Iniquities not imputed 12. Who shall dwell in thy holy Mountain This is the second Clause of the Question and doubtless Symbolical as in Scripture it frequently is upon which now to insist would draw forth a too long Discourse But briefly we observe God had many Mountains First Horeb Exod. 3.2 upon which the Worship of the first Patriarchs gave up its Scepter to the Tabernacle as after upon Mount Calvarie the Tabernacle resigned to the Gospel but Horeb is not that we seek because in Allegory it answers for Sinai and it are one to Hagar the Bond-woman and gendreth unto Bondage So also we find Tabor Herman Basan ascribed in peculiar to God also Carmel Lebanon Paran Moriah c. celebrated in Scripture for many great works But above all or at least most frequently Mount Sion comes under lofty Characters into remembrance where I say the Mountain in Allegory refers to a sacred Worship not standing so much in Types and Ceremonies as in the more weighty and fundamental parts of Piety And therefore seeing it must refer to some known Worship which was or had been and yet was not the then Tabernacle it necessarily points at the Worship of the old Patriarchs Noe Melchisedec Abraham Jacob Job c. And besides it is manifest from Scripture that in that Age the Fathers did worship upon Mountains in Faith Reverence Love and the rest consisted more in contemplation upon the high Attributes of God than Ceremonial Duties also without a Law that of Blood and Murder Gen. 9.4 excepted save that writ in the Heart by Nature which yet had then a condemning force for seeing no Law no Sin and no Sin no Death and yet Death reigned from Adam to Moses therefore then both Sin and Death were in Act and consequently a Law Also hence it appears that this Mountain-Institution was established in the Wisdom of the natural Mind yet not perverted by its own reasoning but purged from such in the sweeping Judgment of the Flood and illuminated by God to perceive what was best pleasing to him in the main Fundamentals And the Mind thus inspired was left to it self in point of order to present her best fruits in her best manner for even half debauched Nature knows that its Maker ought to be served out of the first and best stores which consisted more in Reverence Knowledge Prayer contemplative Holiness and Faith than practice of Ordinances in Moses's way For of Noah it is said He walked with God Gen. 6.9 That he was moved with Fear Heb. 11.7 And that he was a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 Which shews him to have bin acceptable for his Fear Wisdom Preaching and Contemplation in Doctrinal Holiness And Abraham through the whole Scripture is celebrated for Faith and as I take it Jacob's wrestling with the Angel and prevailing was by Faith and Prayer So as from those leading Men we may reasonably conclude that the leading Graces in Mountain-Worship were Reverence Knowledg Faith and Prayer naked and simple in themselves without other external performances of Touch not taste not handle not or any thing of that rule of Obedience which consisted in Tabernacle-Ceremonies or Form of Religion And yet did the Patriarchs under these attain to great perfection enjoying a more pacate state than under Tabernacle-Institution For Noah made an everlasting Covenant in behalf of all Flesh and was perfect and just Abraham was the Friend of God and Father of the Faithful who blessed him were blessed and who cursed him were cursed Isaac was the promised Seed in whom all Nations were blessed Jacob wrestled with the Angel the Messiah and prevailed Neither are these ever taxed with any gross Sin or Failing nor any other of the first most eminent Patriarchs But Moses failed and provoked God First refusing to accept of his Ambassage to Pharaoh because it was dangerous to the Flesh secondly in not circumcising his Sons and lastly at the Waters of Strife and therefore was not permitted to enter into the Land of Rest When the Father of the Faithful never staggered but at the first word left Father Mother Kindred and Country and followed God he knew not whither neither did he delay to sacrifice a dearer Son than Gershom was nor ever failed to believe in the Promise tho against hope So David failed exceedingly in the matter of Vriah and numbring the People yet these two were the great Pillars in Tabernacle-Worship and for their failings many Afflictions befell them And in like manner Eli Sampson Jephtha Solomon and others had their failings and afflictions Neither is this to be wondred at for the Knowledg and Fear of God are the foundation of Piety and Faith and Prayer the Spirit thereof and the Ceremonial part and rule of Typical Obedience but the formal the first stable and firm the second liable to Spiritual Whoredoms which in Scripture-Language is Superstition and Idolatry which are the beginning cause and end of all Evil Wisd 14.27 Besides it was a Yoak neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear So that Tabernacle and Mountain-Worship comprehend the whole Body of Religion which consists in two parts Contemplative and Practical the first excelling in Knowledg Doctrine Preaching opening the Word Prophecy Gift of Tongues and the other in Obediences Works Duties and Performances of the Things which the first teach Which also are twofold some referring to God as most Types do and are not simply by themselves holy but by the Command sanctified so as in their seasons they required an obedience which was necessary unto Salvation other referring to our Neighbours the sum of which is Charity and Justice in their lovely effects and indeed are more incumbent on the Gospel-Church now than they were upon the Legal before for then it was Love your Friends and hate your Enemies but now Love your Enemies c. Both briefly taught by our Saviour Love thy Neighbour as thy self and again Do unto others as thou wouldest others should do unto thee These are again signified to us in the two great Commandments but in a little different method the first referring to our Duty to God and Comprehending as well Tabernacle as Mountain-Worship for the first is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul and mind in which Obedience to all Rites Seals or Types as well Legal in their season as Evangelical in our day was comprehended and was both contemplative and practical Mountain and Tabernacle-Piety The first is as our Lord saith the great Commandment and the second is like unto it Love thy Neighbour as thy self Which is wholly practical and as I said of more especial force in our Gospel-day So as indeed David's Tabernacle and Mountain differ not much from contemplative Piety and practical nor much from the two great Commandments for to love God is contemplative and to exercise Charity is practical and obedience to Typical Commands consists in both for to sacrifice to wash baptize c. is
