thee leave thy Gift there go thy way and be first reconciled to thy Brother and then offer thy Gift Mat. 5.23 But on the contrary if in the Fear of God Love of Christ and Charity with all Men thou sacrifice who will lay any thing to thy charge Is it not God that justifies Is not Christ at his right-hand And if he died for thee yet an Enemy will he now refuse thee bringing a Gift in the hand of Love his most beloved Grace that Grace which covers a Multitude of Offences fulfills all Precepts and without which no Gift can be acceptable And now to speak what hath been upon my Heart I fear the neglect of this Duty not returning Evil for Evil hath provoked God more against his praying People than any other Sin they through common Infirmity are subject unto and the more because it hath rather been indulged as a Vertue than contended against as an Evil as judging a small yea and uncertain Error worse than a manifest Breach of a Command ten times repeated deceiving themselves with that common saying which oft comes from a false Heart I love his Person but hate his Error Whatever therefore thou offerest do it in Love O how displeasing and broken must those Prayers be where all should be of one mind but indeed one asks one thing and another the contrary where one blesseth another curseth Ask saith our Lord in my Name and have but we ask and have not And what can be the cause save what the Apostle objects Jam. 4.3 We ask amiss to bestow it upon our Lusts Malice Pride Wrath for the Promise of Christ cannot fail but to him Glory to us Confusion of Faces belongs But O how powerful would Prayers be proceeding from a beloved and chosen People and centering in perfect Love towards God and Man when they meet together at the Throne of Grace not seeking their own but the Honour of God Good of the Church and mutual Edification one of another for hereby the return would be Ask of me things to come touching my Sons and concerning the Work of my hands command ye me Whence we see how great a thing and acceptable to God Love is perfectly fulfilling the Law and all the Prophets require in order to the establishing of our Peace for he that loves all Men cannot reproach his Reproacher nor wilfully do evil unto him that doth evil unto him 8. Not bringing Reproach upon his Inwards or Warfare that is upon his Mind or Conscience in the Conflict between the Law of his Mind and the Law of his Members which is whilst we are fighting the good Fight to ascribe any part thereof to the Merit of our own Sword or Bow as the false Heart is apt to do And that which seems parallel to this in Psal 24. is Not lifting up his Soul to Vanity or a Lie For there is no Lie or Vanity like that which would ascribe the beating down of Satan our Enemy to its own Arm no greater Reproach to the Judg the Conscience which hath so often discovered and condemned the Infirmities and Vanities thereof This indeed is read otherwise by Interpreters namely reproach upon his Neighbour And tho the Sister-Text doth favour our reading yet lest I might seem to have transgressed in departing from the old footsteps I shall give some further Reasons and submit all to the correction of the Pious and Learned First It is manifest from all the Questions Who shall dwell and Applications in all the three Sister-Texts that the Duties required in the Answers are those essential Vertues which are the price of the immoveable and immortal Crown which indeed are such things as Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard nor hath entred into the Understanding of Man And therefore not reproaching a Neighbour being but a Moral Vertue known to all Men by the Light of Nature so expresly as debauched Man tho he do not practise it cannot blot it out I do not think it was the Prophet's most legitimate intention And furthermore because this whole Verse may be practised from a Natural Moral Principle by Men who yet may miss of immoveable Reward promised in the Close not that I deny that as Moral they are pleasing to God Secondly If we compare the first Clause of the Verse with this they differ little in words but in effect are the same For Thou shalt not backbite with thy Tongue and Thou shalt not reproach thy Neighbour are the same for tho thy Tongue is not expressed in the latter nor Neighbour in the former yet that both are necessarily understood is manifest because one is the Instrument of Backbiting the other the Object thereof without both of which it could not exist Reproach cannot be save by the Tongue nor can it be said we backbite any thing but a Man or a Neighbour for in Scripture-Language most usually by thy Neighbour every or any Man is meant So as so reading it is but a reduplication of the same which in Scripture which avoids Tautologies unnecessary Words or gingling Phrases is very rare and indeed I think never save for emphasy sake And therefore Gospel-Precepts which doubtless are the best and safest Interpreters of the Law Prophets avouching that the Graces accordingly as we express them are the price of immortal Life and the Hebrew it self according to the true legitimate root favours our reading as fully as the other and as I think more also I have adventured tho still confessing my self unskilful in the Sacred Tongue to depart from the trodden Path having this for my satisfaction that tho I may fall short of the pure Hebraism yet as long as I make it agree with a Gospel-Interpretation I cannot sow any dangerous or unwholesom Error but if any contend I shall submit 9. Of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have already said something namely that it is that intimate part in Man where God writes his Law and in which the Spirit of Man resideth which I take to be the Mind or Conscience where indeed the Law of God is writ and God vouchsafeth to converse with Man Again it signifies the middle of a thing or within because the Mind is the very middle Center or Life of the Soul sitting there as God's Vicegerent exhorting reproving accusing condemning or excusing in great Majesty and Authority for where the Answer of a good Conscience is who can condemn When it is wounded who can bear it As the Apostle saith Which shews the Work of the Law is written in their Hearts their Consciences witnessing with them and their Thoughts between or within themselves accusing or excusing one another Thirdly 'T is a Battel or Warfare shewing that the Mind or Conscience is the middle part or Lists wherein the Spiritual Warfare is fought which is very often taken notice of by the holy Writers as Paul saith I see another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind Which Law I take to
Christs abroad I had well nigh said No Man can have the true Christ in the Beauty of Holiness until he himself be vile in his own eyes The conclusion is That legal Oaths in that Acceptation as this Text has rendred them never were of greater no nor so great avail as other such like Services commanded in the Law And forasmuch as it was left indifferent to swear or not to swear they never were necessary or a Cause without which the immoveable State could not be obtained But the Yea yea and Nay nay of the Gospel is so essential to it as who hath made and kept it in Integrity cannot miss of that high Calling VERS 5. 1. Not giving his Money in Vsury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He desired or a desirable thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He bit or biting Vsury This is the tenth Precept every way Letter and Spirit of great import for the literal Usurer rends two Commandments out of his Lesson and spoileth a third for he covets and steals and oft swallows up and murders distressed Families and which is worse the great Commandment Love thy Neighbour as thy self Do as thou wouldest be done unto he crusheth at a grasp In a word as Love fulfills so Usury breaks the whole Law as is written The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil. But neither is all that Usury in common Discourse so called nor doth it comprise all manner of Usury for all Oppression for Gain by the Powerful upon the Poor by extorting from them by Might Deceit or the like or for Revenge upon slight Trespasses is biting Usury but on the contrary to let out Money upon a Price is not always Usury but in many Cases lawful for he that hath a Stock in Money and not the capacity of improving it would by spending upon it at the end come to poverty In which Cases it is as lawful to let out Money as Houses or Lands especially where the municipal Laws of the Land have regulated the Rent for God hath committed such Matters to the Regulation of Law-givers to dispose them to the Profit of both Lender and Borrower But of this we shall not enlarge because the ugliness of its Visage appears in the Glass of Nature 2. The other is Spiritual Usury namely when a Man thinks by his Wisdom Works or Good that he profits God and hopes for an Encrease or Interest as due to him of right And verily tho no Man will confess this yet many use it as the Buyer It is naught it is naught yet boasts in his Heart For whoso thinks he hath by his Righteousness obliged God to encrease his Basket either in Natural or Spiritual Riches is an Usurer or yet he that upon Adversity or Losses or common Calamities grudges or murmurs that God hath not made a distinction between him and others more wicked as he thinks than himself or yet that such as these have Rule Riches Honour and he is despicable and poor or confidently prays for and hopes that God should go out of the way of his usual Providence to work Miracles for his sake Or lastly if a Man whom God vouchsafeth to give Wisdom or Riches or any Blessing unto and he presumes that God doth this for his Righteousness sake And