Death he hath raised it into a Capacity of Life Which Experience worketh Hope and Experiences multiplied strengthen Faith and give assurance as David I have slain a Lion and a Bear God helped me in both and so he will against this Philistine And now the Soul begins to be a stout Champion and ready to say I have found by experience the Lord is on my side I will not fear what Man can do unto me And lastly this well-grounded Assurance like Oil supples the Heart and the Holy-Ghost diffuseth Love into it And thus Tribulation builds up Love the Top-stone ever And that this Self-contempt is the right Foundation is manifest from Christ the Corner-Stone of the Universal Church for he was the Contempt of Men His Visage saith the Prophet so marred more than any Man and his Form more than the Sons of Men despised rejected of Men no Form or Comeliness a Man of Sorrows c. And thus the Jews said of him Is not this the Carpenter's Son Are not his Brethren with us And they despised him Yea and according to this Scripture he in all things humbled himself making Fishermen Publicans and Children his Companions Now none are poorer than Fishers none more despised than Publicans nor none more simple than Children yet upon twelve such Pillars he founded his Church And hence Paul We are made the Filth of the World and Offscouring of all things And assuredly thus must every one be in his own Eyes before Christ can be born and crucified in him and the Birth of a new Creature consummated 4. And now to add a few words of those lovely Sisters which hence take their Original I say they are the very Balast of the Soul in this second Warfare And first touching Humility It is mighty in virtue as well under the former as latter Warfare for under the Law it helps to undermine the Pride of the Heart and boasting of the Tongue and in the Gospel it prepares the Soul to hear and receive the glad Tidings of Grace Indeed under the Law it grows and is made perfect and in the Gospel's breaking forth it is the Foundation upon which Grace builds and the Soul works it self upwards In confirmation of which divers Scriptures concur 1 Pet. 5.5 Yea all of you be subject one to another and be cloathed with Humility for God resisteth the Proud and giveth Grace to the Humble Humble your selves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Which well agrees with the frequent Doctrine of our Saviour He that is greatest among you let him be Servant of all Mat. 18.4 23.11 Mark 9.35 Luke 14.11 18.14 So Jam. 4.10 Humble you selves in the sight of God and he shall lift you up Prov. 29.23 A Man's Pride shall bring him low but Honour shall uphold the Humble in Spirit So also Chap. 15.33 18.12 22.4 So that for a Man to be wasted and vile in his own Eyes is to be humble and to be humble is to be in the way of Exaltation and Ascension into the Image of our Saviour 5. But here it is to be observed that it is not all kind of Humility that pleaseth God namely not that which the Apostle calls Voluntary and is two-fold one in the neglect of the Body in Meats Drinks Apparel and sometimes imposing upon it more than a merciful Man would do to his Beast which things indeed have a shew of Wisdom in Win-worship and Humility and neglecting of the Body but not in any honour for the satisfying of the Flesh Col. 2.18 23. that is not humbling it by such an affective Humility as goes before Honour or depresseth the Body so as God will therefore make it full and exalt it for the excellency of the Body is not in being beaten down with long Fastings Perigrinations and voluntary Afflictions impoverishing it in the denial of such necessaries as are not forbidden in the Rule of Obedience indeed it is a Duty to restrain it from all excess and that with a strict hand because in its own nature 't is a licentious Beast and may if not kept under enter into Warfare with thee and therefore to curb it and keep it under as Paul did when it dares contend against the Rule is necessary but what is more than this is to bruise and break it and is of sin a voluntary Humility an Invention of thy own a Service not required at thy hands and indeed not true Humility but the effect of a proud heart boasting in Self-Righteousness as if it would do all and yet more than the Rule requires when indeed it can do no good thing for the Body is a Creature of God and therefore good and owes a Duty in its Generation which is good also and therefore its Mouth ought not to be musled while it treads out the Corn indeed it is in its right use the Ass of the Soul and ought to carry it to and fro and do all its grosser work for without it the Soul cannot perform the Ministry of its Generation either to God Neighbour or Nature Therefore as Christ rid upon an Ass in triumph to Jerusalem so ought the Soul to ride upon the Body towards its Hosanna and as that was deekt with Garments its Way spread with Palm-Branches so ought this to be decently provided for and from hence says Solomon Eccles 9.8 Let thy Garments be white always and let thy Head want no Oil that is keep thy Body in innocent chearfulness Furthermore it 's manifest from Scripture that the Body is capable of giving and receiving Divine Honour Phil. 1.20 So that as always so now also Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death And again Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashion'd like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Which Scripture is of great Mystery and plainly implies That Christ hath a work upon our Bodies for Glory to be effected in that same operation he subdues and conquers all things to himself which Conquest is the very consummation of that Work for which he took upon him our Flesh Nature and Body 1 Cor. 15.27 and which God prepared for him that thereby he might work upon and change our Bodies namely those vile in their own eyes into his Image and by that Conquest may conquer all things to himself for without doubt when the first Earth was in its deformity Tohu and Bohu even then a precious Seed of the Election of Grace was in that sensless confusion but yet even then it was in the fore-knowledg of God and under the decree of his Will when and how it should be called cleansed sanctified and glorified the first step to which was to give it a Body a Soul and a Spirit as it is written Gen. 2.7 And the Lord formed Man out of the Dust of the Ground
and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul to which adjoin 1 Cor. 15.45 it clears the last part of the Assertion The first Man Adam was made a living Soul and the last Adam a quickning Spirit So that the Elect Seed is first subdued into a Body and Soul and lastly united and made one with the quickning Spirit by being again subdued by it in the good fight and while thus the Spirit subdues the Soul and the Soul the Body the Elect Seed is gathered from the East and from the West from the North and from the South and Christ's Victory atchieved in the glorifying every Hoof that is in the Commission of Election and condemning the Reprobate to the Pit of their appointment and for this end Christ took upon him our Bodies Souls Spirits and whatsoever is ours that his Body being glorified might glorify ours his Soul our Souls his Spirit our Spirits and lastly That his Conquest over us might compleat our happiness and this the Apostle strongly implies 1 Thess 5.23 And the very God of Peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole Spirit and Soul and Body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And besides these divers other Scriptures attest that there is a hidden excellency appertaining to the Body as Rom. 8.23 Even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the redemption of the Body which compared with the context before implies a farther Mystery than we who are dull of hearing can receive for secret things belong to God and those things which are revealed to us Dan. 29.29 So again Rom. 12.1 Now I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service So 1 Cor. 6.13 The Body for the Lord and the Lord for the Body Also the 19. So as such a voluntary Humility which debases the Body beyond the Rule or denies those Refreshments it allows is not pleasing unto God 6. The second part of this Humility is when a Man thinks himself not worthy to go to Christ immediately himself but by the intercession of Angels or Saints Col. 2.18 But this perswasion is a great wrong to him who purposely came to save Sinners and vouchsafed to wash his Disciples Feet who took our Nature upon him that he might be touched with our Infirmities and tempted like us and all that he might be a merciful and expert Mediator and therefore himself calls to them heavey laden to come to him and also gives authority to us to go in his Name a begging immediately to the Father assuring us That in that Name we shall be heard and hence the Apostle Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and sind Grace to help in the days of our Conflicts And therefore in humble and reverential Gratitude let us be assured There 's no more need of a Mediator betwixt Christ and us than betwixt God and Christ for as he is in the Father and one with him so we in Christ namely those that are baptized into his death and therefore those that go to other Mediators have with Esau rejected one of the greatest Priviledges of their Birth-right and therefore true Humility consists not in debasing the Body or denying it its Rights and then calling it Vile and esteeming the martyrdom of it in the secret of the Heart meritorious but in being a careful Keeper of it as a piece of purer Clay upon which Christ designeth to engrave his Image and therefore it behoves us to deck it with all Ornaments Divine and Natural true Humility can