and not equality for the Gospel hath in all things the preheminence above the Law even as Christ above Moses So as it may be said as the Law to Moses so the Gospel to Christ and as Moses to Christ so the Type is to the Antitipe Again it is to be observed that the Similitude betwixt them is in a reversed order in many things one whereof as most material to our present occasion we shall instance which is in respect of Time and Order for what was first in one must be last in the other For as a pure Innocence in our first Parents began the Law in the Command of the forbidden Fruit so must the last perfection of Gospel-Righteousness restore to a new State of Innocency as far excelling the former as the second Adam excelled the first And as the Sin of the first Adam in the beginning of time brought in the Curse Sin and Death so in the last of days shall Christ swallow them up in victory and deliver the Kingdom up to the Father as the Apostle fully shews in 1 Cor. 15. the whole Chapter but especially ver 24. 54. But of these things much remains to be said only here I add that the Law began in Innocency but Sin breaking in it ended in Death and the Gospel began in Death and shall drive away Sin and end in Life Eternal And therefore because in the Law Mountain-Worship preceded and prepared the way to Tabernacle-Worship therefore under the Gospel that Worship in the Spirit which answers to the Tabernacle must precede and make way for that which is the Spiritual Mountain-Worship And perhaps this may be the cause why David in his Questions first mentioneth the Tabernacle namely as having respect to Gospel-Order which without doubt in the Spirit he understood And upon this seems the Blessing of Moses to the Tribe of Joseph to be grounded Deut. 33.15 Blessed of the Lord be his Land for the chief things of the ancient Mountains and the precious things of the everlasting Hills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two words of great mystery the first looking back at the Age when Time dropp'd out of the Bosom of Eternity the other at that when it shall return to Eternity again Now by these antient and everlasting Hills are meant the first and last Glory of the Church of God as begun in Adam's Innocency and again debauched to Death and lastly re-edified to a more sure and a greater Glory by Christ in the last of Times Also to the like effect The Blessings of thy desire have prevailed above the Blessings of thy Fathers namely the ancient Mountain-Worshippers unto the ends of the everlasting Hills Gen. 49.26 Now these two Blessings of Moses and Jacob are but one thing and sweetly sing in the same Melody And thus often by Hills and Mountains the great Glory of the last Times are signified as Isa 2.2 And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow to it And many People shall say Come ye and let us go to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he shall judg c. Which again is assured Isa 11.9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy Mountain for the Earth shall be full of the Knowledg of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea c. I for brevity's sake only recite a few words but the whole Chapters ought to be consulted both shewing the Glory of the last Days when contemplative Knowledg in the Spirit of Wisdom Understanding Counsel Fear and Knowledg shall flow like a River Look also Isa 25.6 7. 16. Now these things premised let us proceed to what was first in our intention namely to enquire how the Shadow answers to the Substance and to reduce David's Question to the Evangelical meaning whereon the great Interest of the Gospel-Professors depends in which we have a sure Guide namely the Apostle to the Hebrews who in the whole Epistle industriously strives to shew First their likeness and secondly the great Prerogative the Gospel hath over the Law And seeing the whole Epistle would be too long for this place we will only insist and that briefly too upon some few more plain Testimonies The first whereof is Heb. 3.5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his House as a Servant but Christ as a Son over his own House whose House we are if we hold fast the Confidence and rejoycing of the Hope unto the end In which Scripture we have two main points of this Parallel explained the one in the Institutors Moses and Christ the second in their Houses or Institutions Now concerning the Institutors the one was but a Servant the other a Son the first a Sojourner the second an Heir Again Moses was not able to bring the People of his House into the Land of Rest but Christ hath made all his Sons Co-heirs and Possessors with him of his Riches and Grace for of his Fulness have we received Grace for Grace Just as the sealed Wax receives the lines and impression of the Signet so the Faithful receive the efficacies of Christ the only difference being that our Gifts are in measure and his without ours cannot uphold us from Sin but must leave us light in the Ballance of Justice his is without measure and able to make up where our account is defective And hence it is written He was like us tempted in all things Sin only excepted Again Moses and Christ were both potent in Miracles but with this difference That Moses's Miracles were most-what for destruction of Enemies as in the Fields of Zoan and Christ's always to save oft-time Enemies he pulling down the pride of the Flesh this healing and comforting the broken in heart And this difference Christ himself asserts Mat. 5.43 It was of old Love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy namely in Moses's House But I say Love your Enemies c. It is also observable that the first Plague Moses miraculously brought upon Egypt was turning Water into Blood and the first of Christ's was turning Water into Wine John 2. Now by Blood is meant Legal Fear and Self-condemnation even unto Death which was the end of the Law for unto Death it brings all Men even the Elect which Death yet is of Mercy because in it lies the streight Gate leading to Eternal Life and by Wine is meant Joy and Consolation which are the end of the Gospel From whence in part appears the Parallel betwixt the Institutors the one a Servant the other a Son the one bringing down to that Death which all must pass before they can be new-born of Water and the Spirit and the other raising from
