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
Perfection as is in Peace and Absolution or Compensation perfect and blind like the Servant of Jehovah That is If a Man have Eyes to see Beauty in or Ears to hear the Flatteries of his own Performances he is not perfect before God but yet as the next Verse saith he ought to see much and not perceive and to open his Ears and not hear that is he ought to be diligent in all Duties Jehovah hath commanded but to use them as he used them not confessing himself an unworthy Servant And in the like harmony our Saviour again speaks John 12.24 Verily I say unto you Except a Corn of Wheat fall into the Ground and die it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth forth much Fruit. He that loveth his Life shall lose it and he that hateth his Life in this World shall keep it Now compare this with Mat. 3.14 Luke 9.24 and the Interpretation is plainly thus He that denies himself and follows Christ in Death shall find Life Eternal and if he do not he cannot walk in Integrity So as Gospel Tummim Perfection is to walk in the total Consumption of his own Perfection which the Apostle to the Philippians fully asserts for having boasted of his Legal Preheminences Phil. 3.8 he concludes thus But what things were Gain to me I accounted Loss Dung and Dross for Christ and to be found in him not having my own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ The same also is fitly represented as it refers to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in both sences Legal and Evangelical in the Law of Leprosy Levit. 13.11 12 17. For if a Man was quite clear from the Scab he was clean or if the Scab was spread over the whole Body so as no part was free then also he was clean but if there was but one and that never so small a Scab and one other small place free the Party was unclean and forbidden the use of holy things And the same Rule holds under the Gospel for if a Mans Righteousness be perfect he needeth not a Mediator but if he hath failed in one point he ought to pronounce himself unclean and vile throughout and to hate his own Life to be blind and deaf that thereby he might be made capable of a new Birth And surely this Perfection in Consumption is that the Gospel-Believer ought to aim at for thereby alone is he made capable of the Answer of a good Conscience and that Union which maketh him one with God in Christ And this is walking in Gospel-Integrity 2dly And worketh Righteousness Both Sister-Texts omit the first Clause Walking in Integrity but imply it in this as Psal 24. that is innocent of Hands Now Innocence consists in emptiness and not being full of good deeds but void of evil and therefore must be attained in already nocent Nature by evacuation of its spots that is by consumption And indeed Integrity and Innocence in Man are the same thing Hence our Prophet I will wash mine Hands in Innocence and so will go to thine Altar which is as much as I will wash my Hands in Integrity by * Psal 26.6.73.13 Consumption and to have so washed is to begin the Works of Righteousness That of Isa 33. saith for both Walking in Righteousness taking the Verb of the first and Substantive of the latter But the Text hath it working Righteousness And indeed this hangs upon the former and is drawn in by it as one Link of a Chain draweth in another for until a Man hath attained Perfection by Consumption or washed his Hands in innocent emptiness and believeth in Christ he cannot work Righteousness but that effected the way is made smooth and easy into the Treasures thereof for if he lay hold of the true Mediator in whom and in whom alone the Lord is well pleased he becomes one with him and consequently Co-heir and Partaker of all his Righteousness And indeed such is the Prerogative of Saints in this case that according to the measure of their Faith so much of the Fulness of Christ they may call their own This was Christ's usual word when he healed the Infirmities of the Body Be it unto thee according to thy Faith And surely in the same words he healeth Souls consumed unto Integrity as it were leading them into his boundless Treasures and bidding them take according to their Faith and tho they have Faith can bear away Mountains yet shall it not be said to them ye take too much or yet shall any require a price for what they take Yet here it is especially to be regarded that in this State a Man is not discharged from the Rule of Obedience for surely here lies a Rock in the Mystery of Salvation upon which some even choice ones have stumbled and others once in a hopeful way have dashed to pieces for being come into the Treasures of Grace and Faith they perceive their Works and Merit of small force and strait grow slack in Duties and cold in Charity which makes shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience for that Faith which hopes to live upon Grace and quits the rule of Obedience is no more Faith but blind bold Presumption For when a Man is adopted unto Sonship with Christ also his Obedience and Cross is entailed on him for if he a Son ought Obedience much more we that are Servants and therefore it is not enough for him that will work Righteousness to rest upon Faith without Works or Works without Faith but to weave both in a due Temperament together for Abraham our Father was justified in both for he believed and it was counted for Righteousness before the Covenant of Works was yet not without Works