of woes like lightning which smites the highest Towers spared not the greatest if Enemies to God Prophetical zeal struck at sin where ever it found it witness all those numerous threatnings scattered in every leaf of their Prophecies The Apostles had their rod as well as the spirit of meekness and did partake of that spirit which was represented as well by fiery tongues as the shape of a Dove Paul strikes Elimas blind and cursed Alexander Christ himself whose mouth Matth. 5. was so full of Beatitudes no less then eight several times denounceth woes against the Enemies of God It s the disposition of Saints to be holily impatient when Gods glory suffers and though never else then to esteem anger seemly disgraces against their father they cannot put up these injuries they cannot concoct Their Commission likewise requires this temper Isaiah 58.1 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voyce like a trumpet shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins Jer. 1.7.8 Whatsoever I command thee that thou shalt speak be not afraid of their faces A dumb Dog is good for nothing but the Halter Though the Children in the house must not be bitten yet the Thief either without or within Chrysost must not be spared sinful silence and flattery most oppose a Ministers function If sinners will be bold let not Ministers be bashful The most zealous Ministers have lived in the worst times and they who are most hated for their holy vehemency can better endure the hatred of people for the discharge of duty then the wrath of God for the neglect thereof He that reproves shall have favour at the last both of God and man And even here a zealous Reprover is honoured when he is hated and the cause saith one why God makes the world so bitter to the Ministers by sufferings is because they are no more bitterâ— to the world by Reprehensions To conclude this let none no not the greatest be angry with Ministers for their faithfulness in reproving If there were Physicians or Chyrurgians onely provided for the poor and not for the rich the rich would be accounted of all the most miserable and truly they were much more miserable for their souls Crudelis est eorum mollities quibus molesta est nostra vehementia Calv. in Mat. 13. if they onely were debar'd from reproofs the Physick of the soul There is no greater sign of a gracious heart then to be both holily patient in the taking and wisely zealous in the giving of a reproof 2. Thus of the first part of this verse the denunciation of judgement Wo unto them The second followes the amplification thereof from three examples of Cain Balaam and Core and first that of Cain in these words They have gone in the way of Cain EXPLICATION Four things here are to be touched by way of Explanation 1. Who this Cain was 2. What his way was 3. Why it s call'd a way 4. How Seducers are said to go in his way 1. For the first the holy story relates besides the other particulars which I shall note in the second his way 1. His Birth 2. The imposition of his name 1. His Birth is described Gen. 4.1 where it s said that Adam knew Eve his wife and that she conceived and bare Cain This Cain was the first-born of the first Parents in the world and so Elder brother to all the sons of men and Moses to shew the common and constant way of the multiplication of man-kind fully declares his generation Creavit ex terrâ procreavit ex legitimo conjugio Pareus Musc hereby manifesting that Cain was neither form'd out of the earth as was Adam nor of the rib of the man as was Eve that he came not of Adam alone without Eve nor of Eve alone without Adam but that there was a conjunction of both that Adam knowing his wife a modest expression she conceived and bare Cain And withal in this relation of the Birth of Cain Moses discovers that generation to continue to the worlds end derives the corruption of our first Parents to all their Posterity though generation it self be not culpable but natural and by God appointed So that whosoever is now naturally begotten and conceived hath not a holy and pure nature as had our first Parents before they sinned but a nature depraved and corrupted as they had after they had sinned and particularly in relation to Cain he shewes that Adam a sinner and of a corrupt nature knowing Eve who was infected also with sin and she conceiving and bringing forth Cain it s no wonder that this their first-born was of so wicked and corrupted a disposition since he was conceived and born of the seed of sinful flesh nor is it to be thought that Abel an holy man had his holiness derived to him from his Parents as if he had not with Cain been conceived in sin but that by the meer and singular grace of God he had that integrity bestowed upon him of which Gain was destitute 2. For the imposition of Cains name The word Cain is derived of Cana which signifieth a possession for his Mother Eve giving him that name said she had gotten obtained or possessed a man from the Lord. It s here disputed by learned men what Eve intends by saying I have gotten a man ETH JEHOVAH as we render it from the Lord Sundry conceive in regard the Preposition ETH is commonly a note of the Accusative case that Eves words are thus to be read Acquisivi virum Jehovam I have gotten a man that is the Lord as if she had thought that this her first-born was that promised seed the Messiah which God had promised should break the head of the Serpent and redeem man-kind from sin and misery but the Preposition ETH 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Certum est particulam Eâ—h ut plurimum esse â—otam Accusativi casus quem verba transitiva regunt sed tamen accâ—pi non raro pro à ex de cum Praepositionibus exempla adfe runt ex scripturâ Grammatici ubi particula illa juncta verbo intransitivo aut Hithpael accipitur pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum Gen. 5.22 Exod. 1.1 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel abs Gen. 44 4. Riv. in Gen. Jun. Trem. Rivet Mercer is oft in the Scripture a note of the Ablative and imports as much as from with by c. as Gen. 5.22 Enoch walked ETH ELOHIM with God Exod. 1.1 The Children of Israel who came ETH with Jacob into Aegypt Gen. 44.4 When they were gone ETH HAIR out of or from the City c. Some there are who take ETH here for the note of the Dative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then the meaning of the words is I have gotten a man to the Lord that is who after our death shall though herein she was mistaken in our stead serve and worship the Lord. But the best expound ETH as I said by
whereby the wicked shall ever strive to part with that which they shall never lose and crave that which they shall never procure If it be so great a misery for a starving Prisoner to be kept without bread but for a day or two in a Prison and to see through his grate Passengers laden with that plenty of provisions which he must not so much as touch Oh what a woe will it be for the Damned ever to see the Faithful feasting themselves in the fruition of Gods presence and they to know that they shall eternally starve and yet not dye in the want of the least drop the smallest crumb of that full Banquet of Happiness which the Saints ever enjoy in Gods presence OBSERVATIONS 1. Observ 1. The world without the Word lies in a condition of darkness The Ministers of the Word are the stars the light of the world take them away and every place is full of darkness The people to whom Christ preacht sate before in darkness in the region and shadow of death Matth. 4.16 The Ephesians sometime were darkness saith the Apostle Before the Gospel is savingly delivered we are under the power of darkness and darkness is that term from which we are called when we are brought out of our natural estate And in three respects is the world without the Gospel in darkness 1. In respect of ignorance 1. It knowes not God The Gentiles are said to be such as knew not God The Word only discovers him savingly because it onely makes known God in Christ The wisest of the Heathens till this light came could not know him The world by wisdom knew not God they worshipâ— the unknown God 2. It knowes not the will and wayes of God and this followes from the former for he who knowes not what another is cannot know what he loves The will of God is only laid down in the Word of God There is no service pleaseth him but that which himself prescribes The knowledg of the Heathen only serves to render them inexcusable for not doing what they knew not able sufficiently to understand all they had to do 2. The world is in darkness in respect of wickedness and unrighteousness A man in the dark sits still and forbears to walk as he doth who is in the light Wicked men are unprofitable slothful servants unactive in the wayes of God â—zek 15.45 not those by whom God gaines They are like the branches of the Vine in building good for nothing He who is in the dark wanders stumbles or falls every step that he takes Every wicked action is a falling into a slough and down a precipice a deviating