the World and ours to Grace and so even possess Christ whilst we speak of him And first if we look on his Mother Mary we shall find her an entire pure Virgin only espoused to Joseph but before they came together she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost Matth. i. 18 And then the Soul of Man must be this Virgin Now there is a threefold Purity or Virginity of the Soul First An absolute one such as was found in Adam before his fall Secondly A respective of a Soul which like Mary hath not yet joyned or committed with the World to whom it is espoused which though it have its part of natural corruptions yet either for want of ability of age or occasion hath not yet broke forth into the common outrages of sin Thirdly A restored purity of a Soul formerly polluted but now cleansed by repentance The former kind of natural and absolute purity as it were to be wished for so is it not to be hoped and therefore is not to be imagined in the Virgin Mother or expected in the Virgin Soul The second purity we find in all regenerate infants who are at the same time outwardly initiated to the Church and inwardly to Christ or in those whom God hath called before they have ingaged themselves in the courses of actual hainous sins such are well disposed well brought up and to use our Saviours words Have so lived as not to be far from the Kingdom of God Such happily as Cornelius Acts x. 1 And such a Soul as this is the fittest Womb in which our Saviour delights to be incarnate where he may enter and dwell without either resistance or annoyance where he shall be received at the first knock and never be disordered or repulsed by any stench of the carkass or violence of the Body of sin The restored purity is a right Spirit renewed in the Soul Psal li. 10 a wound cured up by repentance and differs only from the former purity as a scar from a skin never cut wanting somewhat of the beauty and outward clearness but nothing of either the strength or health of it Optandum esset ut in simplici Virginitate servaretur navis c. It were to be wished that the Ship our Souls could be kept in its simple Virginity and never be in danger of either leak or shipwrack but this perpetual integrity being a desperate impossible wish there is one only remedy which though it cannot prevent a leak can stop it And this is repentance after sin committed Post naufragium tabula a means to secure one after a shipwrack and to deliver him even in the deep Waters And this we call a restored Virginity of the Soul which Christ also vouchsafes to be conceived and born in The first degree of Innocence being not to have sinned the second to have repented In the second place the Mother of Christ in the flesh was a Virgin not only till the time of Christ's conception but also till the time of his birth Matth. i. 25 He knew her not till she had brought forth c. And farther as we may probably believe remained a Virgin all the days of her life after for to her is applied by the Learned that which is typically spoken of the East-gate of the Sanctuary Ezek. xliv 2 This gate shall be shut it shall not be opened and no man shall enter in by it because the Lord the God of Israel hath entred in by it therefore it shall be shut A place if appliable very apposite for the expression Hence is she called by the Fathers and Counsels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Perpetual Virgin against the Heresie of Helvidius The probability of this might be farther proved if it were needful And ought not upon all principles of nature and of justice the Virgin Soul after Christ once conceived in it remain pure and stanch till Christ be born in it nay be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Perpetual Virgin never indulge to sensual pleasures or cast away that purity which Christ either found or wrought in it If it were a respective purity then ought it not perpetually retain and increase it and never fall off to those disorders that other men supinely live in If it were a recovered purity hold it fast and never turn again As a Dog to his vomit or a Sow to her wallowing in the mire For this conception and birth of Christ in the Soul would not only wash away the filth that the Swine was formerly mired in but also take away the Swinish nature that she shall never have any strong propension to return again to her former inordinate delights Now this continuance of the Soul in this its recovered Virginity is not from the firm constant stable nature of the Soul but as Eusebius saith in another case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From a more strong able Band the Vnion of Christ to the Soul his Spiritual Incarnation in it Because the Lord the God of Israel hath entred in by it therefore it shall be shut Ezek. xliv 2 i. e. it shall not be opened either in consent or practice to the lusts and pollutions of the World or Flesh because Christ by being born in it hath cleansed it because he the Word of God said the Word therefore the leprosie is cured in whom he enters he dwells and on whom he makes his real impression he seals them up to the day of redemption unless we unbuild our selves and change our shape we must be his In the third place if we look on the agent in this conception we shall find it both in Mary and in the Soul of Man to be the Holy Ghost that which is conceived in either of them is of the Holy Ghost Matth. i. 20 Nothing in this business of Christs birth with us to be imputed to natural power or causes the whole contrivance and final production of it the preparations to and labouring of it is all the workmanship of the Spirit So that as Mary was called by an ancient so may the Soul without an Hyperbole by us be styled The Shop of Miracles and The Work-house of the Holy Ghost in which every operation is a miracle to nature and no tools are used but what the Spirit forged and moves Mary conceived Christ but it was above her own reach to apprehend the manner how for so she questions the Angel Luke i. 34 How shall this be c. So doth the Soul of Man conceive and grow big and bring forth Christ and yet not it self fully perceives how this work is wrought Christ being for the most part insensibly begotten in us and to be discerned only spiritually not at his entrance but in his fruits In the fourth place that Mary was chosen and appointed among all the Families of the Earth to be the Mother of the Christ was no manner of desert of hers but Gods special favour and dignation whence the
it self which never stays till it be united Thus do you see from whence this principle comes to me and in what manner from Gods spirit by this means uniting me to himself To the second question where it lodges my answer is in the heart of man in the whole soul not in the understanding not in the will a distinction of faculties invented by Philosophers to puzzle and perplex Divines and put them to needless shifts but I say in the whole Soul ruling and guiding it in all its actions enabling it to understand and will spiritually conceived I say and born in the Soul but nursed and fed and encreased into a perfect stature by the outward Organs and actions of the body for by them it begins to express and shew it self in the World by them the habit is exerted and made perfect the Seed shot up into an Ear the Spring improved to Autumn when the tongue discourses the hands act the feet run the way of Gods commandments So I say the Soul is the Mother and the operations of Soul and Body the Nurse of this Spirit in us and then who can hold in his spirit without stifling from breaking out into that joyful acclamation Blessed is the womb that bears this incarnate spirit and the paps that give him suck Now this inward principle this grace of regeneration though it be seated in the whole Soul as it is an habit yet as it is an operative habit producing or rather enabling the man to produce several gracious works so it is peculiarly in every part and accordingly receives divers names according to several exercises of its power in those several parts As the Soul of man sees in the Eye hears in the Ear understands in the Brain chooses and desires in the heart and being but one Soul yet works in every room every shop of the Body in a several trade as it were and is accordingly called a seeing a hearing a willing or understanding Soul thus doth the habit of grace seated in the whole express and evidence it self peculiarly in every act of it and is called by as several names as the reasonable Soul hath distinct acts or objects In the understanding 't is first spiritual wisdom and discretion in holy things opposite to which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. i. 28 an unapproving as well as unapproved or reprobate mind and frequently in Scripture spiritual blindness Then as a branch of this it is belief or assent to the truth of the promises and the like In the practical judgment 't is spiritual prudence in ordering all our holy knowledge to holy practice In the will 't is a regular choice of whatsoever may prove available to Salvation a holy love of the end and embracing of the means with courage and zeal Lastly in the outward man 't is an ordering of all our actions to a blessed conformity with a sanctified Soul In brief 't is one principle within us doth every thing that is holy believes repents hopes loves obeys and what not And consequently is effectually in every part of Body and Soul sanctifying it to work spiritually as an holy instrument of a divine invisible cause that is the Holy Ghost that is in us and throughout us For the third question when this new principle enters first you are to know that comes into the heart in a threefold condition first as an harbinger secondly as a private secret guest thirdly as an inhabitant or Housekeeper As 't is an harbinger so it comes to fit and prepare us for it self trims up and sweeps and sweetens the Soul that it may be readier to entertain him when he comes to reside and that he doth as the ancient gladiators had their arma praelusoria by skirmishing with our corruptions before he comes to give them a Pitch-Battel he brandishes a flaming Sword about our Ears and as by a flash of lightning gives us a sense of a dismal hideous state and so somewhat restrains us from excess and fury first by a momentany remorse then by a more lasting yet not purifying flame the Spirit of bondage In summ every check of Conscience every sigh for sin every fear of judgment every desire of grace every motion or inclination toward spiritual good be it never so short-winded is praeludium spiritus a kind of John Baptist to Christ something that God sent before to prepare the wayes of the Lord. And thus the spirit comes very often in every affliction every disease which is part of Gods Discipline to keep us in some order in brief at every Sermon that works upon us at the hearing then I say the lightning flashes in our Eyes we have a glimpse of his spirit but cannot come to a full sight of it and thus he appears to many whom he will never dwell with Unhappy men that they cannot lay hold on him when he comes so near them and yet somewhat more happy than they that never came within ken of him stopt their Ears when he spake to them even at this distance Every man in the Christian Church hath frequently in his life a power to partake of Gods ordinary preparing graces and 't is some degree of obedience though no work of regeneration to make good use of them and if he without the Inhabitance of the spirit cannot make such use as he should yet to make the best he can and thus I say the spirit appears to the unregenerate almost every day of our lives 2. When this spirit comes a guest to lodge with us then is he said to enter but till by actions and frequent obliging works he makes himself known to his Neighbours as long as he keeps his Chamber till he declare himself to be there so long he remains a private secret guest and that 's called the introduction of the form that makes a man to be truly regenerate when the Seed is sown in his heart when the habit is infused and that is done sometimes discernibly sometimes not discernibly but seldom as when Saul was called in the midst of his madness Acts ix he was certainly able to tell a man the very minute of his Change of his being made a new Creature Thus they which have long lived in an enormous Antichristian course do many times find themselves strucken on a sudden and are able to date their regeneration and tell you punctually how old they are in the spirit Yet because there be many preparations to this spirit which are not this spirit many presumptions in our hearts false-grounded many tremblings and jealousies in those that have it great affinity between Faith natural and spiritual seeing 't is a spirit that thus enters and not as it did light on the Disciples in a bodily shape 't is not an easy matter for any one to define the time of his conversion Some may guess somewhat nearer than others as remembring a sensible change in themselves but in a word the surest discerning of it
abroad in Tents we have seen or heard of him but have not yet brought him home into our hearts there to possess and rectify and instruct our wills as well as our understandings Thirdly The whole mystery of Christ articulately set down in our Creed we as punctually believe and to make good our names that we are Christians in earnest we will challenge and defie the Fire and Faggot to perswade us out of it and these are good resolutions if our practices did not give our Faith the lye and utterly renounce at the Church Door whatsoever we profest in our Pews This very one thing that he which is our Saviour shall be our Judge that he which was crucified dead and buried sits now at the right hand of God and from thence shall come to judge the world this main part yea summ of our belief we deny and bandy against all our lives long If the story of Christ coming to judgment set down in the xxv of Matthew after the 30. Verse had ever entred through the doors of our Ears to the inward Closets of our hearts 't is impossible but we should observe and practise that one single duty there required of us Christ there as a Judge exacts and calls us to account for nothing in the World but only works of mercy and according to the satisfaction which we are able to give him in that one point he either entertains or repels us and therefore our care and negligence in this one business will prove us either Christians or Infidels But alas 't is too plain that in our actions we never dream either of the Judgment or the Arraignment our stupid neglect of this one duty argues us not only unchristian but unnatural Besides our Alms-deeds which concern only the outside of our neighbour and are but a kind of worldly mercy there are many more important but cheaper works of mercy as good counsel spiritual instructions holy education of them that are come out of our loyns or are committed to our care seasonable reproof according to that excellent place Lev. xix 17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart but in any wise reprove him a care of carrying our selves that we may not scandal or injure or offer violence to the Soul and tender Conscience of him that is flexible to follow us into any riot These and many other works of mercy in the highest degree as concerning the welfare of other mens Souls and the chief thing required of us at the day of Judgment are yet so out-dated in our thoughts so utterly defaced and blotted out in the whole course of our lives that it seems we never expect that Christ in his Majesty as a Judge whom we apprehend and embrace and hug in his humility as a Saviour Beloved till by some severe hand held over our lives and particularly by the daily study and exercise of some work of mercy or other we demonstrate the sincerity of our belief the Saints on Earth and Angels in Heaven will shrewdly suspect that we do only say over that part of our Creed that we believe only that which is for our turn the sufferings and satisfactions of Christ which cost us nothing but do not proceed to his office of a Judge do not either fear his Judgments or desire to make our selves capable of his mercies Briefly whosoever neglects or takes no notice of this duty of exercising works of mercy whatsoever he brags of in his theory or speculation in his heart either denies or contemns Christ as Judge and so destroys the summ of his Faith and this is another kind of secret Atheism Fourthly Our Creed leads us on to a belief and acknowledgment of the Holy Ghost and 't is well we have all conn'd his name there for otherwise I should much fear that it would be said of many nominal Christians what is reported of the Ephesian Disciples Acts xix 2 They have not so much as heard whether there be an Holy Ghost or no. But not to suspect so much ignorance in any Christian we will suppose indeed men to know whatsoever they profess and enquire only whether our lives second our professions or whether indeed they are mere Infidels and Atheistical in this business concerning the Holy Ghost How many of the ignorant sort which have learnt this name in their Catechism or Creed have not yet any further use to put it to but only to make up the number of the Trinity have no special office to appoint for him no special mercy or gift or ability to beg of him in the business of their Salvation but mention him only for fashion sake not that they ever think of preparing their Bodies or Souls to be Temples worthy to entertain him not that they ever look after the earnest of the spirit in their hearts 2 Cor. i. 22 Further yet how many better learned amongst us do not yet in our lives acknowledge him in that Epithet annext to his title the Holy Ghost i. e. not only eminently in himself holy but causally producing the same quality in us from thence called the sanctifying and renewing spirit How do we for the most part fly from and abandon and resist and so violently deny him when he once appears to us in this Attribute When he comes to sanctifie us we are not patient of so much sowreness so much humility so much non-conformity with the world as he begins to exact of us we shake off many blessed motions of the spirit and keep our selves within garrison as far as we can out of his reach lest at any turn he should meet with and we should be converted Lastly The most ordinary morally qualified tame Christians amongst us who are not so violent as to profess open arms against this Spirit how do they yet reject him out of all their thoughts How seldom do many peaceable orderly men amongst us ever observe their wants or importune the assistance of this Spirit In summ 't was a shrewd Speech of the Fathers which will cast many fair out-sides at the bar for Atheists That the life of an unregenerate man is but the life of an Heathen and that 't is our Regeneration only that raises us up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from being still mere Gentiles He that believes in his Creed the Person nay understands in the Schools the Attributes and gifts of the Holy Ghost and yet sees them only in the fountain neither finds nor seeks for any effects of them in his own Soul he that is still unregenerate and continues still gaping and yawning stupid and senseless in this his condition is still for all his Creed and Learning in effect an Atheist And the Lord of Heaven give him to see and endeavours to work and an heart to pray and his spirit to draw and force him out of this condition Fifthly Not to cramp in every Article of our Creed into this Discourse we will only insist on two
daily on our souls in blessing in turning every one c. and that is the first thing 2. Christs resurrection hath a hand in blessing in turning from iniquity in respect to that solemn mission of the Holy Ghost promised before and performed immediately after his ascension This not person I mean but office of the Holy Ghost in setling a Pastorage in the Church and to it the consequent power and necessity of preaching administring Sacraments governing censuring all which were the effects of the Holy Ghosts descending and the direct interpretation of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then and ever since then To which if you please to add the promise of the annexion of the Spirit and the invisible grace of God to the orderly use of these so far that the preaching of the Gospel not only that manner of preaching among us that hath gotten the monopoly of all the service of God into its Patent the only thing that many of us pay all our devotion to but any other way of making known the Gospel of Christ the doctrine of the second Covenant is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.8 the adminstration or means of dispensing the Spirit to us and the Sacrament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the communication of the bloud of Christ yea and the censures no carnal weak blunt weapons of our warfare 2 Cor. 10.4 but mighty through God c. you have then a second energy of his resurrection toward our turning so great that he that holds out against this method of power and grace and will not turn nor understand after all this shall never be capable of any other means of blessing of working that great work for him and so you see the second ground of dependence between the resurrection and blessing or turning O that it might work its design upon us that to day we would hear the voice that cries so loud to us out of heaven the last perhaps numerically I am sure the last in specie or kind the last artifice this of the Word and Sacraments that is ever to be hoped for to this end to bless us to turn us every one from our c. 3. The Resurrection hath to do in blessing and turning in respect of Christs Intercession that prime act of his Melchisedech-priesthood his powerful intercession i. e. in effect conferring of grace on us thus Rom. 8 34. where that weighty business of justifying is laid more on the Resurrection than Death of Christ It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again 'T is thus enlarged in the next words who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us his intercession powerful intercession at the right hand of God a consequent of Gods raising up his Son Jesus hath a main influence on turning first and then justifying the ungodly and so Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to save them for good and all deliver them from all kind of assailants from sin from themselves from wrath from hell though not absolutely all yet those that come unto God by him those that turn when he will have them turn seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them Will you see this more clearly Why then thus There are three degrees of grace preventing exciting assisting the first for conversion the second for sanctifying the third for perseverance And two acts of turning being already premised for the beginning of that blessing work 1. By the power of that Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead Then 2. By the descent of the holy Ghost the first as the seed sown the second as the rain and Sun-shine to bring it up there is yet a third required for the earing and hardning of the corn that of Gods giving increase for the consummating this weighty affair for the confirming and establishing those that are initially blest and turned into a kind of Angelical state of perseverance And to this it is that Christs continual intercession belongs for that is peculiarly for Disciples for those that are Believers Christians already that they may be preserved and kept in that state as for Saint Peter in the time of shock of tempest when Satan is at his expetivit that if we be permitted to be tempted yet our faith may not fail Luke 22.32 Another copy of this intercession you have John 17. the whole chapter is a prescript form of it a platform of what he now daily performs in heaven Look in the 11. verse Holy Father keep through thine own name own power those whom thou hast given me those that are believers already and in the 15. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one not for immunity from temptations for an impeccable state but for a sufficiency of grace to keep to sustain them in time of temptation that they may be able to stand So that this Intercession of Christ is apportion'd and adequate to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proficients those that are Believers already Disciples or others to come that shall be such and when they are pray'd for are considered under that notion as 't is clear ver 20. Neither pray I for these alone but for them also that shall believe on me through their word a direct notation who they are that this daily intercession for keeping for perseverance belongs to the believers faithful disciples and none others I pray for them I pray not for the world ver 9. Other prayers he can allow for the world the veriest incarnate devils in it the very crucifiers Father forgive them but this prayer for perseverance for keeping is only for the them the believers there The impenitent unbeliever cannot have his portion in that unless he would have Christ pray to damn him irreversibly to keep him in his impenitence to seal him up unto the day of perdition You see from hence by way of result or corollary what 't is that our perseverance in the faith and favour of God is imputable to not any fatal contrivance for some special confidents that their sins shall not be able to separate them not any such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Marcus his Scholars in Irenaeus pretended to that by it they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naturally spiritual that all the debaucheries in the world could no more vitiate them than the â—un-beams are profan'd by the dunghill which they shine on or the gold by the â—luttery it may be mixt with that by the shield of the mother of heaven what ever they did they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 invisible to the Judge No such comforts and hopes as these of perseverance in sin and favour with God at once of making good our union with God when we are in the gall of bitterness of being justified when we are not sanctified that magical spell that fastens us in a circle
your selves to a pretty large task and it were a notable Christmas employment I should bless God for any one that would be so piously valiant as to undertake it you must read over the whole Book of Scripture and Nature to this purpose For when you find in the Psalmist the news of Christs coming Then said I loe I come you find your directions how to tract him In the volume of thy book it is written of me c. i. e. either in the whole book or in every folding every leaf of this Book Thou shalt not find a Story a Riddle a Prophecy a Ceremony a down-right legal Constitution but hath some manner of aspect on this glass some way drives at this mystery God manifest in flesh For example perhaps you have not noted whereever you read Seth's Genealogies more insisted on than Cain's Sem's than his elder brother Ham's Abraham's than the whole World besides Jacob's than Esau's Judah's than the whole twelve Patriarchs and the like passages which directly drive down the line of Christ and make that the whole business of the Scripture Whensoever I say you read any of these then are you to note that Shiloh was to come that he which was sent was on his journey that from the Creation till the fulness of time the Scriptur◠was in travel with him and by his leaping ever now and then and as it were springing in the Womb gave manifest tokens that it had conceived and would at last bring forth the Messias So that the whole Old Testament is a Mystical Virgin Mary a kind of Mother of Christ which by the Holy Ghost conceived him in Genesis Chap. iii. 15 And throughout Moses and the Prophets carried him in the Womb and was very big of him And at last in Malachi Chap. iii. 4 was in a manner delivered of him For there you shall find mention of John Baptist who was as it were the Midwife of the Old Testament to open its Womb and bring the Messias into the World Howsoever at the least it is plain that the Old Testament brought him to his birth though it had not strength to bring forth and the Prophets as Moses from Mount Nebo came to a view of this Land of Canaan For the very first words of the New Testament being as it were to fill up what only was wanting in the Old are the Book and History of his generations and birth Matth. i. You would yet be better able to prize the excellency of this Work and reach the pitch of this days rejoycing if you would learn how the very Heathen fluttered about this light what shift they made to get some inkling of this Incarnation before-hand how the Sibyls Heathen Women and Virgil and other Heathen Poets in their writings before Christ's time let fall many passages which plainly referred and belonged to this Incarnation of God It is fine sport to see in our Authors how the Devil with his famous Oracles and Prophets foreseeing by his skill in the Scripture that Christ was near his birth did droop upon it and hang the wing did sensibly decay in his courage began to breath thick and speak imperfectly and sometimes as men in the extremity of a Fever distractedly wildly without any coherence and scarce sense and how at last about the birth of Christ he plainly gave up the ghost and left his Oracular Prophets as speechless as the Caves they dwelt in their last voice being that their great god Pan i. e. the Devil was dead and so both his Kingdom and their Prophecies at an end as if Christ's coming had chased Lucifer out of the World and the powers of Hell were buried that minute when a Saviour was born And now by way of Vse can ye see the Devil put out of heart and ye not put forward to get the Field can you delay to make use of such an advantage as this can ye be so cruel to your selves as to shew any mercy on that now disarmed enemy will ye see God send his Son down into the Field to enter the Lists and lead up a Forlorn Troop against the Prince of this World and ye not follow at his Allarm will ye not accept of a conquest which Christ so lovingly offers you It is a most terrible exprobration in Hosea Chap. xi 3 look on it where God objects to Ephraim her not taking notice of his mercies her not seconding and making use of his loving deliverances which plainly adumbrates this deliverance by Christ's death as may appear by the first Verse of the Chapter compared with the second of Matth. 15. Well saith God I taught Ephraim to go taking them by their arms but they knew not that I healed them I drew them with the cords of a man an admirable phrase with all those means that use to oblige one man to another with bands of love c. i. e. I used all means for the sustaining and strengthning of my people I put them in a course to be able to go and fight and overcome all the powers of darkness and put off the Devils yoke I sent my Son amongst them for this purpose Verse 1. And all this I did by way of love as one friend is wont to do for another and yet they would not take notice of either the benefit or the donor nor think themselves beholding to me for this mercy And this is our case beloved If we do not second these and the like mercies of God bestowed on us if we do not improve them to our Souls health if we do not fasten on this Christ incarnate if we do not follow him with an expression of gratitude and reverence and stick close to him as both our Friend and Captain finally if we do not endeavour and pray that this his Incarnation may be seconded with annother that as once he was born in our flesh to justifie us so he may be also born spiritually in our Souls to sanctifie us for there is a spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mystical Incarnation of Christ in every regenerate man where the Soul of Man is the Womb wherein Christ is conceived by the Holy Ghost The proof of which Doctrine shall entertain the remainder of this hour for this is the Emmanuel that most nearly concerns us God with us i. e. with our Spirits or Christ begotten and brought forth in our hearts Of which briefly And that Christ is thus born in a regenerate mans soul if it were denied might directly appear by these two places of Scripture Gal. ii 20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Again Ephes iii. 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith c. Now that you may understand this Spiritual Incarnatien of Christ the better we will compare it with his Real Incarnation in the Womb of the Virgin that so we may keep close to the business of the day and at once observe both his birth to
first stone than the whole foundation because the walls are necessary only to the setting on of the roof not to the laying of the foundation the foundation necessary both to the walls and roof but not to the first stone because that may be laid without the whole foundation but the first stone necessary to all the rest and therefore of greatest and most absolute necessity The course of nature is delineated and express'd to us by the like proceedings and method of Arts and Sciences So those general principles that are most familiar to us are the poorest and yet most necessary rudiments required to any deeper speculation the first stage of the understanding in its peregrination or travel into those foreign parts of more hidden knowledg is usually very short and 't is most requisite it should be so for beginning at home with some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and taking its rise at its own threshold thereby it advances the length and secures the success of the future voyage Thus in Politicks hath the body of Laws from some thin beginnings under Lycurgus Solâ—n Phaleas and the like by daily accessions and farther growth at last increased into a fair bulk every age perfecting somewhat and by that degree of perfection making the matter capable of a farther so that the very Politicks themselves as well as each Commonwealth have been observed to have their infancy youth and manhood the last of which is the only perfect state which yet this body had never attain'd to had it not been content to submit it self to the imperfection of the former Thus also in practical Philosophy there be some praeambula operationis some common precepts which must be instill'd into us to work a consistency in our tempers firm enough for the undertaking and performing all moral tasks One excellent one Aristole learnt from Plato in the second of the Ethicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a skill of ordering those two passions aright joy and sorrow an habit never to rejoyce or grieve but on just occasion which lesson we must conn perfectly when we are young and then with years an easie discipline will bring on vertue of its own accord Lastly in the transcendent knowledge of Metaphysicks which Aristotle would fain call wisdom 't is the Philosophers labour which they were very sedulous in to invent and set down rules to prepare us for that study the best that Aristotle hath is in the third of Metaph. to examine and inform our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which things are chiefly worth doubting of and searching after in which one thing if we would observe his counsel if we would learn to doubt only of those things which are worth our knowledge we should soon prove better Scholars than we are Jamblichus beyond all the rest most to the purpose prescribes retiredness and contempt of the World that so we might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even live and be nourished by the excursions of the mind towards God where indeed he speaks more like a Christian than a Pythagorean as if he had learnt Christ to deny himself and the world and follow him and intended to come to that pitch and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Paul speaks of Gal. ii 20 The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith c. But to conclude this praecognoscendum there be throughout all works of nature and imitations of art some imperfect grounds on which all perfection is built some common expressions with which the understanding is first signed some ground-colours without the laying on of which no perfect effigies or pourtraicture can be drawn Nay thus it is in some measure in spiritual matters also we are men before we are Christians there is a natural life and there is a spiritual life And as in the resurrection 1 Cor. xv 46 so also in the spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the soul first that which is natural and after that which is spiritual and in the spiritual life there be also its periods the infancy the youth and virility of the spirit the first being most imperfect yet most necessary and preparing the way to the last perfection To bring all home to the business in hand thus did it not befit the Saviour of the World to come abruptly into it to put on fâ—esh as soon as flesh had put on sin the business was to be done by degrees and after it had been a long time in working for the final production of it the fulness of time was to be expected The Law had its time of paedagogy to declare it self and to be obeyed as his Vsher for many years and after all this he appears not in the World till his Baptist hath proclaimed him he makes not toward his Court till his Harbinger hath taken up the rooms He comes not to inhabit either in the greater or lesser Jewry the World or Man's heart till the Praecursor hath warn'd all to make ready for him and this is the voice of the Praecursor his Sermon and the words of my Text Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Instead of dividing the words I shall unite them and after I have construed them to you contrive that into one body which would not conveniently be dismembred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to sit to prepare to make ready Ye are all those to whom Christ should ever come The ways of the Lord are whatsoever is capable of receiving of Christ or his Gospel peculiarly the hearts of the elect The form of speech imperative notes the whole complexum to be one single duty required of all the Baptists and my Auditors sub hac formâ that every man's heart must be prepared for the receiving of Christ or punctually to imitate the order of the words in my Text the preparation of the soul is required for Christ's birth in us For there is in every elect vessel a spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mystical incarnation of Christ where the soul like Mary is first overshadowed by the Holy Ghost then conceives then carries in the womb grows big and at last falls into travail and brings forth Christ My Text goes not thus far to bring to the Birth neither will I. My discourse shall be happy if it may be his Baptist his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in your hearts to prepare them for his birth which I shall endeavour to do first by handling preparation in general 2. The preparation here specified of the soul 3. In order to Christs birth in us And first of preparation in general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prepare ye or make ready the necessity of this performance to any undertaking may appear by those several precedaneous methods in common life which have nothing in themselves to ingratiate them unto us but cost much toil and trouble yet notwithstanding are submitted to If the Earth would answer the Farmer 's expectation without any culture or husbandry he would never be so prodigal
in the doctrine the specification of it by the subject noted in the Text by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the way and expressed in the latter part of the subject of my proposition the Preparation of the soul This Preparation consists in removing those burthens and wiping off those blots of the soul which any way deface or oppress it in scouring off that rust and filth which it contracted in the Womb and driving it back again as near integrity as may be And this was the aim and business of the wisest among the Ancients who conceived it possible fully to repair what was lost because the privation was not total and finding some sparks of the primitive flame still warm within them endeavour'd and hoped hard to enliven them To this purpose a great company of them saith St. Austin puzled themselves in a design of purging the soul per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consecrationes theurgicas but all in vain as Porphyry himself confesses No man saith he by this theurgick Magick could ever purge himself the nearer to God or wipe his eyes clear enough for such a vision They indeed went more probably to work which used no other magick or exorcism to cast out these Devils to clear and purge the soul but only their reason which the Moralist set up and maintain'd against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the two ringleaders of sensuality To this purpose did Socrates the first and wisest Moralist furnish and arm the reasonable faculty with all helps and defensations that Philosophy could afford it that it might be able to shake off and disburthen it self of those encumbrances which naturally weighed and pressed it downward ut exoneratus animus naturali vigore in aeterna se attollerer where if that be true which some observe of Socrates that his professing to know nothing was because all was taught him by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I wonder not that by others his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consecrated into a Deity for certainly never Devil bore so much charity to Mankind and treachery to his own kingdom as to instruct him in the cleansing of his soul whereby those strong holds of Satan are undermined which cannot subsist but on a stiff and deep Clay foundation From these beginnings of Socrates the Moralists ever since have toil'd hard at this task to get the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Jambl. phrases it out of that corruption of its birth that impurity born with it which the soul contracts by its conversation with the body and from which they say only Philosophy can purge it For it is Philoponus his observation that that Canon of the Physicians That the inclinations of the soul necessarily follow the temper of the body is by all men set down with that exception implied unless the Man have studied Philosophy for that study can reform the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make the soul contemn the commands and arm it against the influences and poysons and infections of the body In summ the main of Philosophy was to this purpose to take off the soul from those corporeal dependances and so in a manner restore it to its primitive self that is to some of that divine perfection with which it was infused for then is the soul to be beheld in its native shape when 't is stript of all its passions At other times you do not see the soul but some froth and weeds of it as the gray part of the Sea is not to be called Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some scurf and foam and weeds that lye on the top of it So then to this spiritualizing of the soul and recovering it to the simplicity of its essence their main precepts were to quell and suppress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Maximus Tyrius speaks that turbulent prachant common people of the soul all the irrational affections and reduce it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a Monarchy or regal government where reason might rule Lord and King For whensoever any lower affection is suffered to do any thing there saith Philoponus we do not work like men but some other creatures Whosoever suffers their lower nutritive faculties to act freely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these men are in danger to become trees that is by these operations they differ nothing from meer plants So those that suffer their sensitive appetites lust and rage to exercise at freedom are not to be reckoned men but beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. then only will our actions argue us men when our reason is at the forge This was the aim and business of Philosophy to keep us from unmanning our selves to restore reason to its scepter to rescue it from the tyranny of that most atheistical usurper as Jambl. calls the affections and from hence he which lived according to those precepts of Philosophy was said both by them and Clement and the Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Austin Secundum intellectum vivere to live according to the guidance of the reasonable soul Which whosoever did saith Plotinus though by it in respect of divinity he was not perfect yet at last should be sure to find a gracious providence first to perfect then to crown his natural moderate well tempered endeavour as Austin cites it out of him L. 10. de civit Dei This whole course and proceedings and assent of the soul through these Philosophical preparations to spiritual perfection is summarily and clearly set down for us in Photius out of Isidorus Philosophically observed to consist in three steps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The first business of the soul is to call in those parts of it which were ingaged in any foreign fleshly imployment and retire and collect it self unto it self and then secondly it learns to quit it self to put off the whole natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s own fashions and conceits all the notions all the pride of humane reason and set it self on those things which are nearest kin to the soul that is spiritual affairs and then thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it falls into holy enthusiasms and spiritual elevations which it continues till it be changed and led into the calm and serenity above the state of man agreeable to the tranquillity and peace which the Gods injoy And could the Philosophers be their own Scholars could they exhibit that felicity which they describe and phansie they might glory in their morality and indeed be said to have prepared and purged the soul for the receit of the most pure and spiritual guest But certainly their speculation out-ran their practice and their very morality was but Theorical to be read in their books and wishes far more legible than in their lives and their injoyments Yet some degrees also of purity or at least a less measure of impurity they attained to only upon the expectation and desire of happiness proposed to
and conversion would have been but cast away upon obdurate hearts so that for Christ to have numbred miracles among his unbelieving Country men no way prepared to receive them had been an injurious liberality and added only to their unexcusableness which contradicts not the Axiom of St. Paul 1 Cor. xiv 22 That some signs are only for unbelievers for even those unbelievers must have within them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a proneness or readiness to receive them with belief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in Jobius to open to the spirit knocking by those miracles and improve them to their best profit 5. Though God needs not yet he requires moral preparation of us as an ordinary means to make us more capable of grace for although according to Saint Austin Ne ipsâ quidem justitiâ nostrâ indiget Deus yet according to Salvian's limitation Eget juxta praceptionem suam licet non juxta potentiam eget secundum legem suam non eget secundum Majestatem We are to think that God hath use of any thing which he commands and therefore must perform whatever he requires and not dare to be confident of the end without the observation of the means prescribed 'T is too much boldness if not presumption to leave all to his omnipotent working when he hath prescribed us means to do somewhat our selves 6. Integrity and Honesty of heart a sober moral life and chiefly humility and tenderness of spirit in summ whatever degree of Innocence either study or fear or love or natural disposition can work in us some or all of which may in some measure be found in some men not yet regenerate are good preparations for Christs birth in us so saith Clement of Philosophy that it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. make ready and prepare the way against Christs coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cooperate with other helps that God hath given us all with this caution that it doth only prepare not perfect facilitate the pursuit of wisdom to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which God may bestow on us without this means To this purpose hath Basil a notable Homily to exhort Scholars to the study of Foreign humane especially Graecian Learning and to this end saith he that we prepare our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Heavenly spiritual Philosophy In the like kind the Fathers prescribe good works of Charity observing out of the xix of St. Matthew that the distribution of all their substance to the poor was a praeludium in the Primitive believers to the following of Christ Prius vendant omnia quà m sequantur from whence he calls Alms-deeds exordia quasi incunabula conversionis nostrae The like may be said though not in the same degree of all other courses quibus carnalium sarcinarum impedimenta projicimus for if these forementioned preparations be meer works of nature in us as some would have them then do they naturally incline the subject for the receiving of grace when it comes and by sitting as it were and organizing the subject facilitate its entrance or if they be works of Gods restraining preventing grace as 't is most orthodoxly agreed on then are they good harbingers for the sanctifying spirit good comfortable symptoms that God will perfect and crown the work which he hath begun in us 7. Gods ordinary course as far as by events we can judge of it is to call and save such as are thus prepared Thus to instance in a few of the first and chiefest 'T was appointed by God that she only should be vouchsafed the blessed office of dignity of being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ's Mother who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he in Photius fuller of vertues than any else of her sex could brag off In like manner that the rest of the family Christs Father and Brethren in account on earth should be such whose vertues had bestowed a more eminent opinion though not place upon them amongst men so was Joseph and his Sons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 famous for very just men James the brother of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy from the womb as Eusebius cites it called by the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he out of Hegesippus which he interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stay of the people and justice it self In brief if a Cornelius be to be called from Gentilism to Christianity ye shall find him in the beginning of his character Acts x. 1 to be a devout man and one that feared God with all his house gave much Alms to the people and prayed to God alway one cut out as it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the first-fruit of the Gentiles Now though none of these vertues can be imputed to nature in the substance of them but acknowledge a more supernatural spiritual agent in them yet are they to be reckoned as preparations to Christs birth in them because they did precede it for so in respect of his real Incarnation in the world the type of his spiritual in the soul Mary was a vertuous pure virgin before the Holy Ghost over shadowed her Joseph a just man before the Holy Ghost appeared to him Mat. i. 19 James holy from the womb and Cornelius capable of all that commendation for Devotion and Alms-deeds Acts x. 1 before either Christ was preach't to him in the 37. or the Holy Ghost fell on him in the 44. verse 8. The Conversion of unprepared hardned blasphemous sinners is to be accounted as a most rare and extraordinary work of Gods power and mercy not an every days work like to be beâ—towed on every habituate sinner and therefore 't is commonly accompanied with some evident note of difference to point it out for a miracle Thus was Paul called from the chief of sinners 1 Tim. i. 15 to the chief of Saints but with this mark that Christ Jesus might shew forth all long-suffering c. which was in him first and perhaps last in that degree that others in his pitch of blasphemies might not presume of the like miracle of mercy And indeed he that is thus called must expect what Paul found a mighty tempest throughout him three days at least without sight oâ— nourishment if not a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a swoon a kind of ecstacy of the whole man at this tumultuary driving out of this high rank insolent habituate body of sin 'T is observed that when the news of Christs birth was brought by the wise men the City was straight in an uproar Herod was much troubled and all Jerusalem with him Mat. ii 3 for it seems they expected no such matter and therefore so strange and sudden news produced nothing but astonishment and tumult whilst Simeon who waited for the consolation of Israel makes no such strange business of it takes him presently into his embraces and familiarly hugs him in his arms having been before acquainted with him by
so being formerly a breach of morality For that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belonging to the understanding which is not to think more highly on ones own worth than he ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. xii 3 Do we not find it commended and dilated on by Aristotle 4. Eth. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not to overprize his own worth or to expect an higher reward than it in proportion deserves So that he that trusts in his morality for Heaven doth eo nomine offend against morality according to that of Salvian Hoc ipsum genus maximae injustitiae est si quis se justum praesumat and indeed Aristotle and Seneca could say as much and so then the accusation is unjust and contumelious for to a moral man if he be truly so this pride or confidence is incompatible for do we not find that treble humility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the actions Ephes iv 2 handled also and prescribed by the Philosophers In summ that which in all moral precepts comes nearest pride or high-mindedness is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eth. 4.3 part of which is setting value on ones self But if you observe this goes no farther than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honour or worldly pomp as for the immortal blessedness of the soul 't was a thing infinitely above the pitch of their hope or confidence the most perfect among them never pretended any jus meriti to it and if they did they had by so much the less hopes to attain to it Now if it be supposed as I fear is too true that our moral men fall far short of the antient Philosophers if they be now adays confident and trust in their works for salvation then they do not make good their name they are only so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abusively and notionally And yet even these equivocal moral men seem to me in as good if not better case than the other term of comparison the careless negligent debauch't men For upon their grounds is it not as easie for the Converting spirit to enter and subdue one Lucifer one proud Devil in the heart otherwise pretty well qualified as to deal with a whole Legion of blasphemous violent riotous railing ignorant Devils I have done all with the confutation of this loose groundless opinion which if 't were true would yet prove of dangerous consequence to be Preached in abating and turning our edge which is of it self blunt and dull enough toward goodness nay certainly it hath proved scandalous to those without as may appear by that boast and exultancy of Campian in his Eighth Reason where he upbraids us English-men of our abominable Lutheran licentious Doctrine as he calls it Quanto sceleratior es tanto vicinior gratiae and therefore I do not repent that I have been somewhat large in the refuting of it as also because it doth much import to the clearing of my discourse for if the meer moral men be farthest from Heaven then have I all this while busied my self and tormented you with an unprofitable nay injurious preparation whereas I should have prescribed you a shorter easier call by being extreamly sinful according to these two Aphorisms of Hippocrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the strongest bodies are in greatest danger and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and height of a disease is the fittest opportunity for a miraculous cure But beloved let us more considerately bethink our selves let us study and learn and walk a more secure probable way to Heaven and for those of us which are yet unregenerate though we obtained no grace of God but that of nature and reason and our Christianity to govern us yet let us not contemn those ordinary restraints which these will afford us let us attend in patience sobriety and humility and prayers the good time and leisures of the spirit let us not make our reasonable soul our profession of men of Christians ashamed of us let not the heathen and beasts have cause to blush at us let us remain men till it may please him to call us into Saints lest being plunged in habitual confident sinning that Hell and Tophet on Earth the very omnipotent mercy of God be in a manner foiled to hale us out again let us improve rack and stretch our natural abilities to the highest that although according to our thirteenth Article we cannnot please God yet we may not mightily provoke him Let every man be in some proportion to his gifts Christs Baptist and forerunner and harbinger in himself that whensoever he shall appear or knock he may enter lodge and dwell without resistance Lastly after all thy preparations be not secure if the Bridegroom will not vouchsafe to rest with you all your provision is in vain all the morality and learning and gifts and common graces unless Christ at last be born in us are but embryo's nay abortives rude imperfect horrid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Philosopher dies in his nonage in whom Christ was never born the highest reach of years and learning is but infancy without the virility and manhood of the spirit by which we are made perfect men in Christ Jesus Wherefore above all things in the world let us labour for this perfection let us melt and dissolve every faculty and spirit about us in pursuit of it and at last seal and bless and crown our endeavours with our Prayers and with all the Rhetorick and means and humility and violence of our souls importune and lay hold on the sanctifying spirit and never leave till he hath blessed and breathed on us O thou mighty controuling holy hallowing Ghost be pleased with thine effectual working to suppress in us all resistance of the pride of nature and prepare us for thy Kingdom of Grace here and Glory hereafter Now to him which hath elected us hath Created and Redeemed us c. SERMON X. JOHN VII 48 Have any of the Pharisees believed on him IT is observable from History with what difficulty Religion attempts to propagate and establish it self with the many what Countenance and encouragement it hath required from those things which are most specious and pompous in the World how it hath been fain to keep its dependencies and correspondencies and submit to the poor condition of sustaining it self by those beggarly helps which the World and the flesh will afford it Two main Pillars which it relies on are Power and Learning the Camp and the Schools or in a word authority of great ones and countenance of Scholars the one to force and extort obedience the other to insinuate belief and assent the first to ravish the second to perswade One instance for all if we would plant Christianity in Turky we must first invade and conquer them and then convince them of their follies which about an hundred years ago
