yet are upon us Besides the Lord hath lately given us manifold signs from heaven forewarning us of these very times He testifies his great mercy to us as he did also to the old world before he sent the universal deluge Observ 2. As Righteousness is the most seasonable theme for the Preacher so of all other the most fit for the eighth preacher for him and them who preach in the time and nearest to the time of the deluge the overflowing scourge Observ 3. It is the most seasonable lesson that Preacher and People can learn When thy judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousness Esay 26. Observ 4. Jesus Christ the true Noah is the eighth preacher of righteousness wherein he agrees with his type but as the truth in other things so in this also much exceeds the Type Noah and others can but preach righteousness to the ear and to the heart as the Prophets are commanded Esay 40.1 2. but they cannot incline and bow the heart or work that righteousness in man to whom they preach it But the Lord Jesus Christ the great Preacher of Righteousness is Jehovah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã purifieth the heart and works his righteousness in us Esay 26. He is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the branch of righteousness or rather the young tender shoot sprout or twig or plant of righteousness of God the Fathers planting in us So he is called Jer. 23.5 though we turn it a branch improperly which the Chaldy Paraph. here ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a sucker Esay 53.2 and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Esay 11.1 Chald. Paraph. again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this groweth in us See Notes on Jer. 23.5 Jesus Christ the true Noah is the eighth Preacher of Righteousness that we may the better understand this we must know that there have been from the beginning eight manifestations of the Deity 1. To Adam whom the Lord made a kind of visible God upon earth adorning him with his image in Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness 2. A second manifestation of the Deity was to the eight preachers of Righteousness especially to Noah God requiring by them his Righteousness and coming forth then out of his place to judge the world with Righteousness 3. A third manifestation of the Deity was unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob to whom God often appeared and made a Covenant with Abraham and confirmed it by Circumcision the seal of Righteousness by Faith 4. A fourth was unto Moses Aaron and Josuah to whom he made known his Laws his Statutes and Judgements by which he required his Righteousness of the people 5. A fifth manifestation of God was unto Samuel to David Solomon and the Prophets who testified in their several ages the Righteousness of God unto the people so that the righteousness of God was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets 6. A sixth was to Zorobabel Haggy Zachary and Malachy by whom the Lord brought his people out of the confused Babel and required of them his Righteousness 7. The seventh was made unto the Lord Jesus Christ manifested in the flesh who himself is the Righteousness of God 1 Cor. 1. 8. The eighth and last manifestation of the Deity is in these last days of the Spirit which the Lord Jesus Christ promiseth Joh. 14.16 17 18. and promiseth himself to be with them to the end of the world This is the Comforter which was given in the days of Pentecost Act. 2. The inward Teacher and Preacher Joh. 16.13 Joh. 2.27 The Reason why the true Noah the Lord Jesus Christ is the eighth preacher of righteousness will appear from the consideration 1. Of the object subject or argument of his Preaching 2. The number of eight 3. The consideration of the eighth Preacher himself 1. The object subject and argument of the true Noah's preaching is Righteousness which is 1. Sometimes taken for the whole Kingdom of God it self Psal 24.5 He shall receive the blessing and righteousness And Psal 69.27 which Christ preached Luk. 4.43 and commanded Luk. 9.2 2. Sometimes it is taken for a part of it as Rom. 14.17 The effect of righteousness is peace peace is taken also 1. Sometimes for the whole Kingdom Esay 57.2 These shall enter into peace 2. Sometimes for a part of it as Rom. 14.17 which the Apostle preached in Christ's name Act. 10.3 6. 3. Joy is either taken for the whole kingdom as Matth. 25.21 23. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord Or else 2. It is taken for the third part of the Kingdom which ariseth from righteousness and peace Rom. 14.2 Macrobius out of the principles of Pythagoras and Plato tells us that octonarius is numerus plenus and that fulness propriè nisi divinis rebus supernisque non convenit such a full number is the number of eight The number of eight is numerus justitiae the number of justice and righteousness And the reason is because it consists of parts which are pariter pares and may be resolved into equal parts This number makes a solid body which they call Tessera or cubus a four-quare which is the figure of the heavenly City and Kingdom Rev. 21.16 Hence it will appear why Righteousness must dwell in the heavenly Kingdom 2 Pet. 3.13 It is adequately and properly here as locatum in proprio loco Esay 2.62 Matth. 13.43 The righteous shall shine in the kingdom of their Father and 25.46 The righteous go into eternal life and not the unrighteous 1 Cor. 6.9 But as eight is numerus justitiae the Diapason so the Kingdom with which it holds proportion makes a disdiapason the more excellent harmony when as it was in the beginning it is now and shall be for ever as Diapason makes but one and the same sound even Jesus Christ in the beginnings yesterday to day and for ever ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Heb. 13.8 3. The true Noah is not only a just man but the just One. He is the righteousness He is Melchizedech Heb. 2.7 It is his work to destroy the spirit of errour the spirit of Antichrist Esay 11.4 5. The spiritual wickedness Ephes 6. 2 Thess 2.7 8. the wicked one Ezech. 28.19 This is the eighth and last beast yet of the seven Revel 17.11 The spiritual and inward Antichrist which is of the seven unclean spirits Matth. 12.45 Such was Adonizedeck to Josuah 10.3 he is in all the seven as his members and subjects over which he is the head Job 18.15 Thus Christ himself opposite unto Antichrist is he that is Jehovah Exod. 3.14 Rev. 1.8 He who is the eighth and hath the seven Rev. 3.1 of whom he is head Esay 11.2 Thus as God left not himself without witness but sent his Son in the days of his flesh to Preach Righteousness unto the Church of the Jews Luk. 19.41 42. So neither now doth he leave himself without witness in the days of his spirit but gives warning of the overflowing scourge by
spiritual understanding and strength and might according to his glorious power And this is more observable in this Epistle because the Colossians were in this condition wherein the man in the Text declares himself Col. 3.3 ye are dead saith he and your life is hid with Christ in God Observ 2. Sin is a stranger to our nature for howsoever through long custom in sin sin and the man becomes all one yet one they cannot be because one and the same cannot be at one time alive and dead Now sin revives and lives and the man dies therefore surely they are not one This was couched in Nathans parable to David 2 Sam. 12.2 where David's lust is represented by a traveller who came to the rich man Vngodly men invite it unto them Wisd 1.12 16. and 2.24 through the envy of the Devil came death into the world it was he that brought it into Judas and then Satan entred into Judas Luk. 22.3 for even Judas the Traytor himself was not all one with it but Satan had darted covetousness and treason into his heart Joh. 13.2 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã immisisset he had darted Ambition was a stranger to the Apostles There arose a reasoning among them which of them should be the greatest Luk. 9.46 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã there entred a dispute among them and vulgar Latin intravit cogitatio the thought came into them it was none of the house Observ 3. Take heed of judging or condemning any one in whom the motions of sin appear especially if the man dye unto them The humours in the body must be moved and flow before they can be expelled The best Saints of God yea all of them pass through the same purgatory into heaven Observ 4. We see then from hence the energie and power of the Law how far it extends it kills it s a killing letter Thus what the murmuring Jews upbraided Moses and Aaron withall is in some sort true ye have killed the people of the Lord Numb 16.41 It cannot give life Gal. 3.21 This was figured by Elisha who sent his servant with his staff to revive the child but it would not be 2 King 3.29 The law of the Lord is a staff so where the Psalmist Psal 23.4 saith Thy rod and thy staff the Chaldee Paraphr puts thy law This staff Elisha sent by his servant to raise the dead child Elisha Who is that See Notes in Col. 3.1 This is that staff of bread which nourisheth not for ever nor so satifieth but that he who eats it hungers and thirsts again so saith the Initial Wisdom which is the wisdom of the Law Ecclus. 24.21 They that eat me shall yet be hungry and they who drink me shall be thirsty Then presently the Wisdom adds all these things are the commandments of the most high even the Law which Moses commanded But our Lord speaks otherwise of the water of life Joh. 4.13 whosoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again but he that drinketh of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst Joh. 6.35 This was figured by Manna which was the food of the people in the wilderness and they gathered it every morning Exod. 16.21 But when they came into the Land of Canaan the Manna ceased Jos 5.12 And they eat of the corn of the Land of Canaan Christ is the true bread and the true land of Canaan the Manna ceased upon the next day after the passover after the death the manna ceaseth The Jews challenged our Lord with this Moses gave us bread from heaven Joh. 6.31 and again vers 49.50 Your fathers did eat Manna and are dead c. and 58. Consol Here is great need of comfort to the disconsolate soul dejected and cast down by the sight of his sins for whereas upon the approach of the Law sin revives and groweth strong in the man yet the Law bringeth no power with it for the subduing of the sin but a guilt and obligation unto death Alas what shall the silly man do but complain I am in trouble my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of mine iniquity and my bones are consumed c. Psal 31.10 Psal 116.3 4.5 The sorrows of death compassed me about and the pains of bell-gate hold on me And 142.5 6 7. I cryed unto thee O Lord and said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living Thus the Law is a killing letter the ministration of death the ministration of condemnation 2 Cor. 3. This was figured Numb 17.10 where the Lord said to Moses Bring Aarons rod before the Testimony When Aarons rod appears and awakens us when the Law figured by Aarons rod of the Almond-tree appears it threatens judgement unto all who rebel against it and therefore the Lord denouncing his judgements against Israel Jer. 1.10 I have set thee to root out and pull down to destroy and throw down the Lord confirms it with a sign saying Jeremiah what seest thou And he saith I see a rod of an Almond-tree Then said the Lord thou hast well seen for I will hasten my word to perform it As the Almond-tree blossoms first of all the trees and hastens the flowers and awakens as it were after a winters sleep as the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth so hastily shall vengeance awake and come upon transgressors When therefore weak Jacob sees the Rod of the Almond-tree flourish when the Law goes out of Sion he foresees the judgement hastens and therefore cryeth out we perish we die we all perish we are but dead men But to the comfort of such dying souls be it spoken the Lord in mercy provides a sovereign Remedy for such dying men for upon the complaint of the dying people Chap. 17.12 13. in Chap. 18.1 The Lord said unto Aaron Thou and thy sons and thy fathers house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary The care of the Sanctuary lies upon Aaron that the people might not sin die and perish The terrours of Conscience wrought by the Law are relieved and quieted by Faith in Jesus Christ He is the true High Priest of whom Aaron was but a figure He it is who through death destroyes him who had the power of death i. e. the Devil and delivers them who through fear of death were all their life-time subject unto bondage Hebr. 2.14 15. And therefore the Redeemer comforts them against their sins Isai 41 10-16 Therefore to those who are thus dead unto sin and the motions of sin living in them the Gospel and gladtidings of Salvation is preached so we understand that obscure place 1 Pet. 4.6 The Gospel is preached unto them that are dead that they may be judged indeed according to men in the flesh but live according to God in the Spirit For so these dead men are judged for dead in the flesh
Dignity of Ambassadour yea of a King Priest and Prophet and therefore in all justice and equity he must be true and faithful to his maker Moses who was admitted unto that intimacy with his master could not but observe his faithfulness God is faithul and will not suffer c. faithful is he that hath promised Doubt But here it may be doubted whether Moses was thus faithful to his maker for we read Numb 20.12 that both Moses and Aaron were unfaithful Some answer thereunto that one act of unfaithfulness could not hinder Moses from being stiled faithful no more than David's sins hindered him from being called a man after God's own heart Sequens paenitentia antiquum nomen ex multis virtutibus comprobatum retinet Hierom. Others rather say that the Lord gave Moses that testimony according to his present and past faithfulness Numb 12. whereas hitherto he had not been unfaithful as afterward he was Numb 20. But indeed neither of these Answers clears the Doubt but what I intimated before touching the proper meaning of faithfulness in these words for no doubt that faith or faithfulness for which Moses is commended Numb 12. differs from that against which he sinned Numb 20. which was a doubting of God's power whether he could give so much water out of the Rock as should satisfie so many men women and children beside their cattle this Moses and Aaron seemed to doubt of Numb 20.12 24. As for the other faithfulness for which Moses is commended that truth in fulfilling his Word Promise and Covenant against that Moses never offended he was always faithful to him who appointed him But as for that defect of faith or unbelief in Moses and Aaron it was a figure of that defect and impotency of the Law and Legal Priesthood which can never bring those under it into the true land of promise Wherein more particularly this faithfulness of Moses is seen will appear in the next point Moses was faithful in all his house Mean time take notice that God's workmanship is for God's service he made Moses who was faithful to his maker Repreh 1. Our unfaithfulness to our maker that vow which we have made unto him in our Baptism That we would continue his faithful Soldiers and Servants to our lives end that we would fight against the world the flesh and the Devil c. Who of us have been so faithful in keeping of it as we ought We frustrate him of the end of our Creation Esay 43.7 but Proverbs 2.8 4. 2. Those who think it enough to be faithful to God in mind and heart though they really and in actual performance be found unfaithful As if an Adulteress should say to her Husband Husband in my heart I am faithful to you though I prostitute my body to another man Vide in chap. 2. fine 3. Moses was faithful in all God's house What faithfulness is and how Moses was faithful unto him that appointed or made him I have shewn in the former point it now remains wherein particularly Moses was faithful and that in all God's house We understand by an house one of these two things Either 1. The structure and building Or 2. The family inhabiting and dwelling in that structure or building As for the structure and building what outward house had the Lord in Moses his time but his Tabernacle This the Lord calls his Tabernacle Levit. 15.31 Herein he promised to dwell Levit. 26.11 In the building and furnishing of this and anointing it Moses was faithful doing all things according to the pattern that was shewn him in the Mount Exod. 27.8 2. But that house wherein Moses was principally faithful was the Church of God as vers 6. Whose house are we if c. So the Chaldee Paraprast Numb 12.7 Now Moses was faithful to God and to the people he was a faithful Prophet Apostle and Ambassadour from God to the people Hence ye read so often As the Lord commanded Moses 1. He was a faithful King ruling the people for God notwithstanding their stubbornness c. 2. He was a faithful Priest interceding and mediating with God for the people and would take no answer Exod. 32.32 11 2 3. Numb 14.13 Psalm 106.23 Observ 1. Note here a laudable example of faithfulness in Moses how sincerely and uprightly he dealt between God and the people such a faithful Ambassadour is health saith Solomon Prov. 13.17 Such faithful Ambassadours procure peace and lengthen the tranquility of Kingdoms and Common-weals such were the Ministers of State whom the Jews employed to Rome and Sparta and obtained peace with both Nations and such were the Agents of both Nations who were faithful to both their Common-weals and were a means of their long continuance they dealt in all faithfulness with other Nations Pompey the Great was sent Ambassadour some whither abroad and being to take ship the wind being very high the Master of the Ship told him the voyage would be dangerous Pompey answered him it matters not ire necesse est vivere non necesse est Such true and faithful dealing among themselves and with other Nations confirmed their prosperity Whereas other Nations and Commonweals by their falshood and unfaithful dealing among themselves and with others hasten their own and others ruine For what hath been the practice of Kingdoms and Commonweals of latter times but so long to continue true and faithful one to other until they could break their Faith with more advantage Whence an Ambassadour hath been plausibly defined and said to be one qui proficiscitur ad mentiendum pro Republica who goes abroad to lye for his respective Commonwealth Moses was no such Ambassadour he was faithful in all Gods house Observ 2. Laudari à laudato summa laus a man may be praised of some who are not able to judge as Quintil Scito ille pessimé dixisse quem maximé laudant Its the greatest praise to be praised by him who is most praise worthy as the Lord himself is who is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who inhabites the praise of Israel who examines the heart and the reins and can best examine our truth and faithfulness and give testimony of it He it is that saith of Moses Numb 12. which the Vulgar Latin turns fidelissimus he is most faithful in all my house Herein Moses exceeded Pompey the Great so much commended for his faithfulness to the Common-wealth of Rome for Tully Pompeys own friend writes of him and hath left upon Record a Testimony most dishonourable unto him Solitum aliud sentire aliud loqui So did not Moses who was faithful Observ 3. A pattern to all who sit in Moses his chair to be faithful to the Lord who sets them over his house as Moses was a faithful Ambassadour such was John Baptist Joh. 1.20 He would not take any glory from Christ such were Paul and Barnabas Act. 14. He delivered Gods message to Pharaoh with boldness and confidence not fearing the wrath of the king Heb.
