beam his advice is rather then it should do so to shut the door upon that anger which is just In the midst of all thy injuries labour for a meek and a quiet spirit In sinful contentions he who is the conqueror is the slave let not thy adversary be thy teacher nor be thou his looking glasse to shew him his shape in thy self let him behold in thee a mind above and deaf to and impenetrable by reproaches let not judgment be troden under foot If thine adversary deserve pitty why dost thou rage against him if punishment why dost thou imitate him To conclude this as Basil in that excellent discourse of his concerning anger Never think thy self worthy of estimation from others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et infra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil de Ira. or others unworthy of estimation from thee studie the due ordering of thy irascible part let it be at the command of grace and then it wil be helpful to thee against sin Oh how happy were we if all our anger and indignation were set upon sin we can never hate sin enough unlesse we mix indignation with our hatred use thine anger like the dog to spare those of the family or the flock I mean men and set it upon the thief the wolf thine own lusts Let not that which was given thee to be helpful to thee be by thee made hurtful to thee let the sword of anger spare Isaak and sacrifice the ram be angry but sin not Anger should not be destroyed but sanctified Be angry with the tempter the divel who stirs up thy brother to wrong thee and be not like the furious dog who bites the stone thrown and meddles not with the hand that threw it The man is to be pittied Satan threw this stone at thee he instigated thy brothers passion In short as the Unicorns horn upon the forehead of that fierce creature is most hurtful and destructive but in the Apothecaries shop most useful and salubrious so passion which men by nature abuse to the hurt of themselves and others should by grace be made helpful and beneficial to both 9. Obs 9 It s the inward corruption of the heart which sends forth the foame of shameful actions These seducers like the sea had that foame and filth first within them which afterward they foamed out and sent forth There could never be an unclean foame sent forth unlesse there were first filthinesse in the sea All the unholinesse and irregularity of practice comes from the hearts depravednesse Evil things are brought forth from the evil treasure of the heart out of the heart saith Christ come evil thoughts murders adulteries the heart is the womb of all sinful and impure issues an unholy root sends forth bitter and sinful fruits All the prodigious abominations which are made visible in the conversation proceed from an unsanctified disposition Who sees not then at what door to lay all the deformed issues of mens practices how foolishly are men displeased with themselves for their outward transgressions in their lives while they tamely and quietly endure an unchanged and unrenewed heart why should any be displeased with that tree for bearing of fruit whose roots they wil continue to dung and water how vaine and preposterous are those endeavours of reformation which are without inward renovation If the tree continue bitter and corrupt all the influences of heaven cannot make the fruit good If we would have an holy life we must labour for a changed heart A Christians reformation begins at the wrong end when it begins at his fingers ends as the heart first lives naturally so spiritually the foundation of most mens mortification is too shallow t is not hearty and inward enough and hence t is that their religion in these daies is like our buildings more slight and lesse durable than of old It s fond to think of drying up the streams when we nourish the fountain David began at the right end Psal 51. when he desired the Lord to create in him a clean heart til the heart be healed we only skin the sore we root not out the core of the corrupt matter and hence the cure comes to be only cloaked Christians Curar palliativa would you heal the unwholsome water of your lives you must first cast salt into the spring get thy sea first made pure within at the bottome and then thy foame thy mire and dirt wil not be cast up purge thy stomack if thou wouldst not have an unsavory breath remove the inward dunghil and then thou wilt be rid of outward steams lay thy mine under the foundation cleanse your hands ye sinners saith James James 4.8 but then the way prescribed is purifie your hearts ye double-minded New professions expressions sewed to an old disposition wil but make the rent the greater And remember that 10. The unrenewed heart if stir'd and moved soon discovers its foame and silthinesse Isa 47.20 These seducers like the sea put forth their unclean mire and dirt when disquieted and enraged The waters which are dirtyest at the bottom appear fair and clear in a calm and serene day but when the storms and winds arise they then shew what is in them til the heart be cleansed any occasion or tentation wil draw forth its filthiness If our lusts be not dead but only sleeping every jog wil soon stir them up London-streets inclinable of themselves to be dirty are we say by a smal showr made foule A wicked man is but a chained Lion or a tamed divel at the best If he appear holy at any time t is not because he is a sea without mire but without storms when his tide of nature is opposed by the winds either of reprehension or chastisement he wil shew himself but dirty water Acts 19 28. we read not that the Ephesians foamed out their shame til they apprehended their Diana-worship struck at nor that the Jews foamed out theirs til Steven had touched them for their hypocrisy Acts 7.54 nor that they railed and called Christ Samaritan and one that had a divel John 8.28 till he convinced them of their sin and his own innocency nor did the Sodomites discover their shameful uncleannesse so much til Lot reproved them oh with how gentle a gale was their sea of sin troubled Hos 11.2 Never did the secret sicknesse or wickednesse of Ephraim so much shew it self nor were the evil humours so much provoked and stirred until God went about to heal them nor did the rage of Pharaohs heart against God swel so prodigiously til Gods judgment lay upon him We see then how best to try the truth and strength of grace O Christian what art thou when stirred dost thou not foame out dirt in a storme art thou good when thou art pleased calm when the tide of thy nature and the wind of word or providence go together truly this is no great matter but observe
the roots 2 Therfore I understand with Reverend Mr. Perkins and others that these words without fruit are as it were a correction of the former as if the Apostle had said they are trees whose fruit withereth or rather without fruit altogether the fruit which they bear not deserving so much as the name of fruit as trees that bear no other then withering fruit are esteemed no better then unfruitfull trees and thus notwithstanding their withering fruit they may be said to be without fruit in sundry respects 1. They were without fruit in regard that all their forementioned fruits were not produced by the inward life and vigour of the spirit of sanctification in their souls Their fruit grew upon a corrupt tree and proceeded from an unclean bitter root They were not the issues of a pure heart and faith unfaigned but the streams of an unclean fountain The fruitfulnesse onely of slow-bushes Crab-trees and brambles cannot make the year be accounted a fruitfull year A corrupt tree saith Christ cannot bring forth good fruit Mat. 7.18 How can ye that are evill speak good things Mar. 12.24 Their best fruits were but fruits of nature coming from an unregenerated heart That fruit which before his conversion Paul accounted as precious as gold he after esteemed as base as dung 2. They were without fruit in regard their fruits were not brought forth to a Divine end they were directed to no higher an end then selves Riv. in loc Israel saith God is an empty Vine though bringing forth fruit for it followes he bringeth forth fruit to himself I am not ignorant that some Interpreters expound not that Text concerning the fruit of works though yet they grant the place may be by consequence drawn to take in them likewise As these fruits were not fruits of righteousnesse Phil. 1.11 so neither were they to the praise of his glory If thou wilt return O Israel saith God return to me Jer. 4.1 They returned saith the Psalmist but not to the most high The pipe cannot convey the water higher than is the fountain head from whence it comes and these fruits being not from God were not directed to him Fruits brought forth to our selves are rotten at the core they are not for his taste who both looks into and tries the heart 3. They might be without fruit as not producing works in obedience to the Rule The doing of the thing commanded may possibly be an act of disobedience God looks upon all our works as nothing unlesse we