amongst these I account the proud Pharisee I thank thee I am not like this Publican c. Also the rich Man Thou hast much Goods laid up for many years All these I say is Usury and in a like Allegory as by Whoredom Idolatry is signified so by Usury Covetousness and Love of Riches are these Evils for all these are the Branches of one bitter Root 3. Now our Lord thus It is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a rich Man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Which I say chiefly refers to Spiritual Riches that is He who hath large Possessions in Legal Merit and sells them not cannot pass into the new Birth or true Rest of God for these Riches cannot refer to literal Substance for Nicodemus was a rich Man and yet one of Christ's first Scholars in Regeneration so Joseph of Arimathea who in his Burial declared his Love for Christ also the Eunuch of Queen Candace the Church in Cesar's House c. Besides this seems to shut Abraham Isaac David Solomon c. out of the Kingdom of Heaven And to this the whole Context agrees for the usual Glosses of this Text were no further than to assure that worldly Riches are apt to draw the Heart aside in like manner as Honour high Birth or Education are and in that sence the Letter admonisheth well to beware of such Temptations whereof the Love of Money is the Root Some interpret it they who put their Trust in Riches which indeed if it were applicable to a Spiritual Trusting were most true and perfect but no Writing Memorial or Experience gives one Example of any who trusted to his worldly Riches in point of Salvation except Simon Magus and they in that Gall of Bitterness that suppose Money can purchase a Soul-saving Pardon But the Character of this young Man answers all those Glosses for he put no such Trust in his Riches for in haste he kneeling down cries out Lord what shall I do to be saved Neither did his Wealth withdraw his Affections from heavenly things for from his Youth he had kept the Commandments and saith the Text Mark 10.21 Christ loved him Which clearly shews that touching Righteousness by the Law he was rich and that from his Trust in them his Lack proceeded as our Lord told him Yet lackest thou one thing Go and sell all thou hast give to the Poor and follow me that is All thy Merit reject be poor in Spirit and follow me into Regeneration Again the Amazement of the Disciples at Christ's words It is easier c. further clear up the Matter Who then can be saved in which words they could not refer to the Riches of Nabal nor yet of Abraham but clearly to Riches in our sence namely in legal Merit which was in that day the best Evidence for Heaven And to this also Peter's Reply consents We have forsaken all for thee and what shall we have which by the way were the very words of an Usurer which all could not aim at worldly Riches because they had none but had changed a laborious penurious Life for an easy which never lacked necessary Food or Cloathing And hence some prophane Spirits reproach the Scripture as nugatory This All say they was a rotten Boat and Nets And indeed his words were slight if he meant them or if he did not mean that for Christ's sake they had forsaken all their Righteousness by Moses The sum is It is easier for a Camel c. than for a Man rich in his own Merits to enter into the Kingdom of the Gospel 4. Again our Lord Blessed are the Poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Blessed
Church And this is a sore Evil I fear frequent in our Land for saith our Lord Whosoever shall say to his Brother Thou Fool is in danger of Hell-Fire I perceive not fully what is meant by Thou Fool for I do not confine it wholly to the literal sence but however it leaves it without controversy that to reproach a Brother is a great Offence Which Evil began even yet before the Apostles had finished their course and in this Age hath taken so deep root as if that day were come in which the Love of many shall wax cold For if any differ from that Form which is constituted to the Generality of a Nation and is practically used by all as well he that sweareth and he that feareth an Oath or professeth not Godliness as he that doth he is strait way reproached with Names of Contempt and but to name a Worship more in Spirit and Truth than this is is a matter to be brought before the Judg And which yet is more to be lamented even those that desire to sacrifice in Spirit deride and bite one another in such matters as are but form so as Pulpits and Books writ in Vinegar take this way of reproaching To whom I say nothing save in the words of the Apostle The Tongue is an unruly Evil full of deadly Poison with the same Mouth yea and Breath bless we God even the Father and curse Men which bear his similitude yea even such as earnestly seek to be more and more conformed to Christ My Brethren these things ought not to be so Was ever the Church of Christ in all things of one persuasion No not in the Apostles days But did Paul ever reproach them of the Concision who believed in Christ and yet were zealous for the Law Acts 21.20 Was not the great Decree of the first General Council held by the Disciples at Jerusalem Acts 15. in order to the binding up of all in the Bands of Unity And when the Church multiplied did not differences in Judgment increase And when it was most free from difference was it not most shadowed under Superstition and ignorant Zeal as is most manifest if we look but two Centuries back Why therefore should we reproach one another as long as we all agree in that great Fundamental That Jesus is come in the Flesh and that he is the Christ of God and the Lamb that takes away the Sins of the World How therefore seeing by this Confession John 1.42 we know the Spirit of God is there how shall we escape if we say to such a Believer and Confessor Thou Fool Thou poor deluded Soul was not this the Message from the beginning 2 John 3.11 Love one another not as Cain the wicked one who slew his Brother because his Works were more righteous than his But above all things beware that thou persecute not thy Brother for filthy Lucre's sake or because he stands as an Umbrage to thine outward Interest Riches or Glory for as Godliness is great Gain so to convert Godliness into Gain is utter Shipwrack For a Bishop ought to be blameless not given to Wine no Striker not given to filthy Lucre but patient not a Brawler not covetous not high-minded not reviling his Reviler but seeking the Peace and Good of the Church Are there not some that have the form of Godliness without the power Are there not others that whilst they boast of the Power despise the Form to their own Loss And hath not God a choice People who taking the safe and middle Path join both in good weight and measure And doth it not behove that the Strong bear with the Weak and consequently because no Professor but in his own Persuasion thinks he is joined to the Strongest Therefore ought every one to bear with every one as it is written Let us therefore as many as are perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk in the same Rule let us mind the same things Lastly I say Whosoever so confines Christ to any one Form of Worship as to persuade himself none save they walking in that way can be saved is a Reproacher of the whole Church of God not walking in that Form Or whosoever excludes any one Form so far as to pronounce no Observer thereof can find Grace he is a Reproacher of all under that Form tho they believe that Christ is come in the Flesh is the Son of God and able to save Sinners of whom he is one amongst the chief And surely if Christ was so severe as this Man O Lord who might abide it Be not high-minded but fear Blessed are the meek humble poor in Spirit blessed are the Merciful and Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Go and learn what this meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice and then you will not condemn the Guiltless Love covers a multitude of Sin Love is the fulfilling of the Law And if Christ hath magnified his Love in giving his Life for us whilst Enemies will he not much more magnify it for that loving Servant who is ready to lose Life House and Goods in the confession of him Fear not therefore thou Worm who lovest so but persevering in Love walk humbly reproach not be faithful to the end and so receive thy Crown But now the far end of the Precept is Reproach not thy Reproacher If a wicked or prophane Person or a Drunkard not having God in all his thoughts or one making a Gain of Godliness shall make thee their Song and Scorn yet do not thou if thou wilt not offend with thy Tongue retort upon them for as Solomon saith There is a Fool not to be answered in his Folly lest thou be like unto him But whoso reproacheth a Reproacher becomes a Reproacher and consequently this Fool. But this is almost as difficult as to go and sell all that we have and give it to the Poor But however if we cannot so bridle our Tongues wholly let us strive to do as much as we can and when Passion hath transported us let us at least confess the evil of our Hearts and mourn under it For that this is the Rule we should walk up unto is manifest from our Lord 's walking whom we ought in all things to make our Example as it is written For this is thank-worthy if a Man for Conscience towards God endure Grief suffering wrongfully For even hereunto were we called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his Steps who did no Sin neither was Guile found in his Mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously And again 1 Pet. 3.8 Finally my Brethren be all of one mind have compassion one to another love as Brethren be pitiful be courteous not
