Iniquities not imputed 12. Who shall dwell in thy holy Mountain This is the second Clause of the Question and doubtless Symbolical as in Scripture it frequently is upon which now to insist would draw forth a too long Discourse But briefly we observe God had many Mountains First Horeb Exod. 3.2 upon which the Worship of the first Patriarchs gave up its Scepter to the Tabernacle as after upon Mount Calvarie the Tabernacle resigned to the Gospel but Horeb is not that we seek because in Allegory it answers for Sinai and it are one to Hagar the Bond-woman and gendreth unto Bondage So also we find Tabor Herman Basan ascribed in peculiar to God also Carmel Lebanon Paran Moriah c. celebrated in Scripture for many great works But above all or at least most frequently Mount Sion comes under lofty Characters into remembrance where I say the Mountain in Allegory refers to a sacred Worship not standing so much in Types and Ceremonies as in the more weighty and fundamental parts of Piety And therefore seeing it must refer to some known Worship which was or had been and yet was not the then Tabernacle it necessarily points at the Worship of the old Patriarchs Noe Melchisedec Abraham Jacob Job c. And besides it is manifest from Scripture that in that Age the Fathers did worship upon Mountains in Faith Reverence Love and the rest consisted more in contemplation upon the high Attributes of God than Ceremonial Duties also without a Law that of Blood and Murder Gen. 9.4 excepted save that writ in the Heart by Nature which yet had then a condemning force for seeing no Law no Sin and no Sin no Death and yet Death reigned from Adam to Moses therefore then both Sin and Death were in Act and consequently a Law Also hence it appears that this Mountain-Institution was established in the Wisdom of the natural Mind yet not perverted by its own reasoning but purged from such in the sweeping Judgment of the Flood and illuminated by God to perceive what was best pleasing to him in the main Fundamentals And the Mind thus inspired was left to it self in point of order to present her best fruits in her best manner for even half debauched Nature knows that its Maker ought to be served out of the first and best stores which consisted more in Reverence Knowledge Prayer contemplative Holiness and Faith than practice of Ordinances in Moses's way For of Noah it is said He walked with God Gen. 6.9 That he was moved with Fear Heb. 11.7 And that he was a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2.5 Which shews him to have bin acceptable for his Fear Wisdom Preaching and Contemplation in Doctrinal Holiness And Abraham through the whole Scripture is celebrated for Faith and as I take it Jacob's wrestling with the Angel and prevailing was by Faith and Prayer So as from those leading Men we may reasonably conclude that the leading Graces in Mountain-Worship were Reverence Knowledg Faith and Prayer naked and simple in themselves without other external performances of Touch not taste not handle not or any thing of that rule of Obedience which consisted in Tabernacle-Ceremonies or Form of Religion And yet did the Patriarchs under these attain to great perfection enjoying a more pacate state than under Tabernacle-Institution For Noah made an everlasting Covenant in behalf of all Flesh and was perfect and just Abraham was the Friend of God and Father of the Faithful who blessed him were blessed and who cursed him were cursed Isaac was the promised Seed in whom all Nations were blessed Jacob wrestled with the Angel the Messiah and prevailed Neither are these ever taxed with any gross Sin or Failing nor any other of the first most eminent Patriarchs But Moses failed and provoked God First refusing to accept of his Ambassage to Pharaoh because it was dangerous to the Flesh secondly in not circumcising his Sons and lastly at the Waters of Strife and therefore was not permitted to enter into the Land of Rest When the Father of the Faithful never staggered but at the first word left Father Mother Kindred and Country and followed God he knew not whither neither did he delay to sacrifice a dearer Son than Gershom was nor ever failed to believe in the Promise tho against hope So David failed exceedingly in the matter of Vriah and numbring the People yet these two were the great Pillars in Tabernacle-Worship and for their failings many Afflictions befell them And in like manner Eli Sampson Jephtha Solomon and others had their failings and afflictions Neither is this to be wondred at for the Knowledg and Fear of God are the foundation of Piety and Faith and Prayer the Spirit thereof and the Ceremonial part and rule of Typical Obedience but the formal the first stable and firm the second liable to Spiritual Whoredoms which in Scripture-Language is Superstition and Idolatry which are the beginning cause and end of all Evil Wisd 14.27 Besides it was a Yoak neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear So that Tabernacle and Mountain-Worship comprehend the whole Body of Religion which consists in two parts Contemplative and Practical the first excelling in Knowledg Doctrine Preaching opening the Word Prophecy Gift of Tongues and the other in Obediences Works Duties and Performances of the Things which the first teach Which also are twofold some referring to God as most Types do and are not simply by themselves holy but by the Command sanctified so as in their seasons they required an obedience which was necessary unto Salvation other referring