he will come and bless them Exod. 20. 24. But shall the workers of Iniquity have fellowship with him no surely Psal 49. 20. and Psal 5. 4 5. 5. The way to testify love to thy Friend or brother is to withdraw from him in any thing that is evil and shew thy dislike thereof both in word and action and if thou so dost not thou art an hater and murderer of thy Brother however thou pretendest thy self to be a Friend and to shew friendship to him Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Or that thou bear not sin for him Levit. 19. 17. with 1 Joh. 3. 15. And therefore as the Lord said in former times concerning open Idolatry so we may in part of this Idolatry If thy Brother the Son of thy Mother or thy Son or thy Daughter or the Wife of thy bosom or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul entice thee secretly saying Let us go and serve other gods let us make our belly our god and serve it thou shalt not consent unto him nor hearken unto him Deut. 13. 6-8 with Philip. 3. 19. and Rom. 16. 18. Oh! Withdraw your selves from every Brother that walks disorderly and not after the Apostles tradition that they may be ashamed 2 Thes 3. 6 14. And rebuke such an one And though at present he takes it grievously yet he that rebuketh a man afterward shall find more favour than he that flatters with the tongue Prov. 28. 23. with Job 17. 5. Obj. 3. Another may say I may be born with a little for my Intemperance for I entertain such as declare the Gospel and lay out my self and spend my estate in receiving the Brethren and adventure all for the Gospel sake Answ 1. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted and rewarded Who is there even among you that shut the doors for nought neither do ye kindle a fire on Gods altar for nought faith the Lord of hosts Mal. 1. 10. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name in that ye have ministred to the Saints and do minister And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence unto the end Heb. 6. 10 11. Answ 2. But this should be no plea in your hearts or mouths for your Intemperance and Prodigality But rather ye should be clean who in this sense bear the vessels of the Lord Isa 52. 11 or else by means of you the name of God will be blasphemed amongst the Gentiles And still your sin is the greater if you walk disorderly because by receiving the Brethren you have greater and more frequent advantage by their company conference and conversation to abstain and flee from all that is evil Oh! therefore defile not the house of God for If any man defile the temple of God him will God destroy 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. Answ 3. It is to be feared that you who are so forward to proclaim your own goodness in laying out your selves for the Gospel are more large in laying out and consuming upon your lusts what God is betrusting you with for the honouring of him his name and Gospel If you would but at the years end faithfully cast up what you have laid out for the gratifying your own or others lusts on the one hand and what you have expended towards the service of Christ and entertaining his messengers on the other and lay both in the balance the former may so greatly over-weigh the latter as that this is nothing in comparison of that And it may possibly too truly be said to you in this case as he said in another Is not the gleaning of the grapes of your prodigality and intemperance more and better than the Vintage of your liberality towards Christ and his Gospel and people Judg. 8. 2. 4. The more kind you have been toward his people the more kind should they be to you And in love to your Souls beg and be seech you that you would take heed lest at any time your heart be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness or the cares of this life Oh! refrain your feet from every crooked path and from bibbing and bibbers particularly that you lose not all your reward in conclusion And the Lord in mercy guide us all by his counsel and help us to be guided thereby that hereafter he may receive us to Glory So he desireth to pray who is Your most unworthy Friend and Brother Charles Phelpes Errata PAge 17 line 15 for them read men p. 21 l. 13 r. Drunkards p. 22 l. 14 r. excluded p. 23 l. 16 dele and put it in l. 17 after daily p. 25 l. 4 for is r. in p. 36 l. 7 r. Mal. 2. p. 48. l. 30 for Isa 45. r. Isa 59. p. 51 l. 14 r you may p. 52 l. 2 r. sottish children l. 16 r. joyning p. 58 l. 27 r. belong p. 61 l. 20 del first Comma l. 23 r. Nahum p. 63 l. 24 r. dehort p. 65. l. 14 for sensually r. sententially p. 70 l. 4 r Rom. 8 3. p. 79 l. 6 r. testified l. ll del first and. p. 93 l. 32 r. fulfilled his p. 94 l. 3 r. tasted p. 96 l. 29 for at r. as p. 106 l. 11 for own r. one As also in p. 121 l. 11. p. 140 l. 23 r. Sun l. 24 for Matth. r. Mal. p. 142 l. 18 r. might p. 144 l. 5 r. deprivations p. 148 l. 7 r. right l. 19 r. Drink p. 155 l. 20 dele it p. 156 for the first there r. they