do the thing commanded because it is commanded This onely is to serve him for conscience sake A man may do a good work out of his obedience to his lust As its possible for a man to believe 1 Thess 4.3 1 Thess 5.18 not because of Divine Revelation so is it possible for a man to work and not upon the ground of Divine injunction Be not unwise but understand saith the Apostle what is the will of God Eph. 5.17 Mans wisdom is to understand and follow Gods will 4. Without fruit as to their own benefit comfort and salvation The works of Hypocrites are not ordained by God to have heaven follow them at the last day all they had or did will appear to be nothing and when the Sun shall arise then the works which here have shined like glow-worms shall appear unglorious and unbeautiful of all that hath been sown to the flesh shall nothing be reaped but corruption God crowns no works but his own nor will Christ own any works but those which have been brought forth by the power of his own Spirit 5. Lastly Without the fruit of any goodness in Gods account because without love to God 1 Cor. 13. Love is the sweetness of our services If I have not love saith Paul I am nothing and as true is it without it I can do nothing the gift of an enemy is a gift and no gift As love from God is the top of our happiness so love to God is the sum of our duty There is nothing beside love but an Hypocrite may give to God with Gods people it is the kernel of every performance God regards nothing we give him unless we give our selves also Its love which makes a service please both the master and servant Now wicked men in all they bring forth though they may have bounty in the hand yet have no love in the heart they have not a drop of love in a Sea of service This for the Explication of the second aggravation or gradation of the sin and misery of these Seducers they were without fruit The third follows in these words twice dead These words I take to express a further degree of their spiritual wretchedness under the continued Metaphor of Trees 'T was bad to have withering fruit worse to have no fruit at all worse yet to be not only without all fruit but even altogether without life twice dead Two things are here to be explained 1. In what respect these trees may be said to be dead 2. How to be twice dead For the first Death is 1. Temporal and Corporal that which is a privation of life by the departure of the soul from the body 2. Spiritual befalling either the godly or the wicked 1. The godly are said to be dead spiritually three wayes 1. Dead to sin Rom. 6.2 1 Pet. 2.24 the corruption of their natures being by the Spirit of Christ subdued and destroyed 2. Dead in respect of the Law Ceremonial Col. 2.20 dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world Moral Gal. 2.19 So Paul saith he was dead to the Law and Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law it being not able to make them guilty who are in Christ nor to terrifie their consciences nor to irritate them to sin 3. Dead to the world Gal. 6.4 so Paul was crucified to the world either because the World contemned and despised him as a dead man or else because the world had no more power to entice and allure him from Christ then the objects of the senses have to work upon a dead man 2. Spiritual death befalls the wicked and unregenerate they being without the Spirit of Christ to animate and quicken them which Spirit enlivens the soul supernaturally as the soul doth the body naturally hence they are said to be dead in sins Eph. 2.1.5 Col. 2.13 and dead Mat. 8.22 Luke 9.60 Rom. 6.13 Joh. 5.25 and to remain in death 1 Joh. 3.14 Their works hence are said to be dead Hebr. 9.14 As the immortality of the damned is no life but an eternall death so the conjunction of the souls and bodies of wicked men is not properly life but umbratilis vita a shadow of life or rather a very death they being without spiritual feeding growth working all vital operations and lying under the deformity loathsomness insensibleness in a spiritual sense of such as are dead or according to the resemblance here used by our Apostle which is
had those heroick gifts and Kingly abilities of wisdom valour c. infused into him which enabled him to discharge his place of Government He who formerly sought asses now spent his thoughts about preserving his Kingdom When David was anointed King by Samuel it s said that the spirit of God came upon him 1 Sam. 16.13 which furnish'd him with gifts as of sanctification wherewith though formerly he were endowed Nâ—m 11.17 2 King 2.15 Exod. 18.21 Deut. 1.13 yet possibly not in so great a measure as now so of Regiment and Government and it may be of Prophesie and Poesie 3 In that due respect or honour which is yeilded to them This is first Internall consisting 1. in an honorable opinion and high estimation of them Despising and thinking evil with the heart will make way for despising and speaking evil with the tongue The people thought David worth ten thousand of them Num. 16.3 It was Corahh's sin to think for else he had not said as he did that Moses and Aaron were no more excellent then the rest of the people 2. This internal honour stands in a reverent and awfull fear of them a duty which we owe to our Parents either by nature or analogy Lev. 19.3 Secondly Externall as 1. To rise up when the person of the Magistrate is in presence Job 29.8 2 as in most Countries to uncover the head 3 To bow the body 2 Sam. 24.20 the knee Gen. 41.43 4 To stand Exod. 18.13 2 King 5.25 5 To be silent when he speaks and to attend Job 29.9 10. 6. To use words of submissivenesse as Gen. 42.10 They call Joseph My Lord and themselves ver 13. his servants 7 To obey Josh 1.6 though in the Lord Ephes 6.1 8 To pray for the Magistrate 1 Tim. 2.1 2. 4 Lawyers and Polititians mention sundry jura Majestatis Vid. Bodin de Repub. l. 1. c. 10 or Rights belonging to Majestie As 1. The giving of Lawes Arnisseum l. 2. de jur Majest c. 1. n. 8. 2 The exercise of supreme Jurisdiction beyond which there is no appeal 3. The power of the Militia 4 Receiving Tribute of Lands Cusâ—â—me from the Sea Subsidie of Goods 5 The liberty of Hunting 6 A propriety in such things as have no rightfull owners to claim them 7. The deriving of Honours Gen. 41.41 42 8 The coyning of Money To which may added that State or port sutable to their places in respect of Attendance Diet Apparel Buildings c. In the second Branch of Explication we are to enquire what was the sin of speaking evil of Dignities These words speak evil are in the Original one word Idem valet quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alterius â—â—mam laedere maledictis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they blaspheme It signifies properly to hurt ones name by defamation or slander And though it be now appropriated to a dishonour offered to Gods name yet it 's frequently in Scripture spoken of defaming or evill speaking against man as 1 Cor 4.13 Being defamed evil spoken of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blasphemed we intreat and 1 Pet. 4.4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excesse of riot Tit. 3.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 blaspheming or speaking evill of you So Rom. 3.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we be slanderously reported And here in this place the word is spoken concerning the defaming or speaking evill of persons in authority A sin with which the Seducers are in this place charged they being such who because they could not by the power of their hand remove and displace Magistrates would do their utmost to blast and abuse them by the poyson of their tongue This sin of speaking evill of Dignities may be severall wayes committed Sometimes more secretly by whispering onely or libelling for fear of censure scandals of Governors have seldome any fathers they kill and make no report they steal away reputation Sometimes more openly and before any promiscuously and both these wayes of evil speaking may be in a way either of murmuring or of mutining Of murmuring When the people are in any distresse Hominibus injuriâ affectis aut pro merito minimè evectis promptum est in viros principes debacchari animi sui acerbitatem exspuâ—ri Riv. in Exod par 2. pag. 71. col 2. oft the first stone of complaint is thrown against the Magistrate The Israelites want water and they pray not to God but murmur against Moses as if he had made the waters bitter and the wildernesse dry It s a Kingly condition to deserve well and hear ill If men prosper never so much they only applaud themselves if they suffer never so little they murmur against their Rulers Of mutining Sometimes men so speak evill Magistracy as to raise up evil against them Murmurers offend out of impatiency mutiners out of envie By the former Governors are taxed for not taking enough Numb 16.3 by the later for taking too much upon them though Moses's command was a burden to him yet was it an ey-sore to others Corah and his company This sin offends both by