Mercies bountifully as to Noah after the Flood to whom the everlasting Covenant was given to Abraham after his great Sacrifice By my self I have sworn saith Jehovah because thou hast not with-held thy Son thy only Son in blessing I will bless thee c. Also Job was abundantly redintegraced Again at the Waters of Strife where God proved the People and they did but competently sustain it for they murmured yet there he made a new Statute and Ordinance he proved them and gave them a new Promise of which David thus Thou calledst in Trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the hiddeness of Thunder Now these things are written for our Instruction and ought to be great consolation to us in the height of our Tribulations when brought by God yea tho both the worldly Cross and Cross of Christ meet upon us at once as they did upon Job yet ought we to undergo them with his Patience and Faith the Lord gives and shall he not take I know I shall come forth as Silver tried in the Fire I know I shall see my Redeemer with these Eyes nay as St. James saith with Joy knowing all things shall be destroyed which are enemies to our Happiness and that preferved purified multiplied and exalted which is a Friend In Ezek. 14. there is this remarkable Passage If I send the Sword Famine noisom Beasts Pestilence to cut off Man and Beast tho Noah Job and Daniel were in it As I live saith the Lord they should neither deliver a Son or a Daughter they should but deliver their own Souls Yet therein shall be left an Escape of Sons and Daughters brought forth and they shall come forth to you and ye shall see their Way and their Actions and ye shall be comforted upon the Evil I have brought upon Jerusalem and you shall be comforted when you see their Way and shall know that I have not done what I have done without cause saith the Lord Jehovah Now this in an Allegory refers to this Trial and these four Evils to that Famine and Plagues which God shall bring in this Day For the Soul shall then hunger after Righteousness and not be satiated in its daily Bread because Christ is withdrawn and that is the Famine And all our Lusts shall perish by the Sword of the Spirit by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Pestilence by Noon-day Only the Famine of the Preacher of Righteousness by consumption the Patience of Job and self-judging Wisdom of Daniel shall deliver themselves And out of them shall spring forth a new-born Nature in which shall be comfort and we shall rejoice in the Wisdom and Goodness of God and perceive with Joy how he hath ordered all these to work together for the Good of them that love him and have kept the Word of his Patience 21. Whence therefore I say we ought to pray that we may not be led into this Trial and yet having so done to rejoice in it when the Spirit of God drives to it because he will keep us and that Saying shall be verified in us 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no Temptation befallen you but such as is common to Men but God is faithful and will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able but with the Temptation will make a way to the Escape of Noah Job and Daniel and their Sons that you may be able to bear it But it is also remarkable how the Apostle bounds this before and after with the next Context even with those Bounds all the Faithful ought in this Warfare to confine within The first is Wherefore let him that standeth take heed lest he fall namely not to err by presumption of our own Strength or thrust into the Battel as the Horse for who doth so if he fall he hath his amends in his own hands The other bound is Wherefore my Beloved fly from Idolatry which is When the Call cometh make not Duties a Nehushtan but gird up your Loins and follow your Captain believe his Conduct and Banner are sufficient Pledges of Victory for now to rely on Horses or Chariots of your own setting forth is flat Idolatry and Idolatry is the Rock of Perdition in the way And he that thus stands upon his Guard at his Post and confined Station let him count his Temptation all Joy but if he go beyond these let him thank himself for all the Losses and Buffetings he finds 22. Lastly All Men ought to watch hourly for this Hour as oft is admonished under Penalties and Blessings As our Lord Watch for the hour comes as a Thief in the Night Watch for you know not the hour the Lord cometh Be ready for in an hour you think not of the Son of Man cometh and blessed is the Servant who when his Lord cometh he findeth so doing Which is not smiting his fellow-Servants or reproaching them as if he were more holy than they but being humble of Mind sensible of Infirmity diffident of his best performances knowing the Lord will come to try his Heart and Reins And this must be a most excellent preparative Posture foreseeing the far end of the Account is to subdue the Arm of Flesh and to account all our