16-19 Brethren as also in this Chap. 1.5.14 Brethren 2. They are called also Friends 1 Joh. and Act. 11. 3. And 1 Pet. 1. Christians which is the more usual name This the rather I note here because it imports the qualification of those who have this Law which is of principal regard in this place Now what is a Law And what is that Law which Christians have 1. A Law is an Ordinance or Rule declaring what is to be done what to be left undone for some common good end See Notes in Psal 78.5 This Law the Lord gives unto the fall'n man ubi supra Reason Necessity required it for whereas sin had entred upon the soul of man and estranged him by the Law is the knowledge of sin Observ 1. Thou art inexcusable O Man who ever thou art c. See Notes in Psal 78.5 Observ 2. This testifieth and witnesseth against all and convinceth all ubi supra Observ 3. This Law is fall'n down rejected destroyed and lost as it were among the rubbish c. ibidem 2. Liberty is a power to think will speak and do what we ought without constraint and without hinderance 1. The Law of Liberty is that Law which makes the believers in Christ free from the bondage of sin and death 2. Which renders the believers in Christ free from the compulsory power of Moses's Law 3. This is no other than the Moral Law of God which is said by St. Paul to gender unto bondage Gal. 4. and here by St. James to be a law of liberty are not these ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 4. This law of liberty is called a perfect Law Jam. 1. Not that the Law of Moses is in it self imperfect but because it commands only and gives no power whereas the Lord Jesus gives Grace to help in time of need Hebr. according to which I came not saith he to destroy the Law but to fulfil it Matt. 5.17 when we are all dead in trespasses and sins The Reason 1. why Christians have this law of liberty appears from the donour and giver of it the Lord Jesus Christ He alone is free among the dead Psal 88.5 who hath loosed the bands or pains of death Act. 22.4 Yea he hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1.10 2. There is Reason also in regard of those who are to be made free Under the Law we are all brought up as Children though heirs yet little differing from servants under the Pedagogie of the Fathers Law and therefore though Children of Abraham typically and so in a sort free according to our age yet we stand in need of another Redeemer and if the Son make ye free ye shall be free indeed who gives to all Believers his spirit of life without which spirit no man can be said to be Christs Rom. 8.9 or to be a Christian Joh. 2.27 Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. Observ 1. Christian liberty hath a Law The most free Christians have a Law to regulate their freedom for there is no freedom that 's true which freeth any man from obedience unto the Law of God Christians are not exempted or set free from the Law of God Christians are not free from any Righteousness which the Law of God requireth Here is a ground of all dehortations in Scripture all disswasions from doing evil Every man even Cain was supposed to have a power in him to have left his wrath and envy and hatred of his Brother the same is a ground of all exhortations and perswasions to do good the same Cain is supposed to have had a power to do well even while he was wrathful envious and hating his Brother If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted but if thou do evil sin lieth at thy door And the like Reason there is for all admonitions and comminations and threatnings in Scripture if they who are exhorted dehorted admonished threatned or any way perswaded or disswaded have in them no power to do or not to do answerably all these acts are utterly in vain How much more hath a Believer in Christ who hath the law of liberty a power in him to do according to the Law and Will of God so that when he is dehorted exhorted admonished reproved or threatned he hath in him a power to act according to the dehortation exhortation c. otherwise they should be all in vain Hence it appears that they who are truly Christians such as the Apostle calls Brethren they are set at liberty from the bonds of their self-chosen wisdom and knowledge free from their own self-will self-love they are released from the bondage of corruption from the dominion and power of sin Hence appears a great mistake among the people of God who in their weakness of understanding take that for free will which indeed is not as when we say we can do this or the contrary which they call libertas contrarietatis and that we can do this or leave it undone which they call libertas contradictionis and they who say this are held to be free-willers and to hold free will as they call it Now neither the one nor the other of these is truly and properly free will but a power and faculty which God Created in the soul of man and remains in the soul and continueth in it even in the state of sin This is evident in Cain who is called the first-born of the Devil He was now full of wrath and envy which is properly the Devils sin The Lord saith to him even then Gen. 4.6 Why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen If thou do well shalt thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lieth at the door and the desire of it shall be subject unto thee and thou shalt rule over it as I have heretofore proved the words should be read vers 7. Here was Cain actually under two great sins yet the Lord even then supposeth him to have power either to do well or ill surely this is not the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free See Notes on Gen. 9.13 Repreh The present untoward Generation who pretend that liberty wherewith Christ hath made his believers free as a cloak to cover their licentiousness as if the Lord Jesus had come to destroy the Law not to fulfil it Like Clodius the Letcher one of their Religion whom Tully justly blames that he Consecrated his house to the Goddess Liberty but set up for Liberty the Image of a notorious known Strumpet As God makes his people free with a true freedom so the Devil gives his Servants a false freedom See Notes on Gen. 26. post medium Rehoboth Observ 5. Consol To the weak Subjects under the Law of Liberty See Notes in Psal 78.51 3. We ought so to speak as they who shall be judged by the Law of Liberty So How The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which answers to ãâã
so or so as Moses had commanded Joshua 11.14 Neither left they any to breath What else is hereby to be understood but what the Law and Will of the Lord is that 's Moses who is ordinarily taken for the Law that Jesus the true Joshua fulfilled Obs 3. The Law and Prophets continue in their strength and are as firm and strong obligations in this time of the Gospel as formerly they were The Moral Law in the Letter and Spirit The Ceremonial according to the spiritual understanding of it for Ceremoniale aboletur Spirituale manet The Judicial Law according to the Equity of it This will appear from the two next Verses to my Text v. 18 19. So that the Gospel requires of us as much obedience as the Law for measure and degree Obs 4. They who live dissolutely and loosely They neither have the doctrine of Christ nor his life or practice nor end of his coming to countenance palliate and cover their vitious lives withall Reprehension of those who destroy the Law and the Prophets 't is the cause of their destruction and destruction of the people Malac. 2 1-9 and 4.4 5 6. 2. Think not that I come to destroy c. By these Words the Lord puts a bar against all Opinions all Tenents and Disputes of men concerning the Law as if by him or his doctrine it should in the least be diminished Rat. The Thoughts are the Basis and Foundation of Counsels Wills Affections Actions Works and Words And therefore our Lord thought it necessary to give caution concerning them He knew the present Surmises and Suspitions of the Scribes and Pharisees He foresaw the false conceits and opinions that would be received in the World concerning his doctrine as we find at this day Obs 1. The Law and Prophets are empty and voyd until Christ come to fulfil them There is a Vacuum where obedience and fulfilling of the Law and Prophets is not Vide Not. in James 1.22 Jer. 4.22 23. Obs 2. Note hence what an exact and perfect life our Lord Jesus came to bring into the World even the fulfilling of the Law and Prophets A life opposite unto that generation of men he met withall in the dayes of his flesh and as opposite unto this present generation in the dayes of his Spirit for all those he dealt withall beside his own Disciples who were of one will with himself all the rest were either Pharisees or Sadduces of which sort were also the Herodians The former sort the Pharisees fulfilled only the outside of the Law and Prophets whose righteousness consisted only in the obedience unto the outward commandment The latter sort the Sadduces and Herodians were a prophane people who were so far from fulfilling the Law and Prophets by their obedience that by their outward and inward disobedience they made voyd and emptied the Law and the Prophets Of one or other sort of these the true Disciples and truly called Christians only excepted consists this present Generation As for the Sadduces and prophane persons their sins prevent judgment 1 Tim. 5.25 The Pharisees are the men who most of all deceive themselves and are in greatest danger of deceiving others And therefore our Lord tells his Disciples Matth. 5.20 That unless their Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees they should not see the Kingdom of God The Scribes were the great Teachers of the people the Pharisees were the most religious followers of their doctrine ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our Lord hereby teacheth his Disciples wherein consists that Righteousness which God requires and accepts wherein else than in obedience to the Law and Prophets Now the Law saith Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not commit Adultery c. The Scribes and Pharisees did not kill did not commit Adultery and therefore they thought themselves just and despised others Luke 18. And the Reason is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and he who obeys the Law is righteous But our Lord Jesus denies that the Scribes and Pharisees obeyed the Law as appears every where throughout the Gospel especially Matth. 23. And the reason because it is not enough that a man do not kill nor commit Adultery c. but that also he have a mind abhorring and loathing murder and adultery for since the mind is so much the more excellent than the body that the man is named from the mind as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is the Soul signifieth the whole man in the Hebrew and Anima in the Latine foelices animae quibus hoc cognoscere primum inque domos superum scandere cura fuit Whence Anima cujusque is est quisque every man's Soul is himself Hence it undeniably follows that he is a murderer who hath a murdering Soul that he is an Adulterer who hath a Soul inclined to Adultery He who hates his Brother is a murderer He who looks upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart If any one here except and say the Law is not so severe to punish hatred or lust with death 't is true for the Lord hath committed the inflicting punishment for breach of the Law to Magistrates which being but men they punish the evil work done not the evil will they punish the dammage committed not the thought or purpose at least while it is unknown for how else can the Magistrate convince the minds of men by the testimony of two or three Witnesses without which he cannot proceed to punish an offence Would therefore a man be safe from the Magistrate It 's enough for him that he do not kill that he do not commit Adultery although his mind and heart be murderous and adulterous And thus the Scribes and Pharisees were just and righteous who performed outward obedience to the Law and Prophets And if the Kingdom of Christ had been of this World he should not nor would have taught any other doctrine But since the Kingdom of Christ is not of this World not an earthly but an heavenly Kingdom The Judge also is not earthly but heavenly the Witnesses also must be spiritual and heavenly and the judgment spiritual and heavenly in which the mind cannot be hid According to this Righteousness not only the murdering body and the adulterous body is punished as in earthly and bodyly Kingdoms but the murdering and lascivious mind or soul also shall be punished Would we therefore avoyd the eternal punishment we must then no doubt not only obey the outward Law in shew only as the Scribes and Pharisees did but inwardly also truly and from the heart as in the sight of God who searcheth the heart and reins and punisheth hatred for murder and lust for adultery And what I have said concerning these two Commandments is also to be understood of all the rest Obs 3. If our Lord Jesus Christ came not to destroy the Law and Prophet but to fulfil them Hence it will follow that they who boast of Christ's fulfilling
he delivers to Solomom as Joab Shimei c. a Figure of the Third Dispensation of the Spirit NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW V. 23 24. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. If therefore thou bring thy Gift unto the Altar and there remember that thy Brother hath ought against thee Leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother c. THese Words contain our Lord's directions to his Disciples inferred from the former Doctrine by way of Corollary The Corollary is an exhortation to Concord and agreement with our Neighbour This exhortation is enforced by two inconvenient and sad events which will follow if we maintain not Concord with our Brother The former is taken from consideration of divine matters Our oblation and offering will be hindered The other is taken from Civil Affairs the Judge will cast implacable Persons into Prison 2. This method of our Lord is very exact for having verse 21 22. propounded the Law with the breach and penalty of it he now propounds the Case The Case is twofold the former is as hath been said touching Ecclesiastical matters the later concerning civil business In the former we have a supposition or putting of a Case 2. An imposition and resolution of the Case 1. In the supposition two things 1. That a man bring his Gift to the Altar 2. That here he remember that his Brother hath ought against him 2. In the imposition three things 1. That in that case a man should leave his Gift at the Altar 2. That he go first and be reconciled unto his Brother 3. That then he come and offer his Gift So that we have here so many divine Sentences to be considered whereof the later depends on the former i. e. it is supposed that 1. A man will bring his Gift to the Altar 2. He may then remember that his brother hath somewhat against him 3. He ought in that case to leave his Gift at the Altar 4. Having left his Gift there he ought to be reconciled unto his brother 5. Being reconciled he ought then to come and offer his Gift 6. There is yet a sixth arising from the inference out of our Lord 's former Doctrine implied by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Therefore 1. A man will bring his Gift to the Altar This is supposed of course Herein enquire we what is here meant 1. By the Altar 2. The Gift 3. The bringing the Gift to the Altar 1. The Altar the word here is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies to kill and offer sacrifice as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth an Altar from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to kill for sacrifice The word Altare in the Latine is from exaltare whether from the height of the altar or lifting up the Sacrifice upon it 2. What is the Gift which a man is supposed to bring unto the Altar Surely of old there was a Gift ordered by Jehoash and Jehojada to be given whatsoever came into any man's heart towards the reparation of the Lord's house 2 Kings 12. and that was called Corban of which we understand Mark 7. It is Corban that is a Gift c. And where we read Mark 12.41 of many that cast Mony into the Treasury Gifts of this kind are understood there Now howsoever our Lord's Speech might be understood of this kind yet it is more probable that here he intended the free will offering of which we read the institution and order Levit. 1.2 But both these were legal and more proper to that time only But our Lord was now preaching the Gospel and therefore 3. Some by this Gift understand that which every one offers at the receiving of the blessed Sacrament which they call the Sacrament of the Altar But because they receive that Sacrament only once a week it would be too long to differ our reconciliation to our Brother but more of this in the handling the following Points It 's more than probable that our Lord meant by a Gift here such an one as might and ought to be offered as well under the Law as under the Gospel such a Gift is prayer unto God and praising of God such a Gift is alms fasting repentance Nor are these conjectures by offering of Incense was understood Prayer Let my Prayer ascend as the Incense Psal So St. Luke reports touching Zacharias the Priest that his lot was to burn Incense c. and the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of Incense Luke 1.9 10. And the praise of God is a Gift Psal 50.1 He that offereth praise Nay alms are a gift which God accepts as given to himself and he requires them Matth. 6.4 Acts 10.4 Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God Generally all offerings Thus the mortification of the body of sin Rom. 12.1 These things were well understood by the Wise men in the time of the Law Ecclus 35.1 He that keeps the Law brings offerings enough and he that taketh heed to the Commandment offers a peace-offering he that requites a good turn offers fine flower he that giveth alms sacrificeth praise So Hebr. 13. Reason is The Commandment of God who requires a free will offering But if God require it how is it free Answer The free will offering is to be offered of one's own voluntary will so circumscribed and limited that the man who offers his free will offering may nor offer what nor where nor how he lists But if he offer it must be of the herd or the flock or of certain kinds of fowl and at the door of the Tabernacle and the manner how he shall offer it is there prescribed at large for howsoever the Lord loves a chearful giver Ecclus 35. Yet he will not that any man tamper or meddle with his Worship He forbids in this case ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all will worship though he love a free will offering 2. This free will offering is due to the honour of the most high God 3. Our thankfulness will require it of us and therefore our Lord supposeth it of course Doubt But if donatio be liberalis datio as the Civilian speaks if a Gift be out of our own bounty then nothing can be given unto God because all is already his own and if so how can any man bring his Gift unto the Altar of God Answer Assuredly although the Lord prescribe what the Gift shall be and the manner of giving it Yet he respects more principally the heart and mind of the Doner The Lord loves a chearful giver My Son give me thy heart It is not said he loves a great or costly Gift for all Gifts are God's own The Prophet David excellently distinguisheth these two 1 Chron. 29.11 Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power c. vers 17. I know also my God that thou triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness
must begin with Love and Mercy to their Neighbour and Brother Our Lord prescribes us this method to begin with the peace with men and so to seek peace with God to pass from the love of men to the love of God This order Peter and John observed they went up to the Temple to offer up their Prayer but they came more acceptable to God by shewing mercy to their Brother They intended a gift to God but first what they had they gave to the lame man Act. 3. Obser 4. If we ought to desist and leave off our service unto God that we may do service to our Brother surely we ought to leave off all business of our own that we may be serviceable unto our Brother The reason is à majore John 33.12 God is greater than man The Lord enjoyns this expresly Exod. 23.4 5. If thou meet thine enemies Ox or his Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again if thou see the Ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden and wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him These are hard sayings should a man leave his own business and help his enemy help him that hates him Our Love would rest at home and center it self at home upon our selves But our God who knoweth the frame of our hearts upon every occasion draws out our Love unto another and lest we should think this duty too hard to be performed unto our enemy and him that hates us the Lord sweetens the name of enemy and hater and changeth it unto a Brother Deut. 22. 1. 4. for that Book of Deuteronomy hath much Gospel in it Now the Gospel is against all enmity malice and hatred and directs our Love not only to those of our own faith but also unto strangers and enemies Col. 3.10 Ye have put on the new man who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law Rom. 13.8 Obser 5. This discovers and condemns the contrary method and disorderly practice of the Religious World which runs quite blank opposite unto the method which our Lord commands here They will first reconcile themselves to God make their peace with God pray to God that he will be reconciled to them and when they think they have made all sure with God they little regard their Brother but live in envy rancor malice against him Great and notable pretenders they are to the first Table but notoriously negligent of the second They judge quite contrary to our Lord here they think its better to offer sacrifice to God than to be reconciled to their Brother that sacrifice is better than obedience c. See Notes on 1 Sam. 15.22 Note what a kind of Christendom we have at this day wherein all men will come unto God and offer up their Prayers and their Praises and Thanksgivings their Fasts and Humiliations unto God yet maintain fewds and enmities and irreconcileable differences with one another and with difference of judgement divide also their hearts and affections one from another for alas how remisly how negligently is love and peace maintained among us c. See Notes on Rom. 12.18 I fear we are most of us guilty herein ibidem Mysticé Must I go and get reconciliation with my Brother and mean time leave my gift at the Altar It 's possible my Brother may be absent he may be beyond the Seas We are here forced upon a spiritual meaning of these words have we not a Brother a Friend a Neighbour nearer home even in us unless we be cast-awayes Exhort First be reconciled unto thy Brother then come and offer thy gift both the offending Brother and the Brother offended stand in great need of Admonition and Exhortation 1. The offending Brother The fail lies first on thy part thou hast given offence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã go as soon as may be use all means possible to win thy Brothers love unto thee His love may wax cold yea putrifie into hatred and malice The beginning of contention is like the letting out of waters c. See Notes on Acts 2.37 2. To the party offended The Lord lays as strict a Command upon thee to be reconciled unto thy Brother as upon thy Brother offending to use all means to be reconciled unto thee Mat. 18.21 22. Mark 11.25 Consider thou hindrest thy God of his Honour and thy Brother of performing his Service to his God The blame as yet lies upon thy Brother he hath offended thee if thou refuse to be reconciled the blame will be wholly thine How canst thou pray to thy God The Lord bids thee when thou prayest forgive Mark 11.25 and if thou dost not forgive instead of blessing which thou hopest for thou bringest a curse upon thine own head according to thine own prayer Thou prayest forgive us our trespasses as we forgive c. and it is the only Petition which our Lord explains Mat. 11.14 15. Thou mayest now hugg and please thy self in thy wrath and comfort thy self with hope and revenge as Esau did against his Brother Jacob Gen. Thou thinkest there is a time to love and a time to hate But dost thou remember that there is also a time when hatred and envy must perish Eccles. 9.6 They must not enter into Heaven there is nothing but love and mercy and goodness there is no room for hatred and envy and therefore either thou must betimes part with them and let them perish from thee or if thou retain them thou must perish with them and with them go to hell from whence they came if the Prince of this world come and find these his goods with thee and thou one with them and will not part with them But deal freely and impartially with thine own soul what would'st thou enjoy in this world would'st thou not that all men should love thee be friends with thee and if so be that thou hearest that thou art despised or hated then thou grievest and then wishest that they would return and be reconciled unto thee And this is that which the Lord requires of thee and there is all the reason in the world thou shouldest perform the same unto thy Brother He shall perish who will not be reconciled unto thee and thou shalt perish who will not be reconciled unto thy Brother Consider how merciful a God thou hast and how he deals with thee Axiom 6. If therefore our Lord infers his case and directions thereupon from his Exposition of the Law in the former words since the penalty is so great for such anger and reproachful words as Racha and Fool which proceed from thence therefore be reconciled before all things yea before Divine Worship if thou bring thy gift c. The wise man makes the like inference Prov. 17.14 The beginning of strife is as if one let out waters therefore leave off contention
