and those that deny and contend against it they have a soul and a soul two souls one inclined toward them that preach the Gospel of Christ and another towards those that bring another doctrine and preach another Gospel though these doctrines are as farr different from one another as Heaven and Earth as some that are enemies to the grace of God in Christ to every man have said and acknowledged yet these can love both and commend both and receive good from both as they pretend Their heart is divided now shall they be found faulty Hos 10. 2. Yea this is that they call charity to have a good opinion and esteem of all that make a fair face in the flesh though many of them preach another Jesus or Spirit or Gospel besides him whom the Apostles have preached or that the believers have received and accepted when as indeed it is not charity For charity rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth but it is the fruit of their instability and want of fervent love to Christ and his Gospel which were it in them would cause them not to indure evil doctrines nor those that bring them Rev. 2. 2-6 These persons are like the waves of the sea driven with the winds and tossed and unstable in all their ways and walkings ever learning and never able to come to the knowledg of the truth Let not such persons think they shall receive any thing of the Lord though he giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not for former or present unworthiness yet this will deprive the soul of good and hinder such manner of men from receiving what God is giving liberally unto them Jam. 1. 6-8 O that we may all cleanse our hearts herefrom in that fountain prepared and opened in and through the blood of Christ Christ being ascended up on high hath in these last days especially given such excellent gifts to men that thereby we might know which are sound and wholesom words and which are evil and pernicious that we might abhor the evil and cleave to the good with full purpose of heart and might not henceforth be Children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive that our hearts might not be so simple as to be beguiled and deceived by the good words and fair speeches of them that cause divisions and offences contrary to the Apostles doctrine but might be established with grace and receive and abide in the doctrine of Christ in which whosoever abideth he hath both the Father and the Son And that if any man how appearingly holy or learned soever he be bring not this doctrine whatever doctrine else he bring if this be not the sum of his message we should not receive him into our house give no entertainment to him as a bringer of another doctrine nor bid him God speed say not the blessing of the Lord be upon you the Lord prosper you for he that biddeth such an one God speed is partaker of his evil deeds He is a sharer with him in all the mischif he doth to others Be not therefore carried about with divers and strange doctrines for it is a good thing the heart be established with grace Ephes 4 8-11 14. Rom â—6 17 18. Heb. 13. 7 8 9. 2 Joh. 9 10 11. 1 Joh. 2. 24-26 Gal. 1. 6-9 2 Cor. 11. 1-3 4. The wisdom of this world also our own and others must be ceased from and parted with otherwise this will pervert us and hinder us from coming unto and following after Jesus Christ Isa 47. 10. 1 Cor. 3. 19 20. Hence that instruction and admonition Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding be not wise in thâ—â—e own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil As intimating to us that our own wisdom and understanding will hinder us from trusting in him heartily and fearing and worshipping him Prov. 3. 5-7 The preaching of Christ and him crucified the commending and proclaiming the excellency and excellent ends and vertues of his personal abasement and sufferings and of what he hath done and obtained into himself and is become This is a sapless unsavoury thing to our wisdom and to them that seek it and follow after it and our wisdom causeth such to depart from or wander out of the way of understanding Hence whereas the Apostle in one verse saith The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness he saith in another The preaching of Christ crucified is to the Greeks who seek after wisdom foolishness to signify to us That those that seek after the wisdom of this world they are such as perish as their sin go astray from the right way and while they are so doing the Cross of Christ and the preaching thereof is a foolish thing to them they perceive no form or comeliness no beauty or excellency no desirableness in his sufferings or in him who by means thereof is become the habitation of the fulness of the Godhead bodily and in our nature Compare 1 Cor. 1 17 18. with vers 22. 23. Col. 2. 9 10. It is an unsavouâ—â— thing to our wisdom to be directed always unto Christ and to come unto him continually as the only foundation of faith reason of hope fountain of light and teaching answer of the conscience towards God matter of seeding robe of righteousness Our wisdom leadeth us rather to do somewhat that we may have our life in and acceptation by and dependence upon And therefore that we may be wise in eâ—â—â—n the flesh of the Son of Man which was given for the 〈…〉 e of the world and drinking his blood in the discoveries consolations operations teachings requirings and admonitions thereof needful it is for us to become fools and to cease from our own wisdom that we may thus be made wise 1 Cor. 3. 18. with Prov. 9. 4-6 12. Matt. 11. 25 28. Rom. 1. 20-22 or our wisdom will lead us to have our fear toward God taught by the precepts of men or to have our faith standing in their wisdom Isa 29. 13 14. 1 Cor. 2. 1-5 This is a great Idol in the World and too much set up in the Temple of God to the polluting and defiling it and that which God is staining the pride of and famishing now in glorifying and exalting Christ Jesus as the Wisdom of God and that which he will make lean and wholly famish in due season Oh! that it may now be so considered by us that we may cease there-from and so flee from idolatry 1 Cor. 1. 19-30 31. 3. 17 18. Zeph. 2. 11. Prov. 23. 4. We must also cease from and sell our own righteousness that of our own working in our own wisdom and strength even all confidence in and dependance upon that for life and acceptation otherwise this will hinder us from heartily imbracing and putting on
