If thou believe in me and ask in my Name all shall be granted and hast thou not both believed and asked and yet hast not received but thy answer was Thou askest and hast not because thou askest to bestow upon thy Lust Is not this thy case Knock without him and none will open seek him to knock for thee and he hideth himself What therefore canst thou do more to this Master than thou hast already done yet what evidence hast thou got or what evidence hast thou that thy Works are accepted Why therefore dost thou spend thy time and self for nothing Break off this sullen obscure Life take a little ease before thou go hence and vanish into soft Air Hast not thou Parts and Gifts to make thee eminent among Men Art not thou as able to stand before Princes as many others who by a blameless compliance have gotten great Honour and Riches Be not therefore wise or righteous too much why wilt thou make thy self desolate Leave therefore this simpering Life and trie but my Service and the Riches and Pleasures of the World shall be thine which thou mayest use as thou pleasest none shall say why art thou good why prodigal why hoardest thou up why hast thou done thus And now I say if in this great Temptation the Soul stand fast it shall shortly tread down Satan under its Feet 19. And tho to answer Satan with our Lord Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only c. is the sovereign Cordial of all yet seeing for our further Instruction the holy Writers have enlarged further it behoves we enquire into their teachings St. James thus Chap. 5.8 Be patient Brethren until the coming of Lord. Be patient stablish your Hearts for the coming of the Lord draws nigh Ver. 10. Take the Prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord for an example of suffering Affliction and of Patience Behold we count them happy who endure Ye have heard of the Patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that he is pitiful and of tender Mercy But above all things swear not c. Whence it is manifest that Patience in this Crisis is a strong Fortress and Job's Patience and Example particularly recommended and above all things pernicious to swear in our own strength Thirdly not to murmur He gave he hath taken blessed be his Name Fourthly not to offend in words It also is of moment to observe at what the advice of Job's Friend tended and what he more righteously defended for their Plea still was that the Innocent and Righteous were never cut off and therefore Job was deep in Sin Self-confidence c. His Answer was that he was as righteous as they and therefore boasted much of his Righteousness in Tummim I cannot says he depart from it yet defending it was God's just Prerogative to afflict the Righteous as he pleased and yet to suffer the Tents of the Robbers to flourish but the end of these are miserable and those full of happiness And therefore sometimes he desires God not to spare Job 6.9 10. as if he would say Tread hard for nothing in me that is good wilt thou harm but the evil which makes me unripe for thy Mercy thou wilt consume And doubtless in this to conform to him is acceptable that is still holding his Faith I know my Redeemeer liveth Job 19.25 20. Another Example we have from the Prophet David Psal 77.2 In my Straits I sought the Lord my hands failed or were poured forth and ceased not my Soul refused consolation I remembred God and I tumultuâ—ted I meditated and my Spirit fainted Thou heldest mine eyes waking I was shaken and I spake not I considered the ancient days of Mountain-Worship and the Years or Changes of the Gospel-Ages to come I remember in the Song in former Darkness in my Heart I did contemplate and my Spirit made diligent search Will the Lord cast off in the hidden Age Will he be bountiful no more Is his Mercy clean gone for ever his Sayings to generation and generation quite failed Hath God forgot to be merciful hath he in anger shut up his Mercies Then said I This is my Infirmity these are the changes of the right-hand of the Most High I called the Works of Jah i. e. Christ to mind for thy marvellous Works from the ancient times I will remember Who is so great a God as our God! With thine Arms thou hast redeemed c. Which gives yet further light how we may fortify and ease our minds in this state namely to consider all former experiences of God's gracious dealing with us under the Law and Gospel and other particular Trials and thence argue Did God call us in our Natural State and save us in our Legal Warfare and will he now cast us off in the Gospel-State and break the Promises of Grace And lastly to conclude this is through my Infirmity and these are but the Changes of the Most High upon all his Elect for their good as in another place Psal 55.19 Because they have no Changes therefore they fear not God thence implying that all fearing God must undergo like Changes and therefore why shall I take this as if