more properly understood by the word paenitentia Ye have most of these together Joel 2.12 13. Turn ye even to me c. This sorrow was figured by the sowre herbs which they must eat when they kept the passover at their coming out of Egypt i. e. In transitu à peccato ad justitiam In the passage from sin to righteousness A potentia Satanae ad Deum From the power of Sathan to God A Pharaone spirituali ad Jesum From spiritual Pharaoh to Jesus which is the true Pesac It is necessary we be then afflicted and mourn for the loss of our delights and pleasures we have parted withal for all our sins committed against our God For our parting with our dearest friends in the flesh as the milch-kine carrying the Ark lowed as they went toward Bethshemesh 1 Sam. 6.12 our last translation refers to this Text and that upon good grounds then this is fulfilled Zach. 12.10 11 12. Hadadrimmon is a loud out-cry and Megiddo is the Gospel When the Gospel is first preached and the only Son of God known to be slain by us it causeth Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Josiah is slain the Christ of God in the Spirit is slain among us Revel 1.7 There former sorrow was a sorrow to repentance and preceding it Godly sorrow causeth repentance 2 Cor. 7.10 The other sorrow is the Concomitant or attendant on repentance The Reason of this Duty is considerable either 1. In regard of God from whom we have deeply revolted Esay 31.6 who invites us again unto himself Jer. 4.1 2. In regard of us who have a double necessity lying upon us both 1. Of Duty which answers to that which is called necessitas praecepti 2. And of means which is called necessitas medii 't is a means so necessary to Salvation that without it its impossible to be obtained as he who is the Author and Dispenser of it forewarns his Disciples Matth. 18.3 Now whereas there is a dispute whether Faith or Repentance precede This I conceive may reconcile the difference that so much Faith is necessary as to believe that without Repentance we cannot be saved Numb 14. Heb. 3. Thus the Ninevites Repentance is famous but it 's said expresly that first they believed God We must know therefore that there is a kind of legal Faith which propounds the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of God unto us That God is Heb. 11.6 which belief must necessarily precede And therefore of the Gentiles that Faith is necessarily prerequired Thus of the Ninevites and of the Jaylor in the same condition with these in the Text Act. 16. yet him Paul bids believe and Peter bids repent He knew not God these did Act. 3. ult A Memoire worthy the transmitting to Posterity DR Jo. Wincop in a Sermon before the House of Commons at the Fast Jan. 29. 1664. being the Day before the Treaty atVxbridge began published by Order of that House the Text was Esay 22.12 printed by Robert Leyburn for Samuel Man in Paul's Church-yard at the Swan 1645. pag. 10. hath these words We all talk of Reformation But still where is it Shew me one lust thou hast mastered one passion thou hast conquered c. Talk not of Reformation only but shew it was there ever more lying cousening malice oppression than now Nay God be merciful to us I know not what kind of new cheat and hypocrisie the father of falshood hath taught some kind of men whereby to cloak all their fraud and villanies by a new way of pretending they are for the Cause Then they think all is well thereby discrediting a good Cause dishonouring a good God abusing your good intentions to work their own sinister ends by Let not men talk of Reformation only but shew it indeed and in truth NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON ACTS II. 47. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved The Original Greek words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which word for word sound thus in our English But the Lord added to the Church daily those who were saved A Translation that differs very much from the other But it is the Wisemans counsel Blame not before thou hast examined the truth Ecclus. 11.7 which that we may the better do we look back to vers 14. from whence to the end of vers 40. we have either two Speeches of St. Peter to the Jews or one interrupted vers 37. In the former St. Peter after he had desired attention vers 14. he removes and confutes their slaunder who mock'd the Apostles and other Disciples and said They were full of new wine 2. He informs them in the truth 1. That the Apostles spake by the holy Ghost 2. That God had raised up Jesus from the dead whom they had crucified 3. That he was ascended into heaven and sate at the right hand of God 4. That he had poured forth his holy Spirit upon the Apostles 5. That God had made that same Jesus whom they had crucified both Lord and Christ And these or most of these the Apostle confirms by divine Testimony out of the Prophets The effect of this speech was compunction vers 37. sorrow and fear which fear because it is Consiliativus and puts men upon enquiry how they may escape the evil which they fear They desire Peters and the rest of the Apostles counsel what they should do Then follows Peters advice That they repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins If this they should do they should receive the holy Ghost which promise belonged to them and to all a far off c. vers 38 39. And that they might perform those duties and receive the promised Spirit â—he concludes his speech with exhortation to be saved or as we render the words Save your selves from this untoward generation The effect of this exhortation in these new Converts is seen in a new conversation and that for the present vers 41. They who gladly received the word repented and were baptized and saved themselves from the untoward Generation and so were added to the Church daily vers 41 47. and for the future they who according to the Apostles counsel were saved or saved themselves from the untoward generation they accordingly obtained a like gracious act from the Lord to that which was vouchsafed unto others before vers 4. The Lord added to the Church daily such as were saved or saved themselves from the untoward Generation Thus the Syriack Interpreter and Martin Luther understood and turned the words The Lord added to the Congregation those who were saved and Piscator so the Low-Dutch Translation hath it thus the Old English Manuscript The Lord encreased them that were made safe each day And the truth of this appears Act. 5.14 Believers were more added to the Lord multitudes of men and women And Act. 11.21 And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. In the
good name among men 2. As the will of the Lord is that no man should say to his Brother Racha so neither is it his will that any man should receive such an evil report of his Brother Exod. 23.1 Thou shalt not take up or receive a vain report 3. If to be called Racha be thought worthy of the Judgment and that he be liable to it who saith so to his Brother how much more liable is he unto the Judgment and worthy of it who is Racha who is a vain man 4. Whosoever shall say to his Brother Racha shall be liable to the Council These words contain the penalty due to the second breach of the Law viz. to be liable to the Council And what is the Council The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is common to all Sessions of Judges as well to that of 23. and of that three Judges as that of 70. or 72. which is here to be understood As the twelve Sons of Jacob gave names to the twelve Tribes as also the Heads and Princes of those Tribes and afterward the like number of Apostles was appointed by our Lord who had promised to judge the twelve Tribes of Israel So in memory of the LXX Persons who came with Jacob into Egypt Gen. 46.27 They ordained so many Elders and Governours over them and afterward our Lord sent forth the like number of Disciples Unto those seventy Elders the Lord sends Moses Exod. 3.16 and he reported the Lord's message unto them Exod. 4.29 Unto these Moses by the advice of Jethro committed the less matters in controversie to be judged reserving the greater and more difficult to his own cognizance Exod. 18.22 Afterward when Moses complained of his burthen the Lord himself ratifies the Counsel of Jethro and commands Moses to take seventy Elders whom he enabled with the Spirit of Judgment Numb 11.16 This Sanhedrim or highest Council consisted of Priests Levites religious and devout Israelites as appears 2 Chron. 19.8 This Council judgeth of all causes divine and humane civil and capital Reason The spiritual Judge looks at the root of bitterness which is envy pride anger impatiency c. He looks at the fruit growing or like to grow from this root of bitterness this root bears gall and wormwood even bitter words He looks at the direful issue of wrath even death it self Psal 57.3 He shall save me from the reproach of him that would eat me up swords are in their lips Psal 59.7 I have reserved a doubt here to be answered which was proper in part to the former point but here it may receive a more general satisfaction 1. Whether he who was angry with his Brother were liable to the Judgment or who saith Racha to the Council It may be doubted because jus gladii the power of putting Malefactors to death was taken away from the Jews by the Romans according to that of John 18.31 It is not lawful for us to put any man to death Josephus tells us that when Festus was dead Ananus the High Priest called a Council before Albinus came to be President of Judea and cited James the Lord's Brother and many others whom he condemned to be stoned to death But for this he was accused before Albinus the Governour because he called a Council without lieve of the President Now if the Council might not be called without lieve obtained of the Romans how much less might any man be put to death by Authority of the Council Yea the Jews themselves confess that forty years before the Second Temple was destroyed all power of judging criminal and capital causes was taken from the Jews All which if true how then saith our Lord that he who is angry with his Brother shall be liable to the Judgment and whosoever shall say to his Brother Racha shall be liable to the Council How could this be true when our Lord spake this When the power of judging and sentencing all capital offenders was now taken from the Jews I answer some go about to satisfie this doubt by saying that although the power of judging capital causes were taken from the Jews yet the manner of Judgment was well known out of the Law Deut. 16.18 and other places and the practice of it This answer I conceive no wayes satisfieth the doubt for our Lord doth not tell them only of what was past but warns them of the danger to come Nor doth our Lord go about to terrifie his Disciples with inania terriculamenta causeless fears and scare-crows No our Lord here saith That he that is angry with his Brother without a cause shall be guilty of the Judgment and he who shall say to his Brother Racha shall be liable to the Council Hereby our Lord warns his Disciples that although all civil power were taken from the Jews of judging criminal and capital causes yet there remained a spiritual power of judging and condemning wrath and reproaches proceeding from wrath as murder Yea by these very words our Lord doth constitute a Spiritual Judicature in his Church for otherwise it cannot be shewn what Judgment or what Council the angry man and he who calls his Brother Racha shall be liable unto Doubt 2. But it seems our Lord forbids any such power of judging or ruling among his people Matth. 20.25 26 27. Answer Here is utterly a mistake Our Lord by these words doth not take away Superiority of one over another or Spiritual Judicature since he is the God of Order and the Supreme Judge But he forbids such abuse of power as was among the Gentiles They abuse their power and authority over others looking only at their own Soveraignty without aiming at their good whom they rule This is understood by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we turn to exercise dominion and to exercise authority whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this composition imports the abuse of dominion and authority Obs 1. Take notice from hence that there is or ought to be a Spiritual Judicatory a power of judging spiritual things in the Church of God How doth this follow Surely undeniably for if whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause be liable to the Judgment and there were then no Civil Judicature Our Lord by these words necessarily supposeth a Spiritual Judicature unto which every one who is angry with his Brother without a cause is obnoxious and liable Otherwise our Lord the Judge and great Governour of his Church should be wanting to his Church in a matter of the greatest moment such as a power of judging spiritual things is such as Government is in the Church 2. There are or ought to be spiritual men in the Church who are meet and fit to judge of spiritual things as rash and unadvised anger The Apostle tells us that the spiritual man judgeth all things i. e. all spiritual things whereof he is a competent Judge Why then is there not such a Judgment such a
to be no more than Yea yea and Nay nay so that for men to embellish and inlay their Communication with oaths it makes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it soures the Christian Communication 2. Our Lord points signanter at his Disciples when he saith Let your communication be Yea yea Nay nay for the communication of Christ's Disciples among themselves ought to be no more for what need is there that they who deny themselves take up their Cross and follow the Lord Jesus in humility patience c. are of one heart and one soul c. Surely among such men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their life and manners is more credible than other mens oaths Yea were there any such person among them who could not believe without swearing certainly they were unworthy of that Society But we must also understand that the people of God have not to deal and live and communicate only among themselves but they must converse even with wicked men 1 Cor. 5.10 Otherwise they must go out of the world They must therefore have to do with Heathenish men who nor know nor can discern of the Christian life yea hate it But because an Oath is held to be the greatest Obligation therefore the wicked desire an oath for their security Thus Abimelech desired an oath of Abraham Gen. 21.29 and of Isaac Gen. 26.28 29. and Laban of Jacob Gen. 31.44 the Egyptian of David 1 Sam. 30.15 Among such since we must converse or go out of the world an oath is necessary when we chuse it not but it 's forced upon us And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to swear is passive to be sworn According to which the Apostle saith Heb. 6.16 Men verily swear by the greater and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife Esay 65.16 It is the Law of the Lord Exod. 23.4 5. If thou meet thine enemies Oxe or his Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring him back unto him again and if thou see the Ass of him that hates thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him or as it is in the Margent thou wouldest cease to leave thy business for him And how much is a man to be preferred before an Oxe or an Ass how much is a man better than a beast saith our Lord Since therefore we meet not an Oxe or an Ass but many men going astray and following their erroneous Consciences which bring them under burdens unsupportable burdens ought we not to leave our business and go and help them I know what business I leave to help these men and shall return unto it if God Almighty give life and opportunity But the only thing I fear is that these men will not help with me so the Text Thou shalt help with it Now if these men will not help themselves how can any man help with them Against this Doctrine Objections are made some by men of erroneous Consciences who fear an Oath others by men of large Consciences who are prone to swear ye heard one Objection of the former sort before that I spake of these words from the Law of the only Law-giver he saith I say unto you swear not at all And if he command who can countermand I Answer our Lord would not command nor prohibit any thing against the Law of God but to prohibit swearing universally is contrary to the Law of God which that we may understand we must know that in the Decalogue God's commands are most of them Negatives and every Negative hath its respective Affirmative Add to that which hath been spoken the consideration of the last and best end of all our actions whatsoever ye do 1 Cor. 10.31 do all to the glory of God that God in all things may be glorified 1 Pet. 4.11 Now can we speak any thing that makes more for the glory of God than an Oath duly taken whereby God the searcher of all our hearts and reines is called to witness that which none of his Creatures knew whereby we glorifie God's omnisciency when he brings to light the hidden things of darkness 2. We glorifie his justice when we call upon him and pray that he will punish him who lies or deceives 3. We glorifie his mercy when we acknowledge him the rewarder of them who do well Now the Lord Jesus whose main business it was in the dayes of his flesh to glorifie his Father upon earth John 17.4 Who glorified not himself but his father Heb. 5.5 He could not forbid an Oath duly taken which bringeth so much honour and glory unto God Obser 2. The Devil is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Evil One as if he did or could do all evil to men or in men whereas he hath indeed a most malicious and evil will but no power at all but what is permitted unto him as appeareth by the History of Job and by the lieve he beg'd to enter into the Swine The Lord himself is summum bonum the chief good but non datur summum malum The Lord reserves to himself a power to restrain all inferiour powers Nor hath the evil one any power at all to cause evil in us unless we yield unto him He can tempt and hath his name from tempting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he did nothing else but tempt unto sin and lusts but he cannot cause us to embrace his lusts unless we our selves will John 8. Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do It is true men lay the blame of all their sins upon him but he can do no more than tempt them unto sin If we resist him he flyes from us resist the Devil and he will fly from you Obser 3. If we ought not to swear because occasionally an oath comes from the Evil One how much rather ought we to abstain from such evil as the Devil positively and directly is the cause of as lying killing c. Obser 4. Evil is from the Evil One. Let your communication be Yea yea c. but whatsoever is more than these cometh of the evil one Obser 5. The will of our Lord is that all our words and works should be spoken and wrought in him and proceed from him not from the evil one but from the good one who is the one and only good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly and essentially and therefore he is called Goodness Hos 3.5 fear the goodness of the Lord John 3.21 He that doth truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God and so must words also for whatsoever we do in word or deed we are to do all in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Col. 3.17 Is it then the will of the Lord that his Disciples should be fools surely no but to be the wisest of men to out-wit to be more wise than the Devil himself is crafty Scire malum non
not able ex tempore to perform such eminent Duties as these are but he ought to begin with the beginning of the Divine Wisdom the Fear of God and sit down in the lowest room and when he is well exercised in humility and the fear of God the Lord will then say to him Amice ascende superiùs Friend sit up higher Obser 1. Hence we learn what it is to love another not only to have a complacency in him not only to speak well to him and of him but also to do him good what we can wherein he is capable and we are able Obser 2. The Disciples of Christ have their enemies what great matter is that you 'l say Who is there but he hath his enemies Who can hope to be beloved of all There is a kind of wild love and wild hatred in the world but the Disciples of Christ have their proper enemies as such Christ's Disciples and the world they and their love and hatred are not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever is in the world the lusts c. Marvel not that the world hates you it hated me first John 15.18 19. If the world hate you ye know it hated me before it hated you c. Obser 3. Hence a man may know whether he himself be a Disciple of Christ and a Christian yea or not If he be 1. The world will hate him 2. The world will hate him because he is a Disciple of Christ 1 John 15.18 19. This is not alwayes an adequate and proper sign One hath customers which another hath lost One is of this opinion another of that These are enmities of the world within it self Does the world and worldly men hate thee because thou testifiest that the works thereof are evil Ahab spake out when he said There is one Michajah but I hate him because he speaks no good of me 1 King 22.8 Because ye rush not with them into the same excess of riot speaking evil of you ye are covetous ye are proud 1 Pet. 4.4 The Lascivious world which follows the lusts of the flesh hates them because they testifie by their chast and holy life that the works thereof are evil Herod hated John Baptist because he said It is not lawful for thee to have thy Brothers wife Thus some are called Legal Preachers because they testifie against the fleshly sensual and voluptuous Generation that it is not lawful for them to follow their debaucht courses their surfeitings and drunkenness their chambering and wantonness c. Obser 1. The Gospel requires harder duty do good to them that hate you i. e. that shew it by evil deeds than those of the Law the Law love thy neighbour the Son of thy people but hate thine enemy the Gospel do good to them that hate thee The reason is because the Promises of God hold forth more Grace Help and Strength than Nature affords Rom. 12.19 20. Avenge not your selves and therefore the Gospel requires 1 Pet. 2.19 This is thank-worthy if a man for Conscience towards God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when ye be buffetted for your faults ye take it patiently but if ye do well and suffer for it or take it patiently this is thank-worthy and then our Calling and Christ's Example is added vers 21. Note hence with what boldness and confidence the Lord Jesus imposeth upon his Disciples the seeming most unreasonable absurd duties and most abhorring to Nature yet if well considered the most consonant unto Nature and Reason they suit best with the end of all pure Religion and undefiled they render us like unto God they are not contrary to the Divine Nature They render us like unto Christ they are consonant to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to our Divine Reason 3. The Lord would advance his people above the very best of those who were acted with a legal spirit Nehemiah I curst them Elisha did so So vain is their reasoning who alledge examples of those who were under the spirit of the Law ye know not of what spirit ye are or ought to be of if Christians Luke 9. How much more should we love our friends The Disciples were called friends and though they have other names in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the last we read of 3 Joh. 1. These are they who love one another as Christ hath loved them c. John 13.34 and 15.12 But do we not urge this Comparison beyond the drift of it Answer See Ephesians 5.1 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear Children 1 John 3.16 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not Repreh 1. Those who will do no good lest they should merit how hardly shall we perswade those men to love and do good to their enemies when for fear of meriting they will do no good to their neighbour Repreh 2. The ungrateful world to whom much good is done by Christ's Disciples yet will not be won to God no not by God's last remedy and expedient Saul would not be won though he acknowledged all David's good deeds towards him c. 1 Sam. 24. If a man find his enemy will he let him go well away this is a Paradox Repreh 3. Those are so intractable that they will not suffer themselves to be kindly dealt withal Extrema linea odii nolle ab inimico adjuvari The highest degree of hatred is to refuse to be holpen of an enemy Sons of Belial Exhort 1. Not only bear love and good affection to them that hate us but also do all possible good we can for the worst and most mischievous of them So did David Psal 7.4 I have delivered him who without cause was mine enemy Exod. 23.45 Prov. 25.21 Rom. 12.21 22. Exhort 2. Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth lest the Lord see it and it displease him and he turn away his wrath from him Prov. 24.17 18. Means Pray unto the Lord Thou art good c. O teach me thy Statutes Psal 119.68 Axiom the fourth Pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you Herein our Lord commands his Disciples to express their greatest love to their greatest enemies in what they can procure of God to be done for them Wherein Quaere Who these are who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which encreaseth the signification so it signifieth to vex one by War Psal 55.21 So Elisha advised Joram to set meat before the Syrians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persecutores 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to persecute with all manner of venom inward and outward if wanting in the former word added in this 2. What Prayer for them Intercession Reason They have great need to be prayed for 1. They cannot pray for themselves God hears not sinners c. John 9. 2. What they do they do ignorantly 3. Their wickedness
and yet speaks so that if all should be written the world would not contain the Books that should be written Him the Lord hath given us for a pattern That we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2. Look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith the Scribes and Pharisees say but the Lord Jesus Christ does they propound words unto us Jesus Christ holds forth works But wherein should we follow the Lord Jesus Christ who did no sin Hear this thou Scribe thou Pharisee thou Hypocrite wherein is this glorious pattern to be followed in that which thou sayest is impossible He did no sin Patterns and examples are ridiculous absurd and unreasonable if they be impossible why because they are propounded to us for this end to shew that the Rule whose examples they are is possible and practicable If therefore it were impossible to follow this pattern this example and to do no sin it would be propounded in vain and to no purpose Thou blind Pharisee dost thou not perceive how thou blasphemest thy God and wrongest his wisdom and goodness who hath therefore propounded his Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness his Son his Christ to be our pattern yea Jesus Christ the power of God to enable us that we should follow his steps who did no sin and thou sayest it is impossible but we must sin Dost thou not perceive how injurious thou art unto the only wise God how thou wrongest his Love and Goodness to thee Exhort To those who sit in Moses's Chair to learn the Law for themselves write a good Copy for themselves to become taught to the Kingdom of God that they will do the work of Moses And what is the work of Moses He bears it in his Name The Name of Moses is not as some conceive given him because he was taken or saved as Josephus would have it or as our Translators explain it in the Margin drawn out of the waters not but that he was so saved and drawn Exod. 2.10 for accurately to speak if his Name were given him from hence because he was taken saved or drawn out of the waters his Name should not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Pharaoh's Daughter gives the reason why she called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because saith she I drew him out of the waters And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth not one who is drawn but one who draws out of the water They therefore who sit in Moses's Chair ought to do the work of Moses they must draw men out of the water Moses was and is such a drawer for Moses or God the Father by Moses draws men out and from something unto something out of the Sea of wicked and ungodly men as Socrates drew Alcibiades out of a debaucht and lascivious company a company of roaring and ranting Companio◠The wicked are as the raging Sea Esay 52. But what is it to draw out of the company of wicked men unless we be drawn also from out of the wickedness it self If a man be drawn away from wicked and lewd Company and be himself drawn away by divers Lusts and Pleasures wherewith he is tempted and ensnared To what purpose is his being drawn out of this loose Company He may as well perish alone in the sink of his own sin as when he runs with the herd of Swine into the Sea The Spiritual Moses therefore draws us out of the stream of our own Lusts and Pleasures What else are our foolish and hurtful Lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6. these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extracti drawn out of the Sea of Sin Thus Moses is God's Fisher of men under the Law He draws them out of the Sea of Sin 2. And he draws them unto Christ No man can come unto me except the Father draw him Let us all resolve to Pray Lord draw us and we will follow thee The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses 's Chair Therefore all things whatsoever they bid you observe and do The reasoning is thus framed the Philosopher saith truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in mans reason what ever is the medium or argument which concludes the question is the cause of that conclusion And therefore since our Lord Jesus who is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1.1 and the Author of all true Logick and Art of Reasoning hath thus reasoned Let us with reverence enquire into that which Scaliger calls Ratio Causandi the ground of this reasoning and cause of this inference why because the Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's Chair therefore why because they teach the Law should we observe and do what they bid us Both of these seem to me very reasonable grounds of this inference 1. Because the Law is the subject of their Doctrine they teach the Law of God therefore 2. Because they who by custome are the ordinary Teachers of the Law they teach it therefore all things whatsoever they bid you observe and do 1. They teach the Law of God The Law of God or Law of Moses is either veiled or unveiled veiled as the Ceremonial Law and much of the Judicial Law unveiled as much of the Judicial and the Moral Law which is the dictate of the Law of Nature Th◠Law is the Will of God either hiding himself as in the Ceremonial Law or part of the Judicial or reveiling himself more clearly Psal 40.8 Because it is the Will of God it is to be done by whomsoever it is taught and therefore Mal. 4.4 enjoyns all these three several Laws to be remembred and observed 2. The Scribes and Pharisees had now gotten the Chair of Moses and were the ordinary Professors and Teachers of the Law and therefore all things whatsoever they shall bid you observe that observe and do For undoubtedly the God of Peace and Order gives some special assistance unto those whom he sets or permits to be set over others if not for their own sakes who possibly may be vicious and wicked yet for the peoples sake and the preservation of Order and Peace among them for although there were somewhat extraordinary in those Examples of Governours in Scripture yet some though a lower degree of assistance may be hence probably collected unto all As when Saul was advanced to the Kingdom he is said to be turned into another man See Notes on Rom. 13.1 And therefore though our Lord Jesus very frequently reprehended the People and their Teachers yet ye shall not find in all the Gospel that he reproved by Name the High Priests or Priests but only the Scribes and Pharisees the great professors of Knowledge Life and Holiness But he never names the High Priests or Priests in his Reproof that he might maintain the due reverence and respect unto the Priests which were indeed the ordinary Teachers of the People as I shewed lately Doubt 1. Our Lord here seems to put no difference between Teachers no not between Good
finish his work the Porch David prayeth Psal 119.73 Thine hands have made me Oh give me understanding that I may learn thy Commandments These imprint the Fear Exod. 20.20 Lord increase our Faith Pray that the veil of the Temple may be removed that we may behold with open face the Glory of the Lord c. 2 Cor. 3.18 Observ 8. In the ruine of the Temple at Jerusalem read also the ruine and destruction of all like places of worship which are not of so Divine a Foundation nor of so holy a representation as the Temple at Jerusalem was though these were built by devout and religious persons and dedicated to Holy Uses If men be wicked yet trust in Churches and the Services performed in them and think hereby to palliate and cover their evil consciences in their sins These buildings and worships in them are prophaned and abused and lose the end for which they were made and so must follow the fate of the Temple at Jerusalem In the first times after the Shepherd was smitten when the sheep were scattered and Gods hand turned against the little ones when as yet there were no outward Churches nor places of publick worship built Every believing Soul was a Temple of the Holy Ghost wherein they worshipped God in Spirit and Truth But when as now the People of God had a breathing-time under Constantine and the outward persecution ceased and that pious Emperour gave encouragement to the building of Churches and places for the publick worship of God Men then began a sad and evil effect of a good cause to place all their Holiness all their Religion all their Piety in the Church and going to Church and performing some outward Service in the Church while mean time they became worldly-minded ambitious of worldly honours c. like the prophane world Then stood the abomination of desolation where it should not Then began the daily Sacrifice to cease Dan. 12. Then began that prophesie of the Apostle to be fulfilled 2 Tim. 3.1 The last dayes shall be perilous for men shall be lovers of themselves proud boasters lovers of pleasures more than of God c. Now beloved let us bring the consideration of these things a little nearer home Have our Churches and places of Religious worship been used to any better end Have not men placed all their Holiness in them and the Services performed in them Hath it not been a character of a Religious man that he keeps his Church well that he keeps the Sabbath well Yet who sees not but that the same men who keep their Church so well keep their old sins as well they carry them to Church with them they come to Church and pray and the sin remains they hear and hear but the sin remains they receive the Sacrament yet the sin remains and they the same men that ever they were c. With these things men may blind the eyes of men for a time but God knows our hearts and punisheth our hypocrisie for where in all the world hath the hand of the Lord been more heavy than upon those which we call the Reformed Churches that especially which called it self Philadelphia though most unworthy of that name and eo nomine exempted themselves from the hour of temptation that is come and yet coming upon the whole earth And hath not now a long time the Lord dashed us and broken us one upon another and doth not now the Church made as an help to lead men to God and Christ mislead them from God and Christ whereby do men cover their envy their pride c. but by going to Church and performing some outward Service there Did not Sheba the Son of Bicri take Sanctuary in Abel-beth-maacha will our God think ye who is most just do any such execution among those who call themselves by his Name without a just cause Shall not the Judge of all the world do right Beloved when the mystical Temples of God are so wholly defiled in the Porch and Holy what must the issue needs be Both they and the outward Temples and Churches must to ruine together the Lord hath dealt so with places of worship of his own Institution and with the People called by his Name and shall we escape Read I beseech ye seriously and sadly what the Lord saith Jer. 7. from vers 3. to the 15. Facinus quos inquinat aequat Those whom wicked Acts defile The same in time sure do them spoyle There is no man unless extreme partial but must confess this to be our case The second Temple here threatned to be destroyed as afterward it was was built under the Dominion of the Gentiles and while the Jews were in thraldom and servitude and was a type of Christ's Kingdom among the Gentiles if that Temple was laid waste because the inward Temple was destroyed what can we expect but the like destruction outward destructions commonly follow inward if our inward house be desolate what shall become of the outward Observ 1. If the Lord spare not his own Temple shall the Devils Temple escape See Hos 8.14 Ezech. 9.6 1 Pet. 4.17 Exhort Let us labour to get the Lords Spiritual Temple set up in us Psal 5.7 I will come into thine house and in thy fear into the Temple of thy Holiness and 27.4 5. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple and 118.19 Open to me the gates of Righteousness and I will go into them and 138.2 I will worship toward thy Holy Temple All outward Temples and Churches were made for the inward and all their Services were configurations of what should be within us in Gods Spiritual Temple and therefore the Lord conditions the standing and falling of the outward Temple upon the sanctification or prophanation of the inward and therefore those words of the Lord to Solomon 2 Chron. 7.14 they were spoken upon occasion of the dedication of the Temple If my people which are called by my Name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my presence and turn from their wicked wayes Then will I hear in heaven c. Wherefore let us pray to the Lord to finish this good work of Grace among us NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW XXIV 3 4 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately saying Tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world And Jesus answered and said unto them Take heed that no man deceive you For many shall come in my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many THe Disciples thought themselves well entered into the Principles of Christianity they now desire to hear prophecies of the Lord Jesus and
departs from his own right only for peace-sake and withall he leaves us this Rule for our learning practice and imitation in our travel toward the Spiritual Land of Canaan to part with our own proper interest for peace sake for as Charity seeks not its own so neither doth Peace which is of equal extent with it A greater than Abraham the Prince of Peace himself for peace sake dispensed with his own Right and wrought a miracle to pay tribute lest he should give offence Matth. 17.27 And that which St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 6.7 seems reasonable only to such as he himself was a grown peaceable man an Ambassador of peace why do ye not rather take wrong why do ye not rather suffer your selves to be defrauded Love seeks not her own That difference between Paul and Barnabas was jurgium not lis in Charity not with breach of Charity and that not so great as our Translation makes it if well looked into like the division of the Sun-beams which immediately come together again and we hear no more of it Now if differences arise between a believer and an unbeliever a son of peace and an unpeaceable man it is lawful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make use of the Laws which are in force and use that so perverse unpeaceable and refractory spirits which will not be inclined to peace may be forced and bound to it Nor doth this misbeseem a Son of Peace for as his Father is the God of Love and Peace yet is he severe toward unpeaceable men Deut. 20.12 So may his Son be and that without any wrong at all for 't is no injury done to any man to be compelled to be good and just as much as may be by lawful power when of himself he hath no will no inclination to be so The Law was made for the lawless And as he may make use of the Laws so of the Magistrates though unbelievers for even such a Magistrate by Divine Ordination is the Minister of God for thy good Rom. 13. bono defensionis reparationis Thus whereas the Romans of old had enacted a Law That a Freeman of Rome should not be bound or scourged or imprisoned or put to death under a great penalty We find St. Paul making use of this Law against the Magistrates of Philippi and by that means he escaped imprisonment Act. 16.37 38 39. And the same Law he pleads for himself Act. 22. vers 25. and escapes the scourge and when he was in danger of death from the Jews he made good use of this Law by appealing to Caesar Act. 25.10 Nor is there any doubt but when unjust men who pretend Religion go about to muzzle the Oxe that treads out the corn and as much as lies in them to starve him out of his place when they cannot storm him out of it he may no doubt make use of the Laws Nor ought they to take it amiss herein to be accounted unbelievers because they believe not that Precept of the Apostle Render to every one their due c. Owe nothing to any man but to love one another c. But all this while fictis verbis contendimus come we now to enquire 2. Whether it be lawful for a Son of Peace to go to War yea or no It is disputable whether War in the general for a Christian man be lawful yea or no But for our better understanding of this distinguish between Wars Offensive and Defensive Offensive is either 1. for Religion or 2. Civil Causes 1. Offensive War for Religion is utterly unlawful and therefore our Lord sent forth his Disciples unarmed so much as with a staff Matth. 10.10 c. commanded Peter to put up his sword Matth. 26.52 though drawn and used in behalf of Christ himself for Christ's Kingdom is not of this world Joh. 18.36 Object But this perhaps was because as then the Church had no Power so Bellarmine answers in defence of bloodshed procured by his Faction and I wish it were his errour alone but Christ himself had power enough more than twelve Legions of Angels if he had thought fit to have asked his Father Matth. 26.53 He is a God saith Jerubbaal let him strive for himself He is a Spirit and needs not the help of flesh and blood 'T is proper to the Mahumetans not for Christians to propagate Religion with fire and sword But curse ye Meroz Judg. 5. If the Lord shall raise up Deborah and Barach If he shall raise up Christ to be our Captain If the life of Christians falsly so called become generally so debauch'd so Unchristian so Antichristian so Cainish so Cainaiticall why may it not then please God to raise up a Captain who may execute judgement upon such as he did when he sent Josuah to destroy the Canaanites But what mean time have we to do with types and figures the Lord hath made all old things to pass away and all things become new temporal things become spiritual new enemies new weapons Ephes 6. The Ceremonial Temple was shut when Christ was born as Augustus the Emperour shut the Temple of Janus which was wont to be opened in times of War the very year before John the Baptist was born the forerunner of the Prince of Peace as Orosius tells us that the Gospel of Peace might not be hindered but might run and be glorified As it is observed by the Naturalists that while the Halcyon builds her nest at Sea there is alwayes a calm So while Christ builds his Church his Nest where he may lay his young ones and gather them by his Gospel of Peace as an hen her chickens God then vouchsafes peace on earth But not only for Religion but for Civil Causes also Offensive Wars are unlawful He who sheds mans blood Gen. 9. and all they who take the sword shall perish with the sword Matth. 26.52 and Exod. 20. Thou shalt not kill is a Law yet yea explained to be now much more in force than heretofore when even anger is forbidden by our Saviour Matth. 5.22 and hatred it self is accounted by St. John Murder 1 Joh. 3.15 From whence come wars and fightings Jam. 4. And therefore not only outward murder but also hatred variance emulation wrath strife and envying they are reckoned among the works of the flesh Gal. 5. and they who do them shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven vers 21. But this may be understood without provocation but what if one be provoked I know no Reason but that still we persist in the Negative that Vindicative War is not lawful the Rule is general Avenge not your selves for vengeance is mine and I will repay saith the Lord Yet I deny not but that the Magistrate may yea ought to punish Malefactors and lawful it is for Christian men to serve him in execution of Justice provided alwayes that they serve Justice it self and aim at it not at any private and bloody revenge of their own But whether may a Christian
24.44 45 46 47. Joh. 5 39-46 It was called bread Gen. 14. and the flesh of Christ Joh. 6. and the body of Christ Matth. and bread again all one and the same thing spiritually They all ate the same spiritual meat Multis modis significatur quod uno modo impletur Observ 2. Hence appears that effect of the Sacrament the holy Sacrament doth not only confirm grace but encrease it also I speak not of the outward receiving of bread and wine but of that inward and spiritual receiving of that viaticum spirituale those viands and nourishments exhibited unto us by Christ for whereas the holy Sacrament is compared to nourishment meat and drink wherein can the Analogie more properly be than in the encreasing of that Grace inwardly which answers to the aggeneration and encrease of the body outwardly Besides whereas the end of this holy Sacrament is to shew forth the Lords death by a daily dying unto sin we daily increase in Grace and Righteousness for the more Sin is subdued the more Grace abounds the more our pride is mortified the more is our humility quickned the more envy is extinguished the more is our love enflamed towards God and Man our Neighbour and our Enemy Observ 3. The nature of a Sacrament the Sacraments offer some one thing or other to our sence and insinuate another unto our understanding and consideration as the Circumcision Passover Mannah Bread sursum corda Observ 4. The Unity of the Church from the beginning hitherto the Apostle concludes it from the participation of the same Sacrament vers 17. Observ 5. The near union of us who partake of the same bread even as the body and all the members of it are one by participation of the same bodily nourishment Observ 6. The Sacrament is compared to meat and drink and therefore often to be received as in the Primitive Times it was wont to be daily Act. 2.46 as men receive nourishment daily for doubtless there ought to be daily a mortification of sin a daily bearing about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus c. Some men would think themselves half famished if they should have but one Sermon a day though they practice not half of it all the week after yet are we content with the Sacrament once a month The Word is the food of the Soul they say and therefore as they eat two meals a day so they would have two Sermons And is not the Sacrament expresly called Spiritual Meat and will once a month nay once a year suffice for receiving of it The Prophet Daniel tells us Dan. 9. That the Sacrifice and Oblation should cease and the abomination of desolation should stand where it ought not The Devil knew well enough what he did when he caused the daily sacrifice to cease The Church of Rome layes the blame upon us and we return the blame upon them See Notes in Zeph. 1.7 When we discontinue the Sacrament we do as it were let loose the Devil to tempt us and to work in us all ungodliness who is bound by the stronger one and his spirit of mortification full well he knows that the holy Sacrament is a Love-feast and a notable expedient for the encrease of Christian Love and Amity Matth. 24. Because iniquity abounds the love of many grows cold Let them take notice of this who hinder the frequent administration of this Sacrament I believe the most notable intermission of it in the Church hath been in these late times of Dissention and though many causes have concurred to make the times disastrous and unhappy yet this seems to be one among them and not the least namely the discontinuance of this Holy Communion which hath been as it were a disjoynting and dismembring the body of Christ an alienating and estrangeing mens Christian affections one from other so that we come not so often together to profess our Christian Union with our Head and one with other and when we come together it 's oftentimes not for the better but for the worse Repreh Our disorderly assembling of our selves together to eat the spiritual meat without due preparation without preceding examination of our selves See Notes in 1 Cor. 11.28 Beloved I cannot but hold forth the Word of Life both the audible Word by preaching it Phil. 2.16 and the visible Word by administring it I find the Minister engaged to do both If any unprepared and unexamined come and eat of that bread and drink of that cup the peril is his own Luk. 22.21 Judas intruded at the first Institution of the Supper and our Lord admitted him who yet knew his heart Although means have been used and the Minister and others have endeavoured to try the fitness and worthiness of those who Communicate yet who of us all can enter into the hearts of men I the Lord search the heart Jer. 17.10 yea he alone 1 King 8. and there no doubt the true Supper of the Lord the true and spiritual meat is eaten Revel 3.20 And from the heart are the issues of life the outward conversation proceeds from thence which whether we will or no will discover it self out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks the hand works the foot walks the whole life comes forth from thence and manifests it self and therefore let me tell thee who ever thou art who comest hither for custom and formality sake to eat a bit of bread and drink a sup of wine pretending thy self a worthy guest and one who hast prepared thy self and judged thy self Know that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth as to shew himself strong in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him 2 Chron. 16.9 So likewise to give to every one according to his wayes and according to the fruit of his doings Jer. 17.10 And therefore however thou canst hide thine hypocritical heart from men and lurkest under a form of godliness yet that God that sees the secrets of thy heart will soon discover the falsness of it even to the world and make known thine hypocrisie to thy shame even before men when they shall discover thine intemperancy thy drunkenness thine incontinency thine injustice in over-reaching and going beyond thy brother in bargaining in cheating and cousening and lying thy profaneness in swearing and cursing thy pride and high-mindedness thine envy and hatred thy covetousness thy wrath and impatiency the Lord will discover these to thy shame and reproach even among thine enemies who will say Lo this is he who hath professed himself a worthy Communicant a fit guest at the Lords Table a mortified man dead to his sins conformable to Christ's death one crucified to the world and the world to him And happy wert thou if the reproach and shame among men could expiate thine hypocrisie Dost thou not know that it is written That he that eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks his own damnation That he who judgeth not himself shall be
so or so as Moses had commanded Joshua 11.14 Neither left they any to breath What else is hereby to be understood but what the Law and Will of the Lord is that 's Moses who is ordinarily taken for the Law that Jesus the true Joshua fulfilled Obs 3. The Law and Prophets continue in their strength and are as firm and strong obligations in this time of the Gospel as formerly they were The Moral Law in the Letter and Spirit The Ceremonial according to the spiritual understanding of it for Ceremoniale aboletur Spirituale manet The Judicial Law according to the Equity of it This will appear from the two next Verses to my Text v. 18 19. So that the Gospel requires of us as much obedience as the Law for measure and degree Obs 4. They who live dissolutely and loosely They neither have the doctrine of Christ nor his life or practice nor end of his coming to countenance palliate and cover their vitious lives withall Reprehension of those who destroy the Law and the Prophets 't is the cause of their destruction and destruction of the people Malac. 2 1-9 and 4.4 5 6. 2. Think not that I come to destroy c. By these Words the Lord puts a bar against all Opinions all Tenents and Disputes of men concerning the Law as if by him or his doctrine it should in the least be diminished Rat. The Thoughts are the Basis and Foundation of Counsels Wills Affections Actions Works and Words And therefore our Lord thought it necessary to give caution concerning them He knew the present Surmises and Suspitions of the Scribes and Pharisees He foresaw the false conceits and opinions that would be received in the World concerning his doctrine as we find at this day Obs 1. The Law and Prophets are empty and voyd until Christ come to fulfil them There is a Vacuum where obedience and fulfilling of the Law and Prophets is not Vide Not. in James 1.22 Jer. 4.22 23. Obs 2. Note hence what an exact and perfect life our Lord Jesus came to bring into the World even the fulfilling of the Law and Prophets A life opposite unto that generation of men he met withall in the dayes of his flesh and as opposite unto this present generation in the dayes of his Spirit for all those he dealt withall beside his own Disciples who were of one will with himself all the rest were either Pharisees or Sadduces of which sort were also the Herodians The former sort the Pharisees fulfilled only the outside of the Law and Prophets whose righteousness consisted only in the obedience unto the outward commandment The latter sort the Sadduces and Herodians were a prophane people who were so far from fulfilling the Law and Prophets by their obedience that by their outward and inward disobedience they made voyd and emptied the Law and the Prophets Of one or other sort of these the true Disciples and truly called Christians only excepted consists this present Generation As for the Sadduces and prophane persons their sins prevent judgment 1 Tim. 5.25 The Pharisees are the men who most of all deceive themselves and are in greatest danger of deceiving others And therefore our Lord tells his Disciples Matth. 5.20 That unless their Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should not see the Kingdom of God The Scribes were the great Teachers of the people the Pharisees were the most religious followers of their doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Lord hereby teacheth his Disciples wherein consists that Righteousness which God requires and accepts wherein else than in obedience to the Law and Prophets Now the Law saith Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit Adultery c. The Scribes and Pharisees did not kill did not commit Adultery and therefore they thought themselves just and despised others Luke 18. And the Reason is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he who obeys the Law is righteous But our Lord Jesus denies that the Scribes and Pharisees obeyed the Law as appears every where throughout the Gospel especially Matth. 23. And the reason because it is not enough that a man do not kill nor commit Adultery c. but that also he have a mind abhorring and loathing murder and adultery for since the mind is so much the more excellent than the body that the man is named from the mind as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Soul signifieth the whole man in the Hebrew and Anima in the Latine foelices animae quibus hoc cognoscere primum inque domos superum scandere cura fuit Whence Anima cujusque is est quisque every man's Soul is himself Hence it undeniably follows that he is a murderer who hath a murdering Soul that he is an Adulterer who hath a Soul inclined to Adultery He who hates his Brother is a murderer He who looks upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart If any one here except and say the Law is not so severe to punish hatred or lust with death 't is true for the Lord hath committed the inflicting punishment for breach of the Law to Magistrates which being but men they punish the evil work done not the evil will they punish the dammage committed not the thought or purpose at least while it is unknown for how else can the Magistrate convince the minds of men by the testimony of two or three Witnesses without which he cannot proceed to punish an offence Would therefore a man be safe from the Magistrate It 's enough for him that he do not kill that he do not commit Adultery although his mind and heart be murderous and adulterous And thus the Scribes and Pharisees were just and righteous who performed outward obedience to the Law and Prophets And if the Kingdom of Christ had been of this World he should not nor would have taught any other doctrine But since the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World not an earthly but an heavenly Kingdom The Judge also is not earthly but heavenly the Witnesses also must be spiritual and heavenly and the judgment spiritual and heavenly in which the mind cannot be hid According to this Righteousness not only the murdering body and the adulterous body is punished as in earthly and bodyly Kingdoms but the murdering and lascivious mind or soul also shall be punished Would we therefore avoyd the eternal punishment we must then no doubt not only obey the outward Law in shew only as the Scribes and Pharisees did but inwardly also truly and from the heart as in the sight of God who searcheth the heart and reins and punisheth hatred for murder and lust for adultery And what I have said concerning these two Commandments is also to be understood of all the rest Obs 3. If our Lord Jesus Christ came not to destroy the Law and Prophet but to fulfil them Hence it will follow that they who boast of Christ's fulfilling
a Spirit he expects of man a spiritual worship and accordingly gives him a spiritual Law which reacheth to his heart and spirit and requires of him a proportionable spiritual service and obedience Obs Hence we learn that whereas outward effects only seem to be forbidden by the Law of God as killing or murdering hereby are principally to be understood their impulsive causes as wrath and hatred So that murder is first in the heart saith our Saviour Matth. 15. whence it proceeds and is acted by the hand and tongue but the heart is murdrorum officium c. See Notes on Matth. 15. Obser 1. 2. Hence it appears that there are divers kinds of murders outward and inward The Jewes took notice only of the outward So one of them Thou shalt do no murder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with thy hand or tongue But our Lord teacheth us that there is a murder committed in the heart and therefore out of the heart proceed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 murders the word is Plural c. See Notes Matth. 15. Obs 3. A man may possibly be a Murderer who yet layes no violent hands on any one himself or another and that in regard of a threefold object 1. Himself 2. His Neighbour 3. His God Vide Notes as above NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW V. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his Brother without a Cause shall be liable to the Judgment c. IT is locus difficillimus The words contain our Lord 's spiritual exposition of the Sixth Commandment Herein we have 1. A Supposition of a Law broken 2. An imposition of a penalty for the breach of that Law The Law and breach of the Law and penalty or punishment of that breach are all considerable in three degrees proportionable one to another The Law prohibits 1. Anger 2. The effects of anger in reproachful words 1. Less as Racha 2. Greater as Fool. The breach of this Law is likewise in three degrees 1. Anger unadvised undeserved 2. Calling our Brother Racha 3. Calling him Fool. The penalty of this threefold breach of the Law is also considerable in three degrees 1. The Judgment 2. The Council 3. Hell fire All which we may reduce unto these following divine Truths 1. No man ought to be angry with his brother without a cause 2. Whosoever is angry c. shall be liable unto the Judgment 3. No man ought to say to his Brother Racha 4. Whosoever shall say to his brother Racha shall be liable to the Council 5. No man ought to say to his Brother thou Fool. 6. Whosoever shall say unto his brother thou Fool shall be liable to Hell fire 7. The Lord saith this to his Disciples 8. Ye have heard indeed that it hath been said to them of old time c. But the Lord saith to his Disciples Whosoever shall be angry with his brother c. I spake of the first of these before come we to the 2. Whosoever is angry with his brother undeservedly unadvisedly shall be liable to the Judgment Wherein 1. What a Brother is 2. What to be angry with him 3. What without a cause or undeservedly to be angry with him I shewed in opening the former point it remains that I shew what the Judgment here is 2. What it is to be liable to the Judgment By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here we are to understand not the Act of judging but the Judges themselves and their sentence Now the Judges among the Jews may be considered either according to their objects or things and persons whereof they judged or according to the subject places where they judged 1. The objects or things and persons which they judged were either civil as mony-matters or capital as those that concerned the life 2. As concerning the places of Judicature what City or Town soever had a number of Inhabitants fewer than one hundred and twenty that Town or City was judged by the Triumviri or three Judges only who handled only civil businesses as matters between man and man But if the Inhabitants of any City or Town were one hundred and twenty or exceeded that number their number of Judges were three and twenty who took cognizance of criminal and capital businesses and these Judges sate in the gates of their Cities of which Amos 5.15 Whoever therefore had slain a man wilfully he was liable unto this judicature Besides these two less jurisdictions there was the great Synedrion or Session of Judges which consisted of 72. Judges of which our Lord speaks in the next words Now as in the Civil Affairs as the Crimes were greater they belonged to greater and higher Judicatures which took cognizance of them So our Lord here saith that in spiritual businesses as the crimes were greater so they were to be judged by greater Judges and liable to greater penalties As here he whosoever he is that is angry with his Brother shall be liable to the Judgment The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth subject obnoxious or liable unto something as Hebr. 2. subject to bondage See Notes on Hebrews 2. He then that is angry with his Brother undeservedly and unadvisedly is liable unto the Judgment 1. The censure of his own Conscience 2. The Judgment and censure of the spiritual Judges or Judges of spiritual things And 3. The final censure and judgment of the great and universal Judge Reason Is in regard of 1. Our Brother 2. Our Elder Brother or 3. Enemies to both 1. In regard of our Brother with whom one is angry unadvisedly and undeservedly He who is so angry with his Brother is a murderer of his Brother and his anger may be called Murder for whereas every sin hath the name from the end whereat it aims See Notes on Matth. 15.19 20. And there is reason and justice for this severe proceeding among men for if the Act it self were as possible and feasible to the Traytor as the will and passion is he would as soon perform the Act and deed as plot and will it 2. In regard of our Elder Brother the Lord Jesus Christ for when we are angry with him we go about to kill him and when we are angry with any of our brethren for his sake we then also go about to kill him 1. When we are angry with him our Lord told the Jews John 7.20 Ye go about to kill me c. See Notes on Philip. 2. ad finem 2. And the like may be said of our anger against our Brethren for his sake For when we sin against our brethren and wound their weak consciences we sin against Christ 1 Cor. 8.12 And so he becomes wounded of our iniquities and bruised of our transgressions Esay 53.5 And therefore the Lord complains that Saul persecuted him when he persecuted the Church 3. There is reason also if we shall consider the enemy of both the Devil himself who is Abaddon and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev.