coals of fire which hath a vehement flame She had before often lost her beloved which made her so fiercely fasten on him for having roused him ruit in amplexus she rusht into his embraces she held him and would not let him go Thus you see the jealousie and eagerness of love produc'd by either a former loss or present more than ordinary want of the object both which how pertinent they are to the regenerate man either observing his past sins or instant temptations this Discourse hath already made manifest The Vse of this Thesis to wit that the greatness of ones sins makes the regenerate man apply himself more fiercely to Christ is first by way of caution that we mistake not a motive for an efficient an impulsive for a principal cause For where we say It makes him apply himself c. we mean not that the encrease of sin produces faith formally but only inciteth to believe by way of instruction by shewing us what distress we are in and consequently in what a necessity of a deliverer The meditation of our sinful courses may disclose our misery not redress it may explore not mend a Sinner like a touchstone to try not any way to alter him It is the controuling spirit which must effectually renew our spirits and lead us to the Christ which our sins told us we had need of The sense of sin may rouze the Soul but it is the spirit of God that lays the toils the feeling of our guilt may beat the Waters but it is the great Fisher of our Souls which spreads the Net which entraps us as we are in our way to Hell and leads us captive to salvation The mere gripings of our Conscience being not produced by any Pharmacon of the spirit but by some distemper arising from sin what anxiety doth it cause within us What pangs and twinges to the Soul O Lord do thou regenerate us and then thy holy spirit shall sanctifie even our sins unto our good and if thy grace may lead us our sins shall pursue and drive us unto Christ Secondly By way of character how to distinguish a true convert from a false A man which from an inveterate desperate malady shall meet with a miraculous unexpected cure will naturally have some art of expression above an ordinary joy you shall see him in an ecstasie of thanksgiving and exultancy whilst another which was never in that distress quietly enjoys the same health and gives thanks softly by himself to his preserver So is it in the distresses of the Soul which if they have been excessive and almost beyond hope of recovery as the miracle must so will the expression of this deliverance be somewhat extraordinary The Soul which from a good moral or less sinful natural estate is magis immutata quam genita rather chang'd than regenerate into a spiritual goes through this business without any great noise the spirit entring into it in a still small voice or at a breathing but when a robustous obdurate Sinner shall be rather apprehended than called when the Sea shall be commanded to give up his ship-wrack't and the Sepulchre to restore her dead the Soul surely which thus escapeth shall not be content with a mean expression but will practise all the Hallelujahs and Magnificats which the triumphant Liturgies of the Saints can afford it Wherefore I say if any one out of a full violent course of sinning conceive himself converted and regenerated let him examine what a degree of spiritual exultancy he hath attained to and if he find it but mean and flight and perfunctory let him somewhat suspect that he may the more confirm the evidence of his calling Now this spiritual exultancy of the regenerate consists both in a solemn humiliation of himself and a spiritual rejoycing in God his Saviour both exprest in Maries Magnificat where she specifies in the midst of her joy the lowliness of his handmaid and in S. Pauls victory-song over Death So that if the conversion of an inordinate Sinner be not accompanied with unwonted joy and sorrow with a godly sense of his past distress and a godly triumph for his delivery if it be not followed with a violent eagerness to fasten on Christ finally if there be not somewhat above ordinary in the expression then I counsel not to distrust but fear that is with a sollicitous not suspicious trembling to labour to make thy calling and election sure to pray to that Holy Spirit to strike our hearts with a measure of holy joy and holy sorrow some way proportionable to the size of those sins which in our unregeneracy reigned in us and for those of us whom our sins have separated far from him but his grace hath called home to him that he will not suffer us to be content with a distance but draw us close unto himself make us press toward the mark and fasten our selves on that Saviour which hath redeemed us from the body and guilt of this so great death The third Vse is of comfort and confirmation to some tender Souls who are incorporate into Christ yet finding not in themselves that excessive measure of humiliation which they observe in others suspect their own state and infinitely grieve that they can grieve no more Whereas this Doctrine being observed will be an allay to their sorrow and wipe some unnecessary tears from their Eyes For if the greatness of sin past or the plentiful relicks of sin remaining do require so great a measure of sorrow to expiate the one and subdue the other if it be a deliverance from an habituate servitude to all manner of sin which provokes this extraordinary pains of expression then certainly they who have been brought up with the spirit which were from their baptism never wholly deprived of it need not to be bound over to this trade of sorrow need not to be set apart to that perpetual humiliation which a more stubborn sin or Devil is wont to be cast out by I doubt not but a soul educated in familiarity with the spirit may at once enjoy her self and it and so that if it have an humble conceit of it self and a filial of God may in Earth possess God with some clearness of look some serenity of affections some alacrity of heart and tranquillity of spirit God delights not in the torment of his children though some are so to be humbled yea he delights not in such burnt-offerings as they bestow upon him who destroy and consume and sacrifice themselves but the Lords delight is in them that fear him filially and put their trust i. e. assurance confidence in his mercy in them that rejoice that make their service a pleasure not an affliction and thereby possess Heaven before they come to it 'T is observed in husbandry that soyl laid on hard barren starved ground doth improve it and at once deface and enrich it which yet in ground naturally fruitful and kept in heart and good case
Rendrings more nicely and proposed either my own or others Opinions concerning the Causes or Grounds of their Variations which I acknowledge to be more than was necessary to the Work in hand yet deemed it a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the Learned Reader would be gratified and the more Unlearned not considerably disturbed in his pursuit 24. As for the Syriack that also hath been often conducible to my Undertaking as departing frequently from the LXXII where there was reason for so doing and more simply rendring the Original than the Chaldee as a Paraphrast pretended to do 25. Besides these I have had the Directions sometimes of the Jewish Scholiasts especially Aben Ezra and Kimchi and sometimes of the Jewish Arab Interpreter and of Abu Walid and R. Tanchum which three I wholly owe to the Favour of my most Learned Friend Mr. Pocock who hath those Manuscript Rarities peculiar to his Library and hath been forward to communicate them and which is more his own great Judgment in several Difficulties when I stood in need thereof And by these and other Helps which were more accessible I at length atteined to that measure of Understanding of this very obscure Divine Poem which is here communicated to the Reader by three Steps or Degrees First by some light change of the Translation Secondly by larger Paraphrase and Thirdly to those that have the curiosity to desire the Reasons of these by way of Annotations 26. And if what is here communicated prove in any proportion successful toward the designed End the giving the Reader the plain Understanding of this Book it will then leave behind it a manifold Obligation to make use of it to his own greatest Advantage not only by gathering out of the whole as from a Panacea those peculiar Medicaments which may fit him in whatsoever Occasions but by allotting himself every day of his Life a Dimensum of Heavenly Meditation and Devotion conversing with God in those very Words they need not be refined or put into Rhythme to fit them for his turn the Antients contented themselves with the plain Prose and found it fittest for use with which for this common End the Use and Benefit of Mankind he so long since inspired the Psalmist 27. Till by some better Guidance Men have acquired some competent Understanding of the Book this Paraphrase may possibly be Useful in their retirements to be read Verse by Verse together with the Psalm as Interlinears have been provided for Novices in all Languages But when the Psalm is understood and the recesses competently opened then this designed Help will but incumber the instructed Christian and so is in duty to be laid aside and changed for the indeavour of drawing to himself the most proper Juice out of every Line and then inlarging his Thoughts and inflaming his Zeal on each occasion that the Periods of the Psalm shall severally suggest and the good Spirit of God excite in him whether in relation to himself or others 28. To which purpose it is much to be wished that they that allot any conconstant part of their time to private Psalmody and to that end have as the Antients prescribed and practised gotten the Psaltery perfectly by heart quilibet vinitor every Tradesman at his Manual Work having by this means the whole time of his Labour vacancy for his Devotion would be careful not only to keep their Hearts in strict attendance on their Tongues that it may not degenerate into Lip-labour but also to give them a much greater scope of inlargement to improve these Impresses to beat out this Gold into Plate and Wire by Reflections Applications Soliloquies and so to fasten these on the Mind with references to the Texts which suggested them that they may be so many Topicks and Helps of Memory to bring back the same with all the Advantages that united Devotions shall beget in them when they recite the same in the publick Offices of the Church 29. I have heard of some Pious Men which have constantly compleated the whole Work of their private Prayers by inlarging their Meditations on the several Petitions of the Lords Prayer the profit whereof is probably much greater than of the same or greater space laid out by others in the multiplied Recitation of the same Divine Prayer And proportionably the reciting a few Psalms daily with these Interpunctions of Mental Devotion suggested and animated and maintained by the native Life and Vigour which is in the Psalms may deserve much to be preferred before the daily Recitation of the whole Psalter whereof the Devotions of some Asceticks is said to have consisted The danger being very obvious and easily foreseen that what is beaten out into immoderate length will lose of the massiness and nothing more fit to be averted in Religious Offices than their degenerating into heartless dispirited Recitations 30. That our Devotions unto which the Psalter is set to minister may not be such we are 1. To take care that our Lives bear some conformity with these Patterns and 2. Very sollicitously to attend and provide that the Psalmist's Effusions have the Psalmist's Spirit and Affection to accompany them that we borrow his Hand and Breath as well as his Instrument and Ditties The Antient Fathers of the Church are very pressing on this Subject Form thy Spirit by the Affection of the Psalm saith S. Augustine If it be the Affection of Love inkindle that within thy Breast that thou mayst not speak against thy Sense and Knowledge and Conscience when thou sayst I will love thee O Lord my strength If it be an Affection of Fear impress that on thy Soul and be not thy self an insensible Anvil to such Strokes of Divine Poesie which thou chantest out to others O consider this ye that forget God lest he pluck you away and there be none to deliver you If it be an Affection of Desire which the Psalmist in an holy transportation expresseth let the same breath in thee accounting as S. Chrysostome minds thee on Psal 42. that when thou recitest those words Like as the Hart desireth the Water-brooks so longeth my Soul after thee O God thou hast sealed a Covenant betrothed and ingaged thy Soul to God and must never have a coldness or indifferency to him hereafter If it be the Affection of Gratitude let thy Soul be lifted up in Praises come with Affections this way inflamed sensible of the weight of Mercies of all kinds Spiritual and Temporal with all the Inhansements that the seasonable Application thereof to the Extremities of thy Wants can add to thy Preservations and Pardons and Joys or else the reciting the Hallelujahs will be a most ridiculous piece of Pageantry And so likewise for the petitory part of the Psalms let us be allways in a posture ready for them with our spirits minutely prepared to dart them up to heaven And whatever the affection be Cor faciat quod verba significant Let the heart
into a most languishing terrible condition provoked thee to withdraw thy grace and give me up to the effects of thy displeasure This is a sad disease and of the worst condition even of the soul wherewith thou art pleased also that my body or outward condition should bear consent And in all this 't is I that have thus diseased my self disturbed and miserably wasted the health of my soul which consists in an exact conformity of my desires and actions to thy will And now there is no remedy left but one that of thy pardon and gratious forgiveness pouring thy wine and oile and healing balsom into my gaping wounds and this most seasonable mercy I beseech thee to bestow upon me 3. My soul is also sore vexed but thou O Lord how long Paraphrase 3. The disquiet and torment hereof doth pierce my soul there are the sharpest arrow◠of thy displeasure 〈◊〉 and afflict me exceedingly Lord that it might be at length thy season to asswage thy wrath to speak peace to 〈◊〉 to afford me some refreshing which I cannot hope from any other hand 4. Return O Lord deliver my soul O save me for thy mercies sake Paraphrase 4. Lord be thou pacified and reconciled to me and by that means rescue me out of this sad condition wherein I am involved under the weight of my sin and thy displeasure And though there be in me no means to propitiate but only to avert and provoke thee yet let thine own mercy and free bounty of grace have the glory of it reflect on that and from thence work this deliverance for me 5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who will ‖ give thee thanks Paraphrase 5. For shouldest thou now proceed to take away my life as it were a most direful condition for me to die before I have propitiated thee so I may well demand what increase of glory or honor will it bring unto thee will it not be infinitely more glorious for thee to spare me till by true contrition I may regain thy favour and then I may live to praise and magnifie thy mercy and thy grace thy mercy in pardoning so great a sinner and then confess thee by vital actions of all holy obedience for the future and so demonstrate the power of thy grace which hath wrought this change in me Neither of which will be done by destroying me but only thy just judgments manifested in thy vengeance on sinners 6. I am weary with my groaning All the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears Paraphrase 6. The sadness of my present condition under the weight of thy displeasure and the grievous effects thereof is such as extorts those groans from me which instead of easing do only increase my torment The night which is the appointed season of rest is to me the time of greatest disquiet my agonies extort whole rivers of tears from me and the consideration of my horrible sins the causes of them gives me not one minute of intermission 7. Mine eye is consumed because of grief it waxeth old because of all mine enemies Paraphrase 7. The tears which the thought of thy continual displeasure and punishments incessantly draws from me have corroded and even exhausted the animal spirits that maintain my sight make mine eyes very dim above what is proportionable to my age and still there remains a succession of new sorrows to mind me of my successive sins one enemy after another still riseth up against me 8. Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping Paraphrase 8. Whilst I thus bemoan my self before so gracious a God I cannot but with confidence look up and expect his speedy return unto my Prayers and consequently assure my self that all the designs of my rebellious enemies shall be utterly frustrated by him 9. The Lord hath heard the voice of my supplication the Lord will receive my prayer Paraphrase 9. He that hath promised not to despise a broken heart to comfort the mourner he whose title it is to be the hearer of prayers the vindicator of the innocent will certainly make good these promises to me at this time in pardoning my sins and averting these punishments from me 10. Let all mine enemies be ashamed and ‖ sore vexed let them return and be ashamed suddenly Paraphrase 10. And therefore I am most confident that all my opposers shall be discomfited and sent back successless in their present design and how confident soever now they appear they shall very suddenly be routed and put to confusion and utterly disappointed in their enterprize Annotations on Psal VI. V. 2. My bones The chief difficulty in this verse will be removed by considering the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render my bones and so indeed it often signifies from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 robustus or fortis fuit but not only so but in a greater latitude the members of the body and then the body it self nay the substance or being and not only the body as Job 11.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his bone or body is by the Chaldee rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 himself in opposition to his goods and family which had been toucht sharply Chap. 1. And so among the Rabbines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oft used for ipsimet themselves see Note on Rom. 6. a. It being an ordinary figure among the Hebrews to express a thing by the names of the parts of it Thus Psal 35.10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee where certainly the bones which say and praise God are to signifie the Psalmist himself his tongue and heart and every part of him And so here being in conjunction with I am weak and my soul is sore vexed v. 3. it is but a Poetical expression my bones i. e. every part of my body Now the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render vexed from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Niphal signifies any sudden commotion or disturbance or trembling and so being joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 languishing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be sick or faint and so weak in the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the New Testament See Note on Rom. viii m. and Gal. 4. a. it must signifie a sore affliction perhaps literally a disease a terrible shaking fit as of a Paralytick and this being founded in and so including also his sin the malady of the soul which is likewise called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weakness see 1 Cor. 8. Note 6. the whole verse is the doleful description of him that hath committed any wasting sin and being cast down under Gods punishments for it is passionately suing out Gods pardon the only means possible to recover or heal him again V. 10. Let all my enemies All the Antient Interpreters understand this last verse of
hope that I shall never be finally forsaken by him cast down by the enemy or devested of that dignity to which my God hath invested me 9. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope Paraphrase 9. This is full matter of joy to my heart and of boasting to my tongue and of all kind of assurance to every part of me 10. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption Paraphrase 10. For thy promises to me are firm and oblige thee not to forsake me so as that I shall be either killed by Saul or opprest finally by him or any other Thou hast designed me to be King and therein favoured me exceedingly see note on Psal 4. d. and all the malice of men though they bring me never so low shall not finally prevail against me And this having a first literal but lower completion in Davids person was more fully and ultimately to be forâ—ified in the son of David the eternal Word of God the Messias of the World who in the dayes of his flesh though he were crucified by the Jews should yet by the power of his eternal God head be raised again from the dead and that within the compass of three days before his body should naturally tend to corruption See Act. 2. â—0 and xiii â—5 11. Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Paraphrase 11. Thou shalt protect me and keep me alive from the malicious designs and machinations of mine enemies and refresh and comfort me abundantly with thy favour and love and special care of me and by continuing me in that Throne whereto thou hast advanced me give me continual matter of rejoycing And this was most eminently completed also in Christ when by the power of his Father he was more then preserved from death rescued from it when he was â—nder it raised from death to life and exalted in great triumph to his everlasting kingdom in heaven and so applied Acts 2.28 Annotations on Psal XVI Tit. Michtam From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signare notare insculpere to seal to note or ingrave is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any pretious thing either such as for securing of it is sealed up as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or for preserving it from forgetfulness is ingraven in Marble c. Hence it is that the Targum renders it â—here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a right Sculpture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to engrave and the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inscription on a Pillar not reading it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some conjecture from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scripsit to write but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insculpsit to ingrave to denote it a Psalm fit to be ingraven for everlasting memory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on an eminent Pillar saith Apollinarius to be written in golden letters as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also signifies the finest gold Psalm 45.9 and preserved in our hearts for ever And this especially as containing a signal prophecy of the resurrection of Christ recited from hence Acts 2.25 26 27. three verses cited from this Psalm v. 8 9 10. and again Acts 13.35 As when Job delivers that notable speech applyed by the antients generally to the Resurrection though as this here capable of a first interpretation which was to be verified in his own person in raising him from his present calamitouâ— estate I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall stand in the laâ—ter day upon the earth he introduceth it in this form Oh that they were printed in a Book that they were graven with an iron pen and lead i. e. the Sculpture filled up with lead that the letters might continue the longer legible in the rock or sâ—nt or hard stone marble or other the most durable matter for ever which is just the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inscribing on a Pillar here in order to the preservation and special observation of such speeches which had their farther completion to be expected in Christ over and above what belonged to them in relation to the present condition of the speakers V. 2. O my soul Where the Hebrew copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast said in the feminine and the Chaldee paraphrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou my soul hast said 't is evident the LXXII and Syriack and Latine and Arabick and Aethiopick read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first person I have said for so they render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dixi Domino I have said unto the Lord. V. 2. My goodness There is difficulty in this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The literal rendring is My goodness in no wise to or with thee which the LXXII and so the Latine Arabick and Aethiopick render paraphrastically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast no need of my good things But the Chaldee read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my goodness is not given but from thee and the Syriack more simply my good is from thee In which readings either the negative particle seems to be omitted for so the Syriack reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and my good from without any or else to be doubled for so 't is in the Chaldee and that is all one as if it were omitted the two negatives or non nisi being all one with the bare affirmative In this variety the safest way of reconciling the interpretations is to suppose them on all sides to be rather paraphrastical explications than literal rendrings The LXXII by reading thou hast no need of my good things whether my good works or my liberalities thought to express the sense of my goodness not to or with thee i. e. tend not to thy avail or advantage are not prized by thee and the Chaldee and Syriack by another phrase seem to have meant the same thing My good is all from thee I am so far from meriting any thing of thee by any good works of mine that indeed those good works are not mine but thine only as flowing and being given to me by thee And both these together seem to make up the full sense my goodness or as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 critically signifies my liberality is so far from meriting from thee or being any considerable return unto thee that it is thy right and so a meer mercy received from thee V. 3. But to the Saints The difficulties of this third verse may best be removed by observing the dependance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Saints on what preceded v. 2. That began with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I said or thou my soul hast said unto the Lord with which fairly connects 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Saints i. e.
word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LXXII renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my tongue and so the Latine and Arabick and Aethiopick and so Apollinarius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my tongue rejoyced This some learned men attribute to their reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my tongue instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my glory words which have little affinity one with another in the letters of them 'T is more reasonable to resolve that David in a Poetick writing should use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 glory by metonymy for those parts whereby God is glorified or praised i. e. either the soul or especially the tongue So Psal 36.12 that my glory may sing praise to thee the LXXII there render literally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my glory but sure it signifies either the soul or tongue So Psal 57.8 Awake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LXXII render literally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my glory but in all reason that signifies my tongue so as to connect with singing praecedent and the Harp and Psaltery following So Psal 108.1 I will give praise even with my glory i. e. my tongue and so I suppose Psal 149.5 Let the pious or holy ones rejoyce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the LXXII in glory i. e. in or with the tongue that so it may connect with what follows Let them rejoyce in their beds Let the praises of God be in their mouths And thus no doubt it signifies here and the praecedent mention of the heart restrains it in this place to the tongue And this being discerned by the LXXII it was no fault in them to render it according to the sense not letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my tongue V. 10. Hell That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the condition or state of the dead there is no question and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or rather to that state and in that sense the leaving his soul in it or to it is applyed by the Apostle St. Peter Acts 2.27 to the abiding of Christ in the state of separation of his soul from his body from whence he arose or returned the third day and so was not left in it or to it And in this sense both 〈◊〉 Peter there v. 29. and S Paul c. 13.36 duly resolve that this verse of not being left in sâ—â—eol and not seeing corruption was not applyable to David for that he was dead and buried and his Sepulchre remained with them till that day c. 2.29 and again he fell on sleep and lay with his fathers and saw corruption This then being supposed in respect of the grand and principally designed sense the prophetical mystical completed onely in Christ and not in David there may yet be a first but less eminent sense wherein it was also true of David that his soul should not be left in scheol nor this holy one of Gods so David is oft called see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corruption viz. so as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifies extreme distress here in this life so Psal 116. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the distresses of scheol signifies exceeding great distresses interpreted by what follows I shall find trouble and heaviness and so as in like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render corruption from the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth sometimes signifie no more than great weakness Dan. 10.8 where 't is opposed to vigor and expounded by having no strength sometimes a pit as that differs from death Ezek. 19.4 where the Lion taken in their pit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the LXXII render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their corruption was carried into Aegypt taken but not killed and so Prov. 28.5 Jer. 15.3 And then the meaning is that he shall be certainly delivered by God from all those distresses Or again as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies death or final destruction or deprivation of that state wherein any one is as when of Capernaum 't is said thou shalt be brought down to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render hell Mat. 11.23 the meaning is that it shall be destroyed from being a City and in proportion with that to be left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or to scheol and to see corruption in the sense that the word is used Psalm 107.20 when 't is said of God that he saved the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of their corruptions or destructions will signifie to be killed by his enemies c. to be turned out of that Kingdom which God had designed him This Saul earnestly endeavoured but prevailed not the same did Absalom afterwards But Gods promise to David that he would bring him to the throne and set of his seed on the throne after him was certainly to be fulfilled and in strength of that he thus resolved that his soul should not be left in this distress to be swallowed up by it or left 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it to be thus destroyed neither of which import either his not coming to the grave not dying at all for as St. Paul saith of David after he had served the counsel of God in his generation he fell asleep and was laid with his fathers nor that he should rise from the dead again without rotting in the grave for there he did thus continue saith the same Apostle and saw corruption and his sepulchre is with us to this day saith St. Peter Act. 2.29 And so this more eminent completion of the words respecting resurrection from the dead is reserved onely for Christ who lay not in the grave so long as that by the course of nature his body should putrifie which it would have done if it had continued in the state of death above three days according to that which Lazarus's sister saith of him by this time he stinketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he hath been dead four days To the same purpose the last verse of the Psalm is applyed by St. Peter Acts 2.28 and so though it have one literal sense belonging to David so as the way of life may denote means used by God for his preservation and Gods presence or countenance his favour and providence and his right hand the regal power conferred on him and secured to him by God yet it must be resolved to have another more principal ultimate and withal more literal sense also respecting the raising of Christ to life ascension to Heaven the place of Gods peculiar presence and vision and the setting him at Gods right hand in equality of power and glory with him and that simply to indure for ever which cannot but in a limited sence be affirmed of David These three verses being so expresly applied by the Apostle to this prophetick sense there can be no doubt of it But the former part of the Psalm no way appearing to be throughout interpretable of Christ yet fitly belonging to David it was necessary thus to
especially that of Joh. 3. 〈…〉 on that 〈…〉 and generally Christ is the person 〈…〉 bridegroom Now as those bridegroom 〈…〉 solemnly brought out from under the 〈…〉 25.1 〈…〉 of darkness comes to us 〈…〉 of his 〈…〉 whither he hath 〈…〉 to be seen 〈…〉 morning at the rising of the 〈◊〉 saith the 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 star 〈…〉 that 〈…〉 sense 〈…〉 of God to the 〈◊〉 whether 〈…〉 or by voice from heaâ—en at last 〈…〉 of righteousness was ready to come forth their 〈…〉 and his son John the Baptist of whom it is peculiarly said he was a â—rning and a shining lamp this light from heaven that of Prophecy began to shew it self as the Phosphorus of Daduchus the light bearer or torch-bearer to bring out this bridegroom into the world who when he was come should imitate the Sun in his course 〈…〉 and warm all the parts of the babâ—â—able world before he set again This we know Christ did by 〈…〉 rays by those his Apostles 〈…〉 which makes it 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 of Christ and not only of 〈…〉 in the creatures V. 8. 〈…〉 is 〈…〉 is thought to be the 〈…〉 to the Chaldee 〈…〉 and the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 But it is not so 〈◊〉 that 〈…〉 the feminine of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rather 〈…〉 then it may not be 〈◊〉 to remember 〈…〉 of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take food and from the◠〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 meat or food So Iam. 4.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for food in thâ— plural the Chaldee renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for food so Psal â—8 22 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for food 〈…〉 Sam. 13.5 7 10. And to this sense the 〈…〉 here to inclinâ— First by rejoycing the heart precedent which being the effect attributed to wine 〈…〉 that this second part of the verse should 〈◊〉 long 〈…〉 and the effects thereof and so secondly it follows it enlightens the eyes That this is an effect of taking food peculiarly hath been noted at large Psal â—â— note 〈◊〉 from that passage of Jonathan when the tasting 〈◊〉 little honey was the inlightning his eyes and so the phrase is used to express any refection of mind or body And so it will be most agreeable here the law of God and obedience thereto being the most proper aliment to the soul as it is said to be Christs meat to do the will of him that 〈◊〉 him and the effect thereof all manner of refreshment to the spirit when on the other side sin puts men into a sad weak famishing condition such as the prodigal in the Gospel is described in To this sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for food the reader will be more inclined 1. by the context v. 7. where the law of the Lord is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make my soul or life return which is the ordinary expression of foods refreshing us when we faint with hunger So Psal 23.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he restores my soul a consequent of the green pasture and still waters v. 2. he refresheth me So 1 Sam. 30.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his spirit 〈…〉 him as an effect of eating and drinking after 〈…〉 days So Lam. 1.16 the conforter 〈…〉 or bringing back the soul i. â— he that 〈…〉 restoring refresh me And then this restoring of the soul and 〈◊〉 food to it are in effect all one This food be◠〈◊〉 that of Paradise without the curse â—â—â—ext to 〈…〉 us by God without our labour the 〈…〉 of knowledge and of life 〈…〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the 〈…〉 from both the roots 〈…〉 dimensum or por◠〈…〉 â—is purged and drest before 〈…〉 V. 10. 〈…〉 signifies will be uncertain The 〈◊〉 renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oâ—ryzum 〈…〉 Hierome conceives 〈…〉 that which comes 〈…〉 gold But the 〈…〉 precious stone and Psal 〈…〉 precious stone And this latter is very 〈…〉 the word and is but a light variation of it 〈◊〉 other languages if we may believe Hesyâ—â—â— For 〈◊〉 he speaking of the 〈…〉 which is but this 〈◊〉 with the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pa◠〈…〉 Topaâ— and is a precious stone Meanwhile it is also clear that it is used for fine gold also of which the Crown is made Psal â—â— 3 and of which 〈◊〉 vessels Job 28.17 and so it may be here also V. 11. Warned The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used hath three significations First to shine and is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to shine forth Dan. 12.3 Secondly by a metaphor to admonish and warn and then is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezech. 33.3 to signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezech. 33.9 to declare before â—and and Thirdly to flourish in the Chaldeâ— Paraphrase Hos 14.6 and Psal 90.6 From the second of these most of the Antient Interpreters render it here the Chaldee thy servant was circumspect in them the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 keeps them and so oft elsewhere and from them the Syriack Latine Arabick and Aethiopick But the context â—â—ems rather to determine it to the first or which 〈◊〉 all one to the third sense the glorious and flourishing condition that is to be attained to either in 〈◊〉 or in another world by this means of careful obedience unto Gods commands and by no other for to this it follows that in keeping of them there is great reward V. 13. Presumptuous From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—bullivit intumuit to boil to swell is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proud or insolent one that on set purpose deliberately commits any ill and also the action that is so committed This the LXXII render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latine ab alienis from strangers or strange sins or other mens sins most probably misreading the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and taking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from strangers for it V. 14. Let the words The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the future is literally to be rendred shall be and 〈◊〉 the LXXII and Latine read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—raâ—â—â— and the words shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut complaceant such as shall be acceptable before God or in his sight or more expresly an acceptable sacrifice So 't is used Exod. 28.38 Lev. 22.20 21. Isai 56.7 Jer. 6.20 in all the places where it occurs And to this sense the context confines it speaking of that abstinence from all wilful known presumptuous sins which is required of all men to make their prayers or any other their best performances or sacrifices acceptable before God according to that of the Apostle exhorting to lift up clean or holy hands 1 Tim. 2.8 and the Prophet Isai 1.16 Wash ye make ye clean till then surely God heareth not sinners John 9.31 The Twentieth
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies two things 1. to incline or decline and 2. to stretch out extend distend But how in either of these notions it shall be joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here it will not be easie to judge The LXXII render it in the former notion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they bow'd down evil things on thee and the Latine declinaverunt in te mala and the Syriack seems to accord rendring it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Arabick they bow'd down If this be the notion of the word then it will best be rendred they wrested or perverted evil things against thee as Exod. 23.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to decline and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pervert is used and again v. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt not pervert i. e. by perverting or distorting thy words framed accusations calumnies which are stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evil or wicked words or things Matth. 5.2 against thee In the second notion it is ordinarily applied to lines and curtains and then to spread evil against any may be a phrase taken from the spreading of nets as Psal 140.5 they spread a net with cords for the insnaring of any But the Chaldee which render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies first to beat out and compress and thence to machinate contrive or forge in the brain in which sense it best agrees with imagining that follows make it probable to be taken from the Metallists who beat out and so extend or distend their metals and so frame them into any fashion from whence by an easie metaphor it may be drawn to that of designing or forging any evil against another V. 11. Make them turn their backs That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a shoulder or shoulder-blade there is no question Scapula that part of the body which from the neck reacheth on both sides before and behind to the arm But what the meaning is here of the Poetical phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt set them a shoulder is not so easie to resolve The Chaldee reads it Thou hast set them to thy people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one shoulder The sense of it seems to be best fetcht from that which follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to thy strings from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nervous a bow-string Psal 9.2 The LXXII seem not to have understood it rendring it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in thy remainders as if it were from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reliquus fuit But sure it signifies the strings of a bow as the instrument of shooting or wounding and then whether we joyn that to the precedent words Thou shalt set them a shoulder for thy bow-strings or to the subsequent words Thou shalt set them a shoulder with thy bow-strings thou shalt prepare against the face of them the latter part must have some influence on the former and then either way the setting them a shoulder will be either the setting them in aray drawing them up in a full and fair battalio that so his arrows may freely play upon them which in the end of the verse are said to be prepared against the face of them or to the same sense thou shalt make them as one neck so the Jewish Arab. renders it for slaughter Somewhat parallel to this we have Hos 6.9 where it is said of the Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they killed shoulder-wise or by the shoulder The Chaldee render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one shoulder in the same words as here they use to expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shoulder which shews it to be a proverbial form to signifie sure and uniform slaughter This the learned Castellio saw and paraphrastically but very significantly exprest Nam tu eis pro scopo collocatis rectâ in eos tuis nervis collineabis For thou shalt set them as thy butt or mark and with thine arrows aim straight at them And this sure is the perspicuous meaning of this dark place For the Souldier in procinctu both in the antient and modern wars was and is wont to oppose only the shoulder to the enemy that being the most commodious posture both for defence and offence Thus the Phalanx was drawn up thus our stand of Pikes are accustomed to charge thus the Archers draw the bows the Musketiers give fire so the Swordmen receive the enemy covering the left shoulder with the buckler and they that use no buckler yet stand upon a guard of like nature and hold it for a rule never to leave open the whole body to the opposite All which gives the account clearly why the phrase of setting them a shoulder is here used because that was the military posture Abu Walid interprets it thou shalt set them as one side or on one side viz. to deal with them all alike comparing the use of it here with that in Hoseah c. 6.9 The Twenty Second PSALM TO the chief Musitian upon Aiieleth Shahar A Psalm of David Paraphrase The Twenty Second Psalm was composed by David on occasion of his own flying from his persecutors and the calamities that befell him at that time and belongs mystically to the Crucifixion of Christ and was therein most literally fulfilled in several passages see Matth. 27.35.43 and was by Christ recited upon the Cross either all or at least some part of it Matth. 27.46 The Psalm thus composed by David was committed to the Praefect of his Musick 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring Paraphrase 1. O my God O my God I am forsaken by thee mine enemies prevail against me and all my loudest and most importunate cryes to thee for help bring me no relief How long wilt thou thus leave me to this state of destitution I beseech thee at length to look upon me This was farther completed in Christ upon the Cross when his Divine Nature suspended the exercise of his omnipotence so far as to deliver up his body to that reproachful death and real separation from his Soul Matth. 27.46 2. O my God I cry in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent Paraphrase 2. O my God I call and cry unto thee continually day and night and thou givest me no redress nor least cessation to my afflictions 3. But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel Paraphrase 3. Yet am I not discouraged by this I am sure that thou continuest faithful and true such as canst not forget thy promises thou art he that hast and wilt continue to do all wonderfull things for thy people and even when for a time thou permittest them to be opprest by their enemies thou art still most worthy to be magnified and praised by them 4. Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted
in the greatest distresses the lowest depression of sadness the most palpable darkness of despair yet am I chearfully resolved not to be discouraged therewith or to apprehend 't will make me miserable being confident of the continuance of this special guard about me and that as a shepherd still thou wilt keep me from straying from thee and protect me from all dangers 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oyle my cup runneth over Paraphrase 5. Nay more thou givest me that treatment of the most indulgent possessor 2 Sam. 12.3 that admitted his beloved lamb unto his table to eate of his bread and drink of his cup with him thou ommittest no expression of respect and tender love to me By this means thou providest all plenty for me maugre the malice of my enemies who grieve to see the riches of thy bounty to me and care over me Thou entertainest me with wine and oyle in the most festival manner affordest me not only in a sufficient but in a most plentiful degree all things that are for the advantage as well as support both of my body and soul 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I †will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Paraphrase 6. And I cannot doubt but this bounty and super-abundant mercy of thine shall continue to me all my dayes and for my return to thee I shall most diligently frequent the publick Assembly of thy saints and servants wheresoever the Ark is placed and there bless and praise thy name and address my prayers to thee as long as I live And this is a farther addition to the felicities of my life that thou wilt afford me this honourable and glorious way of inhabiting in thy sanctuary and most amicably conversing with thee Or to crown all this thou shalt enfold me at last in that best of sheep-coats that place of equal purity and safety where no unclean or ravenous beast can come there shall I rest and there abide for ever Annotations on Psal XXIII V. 5. Runneth over The LXXII for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exuberant read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inebriating but this is their ordinary use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for drinking liberally not being intoxicated or drunk The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies moist watered and watering being a means of making ground fertile plentiful exuberant and so is fitly applied to the festival cup here But to this the LXXII add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latine quam praeclarus est how excellent is it This they do by taking the beginning of the next verse and adding it to the end of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they therefore render how good But that belongs to the consequent words and so is rendred by the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but goodness or benignity and so the Syriack and the Arabick who yet finding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the version of the LXXII render that there inebriating as pure wine accounting that the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 best the wine which hath no dash of water being such In this place the LXXII read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy cup and from them the Arabick and Aethiopick but the Hebrew hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my cup and so the Chaldee and Syriack and Latine and St. Hierome in his Epistle to Sunia and Fretella saith that in the edition of the LXXII it was my cup and that thy cup was an error of the Scribes V. 6. Dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the interlinear regularly renders I shall return from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is commonly taken in that sense is by all the antient Interpreters rendred I shall dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the LXXII and so in the rest from a second notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to inhabit in which we have it Jer. 42.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We render it if ye shall still abide and the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if by dwelling ye shall dwell and so the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if ye shall surely abide and the Arabick if ye shall remain firm and the Latine si quiescentes permanseritis if ye shall abide quiet and so the Syriack also Thus 2 Sam. 19.32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his abiding the Chaldee again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his dwelling at Mahanaim And that thus it was taken here is much more probable from their general consent than that they read as some imagine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being ordinary for words of so near alliance as are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to return and I may add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to rest to change significations the one with the other and so to signifie the same thing especially when 't is remembred that he that is returned to a place is supposed to abide for some time and so to inhabit there The Twenty Fourth PSALM A Psalm of David Paraphrase The Twenty fourth Psalm composed by David on occasion of bringing the Ark into Sion is a declaration of Gods dominion over this world his providential presence in every part of it but his special presence in the place assigned for his worship the Ark of the Covenant which is therefore joyfully to be received into Sion and entertain'd by all Israel being moreover a signal emblem of Christ's ascension into heaven 1. The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein 2. For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods Paraphrase 1 2. This whole lower orbe of ours and not only the heaven where he is said to dwell is the Lords by all right of creation and providence and preservation and so are all the sorts of creatures and every particular with which he hath replenisht it the Universe and all the inhabitants thereof produced at first continued since and every minute preserved by him for were it not so this globe whereon we dwell would suddenly be overwhelmed and covered with waters For thus the order of nature would direct and thus we find in the beginning of the creation that next under the aire were the waters encompassing the whole surface of the earth Gen. 1.7 till God reformed this course made such cavities in the earth as should receive the water into them and such banks as should bound and keep it in and such a law as should bridle this vast Ocean that it should not break forth Gen. 1.9 and so now by his providence the water is beneath the earth and yet the earth stands firm on that fluid body as upon the most solid foundation which is a
instruments that are in use among men in Festivities the Harp and Viol c. will be most fitly used in the singing of Psalms and Hymns unto God 3. Sing unto the Lord a new song play skilfully with a loud noise Paraphrase 3. And the choisest and rarest ditties and the best composed Musick and the most excellent melodious voices are all to be called in to perform this great duty of thanksgiving unto God 4. For the word of the Lord is right and all his works are done in truth Paraphrase 4. For all that God saith or doth is excellently good his commands are of those things which are infinitely best for us his promises abundantly gracious and certain to be performed and his very threats and prohibitions acts of special mercy to keep us from those things which are most pernicious to us As for all his works of providence they are most just and merciful 5. He loveth righteousness and judgment the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Paraphrase 5. Mercifulness and justice are of all things in the world most approved and valued by him and are by him exemplified to us in all the daily acts of his providence among us 6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Paraphrase 6. The whole body of the heavens and all that is in them the Sun Moon and all the Planets and lesser Stars were created by his bare speaking the word commanding that they should have a being Which as it is a most illustrious evidence of his absolute omnipotence so is it of his great goodness also to us for whose benefit they were all created 7. He gathereth the waters of the Sea together as an heap he layeth up the deep in store-houses Paraphrase 7. So in like manner did he sever the waters which covered the face of the earth and confined them to hollow places where though they swell much higher then the shore yet they do not overrun it but are gathered into a round gibbous form and so remain constant within their channel And in those vast cavities of an unfathomable depth he hath laid up the whole Ocean as safe and as far from hurting or drowning or overrunning the earth as corn laid up in a granary as money in a treasury is safe from running out of it A joynt evidence again of his infinite power and goodness 8. Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him Paraphrase 8. As therefore he is thus able to set bounds to that vast element so can he and doth he to the most enormous power of men which may therefore be a just cause of awe and dread to all the men in the world 9. For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Paraphrase 9. For as a bare word of his immediately created all the world so is every command of his now most certainly obeyed as he pleaseth to dispose so shall it infallibly be 10. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect Paraphrase 10. Whatsoever godless men see note on Psal 10. m. design or propose to themselves contrary to his will he blastes and frustrates it dissipates all their contrivances be they never so prudently managed by whole multitudes and assemblies of them 11. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations Paraphrase 11. Onely that which he hath decreed and purposed shall immutably come to pass 12. Blessed is the man whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance Paraphrase 12. O then thrice happy is that Nation and people which have betaken themselves to the sincere service of so great and powerful and gracious a God and whom he hath in so special a sort made choice of to be peculiarly his among them to reveal himself in so eminent a manner 13. The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men 14. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth Paraphrase 13 14. All the men that are in the earth the inhabitants of the whole world are within the compass of his most particular providence though he reside in heaven in a peculiar manner yet from thence he exactly surveighs and beholds all and every their actions and even most secret thoughts 15. He fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their thoughts Paraphrase 15. As he is severally and equally the creator of them all and former of their souls as well as bodies so he is certainly able to discern particularly all the operations of their very hearts and is no idle spectator but weigheth and and judgeth all and accordingly rewards every man 16. There is no King saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength Paraphrase 16. 'T is not the multitude or strength of an Army that hath power to secure any Potentate not the valour or puissance of the most glantly person to preserve himself 17. An horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength Paraphrase 17. An horse is the most valiant and docile beast and generally the most used in Military affairs in respect both of his courage and swiftness vigour and activity yet he that depends thereon for his safety or good success in a battel oft finds him a very deceitful false aid is pitifully disappointed by him 18. Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy Paraphrase 18. The only security is to be sought from the favour and protection of God and the way to qualifie our selves for that is by conjoyning our uniform sincere obedience to him and our unshaken constant relyance on his mercy 19. To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine Paraphrase 19. To such as are thus qualified his protection will not fail whatsoever the danger be how great soever the seeming destitution 20. Our soul waiteth for the Lord he is our help and our shield Paraphrase 20. The Lord is our only aid and protector to him therefore is all the desire of our souls 21. For our heart shall rejoyce in him because we have trusted in his holy name Paraphrase 21. And whatsoever befalls us we shall most cheerfully and not only patiently support it as having full assurance and confidence in him that he will either rescue us out of it or else convert it to our greatest advantage 22. Let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee Paraphrase 22. O Lord our full trust is in thee let thy mercy come down upon us we beseech thee Annotations on Psal XXXIII V. 2. Instrument of ten strings From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corruption as Psal 16.10 they do as from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corruptus fuit and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the known word for a net or snare or toyle to catch beasts or birds or fish in and not improbably from it the Latine rete This the LXXII here render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a ginn or snare and so the Syriack and Latine and Arabick And then the whole phrase denotes the manner of toyles among the Jews digging a hole and slight covering it over and hiding it and setting a snare in it that they that not seeing prest the clod and fell therein might be caught and held from getting out again To this also belongs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that follows from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dig which the Chaldee therefore renders Paraphrastically 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they insnared or laid wait for but the LXXII from another notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exprobravit render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reproacht and so the Latine and Arabick from them V. 12. Spoiling The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 orbitas deprivation most frequently applied to loss of children and so here rendred by the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 childlessness being applied as here it is to the soul signifies the loss or deprivation of life the soul being then deprived when it is by death separated from the body the only companion which it hath And accordingly as the Chaldee renders it more literally they seek to deprive my soul so the Syriack expresseth the sense more paraphrastically they destroyed my soul from among men and so the Arabick they destroyed my soul i. e. indeavoured to do so But the Latine from the LXXII read sterilitatem barrenness and the Aethiopick they deprive my soul of the births thereof V. 14. Behaved my self From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here in Hithpael I have walked or made my self to walk the mourner discovering his passion as by his dress so by his gate Thus Ahab walked sofuly and Isaiah expresseth mourning by bowing down the head like a bulrush This the LXXII according to their wont render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I pleased So Gen. v. 22 24. and 6 9. and 17.1 and 24.40 and 48.15 Psal 26.3 and 115.9 they render the same word and from them the Apostle Heb. 11.5 But here the context confining the discourse to mourning wearing sackcloth and fasting going before v. 13. and bowing down and mourning following after it is in reason to be taken in that sense and so 't is expresly used Psal 38.6 I walked mourning and so Eccles 12.5 the mourners are said to go about the streets I walked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were a friend or brother of mine that had fallen into some mischief But then in that which follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I bowed down as a mourner bewailing his mother or as the Jewish Arab joyning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a mourning mother expressing saith he his sorrow by the sorrow of a mother for her child which indeed is the fittest instance of a passionate sorrow the LXXII have omitted the word mother and render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one mourning and sore lamenting so was I humbled or bowing down And thus the Syriack and Arabick and Latine follow them But the Chaldee read the mother with the Hebrew as a mourner that mourneth for his mother V. 15. In mine adversity From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 latus a side is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inclinatio ad latus going down on one side being lame falling calamity adversity and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will best be rendered at my fall see Psal 38.17 the Chaldee read in my tribulation the Syriack in my suffering but the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against me V. 15. Abjects From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 percussit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any base or vile or wicked person So the Chaldee here renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wicked men and so the Arabick in the sense that Deut. 25.2 of a wicked man 't is said if he be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filius percussionis a son of beating i. e. worthy to be scourged a vile person The LXXII here render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flagella scourges i. e. men fit to be scourged and so the Latine flagella I suppose in this figurative use of the word In the end of the verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they tare or used me reproachfully Abu Walid conjectureth it to signifie speaking lies or false things and ceased noâ— is by the LXXII rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were divided the passive for the Active 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and had no compunction for which the Arabick they repented not All the difficulty is to what belongs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I knew not in the midst And the resolution will be most reasonable that we learn the meaning of it from v. 11. where the same phrase is used for those accusations whereof he was no way conscious Thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitly signifies to know having oft the notion of being conscious of So 1 King 2.44 Thou knowest all the evill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which thy heart knows i. e. is conscious of And so here the abjects gathered themselves together against me laid reproachful things to my charge tare my good name and ceased not used me most contumeliously and did so continually and all this was without any cause or provocation on my part I knew not I was not conscious or guilty of any thing just as v. 2. without cause they hid their pit without cause they digged for my soul V. 16. In feasts From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bake comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cake 1 King 17.12 and so here it may signifie a cake or any kind of meat as that which Parasites and trencher-friends buffones and scoffers desire to gain by scoffing at others and making mirth a meals-meat is their best reward This verse the LXXII seem to have rendered onely Paraphrastically for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the hypocrites of mockings or hypocritical mockers or jesters for a cake reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they tempted me they jeered or laughâ— at me and so the Latine Arabick and Aethiopick but the Chaldee neerer the original with words of flatteries jeering and deriding where the words of flattery seem to be set to interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For those that flatter according to the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—able-friends or Parasites do it on purpose to gain some such reward and nothing more common with such kind of flatterers than by deriding and scoffing of others to intertain them who give them their meat
