thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 12. And now this doth bring us to that Combat which indeed is our Magnum Oportet our great Necessary where we must encounter with Spiritual Enemies with Satan in the appearance of an Angel of Light yea and also with our own perverse Perswasions cunningly trimmed and set forth by the old Serpent the Deceiver from the Beginning which we have hitherto esteemed as Children of Light So as this War is not only against Satan our Lusts and open professed Enemies but even against our Works and Ways which we once esteemed familiar Friends and had walked taking sweet counsel together in the House of God who now being deluded by Satan ignorantly become Enemies whilst they perswade the Soul That there is no entring into the Land of Rest but by its own Sword and Bow and so fight Satan's Battels So as a Man's Enemies are of his own Houshold the Father at variance with the Son and the Daughter with her Mother and which is most strange the Hand of Christ our Lord and Captain in all this even setting us at these variances in our selves Matth. 10.33 and sending the Sword into our inner parts so as our chiefest Friend our Preserver and Life sends the Sword and Divisions and our Enemy and Destroyer seeks Peace and Concord and yet is that of Love and this of Malice for indeed this is the Battel in which He that shall loose his Life shall save it and he that will save his Life shall loose it And our Wilderness State is for no other end than to prepare us for this Warfare by weaning us by little and little from Creature-Dependencies for our Captain wonderful in Wisdom and Goodness on set purpose leads the Armies of Israel into a dry and desart Place to the end he may bring them into Wants and Distresses and when they cry to him he gives them Bread from Heaven and Water out of the stony Rock thence teaching them that they cannot deliver their own Souls but that he both can and is gracious and ready to help in the time of need and so undermines natural Confidence inures them to hardship strengthens Faith and Grace drawing them by degrees into acquaintance with that Song of David If the Lord had not bin on our side may Israel say if the Lord had not bin on our side when Men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick for as the Sons of Israel could not prevail in War against the Cananites until all that rebellious and faithless Generation was spent whom God had sworn If they shall enter into my Rest So is it impossible the Soul should overcome in this Warfare as long as any of these Principles or Perswasions remain that dare affirm either that it must prevail in its own Sword and Bow or yet despair that Free Grace can or will effect it so as under our Legal State our Lord like a wise and experienced Captain trains up and inures his Souldiers to such manner of straits and service before-hand as in the great Day he will call them unto 13. But now to come to the Crisis 't is every way miraculous in the Manner in the Power in the Effect for is not that manner of fighting strange where the safety depends in casting away all Arms Offensive and Defensive and is not that Power wonderful which converts the loss of the Field into Victory and makes them that are overcome more than Conquerors And is not that effect most admirable of all that makes Death Life and Life Death and yet most assuredly this is the success of this Warfare and though it must seem ridiculous in the Eyes of a Son of Pharaoh who can perceive no more of it than a Man born blind can of Colours yet is there none that hath fought the good Fight but can set his Seal to these things nor none that hath made good improvement of the Wilderness preparative Discipline but hath so express an Image thereof as he can consent with us neither let any of the Camp of Israel think of this as if some strange thing had hapned unto them for it must come upon all the Children of Election for if done to the green Tree shall it not be done to the dry for saith the Apostle We see Jesus made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death that he might tast death for all Men for it became him in bringing many Sons unto Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through suffering and therefore as he suffered so must we as he was made perfect so we as he died so must we die and as he arose so must we as it is written Rom. 6.3 Know ye not that as many of us as are baptized into Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death and if we have bin planted in his death together so shall we also be in his Resurrection knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him namely that old Nature we brought out of Egypt and which so often murmured in the Wilderness Again buried with him in Baptism wherein