this Doctrine and Spirit is not of God But this is the Spirit of Antichrist which you have been foretold should come and is already in the World Note By the Spirit of Antichrist is not here meant the Spirit sent by Antichrist but the same Doctrine that Antichrist will vend and therefore from the sâ—me Spirit that acteth Antichrist which is a Spirit of opposition to Christ And in those times Ebion Cerinthus and many other Hereticks did some deny Christ's Manhood some his Godhead some his Death and some his Resurrection and each part of his Office was denyed That among all there Simon Magus only should be the Antichrist I see no reason to believe of which more before and after 4. Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world 4. But your Faith in Christ is of the Spirit of God who dwelleth and worketh in you and you have overcome the worldly seducing Spirit its Doctrines Baits and Temptations for God's Spirit which is in you is more powerful than the Spirit which deludeth the World 5. They are of the world therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them 5. These Seducers are men of a worldly interest and mind and therefore they preach a wordly Doctrine fitted to a worldly Interest and Ear and therefore worldly men believe them 6. We are of God he that knoweth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of errour 6. We are of God and can prove our Mission by his attestation to our Doctrine as being from God And therefore all that truly know God will receive and own our Doctrine as God's and us as his Apostles but he that is not of God having not the same Spirit receiveth not the same holy Doctrine nor us Thus differ the Spirit of God and of Errour 7. Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love 7 8. And as true Faith in Christ and open confessing him is one sign so true Christian LOVE is another to know that our Doctrine and Spirit is of God Therefore be sure that you unfeignedly love one another Most certainly LOVE is of God common Love is his common gift and holy Love is his special grace and every one that Loveth Saints as Saints as well as Men as Men sincerely for the Love of God and goodness in them is so far like God who as the God of Nature loveth Nature and as the God of Grace loveth Holiness and therefore is a regenerate Child of God and hath true Faith and Knowledge of God or else he could not love him in his Saints And whatever they pretend they have no true effectual Love of the most Holy God or of his Will who love not his Holiness in his Children and are not dear to one another For LOVE is not a meer quality in God but his very Essence GOD IS LOVE Note I know no sentence more worthy to be written in Letters of Gold or rather written on all our hearts But the other two prime Attributes written in this Epistle must be conjoyned GOD is LIFE LIGHT and LOVE And LOVE is complacency and includeth Infinite JOY or PLEASURE 9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God lent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live through him 9. And God's Essential LOVE doth tend to communication he is good and doth good He loveth us not with a barren Love as Hypocrites do but he chose this most woderful glorifying way of publick manifesting his Love to us even by sending his Son into the World that we might live through him 10. Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins 10. And the Glory of God's Love to us is not only that he consequently loved us for loving him but that he antecedently loved us that we might love him and while we were in sin and enmity freely sâ—nâ— his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins 11. Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another 11. And Gods great works and glorious manifestations of himself to us are purposely to be as the Seal to the Wax to make us like him in our degree And he therefore chose this astonishing way of revealing his LOVE to us that by it we might be brought to love him and one another for him 12. No man hath seen God at any time If we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us 12. It is God himself that his Love â—bligâ—th us to LOVE But as we see him but in the Glass or Image of his Nature and Holiness in Man so we must Love him 〈◊〉 we see him here even in the Natuâ—e and Holiness of Man And if â—e thus holily love one another as Godâ—â— Image God by his Spirit dwelleth in us for it is his Spirit of Love that maketh us thus Love And his Love to us attaineth its end which was to make us like him in Love O that Christians would study this well 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit 13. By this sure evidence we know that God and we do as it were dwell in each other and have blessed communion because he hath given us this Spirit of holy Love 14. And we have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world 14. And we are the Preachers of Faith and Love as we have seen so we testifie that God the Father glorified his Love by sending his Son to be the Saviour of the sinful World 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 15. It cannot be that any man can soundly believe such astonishing Love that God was manifested in flesh or that the Father sent his Son into flesh by his Doctrine Example Suffering Merits Resurrection and Intercession to save us and shall confess this whatever suffering it cost him but that man must needs be possessed by God's Spirit of holy Love and so God dwelleth in that man by his Spirit and that man in God as the great Object of his Faith and Love For with the heart man believeth to righteousness and with the mouth confession is made to salvation Rom. 10. 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him 16. And knowing and by Faith believing the Love that God hath to us and hath declared in Christ we again conclude that GOD IS LOVE and he that