pleased in him of this he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the spirit of holiness in the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1. 4. though they gathered together against him and unjustly condemned him and said and intimated that he was not the Son of God yet God did stand at his right 〈…〉 and to save him from the judges of his soul Psal 109. 30 31. he wiped off as it were all that dirt reproch and ignomy wherewith they covered him and testified he delighted in him in sending from above and taking him out of great waters Psal 18. 16 17. And in setting him on his own right hand and glorifying him in the Gospel He is purified in and through this fire from all the guilt of our sins and from all the weakness and mortality of our Nature and from all the hidings of Gods face and from all the calumnies slanders and dishonours of his enemies yea from all trouble and grievance and is now an inconceivably glorious one full of lustre and splendour And this will be furher shewed in what followeth 4. This Gold is said to be tried to denote and signifie that this work this trying work is over and past though the virtue and glorious fruit of it remaineth and abideth for ever It is not said Gold trying but tried in or out of the fire for as before is said he is acquitted of all our sins that were imputed to him and hath overcome abolished and got rid of all our weakness and mortality and all occasions of grief and trouble and is not as some ungodly and Antichristian Spirits affirm blasphemously dying in some or in any in every Age of the World Those that so say make his sufferings and Sacrifice like those directed to under the Law they even count the blood of the Covenant a common thing like the blood of Bulls and Goats take away sin and therefore was daily offered but herein his Blood and Sacrifice is distinguished from and infinitely preferred before all legal Blood and Offerings in that his is not to be itterated or repeated and so by consequence he can suffer no more as the Apostle intimateth in the dissimilitudes he maketh between the former Priests and their Offerings which they offered according to the Law and our High-Priest and his Offering when he saith Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the High-Priest entreth into the Holy place every year with blood of others for then must he often have suffered since the Foundation of the World which to imagine and affirm is the greatest and first-born of absurdities as the Apostle doth intimate but now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Heb. 9. 25 26. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more Dominion over him For in that he died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Rom. 6. 9 10. And this Christ proposeth unto John to strengthen him against his fears He saith John laid his right hand upon me saying Fear not I am he that liveth and was dead and behold consider and set thine heart unto this give attention hereto I am alive for evermore Amen This is a true and faithful saying Rev. 1. 17 18. Were he always trying always suffering and offering there could be no perfection by his Blood if he were always dying in some in every Age or always to be offered up a propitiatory Sacrifice then would his Blood and Sacrifice be like that Blood and those Sacrifices under the Law which could not make the comers thereunto perfect for the Law made nothing perfect But Christ hath once and but once suffered for sins the just for the unjust 1 Pet 3. 18. And by his own Blood he entred in once into the Holy place having obtained Eternal Redemption Heb. 9. 12. And offered up one Offering that of his one body once for all and this man when he had offered up one Sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God from ever suffering any more or offering any more Sacrifice or Offering for sins Heb. 7. 27. 10. 10-12 And hath by his one Offering once offered perfected for ever them that are sanctified whereof the Holy-Ghost also is a Witness to us Heb. 10. 14 15. And this Holy-Spirit convinceth the World of righteousness evidenceth that Christ hath compleated righteousness a perfect righteousness in and by himself for us and therein sheweth and demonstrateth the unprofitableness of ours in that he is gone to the father and we see him no more no more coming down to suffer or offer any new Offering or to repeat that Offering of his own body for us nor hath he given or left behind him instruction to any one who may pretend himself to be his Vicar to offer him up a propitiatory Sacrifice for the sins of quick or dead John 16. 10. Heb. 10. 10-14 In this Phrase then or manner of speaking is implied and intimated to us the preciousness of his personal abasement and sufferings and herein is evidenced that his Flesh is meat indeed and his Blood is drink indeed that we might eat his Flesh and drink his Blood and rejoyce and glory in nothing save in the Cross of Christ in that he is tried not trying but come out of and delivered from the fire taken from prison and judgment and is ascended up where he was before John 6. 54-62 And it is also a powerful admonition to us not to count it a common thing not to despise or set light by it for there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins he can dye no more so that If this Blood and Sacrifice be rejected and trodden under foot till the day of Grace and patience be at an end there remaineth nothing but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation Heb. 10. 26-29 It was witnessed of him who was dead that he liveth and he was made a Priest after the power of an endless life and that by his Oath who sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech and so ever liveth to make intercession for them that come to God by him And is therefore able to save them to the uttermost Heb. 7 8. 16-25 Rev. 2. 8. This is Gold not trying but tried in or out of the fire 1 Pet. 3. 18. 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. Rom. 6. 3 4. 5. In this Phrase and expression in saying Gold tried in the fire is also signified that he is become Gold for us who was tried even that same person in that same body the same that was tried the same is become Gold for us precious and inriching even as it is with natural and earthly Gold that precious Metal of the Earth The same substance that is cast in the same