from whence the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give blowes under the eye is frequently used for putting to shame and accordingly the Chaldee would more fitly be rendered vibices than cicatrices scars as the Translation of the Targum and the vulgar Latine have it V. 6. Troubled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incurvatus est is regularly to be rendered I am incurvate so the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incurvatus est signifies The LXXII paraphrase it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was afflicted the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was in commotion I was afraid But the literal must be reteined to connect it with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was deprest or bowed down that follows which the LXXII rightly renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was crookt or bent down As for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usque valde exceeding much or to extremity the LXXII render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until the end so the Latine usque in finem and so the Arabick for ever in the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for eternity But in v. 8. where the phrase is used again they render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latine nimis in the notion of that word for very much V. 7. Loins The notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the flank is known in Scripture Lev. 3.4 the kidneys and the fat which is upon them which is over or by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flanks so Job 15.27 fat on his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flank And so here it must be taken for that sinewy part of the body next under the loynes the groine c. wherein boils and plague-sores frequently rise Some copies of the LXXII render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those the Latine follow and read lumbi loines but Suidas tells us what parts of the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in Hippocrates's dialect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he the kidneys are situate in them Athenaeus l. 9. out of Simaristus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 3. tells 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies fleshy in opposition to bony parts over against the loins and out of Clearchus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 musculous parts on each side adding that some call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This I see â—e learned men will have changed into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wombes of the reins because as was said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the kidneys are placed in them But I conceive that is not the importance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in composition especially at the end of a word certainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 16.13 Numb 11.31 Psal 104.40 Wisd 16.2 and 19.12 is not the womb of the quails but a great sort of quails the mother quaile as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the great and so the mother City and in this sense sure the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot be called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great or the mother-kidneys I shall therefore adhere to the vulgar reading that they are in Clearchus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great or the mother nerves for such indeed are the flanks grissly or nervous parts beyond all others in the body and that makes them very sensible when any inflammation or swelling is in them Other copies of the LXXII have instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my soul and the Arabick follows them But the former is surely the truer reading Then for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherewith he saith his flank is filled that from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vilipendit is ordinarily rendered in the notion of foule or vile the Latine renders it illusionibus and the Arabick and Aethiopick to the same sense with reproaches from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Romane edition of the LXXII have But it must be remembred that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies also to rost or burne c. and so the noun by analogy may signifie inflammation such we know all those boiles and sores are and the Chaldee here renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 burning from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to inflame or burne and from thence is both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a feaver or burning disease and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a carbuncle which as it signifies a gem so a coal of fire and a burning boile or swelling also And whereas those editions of the LXXII which read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that must needs be a corruption very probably for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inflammations and then there will be a perfect agreement betwixt the Hebrew and Chaldee and LXXII and the rendring be clear my flanks are filled with inflammations by those signifying boiles swellings carbuncles in those nervous parts very painful and sensible by that means V. 11. Sore From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to touch or to wound or to come near is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here my wound or stroke or bruise the evils that have befallen me The Chaldee render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my wound or contusion the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my grief but the LXXII as reading it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the verbe and in the notion of approaching render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they came neer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they came neer me and stood over against me and by this they have fully though paraphrastically exprest the sense of it as Luk. 10.31 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passing by over against him that was wounded signifies not taking any care of him V. 12. Snares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is certainly from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that in Piel signifies collisit concussâ— prostravit to destroy saith Abu Walid to lay grins or snares saith the Jewish Arabick translator any injurious or violent usage toward any so Psal 109.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let the usurer catch or take by violence all that he hath The Chaldee there render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which with them is to levy take or exact and accordingly the LXXII here render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used violence and the Latine vim faciebant the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bound me laid hold on me and the Arabick opprest me Only the Chaldee that there rendred it rightly yet here reading it as from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lay snares render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laid snares as on the other side the LXXII which duly interpret it here yet in that of Psal 109.11 read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 search either taking it for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that so signifies or respecting the notion wherein the Arabs use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for
the sons of Heman 1 Chron. 25.4 stiled Heman the finger 1 Chron. 6.33 who came from Elkanah Assir Abiasaph v. 36 37. three of the posterity of Coreh Exod. 6.24 and 1 Chron. 6.22.31 and were not slain Num. 26.11 1. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God Paraphrase 1. No Deer when he is in the greatest inward inflammation expresseth more ardent desire and thirst of water than my heart is at this time affected with toward God and his publick service 2. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Paraphrase 2. I am in a most impatient thirst much afflicted to be kept so long from that place where God is pleased to exhibit himself to those that come to worship him 3. My tears have been my meat day and night while they continually say unto me Where is thy God Paraphrase 3. It is very great cause of continual sorrow unto me to hear men reproach me for my trust in God thinking that I am wholly forsaken by him 4. When I remember these things I pour out my soul in me for I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy-day Paraphrase 4. This puts me into a great excess of sorrow and impatience when reflecting on what I have formerly injoyned I remember how I was wont to go in the society of many pious men to the place of Gods worship in a most cheerful devout alacrious manner but now am as in a wilderness wholly deprived of these most divine pleasant and valuable opportunities 5. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted in me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance Paraphrase 5. But let me not be dejected or disturbed even with this though as sad a reflection as is possible viz. to be deprived of these blessed advantages of solemn converse with God A full reliance and resignation to the divine will is a medicine for this also and I do not yet despair but I shall find some way of escape for which to pay my acknowledgments The time will come when God shall afford me occasion to praise him see v. 8. for this deliverance also and for the supports which his favour hath yielded me in the midst of all this sadness 6. O my God my soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Missar Paraphrase 6. Mean-while in this great dejection of my spirit flying from one place to another from one side of Jordan and the Countrey adjoyning passing over that River and then still flying on the other side of it from Hermon to Tabor I have nothing to support my self but meditation on that God which I have hitherto served and never been destituted by him 7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me Paraphrase 7. And by the same God by the same most gracious providence I have now been supported also For though I have for a while been under thy displeasure thy punishments lying heavy upon me and by them my enemies incouraged to design me all mischief who seeing the effects of thy displeasure on me are soon excited to add more weight to my pressures and though by the conjunction of these I have been ready to be overwhelmed yet at length all is past over without doing me any hurt 8. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day time and in the night his song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life Paraphrase 8. And the account of it is clear His gracious providence hath surrounded me day and night my whole time hath been divided between receiving and acknowledging and again praying for mercies from him as from one that delighted in doing me good 9. I will say unto God My rock why hast thou forgotten me why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy Paraphrase 9. Thus therefore have I constantly addressed my self to him in this mournful ditty saying O thou which art the only aid and support of my life the only sure fortress wherein I can repose any trust how am I despised and rejected by thee what a black gloomy condition am I now in mine enemies being permitted by thee to oppress me sorely 10. As with a sword in my bones mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me Where is thy God Paraphrase 10. Shimei hath reviled me bitterly 1 Sam. 16.7 8. I am pierced hereby and wounded to the very heart like one that hath received a killing wound or stroke in his body And in this greatest exigence this lowest depression that either the scorn or malice of mine enemies can bring upon me concluding by my pressures that God hath utterly forsaken me 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Paraphrase 11. My soul shall still make a comfortable reflection in its constant recourse to God in this my saddest condition I have always had some hope and comfort left to support me and keep me from being utterly cast down or disturbed immoderately And upon the strength thereof I shall for ever incourage my self to rely and cast my self intirely on him not despairing but that he will one day return in mercy to me deliver me out of all my distresses and shew forth his favour and loving kindness to me Annotations on Psal XLII V. 1. Panteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to cry and is applyed to Beasts especially to Deer when they impatiently desire the water This they are said to do when they have eaten some vipers which medicinally they are said to seek and eate and then are inflamed thereby and vehemently desire water to cool them This they do again when they are hunted hard that they may cool and relieve themselves from the dogs that way But the more prompt and ready interpretation is that feeding in a dry and parched wilderness they want and oft-times can find no water and then go about and make a mournful noise for it And thus is it most fitly applyed to David when in his flight from Absalom he was thus in the wilderness destitute of the spiritual advantages of joyning with the people of God in his service The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be here taken in the foeminine gender as appears by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 following and accordingly the LXXII read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the foeminine V. 4. Remember The first words of this v. 4. are by the LXXII literally rendred from the Hebrew
themselves that they shall perpetuate the wealth and greatness which they have gathered but are very wide of their expectations find themselves foully deceived and frustrated And yet they that succeed them in their estates go after them in the same track imitate that folly which was so fatal to them and think themselves happy that they shall enjoy the fruits of it 14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feed on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling Paraphrase 14. But then death comes upon them all and defeats all their expectations As sheep or other such creatures they die remove from all their splendid possessions to those dark invisible plains where they continue as a flock in a pasture till that great morning of the resurrection when the righteous shall be assumed by God to assist in judicacature and so shall arise in their old shapes when the earth shall give up her dead and the grave wherein their beauty strength and form decayed and was consumed shall at length it self decay and lose its strength death having lost its sting and the grave its victory and so being no longer the mansion for the bodies of just men 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me Selah Paraphrase 15. And accordingly my comfort is that God will after my death one day restore me again to life into his hands I commend my spirit not doubting but he will hereafter receive me to glory And so for all others that constantly adhere to and wait on God whatever terrors they meet with here they have this full matter of confidence that God hath particular care of them and will either deliver them out of their dangers or convert them to their greatest good rewarding them abundantly in the resurrection 16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his house is increased Paraphrase 16. It is therefore most unreasonable to be troubled at or to envy the increase of wordly riches or honour or any kind of greatness or prosperity to the worldly man 17. For when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him Paraphrase 17. For death will soon overtake him and then he cannot carry his wealth with him his present glory and greatness shall not then yield him the least advantage 18. Though whilst he lived he blest his soul and men will praise thee when thou dost well to thy self Paraphrase 18. Indeed might his own word be taken he were an happy man for so he flattereth himself that he hath goods laid up for many years and as long as this life lasts he entertains no other thoughts But when death comes all these flattering fallacies vanish 'T is not thine own mouth but anothers whose commendation will be worth the having and that will not be had but for the real kindnesses and good turns thou dost unto thy self in doing that which will prove thy durable good and not in saying magnificent things of thy present state applauding thy temporal felicities 19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers they shall never see light Paraphrase 19. The just shall be gathered to their fathers in peace die indeed as their fathers did before them but the wicked shall be destroyed for ever their death shall be their entrance into endless unexpressible darkness and misery and to that they shall be for ever confined 20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Paraphrase 20. The conclusion then is There is not a more brutish creature more fit to be pitied than envied than a worldly wicked man advanced to greatness in this world and pleasing himself in it he doth not at all understand his own condition he triumphs and thinks himself very happy and whilst he doth so death unexpectedly seises upon him and confutes him sweeps him away helpless and friendless as a beast of the field that just now took himself for one of the greatest men in the world just as they perish and leave all behind them so doth he Only the wise and virtuous the upright v. 10 14. have better hopes and shall not fail of atteining them Annotations on Psalm XLIX V. 2. Low and high The difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may here briefly be noted The former is taken for a great or eminent person in any respect of virtue extraction strength c. So 1 Sam. 26.15 Art thou not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man is expounded by what follows and who is like thee in Israel signifying there the military valour and reputation of Abner and many the like Whereas as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earth signifies an earthy or frail mortal mean man And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here sons of this mean man are the lower and ordinary sort of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of the earth say the LXXII not that they read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earth for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but because they would in their reading allude to the original of the word as oft they do And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the contrary to these persons of the higher quality The Chaldee express the former phrase by the sons of old Adam the latter by the sons of Jacob making this difference between the rest of mankind and the people of Israel and giving the latter the preeminence over all other and so they make them comprehensive words containing Gentiles and Jews i. e. all the men in the world and that very fitly the Psalm following being the equal concernment of them both But 't is more likely that the phrases denote only the several conditions of men of the lower and higher rank for so the consequents interpret it rich and poor the former according to the sacred style frequently observable explicative of the latter of those and the latter of the former by way of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. 4. Dark saying The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a proverb or parable is of great latitude signifies primarily any similitude by which another thing is exprest thence a figurative speech either by way of fiction and fable such are riddles or significant apologues as that of Jotham Jud. 9.7 and many others in Scripture both in the old and new Testament or by way of application of some true example or similitude as when the sluggard is bid go to the ant the impenitent sinner to the swallow and crane which return at their certain seasons and so are fit to preach returning or repentance to sinners And finally it belongs to all moral doctrine either darkly or only sententiously delivered because the wise men of the world were wont to deliver that in short concise sentences
morning in the resurrection in which the just shall judge the world and so subjugate the wicked wordlings to all eternity Then follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their beauty or form or figure so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 effinxit formavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being a contraction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which being an imperfect sense must be supplied from that which went before and their form i. e. so likewise shall their form do as the upright shall in the resurrection have dominion over the wicked rise and raign joyfully so likewise shall their form or figure referring to the restauration of their bodies they shall rise again in their old shapes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the failing of Hades from an habitation to it i. e. where Hades shall fail to be an habitation to it i. e. when the grave or common repository of the dead in which their beauty form and figure was consumed shall it self decay and lose its strength death having forfeited her sting and the grave her victory no longer to be a mansion to the bodies of the just And this being here spoken in general of all just men is by David particularly applied to himself v. 15. But God will deliver my soul from the power of the grave c. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the LXXII read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their help as from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 petra a rock and by metaphore strength refuge and so help and the Latine follows them but Syriack reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their form or image And so this is the interpretation of this whole verse the principal part of difficulty in this parable or dark saying for which this Psalm was designed V. 15. Receive me God 's receiving here is to be understood in the same sense as Enochs being received or taken by God Gen. 5.24 or as we find Psal 73.34 thou shalt after receive me to glory Thus Jonah 4.3 he prays take I beseech thee my life And then it will signifie Gods future receiving him to glory V. 18. Though whilst he lived The Hebrew of the 18. verse is thus literally and clearly rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in his living or life time he blest his soul the impious worldling applauded much his own present state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but men shall praise thee or thou shalt be praised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if or when thou dost well to thy self i. e. for doing well to thy self for doing that which may tend really and eternally to thy good and not for saying well for applauding thy present felicity V. 19. Shall go To go or to be gathered to the fathers is a known expression of dying in peace and the same is the importance of the phrase here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall go to the generation of his fathers So the Chaldee read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the memory of the just shall come and be added to the generation of their fathers but the wicked shall never see light The Fiftieth PSALM A Psalm of Asaph Paraphrase The Fiftieth Psalm is a solemn magnifying of Gods power and majesty and a description of the calling of the Gentiles and of the true Evangelical way of worshipping God It was composed probably by David and appointed to be sung by Asaph a Levite appointed by David to attend the Ark and to record and to thank and to praise the Lord God of Israel 1 Chron. 16.5 1. The mighty God even the Lord hath spoken and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof Paraphrase 1. The decree is gone out from the Omnipotent God of heaven the supreme eternity Lord and Judge over all the world that he will assemble and convocate the whole Nation of the Jews from Dan to Bersheba from sea to sea from East to West to reduce and take them off from their hypocritical and abominable practises and bring them to the due acknowledgment and pure worship of the true God and the practise of all virtue 2. Out of Sion the perfection of beauty God hath shined Paraphrase 2. To this end as God hath fixt his Tabernacle on Mount Sion presentiated himself as illustriously there as he did at the giving the Law on Mount Sinai so shall the Son of God in the fulness of time descend to this earth of ours the true light John 1.9 shall shine forth the Messias shall be born of our flesh of the seed of David and having preacht repentance to the Jews and being rejected by their Sanhedrim and Crucified by them he shall rise from death and ascend to his Father and then send his Spirit on his Apostles thereby commissionating them to reveal his Gospel to all the world beginning from the place where God hath been pleased in a special manner to reside this most beautiful mount of Sion there he now presentiates himself and from thence he shall then begin to shine forth and inlighten the heathen world the preaching of his Gospel to all the world shall commence and proceed from thence 3. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him Paraphrase 3. What is thus decreed shall certainly come to pass in its appointed time and be lookt on as an extraordinary and signal work of Gods power wherein much of his divine presence shall be discernible and the immediate attendants of it shall be very dreadful and terrible above that of the giving the Law to the Jews from Mount Sinai 4. He shall call to the Heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people Paraphrase 4. And it shall begin with a summons as to a solemn Assises for the examining the actions of men good and bad those that have resisted and despised the Messias and those that have subjected themselves to him All shall be judged by him the former punished and the latter rewarded And Angels and Men shall be summoned and called in to be executioners of these his judgments 5. Gather my Saints together unto me those that have made a Covenant with me by sacrifice Paraphrase 5. And the good Angels his ministers of preservation shall be appointed to take special care of all the pious believing Jews Mat. 24.31 Rev. 7.3 who have sincerely given themselves up to his service received the Christian faith and in their baptism made vow of performing it faithfully which adore and pray constantly to him and not to suffer any harm to come nigh to these 6. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness for God is Judge himself Selah Paraphrase 6. And so accordingly shall they do rescuing all faithful believers out of the calamities that attend the crucifiers A thing much to be taken notice of as an act of most
literally interpretable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for or according to their iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abjection casting or vomiting out shall be to them i. e. they shall as vile persons be rejected and cast out by God And thus the Chaldee appear to have understood it who render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be empty or vile and to this best connects that which follows in the verse In thine anger cast down the people The Fifty Seventh PSALM TO the chief Musitian Altaschith Michtam of David when he fled from Saul in the Cave Paraphrase The fifty seventh Psalm was composed by David on occasion of what happened in Sauls pursuing him 1 Sam. 24. when David finding Saul in the Cave might have killed him if he would but spared him and thereby gave him assurance of his friendship and not as he had been calumniated enmity to him It was set to the tune of a former Psalm which began with the words Destroy me not and it is as the former stiled his jewel see note on Psal 16. â— in respect of the greatness of the mercy recounted in it It was committed to the Prefect of his Musick 1. Be merciful unto me O Lord be merciful unto me for my soul trusteth in thee yea in the shaddow of thy wings will I make my refuge untill these calamities be overpast Paraphrase 1. To thee O Lord I make my most affectionate and humble address relying on thee reposing my whole trust in thee neither seeking nor projecting any means of safety to my self save that which consists in thine only aid and protection Be thou mercifully pleased to afford me this at this time and continue it till this persecution be over 2. I will cry unto God most high unto God that performeth all things for me Paraphrase 2. The Lord that hath espoused my cause is a God of might All that I ever received hath been from him my deliverances his immediate vouchsafements to him therefore now do I with all chearful confidence address my supplications 3. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and his truth Paraphrase 3. When malicious-mindâ—â— men are most bitterly set against me even to devout and destroy me utterly God shall send me relief from his throne by some means which he shall think fittest to chuse for me by his Angels or by his gracious over-ruling providence disappointing those that had these bloody designs against me He hath bound himself by promise and so both his mercy and fidelity are concerned in it and he will make good both unto me 4. My Soul is among Lions and I lie even among them that are set on fire even the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword Paraphrase 4. My life is in the same danger as if I were incompast with Lions virulent men such as are continually inflaming and inciting Saul to pursue and destroy me never say any thing but with some bloody design of bringing mischief upon me 5. Be thou exalted O God above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth Paraphrase 5. Lord be thou pleased to rescue me out of this danger and so to magnifie thy own glory over the pride and malice of the greatest men by discomfiting and frustrating the designs of such 6. They have prepared a net for mp steps my soul is bowed down they have digged a pit before me into the midst of which they are fallen themselves Selah Paraphrase 6. They have designed very treacherously against me like fowlers that by digging holes and laying ginâ— or toils in them insnare the simple unwary bird and God hath disappointed them in all their designs brought on them what they had projected against me 7. My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Paraphrase 7. This is enough to raise and enliven and inspirit any mans heart to praise and magnifie the mercy of so signal a deliverance And as there is nothing so fit so nothing that I shall more readily perform 8. Awake up my glory awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early Paraphrase 8. My tongue see Psal 16. note â— shall begin the hymn and the instruments of Musick shall follow in a chearful and melodious note they shall no longer lie idle when such eminent mercies exact their acknowledgments and my heart whose tribute is most due and every member of my body faculty of my soul and action of my life shall be most diligent in an early payment of it 9. I will praise thee O God among the people I will sing unto thee among the nations Paraphrase 9. My acknowledgment shall not be made to thee in private only but in the midst of the congregation with the greatest solemnity possible calling all others to assist me in so weighty a work 10. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds Paraphrase 10. For thou hast in a most eminent manner made good thy great mercy most undeservedly and gratiously promised to me and thereby thy fidelity also 11. Be thou exalted Lord above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth Paraphrase 11. Lord be thou pleased to rescue me out of this present danger and so to magnifie thy own glory over the pride and malice of the greatest men by disappointing and frustrating their designs against me see v. 5. Annotations on Psalm LVII Tit. Altaschith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perdidit is a form of deprecation destroy not It is four times used in the titles of the Psalms in this and the two next succeeding 58. and 59. and 75. This makes the Chaldees gloss improbable viz. that it was composed at a time when he said Destroy me not for that will not fitly be applicable to any much less to all of these 'T is much more probable that as many other titles of the Psalms so this was designed to denote the melody or tune to which it was set the same that had formerly belonged to some Psalm or hymn beginning with those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destroy not V. 3. The reproach All the Antient Interpreters make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a verb and so sure it is of the preterperfect tense in Piel and apply it to God that he shall deliver David having shamed or reproached his enemies So the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath reproached the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he shamed or reproached So before them the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vulgar dedit in opprobrium he gave to reproach and accordingly the Arabick and Aethiopick And in all reason â—o we are to render it rather then imagine the prefix â— to be wanting But another rendring the words are also capable of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
that are converted or returned to their heart This they seem to have drawn from some affinity of the Hebrew words which with some light changes produce this reading for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to and so joyning it in construction with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 twice foregoing and for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to folly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heart Selab which because it still makes an imperfect sense and to them that turn the heart Selah they have therefore supplied the seeming Ellipsis the LXXII by addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him i. e. to God the Latine by inserting ad before cor returning to the heart which is a phrase to signifie repentance or resipiscence growing wise again and so better agrees with the Hebrew which indeed signifies not returning to folly That they thus did read the Hebrew words is not so likely as that by occasion of this affinity of phrases they thus thought fit to paraphrase the Hebrew which is not unusual with them in other places And in this place though the words be quite changed the sense doth not suffer much by this paraphrase this being on both sides the condition of Gods removing his judgements that they which receive them be sincerely penitent and then they will not return again to the folly of their former ways of sin V. 10. Mercy and truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truth from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fidus fuit is frequently used for fidelity and is all one with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the passive sense for faithfulness and in that notion doth well agree with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousness in the latter part of the verse and is by the LXXII rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousness Gen. 24 49. Isa 39.19 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercy and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peace all prosperity given us by God are in effect all one also And then the meeting of these pairs mercy and truth or fidelity and by way of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very frequent in Scripture of righteousness and peace will signify the performance on Gods part proportionable to the qualification on ours where truth or fidelity is made good towards God there mercy will undoubtedly be had from him where righteousness on our part there peace on Gods i. e. all the felicity and prosperity imaginable This rendring of the place is most agreeable to the matter here in hand the confidence that God will pardon their sins which unfeignedly return to him v. 7 8 9. And to the same purpose is that which follows v. 11. As truth or uprightness sincere reformation springs out and ascends from the earth the hearts of men the proper soil for it to grow in so shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousness in the other notion very frequent that for mercy and to pass from one notion of a word to another is an elegance and no rarity in these writings look down from heaven as the Sun doth upon the World when it sheds its influences upon it and cherishes the germina or sprouts all productions of the earth here below And so again v. 12. to the Lords giving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good indefinitely i. e. all good things is annexed our land shall give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifies from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hiphil produxit all the sorts of fruits which the earth brings forth and by analogy with v. 11. where Truth was to sprout out of the earth must signifie that sort of fruit or productions i. e. truth or sincerity of obedience to God and so that again by way of regressus naming that first which had been last and that last which had been first is all one with v. 11. in the notion we have assigned it And once more v. 13. Righteousness in the notion of v. 10. uprightness and fidelity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall go or walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before his face i. e. the face of God mentioned in the former verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he i. e. God shall set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his feet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the way say the LXXII i. e. shall follow after where righteousness goes before having such a Prodromus or Vsher to prepare the way before him God will solemnly and in state come on in the Procession as Psal 89.14 mercy and truth are said to go before the face of God as Heralds to engage his following after The Chaldee read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall set him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a good way i. e. set him at liberty in a prosperous condition rescue and return the captivity of them that walk uprightly before him All these but various expressions as in a Poem it is ordinary of the same thing Gods never failing to return in mercy to them that sincerely convert to him by repentance The Jewish Arab reads this last verse in another sense They that seek equity or justice shall walk before him and shall set their steps in his ways as likewise before v. 10. the people of goodness and truth have met together c. But the former sense is more probable The Eighty Sixth PSALM A Prayer of David Paraphrase The Eighty sixth Psalm was composed by David in some time of distress probably in his flight from Absolom and is a mixture of ardent prayer to God and full indisturbed relyance on him and adoration of his power and mercy 1. Bow down thine ear O Lord hear me I am poor and needy 2. Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee 3. Be merciful to me O Lord for I cry unto thee daily 4. Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Paraphrase 1 2 3 4. O God of all mercy that never failest to hear and answer the prayers of those that being in distress address themselves to thy throne of grace with humble obedient and devout hearts with full reliance and affiance on thee with constancy and perseverance in fervent prayer I that am qualified by my present distress and want of thy supplies to receive this mercy from thee that have been wonderfully favoured by thee and do with all reverence and yet also with confidence and importunately and constantly and ardently pour out my petitions before thee beseech thee at length that thou wilt hearken unto me rescue me out of my present distress refresh and comfort me in my affliction 5. For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee Paraphrase 5. For it is thy property to hear and answer Prayers and most gratiously to pardon the sins of all humble suppliants and to abound to them in mercy and benignity 6. Give ear O Lord to my prayer
Psalmist speaking of himself may be taken from Prov. 2.8 For as here the prayer to God to keep or preserve his soul is backt with this motive for I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so there the aphorisme is delivered expresly for he will preserve the way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his pious ones which the LXXII render there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of them that revere or fear or worship him In this sense it is used Psal 32.6 For this shall every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pious godly man that fears or worships God pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found A promise again of Gods being found granting the requests of such of these when they pray to him And in this notion of the word for one that fears and reveres and humbly addresseth his prayers to God there will be no more difficulty for the Psalmist to say this of himself than that he trusteth in him in the end of the verse cries daily to him v. 3. lifts up his soul unto him v. 4. calls upon him v. 5. and 7. or that he prayes and supplicates to him v. 6. And thus Psal 116.15 speaking of himself pretious saith he in the sight of the Lord is the death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his holy ones those who depend and wait and rely on him in the former verses Nor can it be strange that any or all of these should here be introduced with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as the grounds of his begging an audience to his prayers when God who though he be not obliged by the merits of our performances is yet by the force of his own promise hath promised to hear the prayers of such as come thus qualified to him The Jewish Arab renders it Preserve my soul and I shall be pure V. 8. The Gods That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high angels are to be here understood is the gloss of the Targum and so the word frequently signifies see note on Ps 82. b. yet the mention of all nations immediately following and those evidently in the notion of the heathen Idolaters of the world or whom it is said that they shall come and worship thee O Lord i. e. forsake their Idols and become proselytes to the true God makes it reasonable to understand it here of those whether good Angels or Devils which are by those nations adored and prayed to and depended on that so the connexion may be evident Among those Gods none is like to thee O Lord and consequently All nations shall forsake them and become worshippers of thee V. 11. Vnite For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unite retained also by the Chaldee the LXXII read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let my heart rejoyce reading it seems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to rejoyce as when Job 3.6 we read in the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it not rejoyce the Chaldee read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it not be united when yet the next verse determines it to the sense of joy let no joyful voice come therein Here the points differing the rendring must in reason be as from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 univit and note the contrary to hypocrisie or unsincere partial obedience ordinarily exprest by the double heart V. 14. Violent From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fear or be frighted is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and therefore is most literally to be rendred terrible or formidable Yet Abu Walid and Kimchi among the significations of it put fortis potens and accordingly the LXXII renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 powerful men and the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as it signifies potent so also cruel oppressing men from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fortis durus fuit The Eighty Seventh Psalm A Psalm or Song for the sons of Corah Paraphrase The eighty Seventh Psalm is a brief comparison first betwixt Sion the place of Gods Worship and all Judaea besides and then betwixt it and all other heathen people particularly in respect of the numerousness of eminent persons in the one above what was to be found in all the others It seems to have been composed as a prophetick scheme to foretel the return of the Jews captivity as Isa 54.1 c. and the great prosperity of Jerusalem consequent to it and was designed to be sung by the posterity of Corah 1. His foundation is in the holy mountain 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Paraphrase 2. The Lord of heaven hath chosen one place on all the earth wherein he is pleased to reside in a peculiar manner to exhibit himself to his people that call upon him there and as this he hath by promise determin'd to the Cities of Judah rather than any other nation upon the earth so hath he now of all them chosen out Jerusalem and on the north side thereof Psal 48.2 the hill of Sion and there he appointed the Temple to be sumptuously and magnificently built and many Schools of learning to be erected there 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God Selah Paraphrase 3. This then is the place of Gods residence the embleme of his future incarnation or inhabitation of his glorious Majesty among â—n as also of the Christian Church wherein God by his grace exhibits and presentiates himself and all that ever have spoken of this place have given it huge elogies for the beauty of the situation beyond all other places Psal 48.2 4. I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me behold Philistia and Tyre with Aethiopia this man was born there Paraphrase 4. And if it be compared with all other nations Aegyptians Babylonians Philistims Tyrians and Arabians the difference will be found very great especially in respect of the number of eminent pious men produced by the one much greater than in all the other To which also must be added one supereminent advantage viz. that the only true God by his special presence and providence will continue this flourishing condition to this place above all others 5. And of Sion it shall be said this and that man was born in her and the highest himself shall establish her 6. The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there Selah 7. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there all my springs are in thee Paraphrase 6 7. Among the nations very few can be found considerable for piety and those discernible only by God who exactly knows and considers every man living whereas through Gods special favour to the Jews in taking such care for the instructing them in his will and ingaging them to his service the number of eminent knowing and pious men is so great that the burthen of the song by which they are praised and celebrated sounds to
affairs and shut up from the conversation of men And in proportion with these they that are dead and laid in their graves are here said to be free i. e. removed from all the affairs and conversation of the World even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the commandments say the Jews of them that are dead Nidda fol. 76. Thus is death described Job 3. by lying still and quiet and at rest v. 13. in desolate places v. 14. where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest v. 17. where the prisoners rest together and hear not the voice of the oppressor v. 18. and where the servant is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as here free from his master v. 19. In this verse there seems to be a gradation To be slain is more than to dye to be in the grave more than either but to dye by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be cut off by excision not to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remembrance of blessing to be utterly forgot and have no share in the world to come which they say every Israelite hath is the utmost pitch of misery V. 10. Dead That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies the dead those that lye in the grave there can be no question The Chaldee render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the carcasses that are putrified in the dust So Isa 26.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not rise is but the interpretation of what went before they are dead they shall not live and so v. 19. the earth shall cast out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dead bodies So Prov. 21.16 the man that wandreth from the way of understanding shall remain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the congregation of the dead the Chaldee reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the sons of the earth The same word is elsewhere used for gyants Gen. 14.5 and Isa 17.5 which makes it probable that the word comes from a notion of the root 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not ordinarily taken notice of by Lexicographers who generally take it for healing and curing such as may be common to these two so distant derivatives dead men and gyants The gyants we know are in most languages exprest by phrases taken from the bottom or bowels of the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and terrae filii born from or sons of the earth and just so the Chaldee even now rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where 't was used for dead bodies Prov. 21.16 which gives us reason to resolve that the Radix originally signified something pertaining to the lower parts of the earth and so 't will be fitly communicated to these two which in the notion of healing it will not be And to this accords a notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Hebrews for metals minerals gold silver coral c. which are digged out of the earth and from the very bottom of the Sea the abysse which is very agreeable to both these notions of the word the dead being there laid and disposed of after their departure out of this world their bodies in the grave and their animal Souls in Scheol the state of separation not otherwise capable of being described but by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hades 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disappearing the abyss or deep and the gyants by their great strength and exercise of it in invading and oppressing others and by being of uncertain originals phansied to have received their birth from some subterranean powers and so called by that title The LXXII deducing the word from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to heale render it here and elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Physitians and the Latine medici but the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong men or Gyants V. 18. Acquaintance From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was darkned is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here an obscure dark place an hole or hiding-place and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a darke place or hole to my acquaintance signifies the lying hid and sculking of friends hiding themselves for fear they should be seen by him and called to help him The Jewish Arab reads And mine Acquaintance are become as darkness The Eighty Ninth Psalm MAschil of Ethan the Ezrahite Paraphrase The 89 Psalm is a commemoration of the mercies performed and promised to be continued to David and his posterity to the end of the world but now in the time of some great affliction on Prince and People probably in the captivity v. 38. c. see note i. seemingly interrupted by their sins and their breach of Covenant with God together with an hearty prayer for the return of them The Author of it is not known It was set to the tune of a Song of Ethan the son of Zerah called Maschil see note on Psalm 88. b. 1. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations Paraphrase 1. The mercies of our God in making such gracious and glorious promises to his people and his exact fidelity in performing them is so great that it exacts all our lauds and most magnificent commemorations thereby to proclaim and divulge them to all posterity 2. For I have said Mercy shall be built up for ever thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens Paraphrase 2. God hath promised abundant kindness and mercy and that to endure to us to all our posterities and so I am most confident he will perform make good by his continual faithfulness from his seat of mercy and of justice what he hath thus promised us 3. I have made a Covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto David my servant Paraphrase 3. This promise of his was most solemnly made by way of a sworn Covenant stricken with David whom he chose to be King over his people when he rejected and removed Saul 4. Thy seed will I establish for ever and build up thy throne to all generations Selah Paraphrase 4. And the sum of his Covenant was not only that he should be King over his people but that this dignity should be continued to his posterity for many generations and that in some degree though with great disturbances which their sins should bring upon them as long as this Nation should continue and that toward the time of the destruction thereof the Messias should be born of this very race of David and erect a spiritual Kingdom in the hearts of all faithful men the only true genuine posterity of Abraham and David which should undoubtedly endure to the end of the world 5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders O Lord thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the Saints Paraphrase 5. This is a most glorious Covenant of transcendent and wonderful mercies which as thou hast made so thou shalt exactly perform to us the glories thereof shall be admired and celebrated by all the Angels in heaven when they are met together for the praising and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latin salvavit sibi hath saved for him the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Chaldee hath relieved or redeemed him This being here applied to God that his right hand and holy arm hath relieved him helped him brought him salvation or deliverance though by some figure it may be interpreted of God's relieving his people and setting forth himself victorious in the eyes of men yet most literally it belongs to the prophetick sense accomplisht in the resurrection of Christ for then in an eminent manner did the divine power called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his i. e. God's right hand and God's fidelity in making good his promised relief he will not leave my soul in hades fitly styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his holy arm bring him i. e. Christ relief in raising his dead body out of the grave and exalting him personally to God's right hand in heaven and this peculiarly seems to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wonderfull things the complication of miracles which are here mentioned in the beginning and are the matter of the solemn thansgiving in the ensuing Psalm V. 8. Clap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall clap the hands is here applied to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the rivers as an expression of great joy The whole heathen world are here exprest by the several parts of this visible globe Sea and World and Rivers and Hills as before by Earth and Sea and Field and Trees Psal 96. see Note d. and so the joy that is here attributed to each of these being the joy of men in the world is fitly described by those expressions of joy which are frequent among men yet so as may have some propriety to those inanimate parts of which they are literally spoken In triumphs and ovations it is ordinary among men to make a loud and vehement noise and the roaring of the sea is not very unlike that and so likewise the mugitus which hath sometimes been heard to break out from hills in an earthquake and accordingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make a loud noise is here applied to the sea v. 7. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cry vehemently to the hills v. 8. And so the clapping of the hands being a token of delight and approbation and the striking or dashing of the water in a river being for the noise of it a resemblance of that the rivers are here said to clap their hands The Chaldee saith Schindler explain it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall strike or play on the timbrels with the hand but sure that is a false reading of the Chaldee the more emendate Copies reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let the rivers clap their hands together c. and so the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall clap the hand The same phrase is used of trees Isa 55.12 and there both Chaldee and LXXII agree in the rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall clap the hand or applaud with the boughs the clashing of boughs together in the tree being a like sound to that of clapping of hands The Jewish Arab reads And let the people of the rivers strike or clap their hands and the people of the mountains all of them cry aloud or shout The Ninety Ninth PSALM The ninety ninth Psalm anciently attributed to David seems first to refer to his quiet establishment in that Throne to which God had chosen him but prophetically also as the former to the kingdom of the Messias 1. THE Lord reigneth let the people tremble he sitteth between the Cherubims let the earth be moved Paraphrase 1. The omnipotent God of heaven that God that hath promised to be present in his sanctuary and appointed the Cherubims to be placed covering the propitiatory thereby to denote his presence there to all that seek him and pray to him hath at length been pleased to shew forth his power in behalf of his servant David hath discomfited the Canaanites and Jebusites and other his heathen enemies and now quietly seated him in his throne a lively image of his erecting the Messias's kingdom in mens hearts and so shall firmly continue in despite of all commotion or opposition whatsoever The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church the spiritual kingdom of Christ here 2. The Lord is great in Zion and he is high above all people Paraphrase 2. And herein hath God magnified himself in the â—ight of all the people round about the God that is worshipt and presentiates himself in the Ark now placed in Zion is discerned even by heathen men to be far too strong for any nation to resist or oppose 3. Let them praise thy great and terrible name for it is holy Paraphrase 3. This they now are forced to acknowledge to dread his power and vengeance and confess that it is most justly evidenced on them to the subduing of them and magnifying his people This was more eminently fulfilled in the conversion of the Gentiles to Christ 4. The King's strength also loveth judgment thou doest establish equity thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. Paraphrase 4. All the strength and ability that David hath had to bring him to this height and peace and stability he hath received wholly from God and that God which hath thus holpen him hath done it to this great end to punish sin and set up all manner of vertue casting out and destroying the detestable idolaters severely visiting their unnatural sins upon them and by excellent Laws and Rulers after his own heart indeavouring to advance the practice of all purity and justice and charity among the Jews 5. Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy Paraphrase 5. O let us all make our humblest united approaches unto him and as they that petition a Prince on earth use to cast themselves prostrate at his feet so let us be prostrate in his sanctuary see v. 9. that place of his peculiar residence where we are appointed to assemble and let us there uniformly adore and praise and magnifie him for this signal act of his glorious goodness and mercy toward us and offer up our prayers and supplications unto him as to one that never fails to make good his promise of hearing and answering the prayers of his faithfull servants which are ardently addrest to him 6. Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among them that call upon his name they called upon the Lord and he answered them Paraphrase 6. Thus hath he constantly dispensed his mercies to his people at the prayer of those holy men whom he hath set over them Three eminent instances there are of it recorded One Exod. 32.11 when at the prayer of Moses God was propitiated after the great provocation of the golden calf A second Numb 16.46 when upon Aaron's making the atonement for the people in the business of Coreh the plague was stayed A third 1 Sam.