hand know what thy right hand doth 4. That thine alms may be in secret And thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly 3 4. But tho your good works must shine before men to God's glory yet be so carefully afraid of all affectation of vain-glory to your selves as purposely to conceal all when nothing but your own praise requireth openness yea do not note it too much in your selves to puff you up and then as your hearts and lives are all known to God he will openly reward them to the full 5. And when thou prayest thou shalt not be as the Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men Verily I say to you they have their reward 5. So let not your Prayer be like the Hypocrites all done in publick as on a Stage to be seen of men I tell you mens praise is all the reward they shall have N. Not but that publick Church-Prayer and Family-prayer are as great duties as secret Prayer But they must not be done for to be thought Religious nor secret Prayer made open or neglected 2. Standing is a lawfull praying gesture in it self But where Kneeling signifieth more reverence it must be preferred in humbling duties 6. But when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly 6. But do thou pray secretly where only God is witness of thy Prayers and therefore approve to him thy secret desires and heart as well as thy words and believe that God will openly reward thee N. 1. Both publick and secret prayer are our duty 2. Praying only before men is gross hypocrisie But all secret prayer will not prove sincerity 3. They that say We must not serve God for reward oppose Christ and Scripture and all Religion It is not a reward in Commutative Justice as if we profited God But in Fatherly love and justice as pleasing God through Christ as Fathers reward good children and not bad ones 7. But when ye pray use not vain repetitions as the Heathen do for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking 8. Be not ye therefore like unto them for your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him 7. When you pray do not so repeat over the same words or lengthen your Prayers with unmeet repetitions as the Heathens do that think canting over certain words or spinning out Prayers to such a length is acceptable to God or as if God were moved by terms or length For God is your Father and knows what you need before you speak and pityeth you according to your needs And your Prayers are not to move and change him but by exercising your own desires and faith and repentance and thankfulness to make you fit to receive his further gifts 9. After this manner therefore pray ye 9. I will give a perfect directory for the matter and order of your desires and prayers and in words fit for your use when you pray but summarily 9 10 c. Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom the power and the glory for ever Amen 9 c. We come not to thee as our unreconciled avenging Judge but as to our merciful Father reconciled to us by Christ The only God whose Glory is eminently in Heaven infinite in perfection of Being and of Power Knowledge and Goodness our absolute owner our Supreme Ruler and our most loving Father by Creation Redemption and Regeneration whose we are and whom we must serve and whom we must Love and Trust we are sinful needy miserable and unworthy in our selves but thy Children by Christ our Intercessor who is worthy whose hearts are by desire towards thee as our God and to the good of others as our brethren as well as by necessity to our own felicity We know that as all things are Of Thee and Through Thee and To thee so Thou art our Ultimate end And therefore we first humbly beg that Thy Great Wise and Good and Holy name may be known and shine forth and be glorified and holily regarded upon earth and not blasphemed or be unknown and disregarded by Atheists Infidels or wicked hypocrites nor the honour of men be set up against thee But that the Nations of the earth and all Societies and our own selves may be wholly devoted and live to thy Glory And our next Petition is that the world or its Societies or our own and our brethrens Souls may not be given up to the wicked Tyrannical Kingdom of Satan or men that are his Ministers and governed by him nor to the Wars bloud and cruelty of such But that thy Divine Government even the Kingdom of Messiah may come on Earth in that fulness as may destroy the Kingdom of Satan that Faith Love and Righteousness may be the constitution of Societies and Souls and the Reign of Grace may prepare us for Glory which we specially pray for And our third Petition is that in this thy Kingdom Societies and Souls our own and others may in disposition be conformed to thy Governing Will and in practice obey it and