from the way of Gods Commandments and therefore sin is in Scripture called a work of Darkness Yea they who are in the dark are not ashamed of the filthiest garments which they wear or of the uncomeliest actions they perform and they who are without the light of the Word in a night of sin and ignorance blush not in the doing of those things which he who is Spiritually inlightned is ashamed to hear behold or think of What profit saith the Apostle have you in those things whereof you are now ashamed 3. The world is in darkness in respect of fear horror and misery Men in the dark tremble at the stirring of every twig There were they saith David Psal 14.5 in great fear and it is called their fear Fear not saith the Prophet Isai 8.12 their fear It is only the light of Gods countenance which scattereth the clouds of fear Till fury be taken out of God fear can never be removed out of men but through the fear of death they are all their life time subject to bondage Hebr. 2.15 when any misery befals them they tremble as did the Elders of Bethlehem at Samuels coming they not knowing whether it comes peaceably or no nor is it any wonder that the darkness of fear should here seize upon those who expect utter darkness hereafter in the everlasting separation from the light of Gods countenance wherein there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore We see then the true cause that the world hath ever so much hated the word which discovers its deeds of darkness I have given them thy word saith Christ and the world hath hated them Joh. 17.14 and he who was the word Incarnate was also hated by the world because he testified that the deeds thereof were evil Hatred is the genius of the Gospel saith Luther the shadow which ever attended upon the Gospels sun-shine Though Saints are blameless and harmlesse the sons of God without rebuke Phil. 2.15 yet if they wil shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation they must look for opposition but how irrational and groundlesse is this hatred of the world for though the word manifests its deeds of darknesse yet withall it discovers its destruction in eternal darknesse and were the light thereof beheld and loved it would prevent it and lead by the light of grace to that of glory 2 Obs 2 Great is the difference between the light which shines here and that which we shall behold hereafter In the night of this world we have stars to give us light we have a light which shines in a dark place but when the sun shall arise 2 Pet. 2. all these stars shal be put out Prophets Evangelists Pastors Teachers are given but til we all meet in the unity of the faith and of the knowledg of the Son of God Eph. 4.13 and then prophesies and tongues shall cease knowledg shall vanish away when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away when we shal behold the light of the sun we shall no more want star-light or candle-light the immediate vision of God shall abolish these the people of God shal be above Ordinances and Ministry when they shall be above sin and error In heaven all our difficulties and knots shal be untied though here we are doubtful of many truths yet in heaven we shall truly have cause to say now Lord thou speakest plainly and not in parables He who died in his child hood in heaven knowes more then the wisest Solomon ever did upon earth and that little light or speak of joy which here the Saints had shall in heaven be blown into a flame their bud of joy shall there be a ful blown flowre Psal 97.11 here light is sown but there shal be a harvest a fulnesse of joy Oh blessed estate 3. Obs 3 People should labour to walk and work by the light of the Ministry Yet a little while saith Christ is the light with you walk while ye have the light John 12.35 let us walk decently saith the Apostle Rom. 13.13 as in the day The light of the Gospel must put Christians upon a two fold manner of walking and working 1. Speedily 2. Accurately 1. Speedily Our light is not lasting our
might thereby be drawn to give Moses Divine adoration Deut. 34.6 Michael in zeal to the honour and obedience to the will of God opposed the Divel and contended that the body of Moses should be buried in a seeret place Vid. Chrysost Hom. 5 in Mat. August To. 3. p. 731. Ambr. 2 Offic. c. 7. where no man might know of his Sepulchre This last is the opinion of most if not of all Modern Writers both Protestant and Popish and of sundry of the Antients The most think that Satan in his contention aim'd at stirring up the people idolatrously to worship the very dead body of Moses and some affirm though I suppose without ground that after his death his face retained its former shining lustre and to prevent the idolizing of Moses his very Rod they conceive that Moses took it away with him when he went to dye it being that Rod whereby he had wrought so many Miracles and which was called the Rod of God Others rather think that Satan intended to have put the Israelites upon the idolatrous worshipping of Moses soul or Ghost by the discovery of his Sepulchre this opinion seems to me very probable I know not that the worshipping the reliques of dead mens bodies was an idolatry used in those times I suppose it will not be denyed but that it was the practice of the Heathens to worship the ghosts or souls of the dead who in their life time had been eminent for their greatness and beneficence hence Jupiter Mercury Esculap c. were counted Deities after their deaths for that good which their survivers had received from them while living and Heathens used this their idolatry by occasion of their having among them the Tombs and Sepulchres of the deceased Thus the Cretians worshipped Jupiter for their God whose Sepulchre they boasted that they had among them And hence Lactantius holily and wittily derides them Quomodo potest Deus alibi esse vivus alibi mortuus alibi babere Templum alibi Sepulchrum Lactant. l. 1. c. 11. for honouring a God who as they thought was in one place living in another place dead who in one place had a Sepulchre in another a Temple The Roman Emperors after their deaths were Deifi'd at the burning of their bodies which being burnt their souls were worshipp'd by the name of manes and upon their Sepulchres they engraved these words To the gods Dijs manibus the ghosts or souls of the departed they blindly believing that the souls of the departed did reside about or were present at the places where their bodies were buried and these soules of the departed Heathens were wont to worship and consult with at their graves and Sepulchres a practice which from heathens was received by the Israelites also Hence we read Isaiah 65.4 of the idolatrous Jewes who remained among the graves and lodged in the monuments namely to consult with the spirits of the dead as is clear from Isaiah 8.19 where the Prophet reproves the people for consulting for the living with the dead i e. with the souls or ghosts of those who were dead and departed And at these graves and Sepulchres of the dead were idolaters wont idolatrously to Feast and Banquet with those sacrifices which they had offered to the honour of the dead Hence we read Psalm 106.28 of the great idolatry of the Israelites in eating the sacrifices of the dead And this idolatrous custome of seeking to the dead at their Tombs or Sepulchres the Divel invented that these deluded idolaters who expected to consult with dead men might indeed and really receive answers from and so worship him for though he perswaded his Vassals that they who were dead gave them their answers yet indeed those answers came from him And to this practice the Divel might easily have brought these Israelites could he have obtained the discovery of Moses his Sepulchre which containing the remains of so famous a Law-giver and one so eminent above all the men in the world for acquaintance with God would in probability upon all exigencies have drawn idolaters to it for the adoration of and consultation with Moses especially considering the great and constant need of direction in which the Israelites stood whâ—le they were in the Wilderness for their passage to Canaan though indeed the name of Moses was to have been but a stale or stirrup to have advanced the adoration even of the Divel himself who as he was the sole contriver of this idolatry so would have been pleased most with it and honoured onely by it it being as much beyond the power of idolaters or Divels to deal with a true since dead Moses as it ever was against the will of Moses to have any such dealing with them If it be here objected that the Israelites did not worship at the Sepulchres of Abraham Jacob Joseph and the other Patriarchs and therefore that neither they would have idolatrously worshipped Moses if they had known the place of his burial It s answered that there was far greater likelihood and danger of their idolizing Moses then any of the fore-mentioned Patriarchs and that both in regard of the honour that Moses had received from God and also of that good which the Israelites had received