shape for it and when all is done to esteem it and every Gift we have by nature vile and contemptible and the Body thus presented by the hand of Faith shall be a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God 7. The next Sister of this Divine Off-spring is Meekness in all things so like to the former as we need not to enlarge upon it for what is well said of the one appertains of right to the other It is first ascribed to Moses the Type Meek above all Men upon the face of the Earth and next to Christ the Anti-type Take up my Yoak and learn of me for I am meek and lowly or humble of Heart and ye shall find rest in your Souls Which first shews We ought in all things to imitate Christ and more particularly in Meekness And secondly that the Reward shall be Rest to the Soul Another saith Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the Earth And our Psalmist He the Lord will save all the Meek of the Earth he will beautify them with Salvation The third is the great Vertue Patience which indeed is both first and last in our Warfare for from the first blow in the former on-set it was the Soul's Buckler and unto the last must be a Support So Job began in Patience and in the virtue thereof did not offend with his Tongue and was become a perfect Scholar therein before he was throughly humbled for he was not vile enough in his own sight until he perceived God by the eye which was in the period of his Trial And hence the Apostle Brethren count it all joy when ye fall under divers temptations knowing the trial of your Faith worketh Patience and let Patience have its perfect Work that ye may be perfect lacking nothing so as this vertue consummates the Work in that fulness as nothing is lacking Whence also by comparing this with former Texts it appeareth that the Temptations and Trials here spoken of the Tribulations bringing Patience afore-mentioned and the Warfare of the Cross are all one thing only differing as Majus and Minus for the former refer to the Cross of our Lord as he did and we ought to bear it daily and our Warfare refers to it in the more critical and especial Hour for all work Patience and Patience under all upholdeth the Soul and sows the Seeds of Experiences of the gracious workings of God And though no Tribulations in the present seem joyous yet at the long-run Experience convinceth that they are the very effects of Love which Love sheddeth it self abroad in the Heart so as to be perfect in Tribulations in Trials and bearing the Cross is the perfection of Patience Patience of Experience Experience of Love and Love fortified by Patience that it may wait until God see it fit to give the Crown of Glory is that perfection in the Life of the Body which lacketh nothing and therefore as it is written Blessed is he that endureth that patiently waits until the end until the Soul can say with the Captain of its Warfare It is finished I have fought the good Fight Again Patience is the fixing and confirming of a Saint as the Apostle saith Be patient establish your Hearts Behold ye
the Hungry for they shall be filled c. Wo to the Rich for they have received their Consolation Wo to the Full for they shall hunger c. Luke 6.10 Now compare this with Mat. 5.2 and it is clear that the Poor and Hungry are spiritually meant and therefore it were hard to suppose the Rich and Full are only literal Again They that will be rich fall into Temptation and many hurtful Lusts which drown in Perdition For the Love of Money is the Root of all Evil Which whilst some have coveted they have been seduced from the Faith and pierced through with many Sorrows Which is more effectual in Spirit than Letter Solomon thus There is one that makes himself rich and is not there is another that makes himself poor and Riches abound Which is as much as There is one who would save his Life and loseth it and another who would lose his Life and saveth it He that hastens to be rich shall not be innocent And sundry Texts to the like purpose And thus whilst the Word is interpretable in both sences it cuts as a two-edged Sword teaching two Duties in one Precept for the one doth not interfere with the other but each mutually interprets the other And if I mistake not this is more frequent than they are supposed For the Spiritual things signified by Man and Wife do not disanul the Literal Duties of Wedlock nor doth Spiritual Whoredom which is Idolatry excuse the Sinfulness of Fornication no more than a Spiritual Sodom and Egypt deny that that once was and this yet is in the Letter So there is a Spiritual Adam Israelite Jerusalem c. And therefore the Precept Promise and Punishment belong to both Spiritual and Literal Obeyers or Transgressors and in most Cases more especially to the Literal yet not always namely because the Letter is direct plain to all and the other is in a Mystery Again what the Letter requires is oft-times manifest to be just in the Glass of Nature so as none can pretend Ignorance but the Spiritual sence is oft mistaken and the Usurer and Adulterer oft do evil whilst they think they do well 5. Now this Usury or Covetousness is in respect of the nature of Works either Legal or Evangelical that trusting in such Merit as is gained by the Arm of Flesh and this hopes for Gain in the Works of its own Spirit mistaking its own which lusteth after Vanity for the Spirit of God and worketh as the Apostle calls it Spiritual Wickedness in high Places into which whilst some boast of the Spirit have fallen supposing themselves wise and righteous until Christ come to try the Spirit Heart and Reins And this usually falls in when having received a new Talent in Grace we fall chearfully to the Work and supposing our Work much better as indeed it is than under Legal Services we presently say with Peter What shall we now that we work in Spirit and Grace have greeding after Usury from God when indeed we ought to put our Talent to the Money-Changers upon his account and patiently to wait for the encrease First knowing that he who runs best so runs because God is with him and blesseth him and himself no better than Nay nay Secondly That God alone knows what and when to give Thirdly That yet a very little while and he that is to come will come and will not tarry beyond the fitness of Time and will reward us both with Principal and Interest Well done thou good and faithful Servant c. Thou hast been faithful over a little rule thou over ten Cities 6. And now this Precept Give not thy Money c. in this Acceptation falls in close with the Link aforesaid that is Having now followed the Captain of our Salvation into Death forsaking all for him and acknowledging our selves vile yet love the meanest of his Fold and lastly having his Promise and given our Yea and Nay to him at the first setting forth we fall to the Work in great hope and cheerfulness and as one whose Heart is warmed in Love not doubting to give a good account of our Stewardship hoping with Micha I know that the Lord will now bless me seeing I have a Levite for my Priest that is have the Spirit for my Priest and work in Grace not yet perceiving as the Parable hath it that Christ having again set us right in the New Covenant goes into a far Country not forsaking us but withdrawing his more immediate Presence from us but to prove us how we can manage our new Talent and thence teach us that in our best State we are as nothing without him 7. And now tho this our Confidence is not without cause yet rarely is it free from Spiritual Ostentation yet not the old one which leaned upon fleshly Confidence for together with the Old Man that perished but another which riseth up in the New Man and makes its boast of worshipping in the Spirit and is but a change from carnal to spiritual Wickedness and Idolatry For before we made the Flesh and now we make the Spirit Co-partner and Fellow-workman with Christ to effect what lacketh which again stops the willing Rivolets of free Grace which is incompatible with a Helper for if it give not simply upon the account of its sole Goodness no respect had to any other Workman or Work it loseth both Name and Nature for as Infiniteness is not infinite if it have an end so neither can Grace be Grace if it have any respect to another's Work or Merit Not that now the Faculties of the Mind ought to rest or Working is ceased but verily the Soul Body and Spirit ought now to labour more abundantly because until this was known they could not labour in pure Grace which is the Harvest for unless the Reaper doth labour much and not in Merit the Garners cannot be filled with pure Wheat And therefore Satan taking advantage of the Spirit of Man lusting to Pride set forth an Imp of Antichrist in the appearance of a Spirit of Light which joining it self to the Spirit of Man enlightned as was said seeks to persuade it it is the Spirit of God and like as the false Spirit deceived Ahab beguiles the Soul of its encrease in Grace and pure Religion save only as Grace that it may appear gracious steals in here a little and there a little in those Periods when least expected for sense of Infirmity and Breach of Spirit are the Opportunities of Grace 8. And now when Christ comes to prove all by Fire it proceeds much in the manner of our former Warfare but as I may say in a reverted Order as Peter's Crucifying was the reverse of our Lord's his Feet upwards of which Christ solemnly admonished him John 21.19 Follow thou me and we may presume was written for our Instruction And in such Order our first and second Trials differ For in the first carnal Confidence was smitten down and a way opened
