The Building and Glory of the truly Christian and Spiritual CHURCH. Represented in an EXPOSITION On Isai. 54, from vers. 11 to the 17.  
PREACHED To His Excellency Sir Tho. Fairfax and the General Officers of the Army, with divers other Officers, and soldiers, and People, At Marston, being the Head-quarter at the Leaguer before Oxford, June 7. 1646.  
By WILLIAM DELL, Minister of the Gospel, attending on His excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax in the Army.  
Together with a faithful TESTIMONY touching that valiant and victorious Army, in the Epistle to the Reader.  Matth. 5. 11. 
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Verse 12. 
Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you.  Psal. 69. 9 
The reproaches of them that reproached thee, are fallen upon me.  
Published by Authority.  
LONDON, Printed for G. CALVERT, at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Paul's. 1646.   

To the READER.  
HAving obtained this grace from God, to be called into some friendship and familiarity with Jesus Christ, so, as to hear and receive from him, something of the mind and bosom of the Father, according to his free grace, who hath mercy on whom he will: and having after many tears and temptations (not unknown to many yet in the body) obtained this further grace, to speak the Word of God with boldness, I have also been counted worthy to be taken into some fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, and to endure the contradiction of sinners, and ofttimes to encounter the rage and madness of men, yea, and to fight with men after the manner of beasts, altogether brutish and furious. And thus it hath fared with me often, especially at two remarkable times. The one at Lincoln, upon occasion of two Sermons preached there, on these words of the Prophet Isaiah, chap. 9 7. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Wherein giving unto Christ his own proper due, many were angry I had taken too much from men, to whom yet nothing belongs, but iniquity, shame and confusion; they could not bear this, that the Lord alone should be exalted. But that Doctrine of truth the Lord hath strongly upheld with the right hand of his righteousness, and the glory of it hath since shone into many hearts in this Kingdom, much contrary to their desire.  
The other time wherein I met with remarkable opposition, was lately at Marston, the Head quarter at the Leaguer before Oxford; whither some coming out of the City of London, in all probability out of some special design (seeing the old malignity now acts in a new form, and is daily coming forth in a second and more plausible, cunning, and deceiving edition) became exceeding angry and heady against the plain and clear truth of the Gospel, delivered in this following Exposition (wherein the whole truth and substance of what was then delivered, is exactly set down, and nothing abated; but rather some things farther pressed, 
Jer. 36 32.  adding (as Jeremiah in the second roll) many like words to the former. New some of these men, seeing themselves and their new design clearly discovered by the light of the Word, and made altogether naked, suddenly they grew fierce and furious, contradicting and blaspheming, yea, some of them speaking the language of hell upon earth (of which there are some witnesses) as became men of such a generation. 
John 8. 44.  These men, according to the operation of that spirit which works mightily in the children of disobedience, come and fill the whole City with lies and slanders, laying to my charge things that I knew not; the falsehood and untruth whereof, there are some hundreds, and some of them of great and eminent worth and piety, ready to witness. Wherefore of mere necessity I was constrained to publish this Exposition, as a witness to this present and the following generations, of these men's resisting the Spirit, and acting against Christ himself in the Word. And though the discourse be very plain, not savouring of any accurateness of human wisdom and learning, yet they that are themselves spiritual, will acknowledge something of the Spirit in it, and for that cause will relish and love it; though others will therefore be at the greater enmity against it. But for my part, I have set down my resolution in the Lord, in this Cause of Jesus Christ, not to weigh all the power of earth or hell, one feather; but to put it to the utmost trial, whether the truth of the Gospel or the slanders and lies of men shall prevail: whether the smoke of the bottomless pit, that comes forth out of the mouth of these and many others, shall be able to blot out or darken the brightness of Christ's coming in the ministry of the Gospel: yea, and whether the power and malice of the devil and the world, shall be stronger than the love and protection of Jesus Christ. And I doubt not, but the more the world acts in the Spirit of the devil, the more will Christ enable us to act in his own Spirit, till all at last shall be forced to acknowledge, that the Spirit that is in us, is stronger than the spirit that is in the world. And what now have all these men obtained by all their malice and fury, but a greater and more open discovery of the truth: and to cause that that light of the Gospel, that only shone in one Congregation, should, through the printing of it, have its beams scattered in many parts of the Kingdom: and wherever the truth comes, the children of the truth will entertain it, & ask nobody leave. And thus through the overruling power of God's wisdom, do these men betray their own and their fellows cause, and overthrow their own and their ends; and whilst they think to oppress the truth, propagate it the more: and thus shall truths enemies perish, and the truth itself flourish; yea, flourish through slanders, oppositions, contradictions, blasphemies, and all the vileness and villainy in the world. And all this confidence in us, arises hence, because Christ is not as a dead man, but is risen and ascended, and sits at the right hand of God, and fills all things, & doth all things in heaven and in earth, in the world and in the Church, among his friends & among his enemies, till these be made his footstool: which is the very thing we are now in expectation of.  
Now one thing more which I think fit to acquaint the world withal in this Epistle, is this, That none of these thorny hearers durst after come to discourse with me, or to look me in the face; but one among them, that seemed of a better temper than the rest, upon the urging of a godly Citizen then present, did speak with me: and the question he asked of me, was this, Whether I thought that all Presbyterians were carnal gospelers. I told him, I was far from thinking any such thing; for I knew some of them very godly Christians, and did acknowledge the grace of God in them; and that for mine own part, I did not allow any such distinction of Christians, as Presbyterians and Independents, this being only a distinction of man's making, tending to the division of the Church; and added, that as in Christ's kingdom neither Circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature; so in this same kingdom of Christ, neither Presbytery availeth any thing, nor Independency, but a new creature: and that the kingdom of God stands not in Presbytery or Independency, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy Ghost; and that, if I saw any thing of God or Christ, or the Spirit in any one, I reckoned him as a brother, not taking any such opinion into consideration; and that the unity of spirit, and not of opinion, is the bond of Peace in Christ's kingdom. The man than pretended to be satisfied, and to rejoice in his satisfaction; but since (as is related) hath showed his stomach again▪ but because he seems to be a Christian, the Lord lay it not to his charge.  
And truly, reader, it is a sad thing, that ever these names of Presbyterians and Independents grew up to this height in the Church, and that these opinions should be reckoned more in a man, than the presence and dwelling of God himself and the Spirit in him. For my part, I utterly disclaim all such distinctions of man's making, and will allow of no distinction of men, but what God himself hath made, and that is this, The world, and they that are taken out of the world; or, The Church, and they that are without: and in the Church, the children that are born after the flesh, and the children that are born after the Spirit: or, which is all one, carnal and spiritual Christians. This distinction of men, God hath made, and this I do and must needs use, though the world (as it appears) likes this worse than the other. For the distinction of seeds in the Church, is the true distinction; and the more this is brought about by the Word and Spirit, the more glorious will the Church be. Now, some spiritual Christians may be among those that are called Presbyterians, and some among those that are called Independents; and all these, though called by different names, are of one spritual Church: & again, some carnal Christians may be among those that are called Independents, & some among those that are called Presbyterians; and all these, though called by different names, are of one carnal Church. And therefore I could wish we had obtained such wisdom from God, as to let the distinction & division of men lie only there, where God hath made it, and not where flesh and blood hath made it; and so shall the true spiritual Church be delivered from these distinctions of flesh and blood, and be separated from the world, and be gathered together in itself, and be at unity with itself; which will be God's great glory, and its own strength, comfort and happiness, and the great terror and dread of all profane men and formalists.  
