Paul in this present Epistle if so we may happily wind our selves out of this dangerous maze or labyrinth Whereas then he seems to nullifie or vilifie at least the Law in the advancing of that Righteousness that is by Faith Let us see what this Righteousness that is of Faith and what that of the Law is Chap. 2. 19. For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God Ver. 20. I am crucified with Christ Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me I through the law am dead to the law What a riddle is this that the Law should deprive it self of its Disciples And yet it doth so For it is a Schoolmaster to Christ or rather an Usher Which when it hath well tutour'd us and castigated us removes us up higher to be made in Christ perfect who is the perfection of the Law But the Law it self makes nothing perfect And this is the reason that Righteousness is not of the Law And to this purpose speaks the Apostle in this very Epistle Chap. 3. Ver. 21. Is the law then against the promises of God God forbid For if there had been a law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Law that could enliven and enquicken us But that is beyond the power of the Law That 's the Title and Prerogative of Christ who is the way the truth and the life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the resurrection and the life He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Iohn 11. 25. This therefore is the Righteousness of Faith or Belief far above the Righteousness of the Law or killing Letter Now when this Faith is come we are no longer under that Poedagog of Punie-boys the Low-master But are all the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. And none are the Children of God but those that are led by the Spirit of God as the Apostle witnesseth in his Epistle to the Romans And those that have the Spirit of God what fruits they bring forth is amply set out by the Apostle in this to the Galatians Chap. 5. ver 22 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Against such there is no Law For indeed there is no need of it they being a Law unto themselves So we see how those that are in Christ are not under the Law because their Obedience or that living Law in their Hearts are above it They do really and truly fulfil it through the Spirit that is by Faith For that Spirit is the begetter of Love and Love is the fulfilling of the Law For all the law is fulfilled in one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self But if ye bite and devour one another take heed that ye be not consumed one of another This I say then Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would But if ye be led by the spirit ye are not under the law Ver. 14 15 16 17 18. Observe that If you be led by the Spirit For against such there is no Law as was said before Which implies if thou art not led by the Spirit thou art liable to the Curse of the Law to Death Hell and Damnation For so also speaks the Apostle when he hath reckoned up the works of the flesh ver 21. But here methinks I see some filching away an excuse for their own hypocrisie out of some of the foregoing words at the 6th Verse of that 5th Chapter The flesh and the spirit are contrary so that you cannot do that you would I but withal this is true too That if we will that which we do amiss we are then under the Curse of the Law For we are not then led by the Spirit of God but are servants of Sin and Satan We are not then in Christ no more than our bodies at Athens or Carthage but our phansies roving thither For they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Ver. 24. So we see plainly Beloved that the Righteousness that is of Faith is not a mere Chimaera or phansie but a more excellent Righteousness than that of the Law For the Law is no quickening Spirit but a dead Letter But Christ is the resurrection and the life And he is God our Righteousness mighty to save and can with ease destroy the powers of Death Darkness and the Devil out of the Soul of man But we must have the patience to endure the work wrought in us by him I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me And if we will still cloak and cover our foul corrupt Hearts with forged conceits of Hypocrisies own making and excuse our selves from being good to one another or to our selves because God in Christ is so good to us Hear what the Apostle speaks in the last Chapter of this Epistle for it is now time to draw nearer to my Text Ver. 7 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption But he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting The aim therefore of the Apostle is not to extenuate or discountenance real Vertue and Righteousness but to point us to it and tell us where it may be had Not in Days and Years not in New Moons or Festivals not in Circumcision nor in the dead Letter of the Law But in Christ and the Spirit of God in the renewed Image of God in the New Birth in the New life in the second Adam from Heaven in the New Creature in that stumbling block to all Flesh and Blood in the Cross of Christ. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross c. THE Text contains briefly the Summ of the whole Discourse we may cast it into these Three parts 1. The Apostles Resolution He will not glory in any thing save in the cross of Christ whereby the man of Sin in his very Soul is crucified and made dead that the Life of Christ may abide in him 2. The Reason of his Resolution Because when a man hath given his name to Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision nor any of the Ceremonial Laws is any thing but a new creature 3. His Benediction or well-wishing to all that walk after the rule i. e. according to the new man that is fram'd in Righteousness and true Holiness the true Israel of God Peace be on them But I will rather fall upon the words themselves And in my passage point out such Observations as shall arise most
point of Religion exerciz'd all the time God himself bears witness against them Ezekiel 33. They speak every one to his brother saying Come I pray you and hear what is the word that cometh from the Lord. They come unto thee and sit before thee as my people and they hear thy words but they will not do them with their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after covetousness And lo thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument for they hear thy words but they do them not And Reading of the Scripture privately is so like the publick Preaching of it that I need not take any new pains to refute the vanity of it if it be not accompanied with due obedience We may fetch that up to Divinity which Epictetus hath both wittily and gravely of Moral Theorems The Sheep tell not their keeper how much Fodder or Grass they eat but shew that they feed sufficiently by their Milk and Wooll Let us not therefore Beloved do as vain Limners they say have done drawn Venus and the Virgin Mary according to the feature of some Face they themselves love best Let us not I say picture out Religion to our own liking and then be in love with an Idol of our own making but love and like that which the Apostle has so plainly pourtray'd to us That whose description consists in visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction and keeping our selves unspotted of the world Which in two words is this Charity and Purity Of these two consists that true Religion acceptable to God For I conceive visiting the Fatherless and Widows in their affliction excludes not other good deeds from this definition but by a Synecdoche is put for the whole office of Charity 1. The First branch is Charity I will not curiously and artificially set out the bounds of this Vertue It will be enough to intimate that it is not confin'd to the relief of the Body only as he is not only Fatherless that wants his Natural Parent but he much more that has not God for his Father through the seed of the new birth Nor she alone a Widow that has lost her Natural Husband but every Soul is a Widow that is estranged and divorced from her God whose sins have made a separation betwixt her and her Maker Thy Maker is thy Husband Esa. 11. 