to exalt the Spirit and in this we wrestle against Principalities and Wickedness in Heavenly Places Then Satan's Interest was to uphold Vows Merit in Touch not taste not c. to persuade that the Spirit was a meer Chymaera or Sound only heard in deluded Ears and now he cries up the Spirit as all pure and perfect that it doth not nay cannot lust after Envy upright in all its ways and no Word or Work or Way holy or acceptable without it be its simple Act and so the Reason Sense and Body are esteemed vile things and the Service odious to God And thus Satan wrests to every extreme our Minds and Christ in his Bounty so defeats this old Serpent the Deceiver as in the first Warfare presumptuous Flesh is beaten down and under the Gospel the Spirit apt to be puffed up is humbled that all things both in Heaven and Earth in Soul and Body might bow to the exalted Name of Christ yea that every thing which is proud or exalts it self may be brought down and that he that glories may find nothing to glory in save Christ alone and lastly that the Spirit upheld in its Humiliation by the Spirit of the high-exalted Name may uphold the Body and the Body minister to the Soul until it become a fit Temple for the holy Spirit to dwell in and that Christ at his coming may find us perfect in Soul in Body and in Spirit 9. And lest some might take it amiss that now in our Gospel-day the Worship whereof consists in Spirit and Truth we should speak of a Warfare against the Spirit and of an acceptable Service from the Body I shall explain my self a little further First I say our Lord doth not teach that this Worship is of Spirit only but Spirit and Truth and against them united there is no Law For this In Spirit and Truth implies a Worship where the very Spirit of Truth is present and assisting the Spirit of Man and helping its Infirmities which Spirit also dwelleth in us and is that which raiseth up Christ and also that quickens our mortal Bodies and therefore to subdue this Spirit were to reject God and Good in as deep Rebellion and Blasphemy as the Angels reserved to Blackness and Darkness ever did But there are two other Spirits one of God and yet is not his very immediate Spirit aforesaid of which the beloved Apostle thus Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits if they are of God for many false Prophets and consequently Spirits are gone forth Hereby we know that Spirit which is of God the Spirit that confesseth Christ is come in the Flesh is of God That Spirit which confesseth not so is not of God but of Antichrist Whence observe two Spirits one of God another not of him Secondly Consider that Confession which distinguisheth these Spirits namely Christ in the Flesh which cannot be meant of an historical Confession because also confessing must have had that Spirit of God and verily it is incompatible with the outward Profession to deny the History as far as concerns Flesh and Blood nor amongst those various Delusions touching his Nature which went abroad few or none held that Opinion Again the Spirit which denies this is the Spirit of Antichrist Now Antichrist doth not deny Christ in the Flesh but rather supposeth that he is extant as Flesh in the Bread to this day And lastly to make this the Caracter were to make Antichrist a Pagan which he is not but rather the Spirit which historically confesseth both God and Christ and sets up it self against them And this is that Spirit which in this Warfare ought to be made to bow the Knee And forasmuch as the Apostle affirms that this Spirit is of Antichrist the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition the best way to discern it is to apply to a fuller description of them 2 Thess 2.4 Who opposeth God and exalteth himself above all called God or that is worshipped So that he sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God And now this must be a Spiritual Wickedness set in high Places usurping Authority in the Temple of God which Temple we are and the Spirit i.e. of God dwelleth in it 1 Cor. 3.16 And again Chap. 6.19 Your Body is the Temple of the Holy-Ghost in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a Price Wherefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's And now I ask what this which is spiritual Wickedness can be but the Spirit of Man lusting after Evil deluded by the Spirit of Satan whose first and original Crime was to make himself equal with God and shall again once more shew his foolish Pride as in the description of Antichrist is further shewn Ibid. vers 9. Whose Coming is after the working of Satan with all Power and lying Wonders and with all deceivableness of Vnrighteousness in them who perish because they received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved And for this Cause God gave them up to strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie and that they might be damned who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in Vnrighteousness And besides this Text the holy Writers give sundry Admonitions to beware of the Pride and Deceitfulness of our own Spirits Jam. 4.5 Do you think the Scripture saith in vain The Spirit which dwelleth in you lusteth to Envy Which is a double Proof First as from James secondly as another Scripture cited by him tho perhaps we find it not So our Lord Ye know not what Spirit ye are of 1 Tim. 4.1 In the latter times shall come seducing Spirits and Doctrine of Devils 2 Cor. 7.1 Let us cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of the Flesh and of the Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God Mal. 2.15 Therefore take ye heed to your Spirits and let none deal treacherously with the Wife of his Youth see also ver 16. Where the Spirit refers to the Man or Spirit of Teaching and the Wife to Obedience as in the Allegory afore-mentioned and from the Context is as much as The Spirit and Wife are one Flesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the end they may bring forth Seed or Children to God and therefore let the Spirit beware it deal not perfidiously with the chast Form of Obedience that is go a whoring after strange Forms So as a Man's Spirit is as his Heart deceitful setting up spiritual Wickedness in high Places and dresseth them in so specious Forms of Light as who can find them out For doubtless to discern its workings from those of the Holy Spirit is me judging above measure difficult and few or none who do not sometimes mistake that for this And therefore we ought to take heed to our Spirits and above all to supplicate the Father of Spirits whom foul Spirits obey that himself would watch over them For in vain do the
Watchmen wake if the Lord do not keep the City 10. And now this I say is the Spiritual Wickedness which in this Warfare we are to contend against but yet are not to expect it now in that great and terrible manner as here it is described because he here speaks of it as it shall appear in the day of Christ's coming to take vengeance of the Man of Sin then to be revealed and also as it shall fall upon the Universal Church of God in the full Spirit and Strength of this Delusion And therefore he vers 2. bidds them not be shaken in Mind or troubled as if the Day of Christ were at hand of which more by and by which I take it is the same spoken of Rev. chap. 19 20. touching the Battel of Gog and Destruction of the false Prophet the Spirit of Delusion working the Signs and lying Wonders mentioned by Paul Vers 9 c. But that we speak of is as it doth fall upon particular Saints and Churches according to the measure of the Spirit of Delusion as it is already come for in early days it set forth as is written 1 John 4.3 2 Thess 2.7 Whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already it is in the World But of this universal we shall add no more save that the particular works in the same express manner but in all respects in a much fainter measure If there was there a falling away first a shaking in Mind and revelation of the Son of Perdition so here also must be as it were a little Wheel within a great Wheel For as in the day of the Law many Sons of Israel David Solomon Isay Joel c. had a prospect of the abolishment thereof nakedness of Sacrifices and felt some Throws of the Cross unto Regeneration and some tastes of the sweetness of Grace and yet could not become perfect in either nor liable to the Temptations thereof in their full strength until the day of those things came in power So in our Gospel-day many have a prospect of this Day and a sense of the Glory Workings and Temptations thereof in their as I may say little Wheel 11. Now to come to the particular Trial I say it consisteth as that of the Cross did in many smaller Bickerings and Assaults but is determined in an universal deciding Battel which happens not until the Soul comes near to the measure of Perfection it can in this Life attain for as the great Day of Christ's Victory over Gog and Magog was before the general Consummation but a short space so is this in the particular And to this John seems to allude 1 John 2.18 Little Children it is the last time and as ye have heard Antichrist shall come Even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time Not hereby signifying that the last and great Antichristian Day and Trial or last Time was then come for not only he himself shews in the Revelation that that Day was far off but Paul also Be ye not shaken as if the Day of Christ were at hand And therefore here he must refer to some particular Church or Saints who were near to this particular Trial which in reference to them was the last time And to begin with the smaller Onsets I say Christ having made us once more right in his sight he departs into a far Country leaving us to the managing of the New Covenant on part In which the Spirit of Man having received Rule over the Arm of Flesh broken and vile in it self and verily a Commission to be chief