Another thing which I find my heart stirred up within me to do, is, to testify to the world what I kn●w in mine own experience, touching the Army under the command of that most faithful and worthy General, Sir Tho. Fairfax: and that because I am not ignorant of the great undervaluing, and despising, and reproaching of it, by many, even of those, whose blood runs warm in their veins, and who enjoy all the comforts they have in the world, through the faithfulness, diligence, activity, labours, hunger, thirst, cold, weariness, watchings, marchings, engagements, stormings, wounds and blood of these men, instruments in the hand of God, for the subduing that malignant power that rose up against the State and Saints of God▪ yea, instruments of God's own choosing and calling forth to his foot, for this great and glorious service; which after-ages will wonder and stand amazed at, as well as at the vile ingratitude of this age, to such instruments as these; for which God will not hold it guiltless. This then for mine own part I am most confident on, that there are as many gracious and godly Christians in it, as in any gathering together of men in all the world again: men full of faith and the Spirit, and the admirable endowments of it. More particularly, there are these Six things most remarkable in this despised Army.  
1. Their Unity, which is admirable: it being more the Unity of Christians then of men▪ more a Unity in the Spirit then in the flesh; in the Father and Son then in themselves. And this hath been one great means of their great success, they being all both in Counsel and Action but as one man. The Lord hath taken them and knit them up in one bundle, and so their enemies could not break them, but have been broken by them▪ Many of their matters of greatest moment, have been carried in council with that unity, that sometimes not so much as one hath contradicted.  
2. Their humility; which hath been admirable as well as the former. For after great and glorious victories, to the wonder of the kingdom and of the world, when Kings of the Army did flee apace, and the men of might ran away as women, I have never heard any of the worthy and godly Commanders or Officers ever to say, I did this or that, or to boast of his own counsel or his own strength, or to attribute any thing to himself, or anybody else, of what God had done; but every one to say. This was the Lord's own doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes; and it was not our own sword or bow, but the Lord's right hand, and his arm, and the light of his countenance. And they have been most willing to be nothing themselves, that God might be all.  
And this hath been one means to keep them humble, because though God hath been much with them, yet the world hath been much against them; not for their own sakes, who have done the work of the kingdom faithfully and honestly; but for God's sake in them: because there is more of God among these men then among other men, therefore are they so maligned by many men. For the world always most hates, where there is most of God: and you may have a shrewd guess where there is most of God, by observing where the greatest hatred of the world lies.  
3. Their faith. There are many in the Army ●en of great and precious faith; through which, they have wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Through this faith, they have pursued their enemies and overtaken them, and turned not again till they had consumed them: they have beaten them small as the dust before the wind, & cast them out as dirt in the streets. Through faith they have entered strong Cities; and I can truly and particularly say (let them that will needs be offended, stumble and fall at it) that Bristol (among other places) was conquered by faith more than by force; it was conquered in the hearts of the godly by faith, before ever they stretched forth a hand against it; & they went not so much to storm it as to take it, in the assurance of faith. Through faith, one of them hath chased ten, and ten put an hundred to flight, and an hundred a thousand. And this was performed in the very letter of it, at that famous and memorable battle at Naseby. Many more instances I could relate of the power of faith in this Army, but that I should thereby grieve and afflict many too much.  
4. The spirit of Prayer: and this the Lord hath poured forth upon many of them in great measure; not only upon many of the chief Commanders, but on very many of the inferior Officers, and common Troopers; some of whom, I have by accident heard praying, with that faith and familiarity with God, that I have stood wondering at the grace. We never undertook any thing of weight, but God was always sought to of us again and again: and we have found God near to us in all things we have called upon him for. Yea, God hath been found of us, whilst yet we have been seeking him, & hath given us the answer of our prayers into our bosoms.  
5. The special presence of God with them. I have seen more of the presence of God in that Army, then amongst any people that ever I conversed with in my life. There hath been a very sensible presence of God with us: we have seen his goings, and observed his very footsteps: for he hath dwelled among us, and marched in the head of us, and counselled us, and led us, and hath gone along with us step by step, from Naseby to Leicester, and from thence to Langport, and Bridgewater, and Bath, and Sherborn, and Bristol, and the devices, and Winchester, and Bazing, and Dartmouth, and Exeter, and into Cornwall, and back again to Oxford, and all along his presence hath gone along with us, and he hath been our strength and glory. How often hath fearfulness and trembling taken hold upon the enemy? and the stout men been at a loss for their courage, and the men of might for their hands, because of the presence of God with us? yea, because of this, they have melted away in their strong Holds, and delivered up their fenced Cities into our hands; and every place we have come against, we have taken in, and every battle wherein we have fought, we have prevailed. And because God hath been in the midst of us, we have not been moved ourselves; and our enemies have perished (not by our valour, and weapons, and strength) but at the rebuke of his countenance. This shall be written for the generation to come (seeing so many of this present generation so little regard it) and the people that are to be born shall praise the Lord.  
6. The sixth remarkable thing in the Army is, their faithfulness to the state. How have they gone up and down in weariness and labours, and dangers, and deaths, to do the kingdom's work? when was it, that they sat idle? have they not as soon as one field was fought, prepared to another? as soon as one city was taken, advanced to another? and so gone on, from one strong hold of the enemies to another, till all have been reduced? that peace might be hastened to this kingdom if it were the will of God, and not come as a snail, but as on eagle's wings? yea, have they not been active, even all the winter long, in a most cold and frosty season that continued so for two months together, beating the enemy out of the field, and taking their strong Holds, when other Armies use to lie still? Have they taken the pay of idleness, or lived the life of luxury, upon the State-maintenance? Have they sought to lengthen the Wars, for their own advantages? Have they not made even a short work? I challenge all the former generations of the world to stand forth & to show so much work of this kind done in so little time. And farther, by all this success, have they ever been lifted up so much as to petition the Parliament in any thing, or to remonstrate any thing proudly and undutifully to them, as some people surfeited with peace and plenty have done? Or, though the Kingdom, next under God and the Parliament, owes its protection, and deliverance, and freedom from Tyranny and Popery, to this worthy Army, have they for all this, ever appeared to contest against the Kingdom for any thing, or to stand with their swords in their hands to make demands? Nay, I declare this to all the Kingdom, that as God hath made them glorious in doing, so he hath made them contented to be perfected by suffering, if it be the will of God. And most confident I am, that though some men for private ends and interests are murmuring, and others speaking out against this Army, as the perverse Israelites against Moses and Aaron, yet the Lord in his due time, will take away the reproach of all his people therein; and that we shall hear songs from all the ends of the kingdom, even glory to the righteous. This I have spoken in truth and sincerity to the Kingdom: And to that Army I shall say, Who is like unto thee, 
Deut. 33. 29.  O people? saved by the Lord, who is the shield of thy help, and the sword of thine excellency; and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places.  
I have been longer in this Epistle than I intended: but seeing there was such a cause as this, no ingenious man will blame me.  
Christian Reader, I am 
 Thine to serve thee in the Lord, 
 and in the Gospel of his Son, 
 WILLIAM DELL.   

An EXPOSITION Of the 54 Chapter of Isaiah, from Vers. 11 to the end.  
The words are thus:  Vers. 11. Oh thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted; behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with Saphires. 12. And I will make thy windows of Agates, and thy gates of Carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones, &c. 
THis place of Scripture is very useful to the Church of God in these times wherein we live: yea verily this Prophet did not so much prophesy to his own age as to ours, nor to the Jewish Church as to the Christian. 
1 Pet. 1. 12.  For unto them it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you.  
The Prophet Isaiah prophesied in the Spirit touching the Kingdom of Christ; which stands not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and delivers from the Father by the Spirit many excellent promises to be fulfilled in the Son Incarnate, head and members.  