some strange thing had happened to me but rather rejoyce my Lot is fallen with Job David nay with Christ whom I will call to mind what he did for me in the War under the Cross and ever since I first knew him Who is so great a God who so powerful a Redeemer as He c. In Allegory this Trial by Fire is represented by the Burning at Taborah but in a far more tragical manner even unto blood for as the failing so the Penalty Numb 11. For after many Blessings and Mercies and as yet no defects in their Tents the People fell a lusting after base and mean Usury and murmured offending in Heart and Tongue for they had the Tabernacle newly reared and the Cloud by day and Fire by night which were sure Signals that the Divine Presence was with them and and they could not be out of the right way And for Food they had Angels Bread so qualified as he that gathered most had no spare nor he that gathered least any lack he that ate most could not surfeit nor who least went not away hungry yet so mercenary was their Spirits and greedy after gain and lastly so meritorious they thought their forsaking of Egypt at God's call was as they murmured at their Penny The Hebrew reads The People as it were made themselves complain or lament that is they made cause of complaint where no curse was for their pretence was That Angles food was not good enough All we have is Manna our Souls are dried up And their cry was In Egypt we had dainty Sallads forgetting that they had Brickils too and we have forsaken them at Jehovah's call who will give us Flesh which verily taken in the Gospel-sence are the express words of a Gospel-Usurer I
hoped by this time to have been an Apostle or Prophet and to have fed upon the choice Mysteries of salvation and no secret too deep for me but these dry Ordinances are all my Food and therefore the Lord was sore displeased and the Fire of the Lord burnt amongst them and consumed the out-skirts of the Camp which yet at Moses his Prayer was quenched and the Place called Taberati i. e. the burning or brutish because the fire of the Lord burnt up their brutish lustings But for our teaching it's further observable that at Moses his Prayer though in his displeasure God to prove them gave them flesh dainty food as they lusted namely Quails by Interpretation Tranquility or ease which they receiving as due and still lusting as David reports it So they did eat and were filled for he gave them their Hearts desire but they were not estranged from their lusts the wrath of God came upon them and slew the wealthiest of them and smote the Chosen of Israel so as this was the soarer Evil for the former the fire only burnt the outcasts Hay and Stubble but this fell upon the choicest and the Place was called the Grave of lusts Whence it is again observable that to weeping though even murmuring Soules God somtime gives or as I may say humours with pleasant Gifts such as they lusted after more then their dayly bread which if they thankfully recieve and cease from Vsury and Murmuring it may go well with them but if they still lust God will bring their lustings to the Graves and Smite them in the choisest Gifts Secondly Though to covet the Golden Wedg is a great Sin yet it is much more displeasing when God condiscends to give Wisdom Knowledg Experience and you to abuse it to lust 22. But neither is this the utmost Tragedy which happens in this Trial for some loose all their Works and themselves though Saved yet throught Fire and sharp Trials some perish utterly for here abouts the Sin against the Holy Ghost seems to lie which are described 2 Tim. 3.1 more full 2 Pet. 3. and lastly Jude 17. which is thus Beloved remember the Words of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ that they told you that in the last Time should be Mockers who should walk after their own ungodly lusts these be they who seperate themselves Sensual not having the Spirit which is of God but ye beloved by building up your selves on the most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep ye your selves in the love of God looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life and of some have compassion making a difference and others save by feare pulling them out of the Fire Thus Lot was plucked out of Sodom but surely after a sheep hath followed Christ into regeneration though in great infirmity he will not willingly leave it behind him 23. But leaving the bitter part let us enquire after the End of the Lord as James calls it and as it is most fully represented in Job who meek and patient as he was yet was not by all his affliction from God and stripes from his Friends sufficiently humbled nor vile in his own Eyes until God spake to him and reproved him Job 28.2.40.2 And lastly until by the Eye of the Mind he perceived him 42.1 Then Job answered the Lord and said I know thou canst do all things no thought hid from thee Hear I pray thee and I