Priest in offering all Sacrifices of Prayer Confession and Praises and also to work in free Grace it sets forth in great Zeal and Jollity resolving in Faithfulness as far as it knows its own Mind to keep its Yea and Nay little suspecting that the Seed of Antichristianism is in it brooding and ready to break forth yea and by the assistance of Satan shall be able to bring it into a more wretched Captivity than that of Babylonish Superstition was if its Lord do not return in due time to rescue it For now the Soul being a little puffed up with its high Privileges and the Spirit apt to lust after Vanity Satan takes his advantage for when we think we stand fastest we are in greater danger of slipping than when we are under sense of Infirmity for he that thinks he walks sure seeks not for further support but who fears he may fall seeks one upon whom he safely leans And therefore never was more need of regenerated Fear Jara than now But it being in this State very faint Satan who still applies to them he tempts in such Delusions as they are most prone to be ensnared in and therefore setting forth his Antichristian Brat in the form of pure Piety it extolls the excellencies of the Spirit No Sacrifice is acceptable without thee thou art not like that poor legal Soul that hungers and eats Husks greedily and yet cannot be satisfied but thou canst preach and pray and give praise hear read and interpret in Spirit And now perhaps this is in a good measure true and by giving the Glory to God saying It is so because thou art with me and keepest me the Temptation will slide off without much harm But if upon this the Spirit begin to think better of it self then hath Satan laid a Foundation upon which he will build Be not therefore high-minded but fear Next he will set it upon a Pinacle of the Temple See says he thou art above Ordinances and Forms the Holy City and Publick Assemblies are under thy Feet be assured God loves thee so well as he hath set a sure Guard upon thee to keep thee from all Evil the Sun by day nor Moon by night the Noon-day Pestilence nor Midnight-Arrow shall harm thee if thou shouldest fall thou canst not be bruised if thou shouldest chance to slip and sin God will not see any Sin in thee And now if thou answer Tho all thy words were true yet can I not take thy Counsel I dare not tempt the Lord my God I dare not break my Yea and Nay as far as my God will be with me and help me s far will I eschew all Sin and appearance of Evil then shall it go well with thee indeed But if these Delusions make any dint upon thee as it is deep and wide so shall thy Loss be that is If thou slight them that legally fear if thou thinkest meanly of the least Ordinance if thou nibble at Sin because Grace abounds surely thy Enemy hath got a great Victory over thee and which is worse he hath so blinded thine Eyes that thou criest Victory victory growest supine and boasts of thy new-gained Wisdom in that it hath shaken off so many needless Signs Forms and Criticisms which were useless Incumbrances to thee And verily if thy Friend awake thee not thou whilst thou promisest thy self Liberty art
in yea yea to perform his determinate purpose And in the resisting of evil he ought to behave himself in the like manner only this distinction admitted if he have resisted evil sin calamities c. And hath not obtained he ought to say with Job Shall we receive Good at the hand of God and not Evil and yet to mourn with them and bear a share of their grief upon whom the Calamity fal's and yet so to mourn as not mourning knowing that his Resistance his not Succeeding his Mourning and Calamity work all together for the accomplishing the Counsels of God 29. Whence I say as far as this heavenly Fire hath consumed our lusts and subdued our wills to the will of God so far have we Peace and Rule as Kings with God and what is short retain's a Leaven which may produce bitterness and though few or none have attained yet no one which ought not to press hard after this mark as Paul Phil. 3.14 First despising Legal Righteousness touching which he was blameless He next rejoyceth in the Cross of Christ being made conformable to his Death And 3dly Speaks of a third state of perfection which he laboured after and had not attained which I suppose was that we now speak of For say's he If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead not as if I had already attain'd or were perfest but I follow after that I may apprehend that for which Christ apprehended me Bretheren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to the things that are before I press towards the mark for the prize of the high Calling of Christ Now these things manifestly refer to things of a sublime matter not yet attain'd by Paul but were attainable The first is To attain to the Resurrection of the dead Which by comparing 1 Cor. 15.51 52. We shall not all sleep but we shall he changed with 1 Thes 4.15 We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep Whence I take this that Paul press'd after to be the perfection the dead in Christ shall arise in or that those which remains alive at his coming shall in this Life have attain'd namely that Innocency which in a moment may be changed into Incorruption And the second to apprehend that for which I am apprehended c. is much the same thing as by comparing these with 1 Thes 5.10 Who died for us that is apprehended us that whether we awake to the last or in the interim fall asleep we should live together with him And the third The prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ is the Close and Crown of all as in another place I have fought the good Fight I have finish'd my Course I have kept the Faith henceforth a Crown of Righteousness the Prize of the high Calling is laid up for me And now I say the burnings up of the lusting of the humane Spirit is the Threshold of this Resignation and it of these three attainments Paul pressed after for it consumates Perfection in Soul in Body and Spirit also it works in Gold in the Spirit of Love Faith Patience for greater Love on the part of mortals cannot be than to give up himself and all his to his Beloved nor greater Faith than in full ease and assurance to trust him withal nor greater Patience than to be sick of Love and yet to charge the Solliciters of her Nuptials by the Hinds and the Roes not to awake her Beloved until he please And surely this Resignation signed there remains nothing save such like Love passages until the day of Espousals come 30. Not taking a or the Reward upon Innocency or upon the Innocent for so all read and in both senses it may pass as of so necessary a performance as they that transgress cannot attain the immoveable State for a whole current of Scripture requires all men the Magistrate especially to defend the cause of the Innocent Widdow Fatherless and Oppressed recording it as a principle part of that Religion which is pure and undefilled in the sight of God And whereas the Scripture describes Justicers to bear to the Image of God the just Judge af the whole Earth above other high Callings among the Sons of men and placeth Justice upon two Pillars bringing the wicked to just punishment and rescuing the Innocent from oppression it rather gives the right hand of fellowship to this second part and to say all in one word God ownes it among the lofty Attributes ascribed to himself And our Lord among these weighty matters the Father required him to execute in the Earth Art thou a Magistrate surely then thou hast a Gift in thy hand which may promote thee to great honour in Heaven and in Earth but beware that thou abuse it not for to justify the Wicked and condemn the Innocent will make thee stink on Earth and gnash thy teeth in Hell 31. But yet this hath a further and more Spiritual meaning namely That man being emptied of all his fleshly confidence and spiritual Pride and drawn near to that Innocency capable to be attained by mortals This Precept the last Link of this golden chain teacheth him how to receive the reward that is not upon the account of his Innocency but still as the free gift of Grace Isai 33. hath it thus who shaketh off his hands from being supported in the reward that is not serving as a Hireling or expecting the reward as having obeyed but leaves all to the bounty of his Master whose Love he hath so often proved Now therefore the tenour of this Precept is that though a man have obtained all that perfection and innocency that Tammin the Cross and Resignation the Fire of God can give yea all that perfection Paul pressed after yet may he not upon this account stretch forth his hand to receive the reward but take it upon naked and free Grace from one that owes him nothing and that verily all his Perfection and Innocency only makes him capable of receiving what Grace offers 32. For the better understanding of this it behoveth that we first enquire what Innocency is and upon what it stand's for it remarkably differs from the rest of the Sisterhood of Gifts and Vertues First in its Original for of all it was first born before man even with the first void and empty Earth next in the Light Air Water Earth and first Elements of things so as it most especially before it was in Act In-bread and not acquired which is rare in other Vertues for Love is not Love until it doth Love nor is Patience until it suffer patiently c. Again of all other it is neat curious and gentle serene as Chrystal but tender as a bubble of Water in some respect and strong as Iron in another for from without itself no Enemy can harm it though Sin
