Vers. 16. Yet being not his time to judg, though he was to be Judg, he could forbear his sentence, until the proper season of it.

Judg nothing before the time, saith Paul, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart. And what he coun­selleth others, he practised himself: for notwitstanding the great advantage he had both of light and experience, yet he would not venture to judg so much as himself, either positively to condemn or justifie himself. If others accuse him, he can wipe off their ac­cusation, and justifie himself in respect of any thing they can lay to his charge: But yet he does this as a fool, he cannot justifie himself understandingly, but even in this very thing may he be foiled, when he comes to a stricter tryal and judgment. And the Apostle, know­ing this, though he could tell how to clear himself from any blame men might fasten upon him, yet he did not value it at all, but sus­pended even his judgment concerning himself, until the time of tryal.

How wilt thou hold up thy head, O thou self-justifier (who art confident thou shalt stand in judgment, and art sure that in such and such particulars thou shalt not be cast) and severe condemner of thy brethren! If thou knewest but the pure and searching nature of that light, whereby thou shalt be judged, thou wouldst be of ano­ther minde then thou art▪ and the less thou know [...]st it, the more strange will it be to thee when it comes, and thy judgment the more unexpectedly dreadful.

THere are two great exceptions against Christ, his Ministry, and Followers, a little before these words.

1. His keeping company with the looser sort. Vers. 30. The Scribes and Pharisees murmured against his Disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with Publicans and sinners? They ex­pected, that the Holy One (when he once came) should have pick­ed out the most holy ones to have conversed and delighted himself with, and not have associated himself with the vile and profane sort.

2. Their distance from that strictness and exactness wherein o­thers walked, and wherein they expected him and his to exceed, and not to fall short. Vers. 33. Why do the Disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the Disciples of the Pha [...]i­risees, but thine eat and drink? Men that are addicted to a kinde of devotion and strictness cannot relish any thing that comes out of that way: Christ himself, his followers, his and their practises, cannot but be judged by them, if they fall short herein.

Christ gives them an account of both these. Of the former, Vers. 31, 32. They that are whole need not a Physician, &c. Where should a Physician be but with his Patients, with those that are sick, with such as need and desire his skill. Of the latter here, in these 34, and 35, Verses. Can ye make the Children of the Bride­chamber [Page 38] fast, while, &c. Why, says he, there is no possibility of it, no suitableness of it to their present state: ye cannot make them fast; they cannot fast, if they would. Can ye make the children of the Bride-chamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them? &c.

The children of the Bride-chamber. In this great Bulk of the Earth, which hath been generally cast off since the Fall of Man, there hath still been some parcel which God hath picked out, in a more especial manner to own as his, to converse with, and to please himself in. Some he hath still picked out for his Children, for his Spouse, for his own Lot and Inheritance. To these he is the Bridegroom, they his Bride; He their God, they his People; He the Father, they his Children, &c. Thus he picked out Abraham and his Seed: then the whole people of the Jews. Thus he picked out the twelve Apostles: then the whole Spiritual Seed that came, as it were, out of their loins.

Now particular persons in this body, they are members of the whole. The whole together, maketh up the Society, or Church, or Bride: The particular persons are members, or children of the Bride-chamber.

This phrase, children of the Bride-chamber, notes their weak state at present while they are under Dispensations: They are not grown up to be a Bride, they are but a Bride in seed, in child-hood, under age. Though they be in the Bride-chamber, made much of by the Bridegroom, yet this is not purely as a Spouse, but as chil­dren. Their society and sports together are but weak and childish, not grave and solid; like such as are between the father and the child, not like such as are between the man and the wife. Their very Nuptial pleasure in the Bride-chamber can be but suitable to their own state: They can yield delight to the Bridegroom but ac­cording to what is in them, and they can receive from the Bride­groom but according to their own capacity.

Fast or mourn. Fasting is but an expression of grief or mourn­ing; an effect that cometh from it, a companion that accompanieth it, a means to give further scope to it. Grief takes away the sto­mack from the meat: Grief and fasting are companions: fasting giveth vent and scope to grief. Therefore was fasting appointed to the Jews, to further their mourning, that they might have full scope to grieve and mourn, that they might afflict their Souls be­fore the Lord.

