it is more bearable or rather not so unbearable and loathsome unto him to see those that are without his house and at a distance from him to pursue and follow this brutish and swinish Iniquity than to see men that are brought into his House vomit and spue there even in his presence these are more abundantly offensive to him and cause a stink in his nose which he cannot away with This was an aggravation of the Iniquity of his people in former times as the Prophet gives us to understand I am like a drunken man saith he and like a man whom wine hath overcome for in mine house have I found their wickedness saith the Lord Jer. 23. 9-11 They came into my Sanctuary to defile it and lo thus have they done in the midst of mine house And a voice of the multitude being at ease was with her and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans or Drunkards c. Ezek. 23. 38 42. His house is and should be holy an house of Prayer and Sacrifice But how unseemly and provoking an Iniquity is it unto him when his people make it a den of Drunkards He needs not nor can endure it that mad men such as are overcome with Wine should come into his presence as 1 Sam. 21. 14 15 with Jer. 5 1. 7. They are a Spiritual house an Holy Nation a peculiar People or people for a possession therefore they especially should and it behoves them highly to abstain from fleshly lusts c. 1 Pet. 2. 4-9-11 they especially should come out from among men and be separate and touch no unclean thing for the Lord their God walketh in the midst of them to deliver them and to give up their enemies before them therefore they should be holy that he see no unclean thing in them and turn away from them 2 Cor. 6. 14-17 with Deut. 23. 14 and Rev. 1. 13 14 and 2. 1. As he who hath called them is Holy so should they be Holy in all manner of Conversation or otherwise if they grow fat with the fat of the Kidneys of Wheat and with the pure blood of the Grape and kick against God when he sees this he will abhor them because of the provoking of his Sons and of his Daughters and he will hide his face from them Deut. 32. 14-20 It behoves them therefore who are brought so nigh unto him to receive this admonition and obey this word of exhortation or otherwise their Iniquity will be greater and more provoking than others and answerably their judgment will be more severe and intollerable Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity as becomes Saints 3. They especially ought to flee from this Iniquity also otherwise they will do more hurt to others and teach and strengthen the wicked-ones in their ways Jer. 2. 33 they are the light of the world therefore they are instructed to let their light so shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify their Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5. 14-16 Needful it is for them especially to take heed that they put not a stumbling-block before the blind not to eat flesh nor drink Wine nor any thing whereby their Brother for whom also Christ died stumbleth or is offended Cursed is he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way Levit. 19. 14. with Rom. 14. 21. and Deut. 27. 18. Those who have known and believed the Testimony that God hath given of his Son are set and preserved to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and froward generation Philip. 2. 12-15 And to that end to hold forth the Word of life in word and conversation vers 16. And if they walk on in Darkness in Rioting and Drunkenness and the consequents thereof Oh how will they thereby do hurt to others By means of them the name of God and his doctrine will be blasphemed and reproached by others as if it were a Doctrine of Profaneness and Licentiousness and they hereby lay stumbling-blocks in the way of poor ignorant ones so as none will return from but rather be strengthened in their evil wayes And Wo to the world because of offences but wo to the man especially by whom the offence cometh Wherefore if thy hand or foot any work or walking of thine cause thee to offend cut them off and cast them from thee It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands or feet to be cast into everlasting fire where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched Matth. 18. 7-9 Mark 9. 43-45 They are a City set on an hill which cannot be hid and every one is observing and taking notice of them and their demeanour and conversation And therefore it behoves them especially to have their Conversation honest among the Gentiles which they cannot have unless they abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the Souls of others as well as against their own that whereas they speak against them as evil doers they may by the good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation 1 Pet. 2. 11 12 and chap. 3. 16. It behoves them therefore to have their conversation as becomes the Gospel of Christ that they may be pure from the blood of other men and that the blood of their Souls be not required of them And as it behoves the Believers in general to receive this admonition given unto them and to obey the counsel therein contained so still it more highly concerns those amongst them who are over them and go before them to abstain and flee from all intemperance whatsoever whether in meat or drink The Apostle was very careful when he gives Commandment about such as should be chosen into the Office of a Bishop or Elder that he that should be chosen thereinto should not be given to this Iniquity of Insobriety A Bishop saith he must be blameless not given to wine c. 1 Tim. 3. 