ye are also risen with him through the operation of God who hath raised him from the Dead Whence it is manifest That as Christ fought this good Fight and died in it so must we and as he did it for the Universal Church as Lord and Saviour of all so must we every one in particular before we can arise with him into the glorious Birth of the New Creature And as the old Serpent took advantage of the Seed of Abraham in Christ and bruised his Heel that is his Body unto the death thereof so must it happen unto every particular Member of Christ's Body and as the bruising of his Heel was the bruising of the Serpent's Head to eternal Darkness so the bruising of Christ's Heel in his Members shall be the treading down of Satan under their feet and therefore blessed is he to whom it shall be given to lay down his Life as a good Souldier of Christ in this Combat without reproach to his Conscience Warfare or Captain wherefore altho the name of Death be terrible to the Soul as the natural death is to the Body yet seeing we have such an Exampler to follow let us not be afraid for if the God of Armies be on our side why should we fear any Enemies As long as the Lord of Life is with us we can have no cause to fear Death Nay rather let us rejoice that Christ hath called us to be his Companions in Suffering and Death knowing that we shall also be partakers of his Resurrection Life and Glory Were it not ignominious in a Souldier that after he had inrolled his Name promised Fidelity learned the use of his Arms and had long lived upon his Pay and done little for it should in the day of Battel the Prize even immortality set before him and Victory
the Heart Man believes unto Righteousness and with the Mouth Confession is made to Salvation So as the Tongue is but the Minister of the Heart bringing to light such Knowledges Experiences and Notions as the Heart hath conceived and therefore before the Heart be right set the Tongue cannot but that done 't is easier to be ordered yet doth not that fully accomplish this because the Tongue is so forward and nimble an Instrument as it often runs before the Heart hath had time to deliberate and decree and therefore not seldom rashly proclaims what the Heart intended not but moved by some small displeasure vents its own frothy reproaches to the after-dislike grief and shame of the Heart The Apostle James most fully sets it forth Chap. 3. Vers 5 6 7 8 9. A little Member boasting great things behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles And the Tongue is a Fire a World of Iniquity it defileth the whole Body and setteth on fire the Course of Nature and is set on fire by Hell untameable unruly full of deadly Poison Therewith bless we God even the Father and curse we Men made after his similitude Out of the same Mouth proceed Blessing and Cursing Again we find Rom. 1.28 29. the Fruits of an evil Tongue enrolled among those Evils God gives up the reprobate Soul unto God gave them up to a reprobate Mind filled with all Vnrighteousness Debate Deceit Whisperers Backbiters Haters of God proud Boasters c. And again its Fruits are found among the seven Evils which are hateful to God Prov. 6.16 A lying Tongue a false Witness and he that soweth discord amongst Friends And besides these 't is like a continual dropping of lesser Evils for how many prophane Oaths licentious Ballads and vain idle Words doth it produce for all which an Account must be given before the Judg who will render to every one according to his Works 3. But again as the debauched Tongue is a sore Evil so under regulation of the Heart taught to speak the Truth it becomes an eminent good for with it we bless God and confess unto Salvation Again Solomon The Tongue of the Righteous is choice Silver the Tongue of the Wise Health and the Lip now Tongue and Lip are as it were the same thing of Truth shall be established for ever Again A wholesomâ— or rather healing Tongue is a Tree of Life Death and Life are in the hand of the Tongue that is in the Heart are the Issues of Life and Death radically and in the Tongue consequently as it brings forth the Treasures of it to light Whence it is manifest that after a Professor of Christ hath persuaded his Heart to speak the sincere Truth 't is the next incumbent Duty to subdue this wild Instrument to the rule of the Heart which being effected the Dictate of that Heart published by this Tongue shall be as Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver 4. Now these things proposed we shall proceed to the more express Intent of the Prophet which tho it seem in words to be confined to a narrow Compass yet it is really very comprehensive for Reproach not thy Reproacher is a fortiore reproach no Man not a Stranger who hath done thee neither good or evil much more not a Neighbour