by Moses 1. In respect of the former none of the godly Ancestors of the Israelites were so illustrious as was Moses for working Miracles and so many renowned performances both in Aegypt and after the Israelites came out of it none by the testimony of truth it self being like Moses whom God knew face to face none who had the reputation of being so frequently and long with God and of being a Law-giver to the people and a Mediator between God and them to fetch them Lawes from God and to carry their desires again to God to be taken up that he might converse with God to the top of a flaming Mount the foot whereof no other person might touch upon pain of death to have a face so gloriously shining upon descent from God as if God had imparted to him a kind of ray of Divinity In a word To have God say of him as he did to and of Moses I have made thee a God a speech haply not yet forgotten by Israel to so great and puissant a Monarch as Pharaoh 2. In respect of the great benefits that God bestowed upon the Israelites by Moses never did they receive the like by any other Instrument in any age who ever was there besides Moses by whom God sent so many miraculous plagues upon their Enemies by whom at the holding up of a Rod he divided the Sea and sent six hundred thousand men through it dry-shod and afterward caused it to return upon and swallow up their Enemies by whom he split the Rocks into Cups and gave them water in a scorching Wilderness and fed them with miraculous showres of bread from heaven c. It s therefore probable that one so eminently honored of God and beneficial
to Israel as was Moses had his grave been known would after his death have been idolatrously worshipped and perheps too consulted with as their guide in the Remainder of their journey into the Land of Canaan Yea Haeres 55. Epiphanius reports that in Arabia Moses for the Miracles wrought by him was accounted a God and that there his Image was worship'd And whereas it may be said that the Israelites could not be so blockish as to have worship'd a dead Moses his mortality being so pregnant a confutation of their idolatry and his Divinity It s answered Idolatry is a sottish sin Spiritual as well as Carnal Whoredome taking away the heart It s just with God that they who lay by his rule should also lay off their own reason Nor yet would the knowne Zeal of Moses while living against such a practice as this have in probability kept the Israelites from this idolatry had Moses his body been discovered considering not only their proneness to that sin and their forgetfulness of holy instruction but also for that they might haply impute the unwillingness of Moses to be worship'd in his life time and while he was among them rather to his modesty and humility then to his disallowing of such a practice after his death when he should be both absent in body and glorious in soul In short needs must that be bad which that evil one is so violent in contending to have effected nor certainly would Satan much have regarded Moses his body had it not been to do hurt to the Israelites souls and he who by his subtilty had once before with so much success drawn the people to Idolatry and almost to destruction by the company of the Midianitish women was much more industrious and hopeful by this means which had a face of greater plausibility and would have proved far more hurtful to have effected the like again OBSERVATIONS 1 The opposition between sin and holiness is universal Observ 1. they never meet but they fight This enmity flies higher then men it reacheth even to Angels also It s in the heart between a man and himself outward between men and men between men and Angels between God and both between Angels and Angels Holiness and sin are irreconcileable Their opposition is reciprocal Holiness can never tamely endure sin nor sin quietly endure holiness These antipathies can never be reconcil'd Such is the opposition between them that they cannot brook one another notwithstanding all the plausible and rarely excellent qualifications that may be mixt with either A Saint cannot love a sinner nor a sinner a Saint as such though either be never so beautiful Affable Noble Learned The Divel meeting with Holiness and Michael with sin though both in an Angel fight and contend with one another It s in this case as with the dressing of some meats though the sauce the mixtures be never so pleasant the dressing never so cleanly and skilful yet if such or such an ingredient be put in the food wil be loathsome to some stomacks and will not down Such a one were a good man saith a wicked person were he not so precise pure And such a one were an excellent companion saith a Saint were he holy and heavenly Between the Wolf and the Lamb there is an antipathy of natures Sir Fr. Bacons Nâ—â— Hist Their guts say some made into Lute-strings will never sound harmoniously together If they live quietly as is prophesied Isai 11.6 it s because the nature of the one is changed They who act from contrary principles by contrary rules for contrary ends must needs thwart one another The people of God may hence be both cautioned and comforted Cautioned not to expect to be altogether quiet if they will be holy Their Legacy left them is in the world to find hatred and trouble Joh. 16. ult They must be men of contention though Angels for their endowments Cautioned a so they should be that they leave not their holiness for then though mans contending with them should end yet Gods would begin and the worlds friendship is bought at too dear a rate when with the loss of Gods favour Cautioned lastly Pax cum viris bellum cum viâ—iis not to hate the person of any under pretence of hating his sin abhor not the body but the sore Zeal must not be destroying but refining fire No man is so good as for all things to be beloved no man so bad as for any thing but sin to be hated The people of God may hence also be comforted when they meet with most contention from men it is but what Angels have met with from Divels nay what Christ hath met with from men and divels As Christ is our Captain so Angels yea Archangels are our fellow souldiers nor shall we any more miscarry then either The worlds bad word is no bad sign Two things much speak a man his company that he keeps and his commendation which he receives Wicked men cannot speak well of them who cry downe their sin nor is their discommendation any disgrace 2 Satan is overmatch'd in his contentions Observ 2. Michael an Archangel a good Angel contends with him Although all the Angels are equal by nature Corpora crassiora inferiora per subtiliora potentiora quodaÌ„ erdinereguntur Omniacorpora per spiritum vitae spiritus vitae irrationalis per spiritum vitae rationalem spiritus vitae rationalis desertor peccator per spiritum vitae rationalem pium justum ille per ipsum Deum Aug. de trin l. 3. c. 3. and created with equal power yet was the power of the faln Angels much impaired by and for their Apostasie and as the holy Angels exceeded them in other qualifications so likewise in this of power Good Angels though they are not Omnipotent yet had they not that chaine put upon them which was put upon the bad immediately after their fall whereby they are both restrained from what they would and oft from what they can This subjection of the bad Angels is manifested by Angustine from that order which God hath placed among the Creatures The bodies saith he which are more gross and inferior are ruled in a certain order by the more subtle and superior All bodies are ruled by a spirit of life and the irrational spirit of life by the rational and that rational spirit of life which fell and sinn'd by that rational spirit of life which is holy and righteous and this holy Spirit by God himselfe Nor do we ever in Scripture read of any contention between the good and evil Angels wherein the good had not the victory Revel 12.8 The Divel and his Angels fought and prevailed not Dan. 10. and ver 9. He was cast out unto the earth The Divel never fights either himself or by his Instruments but he is foyld but he falls Besides the good Angels ever contend for and by a great God