The first promise in this Chapter, is touching the great increase of the Church, in the days of the New Testament; that whereas before, the Church was to be found but in one kindred, and tongue, 
Revel. 5. 9  and people, and nation; now it should be gathered out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And this is so desirable and comfortable a thing, that in the beginning of the Chapter, he calls upon all to rejoice at this; vers. 1. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and shout aloud, thou that didst not travel with child: for more are the children of the desolate then of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes: for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. So that there shall certainly be a most wonderful and numerous increase of the faithful in the Christian Church, till they become as the stars of heaven, and as the drops of the morning dew, that cannot be told, all of them assembled in the beauties of holiness.  
And therefore let us not be overmuch troubled, 
use.  though at present we see, in a numerous nation, but few true children of the spiritual Church; for God shall bless these few, and bid them increase, and multiply, and replenish the earth: so that though the Assemblies of the Saints be now but thin, and one comes from this place, and another from that, to these Assemblies, and in many and most places of the Kingdom, these few are fain to come together secretly, for fear of the Jews, that is, the people of the letter; yet through the pouring forth of the Spirit, it shall come to pass, at last, that they shall come in flocks, as doves to their windows. And it shall be said to the Church by the Lord, Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold, all these gather fellows together and come to thee: At I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doth, &c. till at last the Church shall say in her heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these where had they been?  
Yea, these very promises are now in the very act of accomplishing among us; for the spiritual Church hath received a very great increase, within these few years, and God hath many faithful people, in many places of this Kingdom; and of this myself and many more in this Army are witnesses: for having marched up and down the Kingdom, to do the work of God, and the State, we have met with many Christians, who have much Gospel light, and (which makes it the more strange) in such places, where there hath been no gospel-ministry; which hath put me in mind of that prophecy, Isai. 66. 8. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day, or shall a nations be born at once? For as soon as Zion traveled, nay, before she traveled, she brought forth her children. There was no outward ministry of the Gospel to travel or take pains with them, and yet Zion brings forth her children.  
And one thing that is remarkable touching the increase of the Church at this day, is this, That where Christ sends the Ministration of the Spirit, there many young people are brought in to Christ, as being most free from the forms of the former age, and from the Doctrines and Traditions of men, taught and received instead of the pure and unmixed Word of God: whereas many old professors, who are wholly in the form, prove the greatest enemies to the power of godliness: and thus the first are the last, and the last first.  
Now this great and sudden increase of the faithful, is that which doth so exceedingly trouble the world, and makes them angry at the very heart. For, if they were but a few, mean, contemptible and inconsiderable persons, whom they might easily suppress and destroy, they would be pretty quiet: but when they begin to increase in the land, as Israel did in Egypt, and notwithstanding all the burdens of their taskmasters wherewith they are afflicted and grieved, do yet increase abundantly, and multiply, and wax exceeding mighty, till they begin to fill the land; and when they consult to deal wisely with them, lest they multiply too much, do yet see them grow and multiply the more, that they know not at what country, or City, or Town, or Village, or family, to begin to suppress them: this is that doth so exceedingly vex and enrage the world, and makes them even mad again, as we see this day. For the increase of the faithful, as it is the glory of the Church, so it is the grief and madness of the world. But these men in vain attempt against this increase of the faithful, as the Egyptians against the increase of the Israelites; for none can hinder the increase of the Church, but they that hinder God from pouring out his Spirit; and according to the measure of God's pouring forth the Spirit, is and must be the increase of the Church, in despite of all the opposition of the world.  
And thus much touching the first promise, of the Churches Increase.  
Now in the words I read to you, the Lord comes to another promise: so that the Lord because of the church's weakness, adds one promise to another; and these promises are nothing but the outgoings and manifestations of his love, through the Word Christ. But to look more nearly upon the words.  
Oh thou afflicted.  
Vers. 11.  
Affliction in the world doth so inseparably attend the Church, that the Church even takes its denomination from it, Oh thou afflicted. The condition of the Church, is an afflicted condition. For the Church being born of God, and born of the Spirit, is put into a direct contrariety to the world, which is born of the flesh, and is also of its father the devil. And so the whole world is malignant against the faithful and spiritual Church; and all that are not regenerate, set their faces, yea their hearts and their hands against the Saints; and the unregenerate world is against the regenerate, and the carnal world against the spiritual, and the sinful world against the righteous; and all the people and nations in the world, are against that people and nation, which the Apostle calls, a holy nation, and a peculiar people.  
As the world cannot endure God in himself, so neither can it endure God in the Saints, and so the more God dwells in the Saints, the more doth the world afflict the Saints: for they oppose not the faithful for any thing of flesh and blood in them, but because that flesh and blood of theirs, is the habitation of God, and the very presence of God himself is there, as he saith, I will dwell in them, and walk in them. Agreeable to this, is that of Christ, where he saith, All this shall they do to you for my Names sake; that is, when the Name of Christ is called upon us, and we are taken into his Name, that is, into his righteousness, and life, and truth, and wisdom, and holiness, and into his Nature, which comprehends all this; then, when the world perceives the Name of God in the Sons of men, and the nature of God in the natures of men, then presently they fall a persecuting the Saints, for this Name and nature's sake; and he that strikes at God in his Saints, would if he could strike at God in himself. And therefore let the world take heed what they do in this point; for while they persecute the Saints, they are found fighters against God himself, because God is one with them, and they are one with God in Christ. And let the Saints be admonished so to hide and retire themselves into God through Christ, that whoever is an enemy to them, and opposes them, may rather be an enemy to God, and oppose God then them, they living and acting in God, and not in themselves.  
Now this affliction the Church meets with in the world, is profitable for the Church; it is good for it, that it should be afflicted: for the more it is afflicted in the flesh, the more it thrives in the Spirit: this affliction stirs us up to the exercise of our faith, and prayer; yea, then is our faith most active and vigorous, and our prayers most fervent, till they fill the whole heavens again; then are we most in the use of the Word; then are we set off furthest from the world; then do we keep closest to God; then have we nearest intercourse and communion with him: so that we could better want fire, and water, and the sun, then want affliction, which God out of his mere love, through his overruling power and wisdom, causes to work unto us for good, So that we who are placed in the hand of Christ, are set in such a condition, wherein nothing can do us any harm for ever, but evil itself must work good unto us. But we proceed.  
tossed with tempest.  
Where we see that the Church is not only afflicted, but violently afflicted; one wave comes against it after another, as in a tempest; and the more spiritual the Church is, the more doth the world become as a raging sea against it; because the more spiritual the Church is made, it is set in the more contrariety to the world, and the world to it. The Psalmist describes this temper in the world against the Church; They came upon me like a ramping and a roaring Lion: And again, They came upon me to eat up my flesh as they would eat bread. When the Saints have appeared in the Spirit, and acted in the Spirit, how violent and enraged hath the world been against them? it would toss them as in a tempest from place to place, from post to pillar, as they say, till it hath quite tossed them out of the world. Yea, men naturally meek and moderate, how fierce have they become against the Saints, when there hath appeared any glorious discoveries of Christ in them. For the enmity that is in the seed of the Serpent against the seed of the woman, will be still breaking forth: And though it may for a time be covered under many moral virtues, and a form of godliness, yet when God leaves them to themselves, and lets them act outwardly according to their inward principles, how ernelly, and maliciously, and fiercely, and desperately, do they act against the Saint of God? Yea, there is not that enmity between Turk and Jew, as there is between carnac gospelers and spiritual Christians; the former hating these, and being angry against these to the very death. And whenever the Lord shall suffer these to exercise their enmity against the Church, then shall the church's condition become such as it is here described, afflicted and tossed with tempest.  
and not comforted.  