as angry with thy brother without a cause Obser 1. Note here with what Authority the Lord Jesus speaks to his Disciples Matth. 7.29 at the end of his Sermon as one having authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obser 2. What power Christ hath What a Law-giver the Lord Jesus is he gives Laws to the hearts of men his authority reacheth to the ruling of their affections and passions Hebr. 4.12 The word of God is quick and powerful c. Obser 3. There is then in all Believers a possibility a power not to be angry Surely the Wise-man would not say Remove anger from thine heart if we had not a power imparted unto us of doing what we are commanded to do much less would the wisdom of God here who is that one Law-giver say unto every one every one who is angry with his Brother undeservedly and unadvisedly shall be liable to the Judgment c. He is so wise and knoweth so well what we are able to do that unless he knew we have power to forbear wrath and reproachful Speeches He would not threaten us with the Judgment the Council yea with Hell fire He hath power to save and destroy James 4.12 Obser 4. Not only that this was testified by Christ in the dayes of his flesh But the same hath been and is now testified by his Spirit whose voice is that which whispers to the wrathful Soul 1. Cease from anger and forsake wrath 2. Psal 37.8 It was spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was dictated unto David as the title hath it and the same is spoken to thee and me and every one in his wrath if he have an ear to hear it It was he that said to Cain why art thou wrath And why is thy countenance fallen Gen. 4.6 'T is he that speaketh to thee when thou art pettish and froward Reprehension If Christ say this to his Disciples if the Law-giver commands this to those who profess subjection unto him where is our obedience The Disciples of Pythagoras had no greater testimony than their Masters if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that was enough If the Disciples said but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He said so it was believed all was hush they then obeyed what he said Exhort If the Lord Jesus the truth testifie this be we exhorted to believe it it is a divine testimony and therefore to be believed above all other arguments Hebr. 12.25 from Heaven Our Lord having asked the Pharisees touching the Baptism of John whether from Heaven or of men They answered if we say from men c. If we say from heaven he will say why then do ye not believe him But our Lord speaks to us from heaven Hebr. 12. a greater witness than that of John the Baptist if he speaks to us from Heaven why do we not believe him Signe If we believe him we will obey him we will not be angry with our Brother The Historian reports of Augustus that while he was yet a Child he commanded the Frogs to leave their croaking and they presently obeyed him And shall not the true Augustus have so much authority with us in reverence to whom Caesar would not be called Lord because now the Lord of heaven and earth was born shall he not have that power with us to silence our rage and fury and the croaking of those Frogs who say it is impossible Rev. 16. Shall not he who saith to the Sea be still and there followeth a great calm Shall not he have so much power with thee as to quiet thy fury and passion so that there may follow a great calmness of Spirit Surely the Lord will make good what he saith Psalm 76.20 The fierceness of men shall turn to his praise and the remainder of wrath shall he restrain Axiom 8. It was said to them of old time c. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother c. This point ariseth from the diversity between the teaching of the Law to the Ancients and the teaching of it to the Disciples of Christ The Law was taught to the Ancients outwardly and an outward punishment annexed thereunto The Law is taught to Christ's Disciples inwardly and established and ratified not only by outward and temporal but also by inward punishments The reason therefore of this diversity will appear from the consideration of the different Teachers and Disciples of the Law for so the Father hath his Disciples Esay 8. Seal the Law among my Disciples And the Son his also who have heard and learned of the Father John 6. the Father imparts his mind and will unto men by a gradual communication and revelation Thus he spake unto the Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There was a necessity for this i. e. in regard of God himself he is infinite c. See Notes on Hebr. 1.1 2. in regard of those of old time Disciples of the Father ibid. 2. Reason also there is in regard of the other Teacher the Son of God and his Disciples the Father sent the Son to finish the work which he gave him to do John 17.4 He imparts a greater measure of light and life wisdom and righteousness unto men He came that they might have life and have it in more abundance John For since the Father was pleased to reveale his mind and will his light life wisdom and righteousness unto men more fully and perfectly How could he impart it more conveniently than by his Son who is the very light life wisdom and righteousness Now as the Father was pleased to communicate his mind and will more fully and clearly so he prepared Disciples such as should be capable of farther illumination and revelation For whereas the condition of the Father's Disciples was but a Spiritual Childhood which differs little from Servantship Gal. 4.1 For the Heir while he is a Child differs nothing from a servant though he be Lord of all The Father was pleased to advance the servile condition of his Children and Disciples to Sonship and freedom Gal. 4.1 2 3. Rom. 8.14 15. And therefore whereas the Teachers under the Law had said unto the Father's Disciples Thou shalt not kill Christ the Son saith to his Disciples whosoever is angry c. Objection If hell fire be the greatest punishment of the damned and he who shall say to his brother thou fool be liable to hell fire what punishment then shall he be liable unto who kills his Brother Which no doubt is a greater sin than to be angry with him than to say unto him Racha than to say unto him Thou fool It is a doubt that troubled one of the ancient Fathers of greatest reputation who starts the Objection and the only satisfaction he gives to it is this doubt saith he forceth us to understand esse differentias Gehennarum that there are differences of Hells And so he leaves the Objection But we read of no more Hells than one though it cannot be denied but that there are
before it be medled with Hitherto we have heard our Lords first direction taken from Divine matters shewing the great interruption and suspension of our duty towards God which comes to pass by want of reconciliation unto our Brother Now follows the second inconvenience taken from Civil and Humane affairs such as befalls men usually who are deeply indebted and take no care to satisfie their Creditor for the last words give light unto the whole paragraph that this controversie is about a debt unpaid The summ of the whole business is a sute at Law with the ill use of it wherein we have the Lords direction Our Lords direction Agree with thine Adversary and the peril of not following that direction Our Lords direction is 1. to agree 2. seasonably and that according to the present opportunity 1. quickly 2. while thou art in the way with him 2. The peril and danger of not following that direction and that is either mediate and less or 2. ultimate and greatest of all 1. The mediate and less peril is in three degrees Lest 1. The Adversary deliver thee to the Judge 2. The Judge deliver thee to the Officer 3. By Adversary Judge and Officer thou be cast into prison 2. The greatest and utmost peril is perpetual imprisonment confirmed by the truth it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Verily I say unto thee 1. Thou oughtest to agree with thine Adversary 2. Thou oughtest quickly to agree with him while thou art in the way with hm 3. There is danger lest the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge 4. Lest the Judge deliver thee to the Officer 5. Lest thou be cast into Prison 6 Thou shalt not come out till thou hast paid the utmost farthing 7. The Lord Jesus affirms and confirms this unto thee Verily I say unto thee c. 1. Thou oughtest to agree with thine Adversary And 1. What is our Adversary 2. What is it to agree with him The whole business being a sute at Law and the ill use of it His Adversary is here the Creditor such as the Law defines to be he qui adversùs nos stat vel litigat in judicio he who stands against us or contends with us in Judgment who is otherwise called pars adversa the adverse party 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esay 41.11 The same who is before called thy Brother so the Adversary is called in the Syriack This is the Adversary so called express a Neighbour or Brother Prov. 18.17 He that is first in his own cause seemeth just but his Neighbour cometh The LXX turn it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Adversary And this must be the Adversary here meant for what Job hath 31.35 the Septuagint render the same words which our Lord useth v. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Adversary is the Creditor to whom thou art a Debtor 2. Thou oughtest to agree with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. V. L. esto consentiens or as Ar. Montanus bene sentiens use what diligence thou canst to make him consent to thee Hithpael it amounts to the same with what our Lord taught before go be reconciled unto thy brother Prov. 6.1 5. Prov. 25.8 9. Go not forth to strive debate thy cause with thy Neighbour Since the Adversary here is the Creditor unpaid to agree with our Adversary is to compound with him for the debt we owe him And since this sentence differs from the other only evolutione terminorum as they are wont to speak in the School the reasons will be the same with the former which I shall not repeat But since the business before us is a suit at Law it may here be enquired whether the Disciples of Christ may go to law yea or not See Notes on Rom. 12.18 See the condition of the faithful Prophets and Ministers of God while they speak generals and declare the truth O 't is a good man when he comes close to us and reproves us for our personal sins and saith thou art the man then we grow offended the Lawyers were content to hear but when it came near them thou reprovest us also say they and so he did Wo to you also ye Lawyers Veritas lucens amatur redarguens odio habetur Vid. Not. in Heb. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mysticé Even natural reason and self love may perswade men to put matters in difference between them to arbitrement and to comprimise all things before they come to publick Judgment And therefore all the Ancients agree that these words must be understood mystically who then is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mysticus our Adversary I wave here the various judgments of men and shall name those adversaries which the Scripture warrants me so touching them There are adversaries of two sorts 1. Corporal of which I have spoken thine offended brother 2. Spiritual 1. Good God the Father and his Law and Prophets 2. Evil the Devil himself the father of lies and his law even wickedness Psal That God the Father and his Law are adversaries so long as they have any thing against us it 's evident Job 30.21 He complains to the Lord that he is become cruel to him and opposeth himself against him Thus the Law is our adversary Ephes 2.14 Col. 2.15 The evil adversary the Devil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5. That good Adversary the Lord commands us here to agree withall is God the Father and his Law and Prophets while they have somewhat against us Agree with thine adversary i. e. satisfie thy Creditor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consent to his just demands thou art indebted to thy God pay thy Debt Reason It is the main scope of the Law and Gospel to bring men to the same mind and will with God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 includes both Reason 2. It follows in the Text from the ill consequence of disagreement with his adversary and we may add other Reasons hereunto See Notes on Matth. 22.21 Obser 1. We are debters unto God so what Matthew 6.12 calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our debts St. Luke 11. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our sins for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God And we owe unto him his Image which is his glory As when our Lord said Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods so that we are debtors of this Image and indeed whatsoever else we have or are See Notes on Matth. 22.21 Obser 2. How poor we are How unable of our selves to satisfie our Creditor We have not one good thought towards it See Notes as before Obser 3. While we detain the things of God we render our selves enemies and adversaries to the Law of God Col. 1.21 Yea since the Lord sends unto us his Messengers to demand the debt and we abuse them and pay not our debts we become yet farther enemies and more oppose the Lord and become such as those Husbandmen are Matth. 21.33 39. with Matth. 23.37
man of us have walked in a way that is not good in the way of sinners all have sinned or come short if we say we have not sinned we lie Otherwise Christ had not come to make propitiation for the sins of the whole World Obser 2. In the way of sinners the Law meets us as an adversary and opposeth us we may see this in particular sins When men walk in the way of ambition and covetousness the Law meets them and opposeth them in their way as the Angel met Balaam in his way Num. 22.22 The Angel stood in his way for an adversary When men walk in the way of false worship God meets them as Hanam met Baasha 1 Kings 16.2 Bloody minded men walk in the way of Cain Jude v. 11. and the Lord meets them as he met him Gen. 4. And mark it in the way of trading which many make the way of lying cheating and over-reaching their brethren the Lord meets them and corrects them Psal 94.2 Obser 3. How good is our God who gives us check in our evil way and suffers us not to run on in a way that is not good Abraham said they have Moses and the Prophets opposing them He speaks this to the damned Soul concerning his brethren upon earth herein he joyns with the Law with Moses to draw men out of the evil way James 5.19 20. Obser 4. The business of agreement and compliance with God the Father and his Law requires haste He that hath much to do and little time wherein to do it he maketh haste when we have consented to the Law that it is good Obser 5. We are commonly slow to agree we need quickning Lot lingred when will it once be Jer. 13. Obser 6. There will be a time when we who believe shall have agreed with our adversary paid all our debts that we owe except love Object Doth not the Lord teach us to pray forgive us our debts I may answer this Objection by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as our Lord doth sometime doth not our Lord teach us to pray that his will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven Psal 103.20 21. The Angels excel in strength and do God's Commandments Our Lord teacheth us to pray forgive us our debts until we have paid all our debts till we owe nothing but love Surely a time will come when we shall have fully agreed with the adversary and our debt shall be fully discharged and then we shall no longer stand in the way of sinners but our delight shall be in the Law of the Lord and in that Law we shall meditate day and night When we have fully agreed with our adversary when that Law is written in the heart and the new Covenant made then there is the Jubilee the full remission of all debts Therefore we find Jer. 31.2 3. Heb. 8. that it is the last part of the Covenant Mean time we pray for that that we shall owe nothing but love for love is the keeping of God's Commandments Doubt Are there any such men Answ The Lord knoweth who are his and let him that names the name of the Lord Jesus Christ depart from iniquity There are therefore they who depart from iniquity and stand not in the way of sinners yea the Lord supposeth that there are thousands of such who love him and keep his Commandments and that in this life if not never for after this life we never read of any pardon of sin Cons Alas if the Law be inflexible and inexorable and cannot bend to me if it require agreement on my part who indeed am the Delinquent how is it possible that I should obtain reconciliation with God It 's true the Law is inflexible and that cannot bend to thee it is impossible But the Civilians have a Rule Quod pendet a voluntate principis id impossibile non censetur though the Law cannot the Prince can and the Prince of all the Kings of the earth he will accept of terms of agreement Esay 51.13 17. O let us humble our selves before him See Notes on Hebr. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O! but when I consent unto the Law and agree with that adversary another adversary my adversary the Devil goes about and seeks to devour So he dealt with Job who hath his name from enmity to the evil and the evil one Ye have heard what means Job used to resist that adversary ye have heard of the patience of Job Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing Jam. 1.4 Ye Soldiers know that when the enemy is too strong ye call for a reserve or ye retire to the Corps-du-guard They are both needful here Luke 11.22 Psal 35.1 Plead my cause be an adversary to them who are adversaries to me Esay 19 20. They shall cry unto the Lord and he shall send them a Saviour and a Great One a Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a Prince as Acts 5.31 a Prince and a Saviour Repreh Who delays this important and hasty business that requires the greatest expedition till we have nothing else to do God riseth early and sends his Prophets 2 Chron. 36. yet ungodly men stand in the way of sinners and hasten not to agree with their God whom they have made their enemy Ahab spake out concerning Michajah I hate him because he speaketh no good of me Repreh 2. Boutefeus who make tales and continue strife between men and between God and men they look for some irresistable force upon themselves and linger as Lot did in Sodom and expect Angels to pluck them out of it and such an over-powring irresistable force they call Grace judge in your selves beloved is it reasonable that the Lord should force a man out of the way of sinners and then reward him with Eternal Life for being so forced and driven yet that 's the thing that many call Grace and they stand still in the way of sinners expecting such a force to come upon them or doth the Lord rather allure us and draw us with the cords of a man even with loving kindness Exhort Agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him Can two walk together and not agree We have but a short time to comprimise all business between our adversary and us Redeem the time the way leads unto the Judge Know for all these things God will bring thee to judgement The Law is our Schoolmaster to Christ if we use the Law lawfully it brings us to Christ and fellowship with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ Means No agreement without the head of Sheba the Son of Bicri Men may fast and keep dayes of humiliation that 's Abel-Beth-maacha The Lords of the Philistines reasoned thus That David could not be reconciled to Saul without the heads of the Philistins Hasten unto the coming of the day of God Pet. Hale our selves as in a bote the Tree of Life will not cannot
yea the discourse is proper Our business is about Prisons and casting into prisons those extrema those ultima mala those extreme those uttermost evils in both Common-wealths That which happily may seem the most strange is the first kind of prison that rude and unmannerly persons should be put thereinto without any other demerit or cause but that they are such We all know the mischiefs which befall the Common-weal by such persons Robberies wasting Estates leaving their Families a burden unto others of these there hath been and yet is I fear a great number in this Common-wealth These if so informed and prevented the other two prisons might be spared I am not so well seen in the Lawes of this Nation as to affirm that there is no provision made to curb and give check to the exorbitant courses of such persons not so ill nurtured as to dispute with Laws already made but thus much I may boldly say that if there be no such Law as to restrain unnurtured men from prodigal and loose courses it 's Casus omissus and a business worthy the serious consideration of the Great Council of this Nation Assembled according to the end of their Meeting to deliberate upon the ardua negotia Regni And I pray God that they may do so Mysticé Answerable unto these three sorts of prisons and prisoners in God's Common-wealth on Earth are those other three in God's Common-wealth in Heaven 1. One for the restraint and nurture of rude persons that 's the prison of the Law Gal. 3.21 2. Is the prison of Christ wherein the Debtors are put 3. The third is Satans prison even the Hell it self This is no consolation unto those who are imprisoned for their crimes no though they bear their punishment 1 Pet. 2. 2. Reprehension of those who as if there were not prisons enough both outward and inward go about to imprison the Consciences of men which the Great Judge of all the world leaves free When he saith even unto Cain Gen. 4. If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted yea he leaves his own people Free after a long exhortation to obedience Deut. 28. I have set before you life and death Deut. 29. and Ecclus. Deus reliquit hominem in manu Consilii sui He sets fire and water before thee put thy hand to which thou wilt And the Apostle 2 Cor. 1. vers 12 17. And therefore much are they to blame who go about to imprison the Consciences of men within their own private tenets They forget that prisons are Publici Juris insomuch that he who detains another in his own private house or elsewhere he doth him a great injury how much more when under pretence of the Great Judge his words Compel them to come in whereby he invites men by strong and forcible perswasions to a feast these men not heeding the decorum use the words and pretend Christs Authority to force men to the prison of their own private opinions Repreh 3. Who will not be cast into prison but cast themselves into it a voluntary imprisonment who commit or yield themselves to prison to defraud their creditors Observ The free estate of those who have agreed with their adversaries and are of one mind with God the Father and his Law and Prophets What though they be cast into prison Paul reports of himself That he was in prisons often but he carried no guilt with him it is guilt that makes a prison Paul and Silas sung in the stocks Acts 16. The word of God is not bound Christ appeared to his Disciples twice when they were shut up and said peace unto them Observ 2. Here is a pattern for Christian Judges though they ought to be as a most just and even ballance whence they say that Just Judges are born under Libra so that they ought not to favour no not a poor man in his Cause yet in which scale the right lies that must incline and sway the Judge He therefore who suffers injury may justly expect favour from a Righteous Judge Observ 3. The Lord hath his Polity his Common-wealth on Earth in this outward world conformable unto his Common-wealth in Heaven where Christ is the Judge the Officers are the Angels the Prison is Hell The Great Judge executes this judgement upon obstinate men either 1. by himself as Gen. 19. The Lord from the Lord rained judgement is committed by the Father to the Son or 2. by his Officers the Angels 1. Good as Psal 103.20 22. 2. Evil Zach. 6.8 3. By Men also he delivers c. Observ 4. A prison is no restraint at all where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. What to do what we list No to do what is just and lawful and right I shall walk at liberty when I keep thy Commandments Observ 5. Note hence the free estate of all those who agree with their Adversary who consent unto the Law who are obedient unto the Law I shall walk at liberty when I keep thy Commandments Howbeit this estate we come not unto upon a suddain it is no extempore business to be a Christian we meet with temptations from the flesh under these were the Galathians Gal. 3.17 and temptations from the evil spirit under these were the Ephesians Eph. 6.1 we come to Esech then Sitnah after that to Rehoboth then we walk at liberty indeed when we have neither adversary nor evil occurrent as Solomon saith of himself 1 Kings 5.4 His Kingdom figured the Kingdom of the Spirit whose fruits are Love Joy Peace c. Gal. 5. against these there is no Law The Father hath his prison the Law the Son his self-denial the Spirit hath no adversary Repreh Those who refuse to walk in that good and right way of Gods Commandments and turn aside into the way of sinners and though they be followed by the Law that therefore becomes their adversary they yield not nor agree with him but contumaciously run on until the adversary deliver them to the Judge and the Judge deliver them to the Officer yet although all this be their own perverse doing yet they murmur and repine against God Why doth the living man complain the man for the punishment of his sin Lam. 3.39 Dost thou consider against whom thou liftest up thy self even against the Lord of Heaven and Earth even the Judge of the world That God in whose hand thy breath is even he to whom the Father hath committed all judgement John 5. Cons This must needs be great comfort unto the Disciples of Jesus Christ who walk at liberty and enjoy their freedom which Satans Captive's want But alas I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth It was the Psalmist's complaint and it may be thine and such may thy case be that it 's happy for thee that thou art so imprisoned There is nothing that men in their corrupt natural estate desire more than their own Will I doubt not therefore but to be
of Elisha See Notes on Heb. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Hearken to the Lord's rod. 3. Pray unto him Psal 69.15 Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me and Psal 142.7 Bring my soul out of prison c. Job 33.26 30. NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW V. 31 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it hath been said He who shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcement But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery I Told you in the Preface to the opening of vers 27 28. That our Lord expounds the seventh Commandment and somewhat annexed thereunto having now expounded the seventh Commandment and given directions for the avoiding of Adultery and Fornication to extinguish the evil concupiscence which might foment and nourish this sin implied by plucking out the offensive eye cutting off the offensive hand and foot and all this at our utmost peril even of being cast into hell He now propounds and then expounds somewhat annexed to the seventh Commandment and that is concerning Divorce in the words I have read I shew'd in the beginning of our Lord's Expositions That it is not generally true which some conceive it to be That our Lord in this Sermon on the Mount intended only the confutation of the Pharisees false glosses and mis-interpretations of God's Law for we have seen hitherto that both the first and second instances are no other than the very Law of God in the sixth and seventh Commandments and our Lords Expositions of them have no way confuted them but added their inward and spiritual meanings thereunto that whereas the Law against Murder and Adultery was understood only to restrain the outward Act our Lord shews that those Laws reach even to the heart also wherefore it could not be his general scope howbeit I deny not but he meets with false glosses and misunderstandings of God's Law and such was this custom and practice of the Jews which we have now before us The words contain our Lords third instance wherein we have 1. A Law or pretence of a Law it hath been said 2. Our Lords exception and limitation of that Law or pretence of a Law in the former we have these particulars 1. It was usual and customary for the Jews to put away their Wives 2. Who so puts away his Wife must give her a writing of divorce 3. This was said usually among them 1. It was usual and customary for the Jews to put away their wives This is evident by what our Lord supposeth in his exception and limitation of this usage in the next verse But I say unto you c. as also by the Pharisees question put unto our Lord Mat. 19.3 Is it lawful for a man to put away his Wife for every cause They had no doubt such an usage but we must here enquire quo jure by what right they so did It 's true among men a long custome an usage of long time may become a Law But Nullum tempus occurrit Regi No time can prescribe custome to the Prince much less can the longest time introduce a custome against the King of Kings Was this his Law or not that men should put away their wives The Pharisees would intimate so much Mat. 19.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moses mandavit commanded to give her a Bill of divorce No saith our Lord Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 permisit permitted you to put away your Wives it was not then any command of God but a permission But every permission is to be reduced to one Law or other either Moral Judicial or Ceremonial To which of these was divorce to be reduced Surely it was a Politick and Civil Ordinance and Dispensation which is to be reduced to the Moral Law and to the seventh Commandment and therefore our Lord having discovered inward Adultery even by lusting after a woman he now shews who give occasion to commit Adultery even they who put away their Wives But for our more distinct proceeding we must know that this putting away was to be understood of Wives of the stock of Israel for otherwise a Wife taken from among the Captives might be put away Deut. 21.14 2. Nor doth this extend to all the Hebrew Wives for she who was forced before marriage by her Husband might not be put away Deut. 22.29 3. This permission or license of putting away was by reason of the hardness of their hearts Mat. 19. which may be understood two wayes either that the Lord and his servant Moses remitted somewhat of the strictness of the Law for a time lest the Husband should complain that he was yoaked without release or remedy 2. because men by their hardness of heart by their own Law or Act did love to be cut off This permission was not allowed in any Case except some nakedness or uncleanness as Deut. 24.1 2 3. The reason why men put away their Wives among the Jews and why there would be the like Divorces made among other Nations if the Laws did not hinder them the reason is because the parties are not duly and as they ought to be united and joyn'd together And this comes to pass by reason of a two-fold defect 1. One in regard of God 2. The other in regard of Nature 1. In regard of God marriage ought to be in him i. e. according to his Will and in his Fear in his Name wherein all things ought to be done especially Wedlock 1 Cor. 7.39 Let her marry to whom she will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only in the Lord. 2. There is also a defect in regard of Nature when Complexions and Constitutions are not considered but other causes and reasons incline parties one to the other of which more anon Obs 1. Here is presupposed that marriage is an Union and Knitting of Man and Wife together and that an intimate Union insomuch that Man and Wife is said to be one flesh Mat. 19. which words of our Saviour have reference unto that first Institution of Marriage Gen. 2. where we read That the Woman was taken out of the man Obs 2. How prone men are to break the Law of God as it appears in that most of God's Laws in the Decalogue are negative and above all Laws men are most apt to break the Law of Love one to another which yet the Lord himself in special is said to teach Thes 4.9 Ye are taught of God to love one another for having made of one blood all the Nations of men there is or ought to be in all men such a love as is wont to follow Consanguinity and Kindred and of all the Laws of Love men are prone to violate that which should bind them most which God gave to the Man in his Innocency upon the first contracting of marriage he shall cleave unto his
them of old time our Lord tells us as much Mat. 19.8 That because of the hardness of their hearts Moses had suffered them to put away their wives but from the beginning it was not so therefore he saith not here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as formerly it was said indeed to or by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery but it was not said to or by them of old time if a man put away his wife c. That this is the true reason why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not here added will appear beside what hath been said if ye compare herewith Jer. 3.1 where the Prophet speaking of the very same argument he puts first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translators turn they say or saying whereby is implied That this was not said from the beginning but since the hearts of men have been hardned by unbelief and disobedience Mysticé There is a lawful and a necessary divorce to be made between us and our sinful thoughts and memory which spiritually are signified by a Wife as I have shewn heretofore out of 2 Cor. 11. These are the Female part of the man as the life is the Male and these are adjoyn'd to the Male even to the life as a meet-help unto it as a Wife which lodgeth in his bosome if she prove unquiet if she be a scold if she gad abroad like an idle huswife if she be an harlot it 's the Wise Mans advise cut her off from thy flesh and let her go Ecclus. 25.26 And this seems to be intended in Deut. 24. If the Husband find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of uncleanness in his wife then let him give her a bill of divorce what is this word of uncleanness there is a pure word and an holy word the word of the Lord is pure but there is a word of Belial saith the Wise Man even the word of Antichrist which opposeth and exalts it self against God and whatsoever is of God and Christ in us God grant saith the Wise Man that it be not found in the house of Jacob c. Ecclus. 23 12 13. This is that which our Saviour calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render for cause of fornication there is an inward word of fornication and adultery this is that which is to be divorced and put away from us O let it not be found in us Exhor Let us rather heed and obey that which was said to them of old time and by them of old time than that which was only by them of later time rather by the precepts of the Lord than his permissions with the Ancients is Wisdom See Notes on Job 12. Mat. 5.32 Hitherto we have heard the pretended Law come we now to our Lord's exception and limitation of this Law or pretence of a Law But I say unto you that he who shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery 1. A man may put away his Wife for the cause of Fornication 2. Whosoever shall put away his Wife saving for the cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery 3. Whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth Adultery 4. Our Lord Jesus saith this Whosoever c. 5. It hath been said indeed if a man put away his Wife c. but the Lord Jesus saith c. 1. A man may put away his Wife for the cause of Fornication This is clear in that our Lord names this cause and excludes all others So that his exceptions of this hath the force of an affirmation 2. By Fornication which otherwhere is understood of single persons is here to be meant Adultery for so the words are used promiscuously as I have formerly shewn 3. Reason Fornication or Adultery which is here understood is a real breach of that Sacred Bond whereby Man and Wife becomes one flesh and therefore putting away in this case is but a declaring of that or a perfecting of that by the man which was done before by the woman Further Reason may be this since the most Holy God excludes Adulterers and Fornicators from the Kingdom of Heaven Gal. 5. It seems equal that they should be excluded also from the Saints society upon earth and therefore Adulterers were adjudged by God's Law to the most extreme kinds of punishments among the Jews as burning Gen. and stoning John 8. A man may but must he so do But here it may be doubted whether the man even in this case be bound to put away his Wife even for the cause of Adultery I believe he is not bound to put away his Wife no not for the cause of Adultery and my reason is I do not read any Law of God that enjoyns the wronged man so to do Besides in regard of God he is a witness of the mutual Faith plighted one to the other it is his own reason Mal. 2.14 The Lord hath been witness between thee and the Wife of thy youth and secondly she is thy Companion and the Wife of thy Covenant It is thy Covenant and the Lord is witness to it 3. The Lord hates putting away Mal. 2.16 And we ought not to do the thing that he hates Jer. 44.4 2. In regard of men though it be true that Adultery were a capital crime and to be punished by the Judges as Job 31. if the business were brought before them and proved yet we read not any where that the Husband was bound to prosecute his Wife if he saw her penitent or thought good either to retain her or put her away more privately by bill of divorce We find not that Jacob put away his Wife or Hand-maid which was a secondary Wife whom Ruben abused And Joseph in his ignorance conceiving his espoused Wife to have been an Adulteress being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. a merciful man he would not make her a publick Example but thought privately to put her away by bill of divorce Mat. 1. Obser 1. Adultery is here called Fornication as the highest degree of it Obser 2. Adultery is one of the greatest crimes as that which dissolves and unties that knot between Man and Wife and nulls that union betwen Man and Wife above all other causes which otherwise is inseparable Obser 3. Note hence what wisdom is required what providence and circumspection what care in the choice of such a Companion as must live and converse with us and be one with us all our life time Quod semel faciendum est id deliberandum est diu The choice of such an associate is like a stratagem in war wherein a man can err but once Ye are wary in your bargains and buying your commodities which yet ye intend not long time to keep or lie by you but presently to put off for gain and advantage how much more circumspect and wary ought men to be in making a bargain for life in purchasing a
commodity if it prove so that must lie by him while he lives Obser 4. Note hence the wisdom and mercy of the Lawgiver He made man's heart and knows it and lays no greater burden on us than he knows we are able to bear Under the Law the heart of man is stony hard and admits not easily the impressions of God's Law and therefore answerably to the stony heart the Law was written in Tables of stone And out of mercy and goodness the Lord permits many things and tolerates many things which afterward he permits not Heb. 9.9 10. Ye will bear with many weaknesses and frailties in your Children while they are Children alas they are Children and what can ye require or expect from a Child As the Child is so is his strength Judg. Now the Law is the state of Child-hood Gal. 5. Obser 5. Note hence the Wisdom and Justice of God He made us this soul and he knows what strength he hath given us and lays no more difficult or heavy burden no harder Law upon us then he knows we are able to bear If we be under the Gospel he makes good his Promise unto us that he will take from us the heart of stone and give us an heart of flesh what a reproach is it to one that is grown up what alwayes a child when I was a child saith St. Paul I did as a child 1 Cor. 13. 2. Axiom Whosoever puts away his wife unless it be for the cause of Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery To make up the full sence somewhat must be supplyed which is easily done out of the following point viz. If she marry This is to be understood mostwhat of the younger Wives divorced which having been once married are commonly inclined thereto The Apostle speaking of the order of Widows he tells us as much that when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry 1 Tim. 5.11 14. I will saith he that the younger women marry But where our Lord saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he makes her commit Adultery this is to be understood in a large sence as large as giving occasion to commit Adultery thus 1 Sam. 26.19 they say go serve other Gods Reason Our Lord here implies that the Bond and Oath of Marriage remains here entire and not broken except only in case of Fornication or Adultery if therefore an Husband divorce and put away his Wife and not for the cause of Fornication he causeth her to commit Adultery Obser 1. Hence it appears that our Lord would that we should take heed not only of committing sin our selves but also lest we be a cause or occasion of anothers sin Obser 2. The grand motive and reason which our Lord here alledgeth why men should not put away their Wives is that he who doth so causeth her to commit adultery He doth not take any reason from any other evil of punishment that possibly might befall him who so doth but from the evil of sin that may follow upon so doing whereby our Lord implies thus much That our great care lest we do amiss should proceed from hence lest thereby we should occasion others to sin Thus on the contrary when the Lord moves us to do our duty he useth motives taken from the good effect that will redound from them Psal 81.8 O Israel if thou wilt hearken unto me there shall no strange God be in thee neither shalt thou worship any strange God That 's a great reward of our hearkning unto our God and our obedience unto him that hereby he will drive out all the strange Gods out of us so the Lord promiseth Mich. 5.13 the great reward of well doing is well doing A good deed we say rewards it self Bonum officii is often used in Scripture for bonum premii and truly with good men this Argument is the most prevalent of all others because their main design is which indeed is the end of all Religion to be like unto God in eschewing all evil and doing all good we can since he doth no evil but is the Author of all goodness Such another motive St. Peter useth 2 Pet. 1.8 If these things be in you and abound they will make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ we were made to the image of our God in knowledge Col. 3. and many desire knowledge but the Apostle's motive is taken from the fruitfulness of our knowledge in our obedience Obser 6. How unmerciful is one man to another yea Man to his Wife whom yet he takes to himself as to be one flesh with himself how easily doth he take offence how narrowly doth he seek for a blemish Moses saith if he find any uncleanness in her Deut. 24.1 Men look upon one another for evil with an evil eye to discover what blemish or blame one can see and find in another that thereby we might take occasion to pride our selves in our own supposed excellencies like the Pharisees of old I am not like other men that thereby we might have occasion to hate one another and separate our selves one from another so the V. Latin reads that Prov. 18.1 Occasiones quaerit qui vult discedere ab amico He who would depart from his friend he seeks occasions so to do Oh that we were as curious as prying as searching every one into himself as every one almost is into the lives of others certainly if so we should prove as good Christians as for want of that inward search we are now evil Obser 7. Take hence an estimate how merciful the good God is toward the fallen man He took the Jews he takes us Gentiles to be his Spouse Thy Maker is thy Husband yet what Adulterers what Adultresses have we been yea are we how unchast how unfaithful are we unto our Husband The Lord aggravates this sin Ezech. 16. Jer. 3. Lift up thine eyes to the high places and see where thou hast not been lien with and 5.7 and 13.26 27. Notwithstanding all this mark what the Lord saith by his Prophet Esay 50.1 Where is the bill of your mothers divorcement Jer. 3.1 it 's said If a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another mans shall he return unto her agan shall not that land be greatly polluted But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord See Notes on Gen. 2.18 Mysticé The Church and People of God are his Spouse his wedded Wife Hos 2. such therefore she must be as a wife unto her husband she must stand before him in love Eph. See Notes as above she must be a meet help unto him ibid. Exhort To be chast and faithful one to another that there may be no ground of divorce of affections as they Man and Wife are one flesh so that they endeavour so to be joyned unto the Lord and one to another that they may be one
him in the Margin they asked him of peace This Salutation was wont to be of equal extent with their love being confined to their own Nation so was their Salutation also 4. If Christ's Disciples salute their Brethren only what do they more Our Translators add here a Supplement than others which although it be true yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as I shewed in opening vers 20. is somewhat that is excellent and so we may understand the words here what excellent thing do ye Obser The Lord requires and expects of his Disciples that they be an Excellent People that they do somewhat more than others do Hence it appears that the Lord requires Salutations not only of our brethren and friends but also of others They are such as win and maintain love among men how else had the people of God lived among their enemies how else did Paul become all things unto all men had he not complied with them 1 Cor. 9. Repreh Those who are wanting and faulty in this duty of Salutation and bring in among Christians an unfriendly and unchristian behaviour without common expressions of love and friendship directly contrary to what our Lord here requires He requires a greater measure of love and expression of love in honouring of men 1 Pet. 2.17 Loving all men saluting all men These restrain their love to a few of their own and their expressions of honour and love in salutations What they are wont to say that they bear an inward love and honour unto all it 's as much as if they said nothing at all for the nature of honour is outwardly expressed in the signs of it and the inward love and affection is declared in outward salutations suitable thereunto as 't is evident to common sence and needs no further proof so that such behaviour is at least a great weakness And truly I pity them who needlesly yea contrary to the Rule of the Word bring inconveniences and mischiefs upon themselves and scandalize the Christian Religion as if it were a rugged unmannerly and uncivil Religion whereas it is most civil and debonaire and lovely and winning in the whole world What they say that men ought not to look for and receive honour one of another is true and they scruple to give that which others may not receive I Answer let men do what becomes them whatever becomes of what they do But if men do what they do out of Judgment and pretence of Reason let them know it's scandalous to the Christian name and utterly a fault among them that whereas they would seem to bring in a greater eminency and excellency of Christinity among men then hath been before in the world they render themselves blame-worthy in that they make men believe that the Lord required a rude inhumane morose and cynical behaviour yea and they cause that which is good in them to be evil spoke of Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect These words contain the conclusion of our Lord's Exposition of the common Law of Love especially the love of enemies which contain these Five Divine Truths 1. Your Father is in heaven 2. he is perfect 3. be ye perfect 4. be ye perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect 5. your Father which is in heaven makes his Sun to rise upon the evil and upon the good c. patrizate igitur be ye like your Father Be ye perfect therefore as your Father which is in heaven is perfect I might thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but I shall for brevity sake speak of them all in one Divine Truth as it is inferred out of the former doctrine of which I have already spoken as it lies in the words Because your heavenly Father is perfect be ye therefore perfect as he is perfect Wherein we must enquire 1. what is meant by perfection 2. how we are to understand perfection as our Father in heaven is perfect 1. By perfection here we are not to understand only sincerity which is opposite unto hypocrisie But here must be understood a full compleat and absolute perfection for our Father which is in heaven is here said to be perfect and so he is both in his Essence and Attributes and in his Works Deut. 32. His work is perfect our Translators were well advised of this and therefore they could not here juggle with us and impose other names upon this most eminent duty as elsewhere they do when they turn Jacob was a plain man which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perfect man and turn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 undefiled unspotted unfeigned upright Perfectum est in quo omne illud est quod melius est esse quà m non esse For Sincerity and Integrity is a Grace and Vertue opposite unto Hypocrisie and Dissimulation which is understood even in the lowest and weakest Duty as in a good Will it 's required that we be Sincere and not Hypocritical and in the passage out of the sinful Life it 's necessary that we be Sincere and Upright Thus when the Sons of Israel came out of Egypt they brought their dough unleavened which the Apostle interprets Sincerity and Truth 1 Cor. 5. There is a Perfection 1. according to Time and 2. according to Nature 3. according to Universality 1. Perfection according to time is a resemblance in all the parts unto our Father who is in Heaven As a Child new born hath all the parts and members inward and outward of a perfect man and he may be truly said to be perfect in his kind 2. A perfection according to Nature when whatever is due to their Nature is in it 3. A perfection according to Universality so God alone is perfect 2. How must we understand that comparison Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect I Answer even as it lies in the Text what need any other Exposition of it Such a one is perfect as God is perfect when he hath attained to that due to his Nature as God hath that which is due to his If the Child now like his Father in all parts and members inward and outward should so continue and not grow up in stature and birth and quantity and in some good measure should be like unto his Father what would ye think would ye not believe that he would be a very Dwarf a Monster in Nature would ye not think as some do that the Child were bewitcht and some ill eye or other had been upon him Now then look into thy self and consider whereunto thou art called and what thou professest and whereunto thou pretendest to endeavour even the measure of the stature and age of Christ a perfect man Eph. 4.13 and judge and speak truly of thy self art thou not an arrant Dwarf a Monster in the Divine Nature hath not some or other bewitcht thee Gal. 3.1 that after so much hearing thou art yet like a child of a span long Lam 2. Reason is in the Text