of Obedience to the Command of God for by Works he was justified when he offered Isaac Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works Faith was made perfect and the Scripture fulfilled Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness And therefore Faith alone cannot attain our Prophet's Rule because he that works not at all cannot work Righteousness nor yet he that worketh in his own Merit And therefore the Work of Righteousness beginneth in Integrity by consumption of all Creature-Dependencies so far as the Soul may find it stands in need of a powerful Mediator that can forgive Sins which is Christ alone to whom it must next seek to be united which is by Faith for to believe in him is to be one with him And this effected the next is to apply zealously to good Works and Duties Charity Mercy Meekness for he is the true Vine every Branch in him that bringeth not forth fruit the great Husbandman taketh away And therefore now begins the right season of working for until now was but a plowing and sowing in Sorrow and now cometh a reaping in Joy for through this Union by Faith Christ pours forth his living Righteousness upon our dead Works giving them
that Death and giving Life Eternal The second part of the Parallel hath respect unto their Houses Now Moses's House was a dead Tabernacle the Service of which stood in the sprinkling of Blood Meats Drinks and external Ordinances but Christ's Temple is built of living Stones a living House a Service in Spirit and Truth an holy Priesthood a chosen Generation even the Hearts of the Elect in which God himself vouchsafes to dwell And hence often the Elect Church is called the Temple of God 1 Cor. 3.16 6.19 Eph. 2.20 c. From whence how great the preeminence of the Antitype over the Type is in part appears and also how part of the Question of David is Evangelically to be understood 17. The next Scripture is Heb. 5.5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High-Priest that is after the order of Aaron but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee As he saith also in another place Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedec Before Christ was compared with Moses who was the Legislator and Prophet and now with Aaron the Administrator of the Sin-covering Ordinances where the difference is that Aaron was but a Servant that could make nothing perfect but every day offered Sacrifice to keep in remembrance the hope of a full Mediation to come but Christ is a Son a beloved Son in whom fully and in whom alone God was well pleased who needed not daily to offer Sacrifice first for his own Sin and then for the Peoples but at once by offering up himself wrought Salvation to the uttermost And whereas the other Priests were often removed by Death Christ's Priesthood is eternal according to the Order of Melchisedec without beginning without end of days King of Righteousness King of Peace Look Heb. 8.5 6. 9.7 8 c. But that which most fully reacheth our intention is Heb. 11.18 For we are not come to the Mount which might not be touched and that burned with Fire nor unto Blackness Darkness and Tempest and the sound of the Trumpet and Voice of Words which they that heard desired that the Word should be spoken to them no more And so terrible was the Sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake But you are come to Mount Zion and unto the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable Company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judg of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the Blood of Sprinkling which speaketh better things than the Blood of Abel See ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much less shall we escape if we turn from him that speaketh from Heaven Now I say this Scripture fully answers our end states the Parallel shews the Gospel's preheminence and sets before us David's Question in the first part in its Evangelical Glory For this Mount that might not be touched was Sinai where Mountain-Worship gave up the Scepter to the Tabernacle and at this time were the Ten Commandments and Measures of the Tabernacle and all its Vessels given to Moses with this Charge See thou make all things according to the Patern shewed thee in the Mount And the Blackness Tempest and Majestick Voice of Words shew that awful Yoak which Jehovah in the Counsel of his Will thought fit to impose upon his Elect People only allowing a hiding-place in the Tabernacle till the evil day was past And on the other hand the Heavenly Jerusalem the General Assembly of the First-born from the Dead and Spirits of Just Men made perfect are those which came out of great Tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb and are before the Throne of God and serve him day and night So as the Tabernacle of Moses is become the Elect Church of the First-born and the purifyings and washings thereof changed for that fulling Soap which can make the Spirits of just Men perfect and the Wings of the covering Cherub are made a hiding-place which can save to the uttermost and which is more give a Kingdom which can never be shaken For they that are dead to Tabernacle-Worship are hid Col. 3.3 with Christ in God and when Christ their Life shall appear then shall they also appear with him in Glory So as the first part of David's Question in the mouth of the Followers of Christ is Lord who is he that thou wilt raise from Death and making his Spirit perfect wilt