he the way of patience or enduring and calling out on thee and we being in captivity our strength is weakned from or by it or from bearing it by reason of the length of it The Hundred and Third PSALM A Psalm of David Paraphrase The hundred and third Psalm is a solemn acknowledgment of the great and abundant mercies and deliverances of God especially that of pardoning of his sin and not exacting the punishments due to it which must interweave in every mercy or deliverance which is bestowed on sinfull men whose demerits have so much provoked the contrary It was composed by David as 't is thought on a recovery from sickness and is also a prophetick description of the state of Christians under the Gospel 1. Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name 2. Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits Paraphrase 1 2. When I behold God in himself and his glorious divine attributes but especially in his works of mercy toward me I am obliged with my whole heart and all my most ardent affections of devotion to bless and praise his name for all the mercies and favours which in great bounty he hath afforded me 3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases 4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles 6. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed Paraphrase 3 4 5 6. Particularly that for some time having corrected me for my good to bring me to repentance he hath now returned to me in mercy pardoned my sins which most justly deserved this his wrath and withdrawn his punishments from me and not onely rescued me from the greatest dangers hanging over my life out of the bowels of his compassion to his distressed creature but restored me to a perfect health and to a most prosperous condition a confluence of all mercies to surround me and satisfie all my desires and so made my old age like that of the Eagle when she hath moulted the old and comes out furnished and adorned with new young plumes as fresh and flourishing as in youth it ever had been hereby exercising that signal property of his to vindicate the cause of all those that suffer injuries to punish the oppressor and relieve those that are not able to defend themselves 7. He made known his ways unto Moses his acts unto the children of Israel 8. The Lord is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy Paraphrase 7 8. Thus did he once proclaim his name to Moses and the Israelites Exod. 34. and therein his glorious nature and the manner of his dealing with men all exactly according to the rules of the most abundant mercy in giving and forgiving and sparing long and never sending out his thunderbolts or destructions till our provocations continued in impenitently extort and force them from him 9. He will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Paraphrase 9 10. And this is God's constant course though he rebuke and express his just displeasure and punish us for our sins yet upon our reformation and serious return to him he takes off his punishing hand again and will not proceed with us according to that measure that our sins might justly expect from him 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him Paraphrase 11. On the contrary to them that love and fear and serve him faithfully his mercy is most abundantly poured out as much above the proportion of their services as heaven is above the earth nay infinitely more there being indeed no proportion between them 12. As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us Paraphrase 12. And by that mercy of his it is that at this time he hath so perfectly reconciled himself to us and freed us from the punishments due to our sins 13. Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Paraphrase 13. And so he constantly will deal with all that sincerely return from their sins to new obedience having the bowels of a father to all such which will never permit him to be wrath with penitents to scourge but rather compassionate that child that reforms that for which the punishment was sent 14. For he knows our frame he remembreth that we are dust Paraphrase 14. For he knows and considers the frailness and fickleness and great infirmities of our lapsed sinfull nature our first original out of the dust of the earth an emblem of our meanness and vileness to which the corruption introduced by Adam's first sin see note on Psal 51.3 and hereditarily derived to us hath added wicked inclinations which oft betray us to actual sin if we do not strictly watch and guard our selves and such is our weakness in this lapst state that the most perfect being not able to keep always upon so diligent and strict a watch do oft slip and fall All which God is graciously pleased to weigh and not to deal in rigour with us to punish us or to cast us out of his favour or withdraw his grace from us for every sin that we commit through this weakness but in all his proceedings with us to make an allowance for such sins as are committed through infirmity sudden surreption continual incursion of temptations c. and for these to afford his mercy in Christ to all that sincerely endeavour his service and do not indulge themselves to any deliberate sin 15. As for man his days are as grass as a flour of the field so he flourisheth 16. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children 18. To such as keep his covenant to those that remember his commandments to doe them Paraphrase 15 16 17 18. Man is a pitifull weak feeble frail creature fit to be compared with the most short-lived herb or flour which in its height of flourishing is suddenly blasted and destroyed and gone never to return again And herein is the infinite mercy of God toward his servants to be seen that it is much more durable than their lives If they adhere faithfully to him in constant loyalty to his precepts perform their part of the Covenant made with him that of uniform sincere though not of never-sinning obedience his mercies shall continue to them even after death and then what matter is it how short their present life is to their persons in eternal
immarcescible joy and bliss in another world and to their posterity in the blessings of this life which he hath promised not onely to the third and fourth but to the thousandth generation Exod. 20.6 and being thus by promise obliged will be sure to perform it to all those that are carefull to observe the condition of it 19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all Paraphrase 19. This is he surely able to doe being the omnipotent God of heaven and earth sitting in heaven as a great Monarch in his throne and exercising dominion over all creatures in the world who are all most ready to obey him and doe whatsoever he will have them But most eminently this will he doe by sending his Son the Messias into the world the spring of all grace and mercy who after his birth and death shall rise and ascend and enter on his regal office in heaven subduing the whole heathen world in obedience thereto See Rev. 4.2 20. Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that doe his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word 21. Bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that doe his pleasure Paraphrase 20 21. A natural and proper consequent to this it is that as Rev. 4.8 at the erecting of Christ's throne all the living creatures rest not day and night saying Holy holy so the Angels of heaven meant by those living creatures those Courtiers that attend his throne and are by him indued with the greatest power of any that incompass him many Myriads of them and doe whatsoever he commands them with all the readiness and speed imaginable these glorious creatures that are witnesses and ministers of his great and wonderfull acts of mercy should for ever bless and magnify his sacred name 22. Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord O my soul Paraphrase 22. And that all the men in every corner of the world acknowledge and bless and praise his name as being all the subjects of his kingdom as well as works of his power among whom it is most just that I that have received such mercies from him should take up my part of the Anthem make one in the quire and consort of those that sing continual praises to him Annotations on Psal CIII V. 5. Thy mouth What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here signifies is not agreed among interpreters The Chaldee renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the days of thy old age referring it saith Schindler to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old worn out clothes opposed to the renewing of the age which here follows But the word is used for the mouth Psal 32.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose mouth must be holden the LXXII there render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his jaws According to this notion it is that the Syriack here render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy body but the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy desire or sensitive appetite the satisfying of which is the providing for the body all the good things it standeth in need of and so is a commodious paraphrase for filling the mouth the organ of conveying nourishment to the body Aben Ezra and Kimchi that refer this Psalm to David's recovery from sickness give this farther account of the phrase because in sickness the soul refuseth meat Job 33.20 and the Physician restreins from full feeding and prescribes things that are nauseous In which respects the blessing of health is fitly described by the contrary Abu Walid recites two interpretations 1. that of our translators 2. taking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the notion of ornament that multiplieth thy adorning with good i. e. that abundantly adorneth thee with good Aben Ezra approves the notion of ornament but applies it to the soul the ornament of the body i. e. who satisfieth thy soul with good And an Hebrew Arabick Glossary renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy body Ibid. Thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Of the Eagle S. Augustin affirms that the beak grows out so long that it hinders her taking her food and so would endanger her life but that she breaks it off upon a stone and of this he interprets the renewing her youth here But S. Hierome on Isa 40.30 more fitly expounds it of the changing of feathers Of all birds it is known that they have yearly their moulting times when they shed their old and are afresh furnished with a new stock of feathers This is most observable of Hawks and Vultures and especially of Eagles which when they are near an hundred years old cast their feathers and become bald and like young ones and then new feathers sprout forth From this shedding their plumes they seem to have borrowed their name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Eagle from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decidit defluxit to fall or shed To their bareness or baldness the Prophet Micah refers c. 1.16 inlarge thy baldness as the Eagle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Eagle whose feathers shed And to the coming again of their feathers Isaiah relates c. 40.30 they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eagles they shall send up their feathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall sprout out their feathers say the LXXII and so the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall send out their wings but the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they shall be renewed to their youth just as here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thy youth shall be renewed as an Eagle which therefore in all reason must refer to the new or young feathers which the old Eagle yearly sprouts out Aquila longam aetatem ducit dum vetustis plumis fatiscentibus novâ pennarum successione juvenescit The Eagle is very long-lived whilst the old plumes falling off she grows young again with a new succession of feathers saith S. Ambrose Serm. 54. So the Jewish Arab reads So that thy youth is renewed like the feathers of Eagles V. 7. His acts From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to machinate to design to study to attempt to doe any thing is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here annext to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his way by these to signifie the nature and ways of God or his dispensations toward men The place here evidently refers to Exod. 33. There Moses petitions God shew me thy way that I may know thee v. 13. and I beseech thee shew me thy glory v. 18. by his way and glory meaning his nature and his ways of dealing with men that they might discern what to conceive of him and expect from him And he said I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord v. 19. by which his nature is signified and what that name is is set down by enumeration of his attributes c. 34.6 The Lord the
they are consecrated but have really not the least degree of sense or life in them The materials whereof they are made are perfectly inanimate and the artificers carving on them mouths and eyes and ears and noses and hands and feet and throats is not at all available to give them the use or first faculty of language or sight or any other sense or so much as of breath And then they that can carve and work them to this end specially those that can offer their prayers repose their confidences in such inanimate statues are certainly as to any regular use of their faculties as senseless as irrational as any of them act as contrary to all reasonable or animal rules as meer images would doe if they were supposable to doe any thing 9. O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield Paraphrase 9. Whilst those the best gods that other nations acknowledge are thus perfectly impotent the God of Israel is a God of goodness and of power as able as willing to relieve them that trust in him O let all that are admitted to the honour of being own'd as his people confidently rely and repose their trust in him 10. O house of Aaron trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield Paraphrase 10. And above all those especially that draw nigh to him wait on his altar officiate in his divine service are in peculiar manner obliged to offer up their prayers and repose their affiance in him who hath promised to be present and assistent to them as those which are his proxies and commissioners upon earth to intercede betwixt God and man in things belonging to God 11. Ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield Paraphrase 11. And the same is the duty or rather privilege of all faithfull servants of God to repose their whole trust in him as one that will be sure never to fail them nor forsake them 12. The Lord hath been mindfull of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron Paraphrase 12. Of this we have had many experiences in the several acts of his power and mercy toward us and each of those is a pawn and ingagement to secure us of the continuance of the like both to our Church and State Temple and People whensoever we have need of it 13. He will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great Paraphrase 13. And the same will he not fail to doe to all true servants of his of what condition soever they are in this world the greatest Prince shall not have any privilege herein above the meanest peasant 14. The Lord shall increase you more and more you and your children Paraphrase 14. And the same blessings which he bestoweth on such he will continue and intail upon their posterity 15. Ye are the blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth Paraphrase 15. This is a prerogative indeed wherein the pious man infinitely exceeds and surpasses all other men in the world that he and his family and all that come from him are the peculiar province and care of the Creator of all the world and what blessing is there that they may not confidently expect and depend on by that tenure 16. The heavens even the heavens are the Lords but the earth hath he given to the children of men Paraphrase 16. The highest heavens hath God provided for his own palace and court of residence but the other part of the Universe the inferiour globe of earth and air and sea hath he given to man to have the dominion and use of the creatures that are therein 17. The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence 18. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Praise the Lord. Paraphrase 17 18. And to this vast bounty of his what praises and acknowledgments of ours can ever bear any proportion The most we can doe in discharge of this duty is to bless and serve him constantly whilst we live here and when we are gone off from this scene where this service is performed to him and our bodies laid in their graves where there is nothing but silence no power or opportunities of serving or magnifying God any longer to leave it as a legacy to our posterity through all successions unto the end of the world that they may supply our defects and sing continual Hosanna's and Hallelujah's to him for ever Annotations on Psal CXV V. 1. Not unto us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is literally to be rendred not with us in the notion wherein that is said to be with us which we have or is in our power as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 73.25 who is with me or whom have I in heaven and Gen. 33.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enough with me or I have enough V. 4. Idols The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies literally grievances and 't is usually observed that the Jews imposed names of ill omen on the heathen Deities so the feasts dedicated to them in their idiome are proportionably 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mourning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fear and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrition But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to be sad and anxious signifies also by Metonymy to form or frame any thing very diligently applied to God's framing of us Job 10.8 and to enemies distorting and depraving others words Psal 56.5 And in that notion of it also may be deduced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here the simulacra idols or Images of the Gentiles which being consecrated by their Priests and thereby thought to be animated by those whose images they are thenceforth are worshipped as Gods So when 2 Sam. 5.21 we reade that the Philistims left there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their images 1 Chron. 14.12 it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Gods So S. Augustine De Civit. Dei l. 8. c. 23. tells us of the Theology of the heathens received from Trismegistus that the simulacra or statues were the bodies of their Gods which by some magical ceremonies or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were forced to joyn themselves as souls and so animate and inliven those dead organs to assume and inhabit them So saith Minutius Isti impuri spiritus sub statuis imaginibus consecratis delitescunt those impure spirits lie hid under the consecrated statues or images and again rapiunt ad se daemonia omnem spiritum immundum per consecrationis obligamentum they catch and force to them the devils and every unclean spirit by the band of consecration the spirits are supposed to be annext and bound to them by their magical rites and ceremonies So Arnobius cont Gent. l. 6. Eos ipsos in his signis colitis quos dedicatio infert sacra fabrilibus efficit inhabitare simulacris the heathens in the images worship
patient that which opens or which is opened If we take it in the latter sense then the opening of God's words is the explaining them so the Jewish Arab renders Because the opening of thy word inlighteneth O thou that makest the simple to understand And so the LXXII their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is understood both by the Latin and the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 open thy word and illuminate saith the one and declaratio verborum tuorum illuminat the declaring of thy words doth illuminate saith the other But if it be in the sense of thy word being the agent then 't is the opening our eyes wrought by thy word and that seems to be the more genuine meaning of it that God's word by opening our minds gives light to them teacheth them those things which naturally they did not could not know till they were thus illuminated And the Chaldee favours who renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sculpture or impression of thy word illuminates which evidently refers to the Vrim whose name is derived from light and therefore will with full propriety be said to enlighten which surely the LXXII likewise reflected on when they call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word by them used constantly to translate Vrim V. 139. Consumed me The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here as it signifies to consume and so is here rendred by the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath melted me or by melting consumed me and by the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cruciated me so it signifies also to bind press constrain in the notion wherein 't is said of Paul Act. 18.5 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was constrained or prest in spirit Thus the Chaldee renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath constrained me And this is the most probable acception of it zeal having that faculty of pressing and forcing expressions from one either of grief or indignation or the like as the occasion requires V. 148. Night-watches The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep guard watch signifies indifferently any of the three watches into which the night was divided the evening watch or beginning of the watches or first watch Lam. 2.19 the middle or night watch Jud. 7.19 and the last or morning watch Exod. 14.24 And to the last of these the context here inclines it so as it may agree with the dawning of the morning v. 147. and be fitly joyned with preventing which sure in both verses signifies rising betimes so it is proper to the morning not evening watch The Chaldee indeed gives it a greater latitude and reads the watches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the morning and evening both but the LXXII reade expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 early in the morning V. 165. Offend them The Hebrew here reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as the LXXII literally reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is no scandal to them by scandal meaning any thing that may wound or hurt or cause them to fall in their journey in the threefold notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the LXXII here use and is perfectly parallel to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a stumbling-block and a snare and a gall-trap The meaning of it will be best understood by comparing it with the like phrase 1 Joh. 2.10 He that loveth his brother abideth in light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and there is no scandal in him or to him the light wherein he abides will so assist him in every part of his march that he shall be free from those dangers which are parallel to the snares and stumbling-blocks and gall-traps which they that travail in the dark are subject to There the scandals are means of betraying the soul into sin temptations and no scandal to them signifies their security from those temptations that others so frequently are overcome by And so here as the great peace in the beginning of the verse according to the Hebrew notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes all manner of prosperity and felicity that especially wherein the soul is concerned so the no scandal to them is the immunity from temptations and snares i. e. from sins to which temptations are designed to bring men and this is the security which the love of God's commandments will give men when nothing else will The Chaldee here reade there is no scandal to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the world to come meaning no mischief punishment of sin but the Syriack there is to them no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infirmity sickness disease the word from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies sickness either of body or minde and so is most applicable to sin the disease of the soul V. 168. Before thee What is the meaning of a man's ways being before God will best be judged by other parallel phrases such are walking before God or in his sight and that signifies to live piously and so as is accepted by him And then here though it is certain all men's actions are seen by God and done in his sight yet his ways being before him will best be interpreted walking or living piously The Hundred and Twentieth PSALM A Song of Degrees The hundred and twentieth is a Prayer against calumniators and malicious persons and a complaint of the infelicity of such companions It seems to have been first formed by David in relation to Doeg 1 Sam. 22. and to have been after made use of in relation to the Captivity and is called a Psalm of Ascents because it was appointed to be sung by the Levites on some place of advantage with elevation of voice 1. IN my distress I cried unto the Lord and he heard me Paraphrase 1. Blessed be the name of the Lord God for all his mercies vouchsafed unto me I was in great distress and accordingly addrest my self to God for his relief and he was pleased to give ear unto me 2. Deliver my soul O Lord from lying lips and from a deceitfull tongue Paraphrase 2. And this was the summ of my prayer O blessed Lord I am fallen into the midst of calumniators and malicious false persons who by treachery and deceit are resolved to destroy me if thou Lord be not graciously pleased to deliver me out of their hands 3. What shall be given unto thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false tongue Paraphrase 3. All the good that is to be had by such company is to be wounded incurably and mischieved by them 4. Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper Paraphrase 4. Their tongues are as piercing as darts red hot in a stout souldiers hands no armour of innocence is fence against them 5. Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar 6. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace Paraphrase 5 6. O what an infelicity
was principally designed 6. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 6. A like act of infinite power and wisedom it was when the waters covered the face of the earth and so rendred it unhabitable to us to prepare vast receptacles for the waters and thither to convey and remove them from the surface of the earth and so to secure the earth by bounds set to the Ocean that it shall not be overflowed by it but remain a peaceable fruitfull safe habitation for us which is an act of the same infinite constant mercy 7. To him that made great lights for his mercy endureth for ever 8. The sun to rule by day for his mercy endureth for ever 9. The moon and stars to rule by night for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 7 8 9. A like act of his power and wisedom it was and so also of his infinite mercy and bounty toward us that he created the sun moon and stars for such excellent benefits of mankind not onely illuminating this lower world of ours but refreshing and warming and sending forth various influences into every the meanest creature by these great instruments managing and guiding and preserving and by propagation continuing all creatures directing them in all their undertakings preparing both for work and rest and providing all things necessary for them 10. To him that smote Aegypt in their first-born for his mercy endureth for ever 11. And brought out Israel from among them for his mercy endureth for ever 12. With a strong hand and with a stretched out arm for his mercy endureth for ever 13. To him which divided the red sea into parts for his mercy endureth for ever 14. And made Israel to pass through the midst of it for his mercy endureth for ever 15. But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red sea for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 10 11 12 13 14 15. But yet more peculiarly hath his power and mercy to us been magnified in rescuing our whole nation out of the slavery and oppressions of Aegypt and this in a most prodigious manner multiplying judgmenâ— upon the Aegyptians 〈◊〉 one degree to mother till at length he destroyed the first-born in every family upon which they were inforced to let us go but then farther interposing for us by making the red sea recede till our people past through the chanel of it and then bringing it back again in a full violence upon the armies of the Aegyptians which pursued us at our departure and overwhelming and drowning all of them which was such an heap of prodigies of mercies to us his unworthy people that no story hath ever exemplified in any other time 16. To him which led his people through the wilderness for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 16. And after this leading us through the desart for many years together he miraculously provided necessaries for us sending us bread from heaven abundance of delicate food and water out of a rock of â—nt and so gave us conâ— testimonies of his infinite unexhausted bounty 17. To him which smote great Kings for his mercy endureth for ever 18. And slew famous Kings for his mercy endureth for ever 19. Sihon King of the Amorites for his mercy endureth for ever 20. And Og the King of Bashan for his mercy endureth for ever 21. And gave their land for an heritage for his mercy endureth for ever 22. Even an heritage unto Israel his servant for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 17 18 19 20 21 22. And then to perfect his mercy he led us to that land of Canaan which he had promised to give to the posterity of Abraham and by his sole power and conduct inabled us to conquer and destroy great and eminent Princes with their whole armies such were Sihon and Og see Psal 135.11 12. and Numb 21.24 c. which came out against us and by these slaughters rooted them out planting us in their stead giving us a most fertile Kingdom to possess as our own for our selves and our posterities An unparallel'd number and weight of mercies which ought for ever to be commemorated by us And yet for all this but a weak imperfect shadow and resemblance of the redemption of mankind out of a far more unsupportable slavery under sin and Satan which by the gift of his own Son he hath wrought for us 23. Who remembred us in our low estate for his mercy endureth for ever 24. And hath redeemed us from our enemies for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 23 24. And though since our coming unto all this plenty he hath permitted us upon our provoking sins to be brought low and oppressed by our enemies yet hath he not utterly forsaken us but again returned in mercy to us and rescued us out of their hands and restored us wonderfully to our former peace and safety 25. Who giveth food to all flesh for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 25. Yet neither are his mercies confined and inclosed within so narrow a pale as this of the people of Israel but it is inlarged to all mankind even to all living creatures in the world which as they have from him their original being so have they their continual support and a constant supply to all their wants of what sort soever they are all that is necessary to their bodies as well as their souls 26. O give thanks to the God of heaven for his mercy endureth for ever Paraphrase 26. All which and all the goodness that any man partakes of in this life is but an efflux from that unexhausted fountain of infinite bounty descends from the Father of lights the one Creatour and preserver and governour of the world and so is to be own'd and acknowledged by all and he to have the thâ—nks and honour and glory of it O let all men in the world pay him this tribute and never miss to commemorate his endless mercies The Hundred and Thirty Seventh PSALM The hundred thirty seventh is a description of the sadness of the Babylonish captivity and the peoples vehement desire and hopes to return to Canaan and seems to have been composed presently after the return from the Captivity or when they saw the taking and wasting of Babylon to approach 1. BY the waters of Babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembred Zion Paraphrase 1. In the time of our deportation and captivity being carried so far and deteined so long from the comforts of our own countrey we had no divertisement but that of reposing our selves on the banks of Euphrates and Tigris c. and bewailing our losses and recounting the felicities we once enjoyed when we were allowed the solemn publick meeting for the service of God at the Temple 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof Paraphrase 2. As for the instruments of our Musick which were wont to assist in the quire and help to
Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beginning and so the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the beginning of my mirth And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will lift up or advance Jerusalem in the beginning of my mirth is to make that the prime or chief ingredient in their rejoycing the principal subject of their hymns V. 8. Art to be destroyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to lay waste or destroy in Paül instead of Poel which is frequent may be rendred vastatrix destroyer So the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waster or spoiler and so the Syriack in the same word Onely the LXXII reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as it signifies miserable so it signifies vile and wicked also and so even the Hebrew if taken in the passive will be but answerable to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perditus wretched wicked and so fit to be destroyed The Jewish Arab reads O thou spoiled and so 't is agreeable to the custom of the Eastern people by way of omen or presage to put with the name of a city an Epithet of Preserved or guarded if they wish well to it and so 't is proportionable it should be in the contrary signification if they wish ill to it to speak of that as done which they wish to be done The Hundred and Thirty Eighth PSALM A Psalm of David The hundred Thirty eighth is a Psalm of Thanksgiving to God for his mercies his gracious audiences afforded to the prayers of his lowly servants his powerfull deliverances of them most admirable in the sight of their heathen enemies And being first composed by David is said by the LXXII to have been made use of by Haggee and Zachary at the re building of the Temple 1. I Will praise thee with my whole heart before the Gods will I sing praise unto thee 2. I will worship toward thy holy Temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name Paraphrase 1 2. Blessed Lord thou hast been exceeding gracious to thy servants and never failed to answer them that rely on thee thy mercies and fidelity are much spoken of thou art known by this title of mercifull and gracious and one that never fails to perform his part of the Covenant with any But thou hast infinitely exceeded all that is or can be either said or believed of thee thou hast made us admirable divine promises that especially of giving us thy Son and in him all things and wilt certainâ—y perform them all to the utmost importance of them And now what return shall we make unto thee for all this having nothing else we must in all equity pay thee the humblest acknowledgments of our very souls and in thy publick assembly in the presence of the holy Angels the witnesses of our performances and assistants and partners of our praises bless and laud and magnifie thy glorious name for all thine abundant mercy toward us 3. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul Paraphrase 3. Whensoever I have addrest by prayer to thee thou hast never failed to answer me and relieve me which together with thine own free promise gives me full confidence to beg and crave thy grace to strengthen and support my soul against whatsoever danger and to rest secure in thee that thou wilt grant it me 4. All the Kings of the earth shall praise thee O Lord when they hear the words of thy mouth 5. Yea they shall sing in the ways of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord. Paraphrase 4 5. These magnificent promises of thine v. 2. shall be proclaimed and made known thy Gospel preached to all the world and thereby the greatest potentates on earth they and their kingdoms with them shall at length be brought in to worship and serve and glorifie thee and in so doing never give over singing and praising and magnifying thy great and gracious and glorious works of mercy those wonderfull dispensations of thine in the gift of thy Son and that gracious divine Law given us by him 6. Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off Paraphrase 6. The sum whereof is this that as the supreme God of heaven hath humbled himself to this earth and flesh of ours so he will favourably behold and deal with all lowly humbled penitent sinners but proceed most severely with all proud obdurate impenitents 7. Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me 8. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me thy mercy O Lord endureth for ever forsake not the works of thine own hands Paraphrase 7 8. And as for spiritual so for temporal mercies God will not fail to perform them also to his faithfull servants whatever their distresses be he will relieve or support them repel and subdue and repress their enemies and secure them by his immediate divine interposition if humane means do fail what they are not able and what indeed belongs not to them to doe for themselves he will most certainly perform in their stead having begun a work of mercy he will not leave it imperfect he will certainly go through with it Thus doth God abound in mercies of all sorts to all his humble faithfull servants Lord be thou thus graciously pleased to deal with me and with all thy poor helpless creatures which being made by thee have none other to fly to but they self Annotations on Psal CXXXVIII V. 1. Gods Of the notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first for Angels then for Magistrates Judges Kings somewhat hath been said Note on Psal 82. b. Now to which of these it shall be applied in this place is not agreed among the ancient Interpreters The Chaldee reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judges the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings the Jewish Arab the Nobles but the LXXII and the Arabick and Aethiopick and Latin follow them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angels And considering that in the next words v. 2. he mentions worshipping toward the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not temple if it were as the title directs composed by David but palace of holiness i. e. the Sanctuary where the Cherubims of glory representations of Angels shadowed the mercy-seat Heb. 9.5 and that in that house of God and house of prayer the Angels were present according to that of Saint Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou singest and chantest with the angels and on this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will strive to sing with the Angels contending with them in this holy strife and emulation who shall praise him loudest joyning in quire with the supernal powers 't is not improbable that this should be
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are deemed to come from that original in this place and many others it is surely taken in the Hebrew notion of it i. e. for mercifull and pitifull and so should better be rendred in Latin pius than sanctus as in Salvian and other good Authours pietas piety in God ordinarily signifies mercy However this equivocalness of that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taken by readers for holy when it signifies mercifull and the misinterpreting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for just when it imports mercifull may well be deemed to have contributed occasionally to the leaving v. 14. out of our Bibles Of which the learned H. Grotius asks a question Quomodo ad hoc respondebunt What answer will be given to this by those men which require us in all things to stand to the decrees of the Masorites which by their fence have hedged this verse out of the scripture The onely answer to the question which I shall offer is this 1. That it is no news that one letter or more should be left out and missing in an Alphabetical Psalm especially Psal 25. where ר being twice repeated ק is certainly omitted 2. That the LXXII and the translations that depend on them have admitted several verses and larger additions which are not in the Hebrew text But then 3. since 't is certain the Psalms received divers alterations and both copies were transmitted to the use of the Temple the answer will be satisfactory that so it was here And that will both justifie the Jews from negligence in loosing part of the scripture and the other translatours from presumption in adding to it V. 18. In truth The notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in truth in this place being the qualification required in prayer to make it effectual is fit to be observed The word signifies truth firmness fidelity constancy stability so Jer. 14.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the peace of truth is a stable firm constant durable peace And then that truth or constancy may be applied either to the person praying or to the prayer it self First if to the person then it signifies his firmness of adherence to God styled fearing him v. 19. constancy in his service keeping close to God and making good his dependence on him and not applying himself to any indirect means to obtain what he prays for but waiting onely on God from him in his good time to receive it Secondly in respect of the prayer it self it signifies the continued constancy of address not giving over the petition when it is not immediately granted but inforcing it with importunity And the union of these two is that to which the promise is here made that the prayers so qualified shall certainly in God's due time be answered by him And this specially the former part Saint James styles asking in faith the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying both faith and truth See note on Jam. 1. a. The Chaldee here reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies truth rectitude integrity and so the Syriack also The LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in truth but that capable of this same notion as when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unrighteous See note on Luke 16. a. The Hundred and Forty Sixth PSALM Praise ye the Lord. The hundred forty sixth is another form of solemn praising of God his sole and supereminent power and mercy his patronage to all that are in distress his judgments and the eternity of his kingdom The title of it is Hallelujah and it is anciently thought to have been composed at the return from the captivity 1. PRaise the Lord O my soul 2. While I live will I praise the Lord I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being 3. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no help Paraphrase 1 2. I will excite and rouse up all the faculties of my soul to the solemn performance of that great and necessary duty of praising and magnifying the God of heaven This is an office never to be intermitted by me as long as I have a tongue or breath to proclaim the excellencies and glories of so great and gracious a Majesty 4. His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish Paraphrase 3 4. As for any other be it the greatest and most powerfull Princes in the world none born of woman excepted save onely the Messias the Son of God as well as man they being but mortal men have no power to relieve any and consequently will deceive and disappoint all those that rely on them For how able or willing soever they may be in the eyes of men or in their own resolutions forward to perform any office of charity to any yet 't is certain their whole being depends every minute upon the will of God whensoever he pleaseth they die their soul is separated from the body the one is gathered to the earth from whence it hath its first beginning see Psal 90. note c. the other to the hands of God that gave it Eccl. 12.7 and when this hour comes 't is then too late for them to help themselves whatsoever they designed for the relief of others together with all their other worldly contrivances are evacuated and frustrated 5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God 6. Which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth truth for ever Paraphrase 5 6. The onely sure hold and never failing foundation of confidence is the special mercy and protection of the one omnipotent Creatour of heaven and earth the Lord of Israel who as he is able to overrule all his creatures and doe whatsoever he pleases so he hath promised to protect those that depend on him and will certainly make good this promise to all that are carefull to make good their fidelity to him 7. Which executeth judgment for the oppressed which giveth food to the hungry the Lord looseth the prisoners 8. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down the Lord loveth the righteous Paraphrase 7 8. One peculiar property of his it is to interpose his aid most seasonably when our distresses are the greatest to undertake the defence and patronage of those which are most unjustly opprest to work even miracles of mercy for them that stand in most need of them signally to express his favour to pious and charitable minded men to provide food for some as he did for Elias to send others liberty from their restraints as he did to Daniel to restore sight to the blind to revive and comfort those that are in the greatest distress either of body or soul And this in a far more eminent completion by the incarnation of his Son the Messias of the
thy estate and enrich her own family with the spoils of thine 11. And thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed 12. And say how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof 13. And have not obey'd the voice of my teachers nor enclined mine ear to them that instructed me 14. I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly Paraphrase 11 12 13 14. Thus is it evident before hand what cause of repentance and indignation at himself and his own folly this sin if indulged to is sure to bring upon any man when he hath exhausted and rotted his very flesh and brought himself to utter ruine he will too late to mend his temporal condition most sadly bewail and lament his madness wish every vein of his heart that he had taken the advice I now give him betimes that he had believed the serious and sad truth of such documents as these by despising of which and so adventuring on some beginnings and degrees of this sin he at last comes to be a most scandalous spectacle of misery and woe to all the people marked and pointed at for a wretched sottish creature that hath brought himself to the brink of endless ruine by his own imperswasible folly and obstinacy 15. Drink waters out of thine own cistern and running rivers out of thine own well Paraphrase 15. Having thus represented to thee the dangers and wasting miseries of incontinence the advice will be but seasonable and necessary that every man resolve to satisfie himself with his own wife and most strictly abstain from wandring lusts 16. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters in thy streets Paraphrase 16. This shall beside all other felicities yield thee the comforts of a numerous and flourishing offspring which as streams or rivers from a fountain shall flow from a chast conjugal bed 17. Let them be onely thine own and not strangers with thee Paraphrase 17. This shall give thee assurance that the children thou ownest are truly thine whereas those which come from the strange woman and call thee father 't is very uncertain whose they are she being no enclosure of thine but common to others also 18. Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoyce in the wife of thy youth Paraphrase 18. This shall secure God's blessing of fruitfulness to thy wife and that flourishing state to thy offspring which bastard slips cannot pretend to This shall yield thee a constant never fading pleasure in the love and embraces of her whose purity and loyalty thou hast so long been acquainted with and the longer thou art afforded this blessing the more pure unallayed satisfaction thou wilt find in it when wandring lusts end in satiety and misery and being thus furnished by her thou hast no temptation to aliene thy self from her and take any other into thine embraces 19. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravisht always with her love Paraphrase 19. Thou mayst alwaies find matter of pleasure and kindness in her the same that the stag or rain-deer doth in his beloved mate which he hath long associated with and so perfectly confine thy love to her and never wish for the society of any other or be weary of hers 20. And why wilt thou my son be ravisht with a strange woman and embrace the bosom of a stranger 21. For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings Paraphrase 20 21. If all this be not sufficient to engage thee to a constancy to thine own wife and an exact abstinence from all others if the true joy and delights resulting continually from the one ballanced with the consequent satieties and miseries of the other be not competent motives effectually to prevail with thee then sure this one determent may work on thee the consideration of the law of marriage made by God in Paradise that every man shall forsake all others and cleave to his own wife and the severe judgments threatned against the violaters of this obligation and the no possibility that be it never so close it should be kept secret from God's all-seeing eye which discerns and observes and will severely avenge all such enormous sins in all that are guilty of them 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins 23. He shall die without instruction and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray Paraphrase 22 23. And an eminent act of his vengeance and providence it is that this sort of sinners seldom goes unpunished in this life His sin without any other aid constantly brings sore punishments upon him seises on him as the Hound or Vulture on its prey or as the Lictor and Serjeant on the malefactour lays him under the custody of some noisome disease His unnurtured unsavoury life his disobedience to the laws of marital chastity and continence is the exhausting his body and perhaps estate and good name and all that is valuable and brings him to a scandalous death he goes out unpittied and scorned as guilty of the highest folly and mistakes as well as injustice and such like enormous crimes against his wife and others and himself he thought he had pursued his pleasure and at least gratified his senses but in the end he finds it quite contrary he acquires nothing but loathsome maladies and untimely death and so appears cheated of all that he projected to gain by his sin beside the yet sadder losses and pains both of body and soul to all eternity Annotations on Chap. V. V. 6. Lest thou shouldest ponder That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here to be rendred not and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applied to the strange woman whose feet and steps are mentioned v. 6. is agreed on by all ancient Interpreters and there is no cause of doubting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she goes not in the paths of life saith the Chaldee and so the Syriack in the same words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she enters not on the ways of life say the LXXII and the Latin applying it to her feet precedent per semitam vitae non ambulant they walk not by the path of life Which agree also to give us the right notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here for directing the steps i. e. walking or going which it is acknowledged to signifie as well as pondering and which properly belongs to it in this place the steps being mentioned in the former verse To this interpretation agrees that which follows her paths are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wandring vagi saith the Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dangerous say the LXXII because they that wander run into danger but unstable saith the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 literally not to know i. e. either thou canst not know them non scies
the trouble to mortifie his own unruly appetites is soon overrun and laid waste by them All these sorts of misery though he expects them not but in confidence of safety goes on in his idle slothfull course will when he little thinks of it knock at his door as a traveller or way-goer to an host that knows nothing of his coming and when it comes it comes with a vengeance there is no way of resisting and as little of supporting it This traveller is stout and armed and will force his entrance and lay all waste where he enters 12. A naughty person a wicked man walketh with a froward mouth Paraphrase 12. Among other most noxious effects of idleness and unprofitableness one deserves to be taken notice of and most carefully avoided that of whispering and backbiting calumniating and detracting labouring nothing so much as to deprave and defame the actions of other men This is an eminent fruit of sloth and wickedness combin'd together and a most diabolical sin 13. He winketh with his eyes he speaketh with his feet and teacheth with his fingers Paraphrase 13. Such an one when he hath nothing of weight to say against a man will by significative gestures of all sorts give intimations of some grand matters and so perswade others without laying any particular to his charge that he is a most pestilent fellow 14. Frowardness is in his heart he deviseth mischief continually he soweth discord Paraphrase 14. His thoughts which have no good business to take them up are continually imployed in projecting what mischief he may doe and are never more gratefully busied than when he is a causing debate among neighbours One such person in a City is enough to embroil the whole and put it into a tumult 15. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly suddenly shall he be broken without remedy Paraphrase 15. And as to idle persons v. 11. so to this above all a proportionable vengeance is to be expected He that is of this temper seldom fails to be met with in his kind to fall unexpectedly by some secret hand parallel to the secrecy of his detracting whispering humour and when he falls he can never be recovered again he perishes unpitied unregarded 16. These six things doth the Lord hate yea seven are an abomination to him 17. A proud look a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood 18. An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations feet that be swift in running to mischief 19. A false witness that speaketh lies and him that soweth discord among brethren Paraphrase 16 17 18 19. And there is all reason for this for as there be seven sins which be very hatefull to God so this is a compound of five if not of all seven of them The seven are these 1. pride or haughtiness 2. lying or fraudulence 3. guilt of blood 4. malice or projecting of evil 5. a pleasure in mischieving any 6. false witness or calumny 7. causing of discord or debates among those that live friendly together Of these the second the fourth the fifth the sixth and seventh are evidently in this of the detractour or calumniatour see v. 12 14. And that pride is the root of it and blood-guiltiness the effect of it cannot be doubted the pride and high opinion of our selves and desire to be esteemed above all constantly inciting us to defame others and the debates and discord which are caused by back-biting ending generally in feuds and the bloodiest murthers And this is a competent indication how odious this sin is and how punishable in the sight of God 20. My son keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother 21. Bind them continually upon thy heart and tie them about thy neck 22. When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee 23. For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life 24. To keep thee from the evil woman from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman Paraphrase 20 21 22 23 24. In the next place a principal caution there is for all young men of which they are to take an extraordinary care 'T is that which all parents timely warn their children of and it concerns them to lay it up and never forget it to carry it continually about with them as the Jews do their Phylacteries that it may be a perpetual memorative never out of their sight If they doe so they will have the comfort and benefit of it at home and abroad sleeping and waking in all the varieties of their life they will see and discern that timely which they that discern not run into all the most noxious and ruinous courses And what is this so important a caution thus pompously introduced Why onely this that thou be sure to keep thee from that horrible sin of fornication or adultery and not suffer thy self by whatsoever flatteries and deceits by soft and fair speeches the common address of whores to be seduced and ensnared in it 25. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids 26. For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life Paraphrase 25 26. Whatever allurement is in her beauty that may warm and attract thy love whatever invitation in her behaviour and amiableness of her looks or address thou art most nearly concerned to guard and fortifie thy self that thou beest not captivated thereby that thou permit not any unclean desire to kindle so much as in thine heart for as that is adultery in the eyes of that God that requires purity of the heart as well as actions see Matt. 5.8 28. so most sad and dismall are the effects of this passion as by many thousand examples hath been evidenced both in relation to mens estates and also their lives Many great estates have been utterly ruin'd and brought to the smallest pittance by that sin and many bodies have been exhausted and brought to noisome diseases and untimely death the very life and soul and whatsoever is most precious is the prey that this vulture gorges herself on 27. Can a man take fire in his bosome and his clothes not be burnt 28. Can one go on hot coals and his feet not be burnt 29. So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent Paraphrase 27 28 29. It is as imaginable that a man shall put fire in his bosome or walk upon live coals and receive no harm from them either to his garments or his flesh as that a man shall adventure on this sin of adultery and not exhaust and ruine himself by that course A fire in his bones and a wasting to his estate are the regular natural inevitable attendants of this sin But that is not all The wrath