1-3 So to Titus also he saith If any be blameless not accused of riot c. For a Bishop must be blameless not given to wine Tit. 1. 6 7. And the same direction he gives concerning Deacons also Likewise must the Deacons be grave not given to much wine 1 Tim. 3. 8 they are to be examples to the Believers in word and conversation 1 Tim. 4. 12. And in all things to shew themselves patterns of good works that their Brethren may imitate them Tit. 2. 1-7 And if they depart out of the way they will cause many to stumble at the Law and God will make them contemptible and base before all the people according as they have not kept his wayes Mat. 2. 8 9 it behoves them therefore to be temperate in all things and to keep under their bodies and bring them into subjection lest when they have preached to others they themselves become reprobates 1 Cor. 9. 24-27 They have some peculiar
A CAVEAT Against Drunkenness Especially in EVIL TIMES BEING A Consideration of Eph. 5. 18. By C. P. The Crown of Pride the Drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet And the glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower and as the hasty fruit before the Summer which when he that looketh upon it seeth it while it is yet in his hand he eats it up In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of Glory and for a Diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people Isa 28. 3-5 They that be drunken are drunken in the night But let us who are of the day be sober 1 Thes 5. 7 8. LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1676. To my Brethren and Companions in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory Grace and Peace be multiplied Beloved THe Grace of God that bringeth Salvation to all men hath appeared Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ that we may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things Tit. 2 10-13 How this Doctrine according to Godliness is blasphemed and evil-spoken of by many persons we cannot be ignorant As if it were a Doctrine of Loosness and Licentiousness a Doctrine of Libertinism and Profaness as if it opened a Gap to all wickedness and impiety whatsoever And though men herein be-ly it yet certainly we shall give occasion to them that are of no judgment concerning the Faith thus to speak reproachfully of it if while we seek to be justified by Christ we our selves are found sinners and walk not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel Gal. 2. 14-18 And Wo to the world because of offences But wo especially to that man by whom the offence cometh Wherefore saith our Saviour If thy hand or thy foot offend thee or cause thee to offend cut them off and cast them from thee it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire Matth. 18. 7 8. You know in your hearts and in your souls that he that died for all therefore died for them that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves or the luses of men but unto the will of God even to him that died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. with 1 Pet. 4. 1-3 You know that the good creatures men abuse in their intemperance are the Lord's And that by Grace we are made partakers of them and have a comfortable enjoyment of them through the Sufferings Sacrifice and Mediation of Christ And that these things are not given us to consume upon our Lusts or prepare for Baal Shall ye then continue in sin because grace hath abounded or that it may abound God forbid He that knows his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes Luk. 12. 47 48. You know there is an eternal judgment in which we shall all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ That every one of us may receive according to the things done in his body whether good or bad For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Oh therefore knowing the terrour of the Lord abstain and flee from all intemperance whatsoever While Paul in declaring the faith in Christ reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgment to come Foelix trembled perceiving it would go hardly with intemperate and incontinent ones hereafter Act. 24. 24 25. And can we hear and think thereof and not tremble so as to depart from iniquity Surely then Felix hereafter shall rise up in the judgment with us and condemn us when Drunkards shall be excluded and shut out of the Kingdom of Christ and of God Nay by your own personal sinning you not only expose your selves to the Wrath of God both present and eternal But you cause many to stumble at the Law and Doctrine of Christ and teach and strengthen the wicked ones in their evil wayes and are guilty of the Blood of the Souls of others And what will you do in the end thereof How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation If you were entertainers of such ungodly Doctrines as are too generally received amongst zealous ones now in our dayes That the greatest part of men were reprobated before they were born and must necessarily perish for ever hereafter then your evil would not be so great concerning them for you would but help to destroy them that God would not have saved But for you to be instruments of evil and