a Friend a good Man or one that hath sought thy good and most of all beware thou reproach not God or his Christ altho perhaps he hath seen fit to bring thee under Reproaches And now we shall enquire how the Man professing to be one of Christ's School ought to use his Tongue as well in giving it liberty as in bridling it I say First I fear we may often reproach even God and not perceive it For to ascribe to any Power on Earth or in Heaven what belongs to him is to reproach him Or if having a Gift natural or spiritual Riches Honour Wisdom Understanding Tongues Prayer expounding the World or the like and ascribe them to our own Industry and not to the free Gift of Grace we are Reproachers And to use our Tongues aright is to acknowledg God the Giver of every good and heavenly Gift and so to bear the Memorial of his Bounty as to have praise and thanks in our Lips daily knowing and confessing that if he had so seen fit he could have made the greatest amongst us less than the meanest of the Sons of Men yea a Slave or Worm and no Man and are still in his hand as a Vessel for Honour or Dishonour Or on the contrary Art thou poor simple and loaden with Afflictions and yet fearest God and seest another that wallowing in Sin abounds in Ease Riches and worldly Contents and yet thinks not of God once in a year if thou therefore shalt murmur or shalt in a repining Distemper of Mind say Why Lord is it thus thou reproachest him as unjust or inbenignant But to use the Tongue in this point aright is to confess that tho his hand be heavy it is much less than thy Sins have deserved Let God be true and every Man a Liar that he may be justified in all thy sayings and overcome when he judgeth Again saith Solomon Prov. 14.31 He that oppresseth the Poor or Prov. 17.4 He that mocketh at the Poor reproacheth his Maker Just as the Pharisee Lord I thank thee I am not as this poor Wretch c. So that there are many ways of reproaching God And to comprize all in a word every one who doth not ascribe the Life Power and Way both to will and do to him reproacheth his great and glorious Name And not less frequent are our Reproaches against the Son as it is written If we say we have not sinned we make him a Liar But to be brief in this also I say Whosoever hath the least grain of confidence in the Arm of Flesh or any heavenly Principality or Power which is on this side the Sun of our Righteousness or yet doth not account all his Privileges Merits Performances as Loss and Dung he hath a lying Tongue and reproacheth his Redeemer And to employ the Tongue in this case as we ought is to confess our selves Worms and no Men not able to make one Hair white or black nor to give ease to an aking Tooth and much less to reach out a Remedy to a sick and sinful Soul And secondly to confess Christ hath both Bounty and Power to save to the uttermost And indeed throughout the whole stream of Scripture you will find the evil proud slanderous and reproachful Tongue is that which is the Belman of a Superstitious Heart proclaiming Peace to himself in his own false and and adulterous Refuges where no Peace is 5. The next degree of Reproach is of a Brother or Friend or Neighbour which is like unto the former because Christ owns it as done to himself Forasmuch as ye did it unto one of these ye have done it unto me So as Christ may also be reproached in his
thou mayest avoid the Company of the Prophane and yet shalt not need go out of the World And therefore I judg it to be much the better choice except it be when opportunity of doing them good offers it self And lastly at no time to judg or revile them for what have we to do with them that are without The second Branch of this Duty is less than the former as it refers to a few but greater as it is of spiritual concernment and so essentially as 't is justly esteemed amongst Fundamentals Saith Peter to our Lord How oft shall my Brother sin against me and I forgive him Till seven times And surely the good Man thought he said well and gone far But saith our Lord I say not seven but seventy seven times And after by a Parable Mat. 28.23 setting forth this great Duty of forgiving and loving one another and Penalties of them that do not concludes thus So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses And again it is not enough to forgive when our weak Brother offends but to beware lest he be offended by us in things simply in themselves lawful and indifferent The whole Rule is fully set down by the Apostle Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 8. The sum of which is If a Brother be so infirm as to become ensnared with those beggarly Elements of eating or not eating observing Days Touch not taste not handle not yet must he not be despised or offended Why dost thou judg thy Brother why dost thou