54. He is so indeed to those that are not faithless and play the Harlot for of such saith the Lord She is not my Wife neither am I her Husband Hosea 2. 2. He therefore that can reconcile a Soul unto God doth not only relieve the Fatherless and Widow but procures an Husband and Father for them and wholly rids them out of their distressful estate These outward transient actions tending to the spiritual or temporal good of our Neighbour are fit testimonies of our sincere Religion before men but for every mans private satisfaction concerning himself there be divers inward and immanent motions of the Soul which will abundantly help on this confirmation I will reckon them up out of the mouth of the Apostle 1 Cor. 13. Where I will not balk those that be at ad extra too they being all very well worth our taking notice of Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up Doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth Beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 2. I pass on now to the Second branch Purity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep himself unspotted from the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies properly such kind of spots as are in Clothes by spilling some liquid or oyly thing on them An hard task certainly to be Religious at this height Is it to be thought possible that we should wear this Garment of Mortality every day nay every hour and moment for thirty forty fifty sixty years together and soil it by no mischange or miscarriage either of careless Youth violent Manhood or palsied Old Age To pass through the hurry and tumult of this World and never be crouded into the dirt nor be spattered by them that post by us But verily this is not the meaning of the Apostle or of his description of Religion that no man is Religious but he that is absolutely spotless But he sets before us an Idea or Paradigme of true Religion that men having their eyes upon it may know how much or rather how little of Religion they have attained to By how much nearer conformable to this pattern by so much more Religious by how much further off by so much the less Religious He that is not so much as within the sight of it has not so much as seen the least glimpse or glance of Godliness but may be without any wrong to him writ down Atheist Let every man herein examine himself and ask his own Conscience how unspotted he has kept himself from the World And here as hard a difficulty represents it self if not harder than before To keep himself unspotted from the World Is it not pure Irreligiousness to think so Impossible to be so Who can keep himself pure I answer it may be a mistake in the Idiom of the Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is no more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be kept unspotted from the World Hithpael for Niphai as there is elsewhere Niphal for Hithpael Acts 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Beza Or to keep himself unspotted from the World is to be understood so far forth as is in our power which in truth is very little Here therefore steps in the power of Christ that strong Arm of God for our Salvation the stay and trust of all Nations and the hope of the ends of the Earth For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8. We walk though it be in the power of that Spirit of Life in Christ as our Body moves by vertue of our Natural Spirit But whether this act of purification or keeping our selves pure be so from God that it is not in any wise from us I leave to them to dispute that are more at leasure That it must be in us if there be any Religion in us is all that the Text affords me and 't is enough for the tryal of our Religion Pure Religion is to keep our selves unspotted from the World What to keep our selves
Soul may be purified No doubt of this Refiners Art or Skill Is his Will doubted of It is one with the Will of God and Gods Will is that we be purified 1 Thess. 4. 3. And Christ is no teacher of loosness but of the height of Righteousness 'T is not the privilege of the Gospel that we may sin securely because Christus solvit but that we may live more exactly because Christ requires it and doth inwardly enable us to perform it See also Rom. 8. 1 2 3 4. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Here we will acknowledge that God is able his Spirit is willing but we are uncapable of so great a good by reason of the infirmity of the Flesh But answer me O vain man what is this infirmity of the Flesh is it not the strength of Sin And is there any strength that can withstand the powerful operation of the Spirit of God The weakness or strength if you will of the Body bears it towards the Earth but the fire and activity of the Natural Spirits bears it above and enables it to walk upright on the Earth contrary to be bend of its own Essence and Nature Shall not the Spirit of God then be as able to actuate and lead the Soul contrary to its accidental and ascititious Principles as the Natural Spirits to actuate the Body contrary to its innate and essential Principles Certainly if it be not effectual in us we our selves are in fault who abuse our shuffling Phansie and Reason to fend off the stroke and power of Truth that at once would cleave our hearts that 's a tender place the seat of Life it self and any Religion but that which kills us and mortifies us The Devil knew well enough what he said and his Children make it good Skin for skin and all that a man has will he give for his life This is the shuffling hypocrisie of the Natural Spirit of man and the root of infidelity But let us make better use of this precious Scripture Seeing ye obeyed the Truth through the Spirit 1 st For the encrease of Faith and Confidence and Courage in the wayes of Obedience sith we have so strong assistance as the Spirit of our God with true Christian Fortitude to conflict with all our Spiritual Enemies wearing that Motto in our Minds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 dly For hearty Thankfulness to God when ever we find our selves successful in our Spiritual Warfare as to the only giver of Victory 3 dly and lastly For Humility AEquanimity and Christian Patience and expectancy towards our Neighbours that are not yet reclaim'd from their evil ways being compassionate over them not to insult in other mens weaknesses and miscarriages sith we our selves stand not by our own power but by the gracious assistance of our Saviour Jesus Christ And certainly Purification arrived at its full end will easily afford us this for the end of Purification is Brotherly Love which is the Fourth Doctrine Doct. IV. That this Purification of the Soul and Obedience to the Truth through the Spirit is for this end viz. the eliciting of Brotherly Love and Sincerity in the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are distinguished as 2 Pet. 1. 