perdition to others who profess to believe that Christ died for all and rose again and that God would have all men to be saved How unsutably and contrary to your principles do you act while you lay stumbling-blocks in their way to cause them to fall and perish for whom you know Christ died Oh! As your hearts are purified in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto the unfeigned love of the Brethren and of all men see to it that ye love them with such a love as you are taught and principled unto of God Object 1. If any one should say we have such a trade employment or way of livelyhood to walk in and follow as that thereby we are necessitated sometimes to keep company and to drink more than otherwise we would do or else we had as good wholly leave off all and then we shall presently fail into poverty To such an one I would say 1. There is nothing said or however intended in any expression made use of to take men off from any lawful or laudable employment or way of living or from having fellowship with the men of the world in and about the affairs of this life in a lawful way For then as the Apostle saith ye must needs go out of the world 1 Cor. 5. 9 10. 2. But though we must have company with evil persons while we are here in this world at some times and may trade with evil workers yet by no means should we have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them Eph. 5. 11. And if we cannot trade or converse with them unless we put forth our hand to iniquity it 's better to lose their custom than to grieve the good Spirit of God dishonour the Gospel and get a snare and wound to our Souls And be we confident that in first seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness all other things shall be added to us Oh Were we so filled with the Spirit as to live the life we live in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God who
not be Drunk with Wine viz. Wherein is excess And surely did we understand what is contained herein it would be powerful to engage us to receive and obey the admonition which is here given to us by the Holy Ghost Now we may understand these words either as an account of what the Apostle means and intends by the Wine wherewith he would not have us be Drunk or filled namely that wherein is excess in the use or abuse whereof men may exceed the bounds of Sobriety And then he doth intimate to us that there are Wines and Dainties whereof we may drink and drink abundantly and wherewith we may be filled and yet there is no excess in so doing But the more we drink the more welcom and acceptable we are to God and profitable to men and this blessedness they shall partake of who from the wonderful preciousness and admirable excellency of Gods loving-kindness to the Children of men do put their trust under the shadow of his wings such shall be inebriated or plentifully silled and satisfied with the fatness of his house with whom is the Fountain of Life Psal 36. 7-9 But to this we shall have more apt occasion to speak in the Exhortation following But be ye filled with the Spirit Or also we may look upon these words Wherein is excess as an argument to engage the Believers not to be drunk with wine and so to flee from all and all manner of Insobriety and so we desire to speak to them And so 1. By Excess is not only meant intemperance in eating and drinking for of that he had warned them before in saying Be not drunk and to which we have spoken But also by Excess is meant Prodigality and wastfully spending this worlds good which God is putting into our hands that we might honour and glorify him Prov. 2. 9 10. So the Prodigal did prodigally and profusely waste his substance with this Intemperance amongst other things Luk. 15. 12 13. And we may see by experience that ordinarily in Drunkenness is such excess an excessive spending and consuming mens estates and riches and impoverishing themselves thereby and directly bringing themselves and also provoking God to bring them to penury and beggary He that loveth Wine and Oyl shall not be rich Prov. 21. 17 from this evil concomitant and consequent of Drunkenness the Holy Ghost gives us this admonition Hear thou my Son and be wise and guide thine heart in the way Be not amongst Wine-bibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh For the Drun ard and the Glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall cloathe him with raggs Prov. 23. 10-21 He that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough Prov. 28. 19. Men do lavish Gold out of the Bag for the satisfying this brutish and swinish affection and lust yea and by their Intemperance they unfit themselves for diligence in business and dispose themselves to sleepiness drowsiness and slothfulness 1 Thes 5. 6 7 Prov. 23. 21 And hereby also they bring want and poverty upon themselves I went by the field of the slothful And lo it was all grown over with thorns Then I saw and considered it well I looked upon it and received instruction Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man Prov. 24. 30-34 and 6. 