Now heaven is a place of righteousness no unrighteousness can find any roome there It is the high and holy place Isa 57.17 When the Angels once sinned presently they were throwne out of heaven 2 Pet. 2.4 So also was Adam presently after his trangression cast out of Paradise which was a type of heaven neither was he permitted to have any accesse to the tree of life which was a type of eternal life Gen. 3.24 To him that overcometh saith Christ will I give to eate of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God Revel 2.7 Blessed are they doe his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in thorow the gates into the city Rev. 22.14 Use 1 If this be the doctrine which according to the Scriptures we teach and preach then they of the Church of Rome are very injurious unto us in calling us Solifidians as if we were all for faith and nothing for workes as if we perswaded people that though they live as they list and doe what they will yet if they beleeve they shall be saved We hold that although imputed righteousness whereby we are justified and inherent righteousness whereby we are sanctified are diverse and different one from the other yet they are not divided but alwayes goe together so that where the one is there the other is also We hold that though faith alone as the hand receiving Christ and applying his righteousness doth justifie yet that justifying faith is not alone but is ever accompanied with good workes And therefore we observe that of the Apostle This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirme constantly that they which have beleeved in God may be careful to maintaine good works these things are good and profitable unto men Tit. 3.8 And vers 14. Let ours also learne to maintaine good workes for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful 2. Away then with the horrid and damnable doctrine Use 2 of some who went out from us but were not of us Atque adeo id sibi precipuè proponunt ut sopiant conscientias quò omni sollicitudine vacui hostes quicquid sese offeret quicquid appetierint perpetrent Calv. advers libert cap. 15. Vide etiam ib. c. 18. for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us 1 John 2.10 of some I say who with the Libertines in Calvines time make it the very high way to heaven and the sure signe of salvation for people to give the reines unto their lusts to worke all iniquity and to commit all uncleanness even with greediness But you have not so learned Christ If so be ye have been taught by him as the truth is in Iesus That ye put off as concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts And be renewed in the spirit of your minde And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Ephes 4.19 24. 3. This doctrine serves to convince all such as looke Use 3 for salvation and yet heed not to worke righteousness Though whiles they live they worke iniquity and live wickedly yet when they die they thinke to be saved as others But this is a most vaine and foolish a most irrational and absurd imagination as if one should sow tares and hope to reape wheat Be not deceived God is not mocked as a man soweth so shall he reape For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Gal. 6.7 8. It was truly said by Eliphaz though not rightly applied to Job whom he falsly judged wicked because of that affliction which he was in They that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reape the same Job 4.8 It is worthy to be observed that the Apostle speaking of this point to wit that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God nor enjoy salvation he divers times admonisheth Christians to take heed of being deceived as Gal. 6.7 and 1 Cor. 6.9 and Ephes 5.6 This inculcating of our admonition shewes both that it is a dangerous thing to be deceived in this case which all will I presume easily grant and also that people herein are very apt to be deceived And so experience shewes that in this great and weighty business people many ways deceive themselves building castles as they say in the aire and promising unto themselves salvation and eternal life though they regard nothing lesse then to performe this which is required of all those that shall be saved to wit to worke righteousness 1. Some presume upon this that God is merciful But though Gods mercy be never so great as it is infinite and incomprehensible yet it nothing at all belongs unto them that worke wickedness I meane that continue in that course and will not turne from it Let the wicked forsake his way saith the Prophet Esay and the unrighteous man his thoughts and turne unto the Lord and he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Isai 55.7 David extolled Gods mercy as much as may be yet ever sheweth to whom it doth belong namely to them that feare him and so he excludes the wicked and unrighteous from having any share in it As the heaven is high above the earth saith he so great is his mercy towards whom towards them that fear him Psal 103.11 And vers 13. Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth whom them that feare him And vers 17. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon whom them that feare him and his righteousness to childrens children To such as keepe his covenant and thinke upon his commandments to doe them 2. Christ say some died for us therefore they perswade themselves that howsoever they live yet through Christ they shall be saved But Christ died for our sanctification as well as for our salvation He loved the Church and gave himselfe for it That he might sanctifie it Ephes 5.25 26. He gave himselfe for us to redeeme us from all iniquity and to purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes Tit. 2.14 None shall be saved by Christ but such as are sanctified by him As for those that worke iniquity he will say unto them Depart from me I know ye not Matth. 7.23 3. Some flatter themselves as if their sinnes were only sinnes of infirmity and therefore should not prejudice their salvation But if they did sin of infirmity 1. They would not make a common practice of sin as they doe It is the propertie of the wicked to set himselfe in a way that is not good Psal 36.4 Noah Lot David and other godly men through infirmity fell into sin grosse and haynous sin but they did not make it their practise No thus the godly doe