hide in the Bosom of thy Christ until he and they appear in that Glory he had with thee before Time was 18. Now concerning the latter part of the Question it must also be in the same manner sought after Now the Beauty of Mountain-Worship consisted in those Graces wherein the Worshippers were Types of Christ And first Noah figured him as he was the Preacher of Righteousness and forewarned of the Evil to come for it was not the Man Noah that preached to the Spirits then in Prison but Christ then figuratively spake by him 1 Pet. 3.18 whereby the World was condemned and only eight Persons saved But in the fulness of time Christ preached himself was heard seen and handled filling the Poor and Hungry with good things made the broken Hearts whole gave deliverance to Captives Luke 4.18 Eyes to the Blind and Light to them which sate in Darkness published the acceptable Year of the Lord to all Nations and Languages and teaching the Mystery of Salvation laid open a sure Path to the innumerable Companies of the Church of the Living God and to the making perfect the Spirits of Just Men. So also the Waters of Noah was a Type of Baptism by Water not as putting away the Filth of the Flesh but the Baptism of Christ was with the Holy-Ghost giving the Answer of a good Conscience 1 Pet. 3.20 21. Again Noah taught a reverential Fear of God but Christ perfect Love And Abraham the next Heir of Grace was a Type of Christ as both were Fathers of the Faithful but he according to the Flesh and Christ according to the Spirit And Abraham tho every where justly celebrated for his never-failing Faith yet so far did Legal Faith fall short of Evangelical as Abraham only attained to offer up the Promise in Isaac and by Faith to receive him in a Figure Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.1 2. Gal. 3.6 9. Heb. 11.17 But Christ freely and really that is not in a figure offered up himself to an ignominious Death bore the Wrath of God kindled by our Sins and pacified it by his Blood obtained the promised Glory and made us Co-heirs thereof Again Abraham left his Country and by Faith followed God he knew not whither but Christ left his Possessions in Heaven
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
Life as he did to leprous Lazarus after he had lain four days in the Grave And lastly having done all thou canst call thy self Unworthy Servant know that thy Obedience or Works cannot profit God but only that Obedience is better than Sacrifice and a humble contrite Heart better than Rams or Rivers of Oil and in so doing thou shalt work Righteousness The sum of all is Judg condemn the Works of proud Nature roul upon Christ work in Humility and account all dead without the quickning Spirit and so shalt thou attain the second step towards the Rest of God in his holy Mountain Thus with the Heart thou mayest believe to Righteousness and with thy Mouth confess to Salvation thou shalt believe and not be ashamed thus mayest thou call on the Name of the Lord and be saved But in vain doth the slothful Soul expect a station in the holy Mount for the Believers Prerogative and that a great one too is that having presented his best Fruits how light soever in the Ballance of Justice they be he may by Faith lay hold on the Righteousness of Christ and calling it his own take what Sums to make up his Accompt his Faith can bear away for in that only is this Mans abundance stinted for if he strain at a Gnat such will his portion in Righteousness be and if his Faith can carry away a Mountain rather than he want Spiritual Food Jordan shall overflow its Banks So that as an Object an Eye and Light make up the pleasing Sense of Seeing so commanded Duties Obedience and Christ compleat the Works of a Believer for as an Object is vain without an Eye and both without Light so are Duties or Commands without Obedience and both nothing without Christ And as the Light is that which gives life and vigor to both the other so Christ is the Life of our Works and Duties And lastly even as the Light profiteth not without an Eye or Object so verily Christ is of no effect where Obedience and the Precept or Rule of working are sacking So as David's Answer thus far in Gospel-Language is He that walks in the Consumption of his own Righteousness yet holding fast the Rule of Obedience by Faith in Christ makes his Works perfect 3. And speaketh the Truth in his Heart Psal 24. saith He that is pure of Heart I say 't is He that speaketh Equity which are all univocal This is the third Link of this Golden Chain for before we can work Righteousness in the School of Christ 't is impossible to speak Truth in the Heart because all other Righteousness is Lies and Vanity But for the understanding of this it behoves that we first mind in what sence the Heart is taken in Scripture-Language not as a meer Bowel or Member of the Body but allegorically as the Body bears the Image of the Soul so the Members of that answer to the Gifts and Graces of the Soul Now in Scripture 't is sometimes taken in the better part sometimes in the worse as the Source of all evil for not rarely some effects are ascribed to to it consonant to the Conscience or Mind and doubtless it hath some affinity with it and yet is not altogether the same because some things imputed to it are incompatible with the Conscience as Dissimulation Flattery Forgetfulness of God c. I judg thus the Conscience is the most Divine part of the natural Man and hath the most