not who shall go ever the Sea for us for the word Christ is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart and can he be nearer to thee And shall we be less zealous in calling upon him the True God than the Heathen were and are in calling upon their false Gods shall we be more sluggish in our Religion than they are in their Superstition shall they be more careful for the preservation of their bodies than we will be for the salvation of our souls shall they be more sensible of a temporal storm than we of an eternal judgment O let us let us I beseech ye try and examine our selves and enquire impartially as those Mariners did Jonah 1. for whose cause this tempest is upon us Every Sect most partially condemns other almost every man accuseth another as the cause of this storm At nemo in sese tentat descendere nemo Who is there that will confess with David I have sinned I have done foolishly where is the ingenuity of Jonah who will acknowledge that he is the man for whom this storm is raised When Israel was smitten before the men of Ai Josh 7. O Lord saith Joshua what shall I say when Israel turns their back before their enemies But what saith the Lord unto him Arise there is an accursed thing in the midst of thee O Israel Let every Tribe and Family and Houshold and Man by man be brought before the Lord. O Beloved we accuse every Tribe another every Family every Houshold almost every man another as the Achan the troubler of Israel But were every man brought man by man with a naked conscience and an open heart before the Lord who searcheth all our hearts almost every man should find a Davus qui turbat omnia an Achan a troubler of our Israel in his own bosom From whence come wars and fightings among you whence comes these storms and tempests come they not from hence even from your lusts that war in your members The Mariner cries and prays unto his God and considers not rebellious Jonah in the bottom of his ship The accursed thing is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LXX render it the accursed thing is in thine heart So the LXX very often render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There 's envy there 's pride there 's covetousness there 's anger there 's bloody zeal there 's intemperancy many hurtful lusts these are the Achans these are the Jonahs these are the troublers of Israel these cause the storm these drown men in destruction and perdition Cast these over-board as Mariners are wont to do their best commodities in a storm and then come unto Christ by the ships of Faith of Hope of Love of Obedience and awaken him by Sighing by Prayer by Supplication by Fasting by Mourning by all manner of Humiliation and let us all cry mightily unto God Lord save us that we perish not Then the Lord will be zealous for his Land then he will rebuke the winds and the Sea and he will cause all these storms to blow over and there will follow a great calm I have spoken already of the first part of this Text and generally of this second reserving the special handling of it till now In it we have three particulars 1. The person interpellat or petitioned unto The Lord. 2. The petition it self 3. The motive or enforcement of the petition 1. The Lord as that he slept was an argument of his humanity so that he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord it 's an argument of his Divinity for this name is incommunicable unto any Creature as it answers to the nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that in effect it 's as free an acknowledgment of Christ's Divinity as that Mat. 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God my voice shalt thou hear in the morning 2. Learn from hence to whom to direct our prayers O Lord unto thee will I direct my prayer and will look up Psal 5.3 Thus all the Saints of God have directed their prayers unto him 2 Chron. 20.12 O our God we have no might neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee And such was the Disciples case here they were at a loss in regard of all second causes It reproves those who go to Saints and Angels as their proper patrons and protectors in a storm our Lord calls for us to come to him Psal 50. call upon me not call upon the Virgin Mary c. But much more are they to be blamed who direct the people unto other patrons as some of the learned Papists do But alas Balaams Ass goes on as it is driven and the poor people are carried to dumb Idols even as they are led 1 Cor. 12.2 But wo to the Balaams wo to the false Prophets who lead and drive them qui ducunt te seducunt they who lead thee cause thee to err Esay 3.12 I leave them to their Judge and come to the Petition it self Lord save us lest we perish The reason why the Disciples pray to Christ for their salvation is either 1. In regard of Christ the Saviour 2. In regard of the Disciples 1. In regard of Christ the Saviour Salvation is his so saith Jonas his Type in his Prayer Jonas 2.9 He carrieth Salvation in his Name Jesus and his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Petition they make is for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salvation and are of one and the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 65.5 He is the hope of them that remain in the broad sea This was his end and why he came into the world 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners Luke 9.56 The Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Si porrò quaeramus quid in causa sit quod Christus Dominus salvator sit respondetur hoc esse subjectum legationis suae in mundum Legatus haud excedat commissionem suam Joh. 3.17 Non misit Deus filium suum in mundum ut judicet mundum sed ut mundus salvetur per ipsum Inde Hos 1.7 Promittit Dominus salvaturum se per Dominum i. e. per Jesum Ita orat etiam David Psal 54.1 Per nomen tuum salva me i. e. per Jesum tuum in quo nomen Dei est utì dicit ipse Ne provoces ipsum quià nomen meum in illo est Exod. 23.21 2. Ratio ex parte Discipulorum Quà Miseri sunt Ex illius corpore sunt Ipsius gratiâ exemplo miseri sunt 1. Deus miserorum tutelam suscipit quales orphani viduae peregrini Lazari ideóque signanter amare Lazarum dicitur i. e. illum cui nullus est opitulator Joh. 11. Salvabit Dominus afflictum populum oculósque sublimes humiliabit Psal 8.27 and 72.4 Salvabit filios inopum destruétque fraudulentum oppressorem and vers 12. him that
except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven We are such as deny our Lord and he will deny us at that Great Day our Lord gives us fair and timely warning of it Mat. 7.21 22 23. Luk. 13.26 27. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father Obser 3. Whosoever the Lord is impartial and without respect of persons Obser 4. If our Lord deny those who yet make some outward confession and profession of him because in works they deny him what shall become of those who deny him both in words and works prophane wicked and ungodly men Tit. 1.16 being abominable disobedient and unto every good work reprobate The Apostles prophesie of such to come 2 Pet. 2.1 2. Repreh 1. Do we thus requite the Lord foolish people and unwise that we are Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee c. Deut. 32.6 2 Pet. 2. 1. Jude 4.18 Obser 1. Observe how the Noble Nature of man is abased and degenerate it needs motives promises and threats of the highest nature to move it but to it 's own duty and threats to terrifie it from its own greatest misery needs consolation for a spur to Divine Glory Christ is the Glory of his people Israel Luk. 2. And shall we who are his people be ashamed of our Glory Shall we turn our Glory to shame Psal 4. Whose Glory is their shame Phil. 3. Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honour 1 Pet. 2.7 Will a Bride forget her Ornaments Jer. 2.32 Dehort That we would not deny our Lord. Motive He is our Lord shall we deny our Lord He is our Lord that hath bought us He is our owner Even the Oxe knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master's crib and shall not Israel know his Owner Shall his people deny him the Lord that bought them now God forbid 2. Motive The turpitude of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turpitudo Sign Thou deniest him not thou believest that he was born of the Virgin c. and what great matter is it that thou so believest The Devils believe saith St. James But thou confessest that Christ is come in the flesh and the Devils confess so much I know thee who thou art thou Holy One of God Such a belief as this such a confession may consist with a wicked with a diabolical life and he who confesseth Christ so denies him Both contraries work the same effect fulness and emptiness Prov. 30.8 9. Fulness of any thing but God and Christ inclines us to deny him Fulness of Wealth Prov. 30. Lest I be full and deny thee Bread and abundance of idleness holding the Truth in unrighteousness Honour pleasure when thou hast eaten and drunk to the full then take heed Emptiness and appetite of temporal things they confessed him not because they loved the praise of men more than of God Contraria contrariis curantur Contraries are cured by contraries but herein is required Athletica habitudo Our Lord fills the hungry with good things and the rich he sends empty away Lest your beasts be overcharged with surffetting Therefore Sodom was over-thrown and our destruction comes from the same cause Pray unto the Lord to heal our backslidings Hos 14.4 Obj. But this may discourage some weak and misgiving Soul when it shall consider that Christ is denied by a sinful by a disobedient life and that Christ will deny those who so deny him Alas I have denied the Lord. But so did Peter he denied his Lord yea he forswore his Lord yea he cursed himself if he knew his Lord But Peter went out and wept yea he went out and wept bitterly for it yea by a threefold confession through the Grace of him who looked back upon him and caused him to weep bitterly he expiated his threefold denial of his Lord And if thou have denied the Lord that bought thee either in words or works haply for fear as St. Peter did and now thy Lord looks backupon thee and remembers thee of what thou hast done Go out as Peter did go out of thy lewd company such as he was engaged in but above all go out of thy self deny thy self the worst company of all deny thy worldly wisdom thy vain thoughts thy perverse will and affections which have caused thee to deny thy Lord deny ungodliness and worldly lusts follow St. Peter's Counsel as well as his Example Acts 37. The Spirit was not yet come upon Peter Excidit intrà charitatem non a charitate Therefore our Lord looked on him and he upon Christ O but I have been a Persecutor and Blasphemer yea and as they Act. 3.13 14 15. Hear that other great Apostle St. Paul 1 Tim. 1.16 which happened to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Notes on Mat. 12. in the beginning Consol To those who confess Christ before men They must displease men there is no help for it If they have persecuted me they will persecute you saith our Saviour Joh. 15.20 the same life being professed by both Wherever men confess Christ the Life there follows the persecution of the world As he that was born after the Flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit so it is now Wherefore did Cain hate Abel but because his own works were Evil and his Brothers Righteous Saul what evil hast thou done c. See Notes on 1 Thes 4.1 Mel exulcerata mordet Honey is sharp when it meets with ulcers but sweet to them that are in health and sound saith the Oratour Therefore the Cynick spake I know not how truly of Plato What profit saith he can be in that man who having long read Philosophy among us was yet never troublesome to any Doubtless in a mixt Auditory as most are the honey meets with many an ulcer Men will wince when they are galled and therefore no marvel if the Devil cryed out he was tormented by the Lord Mar. 1. how thinkest thou to escape 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jer. 26.14 15. I am in your hands but know that if ye put me to death ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon your selves Notes on Exod. 20.7 to the same intent with the former MATTHEW 10.32 33. IT is some refreshing to the weary Traveller when he looks back upon the way he hath past I shall therefore in a few words shew you how far we are gone in the way of God's Commandments and where now we are I have hitherto endeavoured to open the Affirmative part of the Third Commandment the Sanctifying and Glorifying of God's Name in sundry special and principal Acts belonging thereunto The Precept is now Negatively to be considered as it lies in the Text. In the words are these severals 1. The Lord's will is That we take not his Name in vain 2. The Lord will
study of the heavenly mysteries ex tempore and without more adoe repentè sic Theologi prodiere They suddainly start up Divines and presume themselves able Ministers and preach with as much facility and confidence as if they had studied Divinity but if they have gotten a smattering in the Original Tongues they have no patience till they be in the Pulpit and then less Nay may it not truly be spoken of their Seniors that they have as mean an opinion of God's Word when they think they have time enough to serve the world prog for their Childrens Children yet study Divinity Nay if they have Tongues and Arts and quote Scriptures and Fathers how learned Clarks soever otherwise they be turn them loose for profound and dissolute absolute Divines Alas they consider not that there are mysteries hidden mysteries of the Kingdom of God and that it 's given to the Disciples only to know the mysteries 2. This points us to the object or matter of all Controversies and Contentions in the Church viz. the Mysteries or hidden Truths of the Kingdom of God for men differ not in Opinion touching things openly and manifestly known for who but a mad man or stark blind would dispute whether 't were day or no when the Sun shines forth bright and clear at high noon Some Divine Truths there are as clear and evident as the Sun shines so that no question can be made of them they give testimony of themselves and need no other argument to prove them to be these prevent all controversies and strivings of men about them But other Divine Truths there are mystical and hidden and about these and these only men differ and hence proceed all Controversies which distract and divide the Church of Christ at this day which when we hear we may well conclude that the Truths where about they differ are not known for were they known there would be then no further difference about them We will not quarrel but pity a blind man if he saith 't is dark when the Sun shines Of such as these St. Paul speaks they are turned aside saith he unto vain janglings desiring to be Teachers of the Law yea and the Gospel too understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm 1 Tim. 1.7 and 6.20 he called Controversies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the oppositions of Science or knowledge falsly so called For did they truly know the Truths where about they differ they would not strive and contend about them as they do and therefore when Controversies are started and hotly pursued in the Church 't is a good Rule not to be over-hasty in siding or adhering unto Spirits of contradiction but rather to do as I have heard the safest course is for a man that travels in a dark night and is in danger to be misled by the ignis fatuus or fools fire to set him down and wait upon the Heavens for light The Prophet Esay gives us the same counsel for avoiding the like â—ools fire of Contention kindled by undiscreet Zelots and carried about like a wisp to brawl and scold at Chap 50.10 11. Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his Servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Behold all ye that kindle a fire that compass your selves about with sparks walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks which ye have kindled This shall ye have of my hand ye shall lye down in sorrow It 's given to the Disciples and who are they It 's a question like that of our Saviour Mar. 5. Who is that that toucheth my cloaths and may be answered as he was Thou seest the multitude thronging thee and sayest thou who toucheth me What a throng what a crowd of Disciples there are in the world and do we yet enquire who they are Alas beloved Multi Dominum comprimunt ac una tangit saith St. Gregory An innumerable multitude of Carnal men throng and crowd our Lord by an outward profession of Christianity yet few very few of that great crowd truly touch him and draw virtue from him and therefore when great multitudes followed him as now there do pretending to be his Disciples Luk. 14.25 He turned about and said unto them if any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Brethren and Sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple and whosoever doth not hear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple vers 33. Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple And how few alas how few are there such among the great throng of those who are called Christians but unto these and only these it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven By Knowledge in the Text is to be understood not Historical which is by hear say and rather credulity than knowledge but approbative and experimental knowledge and according to this it is given to these and only these to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven And why to these O these are the only men in the world that are qualified for entrance into Christ's School of mysteries that 's the first reason and a second is this God the revealer of Mysteries vouchsafes to none but these the Revelation of them That this is the qualification of all those who can possibly be admitted to the knowledge of the heavenly mysteries 't is evident by the testimony of God himself They seek me daily saith he and would know my wayes as a Nation that did Righteousness and forsook not the Ordinance of their God Esay 58.2 it is a tanquam or quatenus specificativum as specifieth the qualification of him that the mysteries of God's wayes are to be revealed unto viz. an unlearning of our selves and ceasing to do evil and a learning of Christ to do good This the Prophet Jeremy defines by doing judgment and justice Did not thy Father do judgment and justice He judged the cause of the poor and needy and is not this to know me saith the Lord Jer. 22.16 Thus St. Paul requires that we walk worthy of God pleasing him in all things and being fruitful in every good work and then followeth encreasing in the knowledge of God Col. 1.10 and vers 26. of that Chapter The mystery of the Gospel saith he which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations is now revealed what to all without exception without qualification No no it is made manifest or revealed unto the Saints unto the Disciples for the secret of the Lord is with the Righteous Prov. 3.32 Unto them the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great revealer of mysteries as he is called more than once in Dan. 2. he makes known the secrets of the Heavenly Kingdom So saith the wise man That God giveth unto the man that
and with equity as he promiseth to deal with Jerusalem vers 30 34. I will correct thee in judgment Now as summum jus is summa injuria so is summa justitia and therefore as judgment hath an allay of mercy so likewise Righteousness is here to be understood with the temper and allay of mercy Thus that which we read Mat. 23.23 Judgment mercy and faith refers to Mich. 6.6 To do judgment i. e. equity to love mercy This notion of Righteousness taken for Mercy is very frequent Deut. 6.25 it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these Commandments LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our mercy who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord He that hath clean hands and a pure heart he shall receive the blessing from the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercy or Righteousness from the God of his Salvation Psal 24.5 and 33.35 The Lord loveth Righteousness and judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mercy and divers the like as Mat. 1.19 according to this notion we understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vide Grot. in locum Esay 57.1 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth generally to do or make something and more specially to make in such a sense as we use it in our English to exalt as when we say He made such an one i. e. advanced him Thus the Lord made Moses and Aaron 1 Sam. 12.6 i. e. advanced them Thus the Lord made Twelve Apostles Mar. 3.14 Hoc fecit Wickam he meant advanced And in this sense our Ancient English Translators rendred the word He shall set up Equity and Righteousness again in the Earth I take it in both senses for so surely Christ executes Judgment and Righteousness where ever it is done for without him we can do nothing He shall be for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment Esay 28.6 And he it is who advanceth and erects Judgment and Justice Esay 42.1 Behold my Servant which I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my spirit upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles the word signifieth a producing or bringing forth that which was hidden and behind a cloud or under the Earth before The truth of this is seen in all those places where Christ's Kingdom is promised Esay 9. He shall establish his Kingdom with judgment and justice and 11.34 and 16.5 In mercy shall the Throne be established and he shall sit upon it in truth in the Tabernacle of David judging and seeking judgment and hasting righteousness Hath he not made thee Deut. 32.6 and Esay 43.7 I have created him for my glory yea I have formed him yea I have made him yea exalted him The reason of this in respect of The Father as the Principal Cause Impulsive Cause The Son The reason may be considered in the principal cause of it Divine Ordination for the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son Joh. 5.22 and the Impulsive cause of it in the Father His love to Judgment and Righteousness Psal 33.5 The Lord loveth Righteousness and Judgment and 37.28 the Lord loveth Judgment His love unto his Creature because the Lord loved Israel so because the Lord loves his Israel his Church for ever therefore he made thee King to do Judgment and Justice 1 King 10.9 Gal. 6. He hath made Jesus Christ unto us Righteousness Wisdom 2. In regard of the Son Judgment and Justice could not be done without him Esay 59.16 in their great spiritual desolation when as Judgment and Justice were fallen He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no Intercessor therefore his Arm brought Salvation unto him and his Righteousness it sustained him This was figured 2 King 4. vers 29. Elisha sent his staff to raise up the dead Child but it would not be he came himself and did it The Law made nothing perfect Heb. 7. but what the Law could not do God sent his Son in the similitude of sinful flesh and condemned sin in the flesh The end the glory of the Lord wherewith he would not only fill the Land of Israel Operatus est salutem in medio terrae but the whole earth Numb 14.21 All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord Esay 6.3 The whole earth is full of his glory so Psal 72.19 Object we see so great iniquity and injustice in the earth that it seems impossible that judgment and justice should ever be executed in it to those who in good earnest reason thus we answer as our Saviour said of the Sadduces Mat. 22.29 they err not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God 1. Not the Scripture which every where testifieth of such a Kingdom of Christ to come see Esay 9.7 and 11.4 Jer. 33.15 Mich. 4.3 2. Nor the power of God or Christ who hath all power in Heaven and in Earth Mat. 28. But the truth is we are disobedient and so unbelieving that any such thing shall ever come to pass in us and because our works are evil therefore we love darkness more than light Joh. 5.9 pleasures more than God And truly Beloved because the Prince of the air hath power in us by reason of our disobedience Eph. 2.2 it 's very observable that men are more apt to ascribe power to the Devil than to Christ himself The Devil can exercise all false judgment and unrighteousness and that in the earth too but Christ cannot this is unbelief Christ finds no faith among us and therefore he cannot work any great thing or works among us Mat. 13.5 He who can hope for such times as these he is accounted little better than a mad man yet such a Golden Age must come or else which is no less than blasphemy we must accuse the Scripture it self the Word of Truth of falshood Unless we should put off this Kingdom of Christ in Judgment and Righteousness till we have put off the Body when Eccles 9.10 there is neither work nor device nor knowledge or wisdom in the grave whither thou goest Thou art an Adulteress when thou art importuned by thy sin thou usest but half thy strength 2. Observe wherein consists the power and government of Jesus Christ He sets up Judgment and Justice in the earth this is his way Gen. 18. an unknown way the Psalmist prayes for the knowledge of it Psal 67. God be merciful unto us c. That thy way may be known this Judgment and Justice he executes now among all his Subjects for now is the judgment of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Joh. 12.31 Now all those who are Subjects to him he judgeth and condemns all sin for sin Rom. 8. and justifieth for just what ever is righteous ye find a description of Christ's Kingdom to this purpose Esay 32.1 A King shall reign in Righteousness and Princes shall rule in judgment and then what shall his judgment be v. 5. The
the evil that it is good and say of good that it is evil who put darkness for light and light for darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter and do we not find the same false judgement and justice among us What 's more ordinary then to say of evil that 't is good and of good that 't is evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it 's a common fallacy wherewith wise men suffer themselves to be befooled when we call things evil by good names As Jehu exceeding his Commission which was to cut off Ahabs house he invites Jehonadab to go with him 2 King 10.16 Come with me saith he and see my zeal for the Lord he was exceedingly zealous with a bloody zeal against more than he had Authority to destroy yet mean time allowed himself in Jeroboam's idolatry v. 31. as many now-a-dayes are extreme rigorous and zelotical against the sins of others yet as extreme indulgent toward themselves and allow themselves in debaucht and sinful courses Most terrible is the judgment of God against such unrighteous judgment Rom. 2.1 2 3. And therefore though Jehu had a good cause God's warrant yet whereas he judged others yet did the same things the Lord denounceth the like judgment against Jehu's house that he had against Ahab's by Jehu Hos 1.4 A just ground of reproof of those who set up a judgment and righteousness of their own as did the Pharisees of old Rom. 10.3 They went about to establish their own righteousness This is the Religion of every several Sect as Mirandula speaks of Sects of Philosophy magnum est aliquid in omni Secta Some propound unto themselves a bravery of Religion outward pomp and ostentation of Ceremonies and if that can be obtained and the Pope acknowledged the Infallible Judge of it they have their Judgment and Righteousness that they care for Others think Christ's Judgment and Righteousness erected if they have no Ceremonies at all Others would have somewhat they have not but what I know not nor I am perswaded do they themselves but if they had not something they have and had some new thing instead of it then they were in their Kingdom but all this while Christ is not in his for while every man strives to set up his own way his own justice and judgment God's way and Christ's way of judgment and justice must be trodden under foot Put away lying thus saith the Lord Keep ye judgment or equity and do justice Esay 56.1 He hath shewn thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God Mich. 6.8 Zach. 8.16 These are the things that ye shall do speak ye every man truth to his neighbour execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates and let none of ye imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour and love no false oath Are these the things that we should do Alas these are poor things Without these no salvation Esay 56.1 This was the old way of the Lord wherein our Father Abraham the Father of the Faithful walked and taught his Children Gen. 18.19 and teacheth us if we be his Children to walk in it If any man have found a shorter cut than this to salvation let him have it but I wish he be not believed upon his own bare word but that he shew plain Scripture for what he saith this is the true knowledge see Jer. 22.15 This reproves those who sit in place of Judicature and judge unrighteous judgment who turn judgment into gall Amos 6.12 what a fearful aggravation is that of the Apostle Act. 23.3 Sittest thou to judge me according to the Law and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the Law God shall smite thee unto such Jer. 21.12 Execute judgment in the morning and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor lest my fury go forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings Potentes potentèr tormenta patientur Mighty men that are wicked shall be mightily tormented for if he shall have judgment without mercy that shewed no mercy what judgment shall he have who shewed no justice Mercy it self in some cases must not be shewn Exod. 23.3 Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause but Justice is alwayes to be done that which is altogether just shalt thou follow Deut. 16.20 what a fearful judgment then must they expect who neither do judgment nor justice Consol To the people of God Christ executes judgment and justice in them He hath set up his Throne in them and in them he condemns 〈◊〉 for sin and justifies the righteous for righteous Hence is that security observable among the Subjects of Christ 1 Cor. 4.3 4. It 's a very small thing for me to be judged by you or of mans judgment He who judgeth me is the Lord Who art thou that judgest another we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ when every man must be judged according to what he hath done in the flesh whether it be good or evil Exhort To yield unto the Government of the King Christ let him execute judgment and justice in us Prov. 21.3 There is much debate about an outward form of Government in the Church of Christ and some one seems to some more glorious than another yet surely the very best which most men aim at and desire and endeavour with the hazzard of many thousand souls their very great Diana they stir for yea what ever that outward form is which God himself hath appointed in his word for certainly he hath not left his Church without Government if men knew what it were yet even that form in respect of this inward Regiment and Government of Christ in the soul it 's but like a dead carcass without the soul but like an empty shell without a kernel yet extreme contention is for that outward for the inward little or none at all as our lives speak it plain enough Sign Habits are discern'd by affections which follow the actions Ethic. 2. as if water were forced upwards its contrary to the natural course of it but it flows downward with delight Amos 5.24 Prov. 21.15 Gods judgment is without respect of persons Esay 24.2 Every man doth what is good in his own eyes and therefore there is no King in our Israel Where Christ's Government is it is an easie matter to discern mitto te tibi where he executes judgment and justice He reproves the world by his spirit of their sins because they believe not in him who takes away the sins of the world also of righteousness false and pharisaical righteousness Mat. 5.16 and judgment false judgment which proceeded from the Prince of this world whom he judgeth and casts out Hence it was that the Scribes and Pharisees most of all opposed Christ in his Government with their false judgment and
Tertul. Men may know these things how else can they judge of them yet not be guilty of them as it 's said of Câ—to Intravit in floralia ut tacet I know well that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adultery and Fornication differ and are distinguished Mat. 15.19 Heb. 13.4 Whoremongers and Adulterers God shall judge yet withal its clear that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fornication is but for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 5.32 Except it be for Fornication i. e. Adultery Obser 8. Note hence that not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adultery but even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Fornication is reckoned among the sins which are forbidden by the Eternal Law of God I know well that the Learned Jews herein differ much among themselves some would have that Commandment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not commit Adultery to be understood only of persons married but others with better reason in the same Commandment understood Fornication also yea all manner of uncleanness to be forbidden though it cannot be denied but many of the Jews and Gentiles also have straitned the Commandment of God and understood it only of Adultery That their lusts might the more be enlarged and widened when they would not understand Fornication to be forbidden by the Everlasting Law of God This is the reason why Fornication is put among the Canons of the first Council Act. 15. And St. Paul reckons it in the Catalogue of those sins which exclude men from the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. Gal. 5.19 Repreh Those who make light of Adultery and Fornication and esteem them as tricks of youth and say their Age will need them are not these they who make a mock of sin Do they not consider that they are forbidden by the great God and must they be so lightly accounted of as tricks of youth One such trick of youth cost all the Sechemites their lives Gen. 34.25 26. And it is very rare that such wasting sins committed in youth are reformed in old Age Vitium primae concoctionis non corrigitur in secunda for have ye not observed the grey head who goes on still in his wickedness though strength of Nature be decayed yet the old Adulterer and Fornicator hath as adulterous an heart as the very worst therefore they easily connive at those sins in their Children Non est scelus in adolescente scortari c. Ego feci ibidem isthaec in adolescentia saith that old Lecher in the Comedy and what they cannot act they will talk as savourly and with as great delight as they could then they commonly shut up all they hope God hath forgiven them Whence comes this smoke but from the fire of Concupiscence which even yet burns in their hearts whence this foam but from the sea of wickedness yet working in them and foaming out their own shame And shall we think that therefore the Lord hath pardoned these old Adulterers and Whores because they say they hope so Then sin is pardoned when it is forsaken and left and not till then Will God punish this sin in a young man when strength of Nature seems to make Apologie for him and will he not much more punish this sin in an old man in whom Nature is decayed if he yet retain his fire and his flame vigorously in his snuff though now going out with a stink No doubt but the judgment of such is much greater if the Apostle reasons right Rom. 1. and the last Mysticé Obser 1. There is a Spiritual Marriage between Christ and the Believing Soul whereof the Lord speaks Hos 2.19 I will betroth thee unto me for ever c. Zach. 8.8 Obser 2. The Lord gives himself to the obedient Humanity See Notes on Mat. 25. And the Virgin-Church is united to the Deity the Virgin Church goeth forth to meet the Bridegroom Vulg. L. Syri the Bridegroom and the Bride See Notes as above Obser 3. The Lord makes Covenant and Contract of Marriage with his Church I am the Lord thy God I am thine thou shalt have no other God but me thou art mine for so the Lord speaks to all his People as to one Spouse See Notes on Exod. 20.21 22. Obser 4. There is a Spiritual Adultery the breach of Wedlock between the Lord and the Soul even such between the Lord and the Soul joyned unto him by Covenant as is between the Husband and the Wife Jer. 3.20 Surely as a wise treacherously departeth from her husband so have you dealt treacherously with me O house of Israel saith the Lord. Obser 5. As Vnio is the cause of all good so Binio is the cause omnis mali of all evil of this breach the Lord often complains Ezech. 16.7 I am broken with their whorish heart which hath departed from me chap. 16. Exhort To the Lord's precept he saith not I counsel I advise thee not to commit Adultery or Fornication the Precept is absolute proceeding from the absolute Commandment of the most high God Thou shalt not commit Adultery or Fornication The Motives might be many 1. From consideration of the sin it self it 's a bruitish sin 2. It unmans the man takes away his heart and understanding Hos 4.11 it makes him a very fool The Harlot is called the foolish woman Prov. 9.13 and young man void of understanding taken by her fair speech he goes after her stait-way as an Oxe goeth to the slaughter and as a fool to the correction of the stocks Prov. 7.22 Therefore the Natural Philosophers observe that every Beast and Fowl the more lustful it is the more foolish as the Sparrow as the Ass Ezech. 23.20 And therefore Sechem Gen. 34.2 who ravished Dinah the Daughter of Jacob he is said to be the Son of Hemor i. e. an Ass vers 7. He is said to have wrought folly in Israel and the woman that played the harlot is said to have wrought folly in Israel Deut. 22.21 The man speaks to the men of Gibeah who forced the Levites Concubine Do not saith he this folly Jud. 19.23 and so again cap. 20.6 10. folly in Israel Thus Thamar saith to her Brother Amon 2 Sam. 12.13 No such thing ought to be done in Israel do not this folly and vers 13. Thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel Obj. But folly seems to be pitied Sol. This folly is Wickedness as the same word signifieth both Josh 7.15 Margin And the man in Gibeah said first do not so wickedly Judg. 19.23 do not this folly this folly is wickedness yea a great wickedness Gen. 39.8 9. As all words sound the abomination of this sin so the last the greatest as in the thunder crack the last is commonly the most horrible and fluctus Decumanus is observed to be the greatest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And as it is a great wickedness so it hath a proportionable punishment If my heart hath been deceived by a woman
sense imagination and understanding according to none of which a man is said to be morally good or bad but according to the will and charity the best habit of it so that it cannot be denied but that the sense fancy and understanding of flesh and blood may ken and pry far and reveal much of Divine Truth yea see farther than some others who are spiritually minded Thus John 11.50 Caiphas saw it was necessary that Christ should dye which Mat. 16.22 St. Peter saw not Yet are these said not to know them nor reveal them because neither extensively according to the latitude of the object nor intensively according to the due and through perfection of the act 1. Not extensively because there is yet a veil and covering upon the object which they see So that albeit they see far into Divine matters yet not unto the end of the things they see saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.13 Col. 2.18 Their sight is bounded with a shadow so that seeing they see not somewhat they see that is true yet they see not the utmost truth of what they see for who more skilful in the Letter of Moses's Law than the Scribes and Pharisees yet they believed not in Moses's Law saith our Saviour and proves it because they believed not in him who is the end of the Law saith the Apostle understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm 1. Tim. 1.7 2. And as they fail in extent of the object so in the intensiveness of the act for there must be not only Vrim but Thummim also in the breast-plate not illumination only but integrity of life also in him who reveals Divine Truth and therefore knowledge in the Scripture notion is then thorow and perfect when it is terminated upon the heart and Revelation is then thorow and perfect when it proceeds from the heart according to that true Rule That the heart is the term of all actions from without and the fountain of all actions from within whether they be words or deeds Thus the true Knowledge and Wisdom which is the ground of Revelation is affective and experimental and effective whence it is that Knowledge and Wisdom and their contraries are ascribed unto the heart the seat of the affections The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and men are said to be wise hearted or contrarily to have their foolish heart darkned and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh According to this notion of Knowledge the Lord Jer. 22.16 speaks to Jehojachim Did not thy Father do judgment and justice and judge the cause of the poor and needy and then it was well with him And was not this to know me saith the Lord Such is not the Knowledge and Revelation of flesh and blood it 's not affective not experimental they have no part of what they know but as Cooks they dress meat for others palates or rather but as leaden pipes they convey or derive the water of Life through them to others but drink not of it So Posts and Carriers convey mysteries of State but are not privy to them Hence it is that though the Scribes were the most learned of the Jews yet when they rejected and disobeyed the word of the Lord and would not be taught to the Kingdom of God The pe◠of the Scribes was vain and there was no wisdom in them saith the Prophet Jeremiah ch 8 9. yea though what they said was true yet as they said it it was false not true for though they say the Lord liveth they swear falsly saith the same Prophet Chap. 5.1 2. and therefore our Saviour silenced the Devil when he revealed him And the reason is He that names the Lord Jesus Christ must depart from iniquity for no man can say That Jesus is the Lord but from the Holy Ghost Thus did St. John That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of Life That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Seeing therefore the Revelations of flesh and blood extend not unto the true end nor proceed from the true beginning they are in Gods account as null Obser 1. This shews the reason why there are so few true Disciples of Christ Confer Notes in Mark 4.11 Obser 2. See the vain and fruitless labour of flesh and blood See Notes ut ante Mark 4.11 Repreh But O the boldness and presumption of flesh and blood how impudently dare many proud and foolish men who know nothing but dote about questions and strifes of words yet how impudently dare they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adventure to intrude into the things they have not seen vainly puft up by their fleshly mind yea out of the corrupt principles of carnal wisdom or a conceit of deep knowledge of the Scriptures either their own or hear-sayes and taken upon trust from others they presume to judge of spiritual things and out of darkness to declare the light and pronounce definitively of Gods truth which they mean time hold captive in iniquity Thus man would be wise though Adam be born like the wild Asses Colt Joh. 11.12 But happy were it for them and for the Church of God if their presumptuous folly proceeded no further but their prophane bablings encrease to more ungodliness and their word eats like a Gangrene and spreads it self to the perversion of unstable souls for whereas the Gospel of Christ is a Gospel of peace and unto Shilo the people ought to be gathered according to which St. Paul adjures the Thessalonians by our gathering together unto Christ 2 Thes 2.1 The partial wisdom of flesh and blood scatters and divides all into Sects and Schisms all differing among themselves and from the Truth which yet the Leaders of every Sect undertake to reveal to men every one adorning and admiring the Fathers of their several Factions as the Samaritanes honoured Simon Magus for the great Power of God because for a long time he had bewitched them with Sorceries And because they know that Christ is not divided every Sect monopolizeth and appropriates Christ intirely to it self Whence are those seditious voices Here is Christ and there is Christ He is in the desart say some nay say others He is in the secret Chamber nay others of late say He hath forsaken the known world Luk. 17.21 And according to Daniel's Prophesie of our times Dan. 12.4 Many run to and fro and knowledge is much encreased And every Sect must be the True Church and therefore every Sect to other must be a false Church and therefore every one is embittered against every one hateful one to other and hating one another and hence come wars and fightings among us Well therefore might the Wise Man say Quid nequius quam quod excogitavit caro sanguis There is nothing more wicked than what flesh and blood hath devised Beloved there
right hand without drinking of Christ's Cup without conformity unto his death whereas the true Predestination is to be made conformable to the Image of the Son of God Rom. 8.29 2. Observe hence the unavoidable necessity which lies upon all the Disciples of Christ which would be saved by him and sit at his right hand and his left in his Kingdom that they drink of his Cup. The Lord Jesus is the Author of Eternal Salvation but to those that obey him Heb. 5.9 And he is able to save to the uttermost but those who are able to drink of his Cup and be baptized with his baptism to those who come unto God by him Heb. 7.25 And there is no other name by which we can be saved Act. 4.12 Nor is there any other way but that living way Heb. 10.20 All Power and Authority in Heaven and Earth is given to him yet hath he no Authority no Power to give the Honours and Dignities of his Kingdom to any other than those who drink of his Cup and are baptized with his baptism The necessity of drinking this Cup Nonne haec oportuit Christum pati atque ità intrare in regnum suum Would God they who are too often in other Cups would seriously and sadly think of this Poculum Salutare this Cup of Salvation that they who strive for an outward baptism would as much or more endeavour after this Alas do they not know that whilst we are sinners Christ dies Rom. 5. Do we not know that the wisdom of God is crucified by our foolishness our errours our lies that the life of God is slain by our deadly sin That the Patience Goodness Mercy Love of God c. all which is Christs suffers from our iniquities Esay 53.4 5. So Arius Montanus and Tremellius Repreh Those who refuse to taste of Christs Cup to be conformable unto his death in dying to sin such as refuse to be baptized into his death This no doubt is the reason even because we refuse to suffer the death of the sin and drink of the Cup of Christs sufferings that the Lord hath given and is yet giving to all Nations the Cup of his fury to drink Thus ye read Jer. 25.15 where the Lord threatens his Judgments unto his own People and all the Nations round about for their disobedience unto the Law and Prophets That they turned not from their evil wayes and the evil of their doings which he signifieth under the metaphor of a Cup vers 15. This disobedience hath brought the Sword among us this continues it yet with us This Judgment Esay 66.14 15 16. applyes to the Nations under these Times of the Gospel as also Zach. 13.7 8 9. the same is the reason of all other Judgments of God as the manifold diseases among us Many of us have often professed to shew forth the Lords death by dying to sin and so have taken the Cup of Salvation and have called upon the Name of the Lord yet have we continued in our sins And therefore the Lord hath caused many to taste the Cup of his Judgment Thus he tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11. Therefore many are sick and weakly among you and many are fallen asleep i. e. die the death even because they have not died unto sin And to what other reason may we refer the present Judgment of God upon us even this immoderate and unseasonable drought what else may be the cause of this but because we refuse to be obedient unto the Law and Prophets we refuse to drink the Cup of Christs passion we refuse to be baptized into his death Say I this or saith not the Scriprure the very same The Astrologers refer our present drought unto the late Eclipse and it cannot be denied but that hath been Gods Instrument in second Causes whereby he hath brought this evil upon us as the like hath been observed in manifold other Eclipses of the Sun in former times But what is that that hath provoked the Lord to send this Cup of his fury unto us to Eclipse the light and beams of his countenance towards us What hath moved the Lord to stop the bottles of Heaven Job 38.37 that he hath not in their season emptied them upon the Earth Jer. 9.12 And doth not the Prophet Zachary refer the same Judgment unto the same cause under these times of the Gospel Zach. 14.16 17. What is it to come up to keep the feast of Tabernacles It cannot be meant literally for that among the rest of the Ceremonies is ceased What then is signified by a Tabernacle or Tent what else but our humane flesh and body 2 Cor. 5.1 4. 2 Pet. 1.13 14. To keep the Feast of Tabernacles then what is it but to have our Tabernacle our dwelling our house with Christ Joh. 1.14 The word was made flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and dwelt in us They therefore who refuse to suffer with Christ in the flesh to imitate his death to drink the Cup of his Passion and Suffering with him They shall have no rain of Blessing no rain of Gods Living Word which is compared to rain Deut. 32. Heb. 6.7 no outward rain for as that is one of Gods blessings upon the obedient Deut. 28.12 So is the want of it a Curse upon the disobedient vers 23 24. and for the sin of his People he shuts up Heaven 1 King 8.35 3. They say unto him we are able How able they were appeared soon after when being in company with our Lord when he was now to drink of his Cup they all forsook him and fled What boldness was this what presumption and confidence of their own strength But their confidence and presumption so much the more condemns the despair and unbelief of many of us James and John were yet Carnal they had not received the Spirit of God they knew Christ only according to the flesh As for many of us we perswade our selves that we are Spiritual and know Christ according to the Spirit and believe in his Mighty Power yet when the Cup comes to us when it 's offered to us to drink of it we cannot away with it we have no power no strength at all to drink of it while we are not yet tryed while the Cup is not yet come to us O how valiant we are the Elect the Chosen of God i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chosen men and Mighty men of valour But when now temptation comes either from the world hope of gain or fear of loss or desire of honour and reputation or from our own flesh or from the Devil what ever the temptation is what arrant cowards we are we lye down like great Lubbars and let Satan buffet us Repreh How justly doth this reprove the present Generation of men who look at Christs drinking the Cup of his Passion and Baptism as suffering his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his fore-suffering and his principal passion from the Jews and
gross ignorance or pride or the child of both unthankfulness But he that knoweth not the Psalmist will tell him That the Lord hath made us and not we our selves And the Apostle That God hath made of one blood all Nations of Men that in him we live move and have our being and that an excellent Being Whether we consider 1. Those endowments of Wisdom Power and Virtue whereby we are inabled to know and love the Author of our Being Or 2. The Prerogative and Dominion over the works of Gods hands Thus loving the Lord is to every man and thus the Lord our God prevents every man with an argument to love him again by Creating him and Creating him such and giving him such unto himself and that the rather because he perpetuates this our Creation and as it were Creates us anew every moment by his continual preservation of us As the Sun every moment sends forth as much light into the air as it doth the first moment when it riseth So that Beloved every one of us owes as much love unto the Lord our God for every moment of his life as if every moment of his life he were anew Created which may be made evident almost unto sense if we consider the manifold wayes whereby the Lord our God preserves us which summarily may be reduced to two heads 1. Removing of evil and so God is properly called a Saviour a Deliverer c. and 2. by conferring of good and so he is stiled a Father a Shepherd a King c. These are funiculi Adami Hos 11. the bonds and cords of love wherewith the Lord our God draws every Son of Adam to a reciprocal affection and answerable love of himself For thus loving the Lord our God is unto every man and even Nature it self teacheth every man this reciprocal affection insomuch that the Heathen of old time loved and adored the Sun and Moon for giving them light Juno or the air for their breathing Ceres for their bread Bacchus for their wine Osiris and Isis for their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Diodorus Siculus and lest they should not love the Author of their preservation they made a Deity for almost every particular good thing they enjoyed and for every particular evil they avoided whence came that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the plurality of Godlings into the world A bad effect of a good cause they loved the Author of their preservation And shall not we who know him better than they did David gives us an example of love for the former kind of preservation in himself I will love thee O Lord my God The Lord is my stony Rock and my Defence my Deliverer c. Psal 18.1 2. St. Paul of the latter God doth us good Giving us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons feeding our hearts with food and gladness Act. 14.17 and 17.25 He gives to all life and breath and all things that they might seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him So that had we but a meer Natural Estate and a life that is but a vapour given us and preserved unless we be more unthankful than the Gentiles were we must love the Lord our God our Creator our Preserver Nay every unbeliever is inexcusable if he love not the Lord his God with all his heart with all his soul and with all his mind even for these reasons since even the reliques of Natural Justice dictate thus much unto every man that he ought to love him with all he hath of whom he hath received and to whom he oweth all â—tâ— hath and therefore that we ought to love the Lord our God with all our heart who is the God of our heart Psal 73. That we ought to love him with all our soul and mind whose all souls and minds are Ezech. 18. That we ought to love him with all our strength who is the God of our strength Psal 27. But such is our unthankfulness we either altogether neglect or at lest divide common Obligations 'T is true indeed God preserves both man and beast herein they agree in respect of meer Natural Estate let us consider him in a state above meer Nature God is pleased to condescend to enter a Covenant of Crace to be his God in comparison of which he is said not at all to care for the beasts 1 Cor. 9. But we have unthankfully and unfaithfully broken the Covenant of our God so that he might most justly hate us who hated him first yet see the riches of Gods goodness even when we were enemies God the Father so loved the sinful world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoso believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And greater love than this hath no man saith the Son than that a man should lay down his life for his friends Joh. 15. for whereas scarcely for a Righteous man will one die yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.7 8. And the Father and Son send the holy Spirit to teach us all things to lead us into all Truth to excite and stir up the love of the Lord our God in our hearts Thus the Father the Son and the holy Spirit loves us thus God loves us with his whole self and as I may so say with all his heart with all his soul and with all his mind How reasonable and just a thing it is and yet what a great matter is it if dust and ashes by way of requital to the great God for his exceeding great undeserved love love him again with all his heart with all his soul and with all his strength with his whole self for what could God do more for us to merit our love and what can we do less for him than to love him again his merit callengeth no less no nor our duty more I told ye before of Gods condescension to Covenant with us and this is the condition of the Covenant yea all the Duty of Man unto his God for what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Deut. 10.12 And howsoever as in this place so elsewhere many other duties are enjoyned yet this Love of all the rest is the most excellent I shew unto you a more excellent way saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 12. ult Not only 1. Because it is more lasting and durable than all the rest and therefore preferred before Prophesies Tongues Knowledge yea before Faith and Hope also 1 Cor. 13. ult But also 2. Because the best and greatest duties otherwise performed towards men as to bestow all our goods to feed the poor or towards God as to yield our bodies to be burned they are not only not