p. 158 l. 26 r. as are There are some other literal escapes and mispointings which the Reader is desired to correct as he finds them A CAVEAT Against DRUNKENNESS Ephes V. 18. And be not drunk with Wine wherein is excess but be filled with the spirit THese words are a further Admonition and Instruction which the Apostle gives to these Believers to whom he writes unto whom after his salutation of them chap. 1. v. 1 2 he had been magnifying the Apostles Office in chap. 1. v. 3-12 and blessing God for his great mercy to them in causing the Gospel to be preached to them and helping them to receive it so as it wrought effectually in them chap. 1. v. 13-15 Who sometimes were dead in sins and trespasses in a sad and miserable condition chap. 2. v. 1 2-5 11 12 and yet then Christ made peace for them and preached it to them and they were saved by Grace out of that sad condition and made fellow-Citizens with the Saints the Apostles Gospel being received by them not as the word of Men but as it is in truth the Word of God chap. 2. v. 13-22 minding them how that now the Mystery is opened and revealed as it was not in former times In which is contained That the Gentiles should have the unsearchable riches of Christ preached among
stubble and the flame consumes the Chaff so their root shall be rottenness c. Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people and he hath stretched forth his hand against them and hath smitten them c. And threatens to bring upon them Forreiners to wast and destroy them Isa 5. 11-14 22-25-30 Yea indeed he is many times so provoked to anger with men on this account as that especially if they continue in this iniquity he cuts them off even in their sin of Drunkenness as may be intimated unto us in what is said by the Prophet The Lord will make an utter end Affliction shall not rise up the second time For while they be drunken as Drunkards they shall be devoured c. Nahum 1. 9 10. And however persisting in this Iniquity they will hereafter be excluced and shut out of the Kingdom of God Nor drunkards nor revilers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 10. The works of the flesh are manifest which are adultery drunkenness revellings and such like of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God faith the Apostle Gal. 5. 19-21 All which considerations do shew unto us that the Believers need to be admonished and warned of this Iniquity that they be not Drunk with Wine c. And this Instruction as thus spoken unto may be of usefulness to us 1. To shew unto us That the believers themselves are not while in mortal bodies perfect as to attainment Phil. 3. 12. But they have still the Old-man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts thereof which though Crucified with Christ yet is not whosly destroyed Rom. 6. 6. Therefore are they instructed and incouraged through the Spirit to mortify continually the deeds of the Body that they may live Rom. 8. 13. There is a Generation indeed that are pure and sinless in their own eyes and yet are not washed from their filthiness There is a generation O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up Prov. 30. 12 13. But it is not so with them that walk in the light as God is in the light they see by the light of Gods testimony and prove by experience that they have sin within them and many fleshly lusts that war against the Soul to abstain from daily ungodliness and worldly lusts to deny and renounce And the consideration hereof causeth them to cry out O wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death Rom. 7. 14-24 1 Pet. 2. 11. Tit. 2. 11 12. And this leads them to pity others Gal. 6. 1. 2. It shews unto us the mercy of God in giving gifts unto men and fitting them to go before others in the Word of the Lord and to warn them of every path of the Destroyer and such should not be despised but esteemed by us who are faithful in admonishing us of that which is evil and displeasing unto him who is of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity Thus when the Apostle had been warning the Thessalonians of Intemperance and instructing them to Sobriety he gives this exhortation to them And we beseech you Brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you to wit among other things of Drunkenness and Insobriety as appears by the scope of the place And to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake 1 Thes 5. 6 7 8-12 13 for whosoever despiseth them in their faithful admonitions and dehortations despiseth not Man but God who also hath given unto them his Holy Spirit to accompany and assist them 1 Thes 4. 