shall many be made righteous He tels us there that Circumcision is that of the heart and Spirit not in the letter that is men are now to be justified by love the work of the law written in their hearts and not by the observation of the letter according to their owne sence For against such he pronounceth a necessity of such sins as attended such as professed themselves wise saying Thou art inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self for thou that judgest doest the same things That is inasmuch as thou takest upon thee to guide others and thy selfe by thine own judgement thou must consequently break Charity the end of the law and so involve thy self in the guilt of thine owne and others sins that must follow thereupon For now we are delivered from the law being dead to that wherein we are held that is being released as heretofore noted of the penalty of observing legal precepts as of immediate divine authority because we should serve in the newness of Spirit that is by love and not in the oldness of the Letter For while we were taking upon us this litteral performance the law of our owne members and concupiscence pointing at private interests caused it to prove to us the law of sin and of death So that then the law of God being to be served with the mind inwardly and not by fleshly wisdom to make it the law of sin it follows that there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus which walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit That is because they that act after the flesh or take upon them self guidance do minde the things of the flesh their owne interests but they that walk after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit that is being alwayes guided by the fruit of the Spirit inward love they alwayes mind the effects thereof in which they could not err whilst remaining obedient For else authority and law onely defining and measuring in particular acts what is murther adultery theft c. and rating accordingly the punishments thereupon due we should in our particular biassed interpretations commit often the same or worse faults then those we went about to amend And this because God who from himself and in his owne name gave these precepts at first gave also a continual succession of Prophets Urim and Thummim and other divine ways of revealing his pleasure in their interpretation upon doubtful occasions so that being both wayes expresly divine their observance litterally as so was each mans duty then but now being not to be litterally and particularly so construed by private men they break or keep them when they break or keep their substance charity and inward love and are more or less obedient to Superiours therein And therefore although there could be but one truth amidst those different exercises of Christianity between the Jewish and Gentile Churches yet the Apostles being to promote and encourage Christianity all they could and Christians again to obey implicitely in all things not fundamental the one might justly command and the other be also obedient although in things differing and contrary which otherwise in the commanders must have been Heresie on the one side or other And besides must have been Schism and Scandal in each sort of the disagreeing Subjects that in absence of their common head obtruded upon each other their differing constitutions having no other authority to act or impose to the dislike of one another then in relation to their joynt authority as thereby holding of the head under whom they were to be esteemed but as one by means of joint communion and subordination But when done in just pursuance thereof error is avoided for that a divine sentence is in the lips of a King and his mouth transgresseth not in judgement In the original it is in the future tense shall not transgress which I note to avoid the Exposition that might be made against the allowing the judgement of Kings in general to be such as thinking it only appliable to Solomon himself because particularly inspired above others And this place of Solomon is a good comment and confirmation to another of like sort namely to punish the just is not good nor to strike Princes for equity Where we may finde that a Prince in his definition is held the same with a just man as formerly noted in the title of justice and that then we can no more punish or accuse the one then the other for want of justice or equity Upon which reasons Elihu in Iob brings in that saying as a truth universally agreed upon is it fit to say to a King thou art wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Therefore by the words shall not transgress in judgement we are to understand that they shall not cause subjects to transgress in their obedience because the sentence is divine which in the Original imports divine Oracle or Divination as having whole interest by divine deputation and precept but erroneous it may be and is in him as he stands in relation accomptable to God so far and so often as he againe transgresseth his law who hath whole interest both in those persons and him and all things else For if he take upon him to prescribe rules according to his owne iudgement where God hath made positive ones already or do in those cases left to his care through passion or interest respect himself or some one party above another and not resyect Gods superiour interest before his owne subordinate interest doing by God as he would be done unto he doth not do as he would be done unto For as he would not have his Judges and such as he trusts do the like by him so is he not to deceive and abuse Gods delegation in forgetting that all his power is but usurpation and injustice when not according to the best of his judgement and conscience directed to Gods honor above his owne as also to the general and impartial good of his subjects So that Subjects justice or justification consisting chiefly in submission to the judgement of their Superiour we may well know how to interpret that wise King and Preacher be not righteous over much neither make thy self ever wise why shouldest thou destroy thy self Be not over much wicked neither be thou foolish why shouldest thou dye before thy time By which words we are not to think that either increase of righteousness or wisdome is forbidden or increase of wickedness or folly commended as in themselves but must apply them unto their manner and object of usage and imployment For so in the first verse he that will be so seemingly righteous and wise as to think his owne conscience and discretion sufficient and warranted judges of his actions against or above that of his Superiour he will endanger his owne guilt and destruction by