to our Neighbours the sum of which is Charity and Justice in their lovely effects and indeed are more incumbent on the Gospel-Church now than they were upon the Legal before for then it was Love your Friends and hate your Enemies but now Love your Enemies c. Both briefly taught by our Saviour Love thy Neighbour as thy self and again Do unto others as thou wouldest others should do unto thee These are again signified to us in the two great Commandments but in a little different method the first referring to our Duty to God and Comprehending as well Tabernacle as Mountain-Worship for the first is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soul and mind in which Obedience to all Rites Seals or Types as well Legal in their season as Evangelical in our day was comprehended and was both contemplative and practical Mountain and Tabernacle-Piety The first is as our Lord saith the great Commandment and the second is like unto it Love thy Neighbour as thy self Which is wholly practical and as I said of more especial force in our Gospel-day So as indeed David's Tabernacle and Mountain differ not much from contemplative Piety and practical nor much from the two great Commandments for to love God is contemplative and to exercise Charity is practical and obedience to Typical Commands consists in both for to sacrifice to wash baptize c. is
and not equality for the Gospel hath in all things the preheminence above the Law even as Christ above Moses So as it may be said as the Law to Moses so the Gospel to Christ and as Moses to Christ so the Type is to the Antitipe Again it is to be observed that the Similitude betwixt them is in a reversed order in many things one whereof as most material to our present occasion we shall instance which is in respect of Time and Order for what was first in one must be last in the other For as a pure Innocence in our first Parents began the Law in the Command of the forbidden Fruit so must the last perfection of Gospel-Righteousness restore to a new State of Innocency as far excelling the former as the second Adam excelled the first And as the Sin of the first Adam in the beginning of time brought in the Curse Sin and Death so in the last of days shall Christ swallow them up in victory and deliver the Kingdom up to the Father as the Apostle fully shews in 1 Cor. 15. the whole Chapter but especially ver 24. 54. But of these things much remains to be said only here I add that the Law began in Innocency but Sin breaking in it ended in Death and the Gospel began in Death and shall drive away Sin and end in Life Eternal And therefore because in the Law Mountain-Worship preceded and prepared the way to Tabernacle-Worship therefore under the Gospel that Worship in the Spirit which answers to the Tabernacle must precede and make way for that which is the Spiritual Mountain-Worship And perhaps this may be the cause why David in his Questions first mentioneth the Tabernacle namely as having respect to Gospel-Order which without doubt in the Spirit he understood And upon this seems the Blessing of Moses to the Tribe of Joseph to be grounded Deut. 33.15 Blessed of the Lord be his Land for the chief things of the ancient Mountains and the precious things of the everlasting Hills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two words of great mystery the first looking back at the Age when Time dropp'd out of the Bosom of Eternity the other at that when it shall return to Eternity again Now by these antient and everlasting Hills are meant the first and last Glory of the Church of God as begun in Adam's Innocency and again debauched to Death and lastly re-edified to a more sure and a greater Glory by Christ in the last of Times Also to the like effect The Blessings of thy desire have prevailed above the Blessings of thy Fathers namely the ancient Mountain-Worshippers unto the ends of the everlasting Hills Gen. 49.26 Now these two Blessings of Moses and Jacob are but one thing and sweetly sing in the same Melody And thus often by Hills and Mountains the great Glory of the last Times are signified as Isa 2.2 And it shall come to pass in the last days that the Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the top of the Mountains and shall be exalted above the Hills and all Nations shall flow to it And many People shall say Come ye and let us go to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways For out of Zion shall go forth the Law and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he shall judg c. Which again is assured Isa 11.9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy Mountain for the Earth shall be full of the Knowledg of the Lord as the Waters cover the Sea c. I for brevity's sake only recite a few words but the whole Chapters ought to be consulted both shewing the Glory of the last Days when contemplative Knowledg in the Spirit of Wisdom Understanding Counsel Fear and Knowledg shall flow like a River Look also Isa 25.6 7. 