in Faith Hope and Love with joyful Trust expect the promised reward and patiently submit to thy Fatherly corrections and disposals And that in all these aforesaid three requests this Earth that is grown so near to Hell may be made more like to them in heaven who Know Love and Obey and Glorifie thee with Perfection Unity and full delight And because thou hast made our natures such as cannot but love our selves and hast bound us to seek our own and others welfare and Grace presupposeth Nature and our Being is necessary first to our Well-being Therefore our fourth Petition is that thou wilt support our natures and maintain them by necessary food and sustenance and make us content with thy allowance and save us from covetousness and overmuch love to worldly fulness prosperity and wealth and cause us to subserve thy providence by our wise and diligent labours and not to forfeit thy maintenance by our self confidence idleness or vicious sensuality nor turn our strength to serve our sinful lust And knowing that Holiness and Justice require the punishment of Sin we next beseech thee to look on us in Christ whom thy Love and Mercy sent into the world to be a Sacrifice and Propitiation for sin whose perfect Righteousness and Sacrifice have merited that pardon and grace which he hath given in his Covenant and proclaimed and offered to us all in the Gospel Forgive all the sins of our
one Peter done this rash unwarrantable act against Papists when they are killing true Christians as Butchers do Sheep they would publish to the World that the whole party are seditious Rebles yea if any do but speak against their Murders I mean they have done thus 48. And Jesus answered and said to them Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and with staves to take me 49. I was daily with you in the temple teaching and ye took me not but the scripture must be fulfilled 49. The Scripture foretold all this usage 50. And they all forsook him and fled 51. And there followed him a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body and the young men laid hold on him 52. And he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked 50. All the Disciples locally forsook him to save themselves though not so as totally to desert him with their heart 51. Being in the night some young man either undrest or rais'd out of bed was come thither 53. And they led Jesus away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the Scribes 53. They led Christ as Prisoner to those that sent them to take him which was the Jews Church-representative or Council 54. And Peter followed him a far off even into the place of the high priest and he sat with the servants and warmed himself by the fire 55. And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to deaâ—h 56. Foâ— many bare false wâ—tness against him but their witness agreed not together 55. They first resolve of his Death and after search for some pretended cause But their suborned witness spake not crime enough for Death 57. And there arose certain and bare false witness against him saying 58. We heard him say I will destrory this temple that is made with hands and within three days I will build another made without hands 59. But neither so did their witness agree together 58. Note We have men seemingly wise now that would say Why did Christ speak so unadvisedly as to give occasion to such accusers But what can be spoken so well from whence such men will not take occasion of Calumny 60. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus saying Answerest thou nothing What is it which these witness against thee 60. Note The Arch-priest who was relatively and by profession the holiest man of that Nation and of the whole World was the Arch-enemy and persecuter of Christ and the greatest plague of his whole Country 61. But he held his peace and answered nothing Again the high priest asked him and said unto him Art thou the son of the blessed 62. And Jesus said I am And ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven 61. When the subtil Priest could prove nothing against him he craftily puts a question to him equal to an ex officio oath which he knew he would answer that he might out of his own words accuse him 63. Then the high priest rent his cloths and sayeth what need we any further witness 64. Ye have heard his blasphemy what think ye And they all condemned him to be guilty of death 63. Note He had been better have rent his heart for his wickedness Here is Diabolism it self cloathed with the highest pretence of holy zeal by the holy Prelate and his confederates No wonder if the whole Convocation condemn Christ when such an High Priest leads them 65. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to buâ—feâ— him and to say unto him Prophesie And the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands 65. Note This the Son of God endured for our sins And doth it beseem us to be tender of suffering abuse 66. And as Peter was beneath in the palace there cometh one of the maids of the high-priest 67. And when she saw Peter warming himself she looked upon him and said And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth 68. But he denied saying I know not neither understand I what thou sayest And he went out into the porch and the cock crew 66. Note It is dangerous among persecuters to be a friend to Christ 2. Wonderful that the first Cock did not waken Peters conscience having bin so warned But what will we not do if God leave us to our selves 69. And a maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by This is one of them 70. And he denied it again And a little after they that stood by said again to Peter Surely thou art one of them for thou art a Galilean and thy speech agreeth thereto 71. But he began to curse and to swear saying I know not this man of whom ye speak 72. And the second time the cock crew 70. Note No man is long safe in the mouth of great temptation if extraordinary mercy save him not 72. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice And when he thought thereon he wept 72. Note Before the love of life and fear of death prevailed in act But now the Love of Christ beginneth to prevail again and greive and shame him for his sin CHAP. XV. 1. ANd straitway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and Scribes and the whole council and bound Jesus and carried him away and delivered him to Pilate 1. To be put to death 2. And Pilate asked him Art thou the king of the Jews And he answering said unto him Thou sayest it 2. I am 3. And the chief priests accused him of many things but he answered nothing 4. And Pilate asked him again saying Answerest thou nothing behold how many things they witness against thee 5. But Jesus yet answered nothing so that Pilate marvelled 3. He would not strive against calumniators nor against the death which he came to undergo 6. Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner whomsoever they desired 7. And there was one named Barabbas who lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him who had committed murther in the insurrection 8. And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them 9. But Pilate answered them saying Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews 10. For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy 9. Note He called him their King in scorn 11. But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Barabbas unto them 12. And Pilate answered and said again unto them What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the king of the Jews 13. And they cried out again Crucifie him 12. Note The people are but the mouth of the Priests 14. Then
expectations For though God would glorifie the riches of his Grace by Jesus Christ yet was it not his Will to reveal him in such visible Majesty and Glory as should of it self necessitate and force Men to believe in him For then Faith would have been no Work of Tryal nor fit for a Reward but such as the wicked and sensual might perform But God would so reveal his Son as that Faith might have sufficient encouragement and help and yet such difficulties as might make it proper to honest Souls and fit for a reward so that those that will be biassed by prejudice and worldly Interest will stumble and fall on the Rock which they should be built on but to them that sincerely trust and obey him he might be the author of Eternal Salvation and be the Power and Wisdom of God ANNOTATIONS 1. THis Chapter is ordinarily misunderstood 1. Because Men observe not what it is that Paul is proving 2. And because they distinguish not God's Acts which he doth as an Owner and Benefactor from those Acts of Justice which he doth as Rector to Subjects under his Laws and Covenants 3. And because they distinguish not the Common Law of Grace made to fallen Mankind from the Covenant of Peculiarity proper to the Jews 1. Many think that Paul here giveth the Reason from God's meer Will and Reprobating Decree why some are Unbelievers and hardned in Sin and are not pardoned and saved when others are 2. And so they think that God pardoneth and justifieth and saveth Men without any Reason or Cause fetch'd from their different Qualifications but meerly from his Will 3. And they think that Esau was not onely shut out from the Covenant of Peculiarity but also from the Commoner Covenant or Law of Grace and was hated to Damnation meerly from the antecedent Will of God But contrarily 1. It is evident that St. Paul is but proving and justifying God's free Mercy in calling the Gentiles while he permitted the obstinate part of the Jews to cut off themselves by Unbelief and wilfully rejecting Christ II. And that he speaketh not at all of any arbitrary Inequality in his Rewards and Punishments but only in his free Gifts all Men should understand that God is to Man 1. Our Owner 2. Our Benefactor 3. Our Rector 1. As an Owner he may do with his own as he will 2. As our Benefactor he giveth many things antecedently to his Laws and many things besides what he there promiseth And as a Lord and Benefactor he distributeth his Gifts with incomprehensible arbitrary variety and none have cause to accuse him for giving another more than them He wrongs not the Stars by not making them Suns nor the Clouds by not making them Stars nor Men by not making them Angels nor Beasts in not making them Men nor Worms or Toads by making them no better And scarce two things in the World are like without any dissimilitude or inequality But when he hath made a Law of Precepts Prohibitions Rewards and Punishments it is his Justice equally to perform them to all according