2-4-8 3. Seeing such need to be dehorted from this Iniquity of Drunkenness we may learn from hence That they are no friends to them nor is this love in any whatever pretensions and professions they have and make thereof who entice them to this great and provoking Iniquity They need not be provoked to Insobriety for we are all too forward thereto naturally but dehorted therefrom And therefore it is not loving-kindness but hating-kindness to urge any to eat or drink intemperately and such an Iniquity as wherewith God is provoked Wo unto him that giveth his neighbour drink that puttest thy bottle to him and makest him drunken also that thou mayest look on their nakedness Thou art filled more with shame than with glory c. Habbak 2. 15 16. Though men may pretend this to be liberality and to tend to their glory yet it will appear in conclusion that such glory is their shame and that they call evil good and good evil put darkness for light and light for darkness Isa 5. 20-22 And time will come when the vile person shall no more be called liberoel Isa 32. 5. Whatever appearance of love such may have to us yet indeed it is and is to be esteemed hatred by us for Love worketh no ill to his neighbour Let us then cast off these works of darkness and walk honestly not in rioting and drunkenness Rom. 13. 8-10-13 and rather esteem them to be our friends and reckon them to be lovers of us and kind to us whose work it is to endeavour to preserve us from this and all other crooked-paths whatsoever Prov. 27. 5 6. 4. The consideration hereof might hide Pride from them and help them Not to be high minded but fear Rom. 11. 20. Happy is the man that feareth alwayes but he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischief Prov. 28. 14. Truly even the Believers have great cause to stand in awe and not to sin for they have sin in them and many enemies that seek the hurt of them and too readily and frequently they offend in many things and therefore it behoves them to fear the Commandment Prov. 13. 13 And suffer the word of Exhortation and not to think themselves to be so strong or wise as that they need no such admonitions But rather to be alwayes jealous of themselves and to seed themselves to eat and drink with fear Jude v. 12 The wise man feareth and departeth from evil but the fool rageth and is confident Prov. 14. 16. Yea indeed it especially behoves them to flee from Intemperance and avoid all occasions thereof Therefore is this Instruction and Counsel given by Wisdom to her Children Hear thou my Son and be wise and guide thine heart in the way be not amongst Wine-bibbers Prov. 23. 19 20. And this leads us to a second Instruction from these words viz. II. In that he saith Be not ye drunk with Wine so he signifieth to us That it doth especially behove them who have heard and believed the word of Truth the Gospel of our Salvation to flee from Drunkenness and if they do not so their Iniquity will be greater more provoking and inexcusable than others and their judgment more terrible and intolerable Hence to such and
from the consideration of their nighness to and mercy they have received from God he thus speaks This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that Ye walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind Eph. 4. 17-20 So the Apostle Peter saith Dearly beloved I beseech you as Strangers and Pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the Soul having your conversation honest c. 1 Pet. 2. 9-12 And this will appear if we consider 1. They are called out of darkness out of ignorance and blindness into Gods marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. And therefore it more abundantly behoves them to put off and flee from this work of darkness Ye were sometimes darkness saith the Apostle to these believing Ephesians and then ye walked according to the course of this world c. but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart Eph. 5. 8 with chap. 2. 1 2 and 4. 17 18. Indeed this is the condemnation as to men generally this is their condemning-condemning-sin and the cause of their condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Joh. 3. 19 20. But now as to these not only light is come into the world but they are turned from Darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God as to their state they have believed in the light and are the children of it born of it and called into it indued with the light of the knowledg of God which shines in the face of Christ and therefore it behoves them especially to avoid and abstain from all evil and from this of Intemperance particularly or else they will more highly sin and rebel against the light than others Christ hath given them light let such see then that they walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Let them not be drunk with Wine Eph. 5. 15-18 Certainly men act as and render themselves to be fools at an high rate especially the Children of Light who are Drunk with Wine and such deeds are directly and openly opposite to the Light they have received and to that Wisdom they are indued with As on the other hand it is an high point of Wisdom and the way to be more wise still for those who are of the light to avoid Wine wherein is excess and such as are Bibbers thereof Hence the Holy Ghost saith My Son if thine heart be wise mine heart shall rejoyce even mine yea my reins shall rejoyce c. But how may the heart of such an one be wise Wherein consists and what is the way to Wisdom The Wisdom of God informs us of this as one thing contained in it and needful to it Hear thou my Son and be wise and guide thine heart in the Way Be not amongst wine-bibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh Prov. 23. 