16. Now these things premised let us proceed to what was first in our intention namely to enquire how the Shadow answers to the Substance and to reduce David's Question to the Evangelical meaning whereon the great Interest of the Gospel-Professors depends in which we have a sure Guide namely the Apostle to the Hebrews who in the whole Epistle industriously strives to shew First their likeness and secondly the great Prerogative the Gospel hath over the Law And seeing the whole Epistle would be too long for this place we will only insist and that briefly too upon some few more plain Testimonies The first whereof is Heb. 3.5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his House as a Servant but Christ as a Son over his own House whose House we are if we hold fast the Confidence and rejoycing of the Hope unto the end In which Scripture we have two main points of this Parallel explained the one in the Institutors Moses and Christ the second in their Houses or Institutions Now concerning the Institutors the one was but a Servant the other a Son the first a Sojourner the second an Heir Again Moses was not able to bring the People of his House into the Land of Rest but Christ hath made all his Sons Co-heirs and Possessors with him of his Riches and Grace for of his Fulness have we received Grace for Grace Just as the sealed Wax receives the lines and impression of the Signet so the Faithful receive the efficacies of Christ the only difference being that our Gifts are in measure and his without ours cannot uphold us from Sin but must leave us light in the Ballance of Justice his is without measure and able to make up where our account is defective And hence it is written He was like us tempted in all things Sin only excepted Again Moses and Christ were both potent in Miracles but with this difference That Moses's Miracles were most-what for destruction of Enemies as in the Fields of Zoan and Christ's always to save oft-time Enemies he pulling down the pride of the Flesh this healing and comforting the broken in heart And this difference Christ himself asserts Mat. 5.43 It was of old Love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy namely in Moses's House But I say Love your Enemies c. It is also observable that the first Plague Moses miraculously brought upon Egypt was turning Water into Blood and the first of Christ's was turning Water into Wine John 2. Now by Blood is meant Legal Fear and Self-condemnation even unto Death which was the end of the Law for unto Death it brings all Men even the Elect which Death yet is of Mercy because in it lies the streight Gate leading to Eternal Life and by Wine is meant Joy and Consolation which are the end of the Gospel From whence in part appears the Parallel betwixt the Institutors the one a Servant the other a Son the one bringing down to that Death which all must pass before they can be new-born of Water and the Spirit and the other raising from
calls an immovable immortal Stability And indeed as in this so in all things they both mind the same thing their Weapons which David calls Integrity Tummim Righteousness Truth c. are the same with the Apostle's Armour of Righteousness Now therefore having found out what are the Weapons of this Warfare who the Enemies and what the strong Holds are which we are to subdue we shall now proceed to the manner of the War where first I say 't is perpetual from the day of a Believer's Call until his Consummation Secondly Universal in all Ages and to all the Elect. Lastly One Lord one Christ one Captain of Salvation unto all and as he was made perfect by Suffering so must all his Souldiers Now the first denouncing or proclaiming of this War was in the beginning of Time together with the first Promise of our Leader I will put enmity between thee and the Woman thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head thou shalt bruise his Heel Gen. 3.15 Therefore early and irreconcileable was this War and no Cessation of Arms or Parley until one become absolute Victor Also it produces various Successes for sometime the Serpent and his Angels shall prevail as Amalech did against Israel cutting off some of the hindermost weary and slothful but the end shall be the destroying the Beast and false Prophet and taking Captivity captive Lastly It is Universal as the Preacher saith Eccles 8.8 No Man hath power over the Spirit to retain it neither power in the day of Death nor no discharge from this Warfare neither shall wickedness deliver her espoused Ones for this is that Hour of temptation that shall come upon all Flesh and happy shall they be that keep the Word of his Patience 11. Now though the whole Life of a Christian is a perpetual Warfare as no wary Christian who hath made any competent Essays in following and imitating Christ can be ignorant yet are there some more notorious Conflicts and one above all most Certain and Critical Certain because it must come upon all Flesh Critical because none knows the day it shall come and yet according to the decision thereof the success of the future War dependeth and therefore the Magnum Oportet of the Gospel-Church for first there are warrings in the Soul when a Man is called from a natural to a spiritual Estate which at first is legal and again another War when from this legal State we pass over into a State of Grace which indeed is the great and critical Battel c. Lastly There is a perpetual War even under this state of Grace and all these are represented to us in Scripture The first in the case of the Chrildren of Israel the Elect Seed out of Bondage pleasures of the natural Life figured by Pharaoh and his Egyptians in which we are chiefly to contend with Flesh and Blood for as yet spiritual Wickednesses have not molested us because as long as Satan hath the Soul fast in those carnal Fetters he never once troubles it with the Baits of Superstition because his Snares of Lusts do more surely and deeply inthral and plung the Soul into that destruction he aims at and as Pharaoh Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so