Christs abroad I had well nigh said No Man can have the true Christ in the Beauty of Holiness until he himself be vile in his own eyes The conclusion is That legal Oaths in that Acceptation as this Text has rendred them never were of greater no nor so great avail as other such like Services commanded in the Law And forasmuch as it was left indifferent to swear or not to swear they never were necessary or a Cause without which the immoveable State could not be obtained But the Yea yea and Nay nay of the Gospel is so essential to it as who hath made and kept it in Integrity cannot miss of that high Calling VERS 5. 1. Not giving his Money in Vsury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He desired or a desirable thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He bit or biting Vsury This is the tenth Precept every way Letter and Spirit of great import for the literal Usurer rends two Commandments out of his Lesson and spoileth a third for he covets and steals and oft swallows up and murders distressed Families and which is worse the great Commandment Love thy Neighbour as thy self Do as thou wouldest be done unto he crusheth at a grasp In a word as Love fulfills so Usury breaks the whole Law as is written The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil. But neither is all that Usury in common Discourse so called nor doth it comprise all manner of Usury for all Oppression for Gain by the Powerful upon the Poor by extorting from them by Might Deceit or the like or for Revenge upon slight Trespasses is biting Usury but on the contrary to let out Money upon a Price is not always Usury but in many Cases lawful for he that hath a Stock in Money and not the capacity of improving it would by spending upon it at the end come to poverty In which Cases it is as lawful to let out Money as Houses or Lands especially where the municipal Laws of the Land have regulated the Rent for God hath committed such Matters to the Regulation of Law-givers to dispose them to the Profit of both Lender and Borrower But of this we shall not enlarge because the ugliness of its Visage appears in the Glass of Nature 2. The other is Spiritual Usury namely when a Man thinks by his Wisdom Works or Good that he profits God and hopes for an Encrease or Interest as due to him of right And verily tho no Man will confess this yet many use it as the Buyer It is naught it is naught yet boasts in his Heart For whoso thinks he hath by his Righteousness obliged God to encrease his Basket either in Natural or Spiritual Riches is an Usurer or yet he that upon Adversity or Losses or common Calamities grudges or murmurs that God hath not made a distinction between him and others more wicked as he thinks than himself or yet that such as these have Rule Riches Honour and he is despicable and poor or confidently prays for and hopes that God should go out of the way of his usual Providence to work Miracles for his sake Or lastly if a Man whom God vouchsafeth to give Wisdom or Riches or any Blessing unto and he presumes that God doth this for his Righteousness sake And amongst these I account the proud Pharisee I thank thee I am not like this Publican c. Also the rich Man Thou hast much Goods laid up for many years All these I say is Usury and in a like Allegory as by Whoredom Idolatry is signified so by Usury Covetousness and Love of Riches are these Evils for all these are the Branches of one bitter Root 3. Now our Lord thus It is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Which I say chiefly refers to Spiritual Riches that is He who hath large Possessions in Legal Merit and sells them not cannot pass into the new Birth or true Rest of God for these Riches cannot refer to literal Substance for Nicodemus was a rich Man and yet one of Christ's first Scholars in Regeneration so Joseph of Arimathea who in his Burial declared his Love for Christ also the Eunuch of Queen Candace the Church in Cesar's House c. Besides this seems to shut Abraham Isaac David Solomon c. out of the Kingdom of Heaven And to this the whole Context agrees for the usual Glosses of this Text were no further than to assure that worldly Riches are apt to draw the Heart aside in like manner as Honour high Birth or Education are and in that sence the Letter admonisheth well to beware of such Temptations whereof the Love of Money is the Root Some interpret it they who put their Trust in Riches which indeed if it were applicable to a Spiritual Trusting were most true and perfect but no Writing Memorial or Experience gives one Example of any who trusted to his worldly Riches in point of Salvation except Simon Magus and they in that Gall of Bitterness that suppose Money can purchase a Soul-saving Pardon But the Character of this young Man answers all those Glosses for he put no such Trust in his Riches for in haste he kneeling down cries out Lord what shall I do to be saved Neither did his Wealth withdraw his Affections from heavenly things for from his Youth he had kept the Commandments and saith the Text Mark 10.21 Christ loved him Which clearly shews that touching Righteousness by the Law he was rich and that from his Trust in them