7. But that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here may be as large as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know nothing considerable to the contrary The word is capable of that Sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being used in as great a latitude as Proximus and Alter including all that descended from our Father Adam So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the love of our Neighbour and this Love is the end and height of our Purification and Obedience the aim and scope of it as much as concerns the Second Table Rom. 13. 9 10. and 1 Tim. 1. 5. Who is able to express so Divine an excellency For certainly the unfeigned Love of men is the very Divine Love it self whereby God loves himself and all things and we also love God and all things in reference to him This is that Love of whom the whole Universe was begotten and that rock'd the cradle of the Infant World the very Spirit of God whose Splendour none can behold and live for he must first be dead to himself and extinguish the love of himself before he can be touch'd and quickened by this Spirit of Life and Love THUS much for the Doctrines included in the First main Argument In the Second are these viz. Doctrine I. That there is a Regeneration of the Soul By understanding what Generation is we may better know what is Regeneration 1. The notion in general of Generation according to Aristotle implies no more than a right and fit union of a form substantial with some capable subject whether that form be elicited of the subject or matter or be brought in from elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks of the Rational Soul 2. There may be more Forms substantial than one in one subject so they be but subordinate one to the other and that a new Species doth not arise so much from the destruction of the pre-existent Form as by addition of a new one which might actuate the whole that doth pre-exist As the numerus ternarius is not made by taking from the numerus binarius but by adding an Unite thereto Thus Aristotle seems to speak Metaph. 7. Cap. 3. 3. Observe That one Soul actuating a Body if any part of that Body be cut off and lose the benefit of information suppose an Hand or Foot that is then said to be but equivocally what it was before which implies it is then of another Nature or Species as much of it as there is though it be not an entire substance if compared with the whole and consequently that the Soul actuating it did then specificate it another way We have now a tolerable insight into Generation and Regeneration is but this twice told That which is this specifical substance now by adding a new substantial Form thereto becomes something else This is Regeneration And to apply it to our selves We are already once born according to Nature our Bodies and Souls being fitly united together by him that is the Father of all Life and the Lord of Nature But though we be thus specificated yet we are not thence perfected but this Binary of Body and Soul the Pythagoreans would
enjoyments it is very unworthy and unbecoming so noble a Being as the Soul not to abstain from Fleshly Lusts not to be so much master of the Natural Desires of the Flesh as not to be enslaved to them or transported by them either to seek them or sue after them with over-much eagerness whether Riches Honours the Pleasures of the Flesh or whatever gratifications of the Animal Life or to embrace them with over much transportedness when they are offer'd unto us Epictetus expresses how we ought to be minded toward these things excellently well by a Similitude taken from a Feast or Banquet If a Dish come to thee that thou likest take part thereof with Modesty and Temperance Is it to be removed from thee detain it not Is it not yet come at thee stretch not thine Appetite out to it before its approach If thou shalt be thus affected toward all the things of this World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if when they are offered thee thou yet refuse them thou shalt not only be a worthy Guest but even a Fellow-Prince amongst the Gods And truly if we would but duly consider the Original of our Souls from what Fountain and Archetypon they are derived and of what an excellent nature they are and how little they are intended for this Terrestrial condition methinks it should be no hard task to fulfil this Precept of the Stoick or rather that of S. Iohn in his General Epistle Love not the world neither the things of the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world Wherefore our Original being so peculiarly Divine we are bound if we bear a due respect to that to gather up our Affections from sinking towards the vain and transitory things of this World and look upon our selves as very little concerned in them Christian Souls especially who by reason of their new birth are of a noble and divine extraction indeed and therefore upon a double account ought not so to undervalue themselves as to adhere to the fading pleasures and gratifications of this mortal Life If in vertue of this new birth ye be risen with Christ into the sense of the Divine Life and into a true and lively Faith seek those things which are above where Christ fitteth on the right hand of God Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth For what is there that this Earthly Life affords which we do not enjoy but as Tenants in common with the very Brutes Eating Drinking Sleeping hunting after a prey or pursuing a project for the satisfaction of our Carnal Desires begetting or bringing up our young applauses caresses the pleasure of dominion or revenge and the like These set up but on one level with the Beasts of the field and do not at all reach the excellency of our proper Nature But yet this is the guise of this Land of our Pilgrimage thus to be clad in the manners and habits of our fellow-Animals of the Earth as well as Strangers put on Turbants in the Turkish Empire But who would put on an odd habit in a strange Country but merely out of necessity Could he strut and please himself in it and be curious and sollicitous about a thing that he has no conceit or opinion of For us to make provision for the Flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof as the Apostle speaks is as fond as if some Slave should be very curious to provide himself of Chains and Fetters or other badges of his Slavery or a Fool should be very careful that his Coat have all the peculiar laces or tassels of a Fools-Coat