set at nought thy Brother we shall all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ But surely I fear we live in this Day one so with another as if this Gospel-Precept were abolished for to such we are ready to say Thou Fool to look upon him as a Man lost in blind Ignorance and Superstition and shut out of the Sheepfold Whereas the Apostle saith Destroy not him for whom Christ died with thy Meat And again Through thy Knowledg shall the weak Brother perish for whom Christ died But when ye sin so against the Brethren and wound their weak Consciences ye sin against Christ Now this Scripture is full plain one may run and read namely That a Soul for which Christ died may be wounded and destroyed by the Knowledg and want of Charity of another and in the mean time the Man causing the Offence is found sinning against Christ and two Souls destroy each the other But again the Scripture saith Let every Man be fully persuaded in his own Mind to his own Master he standeth or falleth yea it shall be revealed to him and he shall be holpen for God is able to make him stand Hast thou Faith have it to thy self Art thou wise be wise to thy self Prov. 9.12 Happy is the Man that condemneth not himself in what he alloweth But he that doubteth is damned if he eat because not of Faith for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin What therefore shall we say to these things If a Man by his Knowledg Power or Authority draw another into Condemnation will he answer for him Or if he will not will he still cause him to sin and himself hope to escape Condemnation God will not be mocked He that saves a Soul covers a Multitude of Sins he that turns many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars Age and Age and he that offends one of these little Ones that believe in Christ it were better for him a Milstone c. 7. Now I say tho Offences touching Eating or Days are not so eager in our time as then yet there are many Offences of the same height and depth and the Rule is still the same for whatever is not of Faith is of Sin And yet those Brethren which have been Fellow-sufferers together and are Professors of one Lord and Master envy strive divide touching such Matters as are but of the like nature or at the most no ways fundamental and hereby in this matter we are carnal 1 Cor. 3.3 Is Christ indeed confined to thy only way Doth the Ordinance sanctify him or he the Ordinance Is it the Way the Truth and the Life or He Doth Baptism in this or that way give the Answer of a good Conscience or Christ alone by his Death and Resurrection Wherefore I say my Brethren these things ought not to be thus What numbers have we of plain Scriptures inciting and admonishing us to love one another and denouncing heavy Penalties upon them that do not so And on the contrary how scanty are the Pretences for our Divisions and how obscure to our purpose are the Texts from which we derive them For Love is again and again fixed upon all as a Fundamental as plain as words can express things as the Beauty and Top-stone of the Temple made without hands And on the contrary the Texts we make the grounds of our Divisions are too infirm to that purpose until by Wit and Argument we have given them force for because the Precept is through our Infirmity weak and uncertain to us therefore we go to Disputes and from Disputes to Wrath upon which if the Sun should not set it were pardonable and from Wrath to Divisions and Separations of Persons Affections yea even and Prayers too For we may not account that a fundamental Precept which is not clearly fully and positively commanded for surely 't is the clearness and fulness of the Command that makes it fundamental as where our Lord saith positively Go and teach all things I have commanded you Lo I am with you to the end of the Age. And therefore seeing the Command Love one another is imposed above any other upon Blessings and Curses Rewards and Penalties how shall it suffice to say the Breach of our Love was touching the manner of celebrating an outward Sign not plain from the Command If thou shalt not be forgiven if thou forgive not a Brother Mat. 28.35 if not to love a Brother is to abide in Death and be a Murderer 1 John 3. if Love be the sure Character of a Disciple John 13.14 if it be the Message from the beginning if to love is to be be born of God and lastly the fulfilling of the Commandment why should we crumble away our fair hope of Treasure in these Promises by Discord with Brethren upon circumstances or forms of Administration or things of decency where the Rule is not plain on either part but one after serious Meditation and Prayer thinketh thus and another so For assuredly it were more eligible to desist from the use of such Duties than to use them in the Leaven of Malice yea tho it should be celebrated in the purity of the Form yet shall it if done in Malice turn to Loss for in truth they cease from being Duties if not performed in Love For saith our Lord If having brought thy Gift to the Altar thou remembrest thy Brother hath ought against