20. See also what a mistake was in the Corinthians who were high minded and highly conceited of themselves Now ye are full saith the Apostle now ye are rich increased with goods ye have reigned as Kings without us c. We are fools for Christ's sake ye are wise in Christ ye can be his Disciples and followers of him and yet are so wise that you can keep your substance and be free from trials reproches and persecutions or ye can declare the Testimony of God succesfully and yet make use of excellency of speech and wisdom we are weak but ye are strong ye are honourable you have esteem and repute amongst men but we are despised c. But what manner of persons were these that had such high thoughts of themselves See what the same Apostle saith of them I Brethren could not speak unto you as unto Spiritual but as unto Carnal as unto Babes in Christ I have fed you with Milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear neither yet now are ye able for ye are yet arnal for whereas there is yet among you envying and strise and divisions are ye not Carnal and walk as men 1 Cor. 4. 8 10. with Chap. 3. 1 4. As there is that maketh himself poor and hath great riches who appeareth as one that hath nothing and yet possesseth all things so there is that maketh himself rich yet hath nothing Prov. 13. 7. Such a mistake there was with this Church and is with many that have high thoughts and conceits of themselves Herein they are like a dream of a night Vision as when an hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his Soul is hungry or as when a thirsty man dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint and his Soul hath appetite Isa 29. 7 8. To such a sad and loathsorn condition may such bring themselves who have believed on the name of the onely begotten Son of God by turning their eye from Christ and doting upon and admiring themselves their knowledge parts gifts receipts attainments Oh that we may look into the perfect law of liberty and con-continue therein that we may so behold our own vileness sinfulness shortness and incompleatness in our selves that we may be low in our own eyes and so preserved from this lukewarmness and quickned and inflamed with love to Christ to seek after the knowledge and injoyment of him and for that cause to part with and forsake all things Yea and with fervency to hold forth the profession of our Faith without wavering that we may overcome by the blood of the Lamb and word of our testimony not loving our lives to the death that none of the things we may suffer may move us nor may we count our lives dear to our selves that we may finish our course with joy These are the persons to whom this faithful and true witness whose name is Wonderful Counseller speaketh and to whom he giveth this useful and gracious counsel We have in the next place to consider and speak unto 3. The counsel it self I counsel thoe to buy of me Gold tried in the fire c. We may note in general from the person counselling persons counselled and counsel it self given to them 1. That when men have sitted themselves for being spued out of Christ's mouth and brought themselves into such a condition that they deserve to be no longer pleaded for by him as his Church but to be vomited forth as loathsome and he threatneth so to deal with them yet while it is called to day such is the graciousness and mercisulness of this faithful and true witness such is the loathness and unwillingness of Christ and God in him to execute what he threatneth that he is long-suffering to such unworthy and ill-deserving ones and giveth good and wholesom counsel to such that they might hear it and receive it that so the judgment threatned may not be executed upon them He had said I will spue thee out of my mouth but before he doth so he here saith I do counsel thee in the present time to buy c. So when the Lord had been declaring the wonderful iniquity of his people in former times and commanded it to be recorded and threatned judgement desolating judgement yet before he executeth the sentence he giveth good advice to them Now go saith the Lord to the Prophet write it before them in a table and note it in a book that it may be for the time to come the latter day to warn and admonish us for ever and ever That this is a rebellious people though they fast and pray and tread God's Courts lying children children that will not hear the Law of the Lord which say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophesy not to us right things speak smooth things prophesy deceits Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in an high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant and he shall break it as the breaking of the potters vessel that is broken in pieces he shall divide them and separate them one from another and make such a breach amongst them as cannot be repaired by them again Thus he threatneth and yet to these he saith In returning to him from whom ye have deeply revolted and rest ye shall be saved namely from the judgement deserved and threatned or from the evil of it In quietness and confidence shall be your strength yea and though they would not presently listen to this counsel yet still he saith therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you c. Isa 30. 8 18. Thus also when the Lord by the Prophet Jeremy had threatned sore judgements on his people for their multiplied and heinous provocations and commanded him once and again and a third time not to make intercession for them nor to lift up a cry or prayer for them yet such was his unwillingness to destroy them and such testimony he giveth of his willingness to receive them in returning to him that their hands might not hang down nor their knees be seeble that he acquainteth them with the end and intention of such threatnings and giveth unto them good counsel At what time I shall speak saith the Lord concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them Now therefore go to speak to the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem saying thus saith the Lord behold I frame evil and devise a device against you return ye now every one from his evil way and make your way and doings good Jer. 7. 16. 11. 14. 14. 11. with chap. 18. 7 11. To this also