the carnal Powers and Wisdom of Man resists by crafty Sorceries the first breathings after God and so desireable is the vassalage of the Spirit of Nature whilst it serveth its Lusts as nothing can break its Chains but Plagues and Miracles from Heaven nor indeed until they be with Pharaoh sunk down into the bottom of the Sea And now here the Soul first inrolls it self as a Souldier in the Warfare of God and hence Jehovah is called The Lord of Hosts the Congregation of Israel the Hosts of God and the Books recording these Passages the Books of the Wars of God particularly mentioning what he did at the Red-Sea and Brooks of Arnon But yet this is not that inrolment which makes the true Souldier of Christ not a Volunteer serving freely and from Love but as I may say a Prest or Mercenary restrained and obedient through the severe Laws of Martial Discipline answering to a legal Obedience which yet in some manner happens even to all in our Gospel-Day for no Man upon his first inlightning becomes straitway a perfect Man of God but must bring it about by beating down one strong Hold after another for though the Power of the Law and the Sting of Death was taken away in Christ's Death yet still the Rule of Evangelical Obedience is to us a Law and as long as a Man legally or litterally obeys it or his false Heart perswades him that by the Works thereof he can work righteously or merit even so long is this Soul under a legal Yoke for what is not purely and simply of Grace that is legal for there is no medium betwixt these so as whilst a Man fights with the Spiritual Weapons legally he is but a legal mercenary Souldier which things by a Figure are represented to us by the Israelites often murmuring in the Wilderness clearly shewing they were led by a mercenary Spirit having their Desires fixed Moses Caleb and Joshua excepted upon the fertility and pleasure of the Promised Land and therefore upon any want of Food Water or the like were ready to forsake Moses the Type of Christ their Leader and to make themselves a Captain and return for Egypt as I fear many Gospel-Professors yet under legal hopes do who perceiving the great ease that Men of the World live under and finding themselves in their legal Performances under straits pinch'd with hunger and thirst and finding no saturity or peace of Mind in that way do again wish they could return to their natural Estate And that this Allegory is according to Truth the Apostle fully witnesseth for says he 1 Cor. 10.2 The Fathers were all baptized into Moses implying in the same similitude as we are into Christ with many of whom God was not well-pleased Now these things were our Greek A Type or Figure Ensamples c. vers 11. written for our admonition that we should not lust after evil things as they lusted not Idolaters not Superstitious not Fornicators not making the Ordinance of God an Idol not tempting of Christ not disponding that he will not or is not able to save in all straits for that which above all displeased God was that upon the return of their Spies they dispaired Moses or rather God was able to drive out their Enemies and give them possession of the promised Land which in all our murmurings ought to teach us that we ought not above all things to distrust our Captain as not able to bring us into the true Rest of God for hitherto God winked at their Rebellions but now sware in his Wrath They shall not enter into his Rest which therefore being a Figure unto us upon whom the ends of the * Gr. Ages World are come Therefore vers 12. let him that
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
honour is more than to love For to love a Child or a Servant is enough to give them honour is not ex relatione requisite So as all Love is not Honour but all true Honour which is that here meant compriseth all Love and something more namely such a reverence as is due from a good Son to good Parents or a Servant to a Master And hence our great Lord and Master that he might have preeminence in all things and as well in Meekness Humility and Earth-born Vertues as heavenly Glories vouchsafed to honour his Disciples in washing their Feet and thence gave us an Example how we ought to pay the Honour here required If your Lord hath washed your Feet ye ought to wash one anothers Which doth not refer to the literal Act of washing but requires such mutual Love and Humility amongst them that fear the Lord as will be always ready to perform the meanest Office to their Brethren which may tend to their Edification in Naturals and especially in Spirituals and concludes it with a Blessing Happy are ye if ye do these things And again our Lord takes another occasion to shew how they that fear the Lord ought to be honoured even by their Superiours and Teachers and in such an Honour as Children owe to Parents and such love as Brother and Brother Behold say they to him Thy Mother and thy Brethren are without c. To which he straight replies Who is my Mother Who are my Brethren And stretching forth his Hand to his Disciples Behold my Mother and my Brethren Whoso doth the Will of my Father he is my Brother Sister and Mother Still confirming that the Love of Brothers the Honour and Reverence of Children to Parents is due amongst them fearing God and verily that the greatest wisest and best Leaders and Teachers are not absolved from paying this Honour to the last and least engrafted into this Fear And the full and exact Rule is Give to every one due Honour but to the