Righteousness by Works as loss and dung for the Cross of Christ it must needs be a good Introduction to know all Flesh is vain and light in the Ballance Now therefore thus prepared set thy Conscience for Watch-man bid it declare whatsoever it seeth and call by Night as well as by Day Watchman what seest thou what of the Night And if he says Behold my Lord comes as a Lion and it is the dead of the Night cease thou from folding thy Hands together rouze up and offer a Peace-Offering and if it shall not be accepted as formerly and thy Watch-man chargeth thee not with Omission Commission or lack of Zeal above wonted Infirmity suspect thy Hour is at hand and if thy Hunger after Christ encrease and satiation in Duties decrease be assured thy Lord cometh to prove thee how far for him thou canst deny all things And if thou be an eater of Herbs observer of Days or a truster in Ordinances of Man or beggarly Elements of the World these will be first required which quickly shake off as the Fig-tree doth her untimely Fruit when shaken by a great Wind. But perhaps next even commanded Duties may be brought under disgrace and then thy Case will be more difficult for they are Holy yet Christ being hid they cannot satiate for it is not the Ordinance that sanctified Christ but Christ the Ordinance thou hast stayed in Prayer and thy Heart was sleepy thy Tongue slow and thy return as blasted Fruit thou hast tried again and wert as a dumb Man without utterance but be not cast down but go the third yea the seventh time perhaps it may be granted thee to sigh and mourn in Spirit how knowest thou but thou mayest find a Tear of Godly Sorrow
God as is written Isa 65.5 Which say Stand by thy self come not near me for I am more holy than thou These are a Smoak in my Nose they remain among the Graves lodg in the Tombs and eat Swines flesh And indeed so prone is Humanity to judg well of it self and to think others vile as if it had a Divine Institution to justify it self by contempt of others it would have too great and bold a face in all Men. And therefore the whole Stream of Scripture-Precepts runs on of the contrary part And so I read this and so it falls in most fitly as the seventh Link of this seamless Chain For until this Warfare hath unravel'd all the Pride and high Conceits of Man by Nature 't is impossible he should be vile and despised in his own esteem and after he hath found that he is in himself poor naked and miserable this Precept easily may be engrafted And this the Psalmist aims at namely That in this nick of time we should lay a lasting Foundation of Humility For so apt is the Nature of Man to think well of himself that tho he have nothing of his own Merit that will bear out his boasting yet can he be proud in the Gift or Bounty of another So as Poor and Proud is a most fit Character for Mankind But I think the Precept looks both back and forwards that is Learn Humility from Adversity past and let not that natural propensity in us upon the Income of Grace unrivet its Junctures For tho Grace be not our own purchase but of meer Bounty yet are we exceeding apt to be puffed up with it and to boast of its Riches even to Security and Sloth and of I know not what Liberty which is often I fear made an occasion to Wantonness and Forgetfulness of God I dare boldly affirm both tend to great Loss And at this wise Agur levelled in his Prayer Two things I desire of thee Give me neither Poverty nor Riches Not Poverty lest I climb in by the wrong Door and become a Robber seeking Riches in beggarly lying Superstition not Riches lest I be full of Ease and Plenty and abuse thy free Gift to Wantonness So as indeed wretched Man is no sooner freed from fleshly and natural Pride but he runs the hazard of another which tho of a heavenly and spiritual Offspring yet is it not of less danger Only our great Advantages in this State are First That the former is rooted in us by Nature and had erected its Bulwarks before we were aware and not to be beaten down without Miracles from Heaven but on the contrary this is at first a Stranger weak of it self and our Hearts by late Humiliation fortified against it so as a little watchfulness may weed it up before it take root Secondly If indeed we have been faithful in our Warfare repented heartily and planted Love we have God's Promise he will watch over us And lastly We are assured we are in closer Union with God through our Lord than before we were capable of yet still so as the Captain of our Salvation requires us to watch and be upon our Guard And hence the Psalmist saith Be contemned be despised in thine own Eyes As if he would impress it upon us that the vileness of Man which is discovered in his Warfare should never be forgotten namely an utterly lost vile and condemned Creature in the Jaws of Hell until redeemed by one who owed him nothing nor yet expects any price O my Soul engrave this upon thy Heart write