it is needful That they anoint their eyes with this Eye-salve that they may see This is intimated to us in the counsel here given and in the end of it And indeed this branch of the counsel may give answer unto and remove a doubt that may be and arise in our jealous hearts on the hearing of this counsel given to such wretched piteous persons as these were For they might be ready to say Question How may we be perswaded to believe the contents of this Counsel This Counsellour threatneth to spue us out of his mouth and telleth us that we are poor miserable creatures and speaketh as if he were highly offended with us and greatly incensed against us How can we then believe that he should in earnest propose to us such enriching gold and such excellent raiment as is here commended to us Whence should such grace be to such unworthy ill deserving ones as we are It is possible that that which he here calleth upon us to buy is nothing else but counterfeit and not so excellent as he would perswade us it is how shall we know whether this be right gold or such excellent raiment as it is signified to be Answer To give answer to such a jealousie and suspicious thought this may be added or however it is proper to purge it out of us It is indeed admirable grace excellent loving kindness such as cannot be expressed or conceived and it may well be marvellous in our eyes if it be duly considered by us Psal 36. 7. But yet to the end we might be assured of and satisfied in the goodness and reality of the Treasures here commended to us before he requireth us to buy he first in order of nature willeth us to anoint our eyes with this Eye-salve that we may see He might upon his own authority as being our Lord have commanded us to buy and to have depended wholly upon his word for what he saith without seeing with our eyes but he condescendeth to us in a more gracious way and instructeth us to open our eyes that we might be satisfied And in some sort though not fully he dealeth with us as he did with Thomas when he was so slow of heart to believe yea resolved not to believe that Christ was raised again except he saw such things as might remove all doubtfulness out of him our Saviour was then pleased to give him such an evident demonstration and infallible proof of the truth of what he was doubtful concerning that he crieth out as one abundantly convinced of his former evil My Lord and my God So in some sort he dealeth here though he presenteth not himself to our bodily eyes yet he counselleth us to anoint the eyes of our understanding that we may see and might no longer have any doubtfulness remain in us John 1. 39-46 In this Instruction then let us consider these two things which are needful to be spoken to 1. What is that we should anoint our eyes for that we may see 2. Why is it needful to anoint our eyes herewith that we may see 1. What is that we should anoint our eyes for that we may see What is it that is needful to be seen by us To this we may say it is needful to our buying those excellent Treasures to see 1. The Lord Jesus Christ himself and that durable riches and righteousness in him and the means whereby he is become such a rich treasury and store-house of all the fulness of grace and truth that of his fulness we might receive and grace for grace to wit his humbling himself and becoming obedient to death the death of the cross for all this is the price of his blood and procurement of his sufferings for us This is needful for us to see even those heavenly and blessed commodities that are here to be bought by his Angels and Churches It is but a reasonable thing we should see what we are invited to buy in parting with all for And Christ and the unsearchable riches of him are discovered to us in and by this eye-salve the testimony of Jesus and we are thereby inabled to behold them As well as also here is shewn unto us the abasement of Christ where-through he hath obtained all things into his hand for us here we may see the great sufferings he indured for us so the Apostle signifieth that in this Gospel Jesus Christ was evidently set forth crucified before their eyes the eyes of their souls Gal. 3. 1. So the Author 〈◊〉 the Hebrews saith we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels that by the grace of God he should tast death for every man Heb. 2. 9. Here we may see that he who was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation and was made flesh Joh. 1. 14. That he bare our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2. 24. And the great sorrows and sufferings which he indured for our sakes how he was tormented for our transgressions bruised for our iniquities how his soul was in hell and his flesh in the grave that he indured such great sorrows that there was no sorrow like unto his sorrow wherewith the Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce wrath Lam. 1. 12. Here we may also see the preciousness of his sufferings and blood whereby he hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law and obtained into himself eternal life eternal redemption a full and compleat treasury of all things that pertain to life and godliness and his beauty and glory his excellency and comeliness is here presented to us that it might be seen by us Here we may see Jesus who was made a little while inferiour to the Angels crowned with glory and honour Heb. 2. 9. Here with open face as in a glass we may behold the glory of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Here we may see that he is become a good foundation of faith a rich fountain of all spiritual and eternal blessings wisdome and righteousness and sanctification and redemption That he is more precious then rubies and that all the things we can desire are not to be compared unto him Prov. 3. 15. That he is more glorious and excellent then the mountains of Prey Psal 76 4. That he is more precious then gold yea then the golden wedge of Ophir Isa 13. 12. That God hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name Phil. 2. 7-9 That he hath given him the preeminence in all things and amongst all persons Col. 1. 18 19. That the Father so loveth him that he hath given all things into his hand so as he that looketh up to and believeth in him hath everlasting life Joh. 3. 35 36. Matt. 11. 27 28. Here we may see that he is the chiefest of ten thousands that he is altogether lovely and that none are to be compared unto him Cant. 5. 11-16 And this we are called upon