too and fro with the winds Ministers are oft removed by God from one place in anger for its unfruitfulness to another and tossed by the winds of persecution hither and thither the Church nevertheless by their dispersion gaining moisture and spiritual benefit 3. In regard of their situation clouds are above us Ministers are dignified by God over us in the Lord and they as clouds ought to be nearer heaven and more having their conversation there then others Phil. 3.20 They are not clods but clouds yea stars yea angels 4. Clouds they are in respect of sustentation upheld by the powerful Word of Gods providence else as clouds under their loads they could never be upheld they are as dying yet behold they live stars in the right hand of Christ 5. In respect of fulness usefulness and beneficialness A cloud is both umbrifera and imbrifera bringing shadow and moisture to the earth a faithful Minister cools and refresheth a scorched conscience by preaching the righteousness of Christ he is a messenger an Interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness Job 33.23 his feet are beautiful Rom. 10.15 as welcome to a scorched conscience as the rain to the parched earth these spiritual clouds drop down the fruitful showrs of heavenly doctrine 2 Tim. 2.24 Good Ministers are apt to teach 6. Like clouds they spend and consume themselvs in dropping on others like salt and Torches they melt themselves to benefit others like Silk-worms they weave out their own bowels to cover others nakednesse But secondly Explicat 2. from what sort of Clouds doth our Apostle draw a resemblance to sute with these Seducers 1. From empty Clouds without water 2. From unstable Clouds carried about c. 1. From empty Clouds they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clouds without water Here two things ought to be explain'd 1. VVhat it was to be without VVater 2. VVhen it was a sin to be so For the first as in Scripture the Prophets and Ministers are compared to Clouds so their heavenly Doctrine to Water or Rain showred down from those Clouds My Doctrine saith Moses Deut. 32.2 shall drop as the rain my speech shall distill as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb And Isa 55.10 11. As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud c. So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth c. And Heb. 6.7 The earth drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it bringeth forth herbs c. 1 Kings 17.14 Job 5.10 Job 36.27 Psal 104.13 147.8 Psal 65.10 Prov. 19.12 Ier. 31.12 Deut. 28.12 Ier. 5.24 Isa 44.3 Es 30.23 44.14 And most fitly may the Word be compared to rain 1. For its originall God gives Rain Jer. 15.22 Are there any among the vanities of the heathen that can cause rain or can the heavens give showers Art not thou he O LORD c. Deut. 11.14 I will give you the rain of your land Lev. 26.4 I will give you the rain in due season God can onely give us a Word It s called the Word of the Lord. He appoints what Ministers should preach and he teacheth them how to Preach and he makes the Word effectuall 2. Rain is of a searching insinuating nature soaking to the roots The Word searcheth the heart Fontes ficâ—os â—os appeliâ—t Fontâ—s scilicâ—t quòd acceperint agnitionem domini Christi siccos autem quia non congruenter vivunt Aug. de fid Op. c. 25. Vbi fons sine aquá ibi lutum erroriâ— peccati nâ—c lavat sed Coinqunat Glos Irenaeus l. 1. c. 33. haereticos vocat fungos Augustin lib. de Haeres Fabulones Philologesnon Phâ—losophos Folia dant non fructus verba non scientiam sophismata non solida argumenta jactant crepantque Scripturam sed eam non intelligunt imo pervertunt Aperiunt quasi â—ontes scientia qui aquam non habent doctrinarum promittunt imbrem velut nubes Prophetica Hiron 2. contra Iov pricks the heart and purgeth it Act. 2.37 Heb. 4.12 3. Rain cooleth and refresheth the earth and plants the Promises of the Word delight the soul the chapt gasping thirsty soul Isa 44.3 4. Rain softneth the earth though hard like Iron The Word maketh the heart tender and pliable obedient Jer. 31.37 Ezek. 36.26 and fit to be moulded according to Gods mind 5. Rain causeth the earth to be fruitfull the Word makes us fruitfull in every grace and good work It s an instrumentall cause of spirituall growth 1 Pet. 2.2 Psal 1.3 1 Pet. 3.16 So that these seducing teachers were Clouds 1. Without the water of holinesse and sanctification of heart life and example they made shew to be the onely sublime Saints and Christians of the first magnitude and that others in comparison of them were but in the lowest form of godlinesse and Religion yet these ungodly men had not in them a drop of true Sanctity they onely had a form of godlinesse 2 Tim. 3.5 but denying the power thereof and these waterlesse wells as Peter cals them had nothing in them but the mud and filth of sin not to cleanse but pollute and defile 2 They were without the water of true Knowledge they pretended to be the onely knowing Persons that they onely had two eyes and all others but one They assumed to themselves the title of Gnostici for their great pretended insight into the Doctrines of Faith They lookt upon others as the Pharisees upon the people who they said knew not the Law and were accursed or as Caiphas upon the other Priests he telling them that they knew nothing and yet for all this they were empty and without the water of saving Knowledge and Instruction Their doctrines were but wind chaff and idle speculations vain janglings contentions about words not profiting them who are exercised therein improving no soul heaven-ward making it after all their empty discourses no further admitted into communion with Christ cleansed from sin in love with holinesse fitted for death in a word their verball triflings never made a Proselite to Jesus Christ but onely to an opinion They had perhaps the wisdom of Words but not the words of wisdom They left the Scripture and onely regarded dreams and fables They were blind leaders of the blind and erred from the right way Desiring to be teachers of the Law they understood neither what they said nor whereof they affirmed And in stead of being Clouds that bedewed their hearers with the drops of heavenly instruction 1 Tim. 1.7 they were clouds onely to darken their mind with error and to hide from them the Sun-shine of Truth as Oecomenius glosseth 3. They were without the water of Consolation and Refreshment for those who expected benefit and relief from them Who so boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds without rain saith Solomon Prov. 25.14 All the glorious promises
Christ That which they entertained meerly for fear they present to others as a doctrine of Faith These are reeds that bow and hang according to the standing of the winds such a reed shaken with the winds was not John Baptist but rather an Oak which will sooner be broken then bend by the winds by an holy Antiperistasis his zeal was doubled by opposition These false Teachers were like a man that goes to Sea for pleasure not for Traffick if a storm arise he will come back or put to the next shore Like that ship Acts 27.15 they bear not up into the wind Jer. 9 3. they are not valiant for the truth Tit. 1.9 nor hold they fast the faithful Word but let it go if enemies contend to pull it away 3. They were carried about with the wind of pride and ambition They gaped after the breath of applause old truths are of no reputation among the giddy sort hence it was that these were carried to teach that whereby they might be voiced and cryed up for some rare men dropt out of the clouds and seeing further then all the rest of their times They could not tell how to get above others unless they taught something different from others truth was counted but a dull stale business and therefore they chose rather to be accounted such as excelled by being erroneous then such as were onely equall to others Vento superbiae omnes haereses animantur by delivering the truth The wind of Pride is the life and soul of Error it is the element wherein it moves and breaths Seducers were puft up as Paul speaks Col. 2.18 vainly by their fleshly minds a humble soul will not easily either teach or follow an Error It hath ever been the property of Seducers to follow the peoples humour with Errors that so the people might follow them with applause 4. They were carried about with the wind of earthly mindedness They taught any false doctrine for filthy lucres sake 2 Pet. 2. they would rarely be carried with any wind but such as blew them some profit they steered their course by the compass of gain their Religion began at their purse strings They served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies Rom. 16.18 This was that wind which carried Balaam about from country to country from Altar to Altar he and his followers loved to be of the Kings Religion Thus Erasmus said that one poor Luther made a great many rich Abbots and Bishops he meant that by preaching against him they were wont to get their great livings and preferments Demas forsook truth to embrace the present world OBSERVATIONS 1. The want of the showrs of a faithful Ministry spiritual rain is a singular curse and calamity Consciencious Ministers are clouds and their Doctrine rain As no rain is so useful and profitable as the rain of the Word so neither is it so great a misery to be deprived of any as of this God often in Scripture promiseth Showres and Teachers as great Blessings Deut. 28.12 The Lord shall open to thee his good treasure the Heaven to give thee rain c. Joel 2.23 Rejoice in the Lord your God for c. he will cause to come down for you the Rain c. And for instructours see Jer. 3.15 Jer. 23.4 I will give you Pastours according to mine own heart which shall feed you with knowledg and understanding Isai 30.20 Though the Lord give you the bread of Adversity and the water of Affliction yet shall not thy Teachers be removed into a corner any more God