was framed encompassing the air and superiour abyss wherein the waters in the clouds and those in the bowels of the earth were assigned their mansions wherein this globe of earth and sea were so formed that the one should be confined to its channel the other stand firm on its basis this eternal Word and wisedom of the Father was the great artificer by which all was framed inseparably united the Son to the Father and as a Counsellor joining in all the wise fabrick of the Universe and all therein contained All which being formed by infinite wisedom all was exceeding good and beautifull and delightfull to the Creatour And though it were so yet the creating of mankind was a special and principal piece whereto the whole Trinity was summoned Gen. 1.26 and about this one sort of creature when created God took special delight to be employ'd as bearing his image in a special manner and when that by sin was defaced immediately this wisedom of the Father was promised to be incarnate to unite it self to our humane nature thereby preferring it before the very Angels on purpose to redeem and restore us to purity 32. Now therefore hearken unto me O ye children for blessed are they that keep my ways 33. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not 34. Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my gates waiting at the posts of my doors 35. For whoso findeth me findeth life and shall obtain favour of the Lord. Paraphrase 32 33 34 35. These considerations put all together the all kind of advantages from obedience to the divine commands of God and their flowing from that eternal wisedom of God whereby the whole world was designed and created and so unquestionably the most divine and excellently wise and such as the eternal Word and Son of God was to be incarnate in our flesh to exemplifie and oblige to this practice may make it most perfectly reasonable for all that consider themselves their present or future weal to set to this exercise diligently and constantly see Luk. 11.28 as the onely way to all kind of felicity not to frustrate so great a mercy as is the instruction of God himself who certainly knows what is our best and wisest course and therefore prescribes it us because he knows it most agreeable to the better part of us but to apply themselves to it most solicitously constantly and unweariedly as that which is made up of all kind of felicity makes life worthy to be called life prepares them that live well here for that favour of God which will never deny them any good thing here and will over and above reward them for being thus happy here with an eternal immarcescible crown of glory hereafter 36. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul all they that hate me love death Paraphrase 36. Whereas the neglect of these precepts is the greatest treachery against ones self the going on in any course of sin is the immersing him in an abyss of present wretchedness the engaging him in certain eternal woes hereafter So that every wicked man stands off on terms of the utmost defiance to wisedom and is onely in love with ruine and destruction refuseth happiness when it is put into his hand when he is courted to it and wooes and importunes misery casts himself away and his body and soul to all eternity for that that yields him the least fruit in the enjoyment Annotations on Chap. VIII V. 12. Witty inventions From 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excogitavit is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 counsel machination most frequently in an ill sense so Lev. 19.29 it is rendred by the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the counsel of the wicked and by the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wickedness and Prov. 12. v. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of cogitations is by the Chaldee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wicked man and so by the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wicked man and accordingly here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be rendred the knowledge of machinations which if it be in an ill sense of machinations then the finding them will be the finding them out discovering and defeating and frustrating all such the craftiest contrivances of worldly and wicked men but it may be also in a good sense and then it is the finding i. e. the obtaining and acquiring them and thus it best agrees with the beginning of the verse where of this true i. e. practical wisedom it is said that it dwells with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. subtlety cunning craft as before v. 5. contrary to simplicity and deceivableness and so the full importance of the place is that this kind of wisedom the practice of vertue though it be not so esteemed but be under the contrary prejudice is indeed the onely true subtlety The LXXII reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I invoked knowledge and cogitation reading it seems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cogitations and so doth the Chaldee and Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 knowledge and cogitations V. 22. Possessed one The Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is thus most literally rendred from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to possess But it must be remembred that this possession is sometime acquired by begetting as the Son is certainly to be reckoned among the possessions of the Father as well as the Servant which is brought up by him or the Cattel or House in like manner so Gen. 4.1 upon the birth of Cain Eve saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we render it I have gotten a man c. And Zach. 13.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by the LXXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 begat me This makes it reasonable to bestow some consideration on the reading of the LXXII in this place where we have it rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Lord hath created me in the beginning of his ways on or over his works That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created is mistaken for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possessed was St. Jerom's conceit on Isa 26. and is obvious to imagine because that will be directly answerable to the ordinary notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for possessing and because Aquila reads expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possest me But beside that the Ancient Fathers before St. Jerome follow this reading of the LXXII which now we have 't is evident the Chaldee concur in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 created me And the Son of Sirach more than once transcribes it ch 1.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wisedom hath been created before all things and v. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord himself created her and ch 24.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he created me from the beginning before the world And Gen. 14.19 the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the LXXII rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where speaking of God they reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the voluptuous or pleasurable drew but drops or lappings but will yield the illuminate Christian full streams of all the real joy and Epicurism in the world Which as it shall be the sum of my present Address to you so of my Prayers to God for ever for you that he that knows best how to chuse for us will not suffer us to do it for our selves will answer the necessities of our health and not the importunities of our appetites that he will take our Soul's part against our enemy Flesh and not our Bodies our Estates our Satans against our Souls will teach us that patience and that joy that tranquillity and that Serenity that courage and that Anthem of his three Martyr-children that we may sing also in the midst of flames denudate us of all when that may fit us for our prizes prescribe us any the scorchingst Fornace here which shall prove most instrumental to our present Reformation and future bliss to our life of obedience here and of glory hereafter Which God of his infinite mercy grant us all for his Son Jesus Christ his sake To whom with the Father c. John Baptist's Warning The IV. SERMON MATTH 3.2 Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand TWO Difficulties there are in these few words what is meant by the Kingdom of heaven and what by Repentance and then one plain matter of Practical Divinity that results from the union of them The Difficulties must be explained or else the Doctrine will not be come by the Earth removed ere the Ore be sprang the Veil be rent and then the Oracle will appear The former what is the importance of the Kingdom of heaven as being more disputable I shall propose more civilly and tenderly and unconcernedly as willing to give an Example of that meekness and that charity that in matters of Opinion will keep a Christian from noise or quarrel but the latter being more practical to which your eternal weal is more closely consequent a little mistake in Repentance being like the losing of a pin in a Watch the Actions and Motions of the whole life even the success of every temporal enterprize or hope depending on it you must give me leave to be more dogmatical to affirm confidently and if need be contend and quarrel you out of such errors To begin with the first Difficulty The Kingdom of heaven in this place I conceive to have a peculiar critical sense different from what belongs to it in many other places and to signifie the destruction of the Jews that remarkable vast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or final subversion of that Church and State wherein the power and so Kingdom of Christ was most illustriously visible against his persecutors And if you must have the reasons of my conceit I will give you a taste to them First The parallel use of the phrase in some other places not to trouble you with many In the 21 Luke where our Saviour having mentioned the beginnings of sorrows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beginnings of their throes of travail and prolusions of this so bloody day Jerusalem encompast with Armies and the Prodigies that should be observable about that time the signs in the Sun and Moon c. ver 25. parallel to the relations in Hegisippus and Josephus and predictions in Joel The Sun shall be turn'd into darkness and the Moon c. he then concludes in the words of this Text When ye see these things come to pass know yee that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand A second Argument you may take from the Preacher the Baptist whose office it was to warn the Jews of this destruction as you may see Mal. 4.5 6. Behold I will send you Eliah the Prophet i. e. John Baptist a prophesying before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord and he shall turn the hearts of the Fathers c. directly the Sermon of Repentance Conversion in my Text lest I come and smite the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. in the Scripture phrase peculiarly the land of Judaea with a curse the clear interpretation of this Kingdom A third Argument you may have from the consequents in this Text where the Baptist saith it over again to the Pharisees in other words the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wrath ready to come and the axe laid to the root of the trees and so it seems this Kingdom was a heavy slaughtering hewing Kingdom And so indeed the propriety of the word will bear which will serve for a fourth Argument there being two notions of a Kingdom the one as it signifies reigning the other as executing judgment the first ruling the second coercing or punishing the first the golden sceptre the second the iron rod that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 royal Officer of God being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13. an avenger or executioner for punishment And for the matter in hand the case is most clear Christ was never so demonstrably a King as in that royal act of revenge upon his Crucifiers then was his standard set up his ensign displayed the sign of the Son of man appearing in Heaven and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory Matt. 24.30 Once more There is but one interpretation of this Kingdom of Heaven that can pretend against that which we have now given you and that is that it should signifie the preaching of the Gospel which at John Baptist's Sermon was not yet present but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was at hand But how could that be the thing meant when Christ himself who was this King and his preaching this Kingdom doth still continue the same style Matt. 4.17 Jesus began to preach and say Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand the other Kingdom was already come in Jesus preaching but still this Kingdom is to come yet future though 't were at hand Yea and when the Apostles were sent out a preaching which sure was the presence of that Kingdom the same style was still continued by them Luke 10. v. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Kingdom of God is at hand upon you and then immediately to give the interpretation of that Kingdom they shake off the dust against them a direful ceremony and it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that City v. 12. the destruction that Sodom met with was more supportable than this I will now flatter my self that I have given you some hints and 't is in kindness to my Auditory that I do no more to acknowledge it not improbable that the Kingdom of heaven may have a peculiar separate notion in this and some other few places from that which it ordinarily signifies and so denote the fatal final day to the Jews and that will give our Baptist a preacher of Repentance just as Jonas and Noah were God's oeconomy the same and the style but little
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the venerable and the pure but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovely and commendable Phil. 4. Embraced by men of quality upon the same motives on which now all the contrary vices are taken up in adoration to that great Idol Civility and Reputation Vertue was then the more splendid title the more courtly name And 't is none of the meanest sins and plagues provocations and vengeances of this Kingdom that the measure of honour and gallantry among us is taken from fools and mad-men and by that means shame so prodigiously transplanted The chast man is the only leper to be separated and thrust out from the Camp Modesty the only scandalous thing the three degrees of the new-fashion'd Excommunication are denounced and executed like the Athenian Ostracism upon the several gradations of that vertue The purity of the body the Tongue the Eye have a kind of Nidui Cherem and Scamatha proportioned to them no man is civil enough for ordinary converse till he hath renounced such pusillanimous innocencies and brought forth fruits worthy of that repentance a whole Knight errantry in that sin confession with the mouth glorying of their masculine enterprizes enough to fill a Romance and even martyrdom it self and many sad encounters and real hellish sufferings in that service and all this penance of the least to expiate the crime of bashfulness to reconcile the modest Puny to make him fit for society with men I remember a conceit of Herodotus when the Greeks besieged Troy he believes Helena was in Aegypt because otherwise had she been in the City they would certainly have deliver'd her up and saved themselves so strange did it seem to him and irrational that men should chuse rather to die than part with a lust And yet to the shame of us Christians when Gods judgments make such direful approaches to us on this great quarrel for our vile and reproachful lusts when a black grim cloud â—ngs just over our heads gather'd from the vapours which this one dung-hill hath exhaled as Rome they say and others as well as that is enabled to oppress Countries by the pensions it receives from them when the voice is come flashing out of that cloud and the business driven to a close issue repent or perish irreversibly the kingdom used by God at this time as Antiochus of old by the Roman Ambassadors put into a circle as it were and not suffered to come out till we shall give our answer we desert and renounce estates and lives honours and souls and all rather than retrench or abate ought of this accursed superfluity And to this unsavoury humour and custom of the world one Use may be brought home from St. Pauls Sermon though taken in cypher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of continence I beseech you save me the pains resume and enlarge it to your selves 3. For judgment to come 1. That there is such a thing 2. That it descends to such mean particulars as justice and continence I cannot but in passing be your Remembrancer 1. That there is such a thing Injustice and incontinence are two main supplanters of all belief of the judgment to come when a man hath once set up that infamous trade of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6. of resolving to be rich in spight of all those objections and stops and encumbrances of honesty and direct dealing when he is come to a contemning that pedantry of justice of observation of Oaths that shall interpose so uncivilly to resist his thrift and advancement in the world believe it the minae vatum the news of the judgment to come in the Preachers mouth will be under an heavy suspicion of fraud and cheat and in fine pass but for fictions and mormo's too weak to outlook a brave glittering temptation the Taxes on the Ecclesiasticks in Florence which no body else dare collect for fear of the Popes thunderbolts the Jews will exact undauntedly Now the covetous worldling is that Jew whose soul being gone down into the bowels of the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Diodorus his phrase to an eternal drudgery in the gold-mineral is out of the reach of sounds from Heaven out of the awe or noise of thunderbolts The Mammonist is in your danger at your mercy to turn Atheist whensoever you bid him whensoever the lure of Gold shall be at leisure to tempt him ready to renounce all hope all fear of another world whensoever your goods are so put within his reach that an easie perjury will bring them into his Inventory And for the lusts of the flesh 't was Aristotles observation that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they debauch and corrupt our principles they send up more heathen fumes into the brain than any other distemper can do Saint Cyril tells us of some Idolaters that would have only a day-God because the night was a time for revelling and to have a God then would destroy their game and therefore they pitcht upon the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they might be Atheists all night and then they take it out to purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Basil saith of the Gluttons fasts revenging themselves on their Day-devotions by their Night-revels never acknowledge a God when a lust is to be lost by it and Athenagoras hath given it for a rule that the denying of the Resurrection the resolved concluding the world with this life and believing nothing of another is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only beloved doctrine of the voluptuous He that hath once transformed himself into that swine hath his Optick Nerves so chang'd in his forehead that as Plut. observes of that creature he never sees Heaven again till he be laid on his back And I fear the race of such heathen swine is likely within a while to prove the prime staple commodity of the land We are fallen into peevish times wherein all Gods methods are quite perverted the powerfull'st means that were ever afforded for the casting such Devils out of a Kingdom are debauch'd into matter of improvement and heightning of the humour and even dethroning God if he will not comply with it the very Angels that came to Sodom to visit for villany are once more assaulted and violated by our lusts I mean those judgments from Heaven upon a vitious Generation that would have inspired a Colony of Scythians with some piety by a strange kind of Antiperistasis or contrary working have made men more profane and godless than ever they were before the storm so close over our heads that in other Kingdoms they say sets them a ringing bells shooting guns lifting up voices to break and dissolve the cloud that threatens them hath set us upon the same design by oaths and blasphemies and those accursed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shouts of our Souldiers have broke the cloud indeed brought down not the Dove flying over our heads as Historians tell us a shout in an
who can dwell with everlasting burnings and all little enough to rouze you out of that dead prodigious sleep of sin to retrench the fury of one riotous lust I beseech you tell me is there ever a judgement to come ever an account to be given for moral vertues Do you so much as fear that for every unclean embrace or dalliance every shameless loud riot for every boisterous rage or execration that I may not add for every contumelious rude address to the throne of grace every base contempt of that majesty that fills this place God shall one day call you into judgement if you do and yet go on in these believe me you are the valliantest daringst persons in the world and if death be not more formidable to you than hell you are fit for a reserve or forlorn hope for the Cannons mouth for Cuiraisiers for fiends to duel with and let me for once set up an infamous trade read you a Lecture of cowardise and assure you that a judgment to come may be allow'd to set you a trembling that it may be reconcilable with Gallantry to fear him that can cast both body and soul into hell and put you in mind of that which perhaps you have not considered that you are not Atheists enough to stand out those terrours when they begin to come close up to you in a death-bed-clap of thunder Cain that was the first of this Order was not able to bear that near approach he went out from the presence of the Lord and the Rabbins have a fansie of Absalom that when he was hang'd by his hair in the midst of his rebellion he durst not cut it because he saw hell below him but chose to die rather than adventure to fall into that place of horrour that his attached conscience had prepared for him They are believe it such unreformed Atheistical hights as these that have made it so indifferent a choice Whether the kingdom be destroyed or no whether it be peopled with Satyrs or with wilder men become all desart or all Bedlam This heaviest judgment that ever fell upon a Nation extream misery and extream fury is I confess a most direful sight but withall a more inauspicious prognostick a sound of a Trumpet to that last more fatal Day with an Arise thou dementate sinner and come to judgment When all our most bloudy sufferings and more bloudy sins got together into one Akeldama or Tophet shall prove but an adumbration of that heavier future doom after which we shall do that to some purpose which we do now but like beginners by way of essay curse God and die suffer and blaspheme blaspheme and suffer for ever But then secondly this doctrine of justice and continence and judgement to come is most necessary as to awake the courtly Governour Felix so in the next place to convert the unbelieving heathen Felix Will you see the first principles of the doctrine of Christ when they are to be infused into such an one or as the Original hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6.1 the doctrine of the beginning of Christ the laws of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or initiation of a heathen Convert the elements of his Catechism they are in that place Heb. 6.2 1. Repentance from dead works And 2. Faith towards God 3. Resurrection And 4. Eternal judgment and believe me for him that thus comes unto God out of his animal heathen unregenerate life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Catalogue of the necessariò credenda is not over large he must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder Heb. 11.6 this and it seems no more but this is the minimum quod sic the summ of the faith without which 't is impossible to please him and therefore perhaps it was that Ammianus Marcellinus expresses his wonder that Constantius should call so many Councils whereas before Christian Religion was res simplicissima a plain Religion without contentions or intricacies and Epiphanius of the primitive times that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divided the Church into its true and erroneous members Impiety the only Heretick good life the orthodox professour Next the acknowledgment of the one God and his eternal Son the crucified Messias of the world and the Holy Ghost those one and three Authors of our Religion into which we are baptized and those few other branches of that faith the judgment to come and the practice of Christian vertues in the elevated Christian pitch is the prime if not only necessary And though there be more to be known fit to exercise his industry or his curiosity that hath treasur'd up these fundamentals in an honest heart yet sure not to serve his carnal mind to purge his spleen to provoke his choler to break communions to dilapidate that peace that charity that Christ beyond all other inheritances bequeathed to his disciples Let us but joyn in that unity of spirit in those things which we all know to be Articles of Faith and the precise conscientious practice of what we cannot chuse but know to be branches of our duty and I shall never lead you into any confounding depths or mazes divert you one minute by a walk in the gallery from that more Christian imployment and task in the workhouse And that will be the improvement of the second particular Lastly as the Felix was guilty of those sins which those vertues did reproach to him This Felix is to be met with in our books presented to us on a double view of Tacitus and Josephus Tacitus renders him an Eques Romanus that Claudius had sent Procurator of Judaea to manage it for a time and saith he did it per omnem saevitiam libidinem in the most cruel arbitrary manner and then see the difference of an Apostolick Preacher from Tertullus the Rhetor the one at his humble address and acknowledgment of the obligations that the whole Nation had received from this most excellent Felix ver 2. But Saint Paul in a pricking close discourse of justice and upon neglect of it judgment to come Josephus he looks nearer into his actions and finds him a tyrannical usurper of another mans wife Drusilla seduced to his bed from her husband Azys the King of the Emessâ—ni And then the Sermon of the faith on Christ presently lets loose at this adulterous couple and so you have the seasonableness of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too of chastity to the unchaste Felix and of judgment to come on such wasting sins This will certainly teach the Preacher the combatant of the Lord the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the regular manner of his duelling with sin not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wounding the empty air lashing those sins or sinners that are out of reach of his stripes but the closer nearer encounter the directing his blows at those crimes that are present to him most culpable and visible in his Auditory and thus grasping with the Goliah
August de Civit. Dei and other of the Fathers will number them out to you And thus far this tyrant over Impiety and Lust will be a Pelagian as to order all his deviation by imitation of Adam's Every breach of one single Law shall contain a brood or nest into which it may be sub-divided and every circumstance in the Action shall furnish him with fresh matter for variety of sin Again How imperious is he in triumphing over a sin which he hath once atchieved If he have once got the better of good nature and Religion broke in upon a stubborn sullen vice that was formerly too hard for him how often doth he reiterate and repeat that he may perfect his conquest that it may lie prostrate and tame before him never daring to resist him And if there be any Virgin modest sins which are ashamed of the light either of the Sun or Nature not coming abroad but under a veil as some sins being too horrid and abominable are fain to appear in other shapes and so keep us company under the name of amiable or innocent qualities then will this violent imperious sinner call them out into the Court or Market place tear away the veil that he may commit them openly and as if the Devil were too modest for him bring him upon the stage against his will and even take Hell by violence and force Thus are men come at last to a glorying in the highest impieties and expect some renown and credit as a reward for the pains they take about it and then certainly honour is grown very cheap when it is bestowed upon sins and the man very tyrannical over his spectators thoughts that requires to be worshipped for them This was a piece of the Devils old tyranny in the times of Heathenism which I would fain Christianity hath out-dated to build Temples and offer sacrifice to sins under the name of Venus Priapus and the like that men that were naturally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superstitious adorers of Devils or any thing that was called God might account Incontinence Religion and all impieties in the world a kind of adoration Thus to profess whoredoms and set up trophies in our eyes to build their eminent place in the head of every way in the verse next to my Text was then the imputation of the Jews and pray God it prove not the guilt of Christians from whence the whole Church of them is here styled An imperious c. Thus hath the Apostate Jew represented to you in his picture and resemblance the Libertine Christian and Ezekiel become an Historian as well as Prophet Thus hath indulgence in vice among Professors of Christianity been aggravated against you 1. By the weak Womanish condition of it nature it self and ordinary man-like reason is ashamed of it 2. By the Adulterous Unfaithfulness 1. Want of Faith 2. Of Fidelity bewray'd in it 3. By the imperiousness of the behaviour 1. In shamelesness 2. In confidence and spiritual security 3. In tyrannizing over himself and faculties by force compelling and then insulting over his goods and graces prodigally mis-spending them in the prosecution of his lusts and Lording over all that come near him men or sins first pressing then leading the one and both ravishing and tormenting the other to perform him the better service Now that this discourse may not have been sent into the air unprofitably that all these prophetical censures of sin may not be like Xerxes his stripes on the Sea on inanimate senseless bodies 't is now time that every tender open guilty heart begin to retire into it self every one consider whether he be not the man that the parable aims at that you be not content to have your ears affected or the suburbs of the Soul filled with the sound unless also the heart of the City be taken with its efficacy Think and consider whether 1. This effeminacy and womanishness of heart and not weakness but torpor and stupidity 2. This unfaithfulness and falseness unto Christ exprest by the spiritual incontinence and whoredoms of our souls and actions 3. That Confidence and magnanimous stately garb in sin arising in some from Spiritual Pride in others from Carnal Security whether any or all of these may not be inscrib'd on our Pillars and remain as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against us to upbraid and aggravate the nature and measure of our sins also I cannot put on so solemn a person as to act a Cato or Aristarchus amongst an Assembly that are all Judices critici to reprehend the learned and the aged and to chide my Teachers you shall promise to spare that thankless task and to do it to your selves It will be more civility perhaps and sink down deeper into ingenuous natures fairly to bespeak and exhort you and from the first part of my Text only because 't would be too long to bring down all from the weakness and womanish condition of indulgent sinners to put you in mind of your strength and the use you are to make of it in a word and close of Application We have already taken notice of the double inheritance and patrimoney of strength and graces which we all injoy first as Men secondly as Christians and ought not we Beloved that have spent the liveliest and sprightfullest of our age and parts in the pursuit of Learning to set some value on that estate we have purchased so dear and account our selves somewhat the more men for being Scholars Shall not this deserve to be esteemed some advantage to us and a rise that being luckily taken may further us something in our stage towards Heaven That famous division of Rational Animals in Jamblichus out of Aristotle into three different species that some were Men others Gods others such as Pythagoras will argue some greater priviledges of Scholars above other men That indeed the deep Learneder sort and especially those that had attained some insight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in divine affairs were in a kind of a more venerable species than ordinary ignaro's And for the benefits and helps that these excellencies afford us in our way to Heaven do but consider what a great part of the world overshaded in Barbarism brought up in blind Idolatry do thereby but live in a perpetual Hell and at last pass not into another kind but degree of darkness Death being but an officer to remove them from one Tophet to another or at most but as from a Dungeon to a Grave Think on this and then think and count what a blessing divine knowledge is to be esteemed even such a one as seems not only the way but the entrance not only a preparation but even a part of that vision which shall be for ever beatifical and therefore it will nearly concern us to observe what a talent is committed to our husbanding and what increase that hard Master will exact at his coming For as Dicaearchus in his Description of Greece saith of the
and lives not to gaze upon the Sun to the dazling nay destroying of your eyes but as it were in a burning-glass contract those blessed sanctifying rayes that flow from it to the enlivening and inflaming of your hearts And 2. In the behalf of others so to digest and inwardly dispense every part of sacred knowledge into each several member and vein of Body and Soul that it may transpire through hands and feet and heart and tongue and so secretly insinuate it self into all about you that both by Precept and Example they may see and follow your good works and so glorifie here your Father which is in heaven that we may all partake of that blessed Resurrection not of the learned and the great but the just and so hope and attain to be all glorified together with him hereafter Now to him c. SERMON II. PHIL. IV. 13 I can do all things through Christ that strengthneth me THose two contrary Heresies that cost St. Austin and the Fathers of his time so much pains the one all for natural strength the other for irrecoverable weakness have had such unkindly influence on succeeding ages that almost all the actions of the ordinary Christian have some tincture of one of these scarce any sin is sent abroad into the World without either this or that inscription And therefore parallel to these we may observe the like division in the hearts and practical faculties between pride and sloth opinion of absolute power and prejudice of absolute impotence the one undertaking all upon its own credit the other suing as it were for the preferment or rather excuse of being bankrupts upon record that so they may come to an easie composition with God for their debt of obedience the one so busie in contemplation of their present fortunes that they are not at leisure to make use of them their pride helping them to ease and if you look nearly to poverty too Revel iii. 17 the other so fastened to this Sanctuary this religious piece of prophaneness that leaving the whole business to God as the undertaker and proxy of their obedience their idleness shall be deemed devotion and their best piety sitting still These two differences of Men either sacrilegious or supine imperious or lethargical have so dichotomised this lower sphere of the World almost into two equal parts that the practice of humble obedience and obeying humility the bemoaning our wants to God with Petition to repair them and the observing and making use of those succors which God in Christ hath dispensed to us those two foundations of all Christian duty providing between them that our Religion be neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither the vertue of the Atheist nor the prayer of the Sluggard are almost quite vanished out of the world as when the Body is torn asunder the Soul is without any farther act of violence forced out of its place that it takes its flight home to Heaven being thus let out at the Scissure as at the window and only the two fragments of carcass remain behind For the deposing of these two Tyrants that have thus usurped the Soul between them dividing the Live child with that false Mother into two dead parts for the abating this pride and enlivening this deadness of practical faculties for the scourging this stout Beggar and restoring this Cripple to his Legs the two Provisions in my Text if the order of them only be transposed and in Gods method the last set first will I may hope and pray prove sufficient I can do c. 1. Through Christ that strengthneth me You have there first the Assertion of the necessity of grace and secondly that enforced from the form of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports the minutely continual supply of aids and then thirdly we have not only positively but exclusively declared the person thus assisting in Christo confortante it is by him not otherwise we can do thus or thus Three particulars all against the natural confidence of the proud Atheist 2. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I can do all things First the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and secondly the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. The power and 2. the extent of that power 1. The potency and 2. the omnipotency and then 3. this not only originally of Christ that strengthneth but inherently of me being strengthned by Christ Three particulars again and all against the conceived or pretended impotence either of the false spie that brought news of the Giants Anakims Cannibals in the way to Canaan Numb xiii 32 Or of the Sluggard that is alway affrighting and keeping himself at home with the Lion in the streets some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or other difficulty or impossibility whensoever any work or travel of obedience is required of us Prov. xxvi 13 It will not befit the majesty of the subject to have so many particulars by being severally handled joyntly neglected Our best contrivance will be to shorten the retail for the encreasing of the gross to make the fewer parcels that we may carry them away the better in these three Propositions I. The strength of Christ is the Original and Fountain of all ours Through Christ that c. II. The strength of a Christian from Christ derived is a kind of Omnipotency sufficient for the whole duty of a Christian Can do all things c. III. The strength and power being thus bestowed the work is the work of a Christian of the suppositum the Man strengthned by Christ I can do c. Of these in this order for the removing only of those prejudices out of the Brain which may trash and encumber the practice of piety in the heart And first of the first The strength of Christ is the Original and Fountain of all ours The strength of Christ and that peculiarly of Christ the second Person of the Trinity who was appointed by consent to negotiate for us in the business concerning our Souls All our tenure or plea to grace or glory to depend not on any absolute respectless though free donation but conveyed to us in the hand of a Mediator that Privy Seal of his annexed to the Patent or else of no value at that Court of Pleas or that Grand Assizes of Souls Our Natural strength is the gift of God as God is considered in the first Article of our Creed and by that title of Creation we have that priviledge of all created substances to be able to perform the work of nature or else we should be inferior to the meanest creature in this for the least stone in the street is able to move downwards by its own principle of nature and therefore all that we have need of in the performing of these is only Gods concurrence whether previous or simultaneous and in acts of choice the government and direction of our will by his general providence and power However even in this Work of
Christ making all that but a Chimaera and so evacuating or antiquating that old tenure by which we hold all our Spiritual Estate The Romanists again at least some of them bestowing upon the blessed Virgin after Conception such Jurisdiction in the temporal procession of the Holy Ghost that no grace is to be had but by her dispensing that she the Mother gives him that sends the Holy Ghost and therefore gives all gifts quibus vult quomodo quando per manus that she is the neck to Christ the head Cant. vii 4 and Sublato Virginis patrocinio perinde ac halitu intercluso peccator vivere diutius non potest and store enough of such emasculate Theology as this And yet others that maintain the quite contradictory to all these acknowledging a necessity of supernatural strength to the attaining of our supernatural end and then ask and receive this only as from the hands and merits of Christ without the mediation or jurisdiction of any other are yet had in jealousie and suspition as back-friends to the cause of God and enemies to Grace because they leave man any portion of that natural strength which was bestowed on him at his Creation Whereas the limits of both of these being distinctly set there may safely be acknowledged first a natural power or if you will call it natural grace the Fathers will bear you out in the phrase Illius est gratiae quod creatus est St. Jerom Gratia Dei quâ fecit nos St. Austin and Crearis gratia St. Bernard And that properly styled the strength of God but not of Christ enabling us for the works of nature And then above this is regularly superstructed the strength of Christ special supernatural strength made over unto us not at our first but second birth without which though we are men yet not Christians Live saith Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of embryon imperfect heathen of a child in the womb of the Gentile dark uncomfortable being a kind of first draught or ground colours only and monogram of life Though we have Souls yet in relation to spiritual acts or objects but weak consumptive cadaverous souls as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Old Testament word for the Soul and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 72 signifies a carcass or dead body Numb v. 2 and otherwhere and then by this accession of this strength of Christ this dead Soul revives into a kind of omnipotency the Pygmie is sprung up into a Giant this languishing puling state improved into an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that even now was insufficient to think any thing is now able to do all things which brings me to my second Proposition The strength of a Christian from Christ deriv'd is a kind of Omnipotence sufficient for the whole duty of a Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can do all things The clearing of this truth from all difficulties or prejudices will depend mainly on the right understanding of the predicate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text or the whole duty of a Christian in the proposition which two being of the same importance the same hand will unravel them both Now what is the whole duty of a Christian but the adequate condition of the second Covenant upon performance of which salvation shall certainly be had and without which salvare nequeat ipsa si cupias salus the very sufferings and saving mercies of Christ will avail us nothing As for any Exercise of Gods absolute Will or Power in this business of Souls under Christs Kingdom I think we may fairly omit to take it into consideration for sure the New Testament will acknowledge no such phrase nor I think any of the Antients that wrote in that language Whereupon perhaps it will he worth observing in the confession of the Religion of the Greek Church subscribed by Cyrill the present Patriarch of Constantinople where having somewhat to do with this phrase Of Gods absolute Dominion so much talked on here in the West he is much put to it to express it in Greek and at last fain to do it by a word coyned on purpose a meer Latinism for the turn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an expression I think capable of no excuse but this that a piece of new Divinity was to be content with a barbarous phrase Concerning this condition of the second Covenant three things will require to be premised to our present inquiry 1. That there is a Condition and that an adequate one of the same extent as the promises of the Covenant something exacted at our hands to be performed if we mean to be the better for the demise of that Indenture As many as received him to them he gave power c. Joh. i. 12 to these and to none else positively and exclusively To him that overcometh will I give Rev. ii 7 I have fought a good fight c. 2 Tim. iv 7 henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown then begins the title to the Crown and not before when the fight is fought the course finished the faith kept then coelum rapiunt God challenged on his righteousness as a Judge not on ground of it his absolute pleasure as a Lord which will but upon supposition of a Pact or Covenant which limits and directs the award and process for according unto it God the righteous Judge shall give And Mark xvi 16 in Christs farewell speech to his Disciples where he seals their Commission of Embassage and Preaching to every creature He that believeth not shall be damned this believing whatever it signifies is that condition here we speak of and what it imports you will best see by comparing it with the same passage set down by another Amanuensis in the last verse of St. Matth. To observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you a belief not of brain or phansie but that of heart and practice i. e. Distinctly Evangelical or Christian obedience the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in my Text and the whole duty of a Christian in the proposition which if a Christian by the help of Christ be not able to perform then consequently he is still uncapable of Salvation by the second Covenant no creature being now rescuable from Hell stante pacto but those that perform the condition of it that irreversible Oath of God which is always fulfilled in kind without relaxation or commutation or compensation of punishment being already gone out against them I have sworn in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest And therefore when the end of Christs mission is described Joh. iii. 17 That the world through him might be saved there is a shrewd But in the next verse But he that believeth not is condemned already this was upon agreement between God and Christ that the impenitent infidel should be never the better for it should die unrescued in his old Condemnation So that there is not only
respect to this Incarnation of Christ that the hopes the belief the expectation of Salvation which the Father 's lived and breathed by under the types of the Law was only grounded upon and referred unto these Promises of the future Incarnation that they which were not in some measure enlightned in this mystery were not also partakers of this Covenant of Salvation that all the means besides that Heaven and Earth and which goes beyond them both the brain of Man or Angel could afford or invent could not excuse much less save any child of Adam That every Soul which was to spring from these loins had been without those transcendent mercies which were exhibited by this Incarnation of Christs plung'd in necessary desperate damnation Your patience shall be more profitably imployed in a brief Application of the point First That you perswade and drive your selves to a sense and feeling of your Sins those sins which thus pluckt God out of Heaven and for a while depriv'd him of his Majesty which laid an engagement upon God either to leave his infinite Justice unsatisfied or else to subject his infinite Deity to the servile mortality of Flesh or else to leave an infinite World in a common damnation Secondly To strain all the expressions of our hearts tongues and lives to the highest note of gratitude which is possible in answer to this Mystery and Treasure of this God with us to reckon all the Miracles of either common or private preservations as foils to this incomparable Mercy infinitely below the least circumstance of it without which thine Estate thy Understanding thy Body thy Soul thy Being thy very Creation were each of them as exquisite Curses as Hell or Malice could invent for thee Thirdly To observe with an ecstasie of joy and thanks the precious priviledges of us Christians beyond all that ever God profest love to in that we have obtained a full revelation of this God with us which all the Fathers did but see in a cloud the Angels peep'd at the Heathen world gap'd after but we behold as in a plain at mid-day For since the veil of the Temple was rent every man that hath eyes may see Sanctum Sanctorum the Holy of Holies God with us Fourthly To make a real use of this Doctrine to the profit of our Souls that if God have designed to be Emmanuel and Jesus an Incarnate God and Saviour to us that then we will fit and prepare and make our selves capable of this Mercy and by the help of our religious devout humble endeavours not frustrate but further and promote in our selves this end of Christs Incarnation the saving of our Souls and this use is effectually made to our hands in the twelfth to the Hebrews at the last Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that cannot be moved i. e. being partakers of the Presence the Reign the Salvation of the Incarnate God Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear And do thou O powerful God improve the truth of this Doctrine to the best advantage of our Souls that thy Son may not be born to us unprofitably but that he may be God not only with us but in us in us to sanctifie and adorn us here with his effectual grace and with us to sustain us here as our Emmanuel and as our Jesus to crown and perfect us hereafter with glory And so much for this point That Jesus and Emmanuel import the same thing and there was no Salvation till this presence of God with us We now come to the substance it self i. e. Christs Incarnation noted by Emmanuel which is by interpretation c. Where first we must explain the word then drive forward to the matter The Word in Isaiah in the Hebrew is not so much a name as a sentence describing unto us the mystery of the Conception of the Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with us God where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is taken in Scripture either absolutely for the nature of God as for the most part in the Old Testament or personally and so either for the Person of the Father in many places or else distinctly for the Person of the Son so Hos i. 7 And will save them by the Lord their God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their God i. e. Christ and so also most evidently in this place out of Isaiah where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Son Incarnate God-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and many the like especially those where the Targum paraphrases Jehovah or Jehovah Elohim by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word of the Lord i. e. Christ Jesus Joh. i. 1 As for instance Gen. iii. 22 that Word of the Lord said and Gen. ii 6 the Word created Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies in its extent near at with or amongst Thirdly the Particle signifying us though it expresses not yet it must note our humane nature our abode our being in this our great World wherein we travel and this our little World wherein we dwell not as a mansion place to remain in but either as an Inn to lodg or a Tabernacle to be covered or a Prison to suffer in So that the words in their latitude run thus Emmanuel i. e. The second Person in Trinity is come down into this lower world amongst us for a while to travel to lodg to sojourn to be fetter'd in this Inn this Tabernacle this Prison of mans flesh or briefly at this time is conceived and born God-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same both God and Man the Man Christ Jesus And this is the cause and business the ground and theme of our present rejoycing in this were limited and fulfilled the expectation of the Fathers and in this begins and is accomplished the hope and joy of us Christians That which was old Simeons warning to death the sight and embraces of the Lord Christ Luk. ii 28 as the greatest happiness which an especial favour could bestow on him and therefore made him in a contempt of any further life sing his own funeral Nunc Dimittis Lord now lettest thou c. This is to us the Prologue and first part of a Christians life either the life of the World that that may be worthy to be call'd life or that of Grace that we be not dead whilst we live For were it not for this assumption of flesh you may justly curse that ever you carried flesh about you that ever your Soul was committed to such a Prison as your Body is nay such a Dungeon such a Grave But through this Incarnation of Christ our flesh is or shall be cleansed into a Temple for the Soul to worship in and in Heaven for a robe for it to triumph in For our body shall be purified by his Body If ye will be sufficiently instructed into a just valuation of the weight of this Mystery you must resolve