to see and behold as declared to us in his testimonies and especially in the testimony of his mouth The Father calleth upon us to behold his Servant and Son Behold saith he my Servant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul is well pleased I have put my spirit upon him Isa 42. 1. Matt. 12. 18. And Behold the man whose name is the Branch Zech. 6. 12. Behold I have given him for a witness to the people c. Isa 55. 1-4 5. Jesus Christ calleth upon us also to behold himself Look unto me saith he all the ends of the Earth and be ye saved Isa 45. 22 23. with Rom. 14. 9-11 12. And saith Behold me Behold me unto a nation that was not called by his name Isa 65. 1. 55. 5. It is also the work of the holy Spirit to lift up the Son of Man as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness as a compleat object in whom is prepared all helpfulness and healing for every stung creature that men might look unto and believe in him Joh. 3. 5 9-9-14-16 It is his work and office to bear witness of his blood and the love of God as therein commended everlastingly and to glorify Christ and take of his things and shew unto us of his sufferings and the glory which there-through he hath received 1 Joh. 5. 6. Joh. 16. 13 14. 1 Pet. 1. 11. Yea as the father word and holy Ghost are one one in essence and being so one also in their testimony and this is the record that God hath given unto us mankind eternal life and this life is in his Son 1 Joh. 5. 7 11. Yea he is the sum and subject matter of the testimony of all those holy men by whom God hath spoken unto us from the beginning of the world to the end we might see and behold him To him give all the Prophets witness Act. 10. 43. Of this horn of salvation God spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets that have been since the world began Luk. 1. 69 70. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Acts 3. 22-25 26. 23. Joh. 5. 39. The Baptist was a man sent from God to bear witness of him as the light the fountain in whom is all the fulness of grace and truth and he saith Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World Joh. 1. 6 7-15 16. 29 33-36 The Apostles also were witnesses of him Joh. 15. 27. Yea the fullest and clearest witnesses of him they saw and did testify that the Father sent the Son the Saviour of the World 1 Joh. 4. 14. They preached not themselves but Jesus Christ and him crucified and therewith Jesus the Lord. 1 Cor. 1. 23 24. 2 Cor. 4. 5. To them was this grace given and Apostleship fo obedience to the faith among all nations Rom. 1. 5. 16. 25 26. To them was this grace given to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see c. Ephes 3. 8 9. It evidently appeareth therefore that it was needful they should anoint their eyes with this eye-salve that they might see this blessed object that hath been and is so constantly and unanimonsly witnessed of and directed unto by God and all those that have been taught and led of him All agree in one concerning him to the end we might see and believe in him who hath so testified his love towards us as to lay down his life for us that he might become our Saviour and who is through and by means of his blood exalted and glorified and become the habitation of all the fulness of the God head the fountain of life the fountain of living waters the Sun of righteousness the treasury of wisdom and knowledge Yea all that the Father hath is his Col. 2. 3. 9. Psal 36. 8 9. Mal 4. 2. Joh. 16. 14 15. And that this is the object which they are called upon and counselled to see and behold and to that end to anoint their eyes with this eye-salve appeareth from the scope of the place we are speaking unto For here the faithful counsellor had been commending unto them and counselling them to buy gold tried in the fire that they might be rich and white raiment that they might be clothed and that the shame of their nakedness might not appear And now he addeth anoint that thou maist see to wit this gold and how it hath been tried and the excellency of it and this white raiment c. And this is a glass which discovereth all things to us Here we may look upon those things which cannot be seen with the bodily eye 2 Cor. 4. 18. As Moses by faith saw him that is invisible Heb. 11. 27. And in some sense as Abraham saw the day of Christ and was glad Joh. 8. 56. So may we behold and see in this word of faith which is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. the preciousness of the blood of Jesus Christ and his excellency and fitness for us and for our helpfulness by means thereof 2. To the end we may buy this gold and white raiment and thereto sell all that we have needful it is to anoint our eyes with this eye-salve that we may see namely that we may see the vileness and odiousness of our sins which are to be abhorred by us And the emptiness and unprofitableness of our idols which we are to abstain from that we may have these excellent and durable commodities here commended to us for while we are ignorant hereof we shall be ready to think that we part with is better then that which is commended to and set before us While we remain in our blindness we are ready and apt to mistake and to call evil good and good evil and to set our hearts upon that which will not profit yea to cleave unto that which will destroy us in conclusion if it be not parted with and fled from While persons are in darkness they are under the power of Satan and led captive by him at his pleasure Acts 26. 18. Ephes 5. 5-8 So much the Apostle signifieth concerning the Gentiles that remained in darkness when he saith they have their understandings darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness as if nothing were pleasurable unto them but what is abominable Ephes 4. 17-19 So the Apostle speaking of the believing Gentiles saith that in times past namely when they were darkness they walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the Air the spirit that now worketh rulingly and prevailingly in the children of disobedience Ephes 2. 1 2. with chap. 5. 8. But to this we may add more afterwards Now therefore it is needful that we see our sins and vanities that we may be willing to part