The Chuurch of God in all the evil it meets withal in the world, hath not one drop of comfort from the world: it hath affliction, tribulation, persecution from the world, but no comfort.  
This we see in Christ the Head; you know what he suffered in the world in the days of his flesh; he was despised and rejected of men, and so full of sorrows, that he took his name from them, and was called A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: At last, out of mere envy and malice, they apprehended him, bound him, buffeted him, spit on him, crucified him: and all this would have been but a small matter to have suffered from the Heathen; but he suffered all this from the only visible Church of God in the world, who put him to the most painful and shameful death of the cross, between two malefactors, to bear the world in hand that he was the third and the chief. And in all this evil he had nobody to pity him, or have compassion on him; but they laughed at him, and derided him, and mocked and jeered him; but nobody comforted him.  
And as it was with Christ the Head, so it is with Christ the body and members; they in all the evils, and woes, and sorrows, and oppositions, and persecutions they have from the world, have nobody to comfort them, or take compassion on them. Refuge failed me (saith David) no man cared for my soul. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness, saith Heman, Psal. 88 18.  
Brethren and Beloved, ye that are partakers of the heavenly calling and of the divine nature, if ever the Lord suffer the world to prevail against you, to afflict you, and toss you from one evil ●o another as in a tempest, to reproach you, throw you out of your comforts. banish you, imprison you, &c. you shall find nobody to comfort you; nobody will take notice of you, or regard you, or own you, or pity you, or be so sensible of your condition, as to say, Alas my brother.  
You must look for affliction in the world, but you must look for no comfort there. When God shall cast us into sorrows and sufferings, let us not look for one worldly man to stand by us, no not of those that now smile upon us, and pretend friendship to us; no nor yet of our near relations; but then that shall be fulfilled, I was a stranger to my brethren, an alien to my mother's children. Nay yet further; they that are weak or worldly Christians, will stand aloof from thee, and will be shy to own, and countenance, and encourage, and comfort thee publicly. The disciples of Christ, when he was led to the cross, they all forsook him, and fled, and left him to tread the winepress alone. And so if you suffer in the righteousness and truth of God, you shall find little comfort from men. O thou afflicted, toss●d with tempest, and not comforted.  
Now this the Lord doth in much mercy to his Saints; he leaves them destitute of earthly comfort, that they may look for heavenly; he leaves them destitute of all comfort from men, that they may look for comfort from God alone. And therefore when thou art brought into such a case, to be afflicted and not comforted, lift up thy heart to God, and expect all from him. Saith Christ, Joh. 16. The world shall hate you and persecute you, and shall put out of their synagogues, and shall kill you; and in doing all this, shall think they do God good service: But, saith he, I will send you the Comforter. Christ knew well enough, that among all these evils, they should have no Comforter on earth, and therefore promises to send them ane from heaven.  
And therefore when thy soul is placed in affliction, never look after any earthly, or sensual, or creature-comforts, for they will prove poison to thy soul; but only look for heavenl● comforts, such as the Spirit brings, such as flow immediately from God; for these are pure, and sweet, and unmixed, and refreshing, and supporting, and satisfying, and enduring comforts; comforts that are able to make thee rejoice, not only in fullness, but in wants; not only among friends, but in the midst of enemies; not only in good report, but in evil report; not only in prosperity▪ but in tribulations; not only in life, but in death: they will make thee go singing to prison, to the cross, to the grave: they are mighty comforts, infinitely stronger than all the sorrows of the flesh: and hence it is that many Saints and Martyrs have gone cheerfully to the stake, and sung in the very flames: the comforts of God in their souls, have strengthened them to this.  
Thou that art a believer, and in union with Christ, never doubt of this comfort in thy greatest sorrows. When Christ had none to stand by him and comfort him, God sent an Angel from heaved to do it: And so when we are left alone in the world, rather than we shall want comfort, God will send us an Angel from heaven, to comfort us; yea, the Spirit itself, which is greater than all the Angels in heaven; and we shall certainly be comforted by God, when we are afflicted and tossed with tempest, and not comforted by men.  
Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, &c.  
The Lord seeth the Church in its affliction, without all commfort in the world, add then the Lord comes and comforts it himself; and this he doth by a Promise. They are the sweetest comforts, that are brought to us in the promises. The promises are the swadling-clothes of Christ, they carry Christ wrapped up in them; and Christ represented to the Church, hath been the comfort of it, in all its evils outward or inward.  
And therefore whatever affliction takes hold on thee, have recourse to the Promises, to draw thy comforts from Christ through them. Oh how sweet is that life that is led in the Promises I a life led in the Promises, is the best life in the world. Men that have estates in money or land, depend on those things for their maintenance; but a Christian may have little or nothing of these in the world, but he hath a Promise, which is a thousand times better, and makes his life more comfortable: I am God All-sufficient; and, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee: whereupon he comes to this resolution, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, I will trust in him. Oh how sweet a life is this life, that knows no cares, nor fears, nor troubles, nor disquietments: here, saith a believer, lies my estate, and living, and the lot of mine inheritance, and this is a thousand times better and more certain estate, than all the manors and Lordships in the Kingdom: for, my bread shall be given me, my waters shall be sure: The Lord is my Shepherd, and I shall not want; no not then, when the Lions (the great men of the Kingdom, to whom every poor man is a prey) shall lack and suffer hunger. He that hath given me his own Nature and Spirit, will not leave me destitute of food and clothing.  
Take another instance. A man feeling the bitterness of affliction to flesh and blood, is ready to think, Oh how shall I ever be able to suffer this or that, or to part with my relations, with my estate, with my life, and all that is near and dear unto me? Why then a Christian lays hold on the promise, God is faithful, and will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able. O, saith a Christian, God will never bring me to any temptation or trial, but he will give me strength proportionable to it, or above it: and so lives satisfied with the truth, and goodness, and power of God. And thus you see in these instances, that a life led in the promises, is the sweetest and best life; when a man can draw all from God himself, through a promise.  
And this in general, That God comforts his Church by a promise.  
But to come more particularly to the words.  
Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with Saphires.  Vers. 12. 
And I will make thy windows of Agates, and thy gates of Carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.  
The promise relates to the Spiritual Church of the New Testament: and this you shall observe, is oft in Scripture compared to a building, and that to a most stately, sumptuous, magnificent and glorious building; as being all built of precious stones, and so more glorious than the first Temple, which was built up of common stones: and it was prophesied that the glory of the second Temple should far exceed the glory of the first. The first Temple was Solomons, which was indeed filled with the outward presence of God; but the second Temple is the humanity of Jesus Christ, or, the flesh of Christ, both head and members: this is the living temple of the living God, the Temple that God hath built by his Spirit, for his own ha●itation; wherein God dwells truly, really, spiritually, and most nearly, by the way of the most near union, whereby God and the creature are knit together: and this Spiritual Temple is more glorious than the first material one, either according to the first edition of it by Solomon, or the second edition of it by the Fathers, in the days of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes.  
Here than you see, that the Lord promiseth to build up the Church of the New Testament, with stones of fair colours, with precious stones. I will not stand to inquire particularly into the natures of the several stones here named; for the Jews themselves do not fully agree about them. It shall be sufficient for us to attain to the meaning of the Spirit in this place; and that is this:  
That the Spiritual Church of the New Testament, is not to be built with common, but with precious stones.  
Now the full sense of these words I shall give you forth in several particulars.  