uttering against Rulers things false and evill thus Absolom unworthily traduceth his Fathers Government 2 Sam. 15.3 by telling the Israelites that there was no man deputed of the King to hear them and Shimei cursed and reviled David 2 Sam. 16.7 by calling him bloudy man and man of Belial And things true and good falsly and evilly as sometimes though reporting yet lessening extenuating and detracting from their good actions or depraving them as done of bad intents for bad ends or in hypocrisie by uncovering their secret infirmities by amplifying and aggravating their faults affirming that miscarriage to be deliberately done which was done rashly or presumptuously which was done weakly c. The sinfulnesse of this evil speaking appears severall wayes See Part 1 pag. 130 131. concerning the sin of despising dominion 1. By its notorious thwarting and opposing the evident commands of Scripture Exod. 22.28 Thou shalt not revile the gods nor curse the Ruler of thy people Eccles 10.20 A Text cited by Paul himself Acts 23.5 who there as I humbly conceive apologizeth for himself for his sudden and unadvised expression in calling the high Priest a whited wall the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not signifying I knew not absolutely but I wist not I considered not I heeded not I took not sufficient notice how he was the high Priest q.d. In my haste I termed him whited wall which term I confesse might wel have been spared not because it was false but not fit nor consonant to that which is written Honour the King 1 Pet. 2.17 Render to all their dues c. Honour to whom honour Rom. 13.7 The will of God against all pretexts imaginable should be the end of all strife 2 Because the speaking evil of Dignities is the speaking evil of God himself who ordained them Pro. 17.5
the Jewes against Christ Act. 6.11 and Stephen And 2. By receiving of evil reports against them from others when in stead of driving away a back-biting tongue with an angry countenance Prov. 25.23 as the North wind driveth away rain we encourage and cherish evil speakers by our receiving what defamations they bring us still to steal from the good names of others when though we set not our neighbours name on fire yet we stand and gladly warm our hands by it when we see it set on fire 2 The sin of evil speaking may be in his presence or to his face and then its either meeking or railing 1 Mocking is when a disgraceful taunt or gird is given to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gen. 37.19 the brethren of Joseph scoffingly called him Dreamer the children 2 King 2.23 called Elisha Bald-pate and so in Babylon they mock at the Israelites for their Hebrew songs Psal 137 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rayling is properly when any sin or wickedness is objected as Murder Uncleanness Sedition Thus Shimei called David a bloody man and a man of Belial and the Heathens called the Christians Incestuous enemies to the State c. The third particular in this first branch viz. what Michael did forbear to do is the sinfulness of bringing this Judgment of railing or evil speaking And this appears 1. In regard of God It s a wickedness eminently injurious to him it s strictly prohibited by him Mat. 7.1 Lev. 19.16 Col. 3.8 Eph. 4.3 James 4.11 Severely threatned punished 2 Kin 2.32 2 Kings 2.23 It audaciously invades the seat and room of God himself taking his office out of his hands who is the Judge of heaven and earth and from our standing before the judgement seat of Christ the Apostle argues strongly against the judging of others Rom. 14.10 Judge nothing saith the Apostle before the time 1 Cor. 4.5 And what hath any man to do to judge another mans servant and when we speak evil a gainst any for his holiness we most of all speak evil against him who is the Author of that holiness Yea this sin of reviling and evil-speaking is contrary to the course and carriage of God who approves of the wayes of his people highly esteems of their graces accepts and rewards their weak endeavours he pleads for his Saints acquits them answers accusations brought against them and pronounces a righteous sentence upon them he cals Nathaneel a true Israelite Paul an Elect vessel c. 2. In regard of those who hear these evil speakings Hearers commonly do both willingly and hurtfully hear others defamed It damps and destroys in them the love of their Brethren It s a draught though of sweet yet of deadly poyson given in at the ear It layes a stumbling-block before the blind by abusing and falsly or unduly informing the ignorant to whom the defamation is reported It hath separated chief friends 3. In regard of the Party who is guilty of evil-speaking This sin speaks his madness and folly so as he may destroy his Neighbours name he adventures to damn his own soul so as he may make others think ill of him whom he hatâ—s he cares not how deeply he himself incurs the wrath of God so as he may but kill one by defaming hm he cares not though in the doing thereof he destroyes thousands by infecting them He is like one who will blow in a heap of dust though thereby he puts out his own eyes truly said Solomon Prov. 10.18 He that uttereth slander is a fool True Religion cannot consist with such a course If any man seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue that mans Religion is vain Jam. 1.26 A good man cannot be an evil speaker This sin of evil-speaking is the disgrace of the evil-speaker It s a practice of the Old man unbeseeming and to be layd off by Christians that profess new life as sordid rags Col. 3.8 An evil-speaker is the Divels eldest son he bears his name his mouth is the Divels vessel which he fils with the water of cursing he is the Divels tooth dens Diaboli to bite men he is a Pedlar furnisht with wares by the Divel to vend and put off in the world for him he scatters perfumes to delight him Detrectore Diabolo thurisicant Pera. d. p. 320. he tels tales to make him merry he more defiles his own heart and tongue then his Neighbours name he is by some not unfitly compared to a Butchers Dog taught by his Master not to touch the good and choyce pieces of flesh in the shop but the filthy offal or any putrified pieces he greedily and eagerly devours by others to Swine who if they come into a Garden in one part whereof grow a thousand sweetly fragrant flowers and in a corner whereof is laid an heap of dung delight more to be groveling in the dung then smelling on the flowers or who go not to the flowers to smel but to root them up They rake in the faults and infirmities of others their graces they abhor as much to observe as they do to imitate like Owles in the dark they see in the sun-shine they are blind This evil speaking is a soul-disquieting sin it wears out whets out the heart with vexation Envy the mother of calumnie is the saw of the soul an evil speaker is his own scourge Invidia animae scrra Miserable is his life who placeth his content in anothers unhappiness in stead of his own happiness To conclude it 's a God-provoking sin punish'd frequently in this life by defamations a payment in its own coyn troubles law-contentious losse of estate and often life as appears in the death of the 42 children 2 King 2.23 of Shimei the leprosie of Miriam c. He who casts up the stones of reproaches will crack his own crown But certainly without repentance destructive eternally excluding from the kingdome of God 1 Cor. 6.10 God will reprove in his wrath if we reproach with our words Psal 50.19 20. when we have done with our speech our speech hath not done with us 4. In respect of him who is spoken against evil speaking is a sin of the greatest cruelty it takes away that which is better then honour riches yea life and such a good which being stolen away cannot be recompensed because its worth cannot be estimated Evil speaking buries the dear and precious name the throat of the evil speaker being herein an open sepulchre At the best it deals with men as the Ammonites with Davids servants it takes away half their names cuts their reputation off at the midst and commonly they who are defamed in some one respect are suspected and slighted upon every occasion one flie marres the whole pot of ointment And one defamation wil be sooner believed though reported but by one never so unworthy of credit then a commendation though confirmed by the joynt suffrages of an hundred faithfull witnesses