to their Qualifications and Titles He pardoneth all Believers and none else He glorifieth all that are justified and sanctified and none else and giveth the Reason of the different Sentences from their Qualifications and Works Mat. 25. c. which he doth not in his Gifts as meer Benefactor So that he doth not say that the Reason why some are pardoned and saved is not in him that willeth and him that runneth but the Reason why of two ill-deserving Persons or Nations one is overcome by decreed effectual Grace and the other hath not that Grace that so overcometh his wilful Resistance III. And when Paul speaketh of Esau being hated the Text alledged meaneth no more but that the Edomites were exposed to God's overflowing Punishments on Earth and that Esau was less loved than Jacob and he and his Seed rejected from the Covenant of Peculiarity But as it is certain that they were under that Law of Mercy made to Mankind in fallen Adam and Noah so it is not said in Scripture that Esau was damned or void of Saving Grace II. As to the Hardning of Pharaoh and others it being agreed by all sober Christians that God causeth not Sin we need to debate it no further Whether the sense be That he denieth them softning converting Grace when they have forfeited it by wilful Resistance and so permitteth them to be hardned or Whether it be that he doth those good and righteous Acts which he knows they will be wilfully hardned by as Occasions and Objects or both these Here is not the least hint that God damneth any or decreeth so to do meerly because he will do it without any Reason taken from their own Deserts Or that he maketh some Men Sinners or damneth them meerly as the Potter differenceth his Vessels of Clay But only that when all have deserved to be forsaken and condemned and he giveth Common Grace for their Recovery to all why he freely giveth more which shall be infallibly effectual to some rather than to others when those some were no better than the rest It 's said by some School-men That Mens Damnation is caused by Sin but God's Decree to damn them is not nor hath any Cause But this must be more distinctly answered By God's Decree to damn Men is meant 1. Either the Effects of his Will 2. Or his Will it self 3. Or his Will as extrinsecally denominated from the Object correlated to it 1. No doubt but Punishment which is the Effect of his Will hath a Meritorious Cause in Mans Sin 2. The Will of God or his Decree considered as in God is nothing but his Essence which hath no Cause and is not in it self called a Decree to damn Men. 3. The Denomination of God's Will from its relation to the extrinsick Object hath objective Cause the Object qualified Whoever truly repenteth and believeth may be sure of his Justification and it 's sinful to doubt of it on pretence that God may condemn whom he will when he hath told whom he will not condemn And whoever is unregenerate and ungodly may be sure he is unjustified and unpardoned and in a damnable state for God hath assured us of this in his Word CHAP. X. 1. BRethren my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved 2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge 1 2. My great desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be converted and saved And it is laudible in them that they have a Zeal of God and his Law and Worship but it is frustrate because misguided by errour 3. For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God 3. For they being ignorant of God's way of Justification and Righteousness intended as the end of the
cause at all of their Pardon or Justification It is but a necessary Receptive Qualification he that shuts the Window causeth darkness But it 's sottish to say that he that openeth it doth more than the Sun to cause light which he causeth not at all but removeth the impediment of reception and Faith it self is Gods Gift of Grace though Preaching and Perswasion be the means of working it CHAP. VI. 1. WE then as workers together with him beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain 1. We then whose Office is to subserve Christ so your Salvation beseech you that ye take care that all the Mercy which he hath shewed you in the Gospel and you profess to have received be not in vain and â—â—ustrated by any deceit 2. For he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation 2. It is of exceeding great moment to know your time and day of Grace God hath his accepted time and special day of Mercy which all should watch and take as it is written I have heard thee c. And certainly this is your time and day of Mercy while Mercy is so freely and fully preached to you 3. Giving no offence in any thing that the ministery be not blamed 3. Our care is to give no occasion of falling to any nor expose the Ministry to blame or to the hard thoughts of those that should be saved by it 4 5. But in all things approving our selves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in watchings in fastings 4 5. Note What an approved Minister of Christ must endure and do for the Ends of his Ministry if he be called to it 6. By pureness by knowledge by long-suffering by kindness by the holy Ghost by love unfeigned 7. By the word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left 8. By honour and dishonour by evil report and good