and Evil Teachers since he enjoyns the dictates and doctrines even of the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites to be observed and done and what greater observance and obedience can be given to the doctrine of the best Teachers I Answer Our Lord Jesus commands not the Scribes and Pharisees to teach the Law or to sit in Moses's Chair the Lord commands the Multitude and the Disciples to observe and do what they bid them observe For There is a great difference between those whom our Lord authorizeth to teach and those who set up themselves for Teachers those who are authorized by our Lord to teach are chosen Vessels such are the Scribes taught to the Kingdom of God who are taught by God what they teach the people But to the wicked saith God why dost thou teach my Law or take my Covenant within thy mouth Psal 50. The Lord expostulates with wicked Teachers for usurping the Chair of Moses and teaching the Law which he did not authorize them to do They whom the Lord sends to Teach He himself furnisheth and prevents with Grace as the Word of God is said to come to the Prophets Joh. 10.35 which is the Day-star 2 Pet. 1.19 which false Teachers want and for that they speak not according to the Word because no Morning-light is in them Esay 8.20 2. They whom the Lord sends to teach they seek not their own Honour but the Honour of him that sends them Joh. 7.18 Doubt 2. The Lord Jesus seems to make do difference between his own Disciples and the Multitude He commands both to hear and obey the Doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees The Law of God is a common Lesson to be learned by all good and bad those within and those without the Church as well the Multitude as the Disciples But is there no difference Yes no doubt Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis and therefore according to the different dispositions of the Multitudes and of the Disciples they learn different Lessons and in a different manner The Multitude have a veil upon their heart in the reading of Moses so that they are capable only of parables and literal understanding of the Word as the Scribes and Pharisees taught The Disciples heart is turned unto the Lord and the veil is taken away 2. The Multitude are under the Law and the compulsion of the Law and are brought to obedience by the terrours and threatnings of the Law Oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae Evil men hate to offend for fear of punishment 2. The Disciples are not under the Law but under Grace They willingly obey the Righteousness of the Law without any compulsion at all Justo non est Lex posita the Law is not made for the Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore Good men hate to offend for the love of Virtue Observ The Lord will have his Law learned as well by his own Disciples as by the Multitude Obj. The Disciples of Christ believe in the Lord Jesus Christ We are in such a Babel like that Gen. 11. that we understand not one anothers speech What mean we here by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ Mark what belief the Apostle propounds to us in himself Phil. 3.9 10 11. That I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ c. Mark what belief he exhorts the Colossians unto read Col. 2 6-12 Faith in the operative power of God Rom. 6.8 Faith and Obedience are all one See the Notes on Esay 3.10 Exhort I have already exhorted those who sit in Moses's Chair to do the work of Moses But we are now exhorted to yield to the attraction and drawing of Moses See Notes on Gen. 1.28 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW XXIII 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and annise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone PAying Tythes was never yet any Argument of my Discourse in this or any other place although perhaps in regard of some I have as just cause to complain as another man But if I had a purpose to speak of that Subject this place of Scripture gives no countenance to it but ranks paying of Tythes among minora Legis the less things of the Law though our Lord saith that those things ought not to be left undone These words contain a denunciation of a wo to the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for a breach of their duty Wo c. And 2. A direction of them for the due and orderly performance of their duty These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Their breach of Duty consists 1. In Commission an intense performance of smaller Duties ye tythe mint c. 2. In Omission a remisness and neglect of greater Duties ye have omitted the weightier things of the law 1. An exactness and overdoing of the less Commandments ye tythe mint c. 2. An underdoing or rather a not doing of the greater Duties ye have omitted the weightier matters In the words we have these three Axioms 1. The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites paid Tythe of Mint Anise and Cummin 2. They omitted the weighter things of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith 3. Our Lord for these sins denounceth a wo to the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites 1. The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites paid Tythe of Mint Anise and Cummin The word we render Anise is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth not signifie Anise but Dill which in the V. Latin is rendred Anethum as the High and Low Dutch have Dylle which is quite another herb different in kind from Anise which in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latin Anisum yet herein all our printed English Translations are out which our last Translators have followed That which seems to have misled them was the old English word Anet which signifieth the same which we call Dill and is in the French Bible and in our English Manuscript The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites tythed Mint and Dill and Cummin Who were these Scribes Who else but the great learned men in the Letter of the Law Learned they were for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Scribe and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Teacher were all one Their Learning was altogether in the Letter of the Scripture and therefore they are called in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Low Dutch fitly turns the word Scriftgeleerden Learned in the Letter This Learning of the Scribes was in the Letter of the Law and therefore they are called sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lawyers sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Teachers of the Law Such as these are all Teachers of the Letter only whether of Law or Gospel The
Lord was crucified Rev. 11.8 But all men have not the true Faith for our Lord foretels that when he cometh He shall not find Faith upon the Earth from whence we may note that all professors of the Faith in all Ages have been and are an enlightened people and lights to the rest of the world especially the Saints of these latter dayes in whom the true light shines The Use hence is for reproof of those who would seem to go forth to meet the Bridegroom yet indeed stay at home In discovery of this will appear the grand imposture of the false Christianity for what is that which in the Christian world is commonly reputed the going out of our selves but this that we look into our selves and see there a world of errours a mass of corruption a sink of sin c. and then go out of our selves to Jesus Christ who hath made satisfaction and expiation for the sin why what fault find you with this Alas when we have seen this mass of corruption we are content that it continue there still yea we commonly believe that it must be there still and therefore we so go forth to meet the Bridegroom believe in him and take him home to us for the covering of our sin like a Strumpet that marries an Husband for the covering of her Adultery with other men 3. They took the Lamps the reason of this is from the usual Ceremony which was wont to be performed in the night by torch-light so that our Lord abstains not from making use of Customes usually taken up in the world for the illustration of his Truth where we may note a necessity of humane learning for discovery of ancient customes among the Heathen used and supposed as known in the world many whereof we find in Scripture which cannot otherwise outwardly be known than out of Humane Authors Moses was well learned Act. 7. divers points of the Civil Laws as also the Greek Poets full of many good Examples as well as Documents require good learning St. Paul's Epistles to say no more of the necessity of Tongues herein as well as in Arts. Mysticé Then they took the Lamp what is the Lamp but the Divine Doctrine of the Law and Gospel Psal 119.105 Prov. 6.23 John Baptist a Light Joh. 5.35 What is it to take these Lamps but to believe the Divine Doctrine Joh. 1.12 13. so Joh. 12.36 the Virgins take their Lamps they believe the whole Word all the People of God at least in profession believe the Law and Gospel to be Divine Doctrine and the Word of God Thus have they their particular Faith and with these Lamps they go forth But what reason can be given for the distribution of the Text of those who profess Christianity that five are wise and five of them foolish It 's a short cut to referr the difference to the influence of the Stars at mens Nativity or to fatal destiny which is the common refuge of ignorance But we are not here to enquire concerning the cause why some are Natural Ideots others have Natural Sagacity but we are here to search into the reason of this prudence and imprudence the cause of this practical wisdom and the want of it why some are provident and so wise others improvident and so foolish much might be said concerning this it shall be sufficient to refer this difference unto the true or false judgement of men their partial or impartial election and choice according to their true or false judgement As when an unerring Rule is set before all men even the Holy Word of God according to which they may judge Righteous Judgement and choose what is good some do so others become judges of evil thoughts and choose those things which the Lord delights not in Now that the Lord inclines no man to folly or is the cause of it is apparent by that of the Wise Man Ecclus. 15.11 Say not thou it is through the Lord that I fell away for thou oughtest not to do the things that he hateth so vers 17. Before man is life and death and whether him liketh shall be given him so Deut. 30.15 See I have set before thee this day life and good death and evil c. also Mich. 6.8 He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to humble thy self to walk with thy God So that they who are wise are such by the grace of God and they who are foolish they become such by their own perverse judgment and their own partial election NOTES and OBSERVATIONS on MAT. 25.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Five of them were wise and five of them foolish THe Order is inverted in the Vul. Lat. What wisdom what folly is here meant How are we here to understand the wise how foolish There are five intellectual Virtues which we may reduce unto this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which in the Language of the School are Art Science Wisdom Intelligence and Prudence I shall not spend time in distinguishing these the last of these is here meant when we say That five of these Virgins were wise the word here used is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies not properly wise but rather prudent and so indeed it ought to have been rendered as the Latin hath here Prudentes for wisdom is properly about the highest causes and reasons of things whereof it judges and enables us to judge Prudence is busied about the expedients and means conducing to the end Wisdom is conversant about the highest objects as the Kingdom of God and Christ the Bridegroom of the Church Prudence is busied about Faith Knowledge Love and good works the Lamp and oyl in the lamp needful for admission into the Kingdom of God But here may arise a doubt what are there but five foolish Stultorum plena sunt omnia numerus est infinitus To which I answer The Lord Jesus speaks here only of such enlightened men and women 1. who had in good measure kept themselves unspotted from the world 2. Who had saved themselves from the untoward Generation 3. Who had gone forth to meet the Bridegroom 4. Who had made some good progress in the wayes of the Lord these the Lord Jesus calls fools because they wanted oyl in their Lamps c. Our Lord speaks not here of the unbelieving world but of the negligent and foolish professors of Christianity But still the question remains why there are five wise and five foolish 1. Why five wise Because that was the custom of the Romans Grecians and Jews as also 't is evident by this Parable that they had five Lamps lighted at their Nuptials this appears by the Problem of Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why saith he do they light five Lamps neither more nor fewer His reasons are not for our purpose But since five was the customary number of those who were to carry Lamps and to be
God loseth the light of his countenance falls into darkness unbelief perplexity and terrors of conscience inextricable darkness and doubtings torments the hell and condemnation and every wicked man is in this hell upon earth but that which makes him less sensible of it he is wheedled with pleasures and profits which take away the horrour and sense of it As the sound of Trumpets in Tophet dampt the din and noise of the Children burning in the fire 2. To cast into hell is to adjudge unto torment and separate from the presence of God according to the sentence and doom of the ungodly Depart from me ye wicked into everlasting fire Mat. 25. this Matth. 10.28 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to destroy body and soul in hell 3. He hath power to do this so Mat. 10. he can or is able to do it to destroy body and soul in hell He is Jehovah who can give being and cause also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as before Reason He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drusius Abundance of goodness an Autarchy He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the three principles of action 1. Knowledge 2. Will 3. Power Isa 31.3 Power includes abundance of 1. Authority 2. Strength Ecclus. 39. He is also able to destroy or cause utterly to perish Isa 13.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Howle ye for the day of the Lord is at hand it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty Observ 1. Observe the final estate of ungodly men Hell torments of hell everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels everlasting weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth This was figured by Shinar shaking gnashing of teeth the valley of wickedness Chaldea as the Devils Vr Chaldeorum the seat of Devils the dwelling of Nimrod i. e. the Great Rebel This Hell hath been questioned by many and denied by some in these late times which as they say of Africa semper aliquid monstri peperit hath brought forth alwayes one monstrous birth or other But this was most suitable for the Devils great design for whereas the nerves and sinews of Kingdoms and Common-weals were cut in sunder no praise no reward of Grace and Virtue no dispraise no punishment of sin and vice What hindred the Devils Kingdom from being set up and advanced but only the terrors of hell and pains of the damned after this life how serviceable then must they needs be to the Devils kingdom who taught and yet teach a necessity of sin and take away the punishment due unto it the hell of the damned and that contrary to so many testimonies throughout the Scripture Observ 2. Ungodly men are cast-aways such as God casts into hell such fruitless branches as draw no sap of Grace from the stock of Life Joh. 15.6 They who abide not in the Stock are fuel fit for the fire of hell The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the people that forget God Psal 9.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into hell it self Dreadful is the sentence of the Judge Matth. 25. discedite à me depart from me i. e. from righteousness peace joy all good and therefore into all unquietness anxiety trouble torment God is omne bonum what ever spiritual good and whatsoever hath being so he answers Moses Ego sum qui sum ostendam tibi omne bonum when he shews him himself whereas therefore some comfort might be conceived from hence that when the Lord bids them depart from him then there might be an end of torments for to depart from him should be as much as to cease to be But alas to be a cast-away is worse than not to be as our Saviour reasons concerning Judas It had been good for him that he never had been born Mat. 26.24 and as the supernatural being of God infinitely transcends all created beings of men and Angels and all that good exceeds infinitely all created good even so presentionally the non-entity the not being of the damned is a supernatural non-entity and the evil infinitely transcends and exceeds all created evil And as the Lord saith to the blessed ones Come ye blessed of my Father take possession of all good of the chief good so to the cursed Depart from me the chief good all good into the chief of evils even all evils 3. He hath power to cast into hell Salvation is of pure Grace Of his mercy he saved us it is of his mercy that we are not consumed even because his mercies fail not Thou art merciful for thou rewardest every man according to his works When he kills and casts into hell it is imputed to their sin The turning away or the ease of the simple slayes them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them Prov. 1.32.6.32 The adulterer destroyes his own soul 11.3 The wicked shall fall by his own wickedness 21.7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them but God himself is said to save us of his mercy he saves us he disswades us from perishing why will ye be smitten any more Why will ye dye O house of Israel Our God O ye friends of Jesus Christ he hath not made death or hell he hath from the beginning divided between the light and the darkness the life and the death good and evil heaven and hell and given us forewarning of them Deut. 30. Wisd 1. 4. After he hath killed he hath power to cast into hell Death is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end of all this is the Philosophers reason why death is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for saith he it is the end of all things Not so for after the Lord hath killed he hath power to cast into hell 5. The Lord hath greatest Sovereignty Imperium meum Deut. 32. I kill and make alive Isa 45.7 This is the difference between Gods Power and the power of all the petty Gods upon earth The Lord saith of them that they kill but by divine permission only and no otherwise He saith not they have power to kill Thou couldst do nothing except power were given thee from above posse nolle nobile est Repreh From the notion of Gehennah this point justly reproves our frowardness and untowardness unto all what the Lord commands us but our forwardness proves wilfulness in serving God our own way that we our selves make choice of What 's more dear to Parents than their Children yet even these they parted withall and burnt them in the fire to Moloch Ahaz burnt his Son in the fire 2 Chron. 28.3 Yea they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto Devils Psal 106.37 38. Jer. 7.31 This God commanded them not nor came it into my heart saith the Lord if he should command us that as to Abraham ought we not to do it as Naamans Servant reasoned with him how much more ought we when he commands us only to wash and be clean when he commands us to offâ—r up our bodies as a reasonable service unto him to mortifie our earthly members when
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one raised up above others and so the Metaphor is taken from the exhalations that are drawn up by the Sun and therefore they have the same name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 135.7 they have the same common cause God causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth and it is the Lord that raiseth the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill that he may set him with the Princes even the Princes of the people Psal 113.7 2. Their diligence and serviceableness For they are compared to clouds raised from above the earth and wherefore are they raised up is it not that they should descend in showers to water the earth and make it fruitful Psal 72.6 7. Isa 55.10 are they not therefore raised up that their word should drop down as the rain Deut. 32. that they might have an influence upon those below them in holy advise and counsel The Elders who obtained a good report Heb. 11. are called a cloud of witnesses Hebr. 12.1 they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. guides Marg. Hebr. 13.7 leaders in the wayes of God wherein they walk before them Observ 1. There are degrees of Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith our Lord there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a greater or greatest and there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 younger There is not a parity among the Disciples of Christ there is a greater or greatest and a younger a chief and a servant some in authority and others under authority Judge in your selves what an absurd thing would it be and unworthy especially of a Ruler that he should lift up himself above others out of an opinion of himself as if he had in him the water of life as if he had received the heavenly gift i. e. Christ Joh. 4.7 as if he were full of the Holy Ghost If he should prove but an empty vapour if he should boast himself of a false gift and be like clouds and wind without rain Prov. 25.14 The Apostle discovered such in his time whom he describes Jud. vers 12. clouds they are lifted up above others and making a great shew as if they had some thing in them whereas they are empty clouds without water they seemed to be led by the spirit and they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carried about with winds The Apostle Ephes 4.14 They would seem to be Elders but they are indeed but Children as perhaps ye have seen a child act the part of an old man but children weak children so weak that they are tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine Exhort To such as shall be chosen and ordained Rulers Have they made thee a Ruler Ecclus. 32.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rectorem te posuerunt Lift not up thy self but be among them as one of the rest The metaphor is taken from the office of him who was called Modiperator Convivii Macrob. lib. 1. chap. 1. Saturnal otherwise called Rex convivii arbiter bibendi Horat. he whom ye read called the Master of the Feast Joh. 2. an officer that were to be wished were among us to moderate excessive eating and drinking Have they made thee a Ruler be thou as one of them Julius Caesar was so fortunate in all his enterprizes and obtained so many victories by adjoyning himself to his Soldiers as one of them in all dangers hunger thirst and as Lucan saith of Cato Nullo discrimine notum Dux an Miles erat 1 Cor. 12. where the Apostle reckons up the divers Officers in the Church vers 28. he calls the Church one body vers 20. and ordains that the members should have the same care one for another vers 25 26. The greater thou art the more humble thy self so have the greatest Governours they are not for themselves but for those whom they rule See Notes on Jer. 23.5 See Notes also on Jude v. 1. when thou art to judge of others look to thy self to thine own standing 1 Cor. 10.12 Gal. 6.1 Exhort 1. Seek out such among us Exhort 2. Let us honour such 1 Thess 5.12 13. I beseech ye brethren know them that labour among you Exhort 3. Unto all to become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to grow up into Christ unto the perfect age Ephes 4. This is honourable old age Wisd 4. There is inbred in us an ambition toward something or other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O that the highest of our ambition were who of us should be more loving and kind one to another more humble and lowly one towards another Rom. 12.10 to be kindly affectioned one towards another in honour preferring one another to serve one another in love Gal. 5.13 to submit our selves one to another in the fear of God Ephes 5.21 Phil. 4.8 Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest think on these things and 2 Cor. 13.11 In a word be perfect be of good comfort be of one mind live in peace and the God of Love and Peace shall be with you Observ 2. See the vast difference between Christ's Kingdom and the kingdom of the Gentiles they differ in their Sovereigns Kingdom Themselves and administrations of their Kingdoms 1. The Sovereign of the one is Abaddon and Apollion Rev. 9.11 Jer. 23.1 of the other Jesus the Saviour 2. The kingdom of the former Shinar the place of wickedness Zach. 5. 3. Another Babel i. e. confusion unpeaceableness tumult and unquietness for there is no peace to the wicked they are like the troubled sea Isa 57.20 21. Observ 3. A third Chalanne that is murmuring sorrow and complaining in the streets Eccles 4.1 See the description of Christ's Kingdom Rom. 14. righteousness peace joy in the holy spirit The Lord Jesus Christ hath his kingdom erected in the soul Confer Notes on Jer. 23.5 The Kingdoms of the Gentile Kings are full of unrighteousness and iniquity Quid enim sunt regna remotâ justitiâ nisi magna quaedam latrocinia What are kingdoms void of justice but certain great dens of thieves 2. Their administrations differ The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them with violence and wrong Christ's Kingdom is administred with all equity Jer. 23.5 And therefore the Gentiles kingdoms were signified by the 4 Beasts Dan. 7.2.14 But Christ's unto the Son of man See Notes on Hebr. 1. Observ 4. See in what a condition the world is where Christ rules not it 's a world of iniquity jacet in maligno it lieth in the wicked one the Devil rules the Rulers in it All that is in the world are the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life The Devil bestows the kingdoms of the world It was not therefore said in vain that the Disciples turned the world upside down Act. 1 Sam. 8.1 Repreh Those who would be thought of Christ's Disciples and Followers and Domineere and Lord it over their Brethren Observ 5. Our Lord saith the greatest
curiosity in an others business and negligence in his own If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee follow thou me 't is every mans duty let every man prove his own work Castel Scarce any man will go about it unless he see others do it before him we are in our performance of duties extream modest and mannerly but in arrogating rewards and honours every man will step before other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus some will not communicate with us at the Sacrament because others are not prepared pro se quisque if every one would sweep his own door the whole street all the way would be clean and prepared quickly Consol It is proper to comfort the dejected spirit as doth the Prophet Isa 40.1 Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith your God speak to the heart of Jerusalem c. why every valley shall be filled the dejections and consternations of spirit shall be raised up This is the only seasonable time the Lord doth but stay till we are empty Psal 79.8 make haste let thy tender mercies prevent us or let Christ the mercy of our God come unto us why for we are brought very low and Psal 142. David was in the Cave fled thither to hide himself from Saul as the Church flyes into the Wilderness to hide her self from the Dragon Rev. 12. there he finds himself as low in estate as in place in soul as he was in body vers 3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path I looked on my right hand and saw and no man acknowledged me refuge perished from me no man cared for my soul I cryed unto the Lord attend unto my prayer for I am brought very low We find him in the like low condition Psal 116. The pangs of death compassed me about the pains of hell got hold upon me I found distress and sorrow Gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is merciful the Lord preserveth the simple I was brought very low and then he helped me And doubtless Beloved the Lord will take up his Tabernacle with us he will dwell with us when we are brought low enough we are yet too proud too haughty too strong too rich too presumptuous too high minded too wise when we are brought low when we are empty then the Lord will come and dwell with us mean time there is no room for him This you 'l find in Isa 30. The people there relied upon their own strength against Senacherib and were resolved so to do and would not hear any Prophet that disswaded them vers 9. This is a rebellious people lying children children that will not hear the Law of the Lord which say to the seers see not and to the Prophets prophesie not right things unto us speak unto us smooth things prophesie deceit please our humour get ye out of the way turn aside out of the path cause the holy one of Israel to cease from us wherefore thus saith the Lord because ye despise this word and trust in deceit and perversness and stay thereon vers 12.18 When the multitude were perished when he had scattered the people that delight in war the Lord speaks to his lowly ones his poor c. 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 for the Lord is a God of judgement blessed are they that wait for him Yea Beloved in the place before named Isa 57. The people then had such vain confidence as we now have we trust in our great forces our ammunition c. and so did they and therefore vers 10. The Lord said thus to them thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way yet saidst thou not there is no hope thou couldst not yet learn to despair and put no trust in these things why for thou hast found the life of thine hand therefore thou wast not grieved i. e. thou hadst means and money to maintain war vers 11. He reproves them of whom hast thou been afraid that thou hast lied c. When thou cryest let thy Companies i. e. thy Soldiers that thou hast gathered together let them deliver thee but the wind shall carry them all away But he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the Land and shall inherit my holy mountain then followeth the great promise unto such lowly ones vers 17 18. Mean time for the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and smote him I have seen his wayes and will heal him but when when we are brought low enough Zach. 14. Thus in the first place we find it Psal 3.2 Many rise against me many that say of my soul there is no help for him in his God David in his own person represents the Churches calamity under the four Monarchies signified by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first letter noting the Romans 2. ב the Babylonians 3. י the Ionians or Grecians the 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Medes and Persians Under this pressure and tyranny in confidence in God the Church raiseth up her self many there are who say there is no help for him in his God Selah The lowest condition that can be but raised to the highest in the next verse But thou O Lord art a shield for me my glory and the lifter up of my head I cryed unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill Selah There his soul is raised up again and vers 8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord and thy blessing is upon thy people Selah The like we find Psal 7.5 If I have rewarded evil to him that is at peace with me let the enemy persecute my soul and take it yea let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay mine honour in the dust Selah A low estate whence he raiseth himself in the next verse Arise O Lord in thine anger lift up thy self c. The like may be said of all other places where Selah is used if well and advisedly considered it noting alwayes either 1. the depressing and abasing of the soul and spirit or 2. the elevation and exaltation of it which truly Beloved I conceive far more useful to us as I believe you do than to say as some do it 's a musical note or signifieth nothing at all for surely if not one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the Law till all be fulfilled as our Saviour speaks expresly viz. when the spirit should be given them to lead them into all truth and enable them to bear it Joh. 16.13 and if that be true which one of the most pious Ancients speaks that Nullus apex vacat mysterio not a tittle in Scripture without a mystery and if that be true that all Scripture was given by inspiration that the man of God may be made perfect I see no reason Selah should pass away as a non significat and of no
diversly understood according to the LXX Translation who by it render divers words in the Hebrew which therefore I shall distinguish 1. According to the term à quo from which the passage is made 2. According to the passage it self and 3. According to the term ad quem whereunto Sin and Death tends 1. According to the term à quo the word by which they render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go forth 1. As a plant out of the Earth and so Death grows up out of the earthly and carnal mind Rom. 8.6 from a Root that beareth gall and wormwood Deut. 29.18 a poysonful Herb. The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like that 2 King 4.40 Man of God Death is in the pot a root of bitterness which springing up troubles us whereby many are defiled Heb. 12.15 2. As a Child out of the womb Sin being perfected brings forth death Jam. 1.15 and we read of the first-born of death Job 18.13 3. As the Sun goeth forth out of the East for so the false light goes forth such is Vr Chaldeorum Satan is an Angel of light the light that is in thee is darkness accordingly the LXX turn it by this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. It signifieth to go forth as a word out of the mouth and this is the word of Belial i. e. the Devil as the Syriack turns it 2 Cor. 6. which the Devil first spake into our common Mother and thence into all her Seed So what we turn Deut. 15.9 a thought in thy wicked heart Hebr. a word of Belial in thine heart and an evil disease Psal 41.8 An evil disease cleaveth unto him is in the Original a word of Belial or the Devil is poured into him and what we turn Psal 101.3 a wicked thing is Hebr. a word of Belial This is the word whereof the Wise Man speaks Ecclus. 23.12 A word cloathed about with death 5. It signifieth to go out as one goes out to war So the Serpent having by stratagem overcome the Woman he continues the war with her Seed Rev. 12. and leads forth an infernal Army of hurtful lusts which fight against the Soul 1 Pet. 2.11 2. According to the motion and passage it self The LXX by this word render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to descend and so death natural spiritual and infernal descends as an hereditary deadly disease as the Stone from the Father to the Child an hard and stony heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 4.18 a foul leprosie such as that of Gehazi 2. They render it by repere to creep Psal 104.20 for so it steals down upon all the posterity of Adam insensibly without any noise it is that true pestilence that walks in darkness Psal 91.6 So the LXX by it turn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk like a walking spirit this is malum irrepens 3. According to the term ad quem or end of the motion or passage So the LXX turn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to pitch a Tent by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 13.12 and Isa 13.20 Death takes up the house of the Soul the Curse rests in it Zach. 5.4 it takes a circuit and goes round about as the Devils do 1 Pet. 5.8 who brought death into the world Wisd 2.24 and therefore they render by it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it over-flowes as the Seas and therefore they render by it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the floods of ungodliness the waters which overwhelm the streams of iniquity which go over the Soul Psal 124.4 So the Lord threatned Jerusalem Ezech. 5.17 By all these expressions we understand what the passage of death is and how it passeth over all The reason of this intimated in the opening of the first point is considerable in regard of that first Decree of God In the day that thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt die which is the Statute which the Apostle mentions Hebr. 9. Statutum est omnibus semel mori 2. From proportion of the punishment unto the Sin the Sin common to all and so the punishment 3. Point I shall give no other reason for this Point than the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In quo omnes peccaverunt The words have a double understanding and are urged by men of different judgements Both 1. By those who believe and acknowledge this first sin and so they turn them in that or in whom i. e. in Adam all sinned And 2. those who believe it not and so they turn them quatenus so far forth But truly that Translation profits them not for if so we render the words Death passed over all so far forth as all have sinned they will amount to as much as our present Translation Death hath passed over all so far forth as all have sinned for how far forth have all sinned unless according to that Original pollution contracted from our Common Parent by whom sin entred into the world Observ 1. Spiritual Death is successive and not all at once it passeth upon all in succeeding generations and upon all persons but by degrees Nemo repentè fit pessimus Moriendo morieris i. e. sensim by little and little Observ 2. What is the cause of this overflowing scourge as the Prophet Isaiah calls it Chap. 28.2 What is the reason of this deluge of calamities and miseries which overflow the Land The Apostle tells us the Reason Death passeth over all in that all have sinned we lay the blame one upon another out of partiality and such is our folly we think the cause of these miseries is some other thing than indeed it is our Lord implies as much Jer. 9.12 13 14. 1 King 8.33 When the people be smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against thee vers 35. When heaven is shut up that there is no rain because they have sinned verse 37. Famine pestilence blasting mildew locusts verse 38. Who shall know every one the plague of his own heart Particular examples are infinite 1 King 16. Vengeance is taken by Zimri on the house of Basha and upon himself and all so ordered by God for his sins sake vers 18 19. And therefore the Prophet Isa 28.1 gives the reason of the overflowing scourge Wo to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim their pride covers them as a crown and compasseth them as a chain violence covers them as a garment they are swallowed up of wine and therefore the scourge must also swallow up overwhelm and overflow them Hence was the deluge of water which followed the deluge of sin and therefore it is called in the High and Low Dutch the sin-flood or the flood that came by sin Repreh Why then do we go about to hasten the death of one another It was the argument of the woman of Tekoah unto David We must needs all die and are as water spilt upon the ground 2 Sam. 14.14 Exhort Let us consider our
from the abounding of iniquity because saith he iniquity shall abound the love of many shall grow cold Mat. 24.12 4. This is the reason of all sinful designs and wicked actions in the world their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are ruled by an irregularity and lawlesness it self is the Law they are squared by iniquity hath erected her Throne in ungodly men Psal 94.20 upon which it sits rules decrees unrighteous decrees and imagins mischief by a Law Such were the Ordinances of Aegypt Levit. 18.3 and the Statutes of Omri Mich. 6.16 According to this Law they will be angry with their brother without a cause Matth. 5.22 they will look upon and lust after a woman and commit adultery with her in their hearts vers 28. they will swear and take Gods name in vain vers 34. they will render evil for evil vers 39. they will hate their enemy vers 43. Please ye see some Examples of proceedings according to this lawless Law 1. according to this Law Naboth lost his inheritance and his life too Jezebel iniquity it self checks Ahab a servant of iniquity as too remiss too slack in the execution of this Law 1 King 21.7 Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel up eat thy meat and be merry I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite Iniquity hath her servants and officers men of Belial whose mouths speak wickedness to bear witness for her she hath her Elders and Nobles to judge for her and give sentence and a cloak of Religion to cover all and the business is done Ahab take possession God's Cause covers all 2. Such another servant of wickedness was Shemaiah Jer. 29. who checks Zephaniah and the rest of the Priests for remisness The Lord hath made thee a Priest instead of Jehojada the Priest that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord for every man that is madd and makes himself a Prophet that thou shouldest put him in the stocks And why therefore hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth Necessity is a Law to the crooked generation 3. According to this Law Herod proceeded against John Baptist who told Herod it was not lawfull for him to have his brothers wife but Herod found another Law to put him up in prison and take off his head Joh. 14. and what Law was that but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. But if ever iniquity was mounted on her Throne and imagined mischief as a Law it was in the condemnation of our Lord when against all Law they would put to death the Author of Life when they would put to a most shameful death when they would crucifie the Lord of Glory as the Apostle most elegantly yet say they we have a Law and by that Law he ought to die and what Law was that but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but lawlesness it self that Law which rules all lawless men that light which guides the Sons of darkness and if the light that is in thee be darkness if the Law it self be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how great is that darkness how lawless is that Law 5. And how miserable then are the Subjects unto that Law the servants of iniquity they are Lorded over by iniquity it self it was the Psalmists Curse upon his incorrigible enemy Set thou a wicked man to rule over him Psal 109.6 But over wicked men rules iniquity and wickedness it self all their members are subject to the Law of their members their members are not their own but taken up by iniquity their inward parts are full of wickedness their brain is possessed with covetousness Avaritia in capite omnium Amos 9.1 and pride that possesseth their heart Prov. 21.4 So that the thoughts memory fancy understanding appetite will affections all serve iniquity and therefore the outward members cannot be free their mouth is not their own 't is the mouth of wickedness Psal 107.42 they brag indeed that their tongues are theirs Psal 12. but it cannot be so for they know not of themselves what to speak but iniquity teacheth their mouth Job 15.5 and fills it with cursing and bitterness Psal 10.7 and their tongue speaks pride Psal 17.10 and detraction Psal 140.4 Their power and strength they have is imployed in the service of sin their right hand is not their own 't is a right hand of iniquity Psal 14.4 so that their tongue and their doings are against the Lord Isai 3.8 and the whole man a man of sin and all the parts and members servants of iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the servant complains in the Poet and under the same slavery the Apostle groaned Rom. 7. till he was delivered by the Grace of Christ Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death And as it seems miserable to those who know and feel this servitude so much more miserable and lamentable is the case of those who bear this heavy burden yet through long custome are insensible and know it not like one under water who feels not the weight upon him The old servant of iniquity submits and yields himself like a beast so the word I told you signifieth to his accustomed burden as the Camel's inured to their load bend their knees when their burdens are laid upon them And such a very beast is every servant of iniquity and such a beastly life liveth many an one who yet would be accounted a good Christian man In his youth intemperancy puts a bit in his mouth and leads him along like an horse by the mouth through riot and drunkenness through chambering and wantonness through excessive eating and drinking and carding and dicing and whoring and drives him about and about in a circle of the same painful lusts like an horse in a mill blindfold Impii ambulant in circuitu Then if any be set to break him he is monitori asper he is fat and kicks and casts his rider and like a wild Ass snuffs up the wind at pleasure Jer. 2.24 then he 's sick of the the farcions and pride and vain-glory traps him and he 's hurried away with the humours of the time e'en as the fool rides him any foolish and hurtful lusts at length in his old age covetousness catcheth him and makes him a purchase for an unthrift such as himself was and lades him with thick clay and rides him to the Devil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all which sufficiently discovers the miserable condition of the servants of iniquity and being advisedly and timely considered may well make us all weary of that service and perswade us to return unto our old Lord to yield our members servants unto righteousness That 's the third point We ought to yield our members servants unto righteousness The righteousness here meant is either 1. Christ himself who is Jehovah Jerem. 33.15 the essential righteousness of God and so that which is here called righteousness vers 22. is called God himself being made free
and the Vulg. Latin Castellio and Erasmus have reâ—ixit and the ancientest English Manuscript that I believe is extant turns the Text thus When the Commandment was comen sin lived again which may be understood according to the mans knowledge of it Jerem. 31. according to the power and strength of sin 1 Cor. 15. Sin therefore is said to revive when having been dead as it were she now puts forth her strength and sheweth her self to be alive but how upon the coming of the Commandment doth sin revive Not as if the Commandment caused the life of sin and so positively quickened it and enlivened it as a cause of it for the Law is the greatest enemy of sin and most contrary to it and in all things opposeth it and tends to the destruction of it but as by Antiperistasis one contrary is by another intends and strengthens another as in the summer time while the weather is hot the heat of the fire doth not put forth it self but when the cold winter comes then the heat encreaseth so while we live without the check and correction of the Law sin puts not forth it self in its strength but when the Law comes which is contrary to the sin as cold to heat then the heat of concupiscence discovers it self The fire lies hid and raked up in the ashes and appears not but if you cast water on it then it discovers it contrary nature And as contrary is the Law to sin as water is to the fire and though it lie hid while the man lives without the Law yet when the Law comes then sin shews it self then iniquity burns like a fire as the Prophet speaks The Lion when he walks as also the Cat which resembles him he puts not forth his talents but when a prey appears The reason in regard of Satan all his goods are in peace Luk. 11.21 till the Law come to disturb his possession and then he perceives that his kingdom in the man is toward an end and that he hath but a short time Revel 12.12 which is not to be understood only of some certain time of the Church though so it be very true but in respect of every man it 's when he rules and the Law comes therefore he bestirs himself the more his free-hold the mans mind heart and will is called into question and therefore so he deals with us as we with him Mar. 9.17 20. He cast down him that was possessed and some said he was dead In regard of his Serpentine subtilty for whereas the Law consists most what of prohibitions forbidding such and such acts to be done Thou shalt not steal commit adultery covet c. The subtle spirit in the man suggests unto him a suspicion it is not for any evil in the act forbidden but rather surely it must be some notable good pleasure profit or credit in the doing that act which is prohibited otherwise it would not be forbidden him and that it is not love but envy in the Law-giver which made him forbid the act unto him As for example in positive Lawes if men of mean rank and quality being forbidden to play at Cards or Tables which others of greater rank might do should suspect that it is not for any evil in the Game but rather there might be some singular pleasure in them which therefore the great men envied them and would keep proper to themselves Such a suspicion as this was conceived by the Mother of all Living and is inherited by her Apostate Children who live without the Law The Serpent deceives us also by his subtilty and makes us suspect that the Law-giver inhibits us the eating of the forbidden fruit meerly out of envy lest our eyes should be opened and we should be as Gods knowing good and evil and so we should be too wise and therefore maugre all prohibitions we will taste of the forbidden fruit though it cost us a Fall as it cost them 2. In regard of this false assumed freedom for the man that lives without the Law is impatient of any curb or check from a Law but conceits that the most equal and just laws of God infringe the liberty of the Subject and this is the condition of our first birth we are born as the wild Asses Colt saith Zophar Job 11.12 and we can by no means endure to be tyed by the bonds of the Law but when they are laid upon us then we will not be bound See Notes in Psal 94.12 3. In regard of the Law which howsoever weak and impotent and not able to expel sin yet an enemy it is unto the sin and though not able altogether to rout it yet it can discover it trouble it and tye it provoke it and stir it up like a weak purger c. As it is said that the children of Israel could not drive out the inhabitants of the Land which were too strong for them Josh 13. Observ 1. Observe here how the Scripture warily distinguisheth between a true cause properly so called and an occasion the Commandment coming is not a cause that sin revives but an occasion only for if we look at it as a cause being directly adverse and contrary to sin it would rather kill the sin then quicken it and give life unto it and therefore the Apostle saith not That the Commandment coming gives life or quickens the sin but upon the coming or appearing of the Commandment sin revived This distinction is of great consequence and for want of observing it we are subject to run into manifold and great errours for oftentimes it comes to pass that the Lord puts an occasion into our hands which for want of right distinction we take for a cause Thus the King of Babylon's Present was the occasion not the cause of Ezechiah's Fall 2 King 20.12 Deut. 13.1 2 3. The Prophet perswades to other Gods and this he doth by giving a sign and this sign comes to pass is not here then a fair occasion of following of other Gods No saith the Lord for the Lord your God tryeth you c. For this end the Lord left of the Canaanites to prove the children of Israel Judg. 2.22 whether they would continue in the ways of the Lord and walk therein as their fathers had yea or no and Judg. 3.1 5. Did this concern them only or us also Surely these things were written for our Examples which yet we understand not aright but mistake these as if they were a cause which indeed are only an occasion for what is more ordinary than to say that the reliques of sin which are the Nations remaining in our Land are left to humble us The Lord saith otherwise as that they were left as occcasions thereby to prove Israel whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein as their Fathers did or not They were left there to prove Israel by them That the children of Israel might know and teach them war Judg. 3.1 2. For though the