We endâ—avoured to express by name 41. Now we shall conclude in summing up all within the compass of one prospect Lord who is he whom thou wilt to espouse in everlasting Love Him walking in Integrity by Consumption resisting his original corruption undermining the power and pride of the Arm of Flesh rejecting his own and laying hold upon the merits of Christ Him studying to find out the deceits of his Heart oft calling it under strict examination is allwayes jealous over it and especially when it with the Buyer cryes it is nought it is nought yet in private boasts and by this his diligence teacheth it to speak the Truth and to believe unto Righteousness And having thus subdued his affections takes his Tongue to task knowing it to be an unruly Instrument often set on fire by Hell cursing and blessing in one breath oft wounding others and not rarely it self And so bridleth it as it will not reproach any no not its Reproacher but will plead for the Innocent set forth the Goodness and Glory of God and confess unto Salvation Him not rending evil for evil but doth good to them that do him evil yet not casting his Pearls before Swine forgiving all men and a Brother though though he offend him seventy seven times Nor yet will offend him though he be impertinent in matters lawfull or indifferent but seeking to build up such in brotherly kindness according to the faithfull precepts of Gospel Unity Who being called unto his Spiritual Warfare meekly takes up his Cross following his Captain General wheresoever he leads without murmurringly saying Where goest thou Forsaking without regret whatsoever Righteousness by legal Merit or Works he had gathered patiently yeilding up every strong Hold that these or his own Wisdom or Education had erected And lastly resignes the Promise believing with Paul that his naked Lord is better than all these and with Abraham that he that hath promised is able to make it good unto him in a more excellent way than he could conceive still loving the Word and frequenting the Assemblies though in this Crisis he find no relish in them but believes that they are good and holy and profitable because commanded by him not commanding in vain and so enters the strait and terrible Gate Layes down his Life bringing no reproach upon his Warfare or Inwards And now having thus fought the good Fight and finding himself delivered and raised up from Death and not by himself concludes he is poor and miserable and writes upon the Tablets of his Heart in the point of a Diamond Vild and contemptible thou Saved by one that ought thee nothing and gave for thee a great Ransom yet required no Price or Recompence from thee and in the sence of this puts on Humility Meekness and Gentleness Love Mercy and Charity towards others and especially the poor needy and labouring Souls in the distresses he was in and so becomes a doer and not a hearer of the Word in that Religion which is pure and undefiled and girding the Loines of his Mind and Will fall's not under the sluggish Sleep of I cannot I cannot but renewing reverential Fear cutteth down with its twofold Edge such sordid ungratefull Allurements or Suggestions as draw back to ease and supine neglect and renders due Honour and Love to every candidate in the Fear of the Lord. And for as much as full Experience assuring that God is with him loves him and will never forsake him he freely nails his Ear to his Door-Post in an Everlasting Covenant of yea yea nay nay And that he so assisting will not be drawn into the seducing Doctrines of Anti-Christ or any Spirit Principality or Power in Heaven Earth or under the Earth that claimes rule with God or compartnership with Christ his Master in working Holiness and therefore carfully watches over the envyings pride lustings of his own Spirit and fearing the fawnings of Satan is allwayes suspicious least he should delude his Spirit into a twisting of Interest and him into a Perswasion that they together are the Spirit of God in him speaking and teaching in his Name and oft begging as verily the case urgently requires that God will enable him to discover the Frailties of his own and Forgeries of this old Deceiver now working in the depth of Satan yet disguised in the form of an Angel of Light And having done all this acknowledgeth himself an unworthy Servant no Wages or Usury due to him but will patiently wait for the Reward until he be made fit to receive it Nor yet when the Trial comes will think it some strange thing or murmur that it burns down his Wood