their brethrens names are as Pharaoh charged the Israelites but too idle I mean they labour not about their own hearts every Enemy by how much the nearer by so much the more hateful is he to us our own sins are our nearest and should be our hatefullest Enemies 2. Envy not the worth of any the very word invidia envy may either be derived from looking into or not looking upon another at all the envious are guilty of both they will not look at all upon what is truly excellent they love to look through and through when they think they have found any thing culpable in both respects they are occasioned to be evil-speakers When they onely are on the dark side of the cloud it s no marvel that they stumble into slanders 3. Look upon every action of another with the spectacles of love The Apostle tels us that love thinketh and it is as true that it speaketh no evil Malice we say never spake well it ever makes if it finds not faults 1 Cor. 13.5 and puts a false gloss and a wrested interpretation upon the Text of every action love covers a multitude of faults where they are malice creates them where they are not 4. Keep a watch before thy mouth Pray that thou mayâ—st have Gods ayd Resolve with David before thou entrest into any company not to offend with thy tongue Check thy self when thou perceivest thy proneness to offend Return not evil for evil Being defamed intreat Bless and curse not Rom. 12.14 1 Cor. 4.13 Lock the door of thy lips so fast that the strongest provocation may never be able to pull it open Strike not the second blow Let the Ball of contention go down on thine end In stead of reviling revilers commit thy cause to him that judgeth righteously Herein thou followest Christ When thou hearest another reviled be as a Stone-wall when thou hearest thy self reviled be as a soft Mud-wall in the former respect shew thy opposition in the latter thy patience in the former carry not the Divel in thine ear in the latter carry him not in thy tongue 5. Deal with anothers good name as thou wouldst have him deale with thine if it comes in his way they who handle the names of others most rudely are most delicate when they themselves come to be touch'd But nothing is more just with God then to suffer others to open their mouths against those who will open their own against their neighbours 4. Observ 4. There is no cowardize in not daring to sin The lowest of all the holy Angels hath more magnanimity then all the presumptuous sinners on earth yet lo here the chiefest as some suppose of all that heavenly host durst not sin in reviling True valor stands in the opposing not in the stooping to sin It 's not magnanimity but madnesse to damn thy soul and to fight with the Lord of hosts Men of greatest courage in Scripture have ever been most fearfull of sin David who had shed the blood of so many thousands yet waters his bed with tears for his sin He who had overthrown so many Armies is himself laid flat by one poor Prophet Josiah was stout-hearted and yet tender hearted also The greatest cowardize is to yeild thy self a captive to any lust The audacious swearer is the coward not he who fears an oath The world doth ridiculously voice for valorous even the great pretenders to valour I mean bloody duellists or single combatants of all sorts of sinners in the world these are the truest dastards in being so excessively fearful of reproaches who suspecting they shall be pursued by the report of cowardize fly they know not whither even as far as hell before they dare look back They who fight with others are overcome of their own lusts They who dare not fight with an enemy either with tongue or hand for fear of displeasing God overcome their lust which is a greater discovery of valour then to vanquish a city It is not courage but fool-hardinesse to go boldly to hell proceeding from an ignorance of danger sinners therein being like Americans who press upon the mouth of the Musquet because they know not its force 5. The fear of God is the bridle of sin Observ 5 The not daring to sin is a preservation against sin This fear stopt the Archangel from giving the Divel a railing accusation This holy fear made him contemn Satans reproaches and will make any to despise all the difficulties of shame and sorrow which may be met with in the way of holiness The greater fear expels the less the fearing of him who can destroy the soul abolisheth the fear of them who can only touch the body If God be our fear we shall not fear mans fear he who feareth God Isa 8 13. feareth nothing but him he had rather be mocked for holiness then damned for sin he is not like children that fear an ugly vizard which cannot hurt them but fear not the fire that may consume them he is not such a fool as to be laughed out of his happiness and to hazard the losse of his soul because he will not be mocked Abraham thought if the fear of God had been in that place Gen. 20.11 that they would not have slain him for his wives sake How saith Joseph shall I do this great evil Gen. 39.9 and sin against God! The fear of God saith Solomon is to hate evill Prov. 8.13 it causing us not onely outwardly to abstain from sin but inwardly to abhor it not onely binding the hand but also changing the heart the fear of man will make us hide the fear of God even hate sin also Fear is the daughter of faith Heb. 11.7 and faith assents to the truth of the word as promising and commanding so threatning The worth of Gods fear wil be known to eternity That which keeps from sin keeps from the onely evil they who fear the word shall not feel the rod. 1 trembled saith Habakuk in my self Hab. 3.16 that I might rest in the day of trouble If we would not fear with a servile distrustful fear hereafter Timeamus prudenter ne timeamus inaniter Aug. we must fear with an awful child-like fear for the present If we fear wisely we shall not fear vainly In short we hence learn the true reason of all the wickedness and wo in the world Had the fear of God been here sin had not been here and punishment had been prevented that which is now wo had then been watchfulness Thus far in this third part of this verse of the first the Negative branch thereof Durst not bring against him a railing accusation The second the Positive follows in these words But said The Lord rebuke thee EXPLICATION Two things for the explaining of this second Branch of the third part 1. What Michael here intends by the Lords rebuking of Satan 2. Why he useth this imprecation and desires the Lord would rebuke
wil give bread and often provides better for the poor children then for the repining parents The Israelites in the wilderness who with sinful solicitousness cryed out that their little ones should be starved for want of food were themselves destroyed in the wilderness for want of faith their children mean while being reserved for Canaan Numb 14.31 Nor yet is it enough to take our children cheerfully at the hand of God but to dedicate them to him thankfully and to part with them contentedly Men are not born into the world only that the world should not be empty but that the Church should be increased and God more served Prov. 3.9 Gen. 18.19 If we ought to honour God with our dead much more with our living substance and to take care that a generation may serve the Lord when we are gone that as we live as it were after our deaths in the persons so Gods glory may live in the services of our children Adam instructed his sons both in the works of their Calling and in the Worship of God And for parting with our children he who gave or rather lent or rather put them to nurse to us may peaceably be permitted to require them again when he pleaseth and he should never lose a friend of any of us for calling for his own 5. Observ 5. Cains please not God in the performance of holy services Prov. 28.9 Isai 1.11 12 13 14. To Cain and his Offering God had not respect He was in his way of sin even when he was sacrificing The Prayer of the wicked is an abomination God delights not in their services he demands Amos 5.21 Isai 66.3 Who hath required them he cannot away with them his soul hates them they are a trouble to him he is weary of them despiseth them he will not accept nor smell their Offerings He that killeth an Ox is as if he slew a man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut off a dogs neck he that offereth an Oblation as if he offered swines blood he that burneth Incense as if he blessed an Idol The wicked perform holy services from an unholy heart The Spicing and Embalming of a dead Carcass can put no beauty or value upon it They who are in the flesh cannot please God Rom. 8.8 Matth. 