also threatens the keeping away of rain and the taking away of Instructers as dismal curses Deut. 28.23 Jer. 3.3.14.4 Amos 4.7 Isai 3.2 1 Sam. 3.1 Hos 4.5 Ezek. 3.26 Psal 57.9 The Heaven that is over thy head shall be brass thy rain shall be powder and dust Lev. 26.19 I will make your Heaven as iron and your earth as brass Zach. 14.17 Vpon them shall be no rain Never was a greater plague on Israel then when in three yeers and a half it rained not on the earth in Ahabs time And concerning the Prophets the Lord saith Mich. 2.6 They shall not Hebr. drop Prophesie and Isai 5 6. God threatens his Vineyard that he will commands his clouds his Prophets that they shall rain no rain upon it God threatned a great judgment in great displeasure against the people Ezek. 3.26 when he told Ezekiel that he would make his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth and that he should be dumh and no reprover to them and when he threatned that he would remove away the candlestick of Ephesus out of its place Rev. 2.5 The want of Spiritual is a much greater woe then the want of natural rain The withholding of showâ—s from Heaven can but produce a Famine of bread the want of a faithful Ministry brings a Famine of the Word of the Lord Amos 8.11 And this famine of the Word of the Lord is a Soul-famine And 1 Opposeth not Natural but Spiritual life The separation of the soul from the body is but the shadow of death True death stands in the separation between God and the soul Where vision faileth people perish Prov. 29.18 My people perish for want of knowledge Hos 4 6. Salvation and Life eternal stand in Knowledg Joh. 17.3 1 Tim. 2.4 2. Bodily famine takes away our natural strength and vigor whereby we perform our ordinary and worldly actions but a soul-Famine destroyes that Spiritual strength whereby we are enabled to heavenly Employments Praying Repenting Believing Holy-walking 3 Bodily Famine makes the outward man look pale deformed lean unpleasing soul-famine brings a leanness into the soul deformity and profananess into the face of our conversation Who observes not in Congregations whence the Word is taken the miserable change of men and manners In Elies time sin abounded and the reason is set down 1 Sam. 3.1 In those dayes the word of the Lord was precious 4 Bodily Famine as other external judgments may be a help to bring men to God by causing Repentance and bettering Obedience as in the Prodigal but the famine of the Word puts men farther from God and by it men grow more obdurate in sin 5. Bodily Famine may be recompensed and made up with Spiritual food Isai 30.20 Though the Lord give the bread of Adversity yet he countervailes that loss by giving them to see their Teachers whereas Spiritual famine cannot be recompensed by having bodily food because when God takes away the food of the soul he takes away himself the tokens of his presence and Grace and what can be given in exchange for God himself 6 Of bodily Famine people are sensible they cry out thereof and labour for a supply but the more soul famine rageth the more people disregard their misery and slight their wretchedness by fasting forgetting how to feed and with their food losing often their stomacks too How much then are they
that of trees dead they are spiritually dead because without and severed from that root of every good tree the Lord Christ The old Adam is the root upon which they still stand and therefore they are without all spiritual and supernatural life as from the root flows life into all the branches of the tree so from Christ all who are united to him by the Spirit through Faith have by those means the life of holiness derived unto them as in Adam the first root who hath now lost the moisture and vigour of holiness and is become a dryed root all die so in Christ shall all and onely they who are really united to him live Hence it is that as they are without the root and therefore without life so without all spiritual growth and fruitfulness the inward principle of life being wanting needs must the effects that flow from that principle all vitall operations be wanting likewise for though abiding John 15.5 and living by Christ we bring forth much fruit yet sever'd from him we can do nothing It is true that as the wicked have something from Christ like the Spirit of life Heb. 6.4 1 Cor. 12.6 7. so thereby they bring forth something like to good and spiritual fruits I mean those forementioned fruits of gifts assent to the truth sweet affections acts of external obedience but though in the producing of these the Spirit helps them yet it never changeth the nature of the trees but they still retain the natural sowrness of their roots and though God gives them the Spirit to edifie others yet not to sanctifie themselves though Saul had another spirit and sundry Matth. 7. did prophecy and cast out Divels yet all these were but works of ministration not renovation though the Spirit works as an outward efficient cause breathing on them and is in them as in Organis Instruments and Ministers yet not as in domiciliis as in habitations Members for as the soul works not as a form to any part that is not united to the body so neither doth the Spirit of Christ work savingly but in the body of Christ In the wicked it may be spiritus movens a moving spirit in the godly t is onely spiritus inhabitans an inhabiting indwelling Spirit The Spirit of God in an Hypocrire is like an Angel appearing in some outward shape of which he is only an assisting not an informing form for which cause his assumed body hath neither life nor nourishment but the Spirit of God in the godly is like the soul in the body not only assisting but informing and working in them spiritually vitall and supernatural operations And notwithstanding the best workings of the Spirit of God in the wicked they are oft left more fleshly self-confident less poor in Spirit and sensible of their want of Christ then before And thus these Seducers were spiritually dead Or 3. Death is eternal the effect of the former which eternal death is that most miserable condition of the Reprobate after death wherein they are deprived of all the blessedness and glory of heaven standing in the enjoyment and unitive vision of God Visi◠unitiv◠T is indeed the spiritual death continued and perfected As in heaven or eternal life in the enjoyment of God by Christ is begun in this life and completedin the next so is hell or eternal death in the losse of God begun in this and consummate in the next world The presence of God is the heaven of heaven the joy of heaven the life of heaven and of all who shall come thither 2. For the second In what respect these Seducers may be said to be twice dead The word twice Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken two wayes sometimes indefinitly or as a definite put for an indefinite a certain for an uncertain number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Job 33.14 Thus Job 33.14 God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not That is God doth by his gracious ways and means sufficiently abundantly and frequently acquaint man with his will although man be so stupid and senseless as not to understand what the meaning of God is therein So Psal 62.11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth to God that is God hath abundantly oft several times or sundry wayes by his Word and works asserted and discovered that he is eminently and transcendently powerfull Thus the Apostle commands That the Elders that rule well 1 Tim. 1.17 should be accounted worthy duplici that is multiplici honore double much manifold honour So the Prophet prayes Jer. 17.18 that his enemies may be destroyed with a double destruction i. e. with a severe through totall destruction so 2 Kings 2.9 Elisha desired that a double portion that is a large abundant portion of the Spirit might be upon him Thus some take the word twice in this place as if by the signification of the very word the Apostle intended that these dead trees were finally dead and past all hopes of recovery such as could never be bettered by all the pains and cost digging dunging c. that could be laid out upon them That our Apostle here intends that these Seducers were like Trees irrecoverably and totally dead I easily grant but withall because trees may be said to be twice dead in respect of their very dying twice or a second time this word twice seems to import in this place a definite certain number and to intend a double or twofold death of these Seducers who are here compared to trees in their dying twice as well as in all the other three respects viz. Their having withered fruit their being without fruit and being pluckt up by the roots Trees then are said to be twice dead thus the first time a tree is said be dead when in the former spring it decayes fades withers in its leaves blossoms or newly formed fruit from this decaying or dying for a dying it is as to leaves and fruit a tree is oft by pruning dressing recovered but if in autumn or the later spring which is the critical or climacterial time of Trees to discover whether their disease be mortal or not the tree fadeth again if then the leaves or what ever it bears wither the rine grow dry and it be as they say sick the fault is then ab intra the root is rotten and the very substance of the tree is inwardly corrupt and putrified no more labour or cost is now bestowed upon it it s now dead twice or the second time and therefore totally and irrecoverably and as I have understood from those who are exactly skill'd in the nature of trees it hath been oft known that trees which have seemed to die in the former spring have afterward been recovered but never did they know that any languishing in the former spring and then after some overtures of reviving in the later spring fading and decaying again ever were recovered and restored