before it be medled with Hitherto we have heard our Lords first direction taken from Divine matters shewing the great interruption and suspension of our duty towards God which comes to pass by want of reconciliation unto our Brother Now follows the second inconvenience taken from Civil and Humane affairs such as befalls men usually who are deeply indebted and take no care to satisfie their Creditor for the last words give light unto the whole paragraph that this controversie is about a debt unpaid The summ of the whole business is a sute at Law with the ill use of it wherein we have the Lords direction Our Lords direction Agree with thine Adversary and the peril of not following that direction Our Lords direction is 1. to agree 2. seasonably and that according to the present opportunity 1. quickly 2. while thou art in the way with him 2. The peril and danger of not following that direction and that is either mediate and less or 2. ultimate and greatest of all 1. The mediate and less peril is in three degrees Lest 1. The Adversary deliver thee to the Judge 2. The Judge deliver thee to the Officer 3. By Adversary Judge and Officer thou be cast into prison 2. The greatest and utmost peril is perpetual imprisonment confirmed by the truth it self ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Verily I say unto thee 1. Thou oughtest to agree with thine Adversary 2. Thou oughtest quickly to agree with him while thou art in the way with hm 3. There is danger lest the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge 4. Lest the Judge deliver thee to the Officer 5. Lest thou be cast into Prison 6 Thou shalt not come out till thou hast paid the utmost farthing 7. The Lord Jesus affirms and confirms this unto thee Verily I say unto thee c. 1. Thou oughtest to agree with thine Adversary And 1. What is our Adversary 2. What is it to agree with him The whole business being a sute at Law and the ill use of it His Adversary is here the Creditor such as the Law defines to be he qui adversùs nos stat vel litigat in judicio he who stands against us or contends with us in Judgment who is otherwise called pars adversa the adverse party ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Esay 41.11 The same who is before called thy Brother so the Adversary is called in the Syriack This is the Adversary so called express a Neighbour or Brother Prov. 18.17 He that is first in his own cause seemeth just but his Neighbour cometh The LXX turn it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his Adversary And this must be the Adversary here meant for what Job hath 31.35 the Septuagint render the same words which our Lord useth v. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This Adversary is the Creditor to whom thou art a Debtor 2. Thou oughtest to agree with him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. V. L. esto consentiens or as Ar. Montanus bene sentiens use what diligence thou canst to make him consent to thee Hithpael it amounts to the same with what our Lord taught before go be reconciled unto thy brother Prov. 6.1 5. Prov. 25.8 9. Go not forth to strive debate thy cause with thy Neighbour Since the Adversary here is the Creditor unpaid to agree with our Adversary is to compound with him for the debt we owe him And since this sentence differs from the other only evolutione terminorum as they are wont to speak in the School the reasons will be the same with the former which I shall not repeat But since the business before us is a suit at Law it may here be enquired whether the Disciples of Christ may go to law yea or not See Notes on Rom. 12.18 See the condition of the faithful Prophets and Ministers of God while they speak generals and declare the truth O 't is a good man when he comes close to us and reproves us for our personal sins and saith thou art the man then we grow offended the Lawyers were content to hear but when it came near them thou reprovest us also say they and so he did Wo to you also ye Lawyers Veritas lucens amatur redarguens odio habetur Vid. Not. in Heb. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mysticé Even natural reason and self love may perswade men to put matters in difference between them to arbitrement and to comprimise all things before they come to publick Judgment And therefore all the Ancients agree that these words must be understood mystically who then is this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã mysticus our Adversary I wave here the various judgments of men and shall name those adversaries which the Scripture warrants me so touching them There are adversaries of two sorts 1. Corporal of which I have spoken thine offended brother 2. Spiritual 1. Good God the Father and his Law and Prophets 2. Evil the Devil himself the father of lies and his law even wickedness Psal That God the Father and his Law are adversaries so long as they have any thing against us it 's evident Job 30.21 He complains to the Lord that he is become cruel to him and opposeth himself against him Thus the Law is our adversary Ephes 2.14 Col. 2.15 The evil adversary the Devil is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Pet. 5. That good Adversary the Lord commands us here to agree withall is God the Father and his Law and Prophets while they have somewhat against us Agree with thine adversary i. e. satisfie thy Creditor ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã consent to his just demands thou art indebted to thy God pay thy Debt Reason It is the main scope of the Law and Gospel to bring men to the same mind and will with God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã includes both Reason 2. It follows in the Text from the ill consequence of disagreement with his adversary and we may add other Reasons hereunto See Notes on Matth. 22.21 Obser 1. We are debters unto God so what Matthew 6.12 calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our debts St. Luke 11. calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our sins for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God And we owe unto him his Image which is his glory As when our Lord said Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods so that we are debtors of this Image and indeed whatsoever else we have or are See Notes on Matth. 22.21 Obser 2. How poor we are How unable of our selves to satisfie our Creditor We have not one good thought towards it See Notes as before Obser 3. While we detain the things of God we render our selves enemies and adversaries to the Law of God Col. 1.21 Yea since the Lord sends unto us his Messengers to demand the debt and we abuse them and pay not our debts we become yet farther enemies and more oppose the Lord and become such as those Husbandmen are Matth. 21.33 39. with Matth. 23.37
Glos interlin duritiam cordis à te repellis put away from thee hardness of heart 4. Because we are enemies to the Father and to the Law if therefore God the Father and his Law be an adversary unto us The Law was given because of transgression and the Prophets are the Fathers truch-men and interpreters of the Law unto men and lay the Law unto them Hast thou found me O mine enemy Jeremiah a man of contention to the whole earth Jer. 15.10 5. It is our duty to be reconciled unto the Law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be at agreement be well minded to the Law 6. The Law saith not that the adversary should agree with us but he adviseth us to agree with our adversary and the same reason there is of the Prophets Jerem. 15.19 Let them return unto thee but return not thou unto them The Law which is our adversary cannot abate one iota or tittle of the rigour austerity and strictness of it That is not said to agree with us but we are commanded to agree with it When the Government of Rome was changed from a Monarchy to a Republick under Consuls the young men of Rome attempted to recover the former Government under Kings Livy tells us this reason among others that Kings might be of a flexible disposition sed Legem esse rem inexorabilem that the Law is inexorable certain it is the Law of God is inexorable inflexible that cannot possibly be changed to agree with us so are the Prophets The Courtier would have bent Micaiah to the word of the false Prophets 7. But the Law and the Prophets are adversaries unto us while we are yet in our sins See Notes on Hebr. 1. Obser 8. The Law is with us and we with it in the way of sinners So St. Paul tells us Rom. 7.1 Know ye not brethren for I speak to them that know the Law that the Law hath dominion over the man as long as he liveth while we live i. e. while sin lives in us and we live in it the Law is alwayes checking controuling correcting reproving us endeavouring to bring us off to compliance with it to consent and agree with it thou must expect no other measure from the Law while thou livest But the time will come when thou wilt not live when thou art ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã well minded to the Law St. Paul was in this condition who had the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. ult I live not saith he but Christ lives in me Gal. 2.20 Repreh 1. Who agree with men their adversaries and will not run the hazzard of the Law but will not agree with God the Father and the Law of God but stand out and will not compound their Debt our Lord tells a Parable Luke 16. Repreh 2. Who agree and are of one mind with the Devil himself who is the adversary of God and his People Make a Covenant with Hell and Death Esay 28. The strong man keeps his Palace and all his goods are in peace his anger his envy c. O the folly of wicked men they condescend to any conditions that they may agree with the Devil 1 Sam. 11. even to the putting out of the eyes of their understanding even to the death of their first born Doth the Lord require any such condition agreement with him Jerem. it came not into my heart Do thy self no harm Acts. Sheba must loose his head Exhort Agree consent unto the Law that it is good Means Indirect The fail lies on our part remove what hinders this agreement Thou must end this Controversie either by composition or by opposition A man out of his way will make haste to get into it again The Lord complains often that his people turn aside quickly out of the way Exod. 32.8 Judg. 2.17 And therefore it is but equal âhat he be importunate with us to return into his way yea it is his mercy that he is so 2. Agree quickly while thou art in the way with him The later words explain the former we are said to do a thing quickly when we are not long a doing it Do before all other things as before sacrifice What is this way It 's commonly said that it is the way of this natural life or while we live in this World and one of the Ancient Fathers consents adversus in via quia incertum tempus vitae praesentis and another saith as much festinandum ad Amicitiam amicorum quamdin vivimus upon whose authority some have built that distinction of via patria the way and the Country understanding by via the way the natural life of man in this World by patria they would understand that is to come But I do not believe that there is any Scripture which will warrant that distinction in such a sence nor any Scripture that calls the natural life a way It is true the eternal life is called patria a Country Hebr. 11.14 but the natural life is never called via a way to that Country but the godly life the way of God's commandments the way of life Prov. 15.24 The sober righteous and godly life that indeed is the way to the eternal life the heavenly Country This is not the way for if agreement be to be made at any time within the compass of this life than at the end of it How then shall many greater things be done afterwards What way then is this in the Text We shall know that if we consider who this Debtor is to whom God the Father the Law and Prophets are opposite to whom the Law of God is an adversary Surely the Law is not an adversary to him that walks in it that consents unto it that it is good John 14.21 He that hath my Commandment my Father will love him He therefore whom our Lord directs is out of that way he walks not in God's way and therefore the way wherein he is must be the way of sinners Psal 1. the way that is not good In the way of sinners that 's the way here meant herein our adversary the Law meets us thou art in the way with him what is the Law here in the way of sinners Yea as an enemy as an adversary to it and to them that walk in it 1 Tim. 1.9 10. Whatsoever is contrary to sound doctrine or rather healing doctrine Ratio Quickly the Adversary is importunate and there 's great Reason he should be so 2. The business requires haste we must leave off our sacrificing to God to do it 3. The danger is near the Judge standeth at the door and the way of sinners leads to the Judgment Luke 12. 4. The sooner we agree with the adversary the sooner he agrees with us Thou meetest him that worketh righteousness Esay 65. I said I will confess and thou forgavest When Nathan had charged David he consented presently as soon as Nathan answered The Lord hath done away thy sin Obser 1. There is a time when every
man of us have walked in a way that is not good in the way of sinners all have sinned or come short if we say we have not sinned we lie Otherwise Christ had not come to make propitiation for the sins of the whole World Obser 2. In the way of sinners the Law meets us as an adversary and opposeth us we may see this in particular sins When men walk in the way of ambition and covetousness the Law meets them and opposeth them in their way as the Angel met Balaam in his way Num. 22.22 The Angel stood in his way for an adversary When men walk in the way of false worship God meets them as Hanam met Baasha 1 Kings 16.2 Bloody minded men walk in the way of Cain Jude v. 11. and the Lord meets them as he met him Gen. 4. And mark it in the way of trading which many make the way of lying cheating and over-reaching their brethren the Lord meets them and corrects them Psal 94.2 Obser 3. How good is our God who gives us check in our evil way and suffers us not to run on in a way that is not good Abraham said they have Moses and the Prophets opposing them He speaks this to the damned Soul concerning his brethren upon earth herein he joyns with the Law with Moses to draw men out of the evil way James 5.19 20. Obser 4. The business of agreement and compliance with God the Father and his Law requires haste He that hath much to do and little time wherein to do it he maketh haste when we have consented to the Law that it is good Obser 5. We are commonly slow to agree we need quickning Lot lingred when will it once be Jer. 13. Obser 6. There will be a time when we who believe shall have agreed with our adversary paid all our debts that we owe except love Object Doth not the Lord teach us to pray forgive us our debts I may answer this Objection by an ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as our Lord doth sometime doth not our Lord teach us to pray that his will may be done on earth as it is done in heaven Psal 103.20 21. The Angels excel in strength and do God's Commandments Our Lord teacheth us to pray forgive us our debts until we have paid all our debts till we owe nothing but love Surely a time will come when we shall have fully agreed with the adversary and our debt shall be fully discharged and then we shall no longer stand in the way of sinners but our delight shall be in the Law of the Lord and in that Law we shall meditate day and night When we have fully agreed with our adversary when that Law is written in the heart and the new Covenant made then there is the Jubilee the full remission of all debts Therefore we find Jer. 31.2 3. Heb. 8. that it is the last part of the Covenant Mean time we pray for that that we shall owe nothing but love for love is the keeping of God's Commandments Doubt Are there any such men Answ The Lord knoweth who are his and let him that names the name of the Lord Jesus Christ depart from iniquity There are therefore they who depart from iniquity and stand not in the way of sinners yea the Lord supposeth that there are thousands of such who love him and keep his Commandments and that in this life if not never for after this life we never read of any pardon of sin Cons Alas if the Law be inflexible and inexorable and cannot bend to me if it require agreement on my part who indeed am the Delinquent how is it possible that I should obtain reconciliation with God It 's true the Law is inflexible and that cannot bend to thee it is impossible But the Civilians have a Rule Quod pendet a voluntate principis id impossibile non censetur though the Law cannot the Prince can and the Prince of all the Kings of the earth he will accept of terms of agreement Esay 51.13 17. O let us humble our selves before him See Notes on Hebr. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã O! but when I consent unto the Law and agree with that adversary another adversary my adversary the Devil goes about and seeks to devour So he dealt with Job who hath his name from enmity to the evil and the evil one Ye have heard what means Job used to resist that adversary ye have heard of the patience of Job Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing Jam. 1.4 Ye Soldiers know that when the enemy is too strong ye call for a reserve or ye retire to the Corps-du-guard They are both needful here Luke 11.22 Psal 35.1 Plead my cause be an adversary to them who are adversaries to me Esay 19 20. They shall cry unto the Lord and he shall send them a Saviour and a Great One a Saviour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and a Prince as Acts 5.31 a Prince and a Saviour Repreh Who delays this important and hasty business that requires the greatest expedition till we have nothing else to do God riseth early and sends his Prophets 2 Chron. 36. yet ungodly men stand in the way of sinners and hasten not to agree with their God whom they have made their enemy Ahab spake out concerning Michajah I hate him because he speaketh no good of me Repreh 2. Boutefeus who make tales and continue strife between men and between God and men they look for some irresistable force upon themselves and linger as Lot did in Sodom and expect Angels to pluck them out of it and such an over-powring irresistable force they call Grace judge in your selves beloved is it reasonable that the Lord should force a man out of the way of sinners and then reward him with Eternal Life for being so forced and driven yet that 's the thing that many call Grace and they stand still in the way of sinners expecting such a force to come upon them or doth the Lord rather allure us and draw us with the cords of a man even with loving kindness Exhort Agree with thine Adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him Can two walk together and not agree We have but a short time to comprimise all business between our adversary and us Redeem the time the way leads unto the Judge Know for all these things God will bring thee to judgement The Law is our Schoolmaster to Christ if we use the Law lawfully it brings us to Christ and fellowship with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ Means No agreement without the head of Sheba the Son of Bicri Men may fast and keep dayes of humiliation that 's Abel-Beth-maacha The Lords of the Philistines reasoned thus That David could not be reconciled to Saul without the heads of the Philistins Hasten unto the coming of the day of God Pet. Hale our selves as in a bote the Tree of Life will not cannot
come to us let us draw our selves to it by the cords of love Psal 139. Examine me whether any way of wickedness be in me and lead me in the way everlasting 3. There is danger lest thine adversary deliver thee to the Judge This is the first degree of danger implyed in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nè quando lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the Judge 1. Literal 2. Spiritual 1. Who is the Judge 2. What is it to deliver one to the Judge And why doth the Adversary so deliver the Debtor to the Judge 1. The Judge is either Ordinary or Delegate Ordinary who by his own right or by the Authority of the Prince can exercise Jurisdiction 2. A Judge delegate is he who by Commission from another takes cognizance of some certain cause either of them may be here meant Both ought to act omnia secundum legem jus all things according to Law and Equity Who ever the Judge is he ought to be a good man and to fear God and that according to the Civil Laws and the Law of God For he that rules over men must be just ruling in the fear of God 2 Sam. 23.3 1. Who is the Judge The Father hath given all Judgment to the Son 2. What is it to deliver to the Judge The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sometimes signifieth simply tradere to deliver Matth. 25.14 He delivered to them his goods Sometime to deliver to be cast into prison Matth. 10.19 When they deliver you up Acts 22.4 Binding and delivering into prisons sometime to deliver by treachery Luke 21.12 He that betrayes me ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke 22.48 Now because sometime the Creditor by the fraud of his Debtor is put upon shifts to take him Vulpinari cum vulpinatore deliver to the Judge the Evangelist here useth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã lest he deliver thee or betray thee Sometime the Creditor is forced by the wilfulness of his Debtor to use violence to apprehend him and therefore the word used by St. Luke 12.58 is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to draw lest the adversary draw thee to the Judge 3. Why doth the adversary deliver the Debtor to the Judge Apprehension and citing the Debtor to appear before the Judge is the beginning of Judicial Process 2. It is the Judges office to enquire examine determine and decide according to Law what is justice and equal yea by sentence and due execution of sentence to compel and enforce the Debtor to that which with his own will and by fair means otherwise he will not do Doubt But can a Brother be so unkind as to turn such an adversary as to deliver yea draw me to the Judge and so to be the author of all the ensuing dangers Men are apt to reason very favourably in behalf of themselves and lay the whole blame upon another But who ever thou art deal equally in this business between thy brother and thy self Thou sayest can thy brother be so unkind c. Reason now on thine own part Can I being a Brother be so unjust as to offend and provoke my Brother as to detain his right from him Whether of the two is the greater offence thy Brother's unkindness to thee or thine injustice which provoked thy Brother to be unkind And this unkindness of thy Brother renders him but just when he delivers thee to the Judge such differences as these are among the younger Saints Obser 1. Take notice here that there are divers kinds of Spirits one sort of those which are acted by men under the Law and Prophets another of those which are acted by the Spirit of Christ and his Apostles 1. They who acted by the Spirit of the Law and Prophets are of an austere fierce and rigorous Spirit as they who revenge themselves of the sin and sinners which have deceived them So zealous was Abel his blood cried Eliah who called for fire from Heaven to consume his adversaries so zealous was Jeremias 11.18 19. Let me see thy Vengeance 20.3 4 6 12. And Zachary 2 Chron. 24.22 The Lord look upon it and require it and Job who hath his name from his enmity against sin and iniquity Such effects are found in men when they know and are grieved that they have been beguiled by the deceitfulness of sin 2 Cor. 7.11 By this Spirit our Lord supposeth men acted while yet under the Law 2. But there is another Spirit wherewith they are acted who are led by Christ and his Apostles and are his true Disciples for the blood or Spirit of Christ speaks better things than that of Abel James and John were acted by the Spirit of the Law and Prophets and would have brought fire from Heaven to destroy the Samaritans as Elias did But our Lord told them they knew not of what Spirit they were or ought now to be And therefore Christ prayed for his Persecutors Father forgive them c. And St. Stephen Lord lay not this sin to their charge And St. Paul prayeth for the Colossians that they might be acted by the same spirit Col. 1.1 and Gal. 6.1 2 Tim. 2.25 26. With meckness instructing such as oppose themselves According to this Spirit our Lord did not condemn the Woman taken in Adultery to be put to death But what then did he approve of her God forbid no he bid her go and sin no more John 8.1 3. The Lord doth not disallow of legal process and proceedings at Law nor doth the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. simply forbid going to Law one with another He knew while men were yet in their younger spiritual age there would be differences one with other and therefore be regulates those differences 4. Our Lord doth not altogether disallow of coercive power when men are not willing yea when they are opposite unto what is right malo nodo malus quaerendus est cunaeus an hard knotty block requires an hard wedge 2. In this point three are met who make the Judgment complete The Adversary delivers thee to the Judge Judgment is the Act of three Judicis Actoris Rei The Judge the Adversary the Actor Plaintiff or Creditor and the Reus party accused Defendant or Debtor Mysticé This hath a truth also in the Mystery when the Adversary which is the Law of God and Prophets delivers him who will not agree with it unto the Judge And who is the Judge Who else but Christ And by what authority is he so John 5.22 The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all Judgment unto the Son v. 27. The Father hath given the Son authority to execute Judgment also because he is the Son of man Dan. 7. Unto this Judge the Law and Prophets deliver obstinate men Ye have one who accuseth you even Moses John 5.45 And the Law reproveth corrects accuseth convinceth condemns Reason 1. In regard of Justice every transgression and disobedience must receive a due recompence of reward Hebr. 2.2 And he who despised Moses's Law must