7.18 All the fruit of an evil tree is evil fruit The works of natural men want an holy principle the Spirit of Christ the Law of the Spirit of Life A beast cannot act the things of reason nor can a man unless sanctified by the Spirit of God do any good work Till a man be ingrafted into Christ and partake of his fatness he is but a wild Olive All the works of unregenerate men are sin as they come from them Without the Holy Spirit there is no holiness Zacheus was too low of himsef to see Jesus he was fain to go up into a tree We are too short to reach to any good work 't is above our reach til the Spirit of God lift us up All the services of a natural man are but the works of nature He doth every Spiritual work carnally John 15.4 Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing All the works of a Christless person are like the children of a woman never marryed spurious and illegitimate they are not done through a power received from Christ Wicked men perform no duty to a right end Phil. 1.11 Their fruits are not fruits to God Rom. 7.4 As they are not from him so neither for him He is neither their principle nor their end Zech. 7.5 Vain-glory is the worm that breeds in the best fruit of the wicked The flame of Jehu's Zeal was but Kitchin fire and therefore his Reformation but Murder in the sight of God Hos 1.4 The Godly saith a Learned man in doing good works are like the Silk-worm which hides her self and is all covered over while she works within the curious Silk which she works Her Motto Operitur dum operatur At the day of Judgment they know not the good works which they did The wickeds outward acts of obedience are works of disobedience He doth not what he doth because God enjoynes it Cum intuitu voluntatis Divinae His Sanctification such as it is is not endeavoured like that 1 Thes 4.3 This is the will of God saith the Apostle your Sanctification He proves not what is the good and acceptable will of God Rom. 12.2 One may do a good work in obedience to his Lusts and that which God bids him do because his lust bids him do it Where there is no Law there is no transgression and where no respect to the Law no obedience The best performances of the wicked are but the gifts of enemies proceeding not from Love which is the sawce of every service making it delightful both to the servant and the Master and the principle of the Saints obedience Gal. 5.6 By nature we are enemies doing our works not with the affection of a child but out of bondage None have been greater enemies to Christ and his Servants and Service then many who have been most exact in outside performances as Paul who in the midst of his Zeal was a Persecuter Lastly The wicked neither have the guilt of sin taken away from their persons by the merit of Christ nor the pollution of it from their services by the Intercession of Christ Ephes 2 8. Till faith have fastned us to Christ neither persons nor performances can be acceptable Good works go not before but follow Justification We are not justified by doing good works but being justified we then do good Abels person was accepted before his Sacrifice Works are rather justified by the person of a man then his person by the works And it s a vain thing to look for Justification from that which thou must first justifie A man till justified is a Leper and every thing he toucheth he maketh unclean to himself As a smal thing which the righteous hath is better then the great possessions so a smal thing that the righteous doth is better then the greatest performances of the wicked Till a man takes Christ by faith his Sacrifices have no golden Censer to perfume them no Altar to sanctifie them nothing but his own evil heart to consecrate them upon Upon which considerations though a wicked man may do what is good morally in the sight of men by way of example or by way Edification to others c. yet not Divinely in relation to Religion or in order to God so as to please him And though God sometimes be pleased to reward the works of wicked men yet do not those works please him The works of Nebuchadnezzar Jehu Ahab c. he did I confess reward temporally but alas it was but temporally They give him services which please not him and he Benefits which profit not them They give him services but not with their heart and he them blessings
intention be the root of sin as its the scope and end which the sinner looks at in his sinning the end of obtaining all Temporal good things being as he saith that a man thereby may get a kind of singular perfection and excellency to himself yet that covetousness is the root and beginning of sin in respect of execution as its that which furnisheth a man with matter to act and commit sin and gives opportunity to fulfil all the desires of sin Agreeable to this is that of Solomon Prov. 28.20 He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent and chap. 23.4 Labour not to be rich He that desires more then enough will not know where to stop will break all bounds To desire beyond the bounds of sufficiency is to seek for more then man may pray for No sooner doth a man step over this hedge but he is presently in the wide wild and boundless Champain of Covetousness and being once there he hath no limits to keep him in Achans taking of the accursed thing Ahabs violent and injurious snatching away of Nabohs Vineyard Judah his selling of his Master Gehezie's and Ananias's and Saphyrah's lying Demetrius's contention for Idol Diana Saul's disobeying of God in sparing the cattle and Jehu's halt in Reformation sufficiently prove this Truth The covetousness of the Scribes Luke 20.47 made them devour widowes houses for it the Priests made the Temple a Den of Thieves by admitting of Money-Changers c. They cared not with what corruption they filled the Temple so as they might fill their own Treasuries Popery hath hewen the principal Pillars of her Superstition out of this Rock of Covetousness It s a Religion wholly compacted and contrived for gain not only gotten from the living by Pardons Masses Confessions Offerings Pilgrimages Worshipping of Saints Indulgences Multò aequanimius decem millium animarum ferunt jacturam quà m decem solidorum Nicol. Clemangis de Pontif. Magis aurum suspiciunt quam Coelum Neh. 13.16 Amos 8. by making of a Money-matter of the most crying Abominations of Witch-craft of Murder of Father Mother Child Wife of Incest Sodomy Beastiality c. But also from the Dead who pay large Tributes by meanes of their Purgatory a toy which they cry not up at all for Truth but meerly for Traffick Silver is in the sacks mouth of every Popish Error Covetousness swallowes down any equivocation oath lye perjury 'T is this sin that makes the Sabbath Sabbatum Tyri Bacchi a Marketting and Junketting a selling and swilling day that stupifies the bowels of nature and maketh men without natural affection toward dearest relations desiring their deaths in stead of preserving their lives The thirst after gain makes men thirsty after blood as Balaam Ahab and Judas were both covetous and bloody If the hands be not defiled with blood it s the Law not conscience that keeps them clean It s Covetousness that licenseth the publick Stewes at Rome and those sties of Curtezans Many have violated their matrimonial faith and chastity and the Covenant of their God allured more with the Adulterers purse Jer. 6.13 then his person And what are all the Thefts False-dealings Oppressions Usury but the issues of this sin Judas was covetous and therefore a Thief Theft and Covetousness are joined together 1 Cor. 6.10 Whence come false-accusing pleading for an unrighteous cause the making the conscience a very hackney the flattering of men in sin and the having of their persons in admiration but from love of advantage Covetousness damps holiness as the damp of the earth puts out a candle A covetous heart like places where most Gold is is most barren Christians think not to be free of any one if you will embrace this one sin To overcome it 1. Overcome the unbelief of thy heart the root of this root of all evil is distrust of Gods promise and providence Sinful care comes from small faith Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation saith the Apostle be without Covetousness for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee He who hath God for his in him finds his Gold and all things else The Lord is my Shepherd saith David I shall not want Psal 23.1 Job 22.23 If thou return to the Almighty c. then shalt thou lay up Gold as dust c. yea the Almighty shall be thy defence or Gold Aurum lectissimum Jun. ver 25 or choice Gold as Junius reads it He that by Faith makes God his Gold shall never through covetousness make Gold his God 2. Rectifie thy opinion of Riches The earth is the lowest of Creatures and made to be trampled under our feet and the Primitive Christians laid the price of their possessions at the feet of the Apostles Act 4. ult Gold and Silver are fitter to set our feet then our hearts upon It would be against nature for earth and heaven to joyn together when an incongruity is it then for our souls purer then the heavens to be glued to the clods To have much is not to be rich God is called Rich in Scripture not for Money but for Mercy Rom. 10.12 True Riches stand more in doing then in receiving good Nec vera nec vestra Worldly enjoyments have but the name the shew of Riches There 's nothing but opinion that makes them excellent The common names given to Riches are bestowed but abusively They are not gain by them for them men oft lose their souls Not goods they neither make us good nor are they signs of goodness They are not substance they are but shadowes nor can they so much as shadow the Excellency of those which are true They are not means conducing to the chief end happiness indeed they are means to damn and undo many a soul they are nothing Solomon saith they are not i. e. in point of Duration Satisfaction efficacy and usefulness when we are in distress To conclude this 3. To overcom Covetousness study the Excellency of Riches indeed true Riches of being rich to God 1 Tim. 6.11 Math. 6 19. Quodam cordis itinere divitias tuas sequere Sequatur totum nostrum quo praecesserit aliquid nostrum Aug. rich in faith rich in Heavenly Treasures Look upon him that is Invisible view the Sun and then thy eyes will be so dazled that in other things thou wilt behold no beauty Consider thy Crown and contemn the Dung-hill Our Head is in Heaven let head and heart be together Let thy soul take a journey every day by Faith to thy Country thy Treasure thy Christ Largely of this see Part 1. pag. 372 6. Observ 6. Much is the power and goodness of God seen in the turning of the violent propensions of the heart from any way of sin toward himself His power for what but the power of Grace can turn the tide and stream of Nature Humane Lawes can curb us from the act and exercise of sin but only the Law