they may procure much credit though they ask but little cost Besides natural conscience will not be put off with a total laying aside of duty and if Satan can cheat poor souls with putting a Pibble in stead of a Pearl into their hands he thinks it as much cunning as if he put nothing into their hands at all nothing doth so dangerously hinder men from happiness as the putting off themselves with shadows and appearances of that which is really and truly good He who is altogether naked may be sooner brought to look after the getting a garment then he who pleaseth himself with his own rags wherewith he is already clad A man who is smoothly civil and morally honest is in greatest danger of being suffered to go to Hell without disturbance he snorts not in his sinful sleep to the disturbing of others and he is seldom jogged and disquieted nay perhaps he is highly commended Christians please not your selves in the bare profession and appearances of Christianity that which is highly esteemed among men may be abominable before the Lord let not the quid but the quale not the work done but the manner of doing it be principally regarded examine your selves also concerning the principle whence your actions flow the righteousness whereby they are to be accepted the rule by which they are regulated the end to which they tend and as the Apostle speaks Let every one examine his own work and consider whether his duty be such as will endure the Scripture Touchstone 2. Withering and decaying in holinesse Observ 2. is a distemper very unsuitable and should be very hateful to every Christian It was the great sin and wo of these seducers and should be look'd upon as such by us and that upon these following considerations 1. In respect of God Decayes in our Christian course oppose his nature in whom is no shadow of change Mal. 3.6 Psal 102.24 I am the Lord saith he I change not He is eternally I am and ever the same his years are throughout all generations And what hath inconstancy to do with immutability how unlike to the Rock of ages are chaffe and stubble no wonder that his soul takes no pleasure in those who draw back and that they onely are his house who hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of the hope Hebr. 10 38. Hebr. 6.6 firm to the end If a frail weak man will not take a house out of which he shall be turned within a few years how unpleasing must it be to God to be so dealt with 2. Spiritual decays and witherings are unsutable to the works of God His work is perfect Deut. 32.4 he compleated the work of Creation he did it not by halves Gen. 2.1 The heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them God finished the building of his house before he left His works of providence whether general or special are all perfect he never ceaseth to provide for and sustain the creatures the doing hereof one year is no hinderance to him from doing the like another and another nay the day week month Psal 23. Psal 71.17 18 Christus perseveravit pro te ergo tu pro illo perseveres Bern. de temp 56. Ibi tu figas cursus tui metam ubi Christus posuit suam Idem Ep. 254. Obtulerunt ci Judaei si de cruce descenderet quòd crederent in illum Christus vero pro tanto munere sibi oblato noluit opus redemptiâ—nis humanae inchoatum relinquere inconsummatum Perald p. 216. year generation end but Gods providentiall care still goes on he upholds every creature nor is the shore of providence in danger of breaking he feeds heals delivers cloaths us unweariedly goodness and mercy follow us all the dayes of our lives he regards us from our youth and forsakes us not when we are gray-headed Most perfect are his works of special providence Redemption is a perfect work Christ held out in his sufferings till all was finisht Though the Jews offered to beleeve in him if he would come down from the Cross yet would he not leave the work of mans Redemption inconsummate He finisht the work which was given him to do he saves to the utmost delivers out of the hands of all enemies nor doth he leave these half destroyed they are thrown into the bottom of the Sea he hath not onely toucht taken up but quite taken away the sin of the world Nor will he leave the work in the soul imperfect he is the author and finisher of our Faith His whole work shall be done upon Mount Sion he will carry on his work of grace till it be perfected in glory where the spirits of just men shall be made perfect and the Saints come unto a perfect man 3. Spiritual witherings and decayings are opposite to the Word of God 1. The Word commands Spiritual progressiveness Be thou faithful unto the death Rev 2 10. Let us not be weary of well doing Gal. 6.9 Look to your selves that we lose not those things which we have wrought John Eâ—p 2. v. 8. Let us go on to perfection Hebr. 6.1 Perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Take heed lest there be in any of you an evill heart of unbelief in departing from the living God Hebr. 3.12 2. The Word threatens spiritual decays If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledg of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearfull looking for of vengeance and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Hebr. 10.26 27 31. I have something against thee because thou hast left thy first love Rev. 2.4 If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Hebr. 10.38 3. In aternum se divino mancipat familatui Ob hoc inflexibilis obstinatae mentis punitur aeternaliter malum licet temporaliter perpetratum quia quod breve fuit tempore vel opere longum esse constat in pertinaci voluntate ita ut si nunquam moreâ—etur nunquam vâ—lle pecâ—are dâ—sineret ita â—ndefessum presi icuâ—â— stud â—m pâ—oâ—profectione reputatur Perald ubi supra The Word encourageth proceeding in holiness I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2.10 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Hebr. 10.37 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me Rev. 22 12. He that endureth to the end shall be saved Nor need it seem strange that the proceeding of a godly man in holiness for a few years is rewarded with eternity for as the sin of the wicked is punisht eternally because they being obstinate and inflexible would sin eternally should they always live so the sincere desire and endeavour of the godly to proceed in holiness is crowned eternally because should they always live they would always and progressively be holy 4. Spiritual
are as none How should this humble the proudest hypocrite Could he bring to God all the gold and silver in Solomons Temple it were brought by him nothing incomparably below one broken hearted grone for sin and fiduciall breathing after Jesus Christ All his truly good works 〈◊〉 be summed up with a Cypher and though they glister here glow-worm-like in the dark night of this world yet in the bright disquisition of the day of judgment they shall all vanish and disappear Oh! how great will the shame and disappointment of hypocrites be who at that day shall see that all their dayes they have been doing nothing To close this what a comfort may this be to the poorest child of God that God in the midst of all his wants of these common blessings hath yet bestowed one upon him which is distinguishing God bestowes those blessings upon others which a Saint as such needs not have and that blessing upon him which the wicked as such cannot have And how may a child of God improve this for comfort in the weaknesse smallnesse deficiencies if they be his trouble of his grace considering it is fruit true fruit and it s more though it be but one little basket full nay but one small cluster of grapes than all the hypocrites in the world can shew and the least cluster as truly shews that is a vine which bears it as doth the plentifullest increase that ever any Vine brought forth 5. Obs 5. Incorrigibleness in sin is a dismal condition These Seducers were trees twice dead the Apostle despaired of their future living becoming fruitful and this was an estate that argued them extreamly miserable It s a wo to have a bad heart but it s the depth of wo to have an heart that shall never be better Sicknesse is an affliction but sicknesse past recovery a desperate sicknesse