die without mercy Chap. 10 28. Though the Law cannot effect this yet it discovers the sin and delivers the sinner to the Judge and it belongs to the Judge to punish every transgression and disobedience Obser 1. As the Law is good if it be used lawfully and is our School-master unto Christ the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. For do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Mich. 2.7 So to every one that believeth not nor consents and agrees with the Law the Law is an adversary for evil Psal 18.25 26. there is required a necessary consent obedience and compliance with the Law and Prophets Obser 2. See here the condition of all such as are under the Law while they are under the Law and agree not with the Law they are against the Law and adversaries and enemies to the Law Thus the Law causeth wrath among such sin becomes exceeding sinful of this state we understand those Scriptures All our righteousness is as a menstruous cloath There is none that doth good no not one none that understandeth and seeketh after God These and such like Scriptures are to be understood of that state under the Law while we are enemies to the Law and the Law to us Nor can they without disparagement and wrong to Christ and his Spirit be understood of those who agree and consent to the Law who are not nor live under the Law but under Grace Obser 3. Until we agree with the Law we are alwayes obnoxious alwayes liable to the Law alwayes subject to be delivered up as Malefactors to the Judge So much is implied in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the Judge The adversary may take advantage of thee at any time thou mayest at any time be taken tardy Obser 4. Note here the great patience and long suffering of our God toward impenitent and obstinate sinners How long did he wait upon Ahab that bankrupt who had sold himself to commit iniquity Cons To the drooping Soul under the correction of the Father's Law See Notes on Psal 44.12 Exhort Yield while thou hast time to the correction and chastisement of the Father hear the rod. Agree with the Law consider the manifold blessings upon the obedient See Notes on Rom. 7.9 fine It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who would not fear before thee little doest thou consider that while thou delayest agreement thou hastnest thine own ruine and pullest upon thy self swift destruction Maher sha lal haz baz O take the Psalmist's warning he speaks in the person of the Judge Psal 50.22 O consider this ye that forget God lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver There is greater danger lest the Judge deliver thee to the Officer And who is the Officer There were among the Jews with allowance to whose Customs all our Lord's Sermons are to be understood divers of publick imployment whereof the more notable were four 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Ancients or Senate the Elders of the people 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã capita Patrum the Heads or chief Fathers the principal men of every Tribe 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Judices the Judges who knew the Law and gave Judgment 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã apparitores which we call in the Text Officers a name too large for their place these had a coercive power and executed the sentence of the Judge These Offices we find here and there in the Scripture Deut. 1.2 Chron. 26. Prov. 6. They meet altogether Josh 23.2 This Officer in our English according to his place in several Courts hath his several names as Apparitor Bayliff Serjeant They had a compulsive power to effectuate and execute the command and sentence of the Judge whether by apprehending scourging imprisoning or tormenting in prison such ye read imployed John 7.32 Acts 16.22 which because the Action was commanded by the Judge the whole business is imputed unto them quod quis per alium facit id ipse facit what one doth by another that he doth himself Reason The nature of the crime requires austerity and rigour in the Judge for although the Civil Laws connive rather at mercy than rigour in a Judge according to that potius peccet misericordia quam severitate yet when the guilty person will by no means be reclaimed but hardens himself even to contumacy the height of disobedience either in this case the Judge must deliver him to the Officer or exposeth the Law himself and his authority to contempt It is the Officer's duty to execute the command of the Judge without which all Laws all Judges and their Sentences were in vain Execution is the life of the Law and therefore currat Lex Inform. 1. A pattern for Christian Judges 2. Officers of this kind are necessary Instruments in every Commonwealth for although they be hated by the common sort of people it 's an argument that men love their sins and therefore hate those who are instruments of their punishment as they hated the Publicans who took toll and custom and shackled them with sinners a manifest argument not that the Publicans were evil but that they loved their mony better than the Law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 3. The aversness of man's will both in doing his duty and suffering whether for the glory of God or his own sin How backward was Moses and Jeremiah thou shalt go whither thou wouldest not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã When the obstinate man hath neglected all importunities of his adversary to comply with him he must now be enforced to yield to the Sentence of the Judge Hereby we may perceive how far short we come of that full resignation of our selves unto our God which the Lord expects even in case of punishment Levit. 26.41 No marvel when we are averse from suffering according to the will of God for his glory All these are above nature Mysticé Who is the Officer 1. Good Angels Hebr. 1.2 Evil. The Devil and his Angels Ecclus 39.28 There are Spirits that are created for vengeance when the people would not agree with the adversary the Law but rebelled there against it the Chaldeans came 2 Chron. 36. Peter delivered in Christ's the Judge's name Ananias and Saphira to the Officer So did St. Paul the incestuous Corinthian 1 Cor. 5. Obser 1. The Lord hath his polity Obser 2. The opposite series and order that God hath set in things according to the opposite course of men in this World They who fear God agree with their adversary the Law the Law is their School-master that leads them to Christ the great Teacher John 17. He brings them to another Comforter or Teacher who abideth with them for ever if men will not agree all things go contrary The Adversary delivers them to the Judge and the Judge to the Officer Ecclus 39.25 ad finem The
Lord challengeth man's reason to judge whether his wayes be equal or not Ezech. 1.8 Reason The greatest light hath appeared and hereunto the greatest darkness opposeth it self even contumacy and obstinacy the highest degree of disobedience and therefore there must follow a proportionable punishment But it may be here doubted if Christ the Judge bring with him a Spirit of lenity and clemency as hath been shewen How can he act according to their Spirit who are under the Law I answer as quilibet potest remittere de suo jure every man may remit a debt and offence against himself so he may likewise require his debt Accordingly the Lord Jesus remits blasphemy against himself Matth. 12. and prayeth for his enemies Luke and teacheth us to pray for them Matth. 5. Yet if men acted by the Spirit of the Law and Prophets shall require vengeance of their own injuries The Lord Jesus will create vengeance for them For why he is the Judge and it is his office to do justly 2 Sam. 23. When Jeremiah had prayed for vengeance against his adversaries Jer. 11.20 O Lord of Hosts thou judgest righteously let me see thy vengeance on them presently it follows Therefore thus saith he of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life saying prophesie not in the name of the Lord therefore saith the Lord behold I will punish them c. So for Zachary 2 Chron. 24.24 And when our Lord arraigns Cain and judgeth him for the murder of his Brother he tells him that his brother's blood cried to him from the earth Thus the Lord allows the complaint of the Widow to the unjust Judge and à minore he reasons Shall not God avenge his Elect who cry day and night unto him Luke 18.1 8. St. Paul clearly discovers this difference 1 Cor. 6. where first he blames them for going to law before the unjust and not comprimising matters among themselves v. 1. 6. but v. 7. he discovers the true Christian Spirit there is utterly a fault that ye go to law and not rather suffer wrong There is no doubt but the Law of God is just and men of a lower dispensation have and may require justice at the hand of the Judge Exod. 21.24 25. And although Matth. 5.38 he teach his own Disciples to remit injuries and not to exact requital yet if they require vengeance vengeance is his and he will repay So the Souls under the Altar Revel 6.9 10. According to this equanimity Trajan the Emperor being told by Pliny his President that the Christians were innocent men and their crime was not so great as that they should suffer death for it The Emperour writes him word that he should not seek for the Christians to punish them but if they were complained of then they should be punished And the Lord Jesus the Great Emperour of the World though so merciful that he prayeth for his enemies yet is he so just that if accused and complained of and delivered to him he delivers them to the Officer Obser Christ is not all mercy He is a Judge the Judge is to act according to the Law now that is strict and rigorous inflexible inexorable His coming is to take away the sins of the World and to work in us the righteousness of the Law Rom. 8. who agree with the Law and consent unto it that it is good but if men will not part with their sins but live ungodly he comes to do Judgment against all Jude v. 14 15. It is true fury is not in me saith the Lord Esay But if bryars and thorns be set before him then c. The Lamb is meek gentle patient and takes away the sins of the World i. e. from those who would part with them but if men continue in their sins and expect grace they extreamly deceive themselves We read of the fury of the Lamb Revel 6. The living word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as a two edged Sword Heb. 4.12 And why hath it two edges One to cut off the sin the other to cut off the obstinate sinner As Christ is a Lamb and subject to be led to the slaughter and hath been slain in all wicked men from the beginning of the World So is he also a Lion Hosea 5.14 I will be to Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the house of Judah I even I will tear go away and none shall rescue him Esay 27.11 He that made them will not have mercy on them 4. See here by our own folly and wilful disobedience we make our best friends our greatest enemies The Law is holy just and good and the Father giveth it out of his love to us Deut. 33. And it is our sin that renders it an adversary unto us Christ is the goodness of God Hosea 3.5 Our Elder Brother Saviour Redeemer it is our sin that renders him a severe Judge against us Obser 5. The Officer hath no power until the guilty person be delivered unto him by the Judge for if the Devil must ask lieve to enter into the Herd of Swine how much more must he have power given him before he enter into a man Obser 6. How necessary is the first dispensation that of the Father or agreement with the Father his Law and Prophets Since the Law is our Schoolmaster unto Christ for since no man comes to the Son but whom the Father draweth Gen. 36. If this attraction of the Father be neglected and the drawings of vanity yielded unto a worse must take place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke 12. and being drawn to the Judge all the other miseries will follow I know well how men are wont to excuse themselves that they believe in Christ Come say they to Christ It is well if we do so but how can we believe or come to Christ but by the Law of the Father Ye believe in God believe also in me This belief may precede belief in the Son And canst thou come unto Christ but by the Father and his Law He saith so himself No man can come to me except the Father who sent me draw him We must therefore of necessity be under the Law of the Father and agree with the Law before we can come to the Son 'T is true in the fulness of time God sent his Son made under the Law but wherefore Is it not that he might redeem those under the Law that we may receive the adoption of Sons We must therefore be under the Law before he can redeem us from under the Law And if we hope to be made of servants Sons we must first be servants under the Law before we can be made Sons Note hence into what inextricable and unavoidable miseries men voluntarily plung themselves by neglecting God's method Agree with thine adversary saith our Lord comply with the Law obey the Law the Law will bring thee to Christ who becomes the Author of eternal salvation unto them that believe him No they will neglect the Law
and not come unto Christ by God's method hereupon the Law brings them not unto Christ their Saviour but to Christ their Judge And he delivers them to the Officer and he casts them into prison whence they depart not until they pay the uttermost farthing Whence comes this to pass But by neglecting God's method of salvation they forget that rule pervenire ad finem nisi ex principiis non potest when then men have failed in the very beginning how can they attain unto the end Vitium primae concoctionis non corrigitur in secunda Obser Contumacy and obstinacy against the adversary renders the Judge more severe Sin against the Law hath its punishment how much more is the punishment of sin against the Judge himself Heb. 10. Who then is Judge Who but the Lord Jesus himself to whom the Father hath committed all Judgment John 5. The Judge may not execute his Judgment extra territorium extra territorium nullum habet imperium The Territory of the great Judge is all the World Matth. 28. Yet this is he whom in thy disagreement with the Law thou makest to serve with thy sin Esay 43.24 He is in us as he that serveth Luke 22.27 Hebr. 1.3 He it is who reproves thee of thine intemperance thy fraud thine impiety c. And thou either puts him off till another time as Felix did Paul Acts 24.24 25. or as Gen. 19.9 the Sodomites said to Lot so thou to the hidden death of Christ Repreh The desperate madness and folly of obstinate wicked men They have many precious opportunities offered unto them of coming in and making their peace all the fair terms that may be Levit. 26. Deut. 28. This goodness of God he intends that thereby they might be lead to repentance Means 1. All the inward motions of God's Spirit 2. God is in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 3. Because they walk contrary unto him are perverse he causeth frowardness and wrastles with him makes him fall upon his sick bed Job He sends Nabuchadnezzar to the Beasts the Prodigal to keep Swine to the Ant to the Fowls Jer. for Judgment if men did consider this would they be so foolish so improvident in regard of their outward estates in this World Exhort Knowing the terror of the Lord we perswade men Consider the wretched estate of froward wilful men They oppose their own wills against the express will of God revealed in his Law and for maintenance of that they hazzard life liberty c. What enemies are these to their own happiness See Notes on Psal 94.12 There is the third degree of danger lest thou be cast into Prison 1. What is a Prison 2. What to be cast into Prison 1. A Prison The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã custodia a place of Custody à coercendo carcer undecunque prohibeatur exire It 's described by the Lawyer to be a place ex quo quis non potest exire pro libitu voluntatis whence he who is imprisoned cannot go forth according to his own will And every place wherein a man is so kept may be called his Prison And if Keepers be added then is he who is imprisoned said to be in vinculis in bonds And the Syriack here calls the Prison the house of those who are bound To those who were imprisoned custodes apponebantur Vinctorum Dominus sociusque in parte Catenae saith Manilius Book 5. for he who was imprisoned and his Keeper were bound with one chain so we understand Paul a Prisoner and the Souldier who kept him Acts 28.16 and he mentions his chain yet according to the Civil Laws inventus est Carcer regulariter ad custodiam non autem ad poenam A Prison was found out for Custody of men not for punishment 2. To be cast into prison it signifieth a removing of some troublesome thing out of the way out of the sight into a hole Reason From the inflicting cause or causes which here seem to be implyed the Adversary by accusation the Judge by his authority the Officer the instrument of the Judge and therefore Luke 12.58 this imprisonment is appropriated unto him 2. From the ends This detention is in order unto punishment 1. The contumacy of the person requires this punishment Obser As our Lord doth not disallow of legal process and proceedings at the Law so neither of Accusers Adversaries Judges Officers Prisons all these were in use when our Lord appeared in the flesh nor do we read that ever he blamed them Our Lord useth here an Argument to agree with our Adversary taken from the consideration of our bodies and the welfare of them Mysticé There is also a spiritual imprisonment an estate of restraint and that either Good or Evil 1. Good and that is two-fold either it is the prison of the Law or of Christ 1. Of the Law of which the Apostle speaks Gal. 3.23 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This imprisonment is under the spirit of bondage and in order unto Christ 2. Christ hath also his prison whereof St. Paul speaks when he calls himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ Philemon which is not only a bodily restraint for the Gospels sake but even the bondship of the Soul according to which they are called prisoners of hope Zach. 9.12 For the Law made nothing perfect but the bringing of a better hope Heb. 7. 2. There is also an evil prison which is Satans that is the hell of the damned 2 Tim. 2. Object What prison is here meant Answ Surely this latter for although the Law lay a restraint upon men yet they continuing disobedient and such as by no means will be brought to agree with the Law the Law brings them to the Judge and the Judge delivers them to the Officer who takes them to his custody Obser 1. That we may the better understand this we must know our corrupt natural estate stands in great need of restraint and therefore the Lord in wisdom and goodness put the fallen man under the Law as in a prison that therein he might be nurtured and disciplined for because of transgression the Law was given And therefore the Apostle calls the Law our School-master but our ambition is we will not be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã See Notes on Psal 94.12 Observ 2. God hath his power of restraint be men as resty as froward as untoward as they will Exod. 18.11 Jethro observed that in the thing wherein the Aegyptians dealt proudly he was above them He taketh them in his net though they like a wild Bull in a net Let them take notice of this who strengthen themselves in strong holds an arm of flesh money their strong tower let these fools know their Leader Rehoboam did so let them walk in their Latitude the broad way as he did 2 Chron. 12.1 and forsook the Law of the Lord. The Lord knoweth how to straiten them as he did Rehoboam that they may see the difference between his service and the
detained under the Spirit of Bondage under the constraint of the Law is the very best condition that a sinful man can be in David thought so Manassah found it so As in outward and corporal imprisonment if vexation give not understanding if they who are in hold be not better'd by their imprisonment they are hindred from doing more hurt and no doubt many live in prison as the fittest place they can live in even so in regard of spiritual imprisonment when men are restrain'd and checkt from satisfying their corrupt affections when the Lord corrects them by his Law the spirit of God pronounceth such blessed whom the Lord so corrects because thereby their will towards the iniquity is broken But I am shut up under the Law Claustra But I have agreed with mine adversary I have consented unto the Law that it is good yet I find another law in my flesh and bringing me captive unto the law of sin c. Rom. 7.22 23. Hence we perceive a great difference between the voluntary and involuntary imprisonment under sin Thou mayest hence find thine own different estate Thou wert before well contented with Satan's bondship but since the adversary the Law hath broken thy Will to sin now sin grows irksome and thou hast agreed with the Law and consentest and lovest that which was before thine enemy Now thou perceivest the great necessity of a strong Redeemer which the Apostle was sensible of vers 24. and he hath answer to his complaint v. 25. in the V. L. Gratia Dei c. as Esay 19.20 Luk. 4.18 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã deliverance to the Captives What mischiefs works a boundless liberty or license rather in a Common-wealth when men think they are never free enough till they cast off all bands of Government all Authority of the Magistrate our Lord is well aware of the like inconvenience in the Common-wealth of Heaven There is an exorbitant desâre of an âââimited and boundless Liberty men would do even what they list and therefore wâen the Lord Jesus hath delivered and redeemed men captive under Sin and Satan and under the Law and brought their Souls out of prison they are not then left at liberty to do what they will but are yet prisoners of Jesus Christ The Servant who was freed by his Master according to the Roman Laws he was not any longer servus Domini but libertus Patroni he was not any longer a Servant to his Master but one freed to his Patron And ingratus patrono redit in servitutem and although the Lord hath brought the captive souls out of prison yet they remain libertae that being delivered out of the hand of our enemies we should serve God in righteousness and holiness without fear all the dayes of our life Luke 1. Rom. 6.19 These dangers infer the Conclusion Exhort Since there is that eminent danger of not agreeing with the Law be exhorted to agree with thine Adversary it is in vain to stand out Art thou stronger than thy God 1 Cor. 10. wilt thou be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one that fights against God Thou hast all power against thee He is Lord of Hosts thou kickest against the pricks thou hast in thy self a party against thee even thine own Conscience How much better is it to yield over thine own stubborn heart Saul thought himself in the right yet he was brought off and perswaded to yield I was not disobedient to the Heavenly vision saith he he had no compulsion no act of violence upon his heart to make him yield yet he said Lord what wilt thou have me to do and so say thou from the like humble spirit Lord what wilt thou have me to do so shalt thou be received to favour as Saul was sent to Ananias i. e. to the Grace of the Lord. Exhort 2. Be ambitious of the true spiritual freedom what the true freedom is See Notes on Gen. 9.13 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW V. 26. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the utmost farthing HItherto we have heard the less mediate and gradual dangers In these words we have the utmost peril threatned to him who will not agree with his adversary 1. Thou shalt not depart thence until thou hast paid the utmost farthing 2. The testimony of truth the sentence of the Judge confirming this unto thee Verily I say unto thee thou shalt not come out c. First of the first wherein we have 1. the detention in prison thou shalt not depart thence 2. the limitation of that detention à pari to the payment of the utmost farthing which upon the matter is without limitation I shall put both together it 's plain enough in the Letter by what is shewed before what a prison is What is here called a farthing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quadrans the fourth part of a peny in the parallel Scripture Luke 12.58 it's ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we turn a mite and that 's but half a farthing according to Mark 12.42 A poor widow cast into the Treasury two mites which make a farthing whereby we understand exact payment to be made even to a farthing even to a mite half a farthing Reason Why must the wilful debtor suffer perpetual imprisonment There must be some way found out to master the perverse and resty will of unjust and obstinate men to force them to do what otherwise they would not And this way the wise men of the best Common-wealths have found out yea the wisdom of God approves of this in the Text. And perpetual imprisonment is the last remedy that the Civil Laws will afford the Creditor for recovery of his Debts yea and our municipal Law also Howbeit there is a rule qui non habet in aere luat in corpore And I have read in the Laws of some Common-weals that wilful debtors have been brought forth into the market place and have had their shins broken and returned to prison And truly there is great need of such punishment malo nodo malus c. There are who have found means to defraud their Creditors by a voluntary perpetual imprisonment a device not known to former ages these have out-witted the former ages it 's the Devils device and he keeps them in his prison Mysticé The hell of the damned is compared unto a prison especially in respect unto perpetual imprisonment according unto that almost proverbial speech Ab inferno nulla redemptio From hell there is no Redemption which how far forth it is true I shall have occasion to shew anon But besides this there are other analogies A prison is locus horribilis saith the Lawyer an horrible place as it may appear by what is there absent and wanting and what is there present and abounding 1. What is absent Psal 88.8 a place without all accommodations for the body want of liberty which renders even the largest place too strait if
