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
well knowing those Bitternesses he was to meet withal in his Peregrination upon Earth And lastly Abraham attained by Faith to be called a Friend of God but by Faith in Christ we are made one with God even as the Wife is Bone of the Bone and Flesh of the Flesh of her Husband for as Christ is one with the Father so are we by Faith one with him as it is written And the Glory thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and they in me Lastly Jacob wrestled with an Angel and forc'd a Blessing for himself and Family but Christ being in the Form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with Him and obtained a Blessing for the innumerable Family the Church of the First-born So as in the Gospel-Mountain instead of Fear we shall have perfect Love for Water-washings Peace of Conscience for fore-warnings of Evil to come the Evil it self is removed for Promises of good things afar off actual possession of the things promised and for Friendship full Union O that He would rend the Heavens and come that the Mountains might melt away at his Presence 19. There are two other Sister-Texts which agree info full harmony with that we are upon as leaves no place for doubt but that they all mind the same thing and may much conduce to the explaining one of another for no Key more expert in opening Scripture than its own The first Psal 24.3 Who shall ascend into the Mountain of the Lord Who shall stand in his holy Place He that hath clean hands c. Now the Question is expresly the same in effect for the Holy Place and Tabernacle are one for in it were two holy Places the Holy and most Holy which Mystery Paul explains for seeing the second Holy did answer to the Gospel-perfection it necessarily follows the first was a Figure of the Legal For says he there was a Tabernacle the first in which the Candlestick Table and Shew-bread were which was called the Holy the other after the second Vail was called the most Holy into which only the High-Priest went but once a year the Holy-Ghost thereby signifying that the Way into the Holiest yet was not made manifest whilst the first was yet standing which was a Figure for the time then present in which were offered Sacrifices which could not make perfect as pertaining to the Conscience but stood only in Meats c. But Christ being come an High-Priest of good things to come by a greater and more powerful Tabernacle c. obtained Eternal Salvation Whence again we observe that the preeminence of the Gospel above the Law is further asserted Secondly That in the Tabernacle there was as I may say a Wheel within a Wheel for tho the whole Tabernacle did most eminently figure that Righteousness which was by the Law yet had it a secret regard to the Gospel also as if indeed even in its day and perfection it was not of avail save as it had respect to the Righteousness of Grace And thus far we have the Apostle's warrant But it seems from the course of the Analogy that the Court of the Tabernacle which was without the first Vail and had in it the Altar and Laver did answer to the Worship in Mountains for into it were all the Congregation admitted and so in Mountain-Worship were all Nations here also were the Sacrifices solemnized and they were the only Ceremonial Service used in Mountains But to insist on this would be too long in this place Another difference is that in this Question the Mountain is first which is according to the Legal Order and in our Text the Tabernacle according to the Gospel as if the Prophet spake more legally here and in our Psalm more spiritually Also for dwell there it is ascend here implying there must be a painful or legal working up before a legal Habitation can be had in this Legal Mount Again for sojourn there it is stand here that is able to stand under the Legal Yoak which is hard to do tho under Tabernacle-Coverings The other Text differs much in the Question in expression but not in effect as the Answer assures where the Prophet having shewn the terrible day of God's vengeance upon the Wicked he adjoins thus Isa 33.13 14 15. Hear ye afar off the Gentiles what I have done ye that are near Jews know my Might 14. The Sinners of Zion feared Trembling took hold of the Hypocrite Who shall sojourn in the devouring Fire with us Who shall dwell in the Burnings of the hidden Age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He walking in Righteousness c. Now here by these Fires the same things are in a Mystery signified as I may say in their purer essence for by the devouring Fire God the Father is meant and by the Burnings of the Age the Baptism of Fire by Christ for the Father is a Consuming Fire Heb. 12.29 Deut. 4.24.9.3.66.18 And our Prophet again Behold the Lord will come with Fire and rebuke with Flames of Fire for by Fire will he plead with all Flesh The Son also came with the Fan in his Hand and will throughly purge his Floor and burn the Chaff with unquenchable Fire Also