And all this Worldly Pomp and Enjoyments are no better nor bear no more agreeable proportion to the Nobleness of the Soul than a Fools-Coat to the Body of a Grave and Wise Man Nay I think that Grave and Wise Philosopher Plotinus took his own Body to be such a Coat and therefore was loath to be painted in it and so leave a durable disgrace of himself behind him But suppose these Worldly things were not altogether so vile and contemptible yet our stay is here so short that to us they cannot be valuable For as both S. Peter and Plato have told us this Life is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Pilgrimage here upon Earth and we are but passing through it into our own Country How fond a thing therefore would it be to love any thing of the World or to addict our Affections to it when we must so suddenly leave it As fond as if one should be inveigled with the love of his Inn or any thing there when as he must leave it the next morning Wherefore being thus in a strange Land which we are to pass through not to make any abode in let not our minds be fixt or glued to any thing from which our Persons are so suddenly to remove And because we are Strangers in the Land let us take heed how we tamper with any bewitching Objects lest that which looks fair may prove no safe food but either a present or more lingring poyson and we may find the mischief of it at our return into the other State It is S. Iudes Character of some in the antient Christian Feasts of Charity that they fed themselves without Fear as if they had made that perverse sense of our Saviours Saying That which enters into the man cannot defile him by either quantity or quality But we are environed with so much ignorance and inexperience in this strange Land that we ought carefully to stand upon our guard and take heed how over-greedily or over-heartily we close with any tempting delight remembring that there may lye hid the most dangerous poyson in the greatest sweetness Let us therefore trust no strange Objects in this strange Land but keep close to what is nearest akin to us that is to our true Manhood which is the sense of true Honour and Vertue the Fear and Love of God and whatever Graces descend from that Fountain of Light and Giver of every good and perfect gift But the gifts of this World are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which few can receive without parting with that which is infinitely better a pure Mind and a peaceable Conscience and the assured hopes of Eternal Happiness hereafter And thus much for the Apostles first Argumentation to perswade us to abstain from Fleshly Lusts fetch'd from the Dignity of the Soul 2. We come to the Second which is The Enmity and Hostility of these Lusts against the Soul the law of the members warring against the law of the mind and endeavouring to lead us captive into the bondage of sin This Hostility is exercised 1. In treacherous Circumventions 2. In violent Assaults And 3. in the spoil and pillage of the Soul upon Victory 1.
signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What a dismal darkness will there be then For the blind then leading the blind both will fall into the Infernal Pit THE meaning of the Text I conceive is now abundantly plain and that the scope and end of our Saviours uttering this Parable to his Disciples was to stir them up to a constant and earnest endeavour of utterly disentangling themselves from all the attractions of the relish of the Flesh or Spirit of the World and of joyning themselves entirely and cordially with and of dwelling wholly in the relish sense and life of the Spirit of God or of that Divine Spirit whose suggestions are no dictates of self-love or partial interest but the substantial concerns of the Kingdom of God and the good of the whole World For which he who has this Divine relish will not stick to lay down his Life if need require according to that endearing Example of our ever-blessed and adored Saviour Let it be therefore my task at this time to exhort you earnestly to endeavour after this great and indispensable attainment of this Single Eye this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Wisdom of the Spirit which this Parable of our Saviour points to and is indeed the proper Spirit of Christ concerning which S. Paul expresly declares He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his Which ought to be a rousing Argument to awaken us into a due sense of so great a want For unless we regain this Single Eye we shall never see the right way to Heaven There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus namely to such as walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath freed me from the law of sin and of death For the relish of the flesh or carnal-mindedness is death But the relish of the spirit or spiritual-mindedness is life and peace But the carnal mind is enmity against God because it cannot submit it self to the law of God but is in perpetual opposition against it ever suggesting what is contrary to it Wherefore we must wholly withdraw our selves out of that Principle as we hope to attain to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And assuredly whosoever has that Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Iesus it will free him and rid him from the power of all the urgings suggestions or subtil insinuations of that Law of the sinful flesh of self-love and self-interest Though he may feel these self-savouring suggestions and the more clearly discern them to be such by the perspicuity of the Single Eye the Spirit of Christ yet he is so freed from their power that he will never act according to them but constantly act according to the relish and suggestion of that pure Principle of the Spirit which has not the least tincture of self-love or carnal interest And there is a neceffity of perfectly clearing up at last into this Single-mindedness by reason of the war and enmity betwixt the Carnal Principle and this of the Spirit for without this there is no peace nor joy nor enjoyment in this Life nor in that which is to come The Law of the sinful life of the Flesh therefore is utterly to be abrogated nulled and annihilated and we are to judge and act in all things according to the discernments of that Single Eye or pure Principle of the Spirit of Christ. But I will rather confine the Arguments of my Exhortation to the Text and content my self with what it will afford namely the four Analogies I have produced and explained and so conclude 1. The light of the Body is the Eye What therefore the Eye is to the Body that is some vital and sensible leading Principle in the Soul to the Soul Is it not therefore of infinite consequence what this leading Principle is when it is of as much consequence to the Soul as the Eye is to the Body and the Soul of incomparably more worth than the Body What man would have the Eye of a Batt of an Owl or of a Mole for the guidance of his Body unless he were to have his abode under the Earth with the Mole or to venture abroad only in the Night with the Batt and Owl Every Animal is to have an Eye congenerous to its own Nature And therefore that Divine Animal which we call