calls an immovable immortal Stability And indeed as in this so in all things they both mind the same thing their Weapons which David calls Integrity Tummim Righteousness Truth c. are the same with the Apostle's Armour of Righteousness Now therefore having found out what are the Weapons of this Warfare who the Enemies and what the strong Holds are which we are to subdue we shall now proceed to the manner of the War where first I say 't is perpetual from the day of a Believer's Call until his Consummation Secondly Universal in all Ages and to all the Elect. Lastly One Lord one Christ one Captain of Salvation unto all and as he was made perfect by Suffering so must all his Souldiers Now the first denouncing or proclaiming of this War was in the beginning of Time together with the first Promise of our Leader I will put enmity between thee and the Woman thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head thou shalt bruise his Heel Gen. 3.15 Therefore early and irreconcileable was this War and no Cessation of Arms or Parley until one become absolute Victor Also it produces various Successes for sometime the Serpent and his Angels shall prevail as Amalech did against Israel cutting off some of the hindermost weary and slothful but the end shall be the destroying the Beast and false Prophet and taking Captivity captive Lastly It is Universal as the Preacher saith Eccles 8.8 No Man hath power over the Spirit to retain it neither power in the day of Death nor no discharge from this Warfare neither shall wickedness deliver her espoused Ones for this is that Hour of temptation that shall come upon all Flesh and happy shall they be that keep the Word of his Patience 11. Now though the whole Life of a Christian is a perpetual Warfare as no wary Christian who hath made any competent Essays in following and imitating Christ can be ignorant yet are there some more notorious Conflicts and one above all most Certain and Critical Certain because it must come upon all Flesh Critical because none knows the day it shall come and yet according to the decision thereof the success of the future War dependeth and therefore the Magnum Oportet of the Gospel-Church for first there are warrings in the Soul when a Man is called from a natural to a spiritual Estate which at first is legal and again another War when from this legal State we pass over into a State of Grace which indeed is the great and critical Battel c. Lastly There is a perpetual War even under this state of Grace and all these are represented to us in Scripture The first in the case of the Chrildren of Israel the Elect Seed out of Bondage pleasures of the natural Life figured by Pharaoh and his Egyptians in which we are chiefly to contend with Flesh and Blood for as yet spiritual Wickednesses have not molested us because as long as Satan hath the Soul fast in those carnal Fetters he never once troubles it with the Baits of Superstition because his Snares of Lusts do more surely and deeply inthral and plung the Soul into that destruction he aims at and as Pharaoh Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so the carnal Powers and Wisdom of Man resists by crafty Sorceries the first breathings after God and so desireable is the vassalage of the Spirit of Nature whilst it serveth its Lusts as nothing can break its Chains but Plagues and Miracles from Heaven nor indeed until they be with Pharaoh sunk down into the bottom of the Sea And now here the Soul first inrolls it self as a Souldier in the Warfare of God and hence Jehovah is called The Lord of Hosts the Congregation of Israel the Hosts of God and the Books recording these Passages the Books of the Wars of God particularly mentioning what he did at the Red-Sea and Brooks of Arnon But yet this is not that inrolment which makes the true Souldier of Christ not a Volunteer serving freely and from Love but as I may say a Prest or Mercenary restrained and obedient through the severe Laws of Martial Discipline answering to a legal Obedience which yet in some manner happens even to all in our Gospel-Day for no Man upon his first inlightning becomes straitway a perfect Man of God but must bring it about by beating down one strong Hold after another for though the Power of the Law and the Sting of Death was taken away in Christ's Death yet still the Rule of Evangelical Obedience is to us a Law and as long as a Man legally or litterally obeys it or his false Heart perswades him that by the Works thereof he can work righteously or merit even so long is this Soul under a legal Yoke for what is not purely and simply of Grace that is legal for there is no medium betwixt these so as whilst a Man fights with the Spiritual Weapons legally he is but a legal mercenary Souldier which things by a Figure are represented to us by the Israelites often murmuring in the Wilderness clearly shewing they were led by a mercenary Spirit having their Desires fixed Moses Caleb and Joshua excepted upon the fertility and pleasure of the Promised Land and therefore upon any want of Food Water or the like were ready to forsake Moses the Type of Christ their Leader and to make themselves a Captain and return for Egypt as I fear many Gospel-Professors yet under legal hopes do who perceiving the great ease that Men of the World live under and finding themselves in their legal Performances under straits pinch'd with hunger and thirst and finding no saturity or peace of Mind in that way do again wish they could return to their natural Estate And that this Allegory is according to Truth the Apostle fully witnesseth for says he 1 Cor. 10.2 The Fathers were all baptized into Moses implying in the same similitude as we are into Christ with many of whom God was not well-pleased Now these things were our Greek A Type or Figure Ensamples c. vers 11. written for our admonition that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted not Idolaters not Superstitious not Fornicators not making the Ordinance of God an Idol not tempting of Christ not disponding that he will not or is not able to save in all straits for that which above all displeased God was that upon the return of their Spies they dispaired Moses or rather God was able to drive out their Enemies and give them possession of the promised Land which in all our murmurings ought to teach us that we ought not above all things to distrust our Captain as