Martyr and directed to the Philippians 't is observed that whilst he was at a pretty distance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil hastned the structure of Christs Cross as much as he could set Judas and all the Artificers of Hell about the work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but when all was even ready Christ for the Cross and the Cross for Christ then he began to put i◠demurs shews Judas an Halter frights Pilar's Wife in a dream she could not sleep in 〈…〉 and in summ uses all means possible to prevent Christs Crucifixion Yet this saith Ignatius not out of any repentance or regret of Conscience but only being started with the foresight of his own ruine by this means Christ's suffering being in effect the destruction of his Kingdom his death ou◠Triumph over Hell and his Cross our Trophy By this you may discern what a miracle of God's love was this giving of his Son the conceiving of which was above the Devil's reach and wherein he was providentially ingaged and if we may so speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carried blindfold by God to be an Instrument of his own ruine and in a kind be a Co-worker of our Salvation Not to inlarge or expatiate upon Circumstances Man being thus involved in a necessity of damnation and no remedy within the sphere either of his power or conceit left to rescue him nay as some have been so hold to say that God himself had no other means besides this in his Store-house of miracles to save us without intrenching on some one of his Attributes for God then to find out a course that we could never prompt him to being solicited to it by nothing in us but our sins and misery and without any interposition any further consultation or demur to part with a piece of himself to redeem us Brachium Domini The Arm of the Lord as Isaiah calls our Saviour Isa liii Nay to send down his very Bowels amongst us to witness his compassion to satisfie for us by his own death and attach himself for our liberty to undergo such hard conditions rather than be forced to a cheap severity and that he might appear to love his Enemies to hate his Son In brief to fulfil the work without any aid required from us and make Salvation ready to our hands as Manna is called in the sixth of Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bread baked and sent down ready from Heaven Wisd xvi 20 to drop it in our mouths and exact nothing of us but to accept of it this is an act of love and singleness that all the malice we carry about us knows not how to suspect so far from possibility of a treacherous intent or double dealing that if I were an Heathen nay a Devil I would bestow no other appellation on the Christians God than what the Author of the Book of Wisdom doth so often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the friend or the lover of Souls But this is a vulgar though precious subject and therefore I shall no longer insist on it Only before I leave it would I could see the effect of it exprest in our Souls as well as acknowledged in our looks your hearts ravished as thorowly as your brains convinc'd your breasts as open to value and receive this superlative mercy as your tongues to confess it then could I triumph over Hell and death and scoff them out of countenance then should the Devil be reduced to his old pittance confined to an empty corner of the World and suffer as much by the solitariness as darkness of his abode all his engines and arts of torment should be busied upon himself and his whole exercise to curse Christ for ever that hath thus deprived him of Associates But alas we are too sollicitous in the Devil's behalf careful to furnish him with Companions to keep him warm in the midst of fire 't is to be feared we shall at last thrust him out of his Inheritance 'T is a probable argument that God desires our Salvation because that Hell wheresoever it is whether at the Center of the Earth or Concave of the Moon must needs be far less than Heaven and that makes us so besiege the gate as if we feared we should find no room there We begin our journey betimes lest we should be forestall'd and had rather venture a throng or crowd in Hell than to expect that glorious liberty of the Sons of God 'T is to be feared that at the day of Judgment when each Body comes to accompany its Soul in torment Hell must be let out and inlarge its territories to receive its Guests Beloved there is not a Creature here that hath reason to doubt but Christ was sent to die for him and by that death hath purchased his right to life Only do but come in do but suffer your selves to live and Christ to have died do not uncrucifie Christ by crucifying him again by your unbelief do not disclaim the Salvation that even claims right and title to you and then the Angels shall be as full of joy to see you in Heaven as God is willing nay desirous to bring you thither and Christ as ready to bestow that Inheritance upon you at his second coming as at his first to purchase it Nothing but Infidelity restrains Christs sufferings and confines them to a few Were but this one Devil cast out of the World I should be straight of Origens Religion and preach unto you Universal Catholick Salvation A second Argument of God's good meaning towards us of his willingness that we should live is the calling of the Gentiles the dispatching of Posts and Heralds over the whole ignorant Heathen World and giving them notice of this treasure of Christ's blood Do but observe what a degree of prophaneness and unnatural abominations the Gentile World was then arrived to as you may read in all their stories and in the first to the Romans how well grown and ripe for the Devil Christ found them all of them damnably Superstitious and Idolatrous in their Worship damnably unclean in their lives nay ingaged for ever in this rode of damnation by a Law they had made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never to entertain any new Laws or Religion not to innovate though it were to get Salvation as besides their own Histories may be gathered out of Act. xvii 18 And lastly consider how they were hook'd in by the Devil to joyn in crucifying of Christ that they might be guilty of that bloud which might otherwise have saved them and then you will find no argument to perswade you 't was possible that God should have any design of mercy on them Peter was so resolv'd of the point that the whole succession of the Gentiles should be damned that God could scarce perswade him to go and Preach to one of them Act. x. He was fain to be cast into a Trance and see a Vision about it and for all that he is much
troubled about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their prophaneness and uncleanness that they were not fit for an Apostle to defile himself about their Conversion And this was the general opinion of all the Jews they of the Circumcision were astonished at the news Act. x. 45 Nay this is it that the Angels wondred at so when they saw it wrought at the Church by Pauls Ministery never dreaming it possible till it was effected as may appear Eph. iii. 10 This was the Mystery which from the beginning of the World had been hid in God V. 9. One of God's Cabinet Counsels a Mercy decreed in secret that no Creature ever wish of till it was performed And in this behalf are we all being lineally descended from the Gentiles bound over to an infinite measure both of humiliation and gratitude for our deliverance from the guilt and reign of that second Original sin that Heathenism of our Ancestors and Catholick damnation that Sixteen hundred years ago we were all involv'd in Beloved we were long ago set right again and the obligation lies heavy upon us to shew this change to have been wrought in us to some purpose to prove our selves Christians in grain so fixed and established that all the Devils in Hell shall not be able to reduce us again to that abhorred condition If we that are thus called out shall fall back after so much Gospel to Heathen practices and set up Shrines and Altars in our hearts to every poor delight that our sottishness can call a God if we are not called out of their sins as well as out of their ignorance then have we advanced but the further toward Hell we are still but Heathen Gospellers our Christian Infidelity and practical Atheism will but help to charge their guilt upon us and damn us the deeper for being Christians Do but examine your selves on this one Interrogatory whether this calling the Gentiles hath found any effect in your hearts any influence on your lives whether your Conversations are not still as Heathenish as ever If you have no other grounds or motives to embrace the Gospel but only because you are borâ— within the pale of the Church no other evidences of your Discipleship but your livery then God is little beholding to you for your service The same motives would have served to have made you Turks if it had been your chance to have been born amongst them and now all that fair Christian outside is not thank-worthy 'T is but your good fortune that you are not now at the same work with the old Gentiles or present Indians a worshipping either Jupiter or the Sun 'T was a shrewd speech of Clemens that the life of every unregenerate Man is an Heathen-life and the sins of unsanctified Men are Heathen-sins and the estate of a Libertine Christian an Heathen-estate and unless our resolutions and practices are consonant to our profession of Christ we are all still Heathens and the Lord make us sensible of this our Condition The third and in summ the powerfullest Argument to prove God's willingness that we should live is that he hath bestowed his spirit upon us that as soon as he called up the Son he sent the Comforter This may seem to be the main business that Christ ascended to Heaven about so that a Man would guess from the xvi Chapter of St. John and Vers 7. that if it had not been for that Christ had tarried amongst us till this time but that it was more expedient to send the Spirit to speak those things powerfully to our hearts which often and in vain had been sounded in our ears 'T is a phancy of the Paracelsians that if we could suck out the lives and spirits of other Creatures as we feed on their flesh we should never die their lives would nourish and transubstantiate into our lives their spirit increase our spirits and so our lives grow with our years and the older we were by consequence the fuller of life and so no difficulty to become Immortal Thus hath God dealt with us first sent his Son his Incarnate Son his own Flesh to feed and nourish us and for all this we die daily he hath now given us his own very Life and incorporeous Essence a piece of pure God his very Spirit to feed upon and digest that if it be possible we might live There is not a vein in our Souls unless it be quite pin'd and shrivel'd up but hath some bloud produced in it by that holy nourishment every breath that ever we have breathed toward Heaven hath been thus inspired Besides those louder Voices of God either sounding in his Word or thundring in his Judgments there is his calm soft voice of Inspiration like the Night Vision of old which stole in upon the mind mingled with sleep and gentle slumber He draws not out into the Field or meets us as an Enemy but entraps us by surprize and disarms us in our quarters by a Spiritual Stratagem conquers at unawares and even betrays and circumvents and cheats us into Heaven That precept of Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To worship at the noise and whistling of the wind had sense and divinity in it that Jamblichus that cites it never dreamt of that every sound and whispering of this Spirit which râ—stles either about our ears or in our hearts as the Philosopher saith Tecum est intus est when it breaths and blows within us the stoutest faculty of our Souls the proudest piece of flesh about us should bow down and worship Concerning the manner of the Spirits working I am not I need not to dispute Thus far it will be seasonable and profitable for you to know that many other Illuminations and holy Graces are to he imputed to Gods Spirit besides that by which we are effectually converted God speaks to us many times when we answer him not and shines about our eyes when we either wink or sleep Our many sudden shortwinded Ejaculations toward Heaven our frequent but weak inclinations to good our ephemerous wishes that no man can distinguish from true piety but by their sudden death our every day resolutions of obedience whilest we continue in sin are arguments that God's Spirit hath shined on us though the warmth that it produced be soon chill'd with the damp it meets within us For example there is no doubt beloved but the Spirit of God accompanies his Word as at this time to your ears if you will but open at its knock and receive and entertain it in your hearts it shall prove unto you according to its most glorious attribute Rom. i. The power of God unto salvation But if you will refuse it your stubbornness may repel and frustrate God's Work but not annihilate it though you will not be saved by it it is God's still and so shall continue to witness against you as the day of doom Every word that was ever darted from that Spirit as a beam or javelin of
thy self to God might recover you to Heaven O then what power and energy what force and strong efficacy would there be in this voice from God Why will you die I am resolved that heart that were truly sensible of it that were prepared seasonably by all these circumstances to receive it would find such inward vigor and spirit from it that it would strike death dead in that one minute this ultimus conatus this last spring and plunge would do more than a thousand heartless heaves in a lingring sickness and perhaps overcome and quit the danger And therefore let me beseech you to represent this condition to your selves and not any longer be flattered or couzened in a slow security To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts If you let it alone till this day come in earnest you may then perhaps heave in vain labour and struggle and not have breath enough to send up one sigh toward Heaven The hour of our death we are wont to call Tempus improbabilitatis a very improbable inch of time to build our Heaven in as after death is impossibilitatis a time wherein it is impossible to recover us from Hell If nothing were required to make us Saints but outward performances if true repentance were but to groan and Faith but to cry Lord Lord we could not promise our selves that at our last hour we should be sufficient for that perhaps a Lethargy may be our fate and then what life or spirits even for that perhaps a Fever may send us away raving in no case to name God but only in oaths and curses and then it were hideous to tell you what a Bethlehem we should be carried to But when that which must save us must be a work of the Soul and a gift of God how can we promise our selves that God will be so merciful whom we have till then contemned or our souls then capable of any holy impression having been so long frozen in sin and petrified even into Adamant Beloved as a man may come to such an estate of grace here that he may be most sure he shall not fall as St. Paul in likelihood was when he resolved that nothing could separate him So may a man be engaged so far in sin that there is no rescuing from the Devil There is an irreversible estate in evil as well as good and perhaps I may have arrived to that before my hour of death for I believe Pharaoh was come to it Exod. ix 34 after the seventh Plague hardning his heart and then I say it is possible that thou that hitherto hast gone on in habituate stupid customary rebellions mayst be now at this minute arrived to this pitch That if thou run on one pace farther thou art engaged for ever past recovery And therefore at this minute in the strength of your age and lusts this speech may be as seasonable as if death were seizing on you Why will you die At what time soever thou repentest God will have mercy but this may be the last instant wherein thou canst repent the next sin may benumb or fear thy heart that even the pangs of death shall come on thee insensibly that the rest of thy life shall be a sleep or lethargy and thou lie stupid in it till thou findest thy self awake in flames Oh if thou shouldst pass away in such a sleep Again I cannot tell you whether a death-bed repentance shall save you or no. The Spouse sought Christ on her bed but found him not Cant. iii. 1 The last of Ecclesiastes would make a man suspect that remembring God when our feeble impotent age comes on us would stand us in little stead Read it for it is a most learned powerful Chapter This I am sure of God hath chosen to himself a people zealous of good works Tit. ii 14 And they that find not some of this holy fire alive within them till their Souls are going out have little cause to think themselves of God's election So that perhaps there is something in it that Matth. iii. 8 the Exhortation Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance is exprest by a sense that ordinarily signifies time past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have brought forth fruits It will not be enough upon an exigence when there is no way but one with me to be inclinable to any good works to resolve to live well when I expect to die I must have done this and more too in my life if I expect any true comfort at my death There is not any point we err more familiarly in and easily than our spiritual condition what is likely to become of us after death Any slight phansie that Christ died for us in particular we take for a Faith that will be sure to save us Now there is no way to preserve our selves from this Error but to measure our Faith and Hopes by our Obedience that if we sincerely obey God then are we true believers And this cannot well be done by any that begins not till he is on his Death-bed be his inclinations to good then never so strong his faith in Christ never so lusty yet how knows he whether it is only fear of death and a conviction that in spight of his teeth he must now sin no longer that hath wrought these inclinations produced this faith in him Many a sick man resolves strongly to take the Physicians dose in hope that it will cure him yet when he comes to taste its bitterness will rather die than take it If he that on his Death-bed hath made his solemnest severest Vows should but recover to a possibility of enjoying those delights which now have given him over I much fear his fiercest resolutions would be soon out-dated Such inclinations that either hover in the Brain only or float on the Surface of the Heart are but like those wavering temporary thoughts Jam. i. 6 Like a wave of the Sea driven by the wind and tost they have no firmness or stable consistence in the Soul it will be hard to build Heaven on so slight a foundation All this I have said not to discourage any tender languishing Soul but by representing the horrors of death to you now in health to instruct you in the doctrine of Mortality betimes so to speed and hasten your Repentance Now as if to morrow would be too late as if there were but a small Isthmus or inch of ground between your present mirth and jollity and your everlasting earnest To gather up all on the Clue Christ is now offered to you as a Jesus The times and sins of your Heathenism and unbelief God winked at Acts xvii 30 The Spirit proclaims all this by the Word to your hearts and now God knows if ever again commands all men every where to repent Oh that there were such a Spirit in our hearts such a zeal to our eternal bliss and indignation at Hell that we would give one heave and
represent to you your own Consciences if they be but called to cannot choose but reflect them to your sight Your outward profession and frequency in it for the general is acknowledged your Custom of the place requires it of you and the example of Piety that rules in your Eyes cannot but extort it Only let your lives witness the sincerity of your professions let not a dead Carcass walk under a living head and a nimble active Christian brain be supported with bed-rid mentionless Heathen â—imbs Let me see you move and walk as well as breath that I may hope to see you Saints as well as Christians And this shall be the summ not only of my advice to you but for you of my Prayers That the Spirit would sanctifie all our hearts as well as brains that he will subdue not only the pride and natural Atheism of our understandings but the rebellions and infidelity and heathenism of our lusts that being purged from any reliques or tincture or suspicion of irreligion in either power of our Souls we may live by Faith and move by Love and die in Hope and both in Life and Death glorifie God here and be glorified with him hereafter SERMON VIII LUKE XVIII 11 God I thank thee that I am not as other men extortioners c. or even as this Publican THAT we may set out at our best advantage and yet not go too far back to take our rise 't is but retiring to the end of the 8. Verse of this Chapter and there we shall meet with an abrupt speech hanging like one of Solomon's Proverbs without any seeming dependance on any thing before or after it which yet upon enquiry will appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faln down from Heaven in the posture it stands in In the beginning of the Eight verse he concludes the former Parable I tell you that he will avenge them speedily and then abruptly Nevertheless when the Son of man comes shall he find faith upon the earth And then immediately Verse 9. he spake another parable to certain that trusted in themselves where this speech in the midst when the Son of man comes c. stands there by it self like the Pharisee in my Text seorsim apart as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or intercalary day between two months which neither of them will own or more truly like one of Democritus his atomes the casual concurrence of which he accounted the principle and cause of all things That we may not think so vulgarly of Scripture as to dream that any title of it came by resultance or casually into the world that any speech dropt from his mouth unobserved that spake as man never spake both in respect of the matter of his speeches and the weight and secret energie of all accidents attending them it will appear on consideration that this speech of his which seems an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a supernumerary superfluous one is indeed the head of the corner and ground of the whole Parable or at least a fair hint or occasion of delivering it at that time Not to trouble you with its influence on the Parable going before concerning perseverance in prayer to which it is as an Isthmus or fibula to joyn it to what follows but to bring our eyes home to my present subject After the consideration of the prodigious defect of faith in this decrepit last age of the world in persons who made the greatest pretences to it and had arriv'd unto assurance and security in themselves he presently arraigns the Pharisee the highest instance of this confidence and brings his righteousness to the bar sub hac formâ There is like to be toward the second coming of Christ his particular visitation of the Jews and then its parallel his final coming to judgment such a specious pompous shew and yet such a small pittance of true faith in the world that as it is grown much less than a grain of mustard-seed it shall not be found when it is sought there will be such giantly shadows and pigmy substances so much and yet so little faith that no Hieroglyphick can sufficiently express it but an Egyptian temple gorgeously over-laid inhabited within by Crocodiles and Cats and carcasses instead of gods or an apple of Sodom that shews well till it be handled a painted Sepulchre or a specious nothing or which is the contraction and Tachygraphy of all these a Pharisee at his prayers And thereupon Christ spake the parable verse 9. there were two men went up into the temple to pray the one a Pharisee c. verse 10. Concerning the true nature of faith mistaken extreamly now adays by those which pretend most to it expuls'd almost out of mens brains as well as hearts so that now it is scarce to be found upon earth either in our lives or almost in our books there might be framed a seasonable complaint in this place were I not already otherwise imbarked By some prepossessions and prejudices infus'd into us as soon as we can conn a Catechism of that making it comes to pass that many men live and die resolv'd that faith is nothing but the assurance of the merits of Christ applied to every man particularly and consequently of his salvation that I must first be sure of Heaven or else I am not capable of it confident of my salvation or else necessarily damned Cornelius Agrippa being initiated in natural magick Paracelsus in mineral extractions Plato full of his Idea's will let nothing be done without the Pythagoreans brought up with numbers perpetually in their ears and the Physicians poring daily upon the temperaments of the body the one will define the soul an harmony the other a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Philoponus And so are many amongst us that take up fancies upon trust for truths never laying any contrary proposals to heart come at last to account this assurance as a principle without which they can do nothing the very soul that must animate all their obedience which is otherwise but a carcass or heathen vertue in a word the only thing by which we are justified or saved The confutation of this popular error I leave to some grave learned tongue that may enforce it on you with some authority for I conceive not any greater hindrance of Christian obedience and godly practice amongst us than this for as long as we are content with this assurance as sufficient stock to set up for Heaven there is like to be but little faith upon the earth Faith if it be truly so is like Christ himself when he was Emmanuel God upon the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an incarnate faith cut out and squared into limbs and lineaments not only a spiritual invisible faith but even flesh and bloud to be seen and felt organiz'd for action 't is to speak and breath and walk and run the ways of God's Commandments An assent not only
from off the earth what means have we left us but our prayers to prepare or mature this reconciliation Shall we then take heart also and bring in our action of trespass Shall we sit and pen our railing accusation in the form that Christ uses against the Pharisees Mat. xxiii 13 Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men for you neither go in your selves neither suffer ye them that are entring to go in This we might do upon better grounds were we so revengefully disposed but we fear to incur our Saviour's censure Luke ix 55 And he turn'd and rebuk't them saying Ye know not what manner of spirits ye are of We should much mistake our Christian spirit if we should not in return to their curses intercede with God in prayer for them First that he will bestow on them the grace of meekness or charity then sincerity and uprightness without wilful blindness and partiality and lastly to intercede for the salvation of all our souls together And this is the only way St. Paul hath left us Rom. xii 20 by returning them good to melt them hoping and praying in the words of Solomon that by long forbearing this great Prince of the West will be perswaded and that our soft tongues may in time break the bone But whilst we preach charity to them shall we not betray partiality in our selves by passing over that uncharitable fire that is breaking out in our own Chimnies 'T were to be wished that this Christian grace which is liberal enough of it self would be entertain'd as gratefully as it is preach't we should not then have so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of fire amongst us as we have who being inflam'd some with faction others with ignorant prejudice others with doting on their own abilities fall out into all manner of intemperate censures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words of the sword all sharp contumelious invectives against all persons or doctrines or lives that are not ordered or revised by them For what Photius out of Josephus observes among others to have been one main cause or prognostick of the destruction of Jerusalem the civil wars betwixt the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Zelots and the Cut-throats pray God we find not the same success amongst us Whilst the Zelots saith he fell on the Sicarii the whole body of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was bitterly and unmercifully butcher'd betwixt them and under one of those two names all the People were brought to suffer their part in the massacre I desire not to chill or damp you with unnecessary fears or to suspect that our sins shall be so unlimited as utterly to out-vie and over-reach God's mercies But beloved this ill bloud that is generally nourish't amongst us if it be not a Prognostick of our fate is yet an ill Symptome of our disease These convulsions and distortions of one member of the body from another as far as it can possibly be distended this burning heat and from thence raving and disquietness of the soul are certainly no very comfortable Symptomes When the Church and Kingdom must be dichotomiz'd precisely divided into two extreme parts and all moderate persons by each extreme tossed to the other with furious prejudice must brand all for Hereticks or carnal persons that will not undergo their razor And then the contrary extreme censure and scoff at their preciseness that will not bear them company to every kind of riot These beloved are shrewd feaverish distempers pray God they break not forth into a flame When the boat that goes calmly with the stream in the midst of two impetuous rowers shall be assaulted by each of them for opposing or affronting each when the moderate Christian shall be branded on the one hand for preciseness on the other for intemperance on the one side for a Puritan on the other for a Papist or a Remonstrant when he that keeps himself from either extreme shall yet be intituled to both what shall we say is become of that ancient Primitive charity and moderation The use beloved that I desire to make of all this shall not be to declaim at either but only by this compass to find out the true point that we must sail by By this saith Aristotle you shall know the golden mediocrity that it is complained on both sides as if it were both extremes that may you define to be exact liberality which the covetous man censures for prodigality and the prodigal for covetousness And this shall be the summ not only of my advice to you but prayers for you that in the Apostles phrase your moderation may be known unto all men by this livery and cognizance that you are indited by both extreams And if there be any such Satanical art crept in amongst us of authorizing errors or sins on one side by pretending zeal and earnestness against their contraries as Photius observes that it was a trick of propagating heresies by writing books intitled to the confutation of some other heresie the Lord grant that this evil spirit may be either laid or cast out either fairly led or violently hurried out of our coasts I have done with the Pharisees censoriousness I come now in the last place to the ground or rather occasion of it his seeing the Publican comparing himself with notorious sinners I thank thee that c. That verse 1 Cor. xv 33 which St. Paul cites out of Menanders Thais that wicked communication corrupts good manners is grounded on this moral essay that nothing raiseth up so much to good and great designs as emulation that he that casts himself upon such low company that he hath nothing to imitate or aspire to in them is easily perswaded to give over any farther pursuit of virtue as believing that he hath enough already because none of his acquaintance hath any more thus have many good wits been cast away by falling unluckily into bad times which could yield them no hints for invention no examples of poetry nor encouragement for any thing that was extraordinary And this is the Pharisees fate in my Text that looking upon himself either in the deceivable glass of the sinful world or in comparison with notorious sinners extortioners adulterers Publicans sets himself off by these foils finds nothing wanting in himself so is solaced with a good comfortable opinion of his present estate and a slothful negligence of improving it And this beloved is the ordinary lenitive which the Devil administers to the sharp unquiet diseases of the conscience if at any time they begin to rage the only conserve that he folds his bitterest receipts in that they may go down undiscern'd that we are not worse than other men that we shall be sure to have companions to Hell nay that we need not neither at all fear that danger for if Heaven gates be so strait as not to
towards it But seeing it hath proposed its fruitfulness under condition of our drudgery we plow and harrow and manure and drain and weed it or else we are sure to fare the worse at harvest The variety of preparations in these low affairs was by Cato and Varro and Columella accounted a pretty piece of polite necessary learning And a Christian if he will apply their rules to his spiritual Georgicks the culture of his soul shall be able to husband it the better and by their directions have a further insight into those fallow-grounds of his own heart which the Prophet speaks of 'T were a great and perhaps unnecessary journey to trace over the whole world of creatures to perfect this observation almost every passage of nature will furnish you with an example Hence is it that they that had nothing but natural reason to instruct them were assiduous in this practice and never ventured on any solemn business without as solemn endeavours to fit themselves for the work they took in hand those series of preparations before the ancient Athletica as anointing and bathing and rubbing and dust 't were fit enough for a Sermon to insist on the exercise which they prepared for being reputed sacred and parts of their solemnest worship and the moral of them would prove of good use to discipline and to bring us up to those spiritual Agones mentioned in Scripture as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. iv 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. ix 26 and in the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and its preparative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wrestling cuffing and running three of the five Olympian games adopted as it were into the Church and spiritualiz'd by the Apostle for our imitation But to pass by these and the like as less apposite for our discourse what shall we think Was it superstition or rather mannerliness that made the Graecian Priests so rub and wash and scour themselves before they would meddle with a sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was and that we construe superstition but indeed it signifies an awe and reverence to the Deity they worship and a fear and a care lest the unpreparedness of the Priest should pollute their sacrifice as 't is much to be feared that our holiest duties for want of this care are turn'd into sin the vanities and faults of our very prayers adding to the number of those guilts we pray against and every sacrifice even of atonement it self needing some expiation To look a while on the highest part and as it were the Sacraments of their Religion their Eleusinia sacra resembling in one respect Christian Baptism in another holy Orders What a multitude of rites and performances were required of every one before his admission to them For their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being divided into two classes the less or lower sort were praeludia to the greater or as the Scholiast on Aristophanes hath it more clearly to our purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a praemundation or praesanctification of them that sued to be admitted higher as Baptism Confirmation and a Christian education in the Church fits us for the participations of those mysteries which the other Sacraments present to us so that it punctually notes that preparation we here talk of for before they were admitted to those grand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were saith Suidas to spend a year or two in a lower form undergo a shop of purgations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and many more so that Tertullian could not without wonder and praise of their solemnities observe tot suspiria epoptarum multam in adytis divinitatem 'T was no mean toyl nor ordinary merit that was required to make them capable of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristophanes calls them The ground of all the ceremony we may observe to be the natural impurity which the Heathens themselves acknowledge to be in every man as may appear most distinctly by Jamblichus though they knew not clearly at what door it came in at sure they were they found it there and therefore their own reason suggested them that things of an excellent purity of an inherent or at least an adherent sanctity were not to be adventured on by an impure nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Clement till it had by some laborious prescribed means somewhat rid it self of its pollutions and this the Barbarian did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he thinking the bare washing of the outward parts sufficient but the Graecians whom learning had made more substantial in their Worship required moreover an habituate temper of passions longam castimoniam sedatam mentem that the inward calmness and serenity of the affections might perform the promises of the outward purity In summ when they were thus qualified and had fulfill'd the period or circle of their purgation required to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were at length admitted intra adyta ad epoptica sacra where all the mysteries of their Theology were revealed to them All which seems to me as much as can be expected from their dim imperfect knowledge to express the state of grace and saving knowledge in the world and also the office of ministring in sacred things into which no man was thought fit to be received or initiated but he which had undergone a prentiship of purgations for although those Eleusinia of theirs at a Christian's examination would prove nothing but religious delusions containing some prodigies of their mythical divinity in summ but grave specious puppets and solemn serious nothing yet hence it may appear that the eye of nature though cheated in the main taking that for a sacred mystery which was but a prodigious vanity yet kept its self constant in its ceremonies would not dare or hope to approach abruptly to any thing which it could believe to be holy Now shall we be more sawcy in our devotions and insolent in our approaches to either the throne of Majesty or grace of our true God than they were to the unprofitable empty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their false Shall we call the mannerliness of the Heathen up in judgment against the Christian rudeness 'T will be an horrid exprobration at the day of Doom when a neat wash't respectful Gentile shall put a swinish miry negligent Christian to shame such a one who never took so much care to trim himself to entertain the bridegroom as the Heathen did to adore an empty gaud a vain ridiculous bauble Yet is not their example prescribed you as an accomplish't pattern as the pitch to aim at and drive no higher but rather as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sarcasm or contumely engrav'd in Marble to upbraid you mightily if you have not gone so far All that they practised was but superficial and referring to the body and therein the washing of the out-sides yours must be inward and of the soul which is the next word
of his fellow Gentiles If the book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were his own legitimate work a man might guess that he saw something though he denyed the particular providence of the Deity and that he acknowledged his omnipotence though he would not be so bold with him as to let him be busied in the producing of every particular sublunary effect The man might seem somewhat tender of God as if being but newly come acquainted with him he were afraid to put him to too much pains as judging it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. neither comely nor befitting the Majesty of a God to interest himself in every action upon earth It might seem a reverence and awe which made him provide the same course for God which he saw used in the Courts of Susa and Echatana where the King saith he lived invisible in his Palace and yet by his Officers as through prospectives and Otacousticks saw and heard all that was done in his Dominions But this book being not of the same complexion with the rest of his Philosophy is shrewdly guest to be a spurious issue of latter times entitled to Aristotle and translated by Apuleius but not owned by its brethren the rest of his books of Philosophy for even in the Metaphysicks where he is at his wisest he censures Zenophanes for a Clown for looking up to Heaven and affirming that there was one God there the cause of all things and rather than he will credit him he commends Parmenides for a subtle fellow who said nothing at all or I am sure to no purpose Concerning his knowledge of the soul 't is Philoponus his observation of him that he perswades only the more understanding laborious judicious sort to be his Auditors in that subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But dehorts men of meaner vulgar parts less intent to their study from medling at all with this science about the soul for he plainly tells them in his first de anima 't is too hard for any ordinary capacity and yet in the first of the Metaph. he defines the wise man to be one who besides his own accurate knowledge of hard things as the Causes of the soul c. is also able to teach any body else who hath such an habit of knowledge and such a command over it that he can make any Auditor understand the abstrusest mystery in it So then out of his own words he is convinced to have had no skill no wisdom in the business of the soul because he could not explain nor communicate this knowledge to any but choice Auditors The truth is these were but shifts of pride and ambitious pretences to cloak a palpable ignorance under the habit of mysterious deep speculation when alas poor man all that which he knew or wrote of the soul was scarce worth learning only enough to confute his fellow ignorant Philosophers to puzzle others to puffe himself but to profit instruct or edifie none In the third place concerning happiness he plainly bewrays himself to be a coward not daring to meddle with Divinity For 1 Eth. c. 9. being probably given to understand or rather indeed plainly convinced that if any thing in the world were then happiness must likely be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the gift of God bestowed on men yet he there staggers at it speaks sceptically and not so magisterially as he is wont dares not be so bold as to define it and at last does not profess his ignorance but takes a more honourable course and puts it off to some other place to be discust Where Andronicus Rhodius his Greek Paraphrase tells us he meant his Tract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about Providence but in all Laërtius his Catalogue of the multitude of his writings we find no such title and I much suspect by his other carriages that the man was not so valiant as to deal with any so unwieldy a subject as the Providence would have proved Sure I am he might if he had had a mind to it have quitted himself of his engagements and seasonably enough have defined the fountain of happiness there in Ethicks but in the 10. c. it appears that it was no pretermission but ignorance not a care of deferring it to a fitter place but a necessary silence where he was not able to speak For there mentioning happiness and miserableness after death where he might have shewed his skill if he had had any he plainly betrays himself an arrant naturalist in defining all the felicity and misery to be the good or ill proof of their friends and children left behind them which are to them being dead happiness or miseries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which they are not any way sensible But of what hath been spoken it is plain that the Heathen never looked after God of their own accord but as they were driven upon him by the necessity of their study which from the second causes necessarily lead them in a chain to some view of the first mover and then some of them either frighted with the light or despairing of their own abilities were terrified or discouraged from any farther search some few others sought after him but as Aristotle saith the Geometer doth after a right line only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a contemplator of truth but not as the knowledge of it is any way useful or conducible to the ordering or bettering of their lives they had an itching desire to know the Deity but neither to apply it as a rule to their actions nor to order their actions to his glory For generally whensoever any action drove them on any subject which intrenched on Divinity you shall find them more flat than ordinary not handling it according to any manner of accuracy or sharpness but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only as much use or as little as their study in the search of things constrained them to and then for most part they fly off abruptly as if they were glad to be quit of so cumbersom a subject Whence Aristotle observes that the whole Tract de causis was obscurely and inartificially handled by the Ancients and if sometimes they spake to the purpose 't was as unskilful unexercised fencers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they lay on and sometimes strike a lucky blow or two but more by chance than skill sometimes letting fall from their pens those truths which never entred their understandings as Theophilus ad Auto. observes of Homer and Hesiod that being inspired by their Muses i. e. the devil spake according to that spirit lyes and fables and exact Atheism and yet sometimes would stumble upon a truth of Divinity as men possest with Devils did sometimes confess Christ and the evil spirits being adjured by his name came out and confest themselves to be devils Thus it is plain out of the Philosophers and Heathen discourses 1. Of God 2. The Soul 3 Happiness that they were also ignorant
as ignorance is opposed to piety or spiritual wisdom which was to be proved by way of premise in the second place Now in the third place for the guilt of their ignorance that it was a perverse gross malicious and unexcusable ignorance you shall briefly judge Aristotle 1 Met. 2. being elevated above ordinary in his discourse about wisdom confesses the Knowledge of God to be the best Knowledge and most honourable of all but of no manner of use or necessity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. No Knowledge is better than this yet none more unnecessary as if the Evidence of truth made him confess the nobility of this wisdom but his own supine stupid perverse resolutions made him contemn it as unnecessary But that I may not charge the accusation too hard upon Aristotle above others and take as much pains to damn him as the Colen Divines did to save him we will deal more at large as Aristotle prescribes his wise men 1. Met. and rip up to you the unexecusableness of the heathen ignorance in general 1. By the authority of Clemens who is guest to be one of their kindest patrons in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where having cited many testimonies out of them concerning the unity he concludes thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Seeing that the Heathen had some sparks of the divine truth some gleanings out of the written word and yet make so little use of it as they do they do saith he shew the power of Gods word to have been revealed to them and accuse their own weakness that they did not improve it to the end for which it was sent that they encreased it not into a saving knowledge where by the way the word weakness is used by Clement by way of softning or mercy as here the Apostle useth ignorance when he might have said impiety For sure if the accusation run thus that the word of God was revealed to them and yet they made no use of it as it doth here in Clem. the sentence then upon this must needs conclude them not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weak but perverse contemners of the light of Scripture Again the Philosophers themselves confess that ignorance is the nurse nay mother of all impiety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whatsoever an ignorant man or fool doth is unholy and wicked necessarily ignorance being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a species of madness and no mad-man being capable of any sober action so that if their ignorance were in the midst of means of knowledge then must it be perverse if it had an impure influence upon all their actions then was it malicious and full of guilt 2. Their chief ground that sustained and continued their ignorance proves it to be not blind but affected which ground you shall find by the Heathen objection in Clem. to be a resolution not to change the religion of their fathers 'T is an unreasonable thing say the Heathens which they never will be brought to to change the customs bequeathed to them by their ancestors From whence the Father solidly concludes that there was not any means in nature which could make the Christian Religion contemned and hated but only this pestilent custom of never altering any customs or laws though never so unreasonable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 't is not possible that ever any nation should hate and fly from this greatest blessing that ever was bestowed upon mankind to wit the knowledge and worship of God unless being carried on by custom they resolved to go the old way to Hell rather than to venture on a new path to Heaven Hence it is that Athenagoras in his Treaty with Commodus for the Christians wonders much that among so many Laws made yearly in Rome there was not one enacted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that men should forsake the customs of their fathers which were any way absurd From whence he falls straight to their absurd Deities as if it being made lawful to relinquish ridiculous customs there would be no plea left for their ridiculous gods So Eusebius Praep. l. 2. makes the cause of the continuance of superstition to be that no man dared to move those things which ancient custom of the Country had authorized and so also in his fourth book where to bring in Christianity was accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to change things that were fixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and to be pragmatical friends of innovation and so 't is plain they esteemed St. Paul and hated him in that name as an Innovator because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection Acts 17.18 So Acts the 16.21 St. Paul is said to teach customs which were not lawful for them to receive nor observe being Romans because saith Casaubon out of Dio 't was not lawful for the Romans to innovate any thing in religion for saith Dio this bringing in of new Gods will bring in new Laws with it So that if as hath been proved their not acknowledging of the true God was grounded upon a perverse resolution not to change any custom of their fathers either in opinion or practice though never so absurd then was the ignorance or as St. Paul might have called it the idolatry of those times impious affected not a natural blindness but a pertinacious winking not a simple deafness but a resolved stubbornness not to hear the voice of the charmer which we might further prove by shewing you thirdly how their learning or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which might be proved an excellent preparative to religion their Philosophy which was to them as the Law to the Jews by their using of it to a perverse end grew ordinarily very pernicious to them 4. How that those which knew most and were at the top of prophane knowledge did then fall most desperately headlong into Atheism as Hippocrates observes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and St. Basil that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most perfect constitution of body so of the soul is most dangerous if not sustained with good care and wisdom 5. How they always forged lies to scandal the people of God as Manetho the famous Aegyptian Historian saith that Moses and the Jews were banished out of Aegypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of an infectious leprosie that over-spread the Jews as Theophilus cites it and Justine out of Trogus and also Tacitus and the Primitive Christians were branded and abomined by them for three special fauâ—ts which they were little likely to be guilty of 1. Atheism 2. Eating their Children 3. Incestuous common using of women as we find them set down and confuted by Athen. in his Treaty or Apology and Theophilus ad Autol. c. 6. By their own confession as of Plato to his friend when he wrote in earnest and secretly acknowledging the unity which he openly denied against his conscience and the light of reason in him and