his Lack proceeded as our Lord told him Yet lackest thou one thing Go and sell all thou hast give to the Poor and follow me that is All thy Merit reject be poor in Spirit and follow me into Regeneration Again the Amazement of the Disciples at Christ's words It is easier c. further clear up the Matter Who then can be saved in which words they could not refer to the Riches of Nabal nor yet of Abraham but clearly to Riches in our sence namely in legal Merit which was in that day the best Evidence for Heaven And to this also Peter's Reply consents We have forsaken all for thee and what shall we have which by the way were the very words of an Usurer which all could not aim at worldly Riches because they had none but had changed a laborious penurious Life for an easy which never lacked necessary Food or Cloathing And hence some prophane Spirits reproach the Scripture as nugatory This All say they was a rotten Boat and Nets And indeed his words were slight if he meant them or if he did not mean that for Christ's sake they had forsaken all their Righteousness by Moses The sum is It is easier for a Camel c. than for a Man rich in his own Merits to enter into the Kingdom of the Gospel 4. Again our Lord Blessed are the Poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed
God as is written Isa 65.5 Which say Stand by thy self come not near me for I am more holy than thou These are a Smoak in my Nose they remain among the Graves lodg in the Tombs and eat Swines flesh And indeed so prone is Humanity to judg well of it self and to think others vile as if it had a Divine Institution to justify it self by contempt of others it would have too great and bold a face in all Men. And therefore the whole Stream of Scripture-Precepts runs on of the contrary part And so I read this and so it falls in most fitly as the seventh Link of this seamless Chain For until this Warfare hath unravel'd all the Pride and high Conceits of Man by Nature 't is impossible he should be vile and despised in his own esteem and after he hath found that he is in himself poor naked and miserable this Precept easily may be engrafted And this the Psalmist aims at namely That in this nick of time we should lay a lasting Foundation of Humility For so apt is the Nature of Man to think well of himself that tho he have nothing of his own Merit that will bear out his boasting yet can he be proud in the Gift or Bounty of another So as Poor and Proud is a most fit Character for Mankind But I think the Precept looks both back and forwards that is Learn Humility from Adversity past and let not that natural propensity in us upon the Income of Grace unrivet its Junctures For tho Grace be not our own purchase but of meer Bounty yet are we exceeding apt to be puffed up with it and to boast of its Riches even to Security and Sloth and of I know not what Liberty which is often I fear made an occasion to Wantonness and Forgetfulness of God I dare boldly affirm both tend to great Loss And at this wise Agur levelled in his Prayer Two things I desire of thee Give me neither Poverty nor Riches Not Poverty lest I climb in by the wrong Door and become a Robber seeking Riches in beggarly lying Superstition not Riches lest I be full of Ease and Plenty and abuse thy free Gift to Wantonness So as indeed wretched Man is no sooner freed from fleshly and natural Pride but he runs the hazard of another which tho of a heavenly and spiritual Offspring yet is it not of less danger Only our great Advantages in this State are First That the former is rooted in us by Nature and had erected its Bulwarks before we were aware and not to be beaten down without Miracles from Heaven but on the contrary this is at first a Stranger weak of it self and our Hearts by late Humiliation fortified against it so as a little watchfulness may weed it up before it take root Secondly If indeed we have been faithful in our Warfare repented heartily and planted Love we have God's Promise he will watch over us And lastly We are assured we are in closer Union with God through our Lord than before we were capable of yet still so as the Captain of our Salvation requires us to watch and be upon our Guard And hence the Psalmist saith Be contemned be despised in thine own Eyes As if he would impress it upon us that the vileness of Man which is discovered in his Warfare should never be forgotten namely an utterly lost vile and condemned Creature in the Jaws of Hell until redeemed by one who owed him nothing nor yet expects any price O my Soul engrave this upon thy Heart write it upon thy Conscience make it a Frontlet between thy Eyes and let thy Philactery be large Bind upon thy left hand Was ever State more desperate and deplorable than mine was And on thy right Was there ever greater Love than this Write upon one Post of thy Gate Justice spare that Wretch he now is humbled And on the other If thou must have Blood turn thy Blade into my Side And whosoever can thus write speaking the Truth in his Heart it shall be said unto him Gird thy Sword upon thy Thigh and ride on prosperously in the rest of thy Warfare for Christ will lead thee out and bring thee in 2. Now hitherto Righteousness