honour is more than to love For to love a Child or a Servant is enough to give them honour is not ex relatione requisite So as all Love is not Honour but all true Honour which is that here meant compriseth all Love and something more namely such a reverence as is due from a good Son to good Parents or a Servant to a Master And hence our great Lord and Master that he might have preeminence in all things and as well in Meekness Humility and Earth-born Vertues as heavenly Glories vouchsafed to honour his Disciples in washing their Feet and thence gave us an Example how we ought to pay the Honour here required If your Lord hath washed your Feet ye ought to wash one anothers Which doth not refer to the literal Act of washing but requires such mutual Love and Humility amongst them that fear the Lord as will be always ready to perform the meanest Office to their Brethren which may tend to their Edification in Naturals and especially in Spirituals and concludes it with a Blessing Happy are ye if ye do these things And again our Lord takes another occasion to shew how they that fear the Lord ought to be honoured even by their Superiours and Teachers and in such an Honour as Children owe to Parents and such love as Brother and Brother Behold say they to him Thy Mother and thy Brethren are without c. To which he straight replies Who is my Mother Who are my Brethren And stretching forth his Hand to his Disciples Behold my Mother and my Brethren Whoso doth the Will of my Father he is my Brother Sister and Mother Still confirming that the Love of Brothers the Honour and Reverence of Children to Parents is due amongst them fearing God and verily that the greatest wisest and best Leaders and Teachers are not absolved from paying this Honour to the last and least engrafted into this Fear And the full and exact Rule is Give to every one due Honour but to the Elder that rules well double Honour Be kindly affectionate one to another in brotherly Love preferring one another in Honour Who is greatest among you let him be least 14. Here two Queries offer First What kind of Fear is here meant Secondly Why Fear before all other Vertues is made the Badg of this Honour Touching the First The holy Scriptures define sundry Species of Fear which we shall reduce to four more general and pertinent Heads to the present occasion The first is Pachad denoting a more slavish tormenting Fear because never without some terror resisting the sweet effects of Love for it is impossible to enjoy God as a loving and well-pleased Father when we fear him as the inexorable Judg and Condemner of our Souls stained with Guilt to everlasting Torment or to love that Saviour who we fear in the end will leave us to the Rigor of the Law which hath already justly condemned us to Death So as this Fear shuts out Love and lets in Unbelief fearing as our Prophet saith where no Fear is and fearfully as the Apostle looking for or fore-dooming Judgment and fiery Indignation Now this is not the Fear that is the sure Badg of Honour nor yet of Contempt but rather of Tenderness and Pity For first it is certain that where this Fear is some sence and seekings after God are secondly a deep sence of Infirmity And lastly because God oft-times makes this the Instrument of calling many stubborn Sinners to Repentance who after proceed successfully in a well tempered Fear Another is Charad trembling Fear which in its proper seasons and Periods is of great use but ought not to be continual because thereby it degenerates into servile Fear And its seasons are when some notable appearance or threatning from God or sence of some great Error or Conviction of Sin in which we have a long time lived break in upon us So in the terrible appearance of God at Horeb the Congregation and Moses feared in Charad hence teaching that when God appears in our Hearts as Law-giver or in our Consciences as the Sin-punishing Judg we ought to fear and tremble before his Presence but then as he abates or vails his terrible Majesty so ought we to remit our Fears to their due proportion Also this Fear Charad seized our Father Isaac when he perceived that he was deceived and had given to Jacob the Blessing he thought was Esau's Birthright Which also is for our admonition For being sure the Blessing belonged to one of his Sons yet not certain which but as is probable Rebecca was for Jacob the Man of * Perfect in Consumption Tummim and he favouring the Birthright set his Affections upon Esau the rigid Hunter who seems to have a reference to the rigid Covenant of Works in a like Allegory as Ishmael did Gal. 4. and now being resolved to bestow the Blessing according to the Birthright without regard had to Esau's Prophaneness in selling of it and now perceiving that the Man of Tummim had gotten the possession by the Decree of his own Mouth he greatly feared Cherad and doubtless was till he had a little recollected himself crimped in Anguish of Mind First from the Surprize Secondly lest he had been too careless in suffering himself to be so deluded in bestowing that great Blessing in which all Nations were blessed contrary to what he believed was the purpose of God And thirdly he might have disposed contrary to the end the Trust upon him Or fourthly on the contrary lest all this while he had lived in an Error ascribing true Piety rather to a rough rigid Life than the Integrity of Tummim and was now in old Age to begin Religion in a more perfect way Whence we are to learn that having set forth in Piety and now for a long time put our dependence in Legal Righteousness and at length our affecting Friend leads to our Warfare and rends all our Hopes from us and convinceth the Birth-right is of of Grace we cannot chuse but be confused and tremble which doubtless is in this Crisis acceptable because we have been hitherto in a wrong way resisting the heavenly Decree all our painful Labour Vanity and vexation of Spirit and we tho old in Profession yet Children in Piety and to begin again in Christ's Cross But neither ought this Fear to be permanent but recollecting our selves with Isaac and resolutely decree tho Esau seek Repentance with tears That seeing we have blessed Grace therefore blessed shall it be Again this Fear strongly seized old Ely when he heard the Host of Israel was smitten and the Ark of God taken thence teaching That when a sudden or general Calamity befalleth the Church or any praying People tho their own Cart-ropes have pulled it upon them we ought to bewail them and to fear and tremble at the Judgment of God which he vile in his own eyes will be ready to do fearing he was not more righteous than they and that if
Conscience stands firm and quick it will not fail to detect all its Sorceries To speak out of my own experience it hath already manifested four of its gross Deceits Of the first in the day of Vocation for until then it shews not the depths of its Craft because all Men by Nature set forth into the World much leavened with the Love Lusts and Vanities of the Flesh and as long as the Soul is content to take part with it in wallowing in Sin so long the Heart troubleth not the Soul nor Satan the Heart because his desires prosper in that way which is most pleasing to him because most destructive to Souls neither will he tempt in this State to Superstition or Idolatry because it makes better for his end that neither God nor Religion should come within his thoughts But if the Soul shall become sensible of this Bondage and threaten to leave Egypt that it may sacrifice to God in the Wilderness then the Heart leavened by Satan sets on foot all its Stratagems and if God in favour of the Design raise up a Moses in it and smite the Heart with some noisom Plague or Affliction it cannot bear it makes shew of Repentance and promiseth that if God will remove his Hand it will become a true Leige-man but no sooner is that taken away but it hardens it self as Pharaoh did and will not consent that the Elect Seed shall depart out of its Slavery until the ten Egyptian Plagues have passed upon it for in that Story the Conflicts of the Spiritual and Natural Seeds upon Vocation are shewn in Allegory The second is That after the Soul is manumitted by a strong hand the Heart also enters into Covenant taking upon it the Oath of a holy Life and promising to perform all that Jehovah commands but yet upon the first strait or want murmurs starts aside like a broken Bow oft wishing it self in the Pleasures of Egypt again as sometimes the Sons of Israel did for God will put Trials on his called Ones in the first Journeying and these are to teach us to beware of the like Evils as it is written Now all these things happened unto them for example the original Types and are written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the World i.e. Age are come Another Admonition we have in good Peter whose Heart being warmed with Love to his Master strait way boasted And though all should be offended with thee yet will not I vehemently affirming that he could die with him rather than deny him and doubtless the good old Man intended to do all he professed but so far his false Heart deceived him as on the appearance of Danger he denied his Master thrice before the next Cock's Crow was finished Which also serves for our Instruction fore-warning us not to boast in our own Strength always to distrust our Hearts and if perchance we be overtaken in Peter's Snares that we may with him renew our selves by bitter Tears The next Deceitfulness of the Heart is now when it entred on the Rule and whole Course of Obedience and persuades it-self its Works are upright before God and done upon the pure Principle of Love towards God and Man but indeed is meerly hypocritical moving upon mercenary hope of Reward or a base servile fear of Punishment not loving Justice and Mercy