report 6 7 8. Note By how many means the Work of the Mâ—nistry is promoted and how we must be qualified thereto 8 9 10. As deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed as sorrowful yet alway rejoycing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things 8 9 10. Our Life is made up of seeming but not real Contradictions As Deceivers use Craft to huâ—t Men we use our Wit and Skill or Wiles to save Men and yet we deliver nothing but the truth Our Spirit and Spiritual Condition is unknown and yet our Out-side known to many We daily are exposed to the danger of Death and die daily and yet you see we are alive We are oft chastened and yet not killed we are under many Sorrows in the Flesh and yet we continually rejoice in God we are poor and yet God useth us to make many rich in Grace we have nothing and yet by Faith all the World is ours as ordered by God and used by us for our Spiritual Good Love maketh all other Mens Estates comfortable to us as our own and God useth all things for our good 11. O ye Corinthians our mouth is open unto you our heart is enlarged 12. Ye are not straitned in us but ye are straitned in your own bowels 11 12. Our Mouth hath been opened to you in full Communication of the Gospel and our Hearts enlarged towards you in Love and Zeal for your Salvation If yet there be any straitness and defects in you of Knowledge and Love it is of your selves and your own deficiency 13. Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children be ye also enlarged 13. And Justice requireth that as Children to a Father your Love and Kindness be large towards us and that the Fruits of our Ministry in you be not narrow and defective 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelivers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness 15. And what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel 14 15. Let not Seducers or Carnal Interest draw you to Communion with Infidels and Idolaters as if you were inclined to their way or were yet indifferent in Religion Partake not externally of their Sacrifices as if you were of their Society For how can such Contraries as Righteousness and Unrighteousness Light and Darkness Christ and Belial a Believer and an Infidel be united or have special Communion even Symbolical in the things wherein they are contrary 16. 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 and I will be their God and they shall be my people 16. Will you join the Temple of God and Idols together God hath made you his Temple and peculiar People and promised specially to own you in Communion as your God And will you go to Idols Temples as if your God had Concord and Communion with them 17 18. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 17 18. Wherefore go not to the Idols Temples and symbolize not with them in Religion to avoid Persecution but come out from among them as a holy People segregate to the Lord and defile not your selves with their unclean things and then God will own you as his Sons and Daughters while you are pure and cleave to him 1. Note That this Command for the Church to avoid Communion with Idolaters and Infidels is perverted by them that feign it to forbid Communion with Christians and their Churches if they do but differ in some tollerable Opinion or Practice from them which their censorious Ignorance will falsly call Idolatry They call such Differences or Defects False Worship and then say we must not join in False Worship Whereas every faulty Manner of Worship may be called False because it is so far disagreeable to the Rule And no Man offers any Worship to God that is not False if all Faultiness be Falseness But it 's no False Worship that will allow us to separate from Churches or Christians further than they separate from Christ and Christ disowneth them for that Faultiness or than they make any Sin to be to us necessary to any part of their Communion They were very foul Sins even in Worship that the Corinthians were guilty of and yet none was commanded to come out from them And much more are those Papists displeasing to God who cast out
Judgment and so of our final Salvation 4. In that sincere Holiness and Obedience is the very matter that must justifie men against the virtual or actual accusation of Satan that they were not holy and obedient but ungodly or hypocrites As Faith it self is the matter of our Justification against the accusation that we were not Believers Now James speaketh of no other Faith than Paul doth But 1. He speaketh of another thing under the name of Works 2. And he speaketh of a working Nature in Faith for our Justification begun and of the Deeds themselves as needful to its continuance And in a word he speaketh of such Justification by no sort or works 1. In opposition to Christ or free Grace or 2. In coordination with him 3. But in meer instituted subordination to him And no Christian must ascribe to any Faith Works or act of Man the least part of the Office of Christ CHAP. III. 1. MY brethren be not many masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation 1. And as I thus admonish you against the Errour of Hypocrites who take their dead Opinions and Professions for a Justifying Faith so must I do against another Vice which that sort of Hypocrites are guilty of Their Pride and