6-9-11 And by their Drunkenness and Intemperance and the want which follows thereupon they do usually bring upon themselves and load themselves with many distracting and distressing cares how they shall be provided for and their Families or how they shall pay and discharge their debts and keep themselve out of Prison or possibly how they shall have enough continued to them to consume upon their lusts for the future Hence our Saviour puts the cares of this world as the consequent of Intemperance Take heed to your selves lest at any time your heart be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life Luk. 21. 34. And this excess which is in Drunkenness is a great evil and the cause of very many evils also some of which have beeen intimated before As Hereby men unfit themselves for the end for which they are betrusted with this Worlds good which is to do good therewith to others also For whatsoever interest men have in the things of this world or right to dispose them yet they are owners of them not as absolute Lords but as accountable Stewards Luk. 16. 1-8 and must give an account to the great and supream Lord in due season Rom. 14. 9-12 2 Cor. 5. 10. Now when men consume these goods upon the service of their lusts many times their own Families if they have any their Wives and Children c. may be in great want And he that provideth not for his own especially for those of his own household he hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel 1 Tim. 5. 6-8 Or if they be provided for there are many poor creatures of mankind for whom Christ died who are in great wants and straits and destitute of daily food And what God hath put into our hands and commited to us is to take our own portion out of it and to do good to others with the residue who stand in need And so they are called and are another mans even given to us for refreshing the Bowels of others Luk. 16. 12. And we are instructed not to withhold good from them to whom it is due or from the owners thereof when it is in the power of our hand to do it Prov. 3. 27 28. But now when men are given to Wine or Strong Drink and so to prodigality they put themselves out of capacity to administer to others to whom it is due by the instructions of their Lord as otherwise they might do This was the iniquity of Sodom pride and fulness of bread and as the consequent and concomitant thereof abundance of idleness neither did she stregthen the hand of the poor and needy Ezek. 16. 49. Indeed this Drunkenness and excessive spending both take away the heart and hinder men from pitying others and also disable them so as it is not in the power of their hand to do good as otherwise it might be And again when men through their intemperance are prodigal and prosuse many times at last it so impoverishes them as that they fall into some other bad course and practice for providing for themselves or for their lusts As by their poverty they are led to desraud and over-reach others and sometimes more grosly to steal from others Agur prayed God to feed him with bread convenient lest saith he I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain Prov. 30. 9. However it makes men greedy of filthy lucre that they might still have wherewith to riot and spend upon their lusts As the Lord saith of Israels Watch-men in former times they are
evil end or as if they knew not how otherwise to pass it away when as alas our days upon the earth are as a shadow and there is no abiding And we are sojourners here and should therefore pass the time of our sojourning in fear 1 Pet. 1. 17 18. How like fools do men act herein especially such as profess themselves to know God and his grace in Christ they cannot recall that which is past nor can assure themselves of a days continuance for the future they cannot boast themselves of the morrow for they know not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. 1. No man is sure of life Job 24. 22. And yet how prodigal are intemperate ones of their time as if they were delivered or preserved to do whatsoever is right in their own eyes or could continue themselves in this world during their own pleasure Oh! it doth behove us always to redeem the time and opportunity and especially when the days are evil that we may hear wisdom and watch daily at her gates and wait at the posts of her doors And the holy ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7 8 15. But alas how shall we be thus found doing if we overcharge our hearts with surfeiting and drunkenness Consider what excess and mispending of time there is in such evil and riotous practises and consider it before it be too late before the day and time pass as the chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you lest you mourn at the last when the things belonging to your peace are hid from your eyes because you knew not the time of your visitation and say How have we hated instruction and our hearts despised reproof say not as the people in former times did The time is not come the time that we should come to Christ and be made an habitation for God that he may dwell in us at his house for is not that time come and yet is it time for you to make Provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Doth God continue you still in the land or the living that you should abuse your selves and his good creatures for the satisfying of your vile and brutish affections Hag. 1. 