for Christ's sake not doing good to others for love of them but because they love themselves and hope to be Gainers by their Gift And this I fear is a frequent Evil as Experience teaches for whose was once zealous in Obedience in Duties and Charity and after upon the Incomes of Grace and hope that the Scourge is over becomes cold and remiss therein let them boast of what new Light and Gospel-Liberty they please they will be found Hypocrites Bastards and not Sons and so they may behold themselves in the Glass of their own Conscience For if the Command for Duties be still the same and thy Brother in want as before and thou shalt not communicate in both as formerly where is thy Love or Obedience and how were they formerly sincere No assuredly because thy Fear of Punishment is vanished so also Love and nothing more certain than that it was founded upon some base Foundation And thus the false Heart makes many play the Hypocrite persuading that those Hypocritical Sacrifices were acceptable to God which were verily little better than Swine's Blood And therefore here is great need of watching over the Buddings of the Heart and if upon this account Zeal or Charity languish it ought to be brought before the Judg and its Hypocrisy manifested and that if possible that may be renewed which was ready to die And if this be not done by thy self be assured that he that searcheth the Heart and Reins rendring to every one according to the Fruits of their working will do it and appoint thy portion amongst the Hypocrites But now the fourth and last Treachery of the Heart is whilst it is indeed zealous and perhaps competently faithful in these Duties and pretends that all its performances are as Dross and Dung and i◠〈◊〉 uprofitable â—â—rvant and therefore hath no dependence in them but sâ—â—ply on free Grace but nevertheless doth in its secret thoughts say Soul take thy rest for thou hast much Riches laid up for many Years And this is a sore Evil and frequent and thus Experience discovers it If the Heart say to the Soul Take thy rest there is assuredly some shreds of it but if it say to another who fears the Lord and walks by the Rule whereunto it hath attained Get thee far from me for I am more righteous than thou it hath taken a deep root Or if it boast with the Pharisee I thank God I am not as this Man I fast twice in the Week I pay my Tithes I pray in Spirit and read the Scriptures in Understanding and this Man is carnal he prays by a form of words and reads and understands not the Case is clear For how canst thou prefer thy Holiness to another's that believes in the same Christ and owns him to be Righteousness except thou suppose thou hast inhanced thy Merit by some false Vertue or Performance for this is but the vain boasting of the Heart puffed up with knowledg not considering that not many Wise are called but that God hath chosen the foolish and base things of this World to confound the Wise for it is not the Whole but Sick that stand in need of the Physician of Souls therefore seeing the humble and poor in Spirit are the fit Objects of Grace and Christ hath promised them Blessedness why should not the Heart taught to speak the Truth rather boast that it is enrolled amongst these for I know that whatsoever it thinketh yet it will openly profess that it must be saved by Grace and how knowest thou but he that is the Fool in thine eyes hath more Humility Meekness yea is greater in
thou mayest avoid the Company of the Prophane and yet shalt not need go out of the World And therefore I judg it to be much the better choice except it be when opportunity of doing them good offers it self And lastly at no time to judg or revile them for what have we to do with them that are without The second Branch of this Duty is less than the former as it refers to a few but greater as it is of spiritual concernment and so essentially as 't is justly esteemed amongst Fundamentals Saith Peter to our Lord How oft shall my Brother sin against me and I forgive him Till seven times And surely the good Man thought he said well and gone far But saith our Lord I say not seven but seventy seven times And after by a Parable Mat. 28.23 setting forth this great Duty of forgiving and loving one another and Penalties of them that do not concludes thus So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses And again it is not enough to forgive when our weak Brother offends but to beware lest he be offended by us in things simply in themselves lawful and indifferent The whole Rule is fully set down by the Apostle Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 8. The sum of which is If a Brother be so infirm as to become ensnared with those beggarly Elements of eating or not eating observing Days Touch not taste not handle not yet must he not be despised or offended Why dost thou judg thy Brother why dost thou set at nought thy Brother we shall all stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ But surely I fear we live in this Day one so with another as if this Gospel-Precept were abolished for to such we are ready to say Thou Fool to look upon him as a Man lost in blind Ignorance and Superstition and shut out of the Sheepfold Whereas the Apostle saith Destroy not him for whom Christ died with thy Meat And again Through thy Knowledg shall the weak Brother perish for whom Christ died But when ye sin so against the Brethren and wound their weak Consciences ye sin against Christ Now this Scripture is full plain one may run and read namely That a Soul for which Christ died may be wounded and destroyed by the Knowledg and want of Charity of another and in the mean time the Man causing the Offence is found sinning against Christ and two Souls destroy each the other But again the Scripture saith Let every Man be fully persuaded in his own Mind to his own Master he standeth or falleth yea it shall be revealed to him and he shall be holpen for God is able to make him stand Hast thou Faith have it to thy self Art thou wise be wise to thy self Prov. 9.12 Happy is the Man that condemneth not himself in what he alloweth But he that doubteth is damned if he eat because not of Faith for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin What therefore shall we say to these things If a Man by his Knowledg Power or Authority draw another into Condemnation will he answer for him Or if he will not will he still cause him to sin and himself hope to escape Condemnation God will not be mocked He that saves a Soul covers a Multitude of Sins he that turns many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars Age and Age and he that offends one of these little Ones that believe in Christ it were better for him a Milstone c. 7. Now I say tho Offences touching Eating or Days are not so eager in our time as then yet there are many Offences of the same height and depth and the Rule is still the same for whatever is not of Faith is of Sin And yet those Brethren which have been Fellow-sufferers together and are Professors of one Lord and Master envy strive divide touching such Matters as are but of the like nature or at the most no ways fundamental and hereby in this matter we are carnal 1 Cor. 3.3 Is Christ indeed confined to thy only way Doth the Ordinance sanctify him or he the Ordinance Is it the Way the Truth and the Life or He Doth Baptism in this or that way give the Answer of a good Conscience or Christ alone by his Death and Resurrection Wherefore I say my Brethren these things ought not to be thus What numbers have we of plain Scriptures inciting and admonishing us to love one another and denouncing heavy Penalties upon them that do not so And on the contrary how scanty are the Pretences for our Divisions and how obscure to our purpose are the Texts from which we derive them For Love is again and again fixed upon all as a Fundamental as plain as words can express things as the Beauty and Top-stone of the Temple made without hands And on the contrary the Texts we make the grounds of our Divisions are too infirm to that purpose until by Wit and Argument we have given them force for because the Precept is through our Infirmity weak and uncertain to us therefore we go to Disputes and from Disputes to Wrath upon which if the Sun should not set it were pardonable and from Wrath to Divisions and Separations of Persons Affections yea even and Prayers too For we may not account that a fundamental Precept which is not clearly fully and positively commanded for surely 't is the clearness and fulness of the Command that makes it fundamental as where our Lord saith positively Go and teach all things I have commanded you Lo I am with you to the end of the Age. And therefore seeing the Command Love one another is imposed above any other upon Blessings and Curses Rewards and Penalties how shall it suffice to say the Breach of our Love was touching the manner of celebrating an outward Sign not plain from the Command If thou shalt not be forgiven if thou forgive not a Brother Mat. 28.35 if not to love a Brother is to abide in Death and be a Murderer 1 John 3. if Love be the sure Character of a Disciple John 13.14 if it be the Message from the beginning if to love is to be be born of God and lastly the fulfilling of the Commandment why should we crumble away our fair hope of Treasure in these Promises by Discord with Brethren upon circumstances or forms of Administration or things of decency where the Rule is not plain on either part but one after serious Meditation and Prayer thinketh thus and another so For assuredly it were more eligible to desist from the use of such Duties than to use them in the Leaven of Malice yea tho it should be celebrated in the purity of the Form yet shall it if done in Malice turn to Loss for in truth they cease from being Duties if not performed in Love For saith our Lord If having brought thy Gift to the Altar thou remembrest thy Brother hath ought against