Herodotus You need not the mythology the Philosophers as well as soyl of Greece had not moisture enough to sustain them from nature if God had not sent them water from Heaven they and all we Gentiles had for ever suffered a spiritual thirst Aegypt and all the Nations had for ever gasped for drought if the Sun-shine of the Gospel had not by its beams call'd out of the Well which had no Bucket 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living or enlivening water John 4.6 But by this attraction of the Sun these living Waters did so break out upon the Gentiles that all the Waters of Jury were left dry as once the dew was on Gideons Fleece and drought on all the earth besides Judg. vi 37 And is it reasonable for us to observe this miracle of mercy and not return even a miracle of thanksgiving Can we think upon it without some rapture of our Souls Can we insist on it and not feel a holy tempest within us a storm and disquiet till we have some way disburthened and eased our selves with a pouring out of thanksgiving That spirit is too calm that I say not stupid which can bear and be loaded with mercies of this kind and not take notice of its burthen for besides those peculiar favours bestowed on us in particular we are as saith Chrysostome Tom. 4. in our audit of thanksgiving to reckon up all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all those common benefactions of which others partake with us for 't is saith he an ordinary negligence in us to recount Gods mercies as we confess our sins only in gross with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are great Sinners and God hath abounded in mercies to us never calling our selves to a strict retail either of our sins or his mercies and this neglect saith he doth deprive us of a great deal of spiritual strength For 1. the recounting of the multitude of Gods mercies to us formerly might give us confidence of the continuance of them according to S. Cyprian donando debet God's past blessings are engagements and pawns of future 2. 'T is saith he of excellent use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bring us acquainted and familiar with God and infinitely increaseth our love to him and desire of performing some manner of recompence Which one thing made the Heathen of old so love and respect their Benefactors that they worship't them and would not suffer any common real benefaction to be done them without an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Author of it as might be proved through all ancient Writings for on these grounds was it that they would needs Sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas Acts xiv 13 In the second place if we consider how nearly it concerns us that if they had been pretermitted we to the end of the World might probably have lived in the same darkness that we now hold our right to Heaven by the Covenant made to them that those commands belong also to us and our Children then we must in some reason of proportion thank God liberally for that calling of the Gentiles as we cannot chuse but do for our present adoption and enlarge our thanksgiving not for our own only but for that first justification sanctification and salvation of the Gentiles And this effusion of our Souls in thanks will prove of good use to us both to confirm our confidence and keep us in a Christian temper of humility and cheerful obedience And therefore I thought good to present it to you in the first place as a duty of no ordinary moment 2. If God hath commanded and consequently expects our obedience if these commands concern us and contain in them all that belongs to our Salvation if they are as hath been proved Gods Covenant with the Gentiles then not to be wanting to our selves but earnestly to labour and provide that no one circumstance of them may be without its peculiar profit and advantage to our Souls Polybius from the War betwixt the Numidians and Vticenses observes that if a Victory gotten by the Captain be not by the Souldiers prosecuted to the utmost it likely proves more dangerous than if they had never had it if the King saith he take the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the multitude overjoy'd with the news begin to grow less earnest in the battle a hundred to one but the conquer'd will take notice and heart from this advantage and as the Vticenses did make their flight a stratagem to get the Victory Thus is it in those spiritual Combats where God is our Leader our Commander our Conquerer against the Devils Host if we of his command the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the many who expect our part in the profit of the Victory do not prosecute this conquest to the utmost to the utter discomfiting and disarming of our Fugitive Enemy if we should grow secure upon the news and neither fear nor prevent any farther difficulties we may be in more danger for that former Conquest and as 't was ordinary in story by that time we have set up our Trophy's our selves be overcome I might prescribe you many courses which it would concern you to undertake for the right managing of this Victory which this our Commander hath not by his fighting but by his very commanding purchased us But because my Text requires haste and I go on but slowly I must omit them and only insist on that which is specified in my Text Repentance which drives to the condition of the Covenant the matter of the command which comes next to be discuss'd The word Repent may in this place be taken in a double sense 1. generally for a sorrow for our sins and on that a disburdening of our selves of that load which did formerly press down the Soul for a sense of our former ill courses and a desire to fit our selves for Gods service for an humbling our selves before God and flying to him as our only succour and so it well may be called the condition of Gods Covenant with us that which God requires at our hands under the Gospel for it was the first word at the first preaching of the Gospel by John Baptist Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand Matth. iii. 2 which saith the Text was in effect Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight Verse 3. So that briefly this repent is a straightning and rectifying all crookedness every distortion of the Soul and thereby a preparing of it for the receiving of Christ and embracing his Gospel 2. In a nearer relation to the first words of the Verse repentance is taken more specially by way of opposition for a mending and forsaking of that which of old was the fault and guilt of the Gentiles a reforming of every thing which was either formally or virtually contain'd in their ignorance and what that is you shall briefly judge 'T is observed by Interpreters that doing or suffering action or
and sentences are subject either not to be understood or amiss and may either be doubted of by the ignorant or perverted by the malicious You have learnt so many words without Book and say them minutely by heart and yet not either understand or observe what you are about but this unwritten Law which no Pen but that of nature hath engraven is in our understandings not in words but sence and therefore I cannot avoid the intimations 't is impossible either to deny or doubt of it it being written as legible in the tables of our hearts as the print of humanity in our Foreheads The commands of either Scripture or Emperour may be either unknown or out of our heads when any casual opportunity shall bid us make use of them but this law of the mind is at home for ever and either by intimation or loud Voice either whispers or proclaims its commands to us be it never so gag'd 't will mutter and will be sure to be taken notice of when it speaks softliest To define in brief what this law of nature is and what offices it performs in us you are to know that at that grand forfeiture of all our inheritance goods truly real and personal all those primitive endowments of Soul and Body upon Adams Rebellion God afterwards though he shined not on us in his full Image and Beauty yet câ—st some rayes and beams of that eternal light upon us and by an immutable Law of his own counsel hath imprinted on every Soul that comes down to a body a secret unwritten yet indeleble Law by which the Creature may be warn'd what is good or bad what agreeable what hurtful to the obtaining of the end of its creation Now these commands or prescriptions of nature are either in order to speculation or practice to encrease our knowledge or direct our lives The former sort I omit as being sitter for the Schools than Pulpit to discourse on I shall meddle only with those that refer to practice and those are either common which they call first principles and such are in every man in the World equally secundum rectitudinem notitiam saith Aquinas every one doth both conceive them in his understanding what they mean and assent to them in his will that they are right and just and necessary to be performed and of this nature are the Worship of God and justice amongst men for that lumen super nos signatum in Bonaventures phrase that light which nature hath seal'd and imprinted on our Souls is able to direct us in the knowledge of those moral principles without any other help required to perswade us or else they are particular and proper to this or that business which they call conclusions drawn out of these common principles as when the common principle commands just dealing the conclusion from thence commands to restore what I have borrowed and the like And these also if they be naturally and directly deduced would every man in the World both understand and assent to did not some hindrance come in and forbid or suspend either his understanding or assent Hindrances which keep him from the knowledge or conceiving of them are that confusion and Chaos and black darkness I had almost said that Tophet and Hell of sensual affections which suffers not the light to shew it self and indeed so stifles and oppresses it that it becomes only as Hell fire not to shine but burn not to enlighten us what we should do but yet by gripes and twinges of the conscience to torment us for not doing of it And this hindrance the Apostle calls ver 21. the vanity of imaginations by which a foolish heart is darkned Hindrances which keep us from assenting to a conclusion in particular which we do understand are sometimes good as first a sight of some greater breach certain to follow the performance of this So though I understand that I must restore every man his own yet I will never return a Knife to one that I see resolved to do some mischief with it And 2. Divine laws as the command of robbing the Aegyptians and the like for although that in our hearts forbid robbing yet God is greater than our hearts and must be obeyed when he prescribes it Hindrances in this kind are also sometimes bad such are either habitude of nature custom of Country which made the Lacedemonians esteem theft a virtue or a-again the Tyranny of passions for every one of these hath its several project upon the reasonable Soul its several design of malice either by treachery or force to keep it hood-winkt or cast it into a Lethargy when any particular vertuous action requires to be assented to by our practice If I should go so far as some do to define this law of nature to be the full will of God written by his hand immediately in every mans heart after the fall by which we feel our selves bound to do every thing that is good and avoid every thing that is evil some might through ignorance or prejudice guess it to be an elevation of corrupt nature above its pitch too near to Adams integrity and yet Zanchy who was never guest near a Pelagian in his 4. Tome 1. l. 10. c. 8. Thesis would authorize every part of it and yet not seem to make an Idol of nature but only extol Gods mercy who hath bestowed a Soul on every one of us with this character and impression Holiness to the Lord which though it be written unequally in some more than others yet saith he in all in some measure so radicated that it can never be quite changed or utterly abolished However I think we may safely resolve with Bonaventure out of Austin against Pelagius Non est parum accepisse naturale indicatorium 't is no small mercy that we have received a natural glass in which we may see and judge of objects before we venture on them a power of distinguishing good from evil which even the malice of sin and passions in the highest degree cannot wholly extinguish in us as may appear by Cain the Voice of whose Conscience spake as loud within him as that of his Brothers blood as also in the very damn'd whose worm of sence not penitence for what they have done in their flesh shall for ever bite and gripe them hideously This Light indeed may either first be blindness or secondly delight in sinning or thirdly peremptory resolvedness not to see be for the present hindred secundum actum from doing any good upon us He that hath but a vail before his Eyes so long cannot judge of colours he that runs impetuously cannot hear any one that calls to stop him in his career and yet all the while the light shines and the voice shouts and therefore when we find in Scripture some men stupefied by sin others void of reason we must not reckon them absolutely so but only for the present besotted And again though they
Mistress of their actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a creature sent on purpose to preserve them and these saith he deserve not to be chid but pitied for nature at first appointed them this condition of life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is their birthright and inheritance and therefore no body will be angry with them for living on it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But for them who were made Creatures of light and had it not been for their wilfulness had still continued light in the Lord who are altogether encompast and environed with light light of nature light of reason light of religion nay the most glorious asterism or conjunction of lights in the World the light of the Gospel to walk in for these men meerly out of perverseness of wilful hearts to hate and abjure and defy this light to run out of the World almost for fear of it to be for ever a solliciting and worshipping of darkness as Socrates was said to adore the Clouds this is such a sottishness that the stupidst Element under Heaven would naturally scorn to be guilty of for never was the earth so peevish as to forbid the Sun when it would shine on it or to sâ—ink away or subduce it self from its rayes And yet this is our case beloved who do more amorously and flatteringly court and woo and sollicite darkness than ever the Heathens adored the Sun Not to wander out of the sphere my Text hath placed me in to shew how the light of the Gospel and Christianity is neglected by us our guilt will ly heavy enough on us if we keep us to the light only of natural reason within us How many sins do we daily commit which both nature and reason abhor and loath How many times do we not only unman but even uncreature our selves Aristotle observes that that by which any thing is known first that which doth distinguish one thing from another à priore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be called the beginning or cause of that thing and that the light of reason distinguishing one action from another being the first thing that teaches me that this is good that otherwise may from thence be termed the beginning of every reasonable action in us and then where ever this cause or beginning is left out and wanting there the thing produced is not so called a positive act or proper effect but a defect an abortion or still-born frustrate issue and of this condition indeed is every sin in us Every action where this Law within us is neglected is not truly an action but a passion a suffering or a torment of the Creature Thus do we not so much live and walk which note some action as ly entranced asleep nay dead in sin by this perverseness 't is perpetual night with us nay we even dy daily our whole life is but a multiplyed swoon or lethargy in which we remain stupid breathless senseless till the day of Death or Judgment with a hideous Voice affrights and rouses us and we find our selves awake in Hell and so our dark Souls having a long while groped wilfully in the Sun are at last lead to an Everlasting inevitable darkness whither the mercy or rays of the Sun can never pierce where it will be no small accession to our torment to remember and tremble at that light which before we scorn'd Thus I say do we in a manner uncreature our selves and by the contempt of this Law of our Creation even frustrate and bring to nothing our Creation it self and this is chiefly by sins of sloth and stupid sluggish unactive Vices which as I said make our whole life a continued passion never daring or venturing or attempting to act or do any thing in Church or Commonwealth either toward God or our Neighbour and of such a condition'd man no body will be so charitable as to guess he hath any Soul or light of reason in him because he is so far from making use of it unless it be such a Soul as Tully saith a Swine hath which serves it only instead of Salt to keep it from stinking For 't is Aristotles observation that every one of the Elements besides the Earth was by some Philosopher or other defin'd to be the Soul Some said the Soul was fire some that 't was air some water but never any man was so mad as to maintain the earth to be it because 't was so heavy and unweildy So then this heavy motionless unactive Christian this clod of Earth hath as I said uncreatured himself and by contemning this active reason within him even deprived himself of his Soul Again how ordinary a thing is it to unman our selves by this contempt of the directions of reason by doing things that no man in his right mind would ever have patience to think of Beloved to pass by those which we call unnatural sins i. e. so in the highest degree as too horrid for our nature set down in the latter end of this Chapter for all Christian Ears to glow and tingle at and I had hoped for all English spirits to abhor and loath To pass these I say our whole life almost affords minutely sins which would not argue us men but some other Creatures There be few things we do in our age which are proper peculiar acts of men one man gives himself to eating and drinking and bestows his whole care on that one faculty which they call the vegetative growing faculty and then what difference is there betwixt him and a Tree whose whole nature it is to feed and grow Certainly unless he hath some better imployment he is at best but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a plant-animal whose shape would perhaps perswade you that it hath some sense or Soul in it but its actions betray it to be a mere plant little better than an Artichoak or Cabbage another goes a little higher yet not far doth all that his sense presents to him suffers all that his sensitive faculties lust and rage to exercise at freedom is as fierce as the Tyger as lustful as the Goat as ravenous as the Wolf and the like and all the Beasts of the Field and Fowls of the air be but several Emblemes and Hieroglyphicks concurring to make up his character carries a Wilderness about him as many sins as the nature of a sensitive Creature is capable of and then who will stick to compare this man to the beasts that perish For 't is Theophilus his note that the Cattle and Beasts of the Field were created the same day with man Gen. i. 25 to note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the brutish condition of some men and that therefore the blessing was not bestowed on them but reserved for the man which should have the dominion over them Verse 26 28. In summ every action which reason or Scripture or Gods spirit guides not in us is to be called the work of some other Creature
of one of these three sorts either earthly the work of a plant or sensual the work of a Brute or thirdly above the condition of both these devillish Thus do you see the sin of the contempt of the light of nature which although it be dimm'd in us by our corruption yet shined so bright in the Heathen that they were left without excuse in the Jews that even their own hearts accused them for their rebellions and in us Christians that unless we move according to its directions we are fallen below the condition of men almost of Creatures 'T were now superfluous farther to demonstrate it our time will be better spent if we close with some use of it and that will prove manifold first by way of caution not to deify or exalt too high or trust in this light of nature It was once a perfect glorious rule but is now distorted and defaced it once was light in the Lord almost an Angel of light it shone as the Sun in the Firmament in majesty and full brightness but is now only as the Moon pale and dim scarce able to do us any service unless it borrows some rays from the Son of righteousness The fall hath done somewhat with it I know not what to call it either much impaired it and diminisht its light in its Essence or else much incumbred or opprest it in its operations as a Candle under a Vail or Lanthorn which though it burn and shine as truly as on a Candlestick yet doth not so much service in enlightning the room the Soul within us is much changed either is not in its Essence so perfect and active and bright as once it was or else being infused in a sufficient perfection is yet terribly overcast with a gloom and cloud of corruptions that it can scarce find any passage to get through and shew it self in our actions for the corruptible body presseth down the soul c. Wisd ix 15 And from this caution grow many lower branches whence we may gather some fruit as in the second place infinitely to humble our selves before God for the first sin of Adam which brought this darkness on our Souls and account it not the meanest or slightest of our miseries that our whole nature is defiled and bruised and weakned to aggravate every circumstance and effect of that sin against thy self which has so liberally afforded fuel to the flames of lust of rage and wild desire and thereby without Gods gracious mercy to the flames of Hell This is a most profitable point yet little thought on and therefore would deserve a whole Sermon to discuss to you 3. To observe and acknowledge the necessity of some brighter light than this of nature can afford us and with all the care and vigilancy of our hearts all the means that Scripture will lend us and at last with all the importunities and groans and violence of our Souls to petition and sollicit and urge Gods illuminating spirit to break out and shine on us To undertake to interpret any antient Author requires say the Grammarians a man of deep and various knowledge because there may be some passage or other in that Book which will refer to every sort of learning in the World whence 't is observed that the old Scholiasts and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were most exquisite Scholars Thus certainly will not any ordinary skill serve turn to interpret and explain many dark sayings which were at first written in the Book of our hearts but are now almost past reading only that omniscient spirit that hath no shadow of ignorance the Finger that first writ must be beseeched to read and point out the riddle We must make use of that rotten staffe of nature as far as its strength will bear and that very gingerly too never daring to lean or lay our whole weight upon it lest it either wound with its splinter or else break under us our help and stay and subsistence and trust must be in the Lord our Eyes must wait on his inlightning spirit and never lose a ray that falls from it Fourthly to clear up as much as we can and re-inliven this light within us And that first By stirring up and blowing and so nourishing every spark we find within us The least particle of fire left in a Coal may by pains be improved into a flame 't is held possible to restore or at least preserve for a time any thing that is not quite departed If thou findest but a spark of Religion in thee which saith A God is to be worship't care and sedulity and the breath of Prayers may in time by this inflame the whole man into a bright fire of Zeal towards God In brief whatever thou dost let not any the least atome of that fire which thou once feelest within thee ever go out quench not the weakest motion or inclination even of reason towards God or goodness how unpolish't soever this Diamond be yet if it do but glissen 't is too pretious to be cast away And then secondly By removing all hindrances or incumbrances that may any way weaken or oppress it and these you have learnt to be corrupt affections That democracy and croud and press and common people of the Soul raises a tumult in every street within us that no voice of law or reason can be heard If you will but disgorge and purge the stomach which hath been thus long opprest if you will but remove this Cloud of crudities then will the brain be able to send some rayes down to the heart which till then are sure to be caught up by the way anticipated and devoured For the naked simplicity of the Soul the absence of all disordered passions is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aphrodiseus that kindly familiar good temper of the Soul by which it is able to find out and judge of truth In brief if thou canst crop thy luxuriant passions if thou canst either expel or tame all the wild Beasts within thee which are born to devour any thing which is weak or innocent then will that mild voice within thee in the cave take heart and shew it self In the mean time this hurry of thy senses drowns that reason and thou canst not hope to see as long as like old Tobit the dung and white film doth remain upon thine Eyes If thou canst use any means to dissolve this dung of affections which an habit of sin hath baked within thee the scales will fall off from thine Eyes and the blind Tobit shall be restored to his sight In brief do but fortify thy reasonable Soul against all the undermining and faction and violence of these sensual passions do but either depose or put to the Sword that Atheistical Tyrant and Usurper as Jamblichus calls the affections do but set reason in the Chair and hear and observe his dictates and thou hast disburthened thy self of a great company of weights and pressures thou wilt be able
to look more like a man to hold thy head more couragiously and bend thy thoughts more resolutely toward Heaven and I shall expect and hope and pray and almost be confident that if thou dost perform sincerely what thy own soul prompts thee to Gods spirit is nigh at hand to perfect and crown and seal thee up to the day of redemption In the next place thou maist see thine own guilts the clearer call thy self to an account even of those things which thou thinkest thou art freest from that which the Apostle in this chap. and part of my Discourse hath charged the Heathens with and if thou lookest narrowly I am afraid thou wilt spy thine own picture in that glass and find thy self in many things as arrant a Gentile as any of them For any sincere care of God or Religion how few of us are there that ever entertained so unpleasant a guest in their hearts we go to Church and so did they to their Temples we pray and they sacrificed they washed and bathed themselves before they durst approach their deities and we come in our best cloths and cleanest linen but for any farther real service we mean towards God there for any inward purity of the heart for any sincere worship of our Soul we are as guiltless as free from it we do as much contemn and scorn it as ever did any Heathen Again what man of us is not in some kind guilty even of their highest crime Idolatry Some of them took the brain to be sacred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Athenaus and therefore hearing some cry God help when one sneezed the ignorant sort worshipt that noise as an expression of a deity in the brain and so as senselesly many of us deify our own brains and adore every thing that ever comes out of them Every conceit of ours must be like the birth of Jupiters brain a Minerva at least be we never so ignorant or mechanical every device every fancy of our own especially in matters of Religion is straight of divine authority and having resolved our selves the Children of God every crochet we fall upon must be necessarily Theopneust and inspired and others accused for irreligious or singular that will not as soon give homage to it In summ every imagination becomes an Image and the Artificer deifies his own handy-work forgetting that he made it as 't is described in the xiii of Wisd toward the end and this is one kind of Idolatry Again who is there that hath not some pleasure in his heart which takes place of God there They had their Sun and Moon most glorious Creatures their Heroes whose vertues had even deified their memory and silly men they admired and could not choose but worship The Devil and a humour of superstition customary in them fee'd and bribed the law in their hearts to hold its peace and not recal them But how basely have we outgone their vilest worships How have we outstript them Let but one appearance of gain like that golden Calf of the Israelites a beautiful Woman like that Venus of the Heathens nay in brief what ever Image or representation of delight thy own lust can propose thee let it but glance or glide by thee and Quis non incurvavit Shew me a man that hath not at some time or other faln down and worshipt In summ all the lower part of the Soul or carnal affections are but a picture of the City of Athens Acts xvii 16 Wholly given to Idolatry The basest unworthiest pleasure or content in the World that which is good for nothing else the very refuse of the refuse Wisd xiii 13 is become an Idol and hath its shrines in some heart or other and we crouch and bow and sacrifice to it and all this against the voice of our Soul and nature within us if we would suffer it to speak aloud or but hearken to its whisperings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Philoponus Nature only bids us feed our selves with sufficient lust brought in superfluity and pleasure But this only by the way lest you might think that part of my Sermon concerning the Heathens contempt of this law did belong little to you and so might have been spared Lastly Not to lade every part of my former Discourse with its several use or application take but this one more If this Light shines but dimly within us then let us so much the more not dare contemn it That Master that speaks but seldom then surely deserves to be obeyed he that is slow in his reproofs certainly hath good reason when he falls foul with any body If Croesus his dumb Son in Herodotus seeing one come to kill his Father shall by violence break the string of his tongue that formerly hindred his Speech and he that never spake before roar out an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sir Kill not Croesus I wonder not that the Persian held his hand a very Barbarian would be amazed and stopt by such a Prodigy it must needs be an odious thing when the Child which can scarce speak expresses indignation Wherefore if ever our bestial soul that of our sense shall seduce us to any thing that our manly soul that of our reason which is now somewhat decrepit and dim-sighted shall yet espy and find fault with if in any enterprize this natural law within us shall give the check let us suddenly remove our project and not dare to reject such Fatherly sage admonishments if all the means in the World can help to avoid it let us never fall into the snare And if at thy audit with thy own Soul and examination of thy self amongst the root of thy customary ignorant sins and O Lord deliver me from my secret faults if in that heap and Chaos thy own heart can pick out many of this nature and present them to thee which it before forewarned thee of then let the saltest most briny tear in thy heart be called out to wash off this guilt let the saddest mortified thought thou canst strain for be accounted but a poor unproportionable expiation Think of this seriously and if all this will nothing move you I cannot hope that any farther Rhetorick if I had it to spare would do any good upon you Only I will try one suasory more which being somewhat rough may chance to frighten you and that is the punishment that here expects this contempt and that a dismal hideous one all the wild savage devourers in the Wilderness Vile affections which punishment together with the inflicter and manner of inflicting it are the last parts of my Discourse of which together in a word God gave them up to vile affections A punishment indeed and all the Fiends of Hell could not invent or wish a man a greater there is not a more certain presage of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or total subversion of Body and Soul not a more desperate prognostick in the World 'T is observed in
Photius as a sure token that Jerusalem should be destroyed because punishment came upon it in a chain every link drew on another no intermission or discontinuance of judgments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A single judgment that brings no train after it is cheaply entertained and is therefore called not a calamity but a visitation but when one plague shall invade shall supplant another when the pestilence shall fright out the famine and the sword pursue the pestilence that neither may slay all but each join in the glory of the spoil then must the beholder acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God is resolved to make them the Scene of his rage not only of his wrath Thus also in the spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the estate of the Soul some sins may be suffered to invade us and stick as did the Amorites to goad our sides not destroy but humble us But when sins shall come like gaol-birds linked and chained together when our corruptions and insolent tyrannical passions shall make us contemn the light and law of reason and nature when that contempt shall bring forth Idolatry and the like either worship of Idol-gods or vain conceits or imaginary delights every lust of our baser Soul then can it not be expected that God will have so little to do as to take any more care of us that he will have so much mercy as even to punish us any longer The next voice that we can expect is that horrible mercy of his Why should you be smitten any more Any restraint either of chastisement or instruction would be scarce seen upon us and therefore 't is but lost labour to beat the air or to lay stripes upon the Sea with Xerxes The height of Gods wrath in this World is but our just reward and that is desertion or dereliction and giving us over and giving us up which will suddenly bring us to that which our corrupt nature posts after all vile affections The issue of all is this that those that contemn Gods ordinary restraints God ordinarily leaves to themselves and suffers them to run into most horrible sins 'T is justice that they which delight in errour should be let alone in their course that they may see and acknowledge the errour of their delight that they which have contemned Gods Voice and natures within them should be forsaken and left without either ungodly unnatural that they which lull'd their reasonable Soul into a Lethargy for fear it should awake them or disturb their delights should not have life enough without it ever to awake or rouse themselves or it that they which have maliciously and contemptuously put out the Sun should for ever suffer a continued night 'T is Hippocr his observation that the Africans are very libidinous they are neither hardy nor valiant nor laborious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lust hath so effeminated them that they are fit for nothing but for softness and therefore saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there be among them beasts of all sorts of strange shapes the heat and violence of the same lust makes the very Beasts unnatural the confusion of species is ordinary among them and so almost every birth a Monster nature is almost lost amongst them and many Beasts may be found in Africk which never had any of their kind in the Ark Africa semper aliquod apportat novi whosoever hath a mind to a strange sight there he shall have store of them Thus is it in the Soul if the upper the manly part of it be overswell'd with lust it straight becomes effeminate and enervate hath neither strength nor sinews nor courage for any undertaking and then the Beasts of the field the lower baser sensual faculties of the Soul are not only lusty but outragious having no keeper to govern them they become wild scorn any limits or bounds of nature do every day conceive horrid unnatural vile imaginations and every season grow big and bring forth Monsters monstrous oaths monstrous delights monstrous vanities Some new art or trick of sinning that was never heard of before is invented against every solemn season of our jollity and this we carry about and shew and brag of as a new Creature or strange sight and get a great deal of applause and admiration and perhaps some money by the employment 'T were too long to point out the several sorts of these vile affections which contempt of this light hath produced in every one of us only let us strive and strain and stretch the Eyes that are left us to examine and observe every degree and Symptome and prognostick of them in our selves and never leave poring till we have pierced through that carnal security that blinded us and fully humble our selves in a sense of that desperate estate and almost the Hell that we are faln blindfold into And if we are still blinded still unable to see or move or relieve our selves let us then lay hold of the next Post or Pillar we meet with and there fix and dwell and weep and pray to that Omnipotent Physician of our Souls that Restorer of reasonable Creatures that he will by some spiritual Eye water recover us to that sense 'T is impossible saith Tobias for any one to restore us to the Image of the Father which was once on us but him only who was the eternal Image of the Father he only could 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turn out that unreasonable blind soul within us made up of our sins which move us and reduce us to the dignity of reasonable creatures He hath already by his Incarnation delivered us from one long night the dark gloom of our Heathen Ancestors O that he would be born again spiritually in our Souls to deliver us from other more Cimmerian darkness the night and Hell of habituate sin wherein we grope He once breathed on us the breath of life to make us men O that he would again but breath on us the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His holy breath his hallowing breath his breath of holiness to make us Saints It is he that must prevent us with his Spirit or else we run headlong into all vile affections O That he would but Sanctify us and then the most plausible flattering sin in the World nay the most boysterous impetuous lust should not be able to tyrannize over us In the mean time let us remain men till it shall please that free voice to call us into Saints Grace is never placed but in a reasonable Creature and is therefore said to be sent to make reason see what by nature only it cannot never to blemish it in what it can comprehend as the Learned Bishop hath observed against the Jesuit Let us make much of all the light that nature and reason will afford us let us not suffer one precious ray to be cast away upon us but improve it to the extent of its virtue for the direction of our lives And
whensoever this light shall fail that it cannot guide us or our Eyes dazle that we cannot follow let us pray to the Father of lights and God of Spirits that he will shine spiritually in our hearts and fulfil us with his light of grace here which may enable us to behold him and enjoy him and rejoice with him and be satisfied with that eternal light of his Glory hereafter Now to him that hath elected us hath created redeemed c. SERMON XV. GAL. VI. 15 But a new Creature AMongst all other encumbrances and delays in our way to Heaven there is no one that doth so clog and trash so disadvantage and backward us and in fine so cast us behind in our race as a contentedness in a formal worship of God an acquiescence and resting satisfied in outward performances when men upon a confidence that they perform all that can be required of a Christian they look no farther than the outward work observe not what heart is under this outside but resolve their estate is safe they have as much interest in Heaven as any one Such men as these the Apostle begins to character and censure in the twelfth Verse of the Chapter As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh c. They that stand only on a fair specious out-side and think all the sap and life of Religion lies in the bark they do this and this these will have you circumcised and constrain you to a many burthensom Ceremonies measuring out Religion to you by the weight thus much is required of you to do as Popish Confessors set their deluded Votaries their task of Ave Maries and Pater nosters by tale and thus you may be sure to be saved In brief the Apostle here shews the unprofitableness of all these and sets up the inward sanctity and renewedness of heart against them all as the only thing that will stand us in stead and appear to be of any weight in the balance of the Sanctuary If you observe all the commands and submit your selves to all the burden of both Law and Gospel and bear it upon your shoulders never so valiantly if you be content to be circumcised as Christ was or because he hath now abrogated that make use of Christian liberty and remain uncircumcised notwithstanding all inducements to the contrary In brief be you outwardly never so severe a Jew or Christian all that is nothing worth there is but one thing most peremptorily required of you and that you have omitted For neither circumcision availeth any thing neither uncircumcision but a new Creature The particle but in the front of my Text is exclusive and restrictive it excludes every thing in the World from pretending to avail any thing from being believed to do us any good For by circumcision the Church of the Jews and by uncircumcision the whole profession of Christian Religion being understood when he saith neither of these availeth any thing he forcibly implies that all other means all professions all observances that men think or hope to get Heaven by are to no purpose and that by consequence it exactly restrains to the new creature there it is to be had and no where else thus doth he slight and undervalue and even reprobate all other ways to Heaven that he may set the richer price and raise a greater estimation in us of this The substance of all the Apostles Discourse and the ground-work of mine shall be this one Aphorism Nothing is efficaciously available to salvation but a renewed regenerated heart For the opening of which we will examine by way of doctrine wherein this new Creature consists and then by way of use the necessity of that and unprofitableness of all other plausible pretending means and first of the first wherein this new creature consists 'T is observable that our state of nature and sin is in Scripture exprest ordinarily by old age the natural sinful man that is all our natural affections that are born and grow up with us are called the old man as if since Adams fall we were decrepit and feeble and aged as soon as born as a Child begotten by a man in a Consumption never comes to the strength of a man is always weak and crazy and puling hath all the imperfections and corporal infirmities of age before he is out of his infancy And according to this ground the whole Analogy of Scripture runs all that is opposite to the old decrepit state to the dotage of nature is phrased new The new Covenant Mark i. 27 The language of believers new tongues Mark xvi 17 A new Commandment John xiii 34. A new man Ephes ii 15 In summ the state of grace is exprest by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all is become new 2 Cor. v. 17 So that old and new as it divides the Bible the whole state of things the World so it doth that to which all these serve man every natural man which hath nothing but nature in him is an old man be he never so young is full of Years even before he is able to tell them Adam was a perfect man when he was but a minute old and all his Children are old even in the Cradle nay even dead with old age Eph. ii 5 And then consequently every spiritual man which hath somewhat else in him than he received from Adam he that is born from above John iii. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it may be so rendred from the original as well as born again as our English read it he that is by Gods spirit quickned from the old death Ephes ii 5 he is contrary to the former a new man a new creature the old Eagle hath cast his beak and is grown young the man when old has entred the second time into his mothers Womb and is born again all the gray hairs and wrinkles fall off from him as the Scales from blind Tobits Eyes and he comes forth a refin'd glorious beauteous new Creature you would wonder to see the change So that you find in general that the Scripture presumes it that there is a renovation a casting away of the old Coat a Youth and spring again in many men from the old age and weak Bed-rid estate of nature Now that you may conceive wherein it consists how this new man is brought forth in us by whom it is conceived and in what Womb 't is carried I will require no more of you than to observe and understand with me what is meant by the ordinary phrase in our Divines a new principle or inward principle of life and that you shall do briefly thus A mans Body is naturally a sluggish unactive motionless heavy thing not able to stir or move the least animal motion without a Soul to enliven it without that 't is but a Carcass as you see at Death when the Soul is separated from it it returns to be but a stock or lump of flesh the
Soul bestows all life and motion on it and enables it to perform any work of nature Again the Body and Soul together considered in relation to somewhat above their power and activity are as impotent and motionless as before the Body without the Soul Set a man to remove a Mountain and he will heave perhaps to obey your command but in event will do no more towards the displacing of it than a stone in the street could do but now let an Omnipotent Power be annext to this man let a supernatural spirit be joined to this Soul and then will it be able to overcome the proudest stoutest difficulty in nature You have heard in the Primitive Church of a grain of Faith removing Mountains and believe me all Miracles are not yet out-dated The work of Regeneration the bestowing of a spiritual Life on one dead in trespasses and sins the making of a Carcass walk the natural old man to spring again and move spiritually is as great a miracle as that Now the Soul in that it produces life and motion the exercise of life in the body is called a principle that is a Spring or Fountain of Life because all comes from it in like manner that which moves this Soul and enables it to do that which naturally it could not that which gives it a new life which before it lived not furnisheth it with spiritual powers to quell and subdue all carnal affections which were before too hard for it this I say is called properly an inward principle and an inward because it is inwardly and secretly infused doth not only outwardly assist us as an auxiliary at a dead lift but is sown and planted in our hearts as a Soul to the Soul to elevate and enable it above it self hath its seat and palace in the regenerate heart and there exercises dominion executes judgment and that is commonly either by Prison or Banishment it either fetters or else expels all insolent rebellious lusts Now the new principle by which not the man but the new man the Christian lives is in a word the spirit of God which unites it self to the regenerate heart so that now he is said to be a godly man a spiritual man from the God from the Spirit as before a living reasonable man from the Soul from the reason that inform'd and ruled in him which is noted by that distinction in Scripture betwixt the regenerate and unregenerate exprest by a natural or animal and a spiritual man Those Creatures that have no Soul in them are called naturals having nothing but nature within to move them others which have a Soul animals or living Creatures by both which the unregenerate is signified indifferently because the Soul which he hath stands him in little stead his flesh rules all and then he is also called a carnal man for all his Soul he is but a lump of flesh and therefore whether you say he hath a Soul and so call him an animal or hath not a Soul and so call him a mere natural there is no great difference in it But now the regenerate man which hath more than a Soul Gods spirit to enliven him he is of another rank 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual man nay only he properly a Christian because he lives by Christ He lives yet not he but Christ liveth 〈◊〉 him Gal. ii 20 This being premised that now you know what this new Creature is he that lives and moves by a new principle all that is behind will be clearliest presented to you by resolving these four questions first whence it comes secondly where it lodges thirdly when it enters fourthly what works it performs there To the first whence it comes the answer is clear and punctual John iii. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above from whence comes every good and especially every perfect gift James i. 17 but this most peculiarly by a several and more excellent way than any thing else Since Christs Ascension the Holy Ghost of all the persons in the Trinity is most frequently employed in the work of descending from Heaven and that by way of mission from the Father and the Son according to the promise of Christ John xv 26 The comforter whom I will send from the Father Now this spirit being present every where in its essence is said to come to us by communication of his gifts and so to be peculiarly resident in us as God is in the Church from which Analogy our Bodies are called the Temples of the Holy Ghost which is in us 1 Cor. vi 19 God sends then his spirit into our hearts and this I said by a peculiar manner not by way of emission as an Arrow sent out of a Bow which loses its union which it had with the Bow and is now fastned in the Butt or White nor properly by way of infusion as the Soul is in the Body infus'd from God yet so also that it is in a manner put into our hands and is so in the man's possession that hath it that it is neither in any mans else nor yet by any extraordinary tye annext to God from whom it came but by way of irradiation as a beam sent from the Sun that is in the air indeed and that substantially yet so as it is not separated from the Sun nay consists only in this that it is united to the Sun so that if it were possible for it to be cut off from the Sun it would desist to be it would illuminate no longer So that you must conceive these beams of Gods spirit at the same time in the Christians heart and in the spirit and so uniting that spirit to the heart as you may conceive by this proportion I have a Javelin or Spear in my hand if I would mischief any thing or drive it from me I dart it out of my hand at it from which Gods judgments are compared to shooting and lightning He hath bent his bow he hath sent forth his arrows he cast forth lightnings Psalm xviii 14 But if I like any thing that I meet with if I would have it to me I reach out my Spear and fasten in it but still hold the Spear in my hand and having pierc't it draw it to me Thus doth God reach forth his graces to us and as I may so say by keeping one end in his hand and fastning the other in us plucks and unites us to himself from which regeneration is ordinarily called an union with Christ and this union by a strong able band 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Euseb his phrase which no man can cut asunder 'T is impossible to divide or cut a spirit and this Bond is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual one and that made St. Paul so confident That no creature should ever separate him Rom. viii 39 And this God does by way of emanation as a Loadstone sending out its effluvia or magnetick atomes draws the Iron to
is in its working not at its entring I may know that now I have the spirit better than at what time I came to it Vndiscernibly Gods supernatural agency interposes sometimes in the Mothers Womb as in John Baptist springing in Elizabeth at Maryes salutation Luke i. 41 and perhaps in Jeremy Jer. i. 5 Before thou camest out of the womb I sanctifyed thee and in Isaiah Isa xlix 5 The Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant But this divine address attends most ordinarily till the time of our Baptism when the spirit accompanying the outward sign infuses it self into their hearts and there seats and plants it self and grows up with the reasonable Soul keeping even their most luxuriant years within bounds and as they come to an use of their reason to a more and more multiplying this habit of grace into holy spiritual acts of Faith and Obedience from which 't is ordinarily said that Infants baptized have habitual Faith as they may be also said to have habitual repentance and the habits of all other graces because they have the root and seed of those beauteous healthful Flowers which will actually flourish then when they come to years And this I say is so frequent to be performed at Baptism that ordinarily 't is not wrought without that means and in those means we may expect it as our Church doth in our Liturgy where she presumes at every Baptism that it hath pleased God to regenerate the infant by his holy Spirit And this may prove a solemn piece of comfort to some who suspect their state more than they need and think 't is impossible that they should be in a regenerate condition because they have not as yet found any such notable change in themselves as they see and observe in others These men may as well be jealous they are not men because they cannot remember when their Soul came to them if they can find the effects of spiritual life in themselves let them call it what they will a religious Education or a custom of well doing or an unacquaintedness with sin let them comfort themselves in their estate and be thankful to God who visited them thus betimes let it never trouble them that they were not once as bad as other men but rather acknowledge Gods mercy who hath prevented such a change and by uniting them to him in the Cradle hath educated and nursed them up in familiarity with the Spirit Lastly The spirit sometimes enters into our hearts upon occasional emergencies the sense of Gods judgments on our selves or others the reflexion on his mercies the reading good books falling into virtuous acquaintance but most eminently at and with the preaching of the Word and this by degrees as it seems to us but indeed at some one especial season or other which yet perhaps we are not able to discern and here indeed are we ordinarily to expect this guest if we have not yet found him here doth it love to be cherished and refreshed and warm'd within us if we have it for even it is the power of God unto salvation Rom. i. 16 The third condition in which this spirit comes into our hearts is as an inhabitant or House-Keeper The spirit saith Austin first is in us then dwells in us before it dwells it helps us to believe when it dwells it helps and perfects and improves our faith and accomplishes it with all other concomitant graces So I say here the Spirit is then said to inhabit and keep House in us not as soon as it is entertained and received but when it breaks forth into acts and declares it self before all men When men see our good works and glorify our Father Matth. v. 16 Before we were said to live in the spirit now to walk as you shall see the phrases used distinctly Gal. v. 25 To walk that is to go about conspicuously in the sight of all men breaking forth into works as the Sun after the dispersions of a mist or Cloud whereby all men see and acknowledge his Faith and Obedience and find their own evil ways reprehended and made manifest by his good as is noted in 13. verse All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light Semblable to which is that of the Atheists repining at the godly man Wisd ii 14 He is made to reprove our thoughts Thus is the third Quaere resolved also when this inward principle enters 1. It comes as an Harbenger in every outward restraint by which God keeps us from sinning 2. It enters as a guest in some season or other once for all In the Womb at Baptism at some Sermon sometimes at a notable tempest shaking and stirring us violently ordinarily and for the most part not to be discerned by us and lastly it comes and dwells with us and shews it self in its works yet that not at any set time after his Entrance not constantly without ever covering his Face but when and as often as it pleases and the flesh resisteth not To the last Quaere What works it performs the answer shall be brief every thing that may be called spiritual Faith Repentance Charity Hope Self-denial and the rest but these not promiscuously or in an heap altogether but by a wise dispensation in time and by degrees The Soul being enabled by this inward principle is equally disposed to the producing of all these and as occasions do occur doth actually perform and produce them so that in my conceit that question concerning the priority of Repentance or Faith is not either of such moment or difficulty as is by some Disputers pretended The Seeds of them both are at one time planted in the Soul and then there is no Faith in any Subject but there is Repentance also nor Repentance without Faith So that where it is said Without Faith 't is impossible to please God in any thing else 't is true but argues no necessary precedence of it before other graces for the habits of them all are of the same age in us and then also will it be as true that without Repentance or without Love Faith it self cannot please God for if it be truly acceptable â—aith there is both Repentance and Love in the same Womb to keep it Company Thus are we wont to say that only Faith justifieth but not Faith alone and the reason these promises in Scripture are made sometimes to one grace precisely sometimes to another is because they are all at once rooted in the man and in their habits chain'd together inseparably Faith saves every man that hath it and yet the believing'st man under Heaven shall not be saved without Charity Charity hides a multitude of sins and yet the charitablest man in the World shall never have his score cross't without Repentance A Catalogue of these fruits of the spirit you may at your leisure make up to your selves for your tryal out of the fifth to the Gal.