Man I mean the inward man the Soul is to have an Eye congenerous to hers she is to have this Single Spiritual Eye unless she will converse only with Brutes or Devils in their Kingdom of Darkness 2. Again The Single Eye makes the whole Body full of light that is it is a fit and faithful guide to it which way soever it goes And that is the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Iesus to the Soul Which assuredly is the Law of Divine love which is not the love of a mans self or any particular or partial Interest but the hearty love of God and a mans Neighbour that is of all mankind when with a single heart he wishes them and is ready to do them all the good they are capable of and himself in a capacity to administer to them This is that pure and lovely Eye of the Soul indeed which fills her full of Celestial light and enrolls her in the Book of Life and of the Children of Light This is that Vnction from the Holy one even from the Father of Lights whereby we know all things appertaining to Life and Godliness and that Iesus that stupendious Pattern of this Divine Love is the Lord and Christ And that that man of sin that exalts himself above all that is called God and supports his Power Pride and Pomp with gross Imposture and barbarous Bloodshed is that notorious Antichrist he that has this Single Eye easily discerns this and can hardly forbear to suspect that they that do not see it are blind through the Spirit of the World or else drunk with the steames of that Cup of abominations and see double This Simple and Unself-interested Spirit of Love is that Anointing of which S. Iohn saith that if it abide in us we need not that any man teach us but the same Anointing will teach us of all things and is truth and is no lie It is very Truth substantial and essential without any shadow of vanity or imposture in it and such as will seal our hearts with an eternal adhesion to our ever-blessed Saviour as being the communication of his own Spirit to us and be evermore a safe guide to us in our passage thorough this present life He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him Wherefore as we tender our safe conduct through the wilderness of this World through all the dangers and perils of so difficult a journey we must earnestly endeavour the recovering of this Single-mindedness this amiable Eye of the pure love
He has no room for them I therefore leave him to disgorge himself They are too great for him though he phansies them too little And intùs existens prohibet extraneum He is too full of his own Supper So that he has no stomach nor appetite nor the least relish or conceiving of Christs Supper But whatever it is to him I will endeavour to raise some apprehension of it in us if I may by any means speak that which may prove profitable unto us There must be some near affinity and likeness betwixt that which is nourished and the nutriment it receiveth Mans Body cannot be fed with Stones or Metals but with Plants and Living Creatures their Flesh and Substance being near enough the Nature of our Bodies which are of the like nature with other Animals and Plants Our Souls I mean alwayes of the Regenerate or we our selves for 't is all one have our birth and being of the will of God Iohn 1. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God viz. of the will of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being to be repeated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And certainly the very depth or essential bottom and centre of the new Creature is the Divine Will a Will raised up in the Soul of man perfectly answerable to the Will of God though not so absolutely powerful This is the very new Birth and the new Creature This is Christ in us and we in him And he that is thus in Christ he is a new Creature He that is not thus never knew Christ unless according to the Flesh. When I say the Divine Will is the very inward Essence or Heart of the new Creature I mean not any desire toward God and his outward Service or to Knowledge of him and his works or the beautifying and adorning a mans Soul with Moral Vertues but a full and absolute Resignation of a mans self unto the Will of God our Desires not at all circuling into our selves For it is a sign then that they sprung from our selves But our Desire and Will being melted as it were into one Will with God and desiring nothing but for God and because God desires it and wills it Then shall not our Natural Will be the First mover in our desire of Knowledge or of Vertue or of Power or whatever is desirable but the Divine Will in us shall will all this for God as He is in man that is freely and without all Hypocrisie or Self-love This is the very Root of the new Birth This is the Divine Life And whatsoever is not of this is either but Natural or Devilish This is the new Creature the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Plant of Gods own planting whose will is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he exercise himself both day and night This is the Lamp of God the Eye of God fixt in the Soul of man that loaths all Objects represented to it that arise from the will of the Flesh or the false hypocritical suggestions of mans heart but has its whole lust and desire after the Will of God hungers and thirsts meerly after it This is that that turns away at our Prayers and Praises at our Fasts and Alms-deeds at our Censuring and Conferring at our Zeal and Devotion viz. as often as they are foul'd and beslutted with the filth of our own Wills and Self-ingagements either of temper of body or temporal projects This is that righteous man that hateth lying and before whom the wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame Prov. 13. We having therefore thus found out the Nature and Constitution of the New Creature the Regenerate Soul it is no wonder to us to find out the proper food of it The first Adam is of the Earth Earthly and therefore feeds of Earthly Food The second Adam viz. the new Creature is not of the Earth but of the free Heavenly Substance born of the Will of God and therefore he breaths no other Air sucks in no other Life or Food than the Free Will of God This is that that satisfies and this alone can satisfie And now we have found the Food of the Regenerate Soul it will not be hard to find out the Poyson If the Will of God be the Souls Sustenance then our own Will be it to us as sweet as it can be it is our Poyson and Destruction It is a Cup of deadly Wine of which by how much more deep every man drinks by so much more is he made stupid and sensless as concerning the Godly Life till he be even perfectly dead drunk and do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as that Phrase of Plotinus is lye in the very dirt These things are safelier felt then spoken However it will not be amiss a little by way of Analogy to open the nature of that Spiritual Food mentioned in the Text My meat is to do the will of him that sent me The Soul set on fire by the Will of God and become one Divine Flame must as our Natural Flame be kept alive by motion and agitation The Will of God is the Pabulum of this Flame but if it continue flaming it must act and move within at least and without as oft as occasion permits or requires otherwise it will be suffocate and extinct But we need not dwell so low as upon inanimates Let 's see what is Food in reference to that which has Life Health growth strength sweetness of taste and satisfying the stomach these belong to the Food of the Body Let 's see if we can find these in the Will of God in reference to the Regenerate Soul 1. Health Prov. 3. 