and Satan assault it with Hammer and Anvil it laughs and smiles at the Attempt without paine or loss but so tender from within as to tast of a forbidden Apple makes it vanish quite away for such a constiution it hath that the least spot or blemish in any part defiles it in the whole and so defiled it is no longer innocency and therefore was early chassed out of the Earth and returned not again until the Immaculate Lamb of God espoused it and brought it back again but neither did Innocency restored long inhabit the Earth in one entire piece but returned to Heaven with its Spouse yet not so departed as it hath forsaken its Interest on Earth or forgot the end of its taking upon it the seed of mortality but dispersing its beams in the spotted nature of the Elect cast's in a leaven which shall leaven the whole lump and lives unspotted in spotted nature because it being rooted in immutability it self doth also remaine it-self immutable 33. Now therefore to clutivate this heavenly branch so as it may fill the whole land is the duty of the Servants of Jesus Christ which is effected two manner of wayes The one strange and contrary to the usual course of Propagation suffering and not acting enticeing and not receiving for Innocency once defiled can never be redintigrated by doing good but by purging out of its evil for by this meanes room is made for Innocency to take root and the two chief leading causes of this are more immediately from God namely the Warfare of the Cross and fiery Trial and also there are others in which man may cooperate Conviction Confession Self-condemnation Repentance and Godly Sorrow thus spotted Mary Magdalene became innocent and so all must do that are defiled and who is without spots even the Mother of the Lord is not excepted though blessed among Women though she come prepared by God in a Chast Seed a pure Virgin for Chastity above all other Vertues imitates Innocency in most of its Qualifications The other way of its cultivation is in acquiring such other vertues as most readily receive its leaven of which Love is chief for it cannot rest in ease until it appear innocent in the Eye of its beloved next Mercy Humility Meekness Patience c. For all these desire to wash in Innoency and to be clean so the first cultivation consist's in weeding out such stinking weeds as choak it and the other Plants such wholsom herbs as may nourish it and readily transform into its nature 34. The Hebrew which I think never gives Names at random calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is * Lex Heptag Lot Empty Wasted Pure Guiltless implying that it is obtained by evacuating of what is impure and therefore this being the last Diameter of ascent into the immoveable State our Prophet in all this Ps presseth hard after it First Consumption in Tammin Secondly emptying the Heart of deceit the Tongue of reproach the Arm of Flesh of all Power and to appear vild and contemptibly Thirdly To deal with the Spirit to the emptying it of its Pride Lusting and greediness in Usury And lastly to resign it Self Will and Wisdom unto God for assuredly as long as any parcel of these are retained there can be no Innocency and in part retained they must be until Soul Body and Spirit be given up to the will of another even God and his Christ so as Innocency is the utmost perfection whither we sleep or wake until Christ come that we can attain until Christ verily be come 35. In the Gospel Text Innocency is scarse read in our Versions but is signified by purity and cleanness and indeed they are but one thing Sometimes in both old and new it is Aligorically expressed by White Isa 1.18 Dan. 11.35 12.10 So Rev. 3.18 I counsel thee to buy of me Gold tried in the Fire referring to the fiery trial and white raiment that the shame of thy nakedness appear not Again Thou hast a few Names which have not defiled their Garments and they shall walk with me in white He that overcommeth shall be cloathed in white Another thus What are these arrayed in white Robes These are they which came out of great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Rev. 19.7 All which Whites refer to that Innocency which never was defiled or being spotted is washed in Tribulation and Blood of the Lamb. And lastly 19.7 Let us be glad and rejoyce for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white for fine Linnen is the Righteousness of the Saints That is it was granted that the Spouse of Christ should be cloathed with Innocency and that was her Righteousness not Righteous in her own works or Usury nor rich in some Portion or Dowry brought from her Mothers House but in being cleansed from Spots by washing in that Baptism which gives the answer of a good Conscience and purged in that Fire which consumes our dross and thus also the Souldiers of the Armies of the Word of God were cloathed riding upon white Horses in fine Linnen pure and white And surely natural Argument is able to compass this namly that Innocency cannot receive upon merit for seeing it is not Innocent by working Good and much less in any other work and only to him that worketh is the Reward given of due therefore this Spouse though fairest amoung Women and no spot in her must receive the Glory of her Nuptials from the Grace and Beauty of her Beloved Again reason consenteth that the Vessel filled with dreggs cannot make room to receive the choice Wine offered it and consequently that the Soul full of the trash of its own righteousness and antichristian pride cannot receive the Grace and Merit of Christ Were not the Beggar rediculously sottish who being invited to a marriage Supper under promise that whatsoever Vessels he brings all shall be filled with choice things should offer such as are already stuffed full of old mouldy stinking fragments And yet is this a great Stone of stumbling even during our whole race so prone is man to believe he can do something that is good and so distrustful of Christ that he wants bounty to replenish him with his own Gifts except he bring a valuable price in his hand which yet never any Son of a man was able to do for it is the hungry empty and they that have no mony or price to purchase with that he filleth with good things and the rich whom he sends away empty 36. Now therefore when thou makest ready for thy Nuptials take no care for gorgious Apparel but only for the mariage garment white Linnen the Righteousness of the Saints nor yet for a rich Dowry but only those few shreds of Gold and Silver which thy Beloved reserved for thee in the day
of trial and in all other manner of Substance make thy self empty and know that thy Beloved is not only bountiful in giving but hath inexhaustible stores of all manner of good things so as though he gave mountains yet shall his store Houses be no emptier and therefore let not thy Poverty affright thee but rather embolden thee for what is poor shall be filled with durable riches what is cloathed in simple white shall be cloathed upon with Immortality what is empty shall be filled with all manner of pleasant and good things Consider the first Earth in its deformity and now behold the beautiful Structure raised out of it was it not empty dark confused a non Ens and did not the first seat of the same Master-Builder call forth the beautiful Light out of a darkness far more black than that of Egypt also the Air Sun Moon and Stars and many more heavenly Bodys without count and lastly the Soul of Adam all good beautifull innocent And whence now may we suppose he got these large stores with which he hath filled and beautified all these was it not out of himself did not his Word beget all and his Will bring all forth Can Infinity which fills all places and is all things seek to places or things for something it hath not Can he that hath no bounds step out of his own Territories to snatch and catch at somthing he wants in anothers bounds Therefore it must be him even thy Lord and Husband in whom all fulness dwels still abounding still running over Fear not threfore thou poor empty Spouse for thy emptyness is thy Innocence thy Innocence thy Rigtheousness thy Righteousness thy Beauty and thou art fairest among Women and thy Creator is thy Husband he is espousing thee in everlasting Love he will give thee of his own Grace for Grace Beauty for Beauty Glory for Glory and all he requires of thee is that thou take them not of due but of his own free Goodness and bounty and now let none deceive thee of thy reward 37. Who doth these things shall never be moved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ever or until Eternity or most properly in or until the Age but the Hebrew word as also the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being of great mystery and to long to be discoursed here and the English giving a well agreeing Paraphraise we shall close with it And now that which is the last close of all fitly falls in with the last exposition he that doth these things that is that attaineth the wedding Garment shall in the day of his Espousals be so closely united with his immutable Creator as neither hight nor depth things present or to come shall be able to remove him as is writ I give unto them Eternal Life they shall never perish nor shall any pluck them out of my hands and if Christ was thus Zealous for his Sheep not yet passed over with him into regeneration how much more for them espoused unto him in everlasting Love 38. Before we conclude we shall resite the two other Sister Texts and to avoid prolixity in exposition give them in a brief Paraphrase yet with respect to the Hebrism and first minding that Psal 24.3 doth in a more peculiar manner refer to the Warfare of the Cross And Isa 33. To the Tryal by Fire yea verily so like are these wayes and proceedings as what is said truly of one is applicable to both and some Scriptures as Mat. 24. seem to refer interchangably to both and indeed the chief difference seems to be