While we behold this Gold this enriching Gold and see and consider how it hath been tried in the fire and how proper it is to make us truly rich and how certainly and infallibly it enricheth them that have it this is apt and powerful to draw the love and heart thereto and to cause us to covet after it As it is a powerful Cord to us naturally to draw our hearts to the riches of this world to behold and see them with our eyes As he confessed who said When I saw two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold then I coveted them and took them Josh 7. 21. 1 John 2. 15 16. So when we see in this Glass this excellent Gold the price whereof is above Rubies yea above all the riches of this world it is a forceable motive to engage our hearts to seek to be made partakers hereof If thou knewest the gift of God saith our Saviour and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink thou wouldst ask c. John 4. 10. How did the knowledge and consideration of this better and enduring substance in Heaven make the Hebrews willing in the days of their first Illumination to take joyfully the spoiling of their goods and to endure reproch and shame and to be companions of them that were shamefully intreated Heb. 10. 32-34 What blessedness did the Galatians speak of And how did they turn from idols to God And how ready would they have been if it had been possible to have plucked out their eyes and given them unto them that were instruments of preaching Christ unto them when he was evidently set forth before their eyes in the testimony of Jesus They were willing then to part with all for his sake Gal. 3. 1. 4. 13-15 And was it not the excellency of the knowledge of Christ that made the Apostle willing to suffer the loss of all things even of those things also that formerly were gainful to him and to count them but dung that he might gain him and be found in him Phil. 3. 7-9 And to this very end That a nation he knew not and nations that knew not him might run unto him he saith Behold me behold me As intimating That the seeing and beholding him is very powerful and prevalent to overcome and perswade us to close with and embrace him Isa 55. 5. 65. 1. And so the beholding and seeing this White Raiment and the excellent and useful nature and property thereof is proper and powerful to incline us to seek that we may have it that we may be clothed therewith that so the shame of our nakedness may not appear Josh 7. 21. Phil. 3. 4-9 Doubtless the beholding with the eyes of the understanding that plenteousness of Redemption in him even the forgiveness of our sins those Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge hid in him that everlasting Righteousness brought in by and treasured in him that eternal Redemption obtained by his Bloud that fulness of Grace Truth Spirit and all things pertaining to life and godliness prepared in him that Eternal Life given us in him As these things are discovered to us in the testimony and his compleat and unparallell d comeliness and amiableness by means hereof it would enamour our hearts on him and inflame us with love to him and even make us sick of Love and unsatisfied in our desires till we more know him win him and be found in him yea till we see as we are seen and know as we are known and be ever with him Cant. 5. 10-16 2. 3 5. Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun Eccles 11. 7. But how much more pleasant and alluring is it to behold this Pearl of great price this Sun of Righteousness this Robe of Salvation this excellent one who is fairer then the children of men yea who is the true God and eternal life And how powerful is the sight of him to keep us from our sins and idols 1 John 5. 20 21 So also the seeing our sins and idols as discovered in his Cross and Testimony is very powerful to move us to cast them away and part with them as hath been also in part signified before There sin is rendred most abundantly sinful and our idols most evidently unprofitable and vain Hence the Apostle saith Whosoever abideth in Christ in the sight and knowledge of him as appeareth by the opposition sinneth not Though sin be in him and moving for service yet he doth not commit it He doth not willingly yield up his mind or members to the service thereof And on the other hand Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him nor known him He hath not anointed his eyes with this Eye-salve that he might see nor seen with his eyes as thus anointed He that doth evil hath not seen God 1 John 3. 6 8. 3 John 11. He that seeth and abideth in the sight of the end wherefore he was manifested to wit to take away our sins and of his faithfulness therein for in him is no sin he that beholdeth and considereth the bitter Cup Christ drank off and the shameful cruel accursed death he died for our sins who was the Son of God to the end he might redeem us from all iniquity and what a Fountain he is become in whom is all forgiveness righteousness rest refreshing washing and cleansing eternal life c. Such an one is preserved from sowing to and siding with that sin that dwelleth in him he getteth an escape and fleeth from the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 2. 20. So much the Apostle James also signifieth when he saith Whose looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth he being not a forgetful hearer of the word but a doer of the works this man shall be blessed in his deed The man that continueth looking in this Glass this Testimony of Jesus is a doer he layeth apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness as it is discovered and made to swim aloft Jam. 1. 21-25 This truth known maketh him free from the bondage and slavery of his sins John 8. 31-33 And he is made willing by these arguments contained in the Gospel to sell and part with his iniquities and abominations Rom. 6. 1-3 And so also in beholding Christ crucified and looking upon the Cross of Christ which he hath endured and overcome and the glory which there-thorow he hath received a man may be broken off from his idols The world the wisdom righteousness riches honour glory pomp and splendour favour and friendship customs and fashions of the world is crucified unto such an one as is thus exercised through the Cross of Christ Gal. 6. 14. So as he keepeth himself from those idols 1 John 5. 20 21. Thus when the Apostles preached Christ to men and he was received and beheld in his Gospel by them they then turned to God from