he will baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire As also another saith Behold I send my Messenger which was John the Baptist who bore the former witness of Christ and he shall prepare my Way and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come But who shall abide the day of his Coming Who shall stand when he appeareth For he is like a Refiner's Fire and he shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver he shall purify the Sons of Levi the Ministers of the Tabernacle and melt them as Gold then the Offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be sweet to the Lord after the manner of the days of the hidden Age and ancient Years 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this is the Fire of the hidden Age. Yet hath infinite Wisdom and Love found out a Medium whereby our frail and sinful Mortality shall co-habit with that Fire which if it touch the Mountains they shall smoak in safety as was represented by a Figure to Moses at the Bush which burned but was not consumed for that Fire was the Godhead and the Bramble the Seed of the Woman in Christ a Mystery of Mysteries that the Seed born of Corruptibility should embrace Incorruption and not be consumed so as all Moses's Egyptian Learning was confounded to see the natural Fire not devour the natural Bush but much more astonished in Spirit when he heard that that Fire was Jehovah the God of his Fathers and consquently the Bush human Nature So as God here taught Moses the Mystery of Mysteries namely the Incarnation of Christ where Flesh did not only live unconsumed in the devouring Fire but became one with it even an immortal Fire replenished with the fulness
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
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
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
of Happiness If they who would not hear him who spake from Earth escaped not how wilt thou escape him that speaks from Heaven to thee if unregarded To taste free Grace and to return to thy wallowing is to crucify Christ afresh Greater Love than he greater Ingratitude than thou can no Man shew by his Death he bought thee to everlasting Peace and for a moment of Vanity thou wilt sell him Do not therefore O thou Moth set Thorns and Stubble in Battel against the consuming Fire but fear nay tremble with the Elders of Bethlem at this my Embassy from God and again look back and tremble that thou durst so much as admit of such a kind of Parly as this was And now this I judge is the proper task of regenerate fear and though never out of season yet now of most especial use steading the Soul as ballast in Ships and also by Anchors on every side that is legal fear drawing by threat and Evangelical alluring by Love and hence I suppose the reason was why the Psalmist ranked this Precept here 19. Swearing to a or the Friend and changeth not This is the ninth Precept but how to understand it according to usual readings and glosses seems difficult The 70 Arab and Vspel who swears to his friend deceiveth not but his is not in the Original The Targ. he swearing to afflict himself and changeth not but neither is himself in the Text nor the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hithpahel Other who sweareth to his Hurt and changeth not Others who swear to do Evil and recompenseth it not Now verily upon the best judgment I can make of Laws and Precepts touching Oaths and Vows some of these are displeasing to God and in the best but an indifferent thing not required by God nor under a promise of Blessing but a liberty left to a Man to oblige himself to a voluntary Humility and not to sin in so doing provided he performed his Vow only the Daughter without her Father's nor Wife without her Husband's consent were restrained for none were obliged to swear but having sworn he was as straitly bound under penalty to perform as he was to any other Precept of the Law so as threats of penalties hung after Oaths but no promise of Blessings Again it made that thing a real sin which in it self was no sin adding to that yoak which was already so weighty as who could bear it Yet I do not say that Vows were not of good and holy use for else God would not have permitted them and I suppose were to hasten and perfect that Humiliation the Law was to bring upon all flesh or that if any strong zealous Professor thought he could be more obedient than the Law required and put too much confidence in the merit thereof it was permitted to him to impose such services as were not against the Law upon himself to the end he might the more earlier find with Solomon Vanity of vanity all is vanity on this side the Messiah But the thing I say is that taking them in their most excellent use they are not necessary causes of attaining the immovable state for many thousands have sojourned and have had their sin covered in the Tabernacle of God who were not conversant in Vows as I presume because we do not find any Exhortations by the holy Writers to encourage men to be Votaries but to the contrary Eccl. 5.5 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin that is to make that a sin to the flesh which is no sin of it self Secondly In the Historical Scripture we find not any Oath celebrated for good save one by Jacob at Bothel which was most warily circumstantiated as we shall further observe and not to a friend but unto God but many which tended to great loss as Jephtha's And lastly in the very dawning of the Gospel our Lord positively forbad all Oaths Matth. 