not able to bring us into the true Rest of God for hitherto God winked at their Rebellions but now sware in his Wrath They shall not enter into his Rest which therefore being a Figure unto us upon whom the ends of the * Gr. Ages World are come Therefore vers 12. let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 12. And now this doth bring us to that Combat which indeed is our Magnum Oportet our great Necessary where we must encounter with Spiritual Enemies with Satan in the appearance of an Angel of Light yea and also with our own perverse Perswasions cunningly trimmed and set forth by the old Serpent the Deceiver from the Beginning which we have hitherto esteemed as Children of Light So as this War is not only against Satan our Lusts and open professed Enemies but even against our Works and Ways which we once esteemed familiar Friends and had walked taking sweet counsel together in the House of God who now being deluded by Satan ignorantly become Enemies whilst they perswade the Soul That there is no entring into the Land of Rest but by its own Sword and Bow and so fight Satan's Battels So as a Man's Enemies are of his own Houshold the Father at variance with the Son and the Daughter with her Mother and which is most strange the Hand of Christ our Lord and Captain in all this even setting us at these variances in our selves Matth. 10.33 and sending the Sword into our inner parts so as our chiefest Friend our Preserver and Life sends the Sword and Divisions and our Enemy and Destroyer seeks Peace and Concord and yet is that of Love and this of Malice for indeed this is the Battel in which He that shall loose his Life shall save it and he that will save his Life shall loose it And our Wilderness State is for no other end than to prepare us for this Warfare by weaning us by little and little from Creature-Dependencies for our Captain wonderful in Wisdom and Goodness on set purpose leads the Armies of Israel into a dry and desart Place to the end he may bring them into Wants and Distresses and when they cry to him he gives them Bread from Heaven and Water out of the stony Rock thence teaching them that they cannot deliver their own Souls but that he both can and is gracious and ready to help in the time of need and so undermines natural Confidence inures them to hardship strengthens Faith and Grace drawing them by degrees into acquaintance with that Song of David If the Lord had not bin on our side may Israel say if the Lord had not bin on our side when Men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick for as the Sons of Israel could not prevail in War against the Cananites until all that rebellious and faithless Generation was spent whom God had sworn If they shall enter into my Rest So is it impossible the Soul should overcome in this Warfare as long as any of these Principles or Perswasions remain that dare affirm either that it must prevail in its own Sword and Bow or yet despair that Free Grace can or will effect it so as under our Legal State our Lord like a wise and experienced Captain trains up and inures his Souldiers to such manner of straits and service before-hand as in the great Day he will call them unto 13. But now to come to the Crisis 't is every way miraculous in the Manner in the Power in the Effect for is not that manner of fighting strange where the safety depends in casting away all Arms Offensive and Defensive and is not that Power wonderful which converts the loss of the Field into Victory and makes them that are overcome more than Conquerors And is not that effect most admirable of all that makes Death Life and Life Death and yet most assuredly this is the success of this Warfare and though it must seem ridiculous in the Eyes of a Son of Pharaoh who can perceive no more of it than a Man born blind can of Colours yet is there none that hath fought the good Fight but can set his Seal to these things nor none that hath made good improvement of the Wilderness preparative Discipline but hath so express an Image thereof as he can consent with us neither let any of the Camp of Israel think of this as if some strange thing had hapned unto them for it must come upon all the Children of Election for if done to the green Tree shall it not be done to the dry for saith the Apostle We see Jesus made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death that he might tast death for all Men for it became him in bringing many Sons unto Glory to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through suffering and therefore as he suffered so must we as he was made perfect so we as he died so must we die and as he arose so must we as it is written Rom. 6.3 Know ye not that as many of us as are baptized into Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death and if we have bin planted in his death together so shall we also be in his Resurrection knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him namely that old Nature we brought out of Egypt and which so often murmured in the Wilderness Again buried with him in Baptism wherein ye are also risen with him through the operation of God who hath raised him from the Dead Whence it is manifest That as Christ fought this good Fight and died in it so must we and as he did it for the Universal Church as Lord and Saviour of all so must we every one in particular before we can arise with him into the glorious Birth of the New Creature And as the old Serpent took advantage of the Seed of Abraham in Christ and bruised his Heel that is his Body unto the death thereof so must it happen unto every particular Member of Christ's Body and as the bruising of his Heel was the bruising of the Serpent's Head to eternal Darkness so the bruising of Christ's Heel in his Members shall be the treading down of Satan under their feet and therefore blessed is he to whom it shall be given to lay down his Life as a good Souldier of Christ in this Combat without reproach to his Conscience Warfare or Captain wherefore altho the name of Death be terrible to the Soul as the natural death is to the Body yet seeing we have such an Exampler to follow let us not be afraid for if the God of Armies be on our side why should we fear any Enemies As long as the Lord of Life is with us we can have no cause to fear Death Nay rather let us rejoice that Christ hath called us to be his Companions in Suffering and Death knowing that we shall also be partakers of his Resurrection Life and Glory Were it not ignominious in a Souldier that after he had inrolled his Name promised Fidelity learned the use of his Arms and had long lived upon his Pay and done little for it should in the day of Battel the Prize even immortality set before him and Victory