immediate Converse with God and the Heart answers to those Faculties in the Soul which have immediate converse with it above and also with Sense and sensual Affections beneath capable of receiving Leaven from the Wisdom of that or Folly of this and consequently is that before which Life and Death also Will or Arbitrement are placed for the Conscience refrains all Commerce with Sensual Affections except as a Judg and Reprover of their Exorbitances but the Heart doth not and therefore the Scripture saith The Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 near thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart Which shews the Heart is a Faculty where the sound of the Word within is heard and again it ascribeth to it Imaginations Thoughts Passions Affections and Desires Love and Hate Appetite and Dislike Anger and Patience Grief Joy Fear and thence 't is accordingly as 't is leavened a great promoter of Vertue or Vice And therefore to order it aright so as it may learn to speak the Truth is the next part of our Warfare and ought to be an especial care in all who seek rest in the holy Mount as also 't is written Prov. 4.23 Before all keep the Out-goings Buddings of thy Heart for in it are the Issues of Life and consequently of Death also for between these there is not a third choice and therefore if it issue not Life it must bring forth Death And the keeping of the Heart as it is necessary so it is difficult because as is written it is deceitful above measure Jer. 17.9 desperately supplanting who can know it And again It is the Source of all evil Thoughts Murders Mat. 15.19 Adulteries Thefts False-Witness Blasphemies Now I say before we can successfully atchieve this great necessary Task three things are necessary First the last before spoken of namely to ascribe all Righteousness to Christ for as long as a Man believeth he has any of his own his Heart is a Liar and the Truth is not in him The second is to discover wherein its Falseness and Craft consists for these are hidden and not easily discerned from the specious pretences of Truth For if the Heart be so bold as it dare openly and avowedly tempt to known Sin this is not to be accounted any part of its Deceit but bold-faced Wickedness but there is its Deceitfulness namely when it obtrudes Evil under the Mask of Good or Impiety for Piety or Idolatry for pure Religion The third is to be diligently conversant in the use and management of those Helps God hath vouchsafed us to discover and undermine its Stratagems which are many but I comprize them under three General Heads The Word or Precept the Conscience and Experience The Word is the Law and Touchstone the Conscience Judg and Executioner and sometimes acts as a Witness Experience is a strict observer of its haltings also a Sollicitor mannaging the Evidence against it and it s own Reason Lusts and Satan are its chief Advocates The Law which is pure holy and manifest in all Essentials it defames as unreasonable and the written Word as obscure and dark nor will it stick to say the Wisdom and Morals of Aristotle and Seneca excell it The Conscience which will never lie flatter or play the Hypocrite it often deludes with false Glosses of the Law and Word Experience it rejects and at first easily because but weak at its first setting forth and perhaps brings but a single Witness but at length will so multiply and manage its Evidence as that the
the Heart Man believes unto Righteousness and with the Mouth Confession is made to Salvation So as the Tongue is but the Minister of the Heart bringing to light such Knowledges Experiences and Notions as the Heart hath conceived and therefore before the Heart be right set the Tongue cannot but that done 't is easier to be ordered yet doth not that fully accomplish this because the Tongue is so forward and nimble an Instrument as it often runs before the Heart hath had time to deliberate and decree and therefore not seldom rashly proclaims what the Heart intended not but moved by some small displeasure vents its own frothy reproaches to the after-dislike grief and shame of the Heart The Apostle James most fully sets it forth Chap. 3. Vers 5 6 7 8 9. A little Member boasting great things behold how great a matter a little Fire kindles And the Tongue is a Fire a World of Iniquity it defileth the whole Body and setteth on fire the Course of Nature and is set on fire by Hell untameable unruly full of deadly Poison Therewith bless we God even the Father and curse we Men made after his similitude Out of the same Mouth proceed Blessing and Cursing Again we find Rom. 1.28 29. the Fruits of an evil Tongue enrolled among those Evils God gives up the reprobate Soul unto God gave them up to a reprobate Mind filled with all Vnrighteousness Debate Deceit Whisperers Backbiters Haters of God proud Boasters c. And again its Fruits are found among the seven Evils which are hateful to God Prov. 6.16 A lying Tongue a false Witness and he that soweth discord amongst Friends And besides these 't is like a continual dropping of lesser Evils for how many prophane Oaths licentious Ballads and vain idle Words doth it produce for all which an Account must be given before the Judg who will render to every one according to his Works 3. But again as the debauched Tongue is a sore Evil so under regulation of the Heart taught to speak the Truth it becomes an eminent good for with it we bless God and confess unto Salvation Again