us not lift up our selves in our doings knowledge attainments for we have cause sufficient to take shame to our selves that we are so barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Nor let us think our selves or others to be any whit the better because of our thinking or speaking highly of our selves but rather suspect our selves and know that this is an evidence and cause of our Lukewarmness We may say the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are we and yet steal from and defraud others and commit adultery c. Jer. 7. 4-10 We may boast that our hearts are right and cry come see my zeal for the Lord of Hosts and depart from and destroy inferiour Idols and yet serve Golden ones 2 Kings 10. 15 16 25. 29. We may speak one to another and say come I pray you and hear what is the word that cometh forth out of the mouth of the Lord and may come unto his Servants and Prophets as the people cometh and sit before them as God's people and hear his words and the word of his servants may be unto us as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an Instrument and yet we may not do what we hear but our hearts may go after our covetousness Ezek. 33. 30-32 We may come into God's presence and stand and pray with our selves as being so holy that others may not come near us God We thank thee we are not like other men and yet those we separate from may be justified rather then we Luk. 18. 11-14 We may know we have knowledge and yet know nothing as we ought to know 1 Cor. 8. 1-3 We may boast that we are rich and full and yet be so carnal that God's servants cannot speak to us as unto spiritual ones 1 Cor. 4. 8. with chap. 3. 1-5 We may bestow all our goods to feed the poor and give our bodies to be burned and yet not have charity and so it may profit us nothing 1 Cor. 13. 3. We may plead that we have prophesied in Christ's name and in his name have cost out Devils and in his name done many wonderful works and yet not be built upon the rock which is Christ and so be rejected in conclusion Matt. 7. 22-27 We may glory in our building of Temples for God and yet forget our maker and count the great things of his Law strange things to us Isa 66. 1 2 3. Hos 8. 12-14 Oh! take we heed of seeking our own glory or boasting of our selves or of any of our own things before him though we may be in any measure perfect or so graciously reputed yet let us not know our own souls thereby Job 9. 20 21. Though we be righteous yet let us not lift up our heads Job 10. 15. Though we know nothing by our selves yet know we we are not thereby justified 1 Cor. 4. 4. And be we well assured that when we cry we are full and come not continually unto Christ as the onely foundation of faith fountain of grace and truth bread of life god tried in the fire robe of righteousness great and fundamental â—itness and evidence of God's love we are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot and deserve to be spued out of his mouth And though in a right examining our selves in the glass of the perfect law of liberty we perceive it to be thus with us and that we deserve to be abhorred of him and to be put away as dross and he is rebuking and chastening us yet notwithstanding consider we as many as he loveth he rebuketh and chasteneth that we may not be discouraged or faiâ—t in our sighing but rather let us anoint our eyes with eye-salve that we may see the excellency of Jesus of his Cross and of what he hath thereby effected and obtained into himself and is become and the vanity and unprofitableness of all other things in comparison of him that we may be zealous and hâ—t in spirit and demeanour and so sake all we have that we may win him and be made partakers of him and of those unsearchable and durable riches and that everlasting righteousness in him for that is his end in all his counsels calls and admonitions yea and in all his rebukes and chastisements while it is the day of his grace and patience It is in love to our souls that he doth rebuke us and order afflictions to us not for his pleasure but for 〈◊〉 that we might be partake s of his holiness Heb. 12. 9-11 Joh. 5. 42-45 Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees and make strait paths for our feet and he will forgive our sins and turn again and have compassion on us for he is gracious and ready to repent him of the evil threatned by him and deserved by us Heb. 12. 10. 13. Joel 2. 1 -12 13. I shall adde no more here having spoken so largely in the following Treatise but to desire thee to consider what is said and what agreeth with the Testimony of Christ receive and hold fast and what swerveth there-from refuse and reject And the Lord give us an understanding in all things and help us so heartily to embrace and retain the word of truth that though now we see not Christ we may love him above all and believing in him may rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls so he desireth who is thy Servant in and for the Lord Charles Phelpes Lyn. Sep. 15. 1671. Needful Counsel c. Rev. 3. 18. I Counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the Fire that thou mayest be Rich and white raiment that thou mayest be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see THE Words we see are a gracious needful and instructive Counsel given to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea In which let us consider 1. The Person that counselleth 1 2. The Person or Persons counselled thee 3. The counsel it self I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the Fire c. 1. The person counselling 1 Who is that He is described to us vers 14. and giveth such a descritpion of himself as in which he giveth us to understand that he is excellent and comely for the escape of such as have fallen away by their iniquities and thereby brought themselves into a loathsome condition and deserve and are threatned to be cast forth as abominable branches persisting therein though such have destroyed themselves yet in him is help salvation and recovery for them Vers 14. These things saith the Amen to wit he in whom all the promises of God are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. Ratified Confirmed Sealed and so made sure even by his precious blood which is the blood of the New Testament