assured forsake his Captain for fear of a few Blows let us therefore not be dismayed but watch and prepare our selves for it looking unto Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right Hand of God so let us do and obtain a Seat at his Footstool and with these words let us comfort our selves as the Apostle exhorts Consider him that indured such contradion of Sinners lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds Son despise not the chastning of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked by him for whom he loveth he chasteneth and calleth to this Trial. For though no chastisement be for the present joyous yet after it yieldeth the peaceable Fruits of Righteousness wherefore lift up the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees and loose not with Esau both Blessing and Birthright which now is about to be established upon thee for ever if thou wilt but indure a little hardship 14. But perhaps the fearful Soul may say on this wise Surely this Day is terrible who shall live when God doth this If Christ besought that this Cup might pass from him if it were possible If his Soul were exceeding sorrowful even unto Death If in his Agony he sweat as it had been great drops of Blood And lastly in the bitterness of Death he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How shall I a Worm be able to stand it To which I answer That all these things Satan in that Hour shall suggest unto thee and yet be not thou troubled but roul thy self upon him who for thy sake and not for his own suffered these things and for the Joy set before him endured all for even this his Joy was also upon thy account namely that for Sinners he should obtain Mercy And therefore do thou also set this Joy before thee and know that blessed is he that endureth to the last behold saith the Spirit to the Churches Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer The Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that ye may be tried but be faithful unto Death even this Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Secondly Know assuredly nothing shall be bruised in thee that is not thine Enemy Lust Superstition Idolatry nothing taken away but what are false lying Hypocrisies deceitful Shadows of Righteousness treacherous Pretenders to Felicity which at length would tear thy Soul in pieces like a Lion And on the contrary whatsoever in thee bears the true Image of God or is of the immortal Seed or in any way tends to everlasting Happiness shall be as safely hid from the Avenger in Christ as Noah was hid in the Ark or is as surely bound up in the Bundle of Life as the Soul of Isaac was when led to the Sacrifice And therefore fear not that ten Days of Affliction that shall rend away these lying treacherous Inmates and place there in their room the vital Seeds of Eternal Joys Thirdly Thou oughtest not to take a measure of thy Tribulation in this Hour from that of Christ's For first he took upon him all the Sins of the World which had been or should be and at once offered a full Sacrifice for all and thou only answerest for thine own which yet were of small comfort if indeed thou wert to satisfy Justice for the least of them But let this be thy support that indeed they are already cancelled in potentia and it only remains that thou by Confession Self-condemnation and Faith bring it into Act. Fourthly Know that whilst Christ by his Death opened a Way into the Holy of Holies which hitherto was unaccessible he made it plain and easy for thee Strait it is indeed and narrow and hard to find but being found it is smooth and not one Stone of Stumbling left in it Neither will the finding of it be difficult if thou wilt deny thine own Wisdom and take Christ for a Guide who also is ready at thy right hand as the Apostle saith Heb. 2.17 4.15 a merciful a faithful a well-experienced High-Priest merciful because in him all Love flows faithful because he cannot lie nor Guile come forth of his Lips experienced in that he suffered himself and was tempted like us in all points Sin only excepted and therefore knows how to succour them that are tempted and do suffer And therefore thy great Concern ought not to be what the weight of thy Sufferings are as cut out and appointed for thy Lot by God or Christ for his Yoak is easy and his Burden light but thy great Duty is to deny thy self thy Wisdom thy Works Merits Hopes yea even thy promised Isaac and all thy Labours in Righteousness from thy Call unto that day and so to confess with thy Mouth and believe with thy Heart and the thing is done But on the contrary if thou harden thy Heart as in the Provocation in the day of this thy Temptation in the Wilderness as thy Fathers did thou then bindest heavy Burthens upon thine own Shoulders and thine Answer shall be Who required these things at thine hands And if thou obstinately persevere in this stiff-neckedness assure thy self thy Carcase shall fall and perish in the Wilderness thou shalt reproach thy Conscience and it shall reproach thee thy whole Warfare shall turn to Wrath and Contempt and thy reproached Captain shall forsake thee and because thou wouldest not hear his Voice whilst it was called to day to morrow he will swear if thou enter into his Rest and in vain shalt thou seek Repentance tho with the Tears of Esau 15. Wherefore I say thy Warfare is not difficult on thy part in respect of the Decree of God but because of thine own Stiff-neckedness and therefore from some experience to speak unto thee Mark the Captain of thy Salvation from thy first Manumission out of the Bondage of Nature imitate and follow him close turn not to the left hand after a superstitious use of Ordinances nor to the right in a supine and negligent use of them nor yet being wearied and impatient of Wants loiter behind or turn back for Egypt Nor lastly let not thy Zeal to approve thy self couragious in this Combat make thee over-run thy Leader for that is but to challenge Satan to a Duel in the strength of thine own Arm and to be well buffetted for thy Pride And therefore keep upon thy Guard and watch and be assured he will call thee forth in the very nick of time and advantage for there is a time for all and every good pleasure of God and every one beautiful in its season For every new-born Babe is not fit for this Combat but must be first trained up in such Arms Exercise Discipline and Hardships as the manner of War shall require and then let him watch for the Alarm Of which we have an express Example from him we ought