in the subject matter upon which they work For the Trial of the Cross is in opposition to the pride of the Arm of Flesh in outward carnal Idolatry and the trial by Fire is against Spiritual pride and wickedness in highth or as the Original is heavenly places 39. Psal 24.3 Runs thus Who shall dwell in the pleasant Contemplation of Salvation Sanctification and future Glory with thee until thou having subdued our Lusts wilt bring us into the Nuptial Chamber arrayed in white Who is he that shall find a covering for his Sins under typical Signs and Seals until the avenger of bloods Commission is expired he whose hands are clean from blood oppression and bribes whose Heart is free from Hypocrisy whose Soul is meek and humble not carried away with lies or vain hopes in its own righteousness and sweareth in yea yea nay nay to his Sheepherd and Friend and keeps his Oath religiously and faithfully this man shall never be moved Blessing from the Lord and Righteousness from his Saviour he shall receive Of these the Generation of the new birth consists them that walk in thy wayes O thou Wrestler with Angels Lift up your heads O ye strait and terrible Gates and be you lifted up ye Doors of Hulam the hidden Age and Messiah shall come in Who is this Messiah He is all Glorious he is Lord of Hosts mighty in Battle subduing all things Now this is a manifest Prophesy of the passing over from the Legal Holy Place to the Church of the new born in Christ referring to the strait Gate and narrow Path leading to eternal Life 40. Isa 33.9 Thus the Body Soul and Spirit and all the lofty things of nature are whithered and now saith Christ I will return and will exalt and raise up the withered Soul c. But first he will convince you that your righteousness is chaff and your works stubble and out of the Spirit a fire shall proceed which shall burn up the dross of your works wrought in Silver and lay your hay and stubble in Ashes 12. They shall be as burnt Lime as Superstition cast into the consuming Fire they crackle and consume 13. Hear ye that are without ye not gathered within my pale what wonders I have done and ye that are near fighting the Good fight in your inwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know ye my might 14. A Sinner though shrouded in Sion my holy Mountain shall fear in Pachad servile fear Trembling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall surprise the Hypocrite Who is he that shall sojourn in the Baptism by Fire Who is he that shall abide the fiery Trial 15. He walking in Tammin and working in the Righteousness of Christ contemning riches gotten by Usury not working for servile hireling wages but is supported in all his painfull labour by the love and bounty of his Beloved At the name of persecution he stoppeth his Ears and shutteth his Eyes lest sin and vanity should enter by them This man shall dwell in the City which is above a Rock shall be the foundation of his Bulwark and God will appoint Salvation for the Walls thereof hidden Mannah shall be his food and of the Waters of Life he shall drink 17. The King of Glory he shall see in the beauty af Holyness The Holy Land of the rest of God he shall behold a far off And thus this elegant Prophet set forth in few Words what
Grace than thou and therefore thy Boast is not of Grace but pretended Merit and thy false Heart hath betrayed thee and thou in danger of being a Cast-away for when thou shalt say Lord have not I prophesied and cast out Devils in thy Name the Answer 't is to be feared may be Verily I know it not For assure thy self this one Ejaculation from the humble contrite Fool Lord be merciful to me a Sinner uttered in sence of Sin and Faith in Grace shall make a stronger Battery on the Gates of Heaven than a whole Quiver full of thy opinionated Abilities And therefore in this Case we ought again to bring our Hearts before the Judg and to know it is not enough before Men to cry out Unclean unprofitable a Worm a Wretch with the loudest but to teach our Hearts to speak this great Truth in secret between God and themselves their Consciences bearing witness And therefore let us beware lest we be not like Solomon's Buyer crying in the Market-place It is naught it is naught but being come home boasteth in secret of a rich Purchase for this is but confessing Christ in outward shew and our Hearts in the mean while far from him Wherefore when we come from Duties and especially when we hope we have performed best we ought to call our Hearts under examination and yet to suspect they will dissemble Art thou a Speaker and hopest that thou hast taught or spoken well to the Hearts of thy Hearers or prayed in Spirit yet let not thy Heart puff thee up but stop its Mouth by convincing it that it was not thee that spake but the Holy Spirit of Christ in thee and that out of a heap of Stones even of the Walls of that Auditory God can raise up a better Son and Teacher than thou art Art thou a Hearer and hast been attentive was thy Heart warmed in Zeal and Love so as it leaped for Joy at the words of the Salutation Then let it not boast but teach it to speak this great Truth That it was not in its Merit that thou thus heardest or didst understand but Christ in thee and that it was his Spirit that bare witness with thy Spirit that the Word is true and that thou art a Son of Adoption and in so doing thou shalt not unravel thy Joy but make it great sure and lasting But on the contrary if thou ascribe to it thy hopes are as the Grass upon the House-top it shall dwindle and wither away as it is writ Cursed is he that trusteth in Man or maketh Flesh his Arm for out of his Heart shall the Lord depart And Blessed is he whose hope is the Lord he shall be as a Tree planted by the Waters neither shall cease from yeelding Fruit. What shall we say to these things shall we bolster up our Hearts in proud and lying Hypocrisy or rather suspect them and watch over them as the most deceitful things in the World and yet have in them the Issues of Life and Death Weal and Wo trying them by the Word the Law the Conscience the Judg and setting Experience upon them as a Spy Informer and Sollicitor and at length teach them to speak the Truth namely That they are vain and deceitful above measure their Righteousness Loss their Merits a Shadow and that to God the Glory is due and to them Confusion of Face And so to attain the third Qualification which will entitle the Soul to a resting place in the holy Mountain of God Vers 3. 1. Not casting Reproach upon his Reproacher Now in the rendring of this and next Clauses also I confess I have departed from the Footsteps of the Flock for I think none do so read the English He that backbiteth not the Vulgar deceiveth not with his Tongue which seems not so agreeable to Gospel-Language because to backbite openly is only by the Tongue which tho restrained yet then the Heart not taught to speak the Truth may backbite more secretly and desperately and therefore I say Backbiteth not at all no not his Backbiter The learned Munster differs not much from us in effect for he reads Transgresseth not with his Tongue which comprehends all Backbiting and Reproach by it And indeed not to offend with the Tongue is a great and essential part in true Piety Hence it is said of Job that he offended not with his Tongue tho provoked thereto by his reproaching Friends And hence supposing the Hebrew will bear it as well as the other I read Not reproaching his Reproacher being well assured it is in fuller harmony with the Gospel-Precepts and a surer Step towards the holy Hill of Jehovah for saith our Lord Love your Enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use and persecute you And in this sence I take our Prophet I grant indeed not to backbite a Neighbour is a good profitable Precept because the natural Man is prone to abuse Friendship but yet is it no more than Morality writ in the hearts of all People and Nations by Nature And indeed as usually read here Backbite not with thy Tongue the Precept is dressed in the slenderest attire Divinity can well shape for it for without all Controversy 't is but a slender Morality not to reproach a Neighbour or Friend who hath not reproached us but may have done us good for even half-debauched Nature would nauseate such an Action and they not so doing may yet fall short of the holy Hill But not to reproach a Reproacher to render Good for Evil is Saint-like nay Christ-like and may as far as any Grace lay claim to the Promise And if it be said It was of old Love your Friends and hate your Enemies and David spake ac-according to the then Institution yet I say admit it were a Command yet doth it not affirm that not to backbite at adventure was more than a Moral Vertue but indeed I suppose Hate your Enemies was not by a Command but Permission as Bigamy was because of the hardness of hearts for assuredly it was not our Prophet's practice for he hated only the Enemies of God and not his own upon his own account for he spared Saul's Life twice and rendred him Good for Evil and in the case of Shimei the Son of Gera he said Let him curse So Solomon Doth thine Enemy hunger give him Bread doth he thirst give him Drink And therefore in this sence I proceed to the Text. 2. Now hitherto the Precepts of our Prophet do chiefly belong to the first great Commandment in such Matters as lie between God and our Consciences but now he comes to such as refer to the second between Man and Man and yet still is this a Link of the same Chain For until the Heart be taught to speak the Truth it is impossible to keep the Heart from lying and reproaching because Out of the abundance of the Heart the Tongue speaketh And again With