Solomon The Tongue of the Righteous is choice Silver the Tongue of the Wise Health and the Lip now Tongue and Lip are as it were the same thing of Truth shall be established for ever Again A wholesomâ— or rather healing Tongue is a Tree of Life Death and Life are in the hand of the Tongue that is in the Heart are the Issues of Life and Death radically and in the Tongue consequently as it brings forth the Treasures of it to light Whence it is manifest that after a Professor of Christ hath persuaded his Heart to speak the sincere Truth 't is the next incumbent Duty to subdue this wild Instrument to the rule of the Heart which being effected the Dictate of that Heart published by this Tongue shall be as Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver 4. Now these things proposed we shall proceed to the more express Intent of the Prophet which tho it seem in words to be confined to a narrow Compass yet it is really very comprehensive for Reproach not thy Reproacher is a fortiore reproach no Man not a Stranger who hath done thee neither good or evil much more not a Neighbour a Friend a good Man or one that hath sought thy good and most of all beware thou reproach not God or his Christ altho perhaps he hath seen fit to bring thee under Reproaches And now we shall enquire how the Man professing to be one of Christ's School ought to use his Tongue as well in giving it liberty as in bridling it I say First I fear we may often reproach even God and not perceive it For to ascribe to any Power on Earth or in Heaven what belongs to him is to reproach him Or if having a Gift natural or spiritual Riches Honour Wisdom Understanding Tongues Prayer expounding the World or the like and ascribe them to our own Industry and not to the free Gift of Grace we are Reproachers And to use our Tongues aright is to acknowledg God the Giver of every good and heavenly Gift and so to bear the Memorial of his Bounty as to have praise and thanks in our Lips daily knowing and confessing that if he had so seen fit he could have made the greatest amongst us less than the meanest of the Sons of Men yea a Slave or Worm and no Man and are still in his hand as a Vessel for Honour or Dishonour Or on the contrary Art thou poor simple and loaden with Afflictions and yet fearest God and seest another that wallowing in Sin abounds in Ease Riches and worldly Contents and yet thinks not of God once in a year if thou therefore shalt murmur or shalt in a repining Distemper of Mind say Why Lord is it thus thou reproachest him as unjust or inbenignant But to use the Tongue in this point aright is to confess that tho his hand be heavy it is much less than thy Sins have deserved Let God be true and every Man a Liar that he may be justified in all thy sayings and overcome when he judgeth Again saith Solomon Prov. 14.31 He that oppresseth the Poor or Prov. 17.4 He that mocketh at the Poor reproacheth his Maker Just as the Pharisee Lord I thank thee I am not as this poor Wretch c. So that there are many ways of reproaching God And to comprize all in a word every one who doth not ascribe the Life Power and Way both to will and do to him reproacheth his great and glorious Name And not less frequent are our Reproaches against the Son as it is written If we say we have not sinned we make him a Liar But to be brief in this also I say Whosoever hath the least grain of confidence in the Arm of Flesh or any heavenly Principality or Power which is on this side the Sun of our Righteousness or yet doth not account all his Privileges Merits Performances as Loss and Dung he hath a lying Tongue and reproacheth his Redeemer And to employ the Tongue in this case as we ought is to confess our selves Worms and no Men not able to make one Hair white or black nor to give ease to an aking Tooth and much less to reach out a Remedy to a sick and sinful Soul And secondly to confess Christ hath both Bounty and Power to save to the uttermost And indeed throughout the whole stream of Scripture you will find the evil proud slanderous and reproachful Tongue is that which is the Belman of a Superstitious Heart proclaiming Peace to himself in his own false and and adulterous Refuges where no Peace is 5. The next degree of Reproach is of a Brother or Friend or Neighbour which is like unto the former because Christ owns it as done to himself Forasmuch as ye did it unto one of these ye have done it unto me So as Christ may also be reproached in his
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
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
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
his own disposal In all which the Soul ought to follow its Leader to march when he says March and to rest when he says Rest be it Night or be it Day Winter or Summer even as the Hosts of Israel gave obedience to the Cloud by day and Pillar of Fire by Night 20. And indeed so necessary is the resignation of the Conduct of this Trial into the hands of our Lord that altho it is no other than a more full subduing the Arm of Flesh in us to a more close Union with him and a departing from our Loss and Dross for his Righteousness yet I do think it is not the Duty of any to seek to hasten it because so doing must proceed from a Confidence in our own Strength in undergoing it or a Presumption we have so well kept the Word of his Patience as in the Merit thereof we have obliged him to keep us in the Hour of Temptation But rather to pray