consciences and the judgments of all others 9. The empty are also unstable Observ 9. These clouds without water are by the Apostle said to be carried about of the winds The Apostle 2 Pet. 3.16 joyns the unlearned and unstable together and Heb. 13.9 he mentions the establishment of the heart with grace A heart then empty of saving knowledg and true holiness is soon unsetled and needs must it be so being not firmly united to and set into Christ by faith unbelief and distrust make a man carried up and down like a Meteor He who is not built upon the Rock can never stand if a Reed be not tyed to some stronger thing it can never be kept from bending and shaking where grace the fruit is not there Christ the root is not and where there is no root there is no stability Further where there is a total emptiness of holiness there is an emptiness of peace and contentment there is no peace to the wicked And he who wants true contentment will ever be looking out for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where it is not to be had without joy life is no life and if it be not gotten one way another will be tryed Who will shew us any good is the language of natural men they have still hopes to be better and like men in a Fever they toss from one side of the bad to the other in hope to finde coolness and refreshment but a soul that exerciseth it self in the ways of holiness tells every temptation You would draw me away to my lose 2 Cor. 7.32 35 Cor non tutum nisi totum Scinditur in certum studia in contraria Yet again a heart void of grace is divided in the service of God and therefore an unsetled heart t is not united to fear Gods Name it serves not the Lord without distraction all of its love fear joy runs not one way but having inclinations not wholly bestowed upon God and several ways of the hearts out-going from God being allowed its never safe and certain when the scales are even in weight they tremble and waver sometime one is up sometime another they who will serve two Masters God and the creature and are double-minded and will divide their hearts between them will often be wavering and shew themselves sometimes for Religion sometime for the world grace fixeth and weighs down the heart for God and to God and chuseth him onely Here 's the true Reason then in the general why men are so tossed and carried away from the truth of the Gospel they are empty of the truth of grace they go from us because they were never of us they are a Land-flood a Cistern onely receiving from without and void of an inward living principle and fountain 10. Observ 10. Christians should beware of unstedfastness of being carried away with any winds from their holy stedfastness in the truth Continue in the things which you have learned 2 Tim. 3.14 Be not as children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine To this end 1. Let the Word of Christ ballast your souls store them with the knowledg of saving Principles of Religion Empty Table-books are fit to have any thing written in them and a soul empty of the knowledg of wholsome truths is a fit receptacle for any error Do ye not err saith Christ because ye know not the Scriptures Mat. 22.29 Stones will easily be removed unless fixed upon a foundation He who buyes commodities without either weighing or measuring them may easily be deceived the Scripture is the measure and ballance of every opinion How easily may he be cheated with Errors in stead of truth who buyes onely in the dark Ignoran◠Christians are like Infants which gape and take in whatsoever the Nurse puts to their mouths 2. Labour to get your hearts fastned to the truth by love as well as your heads filled with the truth by light he who never loved truth may easily be brought to leave truth and to imbrace error He who embraced truth he knew not why will forsake it he knows not how the heart which hath continued deceitful under truth may soon be deceived by error a literal without an experimental knowledg of the truth may quickly be drawn to error from that wherein we find neither pleasure nor profit we may easily be enticed But when once we feel the truth both enlightning and delighting unloading its treasures of glory into our souls quieting our consciences quelling our lusts changing us into the Image of the Lord quickning our graces Seducers will not be able to cheat us of this Jewel because we know they can bring us nothing in exchange for which we should barter it away 3. Let there not be any one lust * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph in Rom. 16. allowed within thee to loosen thee from the truth They who are not sound in the fear of God may easily become unsound in the faith of God A remisse heart will close with remiss principles The mystery of Faith must be held in a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.9 which some saith the Apostle having cast away have made shipwrack of the faith he comparing conscience to a ship and faith to a treasure therein imbarked which must needs miscarry if the ship be cast away any corrupt affection entertained the soul like an unwalled and unfenced City lies open to the rage and rapine of and ruine by any enemy If Seducers sute their bait to the unmortified lust of a sinner Prov. 25.8 he is easily made their prey Of this at large before Particularly beware of Pride the proud Christian Page 615 616 617 part 1. like a light puft bladder will easily be puft any way of Error a Bird of a very small carkass and of many Feathers is easily carried away with the wind Pride is the mother of Heresie the proud man it is who consents not to wholsome Doctrine but dotes about questions 1 Tim. 6.3 4. Humility is the best fence against Error an humble man is so small in his own eyes that the shot of Seducers cannot hit him and lies so low that all their Bullets fly over him God teacheth the humble but the proud person is Satans Scholler 2. Fence thy soul against worldly mindedness a worldly heart will be bought and sold at every rate The truth can never be safe in the closet of that heart which Error can open with a golden picklock The covetous both make merchandise of others 2 Pet. 2.13 14. and will be made merchandise by others The hook of error is easily swallowed down by a worldly heart if it be baited with though filthy lucre Take heed of being a servant of truth Fraus malitia haereticorum vel dolend a est tanquam hominum vel cavenda est tanquam haereticorum vel irridenda tanquam imperitorum Aug. for gain for if so thou wilt soon be a slave unto error for more
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
Usurpatur ad indicandam rei praesentis exhibitionem happy is the man whom the Lord correcteth Psal 33.18 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him 2. As a note of admiration 2. Ad excitandam ex rei mirandae praedicatione attentioonem or to stir up attention for the great and stupendious wonderfulness of some thing that fals out Thus it is taken 2 King 6.17 Behold the mountain was full of horses and Chariots of fire Matth. 27.51 Behold the vail of the temple was rent in twain And 28.2 Behold there was a great earthquake Luke 1â— 16. Act. 1.10.7.56.12.7 Gen. 29.6 Isa 7.14 Behold a Virgin shall conceive 1 Cor. 15.51 Behold I shew you a mysterie c. The word behold in this place may sutably to the subject in hand the coming of Christ to judgment be considered as denoting both these 1. The certainty and truth thereof it being a thing as sure as if it were before our eyes and already accomplished like that minatory prediction of the prophet concerning the house of Jeroboam 1 Kings 14.14 But what even now A thing that ought to sink into the hearts of hearers and that which they cannot too firmly and fixedly believe The infallible predictions of Scripture which must be fulfilled the judgments of God already executed upon some sinners the fears of a natural conscience Gods justice which wil render to every one according to his works And lastly Act 1.11 Matth. 24 3â— 2 Thes 1.7 â— Act 17.32 24 25 Gen 18 25 1 Thes 1.5 2 Coâ— 5 10. Râ—v 20.12 the fitness that the body shal have its due retribution as wel as the soul all prove the certainty of the last judgment The certainty of his coming I have spoken to before part 1. p. 536. 