He that in his natural state walks in full riot sinning boldly in contempt of God and Piety if God shall yet bring this Man under Conviction by strong hand his Call is usually in great terror and this usually puts him upon a more legal and superstitious way of Worship and not seldom more out of a servile fear of punishment than a true love of God or Good so as the old root of Concupiscence is not pluckt up but brought under by fear of Wrath and therefore as formerly he found that by contempt of God and Duties Wrath was exasperated So now by a more servile Fear and rigid Obedience he seeks to procure Peace and therefore is superstitious in all things rigid toward others and ready to persecute all not of his own length and measure Now if this Man be called to this War he contends stubbornly accounts free Grace a meer Harlot as Judah did Tamar believing there is no way to redintegrate what former contempt wounded but by an over-acted Zeal which might countervail it and thence as one strong hold fails him he raises another and makes every one a false Christ and runs after every one that saith Lo here or Lo there he is and often perisheth in the way But if through Mercy he escape this Snare yet is he very liable to the second temptation for now perceiving the large Arms and free Heart of Grace he for a while like Seed sown in stony ground rejoyceth in it blesseth God as large in bounty but withal hasting to the other extream despiseth his former folly in trusting to Duties counts them foolish and smiling at his former zeal therein applauds his own Wisdom in discerning their nakedness and setting him at freedom from a needless Yoke And now his servile Fear being removed the Roots of his former licentiousness not as we said before extirpated but only lopt and kept under by fear of punishment sprout forth to the great abuse of the Heavenly Gift unto wantonness Yet ought not this to discourage any Man from repenting of his evil ways for the Lord delighteth not in the death of a Sinner as it is written Ezek. 18.21 If the wicked turn from all his sins and keep my Statutes and do what is lawful and right he shall thereby live and not die all his transgressions he hath committed they shall not be mentioned to him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live But yet upon the whole it is good to be forewarn'd and watchful over such Temptations as are most incident to that manner of sowing he hath sowed And therefore I say it behoveth all Men to remember their Creator in the days of their Youth before the evil days come and Years draw nigh when God shall say I have no pleasure in them for because when I called they refused and set at nought all my Counsel I will laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh Therefore I say when God calls delay not say not in thy heart I have yet time enough to repent and turn to the Lord for few if any so hoping have found the way of Godly Sorrow but if thou hast lost some time in riot and prophaneness and at length a strong hand forceth thee to repentance let it be sincere and hearty not for fear of punishment but for love of him that called thee and his Christ that died for thee and tho thou lay thy Foundation in legal Fear yet mayest thou by Prayer Faith Experience and Patience convert it into reverential Love Which endeavour for legal Fear is often servile and servile Fear is an hypocritical bridling Sin for base ends and as soon as Grace stops the cries of Guilt it slacks the Reins and Lust takes its career but Love digs up the Root of whatsoever thing is hateful to its Beloved and is most pleasing to God and Man Fear I say of the sin-revenging God may as with an Anvil and Hammer break a flinty heart in pieces but every piece is still Flint but Love like Oil shall make it supple and plaint and the more as Grace and forgiveness of Sin manifest themselves it loves and becomes more obedient But if yet thou hast not obtained Love yet do not hope to expiate thy former evil life with any Righteousness of thy own and above all esteem not the persecuting or reproaching a Brother any kind of Merit but if he hath offended thee forgive him as thou desirest God should forgive thee And again while legal Duties bear a high rate in thine Eyes yet still let what is thy own Act be of mean account Know God will try it and it will be found light in his Ballance and so being humble in thy own eyes walking in consumption of the Arm of Flesh in love with thy Brethren and watching for the day of thy Tryal thou shalt find favour and God shall deliver thee in six Evils and the thus Hast thou bin formerly licentiously wicked and now art a Convert If thou dost hope to clear Scores with God by restraining thy Lusts excedency of Merit and yet but a servile fear and terror of the Sword of Justice it is the Spring and Plumet of thy Obedience it must fall out that when Grace shews it self to the taking away the Fear that also thy Obedience ceases and thy Lusts again break forth and in the mean time thou art in a miserable state first Because servile Fear and a wounded Spirit are thy Tormenters and yet best Friends upholding thee from uttermost Perdition Secondly Because Grace which is the only true Balsam against Sin and Guilt is become thy most perfect Poison so as it is of Grace not to let thee see Grace But on the contrary I say tho thy Sins were as red as Scarlet tho thou hadst been a Beast of Ephesus yet if in true and sincere Obedience thou turn to God converting thy servile Fear into Love Self-confidence into Self-condemnation and thy eager persecuting Spirit into brotherly Affection thou mayest in this well-fought Fight wash thy self as white as Snow and free thy self from the evil of this last Temptation because the Love of God will more powerfully restrain thy rebudding Lust than Servile Fear can yea the Lord himself will be thy Keeper as he hath promised Because thou hast kept the Word of my patience I will keep thee in the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the World to try them that dwell upon the Earth 24. Now this Warfare is in sundry places and divers manners represented in the holy Scripture in Allegory in Proverbial Speeches and Prophecies The Fathers did not only see it in Prospect but by Faith which makes things afar off as present in the Promise did enjoy it and obtained a good report And of this we shall now join some few Texts and more hereafter as occasion offers Our Psalmist hath many Passages touching this whereof one thus Psal 118. Out of my Straits I invoked Jah
the Servant of Corruption 2 Pet. 2.19 and thy latter end worse than the beginning And next follows Usury the Soul boasting of the Spirit and its Works in Grace to a rejection of what it thinks is useless and superstitious it now looking upon it self as pure in Spirit and rich in Grace it asks with Peter I have forsaken all for thee and what shall I have In which Christ's Answer to Peter is our best Directory namely Inasmuch as thou hast followed me into Regeneration thou shalt not lose thy Reward but when I sit on my Throne fitting Thrones shall also be prepared for thee and over many things thou shalt judg but the hundred-fold Reward the everlasting immoveable State is not yet ready thou must first forsake Father and Mother Wisdom and Understanding Wife and Children Obedience tho in Regeneration and Fruits begot by thee the humane Spirit upon it thou must esteem them too slight to expect Usury upon them And in a word all thy acquired Substance thou must but enjoy as if it were not Thou O Spirit thinkest thy self first but thou must be last and the last first There is an empty Innocence which comes last and yet will be in Glory before thee And to this our Lord adjoins the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard shewing that neither long Labour nor bearing the heat of the Day nor repining at our short Pay will obtain Interest-Money but that must at the length come through free Grace giving to all where none have merited And if we can thus work and be content with our Penny driving away Usury as well as Sloth and patiently wait until he see fit to reward us with his precious Gifts then all shall do well with us But if we say Our Service is faithful our Ways right and our Works in Grace we are in favour with God so as he hath already given us Wisdom and Knowledg above our Teachers we hope before long to have the Gift of Prophecy of Healing of Miracles of Interpretation for so vain is this Spirit of Man as to these things it dare aspire and boastingly call our own Spirits the Spirit of God when indeed it is the Spirit of Man led by the Spirit of Antichrist who always pretends to Prophecy and Miracles and verily in the universal Warfare shall obtain them to the deceiving of many Revel 19.20 And tho in the particular it hath not so far attained as yet yet hath it often pretended to such things a Dream a Vision a Prodigy which it interprets and thinks God is obliged to make its words good And of the same Spirit and Leaven they are who by their Prayers hope to prevail or rather to charm God to do Miracles on their behalf whose Faith is Presumption their Prayers Charms and their Religion spiritually Drunkenness And now when Satan hath brought the Spirit to this pass it resolves to give one Push more for the Dominion Come let us slay the Heir and the Inheritance shall be Ours For now the Spirit of Antichrist claims all Dominion to it self exalting it self above all called God and as God sitteth in the Temple of God the Body denying in substance That Christ is come in the Flesh or hath any Right there but counts it its Slave and Reason and all things besides it self Unclean and Rejected things And now shall this Wicked One fill the measure of its Iniquity and be revealed and the Lord shall consume