7 2 Nojournyivgfor Iliad till All this trouble and fhaking is that which the Lord pro- Mifeth in Heb, 12. 26. _twill once morefhake the Heavens and Hcbi a. 26 theearth 5 what hedid then externally, he will once more do, that is after the fame manner, but nowfpirituaily. And this is that work,and that birthofChrif.}, at which Herod and allifrael is troubled:The fpiritual Birth ofChrift caufeth the whole power ofthe natural man to fhake.and tremble, even thofe under Thepureft external forms. And when thepeo- pleofIfrael were led a long and tedious paifage to Canaan, being carried up anddown, backward and forward, what is all this to us and them, in the fubflance and myftery, but holding forth mans loft and miferable condition in the way ofhis own heart, in the way of fin, fhewingthe defolations, the darknefl, the. forlorn. and loft condition of all men by nature ; that evenwhen theheart ofman thinks he is-upon the borders ofCatiaan, and he is now in the right -way, and Thal furely by his travel and indnflry poffefs that good Land, he is foráll this deceived and brought back again to the ve- .Eta:14.15 ry borders ofEgypt, and is brought down to the very fides ofthe pit. And Os revealed and made known to him, for all-his fair pro4rtfi in his religion,and for all.his forms and inven- tions, that he is fill under mifery, and_darknefs, and thine, and condemnation : and that. ,all thofe.. things were but things takenup of himfelf, and were no other but fhewes and pjetences, and coverings to delude hirnfelfe and the world, becaufe hecould not abide to fee the internal mi- fery, and that bottomleffe gulfe in hitnfelf : he could not endure to fee the fniorkofthe bottomlef? pit arife out of his Rev. 9. 2: own heart, and Jhofe innumerable Lomas crawling and covering the whole earth ;.that there arein:his heart, pride, and Lull, and Malice, and Murder, andCovetuofiaeffe, and Idolatry, and Witehcrafts, and Sorceries, and Lyes, and.e- very thing aftt worketh abomination, which cannot enter in- Rev.21.26 to the new jerufalem. Therefore,I fay, becaufe man cannot abide to fee hirnfelfe thus, nor that any other, {honk' fee him thus vile andabominable as indeed he is, . therefore he gets hirnfelfea covering for all thefe things ; he makes him- felfAprons becaufe heknowes be is nake_d ; and he would co-
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