7 8. Be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil i. e. think not that the lust desire and determination of thine own Carnal and unregenerate mind is the best but abstain from that which it longs after and fear thou God i. e. adhere to that which he has revealed to thee to be his Will fear to transgress his Law It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet the Law of God is no charm to cure the body but it must do it by making the Soul first healthful But to dispatch this Truth in a word What is the disease or languishment of the Soul but Sin What is Sin but velle contra ac Deus vult Wherefore He that wills as God wills so long as he continues so is safe from Sin the disease of the Soul This Diet-drink will not only keep the Regenerate Soul in health but even metamorphoze Satan himself into a Saint When as Self-will and the feeding on our own Desires will so decay the constitution and complexion of the soundest
manners of the Sufferings of Holy Martyrs which they underwent under the tyranny of bloody salvage Heathen Heading and Hanging and Crucifying were nothing for the satisfaction of their fury They were broyl'd on Grid-irons they were fryed in Frying-pans they were boyl'd in Cauldrons they were put in the Brazen Bull they were fired at the Stake cast into Ovens fired in Ships and so thrust from the shore into the deep fired in their own Houses cast upon burning Coals made to walk upon burning Coals burnt under the Arm-pits with hot Irons They had their Hearts riven out of their warm Body had their Skin flean off from their live Flesh had their Feet tyed to boughs of two near Trees which boughs being at first forcibly brought together suddenly let go rent their Body in twain They were trodden down by Horses cast bound and naked into Vaults to be eaten of Rats and Mice They had their Flesh pulled off with Pinsers torn off with Iron-rakes were squeezed to death in Wine-presses were tyed upon Wheels which turning rub'd their naked Body against sharp pegs of Iron They were hung by their Hands and Feet with their Face downward over choaking Smoak They were set out on high in the Sun having their naked Skin besmeared with Honey to be stung with Bees and Waspes The Devil spent all the skill and malice he had in finding wayes and engines of Torture for them God make us truly thankful unto him for his Mercy so long continued to us that we have without terrour or torment so many years enjoy'd the Christian Religion in such Purity And give us Grace to repent us of our unworthy walking and unbeseemingly of so great a Light But as concerning these Sufferings of the Body Beloved such is the love of God to Mankind and so reasonable is his Service that he hath made it no necessary condition of Eternal Life actually to suffer them But we ought to be so minded that rather than to relinquish the true Christian Faith or do any thing which we know offends God we would rather dye a thousand deaths And this was S. Pauls resolution Acts 21. I am ready not only to be bound but also to dye for the name of the Lord Iesus But yet there is a Suffering in the Body that we must needs suffer if we will approve our selves the Children of God and Heirs of that Glorious Kingdom And this Suffering we must inflict upon our own selves 1 Cor. 9. 27. But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection These Sufferings are most acceptable to God and requisite fore-runners of Eternal Life If you live after the flesh you shall dye but if you through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body you shall live Verse 13. of this 8th Chapter to the Romans 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts that war against the soul. And Galat. 4. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts You see plainly then That we are not Christs nor Gods nor Heirs of God with Christ unless we suffer with Christ in mortifying all Bodily Lusts in curbing our inordinate Desire of eating or drinking unless we study to keep under the Body and live chastly and continently If we will be Heirs of that Heavenly Inheritance we must bring under all evil and carnal concupiscence If we will partake of that Eternal Glory in Heaven we must be content to suffer reproach and evil speeches amongst men If any man ask what Necessity what Reason is there I will briefly shew him how it comes about First For suffering in Name for I will step so much back There is no man loves to be disquieted in mind or vext But it would disquiet us and gall us exceedingly to be found fools so that we have not the heart to find our selves so it would so discontent our natural proud Spirit Hence we blame other men rather than our selves and say they be in the false way So did the Pharisees to our Saviour and to his Apostles And thus were the Prophets used before them because their wayes were of another sort their speeches and actions of another fashion from the World You will better understand it in some Examples A Carnal or Natural man that hath no Sense of the Spirit of God and is unacquainted with its Operations derides such performances as Prayers Exhortations or what so else may proceed from thence as truly and extraordinarily proceeding from the Spirit of God and counts those men that acknowledge Gods power in them in the performance of such things weak men crack'd-brain'd Enthusiasts Fanatical Fools silly Lunaticks But all this proceeds out of Pride Envy and Self-love he himself being not able to perform such Duties or at least not in that manner So some that have got the trick of Praying ex tempore by Custom the Mother of Confidence and Dexterity Ignorance and want of a true Sense of the Majesty of Heaven upholding them in their rash performance these men will vilifie Justice and Uprightness Humility and Patience and the mortification of our Sensual Lusts because they find in themselves no such Vertues nor intend to trouble themselves so much as to practise them Then for the upholding of their own credit they must give them poor contemptible terms that they are but Heathenish Vertues such as Socrates or Plato had and make but a Moral man and that there is no such need for a Christian to have them But Beloved be not so deceived but observe this Truth Though Moral Vertue carries us no higher than an Heathen yet without the exercise of Moral Vertue and inward life and liking of it we are no true Christians The Summe is this That the good ways of God are spoken against and miscall'd that wicked men may keep their credit and yet walk indeed in the wayes of the Devil To the Second I answer That it is necessary that we suffer in the Flesh because that if we do not keep down the Flesh and its suggestions the Spirit will be choaked and stifled by that filth and corruption The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Ver. 7. The carnal mind that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bent will intent liking or desire of the Flesh is enmity with God desires against the Will of God and will not be obedient to the Law of God nor indeed can be Wherefore we are to kill it to mortifie it to crucifie it that we may be dead to sin or the desire of the Flesh and alive to God by his enquickening Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here is the Patience of the Saints Here their great Suffering 4. But I go on to their last Affliction which is in Spirit And that is twofold 1. The wrestling or conflict with spiritual wickedness in Heavenly places 2. The suffering with