So it argues want of sincerity and uprightness to think any thing commanded of God so small as that it need not to be regarded to say as some use to doe Is this so much Is this so great a matter Even the tything of mint annise and cummin was not to be left undone Matth. 33.23 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these commandments and shall teach men so shall avow it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophylact. ad loc as if it were no sin he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven Matth. 5.19 that is indeed he shall have no place in it no admittance into it 3. We will have a special care to performe the duties of our special calling Some are like Absalom O said he that I were judge in the land I would doe every man right 2 Sam. 15 4. When as in the meane time he heeded not his owne dutie that which his owne place and calling did require of him as the storie there sheweth But he that is upright and truely godly is like a tree that bringeth forth his fruit his owne proper fruit in his season Psal 1.3 2. If we be upright it will be our care to serve and please God at all times as well at one time as at another Let thine heart saith Salomon be in the feare of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23.17 More particularly 1. As well in secret as in publike Iob speaking of a hypocrite saith Will he call upon God at all times Job 27.10 that is as well at one time as at another At some times he will namely when others may see him and take notice of him but at other times when he is alone by himself in secret he regardes it not Son of man saith God to Ezekiel seest thou what the ancients of the house of Israel doe in the darke Ezek. 8.12 It is a shame saith the Apostle even to speake of those things which are done of them in secret Ephes 5.12 Such as these are farre from walking uprightly they have respect to men and not to God For God sees as well what is done in secret as in publike Can any one hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord doe not I the Lord fill heaven and earth Jer. 23.20 If I say Surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee Psal 139.11 12. If we have forgotten the Name of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange God Shall not God search it out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart Psal 44.20 21. Ioseph shewed his sincerity and the uprightness of his heart in this that though none was in the house when his Mistris tempted him to follie yet he would not hearken to her Gen. 39.11 c. And that in Levit. 19.14 is very remarkable to this purpose Thou shalt not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blinde but shalt fear thy God If one should curse the deaf he needeth not to feare the deaf because he cannot heare him And so if one should put a stumbling block before the blinde he needeth not to feare the blinde because he cannot see him But he that feares God will neither doe the one nor the other because God is neither blinde nor deafe but sees and heares whatsoever is done whatsoever is spoken 2. Not only when God doth cause his face to shine upon us and makes us to thrive and prosper in the world but also when he doth hide his face from us and sends trouble and affliction upon us Therefore afflictions are called in Scripture temptations and trials because thereby we are tried whether we be sincere and upright or no. Now for a season if need be you are in heaviness through manifold temptations That the triall of your faith being much more pretious then of gold that perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.6 7. Beloved thinke it not strange concerning the fiery triall which is to try you 1 Pet. 4.12 Behold the divel shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten dayes Revel 2.10 Thou O God hast proved us thou hast tried us as silver is tried How Thou broughtest us into the net thou laidst affliction upon our loines Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads Psal 66.10 11 12. Iob's integritie and uprightness was tried by this that although the devil slandered him saying Doth Job serve God for nought Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side Thou hast blessed the worke of his hands and his substance is encreased in the land But put forth thine hand and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face Job 1.9 10 11. And againe Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face Job 2.4 5. Yet Job in his greatest adversitie did keepe close unto God and did not turne from him this shewed him to be indeed a perfect that is sincere and upright man as he is stiled Iob. 1.1 8. and 2.3 So the people of God proove their sinceritie by this that notwithstanding all their afflictions which they endured yet they did not fall off from following the Lord as hypocrites in such a case use to doe All this is come upon us say they meaning all the affliction before mentioned from vers 9. to v. 16. yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy covenant Our heart is not turned backe neither have our steps declined from thy way Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Psal 44.17 18 19. 