Elder that rules well double Honour Be kindly affectionate one to another in brotherly Love preferring one another in Honour Who is greatest among you let him be least 14. Here two Queries offer First What kind of Fear is here meant Secondly Why Fear before all other Vertues is made the Badg of this Honour Touching the First The holy Scriptures define sundry Species of Fear which we shall reduce to four more general and pertinent Heads to the present occasion The first is Pachad denoting a more slavish tormenting Fear because never without some terror resisting the sweet effects of Love for it is impossible to enjoy God as a loving and well-pleased Father when we fear him as the inexorable Judg and Condemner of our Souls stained with Guilt to everlasting Torment or to love that Saviour who we fear in the end will leave us to the Rigor of the Law which hath already justly condemned us to Death So as this Fear shuts out Love and lets in Unbelief fearing as our Prophet saith where no Fear is and fearfully as the Apostle looking for or fore-dooming Judgment and fiery Indignation Now this is not the Fear that is the sure Badg of Honour nor yet of Contempt but rather of Tenderness and Pity For first it is certain that where this Fear is some sence and seekings after God are secondly a deep sence of Infirmity And lastly because God oft-times makes this the Instrument of calling many stubborn Sinners to Repentance who after proceed successfully in a well tempered Fear Another is Charad trembling Fear which in its proper seasons and Periods is of great use but ought not to be continual because thereby it degenerates into servile Fear And its seasons are when some notable appearance or threatning from God or sence of some great Error or Conviction of Sin in which we have a long time lived break in upon us So in the terrible appearance of God at Horeb the Congregation and Moses feared in Charad hence teaching that when God appears in our Hearts as Law-giver or in our Consciences as the Sin-punishing Judg we ought to fear and tremble before his Presence but then as he abates or vails his terrible Majesty so ought we to remit our Fears to their due proportion Also this Fear Charad seized our Father Isaac when he perceived that he was deceived and had given to Jacob the Blessing he thought was Esau's Birthright Which also is for our admonition For being sure the Blessing belonged to one of his Sons yet not certain which but as is probable Rebecca was for Jacob the Man of * Perfect in Consumption Tummim and he favouring the Birthright set his Affections upon Esau the rigid Hunter who seems to have a reference to the rigid Covenant of Works in a like Allegory as Ishmael did Gal. 4. and now being resolved to bestow the Blessing according to the Birthright without regard had to Esau's Prophaneness in selling of it and now perceiving that the Man of Tummim had gotten the possession by the Decree of his own Mouth he greatly feared Cherad and doubtless was till he had a little recollected himself crimped in Anguish of Mind First from the Surprize Secondly lest he had been too careless in suffering himself to be so deluded in bestowing that great Blessing in which all Nations were blessed contrary to what he believed was the purpose of God And thirdly he might have disposed contrary to the end the Trust upon him Or fourthly on the contrary lest all this while he had lived in an Error ascribing true Piety rather to a rough rigid Life than the Integrity of Tummim and was now in old Age to begin Religion in a more perfect way Whence we are to learn that having set forth in Piety and now for a long time put our dependence in Legal Righteousness and at length our affecting Friend leads to our Warfare and rends all our Hopes from us and convinceth the Birth-right is of of Grace we cannot chuse but be confused and tremble which doubtless is in this Crisis acceptable because we have been hitherto in a wrong way resisting the heavenly Decree all our painful Labour Vanity and vexation of Spirit and we tho old in Profession yet Children in Piety and to begin again in Christ's Cross But neither ought this Fear to be permanent but recollecting our selves with Isaac and resolutely decree tho Esau seek Repentance with tears That seeing we have blessed Grace therefore blessed shall it be Again this Fear strongly seized old Ely when he heard the Host of Israel was smitten and the Ark of God taken thence teaching That when a sudden or general Calamity befalleth the Church or any praying People tho their own Cart-ropes have pulled it upon them we ought to bewail them and to fear and tremble at the Judgment of God which he vile in his own eyes will be ready to do fearing he was not more righteous than they and that if