2-4 c. Truly men herein are more brutish than many brute creatures which are made to be taken and destroyed Even the Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming and will not be hindred therefrom by any means But alas intemperate ones know not the opportunity they observe not the time for applying their hearts to wisdom that is alotted them they still in their actions cry The time is not come for that And therefore great will be the misery of such as go on in not knowing or mispending their time For as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Jerem. 8. 7 8. Eccles 8. 6-8 and 9. 12. Truly all our life-time is little enough to be spent in the service of him who hath so greatly loved us when we were dead in sins and trespasses as to give his Son to die for us And how have good men complained of the shortness of it Job 10. 20. Psal 39. 4 5. Job saith My dayes are swifter than a Weavers shuttle Job 7. 6. My dayes are swifter than a Post they flee away Job 9. 25 And yet his dayes were dayes of wonderful affliction and heaviness and it might be thought he might otherwise have judged of them But alas Drunkards in their excessive spending and mispending of their times do by their works declare that they think their dayes are so long and tiresome that they know not how to pass them away were it not for such riotous filthy practices Oh! that the time past of our life may suffice us that we have wastfully and unprofitably mispent so much of our time allotted us to seek the Lord in and that now we may avoid and flee from all Intemperance in which is such excess and profuse wasting of it For yet while it is called to day it is an accepted time now is the day of salvation in which we may receive his grace to purpose that we may be saved 2 Cor. 6. 1 2 lest we provoke him at last to rise up and shut to the door against us and then it will be too late for us to cry and call and seek to enter in at the strait gate Luk. 13. 24-26 Prov. 1. 24-31 Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do in the present time do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledg nor wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest And there is no man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit neither hath he power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it Eccles 9. 10. and 8. 8. Jam. 4. 13-17 3. In which is Excess namely uncleanness and incontinence and all manner of filthiness of the flesh This is an ordinary concomitant and consequent of Drunkenness and Intemperance and so the word here translated Excess is rendred Riot Tit. 1. 6. 1 Pet. 4. 4. As that includes in it all manner of fornication and uncleanness 1 Pet. 4. 3. with vers 4. And so whereas of the Prodigal it is said He wasted his substance with riotous living or living Excessively the same word as here it is afterwards said He hath devoured thy living with Harlots Luk. 15. 13. with verse 30. And this understanding of it agreeth well with the scope of the Apostle in this Chapter in which he had been warning the believers of uncleanness But saith he fornication and all uncleanness c. let it not be once named amongst you as becometh Saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting c. For this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Be not ye therefore partakers with them Eph. 5. 3-7 And again Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret vers 11 12. And now to the end they might flee from and avoid all filthiness of the flesh he gives them this counsel and backs it with this motive and argument Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess or Riot even all incontinent lust whatsoever And so the Scripture elsewhere and frequently signifies to us that in Intemperance is uncleanness that doth provoke and prepare men for all filthiness and uncleanness
have boldness in every day of judgment and both be delivered from the fear of our enemies and be made courageous against them and wax valiant in fight Hence the Apostle faith concerning himself and such as in whom this Spirit dwelleth and abideth Who shall separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or Sword Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us 1 Joh. 4. 14-17 18 19. Rom. 8. 1-37 Herethrough they were strengthned with strength in their Souls strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man and the word of God abiding in them they were strong and helped to do valiantly even to overcome the wicked one and not to fear what Men or Devils could do unto them Eph. 3. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 14. and 5. 4 5. Those that drink in of this good Spirit are of God and shall overcome all their opposers because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world And they shall be valiant and victorious Not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts Zech. 4. 6. And as in former times it was said The Spirit of the Lord came upon such and such a man And he went out and prevailed against his enemies Judg. 3. 10. and 6. 34. and II. 29-33 and 14 19 Even so still by this Spirit of the Lord we may be delivered from all our fears of amazement and be made bold and courageous like Lions to resist and put to slight all our Spiritual enemies Hence when the Apostle tells the believers That they wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places or things he directs them to take unto themselves the whole armour of God and particularly the sword of the spirit which is the word of God whereby we may overcome the wicked one and all his instruments and temptations Eph. 6. 10-12-17 Rev. 12. 