if thou confine Christ unto them thou makest but a false Christ unto thy self and it shall not avail And if hence the Soul learn that the Ordinance doth not sanctify Christ nor the laying on of hands give the Holy Ghost but both were vain without the Divine Gift then shall it remove another great Stone of Stumbling The next and I think last refuge is I will go search Christ in the Desart I will leave both Publick and Chamber-Assemblies I will forsake the World I will live in a desert place mend High-ways eat the Bread of Affliction and go mourning all the day long Which still failing as assuredly it must do if it be in Merit or not upon a just Call the Soul is brought even to a stupifying Humility its Sun is darkned its Moon giveth not its Light it lies in Darkness and Shadow of Death and the Desolation of Abomination possesses its holy Place for tho it still honour the Word and Duties as still it ought yet the Practice of them is but as the Blood of a dead Man 17. And now the Soul comes to the Critical Moment for now Satan sets in aray before it all its Sins Disobedience Hardheartedness Deceits Lustings and the Conscience it self consents that Condemnation and Death are due unto it from the just Standard of the Justice of the Sin-revenging God and therefore even ready to despair it wished Death fearing from Satan's Threats that the longer it lives the greater will be its Guilt but indeed now is it but made fit for Mercy for in humble boldness we speak it is even out of Christ's Commission to give full peace to a Soul as long as it hath any dependance on its own Merits or any power under the Heavens but himself and therefore he not delaying a moment longer than the Case requires his sign not as yet himself in Glory appears meek and full of tenderness lest he should break the bruised Reed or quench the spark in its smoaking Flax neither is his Voice heard in the Street but a gentle Whisper speaks words of Grace Hosea 2. I have bin angry with thee a little because thou hast followed other Lovers and that thou mightest know that they could not deliver thee I have hedged up thy way and that I might speak to thy Heart I have brought thee into a Wilderness-State for thou saidst It was they that gave me Bread Wine and Oil and rejectedst me and now I come to tell thee that if thou wilt repent and turn to me I will yet espouse thee in everlasting loving kindness Thou shalt not call me Baal a lordly Husband having power to divorce thee but Ish and we twain will be one Flesh I know thou hast bin zealous for my Word and my Word is Truth yet have I made it a dead Letter to thee because the Precepts thereof thou hopedst to perform in thy own might and my Promises making thy self the expounder thereof thou didst conform to thy own carnal desires and hopes thinking I was obliged to make them good in thy sence but I tell thee to all such proud conceits thou must die and thou only live perform and obtain in my Name Thy Prayers also are before me but thou lovedst so to pray as to be seen of Men thou didst think to be heard for thy many and fine words Also thou wert high-minded supposing thou knewest what to ask for as well as thy Heavenly Father but I tell thee He alone knows what how and when to give any one good Gift and thou surely instead of a Fish hast oft-times asked a Serpent and if he had given thee thy desires thou hadst perished long since Nay so foolish and proud hast thou bin that having earnestly besought for something to bestow upon thy Lust thou hast murmured because it was not given at thy asking when indeed thou oughtest to have sealed up every Petition with my words Thy Will be done and not mine therefore in mercy I was deaf to thee lest thou shouldst perish in thy foolishness Thy Fastings also are upon Record and the reason why thou foundest not peace in them was because having denied thy self one repast and hung down thy Head and misfigured Face one day like a Bullrush thou thoughtest thy Merit great and not obtaining thy end thou saidst Why do I fast and thou seest not Why have I mourn'd and thou hearest not But I tell thee True Fasting is to spare thy Bread to the Poor and to divide it to the Hungry Thine Alms also I saw and how thou didst sound a Trumpet before thee desiring praise from Men and hoping as a Mercenary for Reward as if thou hadst given to thy Heavenly Father some Gift he stood in need of Can indeed thy goodness profit him Are not all the Beasts upon a thousand Hills his the whole World and its Fulness are they not at his dispose If he wanted Wisdom would he come to thee would he seek to thee for Righteousness or any good thing If he wanted a Messenger or Instrument durst thou say Lo here am I send me Cannot he out of a heap of Stones raise troops of Sons more worthy than thou Nay thy own Heart knows all Wisdom Vertue and Graces are his To the Sun and Moon he says Stand and they cease their course To the Sea Fluctuate not and it stands as a brazen Wall to the Winds Be still and they breath not behold in his Servants he trusteth not and in his Angels he perceived defect and how much more in them dwelling in Houses of Clay founded in Dust and crushed as the Moth he stoppeth the Speech of Men of Faith and Truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and taketh away the experience of gray Hairs and therefore canst thou hope he will give thee the Reins of thy Will who canst not distinguish a Fish from a Serpent or Bread from a Stone How often hath he set the multitude and magnitude of thy sins before thee the darkness and blackness of thy Anger Malice Revenge Covetousness and Sloth and how often while his terrors were upon thee hast thou resolved never to be overtaken with them again but no sooner hath he taken off his Hand from thee but even before the Hour-Glass was turn'd some slight provocation crossing thy way thou hast bin so transported as like to the Horse or spurious Mule thou stoodest in need of a Bit and Bridle lest thou shouldst fall on thy self or others How fully hath he in his Word set forth the Fulness and Riches of Grace and Beauty of Holiness How often have his Messengers sounded these things in thine Ears to the rejoicing of thy Heart Nay not seldom as pointing with my finger I even I have discovered to thine Eye an optick prospect of Eternity and the Crown of Glory provided for the Faithful unto Death and yet no sooner hath a beloved Lust a worldly Toy a fading Vanity hope of Profit Honour praise of Men and such-like Pageantry smiled upon