it upon thy Conscience make it a Frontlet between thy Eyes and let thy Philactery be large Bind upon thy left hand Was ever State more desperate and deplorable than mine was And on thy right Was there ever greater Love than this Write upon one Post of thy Gate Justice spare that Wretch he now is humbled And on the other If thou must have Blood turn thy Blade into my Side And whosoever can thus write speaking the Truth in his Heart it shall be said unto him Gird thy Sword upon thy Thigh and ride on prosperously in the rest of thy Warfare for Christ will lead thee out and bring thee in 2. Now hitherto Righteousness hath consisted in destroying and pulling down such Fortresses as rebellious Nature had erected and now we come to that which buildeth up adding Vertue to Vertue and Strength to Strength The first part was in putting off the Old Man the second in putting on the New That was by descent from the Life of the first Adam the living Soul to the Death thereof and this an ascent from that Death by the power of the working of the second Adam unto Life everlasting yet so as we are not as we minded before to cast behind us any of those Teachings which we before learned in Moses's or Abraham's Schools that is If we have learned with Abraham to believe in the Promise above Hope with Job Patience that we can say The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the Name of the Lord or with Moses Obedience Meekness Humility and Contempt of our selves we are still to retain them as most choice Jewels as most necessary Weapons in managing the latter part of our Warfare for even Grace without these is an occasion of a supine Forgetfulness of him that bought us Neither ought any as I fear some do to suppose the Gifts of Grace have set them free from all Obedience to the Law contained under the two Tables but on the contrary have more forcibly imposed it and as Christ saith I came not to destroy but to fulfill the Law that is so to fulfill it as that we through him might also fulfill it Again Whoso shall break one of these least Commandments shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven and whoso shall do and teach them shall be greatest c. And again You have heard of old it was said Thou shalt not kill but I say Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause is in danger of the Judgment Where it is manifest that this Law is so far from abolishment as it is exalted further than of old Again Of old it was Thou shalt not commit Adultery but now Whoso looketh on a Woman to lust is an Adulterer And again Adulterers and Adulteresses shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven And therefore the Text is plain and positive these Commands are more strictly fixed upon us than before And tho our Lord in this Sermon doth not so expresly mention the rest of the Decad yet by other Precepts in the same Chapter he implies all and especially in that where he saith Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self for that fully includes all of the second Table And for them of the first it were madness to think we may have any other God or may make the likeness of any thing to worship it save our own God or yet to prophane his Name So to
than a Teacher abounding more in Alms in Charity in washing of the Feet of the Saints and those other Vertues which will not suffer her to be barren in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ than a Master in Arts yet is not skilful in the greater Mysteries of Redemption but well skilled in a naked Christ and in chearful Obedience freely cast in her two Mites into his Treasury and consequently gives more than many others of far greater Abilities 17. And now the consideration of this reneweth upon us the great Commandment of Love more strongly than before For it is not enough only to love but also to honour And what then shall we say of our selves if we convert Honour into Dishonour and Love into Hatred Persecutions Envyings Defamations May not two of different Minds or Ways in many things both fear the Lord And shall that difference which is not manifestly decided in the Word but from the doubtfulness thereof and abilities of the Professors springs up into two Opinions break this so positive and often enforced a Command of Honour and Love Whence is it that some doubt in Mind touching the Service of God Is it not for fear of offending And is not that Fear rooted in the Fear of God How then shall we persecute and compel a Doubter seeing it is also a plain Text He that doubteth is damned because it is not of Faith Neither surely doth this Text need an Interpreter When ye so sin against your Brethren and wound their weak Consciences ye sin against Christ Canst thou give Bail for the Sin of another drawn into the Offence by thy means Canst thou bring back thy weak Brother for whom Christ died and is now perished by thy inducement If thou canst not