He that in his natural state walks in full riot sinning boldly in contempt of God and Piety if God shall yet bring this Man under Conviction by strong hand his Call is usually in great terror and this usually puts him upon a more legal and superstitious way of Worship and not seldom more out of a servile fear of punishment than a true love of God or Good so as the old root of Concupiscence is not pluckt up but brought under by fear of Wrath and therefore as formerly he found that by contempt of God and Duties Wrath was exasperated So now by a more servile Fear and rigid Obedience he seeks to procure Peace and therefore is superstitious in all things rigid toward others and ready to persecute all not of his own length and measure Now if this Man be called to this War he contends stubbornly accounts free Grace a meer Harlot as Judah did Tamar believing there is no way to redintegrate what former contempt wounded but by an over-acted Zeal which might countervail it and thence as one strong hold fails him he raises another and makes every one a false Christ and runs after every one that saith Lo here or Lo there he is and often perisheth in the way But if through Mercy he escape this Snare yet is he very liable to the second temptation for now perceiving the large Arms and free Heart of Grace he for a while like Seed sown in stony ground rejoyceth in it blesseth God as large in bounty but withal hasting to the other extream despiseth his former folly in trusting to Duties counts them foolish and smiling at his former zeal therein applauds his own Wisdom in discerning their nakedness and setting him at freedom from a needless Yoke And now his servile Fear being removed the Roots of his former licentiousness not as we said before extirpated but only lopt and kept under by fear of punishment sprout forth to the great abuse of the Heavenly Gift unto wantonness Yet ought not this to discourage any Man from repenting of his evil ways for the Lord delighteth not in the death of a Sinner as it is written Ezek. 18.21 If the wicked turn from all his sins and keep my Statutes and do what is lawful and right he shall thereby live and not die all his transgressions he hath committed they shall not be mentioned to him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live But yet upon the whole it is good to be forewarn'd and watchful over such Temptations as are most incident to that manner of sowing he hath sowed And therefore I say it behoveth all Men to remember their Creator in the days of their Youth before the evil days come and Years draw nigh when God shall say I have no pleasure in them for because when I called they refused and set at nought all my Counsel I will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh Therefore I say when God calls delay not say not in thy heart I have yet time enough to repent and turn to the Lord for few if any so hoping have found the way of Godly Sorrow but if thou hast lost some time in riot and prophaneness and at length a strong hand forceth thee to repentance let it be sincere and hearty not for fear of punishment but for love of him that called thee and his Christ that died for thee and tho thou lay thy Foundation in legal Fear yet mayest thou by Prayer Faith Experience and Patience convert it into reverential Love Which endeavour for legal Fear is often servile and servile Fear is an hypocritical bridling Sin for base ends and as soon as Grace stops the cries of Guilt it slacks the Reins and Lust takes its career but Love digs up the Root of whatsoever thing is hateful to its Beloved and is most pleasing to God and Man Fear I say of the sin-revenging God may as with an Anvil and Hammer break a flinty heart in pieces but every piece is still Flint but Love like Oil shall make it supple and plaint and the more as Grace and forgiveness of Sin manifest themselves it loves and becomes more obedient But if yet thou hast not obtained Love yet do not hope to expiate thy former evil life with any Righteousness of thy own and above all esteem not the persecuting or reproaching a Brother any kind of Merit but if he hath offended thee forgive him as thou desirest God should forgive thee And again while legal Duties bear a high rate in thine Eyes yet still let what is thy own Act be of mean account Know God will try it and it will be found light in his Ballance and so being humble in thy own eyes walking in consumption of the Arm of Flesh in love with thy Brethren and watching for the day of thy Tryal thou shalt find favour and God shall deliver thee in six Evils and the thus Hast thou bin formerly licentiously wicked and now art a Convert If thou dost hope to clear Scores with God by restraining thy Lusts excedency of Merit and yet but a servile fear and terror of the Sword of Justice it is the Spring and Plumet of thy Obedience it must fall out that when Grace shews it self to the taking away the Fear that also thy Obedience ceases and thy Lusts again break forth and in the mean time thou art in a miserable state first Because servile Fear and a wounded Spirit are thy Tormenters and yet best Friends upholding thee from uttermost Perdition Secondly Because Grace which is the only true Balsam against Sin and Guilt is become thy most perfect Poison so as it is of Grace not to let thee see Grace But on the contrary I say tho thy Sins were as red as Scarlet tho thou hadst been a Beast of Ephesus yet if in true and sincere Obedience thou turn to God converting thy servile Fear into Love Self-confidence into Self-condemnation and thy eager persecuting Spirit into brotherly Affection thou mayest in this well-fought Fight wash thy self as white as Snow and free thy self from the evil of this last Temptation because the Love of God will more powerfully restrain thy rebudding Lust than Servile Fear can yea the Lord himself will be thy Keeper as he hath promised Because thou hast kept the Word of my patience I will keep thee in the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the World to try them that dwell upon the Earth 24. Now this Warfare is in sundry places and divers manners represented in the holy Scripture in Allegory in Proverbial Speeches and Prophecies The Fathers did not only see it in Prospect but by Faith which makes things afar off as present in the Promise did enjoy it and obtained a good report And of this we shall now join some few Texts and more hereafter as occasion offers Our Psalmist hath many Passages touching this whereof one thus Psal 118. Out of my Straits I invoked Jah
and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul to which adjoin 1 Cor. 15.45 it clears the last part of the Assertion The first Man Adam was made a living Soul and the last Adam a quickning Spirit So that the Elect Seed is first subdued into a Body and Soul and lastly united and made one with the quickning Spirit by being again subdued by it in the good fight and while thus the Spirit subdues the Soul and the Soul the Body the Elect Seed is gathered from the East and from the West from the North and from the South and Christ's Victory atchieved in the glorifying every Hoof that is in the Commission of Election and condemning the Reprobate to the Pit of their appointment and for this end Christ took upon him our Bodies Souls Spirits and whatsoever is ours that his Body being glorified might glorify ours his Soul our Souls his Spirit our Spirits and lastly That his Conquest over us might compleat our happiness and this the Apostle strongly implies 1 Thess 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And besides these divers other Scriptures attest that there is a hidden excellency appertaining to the Body as Rom. 8.23 Even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of the Body which compared with the context before implies a farther Mystery than we who are dull of hearing can receive for secret things belong to God and those things which are revealed to us Dan. 29.29 So again Rom. 12.1 Now I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service So 1 Cor. 6.13 The Body for the Lord and the Lord for the Body Also the 19. So as such a voluntary Humility which debases the Body beyond the Rule or denies those Refreshments it allows is not pleasing unto God 6. The second part of this Humility is when a Man thinks himself not worthy to go to Christ immediately himself but by the intercession of Angels or Saints Col. 2.18 But this perswasion is a great wrong to him who purposely came to save Sinners and vouchsafed to wash his Disciples Feet who took our Nature upon him that he might be touched with our Infirmities and tempted like us and all that he might be a merciful and expert Mediator and therefore himself calls to them heavey laden to come to him and also gives authority to us to go in his Name a begging immediately to the Father assuring us That in that Name we shall be heard and hence the Apostle Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and sind Grace to help in the days of our Conflicts And therefore in humble and reverential Gratitude let us be assured There 's no more need of a Mediator betwixt Christ and us than betwixt God and Christ for as he is in the Father and one with him so we in Christ namely those that are baptized into his death and therefore those that go to other Mediators have with Esau rejected one of the greatest Priviledges of their Birth-right and therefore true Humility consists not in debasing the Body or denying it its Rights and then calling it Vile and esteeming the martyrdom of it in the secret of