3. Not only while the affliction is upon us O utinam tales semper essemus sani quales nos futuros profitemur aegroti Plin. Epist but also when it is remooved and we are delivered out of it Some like Pharaoh when the afflicting hand of God is upon them will promise and professe much reformation but deliverance being obtained they performe no such matter when God doth once remove his stroke from them presently they fall to their former practices and shew themselves as vile and lewd as every they were before The hollow-heartedness of the Israelites is demonstrated by this When God slew them sent destroying judgments among them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God And they remembred that God was their rocke and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouthes and lie
calleth for strokes A fools mouth is his destruction and his lips are the snare of his soul Prov. 18.7 8. And therefore there is need to resolve with David to take heed unto our wayes that we offend not with our tongue Psal 39.1 and to pray as he did Set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the doore of my lips Psal 141.3 But may some say is it not lawfull in some case to use reproachful words Quest Do we not finde that the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself sometimes did use them And may not parents use such words upon occasion towards their children and masters towards their servants may they not call them fools dolts c. may they not yet be blamelesse I answer Answ A reproach as Aquinas observes may be considered either formally Aquin. 2. 2. quaest 7. art 2. to wit in respect of the minde and intention to dishonour and disgrace which indeed is it that doth properly make a reproach and so reproachful words may in no case be used Or a reproach may be considered materially in respect of the words themselves and so sometimes reproachful words may be used to wit to correct and amend those against whom they are used Thus the Prophet Esay called the rulers and people of Israel rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah Isai 1.10 And Paul cryed out O foolish Galatians c. Are ye so foolish c. Gal. 3.1 3. So also our Saviour called some of his disciples fools and slow of heart to beleeve c. Luke 24.25 But may some say again may not one speake against another to disgrace him Quaest I answer Answ One may upon occasion speake against another so as to paint him out in his colours that others may beware of being seduced or infected or any way prejudiced by him Thus Christ called the Pharisees blinde guides Matth. 23.16 Fools and blinde vers 19. Serpents and generation of vipers vers 33. So Paul termed Elymas full of all subtilty and mischief the child of the devil the enemie of all righteousness Act. 13.10 And speaking of others Such saith he are false Apostles deceitful walkers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers also be transformed into the Ministers of Christ 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. Such words are not properly to disgrace those of whom they are used they are not to take away their good name or to blemish their just and due reputation but to discover their fraud hypocrisie and wickedness and so to prevent that hurt which otherwise were likely to ensue SERM. XV. SERM. 15 Psal 15.3 Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour THe taking up of a reproach as I have shewed before may be understood either of the uttering of a reproach or of the receiving admitting and enduring of it In the former sense I have already handled the words now I shall treat of them in the latter sense and so the obsevation is this Doct. It is the property of the saints and the duty of all not to receive admit or entertaine a reproach against another if they can hinder it That Exod. 23.1 Thou shalt not raise a false report may also be read Thou shalt not receive a false report So our Translatours render it in the margent so also the Geneva Translation the Chaldee Paraphrast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chald. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lxx. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. Non suscipies the Greeke Interpreters and the vulgar Latine expresse it To receive and entertain a reproach against another is 1. Reasons why one should not receive a reproach against another To partake in the sin of him that doth utter the reproach even as he that receives stolne goods knowing them to be stolne doth partake in the theft Now all partnership in sin is to be avoided When thou sawest a thief thou consentedst unto him and hast been partaker with the adulterers Psal 50.18 Be not ye partakers with them Ephes 5.7 And vers 11. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but reproove them rather Paraphrasis Hierosolymitana Decalogi quinque posteriora praecepto ita interpretatur ut consortâ—um etiam eorum qui res ibi prohibitas perpetrant prohibeatur Sic enim habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id est Ne estote interfectores neque sodalitiam habete cum interâ—ectoribus Et sic in reliquis In like manner he exhorts Timothy saying Be not partaker of others mens sins keep thy self pure 1 Tim. 5.22 2. It is to judge rashly which Christ forbiddeth saying Judge not to wit rashly Matth. 