who will plead thy Cause In what City of Refuge wilt thou hide thy Head from the Avenger of Blood Shall it not be less tolerable for thee than for him in the Day of Judgment And therefore I judg it a safe and excellent Rule Honour them that fear the Lord. 18. Here another Query offers namely Seeing this Fear Jara is an initiating Grace so necessary through the whole Warfare as without it no attaining of the immoveable State why the Psalmist did not at first require it and impose it as a Requisite To which I answer Tho it is not expresly named yet it is fully required for if it make every poor Cottage of Clay honourable where it is found much more is it self honourable and desirable If it was gross Idolatry in the Pharisees to prefer the Gold to the Temple and Gift to the Altar because those were the Sanctifiers and these but sanctified by them it is without controversy that the Gift which maketh honourable is more honourable than the thing by it made honourable Secondly The reason why it was not before required was not because it was not of special use before for as the Apostle hints all godly Conversation ought to be coupled with Fear and which is more our Obedience is vain without it our Warfare must miscarry and we left without the Seal of Sonship But because that even now a time draws near wherein its Master-piece-Service will be required And again because it now ought to appear in a renewed or rather regenerated State dying to tormenting Fear and living in the Love of Christ For in this great Crisis of our dying with Christ he makes all things new and not only so but he permits Satan to send for his Principalities of Darkness in new counterfeit Angels of Light For under the Legal State whilst it was Do this and live his Text was Live upon carnal Ordinances Stones made Bread and not to have regard to the Words or Spirit proceeding out of the Mouth of God but to walk on confidently and without fear in the Merits of his own Arm like the rich Man Soul take thy rest But now these Strong-holds being broken down he flies to a new Text teaching free Grace to Security and Presumption Fear not to dash thy Foot against a Stone for Angels shall bear thee up And now against this regenerate or Gospel-Fear which takes more of Love is the best Weapon for verily under the Law this Fear did oft-times put on frowardness and when Satan persuaded Confidence in superstitious Works and posted on to Idolatry this Fear armed the Conscience and it thrust thorns into the Flesh resisting the Pride thereof and convincing it was not able to perform what was required and consequently urged it to such Duties of Humiliation and Contrition as the Law required and still wrought more by fear and terror of Evil and Judgment to come than by the more gentle and noble Principles of Love But now the Table 's turned the whole Man and Pride of the Flesh become vile in its own eyes Do this and live abolished and in place thereof Believe and be saved and a Canopy of Love spread over them Satan also changes the Weapons of his Assault for if in the way of his old Deceit he should say Do and live one Whisper of free Grace would have rendred his Temptation ridiculous if he should sollicit the Arm of Flesh to buckle on its Armor again it would cry out O thou Deceiver from the beginning I am bruised and broken in thy Service I am less than a Worm And therefore he now comes in a new Disguise knowing his former Visage was discovered-and detested instead of Do and live he saith Stand still and live and for Work out thy Salvation by thine own Arm Work not at all thy doing and working is rotten and filthy they contaminate and hinder the work of the Spirit in thee sit still and let Grace make a perfect Work And now I say is the time that the regenerated Fear of God girds up its Loins to resist this Hypocritical Mocker with its two-edged Sword Legal and Evangelical threatning and entreating How darest thou O Worm as thou knowest thou art tempt the Lord thy God whom by late experience thou perceivest is a consuming Fire How canst thou hope for Salvation without giving all diligence to make thy Election sure in fear and reverence Then turning the other Edg I grant as the Tempter said Do and live is abolished but consider who brought it about if it was it self then go on and boast but if it was another then forget not how from thee a perishing Wretch he took that heavy Burthen which pressed thee deep as Hell and laid upon thee another which was easy and light and wilt thou not bear it for his sake Consider how he raised thee from Death and made thy dead Carcase a living Member of himself and wilt thou take his Members and make them the Members of an Harlot in Sloth and Lust If he hath given thee much dost therefore owe him less If all thy legal and painful diligence could not deliver thee will Abuse of Grace and Contempt of thy Deliverer carry thee to the far end