[Page 39] Now the season of fasting is in those days, when the Bridegroom is taken from the Church, from the Spouse, from the children of the Bride-chamber.

Obs. 1. When God is present with his People in any Dispensa­tion, communicating himself to them according to the nature of that Dispensation, it is no proper season of grief. There is none can make them grieve then: They cannot grieve then, if they would. Can ye make the children of the Bride-chamber fast while the Bridegroom is with them?

Reas. All cause of joy is present, and all cause of grief is removed. What is the great cause of joy, indeed the whole cause of joy in and to the heart of the Church? why this. Enjoying of God, and pleasing of God. This is all that the Spouse desires; to enjoy her husband, and to please her husband: and this is present. What ever is in God, all his Sweetness, Goodness, Life, Power, Love, &c. is let out (ac­cording to the nature and degree of the Di [...]pensation) into the heart of the Spouse, by his presence: What ever the Spouse woul [...] be to him, what ever the Spouse can desire to be to him, what ever he would have her be to him, he makes her to be by his presence. This is the state of the Bride in the B [...]ide-chamber: The Soul hath, what it would; from her Husband; The Soul is, what she would be, to her Husband, in her degree, and according to the Dispensation.

And then, there is no matter of grief. All enemies, all accusations, all troubles; all fears, are damped by the presence of her Husband. Nay sh [...] cannot so much as star the loss of her Husband; for while he is so near her, that she can look into his heart, she seeth that it is impossible for him to part from her, further then she would have him: It is by mutual consent that they part for a time, that they may both dye in that present relation of weakness, wherein they cannot enjoy one another fully according to their hearts desire; that they may meet again in perfection. They estrange themselves mutually from these weak, low, vanishing embraces, that they may attain to eternal and everlasting embraces.

Obs. 2. There is a season for the Bridegroom and his Spouse to part. In every Dispensation there is a time of enjoyment, a time of life, a time of sweet solace and delight between God and his peo­ple in it; and a time of death. God hath a time to leave the Bride­chamber, and then the Bride loseth his presence, and all that sweet­ness which she found in it.

[Page 40] Reas. It is necessary that God (thus appearing, thus enjoyed) should go away: both to make way for further Dispensations, (that every Dispensation may have his course,) and to put an end to all Dispensations. If God did not pass away in one Dispensa­tion, how could he make way for the discovery of himself in ano­ther? And if he did not cause all Dispensations to wither and dye, how could he bring forth his own Life and Glory, which was before all Dispensations, passes through all Dispensations, and can alone discover it self by swallowing up all Dispensations, and represent­ing that vastness and incomprehensibleness which cannot appear in any Dispensation whatsoever, but must have its own limits to dis­cover it self in?

Obs. 3. When the Bridegroom and the Bride (or children of the Bride-chamber) are parted, there is true cause of grief. Then is the proper season of grief: then there will be mourning and lamen­tation in the heart of the Spouse. Such a ground of grief, meeting with such a subject of grief, must needs cause it to swell within, and to spout forth abundantly.

1. This is the true cause of grief. There is no true cause of grief but the loss of God. There is no true cause of joy but the enjoy­ment of God. There is nothing the heart of the Spouse doth truly hanker after, but God: and since it cannot taste immediate enjoy­ment, O how sweet it is to enjoy him in Dispensations! and the loss of this is very bitter, which appears in this. Let the Soul lose all things, and enjoy its God, it hardly misseth any thing: Let the Spouse have all manner of delights and contents, and miss God, it can take pleasure in nothing. Since God hath wrapped up himself in his own absolute perfection, there is nothing worth seeking after, but him in a Dispensation: and there is nothing worth lamenting, but the loss of him in that Dispensation.

2. This is the true subject of grief, and that in divers respects.

In respect of the tenderness of her Spirit. The more tender the spirit is, the more capable is the person of grief. There is none so ten­der as the Church: None like to Christ for bowels, and the same bowels have his Church. A little matter of grief will take great im­pression upon a tender spirit. Oh how does a little unkindness from God wound and grieve his people! what will then his total depar­ture do?

[Page 41] And in respect of the largeness of her heart. By communion with God; by knowing, tasting and enjoying of God, she comes to have a large heart, and so to be more capable of joy or sorrow. None can bear her joys, wherewith she is filled, in enjoying of God: and none can give entrance unto such wounds and sorrows as she receives upon his departure.