mention of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth But this is included in the first Inference Wherefore I will let it pass Fourthly If communicating of good be a Sacrifice then it is a Duty of the First Table and respects the Worship of God From whence we may learn to set a true estimate upon this Duty We applaud our selves in the frequent Hearing of the Word of God and praying to God and the like We highly esteem I say our performances in this kind because they be of the First Table and respect God so nearly But that we may with as great zeal and diligence exercise the acts of Charity as well as of that kind of Devotion The Apostle tells us that when we distribute our Goods to others relieving them either in Body or in Soul we then worship God we then sacrifice to God which is an act of service and worship proper and peculiar to him which consideration is worthy our thinking of and more worthy our practising of Cursed is he that doth the work of God negligently The Fifth and last Inference shall be this That which Philo the Iew speaks of in his Tractate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of them that sacrifice of their washing and sprinkling that kind of sprinkling of water mingled with the ashes of a red heiser Numb 19. Which is saith he to put us in mind whereof we be made that we are but dust and ashes water and earth mingled together This is our composure such our frailty this our poor condition capable of so many miseries by reason of this tempered dirt we carry about with us And therefore being all of one mould we may the more heartily commiserate one another and help one another This sprinkling is a fit Consecration of every Christian Sacrificer that in all humility and compassion he may relieve his fellow-member The Summ is this That with all sincerity discretion diligence humility and tender sympathy we may offer unto God this Christian Oblation even the Charitable communication of such good things as God hath imparted to us AND thus I have dispatched the Second branch of my Text viz. That doing of good is a Sacrifice III. The Third and last is That doing of good is a sacrifice in which God is well pleased It is not improbable that the Apostle hath here an eye to those many testimonies in the Prophets of Gods displeasure against the Iewish Sacrifices Esa. 1 11 13. What have I to do with the multitude of your sacrifices saith the Lord I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams and of the fat of fed beasts and I desire not the blood of bullocks nor of lambs nor of goats Bring no more oblations in vain Incense is an abomination unto me My soul hateth your new-moons and appointed feasts So Chap. 66. 3. He that kills a bullock is as if he slew a man He that sacrificeth a sheep as if he cut off a dogs neck What is it therefore that God would have Wherein is his delight I desired mercy and not sacrifice saith he Hosea 6. 6. And in the first of Esay he nameth the relieving of the oppressed And Chap. 66. Ver. 2. He speaks of a poor and contrite Spirit and such a Spirit is also merciful For it's pride and high-mindedness that makes us forget the evil plight of our Neighbour I will add a Reason or two to confirm this Truth and so conclude God is Truth and Essence it self therefore his delight is in the truth of every thing and not in their empty shadows He loves the truth in the inward parts as the Psalmist saith Therefore doing good out of pure Charity cannot but please him it being the substance of the Iewish Ceremony of Sacrificing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Pious Iew True Sacrificing what can it be but the Piety of the Soul that loves God And he that loves him must needs love his Neighbour also And he that loves his Neighbour will do good to him so far as he is able Therefore the same Author saith very truly in another place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humanity or forwardness to do all good offices to our Neighbour and Piety are twins He thinks not the term of Cousin or Sister fit enough but calls them Twins to shew that they be born both at a time So soon as true Piety is born in us Humanity strait springs up with it Now this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or love of our Neighbour being so like the Nature of God whom the Apostle calls Love This principle and the effects of it doing good to our Neighbour must needs be acceptable to God The Heathens had so much Reason in them to offer that to their Deities which was most consonant to their Nature So the Persians Sacrificed on Horse to the Sun Ne detur celeri victima tarda Deo But I will not insist upon the proof of a thing so plain I doubt not but that you are thoroughly perswaded of the truth of these tvvo latter parts of my Text That doing good is a Sacrifice and that it is a Sacrifice wherein God is well pleased The Inference and Conclusion of all is that vvhich I begun vvith viz. To do good and communicate forget not And that vve forget not He that hath set his eyes upon the hearts of men and mindeth all their wayes He strengthen us and stir us up by the powerful working of his all-quickening Spirit that we constantly endeavour to fulfil the dictates thereof through Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Blessed Spirit be all Honour Glory Power Praise henceforth and for ever Amen DISCOURSE XII GAL. vi 14 15 16. But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world For in Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God THE drift of this Epistle to the Galatians is to reduce them again to the Truth of Christianity that were almost apostatizing to Iudaism and the Ceremonial Lavv of Moses Ye observe days and months and times and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed labour on you in vain Chap. 4. Ver. 10 11. But the main scope of the Apostle is against Circumcision as is plain upon the very first perusal of the Epistle Which he beating dovvn together vvith all the Lavv of Moses and extolling the Faith in Christ seems sometime to excuse a man from walking in the Lavv under the pretence of Faith in Christ. But as S. Peter hath well observed there be many things in S. Pauls Epistles hard to be understood which foolish men pervert to their own destruction And that we be not led into the same error and mischief I hold it not from my purpose to trace the footsteps of S.