11. And so this spiritual wine is proper and powerful to deliver us from the fear of man which brings a snare and causes men to comply and have fellowship with them in their Drunkenness and intemperance and in other unfruitful works of darkness lest they should incur their displeasure or lose their favour and friendship And to strengthen us to resist unto blood striving against sin And in walking in this Spirit we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh either for fear of the loss of mens favour or for fear of their evil will or punishment but shall be strengthened to resist and overcome the world there-through 6. Wine is good to be used for those who are infirm and for their stomack sake to strengthen them and help them to digest And it begets and preserves in them an appetite to their food that they may thereby be fitted for any work or business As the Apostle signifies when he saith to Timothy Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomacks sake and thine oft infirmities 1 Tim. 5. 23. So it is as with respect to this heavenly and spiritual Wine in drinking in thereof and being filled therewith this will still beget in us an earnest desire and appetite unto wisdom's provision It will indeed as before we have said take off our hearts and desires from thristing after the Devils cup For we cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils 1 Cor. 10. 21. But yet if we have tasted the graciousness of the Lord by this Spirit it will cause us still to come unto him and drink And to desire as new-born babes the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby that we may grow in grace and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2. 2-4 And 2 Pet. 3. 18 And even as the hart pants after the water brooks so with our Souls to pant after and thirst for God the living God even Jesus Christ and God in him which is the true God and eternal life Psal 42. 1-3 and 63. 1-8 To hunger and thirst after righteousness after Jesus Christ who is Jehovah our Righteousness that we may win him and be found in him not having our own righteousness which is of the law but the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ even the righteousness which is of God by faith And that we might be changed into his Image and be framed to a likeness of mind and demeanour after the example of our Lord Jesus Matth. 5. 6. Phil. 3. 7 8-10 Thus it was with Christs Spouse while she sate down under the shadow of that blessed Apple-tree and his fruit was sweet to her taste and he brought her into the banquetting-house into the house of Wine caused her to drink in of his Spirit or ever she was aware she was so filled with spiritual desire after and earnest appetite unto this heavenly food that she cryes out Stay me with flaggons vessels of small quantity or small draughts would not now suffice or content her But in drinking in of this Spirit before she had such a good stomach that she now cries out and calls for flaggons for a more abundant participation of this Spirit And comfort me with apples for saith she I am sick of love She was even restless and unsatisfied in her desires that she might more eat of this living bread even the flesh of Christ that was given for the life of the World and drink in of his blood as knowlng this was most sweet and desirable and would nourish her Soul and preserve it in life even to the enjoyment of everlasting life Cant. 2. 3-5 and 5. 8-16 and 6. 1. They that know and have tasted of this gift of God will still and more abundantiy ask and desire after it that their Souls may delight themselves in that excellent feast which is prepared for men in Christ and be satisfied therewith as with marrow and fatness Joh. 4. 10. Psal 63. 1-5-8 And this Spirit being drunk in by them will cause their Souls to digest the food the Spiritual food which they eat so as their Souls may prosper and be like unto watered Gardens and like Springs of water whose waters fail not that they may flourish in the Courts of our God and bring forth fruit in old age and be fat and green To shew that the Lord is upright And there is no unrighteousness in him Psal 92. 12-14 That they may spring up as among the grass as willows by the water courses And may be trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord Filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God that he in all things may be glorified by them through Jesus Christ our Lord Isa 44. 3 4. and chap 61. 1-3 Phil. I. II. 7. Wine being drunk in
sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 11. Joh. 13. 8 Unto him as our redemption to free us and set us at liberty in our minds from all bondage and thraldom whatsoever whether to sin death Satan an evil conscience Law world or whatever we are naturally inslaved withal Joh. 8. 31 32 36. Rom. 8. 1 2 3. Gal. 5. 1 13. 1 Cor. 1. 29-31 The work of this Holy Spirit is to lift up and glorify Jesus Christ that we may run unto him continually as to that good and only foundation of faith and hope Isa 28. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 4-7 As to the fountain of light and teaching who is the light of the world the Son of righteousness Joh. 8. 12. Matth. 4. 2. To him as the matter of our feeding who is the living bread and the bread that he giveth is his flesh which he hath given for the life of the world Joh. 6. 35. 