hath consisted in destroying and pulling down such Fortresses as rebellious Nature had erected and now we come to that which buildeth up adding Vertue to Vertue and Strength to Strength The first part was in putting off the Old Man the second in putting on the New That was by descent from the Life of the first Adam the living Soul to the Death thereof and this an ascent from that Death by the power of the working of the second Adam unto Life everlasting yet so as we are not as we minded before to cast behind us any of those Teachings which we before learned in Moses's or Abraham's Schools that is If we have learned with Abraham to believe in the Promise above Hope with Job Patience that we can say The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the Name of the Lord or with Moses Obedience Meekness Humility and Contempt of our selves we are still to retain them as most choice Jewels as most necessary Weapons in managing the latter part of our Warfare for even Grace without these is an occasion of a supine Forgetfulness of him that bought us Neither ought any as I fear some do to suppose the Gifts of Grace have set them free from all Obedience to the Law contained under the two Tables but on the contrary have more forcibly imposed it and as Christ saith I came not to destroy but to fulfill the Law that is so to fulfill it as that we through him might also fulfill it Again Whoso shall break one of these least Commandments shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven and whoso shall do and teach them shall be greatest c. And again You have heard of old it was said Thou shalt not kill but I say Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause is in danger of the Judgment Where it is manifest that this Law is so far from abolishment as it is exalted further than of old Again Of old it was Thou shalt not commit Adultery but now Whoso looketh on a Woman to lust is an Adulterer And again Adulterers and Adulteresses shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And therefore the Text is plain and positive these Commands are more strictly fixed upon us than before And tho our Lord in this Sermon doth not so expresly mention the rest of the Decad yet by other Precepts in the same Chapter he implies all and especially in that where he saith Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self for that fully includes all of the second Table And for them of the first it were madness to think we may have any other God or may make the likeness of any thing to worship it save our own God or yet to prophane his Name So to
Horse or Foot by Arrows at a distance or by Sword in close Fight ought to have in readiness all sorts of Arms sutable for Defence And therefore he who hath to do with Satan ought to have his Quiver full of Scripture-Inspirations so as when he meets his Enemy he need not be afraid And to this experienced Christians can set their Seals for to them labouring under Temptation Unbelief or Torment a Text hath usually come in to them that hath dissipated their Doubtings as Light expells Darkness Neither is there any Weapon Satan can form against a Believer but there is a Scripture-Antidote against it Wherefore I say seeing we have a subtil restless and irreconcileable Enemy and to avoid the War is impossible if then a Friend would put a Book into our hands teaching the Art of War and Conquest shall we not study it And if some obscure Passage should put us to a loss shall we not enquire for an Interpreter of better Skill and Experience than our selves Study therefore the Book of the War of God which will sometimes plainly sometimes in Allegory teach thee the whole Art of overcoming and will shew thee what is the whole Armour of Righteousness and how to proceed like a good Souldier of Jesus Christ ready to endure all Hardships when called thereunto And forasmuch as the Scripture contains more Memorials than any memory can well contain it may be good to store it with some of more general use And to offer my Mite First Such as under a Blessing or Happiness require some Duty or Service as Blessed are the Meek Merciful and pure of Heart c. If ye know and do these things happy are ye Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation Which will both remind the Soul of what is acceptable to God and bear it up in Afflictions And of this kind there are Hundreds more and not one which doth not direct unto some Weapon useful in our Spiritual Warfare Secondly Such as are in opposition to these namely such as under a Curse prohibit Wickedness as Cursed are the Proud Cursed he who trusts in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm which withdraws his Heart from God For by these he wills that we be warned of Satan's Sleights Arms and Strong-holds Thirdly Promises which above all support weak Faith and comfort under Tribulation as My Grace shall be sufficient for thee Which was Paul's Balsam against Satan's Buffetings Be faithful unto the end and I will give thee a Crown of Life All things shall work together for Good unto them that love the Lord c. And surely it cannot be amiss to have a Quiver full of these And lastly and above all leave not those three out of thy Lesson which the Lord made use of against Satan Mat. 4.4 7 10. 