And lastly in respect of her love. Her love was wondrous great; her whole heart was set upon him; her life, her content, her very soul was bound up in him. This makes a loss very bitter; when not onely the thing lost was very excellent, but the whole heart of the party was wrapped up in it.

Consider this, O ye who forget the afflictions of Joseph! The whole Creation groaneth and mourneth, because they sensibly miss their creaturely perfection and happiness: But the Spirit of the Bride mourneth very bitterly, because she much more feeleth the want of her Bridegroom. O how love-sick is the poor Spouse; her eyes full of tears, her heart full of grief, her thoughts restless, her de­sires endless, and she altogether uncapable of any comfort, while she misseth her beloved! O mourn with Jerusalem ye that truly love her: Was ever sorrow like unto her sorrow? Was ever destru­ction and desolation like unto that which hath lighted on her?

Let us press after Ʋnity, so far as we may. We cannot all be one in enjoyments, one in dispensations; because we do not all enjoy, nor are we all cast into one form and dispensation by him who de­lights to bring us forth in great variety: But we may be one in grief. There are none enjoy so much, but that they have still cause enough to mourn over what they want; and if they can spare any grief in respect of themselves and their own condition, there are enough be­sides to expend it upon, which true love (where it is lively and sym­pathizing) will easily teach them how to do.

But ye, who will by no m [...]ans be drawn off from beating your fellow-servants, and persecuting them whom the Lord hath smitten; Go on, enjoy your pleasure, till the Bridegroom be awakened by the spirit of the Bride, which cryeth very vehemently, Come, oh come, come; how long! when, when, oh when! and then ye will not need to be put upon mourning, though that mourning which will then light upon you, is likely to be more chargeable, and less profitable, then that which ye are now invited to.

SIn, is the deviation of the creature from that rule which is pre­scribed to it, by him who made it, according to its make, nature and state wherein it is set. The creature is not its own original, but was made by another; and he who made it hath given it its nature, set it in its station, appointed it its course, and its compass or rule, whereby it should steer; the deviation from which is sin, and layeth the creature open to his lash, who is its King and Law­giver, and will call it to an account. Poor weak man doth not make Laws for nothing, but looketh to have them boundaries, and doth execution upon violation: and can you think the Mighty, Eter­nal, Everlasting Being, the great King, is more slight and trivial then man, in the Laws he writes in the natures of all things and persons?

Liberty is the freedom of the creature to walk up to this rule. It seeth its present happiness to lie in it, and therefore cannot but press towards it, which if it find no cumberance in, it may be said to be free. When it hath no inclination within, nor nothing from without can have any power upon it to draw it aside, but it goes on sweetly, vigorously, easily, according to its hearts desire, both in pursute and enjoyment, then it is free. While it is subject to con­trary desires, to temptations to the contrary, it is in bondage: but when it is set free from these, and indued with full power to walk up to its rule, it is made free indeed.

This was the freedom Christ enjoyed, ( Which of you convinceth me of sin? There was no guile found in his mouth.) This was the freedom Christ preached; This was the freedom Christ promised, [Page 43] to set men free from sin. And this was the liberty the Apostl [...]s like­wise sought after, and pressed others to: They could do nothing against the truth, but for the truth; nothing against God, but on­ly for God. (I know in one sence nothing can be done against God, but in another sence many things may be done against him, and as yet are, by all under all Dispensations.) Not that they could do no evil; that what ever they did was good: but the inward inclination of their spirits was otherwise, and they had power (in a great measure) to follow this inclination, and to resist and over­come what would set upon them to draw them to the contrary. They tasting of this, in a degree, tasted of true spiritual Liberty, which the greatest freedom unto sin, is not. If I had never so much liberty within me to curse, swear, drink, whore, &c. (let me speak a little broadly, as is now very usual,) for my part, I profess, I could not look upon this as liberty; but as a new strain of bondage, en­gaging me unto that which there is an impression in my mind and nature against, and which my very sense discovereth to me to be contrary to the sweetness and content of the creaturely state. I protest, for my part, I cannot desire any such freedom, nor conceive how there can be any true delight in any such goings forth, nor see how they can come from, or be accompanied with true freedom in any whatsoever transportations may attend them therein.