15-21 This Argument the Apostle also propounds to the Thessalonians to move them to be and abide Sober Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day We are not of the night nor of darkness Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober For they that sleep sleep in the night and they that are drunken are drunken in the night But let us who are of the day be sober 1 Thes 5. 5-8 And if they be not so who are Children of light but become the servants of corruption as their sin is more sinful than others so their judgment will be much more severe and intollerable For such as these The blackness of darkness is reserved for ever Jude 12 13. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered to them 2 Pet. 2. 19-22 The Apostle gives us to understand that the Iniquity of Intemperance in those who are Children of Light is greater than that of other men and answerably their judgement and punishment will be heavier and more terrible if they be not seasonably washed therefrom in that he saith I wrote unto you in an Epistle not to keep company with fornicators yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous c. For then must ye needs go out of the world But now I have written unto you not to keep company If any that is called a Brother be a fornicator or a Drunkard with such an one no not to eat not familiarly to converse or not to eat at the Table of the Lord with such an one as this is 1 Cor. 5. 9-11 Because such sin so greatly against the Light and act so very uusutably unto those principles which they have received of God in walking according whereto they would certainly be preserved from such a brutish and beastly Iniquity as is this of Drunkenness and Intemperance 2. These are Saints by calling and profession washed and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God and so are brought nigh unto God They are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the household of God And in Christ they are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit And so are made nigh unto him by the Blood of Christ Eph. 2. 13-19-22 They are brought into and made of his House And holiness becometh thy house O Lord for ever Psal 93. 5. And therefore it doth behove these especially to escape and flee from the corruptions of the world and this also particularly of Insobriety or otherwise they will more abundantly provoke the eyes of his Glory unto whom they are made so nigh Be not unequally yoaked together with unbelievers For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness And what concord hath Christ with Belial whose Children Drunkards are as we have seen Or what part hath he that believeth with an Infidel And what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols For ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them c. And if any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy For the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are 2 Cor. 6. 14-16 with 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. The Lord will be sanctified in them that come nigh him Lev. 10. 3 though he hateth sin with a perfect and everlasting hatred in all God is of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity yet
especially in any large measure will enflame the natural heart with love and lustings towards the proper object thereof And therefore David that he might cover his great evil and iniquity made Uriah to eat and drink yea he made him drunk As knowing this was the way to cause him to go down to his Wife and lye with her and though David's policy herein failed him yet therein is signified that this was a proper means to bring to pass his evil and naughty intendment 2 Sam. 11. 11-13 So we may say this Spirit is by way of eminency Wine that wherewith being filled we shall be enflamed with heavenly and Divine Love Hence this Spirit is called the Spirit of Love 2 Tim. 1. 7 and the Love effected in the Believers is called their love in the Spirit Colos 1. 8 and to move the Believers to walk in the Spirit the Apostle tells them The fruit of the Spirit is love This is that which the Holy Spirit doth produce in them in whom it is and abides Gal. 5. 