1. You see here the matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made, and that is not of common, but of precious stones; elect and precious stones; and such are the faithful: For,  
1. They have a more excellent nature than other men have: for they are born of God, and so partake of the nature of God; and so in this sense may be said to come forth from God, as the child from the father: and the Lord Jesus did not more truly partake of the nature of man, than these do partake of the nature of God; and therefore saith Peter, Great and precious promises are made to us, that we should be partakers of the divine nature. Others have only the nature of men in them, or, which is worse, the nature of the devil: but the faithful have in them the nature of God communicated to them through a new birth.  
2. They have a more excellent spirit than others have; as it was said of Daniel, that there was a more excellent spirit found with him, then with all the other wise men. Now the excellency of each creature is according to the spirit of it: but the Saints have the Spirit of God, even the Spirit of the Father and the Son dwelling in them; they have the same Spirit of God dwelling in their flesh, as Christ had dwelling in his flesh: so that the very Spirit of God, is found in the faithful, and therefore they are more glorious than the rest of the world.  
3. They have a more excellent lustre than other men. One thing that appertains to the excellency of precious stones, is the lustre of them. Now this lustre in the faithful, is the glory of God upon them: The Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, saith Isaiah, Chap. 60. And Paul saith, We all beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So that as Christ was taken into the glory of the Father, so are we taken into the glory of Christ, as he saith, Joh. 17. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them: for the head and members are taken into the same glory, according to their proportion.  
4. They have more excellent operations; for the faithful are not such precious stones that are only for show, but they also have some virtue in them, even the very virtues of Jesus Christ: for they having the same Nature and Spirit of God as he had, are able according to the measure of the gift of Christ to do the same works that he did: and so the Saints are excellent in the operations of faith, hope, love, humility, meekness, patience, temperance, heavenly mindedness, &c. and in this regard also are more precious than the rest of the world. And therefore the Lord calls them his Jewels, In the day wherein I make up my jewels: and elsewhere they are called the precious sons of Zion. The people of God are a most precious people, men and women of a precious anointing; though some wicked and scurrilous libelers against the spiritual Church will not allow them this name; but (according to the anointing they have received from Satan) reproach it. And yet still it is a truth, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against, That the truly faithful are precious stones in the building of the Church, partaking of the Nature and Spirit of God, and of the lustre and operation of both.  
Whereas, on the contrary, other people are the vile of the earth, the true filth and off scouring of all things; Psal. 15. in whose eyes a vile person is contemned: a man that is a natural man, a sinful and unregenerate man, who hath no other nature in him, but that corrupt nature he brought into the world, though in this present world he may be a Gentleman, or a Knight, or a nobleman, or a King, yet in the eyes of God and his Saints, he is but a vile person; and a poor mean Christian that earns his bread by hard labour, is a thousand times more precious and excellent than he, according to the judgement of God and his Word.  
And thus much for the first thing, The matter of which the Church of the New Testament is made, and that is of precious stones.  
2. Now the next thing observable▪ is the variety of these precious stones. For the spiritual Church is not built up of precious stones of one sort only, not all of Saphires, or all of Agates, or all of Carbuncles; but of all these, both Saphires, Agates, Carbuncles, and many other precious stones of fair colours.  
And this notes the diversity of gifts in the Saints of God. For though all of them are precious stones, yet they are of diversity of colours, and lustre, and operations: And this also makes for the greater glory of the Church: for the variety of lustre adds to the beauty and ornament of it. In the body of a man, there is not one member, but many. If the body were all but one member, it would be but a lump of flesh; but the variety of members, with their several gifts and operations, are the glory of the body. And so it is in the Church, the Body of Jesus Christ, wherein are divers members, with diversity of gifts and operations, excellently set forth by Paul, 1 Cor. 12. 4. &c. Now there are diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit: and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord: and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal: for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit: to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another divers kind●s of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues: but all these work●● that one and the same Spirit; dividing to every 〈…〉 he will. Here you see, are diversity of gifts, and administrations, and operations in the faithful; but all proceed from one and the same Spirit; and whatsoever gift proceeds from the Spirit, there is an excellent beauty, a heavenly lustre in it.  
And therefore labour to distinguish between those gifts that are connatural to thee, and flow from thy own spirit, and those gifts that are supernatural, and flow from God's Spirit. In all the operations of thine own spirit, in all thy natural abilities, parts, wisdom, learning, actings, there is nothing but ungloriousness, deformity, darkness, death, how specious soever they may appear to the world: but in the gifts and operations that flow from God's Spirit, there is a heavenly beauty, and lustre, and glory; yea, even in weak Christians that are true Christians, you shall oft see and discern an excellent beauty in some gift or other, which they have received from the Spirit; which shines not forth so clearly in some stronger Christians. And therefore let us not expect all gifts in all men, and that every man should excel in every gift; for than one would be saying to another, I have no need of thee. But God hath given diversity of gifts to divers Saints, that each may acknowledge something in another, which he hath not himself, and may reckon his perfection to lie in his union and communion with them; that so the Communion of Saints may be kept up in the world, in despite of the world. One Christian hath the gift of Faith, another the gift of Prayer, another the gift of utterance in preaching, another the gift of courage, another the gift of meekness, and the like; and no man hath all things in himself, that every man in the sight of his own wants may be kept humble. And this is a glorius thing in this building, that the lustre of each stone adds to the lustre of all; and the lustre of all is communicated to each stone: and so in the Spiritual building, what one hath from the Spirit, it is for all; what all have, is for each one. If thou hast the gift of utterance in the ministration of the Spirit, it is to build up me; if I have the spirit of Prayer, it commends thee as carefully to God, as myself: one watches over another, as over his own soul; and if any be weak, the strong support them; if any be doubtful, they that have the gift of knowledge direct them: if one be troubled, the rest mourn with him; if one be comforted, the rest rejoice with him; and they are all so linked together in the body of Christ, that the good and evil of one extends to all. Where thou canst find such another communion, there join thyself: but if this be the only excellent communion in the world, who would not willingly join himself to that spiritual people, where no man calls his grace his own, but all gifts are in common among all, every one having a share in the faith, hope, love, prayer, peace, joy, wisdom, strength of all, and all having a share, in these gifts and graces, that are in any one? And thus much for the diversity of the stones, as well as the preciousness of them.  
3. The third thing that reveals the sense of the words, is to observe, that this spiritual building of the Church of the New Testament, is made up all of precious stones, without any mixture of common stones; is made up of Saphires, Agates, Carbuncles; and adds▪ And all thy borders of pleasant stones.  
Here then must be no mingling of the precious and the vile, the holy and the profane, the faithful and the unbeliever, the spiritual and the carnal; but all must be precious. If a man had a jewel that had here and there only a precious stone in it, and all the rest common pebbles, there would be no great glory in such a jewel; but the common stones would take off from the lustre of the precious ones: And so the Church is God's jewel in the world, and it must be made up only of precious stones, as you see here. And where are their eyes, that perceive not this?  
