And great shall be the peace of thy children.

That is, when men are taught of God, then there is nothing but peace among them; when God comes and teacheth thee, and me, and another, and many, then 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 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 men only: the carnal church is only taught of men, and goes no higher; but the spiritual

Now they that are taught

church is truly taught of God. 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, then 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 are all equal in Jesus Christ; they know that no man can challenge Christ more to himself than 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 himself, 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 nothing but peace. Great shall be the peace of thy children:

Ver. 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 it 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; 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 rightcousness: 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 within; persecution without, content within; against all the sorrows and sufferings 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.

Ver. 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 Q

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: O, this is a dreadful and terrible thing to them; it makes their hearts ake within them, and looseth 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 out 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 that 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 God's, contrived in eternity, and discovered to Daniel chap. ii. 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 counsel of God begins to be accomplished, and the world thinks that we are subtil, and we are mighty whereas they are clearly mistaken in us; for the wisdom and strength whereby this is done, is God's,