5.30 Of old it was said Forswear not thy self but perform thy Vows to God but now I say unto you swear not at all And now to come to those in particular which the several glosses of Interpreters from our Text give the most ligible amongst them seem to fall short of David's intent Who sweareth to afflict himself of which nature some Oaths were of pious institution Numb 30.13 namely to afflict the soul which was by fasting and abstinence from anointing and outward refreshments wearing sack-cloth going bare-foot and such manner of penance which doubtless were good in fit seasons and occasions of Humiliation and often used by leading men as David Psal 33.13 Dan. 10.3 But that any ever did thus upon Vows or when occasions required not is not recorded as memorable and exemplary that I find Secondly Who swears to his friend c. which is of good moral use So Abraham sware his Servant and so he made a Covenant with Abimelech and Joshuah and the Spies to Rahab which are still alwful And doubtless to break Faith so solemnly given is to forseit mutual converse and even Humanity but to make such voluntary Oaths is not required but are only of humane Institution and for worldly and temporal advantages Lastly Who swears to his own hurt or to do evil to another are both great Sins whether kept or broken ending in wounds The Rabbies say such were well beaten for their pains and me judging deservedly and therefore if perchance a man thus sinned by Swearing ignorantly when it is known to him he was to make confession thereof and bring a Trespass-Offering and hence seeing this Oath in our Text is ranked amongst eminent Graces and under the greatest of Blessings I judge our Prophet did not refer it to any of the Oaths aforementioned 20. But perhaps Jacob's Vow compared with the Gospel Precept touching Vows Let your communication be yea yea Nay nay for what is more than so cometh of Evil may be a good guide unto us in our search Now Jacob's Vow was conditional with God and not in his own strength but in a dependance upon God Gen. 28.20 Jacob vowed a Vow If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and give me bread to eat and raiment to put on so that I come again to my Fathers House in peace then shall Jehovah be my God and this Stone which I have set a Pillar shall be the House of God and of all that thou wilt give me the tenth shall be thine And now this Oath draws to something of excellent purpose and will suit as a befitting link to the last of our Golden Chain For first The occasion that led him to this Vow was agreeable to the former exposition of our Psalm For first he was a Man of Tummin banished from his Fathers House his Staff his Portion a Stone his Pillow where in a mystery God taught him good things made a new discovery of himself as Jehovah to him whom I take it he hitherto knew only by the Name
to exalt the Spirit and in this we wrestle against Principalities and Wickedness in Heavenly Places Then Satan's Interest was to uphold Vows Merit in Touch not taste not c. to persuade that the Spirit was a meer Chymaera or Sound only heard in deluded Ears and now he cries up the Spirit as all pure and perfect that it doth not nay cannot lust after Envy upright in all its ways and no Word or Work or Way holy or acceptable without it be its simple Act and so the Reason Sense and Body are esteemed vile things and the Service odious to God And thus Satan wrests to every extreme our Minds and Christ in his Bounty so defeats this old Serpent the Deceiver as in the first Warfare presumptuous Flesh is beaten down and under the Gospel the Spirit apt to be puffed up is humbled that all things both in Heaven and Earth in Soul and Body might bow to the exalted Name of Christ yea that every thing which is proud or exalts it self may be brought down and that he that glories may find nothing to glory in save Christ alone and lastly that the Spirit upheld in its Humiliation by the Spirit of the high-exalted Name may uphold the Body and the Body minister to the Soul until it become a fit Temple for the holy Spirit to dwell in and that Christ at his coming may find us perfect in Soul in Body and in Spirit 9. And lest some might take it amiss that now in our Gospel-day the Worship whereof consists in Spirit and Truth we should speak of a Warfare against the Spirit and of an acceptable Service from the Body I shall explain my self a little