There be some that talk much against New Doctrine, which is the old reproach of the Gospel; but surely, there was never newer Doctrine than this, That the Spiritual Church of the New Testament, should be made up of all the people that live in a Kingdom▪ and that all that are born in such a Nation, should necessarily be stones for the building up the new Jerusalem. This is a new Doctrine indeed, which neither the Old nor the New Testament owns; but was conveyed into the world by the spirit of Antichrist. For God doth not now make any people, or kindred, or nation his Church: but gathers his Church out of every people, and kindred, and nation: and none can be stones of this building, but those that are first elect, and after made precious, through a new birth, and the gift of the Spirit. And this Doctrine the Word will justify against the world; for Paul writing to the Churches of Ephesus and Corinth, &c. doth he mean all the people that lived at Ephesus or Corinth? No; but the faithful and elect children by adoption, Saints by calling, and saith, So it was meet for him to judge of them all. And if any were mistaken for a Saint that was none, surely he carried himself very like one; he was outwardly in sheep's clothing, or he had not been reckoned among the flock: and so if a stone be taken into this building, that is not truly precious, yet it is so like one in show and colour, that it can hardly be discerned to be other, but a very skilful Lapidary. And indeed such a mistake there may be in Christ's Kingdom here, that a few counterfeit stones may be taken up among many precious ones: but that is the mistake of a false Church, where a thousand counterfeit ones are taken in for one truly precious; wherein for one faithful Christian, there are many formalists, and many more profane. This is not such a building the Prophet speaks of; for this is all of elect and precious stones. But I cannot enlarge on these things, because this exercise I intend chiefly as an Exposition: only I will add one or two things more, touching this particular, and so go on.  
1. If the Church of the New Testament is to be built all of precious stones, what a building is that, where the only care is, to keep these stones out of the building, lest by their glory and lustre they should darken the rest?  
2. Consider, when the Church shall be built up all of such precious stones, what a glorious Church will that be, when the glory of the Lord shall shine forth in every stone of this building? how will there be then glory upon glory, till the glory of the Church first darken, and then put out all the glory of the world?  
3. Consider, what great enemies they are to the true and native glory of the Church, that would have every man in a Kingdom a member of the Church, and would have those taken into the flock, that are none of Christ's sheep; and those taken into the Church of God, that are not of God; and would gather up any stones to make up this Temple of God. These are the men that would keep off those glorious things from being fulfilled in the Church, which are spoken of it.  
4. We are to take notice, who is the builder of such a structure as this, all made up of precious stones: and you shall find in the Word, that the builder and maker of it is God. I will do it, saith the Lord, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and I will lay thy foundations with saphires, and I will make thy windows of Aggates; it is all God's work from the beginning to the end. For who can build unto God a living temple to dwell in but himself? This the Prophet speaks plainly, where he saith, the man whose name is the branch, he shall build the temple of the Lord, even he shall build it. It lies in the power of no man, to make such a building as this is; what wild and woeful work do men make, when they will undertake to be building the Chu●ch, by their own human wisdom and prudence and counsel? when they think, we will have the Church of God thus and thus; and we will make it up of such and such men; and we w●ll govern it, by such and such laws: and we will get the power of the Magistrate to back ours; & than what we cannot do by the power of the Word & Spirit, we will do by the power of flesh and blood: poor men! that think that these new heavens where in the Lord will dwell, must be the work of their own fingers; or that the new Jerusalem must of necessity come out of the Assembly, which is to come down from God out of heaven: or that they can build the house of God all of precious stones, whereas this must be God's own work and his own doing; and no State or council in the world can bring this about; and after much trial and pains and weariness the Lord will at last teach his own, that the gathering and laying these precious stones together, must be the Lord's own doing, even his own doing.  
When the building of the Church is left to men, how woefully is it managed? why saith one, we must needs admit such an one, he is the chief man in the Parish, or he is a man of good esteem in the world, or he is a Nobleman, or he is my near kinsman, or is thus and thus related to me, or he is a good civil fair dealing man, and we must needs admit him; and thus will flesh and blood be ever making a carnal temple for God to dwell in, but God's true habitation, can never be framed but by the Spirit.  
And therefore, for the building of the Church, let us look higher than the highest instruments; for it must be the Lord's own work by the Word and Spirit: and though every man be against it, and oppose it, yet the Lord will do it; when there are no hands to build it up, he will build it up without hands. I will lay thy stones with, &c. It follows  Vers. 13. 
And thy children, shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children.  
See here how the Prophet by the Spirit carries up the Saints above all visible and sensible things, even as high as God himself; God (saith he to the Church) shall build thee and God shall teach thee; all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. The note is this, That all the true and genuine children of the Church have God's own teaching, in all the things of God; they have the Father and the son, to teach them by the Spirit. This truth Christ himself confirms, where he saith, It is written that they shall be all taught of God, he therefore that heard and learned of my father cometh to me. And again, the spirit when he is come he shall lead you into all truth; Which doctrine John after preached thus, 1 Ioh. 2. 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man should teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you all things.  
Hereby now we perceive, how few true children of the Church there be, among those who are commonly called Christians; for among all these, how few are there who have the teaching of God? but most have their teaching only from men, and no higher.  
Consider therefore I pray, whether the knowledge you have be from the teaching of God, or the teaching of man; you all pretend to know that Christ is the Son of the living God, and that redemption and salvation is by him alone; but how came ye by this knowledge? did you read it in the letter? or did some body tell you so? or hath God himself taught you this? For no man knows the son but the Father and he to whom the Father will reveal him; and therefore when Peter said, thou art Christ the Son of the living God, Christ answered, flesh and blood hath not taught thee this, but my Father which is in heaven. And so though all of you profess yourselves Christians, yet none of you know Christ truly, but only such as are taught of the Father. And this holds in all other points, as touching calling, and faith, and union, and justification and sanctification, and the gift and sealing of the Spirit, touching the spiritual kingdom of Christ and the Government of it; oh consider, whether you have the teaching of God in these things or no; and if you have not the teaching of God, you are none of the children of the Church; what ever truth thou knowest from the letter, if thou hast not the teaching of the Spirit, it will do thee no good: thou knowest not any thing spiritually and savingly, wherein thou hast not the teaching of God. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.  
And therefore what a sad thing is it, when men look for their teaching no farther than men? they only look to the Minister, or to such an able, learned, Orthodox man, as they phrase it; or at the highest to the Assembly; and what they shall teach them, they are resolved to stand by it, and build upon it, for their foundation; in the mean time never regarding in truth, the teaching of God: but say, what can so many grave, learned, godly men, err? and shall not we believe what they determine? why now these are none of the children of the spiritual Church; for they neither have God's teaching, nor care for it: but the spiritual Church is all taught of God.  
Object. But you will say, doth God teach without means?  
Answ. I Answer no: God teacheth, but it is by the Word, and that chiefly in the Ministry of it: and he that pretends to be taught of God without the Word, is not taught of God, but of the devil. And therefore no man is to despise the Ministry of the Word, which is God's own Ordinance, and to depend upon I know not what revelations and inspeakings without the word; seeing God teacheth all his children by the word and none without it. And therefore it is not the prophet's meaning, when he saith all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, that they should neglect and despise the Word, and the Ministry of it; but that we ought so use the Word and the means, as not to look for our teaching from them, but from God himself in and through them; and when you come to hear, not to think, I will hear what Mr such an one, or Mr such one will say, but with the Psalmist, I will hear what the Lord God will say. And truly, I would not care to hear what any man in the world would say, in whom Christ himself did not speak.  
Now much more might be said of this teaching of God (but that I intend brevity in all) as namely, that this teaching  
1. Is a clear and evident teaching, that you shall have certainty in what you are taught: and shall be so taught of God no man or Angel shall be able to unteach you again.  
2. It is an inward teaching though by the outward Word; reaching to the inward soul and spirit, to the hidden man of the heart.  
3. It is a successful teaching; he so teaches as men learn; he that hath heard and learned of my father; hearing and learning go together: he teaches faith, and we believe; humility, and we are humble; patience, and we endure, &c.  
But I cannot enlarge any farther in this point. It follows  
And great shall be the peace of thy children.  