the Heart meritorious but in being a careful Keeper of it as a piece of purer Clay upon which Christ designeth to engrave his Image and therefore it behoves us to deck it with all Ornaments Divine and Natural true Humility can shape for it and when all is done to esteem it and every Gift we have by nature vile and contemptible and the Body thus presented by the hand of Faith shall be a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God 7. The next Sister of this Divine Off-spring is Meekness in all things so like to the former as we need not to enlarge upon it for what is well said of the one appertains of right to the other It is first ascribed to Moses the Type Meek above all Men upon the face of the Earth and next to Christ the Anti-type Take up my Yoak and learn of me for I am meek and lowly or humble of Heart and ye shall find rest in your Souls Which first shews We ought in all things to imitate Christ and more particularly in Meekness And secondly that the Reward shall be Rest to the Soul Another saith Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth And our Psalmist He the Lord will save all the Meek of the Earth he will beautify them with Salvation The third is the great Vertue Patience which indeed is both first and last in our Warfare for from the first blow in the former on-set it was the Soul's Buckler and unto the last must be a Support So Job began in Patience and in the virtue thereof did not offend with his Tongue and was become a perfect Scholar therein before he was throughly humbled for he was not vile enough in his own sight until he perceived God by the eye which was in the period of his Trial And hence the Apostle Brethren count it all joy when ye fall under divers temptations knowing the trial of your Faith worketh Patience and let Patience have its perfect Work that ye may be perfect lacking nothing so as this vertue consummates the Work in that fulness as nothing is lacking Whence also by comparing this with former Texts it appeareth that the Temptations and Trials here spoken of the Tribulations bringing Patience afore-mentioned and the Warfare of the Cross are all one thing only differing as Majus and Minus for the former refer to the Cross of our Lord as he did and we ought to bear it daily and our Warfare refers to it in the more critical and especial Hour for all work Patience and Patience under all upholdeth the Soul and sows the Seeds of Experiences of the gracious workings of God And though no Tribulations in the present seem joyous yet at the long-run Experience convinceth that they are the very effects of Love which Love sheddeth it self abroad in the Heart so as to be perfect in Tribulations in Trials and bearing the Cross is the perfection of Patience Patience of Experience Experience of Love and Love fortified by Patience that it may wait until God see it fit to give the Crown of Glory is that perfection in the Life of the Body which lacketh nothing and therefore as it is written Blessed is he that endureth that patiently waits until the end until the Soul can say with the Captain of its Warfare It is finished I have fought the good Fight Again Patience is the fixing and confirming of a Saint as the Apostle saith Be patient establish your Hearts Behold ye
Horse or Foot by Arrows at a distance or by Sword in close Fight ought to have in readiness all sorts of Arms sutable for Defence And therefore he who hath to do with Satan ought to have his Quiver full of Scripture-Inspirations so as when he meets his Enemy he need not be afraid And to this experienced Christians can set their Seals for to them labouring under Temptation Unbelief or Torment a Text hath usually come in to them that hath dissipated their Doubtings as Light expells Darkness Neither is there any Weapon Satan can form against a Believer but there is a Scripture-Antidote against it Wherefore I say seeing we have a subtil restless and irreconcileable Enemy and to avoid the War is impossible if then a Friend would put a Book into our hands teaching the Art of War and Conquest shall we not study it And if some obscure Passage should put us to a loss shall we not enquire for an Interpreter of better Skill and Experience than our selves Study therefore the Book of the War of God which will sometimes plainly sometimes in Allegory teach thee the whole Art of overcoming and will shew thee what is the whole Armour of Righteousness and how to proceed like a good Souldier of Jesus Christ ready to endure all Hardships when called thereunto And forasmuch as the Scripture contains more Memorials than any memory can well contain it may be good to store it with some of more general use And to offer my Mite First Such as under a Blessing or Happiness require some Duty or Service as Blessed are the Meek Merciful and pure of Heart c. If ye know and do these things happy are ye Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation Which will both remind the Soul of what is acceptable to God and bear it up in Afflictions And of this kind there are Hundreds more and not one which doth not direct unto some Weapon useful in our Spiritual Warfare Secondly Such as are in opposition to these namely such as under a Curse prohibit Wickedness as Cursed are the Proud Cursed he who trusts in Man and maketh Flesh his Arm which withdraws his Heart from God For by these he wills that we be warned of Satan's Sleights Arms and Strong-holds Thirdly Promises which above all support weak Faith and comfort under Tribulation as My Grace shall be sufficient for thee Which was Paul's Balsam against Satan's Buffetings Be faithful unto the end and I will give thee a Crown of Life All things shall work together for Good unto them that love the Lord c. And surely it cannot be amiss to have a Quiver full of these And lastly and above all leave not those three out of thy Lesson which the Lord made use of against Satan Mat. 4.4 7 10. 12. But now having thus endeavoured to shew that so necessary the Union and equal Fellowship of Doctrine and Obedience is as without both neither can be in Christ also that to visit the Fatherless Widow and Stranger in Affliction to break off the Yoke of Oppression to divide his Bread to the Hungry to be meek merciful and humble is that Obedience which is pure and unspotted against which there is no Law nor they in whom they abound can be barren or unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ but they in whom they are not are blind And lastly that my Fears are that some may put too much of true Religion upon Hearing and frequenting of the Ordinances in a formal way without bringing their Hearts under a strict examination how far they have profited by what they have learned and put in practice what they are convinced is unspotted Piety I conclude with the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore my Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fail But so an Entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savour Jesus Christ. And let no Man think that the diligence the Apostle here requires is to go and only hear what unspotted Religion is and to tell his Friends and Family how well the Minister handled the Word and all the Week after to walk according to the deeds of the Old Man in Lustings in Wrath in Covetousness in Boastings that he is not like other Men who will scarce go to hear at all But to do this diligence is First To draw nigh to God which is not difficult for thee for at any time even thine own set time Morning Noon Evening or Midnight he will meet thee in thy Conscience and speak to thee by it If thou hast heard the Word of Truth and understood then what thou oughtest to do and yet hast not so done he will by it both inform thee and reprove thee And the second part of thy Diligence is to drop a Tear of godly Sorrow or at least a Sigh for thy failings St. James hath it thus Jam. 4.7 Submit your selves to God draw nigh to him and he will meet you cleanse your Hands O ye Sinners in godly Sorrow and purify your deceitful Hearts by Repentance Be afflicted and mourn that hearing and understanding ye have not obeyed Let your Joy that ye hoped ye were more righteous than others be turned into heaviness because ye know not but ye may have claimed that to which you have no right And this is some part of the Diligence required And if hereby thou canst truly humble thy self in the sight of the Lord thou hast his Promise that he will lift thee up St. Peter 1. Pet. 5.6 agrees with us Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Cast your Care and diligence upon him for his Care nay his Diligence is over you And also our great Prophet consents Psal 51.16 Thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it Thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit a broken and a contrite Heart O Lord thou wilt not despise And now to conclude I say The Father of this unspotted Religion is Preaching the Father of Preaching the pure Word of God tried in the Fire the Mother thereof is Vileness and Contempt in thine own Eyes and the Mother of this Vileness is the Cross of Christ And God is Lord and Father of all and whom he hath joined together let no Man dare to divide asunder 13. But honoureth them that fear the Lord. This is the eighth Precept and fitly follows the aforesaid For Contempt of our selves prompts us to think better of others and honour such and the Heart swelling with Pride despiseth all save it self So as this is another Sprig of the same Stock ingrafted in the Stock of brotherly Love by the hands of Humility which are never too fine to perform the meanest Work of Charity So as this Honour lives in Self-contempt Humility and Love and verily ought to over-branch Love it self for to