and everlasting Covenant Matt. 26. 28. Heb. 10. 29. 13. 20. 9. 15 16. Those great and precious promises appertaining to Life and godliness yea to this life and that to come are not only assured by the word of God and confirmed by his Oath which yet are two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lye and therefore might quicken and encourage lukewarm ones to flee for refuge to lay hold on that hope set before them but actually made firme by the blood of the Testatour who is also in the virtue thereof raised and as the forerunner entred into Heaven and is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first Testament they which are called may receive the promise of the eternal Inheritance He Mediateth and maketh Intercession for the taking away the iniquities of those that come to God by him and that the contents of that Covenant may be dispensed to them according to their needs and capacities God hath promised and Christ hath actually said and is the Amen to them Rev. 1. 18. Heb. 8. 6. and 9. 15. It may seem in that Jesus Christ doth first describe himself by this title of the Amen that these likewarme ones did not keep in believing remembrance the promises and the firmeness and immutability of them and certainty of their performance according to the tenour of them being ratified by such precious blood and ascertained by such a faithful and true witness and therefore they grew sluggish remiss and indifferent and there was a great abatement of their former fervency either fearing they should be left in sufferings or not provided for or dispensed unto according to their wants and therefore to recover them he telleth them his name is the Amen The consideration hereof is powerful to stirr up to diligence and to recover us from our decays to cause us that we shall not be slothful but followers diligent followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6. 10 20. To strengthen us to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering and to consider one another to provoke to love and good works not forsaking the assembling of our selves together Heb. 10. 22 25. To ingage us to come out from amongst men and to be separate and not touch the unclean thing but to cleanse our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. 2 Cor. 6. 16 18. 7. 1. if these exceeding great and precious promises given to the Apostles to minister and ministred by them in and with the glorious Gospel be in us received and entertained by us and abound if they be suffered to dwell richly in us and to have their perfect work so as we limit them not nor hold them in unrighteousness they make us that we shall not be idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ They will provoke us to flee from and escape the corruption that is in the world thorow lust and besides giving all diligence thereto they will inable and stir us up to add to our faith virtue courage zeal resolution of spirit magnanimity to be as bold as lions and to virtue knowledg that we may use our fervour and zeal aright and that not about meat and drink and days and places and gestures in which the kingdome of God consisteth not but in contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints and to knowledg temperance to have sober thoughts of our selves of our knowledg vertue parts gifts attainments and to be temperate in our use of and exercise about the things of this world in which there may be excess and in our joys and griefs thereabout and to temperance patience patiently continuing in well doing in faith in virtue in knowledg in temperance c. Patiently induring whatever reproches and persecutions we may meet with in walking in Christ and in the exercise of those efficacies of his grace and resting in the Lord and waiting patiently for him and to patience godliness worshipping him in the spirit and rejoycing in Christ Jesus and having no confidence in the flesh and imitating and following him as dear children according to the light and instructions of his grace and to godliness brotherly kindness loving the brethren with delightful and peculiar manner of love not pretending we are right worshippers of God while we are without brotherly kindness to those borne of him For every one that loveth him that begat loveth them also that are begotten of him For if a man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen and to brotherly kindness charity that free manner of love which is exercised towards others not because of somewhat lovely and amiable in them but from an higher reason and motive even from the constraining operation of the love of God in Christ and thence to have fervent charity among our selves and to love all men To these things will these precious promises confirmed by such precious blood enliven and quicken us if they be suffered to dwell richly in us for hereby we shall be made partakers of the Divine nature in union and fellowship with it interest in it usefulness of it and conformity to it 2 Pet. 1. 4 9. Oh exercise we our selves to godliness to Christ who is the root and fundation of godliness for it is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. with chapt 3. 16. Oh! how effectual were the promises with the Patriarchs in former times when they were not so confirmed as now to make them forsake their Countrey Kindred and Fathers house To confess themselves strangers and pilgrims on the earth c. These believed caused Abraham the Father of the faithful not to consider his own body now dead neither yet the deadness of Sarah's Womb but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able also to performe and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him who hath performed the promise made to the fathers in raising Christ from the dead who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification Gen. 12. 1 3. Heb. 11. 13 16. Rom. 4. 16 25. with Act. 13. 32 33. Heb. 11. 17 19. The Apostle Paul to recover the Galatians from their wandrings setteth before them that Christ is the Amen to him the promises are made and in him confirmed and with him assured to those that receive him so as in being Christ's they are Abraham's seed and Heits according