further First I say our Lord doth not teach that this Worship is of Spirit only but Spirit and Truth and against them united there is no Law For this In Spirit and Truth implies a Worship where the very Spirit of Truth is present and assisting the Spirit of Man and helping its Infirmities which Spirit also dwelleth in us and is that which raiseth up Christ and also that quickens our mortal Bodies and therefore to subdue this Spirit were to reject God and Good in as deep Rebellion and Blasphemy as the Angels reserved to Blackness and Darkness ever did But there are two other Spirits one of God and yet is not his very immediate Spirit aforesaid of which the beloved Apostle thus Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits if they are of God for many false Prophets and consequently Spirits are gone forth Hereby we know that Spirit which is of God the Spirit that confesseth Christ is come in the Flesh is of God That Spirit which confesseth not so is not of God but of Antichrist Whence observe two Spirits one of God another not of him Secondly Consider that Confession which distinguisheth these Spirits namely Christ in the Flesh which cannot be meant of an historical Confession because also confessing must have had that Spirit of God and verily it is incompatible with the outward Profession to deny the History as far as concerns Flesh and Blood nor amongst those various Delusions touching his Nature which went abroad few or none held that Opinion Again the Spirit which denies this is the Spirit of Antichrist Now Antichrist doth not deny Christ in the Flesh but rather supposeth that he is extant as Flesh in the Bread to this day And lastly to make this the Caracter were to make Antichrist a Pagan which he is not but rather the Spirit which historically confesseth both God and Christ and sets up it self against them And this is that Spirit which in this Warfare ought to be made to bow the Knee And forasmuch as the Apostle affirms that this Spirit is of Antichrist the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition the best way to discern it is to apply to a fuller description of them 2 Thess 2.4 Who opposeth God and exalteth himself above all called God or that is worshipped So that he sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And now this must be a Spiritual Wickedness set in high Places usurping Authority in the Temple of God which Temple we are and the Spirit i.e. of God dwelleth in it 1 Cor. 3.16 And again Chap. 6.19 Your Body is the Temple of the Holy-Ghost in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a Price Wherefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's And now I ask what this which is spiritual Wickedness can be but the Spirit of Man lusting after Evil deluded by the Spirit of Satan whose first and original Crime was to make himself equal with God and shall again once more shew his foolish Pride as in the description of Antichrist is further shewn Ibid. vers 9. Whose Coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and lying Wonders and with all deceivableness of Vnrighteousness in them who perish because they received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved And for this Cause God gave them up to strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie and that they might be damned who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in Vnrighteousness And besides this Text the holy Writers give sundry Admonitions to beware of the Pride and Deceitfulness of our own Spirits Jam. 4.5 Do you think the Scripture saith in vain The Spirit which dwelleth in you lusteth to Envy Which is a double Proof First as from James secondly as another Scripture cited by him tho perhaps we find it not So our Lord Ye know not what Spirit ye are of 1 Tim. 4.1 In the latter times shall come seducing Spirits and Doctrine of Devils 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Mal. 2.15 Therefore take ye heed to your Spirits and let none deal treacherously with the Wife of his Youth see also ver 16. Where the Spirit refers to the Man or Spirit of Teaching and the Wife to Obedience as in the Allegory afore-mentioned and from the Context is as much as The Spirit and Wife are one Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the end they may bring forth Seed or Children to God and therefore let the Spirit beware it deal not perfidiously with the chast Form of Obedience that is go a whoring after strange Forms So as a Man's Spirit is as his Heart deceitful setting up spiritual Wickedness in high Places and dresseth them in so specious Forms of Light as who can find them out For doubtless to discern its workings from those of the Holy Spirit is me judging above measure difficult and few or none who do not sometimes mistake that for this And therefore we ought to take heed to our Spirits and above all to supplicate the Father of Spirits whom foul Spirits obey that himself would watch over them For in vain do the