of God That is for your good example for your patience the effect of love and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God or of these graces of God in you that makes you righteous that yee may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God both to the participation of him in his Church here and hereafter for which yee also suffer That is those tribulations which ye endure in obedience to Authority according to that righteous judgment of God who now will have righteousness and peace meet together in the good and peace of the Church is a plain argument that you your selves are true Members of that Church even by that plain demonstration given of your sense of fellow-feeling of those miseries which must attend her in case the direction of her authorized guides should be rejected For although the Law it in self were holy righteous and good and would have proved effectually so to us also if we had had sufficiency and integrity enough to have been fully comprehensive and observant of every particle thereof yet sin taking occasion by the commandment through those motions which were in the flesh unto sin made us come to lose Charity and Peace the end of the Law through a mistaken interpretation of keeping the Law according to the Letter thereof and so made it to be the Law of sin and of death And therefore are we to esteem our selves as dead unto that wherein we were held that is unto written precepts being now to serve this husband in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter Meaning that through obedience made from the heart to that form of Doctrine which was delivered unto us we shall now be made free from sin and born the servants of righteousnesse That is by having our righteousness perfected after this new and living way even by obedience to that life and spirit of Christ those Precepts and directions which from the holy Ghost are received from those that represent him in Authority here amongst us By which it shall come to pass that what the Law could not doe in that it was weak through the flâ—sh God sending his Son in the likeness of sinfull flesh and for sinn condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law or that righteousness which the Law aimed at might be fulfilled by us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit for they that are after the flesh that is doe trust to their own fleshly wisdomes in the interpretation of literall precepts will from thence take occasion to minde the things of the flesh and so make it prove the law of sin and death and not of life and peace Nor is this Doctrine of the simplicity of Gospel-precepts and accomplishment of Innocence by Christian submission other then what was formerly prophesied to be the estate of the Christian Church viz. In that day shall the Lord of Hosts be for a Crown of glory and a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people and for a spirit of judgement to him that sitteth in judgment and for strength to them that turn the battell into the Gate That is to him that shall judge them and fight their Battels which in the Jewish phrase signifies Kingly office In these words we see the spirit of judgment is plainly prophesied to reside in him that sitteth in Judgment who being also mentioned by him in the singular number and the glory and beauty of the Church being expressed under the notions of Crown and diadem it cannot but personate the Kingship of Christ and his adopted sons according to the following prophesie Behold a King shall reign in Righteousness and Princes in Judgment Then the Prophet goes on to shew whom he would teach Doctrine and Knowledge that is such as are weaned from the Milk and drawn from the breasts Meaning such as are content to obey the voice of Christs authority as little Children But the persons usually erring in this case and that think the simple food of Milk too weak for them and therefore must taste the Tree of good and evill called strong drink and wine are decyphered under the notions of Priests and Prophets the usuall leaders in disobedience For whereas the Lord said This is the rest wherewith yee shall cause the weary to rest and this is the refreshing yet they would not hear but the Word of the Lord was unto them that is to their apprehension precept upon precept precept upon precept Line upon line line upon line here a little and there a little that they may goe and fall backward and be broken and snared and taken that is refusing the simplicity of Gospell-light these conceited wise men shall be taken in their own â—raft being snared in the Law of sin and death called their Covenant with death and hell Upon which ground it is that God there threatens to speak with stammering lips and another tongue to that people meaning that dark parabolicall way of delivery used in Scripture The which should be also encreased by these mens own devised phrases and select words of interpretation used amongst themselves whereby as by a sort of Canting they should speak as with stammering lips and another tongue and so be punished with darkness because of their incredulity and disobedience to him and for having trusted to their own Morall wisdomes and because also through dark and intricate instructions of legality they thought to have made lies and falshood their refuge But it is there declared who shall be the sure foundation of the Churches safety namely the Corner stone or the seat of Judgment He that believeth shall not make haste That is Christ by his owning this Throne of Kingly Judgement will be for a spirit of Judgement to him that undertaketh to be the Line and Plummet of Iudgement and Righteousness The which shall increase in strength to the treading down and overflowing these hiding places from the time it goeth forth it shall take hold for morning by morning shall it pass over by day and by night That is it shall so grow in power that it shall be to these sorts of people A vexation only to understand the report To hear of the daily increase of Kingly Office and power notwithstanding their seditious contrivances For the bed is shorter then that a Man can stretch himself on it and the covering narrower then that he can wrap himself in it There is no room for lyes nor refuge for falshood to be had in the simplicity of the Gospel precepts It is God that now calls for this respect and obedience to his Vicegerent For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim he shall be wrath as in the valley of â—ibeon That he may doe his work his strange work and bring to pass his act his