is a desperate evil How did it fetch tears from the eyes of Christ that the things belonging to Jerusalems peace were not onely formerly unknown but that now they were utterly hid from their eyes O Ephraim saith God what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I dâ— unto â—hee If ye will not hear saith Jeremy to the incorâ—igible Jews mine eyes shall weep in secret places for your â—ride and miâ—e eyes shall weep sore c. Jer. 13 17. Raâ—hel wept for her children and would not be comforted not because they were ill or sick but were not This incorrigiblenesse in sin which frustrates and disappoints all the means of grace provokes God to a totall and angry removall of them and makes him say I 'le take no more pains with this desperate sinner Rev. 22.11 Prophet ando non optando He that is filthy let him be filthy still It s that which as the Prophet speaks wearies God Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more Isa 1.5 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredome Hos 4.14 Ephraim is joyn'd to idols let him alone v. 17 When a tree is utterly dead Pertinax sterilitas when 't is pertinaciously barren the hedg and wal shall be taken away and broken down if it will be fruitlesse it shall be fencelesse it shall neither be prun'd nor dig'd the clouds shall be forbidden to rain Isa 5.6 When the Physician of souls sees men rend in pieces his Prescripts and pull off his Plaisters and throw away those wholesome Potions which he ministreth to purge them he gives them over and suffers them to perish in their sins Punish them he will chasten them he will not Cut them off he will cure them he will not Jer. 6.29 VVhen in stead of being refined in the fire the mettall wil after all the hotest fires and the constant blowing of the bellowes continue inseparable from its drosse when the bellows are burnt in the fire and the founder melteth in vain reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6.29.30 VVhat is it but hell upon earth for sinners to go to hell without controle to be given up to their hearts lusts to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and in a word to be as bad as they will Oh wofull recompence of spirituall pertinacy The earth which under all the drinking in of rain beareth thorns and briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing Heb. 6.8 This double death and irrecoverablenesse in sin is a kind of fore-taste of the second death As perseverance in holinesse crowns so pertinacy in sin condemns he who is obstinate in sin unto the end shall undoubtedly receive the curse of eternall death How sore a judgement is it so to be past feeling that nothing cooler then Hell-fire and lighter then the loyns of an infinite God can make us sensible though too late Oh! let us beware of the modest beginnings of sin which certainly make way for immodest proceedings therein every commission of sin is a strong engagement to a following act of wickednesse be who begins to go down to the chambers of death knows not where he shall stop In short let no help to Holinesse leave thee as bad for if so it will leave thee worse then it found thee and present unreformednesse will make away for incorrigiblenesse under the means 6. Obs 6. It s our greatest wisedome and ought to be our chiefest care to be preserved-from Apostacy Take heed of being twice dead i. e. Of adding a death by Apostacy to the death by Originall corruption To this end Let us 1. Be sure to have the truth of spirituall life in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely the externall appearances of life the shews and leaves of Religion the form of godlinesse and a name to live he that would not die twice must be sure he truly lives once hypocrisie will end in apostacy where the truth is not truly loved it will be truly left A tree that is unsound at the root will soon cease from its faint puttings forth the hollow heart will not hold out the outward form without the inward power of godlinesse continues not in times of temptation Labour for a faith of reall reception and please not thy self with that of meer illumination the bellows of persecution which blow the sparks of sincerity into a flame blow the blaze of hypocrisie into nothing 2. Forecast the worst that can befall thee and the best that can be laid before thee to take thee off from the love and wayes of holinesse reckon upon opposition in every way of God he who meets not with the hatred of a man may justly suspect his love to the truth and he who expects not that hatred will hardly cantinue his love to truth when thou enterest upon Religion think not that thou goest to sea upon pleasure but imployment not for recreation but traffick lest in stead of holding out to thy intended Port thou presently makest to the next shore upon the rising
is an Evah to himself We must not altogether blame suggestions and temptations without The Divel tempted David to number the people and to see Bathsheba naked but after both he confesseth that he had sinned Commonly volenti It may in this case be said Nolenti non fit injuria None can hurt him that will not hurt himself Every man is tempted when he he is drawn away of his own lust Poyson would never hurt unlesse taken in The strongest enemy cannot hurt us nor the falsest delude us if we will be true to our selves Were there not a complying principle outward objects of sin would draw out nothing but detestations as in Christ in whom because the Divel found nothing he could do nothing against him And it is the duty of the godly to make use of ungodly examples not for imitation but greater abhorrence Saints like fire in cold weather should be hotter and holyer for living in times of greatest coldnesse and prophaneness The best men have oft lived in worst places as Lot Elijah Obadiah c. and shined as lights in the midst of a crooked Nation and redeem'd the time although nay because the dayes were evil 'T is not outward power and opportunity to sin but inward poyson that makes us sin and therefore in all our humiliations we should more angrily smite upon our own thighs than upon any outward occasional furtherances to sin 9 The servitude and slavery of a man that follows his lust is very miserable Tit. 3.3 Serving divers lusts Obser 9. Oh how true a drudg is hee that is a lacquey to his lusts and who hath lusts for his Leaders and Commanders 1. A servant is hindred from doing any thing but what his Master pleaseth A servant to his lusts is in the bond of iniquity hindred not onely from doing but even from willing to doe any thing but what pleaseth his lusts He is alienated from the life of God cannot hear pray meditate holily Sometimes he is in arcta custodia in close custodie not so much as able to go about the very outward works of holiness at least he is in libera custodia he cannot do them any further then his lusts allow never spiritually hee is Satans captive Gaol-bird The Romans cu◠off the thumbs of their slaves that so they might be able to handle the Oar but not the Sword so the Divel hinders his slaves from holy services but leaves them in a posture of activity for sin Satan gives some of his slaves longer line then hee gives to others but he ever keeps them in his power 2. A servant is servilely imployed The Gibeonites were hewers of wood and drawers of water A Sinner is put upon basest and hardest works like the Israelites in Egypt who had their shoulders under burdens and were put upon base and dirty drudgeries Issachar couched under his burden like an Asse A wicked man takes pains to go to hell his imployments are most painful and vile the workie-dayes of a Saint are better then the holidayes of a Sinner Christs yoak is easie and his burden light 3. A servant is beaten belly-beaten back-beaten Oh the wounds of conscience that sinners get in the service of their lusts there 's no peace to them they carry furnaces in their brests silent scourges Not to speak of the wounds upon their bodies healths names estates 4. A servant is rewarded but what are the sinners wages Sum'd up they are in that one word how comprehensive Death The very work of a Saint is abundant wages the very wages of a sinner his greatest wo. After sinners have drudg'd for lusts all the day of their lives Satan lodgeth them in flaming sheets at night Hee who hath now been their Tempter wil then be their Tormenter And yet how unlike is a servant to lusts to a servant unto men 1. The work of a mans servant is at length at an end A sinners work is never done peccator nunquam feriatur sinners have no holidayes they drudg without intermission on the Sabbath they sin in prayer hearing Sacraments in eating drinking recreations on earth in hel 2. A mans servant is weary of his servitude groans like the Israelites under his bondage and desires delivery A slave to lust loves to be so stil he is a boared slave that wil not be free but accounts every one his enemie that would deliver him hee thinks his servitude his liberty his prison his palace 3. Among men one master hath many servants but