That is, when men are taught of God, than there is nothing but peace among them; when God comes and teacheth thee and me and another, and many, than we all agree, because we are all taught of God▪ and see all things by the same light, and apprehend all things by the same knowledge, and perceive all things by the same spirit, because all have the same teaching. And so they that are taught of God, though one come out of the East and another out of the West, and another out of the South, and never had any former communion together, yet they all agree in the same truth, and think and speak the same things, and so there is love and amity and peace and unity among them, because they are all taught of God, and have learned the truth, not as it is in this or that man, or assembly of men, but as it is in Jesus.  
And truly, this is the true ground of all the differences and dissensions, and heats that are in the kingdom, at this time, to wit, because some are taught of God, and some are not taught of God, but of men only: the carnal Church is only taught of men and goes no higher; but the spiritual Church is truly taught of God. Now they that are taught of God, and they that are taught of men, see the same truths, with a great deal of difference, and hereupon arises the controversy and quarrel; for one will have the truth, as he sees it in the light of God; another will have it, as he apprehends it in his own fancy: and the carnal man, will not yield to the spiritual, and the spiritual man cannot yield to the carnal. Saith one, this is the mind of God, and I have learned it from his own teaching; saith another, this is not the mind of God, for such a learned Minister, or Ministers, taught me otherwise, and so I apprehend it; and thus as the flesh and spirit are contrary, so are their teachings; and hence our divisions and troubles. But when men are all taught of God, than they are all at peace one with another, and all do agree in the substance of the truth of the Gospel; and if some do not know the same things they do, they can wait with patience, till God also reveal that unto them; for they know with all their hearts, that they themselves could never have known those things, except God had taught them: and so they cannot be angry at others, whom the Lord as yet hath not vouchsafed to teach: and so they are meek, and gentle towards all as beseems the spirit, as well as at peace among themselves. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children: For they know that no man is higher or lower than another in the kingdom of God, but all are equal in Jesus Christ; they know that no man can challenge Christ more to himself then another, but all have equal interest in him, and Christ is alike near to all in whom he dwells, yea they all as willingly communicate their own things to the brethren, as they themselves do partake of Christ's things; and so there is nothing but peace. When men know that no man is any thing in h●mselfe, but every one is all that he is in Christ: and when men love Christ merely for himself, and where they see most of Christ, there love most, and if Christ be more in another than himself, can love such a one more than himself, not for his own sake but for Christ's sake; then there is nething but peace. Great shall be the peace of thy children.  Verse 14. 
In righteousness shalt thou be established, &c.  
This spiritual Church had need of establishment; for when God hath done all this for it, when he hath built it, and taught●t himself, it shall not want trouble and opposition and contradiction and persecution in the world, and therefore it stands in great need of establishment. But how shall this be done? Why saith he,  
In righteousness shalt thou be established,  
That is, not by any outward power or force, or armies, or fortifications, or factions or confederacies, all these are but a staff of reed; but in righteousness, and that is both in the righteousness of Christ received by us, and working in us: the first is, the righteousness of justification: the second is, the righteousness of sanctification, and our establishment lies in both.  
1. In the righteousness of justification, which is called the righteousness of faith, or Christ's own righteousness received into us; and in this sense it is said, Except ye believe ye shall never be established: for by faith we partake of the righteousness of God through Christ, and this is an infinite and everlasting righteousness, that hath neither spot nor blemish in it, this is able to establish us for ever and ever; so that the Church hath no more establishment, than it hath of the righteousness of Christ by faith; and as the Church goes from faith to faith, so it goes from establishment to establishment.  
2. Our establishment lies, in the righteousness of our sanctification; which is nothing but Christ working in us, as the former was Christ dwelling in us; for the same Christ that is the righteousness of our justification, is the righteousness of our sanctification. Now the establishment of the Church is, when we let the righteousness of Christ work all in us, and we work all in the righteousness of Christ; then are we established mightily and invincibly indeed, and how much Christians swerve from this Rule, so much they become weak and unsettled: sometimes Christians will be living out of Christ in themselves, and they will be moving and acting and working according to human wisdom and prudence and the counsels and devices of flesh and blood, but in all this they have no establishment at all. And therefore ye that are faithful, see to it, that ye turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left, through any worldly hopes or fears, but do ye live and act in the righteousness of Christ, and as the Lord lives, though you have kingdoms and Nations for your enemies, you shall not be moved, but shall be established more firmly than the earth.  
And therefore I pray consider your establishment where it lies, and that is in righteousness, and in righteousness only. Some trust to this strength, and some to that some to this aid, and some to that; but the spiritual Church scorns to trust to any creature for establishment, but looks to be established only in righteousness; and because of this, neither men nor devils shall prevail against it. And therefore you that are of this Temple and building which is made by God, seeing you have so many enemies on all hands, pray look to your establishment, which is in righteousness: In righteousness shalt thou be established.  
Thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.  
The fear and terror he speaks of here, is inward fear and terror, from which the Church shall be free, in the midst of all outward evils; for though the Church be full of danger and persecution without, yet it is free from fear and terror within; Nay the Church hath trouble without, but peace within; affliction without, joy within; weakness without, strength within; imprisonment without, liberty w●thin; persecution without, content within: against all the sorrows and suffering of the flesh, they have refreshings, comforts, hopes, sweetnesses, rejoicings, triumphs in the spirit, and so in the midst of evil, are free from evil, and in the midst of sufferings are free from pain, yea they rejoice in tribulations, and in the midst of evil, are filled and satisfied with good.  Verse 15. 
Behold they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.  
A very strange thing it is, that the spiritual Church, being thus builded, and taught, and established, any should yet be so blind and mad as to engage against it; and yet the world, and the carnal Church especially doth this: yea the more pure and spiritual the Church is, the more enmity the world and Formalists have against it.  
Behold they shall surely gather together,  
When they shall see the Churches gathering together into the true communion of Saints, then will they gather themselves together against the Churches; And why do these men blame the Churches for gathering together unto Christ, when they themselves gather together against the Church, as we daily see? Indeed the gathering together of the Saints, the world doth most hate of all other things: Oh, this is a dreadful and terrible thing to them, it makes their hearts ache within them, and loseth the joints of their loins; they think their exaltation, will be their own abasement, and their gathering together, their own scattering, and their glory their own shame, and their strength, their own undoing; and cut of these conceits the world acts so strongly and furiously to scatter abroad again Christ's own gatherings together. But the Lord hath decreed and promised to hew that little stone of Christ's spiritual Church, out of the mountain of the world, without hands, and will certainly accomplish it, and is now about this very business; but the world that never looks beyond sense, they think this is surely a plot of ours, and that we have a great design in hand, and so we have indeed; but the design is not our design, but Gods, contrived in eternity, and discovered to Daniel chap. 2. and this is the setting up a kingdom of Saints in the world, under Christ the King of Saints, wherein the people shall live alone in point of spiritual worship and communion, and shall have nothing to do with the rest of the Nations. This council of God begins to be accomplished, and the world thinks that we are subtle, and we are mighty, whereas they are clearly mistaken in us; for the wisdom and strength whereby this is done is God's and not ours. For it is the Lord must build this spiritual Church, and set it up in the world, and preserve it against the world, and cause it to increase till it fills the world; so that the design and the accomplishment of it, belongs to God and not to us, and they that are displeased at it, let them go and quarrel against God: and so they will certainly do, through the operation of the devil; Behold, saith he, they shall surely gather together: As soon as ever the Church separates from the world, the world gathers together against the Church.  