Hay and Stubble but rejoyceth that he is made thereby conformable to Christ and that those counterfeit Riches he had gathered though upon the right Foundation shall not any longer deceive them with their outward Splendor but are consumed only the Foundation left and he upon it naked and empty saving a white Linnen Garment which he rejoycing well calls his Innocency and knows no other Righteousness he hath beside this outward covering and therefore does not upon it lay claim to the Reward nor is so hasty for it as it will awake her Beloved for it though sick of Love until he please Who so doth these things shall never be moved in his legal State he will find a City of Refuge from the Avenger in his Warfare whilest he walks in the Valley of the shadow of death he shall fear no evil but the next day he shall sing a new Song in the Land of Confession We have a strong City Salvation will direct the Walls and Bulwarks Open the terrible Gates of Hulam that a new born may enter in and to worship in Spirit and Truth Him will I keep in perfect Peace his mortal hush through the good Will of him that dwelt in the bush shall live in ease in the everlasting burnings of the hidden Ages and in that Mountain Isai 25.6 where God shall make a Feast of fat things and where our Lord shall swallow death into Victory his Innocency shall be cloathed upon with Immortality and his corruption shall put on incorruption O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory and he shall be ever with his Lord God shall give him Light and he shall Reign for ever and ever wherefore let us comfort one another with these things rendring to him who shall make us more than Conquerers All Honour Glory Praise Age and Age Amen FINIS
and Performances in his own right are Loss and Dung even as the Blood of a dead Man And finally be left so desolate as he may cry out with our Lord My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me before he can perfect the Work of the Cross for this is to die with Christ And indeed so terrible is it as if he had not both opened and made easy the Way and is still at hand to help in the hour of Distress there were no Flesh that could abide it 19. Now in general this is the Warfare but happens in divers manners and degrees for some perish in the way others scape through great Terrors and Amazements some only mourn so as if they rejoiced but none without some throws Again in some it makes a quicker and fuller Work in others a partial and intermitting yet shall not these be less precious in the sight of God but the first shall be last and the last shall be first For it is not in the Will of any Man to make this War longer or shorter total or partial because this is the Warfare that no Man can undertake at his own charge nor may rush into it as a Horse into Battel nor seek or provoke his Enemy till Christ lead him forth for in so doing he goes in his own strength runs into Temptations of his own procuring and is sure to suffer Loss For as in Martial Discipline some Souldiers are ordered for the Field some for Garrisons and some to abide by the Stuff and none may without License depart from his Post nor may at his list go upon forlorn Hopes and yet at the end every one shall receive equal Pay and share in the Prizes So also in the Spiritual War For as it is written God will not suffer any of his to be tempted above what they are able to bear and therefore in great Wisdom and Love he appoints to every one that Armour and Service he is fittest for and to be faithful therein is enough For if two Talents be given but four will be required and where five are given less than ten will not make up the expected Account For if one be placed upon a high and safe Tower and his Orders are only to watch diligently because therein the safety of many depends it sufficeth that he do so in sfety while others are in hazard But if to another it be said In the Defence of this Pass or Breach the safety of the Army depends and thou being a Man of Strength and Virtue I commit it to thy Charge and require thee to keep it unto uttermost hazard of thy self surely not either to keep it or receive deep Wounds deserveth Death And therefore 't is not in Man to order this War as he liketh or to make it easy or hard but to take as God disposeth it better or worse not prying into the nakedness of a Seal or Sign but as Christ discovers it by his withdrawing his appearance in them yea and then to beware he deride not at them as Cham the Father of Egypt did at the nakedness of his Father the Preacher of Righteousness lest his Curse follow but to cover them with Shem and reap his Blessing For tho it satiate not yet hath the Command put upon it a reverential Fear requiring Obedience Keep saith Solomon the Word of the King because of the Word