When any shall indeed grow into perfect union with, and enjoy­ment of, the fulness of the Godhead; then shall they know how to do these things as God himself now doth them. But for the crea­ture, in its weak, dark, shallow, empty state, to rise up and say, I will be like the most High, nay I am the most High; There is no evil to me, nor to my eye; Darkness and Light are the same to me in every kind, as well as to him. I must profess, this is, to my foolish apprehension, the purest piece of madness that ever yet brake forth, proceeding from a cup of very deeply intoxicating wine, which all that drink of cannot chuse but err in judgment.

Wine maketh a person strongly conceited, maketh him forget himself, his state, his sorrow, his misery, maketh him fool-hardy, and altogether voyd of fear in the midst of the most apparant and most eminent danger; but maketh no real change in his state, or in other things about him, which he judges far different from what he did [Page 44] before, not from a true sight of the difference, but from the strength of the wine. The fumes of the wine now abroad may make a person forget sin, its reference to him, his danger by reason of it, &c. But when they are expelled, and he awakened out of these his drunken dreams, he will find himself but where he was, even in the clutches of sin, under the power, guilt, and condemnation of sin, which will not leave him, until he be more fairly quitted and delivered from it. O God, I have waited for thy Salvation! All the turnings and windings of the creaturely imagination cannot relieve me. A migh­ty power of misery, of death, hath seized upon my very Soul, and nothing but a greater power of life can prevail to rescue me.

Perfection is the creatures full enjoyment of God in and accord­ing to its creaturely state: When God is married to it, and keep­eth company with it compleatly, even as abundantly as may be, in that station wherein it is set: when the creature hath as much of God as it can desire, in that very way that it is taught and led to desire him. Why may there not be a perfection in that very way, in that very kind, wherein imperfection hath hitherto appeared? And why may there not be a season for that perfection to discover it self, and be set up, as well as there hath been for this imperfection? There is an happiness to come forth before our being swallowed up into the fulness of God, which is, the letting forth of God into us in measure and degree proportionable to our creaturely state.

Well, to draw to an end, What shall we say to the present state of things? Let me freely shoot my bolt: which is this.

God hath been throwing down; But man (not able to endure a state of desolation) hath been building up again, as fast as he could. God hath thrown down power with power: but man hath reared up his new fabrick with weak, airy, empty notions. What is like to be the issue? God will make good his throwing down, but mans re-building will come to nothing. There is a worm in the founda­tion, yea in all the materials; which eats out the life, heart and strength of them, and so maketh them quickly discover their own weakness, creatureliness, and rottenness. Yet do not boast over these, O Man, but consider thy self, lest thou also be tempted. As yet thou standest; but art thou able to stand before that power by which they have fallen, if it should as forcibly deal with thee, as it hath with them?

[Page 45] I will conclude all with an Exhortation out of Zephaniah, chap. 2. vers. 3. which shall be onely to such to whom the words them­selves direct it. The words are these.

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the Earth, which have wrought his Judgment, seek Righteousness, seek Meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger.

Seek. It is a time of scarcity, of want, of loss; Seek. Men have lost their light, their life, their excellency, their sight and knowledg of every spiritual thing: it is a very proper time for seek­ing. Let those that have, make much of what they have, let them enjoy: But let those that are sick, that want the Physician, that want their spiritual health and strength, let them seek.

But what shall we seek? Seek what ye want: Seek the Lord. Do not seek shadows, lyes, vanities, things that will pass away: But seek the Lord, seek bread, seek life, seek substance, seek true riches, seek truth: Seek that which your spirits most naturally gasp after, and can onely be satisfied with.

Who are those you would have seek? All ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment. The meek and righteous ones, they are onely fit to seek, they are the persons God would have seek him. Those that are broken in their spirits, made tender by their breakings; those that have had some taste of righteousness in their spirits, that have the relish of it still on their palates, and so cannot but hunger and thirst after it, these are fit to seek, these God onely desires to have seek him. The high, the lofty, the un­righteous ones; let them alone (saith God) let me deal with them: but put the poor, tender, broken spirits out of the track of my indig­nation, as much as may be.