Heaven If there be not a spirit within thee to give light to the Eyes to adde sighs and groans to the Voice all this that thou hast done is nothing but as a blind mans pretensions to sight and a dumb mans claim to Speech and so in like manner in all our duties which the World and carnal men se◠a price on And the reason is because every spiritual seeming work done by a natural man is not truly so 't is nothing less than that which it is said to be his Prayers are not Prayers Lip-labour perhaps but not devotion his serving of God is formality not obedience his hope of Heaven not a hope but a phancy If God or Satan a Judge or a Tempter should come to reason with him about it he would soon be worsted never be able to maintain his title to it In brief the fairest part of a natural man that which is lest counterfeit his desire and good affections to spiritual things which we call favourably natural desires of spiritual obedience these I say are but false desires false affections 1. They have no solidity or permanency in the will only fluid and transitory some slight sudden wishes tempests and storms of a troubled mind soon blown over the least temptation will be sure to do it They are like those wavering Prayers without any stay of Faith Jam. i. 6 like a wave of the Sea driven by the wind and tost 2. That being which they have is counterfeit they are not that which they are taken for We are wont to say that acts are distinguished by their objects he sees truly which judges the thing to be that that it is 't is true indeed that another man sees he that takes blew for green but he does not see truly so also he only willeth a good thing that wills that in it which is truly good Now the natural man when he is said to chuse spiritual things as Heaven happiness and the like he desires not a spiritual but a carnal thing in desiring Heaven he desires somewhat that would free him from misery in happiness a natural or moral good that would be acceptable to any Creature under Heaven and so a Turk will desire Paradise and that very impatiently in hope that he shall have his fill of lust there Generally you may mark that in such desires of spiritual things 't is some carnality that moves unregenerate men somewhat it is that may please the flesh and then 't is not the spiritual but the carnal part of it that is their object which they woo and make love to which you may judge of by this that they are frequent and importunate in their wishes for glory seldom or never for grace though that also may be wished for carnally to make us more renowned and better esteemed in the World For the most part I say they desire glory for that will make them happy and out of danger of Worldly misfortunes remission of sins for these lie heavy on their Consciencies and give them many a twinge that they would fain be eased of but seldom petition for grace as if holiness without other conveniencies or gains were not worth the having And this arises from hence that our love of Christ grows by sending out and fastning our affections on him as an object fittest for our turns that will advantage us most but not by receiving in his Image and shape into our Souls this indeed would make us not only love but imitate him and having once tasted long after him this would sanctify our Souls whereas the other doth but only satisfy our greedy affections By what hath been said 't is plain enough though it might be much more amplified that grace is of absolute necessity to performance of any holy work acceptable to God that without it whatsoever is done in spiritual matters is carnal not indeed spiritual but equivocally and absurdly so called The natural mans desires of Heaven are not desires of Heaven his Faith no Faith his believing of the Scripture infidelity because he doth not apply them particularly to himself to obey them In summ when he prays hopes or gives alms he does somewhat indeed and 't is well done of him but he doth not truly either pray or hope or give alms there is some carnality in them that hath poisoned them and quite altered the complexion the constitution and inward qualities of the work And then indeed how impatient should every Christian be of this Coloquintida within him There 's mors in ollâ as the Prophet once spake that 's Death in the pot that so infects and kills every thing that comes out of it How should we abhor and loath and detest this old leaven that so besowres all our actions this Heathenism of unregenerate carnal nature which makes our best works so Unchristian To insist longer upon this were but to encrease your thirst not to satisfy it to make you sensible of that marasmus and desperate drought that hath gone over your Souls but not to help you to any waters for the cure that shall come next as the last work of this exercise to be performed in a word Having learnt what this new creature is and how absolutely necessary to a Christian O let us not defer one minute longer to examine our estates whether we are yet renewed or no and by the acts which we daily perform observe whether the sanctifying habit be as yet infused into our Souls If the grounds of our best duties that which moves us in our holiest actions be found upon search to be but carnal if a careful religious Education custom of the place which we live in fear of humane Laws nay perhaps a good soft tender disposition and the like be the things that make thee love God and perform holy duties and not any inward principle of sanctity within thee I counsel thee to think better of thine estate and consider whether the like motives had it so hapned that thou hadst been born and brought up in Turky might not have made thee worship Mahumet I would be sorry to be rigid I fear thou wilt find they might well then a new course must be taken all thy former heathen carnal or at best good moral life all thy formal performances the best of thy natural desires must be content to be rank't here with circumcision and uncircumcision availing nothing there is no trust or confidence to be placed on these Aegyptian staves of reed Es xxxvi 6 And then if thou wilt not live heartless for ever if ever thou meanst to move or walk or do any thing you must to that Creator of Spirits and Lover of Souls and never leave solliciting till he hath breathed another breath into your nostrils another Soul into your Soul you must lay your self at his feet and with all the violence and Rhetorick and humility that these wants will prompt thee too and woo and importune the Holy spirit to overshadow thee
his Servants i. e. remain errand Atheists under a Christian profession who by letting loose either their wits to prophane jests or their reason to Heathenish conceits and disputings or their actions to all manner of disobedience demonstrate that indeed they care not for God they scarce remember his name Neither is he in all their thoughts Psalm x. 4 In the next place walking after their own lusts is giving themselves liberty to follow all the directions of corrupt polluted nature in entertaining all conceits and practices which the pride of their understandings and rankness of their affections shall propose to them in opposition to God And this without any reluctancy or twinge of conscience walking on as securely and confidently as if it were indeed the right high-way So that now you have seen the outside of the Text and lookt it over in the gross 't is time to survey it more particularly in its parts and those are two 1. The sin of Atheism and the subjects in which it shews it self There shall come in the last days Scoffers 2. The motive and impellent to this sin a liberty which men give themselves to walk after their own lusts And first of Atheism and the subjects in whom it shews it self In the c. Where you may note that the words being in form of a prophecy do note a sort of people which were to come in respect of St. Peter who writes it And though in its first aspect it refers to the period of the Jewish Nation and destruction of Jerusalem takes in the parallel state of things under the last Age and dotage and declination of the Word Accordingly we see at the 24. of St. Matthew the Prophecy of both as it were interwoven and twisted into each other so that what St. Peter saith shall be we may justly suspect is fulfilled amongst us his future being now turned into a present his prophecy into a story In the Apostles times when Christianity was in the Cradle and wanted years and strength to move and shew it self in the World there were but very few that would acknowledge it many Sects of Philosophers who peremptorily resolved themselves against this profession join'd issue with the Apostles in assiduous disputation as we may find in the seventeenth of the Acts. Amongst those the Epicureans did plainly deny that there was any God that governed the World and laught at any proof that Moses and the Prophets could afford for their conviction And here a man might think that his Prophecy was fulfilled in his own days and that he needed not to look beyond that present Age for store of Scoffers Yet so it is that the infidelity which he foresaw should in those last Ages reign confidently in the World was represented to him in a larger size and uglier shape than that of the present Philosophers The Epicurean unbelief seem'd nothing to him being compared to this Christian Atheism where men under the Vizard of Religion and profession of Piety are in heart arrant Heathens and in their fairest Carriages do indeed but scoff and delude and abuse the very God they worship Whence the note is that the profession of Christianity is mixed with an infinite deal of Atheism and that in some degree above the Heathenism of the perversest Philosophers There were in St. Peters time Epicureans and all Sects of Scoffers at Christianity and yet the Scoffers indeed the highest degree of Atheism was but yet a heaving it would not rise and shew it self till the last days 'T is worth observing what variety of stratagems the Devil hath always had to keep us in defiance with God and to nourish in us that hostility and enmity against Heaven which is so deep and predominant in himself He first set them a work to rebel and fortify themselves against God and make themselves by building of a Tower so impregnable that God himself could not be able to disperse them Gen. xi 4 Afterwards when by the punishment and defeating of that design the World was sufficiently instructed that no arm of flesh no bodily strength could make resistance against Heaven when the body could hold out in rebellion no longer he then instructs the inward man the Soul to make its approaches and challenge Heaven Now the Soul of man consisting of two faculties the Vnderstanding and the Will he first deals with the Understanding and sets that up against God in many monstrous fashions first in deluding it to all manner of Idolatrous worship in making it adore the Sun the Moon and the whole Host of Heaven which was a more generous kind of Idolatry Afterwards in making them worship Dogs and Cats Onions and Garlick for so did the Egyptians and this was a more sottish stupid affection a man would wonder how the Devil could make them such Fools Afterward he wrought still upon their understanding in making them under pretence of two laudable qualities admiration and gratitude admiration of any kind of vertue and gratitude for any good turn to deify and worship as gods any men which had ever done either their Nation or private persons any important good or favour So that every Heros or noble famous man as soon as he was dead was worshipt 'T were long to shew you the variety of shifts in this kind which the Devil used to bring in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gentiles i. e. their worshipping of many gods In brief this plot lasted thus till Christianity came into the World and turn'd it out of Doors and at Christs Resurrection all the gods of the Heathen expired However the Devil still stuck close to that faculty of the Soul which he had been so long acquainted with I mean the understanding and seeing through the whole World almost the Doctrine of Christ had so possest men that he could not hope to bring in his Heathen gods again he therefore hath one design more on the understanding seeing 't is resolved to believe Christ in spight of Heathenism he then puzzles it with many doubts about this very Christ it is so possest with He raises up in the first Ages of the Church variety of Heresies concerning the union of his natures equality of his person with the Father and the like and rung as many changes in mens opinions as the matter of Faith was capable of There was no truth almost in Christianity but had its Heretick to contradict and damn it Now since at last reason and truth and the power of Scripture having out-lived in a good degree fundamental error in opinion hath almost expuls'd the Devil out of the head or upper part of the Soul the Understanding his last plot is on the heel i. e. the Will and Affections and that he hath bruised terribly according to that Prophecy Gen. iii. 15 He deals mainly on our manners and strives to make them if it be possible sinful beyond capability of mercy And this design hath thrived with him wonderfully he hath
in then doth it run about the pastures scorns to be kept within any compass Thus is it with the soul of man if it be ordered within terms and bounds if it have a strict hand held over it if it be curb'd and brought to its postures if it have reason and grace and a careful Tutor to order it you shall find it as tame a Creature as you need deal with it will never straggle or stray beyond the confines which the spirit hath set it the reason is because though it be in it self fluid and moist and ready to run about like water yet Deus firmavit Aquas God hath made a Firmament betwixt the waters as he did Gen. i. 7 i. e. he hath establisht it and given it a consistency that it should not flow or pour it self out beyond its place But if this Soul of man be left to its own nature to its own fluid wild incontinent condition it presently runs out into an Ocean never staies or considers or consults but rushes head-long into all inordinacy having neither the reins of reason nor God to keep it in it never thinks of either of them and unless by chance or by Gods mercy it fall into their hands 't is likely to run riot for ever Being once let loose it ranges as if there were neither power on Earth to quell nor in Heaven to punish it Thus do you see how fluid how inconstant the Soul is of its own accord how prone it is how naturally inclined to run over like a stream over the Banks and if it be not swathed and kept in if it be left to the licentious condition of it self how ready is it to contemn both reason and God and run head-long into Atheism Nay we need not speak so mercifully of it this very licentiousness is the actual renouncing of Religion this very walking after their own lusts is not only a motive to this sin of scoffing but the very sin it self A false Conception in the Womb is only a rude confused ugly Chaos a meer lump of flesh of no kind of figure or resemblance gives only disappointment danger and torment to the Mother 'T is the soul at its entrance which defines and trims and polishes into a body that gives it Eyes and Ears and Legs and Hands which before it had not distinctly and severally but only rudely altogether with that mass or lump Thus is it with the Man till Religion hath entred into him as a Soul to inform and fashion him as long as he lives thus at large having no terms or bounds or limits to his actions having no form or figure or certain motion defined him he is a Mola a meer lump of man an arrant Atheist you cannot discern any features or lineaments of a Christian in him he hath neither Eyes to see nor Ears to hear nor hands to practice any duty that belongs to his peace Only 't is Religion must take him up must smooth and dress him over and according to its Etymon must religare swathe and bind up this loose piece of flesh must animate and inform him must reduce him to some set form of Christianity or else he is likely after a long and fruitless travel to appear a deformed monstrous Atheist But not to deal any longer upon simile's lest we seem to confound and perplex a truth by explaining it I told you the licentious voluptuous life was it self perfect Heathenism For can you imagine a man to be any but a Gentile who hath abandoned all love all awe all fear all care of God any one of which would much contract and draw him into compass who hath utterly put off every garb of a Christian who hath enjoy'd the reins so long that now he is not sensible or at least contemns the curb or snaffle if he be but check't with it gets it in his teeth and runs away with it more fiercely The Heathen are noted not so much that they worshipt no God at all but that they worshipped so many and none of them the true Every great friend they had every delight and pleasure every thing that was worth praying for straight proved their God and had its special Temple erected for its Worship So that do but imagine one of them every day worshipping every God whom he acknowledged in its several Oratory spending his whole life and that too little too in running from one Temple to another and you have described our licentious man posting on perpetually to his sensual devotions worshipping adoring and sacrificing every minute of his life to some Idol-vanity and bestowing as much pains and charges in his prophane heathenish pleasures as ever the Gentiles did on their false gods or the most supererogating Papist on their true We are wont to say in Divinity and that without an Hyperbole that every commission of sin is a kind of Idolatry an incurvation and bending down of the Soul to some Creature which should alwayes be erect looking up to Heaven from whence it was infused like water naturally inclined to climb and ascend as high as the Fountain or Head from whence it sprang And then certainly a licentious life is a perpetual Idolatry a supineness and proneness and incurvation of the Soul to somewhat that deserves to be called an Idol i. e. either in St. Pauls acceptation of it nothing an Idol is nothing 1 Cor. viii 4 or else in the most honourable signification only an Image or some rude likeness or representation of God We are the Image of God our selves and whatsoever is below us is but an imperfect draught of him containing some lineaments some confused resemblances of his power which created them have no being of their own but only as shadows which the light doth cast And therefore every love every bowe every cringe which we make to any Creature is the wooing and worshipping of an Image at best in plain terms of an Idol nothing What degree then of Idolatry have they attained to who every minute of their lives bowe down and worship make it their trade and calling for ever to be a solliciting some pleasure or other Some exquisite piece of sensuality to bless and make them happy which have no other shrines to set up but only to their own lust to which they do so crouch and creep and crawle that they are never able to stand up right again like those Trees which the Papists talk of which by bowing to our Ladies House when in walks by the Wood toward Loretto have ever since stood stooping Thus do you see how the latter part of my Text hath overtook the former the walking after his own lusts becomes a scoffer the licentious man proceeded Atheist and that with ease his very voluptuous life is a kind of Atheism and the reasons of this are obvious you need not seek or search far for them For first this walking in their own lusts notes an habit gathered out of many acts he hath
is esteemed unnecessary and burthensom You need not the application Again the husbandman can mend a dry stubborn wayward fruitless earth by overflowing of it and on such indeed is his ordinary requisite discipline to punish it for its amendment But there is a ground otherwise well tempered which they call a weeping ground whence continually water soaks out and this proves seldom fruitful if our learned Husbandmen observe aright wherefore there is sometime need of draining as well as watering The application is that your Soul which either hath been naturally dry and barren or else over-wrought in the business of the World needs a flood of tears to soften and purge it But the well temper'd Soul which hath never been out of heart but hath always had some inward life some fatness of and nourishment from the spirit is rather opprest than improved by such an overslow The Christian is thereby much hindred in his progress of good works and cannot serve the Lord with alacrity that so perpetually hangs down his head like a Bulrush Wherefore the Country rule is that that ground is best which is mellow which being crusht will break but not crumble dissolve but not excessively Hence I say the habituate believer need not suspect his estate if he find not in himself such an extremity of violent grief and humiliation as he observes in others knowing that in him such a measure of tears would both soil the face of his devotion and clog the exercise of it His best mediocrity will be to be habitually humbled but actually lively and alacrious in the ways of godliness not to be too rigid and severe a Tyrant over his Soul but to keep it in a temper of Christian softness tender under the hand of God and yet man-like and able both in the performance of Gods worship and his own calling And whensoever we shall find our selves in either extreme either too much hardned or too much melted too much elevated or too much dejected then to pray to that Holy Spirit so to fashion the temper of our Souls that we neither fail in humbling our selves in some measure for our sins nor yet too cowardly deject and cast down our selves below the courage and comfort and spiritual rejoycing which he hath prescribed us O Holy Lord we are the greatest of Sinners and therefore we humble our selves before thee but thou hast sent thy Christ into the World to save Sinners and therefore we raise up our spirits again and praise and magnifie thy name And thus much of this point and in brief of the first consideration of these words to wit as they are absolutely a profession of Paul himself to which end we beheld him in his double estate converted and unconverted In his unconverted state we found though a very great Sinner yet not absolutely greater than those times brought forth and therefore we were to think of him relatively to his future estate and so we found him the greatest Sinner that ever was called in the New Testament into so glorious a Saint Whence we observe the rarity of such conversions that though Saul were yet every blasphemous Sinner could not expect to be called from the depth of sin to regeneracy and salvation and this we proved both against the ancient Romans and modern Censors of morality and applied it to the care which we ought to have of keeping our unregeneracy spotless from any reigning sin Afterward we came to Paul converted where we balk't the Discourse of the condition of sin in the regenerate and rather observed the effect of it and in it that the greatness of his sin made as Paul so every regenerate man more eagerly to fasten on Christ Which being proved by a double ground we applied first by way of caution how that proposition was to be understood 2. By way of character how a great Sinner may judge of his sincere certain Conversion 3. By way of comfort to others who find not the effects of humiliation and the like in themselves in such measure as they see in others and so we have past through the first consideration of these words being conceived absolutely as St. Pauls profession of himself we should come to the other consideration as they are set down to us as a pattern or form of confessing the estate and applying the Salvation of Sinners to our selves which business requiring the pains and being worthy the expence of an entire hour we must defer to a second exercise Now the God which hath created us hath elected redeemed called justified us will sanctifie us in his time will prosper this his ordinance will direct us by his grace to his glory To him be ascribed due the honour the praise the glory the dominion which through all ages of the world have been given to him that sitteth on the Throne to the Holy Spirit and Lamb for evermore Pars Secunda SERMON XIX 1 TIM I. 15 Of whom I am the chief IN all Humane Writings and Learning there is a kind of poverty and emptiness which makes them when they are beheld by a Judicious Reader look starved and Crest-faln their Speeches are rather puft up than fill'd they have a kind of boasting and ostentation in them and promise more substance and matter to the Ear than they are able to perform really to the understanding whence it falls out that we are more affected with them at the first hearing and if the Orator be clear in his expression we understand as much at the first recital as we are able to do at the hundredth repetition But there is a kind of Excellency in the Scripture a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sublimity above all other Writings in the World The reading of every Section of it leaves a sting in the mind and a perpetual conceit of a still imperfect understanding of it An intelligent man at every view finds in it a fresh mystery and still perceives that there is somewhat beyond not yet attain'd to like men digging in Mines the deeper he dives he finds the greatest treasure and meets with that under ground which looking on the outward turf or surface he never imagined to have been there This I observe unto you to shew you the riches both of all and especially of this Scripture whereinto the deeper I dig the more Ore I find and having already bestowed one hour in the discussing of it without any violence or wresting or wire-drawing find plenty of new materials We have already handled the Words at large in one consideration as they are a profession of Paul himself I will not repeat you the particular occurrents We now without any more delay of Preface come to the second consideration of them as they are spoken by Paul respectively to us i. e. as they are prescribed us for a form of confessing the estate and applying the Salvation of Sinners unto our selves teaching each of us for a close of our Faith and Devotion to confess
the meer eating of an apple In the next place as Adam was no private person but the whole humane nature so this sin is to be considered either in the root or in the fruit in its self or in its effects In its self so all mankind and every particular man is and in that name must humble himself as concerned in the eating of that fruit which only Adams teeth did fasten on is to deem himself bound to be humbled for that pride that curiosity that disobedience or whatsoever sin else can be contained in that first great transgression and count you this nothing to have a share in such a sin which contains such a multitude of Rebellions 'T is not a slight perfunctory humiliation that can expiate not a small labour that can destroy this monster which is so rich in heads each to be cut off by the work of a several repentance Now in the last place as this sin of all mankind in Adam is considered in its effects so it becomes to us a body of sin and death a natural disorder of the whole man an hostility and enmity of the flesh against the spirit and the parent of all sin in us as may appear Rom. vii and Jam. 1.14 Which that you may have a more compleat understanding of consider it as it is ordinarily set down consisting of three parts 1. A natural defect 2. A moral affection 3. A legal guilt i. e. a guiltiness of the breach of the Law for these three whatsoever you may think of them are all parts of that sin of our nature which is in and is to be imputed to us called ordinarily original sin in us to distinguish it from that first act committed by Adam of which this is an effect And first that natural defect is a total loss and privation of that primitive justice holiness and obedience which God had furnisht the Creature withal a disorder of all the powers of the Soul a darkness of the understanding a perverseness of the will a debility weakness and decay of all the senses and in summ a poverty and destruction and almost a nothingness of all the powers of Soul and Body And how ought we to lament this loss with all the veins of our heart to labour for some new strain of expressing our sorrow and in fine to petition that rich grace which may build up all these ruines to pray to God that his Christ may purchase and bestow on us new abilities that the second Adam may furnish us with more durable powers and lasting graces than we had but forfeited in the first The following part of this sin of our nature viz. A moral evil affection is word for word mentioned Rom. vii 5 For there the Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordinarily translated motions of sins and in the margin the passions of sins are more significantly to be rendred affections of sins i. e. by an usual figure sinful affections That you may the better observe the encumbrances of this branch of this sin which doth so over shadow the whole man and so fence him from the beams and light of the spiritual invisible Sun I am to tell you that the very Heathen that lived without the knowledge of God had no conversation with and so no instruction from the Bible in this matter that these very Heathens I say had a sense of this part of original sin to wit of these evil moral lusts and affections which they felt in themselves though they knew not whence they sprang Hence is it that a Greek Philosopher out of the antients makes a large Discourse of the unfatiable desire and lust which is in every man and renders his life grievous unto him where he useth the very same word though with a significant Epithet added to it that S. James doth c. 1. ver 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infinite lust with which as S. James saith a man is drawn away and enticed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so saith he that part of the mind in which these lusts dwell is perswaded and drawn or rather fall backward and forward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which lust or evil concupiscence he at last defines to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unsatiable intemperance of the appetite never filled with a desire never ceasing in the persecution of evil and again he calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our birth and nativity derived to us by our parents i. e. an evil affection hereditary to us and delivered to us as a Legacy at our Birth and Nativity all which seems a clear expression of that original lust whose motions they felt and guest at its nature Hence is it that it was a custom among all of them I mean the common Heathen to use many ways of purgations especially on their children who at the imposition of their names were to be lustrated and purified with a great deal of superstition and ceremony such like as they used to drive away a plague or a cure for an House or City As if nature by instinct had taught them so much Religion as to acknowledge and desire to cure in every one this hereditary disease of the soul this plague of mans heart as 't is called 1 Kings viii 38 And in summ the whole learning of the Wisest of them such were the Moralists was directed to the governing and keeping in order of these evil affections which they called the unruly citizens and common people of the soul whose intemperance and disorders they plainly observed within themselves and laboured hard to purge out or subdue to the government of reason and virtue which two we more fully enjoy and more Christianly call the power of grace redeeming our Souls from this Body of sin Thus have I briefly shewed you the sense that the very Heathen had of this second branch of original sin which needs therefore no farther aggravation to you but this that they who had neither Spirit nor Scripture to instruct them did naturally so feelingly observe and curse it that by reason of it they esteemed their whole life but a living death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their body but the Sepulchre of the soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both which together are but a periphrasis of that which S. Paul calls in brief the body of death And shall we who have obtained plenty of light and instruction besides that which nature bestowed on us with them shall we I say let our Eyes be confounded with abundance of day shall we see it more clearly to take less notice of it Shall we feel the stings of sin within us which though they do but prick the regenerate prove mortal to the rest of us and shall we not observe them Shall we not rather weep those Fountains dry and crop this luxury of our affections with a severe sharp sorrow and humiliation Shall we not starve this rank fruitful Mother of
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the evil days i. e. from persecution see Ephes 5.16 which God gives to good men is to continue till the pit be digged up for the ungodly i. e. till the measure of their sins be filled up and so destruction be ready for them whereas the contrary to this is evident that either the destruction of the wicked is first and the quiet and rest of the good oppressed by them a natural effect of that and so subsequent to it or that both of them are of the same date at once tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest 2 Thess 1.6 7. And this is evidently the meaning of it here and so will be discerned if only the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be rendred dum whilst as it is elsewhere used Jon. 4.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst I was Job 1.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst he was speaking for then thus it will run very fitly That thou mayst give him rest whilst the pit is digged V. 15. Vnto righteousness The notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousness for charity and mercy hath oft been observed only the Emphasis of the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto here offers it self to consideration which will best be exprest by even unto as when Gen. 14.23 we read from a thred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to a shooe latcher and Gen. 7.23 Every living substance was destroyed from man to beast to creeping things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usque ad saith the Interlinear and even to the fowls of heaven which were in least danger to be destroyed with water And thus here it seems to import that the present rigour of their enemies shall by Gods judging or taking their part not only be removed but be even converted into the greatest mercies Thus in every revolution of state it is ordinary none are so likely to escape and be favoured by the conquerer as they that were opprest by the former government And so was it to the Jews of the Captivity of whom the learned Jews understand this Psalm when the Persian executes judgment on the Babylonian when the sacrilegious drunken Tyrant is taken in his city as in a pit or snare v. 13. the Jews then are no losers by their former oppressions but receive preferments in the common-wealth Dan. 6.5 and licence to return to their own countrey And the same observation held both in the destruction of the Jewish and Heathen enemies of Christ the Christians were not only freed from their persecutions but became most flourishing And this is the full importance of judgments returning even to righteousness God not only pleading their cause and delivering them which is meant by judgment but even converting their former sufferings into their greatest advantages To this is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after it all the pure in heart What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies may be learned from Jud. 5.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after thee Benjamin i. e. saith the Chaldee Saul the son of Benjamin succeeded Joshuah noted before by Ephraim And so after this all the upright in heart i. e. to this shall immediately succeed the flourishing prosperous condition of all pious men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be redeemed saith the Chaldee but it is somewhat more they shall return to a flourishing condition and so this very fitly agrees to what went before and is as the proof of it The severity of their enemies is turned into mercy and then follows the prosperity of all pious men V. 19. Delight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to look upon with delight is in Piel doubled and used for looking kindly and lovingly imbracing and making much of doing any thing that is grateful to another So the Chaldee understood it rendring it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make much of so they use the word Prov. 29.21 for that which we render delicately bringeth up And hence it is that the LXXII render it here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have loved i. e. behaved themselves in a loving manner so as they which love are wont to do Isa 11.8 it is used for playing or sporting dealing friendly and with confidence with any and Isa 66.12 for being dandled on the knees like a child by the nurse or parent and by analogy with all these being here applied to Gods consolations it will most significantly be rendred have cherished or refresh't caressed or gratified my soul The Ninety Fifth PSALM The Ninety Fifth Psalm is an invitation to all to bless and praise the Name of God and to live obediently before him 'T is affirmed to be written by David Heb. 4.7 and may probably have been fitted by him among others here put together for the solemnity of bringing the Ark to the place of Gods rest v. 11. and is by the Jews confest to refer to the duties of the Messias as we see it applyed Heb. 3. 4. 1. O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation Paraphrase 1. The Lord of heaven is he from whom all our deliverance and strength doth come see note on Psal 89. l. O let us uniformly joyn in praising and glorifying his Name 2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with Psalms Paraphrase 2. Let us make our daily constant addresses to him with all the acknowledgments and expressions of thankful hearts 3. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all Gods Paraphrase 3. As to him that is the supreme God of heaven and earth the only super-eminent Monarch over all powers and dignities the Angels his ministers in heaven and the mightiest Princes his vicegerents upon earth 4. In his hands are the deep places of the earth the strength of the hills is his also Paraphrase 4. The bowels and bottom of the earth are in his disposal and what is emblematically intimated by them the meanest and lowest men or creatures on the earth are particularly respected and ordered by his providence in all that befals them here and so likewise the loftiest and stoutest hills and the mightiest men in the world are bounded and governed by him 5. The sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the dry land Paraphrase 5. It is he that framed the whole Orb of the sea and dry land and contrived them so the one in the bowels of the other that neither should incommodate the other but both together make up an useful globe for men and all other creatures to inhabit 6. O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker Paraphrase 6. O let us joyntly adore and praise and pray unto him and make the members of our bodies partners and witnesses of the real devotion of our hearts joyn inward and outward reverence
together even the submissest and lowliest gestures to signifie and express the sincere humility of our souls a tribute most due to him who is both Lord and Creator of all 7. For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and sheep of his hand To day if ye will hear his voice Paraphrase 7. For although we have oft rebelled against him and so oft deserved his dereliction and oft smarted for it yet if now at length we shall be wrought on by his calls and warning and perform sincere obedience to him he is most ready to accept us to take us into his care and protection and secure us from all our enemies 8. Harden not your hearts as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness 9. When your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works Paraphrase 8 9. Our Ancestors when they had been delivered by him with the greatest manifestation of his almighty power from the hardest oppression and slavery in Egypt were yet so unthankful and obdurate that they repined and murmured at every turn ten times one after another Numb 14.22 apostatizing from and rebelling against them they would not believe and relie on his power though it were abundantly testified to him by miraculous effects of it but still required more miracles and assurances of his presence among them and hereby they most sadly provoked Gods wrath O let not us that have so liberally tasted of his power and goodness and long-suffering and are yet afforded his calls to repentance imitate these in our ingratitude and impenitence 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do err in their hearts for they have not known my ways 11. Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Paraphrase 10 11. Those Ancestors of ours for the space of forty years wherein God for their sins deteined and perplext them in the wilderness of Sin did very frequently provoke God to indignation made him resolve that they were a most stupid idolatrous people that preferred the service of the irrational Egyptian false gods and devils before the obedience and worship of the one true God of heaven and earth and therefore being as it were tired out with their continued provocations God at length by an oath obliged himself irreversibly that of all the many thousands that were listed after their coming out of Egypt none but only Caleb and Joshua should enter the promised land of Canaan O let us not offend after their example lest we follow them in their punishments also and be denied our part in Gods rest here the priviledges of the Ark and presence of God among us in Jerusalem where he hath promised to rest and dwell for ever if we do not provoke him to forsake us How this was applicable to the Jews under the times of Christ see note b. Annotations on Psalm XCV V. 7. His pasture When the Psalmist useth these two phrases together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 people of his pasture and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheep or cattel of his hand 't is obvious to discern the seeming impropriety and withal to cure it by interchanging the adjuncts and annexing the hand to the people and the pasture to the sheep But it is more reasonable to fetch the explication from the different significations of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as for feeding so for governing equally appliable to men and cattel from whence it is but analogy that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a pasture where cattel are fed should also signifie dominion or kingdom or any kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein a people are governed And then the other part the sheep of his hand will be a sit though figurative expression the shepheard that feeds and rules and leads the sheep doing it by his hand which manageth the rod and staff Psal 23.4 by which they are administred The Jewish Arab reads the people of his feeding or flock and the sheep of his guidance Ibid. If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here rendred If is elsewhere oft used for an optative sign and expression of a wish So Luk. 19.42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou knewest for O that thou knewest and Luk. 22.42 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou wilt for O that thou wouldest remove this cup from me So Exod. 32.32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou wilt for O that thou wouldest forgive them And if so it be here then the rendring must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O that to day you would hear his voice live obedient to him as people to a Ruler or sheep to a Pastor And this may be thought needful to the making the sense compleat in this verse which otherwise is thought to hang though not so fitly on the eighth verse and not to be finisht without it But it may be considered also whether this verse be not more complete in it self by rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if thus Let us worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord our Maker For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and sheep of his hand if ye will hear his voice to day or as the Jewish Arab reads sheep of his hand or guidance to day i. e. speedily if ye will hear his voice perform obedience to him setting the words in form of a conditionate promise thereby to inforce the performance of the condition on our part The condition to the performance of which they are exhorted v. 6. is paying God the worship and lowly obedience due to him and the promise secured to them on this performance that he will be their God and they his people of his pasture c. i. e. that God will take the same care of them that a shepheard of his sheep preserve them from all enemies Midianites Philistims Canaanites c. and that though for their rebellions and disobediences against God they had hitherto been oft disturbed and not long since the Ark taken by their heathen enemies yet if now to day they shall at length hear Gods voice and perform this obedience sincerely they shall also be secured that their enemies should no more disturb them their Ark should no more be captive but enjoy a rest v. 11. with them for ever in Jerusalem That to this of Jerusalem the rest spoken of by David referred as well as to the land of Canaan in Moses's time is the observation of Rab. Solomon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the land of Israel and also Jerusalem which is called a rest as 't is said This is my rest for ever here will I dwell And so their enjoying this rest of Gods these priviledges of the Ark and Gods presence among them was the completion of the promise on Gods part that he would be their God and they his people c. And according to
estate such are our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our weaknesses ignorances and the like and some that are not the spots of sons they which do them shall not without actual reformation and victory and forsaking enter or inherit the kingdom of God after all that Christ hath done and suffered for them such our deliberate acts and habits against light against grace the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text and let me tell you the not pondering these differences not observing the grains and scruples of sin how far the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extend and when they are overgrown into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the ground that I say no more of a deal of desperate profaneness We cannot keep from all sin and therefore count it lost labour to endeavour to abstain from any having demonstrated our selves men by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we make no scruple to evidence our selves Devils too by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the desperation of perfect sinlessness makes us secure in all vileness and being engaged in weakness we advance to madness either hope to be saved with our greatest sins or fear to be damned for our least and having resolv'd it impossible to do all resolve securely to do none our infirmities may damn us and our rebellions can do no more our prayers our almes have sin in them and our murthers and sacriledges can be but sinful and so if the Devil or our interests will take the pains to solicite it the deadliest sin shall pass for as innocent a creature as tame a stingless Serpent as the fairest Christian vertue and all this upon the not observing the weight of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here which Christ rose from the grave on purpose to turn us from and from which whosoever is not turned shall never rise unto life Add unto this the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the his iniquities as it refers to the author of them and this is the bill of challenge and claim to those accursed possessions of ours nothing is so truly so peculiarly ours as our sins and of those as our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our frailties our lapses our ignorances the diseases and infelicities of our nature which may insensibly fall from us vix ea nostra voco but our wasting wilful acts and indulg'd habits those great Vultures and Tygres of the soul they are most perfectly our own the natural'st brats and truest progeny that ever came from our loins nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Agamemnons phrase nor God nor Fate nor Fiend are any way chargeable with them The first were blasphemy the second Stoicism and folly to boot the third a bearing false witness against the devil himself robbing him of his great fundamental title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Calumniator and proving those that thus charge him the greatest Devils of the twain and all this is but one part of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here the his c. as it refers to the Author And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 again the his as it is a note of eminence his peculiar prime reigning sins that all others like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or commonalty are fain to be subject to sometimes a monarch-dictator-single sin a the plague in his own heart a principality of ambition of pride of lust of covetousness that all others at their distance administer unto sometimes an optimacy of a few all prime coequal in their power and sometimes a democracy or popular state a whole Aegypt full of locusts in one breast a Gad a troop or shole of sins all leading us captive to their shambles and thus our Soveraign sins as different as our tempers and every oâ—e the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here every man from his iniquities The summ of this first prospect is briefly this Thâ—â—urning every one from his iniquities wherein Christs blessing us consists is his giving of grace sufficient to work an universal sincere impartial thorough-change of every sinner from all his reigning wilful sins The sincerity though not perfection of the new creature And the dependence betwixt this and the resurrection of Christ is the second or next enquiry The resurrection of Christ in the Scripture-stile signifies not always the act of rising from the dead but the consequent state after that rising by the same proportion that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new creation and the being regenerate or born of God signifie the state of Sonship and not the act of begetting only So that in brief the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here the raising up of Jesus signifies the new state to which Christ was inaugurate at his resurrection and contains under it all the severals of ascension of sitting at the right hand of power of the mission of the Holy Ghost and his powerful intercession for us in Heaven ever since and to the end of the world And this is the notion of the resurrection of Christ which is the blesser which hath that influence on our turning 't will not be amiss to shew you how And here I shall not mention that moral influence of his resurrection upon ours by the example of his powerful rising out of the grave to preach to us the necessity of our shaking off the grave-cloths that cadaverous chill noisome estate of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to rise again with him This is the blessing in the Text but this the example of Christ might preach long enough to dead souls before it would be hearkened unto although the truth is the antient Church by their setting apart these Holy-days for the baptizing of all that were baptized and the whole space betwixt this and Pentecost and every Dominical in the year for the gesture of standing in all their services that no man might come near the earth at the time that Christ rose from it did certainly desire to enforce this moral on us that our souls might now turn and be blessed rise and be conformed to the image of Christs resurrection Blessed Lord that it might be thus exemplary to us at this time But to omit this the special particulars wherein the resurrection of Christ as our blesser hath its influence on our turning are briefly these three 1. The bestowing on us some part of that Spirit by which Christ was raised out of the grave Consider Rom. 8. verse 11. and 't is all that I shall say to you of that first particular If the Spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you that Spirit of power by which Christ was raised out of the grave is the very efficient of our turning our new birth the Author of our present blessedness and the pledge of our future immortality God having raised his Son by his Spirit anointed him with that Spirit to work the like miracles