7 1. It concernes men sometimes not to sleight and despise the reports that they hear of others as if it be told them that such or such conspire against them or goe about any way to do them hurt In this case they have reason to heed the report so farre forth as to provide for their own safety Alexander the Great as is recorded of him shewed himself very confident Plut. in Alexand. when being informed that his Physitian was hired by Darius to poyson him yet nevertheless without any feare or suspition at all he took the potion which the Physition brought and drank it giving him the letter which contained in it the information to read whiles he was drinking One may in such a case be more bold then wise more secure then safe So it fared with Gedaliah who when he was told that Ishmael did conspire against him and intended to slay him would not beleeve it and so through his too much confidence he fell unto that destruction which otherwise he might have escaped Jer. 40.14 15 16. with Chap. 41. vers 1 2. So such as have authority over others as Magistrates Parents and Masters if they heare of the misdemeanours of those that are under them they may and ought to regard it so as to search into the matter and to finde out whether it be so or no but they may not rashly beleeve what is reported This was Davids fault in the matter of Mephibosheth he was too hasty to admit Ziba's false accusation that he brought against him 2 Sam. Chap. 16. When the builders of Babel were about that proud work it is said that the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded Gen. 11.5 So the Lord speaking unto Abraham of Sodom and Gomorrah Because said he the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievouâ— I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know Gen. 18.20 21. The Scripture in these places as some of the Rabbines observe speakes of God after the manner of men Vide si libet Annotationes meas in Genesin ad
borrower upon usury is not actively an occasion of anothers lending upon usury but passively onely For though he pay usury and ingage to pay it yet it is because he must either suffer that or a greater evil A man falling into the hands of robbers for fear of losing his life with his own hands gives them his money yet is not he accessary to their sin that take it If a man in his necessity bring for a pawn or pledge that which he cannot wel subsist without he being necessitated to it sinneth not but he doth sin that doth take it God in such cases threatneth to punish the oppressour but promiseth to succour and relieve the oppressed Exod. 22.26 27. Some object and say that the law of the land doth Object 11 allow usury and therefore they conclude it is lawful But 1. If the law of the land did allow usury Answ yet that could not warrant the practise of it in point of conscience It is Gods law and not mans by which we must be judged at the last day There is one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy Jam. 4.12 Therefore Studie to approve thy self not so much unto men as unto God 2 Tim. 2.15 Again 2. It is one thing to tolerate Nemo quod tolerat amat etiamsi tolerare amat Aug. another thing to allow The law of the land doth set bounds to usurers and stint them that they shall undergoe the penaltie of the law if they transgress and goe beyond the bounds that are set them yet doth it not allow any usury at all though it be within the bounds that are set onely it so far tolerates and permits it as not to appoint a penalty for those that practise it This doth no more justifie usury then the judicial law of Moses did justifie bills of divorce which it suffered onely for the hardness of mens hearts so that such divorce was not punishable by man yet was it evil and sinful in the fight of God That which Magistrates who have the Legislative power see that they cannot restraine without some greater inconvenience that they may tolerate and onely limit the practise of it yet the thing in it self and in point of conscience for all that toleration is never a whit the more lawful Some againe object That divers godly and learned Object 12 men both Divines and others hold usury to be lawful But 1. This is not enough to prove it lawful Answ The best men are men and may erre The testimony of the Lord is sure Psal 19.7 But so is not the testimony of any meer man whatsoever Let God be true and every man a lyar Rom. 3.4 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isa 8.20 They searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so Act. 17.11.2 If some have pleaded for usury as not simply evil and unlawful they are but few in comparison of those that have declared themselves against it If we remove saith one from the Text to the authority of Interpreters Fent of Vsury l. 2. c. 7. I suppose we might truly averre that concerning the question which the most impudent adversary that ever the Church had durst never pretend for his assertion That there was never any Church or Church-man carrying the name of a Christian who hath defended in writing any branch of usury for the space of 1500. Vide Lut. in Psal 15. years after Christ Luther who was after that time was most sharp and bitter against usury When in his time a kinde of usury was countenanced and upheld by