2. The word Behold may be considered as a note of admiration denoting a most wonderful and strange thing like that Behold Hab. 1.5 Behold and wonder marvellously for I wil work a work in your daies which ye wil not believe though it be told you And this coming of Christ is wonderful and strange 1. In respect of the wicked to whom it is unexpected they thereby being unprepared for it it comes as a snare upon them in a day wherein they look not for it in an houre wherein they are not aware Luke 12.46 as a theef in the night When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction shall come upon them as travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape 1 Thes 5.2 2. It s wonderful in respect of the astonishing glory of the coming of Christ to judgment together with the judgment it self of which I have largely spoken pag. 525 Part 1. to 540. I must not repeat OBSERVATIONS 1. Obser 1. Our thoughts only of those things which are truly great and glorious should be high and admiring Behold saith Enoch as noting the astonishing wonderfulness of the last judgment This truly great thing should be looked upon as such It is the folly of most men to look upon smal things as great and upon great things as smal Humane judgments affright and amaze them the last judgment they slight and neglect these want that rectified judgment of the Apostle who cals the day of judgment the appearing of the great God and so preached of the judgment to come that he made Felix tremble whereas he tels us how little he past for mans judgment 1 Cor. 4 3. Thus likewise our Saviour directs his disciples to contemn that which is smal and contemptible fear not him that kils the body and to dread that which is truly great and formidable fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hel Matth. 10.28 When the disciples beheld with wonder and shewed to Christ the beautiful buildings of the temple he with an holy contempt of those outside beauties tells them there shall not be one stone of all those stately structures left upon another that shall not be thrown down and when Satan shewd and offered him all the Kingdomes of the world with their glory he shewd his Contempt of the prospect and promotion with a Get thee behind me Satan but when he observed the faith of the Centurion he wonders and expresseth his admiration to the people Luc. 7.9 2. Observ 2. Great is our naturall backwardness to mindâ— and believe the coming of Christ to judgment Eâ—â—ch prefixeth a note of incitement to his prophesie The wicked take occasion to be secure and to cast off the thought of Christs coming from the procrastination and delaying thereof Men scoff at the promise of the Coming of Christ 2 Pet. 3 4 because say they since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation That servant Luke 12.45 who said that his Lord delayd his Coming in stead of minding and preparing for it did beat his fellow servants and also did eat drinke and was drunken Hence it is that men say peace and safety even when sudden destruction is coming upon them 1 Thes 5.3 Men are naturally led by sense what they see not feel not they beleeve not As Noahs flood was a type of the last judgment so the disposition of men when that deluge approcht resembled that which shall be in sinners at the coming of Christ As in the dayes before the flood there was eating drinking marrying c. so shall also the Coming of the son of man be Mat. 24.38 39. And so great likewise is naturally every sinners selfe love that they love to shun the thoughts of every thing which they love not they are ready to say to themselves as did Peter to Christ Be it far from thee this shall not be to thee they put far from them the last day because they look upon it as the evill day nay the woâ—st day they love the world and their hearts grow to it and therefore t is death to them to think of an unsettlement Their Sodom they so much delight in that like Lots wife they cannot endure to think of a shoure of fire herein resembling some who are therefore unwilling to make their wills because they cannot away with the thoughts of death To rectifie this distemper as we should labour to finde this great day a good day and the great Lord our good Lord to be such that even out of this devouring lion we may take honey so consider that 3. Obs 3. Concerning the certaitnty of the judgment see be fore The last judgment is to be lookt upon as a matter of greatest certainty not as a fiction but as a most reall and undoubted thing We should look upon it to be as certaine as if it were already with us It s the policy of Satan to make us diffident of that which we should be confident of and confident of that of which we should be diffident He presents his own lyes as certainties and Gods truths
thee Yea of those sins which are unknown to thee shalt thou be convinced by him who knoweth all things We should be then so far from sheltring those sins which we know that we ought to be humbled for such as we know not Thus of the first particular in the carriage of the judge toward the wicked viz. the manner of his judging them namely by way of conviction 2. The parties to be judged follow in the next place who are here said for their quality to be ungodly and for their quantity all the ungodly Of this before at large Thirdly the causes of and matters about which they shal be judg'd are next cōsiderable they are two-fold The first their ungodly deeds In these words their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed Not to enlarge upon this first particular here considerable Vide part 1. Pag. 302.303 c. viz. the generall nature of their deeds here said to be ungodly as being sufficiently known by the former Consideration of the parties who were call'd ungodly By which its manifest that ungodly deeds are primarily and properly such as are committed immediately against God himselfe and so against the first table in the prophane opposing of Gods worship and honour in which respect ungodlinesse is distinguisht from unrightousnesse which properly breaks the Commandements of the second table And yet secondarily and in a more large Consideration ungodlinesse here comprehends any sin committed either against God or man and so against any Commandement of the Law for even that sin which is directly against man hath in it a defect and a withdrawing of some duty due to God If it be enquired why the Apostle onely here saith ungodly and not unrighteous deeds also It s answered for three resons 1. Because ungodliness and unrighteousness are inseparable wheresoever ungodliness is there will be no Conscience made of unrighteousness as the two tables were given so are they broken and embraced both together and he who breaks one makes no Conscience of breaking the other the authority of the giver being the same 2. Because ungodlinesse is the cause of unrightenesse he who hath a prophane godless heart will not stick at any act of unjustice T is the fear of God which is to depart from evill As holinesse puts a man upon righteousnesse so prophanenesse upon unrighteousnesse Pharaoh knew not God and therefore he opprest Israel 3. Because these seducers flatterd themselves with pretences of eminent godlinesse and holiness though they took a liberty to live in many vices and unclean extravagancies The Apostle several times in this Epistle brands them with the name of ungodly ones and threatens judgment for their ungodliness 2. For the second the manner after which they were committed and that was ungodlily which they have ungodlily committed EXPLICATION The words ungodlily committed are contained in one word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it may be rendred by any one Latine word it must be impiarunt nor can it be in any one English word properly expressed but must be rendred either to doe or perform or live ungodlily The same word is expressed but in one place besides this in all the new Testament and that place is 2 Pet. 2.6 where it is rendred living ungodlily In the opening hereof I shall only shew what it is to commit an evil work ungodlily First more generally it notes the proceeding of these nngodly deeds from an ungodly unsanctified prinple an unholy unrepentant heart a mind devoted and addicted to ungodliness this is not the fruit which growes upon a good tree nor the spot of Gods people who though sometime they do that which is ungodly withdraw that duty which is due to God and commit that evil which is against the wil of God In optimis non nihil pessimi Tert. de an c. 23. yet as the Psalmist speaks they do not wickedly as these did depart from God Psal 18.21 the wicked are they who do wickedly against the covenant Dan. 10.32 and of the wicked it is said Dan. 12.10 that they shall doe wickedly But 2. That which this doing ungodlily doth more particularly intend is the performing of wickedness after a wicked and ungodly manner and that principally these four several waies 1. By purposing and intending of sin The wicked is not overtaken with a sudden fit of tentation but resolves on sin long before he makes provision for his lust he is like a man who layes himself to sleep drawes the curtains puts out the candle and he intends and in a sort overtakes his sleep in sin he sets himself in a way that is not good Psal 36. 