51-58 So as to have our life in him and he to be our life the life of our Souls and Spirits to be our self as it were Gal. 2. 20. Colos 3. 3 4. And they are in some measure filled with this Spirit who are not led by themselves as men but led and guided by this heavenly Wine so as they suffer the loss of all things and go on to count them as dung that they may gain Christ and be found in him that Christ may be all unto them as the life of their Spirits Philip. 3. 7-9 When they are overcome of this Spirit and subdued and conquered by it to be under its regiment and government and being brought out of themselves are translated and removed into Jesus Christ who is the beginning of the creation of God And so live in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25 and are new Creatures 2 Cor. 5 14 17. Eph. 2. 10. and helped to reckon themselves in and after Jesus Christ Rom. 6. 3-11 Col. 2. 12. And then men may be said to be Filled with the Spirit when they grow up into the knowledg of Christ in all things so as that He in the full of the Testimony is formed in them Gal. 4. 19. And they are filled with the knowledg of Gods will in all wisdom and Spiritual understanding Col. 1. 10. And have through the knowledg of Christ in the Gospel a right judgment concerning all things effected in them He that is Spiritual judgeth discerneth all things yet he himself is judged discerned of no man 1 Cor. 2. 13-15 16. and chap. 3. 1 2. For this the Apostle prayes for these Ephesian Believers that the God of our Lord Jesus the Father of Glory would give unto them the spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of Christ the eyes of their understandings being enlightned that they might know what is the hope of his calling c. This he prayed for them who were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise after they believed Eph. 1. 13-17 18-23 and 4. 30. And when as the consequent of the former the Believers are established in the faith and rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ standing fastly and firmly in him For this the Apostle also prays for these Believers That God would grant them according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ migh dwell in their hearts by faith That they being rooted and grounded in love might be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledg That so they might be filled whth all the fulness of God Eph. 3. 16 17-19 And unto this the Apostle exhorts the believing Colossions that they would walk in Christ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as they had been taught c. Colos 2. 6 7. And when also with the former they are filled with joy and spiritual mirth and have a merry heart effected in them rejoycing in Christ Jesus rejoycing with joy unspeakable and full of glory and having no confidence in the flesh rejoycing in Christ in his Cross and what he hath thereby done for us and obtained into himself and is become and is and in what he is now doing both from Heaven in the name of the Father and in the anointing of the Holy Spirit to us and in Heaven with the father for us and what he will do hereafter As a man when he is in Wine his heart is made merry and chearful therewith he remembers not his former or present poverty affliction and misery but he sings and rejoyces So also it is here in a spiritual consideration This Heavenly Wine being largely drunk in by us will cause our hearts to rejoyce as through Wine even to rejoyce in the Lord Zech. 10. 7. So here the Apostle exhorts these Believers Be ye filled with the spirit singing and making melody in your hearts c. Eph. 5. 18 19 Giving thanks alwayes for all things not only at some times and for such things as our natural spirit is desiring and pleased withall but for those things which seem to be grievous unto us also unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ vers 20. In being filled with this Spirit they are filled with joy and peace with joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. and 15. 13. And whatever occasions of sorrow and sadness they have as with respect to the temptations trials and troubles which they here meet with and depravations which are ordered to them Though their belly trembles and lips quiver and rottentess enters into their bones c. Yet they rejoyce in the Lord and joy in the God of their salvation and even glorify him in the fires Habbak 3. 16-19 Isa 24. 7-14 15 1 Pet. 1. 6-8 Psal 89. 15. 16. Prov. 15. 15. And then they may be said to be Filled with the Spirit when they walk in Christ Jesus as they have received him and through this blessed Spirit crucify continually the lusts and affections of the Flesh Mortify their members which are upon the earth then are they led by this holy Spirit as the Apostle signifies when he saith If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live For as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the Sons of God intimating to us that such as these are in and led by the Spirit Rom. 8. 7-9 13 14. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5. 16 17. If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit let us not be desirous of vain-glory provoking one another envying one another vers 24 25 26. To this the Apostle exhorts these Believers That they put off as concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts To put away lying To be angry