of the Oath of God Be not hasty to go from his Presence for he doth what he pleaseth who may say to him What dost thou Who keeps the Commandment shall know no evil and the Wise of Heart discerneth Time and Judgment for to every good Will there is a set Time and Judgment But when it the Judgment shall be he knoweth not for who can tell when it shall be No Man hath Power over the Spirit to restrain the Spirit neither Power in the Day of Death neither dismission from the Warfare neither shall Impiety or Superstition or Presumption upon Grace deliver her Espoused So as every good Will of God is holy in its season and we may not say This or that is naked or unprofitable why hast thou commanded it For in so doing we despise that which God hath predestinated as the Means of our Salvation neither when they satiate not may we esteem them as abolished things to us neither tho slain by the Beast and their dead Bodies lie in the Tents of Cham which is Spiritual Sodom and Egypt ought we to rejoice as delivered from their Yoak for they shall live again for it is not the Ordinance but the Idolatrous using that shall perish for the word is Do these things until I come And no Power or Principality in Heaven or in Earth can abolish any Decree of God save the same good Will that gave it and therefore haste thou not out of the presence of the King but in awful reverence fear before him for indeed this is no other than the Legal School-Master that brings to the Yoak which is easy and Burthen that is light For surely no Man at his first Obedience to the Call of God doth straightways arrive at the new Birth or is made free in that Freedom in which the Spirit maketh free but sets forth in bondage to Ordinances which God winketh at permitting the Soul to be eager therein until he sees the fit time of thrusting Thorns into its Flesh and so by piece-meal levels the Pride thereof For so incident it is to Flesh and Blood to make Reason the Interpreter of the Command and so naturally it falls in with it to believe God cannot be pleased without working of Righteousness and Merit according to its own Interpretation of the Rule that the Soul will not be beaten out of this way until full Experience hath convinced it which Experience must arise from many zealous Essays made and the Conviction from the Ineffectualness of the Essays and the Ineffectualness from Christ's hiding the Ordinance And hence it is that where zealous Performances are not there can be no Conviction and therefore 't is most necessary that the Soul should be zealous in them until this Conviction be wrought which as I said cannot be till Christ be withdrawn out of them and the Flesh be pierced with many Sorrows And hence also it comes to pass that no Man can come to this Warfare before Christ lead him nor make it total as he pleaseth For seeing God will not suffer any Man to be tempted above what he is able to bear and some are weaker than others it often falls out that the Warfare is begun in one Ordinance and that least weighty to the end the Soul may be initiated and trained up to harder Service and this being well fought that is the Legal Use gently resigned and Spiritual enforced God may either presently or after a long Interval and Refreshment call it to another and another as he sees best and happy is it for poor Adam that he hath taken the Management into
of Elshaddi and blessed him and hence he says Jehovah is here and I knew not Next he feared Jara and found that the terrible or rough Gate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Heaven was here i.e. in reverential fear And lastly upon assurance of God's Promise vows in the very same words of the Promise For saith God I will be with thee c. And saith Jacob If thou wilt be with me and keep me and bring me back c. then shalt thou be my God this Stone shall be thy House and in reverential fear I will serve thee all my days and of all thou givest me I will dedicate a tenth to thy immediate service Which is as much as I cannot preserve my self nor make my way prosperous but thou canst enable me to do all things and if thou wilt vouchsafe so to do upon this Pillar of thy Promise I will build in reverence and fear I will serve thee a tenth I will devote for Charity Mercy and Judgment and nailing my Ear to thy Door Post I will never change nor forsake thee And so well pleasing was this Vow to God as after Gen. 31.13 he calls himself the God of Bethel and minds Jacob of his Pillar and Vow and Gen. 33.1 He again minds and requires him to go and live in reverential fear upon the Promise as he had sworn 21. And now this I take to be the Oath our Prophet meant in Spirit fore-seeing what would be the Evangelical Vow namely not to vow in our own strength but as one vile in his own eyes able of himself to do