it may not come upon us yet watch for it and having so done to rejoice in it when it comes as then knowing it is not from our selves but of God who sees fit to try and purify us as Silver in the Fire And this I gather from these Scriptures First Christ bid his Apostles Watch and pray that ye fall not into Temptation Which Saying was in the same hour the great Trial of the Cross took hold of him And again the same hour he prayed the Father That this Cup might pass from him if possible yet with resignation Not my Will be done but thine in which as in all things we ought to imitate him And again he hath taught us to pray that Our Father which is in Heaven would not lead us into Temptation by which I take it this Trial or Warfare is meant because God * There are sundry kinds of Temptations Two wherein Men tempt God the first distrusting him as where the Israelites tempted God in the Wilderness Can he prepare a Table in the Wilderness Is God among us And 2dly in presuming upon his Goodness to the neglect of our Duty as Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Mat. 4. Which was our Lord's reply to Satan tempting him to a presumptuous Exploit Also two befall Men One from God as he tempted Abraham which is not seducing or alluring to evil but a Trial how far we can deny all things even Isaac and the Promise for him The other from Satan or our Lusts alluring to Sin And thus God never tempts as 't is written Jam. 13. Let no Man say he is tempted of God for he cannot be tempted with evil neither tempteth he any Man but a Man is tempted when he is drawn away with his own Lust and enticed A third also of this kind may be admitted tho indeed but made up of both the other namely where the holy Spirit leads or drives one to give an opportunity to be tempted and Satan and Lust lays hold of it and enticeth to evil as our Lord who was tempted in all things like us was led or as St. Mark was driven by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan But now in the great Trial all these come at once for when God saith Now is the fit hour of this or that Man's Trial the Spirit leads him forth and Sin and Lust lay their Snares But altho God may be said to tempt or prove as he did Abraham yet it is in a certain particular Vnderstanding for he as St. James saith tempteth no Man because the root and matter of the Temptation ariseth from our own Lusts or Infirmities As in Abraham tho Father of the Faithful yet was it the weakness of Faith and too great confidence in the Promise of Isaac in a fleshly Interpretation that gave the Strength and Occasion of his Temptation for if he had been perfect in Faith the Sacrifice had neither been a Trial nor had a Trial been needful because no room for Distrust or if he had not had some carnal Hopes in Isaac which God would remove there had been no need of withdrawing his Hope and fixing all Hope in God alone And therefore God rather tempted Abraham premissively than actively that in the Trial his Faith might be strengthned and carnal Hopes abolished And surely God never tempts Man otherwise By a similitude I express my meaning thus The Dugnhil while the pure and spotless Beams of the Sun shine upon it doth more abundantly thrust forth its noisom and loathsom Stinks than in its own Nature as temperant yet doth not the Sun make or augment them but only by operating and rarifying that filthy Nature in it gives it power of sending forth its Corruption more abundantly so as neither doth the Sun cause the Stink nor without it could the Dunghil so send it forth And so I say the Sun of our Righteousness deals with Dunghil-Natures not tempting them by the influences of his pure and holy Spirit but whiles it stirs up to Life and Activity they produce such effects of Corruption as are original and inbred in them tempteth not in any other manner for he doth not entice or allure to Evil but only tries and proves So that when God tempts he proves and when Satan tempts he allures to evil Whence I say we ought alway to have it in our Prayers that God would not prove or try us by Temptation but still to be diffident of our selves to fear that even when we think we stand fastest we may fall But having thus besought and being thus armed with this humble Diffidency if then God will lead us to be tried we ought cheerfully and couragiously to take up the Cross because then we go not in our own virtue but his and have his Promise he will stand by us as is written Because thou hast kept the Word of my Patience therefore will I keep thee in the Hour of Temptation which must come upon the whole World to try them that live upon earthly things And so shall such be blessed in their Trial as is written Jam. 1.2 Brethren count it all Joy when you fall into divers Temptations knowing that the Trial of your Faith worketh Patience And let Patience have its perfect Work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing And again vers 12. Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to those that love him But let no Man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God See the Margin And in another place Fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have Tribulation ten days but be faithful unto Death even the Death of the Cross and I will give you a Crown of Life And it is remarkable that upon such like Trials as these God hath where the Fight hath been well fought poured in
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