will speak I will ask and do thou make me know by the hearing of the Ear I have heard thee and now my Eye seeth thee therefore I contemn my self and repent in Dust and Ashes And now as after this humiliation and ascription of all Glory to God his sorrows ended and after he had prayed for his Friends for Charity is never out of Date his Peace and Riches were doubled so shall it be to all them who with him thus close up this Trial no more rumours of War only some such Sicknesses and Ridintigrations of Love as for the absence of her beloved as the Song of Sons Celebrates 24. And now I say this Tryal burning up our Spiritual lustings is not only matter of Joy profitable but upon the tenure of our Lords promise and our yea yea nay nay is necessary for on his part it is I will be with thee and bless thee and on ours thou vouchsafing so to do we will be thine and have no God but thee And forasmuch as God will not lead them to whom he hath not given Power to follow nor none have Power given to follow him who have enslaved their own Minds and Affections to their own by mistaking the Guid taking their own Spirits in which the Spirit of Antichrist is begun to Work for the Spirit of Truth therefore a necesssary Fundamental on God's part is that he consume the tincture from Antichrist and subdue our Wisdom to his and that we in the Strenght he affords cheerfully resign them to him and therefore as long as our Hearts by dayly and full experience convince us that our own Counsels are the Compass by which we steer our Course and our vild affections the Loadstone at which our Compass points it is necessary that God in his fit and long before seen opportunity visit us with such corrasives as his Wisdom hath predestinated to cousume the wicked one and subduing the will and all other affections that stood in the Gap of that performance of our mutual Stipulations which is the heavenly fire and brightness of his comming 25. And now seeing the subduing and consuming of what is to be consumed and subdued is necessary it is not fit to question whither it shall be done in our way or Gods and yet assuredly the great Remora is that Man perâ—mtorily persists to have it in his own way that is to have it speeily easily and by Usury and Merit as the Sons of Zebedee who but now warmed under the Wings of Christ ask Master we would that thou wouldst do whatsoever for us we desire i. e. that we pray for and perhaps the first desire would have been a Serpent for a Fish Wisdom Prophesy Revelation Healing Miracles all which were prepared for them in the set time and what else might puff them up make them glorious in the eyes of men so boundless is self-love opinion of self-merit not considering how these would inflame that pride which was already too strong for them for surely as our Lord answered these petitioners we should ask we know not what as after James reproving himself saith Ye ask and have not because ye ask that ye might bestow it upon your own lusts And now God's way is that first this lustings might be burnt up our wills conformed to his and the Spirit of Anti-Christ consumed which cannot be if asking for our lusts we obtain and working in Usury we gain the Hire 26. And here is another sore Evil we all even the most perfect presume we
and to speak my own sense I judg this the very great and critical Point of sowing the good Seed in Sorrow which shall come again rejoicing and bringing its Sheaves with it for neither can Prayer Charity Humility or any of the practical Sisterhood in this State sow in Hypocrisie Vain-glory Merit and such Canker-worms but only in that acceptable Obedience I will do all I can and call my self the most unworthy of thy Servants my Faith is dead my Performances without life yet I will obey Rev. 14.12 Here is the Patience of the Saints here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus Christ And a Voice from Heaven saying Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their painful labours and yet their Works shall follow them Behold the Harvest vers 14. is at hand 23. But yet this Battel being thus far succesfully atchieved yet do not say thy Warfare is wholly finished only that abundantly great is thy advantage for thou hast gotten a strong City the Bulwarks whereof are Salvation but yet Christ who enrolls thee now as a free Volunteer requires thou shouldst still watch and stand upon thy Guard for so inveterate and restless an Enemy is Satan as he will never give thee rest as long as thou art in this Body and is grown so crafty that he knows both where thy weak part is and how to form fit Weapons against it And tho this is not that we shall now insist upon yet against one most desperate snare we shall briefly enter a Caution which is That as soon as thy Enemy perceives thou hast escaped all his Stratagems laid to entangle thee in the Fetters of Superstition he next seeks to make thee drunken