the Pope though under colour of another contract he wondred that the world could not see by this very thing that the Pope was Antichrist I know that some of his followers say Gerhard That in his latter dayes he was more moderate in the point of usury but if it were so yet this may shew how generally until his time usury had been held a thing unlawful Austines judgment concerning usury appears by those words of his before cited Si plus expectes accipere quam dedisti foenerator es in hoc utique improbandus Aug. If thou dost look to receive more then thou didst give thou art an usurer and in this verily to be reproved Pecuniae si quam crediderit non accipiet usuram Plus accipere quà m dederit injustum est Lact. Instit lib. 6. c. 18. Taceo quod sicubi desunt Judaei pejus Judaizare dolemus Christianos foeneratores si tamen Christianos non magis baptizatos Judaeos convenit appellare Barn Epist 322. Before him Lactantius speaking of a righteous man saith If he lend any money he will not take usury To take more then one gave is unjust After them both Barnard complained that in his time Christians were usurers and doubted whether it were meet to call them Christians and not rather baptized Jews In furto comprehenditur rapina usura c. Idem super Salve Regina Serm. 4. Quid est usura venenum patrimonii Quid est usura legalis Latro praedicens quod intendit Idem de Reg. rei famil He makes usury a branch of theft and forbidden in that precept Thou shalt not steal Asking What is usury He answers The poyson of ones patrimony And What is legal Usury He answers A robber foretelling what he doth intend Many such sentences and sayings of ancient writers might be cited Neither was this the private opinion of particular men but whole Councils have determined usury to be unlawful The first general Council of Nice decreed Si quis inventus fuâ—rit post hanc definitionem usuras accipere dâ—jâ—ciaque à Clero alienus ab Ecclesiastico habeatur gradu Conc. Nic. can 18. Obliti sunt divini praecepti quo dictum est Qui pecuniam suam non dedit ad usuram Ibid. That if any of the Clergy did take usury he should be degraded And that because such did not remember Gods precept implicitly in these words He that putteth not forth his mony to usury which concerns all as well Laity as the Clergy if we may use that distincton Si quis Clericorum detectus fuerit usuâ—as accipere placuit degradari abstinere Si quis etiam Laicus in eâ iniquitate duraverit ab Ecclesiâ sciat se esse projiciendum Con. Eliber can 20. A Provincial Council at Eliberis which was about the same time with the Council of Nice viz. about 320 years after Christ punished Clergie men both with degradation and excommunication if they took usury and others with excommunication if they were admonished of that sin and yet would persist in it And a general Council at Vienna about 1005. after Christ decreed Si quis in illum errorem inciderit ut pertinaciter affirmare praesumat exâ—rcâ—re usuras non esse peccatum dâ—cernimus cum velut haereticum puniâ—nâ—um
It is not such a Faith as whereby Abraham was justified for his Faith did appear and evidence it self by his works vers 21 22 23. And so did Rahabs Faith vers 25. Caution 1. But let none so mis understand this as if according to the Popish Doctrine a man were justified by his works By the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law vers 28. See also Rom. 4.3 6 7 8. Therefore when S. James saith that by works a man is justified and not by faith onely Jacobus docet quod non side sterili sed fide foecundâ operibus justificamur Cajet in Jac. 2. Jam. 2 24. the meaning is as Cajetan himself doth expound it That a man is not justified by faith that is barren but fruitful in good works So when he saith vers 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered up Isaac his son upon the Altar by works must needs be meant a working Faith for he addes vers 23. And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness Now that was spoken of Abraham long before his offering up of Isaac as appears by Gen. 15. 22. so that Abraham was justified by faith long before but that work of obedience which he did in offering up his son shewed that his faith was a true justifying faith indeed and that it was not without good cause said of him that he believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness Caution 2. Neither again must the Doctrine so be understood as if which the Papists also hold good works did merit heaven and eternal life It is one thing not to be saved without good works and another thing to be saved for them Aliudest secundum opera reddere aliud propter ipsa opera reddere Greg. in Psal 145.8 God will render to every one according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 but not to every one for his deeds To the wicked indeed he will render both according to their deeds also for their deeds because their deeds deserve damnation But to the godly he will onely render according to their deeds not for their deeds not for the merit of them because they do not deserve salvation For 1. The best works that any can do are due and therefore not meritorious When ye shall have done all these things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants We have done that which was our duty to do Luk. 17.10 Secondly If we do any good we do it not of our selves by our own power but it is God that doth inable us to do it For we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but all our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3.5 