we will take in a more full narration of it And Israel abode in Shittim and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab and they called the people unto the sacrifice of their Gods and Israel joined himself unto Baal-Peor Ver. 1 2 3. of that Chapter That which is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificia Deorum is in my Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrificia mortuorum Which makes further for that I drove at before viz. That the Gods of the Heathen are mostwhat the Souls of dead men THUS I have dispatched the two former Parts of my task viz. the Explication and Confirmation of the truth of this Text so far as was needful III. The Inferences following are these First From those words They joined themselves to Baal-Peor we may observe That it is long of a mans self when he sins Thus Ecclesiasticus 15. 11 12. Say not thou that it is through the Lord that I fell away For thou oughtest not to do the thing that he hateth Say not thou that he hath caused me to err For he hath no need of the sinful man So Iam. 1. 13 14. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God For God cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed To say therefore that it is the all-swaying Providence of God that bore men to this or that evil action is to blaspheme the Sacred Name of God and contradict Reason and Scripture Or which seems more plausible to say the Devil ought us a spight is but to be gull'd by the Devil and to add a new errour to our former misdeed The Devil may suggest but not compel But to exalt the strength of the evil Spirit above the dominion and power of him that is the Prince of Spirits as tho' they were stronger than he is to cast God out of his Throne and to place Satan in his stead Surely God who hateth Sin with a perfect hatred will not let the Devil prevail against that Will in us that is conformable to his If we be against Sin God will aid us If we fall into Wickedness it is long of our selves Yea though the greatest of Wickednesses For they joined themselves to Baal-Peor c. Not forced or necessitated by the Devil against a good Will and sincere aversation of Sin for this is the Will of God and he will help his own Will Nor led on by God for God will not beget to life that which he hates to see But the truth is God who is the God of Love and Freedom would have us to serve him out of a free Principle and so neither constrains us to good nor over-sways us to evil Secondly They joined themselves also to Baal-Peor The Calf in Horeb their envying and murmuring against Moses and Aaron their lusting after the flesh-pots of Egypt all these did not satisfie but as if these were a light matter they add Whoredom and Idolatry in this business of Baal-Peor Hence we may observe That the wickedness of a mans heart knows no bounds but his evil desires are enlarged like Hell Thirdly If we compare the greatness of this transgression with the great experience they had of the Power and Love of God to them who had done great things for them in Egypt wondrous works in the Land of Ham and fearful things by the Red Sea who had given them from Mount Sinai an express Law against Idolatry in Thunder and Lightning Clouds and Vapours of Smoke to the utter dismaying of them from Sin who had given them Manna in the Wilderness and fed them with Angels food who had guided them by two mighty Pillars a Cloudy Pillar by day and a Pillar of Fire to give light by night who had made them eye-witnesses of so many Miracles of his Almighty Arm That these People should so fouly Apostatize argues plainly an excessive weakness in the Children of Adam And the best Use we can make of it is this To be vigilant over our own wayes and merciful to our Brother when he slides Fourthly and Lastly We may gather also a kind of disability in all outward stays and props of our Souls in goodness all visible helps for Piety if something stronger within do not sustain us and keep us What more forcible outward means could have been used than Israel had experience of But all the terrour upon Mount Sinai and all that tempest and dread in giving of the Law all the Miracles that were wrought by the hand of Moses and the visible presence of God or his Angel all those passed out of their minds like a dream and vanished as a vision of the night all those failed them when the present object possessed their Eyes when the beauty of the Daughters of Moab had ensnared their Hearts and captivated their Souls to the commiting of folly The Young man in Macarius who in an high Rapture beheld glorious sights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faces of Light and the shining Lustre of Heaven after fell into the filth of the Flesh and deplorable deformity of Life The best use we can make of this is Not to satisfie our selves with any outward or momentany Worships or Ceremonies as to rest in them but to seek an inward Principle of never failing Life Else so soon as we are departed the Church and that honour we do there to God we may be easily carried into the service of the Devil the committing any wickedness Whereas if we had the living Spring of Truth and Righteousness in us we should also have a perpetual sense of what is good or evil And as our Natural Life is tender of it self and perceives the least touch of harm that approacheth it so would that Spirit of Life and Truth be exceeding sensible of whatsoever is contrary to it or the Will of God which would always be very fresh and vivid in our Minds and Will But to attain to this Spirit of Life and Righteousness there is no way but Mortification a death to Sin and our own selves that the Life of God may alone rule in us Then shall not the Daughters of Moab inveigle us that is as Philo the Iew interpreteth it the false allurements of the bewitching Senses Nor shall we then worship Baal-Peor or partake of his Sacrifices that is according to the same Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We shall not dilate all the openings of our Bodies for receiving the influx or strong impressions the unwholesome vapours of this intoxicating World and the pleasures thereof and so drown our Souls in the bottom of Corruption For so he interpreteth the name of this Idol as if it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimating his power to lye in all the openings of the Body or rather outward Skin through which the influences of this sensible World if they be not kept out by due vigilancy stream