distraction discord disagreement of mind thoughts fansie understanding heart will affections and all these divisions and partialities are both of one from other and in our selves Hence appears the great necessity of a manifold Law which might pursue the man in his manifold aberrations and strayings from his God which might follow him in every thought will desire affection and ferret him out of every hole These many Laws are a badge of the manifold misery we were fallen into for as Plato reasons Where there are many Physitians it follows the people have there many diseases and where there are many Lawyers the people must be very much divided So we may reason that since there are many Laws there were many breaches of the Laws since there are many remedies many healing doctrines there must be many spiritual diseases Learn we hence to prize and esteem the Law according to the worth and dignity of it they are the honorabilia legis the honourable things of the Law things in themselves honourable as our Lord calls them Matth. 23.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the more or most honourable things of the Law for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth honourable is rendered by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is weighty and honourable such as make honourable these weightiest these most honourable things of the Law Judgement Mercy and Faith they are the only durable honours Isai 23. Howle ye inhabitants of the Isle Is this your joyous City whose antiquity is of ancient dayes Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre the crowning City whose merchants are Princes whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth The Lord of hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all Glory and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth But Isai 42.21 We will magnifie the Law and make it honourable they are those wherewith we honour God and honorantes me honorabo the honourable man deals in honourable things and by honourable things shall he stand O that such an holy ambition were kindled in every generous breast that they would desire the honour that cometh of God only and pursue it in that honourable way whereby it is to be obtained 1 Sam. 2. These great things of the Law are those whereby we honour our God and according to which God honoureth us to them who by patient continuance in well doing Glory honour and immortality eternal life Rom. 2.7.10 Glory honour and peace to every one that worketh good The Lord hath written or will write unto his people the great things or multitudes of his Laws The word in the Original is in the future which in that tongue implies a continual act The Commandments of God are a Letter from God unto the Church a Love-letter of the Churches Husband unto his Spouse And writing the great things of his Law adds to them Confirmation and leaves them upon record in perpetuam rei memoriam These are the lasting honours all other honour fails with the cause which bred it Gentility is on ancient Riches when they decay the honour decayes with them that is built upon them But honour thou thy God and his Christ his wisdom and she shall bring thee to honour Prov. 4.4 Shechem is said to have been more honourable than all the house of his Father Gen. 34.19 ye read no honourable act he did but only he readily circumcised himself ye read for what end he did it Those of Berea were more noble than those of Thessalonica Why because they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether the things which Paul preached were true or no Act. 17.11 Now if these minora Legis these less things of the Law rendered them honourable how much more honourable shall the graviora Legis and great things of the Law if the outward much more the inward if the receiving the outward word how much more the receiving of Jesus Christ himself If the great things of Gods Law be strange to us then we are best acquainted with the enemies of them Prov. 3 5-10 the neglect of the least damnable Palac in Matth. 5.19 Groti Ibid. Reproves Those who magnifie men greatly esteem men and the opinions and performances of men and neglect the great things of Gods Law Thus did the Corinthians of old and this are we now puffed up for one against another Thus Simon the Sorcerer bare himself for some great man and the Samaritans esteemed and called him the great power of God yea though he bewitched them with Sorceries What is Paul or what is Apollo's are they not ministers only by whom ye believe How can ye believe when ye receive honour one of another Peter and John Act. 3. Paul and Barnabas Act. 14. were ashamed of their honour And can there be a greater witchery than that which the Apostle speaks of Gal. 3. Foolish Galatians who hath bewitched ye that ye should not obey the truth who else but Simon why was there a Simon Magus at Galatia yes and at Corinth and London too Simon hath bewitched us that we do not obey the Truth Simon is hearing if we hear and hear and hear and nothing but hear the great things of the Law we think our selves great and honourable people and if we know them then much more honourable yet so much we may do and yet Simon may bewitch us instead of obeying and doing the great things of the Law we cry up Simon either the Preaching or Hearing for the great power of God Doubt But here it may be doubted whether there be such multitudes of Gods Laws since we read that our Lord reduceth all of them to Two only The Commandments of God are sometime more numerous as when they are delivered in the full Decalogue sometime they are contracted into a less number as Deut. 10.12 Now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Sometime that number is contracted These are the things that ye shall do Zach. 8.16 Speak ye every man truth to his neighbour execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gates and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour and love no false oath for all these are things that I hate saith the Lord Sometimes yet to a less than that as Mich. 6.8 To do justly to love mercy to humble thy self to walk with thy God which are the very same which our Lord calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 23.23 the greater weightier and more honourable things of the Law as judgement mercy and faith Judgement answers to doing justly which is not only the office of a publick Judge but even every mans duty in the tribunal of his own Conscience it comprehends all that duty which may either by strict justice be required or by
God's Love of Righteousness and the propagation and preservation of it which could not be wrought by any means so convenient as by writing the great things of the Law 1. As for tradition that might fail or be corrupted by the Apostacy of some Age as we know de facto it hath been 2. Ancient wayes of conveying the memory of things past to posterity Tradition Hierogliphicks 1. The means of conveying by Hierogliphicks and Pictures was too obscure which although the Aegyptians used and it was that learning wherein Moses was brought up Act. 7. yet experience taught after Ages that such kind of learning was not clear and manifest but left much to uncertain conjectures and therefore however the Romans used it in their Coyns yet knowing how dark an expression it was they added the superscription or writing over or about their Hierogliphicks to signifie what was meant by them The reason why God wrote these great things are 1. In regard of the great things themselves 2. In regard of God the writer of them 1. The things are so great honourable excellent hidden and mystical that they could not be written or dictated by any other than God himself for they are the counterpart of Gods will so the Will of God is expounded by the Law of God Psal 40.8 I am content to do thy will thy Law is within my heart Now who hath known the will of the Lord but the Christ who could state or dictate it but himself 2. In regard of God the writer of them 1. His impulsive cause moving him to write them 2. His end It remains therefore that the only means to propagate them is by God writing them 2. God wrote them out of Love unto his people from his right hand went a fiery Law for them yea he loved the people All his Saints are in thy hand they sate down at thy feet c. Deut. 33.2.3 Psal 147.19 20. He sheweth his Word unto Jacob his Statutes and Judgements unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation nor have the Heathen the knowledge of the Law i. e. of the written Law The end of all other Arguments is most various but the end of writing these great things these multitudes of the Law is for the premonition or forewarning of all Generations and for the signification of Gods will unto them if rebellious and disobedient that it may stand upon record as a Divine Testimony against them Deut. 31.24 25 26 27. if plyable and obedient that the generations to come might know them even the children that were yet unborn c. Psal 78.5 6 7. when the Heathen should be made partakers of these great things when the Lord should build up Sion and when his Glory should appear This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord viz. the new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 Whatsoever things were written were written for our learning that we by patience and consolation of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 All Scripture was by Divine Inspiration and is profitable that the Man of God may be made perfect 2 Tim. 3.16 The very gift of Writing it self is so wonderful so excellent that it can referr to no other Author but God himself Plutarch tells us that Mercury taught the Aegyptians to write the Latins referred it to Saturn saith St. Cyprian but he and St. Basil referr the gift of Letters unto the true God and he taught his own people first For besides Pliny tells us that the Assyrians Syrians and Phoenicians and Canaanites had the first skill in writing Amaius according to the Churches tradition tells us that Adam taught his Son Enoch Letters who wrote that Prophesie part whereof is extant Jude vers 14. and some other parts are recorded by the Fathers But as the gift of writing must needs be Gods gift so most certain it is that the great things themselves could be written by no other than God himself That a man should signifie his mind unto another one thousand miles hence and one thousand years hence no distance of time or place hindering it it 's a rare invention things not considered are neglected being considered provoke admiration Observ 1. Hence it follows That Gods Commandments are everlasting and shall endure for ever Psal 119.114 This is true but how doth it follow from Gods writing of his Law It 's a Rule in Plato and Plotinus Whatsoever things proceed immediately from God without the intervention or mediation of any second cause they are incorruptible and everlasting But we have a greater than both to confirm this Eccles 3.14 I know that whatsoever God doth is for ever Psal 119.89 Zach. 1. 1 Pet. 1.25 Exhort If the Lord hath written them it 's our duty to read his Letter it concerns the greater or the greatest matters c. It 's a love-letter of our God our Maker unto his Spouse The Spouse if she receive a Letter from him whom she loves she will read it over and over again she would be much in it for therein she reads his mind cold love to read them but once and lay them by but once repeat them lay them up in a precious Cabinet as Alexander did Homers works as the King of Morocco the imitation of Christ as we bind up our Bibles costly and beautifully Books make not a Scholar nor a great deal of reading a Christian if we bind up the Law to observe and keep it we do well Observ 2. See the gracious condescent of the Almighty to his Apostate Creature the Man falls and see his God he stoops to take up the fall'n Man his Wife goes a whoring from him and he vouchsafes to write her not a Bill of Divorce to reject her but a Love-letter to return Jer. 3.1 2. They say if a man put away his Wife and she go from him and become another mans shall he return unto her again No he might not by the Law Deut. 24.4 Yet the Lord offers reconciliation and wooes his Church Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return even unto me saith the Lord his love and mercy transcends the rigour of his Law he hates putting away Mal. 2.16 He sues her by his Love-letter to return unto him Observ 3. Observe with what Authority the word of our God comes unto us it 's God's Chyrographum his own hand-writing and therefore with what reverence and observance ought it to be read it's a Letter that comes from our Superior from the Supreme from the Highest with what love he deals with us as with his familiar friends I have not gone back from the Commandments of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food Job 23.12 Such it ought to be unto the obedient people and ministers of it as it was to Ezech. 2.10 A roll of a Book or letter was sent unto him and a Commandment to eat it and it was in
judged of the Lord O Beloved do we not know that for these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5. Do we not know for this cause many are sick and weak among us and many sleep 1 Cor. 11.30 Have all our afflictions think we come out of the dust or hath the Lords hand been so long stretched out against us in vain and without cause Have we not by this means now long time provoked him to plague us with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death All the Fathers ate the same spiritual meat yet with some of them God was not well pleased 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There will not need any large explication of these words if we shall remember the opening of the former point for so it will appear that as by the Mannah the body and the flesh of Christ is meant his spiritual body that is his Word which is his flesh Joh. 1.14 Deut. 8. man lives not by bread only so by the water out of the Rock and the blood of Christ is to be understood his Spirit for so St. John speaks expresly 1 Joh. 5.8 Confer Notes in Joh. 6.55 56. This is the Reason why the spirit of Christ whereby we are sanctified and purged from our sins proceeding from the Father and the Son as blood from the body this is called the blood of God Act. 20.28 for in Christ dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. And so out of him being smitten by our sins Isa 53.4 5. by our transgressions and the Curse of the Law for sins issues the blood and spirit of God This was evidently signified Exod. 17. by Moses smiting of the Rock in Horeb when the Law was given for therefore vers 6. The Lord saith behold I will stand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Rock Hence it is that oftentimes in Scripture the blood is said to be the life Gen. 9.4 Levit. 17.11 for blood is the spiritual life and hence we are said to drink into one spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 whence the spirit of God is called the spirit of life Rom. 8.2 Rev. 11.11 Hence we understand those Scriptures which testifie the effects of Christs blood Rom. 5.9 10. 1. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all our sins 1 Joh. 1.7 which is not understood only of the merit of Christ which yet is of inestimable value but also of the power and efficacy of his blood and spirit 2. Christ washeth us from our sins in his own blood Rev. 1.5 Hebr. 10.29 the blood by which we are sanctified 3. 1 Pet. 2.18 19. where the blood of Christ is compared with corruptible things as silver and gold of all bodily things the most durable and preferred before them as being incorruptible it cannot be understood only of that blood of Christ shed upon the Cross which was like ours for Hebr. 2.11 He took part of the same 7. and 4.15 It must therefore be understood of Christ's spiritual blood or his spirit and life as he speaks Joh. 6.63 and therefore Hebr. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God Observ 1. This is the reason why Moses forbad the people blood but Christ commands to drink his blood Moses knew they were not fit while yet under the Law to partake of the life but our Lord requires that his self-deniers his mortified ones partake of his blood and life What is it to drink the spiritual drink What else but to believe in the Lord Jesus as the Scripture hath said Joh. 7.37 38. What saith the Scripture of Christ That he is the bread that came down from heaven Joh. 6. the light of the world Joh. 8. the door of the sheep Joh. 10. the resurrection and the life Joh. 11. the way the truth and the life Joh. 14. c. He who believes thus in Christ receives him drinks his blood and spirit drinks the living waters Observ 2. Hence it appears how foully they are mistaken who understand the body and blood of Christ the eating and drinking of them no otherwise than of his natural body and blood and we must follow the actions answerable thereunto how then are they called here spiritual meat and spiritual drink Observ 3. Who are the worthy Communicants Who else but they who contentedly abide in Christ in conformity to his death and life who dwell in him such only he invites such only ought to come to this spiritual feast such only are his Disciples Joh. 8.31 Observ 4. Behold the Centre the Rest of all the Children of God Exhort 1. To eat Christs flesh and drink his blood Exhort 2. To abide in Christ 1 Joh. 2.6 But alas how shall I eat the flesh of Christ c My Brother hath something against me Art thou angry with thy Brother c Matth. 5.22 None of all these what then Dost thou live in some great and heinous sin as of drunkenness whoredom or that which is hardly counted sin though a far greater dost thou live in envy pride covetousness None of all these what then Doth thy brother take offence at thee for well doing which he thinks evil doing In this case scandaliza fortitèr saith Martin Luther What then is it wherein thy Brother takes offence He differs from me in Judgement That divides all the world Peter and Paul Paul and Barnabas yet we read not any thing to the contrary but that they met to break bread the first day of the week Observ 5. Here we read of spiritual meat and spiritual drink and a spiritual Rock ye perceive the Holy Ghost useth such expressions as these are when it will signifie something which is the truth of that which is presented to the outward sense whereby such language is warranted as indeed is necessary in speaking of spiritual and heavenly things Observ 6. As hence appears the universality and commonness of the means of salvation so likewise the munificence bounty and goodness of the Author and Giver of it whence it is that it 's generally said of all the Fathers that they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea no man was excepted yea they went all through the sea and were baptized old and young child and suckling There is express mention made of their little ones Exod. 12.37 Every male was circumcised without exception Gen. 17 11-14 As they were all baptized and circumcised so all did eat of the same spiritual meat they all fed upon Manna c. They all received the holy Sacrament Observ 7. May we not think that some of these were grown up to the spiritual old age there were those among them no doubt who were Elders indeed and such as Moses knew to be such Numb 11.16 17. yet we do not find that any of them pleaded that they were above Ordinances for they all were baptized and
must not grosly conceive any corporal or bodily participation of the one or the other as the Jews did Joh. 6.52 How can this fellow give us that flesh of his to eat But we are to understand it according to that Analogie which earthly and bodily things have to heavenly and spiritual Edere est credere to believe is to receive the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Thus we call Communicating receiving when we believe receive and partake of that Mystical and heavenly food But here we must say as the Deacon did Sursum corda The Deity stoops low when it condescends to our ordinary natural actions We must here conceive a mystical partaking of Christ for the more distinct understanding of this we may consider the mystical eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ both 1. In similitude And 2. Dissimilitude unto the partaking of earthly and bodily food 1. To eat it is to partake of the nourishment 1 Cor. 10.17 18. As for the similitude unto the participation of bodily food the Bread Flesh or Meat you know is first masticated or ground with the teeth whence it 's conveyed into the stomach where by the heat partly of it and of the neighbour parts it looseth it self and is turned into Chyle and thence after discretion or separation made of the good from the bad it 's transmitted into every part as every part hath need 2. As for the Wine or whatsoever liquor else we drink it goes down as we say without chewing and after a like change and distinction made in the stomach it accompanieth the more solid meat throughout the body Even thus the heavenly Manna is to be received that is believed Joh. 1. Col. 2. Thus it is to be chewed and ruminated and meditated upon as the Isralites said of their Mannah What is it And so transmitted into the judgement the stomach as it were of the Soul which destributes to every part and faculty supply of the heavenly food For the enlivening and convenience of this food The Spirit accompanieth it For it is the Spirit that quickens Joh. 6. and helps our weakness of concoction Rom. 8. as Wine helps to digest solid meat Thus far they agree and many more resemblances might be found between them But the dissimilitude is greater For 1. Although our corporal food be turned into our bodies and receives a life from them yet Christ the Spiritual food is not so to be transformed into our Souls nor does he receive life from them But contrariwise this heavenly nourishment transforms our Souls and Assimilates them unto it self as the Cion or Graft suppose of an Apple or a Pear is not changed into the Nature of the stock which parhaps is a Thorn or a Crab but it turns the stock into its own Nature So saith St. James Chap. 1.21 Receive with meekness saith he the engrafted word which is able to save your souls To this purpose is that of the Apostle By one Spirit saith he we are all baptized into one body c. And we have been all made to drink into one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 2. Nor doth this nourishment receive life from us but gives life unto us for the case is different in this exceedingly Our bodies must first live before they can be nourished for a dead body cannot be nourished But except ye eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you saith our Saviour Joh. 6.53 And the bread that I will give him is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world vers 51. And he that eateth me even he shall live by me vers 57. 3. A third dissimilitude is the Belly cleanseth Meats Mar. 7.19 But this Meat cleanseth us Bodies and Souls Joh. 13. 5. To shew forth the Lords death what is it but to be conformable thereunto as the Apostle speaks Phil. 3. It also seems to have respect unto that custom of the Jews in the Passover To reveil the Mysteries of it unto their Children which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schindl in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But how by eating this Bread and drinking this Cup do we shew forth the Lords death The Analogie seems to be this The Bread we eat and Drink we drink looseth its own Nature and becomes of the same Nature with our Bodies to which they are adjoyned Even so by eating the Flesh of the Son of God and drinking his Blood we become one with him and he one with us and being thus joyned unto him we become conformable unto his death The cause of this why they who eat the Flesh of the Son of God and drink his Blood shew forth the Lords death till he come who can it be but God himself who as he alone can give the thing signified so also to him alone it belongeth to appoint the signs 1. Learn from hence who are the worthy Communicants The Text teacheth us who but they who shew forth the Lords death 2. What the Christian calling is which Christ invites us unto What else but the imitating of his death Joh. 12 23 24. Rom. 6.3 Phil. 3. 3. The Christian Profession is no easie Profession strait is the gate narrow is the way compared to the pangs of Child-bearing Joh. 16.21 4. Our Profession of Christ's death it must be made known shew forth the Lords death The like exhortation ye have elsewhere Let your light so shine before men Let your moderation be known unto all men By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another Exhort Shew forth the Lords death The words may be read thus as others We may be moved thereunto by these Arguments 1. Argument It 's but Reason Rom. 12. 2. Argument It 's most necessary For if we suffer with him we shall be glorified with him 3. Argument It 's an Argument that we love God no greater love than to dye for another 2. Till he come This imports continuation without interruption and extent until Christ come 1. Of the first speak these places Matth. 16. Thou must take up thy cross daily 1 Cor. 15.31 Dye daily proper te mortificamur toto Die Rom. 8. 2. Thou must always bear about in thy body the dying of the Lord Jesus We who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake 2 Cor. 4.2 Phil. 1.6 Gal. 4.19 1 Tim. 6.14 2 Pet. 1.19 Repreh 1. It reproves those who have quickly done shewing forth the Lords death They must remember it was the task laid upon us Moriendo morieris and Crucifixion is a long lingering death Far easier it is to dye so than to dye and dye eternally as otherwise we must Repreh 2. It reproves those who will needs be shewing forth the vertues of him that hath called them before they have shewn forth the death of Christ NOTES on 1 ROR. XI 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But let a man examine himself and so let him eat
in the Letter and outward part thereof Our Lord tells his Disciples That except their righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they shall by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven How could they exceed their Righteousness but by their obedience unto the spiritual Law of God Observ 4. The Preacher may preach and all in vain the Sacraments may be administred and yet in vain Jesus Christ may be set forth evidently before mens eyes crucified in them and all in vain After all is done it 's possible men may not obey the Truth and then all this labour is lost How often have Christians received the holy Communion yet have they not shewn forth the Lords death in dying to any one sin which yet is the end the principal end of this holy Sacrament Yea the end of all our coming to Church the end of all our reading hearing all our fasting humiliation receiving the holy Sacrament it is our obedience Yea the end of all Christs Humiliation Christs humbling himself to the death the painful lingering infamous accursed death of the Cross it is our obedience that the same obedient mind might be in us which was also in Christ Jesus who humbled himself c. Observ 5. Men are then said not to obey the Truth when they follow not when they imitate not the actions and passions dyings and sufferings of the Lord Jesus Thus Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh This even the Devil knew and confessed But every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God That he is come in thy flesh and mine and formed in us for so the word was made flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Jesus Christ bare our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness 1 Pet. 2.24 And forasmuch as Christ hath suffered in the flesh arm your selves with the same How is that For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin 1 Pet. 4.1 2. So 1 Cor. 15.17 If Christ be not raised your faith is vain ye are yet in your sins How does that follow The same Apostle tells us Rom. 8. If we dye with him we believe that we shall also live with him For the following of Christ in his Resurrection is rising from the death of sin unto the life of Righteousness And thus Christ dyed for our sins that we might also dye to them and rose again for our justification that we might arise unto Righteousness and a new Life So that if Christ be not risen and we with him we are yet in our sins and this is that which by some is called motus antitypi Axom 4. Some or other had bewitched the Galatians that they did not obey the truth The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence is derived the Latin word fascino which signifies either to bewitch or to envy and both may very well fit this place of Scripture 1. To envy and so the Apostle may expostulate with them what Jew yet in the state of servants hath envyed you the liberty of sons 2. Or who hath bewitched you who hath so cast a mist before your eyes who hath so dazled your sight with deceptio visus that ye think ye see what ye see not or cannot see that which is visible and easie to be seen for so no doubt the evil one being the prince of the air can make the Species and Images of things appear which really and truly are not and so intervert and turn aside the Images of things which are that to some they do not appear For if we consider him who bewitches them viz. the grand impostor the Devil we shall find that he according to the Degree of that Divine Power manifested or put forth in men by the Father Son and Spirit he also puts forth his power of darkness to oppose it for as there is the holy Trinity in the Divinity so is there also an infernal trinity in the Devils nature a father of lyes a son of perdition and a spirit of error As therefore when Moses came into Egypt the father of lyes sent forth Jannes and Jambres which withstood Moses So when the Lord Jesus sent forth his Disciples and Apostles to preach the Gospel of Christ crucified then the Devil sent forth Barjesus Act. 13.6 who transforms himself as if he were Jesus the Son of God to oppose them and therefore he is called Barjesus the son of Jesus For as Jesus the Son of God saves his people from their sins Matth. 1. So Barjesus this son of the Devil as he is called endeavours to delude and save the people from grace and righteousness vers 8. Observ 1. That the Lord is not the cause of our disobedience either by any antecedent Decree or by any present instinct nor motion inclining us unto sin O no the Wiseman warns us that we should not say or think so Ecclus 15.11 12. Say not thou it is through the Lord that I fell away for thou oughtest not to do the things that he hateth Say not thou he caused me to err for he hath no need of the sinful man No doubt were he the cause he would not reprove he would not punish eternally the disobedient souls Observ 2. Disobedience is a kind of witchery Samuel saith as much in so many words Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word in the Text which signifies to envy and to bewitch And the Wiseman tells us That by the envy of the Devil sin entred into the world The Devil himself is the grand Sorcerer by this envy of him also iniquity the great witch the old witch she came into the world So the Wiseman tells us of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the witching of naughtiness or wickedness Wisd 4.12 This grand Sorcerer hath also his Ministers who are great Inchanters of the people 2 Cor. 11.4 Sometimes these bewitch the multitude with their doctrine as there are some plausible doctrines which bewitch Christians that they do not obey the truth such is that which would perswade us 1. That the Law of God belongs not unto those that are in Christ then if no law no transgression 2. That God sees no sin in his people where yet sin is to be seen Psal 50.21 22. 3. That Christ hath done all things already to our hands and left us nothing to do but believe it Matth. 7.21 4. That as soon as we have begun to do well there 's no fear of falling away when the Apostle faith Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall 5. That sin cannot be subdued no not by Christ in us while we live here when yet faith is the victory that overcomes the world 1 Joh. 5.4 Phil. 4.13 I can do all through Christ who strengthneth me These and such as these are obligamenta magica magical tyes which bind men from walking in
heartily wish and desire the entertainment of this holy Seed saying unto the Lord and to his servants sent unto us Be it unto me or Oh that it might be so unto me as thou hast spoken Psal 110.3 To men thus affected to men of such a good will Christ is born so saith the Angel that Christ is born hominibus bonae voluntatis to men of good will Luk. 1. so the Old Latin hath it And Chrysostom and others of the Ancients read in their Greek Copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to men of good will not as we since 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the difference is but in one letter and that in the end of a word which easily might since be lost 2. After Conception also something there is carefully to be avoided and something as carefully to be provided 1. A woman in this case O how shy she is of taking Physick or any thing inwardly that might suffocate the Child how circumspect how wary she is to avoid all slips and falls which might make her venture to miscarry or cause abortion and with no less foresight nay with more if it may be ought we to shun what e're might choak the Seed of God as worldly cares do Matth. 13. to avoid all relapses and fallings again into sin and what ever might cause a miscarrying womb lest we should receive the grace of God in vain or spill the Seed of God in us We ought saith the Apostle to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest we leak and run out and so the Seed of God become abortive and of none effect unto us Hebr. 2.1 2. But a Woman having conceived is not only wary to decline things hurtful but also careful to procure things convenient and useful and therefore she keeps a good diet she nourisheth and cherisheth her Embrio she provides the most able and experienced Midwives and so provident ought we to be would we have Christ formed in us And therefore such meats we ought to feed on as best agree with Christ that holy thing conceived in us one of them is Faith which we must feed upon Psal 73.3 yea it must be our daily repast for the just man lives by his faith And when we keep so good a diet the holy Embrio is enlivened and quickned in us I live saith St. Paul yet not I but Christ liveth in me His reason makes it good for the life saith he that I live I live by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 Ephes 3.17 2. Another Service is the doing of the will of God for Christs meat it is to do the will of him that sent him Joh. 4.35 Now the will of God is not only our own sanctification and the keeping of our own vessel in holiness and honour 1 Thess 4.3 but also the doing of good works to others also to fill our selves with this food as Dorcas was full of good works and alms-deeds to communicate unto the necessities of the Saints God likes so well of this Service that it 's called a Sacrifice wherewith God is well pleased Hebr. 13.16 And this is a way to feed Christ also for Christ professeth that when we give meat or drink to the least of all his brethren we give it unto him Matth. 25. And he that thus doth the will of God becomes a mother of Christ Luk. 8.21 Pregnant Women also provide themselves of skilful and able Midwives such also must we provide Spiritual Midwives or Grace-wives as some call them helpful Ministers of the Word the obstetrication of the old Saints of God who have passed through the same pains and throws and perils of Child-bearing such an one was Paul and his true yoak-fellow and those women Phil. 4.3 But besides care of diet and provision of a Midwife wise and holy women are wont in this case more intimately to acquaint themselves with God Thus did Sarah whose daughters holy women are while they do well thus did Rebeccah Gen. 25.23 thus did Rachel and Leah Gen. 30. and to name no more thus did the Mother of our Lord Luk. 1.40 When she had Conceived she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth how was that even as we must also do Would we have Christ to be formed in us we must visit and have recourse unto and meditate upon the Oath and Covenant of our God for so much Elizabeth signifieth for Elizabeth or the Covenant of God is the Mother of John i. e. of the true Grace of God Lastly holy women then in a more special manner as they acquaint themselves with God by holy meditation and conference with him so also by hearty prayer and humble supplications unto him so did gracious Hannah 1 Sam. 1.10 prayers also were made by others for them Thus Eli prayed for and blessed Hannah 1 Sam. 1.17 Even so in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our requests be made known unto God And let us desire the prayers of others also for our well-doing and the blessing of Eli i. e. of our strong and powerful God that the Child being come to the birth there may be strength to bring forth and that the Dragon may not devour the Child but that he may grow and wax strong that he may be filled with wisdom and that the grace of God may be on him And for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named That he would grant us according to the riches of his Glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith that we being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which yet passeth all knowledge that we may be filled with all the fulness of God Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Vnto him be glory in the Church which is in Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON GALATIANS V. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts YE have heard before a discovery of some false Glosses and misinterpretations touching the Woman and her Seed Gal. 3.15 and the words I have read are obscured by like false Glosses But beside whereas we heard lately out of vers 17. of an Enemy a dangerous home-born enemy the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and our best friend withstanding him and contending with him The Spirit lusts against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other that we may not do the things of the flesh that otherwise we would do The words I have now read point us to a means how this
mind the lofty thoughts of our own power and strength Isa 2. Before he come our mind riseth with every good duty we perform this or this I did my power my wisdom c. All this while there is nothing ascribed to the Lord 't is plain the true Josiah is not yet come to the Kingdom 't is plain there is yet no faith or little in the strong one Prov. 20.6 But a faithful man who can find So long therefore as a man declares himself weak Christ and Faith in him is not yet come but when Faith is come when Christ is come the man then is said no more to work but Christ to work in him but his works are said to be wrought in God Joh. and that mightily Phil. Christ is said no more to live but the man in Christ Gal. 2.20 Whatever is of the first birth Wisdom Righteousness Beauty Strength c. it must be first corrupted and deformed before it can be accepted of God the hand of Moses must be first made leprous then healed Naaman the Syrian beautiful as his name sounds must be first made leprous before he could be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Moses is said to be The Lord hath determined to stain the pride of all Glory Isa 23. Before we can be strong in the Lord we must be weak in our selves weak in our own understanding we know not what to do but our eyes are toward thee weak in our own wills and therefore we must resign them up unto Gods will Lord what wilt thou have me to do Men and Brethren what shall we do The Reason is in regard of Men and God 1. Men are blinded by their former sins they are proud and if any thing that 's good befall them they ascribe it unto their own power their own wit c. As the fly in the Fable sitting upon the axle-tree Oh saith she what a deal of dust do I raise Adam would be wise c. Job 11.12 he thinks himself wonderous wise extreme witty especially young men who have least cause and therefore before they can be truly wise they must be brought to their wits end 2. In regard of God that he may take occasion from hence of glorifying his Wisdom Power and Goodness 2 Pet. 2. Wherefore I will arise saith the Lord Psal The Lord saw there was none Isai By this means the Lord brings the man to the acknowledgement of his duty Our eyes are toward thee when all helps fail not before if he can lay hold on a rush he will As we must know our own weakness so his power This every man cannot know for howsoever we all can talk of God and his great power yet they only know it who are in him Psal 56. In God will I praise his power my strength will I ascribe to thee His readiness to help they that know thy name who will trust in him whom he knows not The Lord hath hitherto graciously preserved me therefore surely all is well with me I have been strong in him this is no good argument Pharaoh perished after all Aegypt was destroyed Senacherib escaped the Sword of the destroying Angel but he was reserved for a worse judgement NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON EPHESIANS VI. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put ye on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil THese Times are Martial and Warlike those perilous times whereof St. Paul forewarns Timothy and Us 2 Tim. 3.1 2. And every one of us by our Baptism is registred in the Matricula we have every one of us entred our names among the Soldiers of Jesus Christ to fight under his Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and to continue Christs faithful Soldier and Servant to his lives end This consideration speaks the fitness of the Text. The words are part of a Military Oration vers 10. The Apostle one of the great Colonels under our Lord the Commander in Chief he exhorted his Soldiers to put on courage Here he exhorts them to put on Arms or according to the Military phrase he sounds an Alarm classicum canit he calls all the Soldiers of Jesus Christ to put on their Arms the whole armour of God wherein we note these truths 1. The Devil hath wiles 2. God hath a Panoply or compleat armour 3. Believers ought to put on that Armour 4. Believers ought to put on that complete Armour that they may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil That truth which is last in order of these words is first in nature for had not the Devil wiles there were no need of a complete armour to withstand them nor were there any need that the faithful should put it on but that they may withstand or stand against the wiles of the Devil therefore they must put on the whole armour of God 1. The Devil hath his wiles 2. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth properly way-laying or lying in wait Methodus imports a compendious way of handling any Art or Science or Trade 2. And secondly the Science it self because fraud and deceit is used in Trades and Arts. 3. In the worse sence it signifieth a compendious way to deceive and delude So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth an Art or Trade signifieth also fraud and deceit so the High and Low Dutch the Syriack word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is insidiae way-layings and layings in wait as the V. L. hath it howbeit others turn it insultus assaultings aggressiones violent settings upon a man to do him mischief so Diodati the French and Spanish The result of all is that by this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we turn wiles these two things are signified subtilty and strength both which Coverdale puts into the Text rendring the word crafty assaults and indeed one without the other were uneffectual subtilty without ability to do mischief were rather to be sleighted and laughed at than feared violence without wit to guide it though it might do some mischief yet would soon work its own ruine Vis consilii expers mole ruit sua But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprehends both malicious subtilty and power strength and craft to guide it non nocent singula juncta nocent For proof of this that the Devil hath his wiles and his importunate assaults it will appear if we enquire in whom and wherein he exerciseth and practiseth his wiles his deceits his importunate assaultings and if we consider that well I believe every one of us will bring in evidence to this truth in me and in thee and in him the Devil practiseth his wiles that he is operative in every one of us in our disobedience for whence proceeds erroneous thoughts in us false Opinions c. but from the false erroneous Spirit the Spirit of errour whence the deceitful lusts but from this wily Deceiver this grand Impostor Observ 1. The Devil hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 If pellis vulpina non valet assumet leoninam as now he hath done If Peters will not serve the turn then he draws Pauls sword If the Foxes skin will not do then he takes the Lions The Reason why the Devil hath his wiles and devises may be considered from the corruption of his Wisdom and Goodness wherein he was Created 1. His Wisdom degenerate into subtilty 1. In regard of the wiles themselves they are such as can proceed only from that subtle Spirit who is Simia Dei Gods Ape As therefore the Spirit of God passeth through all Spirits so Satan the subtle Spirit and more subtle than all the Beasts of the field he passeth through the thoughts and affections of men so far as the Lord will permit him and exerciseth his wiles and deceits in them He was an Angel of Light the Light in him is become darkness We may consider the Three Principles of the Angels Nature with Analogie to Body Soul and Spirit Body wind Soul fire Spirit light when by reflecting upon himself he saw his own excellency he grew proud and so lost his light then remained nothing but fire the fire of envy and wrath and that blown by the wind fecit Angelos ventos He was the most glorious Angel Corruptio optimi est pessima spiritual wickedness The Serpent was the most subtle of all the beasts of the field That which whets his subtilty seems to be his pride and envy at Mans future happiness Observ 2. Whither to refer the wily crafty and subtle disposition to do mischief whither else but to the Devil himself that Old Serpent called the Devil and Satan He hath his Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Serpent in the Original from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to search to try to prove to tempt The Serpent hath deceived me saith our old Mother Gen. 3. 2. The Devil hath in him a fire of wrath and envy and this he kindles in ungodly men this he blows and longs as earnestly to kindle as the Lord was desirous to kindle the fire of his Spirit Observ 3. We learn hence whither we may refer the errours of our judgements and the deceitfulness of our lusts See Notes in Ephes 4.22 Observ 4. God is not the cause of our being misled and deceived Deus neque fallere potest neque falli He is the very Truth it self God is faithful it is impossible that God should lie It reproves us all that though we know all this that the Lord himself deceives us not but Satan through the yielding of our own deluded hearts yet we are content to be deceived What though thou knowest all the wiles of Satan all his stratagems all his methods and wayes of deceiving that he useth in the world if mean time thou knowest not his subtilty which he machinates and exerciseth in thine own heart he hath his Dalilah in thy own bosome Exhort Be not ignorant of the Devils devises Sanballat would seduce thee into the place of Ono. 2. Pray to the Lord who is the only wise God Wisdom alwayes over-reacheth subtilty 2. God hath a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a complete armour What is here meant by Armour and Gods Armour The Reason considerable in regard 1. Of God himself He is the Lord of Hosts and hath all power and strength and what ever is in parts in the Creature is whole and in solido in himself 2. In regard of his Saints who are one with him they are in themselves weak and feeble such are the doves among the fowls and the sheep among the cattle and therefore since their strength is not in themselves there 's great need it should be in God Observ 5. Gods Armour is Armour of Proof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Armour against which nothing can prevail so ye may observe it with the Criticks in the Holy Scripture both in the Old and New Testament That whatsoever hath the Name of God annexed unto it it is alwayes excellent in the kind as Gen. 32.2 Gods Host which is either by way of distinction added 1. Because Satan also hath his host of Angels or 2. Else for excellency sake as 1 Chron. 12.22 a great Host like the Host of God 2. The terrour of God was upon the Cities that were round about them Gen. 35.5 i. e. the greatest fear and terrour 3. Exod. 3.1 Horeb the Mount of God either 1. By Reason of Gods frequent apparitions in it to Moses and to Elias or 2. for the greatness of it so Psal 68.15 the hill of God is the hill of Basan presently it follows an high hill the hill of Basan 3. So Ezech. 28.16 Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the voices of God Exod. 9.28 which our Translators well render mighty thunderings The City of God Psal 46.4 and 48.1.8 So the Poet called Sparta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine Sparta 4. Niniveh was an exceeding great City Jonah 3.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Translators put in the Margin of God word for word great of God or to God 5. As the Cedars of God i. e. tall Cedars Vatablus observes well that the Name of God added is a Particle of intention to increase the signification 6. Thus Moses is said to be exceeding fair 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Margin fair to God Act. 7.20 7. Thus the Minister is said to be a man of God implying what he ought to be an excellent man 8. Elias a man of God 9. Timothy thou man of God And thus people commonly look upon the Minister as he who ought to be such But I fear many look not so upon themselves who call themselves the people of God Whereas indeed there is the same reason for them they ought to be an excellent people The Saints that are in the earth they are excellent ones Psal 16.10 2 Cor. 10.4 Thus the weapons of our warfare are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mighty to God or exceeding mighty and the complete Armour the exceeding strong Armour 't is Armour of proof nothing can prevail against it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 complete armour By this word the LXX render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judg. 14.19 Sampson slew thirty Philistines and took their spoil He took their arms Chald. 2 Sam. 2.21 Abner said to Asahel Turn aside to one of the young men and take his armour Hence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Armour or Garments wherewith Josuah was cloathed by the Angel Zach. 3.4 I have taken from thee thy sins and cloathed thee with clean garments Chald. Paraph. with righteousness And we shall find that will prove the complete Armour the Armour in the Text if ye please to compare with these words Rom. 13.12 For what we here find called the whole armour of God we find there called the armour of light i. e. of God as God is light and Christ is light yea if ye look but vers 14. you will find the Apostle speaks home to our purpose where what he here calls the whole armour