to God so Laban understood it and Jacob also Gen. 31.44 so Jonathan and David 1 Sam. 20 12-17.42 2 Sam. 9.3 and 21.7 3. Performance of an oath is payment of our debt A man is then said to perform his oaths when he does not only that which he hath sworn to God to do but also when de does what he hath promised to his neighbour for in taking an oath to do or not to do this or that the principal regard is to be had of God and the tye of our souls to him 4. He who performs not his oaths goes about to defraud and rob God himself of what is his And will a man rob God Mal. Repreh 1. Who swear what they cannot perform Repreh 2. Those who would have the Lord perform his Promise his Oath his Covenant unto them and challenge him by his two immutable things his Promise and his Oath mean time they little care to perform the Promise Oath and Covenant that they have made unto their God They will have God surely bound to them but they will be loose themselves Repreh 3. Who perform not unto the Lord their oaths This is common to all who have made the vow in Baptism who live dissolutely and loosly as if they had no obligation no tye at all upon their souls or if they have encourage one another to break them Psal 2. like him that had the Legion Exhort To perform unto the Lord our Oaths and Vows c. See Notes on Esay 65.16 It was said to them of old time He saith not only it was said as v. 33. for that was an enforcing of the speech of Moses or at the best a permission but as I have shewn both the Law and ratification was said to them of old time being taken out of the Decalogue or out of other writings of Moses Obser 1. Truth hath been of old time Grandaevus Alethes God himself is truth and the God of truth What Democritus said that truth was in a pit but it was a wise mans part to pluck it out We may say it is so still but Christ the wisdom plucks it out Obser 2. Confirmation of truth by Oaths hath been of old time Abraham and Isaac sware Obser 3. There hath been violation of truth and breach of oaths of old time The Devil was a liar from the beginning And Cain his first born was before the simple and innocent Abel Obser 4. So that Antiquity is not alwayes of its self a good Argument to prove any particular tenent of Religion for howsoever the good Seed were first sown in in the Lord's field and afterward the tares And God made man upright before he fell and found out many inventions yet certain particular truths there are which were not known from the beginning as that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body and partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel This saith St. Paul was not made known in former ages to the Sons of men Eph. 3.5 6. Obser 5. It appears that even of old time there hath been a proneness in men to forswear themselves otherwise what need had there been of a prohibition from old time 1. Swear not at all ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã totaliter totally upon the whole matter But doth our Lord then prohibit swearing universally surely he doth not but here timely we must distinguish between 1. swearing and 2. the forms of swearing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã omninò not at all some say is not here referred to swearing but only to the forms and wayes of swearing which follow in the Text which indeed are nothing else but several and particular explications of what the Lord Jesus had before expressed in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as if he should have said swear not at all and then adds his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or explication neither by heaven c. Howbeit I doubt not but by our Lord's speech here all voluntary oaths and such as men too often use in their conversation or communication with others without that just reason of necessity they are all here excluded and forbidden by our Lord But I fear this decision will not satisfie all for there are many who urge this prohibition as universal and understand ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã joyn'd to swearing I say unto you swear not at all it 's a Law of the Messiahs Kingdome This very Scripture hath occasioned a great breach among us insomuch as many there are who will not take an oath being forbidden as they understand by the Law of the only Law-giver and if he forbid who shall countermand Yea and they further urge the Authority of St. James 5.12 Above all things my brethren swear not c. though there also be added the same invented forms of swearing neither by heaven nor by earth c. That we may the better satisfie this doubt let us enquire whether in any case or at any time it be lawful to swear and if so by what Law No doubt according to the Moral Law it is lawful to swear and a part it is of the Moral Law viz. A Religious invocation and calling the God of Truth to witness and confirm the truth Deut. 6.13 and 10.20 Jer. 4.2 Heb. 6.16 That God the searcher of hearts have Glory from the discovery of hidden truth and falshood and bring to light the hidden things of darkness Now since swearing and calling God to witness is a part of the Moral Law which is yet in force and our Lord saith that not one jot or tittle shall pass from the Law till all be fulfilled yea since the same Glory is due still to God it remains that the same duty is still required of man 2. Yea were it altogether unlawful for us under the Gospel to swear the Lord himself would not swear nor would his holy Angels nor Saints and that in the New Testament all which notwithstanding is true for we read the Lord himself 1. To swear to Abraham Gen. 22.16 and 26.24 Deut. 7.12.29.4 Jer. 11.5 Ezech. 18.3 as I live c. 2. And thus the holy Angels swear Dan. 12.7 Rev. 10.5 6. 3. The Saints of God we find swearing Jonathan and David St. Paul often 2 Cor. 1.23 and 11.31 Phil. 1.8 1 Thess 2.5 10. 4. Yea thus Christ himself the giver of this new Law he swears Amen Amen which that it is a form of an oath I have made elsewhere to appear Obser 6. Since we are called to prove and an oath for confirmation is unto men an end of all strife Heb. 6.16 surely in this case not to swear it 's a failing of our calling and contrary to love and peace By all which both by law and practice it appears that to swear is lawful and since the same good end of swearing yet remains confirmation of Truth and preservation of Justice to the glory of God surely the duty it self must remain 3. Besides if it were simply unlawful to swear it would also be
to be no more than Yea yea and Nay nay so that for men to embellish and inlay their Communication with oaths it makes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it soures the Christian Communication 2. Our Lord points signanter at his Disciples when he saith Let your communication be Yea yea Nay nay for the communication of Christ's Disciples among themselves ought to be no more for what need is there that they who deny themselves take up their Cross and follow the Lord Jesus in humility patience c. are of one heart and one soul c. Surely among such men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã their life and manners is more credible than other mens oaths Yea were there any such person among them who could not believe without swearing certainly they were unworthy of that Society But we must also understand that the people of God have not to deal and live and communicate only among themselves but they must converse even with wicked men 1 Cor. 5.10 Otherwise they must go out of the world They must therefore have to do with Heathenish men who nor know nor can discern of the Christian life yea hate it But because an Oath is held to be the greatest Obligation therefore the wicked desire an oath for their security Thus Abimelech desired an oath of Abraham Gen. 21.29 and of Isaac Gen. 26.28 29. and Laban of Jacob Gen. 31.44 the Egyptian of David 1 Sam. 30.15 Among such since we must converse or go out of the world an oath is necessary when we chuse it not but it 's forced upon us And therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to swear is passive to be sworn According to which the Apostle saith Heb. 6.16 Men verily swear by the greater and an Oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife Esay 65.16 It is the Law of the Lord Exod. 23.4 5. If thou meet thine enemies Oxe or his Ass going astray thou shalt surely bring him back unto him again and if thou see the Ass of him that hates thee lying under his burden and wouldest forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him or as it is in the Margent thou wouldest cease to leave thy business for him And how much is a man to be preferred before an Oxe or an Ass how much is a man better than a beast saith our Lord Since therefore we meet not an Oxe or an Ass but many men going astray and following their erroneous Consciences which bring them under burdens unsupportable burdens ought we not to leave our business and go and help them I know what business I leave to help these men and shall return unto it if God Almighty give life and opportunity But the only thing I fear is that these men will not help with me so the Text Thou shalt help with it Now if these men will not help themselves how can any man help with them Against this Doctrine Objections are made some by men of erroneous Consciences who fear an Oath others by men of large Consciences who are prone to swear ye heard one Objection of the former sort before that I spake of these words from the Law of the only Law-giver he saith I say unto you swear not at all And if he command who can countermand I Answer our Lord would not command nor prohibit any thing against the Law of God but to prohibit swearing universally is contrary to the Law of God which that we may understand we must know that in the Decalogue God's commands are most of them Negatives and every Negative hath its respective Affirmative Add to that which hath been spoken the consideration of the last and best end of all our actions whatsoever ye do 1 Cor. 10.31 do all to the glory of God that God in all things may be glorified 1 Pet. 4.11 Now can we speak any thing that makes more for the glory of God than an Oath duly taken whereby God the searcher of all our hearts and reines is called to witness that which none of his Creatures knew whereby we glorifie God's omnisciency when he brings to light the hidden things of darkness 2. We glorifie his justice when we call upon him and pray that he will punish him who lies or deceives 3. We glorifie his mercy when we acknowledge him the rewarder of them who do well Now the Lord Jesus whose main business it was in the dayes of his flesh to glorifie his Father upon earth John 17.4 Who glorified not himself but his father Heb. 5.5 He could not forbid an Oath duly taken which bringeth so much honour and glory unto God Obser 2. The Devil is here called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Evil One as if he did or could do all evil to men or in men whereas he hath indeed a most malicious and evil will but no power at all but what is permitted unto him as appeareth by the History of Job and by the lieve he beg'd to enter into the Swine The Lord himself is summum bonum the chief good but non datur summum malum The Lord reserves to himself a power to restrain all inferiour powers Nor hath the evil one any power at all to cause evil in us unless we yield unto him He can tempt and hath his name from tempting ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as if he did nothing else but tempt unto sin and lusts but he cannot cause us to embrace his lusts unless we our selves will John 8. Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do It is true men lay the blame of all their sins upon him but he can do no more than tempt them unto sin If we resist him he flyes from us resist the Devil and he will fly from you Obser 3. If we ought not to swear because occasionally an oath comes from the Evil One how much rather ought we to abstain from such evil as the Devil positively and directly is the cause of as lying killing c. Obser 4. Evil is from the Evil One. Let your communication be Yea yea c. but whatsoever is more than these cometh of the evil one Obser 5. The will of our Lord is that all our words and works should be spoken and wrought in him and proceed from him not from the evil one but from the good one who is the one and only good ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã properly and essentially and therefore he is called Goodness Hos 3.5 fear the goodness of the Lord John 3.21 He that doth truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God and so must words also for whatsoever we do in word or deed we are to do all in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Col. 3.17 Is it then the will of the Lord that his Disciples should be fools surely no but to be the wisest of men to out-wit to be more wise than the Devil himself is crafty Scire malum non
enemy is in sowing his Tares in stealing the good Seed out of mens hearts He knows how ill grounded men come to hear the word and receive the Seed what a forward harvest there was in Herod Mark 6.20 What a hopeful growth of Grace there was in Agrippa Act. 26.27 yet in neither of them the Seed thrived Mat. 13.5 cum 20.21 Job 8.17 He knows with what thorny cares of this world the ground of mens hearts is encombred he knows how deceitful riches choak the Seed of the Word so that it becometh unfruitful He well knoweth how luxuriant and excessive some proud earth and ashes is He knoweth how some ground bringeth forth no fruit to perfection Luke 8.14 He knoweth also what good success his labours have in some mens honest and good hearts into what good ground they receive the good Seed of the Word how understandingly they receive it how fruitful the soil is with what patience they bring forth fruit with what increase of God some an hundred fold some sixty some thirty Mat. 13.19 23. Obser 4. The Lord Jesus at his coming finds ripe Corn he finds an harvest he finds such as have been taught of the Father and are docible and teachable of the Son such as are willing and ready to seek God his Righteousness and Kingdom These are the Church in God the Father who of his own will hath begotten them Jam. 1.18 and made them men of good will Luk. 2. such are Sons of Peace such are peaceable ones these are the field which the Lord hath blessed Obser 5. Hence we may take notice of the Fathers dispensation preceding that of the Son whereby he prevents us with his Grace his Correction and Discipline his Fatherly instruction Heb. 12. Psal 94. See Notes on Psal 94.12 Obser 6. Where God's Grace precedes where John i. e. the Grace of the Lord goes before Christ which is his due place there usually followeth a plentiful an ample harvest a large crop of good willing of well affected souls So our Lord tells us Mat. 11.12 From the dayes of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence After the Fathers harvest of good willing ones follows the harvest of the Son When the Evil One sowes also his Tares together with the Wheat Mat. 13.30 Whence we may take notice of the Fathers and Sons dispensations See Notes on Act. 11.26 As the dispensation of the Father leads unto the Son and where-ever that precedes the Son finds a plenteous harvest so where-ever the dispensation of the Son precedes there followeth the dispensation of the Spirit Joh. 14. v. 15 16 17 25 26. and 15.26 27. and 16.7 24. Under this dispensation men serve not God in the oldness of the Letter but in the newness of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 When the Spirit of God shall be poured upon all flesh Joel 2. which was not fully accomplished Act. 2. as appears Act. 1. when the number of them who were gathered together to receive the Spirit was only one hundred and twenty But that Promise shall be fulfilled when the Spirit shall be poured upon all flesh And that 's the harvest of the Spirit a plenteous harvest These three harvests have their proportionable joyful feasts Exod. 23.14 15 16. Abib Spica an ear of Corn which hath the name from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã proper to the Father when we go out of Aegypt and forsake our sinful life which must be done in sincerity and therefore it 's called the feast of unleavened bread as St. Paul interprets Sincerity 1 Cor. 5. 2. The second the feast of harvest that 's the Sons feast who cuts down the iniquity that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth the harvest Therefore where they are dead to their sin the harvest followeth as Rev. 14.13 14 15 16. Esay 9.3 in the Margin 3. The third the feast of in-gathering the word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the feast of perfection even the fulness of the Spirit in the end of the year even the acceptable year of the Lord 2 Cor. 6.1 Repreh The Tares which hinder the growth of God's harvest the Tares are the Children of the wicked one Mat. 13.38 When the blade of the good Seed springs up then appear the Tares to hinder their growth When their iniquity is full these have their harvest Joel 3.13 Put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe Rev. 14. Exhort Grow we up in Grace and let us become an acceptable and plenteous harvest unto our God in Jesus Christ continue we in the good will and sincerity let us offer our first fruits unto God Alas we have no helpers the labourers are few when we are ripe the Lord will send one labourer or other to be helpfull to us Philip was sent to the Eunuch Acts 8. Ananias was sent to Saul Acts 9. Peter was sent to Cornelius Acts 10. Paul was sent to Macedonia Acts 16. Nor let us not doubt but if we continue in good will and sincerity the Lord of the harvest will send some labourers or other to us to cut us off our earthly root to bind us together in love and carry us into our Masters Barn 2. The Labourers are few Labourers in Scripture are either such as are afflicted with their sins as Mat. 11. they are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã labourers or else such as take pains with and about others as an harvester about the corn so St. Paul of himself and fellow Apostles 1 Cor. 3.9 We are labourers together with God about what or whom It presently follows Ye are God's husbandry The labourers imployed in God's husbandry are either under the Law or under the Gospel under the Law the Levites Priests and Prophets they in outward Ceremonial Services these in express terms foreshewed the coming of the Messiah and conversion of the people unto him and prepared the way unto the Kingdom of God of whom saith St. Peter They ministred not unto themselves but to us 1 Pet. 1.12 The Levites Priests and Prophets under the Law laboured until John Mat. 11.13 administring the Ceremonial Services and the Letter of the Law All in their several ranks and degrees were labourers The Prophets made known the Will of God sowing the Word in the hearts of the people John the Baptist he prepares the soil wherein the Seed shall be sown and warns men to bring forth fruit worthy amendment of life Luk. 1.17 All these 1 Pet. 1.12 ministred the things that are now reported unto us 2. Other Labourers there are who enter into the field when these have done their work and reap that which the former have laboured in of both our Lord speaks John 4.37 38. Such labourers were the Apostles and all true Ministers of the Gospel They ripen them Eph. 4.11 12. These when it is ripe put in the sickle of mortification whereby they cut men off their earthly root These bind men in the perfect bond of love they bear them with patience as
is good in his sight Wisdom and Knowledge Eccles 2.26 If we look into the Principles whence this great Revealer of Mysteries is moved to open them unto the Saints they are either 1. Outward and these not only persons qualified for the present but also those who shall be such hereafter upon those terms God revealeth a secret unto Abraham Gen. 18.17 18 19. and our Saviour Joh. 17.20 prayes not for those alone who were qualified for the knowledge of the heavenly mysteries but for those also that should believe on him through their word that the world might know the mystery of Christ vers 23. 2. As for the inward Principles whence the great ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã opens the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven the Fountain of them all is the unsearchable wisdom of God that manifold wisdom Eph. 3. whereby he knows all mysteries and all those who are fit to know them and all the means and manners of conveying them unto the Disciples Heb. 1.1 This wisdom is accompanied with power and that not only Potestas or Authority but Potentia Might also So saith Daniel having received a mystery I thank thee O God of my Fathers who hast given me Wisdom and Might and hast made known unto us the Kings matter Dan. 2.23 Add but to this Wisdom and Power the Will of God and there 's nothing more required to the Revelation of the Heavenly Mysteries which our Saviour ascribes unto the good pleasure of God for so he thanks his Father that he had revealed mysteries unto his Children For even so saith he O Father it seemed good in thy sight Mat. 11.26 And hitherto St. Paul also refers it Eph. 1.8 9. He hath made known unto us the mystery of his Will according to his good pleasure All which howsoever it be most true and demonstrative of the present Truth and and that by the best demonstration from the causes yet since many a Novice prying into Christ's School pretends to the knowledge of all mysteries A question may be moved whether all the Disciples know all the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven or no Surely they do not but for a more full and clear answer to this question we must distinguish of 1. Mysteries 2. Disciples 3. Degrees of Knowledge 4. And God's Dispensation of divers Mysteries unto divers Disciples in divers degrees of Knowledge 1. There are Two kinds of Mysteries 1. Some are easie Truths such is the mystery of the Gospel hid from none saith St. Paul but prophane men who perish in sin for if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost 2 Cor. 4.3 2. Other mysteries there are which the Scripture stiles great mysteries and such is the mystery of our Conjunction and Union with God Eph. 5. These and such as these are called Wisdom ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Apoc. 13. proportionably to these two sorts of of mysteries 2. Of Disciples also some are young and weak and of little understanding ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unskilful or rather according to the Margin having no experience in the word of Righteousness Heb. 9.5.13 Non expertus pauca recognoscit Ecclus. 34.10 like men of weak and squeezy stomacks such as can digest only light nourishment as milk and honey Esay 7. 1 Cor. 3. Heb. 5. That is the first Principles of the Oracles of God the Word of the beginning of Christ as the Apostle interprets it Heb. 6.1 Such is the Title of Psal 46. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which the LXX render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã out of which the Vulgar pro arcanis St. Hierom Cajetan and others pro juventutibus mysteries fit for young men to know whose property is strength 1 Joh. 2. which they have by faith in God which is the Argument of that Psalm Others are stronger and of larger understandings such as by reason of use habit or perfection can discern between good and evil like men of good and strong stomacks who could digest the bread the meat indeed Joh. 6. where ye have examples of both kinds of Disciples These stronger Disciples who know the wisdom and greater kind of mysteries are called in Scripture Wise and perfect men We speak wisdom among those that are perfect 1 Cor. 2. confer 2 Esdr 14. Of the knowledge of this Wisdom in proportion to the Two sorts of Mysteries and of Disciples there are different degrees both 1. Of Extension in respect of the object when it is of few or more or all mysteries and 2. Of Intension in regard of the Act when it is either 1. Wavering and mixt with ignorance and doubting or 2. Firm certain and full of assurance for as among the Gentiles there were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So among us Christians there is a seeing face to face a knowing imperfectly and a knowing as we are known 1 Cor. 13. A walking by faith and a walking by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 A knowing and a knowing surely Joh. 17.8 2 Tim. 3.14 A knowledge of the grace of God in Truth Col. 1.6 And a full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 Phil. 1.9 Answerable to these divers Mysteries Disciples and degrees of Knowledge God's Oeconomy and dispensation of them is considerable and that according to the Three persons of the Trinity for so 1. God the Father by his Law instructs his Disciples Joh. 6.45 Such as tremble at his word Esay 66. for so the secret or mystery of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Psal 25.14 and reveals unto these his Babes the hidden things of his Law Mat. 11.25 These Babes thus Discipled by the Law the Father brings unto the Son Gal. 3. for so he promiseth To him that orders his conversation aright that he will shew him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Psal 50. ult the Salvation or Jesus of God He that hath thus heard and learned of the Father he comes unto the Son Joh. 6.45 To such as these Christ himself saith If any man will do the Fathers Will he shall know of my Doctrine whether it be of God or no Joh. 7.17 And when these Children of the Father become fruitful in every good work to the doing of the Fathers Will Christ thus speaks unto them Herein saith he is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit so shall ye become my Disciples Joh. 15.8 2. In these Children of the Father now Christ's Disciples Christ finisheth the work which his Father gave him to do Joh. 17.4 What 's that the acknowledgement of the Father and the Son vers 6 7.8 3. Now as the Father by the Child-like obedience unto the Law opens the mysteries of his Kingdom and brings his Children unto Christ so by the humble and obedient demeanour of Christ's Disciples unto him he reveals the mysteries of the Gospel unto them and brings them unto