thee but forgetting things Above thou hast set thy self in the earnest pursuit of these beggarly shadows of Happiness prizing a moment of false Pleasure more than an Eternity of true Joys Was it not of Mercy therefore to reprove thee and stop thy career to utter Perdition and could I do it with more tenderness than by hedging in thy ways that thou mightest not follow thy Paramours in whom thou vainly trustedst but being forsaken and left comfortless by them thou mightest hope for no Peace in any but my Father who hath loved thee and now hath sent me to speak to thy Heart And for the truth of these things I upbraid thee with let thy Conscience and Inwards give record let them also tell thee if he hath not dealt with thee in great Love And as for me knowst thou not that for thy sake I left my Heavenly Mansion put on the form of a Servant and died an ignominious Death and can greater Love be shewn than for a Man to lay down his Life for his Friends Have I not in my wounded Side hid thy Life from the Avenger and secured thy Soul's fair hope and heap of Treasure there so that thou couldest not finger or imbezil it among thy Paramours as the Prodigal did his Portion Now therefore because hearing of me by the Ear was not enough to perswade thee I now manifest my self to thine Eye that thou mayest perceive thou art poor and naked destitute and hitherto blind and counsel thee to cast away thy rotten Rags and to take of me Gold tried in the Fire for where I love I rebuke and to humble thy self before my Father for the Humble he loveth and the Meek and poor in Spirit are his delight but the proud haughty Merit-monger his Soul abhorreth and therefore he killeth that he may make alive he bringeth to the Pit that he may raise up the Beggar he lifteth up from the Dunghil that he may set him among free-born Princes Remember therefore the Battel and do no more and Me even Me he hath anointed to preach good Tidings to proclaim to Mourners and them sitting in Darkness and shadow of Condemnation the acceptable change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lord and if thou art one of these thou art one of mine and I will not lose one of them nor leave a Hoof belonging to them behind me but will give thee Beauty for Ashes Oil of Joy for Mourning a Garment of Praise for Heaviness And now I say If this Soul shall not reproach its Captain and Shepherd and without wrong to its Inwards say with Job I see thou knowest all things no Thought is hid from thee for the very Deceits of my Heart which I saw not thou hast ripped up I have bin proud and foolish uttering what I knew not I formerly heard of thee by the Ear but now my Eye seeth thee full of Grace and Truth yea my hands seem to handle thee as it were the Word of God made Flesh And therefore I abhor my self and repent in Dust and Ashes Lord I believe help thou mine Unbelief I say whilst it is even yet speaking its Darkness shall be made Light and its Mourning turned into Joy But the Soul that will not hear but still runs after its own beggarly Superstitious Righteousness it shall lie down in Sorrow as it is written Who among you feareth the Lord that obeyeth the Voice of his Servant yet walketh in Darkness and hath no Light Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God Behold all ye that kindle a Fire compassed in Sparks walk in the Light of your Fire and in the Sparks you have kindled This shall ye have of my Hand in Sorrow ye shall lie down 18. Now touching these things I know well they shall sound to some as Romances or as a Tale that is told for how shall he that hath seared his Conscience beating the broad way without remorse perceive those Warrings which are between the Law of the Mind and Members But there may be some who love Christ and are Friends to his Cross who may not be able to take a right measure thereof for tho 't is in every Mouth Let us take up the Cross and follow Christ into his Death yet all have not learned what that Cross and Death is but esteem such worldly Afflictions as are common to all Men a part thereof bewraying a carnal Perswasion in themselves that to have a share in the Riches and Honour of this World is part of God's Covenant and Promise and therefore if any outward Cross befal them and they take it patiently they think the Promise due to the Cross of Christ is theirs when indeed they have suffered nothing but what all Men as well they who swear as they who fear an Oath receive from the common Events of Nature and indeed are far distant from the true death of the Cross For tho they that with Mary have chosen the better part have much freed themselves from such Incumbrances as the Worldly Cross brings yet neither Mary nor any other Saint is free from the Real Cross of our Lord for the wise Man in respect of Nature doth he not die as the Fool and one event unto all Is not Sickness Poverty loss of Goods by Land or Sea the lot of all walking in this Vale of Tears Are not the Wife Son Brother or Friend of the Just Man mortal as well as of the Unjust And therefore for a Professor to hope that he or his should be by a Miracle freed from common Calamities were proud and presumptuous for his Hopes must be because he thinks himself more Righteous than others and deserves better things at God's Hand which is before the Holy God as a Sacrifice of Swines Blood Wherefore I say That Cross which is the common Fate of all Men is not the Cross of Christ First Because most of these Crosses were incompatible with the Natural Life of Christ for he who lives above all natural Concernments is above the Cross of Nature and therefore no such Cross could befal Christ except indeed the Death of the Body be a part thereof but what is the true Cross he took and bare in the fulness thereof and the like must all they that follow him in their measure do as he taught Luke 9.23 And he said to them all If any Man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me for who so will save his Life shall lose it but whoso will lose his Life for my sake shall save it Secondly I say the worldly Cross which befalleth Reprobates as well as Elect cannot be Christ's Cross because to it the Promise of Eternal Life belongs in which the Reprobates have no right and therefore such things as the Regenerate have in common with natural Men cannot be the Holy Cross Yet do I not hence affirm that this Cross shall not fall upon the Wicked