12. But now having thus endeavoured to shew that so necessary the Union and equal Fellowship of Doctrine and Obedience is as without both neither can be in Christ also that to visit the Fatherless Widow and Stranger in Affliction to break off the Yoke of Oppression to divide his Bread to the Hungry to be meek merciful and humble is that Obedience which is pure and unspotted against which there is no Law nor they in whom they abound can be barren or unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ but they in whom they are not are blind And lastly that my Fears are that some may put too much of true Religion upon Hearing and frequenting of the Ordinances in a formal way without bringing their Hearts under a strict examination how far they have profited by what they have learned and put in practice what they are convinced is unspotted Piety I conclude with the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore my Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fail But so an Entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savour Jesus Christ. And let no Man think that the diligence the Apostle here requires is to go and only hear what unspotted Religion is and to tell his Friends and Family how well the Minister handled the Word and all the Week after to walk according to the deeds of the Old Man in Lustings in Wrath in Covetousness in Boastings that he is not like other Men who will scarce go to hear at all But to do this diligence is First To draw nigh to God which is not difficult for thee for at any time even thine own set time Morning Noon Evening or Midnight he will meet thee in thy Conscience and speak to thee by it If thou hast heard the Word of Truth and understood then what thou oughtest to do and yet hast not so done he will by it both inform thee and reprove thee And the second part of thy Diligence is to drop a Tear of godly Sorrow or at least a Sigh for thy failings St. James hath it thus Jam. 4.7 Submit your selves to God draw nigh to him and he will meet you cleanse your Hands O ye Sinners in godly Sorrow and purify your deceitful Hearts by Repentance Be afflicted and mourn that hearing and understanding ye have not obeyed Let your Joy that ye hoped ye were more righteous than others be turned into heaviness because ye know not but ye may have claimed that to which you have no right And this is some part of the Diligence required And if hereby thou canst truly humble thy self in the sight of the Lord thou hast his Promise that he will lift thee up St. Peter 1. Pet. 5.6 agrees with us Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Cast your Care and diligence upon him for his Care nay his Diligence is over you And also our great Prophet consents Psal 51.16 Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it Thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite Heart O Lord thou wilt not despise And now to conclude I say The Father of this unspotted Religion is Preaching the Father of Preaching the pure Word of God tried in the Fire the Mother thereof is Vileness and Contempt in thine own Eyes and the Mother of this Vileness is the Cross of Christ And God is Lord and Father of all and whom he hath joined together let no Man dare to divide asunder 13. But honoureth them that fear the Lord. This is the eighth Precept and fitly follows the aforesaid For Contempt of our selves prompts us to think better of others and honour such and the Heart swelling with Pride despiseth all save it self So as this is another Sprig of the same Stock ingrafted in the Stock of brotherly Love by the hands of Humility which are never too fine to perform the meanest Work of Charity So as this Honour lives in Self-contempt Humility and Love and verily ought to over-branch Love it self for to
was sufficient for thee I left with thee also my Cloud by Day and Fire by Night I sent before thee What could I have done more to my Vineyard than I have done And now how hast thou performed thy Yea and Nay To which the Soul must reply according as the Spirit of Antichrist hath obtained less or more Dominion and where that is much it boasts All that thou hast required I have done but whatsoever it be all its works must be brought to the Trial. And tho Antichrist knowing his time is short rage and bustles In thy Name we have Wrought Preached Prophecied done Miracles his Answer shall be I know thee not nor none of thine and so all Works which are of him or of Pride or Lust or Usury shall fall as stubble before the consuming Fire and that which the Soul esteemed a fair heap of lasting Treasure is brought to a small Remnant or perhaps to Nothing but all perished as Babylon did in one hour and Job's sad Messengers come one in the heels of another thy Plowing is at an end nothing left but Burnt-offerings and Sacrifices Fire from Heaven hath consumed them all thy Camels by Interpretation Retributions or Recompensations the Superstitious Chaldean have carried away thy Sons and thy Daughters supinely Banqueting in the House of they First-born the Wind from the Wilderness or the Spirit