We endâ—avoured to express by name 41. Now we shall conclude in summing up all within the compass of one prospect Lord who is he whom thou wilt to espouse in everlasting Love Him walking in Integrity by Consumption resisting his original corruption undermining the power and pride of the Arm of Flesh rejecting his own and laying hold upon the merits of Christ Him studying to find out the deceits of his Heart oft calling it under strict examination is allwayes jealous over it and especially when it with the Buyer cryes it is nought it is nought yet in private boasts and by this his diligence teacheth it to speak the Truth and to believe unto Righteousness And having thus subdued his affections takes his Tongue to task knowing it to be an unruly Instrument often set on fire by Hell cursing and blessing in one breath oft wounding others and not rarely it self And so bridleth it as it will not reproach any no not its Reproacher but will plead for the Innocent set forth the Goodness and Glory of God and confess unto Salvation Him not rending evil for evil but doth good to them that do him evil yet not casting his Pearls before Swine forgiving all men and a Brother though though he offend him seventy seven times Nor yet will offend him though he be impertinent in matters lawfull or indifferent but seeking to build up such in brotherly kindness according to the faithfull precepts of Gospel Unity Who being called unto his Spiritual Warfare meekly takes up his Cross following his Captain General wheresoever he leads without murmurringly saying Where goest thou Forsaking without regret whatsoever Righteousness by legal Merit or Works he had gathered patiently yeilding up every strong Hold that these or his own Wisdom or Education had erected And lastly resignes the Promise believing with Paul that his naked Lord is better than all these and with Abraham that he that hath promised is able to make it good unto him in a more excellent way than he could conceive still loving the Word and frequenting the Assemblies though in this Crisis he find no relish in them but believes that they are good and holy and profitable because commanded by him not commanding in vain and so enters the strait and terrible Gate Layes down his Life bringing no reproach upon his Warfare or Inwards And now having thus fought the good Fight and finding himself delivered and raised up from Death and not by himself concludes he is poor and miserable and writes upon the Tablets of his Heart in the point of a Diamond Vild and contemptible thou Saved by one that ought thee nothing and gave for thee a great Ransom yet required no Price or Recompence from thee and in the sence of this puts on Humility Meekness and Gentleness Love Mercy and Charity towards others and especially the poor needy and labouring Souls in the distresses he was in and so becomes a doer and not a hearer of the Word in that Religion which is pure and undefiled and girding the Loines of his Mind and Will fall's not under the sluggish Sleep of I cannot I cannot but renewing reverential Fear cutteth down with its twofold Edge such sordid ungratefull Allurements or Suggestions as draw back to ease and supine neglect and renders due Honour and Love to every candidate in the Fear of the Lord. And for as much as full Experience assuring that God is with him loves him and will never forsake him he freely nails his Ear to his Door-Post in an Everlasting Covenant of yea yea nay nay And that he so assisting will not be drawn into the seducing Doctrines of Anti-Christ or any Spirit Principality or Power in Heaven Earth or under the Earth that claimes rule with God or compartnership with Christ his Master in working Holiness and therefore carfully watches over the envyings pride lustings of his own Spirit and fearing the fawnings of Satan is allwayes suspicious least he should delude his Spirit into a twisting of Interest and him into a Perswasion that they together are the Spirit of God in him speaking and teaching in his Name and oft begging as verily the case urgently requires that God will enable him to discover the Frailties of his own and Forgeries of this old Deceiver now working in the depth of Satan yet disguised in the form of an Angel of Light And having done all this acknowledgeth himself an unworthy Servant no Wages or Usury due to him but will patiently wait for the Reward until he be made fit to receive it Nor yet when the Trial comes will think it some strange thing or murmur that it burns down his Wood Hay and Stubble but rejoyceth that he is made thereby conformable to Christ and that those counterfeit Riches he had gathered though upon the right Foundation shall not any longer deceive them with their outward Splendor but are consumed only the Foundation left and he upon it naked and empty saving a white Linnen Garment which he rejoycing well calls his Innocency and knows no other Righteousness he hath beside this outward covering and therefore does not upon it lay claim to the Reward nor is so hasty for it as it will awake her Beloved for it though sick of Love until he please Who so doth these things shall never be moved in his legal State he will find a City of Refuge from the Avenger in his Warfare whilest he walks in the Valley of the shadow of death he shall fear no evil but the next day he shall sing a new Song in the Land of Confession We have a strong City Salvation will direct the Walls and Bulwarks Open the terrible Gates of Hulam that a new born may enter in and to worship in Spirit and Truth Him will I keep in perfect Peace his mortal hush through the good Will of him that dwelt in the bush shall live in ease in the everlasting burnings of the hidden Ages and in that Mountain Isai 25.6 where God shall make a Feast of fat things and where our Lord shall swallow death into Victory his Innocency shall be cloathed upon with Immortality and his corruption shall put on incorruption O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory and he shall be ever with his Lord God shall give him Light and he shall Reign for ever and ever wherefore let us comfort one another with these things rendring to him who shall make us more than Conquerers All Honour Glory Praise Age and Age Amen FINIS