but rather that sooner or later it shall overtake them for it seems to be that Temptation or Trial that must come upon all Flesh and that Stone upon which he that falleth not and is broken it shall fall upon him and grind him to Pouder Psal 75.8 Also that Cup which is in the Hand of the Lord the Wine red and full of mixtures and he poureth out of the same even upon the Righteous but the dregs thereof the Wicked shall wring out and drink for the Lord trieth the Righteous but upon the Wicked he poureth Fire Brimstone and Burning Tempest the portion of their Cup Psalm 11.6 And again Thus saith the Lord Take the Cup of Wine of this Fury at my Hand and cause all Nations to whom I send thee to drink it and if they refuse say unto them Thus saith the Lord Ye shall certainly drink it Jer. 25.15 28. So as this Cross must in some acceptation come upon all but vastly different for to the Righteous it is the Cup of Salvation and to the Wicked of Perdition for it taketh them in the vigor of their days they shall not be able to ford over to the New Birth but shall perish in the way if it do not come then it shall not fail at the hour of death when the desperate unbelieving Soul shall be rent from the Body and hurried away in the burning Tempest to the gnashing of Teeth prepared for them Yet we ought not to judg any Man for the God of Mercy can yea and doth in this hour shew Mercy to some as Brands plucked out of the Fire And indeed the last blows of this Warfare are in the choice ones of God oft-times reserved to the Accounts made upon their Death-beds and blessed are those that being prepared watch for it with Oil in their Lamps And indeed thus it befel our Lord for tho he carried his Cross daily yet not until then did the Pangs thereof fall upon him for then tho without Sin he suffered as a Transgressor and tho ever blessed he then bore the Curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth upon a Tree so as tho a Lamb spotless and without guile yet died he as a Sinner of Sinners and great was his tribulation and the like we must expect For if any Murmurings Self-Wisdom Merit or Idolatry remain in this Crisis all that will have Christ must cast them away reserving nothing save Him and his Cross naked and crucified What manner of Men then ought we to be watching and preparing for the coming of our Lord But to return The Worldly Cross which many of the Children of God competently escape cannot be that Cross which none avoid yet do I not say that any in Christ are exempted from a careful diligence in bearing that Cross when thereunto called nor is it of Sin to take such a Calling as may imbitter it but rather judg this may prepare the way and make the other more easy for it hath often been a Means in God's hand to call Sinners and worldly-minded Men into the right way And lastly I say That he that cannot bear this Cross shall much less bear the other and therefore betimes and as preparatory it behoves all Men to order their Hearts to undergo cheerfully what this Cross can bring Art thou married Thou hast not therefore sinned for the Marriage-Bed is honourable and Children the Blessing of God yet by this means the worldly Cross is more surely entailed upon thee and the Duty of bearing it urged more strongly For to want natural Affection is brutish not to provide for our Widows is to deny the Faith and he that will not work neither let him eat Besides we owe a Duty to Nature to the World to our Country to them ruling over us to our Families to give Obedience where Obedience is due and where the Rule is ours to exercise it in Love and Piety And so incumbent are all these as at the great Audit every one must give an account of his Talent But I say to strike the Nail home and right in this Matter we ought to use the World and not to abuse it to weep as if we wept not to buy as if we possessed not that is to mourn for Relations but not repine to esteem of Riches encreasing as if to morrow they would take wings to know in these things there is no permanency naked we come naked we go weeping we enter and in groans we make our exit He that gives shall he not take Who hath suffered most even as Job hath not suffered what his Sin hath merited one for a thousand and therefore betimes to resign all these is necessary even as if we had them not so as when they are required we may part from them as if we had lost nothing For if a good Man lend to another for nothing shall the Borrower murmur when he sees fit to require his own If therefore we retain these worldly Things better than others let us not esteem it as the effects of our Prudence or reward of our Piety but of exuberant Bounty if they be rent from us let us not murmur or yet hope that we by patient enduring have entitled our selves to the reward of them that have taken up the real Cross of Christ but rather let us bear the worldly Cross from moral Principles as their proper and adequate Burden even as some moral Men have strenuously done and thereby thought that Morality is sufficient for these things but yet if they faint too much let Grace support and in mutual union conclude That so transitory and frail is this World and the felicity thereof as it is not worthy their Tears or Care and so resolve together to fix their loves upon things Above Eternity Immortality c. But I say the Cross of Christ is another thing a Stranger to moral Principles and hid from the natural Spirit at least until it be subdued by the Divine which it cannot be till Christ's Cross hath begun to work because it knoweth not the Things of God for none can take this Cross until he have some knowledg of God and his Christ no nor yet until they be enrolled his Souldiers and have set before them the price of the immortal State and have resolved faithfully to fight the Good Fight For as moral Riches are the Object of the moral Principle and as the loss of the hopes of them is the worldly Cross so is Immortality the Object of the Divine Principle and to have our Hopes delayed and obscured to a certain despondency of the Cross of Christ Briefly thus a Man must first be called from a natural State Secondly Must have given obedience to the Heavenly Vision resolving to undergo all hardships in attaining immortal Life Thirdly Must also have bin conversant in the appointed means of obtaining thereof and have found how far he falls short of the Obedience required also that his Righteousness Merits
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
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