Yea this place is not only to be understood of those that are open enemies without the Church, but of a generation in it, that are not of it, and so the gathering together against the Church, shall be in the Church: and so Calvin interprets, and such a thing will assuredly come to pass, that the Church as well as the kingdom will have domestic enemies; it hath been so in all ages, and what wonder will it be, if it be so in this? The first division in this kingdom, was between common profession, and open prophannes●e, and if ever there be another, it is like to lie between the form and the power of godliness; and the children that are borne after the flesh, will up and be persecuting them that are borne after the Spirit, and the deepest wounds we shall receive will be in the house of our friends; not our friends indeed, but of such who seem to be so; for they pray as well as we, and preach and hear, and receive the Sacraments, and use the same ordinances with us; and yet their enmity, of all other will be the greatest against us, and we shall receive deeper wounds in the house of these friends, then in the streets of our enemies. They shall gather together in thee, against thee.  
But not by me.  
The Saints gather together by God, having the Spirit of God to bring them into union and communion: but the carnal Church gathers together against the spiritual, not by God, but without him, for worldly base ends and interests, and profits, and advantages. But mark the end of such gathering together:  
Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.  
We have seen the accomplishment of this promise with our eyes; even a great party of the greatest men in the kingdom, as well as of mean ones, gathered together against the Church, but all fallen: What is become of the great power, and armies, that were in the West and the North, and other parts of the Kingdom, are they not fallen through the strength of this promise? and if any new party shall rise up again, they shall also fall in like manner,  
For thy sake.  
For the Lord loves the Church the body of Christ, even as he loves Jesus Christ himself; thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me; he loves Head and Members with the same love: The Lord's people are his portion on earth, as he is theirs in heaven, and so he will give Nations and kingdoms for them, and hath said, The Nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish▪ yea those Nations that be utterly wasted; On that this kingdom in itself, and in its representation, would avoid this evil as they would escape this end. The 4. Monarchies for opposing the spiritual Church, have fallen for its sake; and so shall every other kingdom and Common wealth, that undertakes against it.  Verse 16. 
Behold I have created the Smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work, and I have created the waster to destroy.  Verse 17. 
But no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, &c.  
Thou art saith God to the Church, a small, weak, despised, contemned, persecuted people; but thy safety, protection, blessing, lies in me, and in my power, and wisdom, and lous;  
Behold I have created the smith, &c.  
That is, I have formed him that makes the Sword and Gun and Pike, and that prepares the Ammunition; and both he that makes the weapon and he that useth it, are in my hands, and they shall only do what I would have them do, and no more: and so  
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper:  
God blunts the edge of the weapon, and weakens the hand, and puts fear into the heart of him that useth it; and so no weapons that have been used have prospered hitherto, and if any more weapons shall be used hereafter, they shall be as unprosperous as these.  
And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement, thou shalt condemn.  
Two ways you see the enemies of the Church assault the Church, by their hands, and by their tongues; and this latter way is the more dangerous of the two: by the former they scourge the Church with rods, by this latter with Scorpions. This weapon of the tongue is the most dangerous weapon that ever was used against the Church in any age, and the last refuge of the devil and his instruments to annoy the Church. And thus when the enemy fails at the strength of his weapons, he undertakes again with the malice of his tongue: and with this, the enemy strikes against the Saints that profess the truth, and against the truth itself professed by the Saints.  
Against the Saints that profess the truth, clothing them with odious names, and loading them with base aspersions, Independents and Sectaries and schismatics and heretics; & some such there are indeed in the kingdom, but they abuse the precious Saints of God, with these and other reproaches, and so crucify Christ again in his body, not between two thieves, but between two hundred thieves, that so it may be the greater difficulty to discern him: Their tongues rise up in judgement against them; it intimates, they shall have specious pretences against the Church, Oh these are the men that would turn the world upside down, that make the Nation full of tumults and uproars, that work all the disturbance in Church and State; it is fit, such men and Congregations should be suppressed, and that they should have no employment in Church or State; it will never be a quiet world till some course be taken with them, that we may have truth and peace and government again. And thus they have fair pretences against the godly, and use the glorious names of truth, peace and government, to the destruction of them all. And this is the sense of these words, for their tongues to rise up in judgement against them.  
Yea, methinks this phrase intimates thus much, as if they would call in the aid and power of the secular Magistrates against the spiritual Christians; and than their tongues rise up in judgement against them indeed, and except they engage the Magistrates power against the Saints, they think they can never do them mischief enough. And thus their tongues rise up in judgement against the Saints that profess the truth.  
2. As the enemy strikes with their tongue, against the Saints that profess the truth, so also against the truth professed by the Saints: and this they call by way of reproach new light, as their predecessors, at the beginning of the breaking forth of the Gospel in this kingdom, called it, New learning: yea, they call the truth, error; and the very mind of Christ in the word, heresy; and the power of godliness, Independency; and the contending for the faith once given to the Saints, faction, and sedition, and the like; and this grieves the Saints a thousand times more than any personal reproaches, to hear the truth and light and life and spirit of the Gospel, despised and spoken against, and blasphemed; this is that, that fetches not only tears from their eyes, but even drops of blood from their hearts: the truth of God being much dearer to them then their estates, or names, or lives.  
But see how God conquers this weapon of the enemy's tongue to the faithful, as well as the former weapons of their hands; every tongue that riseth up in judgement against thee thou shalt condemn. All that speak, and rage and rail, and reproach and slander and vilify and abuse the Saints, either by their tongues or pens, thou by thy uprightness, integrity, innocency, truth, faithfulness, shalt condemn them: thy ways and thy works that are led and acted in Christ and his Spirit, shall be the condemnation of all thine enemies; and their misreports and slanders shall be done away as a mist before the Sun; and thy righteousness and integrity shall break forth in that clearness and brightness and strength, that they shall sit down astonished and amazed; and they shall be condemned, not only by the word, and by the Saints, but by all the common morality of the world, yea, and by their own conscience; so that they shall carry their guilt with them night and day, and shall not be able to look the godly in the face, whom they have so reproached; the very presence of the Saints shall be the condemnation of their enemies, who have before so unworthily judged them: yea the whole world shall see the faithfulness and integrity of the Saints of God, and shall justify them and condemn their enemies; and shall say, lo, these are the men, that the world judged for Sectaries, and schismatics, and what not; see how faithful they have been to God and the true Church of God, and to the State, and surely th●y must needs be bad men, that are enemies to these. And thus while our enemies judge us, they shall be condemned themselves. And this shall certainly be done, as sure as the word of God is true, and as sure as the Lord lives, to make good his word: For  
This is the heritage of the Servants of the Lord.  
That is, you shall have this by as sure right as any man hath an inheritance that is entailed upon him. This is your heritage O ye servants of the Lord, to make void the force of every weapon that is used against you, and to condemn every tongue that judgeth you. This promise is our portion, & the lot of our inheritance, and in this we rejoice, that while we serve the Lord truly and faithfully, neither the hands nor tongues of the enemy shall hurt us, but in the end we shall be more than conquerors over all. Let my portion fall in this pleasant place, and I shall have a goodly heritage.  
And their righteousness is of me saith the Lord.  
That is, these servants of mine are not men of a human and moral righteousness only, but they partake of the righteousness of God in Christ, Their righteousness is of me; or thus, though they are sinners before the world (for as the world reckons their own sin for righteousness, so it reckons God's righteousness for sin) yet they are righteous before me and in my eyes. So that how ever the world reckons us evil doers, and not worthy to live in the world, yet God reckons us righteous, and our righteousness is before him.  
To conclude, seeing God hath engaged himself to secure us in his ways both from the weapons and tongues of men, go and tell the Foxes that we will walk without fear in the world both to day and to morrow, and the third day we shall be perfected.  
FINIS.