from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 smote the House and it fell upon the young men and they are dead and we alone of all thy Servants are escaped to tell thee And now if the Soul with Job fall down to the Ground and worship Naked I came naked I go the Lord gave the Lord hath taken away and blessed is his Name and so not sin nor charge God foolishly the Heb. is not give to God a tastless thing all its Sorrow shall be turned into Joy and God shall reward it double 17. But Job being a man of Thummim raised up by God in the perfection of Patience to the end he might be an Example for us to follow read and consider Jam. 5. unto 12. which refer to this Trial Go howl ye Vsurers c. he yet saw fit to bring further Trials upon him for his Body tho he had kept it as the Temple of the Holy Ghost was smit with Leprosie from the Soal of his Foot to the Crown And lastly his Wife set her self against him Wilt thou still retain thy Thummim thy Perfection by Consumption Give a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some read Curse as the Engl. but the Heb. will not bear it Blessing to God in thine own actual Righteousness and Merit and so make thy Peace and Die Yet could not this nor his three Miserable Comforters provoke him to sin in his Lips Again we find here Satan a great promoter of Job's Misery Touch him but and he will forsake his Thummim and Bless thee to they Face And again Touch but his skin c. and all to the end he might either provoke him to Bless God in his own Righteousness or to make him Murmure and offend God in his Tongue and doubtless so Satan will do with all who with Job keep their Integrity Thummon and are jealous over their own Hearts and Ways as he was over his Sons lest they should work in Merit but sure it is not so in the other extream namely where the Son of Perdition hath prevailed to the obtaining the destruction he sought And here we are warned how it behoves all in this day to beware of these Evils Satan sought to plunge Job into as most desprate namely not to Bless God in Vsury or boasting with some Gift of our own c. Nor lastly Not to murmure repine or distrust God But forasmuch as Job sate down in Ashes and cursed his day Chap. 3.1 It is manifest he was under great Consternation and Confusion and so must all others be even trembling with Isaac and apt to murmure with Esau Hast thou not one Blessing for me Have I now followed thee long and endured much and hast thou forgot to be gracious 18. And now Satan knowing this is his last opportunity bestirs himselfe to draw this Dispondency into Dispair and Rebellion and to that end sets before the Soul its former faithfulness Thy complaints saith he are just an austere Master thou hast served in a long Pilgrimage and what could have done more to please than thou hast Out of the pleasantenjoyments of the World he called thee in the prime of thy Youth and thou followedst him into a howling Wilderness Next He gave thee a Sweat paid him the purest Sacrifice thou wast able all was rejected for no other reason but because they were thine own and now having quit all thy Wages due for them thou upon pleasing hopes of a New Covenant nailedst thine Ear to his Post and didest cast thy self upon his Grace and Bounty and yet new Sorrows seize upon thee and all as thy Case now stands thou art like to reap is the Labour for thy pains And then setting it upon a high Mountain surely saies he If thou hadst chosen me thy Master thou hadst had a more pleasant Service and bountiful Master and then shewing it all the vain Glory of the World all these saith he are at my disposal and if thou wilt yet Serve and Worship me I will give thee a large and Princely Portion therein and more also if thou ask it I will enhance thy Desires to utmost content and pleasure Let not That word Pleasure grate in thy Ears Sin as if Perdition follows it I mean Lawful Pleasure for I will not give thee upon conditions only accept and temper my Gifts with Love or Charity or Justice as thou wilt for I will require no account of the abundance I give thee for many of my servants have built Monasteries Almes-houses and Hospitales But again consider how often thou hast begged of thy Master with tears and gone away empty and what was it that thou didest ask was it not to do him better service Thon askedst Wisdom and if he had granted was it not in thy heart to set forth his Goodness and Praise If he had given thee the Gifts of Prophecy wouldest thou not have prophecied in his Name and to his People as to his Glory the Prophets of old did If the Gift of Tongues I know thou wouldest have expounded Law and Prophets Gospel and Epistles to the honour and good of his Kingdom and encrease and fealty of his Subjects If he had set thee among Princes and Magistrates wouldest thou not have done Justice and Mercy and pleaded the Cause of the Fatherless Widow Poor and Oppressed Hast thou not often beseeched him to enable thee to walk more closely and holily with him than formerly thou hast done How often hast thou desired to draw near unto him upon his promise that he would draw near to thee and yet he sets himself afar off from thee He hath told thee