Therefore whatever good we do we are beholding to God and not he to us for it and consequently we cannot merit any thing at his hands by it Thirdly Our good works are mixed with evil works and are in themselves even the best of them imperfect In many things we offend all Jam. 3.2 There is iniquity even in our holy things Exod. 28.38 Therefore Nehemiah though he prayed unto God to remember him concerning the good that he had done yet to shew how far he was from presuming of the merit of it he added And spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy Neh. 13.22 Fourthly There is no proportion betwixt our works and Salvation no works that we can do are equal to it Illi namque beatae vitae in quâ cum Deo de D o vivitur nullus potest aequari labor nulla opera comparari presertim cum Apostolus dicat non sunt condigne passiones hujus temporis ad futuram glorià m quae revelabitur in nobis Gregor ubi supra and therefore neither can they merit it The most that we can do is to suffer for the Name of God and of Christ and for righteousness sake Phil. 1.29 Mat. 5.10 11. But the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 But as none must think to be saved for good works so neither must any expect Salvation without good works In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh through love Gal. 5.6 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the commandments of God 1 Cor. 7.19 Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling Philip. 2.12 Vse 1 This then may serve first to vindicate our Doctrine and to wipe off the Aspersion which the Papists cast upon us as if we were adversaries and enemies unto good works teaching people that if they believe then all is well enough what ever they do however they live they are sure of Salvation This is not our Doctrine though some may make this perverse use of it We are for the necessity of good works as much as they of the Church of Rome are though we dare not ascribe so much unto them as they do See Serm. 5. Use 1. Vse 2 This also confutes the Antinomians and such as are so for the preaching of Gods mercy and free Grace that they cannot endure to have Duties preached unto people and pressed upon them This they think is legal and servile not agreeable to that Evangelical and free Estate that Christians are now in But we have not so learned Christ He indeed doth make us free Joh. 8.36 But how Not free to sin but free from sin For whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin Joh. 8.34 Know ye not that to whom ye yeild your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of righteousness unto life But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered unto you Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness Rom. 16.16 17 18. For this end God sent his Son to redeem us that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him without fear in righteousness and holiness before him all the days of our life Luke 1.74 75. For this end Christ gave himself for us He died for all that they which live might not live unto themselves but unto him that died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5 15. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 There is no hope of Salvation by Christ without yielding obedience unto Christ He is the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 He is a King as well as a Priest and a
not but blush at the reading of it But the Writings of this precious Man are irrefragable Arguments of my own shall I say or Yorkshires Loss nay of the whole Kingdoms Loss in the Death of so Orthodox a Divine in such sad times But I will no longer detain thee from the perusal of this his last Work Reviewed and Corrected by himself Wishing thee much spiritual Benefit thereby and subscribing my self Thine EDWARD LEIGH To the READER READER THe name of the Reverend and Learned Authour prefixed to this Treatise with those other works of his published by himself in his life-time might save the Labour of any Epistle or Preface thereunto as being sufficient to recommend it unto the Church of God But because Editions of Books are lyable to prejudice and disadvantage in their entertainment it was judged not unnecessary that something of this nature should lead forth this Book into the world which service at the desire of a Friend I have readily undertaken that so I might express that true respect I always had unto the Author in bearing his Book after him And first let me assure thee That these ensuing Sermons on the fifteenth Psalm are the genuine issue of him whose name they bear being by himself prepared for the Press and wholly printed before his death And this those that knew him will believe for the very works sake which is a true resemblance of the Author learned and plain critical and practical There are indeed other Pictures of his for Books may be fitly so termed as his learned Annotations on Genesis and Exodus his Polemical Rejoynder to the Marquess of Worcester But this Piece as I conceive renders him more to the life then any of the rest for he lived this Treatise as well as wrote it In this Age wherein so many are offended it 's possible that some may stumble at the divine Zeal of the Authors matter and Method but let such consider that it was intended for a High-way to the heavenly Jerusalem the Holy Hill If any be weary of its plainness there are difficulties in the Margent to refresh him He that brings me good tydings let him with Ahimaaz Run the way of the plain I shall have them