right hand without drinking of Christ's Cup without conformity unto his death whereas the true Predestination is to be made conformable to the Image of the Son of God Rom. 8.29 2. Observe hence the unavoidable necessity which lies upon all the Disciples of Christ which would be saved by him and sit at his right hand and his left in his Kingdom that they drink of his Cup. The Lord Jesus is the Author of Eternal Salvation but to those that obey him Heb. 5.9 And he is able to save to the uttermost but those who are able to drink of his Cup and be baptized with his baptism to those who come unto God by him Heb. 7.25 And there is no other name by which we can be saved Act. 4.12 Nor is there any other way but that living way Heb. 10.20 All Power and Authority in Heaven and Earth is given to him yet hath he no Authority no Power to give the Honours and Dignities of his Kingdom to any other than those who drink of his Cup and are baptized with his baptism The necessity of drinking this Cup Nonne haec oportuit Christum pati atque ità intrare in regnum suum Would God they who are too often in other Cups would seriously and sadly think of this Poculum Salutare this Cup of Salvation that they who strive for an outward baptism would as much or more endeavour after this Alas do they not know that whilst we are sinners Christ dies Rom. 5. Do we not know that the wisdom of God is crucified by our foolishness our errours our lies that the life of God is slain by our deadly sin That the Patience Goodness Mercy Love of God c. all which is Christs suffers from our iniquities Esay 53.4 5. So Arius Montanus and Tremellius Repreh Those who refuse to taste of Christs Cup to be conformable unto his death in dying to sin such as refuse to be baptized into his death This no doubt is the reason even because we refuse to suffer the death of the sin and drink of the Cup of Christs sufferings that the Lord hath given and is yet giving to all Nations the Cup of his fury to drink Thus ye read Jer. 25.15 where the Lord threatens his Judgments unto his own People and all the Nations round about for their disobedience unto the Law and Prophets That they turned not from their evil wayes and the evil of their doings which he signifieth under the metaphor of a Cup vers 15. This disobedience hath brought the Sword among us this continues it yet with us This Judgment Esay 66.14 15 16. applyes to the Nations under these Times of the Gospel as also Zach. 13.7 8 9. the same is the reason of all other Judgments of God as the manifold diseases among us Many of us have often professed to shew forth the Lords death by dying to sin and so have taken the Cup of Salvation and have called upon the Name of the Lord yet have we continued in our sins And therefore the Lord hath caused many to taste the Cup of his Judgment Thus he tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 11. Therefore many are sick and weakly among you and many are fallen asleep i. e. die the death even because they have not died unto sin And to what other reason may we refer the present Judgment of God upon us even this immoderate and unseasonable drought what else may be the cause of this but because we refuse to be obedient unto the Law and Prophets we refuse to drink the Cup of Christs passion we refuse to be baptized into his death Say I this or saith not the Scriprure the very same The Astrologers refer our present drought unto the late Eclipse and it cannot be denied but that hath been Gods Instrument in second Causes whereby he hath brought this evil upon us as the like hath been observed in manifold other Eclipses of the Sun in former times But what is that that hath provoked the Lord to send this Cup of his fury unto us to Eclipse the light and beams of his countenance towards us What hath moved the Lord to stop the bottles of Heaven Job 38.37 that he hath not in their season emptied them upon the Earth Jer. 9.12 And doth not the Prophet Zachary refer the same Judgment unto the same cause under these times of the Gospel Zach. 14.16 17. What is it to come up to keep the feast of Tabernacles It cannot be meant literally for that among the rest of the Ceremonies is ceased What then is signified by a Tabernacle or Tent what else but our humane flesh and body 2 Cor. 5.1 4. 2 Pet. 1.13 14. To keep the Feast of Tabernacles then what is it but to have our Tabernacle our dwelling our house with Christ Joh. 1.14 The word was made flesh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and dwelt in us They therefore who refuse to suffer with Christ in the flesh to imitate his death to drink the Cup of his Passion and Suffering with him They shall have no rain of Blessing no rain of Gods Living Word which is compared to rain Deut. 32. Heb. 6.7 no outward rain for as that is one of Gods blessings upon the obedient Deut. 28.12 So is the want of it a Curse upon the disobedient vers 23 24. and for the sin of his People he shuts up Heaven 1 King 8.35 3. They say unto him we are able How able they were appeared soon after when being in company with our Lord when he was now to drink of his Cup they all forsook him and fled What boldness was this what presumption and confidence of their own strength But their confidence and presumption so much the more condemns the despair and unbelief of many of us James and John were yet Carnal they had not received the Spirit of God they knew Christ only according to the flesh As for many of us we perswade our selves that we are Spiritual and know Christ according to the Spirit and believe in his Mighty Power yet when the Cup comes to us when it 's offered to us to drink of it we cannot away with it we have no power no strength at all to drink of it while we are not yet tryed while the Cup is not yet come to us O how valiant we are the Elect the Chosen of God i. e. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Chosen men and Mighty men of valour But when now temptation comes either from the world hope of gain or fear of loss or desire of honour and reputation or from our own flesh or from the Devil what ever the temptation is what arrant cowards we are we lye down like great Lubbars and let Satan buffet us Repreh How justly doth this reprove the present Generation of men who look at Christs drinking the Cup of his Passion and Baptism as suffering his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his fore-suffering and his principal passion from the Jews and
to be written in meeter that the latter part of the verse is the Exegesis or explication of the former Examples meet us often in the Psalms Psal 114.1 When Israel went out of Egypt v. 1. he turned the hard Rock into water-pools vers 8. Rom. 15.11 And of this nature the Text is for hearing and hearkning are almost all one and so is Sacrifice and Fat of Lambs all one the difference is this that the former is somewhat more general than the latter it is more large and general to hear than to hearken that is with attention and sacrifice is more general than the fat of Lambs yet somewhat there is considerable in both I shall therefore first explain 1. What it is to obey 2. What is meant by Sacrifice 3. Shew the Truth of this 1. To obey And 1. What is meant by the word 2. What is the nature of the thing 1. The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifying as well to hear as to obey So doth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so in High and Low Dutch Gehorsam seim is to obey which is from hearing whence obedire to obey whence the Italian so doth audire so Spanish which signifie the same but ob herein nihil detrahit sed causam tantùm finalem addit as our Criticks but they are deceived for indeed to obey is with resistance of their own will as I shall shew by and by and so ob is against So much for the word So ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we turn to hearken it is meant to hear with attention both these infer the effect of hearing and hearkning i. e. to obey and act according to that which we have heard and hearkened unto for verbum sensuum innuit affectum effectum As for the thing it self vide Notes in Phil. 2.8 A Sacrifice is some outward thing offered up to God which symbolically represents to us some inward thing and requires by and under it performance of some inward and spiritual service for our God being a Spirit and the father of Spirits and we clothed with a gross body a mortal garment He in his wisdom and goodness thought fit to ordain such a means as whereby he might make known unto us his will and we might testifie our duties unto him that means is Sacrifice and Sacraments and sacramental Signs whereby visibly God speaks unto us and we unto God To obey is better than Sacrifice We have this truth expressed by the Wise Man Eccles 5.1 but not well translated The truth of this will appear 1. If we compare Obedience and Sacrifice one with other and 2. If we compare them with reference unto God to whom both duties are performed and 3. With reference to men who perform them 1. If one with other surely obedience must needs be better because in Sacrifice mactatur aliena caro in Obedience mactatur propria voluntas And whereas the excellency of things is wont in Scripture to be esteemed according to the duration of them as charity above other graces obedience is a duty lasting yea everlasting but Sacrifice was to continue but for a certain time for we read of no Sacrifice until sin came into the world Gen. 4. and when sin is abolished there will need no more sacrifice for sin 2. In regard of God to whom they are offered he rather accepts of Obedience than Sacrifice because in offering Sacrifice a man gives somewhat that is his in performing Obedience a man gives that which is more properly himself 3. In regard of men who perform those duties The obedient man who offers no Sacrifice is a better man than the disobedient though he bring never so many for the very Obedience is in lieu of all Sacrifices Ecclus 35.1 He that keeps the Law brings Sacrifices enough And Obedience hath the promises annexed unto it Mar. 12.33 To love God with all the heart is more than all the whole burnt Offering and Sacrifice Hebr. 13.9 It is good that the heart be established with grace and not with meats which have not profited them who have walked in them 1 Tim. 4.8 Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable unto all things The reason why to obey is better than Sacrifice is considerable from the proportion which Obedience and Sacrifice have to Gods will and ordination and unto the mans will 1. Unto Gods will for as in genere entium in nature things have their being and degrees of being as also their goodness and degrees of goodness from God who wills them to be The man a little lower than the Angels how much is a man better than a beast so in genere morum things have their being and goodness and degrees of both from God who also wills them to be whence it is that 1. Sacrifice and burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin thou wouldst not but a body thou hast prepared me 2. Obedience is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by nature good and therefore commanded Sacrifice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by institution good because commanded whence it is that 3. He ordained Obedience to be for ever not Sacrifice but only for a time for the time should come that he that killed an Ox viz. for sacrifice should be as guilty as he that slew man and be that sacrificed a Lamb as if he cut off a dogs neck he that offered an oblation as if he offered Swines blood he that burned incense as if he blessed an idol Esay 66.3 2. The reason from proportion which Sacrifice and Obedience have to the mans will that action is always the better which proceeds from a better principle and the contrary for the good man out of the treasury of his heart brings forth things new and old a good tree bringeth forth good fruit now the fruits of obedience are brought forth always and only by a good tree they always require a good will and a good heart for their principle and that good principle if that be wanting the Acts cannot be said to be acts of Obedience nor to be entirely good for bonum est ex integra causa but only materially good at the best As for Sacrifice I speak only of the outward it might be offered by an evil man from an evil mind and heart yet might the Sacrifice be as specious and fair to the eye as if it proceeded from a good mind and heart The like we may say of receiving the holy Sacrament In all these the Lord looks at the heart and according to it respects the Sacrifice Prov. 21.27 The Sacrifice of the wicked is abomination how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind The first offering we read of offered in the world was offered by a wicked man Object If to offer Sacrifice be it self to obey then how can it be said that to obey is better than Sacrifice for surely when they offered sacrifice according to the precept of God they were obedient unto God in so doing
Lord Jesus Christ NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW XXIII 2 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chair All things therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do But do not ye after their works for they say and do not TWo Precepts of our Lord are here given to the Multitude and his Disciples the one Affirmative and the other Negative with the respective Reasons to them both 1. All whatsoever the Scribes and Pharisees bid you observe that observe ye and do The Reason is taken from their Office and Employment they sit in Moses chair 2. They must not do after the works of the Scribes and Pharisees The Reason is taken from their Hypocrisie for they say and do not which according to natural Method may be thus resolved into an Affirmative Precept 1. All whatsoever the Scribes and Pharisees bid the Multitude and the Disciples observe and do 2. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's Chair or Seat 3. Because the Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's Seat all therefore whatsoever they bid the Disciples and Mulitude observe that they must do Out of the Negative Precept 1. Our Lord Jesus forbids his Disciples and the Multitude to do after the works of the Scribes and Pharisees 2. The Scribes and Pharisees say and do not 3. Because they say and do not therefore the Disciples and the Multitude must not do after the works of the Scribes and Pharisees This is the true natural and therefore artificial Method of these words Howbeit because all men are not capable of this Method or the reason of it I shall proceed unto these Axioms according to the order of the words 1. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses chair in which we must enquire 1. What is is meant by the Seat and Chair of Moses 2 What it is to sit in the Seat and Chair of Moses 3. Who the Scribes and 4. Who the Pharisees were and 5. Quo jure what Right and Authority they had to sit in Moses Chair 1. By the Chair or Seat of Moses is to be understood the Doctrine or Law of Moses There are three degrees of Doctrine which are in order to other in the whole Church and People of God and in every Member of Christ 1. The Chair or Doctrine of Moses or the Law of Moses for Moses is sometimes taken for the Law-giver sometimes for the Law it self as Luke They have Moses and the Prophets who teach according to Moses These are until John Matth. 11. 2. The Chair or Doctrine of Elias or John the Baptist who is the same Matth. 11. which requires repentance and amendment of Life and bringing forth fruits worthy amendment of Life Thus the Jews at their Circumcision have an empty Chair set which they say is for Elias 3. The Chair or Doctrine of Christ himself for as the Law and Prophets are until John so the Law of Moses and John are until Christ who is the end of the Law And John points to Jesus Christ and his Doctrine is the beginning of the Gospel Mar. 1.1 Obser 1. The Lord would have his Truth made known though by wicked men Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites Balaam ran greedily after the reward of iniquity with a purpose to curse Israel the Lord turn'd his curse into a blessing and made use of his mouth for the declaration of many precious Truths And Judas with the rest of the Apostles preached the Gospel for would the Lord have his Gospel hid unless there be chosen vessels to publish it The Lord would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of his truth and therefore he makes use of evil Instruments where good are not to be found Phil. 1.15 These men sought their own glory and envied St. Paul yet because they preached the Gospel though not for Gods glory but their own the Apostle rejoyceth he rejoyced not in their Hypocrisie but in the Effect of it The Leapers 2 Kings 7. bring glad tidings to Samaria that their enemies were put to flight and that there was abundance of all things left behind them in their Tents Although Lepers unclean unclean yet if they bring good tidings that their spiritual enemies are put to flight and that there was a great abundance of all things this was notice enough to the people to go out This ought no way to encourage ungodly Teachers for although the Lord make use of them as he doth of evil Instruments and over-rules their malice to a better end than they aim at and so work good by them yet are they ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã judged and condemned out of their own mouths who preach to others and themselves become Castaways The Lord foretels that many shall say we have prophesied in thy name c. but the Lord shall say unto them Depart from me ye workers of iniquity Luk. 13. Would God many of us did not strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel tyth'd not Mynt and Dill and neglected not the great things of the Law as the Pharisees taught v. 23. to be unmerciful was no sin nor to dishonour their Parents in comparison of repairing the outward Temple They made great scruple of entring into the Judgment-hall lest they should be defiled but made no question of shedding innocent blood Joh. 18.28 To break the Sabbath which was made for man and so man to be preferred before it it was accounted the greatest sin But to be covetous c. yea to break all the Commandments of God for which Man was made Eph. 2.20 yea to pursue the lusts of the flesh cheat men all the week so he keep his house or his Church on the Sabbath and sing Psalms next the Street and sit not at the door nor walk abroad Tush all the rest are weaknesses and infirmities of the Saints This man is a Saint a Member of Christ one of the Elect. Would God there were not among us who can tell where Jesus Christ is to be born but go not forth our selves one step toward Bethlehem who can tell that the Life of a Christian must be holy chaste sober humble self-denying c. yet we live loosly proudly self-willed and covetous Would God there were not among us Scribes and Pharisees who challenge the whole Chair of Moses Elias and Christ to our selves who assume to our selves and those of our way the whole power of teaching the people so that if Jesus Christ should come they would not give him place 2. To sit in Moses Chair as some conceive is all one with succeeding But Moses left no other Successor but Joshua But to sit in Moses Chair is to teach the Doctrine or Law of Moses for so to sit is the proper posture of Judges and Teachers So that if the Sentence of the Judge was not pronounced è Cathedra it was null That this is the meaning of this phrase To sit in Moses Chair appears from the
of Seth and Shem and Abraham and Rechab and the Esseni or Hassadei 2. There are also Scribes and Pharisees hypocritical men There are prophane men without number We enquire now touching the Scribes and Pharisees such there are without doubt who sit in Moses John Baptists and Christ's Chair who teach the Law Repentance and the Gospel of Christ Yet it cannot be denied but many of us say and do not as they tell a story of the Lacedemonian Ambassadors resident at Athens that they being at a Play and an old Athenian coming in and no Athenians giving place to him the Lacedemonian Ambassadors arose and gave the old man room among them whereupon one said That the Athenians a learned City knew what was just and right but they did not act accordingly but left that to the Lacedemonians who were most illiterate men Would God this were not most true of many of us who teach the Doctrine of Moses John Baptist and Christ that we sit in the Chair of Moses John Baptist and Jesus Christ and have the Key of Knowledge but enter not in our selves nor suffer others to enter in that would 3. The multitude and Disciples must not do according to the works of the Scribes and Pharisees The words contain our Lord's Second Precept which is negative a prohibition of following the Works of imitating the Life and Manners of the Scribes and Pharisees Here are these three Axioms 1. The Multitudes and Disciples must not do according to the works of the Scribes and Pharisees 2. They say and do not 3. Because they say and do not therefore do not ye according to their works Which I shall speak of only as they contain our Lord's Doctrine 1. Do not ye after their works 2. And his Reason Because they say and do not Observ 1. The works of the Scribes and Pharisees were sinful unjust and ungodly Obser 2. The Lord knows how flexible how prone we are to follow what is evil especially in him who teacheth what is good how much inclined we are rather to imitate the evil Life than the good doctrine of our Teachers Obser 3. The grace and goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ He would not that we should follow the evil Be not conformed unto this world Rom. 12.1 3 Joh. 11. follow not that which is evil 2. Our Lord gives the reason of this point they say and do not Reason What reason is here why they say and do not what they say is from conviction of their judgemânt according to the Law of God and is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and dictate of their Conscence But what they do is from the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the impetus of their own will and affectiâns See Notes on Rom. 6.19 For howsoever naturallâ the will ought to follow the dictamen intellectus the dictate of the understanding and last result and conclusion of it yet it 's hurried away by the violence of the seâsitive appetite As the daily motion of the primum mobile naturally should carry abâut all the inferiour Orbs but beside and contrary to this motion every Planet stâals its own proper motion And thus though the Scribes and Pharisees teachers of heavenly things had motions from the Law of their mind inclining them to act according to the Law of God yet the violence of their appetite swayes them contrary thereunto And therefore Jude calls such wandring stars Jude vers 13. Besides tâere is a false doctrine a damnable heresie brought in by such Teachers whereof St. Peter warns us 2 Pet. 2. Who tell us that it 's impossible to be exactly obedient uâto Moses's Chair That they that go about to fulfill the sayings of the Scribes and Pharisees think to be justified by their works or to merit by them If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us and therefore that we may not deceive our selves and that the truth may be in us that we may be Orthodox we must be sure to have sin what ever comes of it This Doctrine eats like a Gangreen and spreads it self like a Leprosie over the whole Christian world so that whosoever shall affirm that it 's possible through the power of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ to do the sayings of the Scribes and Pharisees to be obedient unto Moses's Chair He is almost generally believed to be heterodox a man of an erroneous judgment one that holds strange opinions in a word a very dangerous man Obser 1. Note here the wonderfull Grace and wisdom of our God in preservation of his Truth in the world even in a perverse and crooked Generation The Scribes and Pharisees say but do not yet in that they say though they do not they acknowledge what they say ought to be done The People who are Auditors hear but do not yet will confess that what they hear ought to be done And thus in both the only wise God preserves in the Consciences even of wicked men a testimony unto his Truth and a witness in ungodly men against themselves Thus the Lord kept his Truth by the testimony of the false Prophets Balaam and others and over-ruled them by it For truth hath commonly an influence upon a sublime understanding and without the choice of men slides into their minds when they think not of it as the light shines into the eye that 's open without the mans choice As Balaam is said to have his eyes open Numb 24.3 So that a false Prophet a Scribe or Pharisee may have a glimpse of truth yet without any special favour of God because truth respects the understanding according to which a man may be said to be subtil acute knowing learned but according to that he cannot be said to be good just or honest for Charity according to which one is said to be good just or honest is an act of the will since therefore the act of the understanding what is true precedes the embracing of it by the will a false Prophet Scribe or Pharisee may retain truth in his understanding and teach it without any will or love unto it Obser 4. The will of the Lord is that we should do after the sayings and doings after the doctrine and works of those teachers whom he sends unto us And the reason is the Precept is a dead thing that seems impossible untill it be brought to life by the Teacher or others and then it 's made appear to be not only possible but feisable and practicable The Apostle propounds not only what he had taught unto the Philippians Phil. 4.8 Whatsoever things were true c. but whatever they had both learned and received and heard and seen in him to do vers 9. who would think that the precept to love our enemies were possible unless some there were who practised it Saul thought it so till he found it practised by David upon himself Observ 5. The Doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees is to be diligently