was the Father that Man should be saved that he spared not his only begotten Son and so willing was the Son that he spared not himself but became obedient to his Father even unto death and ought not we to be at least as willing as obedient and that for our own salvation It 's but our duty for hereunto are we called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 a principal duty which the Sacrament requires of us and which every one of us hath promised and vowed solemnly and stand engaged faithfully to perform For as from the death of Christ the Sacraments have their power and efficacy saith the School so their principal end is our conformity to the death of Christ for know ye not that so many of us as are baptized into Jesus Christ are baptized into his death Rom. 6.3 And to speak a word in season because the Church now generally addresses it self to the Holy Communion Know ye not that so often as ye eat that bread and drink that Cup of the Lord ye shew forth the Lords death till he come till his life appear in our mortal body As they relate of Artemesia that she drunk up her husbands ashes in wine and erected unto his memory a stately Monument So the Church the Spouse of Christ erects a monument in her self of Christs death by her conformity thereunto For the Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ and the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 But good God how few are there of that crowd of men who call themselves Christians that dare follow Christ down this third step of his Humiliation For do not most men believe that it 's enough that Christ died though they die not that this work is done already to their hand or if they think it their duty do they not put it off till hereafter Let us eat and drink for to morrow wee 'l die Or do they not think to commute this duty and turn it into vain jangling and conceive that it 's enough for them to dispute it out whether Christ died for all men or no But as for conformity to his death few words of that or if words yet but words Nay men are so averse from this duty that I make no question but many would rather part with all their estates than their sins as Rabanus Maurus spake by experience of some who had left large Revenues and Patrimonies that they might embrace a Monastick life and die to the world yet had not left their anger and covetousness but would quarrel for the value of a farthing Nay many would not doubt rather to dye a violent death skin for skin and yield their bodies to be burned in defence of some tenent which they have chosen to hold in Religion than die the spiritual death unto sin For since men of divers and contrary Religions have laid down their lives upon terms of contradiction it may hence be concluded that one of them at the least died in defence of his own will not that he might loose his own will and suffer according to the Will of God so that under their favour who think otherwise it 's no good argument this or that man dyed in defence of such or such a tenent therefore it 's a true tenent But if so few dare follow our Lord down this step to be obedient unto death Quid dicam in crucem tolli What shall I say of that lowest step of his Humiliation He became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross that painful that lingering that infamous that accursed death of the Cross So painful that crux is all one with a torment and cruciare to torment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there being then in use no torment thought so exquisite But si grave breve no 't was a long a lingering death so that it might be thought a favour even to dye And ad damnum accedit infamia to so great so long a torment add the infamy of it 'T is the most shameful death in the judgement of all men Gentiles Jews and Christians whether we respect the quality of the Malefactors adjudged so to dye 't was the death only of servants and slaves and of those the basest and most notorious Homine libero indignum quamvis nocente saith Lactantius whence St. Paul was slain with the sword because a free-man the other Apostles crucified or put to other deaths because reputed servants Or whether we respect the place where 't was executed without the gate so base so infamous the Gentiles thought it Extra Portam dispersis manibus patibulum habebis saith the Comedian and the Jews account it the greatest reproach of Christans that they worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a crucified God Nay St. Paul acknowledges it a most shameful death by opposing Glory and the Cross had they known him they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory 1 Cor. 2.8 And shame and the cross are all one with him Heb. 13.13 and you 'l think no less if ye remember those who they are without the gate for without are dogs and Sorcerers and whore-mongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye Apoc. 22. And among these they reckoned the God of Truth the Lord of Life Nay add but to the shame of men the curse of God that it was an execrable death for cursed is every one that is hanged upon a tree and 't will appear to be the worst of all deaths of all punishmens the worst Summo supplicio i. e. cruce afficiuntur saith the Lawyer O who hath done this wickedness this great wickedness and with so high a hand sinned against God! who but Judas and the Jews they contrived and plotted his death and Pilat he adjudged him so to dye though he himself confessed there was no cause of death in him Alas poor Pilat alas poor Jew you bear all the blame but we we Beloved we are the men who have crucified the Lord of Glory we we also have been his betrayers and murderers For 't is not the Plot of the Jews only but the conspiracy also of all ungodly men Morte turpissimâ condemnemus eum Nor were the Jews the only men that crucified him but all the Nations of the Earth Apoc. 1.7 and we among the rest he was crucified in the great City of the Devil as St. Austin understood it which is spiritually call'd Sodom and Egypt Apoc. 11.8 For what do the Priests else but mock when they preach Christ one way and live another what do they else but imprison him when they know the Truth and hold it in unrighteousness Nay what do they else but crucifie him For they who sin wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and
Virtue that extends it self to the whole Soul every Grace and every Virtue is either an ingredient and part of it or else indissolubly knit and united to it Whence it is that the Cross of Christ is said to be made in part of the Palm-tree by reason of the manifold Vertues of it reported to be three hundred and sixty especially because by it we bear off every molestation and pressure of the Soul as that Tree supports and grows against the weight laid on it Hence it is called by St. Gregory the root of Virtues and the keeper of the Soul according to that of our Saviour In patience possess ye your souls as being kept only by it and lost without it And therefore our Saviour having exhorted us to bear the Cross whosoever saith he shall save his soul i. e. endeavour to save it any other way shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his soul for my sake or seem to lose it by crucifying the lusts of it the same shall save it for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul And as the province or duty is general so 't is perpetual it requires continuation without failing or interruption 't is enduring to the end 't is faithfulness unto the death of every sin We must not hope to put it to a sudden death to be crucified is moriendo mori 't is a long a lingering death to die often to die alwayes until sin be throughly dead in us And for this end was the holy time of Lent Instituted of old for the continual mortification of sin in similitude and through the vertue of our Saviours death As they report a Coffin taken up at Assos in Phrygia which consumed the bodies of those that were put into it in forty dayes would God it were as true of the body of sin in every one of us all that it were wholly consumed and mortified in these forty dayes well nigh spent pray God they be well spent Now besides this Annual Commemoration of Christ's Death and our conformity thereunto the Church hath weekly Fasts the fourth and sixth dayes in remembrance of our Lords betraying and crucifying which withall require of us our daily mortifying and crucifying of sin and our preparation also for our resurrection with him unto newness of life Especially this day which hath the proper name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to put us in mind daily to prepare our selves by partaking of his Passion that we may be partakers also of his Resurrection Mystical pious and holy Constitutions which prophane men whose Religion is Rebellion whose Faith is Faction contemn and trample under foot as swine do pearls who oppose the Churches Feasts and Fasts as superstitious and feast and junket upon our fasting dayes accounting our Fasts as superstitious and this day above all the rest like the Ophytae of old who adored the Serpent for being the cause that many mysteries were reveiled unto men For no doubt those who feast and banquet upon this day for a like reason seem to praise and applaud Judas and the Jews who betrayed and crucified Christ as upon this day Nay do they not herein imitate the Old Serpent who is confessed by his servants to be wont to keep his feasts with them upon this day Not that our conformity unto Christ's passion is this or any one dayes work as they vainly object but to put us in mind that he died for sin once never to die more in like manner ought we so to crucifie sin once that we never sin more A duty of the greatest difficulty called in Scripture the narrow way the strait gate the fiery tryal the labours or the throws of child-bearing the pangs of death the pains of hell Yet how difficult soever it is born it must be and that willingly If any man will be my Disciple let him take up his Cross will and take voluntary and free actions both But alas whom shall we perswade thus to take up his Cross Young men they are most what like the young man in the Gospel Mar. 14. they run away when they should bear the Cross of Christ they run after the youthful lusts they 'l bear it hereafter when they are elder yes when old age it self is a burden As for the elder many of them are so far from bearing Cross of Christ that by neglect or ill example or downright Precept a dreadful thing to consider they train up novices while their hearts are tender in a contrary mind unto Christ Jesus they glory in the outward Cross and are enemies to the inward but these are prophane men Nay among pretenders to Religion are there not some who suffer as evil doers and busie bodies not as Christians Or if they bear the Cross of Christ yet not inwardly not willingly but outwardly and by constraint Popular applause makes them seem religious and mortified men as the people compelled Simon whose name sounds Obedience to bear the Cross after Christ Others despise the Cross as foolishness what need they bear it Christ has born it for them Others take offence at it and cannot endure so much as the sign of it but flee from it like evil spirits out of the Church out of the Kingdom out of the known world out of their wits out of any thing but themselves as when our Saviour went to suffer death upon the Cross some forsook him and fled others followed him afar off others confessed he was a Righteous Man smote their breasts and returned every one to his own way O quam pauci post te volunt ire Domine cùm tamen pervenire ad te nemo sit qui nolit congregare cupiunt sed non compati non curant quaerere quem tamen desiderant invenire cupiunt te consequi sed nolunt sequi saith St. Bernard Thus difficulty frights men from bearing the Cross which indeed most commends it For what is there in this world desirable and excellent but withall 't is hard to be obtained and clog'd with difficulty such is Knowledge and Victory and Glory And our conformity unto Christ crucified is all these and more 'T is the best knowledge the knowledge of ones own self the only knowledge St. Paul desired to know nothing more nay nothing else nor was there need for our conformity to Christ crucified opens all the treasures all the hidden mysteries of Divine Wisdom and Knowledge as at the death of Christ the veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom and the Holy of holies appeared saith Hugo Cardinalis 'T is the best conquest thus to be conquerour of ones own self to overcome death Death is swallowed up in victory to overcome the world the Synagogue of Satan is subdued by the word of Christ's patience Apoc. 3. Yea Satan himself is conquered by the Cross For whether of old there were or yet there be that vertue in the sign of the Cross that it could drive
nature could be the cause of patience Quia tristitiam dolorem secundum se abhorret animus saith Thomas Therefore when careful thoughts torture and distract the brain how to make use of evils past how to lessen and escape the present how to prevent or decline instant ensuing evils when fears and griefs lie so heavy upon us that we are now ready to yield all to desperation when the whole head is sick and the whole heart faint Isa 1. lest we should wholly sink under the burden of remediless evils Vbi dignus vindice nodus incidit prodit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at a dead lift our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ skilful of our infirmities and experienced of our sorrows he comes forth and shews himself a God a strong a present helper of the helpless in the needful time of trouble then he visits his soul-sick patients sick of discontent as he visited his love-sick Spouse Cant. 2.6 and so as he behav'd himself to her He puts his left hand under our heads and with his right hand he embraceth us 1. He puts his left hand under our heads when he supplies us there with strength to suffer above our evils and lest we should be stolidè feroces with wisdom also above our strength to direct us in our suffering to teach us how to profit by them how to suffer more how in the highest imitation of God himself to extract the Elixir of good even out of evils 2. With his right hand he embraceth us when he sheds his love abroad in our hearts and gives us a sense and palpable apprehension of it and that both in regard of this life and that which is to come 1. In regard of this life he comforts us with the sensible apprehension of his love unto us two wayes both 1. By his presence with us at our sufferings And 2. By his suffering with us 1. By his presence with us at our sufferings when so far he is from scorning our poverty or being ashamed of our shame that with his gracious presence he graceth and animateth and heartneth us against a crowd of enemies and what coward then dares not fight his Captain looking on Or like a good Physician weighing and measuring out all our bodily griefs and spiritual anxieties even to a scruple and chearing us up i' th' midst of all our agonies and like more than a Physician he 's able immediately to rid us out of all our troubles but that he sees and is glad to see his strength upholding and supporting humane frailty and striving yet and grapling once again with all the power of darkness and not overcome which he himself had foil'd and weakned and made fit and ready to be foil'd of us And had thy Jupiter Seneca no better a spectacle upon earth should he have look'd down from heaven than Cato cowardly Cato killing himself for fear he should be killed Our God hath a far more grateful object a Job upon the dunghil wrastling and wearying and conquering all the powers of hell and his bosom Devil too and in the midst of all his conflicts triumphing yea though he kill me yet will I trust in him Which confidence proceeds not from his presence with us only but also from his sufferings with us when as he bare our poverty and shame for us so he bears it with us when he sympathizeth and condoles and every way suffers our evils with us nay accounts them his own Why persecutest thou me Act. 9.8 when his Church was persecuted And surely 't is no small comfort to us when we are sick or grieved to have our dearest friend present condoling and suffering with us Not that our friends griefs or suffering can or ought to be causes of our joy and comfort we love our friend and cannot rejoyce at his sorrows but that his condolings his sympathies his suffering with us are arguments of his love 2. The embracements of his right hand comforts us with the sensible apprehension of his love in regard of his life to come when instead of our light affliction here but for a moment he puts in our hearts a desire and points us unto a certain hope of an eternal weight of glory at his right hand in heaven for evermore according to that of Austin Vis desideriorum facit tolerantiam laborum dolorum The strength of spiritual desires masters the sense of nature and bodily griefs Thus when the greatest evils of the meanest Calling are countervail'd and poys'd by greater strength to bear them and by greater wisdom to direct our strength in the bearing of them by the sensible apprehension of Gods love unto us argued both from his presence with us at our sufferings and his sufferings with us and by the impression of a desire and hope of a far greater good than these are evils It needs must follow that Christian patience is no dull or sullen bearing of evil as if a Christian were like Issachar a strong Ass couching down between the two burdens of temporal and spiritual evils Gen. 49.14 That 's rather duritia than patientia saith Thomas rather a stoical hardness and stupidity than Christian patience and hardiness but a joyful a chearful a glorious suffering and overcoming of evils Rom. 5.2 3. we rejoyce in hope of the glory of God that 's not enough and not only so saith our Apostle but we glory in tribulations also Give me now your poorest and most abased so he be a Christian man and let the seat of scorners fill their mouths with all their tartest and their quaintest scoffs Let the drunkards make their songs upon him Let them all combine in one and the Devil with them and whet their wits and tongues and swords and all exquisitely and maliciously to persecute him whom God hath placed in the meanest condition of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he 's able to bear them all Could they weary him yet can they weary his God also he bears them not alone God bears them with him as he bare them for him He 's strong and able joyful and glorious to bear them all but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Christ that strengthens and inwardly enables him If there be matter of rejoycing amongst the evils of the meanest Calling a new kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surely here 's matter of contentment in the good of the meanst Calling Our second kind of Precepts therefore are of contentment in the meanest condition of life Be content with what ye have Heb. 13.5 or with things present what are they no great matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 food and raiment 1 Tim. 6.3 as Paul specifieth elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no dainties any thing that will but nourish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no courtly soft raiment no gaudy apparel any thing that will but cover the body as St. Chrysostom observes out of those words For indeed victus and amictus divitiae Christianorum food and raiment 't is all a
an Island made a dunghil by the wickedness of those who live in it Shame and bashfulness of old covered the walking graves they were afraid to discover their sins but sin through custom is grown bold and openeth the Sepulchre The Pharisees were Sepulchres but covered Yet will these men be accounted Christians and religious though he who bridleth not his tongue that mans religion is in vain Jam. Only men have learned to cover their Sepulchres with beautiful names as lascivious talk mirth rayling or slander zeal c. But if thou hear any belching out oaths lies slanders whatever he pretends doubt not to say of him his throat is an open sepulchre If the works be naught and the speech prophane no question but the heart is rotten That which comes out of the man desiles the man though Marshal saith Lasciva est nobis pagina vita proba est Our book is wanton but our life honest 'T is impossible Nothing comes out of the sack but was before in the sack saith the French Proverb and a more certain speech out of the mouth of truth it self Ex abundantia cordis os loquitur out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Repreh 4. Those who crucifie Christ again and bury him again Truth is faln in the street and equity cannot enter mercy goodness love righteousness peaceableness long suffering c. where are they to be found above ground They are only names among us As for the things themselves they are dead and buried they are no otherwise than if an honest man were dead and buried he would leave a good name behind him and so do these For these things the Lord hath a controversie with the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth nor mercy nor knowledge of God in the land What no truth Veritas in profundo Truth lies hid as in a pit it lyes dead and buried saith Democritus 'T is buried under the gainful sin of lying Mercy is buried under oppression cruelty and blood-thirstiness The knowledge of our God that 's seen in doing judgement and justice judging the cause of the poor and needy in doing no violence to the stranger the fatherless and the widow Is not this to know me saith the Lord Jer. 22 Now if we make fartherless and make widows in the Land can we be said to have any knowledge of God in the Land O Beloved for these things the Lord hath a controversie with his people because there is no truth no mercy no knowledge of God in the land they are dead and buried By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery they break out and blood toucheth blood c. Therefore shall the land mourn and every one that dwells therein shall languish Hos 4.12 13. Exhort Let us as Thomas saith to his fellow Disciples Let us go and dye with him so may I to you go and be buried with him 1 Sam. 22.1 2 3. We read that David went into the cave of Adullam and when his brethren and all his fathers house heard it they went down thither to him and every one that was in distress and every one that was in debt and every one that was disconsolated gathered themselves unto him and he became their Captain Thither the miserable men resort let us go to the true David into the Cave into the Sepulchre of the true David we are of his fathers house and he is not ashamed to call us brethren we are all qualified enough we are in distress we are in debt The Lord forgive us our debts and we are or may be bitter in soul O let us descend into our Saviours Grave and he 'l become our Captain the captain of our salvation By this means all our debts will be discharged and we shall be free-men being buried with him Our old man shall be crucified with him that the body of sin may be destroyed that henceforth we may not serve sin A Coffin taken up at Assos in Phrygia consumed the bodies of all put into it in forty days Plin. lib. 36. chap. 17. and such is our Lords grave if we be buried with him Consider what thy lusts are they are earthly they are carnal they are dust and to dust they must return they ought to be serpents food Esay And shall they be thy food wilt thou feed on carion or a dead carcase Thy meat and drink ought to be to do the will of thy father which is in heaven And dost thou prefer the swines husks before the plenty of thy fathers house Sign Art thou buried with Christ thou art not yet dead thou will say that Christ died for thee and gave himself for thee and the life that thou livest in the flesh thou livest by the faith of the Son of God who died for thee and gave himself for thee Gal. 2.20 Thou believest well if thou so believest as the Apostle did But Beloved we are all of a very easie belief and soon brought off to credit any thing that God hath promised or Christ hath done or suffered for us quae volumus facilè credimus but to believe that we must be obedient to his death die with him be crucified with him and be buried with him Indeed to believe we must do any thing but believe here here we stick here to be sure the believer will not make overmuch haste Thou hast not yet suffered unto blood striving against sin thou hast not let out the blood of the earthly life in the blood is the life thereof and poured it on the earth as dust thy sin must be first dead before thou bury it thou must not bury thy self alive or bury thy self by strong imagination Moses smote the Aegypitian and buried him in the sand Exod. 2. he smote not the Hebrew but only rebuked him it is not the killing or the burying of thy self but of thy sin that the Lord requires of thee If thou be dead and buried with Christ thou will bring forth fruit except a grain of wheat be cast into the earth and die it remaineth alone This was signified by the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifieth embalming and wheat lying dead and buried in the ground I doubt not but many there are and would be who would lay down their natural lives that they might be Christs Disciples But now the question is and I know not how they will answer it how can they be Christs Disciples when they are dead and have laid down their natural lives Luk. 14.26 Love covers the multitude of sins by it we cover other mens sins De mortuis non nisi bonum by it our own sins are covered Psal 32. and blessed are they whose sins are covered but then there they may be it 's presently added and in whose spirit there is no guile Many things are forgiven her for she loved much Christ was buried in a new Sepulchre The earnest desire of Jacob was bury me not in Aegypt Neither
things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto Glory to make the Captain of our Salvation perfect through Sufferings Heb. 2.9 10. Wherefore Beloved in the Lord Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that easily besets us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God 2. The Colossians were raised with Christ For the unfolding of this we must first know what the Resurrection here mentioned is And then 2. How the Colossians may be said to be raised with Christ 1. The Resurrection here meant is that which St. John Apoc. 20.5 6. Calls the first resurrection which is nothing else but a change from the death of sin to the life of Righteousness 2. But how were the Colossians raised with Christ As Christ arose from death to life by inchoation Profession and Worship as ye have heard before so the Colossians and all the Faithful with them are raised from sin the true death of the soul unto righteousness which is the true life so much the Apostle teacheth us Rom. 6.4.5 We are buried saith he with him i. e. Christ by Baptism into Death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so we should walk in newness of life for if we have been planted with him in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection This Resurrection being in the nature of it a motion it is to be considered according to the terms or extremes of it or according to the tending way or passage from one term or extreme unto another The terms and extremes of it are two spiritual death and life 1. Spiritual death is a separation of God from the Soul as natural death is a separation of the Soul from the body Now as natural death may be considered either in it self or as proceeding from such or such a wound or disease even so spiritual death may be considered either 1. In it self as it is a privation of spiritual life and being dead in trespasses and sins Eph. 2.12 A being without God in the world Eph. 2.12 Or 2. As coming from this or that wound or malady of sin and thus so many several sins so many several deaths Thus Idol-worshipers are dead Hos 13.1 When Ephraim offended in Baal he died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wanton widow is dead whilest she lives 1 Tim. 5.6 And the prodigal Son was dead saith his Father of him when he spent his Substance with riotous living Luke 15.14 And so ye have a description of the first term or extreme of this spiritual Resurrection i. e. spiritual death 2. The opposite term is spiritual life the life of righteousness which accordingly may be considered either 1. In it self or 2. The causes of it 1. In it self And thus obedience and life are all one Deut. 32.47 Moses tells the Children of Israel that the observation of the Commandments is no vain thing because saith he it is your life godliness and life are all one 2 Pet. 1.3 His Divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness 2. This life may be considered in the causes of it So to know God is eternal life John 17.3 and to believe To obey is to believe John 20.31 to repent Acts 11.15 And the Prodigal Son returning i. e. the sinner repenting is alive again Luke 15. ult O that we considered aright that every act of obedience tends to eternal life And thus we have considered this spiritual Resurrection in the terms or extremes of it 2. This Resurrection being considered in the tending or way from one extreme unto another it is the passage from death unto life of which our Saviour speaks John 5.24 This passage from death to life may have reference to both extremes 1. From reference to the extreme or term from which i. e. spiritual death or sin This Resurrection is the crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 6. The killing the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit Rom. 8.13 2. From reference to the other extreme or term to which this Resurrection is the bringing forth fruit worthy of amendment of life Matth. 3.8 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 6.9 Such good works as accompany Salvation or are near unto it or touch or lay hold upon it as the word properly signifieth Such as are not far from the Kingdom of God Mark 12.34 And thus the Colossians are here said to be raised with Christ from the spiritual death of sin unto the spiritual life of righteousness Which because it is evident 1. by consequence Chap. 1. and 2. in so many words Chap. 2.12 let us rather enquire into the causes of this Spiritual Resurrection And these we may consider either 1. In Thesi as common to the Colossians with other Christians or else 2. In Hypothesi and in special belonging unto them 1. The common cause is God who raiseth the dead God the Father Son and Spirit for Man by his Fall is so deeply plunged and sunk in sin that not only he cannot rise alone but stands in need also of the whole Trinity to raise him Therefore the Lord raised up a witness in Jacob and a Law in Israel Psal 78.5 which because it is weak through the flesh Rom. 8. and made nothing perfect Hebr. 7.19 nor could give life Gal. 3.21 He raised up Jesus and together with him raiseth up the dead and quickens them And the Son quickens whom he will Joh. 5.21 and so doth the Holy Spirit also Joh. 6.63 But how doth God raise them by an outward or an inward Call for as in the last day the trump shall sound saith St. Paul and the dead shall rise so likewise in this spiritual rising from the dead the Preacher lifts up his Voice like a Trumpet and calls to every one Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead And unto this outward Call is annexed as the power and vertue of it the inward Call the voice of Christ speaking from him Hebr. 12.25 and lifting up his voice aloud unto us like a Cryer as to such as are dead as to Lazarus in the grave or as to such as are afar off Ephes 2.17 whereunto we assenting and believing arise from the dead and Christ giveth us life This lest any one should question Christ himself confirms it over and over with a double asseveration Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death to life Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they
that hear shall live But these causes of Spiritual Resurrection are common to the Colossians with other of Gods Saints who are risen from the death of sin There were two other causes more peculiar unto them whereof the one at home with them the other from abroad 1. That at home were Earth-quakes wherewithall the City of Colosse was often shaken by reason whereof Strabo reckons that City in his time among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the smaller towns of the lesser Phrygia which Xenophon almost four hundred years before him had called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rich and great City which then as yet had not been defaced and in part ruined by Earthquakes as afterward it was These Earthquakes we may well assign as an instrumental cause and means which the Lord used for the Colossians Spiritual Resurrection for as when the earth did quake and the rocks rent many bodies arose out of their graves saith St. Matth. 27 51 52. So 't is more than probable that upon the like terrours and punishments of the Colossians whence that City is said to have the name Coloss from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth punishment many souls arose from custom in sin as from their graves unto the life of Righteousness the ruine and destruction of the City proving the raising edifying and building up of the Citizens in their most holy Faith Thus upon that great Earthquake of that great City Apoc. 11.13 wherein the tenth part of the City fell and seven thousand men were slain the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven The Prophet Isaiah speaks fitly to this purpose When the judgements of God are in the earth the inhabitants of the earth will learn Righteousness Isa 26.9 The Lord be mercifull unto us and grant us such Grace that his goodness may lead us to repentance but if judgements shall be needful he sanctifie them unto us and vouchsafe them a saving effect unto us as he did to these Colossians So ye have the first cause peculiar to the Colossians 2. The second cause of the Colossians Resurrection more peculiar unto them was the good neighbourhood of the Seven Churches of Asia Apoc. 2.3 For as there is alwayes aliquid mali propter vicinum malum some evil from an evil neighbour so on the contrary alwayes aliquid boni some good from a good neighbour Such were the seven Churches of Asia to the Church of Coloss all good neighbours to it and surely they are our best neighbours who are most advantageous unto our souls as these Churches were For as the Vine ariseth by the Elm the Hop by the Pole the Ivy by the Oak the smoak by the stock and generally the weak in all kinds are supported by the strong even so the Colossians were raised up and supported by their stronger neighbours especially the Ephesians Philadelphians and Laodiceans and these latter and the Colossians helped one the other to arise from Sin unto the Life of Righteousness by the Apostles appointment as appears Col. 4.16 When this Epistle is read amongst you cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans and that ye likewise read the Epistle to Laodicea An Epistle I have seen under that name but I question whether dictated by the same Spirit Now 't is the Apostles Doctrine to the Ephesians That so labouring we should support the weak Act. 20.35 And now these Colossians according to our Saviours charge to St. Peter Thou being converted strengthen thy brethren they being themselves raised up from the spiritual death in sin unto the life of Righteousness They may help to raise us up also if we lay hold on their Example and make use and application of it unto our selves Observe and admire with me I beseech ye the unspeakable goodness and mercy of our God who would not suffer us utterly to perish in sin and death but so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to die and rise again for us That whosoever believeth on him should not perish in death but arise again with him unto the everlasting life If we examine the matter more accurately we shall find that our God had no motive without himself and that it was and is his meer Grace Goodness and Mercy that moved him to raise up the Colossians and us and all other faithful men and women from the death of Sin unto the life of Righteousness For although it be true that our God hath a prescience and foreknowledge of all those who are to be raised from the spiritual death and to be made conformable to the image of his Son in the Resurrection unto Life Rom. 8.29 contrary to their impious Opinion who conceive it altogether contingent yet lest he might be thought to see any thing in us deserving a Resurrection from the dead the Scripture saith expresly that we are then dead in trespasses and sins when this work is begun upon us and ascribes it wholly unto Gods Love Qui non invenit sed facit objectum suum it finds us not but makes us lovely as being then enemies when Christ died for the love of us But because it cannot be denied but that LOVE in the nature of it is carried as well to a deserving as an undeserving object though it is impossible that we should deserve any thing at Gods hand the Scripture therefore joyns to the Love of God his Mercy which represents not merit or desert but misery And both these motives ye have together Ephes 2.4 5 6. God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace ye are saved see how purposely he excludes all merit and hath raised us up together with Christ 2. Observe what is the most fruitful way of meditating and handling as all other actions of our Saviour so especially this of his Resurrection Omnis Christi actio nostra est instructio all actions of Christ and so this of his Resurrection are instructions to us not that we shall speak much of it as it was of his own person alone for so it is so evident out of the Evangelists story of it that all professing Christianity easily yield unto it But as the Saints and Holy Ones of God have been or else now are or may be followers and partakers of it Thus St. Paul taught the Romans and us That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so they and we should arise and walk in newness of life That having been planted together according to the likeness of his death we should be also planted together according to the likeness of his Resurrection Rom. 5. and 6. Thus he taught the Corinthians and us That God hath both raised up the Lord Jesus and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Cor. 6.14 And he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall also
15.14 I say unto you my Friends fear not them who can kill the body c. Luke 12.14 Thus here he speaks of those who are his Disciples and Friends She shall be saved by Child-bearing Observ 1. The married woman may be saved as well as the Virgin the fruitful and child bearing woman as well as the barren this may give a check to that boasting of natural Virginity It is true the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 7. That he could wish it were so with all as with him but he adds by reason of the present necessity And if Virginity had been simply the better state the Lord had not said It is not good for man to be alone for if so how had mankind been encreased and propagated in the world Observ 2. Child-bearing and procreation of children and education of them is Gods ordinance for the continuance of mankind and the seminary and enlargement of his Church and Kingdom 1 Tim. 5.14 And therefore the want of this due education hath been a cause of the diminution of mankind Vide Notes in Exod. 20. Honour thy Father The Bear takes more pains in forming and fashioning of her Whelps than many Parents take for the education of their children Observ 3. In the greatest extremity of women and when it goeth hardest with them when they bring forth Ichabods and Bennonies Sons of Sorrow and Affliction or when they miscarry when it is worst with them in nature it may be best with them in regard of Grace they may be eternally saved Mysticé By a Spiritual Child-bearing both men and women may yea must be saved Gal. 4.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you Axiom 3. Though the woman were first in the Transgression yet she shall be saved Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the Transgression nevertheless she shall be saved in Child-bearing Observ 1. Note here the Christian Prudence and discretion in the Ministers of God as they cast down through disparagement so they raise up with consolation as they beat down pride with one hand so they raise up confidence with the other though the woman must be no publick teacher of her Husband in the Church yet she may learn at home the way of Salvation Non Librorum tractatione sed Liberorum educatione Observ 2. Parents by their fall and rebellion shall hinder the Salvation of none who repent and believe aright to the end Observ 3. The Blessing through Christ far transcends the Curse by Adam Rom. 5. Observ 4. To have been an occasion and author of sin and disobedience unto others is no absolute barr or hinderance to the Salvation of true Penitents and Converts so good Gracious and merciful is our God even unto Rebels against himself even unto the Authors and Ringleaders of Rebellion that if they repent if they return to their Obedience he most Graciously receives them 2. The condition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If they continue in Faith Love Holiness with Sobriety 1. This condition puts us in the way of Salvation 2. It requires our continuance and perseverance in that way of Salvation Observ 1. There is but one way to obtain Salvation both for man and woman Male and Female Observ 2. This is General and common unto all that the people of God be Believers such as love God and their neighbour holy sober all this is necessarily supposed for here the Apostle requires the continuance in these In this way of Salvation we have divers steps 1. Faith 2. Faith that works by Love 3. Holiness 4. Sobriety So that there are so many Divine Truths 1. They who would be saved must continue in Faith 2. They must continue in Love 3. They must continue in Holiness 4. They must continue in Sobriety 1. They who would be saved must continue in Faith What Faith is this 1. In the Father Hebr. 11.6 2. In the Son Mark 16.6 He that believeth shall be saved Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Acts 16.31 Rom. 11.20 Observ This is the saving Faith 2. They must continue in Love What Love Love to God and men This is that Love by which Faith worketh Gal. 6.5 6. 1 Thess 1.3 4. The work of Faith and labour of Love which is the end of the whole Law 1 1 Tim. 1.3 4. Observ As there is a saving Faith so is there a saving Love Heb 6.9 10. Things which accompany Salvation for God is not unrighteous to forget your works and labour of Love c. 3. They who would be saved must continue in Holiness Rom. 6.22 Ye have your fruit unto Holiness and the end is everlasting life The end or reward of Holiness is the everlasting life and Salvation Observ As there is a saving Faith and a saving Love so is there also a saving Holiness Hebr. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 2 Pet. 3.11 12. What manner of persons ought we to be in all manner of holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God 4. They who would be saved must continue in Sobriety Sobriety is reasonableness and moderation in the use of all natural things with modesty and humility Rom. 12.3 Man ought to think soberly of himself Observ As there is a saving Faith Love and Holiness so is there also a saving Sobriety 1 Pet. 1.13 Gird up the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ and Verse 5.8 Be sober be vigilant Observ 1. By all this it appears that no men nor women are saved by Faith only The Text evidently proves this She shall be saved if they continue in the Faith and Love and Holiness with Sobriety 2 Pet. 1. The most precious Faith must have Virtue c. added to it Observ 2. It is not enough to Salvation to believe that Christ hath loved us and given himself for us No nor that he was and is the Holy one and the just no nor that he was temperate and sober surely Christs Love of us without our love of God and Christ and our Neighbour will not save us He that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be an Anathema Maranátha Christs Holiness will not save us if we be unholy and profane For without Holiness no man shall see God Christs Temperance Sobriety Continency Modesty c. will not save us if we be loose debaucht Drunkards Letchers Christ was not only a Sacrifice for Sin but also an example of godly life we have no benefit of his Sacrifice unless we be Followers of his Life we are not said to be saved by Christs death but by his Life Rom. 5.10 Repreh Those who save all this labour by a false Faith an imaginary Faith a Faith without Love without Holiness without Sobriety Christ they say hath
beautiful and render those who act them such then are evil works ugly and deformed and make those who do them such in the eyes of God and good men Repreh This justly reproves our blind eyes who look upon these beauties and those wherein they are as uncomely and without beauty as Isai 53.2 reports the opinion of the Church concerning him who is the fairest of ten thousand he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and although the adorning of a meek and quiet spirit be in the sight of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a garment of great price 1 Pet. 3.4 yet it 's a dress quite out of fashion and men and women are commonly ashamed to be seen in it but the time shall come when that prophecy of Isa 3.18 shall be fulfilled when the Lord shall take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments c. and their men shall fall by the sword c. and Chap. 4.1 Seven women shall take hold of one man c. vers 2. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious the words are otherwise to be rendered the branch of the Lord his Christ shall then be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for beauty and glory That which was esteemed deformity before shall then be esteemed beauty and glory Exhort To adorn our selves with the beauty of holiness with the ornaments of good works how doth every one endeavour to be as fine as a bride It is the ambition of every one even the meanest the Maid will be as fine as her Mistris and every one will be called Lady and as gay as a Lady she will be There is an honour that every one is capable of an honour that comes of God only even Christ himself who to believers is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honour 1 Pet. 2. Marg. There is a perfection of beauty the beauty of good works fair and beautiful works whereof every one may be partaker Zion the Church is the perfection of beauty Psal 50.2 and God's comliness is perfect Ezech. 16.14 and God's will is and the Apostle prays for the fulfilling of it that we may be filled with the fruits of righteousness Phil. 1.11 And our Lord gave himself for us that he might sanctifie and cleanse us and present us without spot or wrinkle or any such thing This is the beauty which the Lord requires to be in his believers 1 Tim. 2.9 10. as women professing Godliness with good works for the obtaining of this beauty the Apostle exhorts the Philippians 4.8 9. and the Psalmist prays Psal 90.16 17. Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it Rom. 13.13 2. Good works are profitable unto men A thing is said to be profitable which is useful or conducing as a means to the end as Physick is a means to procure health Now a means commodious to an end is either 1. Such as without which the end cannot be obtained as a ship to pass the Seas or 2. Such as without which the end may be attained unto as a staff is profitable for a journey but not necessary If therefore it be here enquired in what degree of profitabless good works are here to be understood I doubt not to affirm that the former degree is here meant and so good works are so profitable unto men that without them men obtain not their end Now the end is either Mediate or Ultimate 1. Mediate and that is Faith whereunto men are won by good works 1 Cor. 9.19 20 21. 1 Pet. 3.1 2. 2. The Ultimate end is also advanced by good works in respect of this Faith it self is a work Phil. 1.6 which tends unto the end even the salvation of our souls Hebr. 13.7 whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation and what end is that 1 Pet. 1.9 the salvation of their souls and is there not an higher end advanced by these surely there is even the glory of God Mat. 5. The reason why good works are profitable unto men may appear from hence that they are of the same nature with the life and salvation it self Joh. 3.36 He that believeth on the Son hath the everlasting life And therefore the Apostle calls good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6.9 Good works are the old way of the Lord wherein he hath appointed Abraham and all the sons of Abraham to walk Gen. 18.19 And to walk in this way the Lord hath created us Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Object But if good works be profitable in such a degree it should seem that they may be rested on without Christ and by vertue of them eternal life obtained Answer We ought not to divide the effect from the cause Good works from the Author whence they proceed It is the Lord who works all our works in us Esay 26. yet not without us for we co-operate with him Acti agimus we act being acted by him Therefore the Psalmist who saith He that doth these things shall never be moved Psal 15.5 He saith Psal 16.8 The Lord is on my right hand I shall not be moved Or as St. Peter quotes the words out of the Greek He is on my right hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 2.25 for this end that I should not be moved Observ 1. Cui bono of what excellent use good works are Psal 19.10 11. Prov. 3.13 18. Wisd 8.7 1 Tim. 4.8 Observ 2. Note the sphere and bounds of good works They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not so to God Job 22.2 Can a man be profitable unto God and 35.7 8. Exhort Let us deal in this profitable Commodity See Notes on Psal 112. 3. They who have believed God ought to be careful to maintain good works Which for our more distinct proceeding we must resolve into these particular Axioms 1. We ought to believe God 2. They who have believed God ought to maintain good works 3. They who have believed God ought to be careful to maintain good works 1. We ought to believe God Belief is an assent unto a testimony which because it is either Divine or Humane answerably the belief is either an assent unto the Testimony of God or of man The former is here to be understood which the Apostle describes Heb. 11.1 See Notes in Gen. 15. Now whereas Faith is either in the Father Son or Spirit as we say in the Apostles Creed I believe in God the Father c. Faith is required in every one of these 1. Belief in God the Father is required of which the Apostle speaks Heb. 11.6 He that cometh unto God must believe that he it c. The words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They who have believed God Here is neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