so much the sooner For my own part I look upon this work as a religiously-learned seasonable Call from disputes to duties from libertine wandrings to regular walkings and if there were no more in it then the producing and applying so much Scripture upon the account of Truth and Holiness it were sufficient to recommend it unto a right-spirited Christian who rejoyces in the word as one that findeth great spoyl But there is much more as thou wilt finde in the perusal to which with a blessing I leave thee and remain Thine EDWARD BOWLES York June 22. A brief and true account of the Authour and of his Work IN this Age of so many monstrous Editions of Books he that publisheth an Author ought to be a true friend to Piety faithful and honest to the memory of the Deceased more especially if as good men we consider how Popery and Heresie prophaness and carnal mindedness by many unworthy Obtruders on the Press have crept into the World for the Churches sake these spiritual Aides should be communicated but not against the Church so that it will appear To be excellent Wisdom in Christians that bear a true Zeal to Religion to consider how men have lived as well as how they have writ The learned Author of this ensuing Commentary was descended from honest and Religious Parents born in the Parish of Saint Michaels the Belfrank called Belfrers within the City of York he was baptized the first day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and two his Education was under painful Schoolmasters from whom being accomplisht for the University of Cambridge there he was fellow of Peter-house and took his Degrees and remained there about fifteen years behaving himself so regularly that he purchased honour and respect from the most learned men in his time and when that he was called to any publick exercise he commanded the Emulation if not the Admiration of all his Auditors After some removes as the transactions of our lives are various his preaching of the Word at Cambridge Staffordshire and York for the space of thirty years in the last of which places for his happy settlement it pleased the divine Providence to continue this fruitful Plant of the Lord Jesus a painful pastor in the Church of Saint Martins in the City of York where for many years he discharged his blessed employment from heaven with such Pious Integrity and learned Elocution that his death at this time is bewailed of all good men as the greatest loss that hath for many years befallen that County I must not forget what Doctor Collins spoke prophetically of him in respect of his early proficiency in the Oriental Tongues That if it pleased God to bless him with years he would be an incomparable Ornament to the Nation which hath been verified in his since printed Works his Exposition of the Creed his Electa Thargumica Rabbinica Annotations on Genesis as also on Exodus with other Works of his which at this time are extant both in Latine and English And that the true love he bore to learning and the honour of his Country might not to be forgotten he inlarged himself according to his ability for the publishing of the large Bible in the Languages lately printed It pleased God to bless him with life to finish this Commentary the Sheets whereof he constantly received from the Press and corrected them with his own hands When after ten weeks more violent sickness of a Consumption death seized him he was gathered to his Fathers at six and fifty the Climacterical year as he called it of his Age. He lies buried in the Church of St. Martins where he continued so long in his Ministry That learned and religious Servant of Jesus Christ Mr Edward Bowles preacht his funeral Sermon which was attentively heard and drew tears from most of the Auditors he gave an honourable account of the deceased he took his Text out of the second of Timothy the fourth Chapter the seventh and eighth verses I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not unto me onely but unto them also that love his appearing Amongst other admirable expressions in his Sermon he touched on three things which he desired himself and his Brethren might imitate him in his Sobriety his Industry and the plainness of his preaching for though he had read more Books then many of of us have heard of yet he did not crowd his Sermons so much with Quotations of Authors as not to prefer the blessed Scripture infinitely before them and further alluding to the words of
his Text he shewed how he kept the faith in his learned Expository way of his Annotations on Genesis and Exodus in a Polemical way by his Answer to the Marquess of Worcester in a practical way by his religious Life and Conversation It was likewise Mr Carthwright's almost dying request to some of his fellow Labourers in the Gospel That they would be pleased to have an eye to the publishing of this Volume which to the joy of all good Christians we now see extant Thus much may be said of his learned studies As touching the heavenly frame of his spirit his holy life and conversation was sufficiently well known to all those that favoured the ways of God he was a burning and a shining Light the sparks of his Piety did fly abroad to all the corners of this Kingdom This blessed Elias after he had served his Generation being taken up into Heaven For his person though he was worn out with his studies yet one might read Divinity in his face He was a man unbiassed constant in his principles of an equal and well-balanced temper he was an excellent Casuist which from the acknowledgment