and Evil Teachers since he enjoyns the dictates and doctrines even of the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites to be observed and done and what greater observance and obedience can be given to the doctrine of the best Teachers I Answer Our Lord Jesus commands not the Scribes and Pharisees to teach the Law or to sit in Moses's Chair the Lord commands the Multitude and the Disciples to observe and do what they bid them observe For There is a great difference between those whom our Lord authorizeth to teach and those who set up themselves for Teachers those who are authorized by our Lord to teach are chosen Vessels such are the Scribes taught to the Kingdom of God who are taught by God what they teach the people But to the wicked saith God why dost thou teach my Law or take my Covenant within thy mouth Psal 50. The Lord expostulates with wicked Teachers for usurping the Chair of Moses and teaching the Law which he did not authorize them to do They whom the Lord sends to Teach He himself furnisheth and prevents with Grace as the Word of God is said to come to the Prophets Joh. 10.35 which is the Day-star 2 Pet. 1.19 which false Teachers want and for that they speak not according to the Word because no Morning-light is in them Esay 8.20 2. They whom the Lord sends to teach they seek not their own Honour but the Honour of him that sends them Joh. 7.18 Doubt 2. The Lord Jesus seems to make do difference between his own Disciples and the Multitude He commands both to hear and obey the Doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees The Law of God is a common Lesson to be learned by all good and bad those within and those without the Church as well the Multitude as the Disciples But is there no difference Yes no doubt Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis and therefore according to the different dispositions of the Multitudes and of the Disciples they learn different Lessons and in a different manner The Multitude have a veil upon their heart in the reading of Moses so that they are capable only of parables and literal understanding of the Word as the Scribes and Pharisees taught The Disciples heart is turned unto the Lord and the veil is taken away 2. The Multitude are under the Law and the compulsion of the Law and are brought to obedience by the terrours and threatnings of the Law Oderunt peccare mali formidine poenae Evil men hate to offend for fear of punishment 2. The Disciples are not under the Law but under Grace They willingly obey the Righteousness of the Law without any compulsion at all Justo non est Lex posita the Law is not made for the Righteous ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Oderunt peccare boni virtutis amore Good men hate to offend for the love of Virtue Observ The Lord will have his Law learned as well by his own Disciples as by the Multitude Obj. The Disciples of Christ believe in the Lord Jesus Christ We are in such a Babel like that Gen. 11. that we understand not one anothers speech What mean we here by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ Mark what belief the Apostle propounds to us in himself Phil. 3.9 10 11. That I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ c. Mark what belief he exhorts the Colossians unto read Col. 2 6-12 Faith in the operative power of God Rom. 6.8 Faith and Obedience are all one See the Notes on Esay 3.10 Exhort I have already exhorted those who sit in Moses's Chair to do the work of Moses But we are now exhorted to yield to the attraction and drawing of Moses See Notes on Gen. 1.28 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW XXIII 23. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wo to you Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye pay tythe of mint and annise and cummin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law judgment mercy and faith these ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone PAying Tythes was never yet any Argument of my Discourse in this or any other place although perhaps in regard of some I have as just cause to complain as another man But if I had a purpose to speak of that Subject this place of Scripture gives no countenance to it but ranks paying of Tythes among minora Legis the less things of the Law though our Lord saith that those things ought not to be left undone These words contain a denunciation of a wo to the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for a breach of their duty Wo c. And 2. A direction of them for the due and orderly performance of their duty These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Their breach of Duty consists 1. In Commission an intense performance of smaller Duties ye tythe mint c. 2. In Omission a remisness and neglect of greater Duties ye have omitted the weightier things of the law 1. An exactness and overdoing of the less Commandments ye tythe mint c. 2. An underdoing or rather a not doing of the greater Duties ye have omitted the weightier matters In the words we have these three Axioms 1. The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites paid Tythe of Mint Anise and Cummin 2. They omitted the weighter things of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith 3. Our Lord for these sins denounceth a wo to the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites 1. The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites paid Tythe of Mint Anise and Cummin The word we render Anise is in the Greek ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which doth not signifie Anise but Dill which in the V. Latin is rendred Anethum as the High and Low Dutch have Dylle which is quite another herb different in kind from Anise which in the Greek is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and in Latin Anisum yet herein all our printed English Translations are out which our last Translators have followed That which seems to have misled them was the old English word Anet which signifieth the same which we call Dill and is in the French Bible and in our English Manuscript The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites tythed Mint and Dill and Cummin Who were these Scribes Who else but the great learned men in the Letter of the Law Learned they were for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Scribe and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Teacher were all one Their Learning was altogether in the Letter of the Scripture and therefore they are called in the Text ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Low Dutch fitly turns the word Scriftgeleerden Learned in the Letter This Learning of the Scribes was in the Letter of the Law and therefore they are called sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lawyers sometime ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Teachers of the Law Such as these are all Teachers of the Letter only whether of Law or Gospel The
the Laws brought to three Answer There are no doubt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã multitudes of God's Laws Hos 8.12 They who have accurately summ'd up the Laws of God See Notes on the place above But how then come they to be contracted to so small a number See Notes as above Observ 1. There are degrees of Gods Commandments See Notes as above in Observation the third Observ 2. Hence we learn that there are diverse Wills in God not one contradictory to another as some say that God would have all men to be saved this openly and above board But his secret Will is that far the greatest part of Mankind should be damned Such contradictions of Wills one would not suppose to be in an honest man which these ascribe unto God But diverse Wills there are in God one principal and onother subordinate thereunto 1. The principal Will is of the weighty things of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith or Truth 2. The less principal is of all lesser Commandments as serviceable thereunto Observ 3. Since our Lord blames the Scribes and Pharisees for omitting the greater and weightier things of the Law it follows that the weightier things of the Law may be kept Our Lord the Wisdom of God and Righteousness of God would not give a Law that is impossible nor blame men for omitting and not fulfilling that is impossible and not feasable to them Observ 4. The Character of Hypocrites they are intense in doing smaller Duties remiss in doing greater The Jews would not enter into the Judgment-hall lest they should be polluted but took no great care or thought lest themselves should be polluted by shedding innocent blood yea great care was taken lest they should shed blood but they put the Magistrate upon it that unless he shed blood he should not be Caesar's friend Just so have the Scribes and Pharisees done to the true Christians in all Ages the Magistrates must be their Executioners O hypocrites do they not know that quòd quis per alium facit id ipse facit what any one doth by another he doth it himself that in Murders all are principals Observ 5. The deplorable condition of the Jews Nation when our Lord came in the flesh the Scribes and Pharisees were of all other the most religious of that Age in appearance before men they carried all before them as the Scribes and Pharisees of our days yet regarded only a few outward Duties and neglected the greater and weightier things of the Law The wo and judgment here was not far from them and since we are like them can it be far from us Repreh 1. The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites of our days far more worthy of reproof than those for there was not any one of the three Sects of Jews Essenes or Pharisees or Sadduces but they thought the Law belonged to them and that it ought to be kept But our Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites think the Law belongs not to them nay they judge it to be strange Doctrine according to that of Hos 8.12 they counted it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which Martin Luther turns Kerzery 1. e. heresie Coverdale turns strange Doctrine Diodati Doctrine that belongs not to them if the Doctrine belong not to us the Wo will certainly belong unto us Repreh 2. If our Lord call those Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites who tythed Mint and Dill and Cummin but omitted the greater things of the Law what will our Lord call those Scribes and Pharisees who not only omit the weightier things of the Law but the less and lighter Commandments also Repreh 3. Those who dishonour the honourable things of God's Law c. See Notes on Hos 8.12 Exhort Let not us omit these great and weightier things of the Law as these did but as they are weighty and honourable so let us observe them with due and honourable regard See Notes on Hos 8.12 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MATTHEW XXIV 1 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And Jesus went out and departed from the Temple and his Disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the Temple And Jesus said unto them See ye not all these things Verily I say unto you There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down THe words contain part of a Divine Dialogue between our Lord and his Disciples wherein we have 1. The Disciples address and the end of it occasioned by our Lords words Mat. 23.38 39. concerning the Temple and his departure from thence vers 1. 2. Our Lords speech thereupon partly expostulating with them partly foretelling them what should come to pass 1. Jesus went out and departed from the Temple 2. His Disciples came to him to shew him the buildings of the Temple 3. The Lord Jesus expostulates with them concerning their admiration of those buildings 4. The Lord Jesus foretells that there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down 1. Jesus went out and departed from the Temple There are Two words which signifie the Temple ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1. The former ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denotes all that whole Area or holy place which contains in it all the Courts and Buildings 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth more especially that part of the building which contains the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies Now when it is said that Jesus departed from the Temple we must understand by the Temple only the Porch and outward Court of the Temple for as for that inward building it was proper to the Priests only Heb. 9 1-7 And therefore it is not said that he departed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã out of the Sanctuary for he was never in it because not a Priest according to the Order of Levi for it is evident That our Lord sprang of Judah of which Tribe Moses wrote nothing concerning Priesthood but the words are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã When the Evangelist here saith That Jesus departed out of the Temple We are not to understand such a going thence as ye read Mat. 21.12 where it is said vers 18. that he returned thither This going out of the Temple was his dereliction his ultimum vale his final and last departure thence Our Lord had been in the Temple two dayes together one after the other First he came riding in Triumph thither Mat. 21. v. 12. where the Chief Priests and Scribes offended with the Childrens acclamation of Hosannah and he justifying them departed thence to Bethany whence the day following He returned and Taught in the Temple where again he was encountred by the Chief Priests and Elders of the People who questioned his Authority vers 23. Whence may appear the Reason why our Lord left the Temple Observ 1. That the Lord Jesus departed from the Temple supposeth that he had first come unto the Temple which is not unworthy our observation because this was prophesied of him
have access unto them and the Lord Jesus the great Mediator between God and Man is every where prest and ready for all our addresses to be made unto him Heb. 7.24 25. Sanctuaries and places of Refuge were always open and the ways made plain for all to fly unto them And lest any should mistake the way there was written on the sides of it in great Letters REFUGE REFUGE Such a common Sanctuary is opened in the Name of Jesus such a Common Saviour is he unto all who come unto him Obs 2. Note here who are the most fit men to make address unto the Lord Jesus who but the Disciples So they are called in the Text and such they were who learned of him by word and deed and following of him They were not only careful to attend and hear when he taught but to ask and learn Matth. 13.36 and 15.15 Consolat To the true Disciples of Jesus Christ He is near unto them Immanuel God with them Deut. 4.7 Psal 148.14 a people near unto him Yes those Disciples had a happiness which we have not they had Christ present with them And so hast thou Joh. 1.26 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã among you in the midst of you yea he is nearer to thee than Christ in the flesh was to them Rom. 10.6 7 8. How otherwise couldst thou live for it is in him that we live move and have our being Act. 19.26 27 28. Yea although the Disciples were sorrowful because our Lord told them he must withdraw his corporeal presence from theâ yet he tells them it was expedient for them Joh. 16. Exhort Let us come unto Jesus Christ in these times of exigency let us come and propound our doubts unto him His goodness may allure us he vouchsafes us opportunity his love constrains us Our own want and necessity may drive us out of our selves and force us to fly to him who can supply our wants They tell us a Story or rather a Fable of Alpheus a River that was in love with her Fountain called Arethusa and that it followed that Fountain through the Sea and at length enjoyed it Beloved Fables are not always to be despised since in them the wise men among the Heathen covertly taught the secrets of Nature and by them conveyed them unto those who were docible and ingenuous as for others who were more dull and stupid or animales homines they had in these Fables something to delight their Fancies Alpheus therefore pursuing Arethusa was in Philosophy the Matter rude and unprofitable in it self desiring and pursuing the Form In our better Philosophy Alpheus is the Soul spotted and blemished and sensible of its own defects and imperfections goes out of it self by pious desires and earnest love unto the Fountain of living Waters Thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith the Mythologist signifieth a stain a blemish a want and imperfection and Arethusa hath its name from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Vertue 3. The Lord Jesus is the great High Priest who hath the Vrim and Thummim the lights and perfections he hath the Oracles of God Whither should we go Thou hast the words of eternal life Joh. 6.66 Means We must be Disciples Converts The Queen of Sheba came to Solomon she came from Arabia where the Law was given for Sinai is a Mountain in Arabia she comes full of questions concerning the Law and Solomon answers all so that there was no spirit in her Sheba is a figure of Conversion when the heart is turned to the Lord the veil is taken away Nor is their any spirit in the Law but it 's swallowed up of the Gospel And will we live unto Christ we must first die unto our selves Ye are dead and your life is hid with God in Christ And Christ the wisdom of God destroys the wisdom of the wise and brings to nought the understanding of the prudent That he that glorieth may glory in the Lord. Axiom 3. The Disciples enquire after Three things 1. When these things shall be which the Lord Jesus had foretold 2. What should be the Sign of his Coming 3. What should be the Sign of the End of the World For so I conceive these Quaeries to be distinct one from other and not to be huddled and confounded all into one as if together with the dissolution of the Jews State when the Temple and City should be destroyed the coming of the Lord Jesus should be and his Kingdom at the same time erected and then the World should have an end Truly the different judgments of men touching this Chapter and Chap. 25. have rendered them both very obscure As the Questions of the Disciples are here distinctly propounded so our Lord answers them distinctly as I hope I shall shew Howbeit it is evident that the Disciples did not so understand the things they enquired after as the Lord afterward explained them as appears Luk. 24. Act. 1. Come we then to the Disciples first Quaere 1. The Disciples enquire when shall those things be which he had foretold v. 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so the words are in the Text and in the parallel Evangelists Marc. Luke ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these things He had spoken only of one the destruction of the Temple how then come these words to be plural these things First then as concerning ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these things what they are Secondly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã when these things shall be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã implies as well the destruction of the City Jerusalem as of the Temple here And therefore St. Luke reports our Lords words concerning the destruction of the City the very same whicâ he used v. 2. concerning the Temple Luk. 19.41 Confer Notes before on v. 2. Observ 1. The Temple was not to be destroyed alone the City Jerusalem was to be ruined with it which I wish they considered aright who out of I know not whether more ignorant or malevolent zeal hope to see all Churches and like Edifices go down They may see their desires but those Buildings must not go down alone Towers Cities places of greatest Concourse and Assemblies shall keep them company Confer Notes again on v. 2. Observ 2. The City Jerusalem and the Temple to be destroyed was a Type of the Jerusalem of the Gentiles and the Christian Churches also to be destroyed as was intimated Matth. 21 and 22.1 2 3. And therefore the Disciples ask both especially the latter as appears by our Saviour's answer in the whole Chapter Yea St. Luke comprehends all the destruction of the City and Temple the coming of Christ and the end of the World under this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luk. 21.5 and our Lord's answer extends it self accordingly Thus much of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these things Come we now to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Disciples Quaere touching the precise time When shall these things be What reason had they to enquire into the time when these things should come to pass