he repent not he may likewise perish Lastly The Elders at Bethlem trembled at Samuel's uncouth coming to their City because they from God upon some weighty importance And hence we ought also to fear when any great and unusual Providence brings us a Message or Warning from God And now this Fear is always good and wholesom upon such occasions and periods and as the Apostle saith helps to work out our Salvation in fear and trembling and therefore is a Branch of that Fear which is the Badg of our Honour upon them that have it The third Fear is Magor properly a sojourning Fear or a doubtful hanging Distrust such as usually are upon wary Men pilgrimating in strange Countries Thus David feared in Gath Jacob with Laban So in our Psalm Who shall fear or sojourn in thy Tabernacle And this Fear in due temperament is good but in excedency hurts and in Scripture is taken in both Sences In the worse when a Man fears the Lord in distrust still fore-dooming Evil or Judgment and is cast down with such common Afflictions or cross Providences which often exercise others for their good like a froward Child apt to offend but so impatient and fearful of the Rod as the Father fears to correct it lest it should harm it self by Grief and so it neither is pleasing to the Father nor at free Peace with it self And this usually follows such as by Nature are of a mournful Spirit yet may be tempered either to a well-pleasing solemn Wariness or cockered to an offensive Morosity for it being once persuaded as it easily is that a severe solemn mournful Life is the best way to lop off Vanity or whatever thing seems in its own Glass vain it straight counts this pure Religion and falls to such a rigid Course of Life as God requires not at its hand And so this Severity having obtained a good Report with many fearing God it hasts to voluntary Humility and grows so morose as it censures all not of its own length and measure But it is best when Judgment begins at home and to wash our own hands clean before we reprove others of Spots is meet Now this is a Grievance arising from the defect of vile in its own eyes And tho I judg to relieve and help the poor is much better than to censure or judg others by our own measure and that a cheerful Mite is better than a rigid Penny yet doubt I not but that these are of them to whom Honour is due But now this Fear in its equally-weighed temperament is an excellent Corrosive against proud Flesh which Nature of course brings forth keeping the Body under and bringing it into subjection always sensible of Infirmities at home still fearing its own Heart is hatching some Evil which it perceives not and fearing lest it being ripe should suddenly break out and surprize it unprepared for the Assault In every Bush of the spacious Field of Nature and in them especially that loam pleasantly to Sense it suspects a Temptation lies and rather chuseth to avoid it by stealing by in some secret Path than to rouse it up to provoke it and to hope to overcome it by proof of Arms. By this wary Fear the Steps of the strong Man are established It taught Noah being warned of God to prepare an Ark to the preservation of his Family It taught Nehemiah and his Associates to build the Walls of their City with a Sword in one hand and Trowel in the other It is worthy of much Honour but especially when it hath learned in the good days which God vouchsafeth it to eat its Bread and to drink its Wine with a merry Heart and to acknowledg that this is the Gift of God 15. The last Fear is Jara a reverential Fear never out of season but ought perpetually to be kept alive in our Hearts as the Fire which came down from Heaven was upon the Altar Neither can it ever exceed to Loss because never without a mixture of Love for where we reverence there we love and Love will not give place to a tormenting Fear And this is it our Prophet intends and calls Jara often elsewhere celebrating it in lofty Characters Jara saith he is the beginning of Wisdom the initiating or matriculating Grace into the Society of the People of God to them so fearing God is near he pitieth them he will not suffer them to want any thing that is good he will bring them out of all Evil besides numbers more throughout the whole Scripture which would be too long to insert And therefore in a word it is the Key to Wisdom the Moderator and Spur of a Christian Life always inviting to Vertue restraining Sensuality promoting Piety calling forth to Duties pressing hard after Vertue and like Salt seasoning our Conversation and Discourse the Hammer and Anvil of Sin and the Mark of God in the forehead of the Saints 16. Next we enquire Why David makes Fear and not rather Love Faith Charity some of the more established and more exalted Vertues the Ensign of this Honour But the reason is plain namely That he which is greatest might be as if he were least and the more eminent old improved Gift might honour and help to nurse up the initiated Infant Secondly Because this is the most comprehensive Badge of Sonship none in Christ who want it thence shewing that God would have his whole Church to render mutual Honour one to another no Member no not a Hoof so mean but the greatest ought to honour it young or old Infant or decrepid wise or simple gifted or not gifted it matters not if they have the Mark they must be honoured And to one vile in his own eyes it will not be difficult to do it because already persuaded that this simple plain Candidate hath laid right the true Foundation of Wisdom will in a short space out-strip him or at least walk more humbly and faithfully according to his Light than he himself shall do But to another wise in his own Eyes it is difficult Art thou learned canst thou plead well for the Truth divide a Text speak a word in season to weary Souls Then bless the bounteous Giver and be not high-minded but know because much thou hast received much therefore thou owest But a poor Widow comes to ask counsel of thee finding some defect in her self but wants skill to utter it she would gladly pray but cannot speak six words together in good coherence except she have the Lord's Prayer by heart or an old Prayer-book in her hand she would gladly understand but reads and perceives little yet in the mean time gives good testimony she fears the Lord oft goes to her Closet shuts her Door saith little but weeps reads and sometimes trembles at the Word not that she understands but reverentially fears the awful Majesty of the Lord thereof Now this I say is an Object of our Honour perhaps more humble and despised in her own Eyes
in and again confirmed by St. James it necessarily follows that Yea and Nay is the Gospel Vow and to vow further is of sin And verily Jacob's Vow is so plain a guide in this matter as there is no need to say more of it but by the way observe that the Vows of the Mountain Worshippers came much nearer to Christ's Standard than those of the Tabernacle in like manner as also Marriage did and perhaps both upon a like account for because of hardness of hearts Moses permitted Divorce and many Wives but from the beginning it was not so So also because the arm of flesh was heady and stubborn and Vows co-operated to the breaking thereof Moses permitted them but in Jacob's day it was not so 24. And this also I take to be David's purpose in our Text who being one of the first rank of them that prophesied of the Grace to come for he saw this and knew it was revealed for us and therefore couched the mystery thereof in terms not intelligible to the then Church in general who were to do and live but reserved for them who were to purpose to will and to do in the strength of the Messiah And I understand him thus He that hath a promise and assurance that Christ his great Shepherd and Friend will be with him and keep him in the way he will again promise in yea and nay that he will serve him in fear all the days of his life He that so doth and changeth not adjoyns a right precious link in the chain that draws unto the immovable state 25. And in further confirmation of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word used by our Prophet is often ascribed to Christ and he called a Shepherd and Friend and in this very office of Shepherd as well as King and Prophet was David his Type as Psal 23. 1. The Lord is my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shepherd I shall not want in the valley and shadow of death I will not fear affliction and lastly concludes in a Gospel Vow Sure I am his mercy and goodness will follow me and I will dwell in his House the extent of days or whilst I live So Psal 80.1 O Shepherd of Israel hearken thou Leader of Joseph like a flock thou inhabiting the Cherubs shine forth So Eccl. 12.11 Which are given by the one Shepherd which best Interpreters say was Christ the one Shepherd who by his Spirit gave the Law and Prophets So Isa 40.11 and 63.11 Jer. 31.10 and 49.29 Ezek. 34.23 I will set one Shepherd over them even David c. which was Christ for David was then asleep with his Fathers and his Sepulchre is with us to this day Zech. 13.7 Awake O Sword against my Shepherd against the man my fellow Smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered which the Evangelists interpret to be Christ and his Apostles So the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap. 13.20 calls Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Testament and seeing he writes to the Hebrews and from the Hebrew text and phrase argues to them we may not question but that Christ the end of all Scriptures aim was acknowledged by them in that name Again 1 Pet. 2.25 and 5.4 writ also as most conclude to the scattered Hebrews and there he calls Christ the chief Shepherd distinguishing him from the sub-ministring Pastors and Teachers