nothing and verily if this was not his purpose he seems to have matched these two Precepts together in a jarring discord Be vile in thine own Eyes yet swear and change not But rather in Jacob's way seeing thou my Friend my Shepherd my Lord hast brought me to death and hast shewn me that God was there and I knew it not and seeing he that delivered me and promised me to be with me naked and vile as I am and that reverential fear is well pleasing to him I am resolved upon the strength of his Promise through which I shall be able to do all things to serve him in fear and reverence all the days of my life and will give him the Tenths of what he gives me back again that is unto his little Ones for who giveth to them in the name of one of his Disciples giveth unto him 22. Before we examine how this Exposition will agree with our Text we inquire how it agrees with Gospel Doctrine touching Oaths First our Lord I say unto you Swear not at all not by Heaven nor Earth nor Jerusalem Which is as much as thou swearest by that thing in whole creature but God knows and if thou perform not thy Vows it shall bear a severe testimony against thee Neither says he swear by thy Head because thou canst not make one hair white or black That is thy Head will witness against thee that thou vowed'st great performances and yet knowest thou art not able to do any thing not so much as to make one hair to any defect of any sort Let your communication be yea yea nay nay for what is more is of sin Now this Yea and Nay seems to be a modest purposing to perform a thing proceeding from a sense of our own infirmity for Yea yea is I am able I can Nay nay is I am not I cannot and both together make up this if God enable me yea if not nay This I gather from other Texts 2 Cor. 1.17 where the Apostle having appealed to his own and their Consciences that in sincerity and grace he had preached the Gospel to them he adjoyns When therefore I was thus minded did I use lightness or what I purposed did I purpose according to the flesh that with me there should be yea yea and nay nay But God is true our word to you was not Yea and Nay for Jesus Christ was not preached to you Yea and Nay but in him was Yea For all the Promises of God in him are Yea and in him Amen That is my preaching the Gospel to you was not in uncertainty if I can I will but God being true who commanded me to preach my words were sure Yea and not Nay and so are all the Promises of God in Christ which fully confirms Yea is strength Nay is weakness and Yea yea and Nay nay such a mixture of both as drives away all confidence of performance in that subject where they meet and consequently in Man dwelling in Houses of clay Again Jam. 4.13 Go to ye that say To day or to morrow we will do thus or so whereas ye know not what will be to morrow for ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that But now ye rejoyce in your boasting all such rejoycing is evil And after admonishing rich Men not to boast in their heaped up merits and all to patient waiting upon God he adjoyns Chap. 5.12 But above all things my Brethren swear not neither by Heaven Earth or any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation Which is do not in the pursuit of your natural and lawful vocation purpose any thing but in a reverent submission to the will of God and if so in Temporals much more in Spirituals And to go further is pride and a forgetfulness that in the Lord ye live move and have a being or that if he withdraw his breath ye all vanish Ye that are rich in your own merit weep mourn and look for a day of slaughter Ye of the Brethren be patient watch for the coming of the Lord Judg your selves and not others Consider the History of Job Above all things beware of being confident in your own strength resolve upon nothing but in hopes of the Lord giving strength Do not say I will go and hear such or such and I will hearken and profit and buy the Truth but if the Lord vouchsafe me his Presence thus will I do So our Lord I am the Vine ye are the Branches without me ye can do nothing And again Paul I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me That is without him nothing through him all things 23. And this I take to be a Gospel Vow or rather a humble diffidence in our selves and a lively hope in Christ that through him we can do what shall be acceptable to God brought into the Gospel in the place of Legal Vows For seeing the Law answers to the Gospel line for line there was not one line in that which hath not his fellow in this calling to each in the true harmony of Type and Antitype Shadow and Essence And therefore seeing in the Gospel swear not was utterly abolished by our Lord in his very first Sermon in the Mount and in the same Crisis the communication by Yea yea and Nay nay brought