But what should we seek in God; what should we seek of God? Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Do not seek God in his fulness, in his perfection; your house is not yet large enough to entertain him; ye are not able so either to receive him, or bear his presence: but seek him in such a way, in such an Administration as is suitable to you; seek righteousness, seek meekness, seek him to be in you a living power of righteousness and meekness. This is the way to be serviceable to God, to hold forth God, to enjoy God in Dispensations, viz. to be righteous and meek. The righ­teous [Page 46] and meek one, He is a kinde of God to his fellow-creatures, He enjoyeth sweetness within in himself, and he hath God still flowing in more and more upon him. This is that every one should seek in every Dispensation, namely righteousness and meekness in that Dispensation.

But what will this avail? This is but momentany; All this must pass away. When God comes forth in his perfection, this will be dis­covered to be but empty and creaturely, and will fall flat before him. The fire must fall upon this, and burn up as well the righte­ousness and meekness, as the unrighteousness and ruggedness of the Creature.

How know you that? It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger.

God is angry at the state wherein things have been yet brought forth; (I can say he is pleased with it too, yet he is also angry, and truly angry. In the Creature there is but the shadow of anger, but in him there is anger in substance, in truth.) He doth not like either the deviation of the Creature, or the misery which that deviation leads into. He doth not like that vanity, misery, and corruption, which is rivetted into the Creature. He doth not like the present constitution of the Creature, the present motions and actions of the Creature according to that constitution. He is offended at the whole state and course of things; at every thing that thus is, at e­very thing that thus is done. And he hath a day for his anger, a day to give his anger scope in, a day wherein he will let the Creature see and feel how angry he is with it.

A Day. It will be night with the Creature, a very black time to the Creature: but it will be the Lords day. He will not let out his anger, as we commonly do, in confusion and darkness; but in cleer light, and in perfect love. As anger came from love; so anger shall be subservient unto love, and be guided and managed in and by the light of love. Yet still it shall be anger, it shall retain its own nature, and make the Creature sufficiently sensible of it, on whom it lights.

Now for all this, he hath an hiding place, wherein he can cover what and whom he pleaseth, in this time of indignation, from the heat and fury of it. And this ye may meet with, if ye be led by [Page 47] him to seek righteousness and meekness, ye may be hid by him from the scorching violence of it. If any thing scape, it is like to be righteousness and meekness, if any person scape, it will be he in whom these are found. The indignation will be so hot in that day, that the most righteous and meekest person breathing will hardly a­voyd the danger of it, but there will be somewhat found even in them, for the fire to seize upon and torment to death: but this is the onely way to escape, and perhaps by this means ye may escape it. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger. What­soever shall become of righteousness afterwards, yet certainly it shall escape that brunt that is to light upon sin: Righteousness shall be hid in that day of anger, and all persons so far as they are found righteous. And let men think and speak what they please at pre­sent, yet they shall one day see and say, verily there is a reward for the righteous, when they shall see God come to judg the earth, and putting a difference between things and things, persons and persons: For doubtless notwithstanding the present confusion and distraction whereinto things are cast, yet there is a time for the orderly bringing of them forth unto judgment, where they shall receive their doom; not according to what they now take them­selves to be, but according to what they are, and shall by clear light be then made appear to be. To shut up all.

When the eyes of our spirits are opened in the inward and spiri­tual world, we shall then see the frame of inward and spiritual things: We shall see, in the spiritual Creation, light and darkness, good and evil; which is as real in its kinde, as that, which the eyes of our senses cannot but see and acknowledg in the outward world, is in its kinde. And though darkness and light are both alike to God, yet they are not so, nor cannot be so in the outward world to the sense of the Creature: Neither are they nor can they be so in the inward world to the sense of the spiritual man. 'Tis true they are so to God; but neither I, nor you, nor any else can apprehend how they are so, while we are what we are, and therefore cannot speak truth in discovering how they are so.

O how hath infinite Wisdom entangled our reason in its going a­bout to understand and fathom these things, catching it in the greatest and strongest bands of folly and madness, while it thinks it [Page 48] hath, and gloryeth as if it had taken possession of the deepest Wisdom!

So let the glory of Man fall for ever. So let the Reason, Ʋn­derstanding and Wisdom of the Creature always prove a broken reed to run into it, pierce and wound it; that none may ever come to know or enjoy God, or any thing of God; but as he freely im­parts himself, or of himself, unto them.