of greatest mischief From the food with which our bodies are nourished do we contract the most of our diseases nay from those sorts of it which are best too do we by intemperance draw on those maladies which are most desperate and deadly From that very root of Love and desire of beneficence and thirst of Honor ingraffed for mutual comfort and assistance do we daily finde contrary effects to be produced when by too strict and irregular fixation and use thereof according to the particular interest and guidance of our private appetite and discretions we are led into Faction and Civil war And so lastly from that course of prevention and restraint which by divine appointment was setled amongst us as the onely Soveraign remedy and cure of these exorbitances namely the constitution and power of Monarchical government even this doth together with the cure make us lyable and obnoxious to those fatal mischiefs of Tyranny and Oppression also Against which as we have neither reasonable or lawful remedy but that of Patience so shall we finde it a true remedy indeed and to usher us into an habitation and Kingdom where neither a natural distemper nor a civil distraction shall any more afflict us No no all cause of fear either of loss or punishment is now banished our obedience is become all love here for a full comprehension of the pleasure of our present Soveraign together with a full assurance of his continual ready acceptance as well as of our own continual ready ability of performance shall make all apprehension of power stand as it were forgotten in that of goodness And whereas we now know neither our own duties nor Gods love and acceptance but in part seeing them as through a glass darkly then shall we know him as to his Will and good pleasure even as we are known of him as to our hearty desire of serving and honoring him and this face to face We shall not longer wait on tedious Inductions and Observations for some slender and fallible comprehension of these things but at such time as Charity shall make up our Obedience our knowledge shall be inherent arising from presence and intuition There is no such opacity here as to necessitate us to rays of light to discover at most but skin-deep into the qualities of things no then the true Nature of things shall be as soon known as their names and their inward as their outward form And therefore what cause then of fear that any thing should separate us from the love of God our present Soveraign Where there shall not be so much as a false accuser left to appear in that Kingdom whereby to disturb us in our civil life more then a disease to disturb us in our natural The life and health of our then refined bodies shall no more run the hazard of either famine or surfeit by relying on such food as could not nourish us until dead nor but bring death by nourishment Our then no longer sickly nor mortal bodies shall now have their more spiritual life and perfection secured and encreased from a food far more spiritual and perfect then our selves In this true Paradise shall we finde the true tree of life it self that bread of life that once came down from Heaven cloathed with our nature that we might be made capable and Participant of his With this food shall we be always delightfully fed never full always satisfied never satiate As thus to our selves so to our present society instead of those thwartings and injuries which used to come from the hands of competitors or enemies we shall on all hands be saluted with the ready Offices of complacency and love for how can envy or malice have either Author or Object where encrease of eminence or property cannot be so much as wisht for Our enjoyments then shall not be purchased or endeared at the price of want and difficulty for fruition shall here antecede appetite even so as there shall not be so much as time or room left for a wish And whilst thou shalt be thus steadily compleat with happiness in thy self so as neither to have cause to hope more nor fear worsâ— and that through the gift and participation of divine love so shalt thou finde this love so much refined also as to be universally and reciprocally efficacious not onely to procure the possession against fear of intrusion through others wants but to encrease it through consensation of like benefit in them Each one that could not as one contain more content shall by this union contain all We shall not then know one another by our old dividing relations of consanguinity or friendship whereby petty unions were made destructive of the common and introductive of general disagreement No every one is lookt upon with the heightened affection of a brother by means of that more close tye and relation to be derived from that Our father which is in Heaven Hath any one been so heroick as but to taste what it is to be truely in love with any person here Let him then think that every one now shall be that he or that she but withour thought of a he or a she Not so hazardously now beloved as to relye on the courtesie of a Idea from the intent observation of whose perfection in our conceit the imperfections of the original might come to be clouded No as we shall no longer depend on the help of deceiveable notions nor Affections or Passions for our comprehension and understanding so shall we not be in danger to be captivated with the glance of a single sense and that from an outward perishing and deceiveable figure Our Understanding and intuistive knowledge shall now make way for our will it shall not stand to the issue of two contending passions here Where nothing is farther to be hoped for or feared all such composition must cease We shall not in this place love at the hazard of our discretions nor endanger the loss of our selves by the love of another for in this society every other shall be truely known to be an other self even so much thy self that thou shalt not be to thy self but in that self for we shall be so like and so much one another as not to know distinction or separation but what number must make Oh that happy practice of love below that prepared thee for this blessed enjoyment of love above Oh that happy performance of Obedience to thy former Fathers in the flesh although unto death that hath now redeemed thee from death and fitted thee for this subjection unto the Father of Spirits unto life Oh happy participation in a Cross that makes thee now a sharer with thy Saviour in his Crown Thy former bread of affliction and tears of sorrow shall be by thy blessed Savior here turned into wine of comfort and food of life not to be now tasted in a Sacramental sip or broken piece and then onely in a topick Communion but in this