of some weak Christian Friends of his and mine I can confidently assert in this blessed practice for the quieting of the Conscience That he did not break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoaking Flax but like the good Samaritan poured Oyl into the wounds of the afflicted Saints yet withal he was of so austere but rectifyed a Judgment that where he found a necessity he knew how to launce and cauterize behaving himself to weak Christians more like an Angel then a Man he observed the dayly passages of his own life and in respect of the infirmity of his Body and troubles of his Mind he was much exercised with spiritual Conflicts which I shall onely instance in one expression of his Many men said he think if they live civilly they have no need of a Christ I finde great need of a Christ He was so truly sensible of his own and others miseries that all those that rightly knew him did acknowledge him to be a person fitted for holy employments in regard of his much communion with God and acquaintance with his own heart He was learned with and without Books as he had a sharp a Wit and a searching Judgement his manner of handling of Questions in this Commentary is often by Shool-Arguments on both sides Pro and Con Conclusions and Answers in which the Reader shall finde how he could assent in lesser things and with a weighty and serious respect maintain greater matters In all he shewed an excellent moderation The Sons of Levi by this time are sufficiently sensible what want there hath been of a particular Commentary on this Psalm so few Authors having addressed their Studies this way which want is now fully supplyed by this Reverend Learned Religious Divine who hath given us both Practical and Polemical Expositions of it so spiritually and advisedly that I cannot but acknowledge that I have not met with any of our late Writers that have excelled him in these abilities insomuch that those that rightly knew him believe this to be the Epitome of his many years Studies An eminently learned Divine a Friend of his and mine perusing this Book in the Manuscript observing how he consulted with the Original said That the Lord had endued this Author with excellent and peculiar Gifts in a short yet substantial way to render the meaning of the Scripture To conclude Learned and Religious Reader my Prayers are to God for his Blessing that this Work of our Friend now in Heaven may do good to the future Generations that they may have cause to send up many thanksgivings to the Father of Mercies for the benefit they have reapt by it so prayeth the Quondam fellow Pupill of the deceased Author JO. BOLTON A Commentary on the 15th Psalm SERM. 1 SERM. I. Psal 15.1 Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy Hill THis Psalm as the Title of it doth shew was composed by David The Title the sweet Psalmist of Israel as he is stiled 2 Sam. 23.1 Whether David did compose all the 150 Psalms is a question The more ancient Rabbines as R. David Kimchi doth testifie say Kimchi in Praefat. in Psa That besides David there were ten Composers of the Psalms to wit Adam Melchisedec Abraham Asaph Heman Jeduthun Moses and the three Sons of Korah to wit Asir Elkanah and Abiasaph The 92 Psalm which is intituled A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day they say was composed by Adam being created the day before the Sabbath They make also Ethan who is mentioned in some of the Titles of the Psalms to be Abraham and the 110 Psalm they attribute to Melchisedec as the Author of it the other persons to wit Asaph Heman Jeduthun Moses and the Sons of Korah they make the Authors of those Psalms which are intituled by their names As for this last I should not much contend but for that which they say concerning Adam and Abraham I see no ground at all for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kimchi would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be not of David but for David or concerning David contrary to the signification of the word in other places And that Melchisedec was the Author of Psalm 110 we see to be both repugnant to the Title of it which tells us that it is a Psalm of David and also to the Testimony of our Saviour who makes David to be the Author of it for he saith that David said The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool which is the beginning of the 110 Psalm Mat. 22.43 44. And see also Acts 2.34 35. I see no reason to dissent from Kimchi saying That those Psalms which have David's name in the Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kimchi in Praefat. were made by David and so also those Psalms that have no Inscription For I finde not only the 110 Psalm and so other Psalms which bear the name of David in the Title attributed to David in the New Testament but also such-Psalms as are neither inscribed by the name of David nor of any other The second Psalm having no Title is cited as made by David Act. 4.25 26. This Psalm divides it self into two general parts 1. A Question in the first verse Lord who shall abide c. 2. An Answer in the rest of the Psalm He that walketh uprightly c. In the Question we have 1. the person to whom the question is propounded in the first word Lord. 2. The thing inquired Who shall abide in thy tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill The Answer is set down 1. more fully and distinctly He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth c. 2. more briefly and summarily in the last words of the last verse He that doth these