not only mente tenere to hold in ones mind and think well of them nor is it a Believers duty only to dispute for them plead and reason for them To maintain good works is not only ore or lingua-tenere to hold good works in mouth and tongue To maintain good works is manu tenere to practice them whatever our hand finds to do to do it with all our might Observ 4. Works though good honest fair profitable unto men both to bring them to the faith and to the end of their faith the salvation of their Souls yet find opposition in the World they need maintenance and defence Yea because they are good Many good works have I shewed you from my Father for which of these works do ye stone me saith our Lord Joh. 18.32 The Jews were ashamed to own that for a cause but as many at this day because they have no true cause why they hate those who plead for Faith and good works accuse them of erroneous judgement false doctrine c. as the Jews accused our Lord of Blasphemy But St. John speaks home to this purpose 1 Joh. 3.12 Wherefore did Cain slay his brother but because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous See Notes on 1 Thess 4.1 Observ 5. Hence appears a great difference between those works which are commonly accounted such and those which are truly and really such and so to be esteemed Men commonly conceive of Liberality and some works of Charity as the only works which we call good works And yet indeed such a man may do and sin in so doing as our Laws make mention of a Corrodie which was an allowance to eat and drink given to some slow bellies and idle persons who refuse to labour God is infinitely more merciful than all men yet hath he commanded that he who will not labour shall not eat yea it is possible that man may do such good works yet perish 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. Whereas the true good works are of a far greater latitude Godliness is profitable for all things The true good works which have Faith for their Principle the Word of God for their Rule good will for their Motive Grace for their Strength the Glory of God for their End These are they that are profitable unto men to Faith to the end of their Faith the salvation of thei◠souls These are generally all virtues and virtuous actions which are common to all men and such as are more special and proper to certain orders of men both which are comprized in these two words which meet us often in Scripture justice and judgement Justitia est omnis virtus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Justitia in sese virtutes continet omnes Judgement I conceive to be every mans duty in his own place and calling And thus some conceive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be used 1 Sam. 8.11 which we render the manner This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you for so Kings Princes Governours and all Magistrates have their office in governing the people and such are their good works The Minister hath his duty also in teaching the people So St. Paul gives charge to Timothy Preach the word in season and out of season c. Be thou totus in his He must not leave the word and serve tables Act. 6. And although the Deacons office was about ministring to the poor yet they preached the word also This seems to be the Reason why the Levite must have no portion among his brethren his whole business was about the service of God And these are their good works Every one of the people hath somewhat or other to do in his own special place or calling his trade and profession of life and herein he ought to be employed And these are their good works Generally Magistrate Minister and People every Believer who believes God and Christ and so dwells in him he hath his good works He who saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk as he walked 1 Joh. 2.6 Observ 6. Hence it 's evident that our Church according to this sence maintains good works and that in a greater latitude than they do who most contend for them for they summ them up to seven kinds whereas good works are all virtues and virtuous actions of the Christian life yea we maintain them in a better place degree or order than they do who place their justification in them we maintain them to be the soul and life of Faith and inward justification not as the causes of the same as will appear if we compare the Text with the words before Observ 7. Note hence what is the true Faith of those who believe God See Notes on Gen. 15. Observ 8. Some there are under the means who believe not aright in the living God Act. 17.4 5. 2 Thess 3.1 2 3. And may we not averr the like of many at this day For although all know there is a God yet all do not honour him with right thoughts will affections belief love Rom. 1.21 22. yea Titus 1. ult Repreh They are therefore hence blame worthy and justly to be reproved who content themselves with a barren and dead faith without the life and righteousness of good works Jam. 2.14 24. Much more are they to blame who abound in all manner of evil works 2 Pet. 1.9 Surely there are such yet they will pretend good works also that 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word in the Text but in another sence for however they contend for good works and plead for them that they ought to be done yet in the winding up when they speak home to the matter their maintaining of good works is only in pretence and in words when there is no necessity of them to Salvation for they are justified and saved without them And then what remains but that all obedience and good works be meerly arbitrary and left to our discretion among the consequents of Salvation See Notes on Jam. 1.22 To maintain good works may prove chargeable we are said to maintain that which we are at charge withall If they who believe God be saved what need they maintain good works if less will serve the turn c. Vide Notes ubi supra Exhort To maintain good works There is a kind of maintenance in our Law used in evil part a seconding a cause depending in suit between others against Law But the maintaining of good works of Faith Hope Love Joy Meekness Temperance Patience c. Against these things there is no law Gal. 5. These have the countenance of Law Divine and Humane of good Angels and Men. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To maintain good works may be more specially understood and rendred as our Translators turn the word vers 4. To profess honest trades for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Eph. 4.28 To work with their hands the thing that is good and the following words that he may
of the present calamities now lying upon us that we may know whence they come for if Christ rule all things then is there no place for chance or fortune for howsoever all things proceed not from a like fatal necessity yet all things come under a certain rule and even those which are most contingent and free yet are they ordered and governed by him who rules all things Affliction comes not out of the dust Job 5.60 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord sends the Pestilence Levit. 26.25 he calls for the Famine Psal 105. he calls for the Sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth Jer. 25.29 O thou sword of the Lord saith Jeremiah 47.6 7. how long will it be e're thou be quiet put up thy self into the scabbard rest and be still he answers for it how can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon whereunto he hath appointed it The Lord commands not only the sword but the sword-men The wicked is a sword of thine Psal 17.13 The Lord encamps against Ariel round about Isai 29.3 And he sends forth armies against Jerusalem Isai 29.7 Ashur is the Rod of Gods wrath Isai 9.10 By fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh Isai 66. So that beloved it 's utterly a great fault among us that we are imbittered one against another and rail one upon another under the name of Malignants not but that many are so but while we vent our spleen against other we neither consider the cause deserving those miseries our own lusts the true malignant party within us Jam. 4.1 whence come wars nor look unto him who rules and orders these and all other things by the word of his power but like the dogs bite at the stone and neglect him that throws it This doubtless is the cause why our Calamities are yet prolonged and continued Isai 9.8 The Lord Adonai who bears and bears and rules he sent a Word such a word of Power unto Jacob his Church and People O how much better were it to humble our selves 1 Pet. 5.6 Mich. 6.9 Hos 6.1 If he be a Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where is his fear Mal. 1.6 The same question may be moved yet both to the Priests as here it is and to the people See Notes on Phil. 2. This reproves the Potentates and Rulers of the world to whom the Lord hath committed Power and Soveraignty they temper not their Government with lenity patience and gentleness As a roaring Lion and a raging Bear so is a wicked Ruler over the poor people Prov. 28.15 Zeph. 3.3 Her Princes within her are roaring Lions her Judges are evening Wolves The great God and Governour of all the world he rules and bears all things these will bear nothing at all and therefore the Wise Man denounceth an heavy judgement against them Potentes potentèr tormina patientur Not but that they may concern even inferiours also who have but little power in their hand yet according to their power are great tyrants the wise man implyes as much Be not saith he a Lion in thy house and frantick among thy servants Ecclus. 4.30 Observe the great difference between Christs Government and the government of his young Disciples and others Christs Government is with humility patience lenity meekness and long-suffering he bears all things who governs all things his young Disciples and others are haughty proud and high-minded impatient cruel This will appear by divers instances Matth. 20. the Mother of Zebedees Children his young Disciples James and John affect Authority and high place in a supposed earthly kingdom vers 21. But our Lord tells them they knew not what they asked it was an Heathenish Petition not a Christian vers 22. They who rule over the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them and their great ones exercise authority upon them but so it shall not be among you What no Rule no Government among them Not so Christ's Kingdom is the most orderly Government in the world and therefore we do not render the words so fully as they are in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie to abase their government to abase their authority to dominere or govern tyrannically so the Rulers of the Nations governed them And truly thus the case stands with all the Sects in Christendom every one hath a portion of James and John's high spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one would get above another and dominere and tyrannize over all other as at this day every Sect hopes to get up and suppress all the rest and do not some of us tread upon the pride of others as Diogenes did upon Plato's The meekness patience and humility of the Saints is seen when they are under as the Primitive Church for the first three hundred years or there about was humble patient meek gentle c. but when they had got Enlargement by Constantine they fell into Sects and Divisions among themselves one strove to get up above another till at length the Popedom advanced it self to that greatness and height wherein it yet continues Domineering and Lording over all as every Sect endeavours to do and would do could they but take away the Dominion from that Beast all and every one endeavouring to depose the true kingdom of God and Christ in righteousness peace and joy This was figured by the ambition of Adoniah 1 King 1. he exalts himself and will reign vers 5. and therefore vers 7. he gets Joab Captain of the Host to his Party the secular and worldly power and Abiathar the Priest a glorious pretence of holiness and with these he endeavours to depose David and Solomon and he rejects Zadoc Benajah Nathan Shemei and Rei and the mighty men which belonged to David these were not with Adoniah The ambitious Sectaries under colour of holiness endeavour to depose David and Solomon i. e. the lovely and peaceable kingdom of Christ and reject Sadoc i. e. the true Righteousness and Holiness and Benaiah the edifying of the Church in Love and Nathan the gift of God his Spirit and Shimei i. e. Obedience and Rei the Communion and Society of Gods Saints these are the mighty ones of Christs kingdom That is the reason that Dan. 7. the four great Kingdoms of the world commonly known by the Name of the four Monarchies they are compared to four Beasts v. 3. four great beasts came out of the sea which vers 17. are interpreted four Kings which should arise out of the earth But the Kingdom of Christ is resembled by a Man vers 13. one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and there was given unto him Dominion and Glory and a Kingdom Luk. 9.54 The young Disciples James and John would have fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritanes but our Lord tells them they knew not what spirit they were of i. e. what Spirit guided them
1. For although David were a King set upon Gods holy hill of Sion yet the beginning of the Psalm as also what followeth to have the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession To rule the people with a rod of iron and break them in pieces like a potters vessel To command the kings or judges of the earth to serve with fear and rejoyce with trembling To command them to kiss the Son and to trust in him and to pronounce them blessed that so do All these Royalties are proper to the King Christ and no way competible to David 2. Besides the holy Apostles cite and apply the words of this Psalm unto Christ Act. 4 25 26 27 and 13.33 3. Lastly many of the Jews themselves acknowledge that this Psalm speaks of the promised Messiah We shall first consider Gods owning of his Son where we shall first shew in what sence Christ is the Son of God and the Angels are not So a Son of God may be considered 1. Generally or largely 2. Specially and strictly 1. Generally and more largely And so it is said of the Angels that they are the Sons of God Job 1.6 The Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord And 2.1 and 28.7 The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God for joy These make joy in heaven when the foundation of the new world is laid when a sinner repents This Sonship is by Creation And thus Adam was the son of God Luk. 3.38 And we are his off-spring Act. 17.28 The Angels also are said to be Gods by representation and that both of spiritual nature and also of office as Magistrates are upon earth as Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods Hence they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 97.7 worship him all ye Gods and that more eminently than any earthly Prince 2. More especially and as the Apostle here takes Sonship for an eternal and perpetual begetting out of the very Essence and substance of the Father and into the like yea the same nature and substance again so it is most truly and eternally removed from or denyed unto the Angels 1. whence we may observe that though there be many kinds of Sonship which the Lord communicates unto his Creatures yet the last described is not communicable to any Creature no not the Angels Angels and Men are capable of Gods Sonship by Creation Office and representation through the Grace of God yea men are capable of Sonship by adoption and regeneration but none of the eternal perpetual coessential Sonship but Christ that is his prerogative and peculiar for ever 2. Though some of the Angels excell others in Wisdom Power Holiness Dignity and Blessedness yet they come infinitely short of Christ in all these The very Seraphims hide their faces before him Esay 6.2 And all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the living creatures and Angels worship him and give glory to him Revel 5.11 12 13. 2. Thus far we have considered these words negatively removing them from the Angels as not capable of them Come we now to consider them affirmatively God hath said to Jesus Christ Thou art my Son c. In them consider we 1. The Fathers agnition acknowledgement and owning of his Son or his honourable Testimony given unto him Thou art my Son 2. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Fathers reason and confirmation of that agnition owning and honourable Testimony given unto his Son his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and mark whereby he owns him and proves him to be his Son This day have I begotten thee 1. The Father acknowledgeth his Son Thou art my Son That the Father acknowledgeth his Son appears by many Testimonies besides this in the Text and the neighbour words This is my well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased This Testimony he gave at his Sons Baptism and again in the holy Mount and Joh. 12.28 I have glorified thy name and I will glorifie it again As for reason of this Point as we properly call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a demonstration a priori from the cause there can be none alledged out of God because God himself is the cause and first of causes And therefore that only in the Text which I call the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby the Lord himself demonstrates this point I assign for the reason of it Observ 1. Here is express mention of the second Person in the Trinity even in the old Testament twice in the second Psalm out of which the Text is taken vers 7.12 He is both the King and the Kings Son i. e. the Fathers Son into whose hand David prayed that the judgement and government of the World might be put and his work hastened Psal 72.1 For the whole Psalm especially the 5 7 8 13 14 17. verses cannot be understood of the figurative but of the spiritual and heavenly Solomon So Esay 9. and 6. Vnto us a child is born and unto us a son is given Prov. 30.4 Agur saith to Ithiel and Vchal what is his name i. e. Gods name and what is his Sons name none can tell but Ithiel and Vchal one with whom God is and whom God strengthens Dan. 3.24 25. Where though he whom the King calls the Son of God the three captives call an Angel yet it seems to be the same Angel which delivered and redeemed Jacob Gen. 48.16 viz. The Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 And whereas Dan. 7.13.14 Christ is called the Son of man yet that is not only or mainly in relation to his future incarnation but because he is the Son of the heavenly man or man who is in heaven that is of God himself as our blessed Saviour speaks Joh. 3.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for there is a twofold man an earthly and an heavenly man 1 Cor. 15.47 48. And if there ad not first been a man in heaven as one argues well how could there have been a man on earth Created after his Image or Similitude Gen. 1.26 27. Yea the Knowledge of the Son of God is as ancient as any Revelation concerning God Gen. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is expounded Psal The Lord in the beginning i. e. in filio and in wisdom hast thou made them all Joh. 8.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 principium quod sic M. Scri. V. L. dixi vobis Observ 2. This makes exceedingly for the confirmation of the Christian Faith Christian Religion is no novel no new Religion as some Hereticks charged it There neither is nor hath been any other name by which we can or could or ever shall be saved than Jesus Christ yesterday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to day and the same for ever Observ 3. Observe howsoever men have despised the Son of God Isai 53.3 Yea he was in the world and the world knew him not he came to his own and his own received him not Joh. 1.10 11. Yea howsoever he were evil intreated by
not so for we never read that he was sick or that he laughed because these are not common to all men for some are of so happy a constitution of body and mind and healthful that they are never sick nor is that so generally true that the Philosophers should define a man by it unless it be meant of the power to laugh because some are reported very seldom or never to have laughed and were therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But a more special reason there was why our Lord Jesus never laughed Among the manifold ends of his incarnation this was one and a principal one he came to be an example unto us of mortification and therefore though the Scripture propound him to us to be followed as our pattern in Love John 15. Eph. 5. in humility and meekness Matth. 11.28 John 15. S. Peter singles out mortification as that wherein he is principally to be imitated 1 Pet. 2 21. Hence we understand that though Christ according to his Divine nature be the power of God and wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.24 yet as he takes part of flesh and blood he partakes also of the infirmities and frailties of flesh and blood as to us a child is born Esay 9. So as a child he is said to be weak 2 Cor. 13.4 We are weak with him and he is said not to know some things as a man Object But some will say what need any one labour to prove that Christ was incarnate or made man this Article of Faith is so well known that it needs neither proof nor explication No although it were well known and to all yet the declaration of it were not needless for things well known are commanded yet to be declared as the Passover Exod. 12.26 27. Christs death 1 Cor. 11. Shew forth the Lords death until he come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But what if we say that Christ's incarnation is not yet well known Then surely it will be needful to explain it and declare it Now certain it is that Christ's incarnation is not well known to all for mysteries great mysteries are properly of things hidden See Notes on Matth. 13.11 Do ye not read of a Mystery of God and of Christ Col. 2.2 which Paul very highly esteemed of Eph. 3.4 Now Christs incarnation is a mystery and therefore not so well known as men commonly conceive 1 Tim. 3.16 Great is the mystery of godliness God made manifest in the flesh c Beloved all which is commonly known and spoken of Christs incarnation as his manifestation in the flesh amounts not to a mystery but is so easie that a child of eight or nine years old may understand it and if they who call themselves the Ministers of the Gospel teach the Doctrine of Christs incarnation no otherwise I know not how they will approve themselves such as they would be accounted 1 Cor. 4.1 It is a Mystery of Godliness Christ made manifest in the flesh Christs taking part of our flesh and blood I say of our flesh and blood for whereas a main benefit is here intended to the children of God if he took flesh only in his humane person what would that profit the children what benefit to you and me ye remember John 15.45 Abide in me and I in you and he that abideth in me and I in him c. There is a mutual communication and participation between Christ and those that are Christs and therefore when he takes part of flesh and blood with us and becomes man he mans us with himself inwardly and outwardly 1. Inwardly and that passively with a soft meek suffering spirit 2. Actively imparting to us an heart of flesh Ezek. 11.19 and 36.26 Zach. 12.10 This is no other than that like mind of suffering wherewith the Apostle exhorts us to arm our selves for the spiritual battel 1 Pet. 4.1 He suffers of us and in us for our sins cause with us and bears all the weakness and injuries of flesh and blood in not resisting sin yet in conspiring with it Gal. 3.1 2 3. James 5.6 Ye have condemned and killed the just one i. e. the Lord Jesus Christ Rev. 13.8 The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Esay 53.5 He was wounded of our transgressions and bruised of our sins and iniquities He suffers with us hath a sympathy and fellow-feeling with us when we suffer sorrows for our sins or failings and the remaining of our enemies In all your afflictions he was afflicted Psalm 80.15 also when we mourn for the absence of the Bridegroom Esay 63.9 Revel 3.20 2. He mans us also actively when he works in us what is pleasing in his sight when he speaks in us 2 Cor. 13.3 prays in us Rom. 8.15 We have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father praiseth in us the Father Heb. 2.12 I will sing praise to thee in the midst of the Church He takes part also of our flesh and blood outwardly when by his spiritual incarnation in us we become his Temple 1 Cor. 3.17 and 6.19 a portable Temple Verse 20. When we become members of his body Verse 15. yea of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.20 yea so far his as not our own 1 Cor. 6.20 yea so far as to maintain life of his flesh and blood He gives his own flesh and blood from Heaven John 6.53 Which truly may justly blame very many of us I fear who though the Lord Jesus bring his flesh and blood and offer us participation of it yet we yield to him as little of our flesh and blood as may be Thy Brother thine own flesh and blood hath offended thee now what saith the Spirit of Jesus Put on as the elect of God bowels of mercy forgiving one another c. Col. 3.12 13. He that is not ashamed to call thee Brother he inwardly speaks unto thee to shew compassion towards thy Brother he tells thee vengeance is not thine but his But dost thou reply flesh and blood cannot endure such an affront such an injury Nor shall flesh and blood enter the Kingdom of God Many are content that Christ should take part of their flesh ond blood so far as to take away their sins or rather to cover their sinful flesh and blood with his holy flesh and blood but remember that though men bless themselves c. Esay 32.1 There is a woe denounced to the covering that is not of his spirit Esay 30.1 Exhort Let us yield our flesh and blood unto the Lord Jesus let him take part of us what is it unto us if he take part of all other if not of us receive him If he have taken part of our flesh and blood then is he in us and if Christ be in us the body is dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8.10 Christ if so in us is not idle in us but works in us the spiritual Circumcision Col. 2.11 So that wheresoever and in whomsoever
wherein they are as S. Paul did 1 Cor. 9.20 Some are Professors i. e. Jews He who hath attained unto the true freedom to the Professors he becomes as a Professor some think they are bound by their own strength to be obedient unto the Law to become unto such as one of them to them who account themselves free from the Law and without as one without the Law What should a man be a Libertine Should he rant because others rant No the Apostle having said to them who are without the Law as without the Law adds though under the Law unto Christ There are some weak ones even as babes and children to them he became as weak So did the Apostle to the Galatians Gal. 4.19.20 They were children he speaks to them as unto children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I desire to be with you and change my voice as a Nurse doth to a child 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 1 Cor. 3. to speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as mothers use diminutives to their little ones so the Lord calls Israel by the name of Jeshurun i. e. Rectule from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my little right one Esay 44.2 Observ 5. Take notice then how near the Lord Jesus is unto all those who are willing towards him and towards his righteousness That appears from the word in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is a near neighbour to us Deut. 4.7 The word is near thee Rom. 10.8 9 10. Cant. 2.9 He dwells in our house of clay Job 19. appears in our flesh and blood as John 1.14 He looks through the windows His eyes are intentive upon us observing what we do and what we suffer Flourishing or blossoming Where-ever he takes part of flesh and blood he discovers himself in fruitfulness Through the Lattices He lets in light into our souls for such light belongs to the children as through a glass darkly 1 Cor. 13.12 Observ 6. Take notice what a mighty Divine power inhabits our humanity even the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the indwelling Divinity the Christ the power of God He lays hold of us if we be the Seed of Abraham see what a blameless holy sober just patient long-suffering humble meek obedient life he lived among wicked men in this world he gave us an example and pattern of the same life and if we be the Seed of Abraham Believers in him he is the principle of the same life in us also for know ye not that Christ Jesus is in you unless ye be cast-aways He is in us to impower us to the same holy sober righteous humble meek patient long-suffering obedient life the life of God Wherefore either acknowledge thy self an unbeliever and none of Abrahams Seed or apply thy self to the same principle of life in whom thou pretendest to abide and dwell in him and he in thee for he who saith he abideth in him ought himself so to walk as he walked 1 John 2.6 It is not enough that Christ so walked for he therefore so walked that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. Exhort The love of the children constrained the Lord Jesus to take upon him our nature O let the love of Christ constrain us to love him again and conform our selves unto him that as his love inclined him to partake of our nature which was meerly beneficial to us so much more may our love to him incline us to him that we may partake of his Divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lusts Among all these reasons whether from the impulsive causes or from the ends for which our Lord took flesh and blood we find not one wherein the Lord Jesus sought himself or any self interest that which among most men is commonly the first mover and the last end that finds no place at all in our Lords so great condescent all he aimed at was the Will of his Father and the good of his Children Joh. 10.15 18. But though he aimed not at any end of his own but at his brethrens good yet no end he aimed at was that we should live as we list but unto him 2 Cor. 5. That they who lived should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that died for them and rose again More NOTES on HEBREWS II. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood c. Axioms 1. THe Devil hath the power of death 2. Christ took part of flesh and blood c. that he might destroy the devil 3. That he might deliver them that through the fear of death were all their life long subject to bondage In these words we have two Articles of the Christian Faith 1. That Christ was born of the Virgin Mary 2. That he suffered under Pontius Pilate 1. The Devil hath the power of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hitherto we have heard some causes alledged and implyed why our Lord took part of flesh and blood 1. The Children were his brethren for the sanctifier and they who are sanctified are all of one His love to his brethren inclined him as our Apostle now shews us the ends why our Lord was partaker of flesh and blood and these are in order one to other he took part of flesh and blood 1. That he might die 2. He took part c. and died that by death he might destroy 3. He took part c. died and destroyed that he might deliver those 4. He took part died that by power of his death he might deliver that he might be in all things like unto his brethren that he might be a mercifull and faithful high Priest The first end is implyed and considered only as a means to the second He took part c. that by death c. wherein are two things 1. That the Devil hath the power of death 2. Christ took part 1. that he might destroy him that had it and 2. that he might deliver those who feared Quaere What are meant by 1. Death 2. the power of Death 3. the Devil 4. how the Devil may be understood to have the power of death 1. Death being generally a privation is best known by what is opposite thereunto which is Life Now Life is either 1. Natural as of Plants Animals or Rational Creatures or else 2. Spiritual that which by eminency is called the Life of God in all holiness and righteousness which God requireth And therefore Death opposite hereunto is either 1. Natural or 2. Spiritual both kinds of death may be here understood 1. The Natural Death for God having said in the day that thou eatest thereof moriendo morieris by eating thereof Man became liable to death which became natural to his posterity And 2. That not only a separation of the soul from the body but also an immersion or as it were imprisoning the Soul 1. In a more gross inert and sluggish body of the Elements than the Soul was at first
weakness we rest not but are moved until we find help Esay 7.2 which sometime we seek where it is not to be found Jerem. 14.10 yea when men are sensible of a spiritual hunger they wander from Sea to Sea to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it The Lord whose name is the Counsellor Esay 9.6 He invites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weary wandering soul Matth. 11. unto himself in whom she may find rest help and deliverance from her weakness which is no where to be found but in Jesus Christ he turns our sorrows into joy John 16. Therefore his third daughter is called Hoglah turning about yea he turns our bondage into liberty and freedom and makes us Kings and Priests unto God the Father Revel 1.6 Therefore Zelophehad's fourth daughter is called Milcah i. e. a Queen This Queen is brought unto the King Christ in her ornaments her raiment of needle-work even the embroidery of all graces Psalm 45.14 And so he presents her unto himself a glorious Church without spot and wrinkle Eph. 5.27 And the King Christ greatly desires her beauty Psalm 45.11 Therefore Zelophehad's fifth Daughter is called Tirzah i. e. desireable and well pleasing as the Lord Jesus saith of his Church that she is beautiful as Tirzah Cant. 6.4 O Beloved if we look inwardly and seek and find all these yea or any of these in our souls how can we but love the Lord Jesus Christ our strong Redeemer and Deliverer c. Exhort To love the Lord Jesus Christ the strong Redeemer and Deliverer who delivers us from the Spirit of bondage and brings us into the glorious liberty of the children of God He among the Romans who was emancipated and made free by his Master from his slavery was yet ever after bound to be thankful to him and serviceable to him for making him a Free-man so that he was called Libertus the freed man of such or such a man and his master was called Patronus the Patron and defender of such or such an one insomuch as if any servant were ingratus Patrono unthankful to his Patron he was ever after bound by the Laws to return to his service again and since he knew not how to use the liberty vouchsafed him he was made to know his slavery again O Beloved if this were thought equal among that people in regard of their outward deliverance from an outward bondage how equal how just is it that all and every one whom our master in Heaven whom our Lord Jesus Christ hath made free should be thankful and more and more serviceable unto him our master ever to acknowledge our selves his Liberti freed by him to acknowledge him our Patron our Deliverer Defender c. Otherwise most worthy we are to return to our bondage and servitude S. Paul was very zealous in this respect 1 Cor. 16.22 He that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha He who loves not the Lord Jesus Christ so loves him not as not to acknowledge him his Lord by all Service and Obedience let him be accursed until the Lord come that 's Maran-atha until the Lord come to avenge himself of his unthankful servant and ye read wherefore he comes Jude vers 14.15 The Lord comes with his holy ten thousands his holy Myriads to execute judgment upon all and convince all that are ungodly c. who say They will not have this man to rule over them Luke 19. O therefore Beloved if the Lord have delivered us from this bondage from fear of death let us serve the Lord out of love and due thankfulness It was the Prophets resolution 1 Sam. 12.10 and let it be ours and it is the end of the Lords Redemption Luke 1.74 That being redeemed out of the hand of our enemies death and fear of death and bondage c. we serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives Observ Christ's deliverance is not of all but of those who through fear of death are subject to bondage c. he makes a great change in the man Here must be understood what is the true liberty Then I shall walk at liberty when I keep the Commandments Observ Those whom Christ redeems and delivers from the slavery of sin and Satan and from the fear of death those he ascertains and assures of the eternal life and this is the only assurance that 's true There is a kind of false perswasion whereby many suffer themselves to be deceived whereby men assure themselves of their salvation while yet they live in their sins yea before the fear of death hath fallen upon them Psal Beloved This perswasion comes not of him that calls us Christ by his death makes expiation for sin and by his spirit mortifies our sins and by the unction of the spirit of adoption the spirit of fear and bondage is removed Isa 10.24 where the deliverance from fear and bondage is compared to that out of Assyria out of Aegypt and out of the slavery of Midian Observ 1. Christ is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is the Deliverer the Saviour the Redeemer this is inferred from his act in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is his Name given him by the Angel before his birth Matth. 1.21 Isa 19.20 Act. 5.31 Rom. 11.26 Observ 2. The Lord Jesus delivers from death and fear of death and bondage indeed from all evils and the dangers and fears of them for in that he saves from sin Matth. 1.21 In that he turns ungodliness from Jacob Rom. 11.26 By the same reason he delivers us from wrath for sin is the incentive cause of wrath judgement hell and death therefore we are to wait on 1 Thess 1.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not who hath delivered us but who doth deliver us that is a concurrent act as he delivers from sin so from fear and wrath Observ 3. The Lord delivers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not those but these i. e. the children so he saves his people he turns away ungodliness from Jacob i. e. from the weak Church as Israel signifieth the strong Church from Jacob that struggles and contends with the iniquity that wrestles with the earthly man as Jacob did with Esau Note hence who may be said to be delivered from the fear of death even they and they only who were before subject unto bondage through the fear of death The Lord Jesus delivers such and only such these are only sensible of their thraldom who have been under the yoke of bondage such as have been wearied and heavy laden Christ invites unto himself who else but these are able and fit to prize their liberty and deliverance Observ 4. We learn then from hence what a change the Lord Jesus makes in these children whom he delivers from the fear of death we shall be able to discern of this if we consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what the terms are from which and unto which they
Pharaohs daughter c. 2. The thing 1. A servant hath nothing of his own what he gets he gets to his Lord 2. As they who were villains 3. What he hath is his Masters 4. What he hath or doth for his Master he is to give an account of 5. He knows not what his Masters mind is further than his work requires 6. He knoweth not what his Master doth Joh. 15.15 Servants have different employments as Davids and Solomons Every servant is not trusted with all his Masters goods Some servants are employed in all their Masters business so was Joseph so was Obadiah No servant is trusted by his Master with his wife 1. God's servant hath nothing of his own His servant David emptieth himself of all he might seem to have 1 Chron. 29.11 2. God's servant works not for himself 1 Cor. 10.31 cum Col. 3.17 3. What a servant gets he gets for his Master Thy pound hath gained c. 4. He knows not what his Master doth John 15.15 Jonathan shot his Arrows Herein Moses the Law-giver and figure of the Law differs from such servants as the Lord entertains into more intimacy under the Gospel such he calls his friends John 15. And unto these he imparts his mind 1 Cor. 2. his secrets and mysteries Now although Moses I believe was inferiour to few of God's servants yet by reason of the dispensation wherein he was as in order to the Gospel which had better promises he is said only to be a Servant Thus the Law brought up only servants under the spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 such an one acts all out of fear and Moses himself is described as an Hireling who doth all he doth for a reward 5. Some servants are entrusted with all their Masters goods so was Joseph and Moses faithful and trusty in all the house of God So Paul had the care of all the Churches 2 Cor. 11.28 No such Scripture concerning Peter 6. Of Servants some are admitted unto nearer intimacy than others are as Moses Numb 12. such a servant was John Baptist but withal a friend to the Lord Jesus Joh. 3. 7. A Servant abides not in the house always Ishmael and Hagar are cast out nor was Moses admitted for ever to stay in the house he must not go over Jordan to rule in God's house in the Holy Land this seems to be figured by Exod. 33.11 Moses though admitted to great intimacy with the Lord yet he departed out of the Tabernacle whereas Joshua departed not 2. Moses was faithful in all Gods house as a Servant These words bound the faithfulness of Moses he was faithful in all Gods house according to that wherein he was entrusted and that limitation is contained in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Servant That we may know how Moses was faithful in all Gods house as a Servant we must remember that a complete house consists of three combinations 1. Husband and Wife 2. Father and children whether Son or Daughter 3. Master and Servant And there is between every one of these as a sutable relation so likewise a respective faithfulness as between the Husband and Wife Father and Child Master and Servant for between every one of these there is either an express or tacite Covenant which while either observes to other they are said to be faithful There are besides these manifold other relations in the Church and Common-wealth and between them Covenants either express or tacite which require mutual faithfulness between one and other as between the Magistrates and the people and between one man and another Observ 5. This opens a noysom sink of unfaithfulness among the Sons of men in hac faece Romuli in these dregs of time 1. The Husband toward his wife his covenant and promise to her was That with all his worldly goods he would endow her yet those his worldly goods and hers also he prodigally wasts with riotous living leaves his wife and children to poverty want and misery he covenanted to live with her and renounce all others he renounceth her and all women are to him as one On the other side the woman obliged by the like to her Husband proves unfaithful to him 2. There is a natural obligation and tye between Father and Child so that the Father is bound for that natural being he hath given his child to afford him likewise esse nutritivum instructivum to give him nourishment and education And the child is bound to honour his Father and Mother but what an universal breach of faithfulness is here The Parents are wanting in their Duty towards their children and by way of requital the children dishonour their Parents Ezech. 22.7 And 3. The like neglect of faithfulness is in the third relation betwen Master and Servant And private Families being the Seminaries and Seed-plots of Cities Common-wealths and Kingdoms from thence issues the breach of common trust and faithfulness among men which all complain of at this day and I believe not without just cause since the character of the iron age Non hospes ab hospite tutus Non socer a Genero fratrum quoque gratia rara est No Servant or nearest Friend is admitted to that degree of intimacy by his Lord that he should allow him familiarity with his wife Joseph preferred as highly in Potiphar's house Gen. 39.6 yet vers 9. He hath kept nothing back from me but thee because thou art his wife and John Baptist so highly preferred by our Lord saith He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom c. John 3.28 29. but the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth him S. Paul durst not appropriate 1 Cor. 1 14.15 but endeavours to present a chast Virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11. Repreh 1. The unfaithful servant who is trusted by the Lord with all his house he will yet presume to be unfaithful towards his Spouse either 1. Arrogating her to himself Or 2. Forcing her against her will 1. Arrogating her to himself as calling her after his own name as his Church his people Repreh 2. Those who force the Spouse and commit a spiritual rape on the consciences of people Paul was a more faithful servant 2 Cor. 1.24 though 2 Cor. 11.28 He had care of all the Churches Observ Note here the Dignity of God's people they are his servants the servant receives his Dignity from the Honour and Dignity of his Master and he riseth with him We are the servants of the God of Heaven Ezra Moses rejected all Honours even the greatest among men to be the servant of the Lord Hebr. 11. See the high promotion of Christ's servant Rom. 6.19 Observ Note here the difference between Moses himself in his dispensation and the Apostles of Christ in theirs he is called as he was a servant the Law brought forth John Baptist as a friend John 3. the Apostles were friends of Christ the Gospel brings forth Friends yea Brethren Sisters Mothers Matth. 12. These are no legal Titles
Shimei to curse David But how did the Lord command this only by giving occasion to Shimei by Davids low estate to be bold without fear of punishment to curse him for it truly and properly God had given any such command to Shimei to curse David David should have sinned against the Lord in that being now ready to die he gave command to Solomon to punish Shimei for that cause because he cursed him with a most bitter curse 1 Kings 2.8 9. so that had David understood of any such command given to Shimei he should have commanded Solomon to put Shimei to death for obeying Gods command yea had the Lord given any such command to Shimei inwardly or outwardly to curse David God had been properly the cause of cursing and Shimei had been without fault who obeyed the command of the Lord and David had been the only sinner who would have Shimei punished for obeying the command of the Lord but it 's said expresly that God hardened Pharaohs heart and it 's said expresly that God turned the heart of the Aegyptians to hate his people and as expresly it 's said that he commanded Shimei to curse David both which the Lord only gave occasion to do and he only gave occasion to Pharaoh to harden his heart and what occasion was that read the story in Exodus 1. Ye find that the chief occasion was Gods lenity and gentleness and patience and forbearance towards Pharaoh which Pharaoh took as an occasion of hardening himself against all the commands of God by Moses and Aaron and by reason of the favour and mercy shewn to Pharaoh by the Lord which mercy Pharaoh abused The Lord is said to harden Pharaoh as I have shewn so a Father hardens his disobedient child See Examples of this Exod. 8.15 and 9.34 2. Beside Pharaoh considered the punishments inflicted that they were far less than the damage would amount unto from the loss of so many thousand mens labours which he enjoyed for nothing 3. Those plagues also befell his subjects not himself till the very last the death of his first-born so terrified him that he let the people go he then thought himself next 4. And yet another reason he had from his pride he thought it unworthy of him that he so great a King should yield to the commands of another God a God whom he owned not and that to his so great damage and loss and therefore at the first address of Moses and Aaron to him he hardened his heart by these seeming reasons as ye read Exod. 5.1 so that he would not yield to let the people go nor hearkened to the commands nor threats nor plagues inflicted on the Land but hardened himself against them all and in that hardness God left him now if by Gods hardening of Pharaoh we should understand any positive and real infusion impression or imparting of hardness then should God himself be the true cause and author of Pharaohs disobedience and sin which is no less than blasphemy to say yea how can God truly and properly be said to harden Pharaoh or any one in sin which is the consummation of sin when he doth not so much as tempt any one to sin saith St. James chap. 1. howbeit such an operation the Lord had about Pharaoh which did not exclude or hinder Pharaohs hardening of his own heart but if the Lord really and properly had imprinted and made an hardness in the heart of Pharaoh Pharaoh could not truly and properly be said to harden his own heart but necessarily he must yield to Gods over-powering of him and hardening of him and so remain guiltless of all that sin and disobedience wherewith the Scripture every where chargeth him To conclude this let us hear the judgement of one or two of the Fathers who may speak for all the rest Deus indurat corda non impertiendo malitiam sed non impertiendo misericordiam And again Obdurat Deus deserendo non adjuvando so St. Austin and St. Gregory Obdurare per justitiam dicitur Deus quando cor reprobum per gratiam non emollit And truly who impute Pharaohs hardening to God and not to Pharaoh himself they have a worse opinion of God then the Philistines had for they say Why do ye harden your hearts as the Aegyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts 1 Sam. 6.6 Observ 3. They whose hearts have been broken by the Law of God and softned by the Grace of the Gospel they may by unwatchfulness and relapse become hardened again if they be not wary The Psalmist Psal 95. exhorted those who by profession were the people of Gods pasture and the sheep of his hands and the Apostle here exhorts such as thought themselves the house of God and Christ yet saith David there and our Apostle here even to such a people Harden not your hearts Observ 4. Note hence the goodness of our God unto us he disswades and dehorts us from hardening our hearts why what disadvantage is it to the Lord that a man hardens his heart If thou sinnest what dost thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou unto him Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousness may profit the son of man saith Elihu Job 35.6 7 8. If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self but if thou scornest thou alone shalt bear it Prov. 9.12 Yet as if the mans hardness much concerned the Lord and he had some notable hurt by it here and elsewhere he affectionately exhorts men from it Why will ye dye O ye house of Israel O do not this abominable thing that I hate Jer. 44.4 Observ 5. The Apostle here as the Psalmist out of whom he quotes these words spake to those who were a divided people Heb. 10.25 and in a dangerous possibility of being hardened and therefore he saith Harden not your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural of such as were obedient and at unity among themselves the Evangelist saith they had but one heart Acts 4.32 and our Saviour Joh. 14.1 and 16.22 and of one mind Phil. 2.2 these were now divided and therefore they have more hearts then one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the people are at unity and of one accord among themselves they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people and the Jews gloried in those names and would by no means be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a nation though sometimes they are so called but that name they leave for the Heathen and uncircumcised But when they are divided from their God and are schismatical factious and divided among themselves the Lord calls them not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only Nation or Heathen as they understood it but Nations or Heathens So Ezech. 2.3 Son of man I send thee to the children of Israel to a rebellious nation The Hebrew words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
sin and iniquity as much as lies in them from generation to generation for children having no better pattern which they will follow than their Parents example they suck in their corrupt manners as their milk and insensibly drink in their wicked lives as Rachel is said to have stollen her fathers idols This is the cause of the ruines and destructions of Kingdom and Common-weals as the Lord is pleased to give an account of his dealing with the ten Tribes Their Kings took their pattern of iniquity one from other till at length they were carried away captive into Assyria 2 King 17. and the remnant were like them vers 41. And the like account the Lord is pleased to give why he rejected the Jews Josiah a good Prince left an eminent example to his sons after him who every one corrupted his way 2 Chron. 3.6 yea these ruines which have befaln this land were by Wise men foreseen in the corrupt manners of youth in places of education Exhort 1. Whoever have good Parents let them endeavour to inherit what is good and of God in them 1 King 3.6 2 Tim. 1.5 Exhort 2. To those who have evil Parents as the Hebrews had Let them not look upon what is next them for an example as the brute beast looks only at what is present but look higher at what is more eminent and excellent if none of own progenitors were exemplary in goodness Let us be followers of God as his dear children Eph. 5.1 For is not he thy father that bought thee c. Thus Esay bids us look to Abraham And St. Peter sets the Example of Christ before us that we should follow his steps for as Rivers farther off their Fountains are either brackish or soil'd and muddy So the more remote from the Fountain of life c. Aetas parentum pejor avis c. When Asa saw the wicked life of his Father Abijam who followed his father Rehoboam who imitated Solomon only in his Apostacy Asa looked beyond all these his Progenitors and looked up to David 1 King 15.11 Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord as did David his father as if he had had no Father intervening between him and David Amaziah imitated Joash but the Scripture implies he should have imitated David 2 King 14.3 Therefore the holy Spirit Ezech. 20.13 hath reference to the story in the Text The house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness and vers 18. I said unto their children walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers All flesh is grass Zach. 1.4 5 6. There is also reason from the infirmity and weakness of persons present whose lives are pryed into bodily presence is weak virtutem praesenten odimus semotam ab oculis quaerimus invidi The Pharisees would build the Prophets Sepulchres whom their fathers slew Jehosaphat is commended that he walked in the first ways of his father David 2 Chron. 17.3 David's first ways were rending a lion the devil a bear the flesh a Goliah the world Observ 3. Obedient and good children of vitious Parents ought if I may so say to seek to make God amends for their fathers sin to expiate as much as lies in them their fathers iniquity according to which the Jews said of a good man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exhort That Parents give good examples to their Children lest they being examples of sin they may be also made examples of punishment as these in the Text were The Fathers of the Hebrews tempted God proved him and saw his works forty years Hitherto we have heard the sins of the Fathers with the first aggravation they tempted God though they saw his works The second aggravation is taken from the continuance of time how long they tempted him and that is forty years These forty years are here added to vers 9. signifying the long continuance of the fathers in their sins but Psal 95. they are added unto the verse following and so signifie the continuance of Gods grief for their father sins And divers of the Ancients are of this judgement which reading also the Apostle himself approves of vers 17 18 29. But with whom was he grieved forty years c This diverse pointing of the words is very ancient but to whether of the two soever we joyn the forty whether to the fathers sinning or Gods grief for their sins the sence amounts to one and the same thing although differently applyed as I shall shew in the application of them both Mean time let us consider them as our Apostle applies them The number of forty is a mystical number sometimes of temptation to sin sometime of sin it self sometime of punishment for sin sometime repentance for sin I shall give examples of these 1. Our Lord was tempted forty days in the wilderness Matth. 4.1 2. 2. These fathers of the Hebrews sinned forty years 3. For their sins sake their children were to bear their punishment forty years Numb 14.33.34 Thus the people of the old world was wasted away and blotted out of the earth by forty days and forty nights rain Gen. 7.4 4. The same number signifieth also repentance and sorrow for sin And therefore forty days were allowed the Ninevites for their repentance The reason of this long continuance in sin may be conceived from consideration of the iniquity it self c. See Notes on Rom. 6.19 Observ 1. Sin lasts long and will continue long unless by the mercy of God through Jesus Christ it to be destroyed Iniquity burns like a fire Esay 9. and like fire it increaseth and goes not out alone unless it be quenched by the Spirit of God which is as water Joh. 4. and 7. It grows and encreaseth like the Crocodile which the Naturalists say groweth while it liveth and therefore God hath provided the Ichneumon to kill him c. and iniquity encreaseth and grows and would never dye But the good God hath sent the Lord Jesus Christ who out of meer grace and love to mankind by death destroys him who hath the power of death Rom. 6.6 Eleazer slew the Elephant 1 Macch. 6.46 Observ 2. From what we perceive in this number forty we may collect that there are many Mysteries intended by the holy Spirit in numbers such there are in the numbers of three and four and seven and ten and twelve and the compound numbers and as this number of forty imports temptation tryal of Faith sin punishment and repentance for sin so the number fifty notes remission and pardon of sin whence it was that the fiftieth year was the year of Jubilee Lev. 25. Observ 3. Some there are that continue long time in their perversness and unbelief and harden their hearts This was the condition of this people both in the wilderness and in the Land of Canaan against whom the Prophets every where complain Esay 1.4 Ah sinful nation a people laden with iniquity c. and 5.6 Why will ye be smitten any more c. Yet