spiritually one servant hath many masters serving saith the Apostle Tit. 3.3 divers lusts and pleasures Quot habet Dominos qui unum non habet yea these masters are contrary some haling this way others another Covetousnesse hales one way prodigality and pride another ambition drags one way uncleanness another A sinner by these lusts is drawn as by wild horses 4. Among men the master is better and more honourable then the servant but a servant to lusts serves masters that are infinitely below and baser then himself a man never goes below himself but when he serves them Every lust is the divels brat and Satans excrement how unworthy is that servitude when a heaven-born soul hath such a master Only sin disennobles intellectual nature making men sinners Angels divels Concerning the means of opposing and overcoming of lusts see at large before The third proof which our Apostle brings to shew that these seducers were ungodly men Vulg. Superba Bez Tumida Tigur vehementer fastuosa Alii praetumida supra modum turgida immen sa Projicis ampullas et sesquipedalia verba Horat. and to be judged at the last day is set down in these words wherein he taxeth them of their proud arrogant boasting their mouth speaketh great swelling words These words Great swelling words are in the Greek expressed in this one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth not only big bulkie bunching out or swelling but all these to a very great measure or as some beyond measure the composition increasing the signification and importing that these seducers spake words of a vastly rising swelling H 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De educ lib. mountanous bignesse Thus Plutarch useth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turgid or swelling speech is very unfit to be used about civil affaires And a very apt and true accusation is this brought against these false teachers by Jude it having been the constant course of hereticks to speak very high and bigly swelling words Descripsit sermo apostolicus Jovinianum loquentem buccis tumentibus et inslata verba trutinantem Hier. l. 1. Contr. Jovin of arrogant boasting Hierom applyeth this expression of swelling words to Jovinian whom saith he the Apostle describes speaking with swoln cheeks and puft up expressions Two things may here be opened 1. What the Apostle meant by great swelling words 2. Wherein stands the sinfulness of using them For the first In
Which is the second branch to be opened 2. The inducement encouraging to the duty of looking for the mercy of Christ It was a mercy whereby they should bee brought to eternal life Of this though wee shall enjoy it so much yet can we speak but little Under two words eternal life the Scripture frequently sets forth the state of the Saints of heaven which for its blessednesse is câ—lled life and for its durablenesse eternall 1. Life There is a threefold Life 1. Naturall consisting in the conjunction of the body and soule 2. Spirituall which is eternall life begun in respect of grace here 3. Eternall life in respect of glory hereafter whereby is understood all the happinesse to be injoyed in heaven As under the word death the greatest of evills are comprehended all the miseries inflicted for sin in this and the next state so in that of life of all things the most precious and the most set by are contained all the blessings to be enjoyed here and hereafter but because our happinesse cannot be perfect and consummat til we come to heaven that condition is principally and frequently called life Which life stands in our immediate communion with God in an unitive vision or in seeing and enjoying him Mat. 5.8 1 Jo. 3.2 Psal 16. ult c. Heaven is a low thing without God saith Angustin Whatever is lesse then himselfe is lesse then our desires In him is contain'd infinitely more then either we want or all other things in the world have his presence shall be our life and as it were enliven all things else which without him as here they are so there would be dead things In the immediate full and perfect not in respect of the object but subject uninterrupted reflexive unmixed enjoyment of this God stands life 2. Which in respect of its duration is call'd eternall as never to be interrupted and intermitted so without any end or amission and indeed this it is which makes all the enjoyments of heaven to be truly such and as the faggot-band whereby all the particular parcells of happinesse are bound and tyed together and without which they would be all scattered and lost Frequently is the life of glory said to be eternall Joh 3.15.8.51.11.25 c. pleasures for ever more a treasure in the heaven that faileth not Luk. 12.33 Extra jactum fortunae Extra periculum jacturae an eternall weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 a treasure beyond the reach of theefe and moth c. God the fountaine and treasury of life can never be exhaust The saints can never be willing to part with this God Enemies shall never be able to separate them A compleat happinesse to be truly and necessarily happy also OBSERVATIONS From the whole part 1. Obs 1. The hope of salvation is an helmet to keep off tentations to sin Eph. 6.8 The looking for the mercy of Christ quickens us in our course of Christianity The Apostle directs them to contend for the faith by looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus c. 1. It purgeth the heart from fin Whosoever hath this hope purifieth himselfe 1 Joh. 3.3 He who looketh for Christ looks to be like him and therefore he conformes himselfe to Christ in purity He who lookes for great revenues within a few yeares will not cut off his hopes We may say of sinners as of some men who are adventurous in the world they have no thing to lose but rather remove impediments The looking for mercy and the living in sin cannot stand together The love of sin is the confutation of our hopes 2. The looking for this mercy damps our affections to the things of the world He who beholds the glorious sunshine of Christs appearance hath his eyes so dazled that he can behold no beauty in any thing besides He is like Jacob who when he was to goe to a rich Egypt and a deare Joseph was not to regard his stuffe Earthly objects which to earthly mindes seeme glorious 2 Cor. 4.16 to be a beleever have no glory by reason of that glory which excelleth Though Jezabel paints her face he throwes her down and treads her under foot 3. It makes us conscientious in holy duties Paul chargeth Timothy to keep the command without spot by an argument drawn from Christs appearance and upon this ground of looking for a reward from the chief Shepherd Peter warneth the Elders to feed the flock As we cannot conceive what manner of mercy for its glory it is which we look for so neither can we express what manner of persons we should be 1 Cor. 15.58 or what manner of performances ours should be for holinesse What manner of persons saith the Apostle ought we to be 2 Pet. 3.11 4. It engageth to patience under every difficulty and distresse Behold I come quickly hold fast that thou hast Rev. 3.11 Thus. 1 Joh. 2.28 Little children abide in him that when he shall appeare we may have confidence c. Non sunt condigna passiones ad cul pam quae remittitur ad gratiaÌ„ qua immittitur ad gloriam qua promittitur He who beholds a Kingdome appointed for him will abide with Christ in his tentations The drawing nigh of the Lords coming is the Apostles ground of patience Jam. 5.8 and 2 Thes 1.6 7. John Hus and Jerom of Prague appealed from the unjust sentences of men to the righteous judgment of Christ This dayes misery is not worthy of that dayes mercy Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 No more comparable with it then is the uncovering of the head a trouble comparable to the honour of receiving a crown 1 Sam. 10. ult Saul held his peace though he were despised because hee was King How easily should our sea of honey swallow up our drop of vinegar Though godlinesse brings sufferings yet it affords encouragements like Egypt which though it were full of poysonous creatures yet full of Antidotes The reason why wee are cast away in tempests is for want of this anchor of hope of the mercy of Christ Let then O Christians the looking for this mercy engage you to duty Remember such mercy to be received deserves better services to bee performed Psal 36.5 As Gods mercy and faithfulnesse are put together so let not his mercy and our faithfulnesse bee severed Brethren if any shame could befall the Saints at the day of judgement it would be for this that they who have done so little on earth for God should receive so much in heaven from God Mercy It s mercy not merit Obs 2. that must stand us in stead at the last day Of this largely pag. 100. Part. 1. as also to this part may be reduced Pag. 101 102 103 104 105. Obs 3. the six Observations there handled concerning Gods mercy Of our Lord Jesus Christ How much are they mistaken who expect mercy and yet have no interest in Christ 'T is the mercy of Christ Christlesse persons are mercilesse