it with the Spirit of his Mouth and destroy it with the Brightness of his Coming 12. And now the Great Trial draws near Where first Observe That in the Pequeerings aforesaid we have alwayes stated the Case in the Extreams That is when the Soul resists the Temptation as it ought according to the Example of Christ Who was tempted in all things like unto us but without sin which whilst we imitate tho in sin this Trial will end in few throws rather Rebukes of Love than Anger But on the contrary as we represent it Overcome by the Tempter it oft perisheth by the way or at the best is but saved as a Brand pluck'd out of the Fire and these are rare Cases and most usually the Lot is cast between both in various degrees and still according to the measure of faithfulness or of failing so the ease or difficulty of the trial and in this mediocraty in the ensuing we represent it that is as in part faithful to its Yea and Nay in part overcome by Antichristian Pride 13. And things come to this pass Christ who like the true Shepherd loves the Sheep and will not loose a Hoof of what was given him returns in the nick of Time long before foreseen and decreed and demands an account of the improvement of his new lent Talent bringing that Fire with him whereby he will try every mans Work and forasmuch as the trial by Fire sometime hinted at by the Apostles is the same with this it behoves that we first take our Measures from 1 Pet. 4.12 Beloved think it not strange touching the Fiery Trial which is to try you as if some strange thing happened unto you but rejoyce inasmuch as ye are made partakers of Christs Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding Joy Whence it appears First That this Trial is a common thing and none exempted Secondly That even our Lord did partake with us therein That is tho he Suffered but once for all yet in that once he suffered all that his Members suffer at many times Thirdly To rejoyce in it because thence exceeding Joy shall accrue to us when He shall so appear Fourthly From vers 14. We must then be reproached for Christ Who shall be evil-spoken by them i. e. Antichrists but glorified on our part Lastly Vers 19. That now it behoves We commit the keeping our Souls unto God who created them and is faithful Again besides what Paul teacheth of the Universal Day of which before again thus 1 Cor. 3.10 I have laid the Foundation namely Christ and other Foundation can no man lay than that is laid Now if any man Build upon this Foundation Gold Silver Pretious-Stones Wood Hay Stubble every mans Work shall be made manifest for the Day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by Fire and the Fire shall try every mans Work of what sort it is If any mans Work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a Reward if any mans Work be burnt he shall suffer Loss but he himself shall be Saved yet so as by Fire Know ye not thae ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you See unto vers 22. And now whereas before all Saints now all Works must pass this Trial. 2. This Trial is that whereby our Bodies are made Pure Temples to the Spirit of God namely That which confesseth Christ to be come in the Flesh and that the Dominion thereof belongs to him Vers 17.
have in a great measure subdued will and affections before this panting fire doth begin to work or the pulling them up Root and Branch is set on foot only some slender lopings have deluded us for though a man perceives will-worship cannot save nor works Justifie but that Salvation is of Grace and Grace the free Gift yet as often as a man murmurs that he hath not what he asks or waits impatiently for any thing though promised which God delays to give I say his will is not perfectly subdued Again there is not one amongst us who hath not as he perswades himself consented that the will of God is abundantly more pure Holy and Good then his and his Wisdom excelling his as Light doth Darkness and yet who is he hath not his desires eager and restless after things which are not nor never can be because in his Wisdom preordained they shall not be and again grieving and repining at things that are though his Heart in the mean time knows they must be and were from the beginning ordained by that One as good which can allow of nothing which is not perfectly good ordered by that all-wise which cannot be disordered or deluded and by an all-potent against which nothing can rebel And what then is this less then a preferring of our foolish Wills nay Lusts to the Wisdom and Will of the all Wise all Good and Almighty Is not this a spirit of lusting and murmuring a building with Hay and Stubble fit Fuel for the heavenly fire 27. Again it is writ For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God who are called according to his purpose And what Believer is there that reads not this with delight and is perswaded his heart is fixed in the belief thereof and yet repines at many things which fall out and consequently work together for that good wishing that they had never been angry at the Counsels and Instruments even to hate which brought them about and supposing that if the disposal of affairs had been left to them that they could have ordered them much for the better forgetting that all-wise had foreseen and decreed that in this way they work for the great and valuable good aforesaid and that to have put then out of that course which yet was impossible had been to have defeated that good end God had appointed them to bring to effect And what is this less than as far as in them lyeth a resisting the Wisdom of God and a manifest murmuring at his good Pleasure And is not this a pride of spirit which ought to be consumed And again they hence bewray great unbelief for if they had believed this promise they had by faith understood that all these wrought together for good to them and if they had so understood how could they have mourned or vexed at them as fore-runners of evil and therefore seeing God cannot will any thing save what is very good and we cannot descern what according to his hidden purposes makes for our Good or Evil what then remains on our part saving to resign our wills unto his will and not grudginly because we know what he willeth and hath but freely and chearfully as knowing it is of him who will certainly bring that to effect which infallibly is best and what is short of this verily is lacking of the Beauty of Holiness and short of that Peace which in these frail Bodies is attainable because to resist and grieve at what we cannot hinder is vanity and vexation of Spirit and to rejoyce in what is from God and must be is peace of mind 28. And now this is the scope of the fiery Trial namely a burning up of all self-wisdom conceits and pride which dare pretend in an Anti-Christian Spirit to oppose or have rule with God and thereby so to subdue our wills as if it were possible we might have no will at all which fully to obtain were to have Heaven upon Earth and a wiping away of tears whilest we yet walk in the vail of Sorrow For if our wills were conform'd to his we should then by complying Reign with him for whilst he accomplisheth his Will even ours also falls in our bosomes for that all things must obey his Will so shall they ours if ours be his and though to attain this fully seems to flesh and blood as impossible as for a Camel to pass the Eye of a Needle yet is it possible with God and he in his set time shall make it easie and though it is to be feared this is not that time yet must it be a well-pleasing enterprise for Saints in godly emulation alwayes to be striving who can press nearest this Mark and not less advantage to him that attains furthest who cannot do as well as he would is not discharg'd from doing as well as he can for as far as he shall attain he hath Peace and Rule so far with God and in what he cannot resign he is liable to loss and sorrow Yet do not I by this mean that any should therefore go out of the World or forsake or neglect his vocation for verily he that thinks this the right way of resigning his will deceives himself and at the first setting forth begin's in his own Spirit giving it the reines to that God never commanded and this Paul records among Antichristian Doctrines Forbidding to marry and abstaining from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving for every Creature of God is good 2 Tim. 4.2 And therefore no man ought to neglect his Calling in the World if some necessity compel not by taking away the means but this a man hath well considered and resolv'd upon some work lawful good and laudable or to prevent an aproaching evil I say it is not submission to the Will of God to neglect the meanes of effecting or as some do to say if it be the Will of God it shall be brought to effect or prevented though I sit still because his Will must take place for it shall be more tollerable for Sodom than for this Principle but he ought to follow Solomon's Council Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do with thy whole might and though this in respect of the end may be contrary to the Will of God yet doth he not resist against it because it 's his purpose men should so resolve and act but it is enough that when God by defeating man's purpose hath manifested it was not his Will to submit to it cheerfully nay if it be possible to rejoyce in his frustration because he perceives his purpose was contrary to the everlasting decree which ordered all things to work together for good and this is the Resignation here intended by us But if on the contrary that his purpose succeed's he ought more abundantly to rejoyce in as much as God hath put it into his Heart to will the same thing he willed from the beginning and is made an Instrument