2. Ungodly deeds are performed after an ungodly manner by devising and contriving of ungodliness the wicked devise mischief Prov. 6.14 He that deviseth to do evil Psal 35.20 Prov. 16 30. Jer. 18.18 Psal 36.4 Vid. Cartwr in Pro. 6.14 shall be called a mischievous person the heart which deviseth wicked imaginations is one of the seven things which the Lord hates Prov. 6.16.18 Against those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds is a wo denounced Mich. 2.1 The wicked are workers of iniquity Matth. 7.22 They are curious cunning artificers in and contrivers of sin ungodliness is their art trade and mystery they are wise to do evil and men in malice though children in understanding they are skilful practioners in sin 3. By a delighting and taking pleasure in the committing of sin Wicked men are willingly obedient to it they yeild themselves to execute its commands and they universally resign the whole consent of the wil to the obedience of it Sin is as pleasant to sinners as bread and wine they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the cup of violence they rejoyce to doe evill and delight in the frowardness of the wicked Prov. 2.14 Wickedness is sweet in their mouths and they hide it under their tongues Job 20.12 as it is not the doing of good but the delighting in the doing it that makes it done wel so neither is it simply the doing of evil but the doing thereof delightfully that makes it done ungodlily It is a sport to a foole to do mischiefe Prov. 10.30 4. By continuing and persisting in sin Wicked men grow worse and worse their waies increase to more ungodlinesse they run on in them without repentance none say what have I done It s weakly done to fall but it is wickedly done to lie stil it is bad to stand in the way of sinners much worse to sit in the seat of the scornful OBSERVATIONS 1. The godly sin not as do the wicked Obs 1. The sinful actions of the godly proceed not from an heart altogether void of a sanctified principle there is in them the seed of God the divine nature a renewed part from which their wicked works never issue in the committing of the most ungodly of their actions they themselves are not altogether ungodly and they are overtaken unawares
1. From the time wherein they appeared 2. From their qualities or conditions wherewith they appear'd according to which the Apostle saith they were 1. Mockers 2. Such as walked after their lusts 1. For the first their appearance was in the last time EXPLICATION Two things here briefly for explication 1. What the last time is 2. Why these seducers shewd themselves in the last time 1. For the understanding of the first the last time in the Greek * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quo necesse est ut consistamus Ultimum dicitur ultra quod pergere non licet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we must know that by speeches of last time the Scripture meanes sometime a Continuation or length of time sometime an end of time When by the last time it meanes a Continuation of time it intends a space which in respect of that compasse of time whereof it is the last part may fitly be called the last time Thus the life of man being made up of severall ages the last space thereof old age may be called its last time Thus within the compasse of a year there being foure seasons the last season thereof winter may be cald the last time of a yeare or 1. Uitimum tempuâ— 2. Ultimum temporis sometime by the last time is meant terminus temporis the very end or expiring of time as the moment wherein a man dyes is his last time or the last day of December is the end or last time of the year Now thus the last time is the end of the world and it is ever exprest in the singular number and usually called the last day as foure times Joh. 6th and once in the 11th 1. Pet. 1.5 And thus 1. Pet. 1.5 the last time is taken where the Apostle mentions that salvation ready to be revealed in the lâ—st time The last time in this place must needs be taken in the former sense viz. for a space which is the last age of the world or the last part of its time and thus those places are ever to be taken where we read of the last times or dayes in the plurall number as 1 Pet. 1.20 It s said that Christ was manifested in the last times which times have continued many hundreds of yeares So Heb. 1.2 God hath spoken in these last dayes by his Son So 2 Tim. 3. In the last dayes perilous times shall come And Act. 2.17 In the last dayes I will powre out of my spirit So 2 Pet. 3.3 And thus it s taken in this place Nor doth the holy Ghost intend these last times by a word of the singular number in any place as I remember save onely in this place of Jude Now by these last times in generall are meant all those times from the revelation of Christ to the end of the world Vid. Mead. in his learned discourse of the Apostasie of the last times in which space the Kingdom of Christ was founded and advanced in the world which times because saith learned Mead they are under the last Monarchy viz. the Roman are cald the last times and because under the times of that last Monarchy the Kingdome of Christ appeard in the world hence it s said that in these last dayes God hath spoken by his Son Heb. 1.2 and 1 Pet. 1.20 Christ was manifested in these last times and Gal. 4.4 When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Son c. Others thinke that these times after the coming of Christ to the end of the world are call'd the last times in respect of those which went before wherein the state of the Church was oft changed and the Covenant frequently renewed but now by the death of Christ the Covenant of grace being so establisht that its never againe to be renewed or changed but the condition of the Church is to be in a sixt state to the end of the world and no other to succeed it these are cald the last times For the second why these prophane seducers arose in these last times 1. The last times are times of presumption and security and therefore of dissolutenesse and impiety In former times judgments were threatned the dissolution and destruction of all things foretold but because the execution hereof is not beheld therefore they who live in these times are encouraged to sin Because sentence against their evill works is not speedily executed therefore are their hearts set to do evill This security Christ foretells should be in the last of the last dayes namely at his coming to judgment as in the dayes before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage c. so shall also the coming of the Son of man c. and this continuance of all things as they were from the beginning occasion'd these seducers to scoff at the promise of his coming 2. Pet. 3.4 The neerer they came to the feeling the further they were from the fearing of punishment 2. They who live in the last dayes are more skilfull practitioners in sin wittily wicked understand more how to contrive sin and work iniquity by the improved experiences of their own and former times Thus as 't is in every other art so likewise in that of sinning by length of time custome and experience t is improved to a greater degree of finenesse and exactnesse The sinners of the last times are men they of former times were but children in wickednesse That old Serpent the older he growes the more of the serpent he hath and so it is with the seed of the Serpent 3. In the last times the Kingdome of Jesus Christ is more to be enlarged and advanced and therefore the malice of Satan is the more increased As Christ riseth in glory so will Satan and sinners more swell with rage and envy It s said that those people that live in places where the sun is hottest and most scorching every morning curse the rising sun and thus in times where the Gospel reacheth men with its holy heat and light they curse and malign it Hatred is the genius of the Gospel and as wicked men the more raged at Christ the older he grew so the more his Gospell spreads the more the Devill despights it 4. Lastly In the last times the Devils time growes short and therefore his wrath growes great Satan labours to supply the shortnesse of his time with the sharpnesse of his assaults Besiegers make their last onset upon town or Castle the most resolute and terrible of all others Satan now sets upon soules by seduction the more furiously because when these times are at an end he shall never be suffered to doe so any more Like a malicious tenant who perceiving that his terme is almost expired doth what he can to ruine the house or like a bloody tyrant who suspecting the loss of his usurped Soveraignty makes havock among his subjects OBSERVATIONS 1. Obs 1. The wicked are worst in the best times In the