in the Church And besides these in sundry other Texts where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is read Friend or it may be Shepherd Christ is manifestly meant Prov. 17.17 A Friend or the Shepherd loveth in all seasons and because of straits a Brother * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be born He that strikes his hand and promiseth a Promise before his Shepherd he is a man void of Heart That is there is no time or state in which Christ tenders not his Flock and because of their straits he will put on Brother-hood with them in the Seed of Abraham for he was not ashamed at the name of Brother but he that strikes a Covenant making a Promise more than Yea yea Nay nay is a Man void of a Mind And in this sense I read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 6.1 3. and verily if this or some such like be not the sence of these Texts how will it keep harmony with the usual Exposition of our Text He swearing to his Friend and changeth not or how shall the Laws of mutual Amity be fulfilled or Commerce upheld Is not every Bill of Exchange accepted a striking of hands and every Sale of Goods without ready Payment doth it not charge the Seller as one without a Heart Again Prov. 18.17 A righteous * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The English Version doth here paraphrase Man is first in his own Cause or in pleading his Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but his Friend his Shepherd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comes and searcheth him that is Even the righteous Man in his first pleadings with God justifies his Ways but in the Day of the Cross Christ comes and searcheth his Heart and Reins And vers 24. The Man of Friends makes himself to be * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hithpa Most read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes himself friendly but surely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the legitimate Root but in both sences it reads well and best in both The Friend of Friends bruising himself shews himself friendly c. bruised or broken and his Love is closer than a Brother that is A Friend of Friends he is that layeth down his Life for his Friends no Brother can love like him a Mother may forget a Son but this Friend cannot And besides these sundry which to enlarge upon would too long divert us from the present occasion but in general I say All such as refer to Suretiship with a Friend are of this Interpretation And And whereas some complex with it striking hands with a Stranger I thereby understand a strange or false Christ and as the Text usually makes these equal in evil so I esteem them in this Acceptation namely That Covenant with the Lord Jesus further than Yea and Nay is as dangerous as to stipulate with a strange Christ that is He that knows the true Christ sees the Beauty of his Holiness and perceives his Office as our common Advocate and Vouchee before the Father and that there is none besides and yet dares stipulate with him in his own strength mars his Visage usurps upon his Office and rebels against his most gracious Proclamation Ho every one that thirsteth come buy without Price Isa 55.1 But he who discerns not Christ in his perfection but erring takes a false Image sins but in Ignorance and if he walk faithfully according to his Light he is under a Promise God shall even reveal this unto him And let not any boast or be high-minded in this matter for there are many strange
We endâ—avoured to express by name 41. Now we shall conclude in summing up all within the compass of one prospect Lord who is he whom thou wilt to espouse in everlasting Love Him walking in Integrity by Consumption resisting his original corruption undermining the power and pride of the Arm of Flesh rejecting his own and laying hold upon the merits of Christ Him studying to find out the deceits of his Heart oft calling it under strict examination is allwayes jealous over it and especially when it with the Buyer cryes it is nought it is nought yet in private boasts and by this his diligence teacheth it to speak the Truth and to believe unto Righteousness And having thus subdued his affections takes his Tongue to task knowing it to be an unruly Instrument often set on fire by Hell cursing and blessing in one breath oft wounding others and not rarely it self And so bridleth it as it will not reproach any no not its Reproacher but will plead for the Innocent set forth the Goodness and Glory of God and confess unto Salvation Him not rending evil for evil but doth good to them that do him evil yet not casting his Pearls before Swine forgiving all men and a Brother though though he offend him seventy seven times Nor yet will offend him though he be impertinent in matters lawfull or indifferent but seeking to build up such in brotherly kindness according to the faithfull precepts of Gospel Unity Who being called unto his Spiritual Warfare meekly takes up his Cross following his Captain General wheresoever he leads without murmurringly saying Where goest thou Forsaking without regret whatsoever Righteousness by legal Merit or Works he had gathered patiently yeilding up every strong Hold that these or his own Wisdom or Education had erected And lastly resignes the Promise believing with Paul that his naked Lord is better than all these and with Abraham that he that hath promised is able to make it good unto him in a more excellent way than he could conceive still loving the Word and frequenting the Assemblies though in this Crisis he find no relish in them but believes that they are good and holy and profitable because commanded by him not commanding in vain and so enters the strait and terrible Gate Layes down his Life bringing no reproach upon his Warfare or Inwards And now having thus fought the good Fight and finding himself delivered and raised up from Death and not by himself concludes he is poor and miserable and writes upon the Tablets of his Heart in the point of a Diamond Vild and contemptible thou Saved by one that ought thee nothing and gave for thee a great Ransom yet required no Price or Recompence from thee and in the sence of this puts on Humility Meekness and Gentleness Love Mercy and Charity towards others and especially the poor needy and labouring Souls in the distresses he was in and so becomes a doer and not a hearer of the Word in that Religion which is pure and undefiled and girding the Loines of his Mind and Will fall's not under the sluggish Sleep of I cannot I cannot but renewing reverential Fear cutteth down with its twofold Edge such sordid ungratefull Allurements or Suggestions as draw back to ease and supine neglect and renders due Honour and Love to every candidate in the Fear of the Lord. And for as much as full Experience assuring that God is with him loves him and will never forsake him he freely nails his Ear to his Door-Post in an Everlasting Covenant of yea yea nay nay And that he so assisting will not be drawn into the seducing Doctrines of Anti-Christ or any Spirit Principality or Power in Heaven Earth or under the Earth that claimes rule with God or compartnership with Christ his Master in working Holiness and therefore carfully watches over the envyings pride lustings of his own Spirit and fearing the fawnings of Satan is allwayes suspicious least he should delude his Spirit into a twisting of Interest and him into a Perswasion that they together are the Spirit of God in him speaking and teaching in his Name and oft begging as verily the case urgently requires that God will enable him to discover the Frailties of his own and Forgeries of this old Deceiver now working in the depth of Satan yet disguised in the form of an Angel of Light And having done all this acknowledgeth himself an unworthy Servant no Wages or Usury due to him but will patiently wait for the Reward until he be made fit to receive it Nor yet when the Trial comes will think it some strange thing or murmur that it burns down his Wood Hay and Stubble but rejoyceth that he is made thereby conformable to Christ and that those counterfeit Riches he had gathered though upon the right Foundation shall not any longer deceive them with their outward Splendor but are consumed only the Foundation left and he upon it naked and empty saving a white Linnen Garment which he rejoycing well calls his Innocency and knows no other Righteousness he hath beside this outward covering and therefore does not upon it lay claim to the Reward nor is so hasty for it as it will awake her Beloved for it though sick of Love until he please Who so doth these things shall never be moved in his legal State he will find a City of Refuge from the Avenger in his Warfare whilest he walks in the Valley of the shadow of death he shall fear no evil but the next day he shall sing a new Song in the Land of Confession We have a strong City Salvation will direct the Walls and Bulwarks Open the terrible Gates of Hulam that a new born may enter in and to worship in Spirit and Truth Him will I keep in perfect Peace his mortal hush through the good Will of him that dwelt in the bush shall live in ease in the everlasting burnings of the hidden Ages and in that Mountain Isai 25.6 where God shall make a Feast of fat things and where our Lord shall swallow death into Victory his Innocency shall be cloathed upon with Immortality and his corruption shall put on incorruption O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory and he shall be ever with his Lord God shall give him Light and he shall Reign for ever and ever wherefore let us comfort one another with these things rendring to him who shall make us more than Conquerers All Honour Glory Praise Age and Age Amen FINIS