in their hearts although their outward and ordinary demeanour were in a sort agreeable to the truth of God As the Planets are carried about with the common motion of the first Mover yet every one steers his own proper motion and therefore Jude v. 13. calls such wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever Exhort 1. To that which ye read Isai 46.8 Redite praevaricatores ad cor there the Lord speaks with those who return to their heart Psal 85. 2. They have not known Gods wayes These words are the second part of the Lords censure of these impenitent and unbelieving men and may be considered as the reason of the former why they erre in their hearts viz. because they know not Gods ways Quaere What is here meant 1. by the Lords wayes 2. what is to know or not to know them 1. By the wayes of the Lord are sometimes meant his Commandments sometimes his marvellous works undertaken and wrought for his peoples sake Sometimes mercy and truth which are all his wayes wherein he walks toward men Psal 25. All the wayes of the Lord are mercy and truth Sometimes the wayes of the Lord are those wherein he would that men should walk towards him Gen. 18. 2. No man can be said simply not to know these wayes of God for by Nature men know the Law of God Rom. 2. Nor can any man be said to be wholly ignorant of them but a speculative or contemplative knowledge is not here understood but such knowledge as is with affection and approbation and love and suitable to the truth and so Jer. 16. Thy Father judged the cause c. and was not this to know me saith the Lord The Reason why they are said not to know God wayes is because they are hardened in their own evil wayes for while men are unconverted and continue so they cannot know the truth of God Dan. 9.13 Observ 1. Some wayes of God there are which impenitent and wicked men nor know nor can know 1 Cor. 2.9 10. Rev. 2.17 Observ 2. The fountain of controversies in the Church when disobedient men dare undertake to lead the disobedint Coeci Coecos Rebellious and wicked men know not the wayes of God neither of his Law nor of his Gospel Jer. 5.4 2 Thess 1.8 Job 24 13-16 They have ears and hear not eyes and see not The Sodomites could not find the door Observ 3. As men by rebellion and disobedience come to be ignorant and not to know Gods ways so by obedience and walking in the wayes of God men come to know Gods wayes Thus God gave wisdom to Solomon 1 King 3. and to all good men Eccles 2.26 Vobis datum nosse mysteria Matt. 13.11 Psal 50. ult Isa 58.2 Coloss 1.10 Repreh 1. The great pains that many take in their disobedience to know Gods wayes c. who get in at the window like a thief Repreh 2. Who reject the knowledge of Gods wayes Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Observ 4. From the inference of the former from the latter whereof it is the Reason for they have not known c. Hence it appears that the wayes of God ought to be the rule of mens hearts Exhort Know Gods wayes and walk in them enquire as the Queen of Sheba Object How shall I obey except I know Means How shall we know the wayes of God Men are pointed unto different wayes surely there is a knowledge of Gods wayes which every man may have Mich. 6.8 Jer. 6.16 What is that old way surely it is that wherein our Old Father Abraham walked and taught his children to walk in it Gen. 18.19 in this way if we walk with joy and chearfulness that of Isai 64.4 5. will be fulfill'd unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. So I sware in my wrath They shall not enter into my rest Hitherto we have heard Gods censure upon the disobedient and unbelievers now followeth his final sentence against them So I sware c. In which words we have as the Logicians speak 1. Res Testata 2. Testimonium 1. Res Testata 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they shall enter into my rest 2. Testimonium I sware in my wrath Both these may be resolved into these Divine Truths 1. God hath his rest 2. Disobedient men shall not enter into Gods rest 3. God swears they shall not enter c. 4. God swears in his wrath they shall not c. 5. The disobedient men provoked him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so he sware in his wrath c. or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both The first of these and indeed all of them the Apostle opens more fully in the remaining part of this Chapter as also in the next and therefore I shall now speak briefly of it and the rather because being led by the Apostle's clew and method I shall have occasion often to speak of it The word here turned Rest is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth Rest and answers in the Psalm 95. unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is properly a repose after labour This is either 1. figurative or else 2. proper and real The figurative Rest the holy Land City Sanctuary Exod. 31.13 Ezech. 20.12 was shadowed in the Sabbath or seventh day so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2.2 See Notes on Matt. 24. ad finem Joshuah David Solomon These were all figures of Christ and the Rest they spake of figured the spiritual Rest which is Christ himself in the Spirit In Rest are two things 1. ceasing from labour 2. quiet repose in good This Rest the Lord calls his My Rest so he calls the Sabbaths his Sabbaths Exod. 31.13 And the Holy Land another figure of that Rest the Lord calls his Land Levit. 25.23 And all these and what ever other types there are prefigured Christ unto us who is the true Rest whom God the Father owns as his Matt. 17.5 This is my well beloved Son and therefore Isai 58.13 the Lord having enjoyned the keeping of a Sabbath he presently explains what he means by it even Christ himself Observ 1. Hence then it appears that Christ is the true Rest whereof so much is spoken both in this and the following Chapter and that the Father owns him as his Rest Observ 2. Christ gives the Rest Matt. 11.28 Observ 3. They who were redeemed and called out of bondage and Aegyptian slavery supported and defended against their enemies in order to a Rest may possibly through their own default forfeit and lose that Rest and be debarred from entring into that Rest 1 Cor. 10.5 Jude v. 5. The guests who were called must not taste of the Supper Observ 4. Many thousands of men and women may be deprived of this Rest and punished with the loss of it in one age O the vain confidences of foolish men who because God hath done some notable
but not Samuel in Christ's time who all these but not Christ and his Apostles these shall be rejected among the ungodly Ezech. 33.33 Then they shall know that a Prophet hath been among them 2. So we can allow Christ hereafter and for ever but not in our time It is not time yet that the Lords house should be built say they in Hagg. 1.2 Elias was to come that they all knew when he came they examine him by what Authority he baptized Joh. 1. The Messiah they knew was to come but when he came they must know by what Authority he did his Mighty Works They acknowledged neither John Baptist nor Christ present that they might take all the honour to themselves Tell us of sobriety spotlesness c. that must be in another world 1 Pet. 1.13 and 2 Pet. 3.14 Reproves the madness of the people who obtrude every new fangled Opinion of their own upon Christ Africa semper aliquid opportat novi Consol To the poor Soul frighted with the changeable condition wherein it is Jesus Christ is Jehovah he changeth not Mal. 3.6 That is the cause of my fear Nay that should be the cause of thy confidence in his Mercy though it be true of all the Divine Attributes that they are everlasting yet not any one of them is said so often to continue for ever as his Mercy his Mercy it endures for ever And therefore the Prophet having said I am the Lord I change not presently adds therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Sons of Jacob i. e. ye weaklings as Jacob is the type of the Church in the weakness nonage and minority of it as Isaac in the strength of it If Christ be mine enemy if he lay siege against us who can help us Our God is a consuming fire If Christ be for us who can be against us but if he be against us who can be for us Say unto the Righteous it shall be well with them Isai 3.10 When Joshuah besieged Jericho he gave special charge that Rahab the Harlot should live she that had gone a whoring from her God but had now returned with a large heart to entertain the messengers of Joshuah sent unto her yea and Joshuah himself The Jews have a tradition that she was married to Joshuah but Matt. 1. we read she was the Wife of Salmon however it will be true in the mystery But if mine iniquities be not consumed they will consume me it was the exception ye read the people made Ezech. 33.10 11. Thus ye speak saying if our transgression and our sins be upon us and we pine away in them how should we then live Say unto them thus saith the Lord Behold I even I will both search my sheep and seek them out as a Shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his Sheep that are scattered c. If therefore thou turn from thine evil way thou shalt live To such weak Sons of Jacob the Lord Jesus Christ is promised Esay 59.20 The Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord. O but mine iniquities pursue me and my sins lay fast hold on me c. Though I turn from mine iniquities mine iniquities will not turn from me But whether is the Lord Jesus Christ the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world Is he not said to be a Saviour Why is he called Jesus Is it not because be shall save his people from their sins And therefore mark how S. Paul read that very Text Esay 39.20 which he quotes Rom. 11.26 27. There shall come out of Sion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Saviour or Deliverer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall turn away iniquity from Jacob They turn from their sins saith the Prophet He turns their sins and iniquities from them Yea thus doing he is a true Jesus a true Saviour he presently adds This is my covenant with them when I shall take away their sins But the troubled soul oftentimes is not so quieted For when after the rebellion of Core Numb 17. The Rod of Aaron had budded a token unto them of the Priesthood of Christ that flourished and should flourish and the Lord had commanded it to be kept for a token against the Rebels vers 10. and this promise added Thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me that they dye not The children of Israel thereupon complain and speak to Moses Behold we dye we perish we all perish c. Doth the Lord so leave his poor weak people under their guilt and torment of conscience Look I beseech ye into chap. 18.1 There the Lord imposeth a task upon Aaron and his Sons That they should bear the iniquity of the Priesthood c. So Ezechiel the besieger bears the iniquity of Jerusalem besieged Ezâ—â—h 4.5 And what is the end of all this vers 5. That there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel What is this to us Jesus Christ is the true Priest and the Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec and Jesus is made a surety of a better Testament than Aaron Hebr. 7.23 The Priesthood of Aaron was continued in Aaron's Sons and in conclusion that Priesthood had an end But this man because he continueth ever hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unchangeable Priesthood or a Priesthood that descends not from one to another And what followeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost from his sin and that sin and that iniquity and all the degrees of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for evermore Margin And he ever lives to make intercession for them NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON JAMES I. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves THey are the first words of the Epistle appointed for this day wherein S. James claims our best attention and audience unto the word of God Be ye hearers of the word which some would have the principal scope of this Text but it 's the less of the two Duties he requires and his illustration is à minori He requires rather our obedience and action than our audience and attention only and accordingly by reason enforceth the performance of it Be ye doers of the word not hearers only So that ye may perceive it is not my purpose to set hearing and doing at odds the one is never well performed without the other for we never do as we ought unless we first hear what we ought to do nor ever hear we as we ought unless we do also what we hear And therefore when as in those first and purest times of the Church the Serpent had corrupted their minds by subtilty and taught them to abstract one Duty from another or rather to perform one and the same Duty by halfs our Apostle discovers the deceit and urgeth the performance of both Duties
ought to pronounce judgement on spiritual and heavenly men or things and think to carry the truth because they have most voices were there not ten false spies to two true c. Matth. 17.13 Noah a righteous man when there was a world of ungodly And are not these times like those of Noah Matth. 24.37 Observ The Lord destroys the remnant of all ungodliness The Philistins Esay 28. as with a floud The waters of the River the King of Assyria Esay What works for evil to the world of the ungodly works for good unto them that love God Rom. 8.28 The floud Baptism now saveth us The red Sea For who shall dwell with everlasting burnings Esay Omnia co-operantur in bonum The same means that God useth for the saving of his people he useth likewise for the destruction of the evil world vice versa The Sea wherein the Egyptians were drowned was a wall of defence to the Israelites Repreh Our gross mistake and misapplication of God's judgements when we lay the blame upon others or on second causes David laid not the blame on Shemei And what have these sheep done What is this but to beat the stone with Xerxes to cast fetters into the sea No evil in the City No evil in the whole world which the Lord hath not done Repreh 3. Who at such a time as this when the over-flowing scourge is even upon us are ambitious of honours So unseasonable was the desire of Baruch Jer. 45.4 To whom the Lord saith Behold that which I have built will I break down c. and seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not Thus when our Lord had fore-told his Disciples of his passion presently to ensue there was a strife among them as there is among some at this day who should be the greatest It 's said of the floud that it overwhelmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatever was high and lifted up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esay 2. This doth not one whit excuse Ye know the face of heaven Thou knewest I was an hard Master Not doth the face of heaven threatning judegement yet to come impose any necessity upon men to deserve that judgement Esay 10. and 28.22 Beloved there is the same reason of those times before the floud and these times wherein the Lord comes to judgement and brings in the overflowing scourge upon the world of the ungodly Matth. 24.37 2 Pet. 3.6 7. eodem verbo wherefore let me now perform the office of a Preacher of Righteousness in as perillous a time as that was wherein Noah preached I speak not here of outward perils of war famine or pestilence these are not the great evils which render the times perillous if the Apostle reason right no the perillous times come from within 2 Tim. 3.1 2. upon these follow the other And I beseech you suffer the word of exhortation pro se quisque 1. Every one to endeavour to save himself from the overflowing scourge 2. Every one to endeavour to save another from it every one to save every one 1. To save every man himself as the Apostle exhorts Act. 2.37 Herein Beloved I much fear we are wanting to our selves for either we know not the imminent danger c. See Notes on Matth. 8.25 fine 2. Let us endeavour to save others Let us imitate Noah the Preacher of Righteousness It 's a business wherein Noah imitated his God Gloriosum est sequi Dominum See Notes on Matth. 8.25 ad finem Let me propound to our sad and serious consideration these quaeres 1. What manner of men we are that we should hope to escape the floud 2. What manner of men we ought to be that upon good grounds we may hope to escape it 1. What manner of men were they that perished in the floud They were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a proud imperious world The flouds overwhelmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. What manner of men we ought to be that upon good grounds may hope to escape the overflowing scourge St. Peter having warned us of the day of the Lord 2 Pet. 3.10 that it shall come as a thief in the night c. See what counsel he gives vers 11. without spot What without the spot of Gods children Why Must they have their spots O by all means we must preserve their spots Deut. 32.5 Their spot is not the spot of his children his children therefore have spots It 's a false supplement spot is not twice in the Text but once only The Text runs thus their spot is not his childrens vitiositas illorum aliena est à filiis Dei Tremel and the Context proves it for God is a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he vers 4. And therefore his children must be such without iniquity just without spot and right whereas those he complains of are a perverse and crooked generation vers 5. And for this end he hath chosen us Eph. 1.4 and to this end he cleanseth us Eph. 5.27 Col. 1.22 And this is the pure religion and undefiled c. Jam. 1.27 This will render us without blame before men Hence will proceed the peace for that 's the effect of righteousness Esay 32.17 Such an habitude and disposition St. Paul required Tit. 2.11 and 2 Cor. 7.1 Thus we ought Minister and people to endeavour to be found of him Matth. 24. So doing and people also Mar. 13.32 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON II PETER III. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And account that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation even as our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you THe Apostle having asserted the coming of our Lord to judement against the scoffers who were to appear in these last days vers 1-9 In this latter part of the Chapter he declares the manner how our Lord should come and exhorts those to whom he writes and us to endeavour our selves to be found suitable and answerable to the expectation of so great promises vers 14. as also to give a better interpretation of our Lords delay of his judgement than the scoffers had done account that the long suffering of the Lord is salvation The words contain 1. An Information 2. A Confirmation of it 1. The Information is touching the long-suffering of the Lord what we ought to think of it and for what end it is viz. that it is for our Salvation 2. The Confirmation is by the Authority of St. Paul who had written unto them touching the same Argument 1. The Lord hath his long-suffering 2. The long suffering of the Lord is salvation 3. We ought to account the long-suffering of the Lord salvation Quaere 1. What long-suffering is 2. To whom it belongeth 1. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in English long-suffering answereth to the Hebrew phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifieth the nose by which one breatheth Psal 115.6 as in anger one
puffs and snuffs and breaths so Saul is said to have breathed out threatnings Act. 9.1 a Metaphorical speech longus irarum it is one of the titles which the Lord gives himself and a part of his name Exod. 34.6 For so God is said properly to be long-suffering who is not soon or easily angry but prolongs and delayeth his wrath and doth not suddenly punish There are divers words held to be of the same latitude as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forbearance and patience but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is more emphatical and notable than these two for whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth either 1. The good will and affection or the heart Or 2. More especially anger and wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth either 1. Putting away Gods wrath and anger a far off Or 2. The good will and affection of God spun out into a great length 2. To whom doth this long-suffering belong This long-suffering is the Lords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Lords as the Vulg. Lat. hath it Domini nostri Jesu Christi And it seems more properly applyed to him here because he is said to come But indeed it is so understood of the Son as it is also of the Father and Spirit And thus 1. The long-suffering of the Lord is either of the Son of God who suffers in us and dies in us a long time as a patient Lamb led to the slaughter looking up and waiting for our repentance and return at length unto him for so while we are sinners Christ dyed Rom. 5.8 And thus he is crucified in us Gal. 3.1 Or else 2. This long-suffering is of the Father who bears with us and spares us for the Sons sake and therefore we pray for Grace and mercy in the name of Christ For whereas mankind is sinful and liable to the Fathers wrath vengeance and punishment for sin the Son of God out of his love unto man interposeth himself and thrusts himself between the Father and us and so staves off the wrath and punitive justice of the Father this was figured by Moses standing in the gap Aaron standing between the living and the dead Noah Daniel and Job Samuel and all others Intercessors and Mediatours for the people of God 3. There is also a long-suffering of the Holy Ghost in the Saints whereby they bear and suffer out all temptations and persevere in Faith and Obedience unto the end For a pattern of this long-suffering S. Paul was chosen 1 Tim. 1.16 For this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them that should believe on him to life everlasting 1. The Reason of this why the Lord hath long-suffering proceeds from his Love which indeed is himself Love suffereth long 1 Cor. 13. 2. We may add also some Reason in regard of the object frail and feeble mankind which stands in great need of a patient long-suffering God for he made man Adam of the earth earthly and man by his fall made himself Enosh a miserable wretched man and the depth of misery calls upon the depth of Mercy 3. Were there no long-suffering there would be no place left for repentance Observ 1. How Gracious how good a God do we Christians own and worship Exod. 34.6 Psal 86.15 Thou Lord art a God full of compassion Gracious long-suffering plenteous in mercy and truth Nor marvel that there is a promise made That all the Kingdoms of the world shall become the Kingdoms of the Lamb Revel 11.15 Magna Regna magna Latrocinia the Kingdoms of the world have been ruled by Devils and cruel Beasts and by the lusts of men by savage cruelty by bloody mindedness how readily will all the Nations submit unto the rule of the Lamb when they shall know his meekness his patience his long-suffering When I am lifted up I shall draw all men unto me Joh. 12. When his patience and death is made known and for whom and for what end it will prove a most powerful attractive c. and that it leads unto repentance and Salvation 2. The long-suffering of the Lord is Salvation The words are not proper but Metonymical for Salvation here is either 1. The end of the Lord 's long-suffering which he aims at as expresly our Apostle speaketh vers 9. of this Chapter The Lord is long-suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Or else 2. Salvation is here the effect of the Lord's goodness patience and long-suffering such as it is wont or at least ought to bring forth in us according to Rom. 2.4 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 salvation is considerable either 1. In regard of the term à quo from sin thus it is a deliverance from the power of sin and pollution of it and punishment for it Or 2. In respect of the term ad quem the bringing in of everlasting righteousness life and glory We have both these together 2 Tim. 4.18 The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and shall preserve me unto his everlasting Kingdom The truth of this is extant every where the widow of Tekoah 2 Sam. 14.14 Nec vult Deus perire animam The Lord would not that his banished should perish Dissimulat peccata propter paenitentiam Wisd 11.23 24. Observ 1. A ground of Prayet 1. For our selves 2. Of mediation and intercession in respect of others 1. Of Prayer for our selves as David Psal 86.15 O Lord the proud are risen against me c. But thou Lord art a God merciful and Gracious long-suffering c. 2. It 's a ground of mediation and intercession in respect of others Both 1 For them 2. Against them 1. For them so Moses intercedes in behalf of Israel Numb 14.17 18. 2. Against them and so Jeremiah prayeth to the Lord that his long-suffering might not be so far extended toward his enemies that they should thereby be suffered to take away his life Jerem. 15.15 Observ 2. Note hence a broad difference between the long-suffering of the Lord toward sinners and the long-suffering of Kings Princes and Potentates towards offenders of them It is a known Maxim among Politicians that they lengthen the tedder of Malefactors that they may ensnare themselves that they give them rope occasion and opportunity that they may become worse and worse O how far is the good God from such cruel ends as this And far be it from us to entertain such hard thoughts of our good and long-suffering God that he should give a wicked man space for this end to work out his own damnation O no I gave her space to repent Rev. 2.20 Repreh 1. Those who when the Lord is long-suffering for our salvation abuse the long-suffering of the Lord unto their own greater condemnation O the negligence the pride the wantonness of the present Generation O the daring boldness of men How desperately they contend with
Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade him I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets And he said Thou shalt perswade him and prevail also Ahab was deluded by his false Prophets who humoured him in his sins so that Elijah and Micaiah were accounted his enemies because they told him the truth and would have put him in a way of subduing his true and spiritual enemies his covetousness and pride And I doubt not but it is the condition of many of us that we listen only to such Doctrine as sutes most with our pleasure and ease and if we hear any other that sets us upon Duty self denyal mortifying and crucifying our lusts we count such our enemies because they tell us the truth Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thess 2.10 11 12. The Devil fights against thee by false tongues like sharp arrows thou provest angry and pettish the Lord was working thee to a resemblance of himself He was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief He would now demolish thy pettish and angry distemper and work thee to a likeness of himself in patience and meekness what hope is there that thy spiritual enemies should ever be subdued when thou hatest thy reprover and him that discovers them unto thee Consol I hate iniquity and I find the greater opposition that must needs be Job had his name from his enmity against all iniquity the Devil used all his Engines to oppress him but ye have heard of the patience of Job To those who are cast down by sight of their sins be not dejected poor soul God is beginning a good work in thee O but I perceive my lusts very strong and potent in me an enemy must first be discovered before he be overcome while thou wast yet in thy sins and overcome by them thou wast at ease and perceivedst them not thine enemies Rom. 7.7 8 9. This is meant by Luke 11.21 When the strong man armed keeps his palace all his goods are in peace He let the Jews enjoy peace while they were subject to him but now the stronger man is come and begins to grapple with the enemy now thou losest thy former peace O but I find a great confusion in my soul that thou mayst do it cannot be avoided a conflict there must be and that of long continuance before the enemy be overcome There was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David 2 Sam. 3.1 but the house of David waxed stronger and stronger and the house of Saul weaker and weaker And there is great reason this contention should be very long we had deeply plunged our selves into sin that 's easie to do Sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras Hic labor hoc opus est To be able to get out again it will cost a great deal of pains a great deal of strugling besides the Law that discovers our fall and our enemies that keep us down that 's weak by reason of our flesh Rom. 8. Grant the Law were strong yet if we be weak what help is in it Recipitur ad modum recipientis Mean time despair not poor soul there 's hope there will be an end of this conflict to thy comfort if thou be of David's side there will be an end of that conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent when the seed of the woman shall break the serpents head when the true David shall tread Satan under his feet yea under thy feet Rom. 16.20 only be thou of David's followers only observe how they are qualified that are his followers Psal 101.3 I hate the works of them that turn aside How long wouldst thou endure a course of Physick if thou wert sure at length to recover Christ is the best Physician that hath undertaken the cure he comes speedily to thy succour he hath wings and healing under them How long wouldst thou endure a sute at Law if thou wert sure to overcome Thou hast the best advocate the Spirit of God himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 16.21 Exhort Not to hinder the work of the Lord Let God arise and his enemies be scattered we keep him under and will not suffer him to arise What enemies we are to our own souls Let patience have it's perfect work 't is that by which we possess our souls if we lose that if we hinder the work of that we lose our souls and then wo be to them that have lost patience saith the wise man let the truth free we hold it in iniquity we our selves bind the stronger man as the Jews bound Sampson if we let him free he 'll conquer all our spiritual enemies and make us free if the truth make ye free then are ye free indeed That which is born of God overcometh the world God hath a world yea worlds and the Devil hath a world one at least Setting aside all other significations of the world less pertinent unto this place of Scripture here it signifieth especially 1. The sin and evil of the world the lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life 1 Joh. 2.16 2. Or worldly men that lye in sin and evil either the world of wickedness as S. James calls it Jam. 3.6 or the wicked of the world 2 Pet. 2.5 which that which is born of God is here said to overcome Overcoming is the act of him who prevails and is superiour in contention of which victory is the event and issue which is two ways obtained faciendo and patiendo by doing and suffering 1. Victory obtained by doing is the plenary and full conquest of sin and sinful men of the world 2. By suffering is the indefatigable and unweariable enduring the assaults of the world and worldly men with a final frustrating and wearying of them as an anvil and adamant wearieth him who strikes it And both those wayes the first born of God overcomes the world For 1. as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah as a King he actively subdues every enemy and treads the arch enemy under his Saints feet Rom. 16. And 2. as a Lamb he also passively overcomes every enemy Revel 17.14 These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is the Lord of Lords Isai 63.3 I have trodden the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me This is the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ Revel 1.9 And as Christ the first born of God so the Saints who also are born of God they overcome the world They subdued kingdoms 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 Hebr. 11.33 34. If we refer this victory over the world atchieved by those that are born of God unto superiour causes of it it 's to be ascribed unto God the Father through Christ the Son Ye are of God saith our Apostle therefore ye have overcome them 1 Joh. 4.4 and 1 Cor. 15. Blessed be God who giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ If we look at the motive and principle in God it is his Love in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 Through him indeed for having himself conquered the world he yields it over unto us as many as are born of God and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ for so Joshuah having himself trodden on the necks of those five Kings Josh 10. he called for all the men of Israel and said unto the Captains of the men of war which went with him Come near and put your feet upon the necks of these Kings c. fear nothing saith he nor be dismayed be strong and of a good courage for thus shall the Lord do unto all your enemies against whom ye fight And even so the true Joshuah Behold saith he unto his Brethren that are born of God I give you power to tread on Serpents and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you Luk. 10.19 And when the Lamb had overcome the Kings Apoc. 17.14 't is added that they who were with him were called and chosen and faithful and therefore the victory of those who are born of God is in the Text ascribed to Faith according to that of our Saviour the great Captain of our Salvation who thus heartens on his Soldiers Confidite ego vici mundum be strong and confident or faithful I have overcome the world And yet it may be doubted whether all that is born of God overcomes the world for that 's the work of a perfect man saith Aquinas whereas there are inferiour degrees of those who are born of God I answer 't is true indeed degrees there are of those that are born of God 1 Joh. 2.12 13. yet is there no degree so low but hath with it an ability of resisting and not yielding to and obeying the world So that the victory of the world may be considered either 1. In the real and perfect accomplishment of it or 2. In the sincere and thorough will purpose and endeavour of so doing as also 3. According to the divers degrees of Faith in the Soldier of Jesus Christ they were the Captains of the men of war who set their feet on the necks of the five Kings Josh 10. And it is the speech of Christ to his Apostles I give you power c. and of St. Paul now an old Soldier a perfect man in Christ Gal. 5.24 The world is crucified unto me and I unto the world and I am able to do all things in Christ that strengthens me He was yet but a young Soldier when whether in his own person or personating another I dispute not he thus complains Rom. 7.23 I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members such an one is as yet a child come to the birth but there is not so much strength as to bring forth yet will there is and purpose and endeavour as appears by his professed aversation and hatred of sin vers 15. and searching after ability to do it at vers 18. his heavy complaint for his disability and weakness vers 24. He was but a young Soldier in Christ when he cryed out Lord what wilt thou have me to do he was ready in will but weak Hercules strangled the Snakes yet in his cradle Christ is as yet infirm and weak 2 Cor. 13. What is Christ weak Yes as the Law is Rom. 8.3 by reason of our flesh like a lawful Monarch exhorting and commanding yet not able so fully as he would to effectuate his commands like David newly come to his Kingdom the Sons of Zerviah are too strong for him even tribulation and anguish God led them not through the way of the Land of the Philistines though that was near lest the people repent and return to Aegypt but God led them by the way of the wilderness Exod. 13.17 And yet even in this first and weakest age of Gods Child he may be said in some sort to overcome the world in that in will in purpose in resolution in holy endeavour he fights with it yea so effectually that he denies ungodliness and worldly lusts whiles he yields not but resâ—sts the Devil and he flees from him Jam. 4. even such a child is known by his doing Prov. 20.11 so that even such an one in a sort overcomes the world Our worldly lusts are our true enemies so the Apostle tells us that the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 and the friendship of this world is enmity against God Jam. 4.4 And the Apostles reason is remarkable the wisdom of the flesh is enmity c. because it is not subject to the law nor indeed can be so that whatsoever is not subject to Gods Law nor can be is Gods enemy Of the same nature is our envy hatred and malice pride covetousness anger c. which we guild over with other names either 1. Good as calling envy hatred and malice by the names of zeal and religion and pride knowing of a mans self and his place and covetousness good husbandry or thriftiness c. Or else 2. call them by the names of things though not good yet pardonable as infirmities and frailties and weaknesses of the Saints and then all 's well so that it 's no marvel that the Apostle calls lusts deceitful and deceivableness of unrighteousness and a mystery of iniquity It is the grand imposture and the greatest deceit in the world when we do so dangerously couzen and cheat and mistake our selves taking our friends for our foes and our foes for our friends hating the things that we should love and loving the things that we should hate Thus we love our home-born fleshly lusts and embrace them as our dear and bosom friends which are indeed our greatest enemies the enemies of our own houshold Matth. 24. fleshly lusts war against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 they seem our friends as those which are born in us of our flesh and of our bone but they are indeed our enemies as being such as cannot be subject to the Law of God as swallowes and bats and rats and mice and other vermine because they are bred in our houses they seem to be tame but they can never be tamed so the wisdom and holiness and lusts of
spirit 2 Cor. 5. Exhort Be we chast unto our true Husband thy Maker is thine husband See Notes on Gen. 2.18 1. He destroys all who commit Fornication against him Psal 73.27 2. Let there be a consideration of his Dignity He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings 3. There is in all living creatures a desire of perpetuity and immortality not only the sin it self is to be avoided but the danger and occasion of it to our selves and others The Apostle's exhortation is weighty let us judge this That no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way Rom. 14.13 3. Axiom Whosoever marries her who is divorced committeth Adultery This is an hard saying what shall an innocent woman whom her husband puts away out of the hardness of his heart and not for any default on her part shall such an one be debarr'd from a second marriage yea shall he who marrieth such a one without any other crime on his part be for so doing esteemed an Adulterer Surely as the Law speaks to them who are under the Law so the Gospel and the Author and subject of the Gospel speaks to those who are under the Gospel unto those our Lord's words are directed as to those who are obedient unto his doctrine So the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.10 11 12. Vnto the married I command yet not I but the Lord. Let not the wife depart from her husband but if she depart let her remain unmarried or be reconciled unto her husband this latter clause seems to be the Apostles Counsel and let not the husband put away his wife It is true this saying is hard to flesh and blood but it is an hard thing to be saved and flesh and blood shall not enter into the Kingdom of God The Disciples themselves thought it an hard saying and therefore when our Lord had treated on this very argument Mat. 19.9 at v. 10. His Disciples say unto him if the case of the man be so with his wife it is not good to marry but our Lord answers all men receive not this saying It is not as our Translators read it all men cannot receive this saying there is neither may not nor cannot in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all men receive not this saying but they to whom it is given Either men are born without desire of women or they are disabled for marriage by men or they have obtained of God that power over themselves for the Kingdom of God's sake There is no doubt but a man may do much more than he doth and few men endeavour and pray heartily unto God for power over their appetite which they secretly desire to follow Reason of this why he who marrieth her who is put away committeth Adultery may be considered 1. In regard of the Covenant of marriage and 2. in regard of the parties to be joyned together in that Covenant 1. As for the Covenant of marriage that stands firm unless it be broken by Fornication or Adultery and therefore if marriage be contracted where there is no such breach made he who marries her who is so divorced commits Adultery 2. As for the parties to be joyned together in the Covenant of marriage he who shall speedily marry her who is divorced he gives a ground of strong suspition that all was not right before divorce Toties quae nubit adultera lege est Such often I fear are those whom men call their seconds Besides what ever is contrary to marriage according to God's estimate is Adultery and so comprehended in the Commandment Obs 1. Here then are two mischiefs that follow upon divorce he that puts away his Wife except it be for Fornication causeth her to commit Adultery and he whosoever marrieth her who is divorced committeth Adultery Add hereunto what our Lord saith Mat. 19.9 He whosoever puts away his wife except it be for Fornication and marrieth another committeth Adultery that 's a third mischief that follows upon divorce and from every one of these incontinent and adulterous conjunctions commonly proceeds a respective bastardy and an adulterous generation How fruitful is sin Three kinds of Adultery proceed from divorce so true is that of the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One absurdity granted a thousand follow O how good how seasonable how necessary a conflict is it principiis obstare by all good means by Faith by Prayer by Fasting by Self-denial by Patience and taking up our Cross to withstand evil motions in the beinning they are then but weak and in our power if we give them a way they 'l prove head-strong and too mighty for us to master them Obser 2. Marriage doth not alwayes priviledge married persons from Adultery here are three Adulteries committed by married persons Obser 3. We ought not only to take heed lest we our selves commit sin but lest we occasion others to commit sin also What can be more grievous not only to commit sin our selves but also to cause others to sin Every man hath burden enough of his own sin and hath little need to load himself with other mens sins Is it not enough that our Lord teacheth us to pray forgive us our trespasses but that we should draw upon our selves a necessity of praying Lord forgive us the sins and trespasses of other men whom we have provoked and occasioned to sin Mysticé He who marrieth her who is put away commits Adultery There is a Wife that is worthily put away even the evil thoughts thus ye read the thoughts compared to Eve 2 Cor. 11. These thoughts are to be divorced and put away the thought of foolishness is sin Prov. 24.9 vain thoughts Jer. 4.14 prophane thoughts as if the most Righteous God were with us and of the same mind with us as well in the sin as in the righteousness as well in evil doing as in well doing an arrant ranting principle the Lord reproves and divorceth such a Wife Psal 50.18 21. when thou sawest a thief c. and thou thoughtest that I was such a one as thy self of one mind with thee in thy thievery in thine adultery in thine evil speaking in thine obloquy and slander but I will reprove thee and the Lord be pleased to reprove all such thoughts and enable us to put them away as the wise man gives us counsel Ecclus. 25.26 cut her off c. when she is put away she must not be married again he that marries such a one that is so put away commits Adultery Mysticé What a good husband the Lord our God is unto his Spouse the Church He warrants her to call him her husband Hos 2.16 He will make a Covenant for her with the Creatures v. 16. yea a covenant of marriage with himself v. 19. and he hates putting away Axiom 4. Our Lord Jesus saith this I say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication c. and he that marrieth her committeth adultery These words are a
Divine Testimony wherein we may take notice of that main motive whereby our Lord diswades from divorce lest it might be an occasion of sin See one main reason of Christ's appearing in the flesh to set all right again to reduce all things to their primitive and first institution thus he tells us that it behoves us to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3.15 He speaks of John and himself as in the flesh but it 's most true of the second Elias and himself that they shall restore all things So he saith from the beginning it was not so but now in the end it must be so as it was in the beginning When we have departed from the unison what a jarring what a disharmony there is and no full concord 'till we come to the eighth therefore the eighth day is the Diapason wherein respondent ultima primis as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be Axiom 5. It hath been said indeed if a man shall put away his Wife c. but I say unto you c. Doubt 1. Did our Lord Jesus Christ then come to destroy the Law surely no he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it as he himself speaks Dovbt 2. But what then shall we say to permission did our Lord come to destroy that Permittere est concedere sinere to permit is to grant or suffer a thing to be for the vertue of a Law consists in these three acts to command forbid and permit or suffer to be done Ipsam Legum indulgentiam significat saith the Lawyer it signifieth the indulgence and favour of the Laws and therefore it implies that the thing permitted is unlawful according to that permitti dicitur illud quod illicitum est ut magis illicitum vitetur that which is unlawful is permitted that that which is more unlawful may be avoided whence it is that since evil is not nor can be perpetual therefore the permission of evil cannot be perpetual and so we shall understand the reason why our Lord abolisheth divorce except in case of fornication 1. It is evil and permitted for the avoiding of greater evil 2. It was not from the beginning and therefore it is not said it was said to them of old time but only it was said 3. Permissum ad certum tempus censetur exacto illo tempore prohibitum that which is permitted for a certain time when that time is past it 's judged to be forbidden 4. The Lord Jesus appeared for this end to take away this permission the evil permitted and the cause of that evil for whereas by reason of the hard heart Moses permitted men to put away their wives Mat. 19.8 which in the beginning was not so neither must it be so in the end when Christ comes to take away the hard and stony heart and give us an heart of flesh according to the promises Ezech. 36.26 Obser 1. Hence it appears that Christ came not to mollifie the Law or to abate any thing of the just requiring of it but to teach it and fulfil it truly and fully Obser 2. Hence observe in what estate thou art O man who ever thou art if a Christian man if a Disciple of Christ know that there is more required of thee then of those who were or yet are under the Law It is a false and groundless opinion that the Gospel is a doctrine of indulgence and favour and abates of that righteousness which the Law commands This proceeds meerly and soly out of self love True it is that in the Gospel the mercy of God is more revealed and more of the truth of God is made known also more strength and power is given yea grace and truth and peace and remission and pardon of sin comes by Jesus Christ but to whom surely to the penitent to the believers to the converts to the willing and to the obedient ones Here is a difference between the Law and the Gospel Mysticé Take notice how Grace through the Gospel superabounds Moses permitted men to put away their Wives the Lord Jesus hates putting away Mal. 2. yea he commands Hosea to marry an harlot that was put away Hos 1. and what is Hosea but the Saviour who invites the harlot that hath been put away Jer. 3. Thamar incestuous Thamar and Bathshebah the adulteress are both in our Lord's Genealogy Mat. 1. that it may appear that there is no sin no foul but the true Hosea the Saviour comes to take it away and purge us from it Repreh Those who abuse the Grace of the Gospel and the lenity of the Lord Jesus Christ It is true he hates putting away yet he hath rejected first Aholah then Aholibah Ezec. 23. And our Lord Jesus threatens the Jews that the Kingdom of God shall be taken from them and that their house shalt be left unto them desolate It is true the Lord hates putting away but he more hates idolatry ingratitude disobedience obstinacy and rebellion these may provoke him to do the thing that he hates even to do his work his strange work Esay 28. O think sadly of this who ever thou art who goest on still in thy sin Repreh 2. Who reject and divorce the true Spouse of Christ by reason of some blemish some uncleanness This was the Jews hardness of heart Deut. 24.1 as the Lord interprets it Mat. 19. Repreh 3. But much more are they to blame who reject and divorce the true Church of Christ and esteem her an adulteress and an harlot and that because of her purity and cleanness what else do they who condemn such for erronious and heretical who hope and endeavour to purifie themselves as Christ their husband is pure 1 John 3.3 There is a story in Heliodore of a black woman who brought forth a fair white Child many thereupon condemned her for an harlot and would have her to be put to death but equal Judges making enquiry into the business found that the picture of Andromeda a fair white picture hung in the chamber where she lay whereupon because phantasia habet opus reale the fancy produceth real effects they judged that the woman by her fancy in her conception had wrought like impression of colours and proportion in her child and thereupon acquitted the woman And truly a man would think that equal Judges such especially as pretend to purity and holiness if they shall consider that Christ is the pure and spotless mirrour the brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person and that he is the example and pattern set before us for our imitation if they consider this they should not censure those to be erronious and heretical who behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord with his open face and are translated into that image from glory to glory Surely if Christ be formed in them they are not harlots and adulteresses they are not erronious who bring him forth to life in them the more pure they