Self-conceit maketh them think that their knowledge is much higher than other Christians and that they are the fittest men to be Teaching Masters and Reprovers and so they are all forwarder to Teach and Magisterially Censure others and use their Tongue to contemn others as short of them in knowledge and to boast of themselves and all their Talk runs in a Teaching and not a Learning way But I warn you to avoid this proud and masterly spirit for it will make your sin the greater and without excuse and increase your condemnation 2. For in many things we offend all If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body 2. Your zeal goeth out by censuring others as great sinners in comparison of you perhaps for not observing your Ceremonies and Traditions or not taking you for their Teaching Masters But fear sin in your selves yea lest your censorious reproachful unbridled Tongues should prove worse than that which you censure others for He that hath most power to rule his Tongue and sinneth not in words is like to be the most perfect Christian and can rule his actions by the same Obedience and Wisdom which doth rule his Tongue 3. Behold we put bitts in the horses mouths that they may obey us and we turn about their whole body 3. As we rule the whole bodies of Horses by a Bridle in the mouth so could you bridle your mouths it would both signifie a power to rule your lives and much promote this 4. Behold also the ships which though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds yet are they turned about with a very small helm whithersoever the governour listeth 4. So the Pilot by so small a thing as the Helm ruleth great Ships that are under the force of Winds 5. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things 5. And man's Tongue is but a small part of the body though it boast great things and the Government of that little member is a great part of the Government of the man 5 6. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth And the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity so is the tongue amongst our members that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire of hell 5 6. The Tongue in the body and the World is like fire among much combustible matter As a little fire kindleth much so this little member doth both kindle defiling passions and guilt in our own bodies and also kindle hatred rage and strife in the World and set on fire the Societies and Affairs of Mankind in the World being it self set on fire by the Devil and used by hellish temptations to hellish designs in diabolical employment 7. For every kind of beasts and of birds and of serpents and things in the sea is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind 8. But the tongue can no man tame 7 8. For all sorts of Animals have been mastered by Man But the Tongue of another who can master when we have so much ado to subdue our own 8 9. It is an unruly evil full of deadly poison Therewith bless we God even the Father and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God 10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing 8 9. It is to us and in the World an unruly evil till Grace shall tame it and infecteth our selves and the societies where we live with the mortal Poison of many great sins The same Hypocrites who praise God and worship him with it do reproach their Brethren with it not only Men that have some of Gods Image in their natural faculties but those that are Gods true Servants better than themselves who are renewed to Gods Image in Holiness by Grace 10. 11. My brethren these things ought not so to be Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter 12. Can a fig-tree my brethren bear olive-berries either a vine figs so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh 10 11 12. Do you not perceive that your ill reproachful Tongues which vilifie speak evil of and condemn good Christians for not being of your minds do confute themselves when the same Tongues profess to honour God and boast of Wisdom and Religion in your selves If you were as Wise and Godly as you profess your Tongues would not by speaking ill of your Brethren shew the contrary No Fountain sends forth sweet water and bitter fresh and salt no Fig tree brings sorth Olives The tree is known by its fruits 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amongst you let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom 13. Are any among you indeed as much wiser and knowing and excelling others as you would be thought when you censure or despise them Shew it if you would have any wise man believe you not by proud boasting or talking against others but by the true fruits of the Spirit even a better conversation than theirs in all your dealings and by more good works with that humble meekness which signifieth true Wisdom 14. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts glory not and lie not against the truth 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish 14 15. But if you have a bitter Zeal and envy and uncharitable heart-rising and strife against your Brethren pretending truth Orthodoxness or Religion for your swelling envy and emulation and talking and preaching down Love and Peace to make those that differ from your side to seem hateful or contemptuous in comparison of