with the pleasant Wine of Free Grace and therefore suggests that seeing Duties are of no force but Grace alone effects Salvation and Peace therefore there is no need to be longer conversant therein for they are but legal and thou art dead to the Law and consequently free from them and so to weary thy self in that which profiteth not is to spend thy time and strength for nought Now this is not a less dangerous than pleasing Temptation even a voluntary rendring back to Satan a strong City which with much labour and sorrow thou by the help of thy affecting Friend hadst forced from him for to speak freely what is upon my heart I say No Man can make right use of Duties and Spiritual Weapons until he have found the nakedness thereof namely that they cannot to any purpose offend an Enemy or defend a Friend till they receive both Edg and Temper from Free Grace for to trust in their legal Force is but a painful labouring in Tears and sowing in Sorrow a Thorn in the Flesh but having received a due temper in Grace they reap in Joy therefore it were uttermost Folly yea spiritual Madness after Wisdom hath taught the right use of Ordinances and saving Vertues to cast them off in pride of Spirit like that Husbandman who plows in the sweat of his Brows visits his Corn early and late but now when it grows white towards Harvest breaks down his Fences and lays it open to the wild Boar Beasts of the Field and Birds of the Air not foreseeing Winter and Want shall break in upon him as an armed Man or like a Man unskilful yet at his Weapon but will seek out and provoke a strong and subtil Enemy tho often buffeted for his pains and sometimes through want of skill woundeth himself but being come so expert and redoubted at Arms as his Foe dares not openly withstand him but by subtilty seeks to entrap him casts away his approved Weapons and falls asleep in full security giving his Enemy the advantage he desired namely to bind him fast and imprison him in the Darkness of Egypt and Fetters of Sensuality where he may wallow for ever if his affecting Friend do not in tender mercy drive him forth as he did Lot out of Sodom and indeed so bountiful is our Captain as he will not willingly lose one Hoof that hath followed him throughout the warfare of his Cross but will save at least some of these by Fire 1 Cor. 13.15 He shall suffer loss but himself shall be saved yet so as by Fire of which more hereafter But I fear some may have ran beyond the limits of Compassion for but to have nibled at the Bait is of great loss and doubtless to swallow it greedily without remorse is as great a desolation as a Son of Adam can pull upon himself even utmost licentiousness full-summ'd prophaneness and boldness in Sin beyond what nature in a natural way dare perpetrate whom I take it the Apostle defines thus For many walk of whom I have often told you and now weeping They are Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose End is destruction whose God is their belly and whose Glory is their shame who mind earthly things Phil. 3.18 Again Jude 18. They the Apostles told you there should be Mockers in the last times who should walk after their own Lusts these be they who separate themselves not having the Spirit But ye Beloved build upon Faith and pray in the Holy Ghost love God look for Mercy through Christ and of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the Fire Now these are them Paul speaks of in the former Texts and again another thus 2 Pet. 2.17 Wells without Water Clouds carried in a Tempest to whom the Mist of Darkness is reserved for ever for when they speak great vanity they allure through the Lust of the Flesh through great wantonness those escaped them conversant in Error whom whilst they promise Liberty are themselves slaves to Corruption and their latter end worse than their beginning For better had it bin for them not to have known God or Christ or an Ordinance than after having tasted the Heavenly Gift and bin made partakers of the Holy Ghost to fall back to such bold prophaneness or sensuality as is not known or heard of among Heathens Trees twice pluckt up by the Roots Brands in the Fire scarce capable to be plucked forth therefore I say watch and be sober be not high-minded but fear cast not away thy Soul 's fair hopes in Ordinances but hating the Garment spotted with the Flesh always take part with the Law of the Conscience in its Warfare against the Law of the Members But of this more anon Now it even of course falls out that the Soul which in the former Warfare was most rebellious and yet is at length subdued should be most subject to this Temptation for Man by nature is apt being convict of one extream to run out unto the other and besides as a Man soweth so shall he reap And hence as Experience confirms as a Man begins his Warfare so oft-times he finisheth it that is
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