16-22 And so this Spirit doth enflame the heart with love to Jesus Christ and God in him It doth discover make known and shed abroad the love of God in the heart of the Believer even that love that while we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly the Spirit causes to appear the kindness and love of God to man ward in sending his Son the Saviour of the world and of Christ in laying down his life for us and tasting death by the grace of God for every man That this love being seen known and believed by us we might love him who hath so testified love to us with all our hearts and hereby is their love made perfect who know and believe it and that God is love so as they love him because he first loved them Rom. 5. 5-8 Tit. 3. 4 5. 1 Joh. 4. 13-16 17-19 Hereby he makes them sick of love and helps them to cleave to him in love with full purpose of heart Cant. 2. 3 4 5. And in discovering of the excellency and comeliness of Christ of the plenteousness of Redemption in him by his blood even the forgiveness of our sins of the everlasting righteousness brought in by and treasured up in him of the treasures of wisdom and knowledg hid in him of that eternal life given us in him and all things pertaining to life and godliness of the favour of his good ointments wherewith he is anointed as the great Apostle and High-Priest yea of his compleat perfect and universal loveliness hereby the Spirit renders him as an object worthy to be delighted in by the Soul And therefore do the virgins love him He is the He whom their Souls love Cant. 1. 3 4. and 5. 8-16 And this Love is such as is clean and leads to the abhorring all that is evil even whatsoever is forbidden by the Lord and discovered by the light the Spirit in the Testimony to be displeasing and offensive to the beloved Hence whereas God in giving forth his Law at first saith Thou shalt have no other gods before me Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy c. all is summed up in this short saying elsewhere Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and soul and mind and strength Exod. 20. 3-11 with Deut. 6. 4 5. Matth. 22. 36 37. To signify that the love of the Spirit is such as is exercised in abstaining from and denying all ungodliness and in cleaving unto and following whatsoever is well-pleasing in the sight of the Lord and this Spirit is also purifying the heart from all unclean and filthy love in obeying the truth unto the unfeigned love of the Brethren that they might love one another with a pure heart fervently 1 Pet. 1. 22. 1 Joh. 3. 16-18 And this Love thus begotten even by the Spirit in commending Gods love in Christ worketh no ill to ones neighbour and so preserves from Murder Uncleanness Thest bearing False-witness Covetousness Rioting and Drunkenness or any other thing that is contrary to sound Doctrine Rom. 13. 8-13 And also this Spirit in discovering the greatness and extensiveness of the Love of Christ to wit that this One died for all constrains the Believers thereof to love all men even their enemies also Mat. 5. 44 45. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. 8. Wine is proper to make men free to speak it causes them to be talkative to open their mouths freely in discoursing or speaking about any matter or business So Elihu saith Behold my belly is as Wine which hath no vent it is ready to burst like new bottles I will speak that I may be refreshed I will open my lips and answer And that which made him so free to speak was this Spiritual Wine we are speaking of He was full of matter and the Spirit within him did constrain him Job 32. 17-20 And thus it was with the Apostles and the residue of the Believers when the Holy Spirit was poured down from on high upon them They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak c. They did freely declare the wonderful works of God And though some foolish ones mocking said These men are full of new wine because they were so free in speaking yet as Peter saith These were not drunken with Wine as they supposed But this was that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel It shall come to pass in the last dayes saith God I will pour out of my Spirit c. Act. 2. 1-4-11-13-17 18. This Spirit will apt and enable us to speak not as men filled with Wine do to wit vain and unprofitable things But it will help us to speak unto God and to pray unto him in Christs name for what we want And to give thanks unto him alwayes for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 5. 18-20 The Spirit in opening the things of Christ unto us helpeth our Infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought But the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession according to God Rom. 8. 26 27. And this Spirit will apt and incline us to be speaking unto our selves in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs Eph. 5. 18 19. To be teaching and admonishing one another Col. 3. 16. And to speak unto others even all men or any man we have opportunity to converse with that will hear To speak unto them and make mention of the sufferings of Christ and what he hath thereby done and obtained into himself for every poor sinful creature of mankind And the love of God manifested in Christ to man-ward And in all to make mention of Gods righteousness even of his