foretells That iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold Mat. 24.12 in this time the Shulamite the sleepy soul is called and sought for 1 Johâ 5.3 This is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and therefore when iniquity abounds and his Commandments are broken the love of many must needs wax cold And how do men seem to express the ardour and heat of their love in the time of the Law instead of keeping the Commandments which is the love of God 1 Joh. 5.3 they offered sacrifices in abundance Thus in after times instead of keeping the Commandments they multiplyed Ceremonies and since Ceremonies are ceased instead of keeping the Commandments they plead for the Ordinances of Christ Preaching and Hearing and receiving the Sacraments with a great deal of plausible profession Thus at this day men make shew of love with their mouth but the Apostle tells us That in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision nor uncircumcision is any thing but keeping the Commandments of God 1 Cor. 7.19 We read 1 King 1.1 when David was old and stricken in years he waxed cold to the old Age of David answer the later dayes of the Church wherein iniquity abounds and the Love i. e. David as his Name signifies waxes cold And how shall we warm David how shall the Love grown cold be heated We load him with Sacrifices and Ceremonies with holy professions and many good words David's Servants were in the right there is no other means to be found but to seek a young Virgin a Shulamite and what other Shulamite but Abishag who hath gone astray from the Law of the Father so Abishag signifies This Abishag the Shulamite who hath slumbred and slept but now is awakened and changed for so likewise the word signifies the Virgin now changed the Shulamite now returning from the errour of her way such a one cherisheth and refresheth David in his old Age she must stand before the King such a Virgin Church the Apostle propounds in Ephes 1.4 That we should be holy and without blame before him in love O let every Virgin Soul confess and pray with David Psal 119. ult I have gone astray like a lost sheep O seek thy Servant for I do not forget thy Commandments Let us search our hearts whether do we awake at the voice of the Cryer and his cry or no we arise early to morning Exercises and Lectures but do we keep the Commandments of God For Consolation then it is the complaint of many a poor Soul I hear the Cry and Invitation made unto me but alas I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth such is the Law even a prison according to Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath shut up all under sin how is that vers 23. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Before Faith came we were kept under the Law shut up unto Faith while we were or are under the Law we are held with the cords of our own sins like Peter in prison bound with two chains which are the world and the flesh until the Angel that 's John Baptist called an Angel in Malachi and should be so rendered until that Angel preach repentance till that voice of the Cryer warn us that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand until he smite us on the side mind us of our Lords sufferings that we ought to bear about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus until his life appear in us NOTES and OBSERVATIONS on MAT. 25.7 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Then all those Virgins arose and trimmed their Lamps HEre follow the effects of the Proclamation of the Lords coming which are proper to the wise vers 7. common to wise and foolish vers 8 and 9 being a Dialogue between them The effects proper to the wise 1. they arose 2. they trimmed their Lamps 1. those Virgins arose 2. then they arose those the word is demonstrative ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã viz. those wise Virgins they arose whence arose they we left them slumbering and sleeping in the 5th verse The posture of them who sleep is lying down Esay 56.10 sleeping lying down loving to slumber It 's spoken especially of the wise Virgins that they arose from slumbering and sleeping their slumbering and sleeping is in death and sin and therefore arising and awaking is to Life and Righteousness according to Rom. 13.11 Knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our Salvation nearer than when we believed So 1 Cor. 15.34 Awake to Righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God 1. Note here the nature of sin it 's compared to a sleep a profound dead sleep a sleep in death Yet it 's possible to arise from this dead sleep Col. 3.1 read on 2. Then those Virgins arose viz. when they heard the cry there is no mention made touching the arising of the foolish They are the wise only that know the time of Christ's coming and arise they only knew the time of his coming in the flesh which was visibly manifested and exhibited unto mankind the foolish knew it not Mat. 16.2 3. O ye hypocrites ye can discern the face of the skie but can ye not discern the signes of the times How much less then shall the foolish be able to know the time of his Spiritual coming Let us be exhorted to arise Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Ephes 5.14 Prov. 6.6 Go to the Ant thou sluggard consider her wayes and be wise knowest thou not it's a sleep in sin and death which thou sleepest and it 's an awakening of Righteousness whereunto thou art called the sleep thou now sleepest is a sleep opposite unto Salvation Rom. 13.12 The night is far spent the day is at hand therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light it 's now high time Reason or means to perswade us how to arise the sleep is a sleep in death the Law cannot awaken us or raise us unto life Gal. 3.21 Is the Law then against the promises of God God forbid for if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily Righteousness had been by the Law but that 's the work of Christ vers 24. The Law was our School-Master to bring us to Christ that we might be justified or cleansed by Faith Elisha's Servant could not raise the Shunamites dead Son Elisha must go himself 2 King 4. the Child is not awakened therefore he himself must do it 3. They trimmed their Lamps the word here used to trim Lamps is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which answers to the Hebrew Phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Exod. 30.7 when Aaron trims or dresses the Lamps And what is it to trim a Lamp but to remove what hinders and to add what furthers the clear and bright burning and shining of it And what hinders the clear and bright burning and shining
with all the fulness of God Observ 6. Every Servant of the Lord is by profession in his progress proficiency going on from one degree of goodness unto another the servant is said to have i. e. use well and to be constant in that use they are alwayes in motu 1 Thess 4.1 to walk and please God is to abound more and more in so doing The Use hence is for Reprehension of those presumptuous havers who because they have or think they have much of their Masters goods they despise and neglect all but themselves as if they had all and others nothing at all what a world there is of such at this day who think their own party only in our Lord and Masters house and that all others are without that they only have all their Masters Talents among them and all other people are naked poor and miserable And this is the rather abservable because there being at this day many divided Judgments and many several Parties who yet every one flatter themselves that they are the only peculiar people of the Lord and all the rest are of the world and so appropriate God himself and all his goods gifts and graces unto themselves Does not the Apostle tell us That there is one God one Faith one Baptism one Lord and Father of all c. But saith he To every one of us is given Grace It is true there is but one Lord but that one Lord does not appropriate himself to any one of the divided Parties but to every one of the Believers is given Grace for grace The God of all Grace dispences his goods in different measure according to different abilities Mat. 25. and he gives generally to every one without respect of persons as being of such or such a ones Church and therefore Job told his friends who were just of these mens growth surely ye are the people though that he spake Ironically Mysticé What the Servants have is said to be their Masters goods and such as he more especially accounts such which cannot therefore be only outward and temporal but principally inward and spiritual and therefore our Lord saith That his Kingdom is not of this world and therefore he accounts not the wealth of this world among his proper goods but rather in regard of these he is said to have been poor Saul whose Kingdom was of the foregoing world he spake what was figurative and typical concerning the Kingdom of Christ Can the Son of Jesse give you c. Luk. 16.12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another mans who will give you that which is your own What then are our Lords five principal inward and spiritual Talents 1. Simplicity in Christ such as was in Abel who is a breathing toward the God of Life The second Talent is the work of the Law discovering sin and death Rom. 7. and discovering also righteousness and life for so the righteousness of God is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets This was prefigured by Seth which signifies a positive Law he hath good correspondence with Enoch the first Prophet and preacher of Righteousness as Noah was the last before the flood All the Prophets are descanters upon the preaching of the Law The third Talent is the Grace of God which brings salvation unto all men Tit. 2. and calls and invites men unto repentance as John Baptist who is and signifies the Grace of the Lord. The fourth Talent is Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which is the gift of God Eph. 2. The fifth and last Talent is the Communion with Christ according to the flesh in a lowly meek and suffering spirit but weak according to which it is said He was crucified in weakness and we are then weak in him or with him He who hath but one Talent hath the simplicity of Abel He who hath two Talents hath the work of the Law and Prophets figured by Seth as Abraham told the rich man in hell that his Brethren had Moses and the Prophets To every one of these who hath i. e. improves any one or more of these Talents more shall be given unto him for so they who are simple concerning evil Rom. 16.19 I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple or harmless concerning evil to such I say who wall on thus in their simplicity the Law of the Lord is given Psal 19.7 The Law or Doctrine of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple and Psal 119.130 The entrance of thy word giveth light it giveth understanding unto the simple Now unto every one who hath the Law of the Lord and Faith to improve the work of the Law written in his heart the grace and gift of repentance is given unto him according to Mal. 4.4 Remember the Law of Moses my servant unto such the Lord promises Elijah the Prophet vers 5. i. e. John the Baptist the voice of God the Father crying in the wilderness even in the wildered heart of man thus the Law and the Prophets are until John And unto every one who hath and useth well this gift of God this grace of the Lord John unto every one who seeth this burning and shining light Mat. 11. and willingly walketh in that light and hears this voice of the Father bringing forth fruit worthy amendment of life unto him is given Faith in the Love of God for so saith our Lord Joh. 6. Every one that heareth and learneth of the Father cometh i. e. believeth in me Lastly every believer ought to shew forth his Faith by his works so to improve his belief according to Titus 3.8 This is a saying of Faith and these things I will that thou constantly affirm that they who have believed in God be careful in maintaining good works which are good and profitable unto men so serving God with a good conscience who gave himself for us vers 14. That he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Now unto such believers and obedient ones is given that Talent Christ that mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Col. 1.26 27. yea unto such Believers it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God These are his houshold Servants yea his friends unto whom he reveils his mysteries or secrets Joh. 15. These receive Christ according to the flesh and unto these Christ is given he mans himself with them in a lowly self-denying meek patient suffering way For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake so Rom. 5 1 2 3. Therefore being justified or purified by Faith throughly cleansed we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by Faith into this Grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God and not only so but we
Fountain sealed what profit is in them both and what profit is there in great contemplation and long study if it bring forth nothing to the good and benefit of mankind Tully could say Paulum Sepultae distat inertiae Celata virtus and what delight is there in still musick The Lord expects of us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some excess somewhat beyond other men in the exercise of our gifts and graces if ye salute your Brethren only ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã if we always abound in labour the Lord will be alwayes rewarding us and making us abound Sign Have we the goods of our Lord have we his Spiritual Talents what they are I have shewn in the first point Have we the simplicity of Abel may we not fear that our craft and subtilty hath bereaved us of our simplicity the Apostle was afraid of his Corinthians 2. Cor. 11.3 Corinth was a City of great trade and traffick and Sin saith the Wise Man sticks close between the buyer and the seller the word astutus subtle and cunning is said to come from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that signifies a City and may we not fear the like of our City and for the same reason that the Apostle did of Corinth And what think we of the second Talent the Law of God the Jews had it in their time yet had they it not in that they brought forth no fruit of it and therefore it was taken from them according to that of our Lord Mat. 21.43 The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you c. Yea the idle servant gave sentence against himself out of his own mouth vers 41. and may not we as truly For do we not say almost generally that the Law of God belongs not to us or if it belong to us it 's impossible to be performed by any power that our Lord hath given to his Servants which is now a dayes taught as a Catechetical Doctrine How then do we say we are wise Jer. 8.8 9. We have not the Law and therefore it 's taken from us As for the third Talent the Grace of the Lord calling us to repentance and amendment of life by John Baptist do not most men think that Talent was spent long since and no such dispensation now required in the Church Do not most men leap over John Baptists head that they may come immediately without any preparation unto Christ That Talent we most of all brag of is our precious Faith hereby alone men grasp all the promises of God but are there not seven additions to be joyned to it 2 Pet. 1. It 's a working Faith which our Lord requires a Faith that works what is profitable unto men Tit. 3.8 but Jam. 2.14 What then can we hope of the fifth Talent the suffering together with Christ Is it not a duty either not known or forgotten Is not Christ even dead yea buried in us like that Talent wrapt up in a napkin in the earthy heart And what 's left among us but a glorious profession of Faith and Religion as broad fig-leaves to cover our nakedness without fruit O Beloved let us sadly remember the Lord returns to take an account of his Servants he expects fruit not leaves Mich. 7.1 The Lord Jesus alwayes hungers and desires to eat the fruit of the Spirit in them so long as we bring forth fruit we are not dryed up but if the Lord come and find not this fruit in us will he not say unto us as he did unto the barren fig-tree How many at this day have only leaves and outward profession without the fruits of the Spirit who for a long time have had a name that they live O let us all take heed lest the Lord coming and finding no fruit we bear the Curse according to the doom in the Text From him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath Wherefore Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MARK IV. 11. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Vnto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but unto them that are without all these things are done in parables THese words are a part of our Saviours Answer unto his Disciples who asked him the meaning of the Parable which he had spoken to them in the former part of this Chapter St. Matthew 13.10 reports their question thus Why dost thou speak unto them in parables And his Answer thus Because unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given We may resolve the words I have read into these particulars 1. There are mysteries of the kingdom of God or there is a Mysterie 2. The Disciples know this Mysterie or these Mysteries 3. It is given to them to know it or them 4. To those that are without all things are done in Parables 5. Unto the Disciples indeed it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God but unto those without all things are done in Parables Of the two first I have spoken heretofore yet may a doubt arise touching the later whether all the Disciples of Christ know all the mysteries of the kingdom of God yea or no surely they do not But for a more full and clear Answer to this question we must distinguish 1. Mysteries 2. Disciples 3. degrees of Knowledge and 4. Gods different dispensation of divers mysteries unto divers Disciples divers degrees of Knowledge There are two kinds of mysteries some are more easie truths such is the mysterie of the Gospel hid from none saith St. Paul but prophane men who perish in sin Other mysteries there are which the Scripture stiles great Mysteries and such is the mystery of our Conjunction and Union with God Ephes 5.32 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This saith he is a great Mysterie for so the Church figured by Eve the Mother of all the living ones taken out of Adam the figure of Christ whence the Church is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone and we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5.30 This and such like as these are called wisdom ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Apoc. 13. Proportionably to these two kinds of Mysteries there are two sorts of Disciples also some are young and weak and of little understanding ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unskilful or rather according to the Margin having no experience in the word of righteousness Like men of weak queazy stomachs such as can digest only light nourishment as milk and honey Esay 7. 1 Cor. 3. Heb. 5. that is the first principles of the oracles of God as the Apostle interprets it Heb. 6.1 the word of the beginning of Christ As for bread and strong meat they cannot away with it they cannot feed on it with out imminent danger Like those Jews who escaped
out of Jerusalem as Josephus reports and fell to the Romans They who fed of strong meat after their long famine perished in great multitudes whereas some few feeding on Milk saved their lives The Case is the very same with these young Disciples they have such a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they must be fed with milk and not with strong meat for they are not able to bear it 1 Cor. 3.2 like men of good and strong stomachs who can digest the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the meat indeed Joh. 6. Where ye have examples of Disciples of both kinds where when our Saviour had set strong meat before them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word which St. Paul useth for strong meat 1 Cor. 3.2 telling them that his flesh is meat indeed or truth Many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him This is an hard saying say they meat of hard concoction who can hear it who can digest it But others there were who could digest this strong meat for when our Saviour asked the Twelve whether they would go away and leave this strong meat Lord to whom shall we go saith Simon Peter in the name of the rest thou hast the words of eternal life that which is the true meat and the true drink Joh. 6.67 68. But others there are stronger and of larger unnderstanding such as by reason of of use habit or perfection can discern between good and evil these stronger Disciples who know the Wisdom and greater kind of Mysteries are called in Scripture wise and perfect men we speak wisdom saith St. Paul among those that are perfect 1 Cor. 2. Proportionably to the two sorts of instances and Disciples there are of the knowledge of this Wisdom different degrees both of extension in respect of the Object when it is of few or more or all Mysteries and of intention in regard of the Act when it is either wavering and mixt with ignorance error and doubting or firm certain and full of assurance For as among the Gentiles there were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so among us Christians there is a seeing through a glass darkly or in a riddle and a seeing face to face a knowing imperfectly and a knowing as we are known 1 Cor. 13. a walking by faith and a walking by sight 2 Cor. 5.7 a knowing and a knowing surely Joh. 17.8 2 Tim. 3.14 a knowledge of the grace of God in truth Col. 1.6 and a full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2.2 And therefore howsoever St. Paul thanks and blesseth God that he had abounded toward the Ephesians in all wisdom and prudence and made known unto them the revelation of his will Eph. 1.8 9. yet Ver. 16 17. of the same Chapter he prayeth that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ would give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation for the acknowledgment of him According to these differences of Mysteries Disciples and degrees of knowledge and in this or the like method the great and wise ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the great revealer of divine mysteries orders the dispensation of them So that it is not given to every Disciple to know all the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven however it be true generally that to them it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Answerable to these diverse Mysteries Disciples and Degrees of knowledge Gods Oeconomy and dispensation of them is considerable and that according to the Three Persons of the Trinity who are the true Teachers of them Esay 30.20 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For so God the Father by his Law instructs his Disciples Joh. 6.45 Esay 8. and 16. Bind up the testimony seal the Law among my disciples such as tremble at his word Esay 66. for so the secret or mystery is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant Psal 24.14 and reveils unto these his babes the hidden things of his Law Matth. 11.25 These babes thus discipled by the Law of the Father he thereby brings them unto the Son Gal. 3. for so he promiseth to him that orders his conversation aright that he will shew him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Psal 50 ulâ the salvation or Jesus of God He that hath thus heard and learned of the Father he comes unto the Son Joh. 6.45 for these John the Baptist the Minister of the Law directs and points unto Christ as a greater Teacher and Reveiler of higher Mysteries than himself Joh. 1. To such as these Christ himself saith he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him Joh. 14.21 And when these Children of the Father become obedient unto his commandment and fruitful in every good work to the doing of his will Christ saith thus unto them Herein is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit so shall ye become my disciples Joh. 15.8 In these Children of the Father now Christ's Disciples Christ finisheth the work which his Father gave him to do Joh. 17. what 's that the acknowledgment of the Father and the Son ver 6 7 8. Now as the Father by the Child-like obedience unto the Law opens the Mysteries of his Kingdom and brings his children unto Christ so by the humble demeanour of Christ's Disciples unto him he reveils the Mysteries of the Gospel unto them and brings them unto the Spirit If ye love me saith he keep my commandments And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter or Teacher so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Chaldee signifieth an Intercessor and he shall teach you all things he shall lead you into all truth Joh. 14.15 16 26. It is given to the Disciples to know these mysteries of the Kingdom of God This phrase is used in Scripture either properly for a voluntary and free concession according to the Lawyers Definition Donatio est liberalis datio or improperly importing only a permission as Rev. 13.5 6 7. 1. Properly and that diversly according to the nature of the thing given and qualities of the parties who receive them which if we apply to the argument in hand is either immediate or mediate The immediate bestowing of this knowledge consists both in the present Revelation and opening the treasures of divine wisdom and knowledge and the illumination and opening the Disciples eyes and understandings that they may know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God ye have both Luk. 24. He opened the scriptures ver 27. and 45. He opened their understanding that they might know the scriptures The mediate giving of this divine knowledge is yet either more remote and further off or more near 1. More remote and further off as is
thy self Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery dost thou commit adultery thou that preachest a man should not steal dost thou steal So by like reason thou that sayest a man should not be drunk art thou drunk thou that sayest a man should not swear dost thou swear and blaspheme These are they against whom the Lord sets himself I am saith he against the Prophets who steal my word every one from his neighbour Jer. 23.30 The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the burglayers and plunderers who enter not by the door into the sheepfold by Christ the door the narrow gate of mortification into the sheepfold but climb up some other way those are the thieves and the robbers Joh. 10.1 More NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON MARK 4.11 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Vnto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God but unto them that are without all things are done in parables THe Lord puts a diversity between his Disciples and undiscipled and unnurtured men when our Lord had spoken of the living bread and that that bread was his flesh John 6.51 verse 52. The Jews strove but what then doth our Lord resolve them of their doubts No but further confirms what he had taught vers 53.58 But when his Disciples doubted vers 60. he explains his meaning unto them vers 61 John 7.33 Yet a little while I am with you then I go to him that sent me touching this the Jews doubted vers 35 36. but he resolves not them He speaks the same to his Disciples John 13.33 but there they seem to take no notice of it but John 14.19 when he had spoken the like words verse 22. Judas not Iscariot replyed the like John 16.16 whereof when his Disciples doubt verse 17 18 verse 19 c. He opens their understandings This is a gift a great Grace vouchsafed to the Disciples to know the mysteries of Gods Kingdom especially the mysteries of his providence in the government of the world There are many ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hidings of Providence which we cannot understand unless we go into the sanctuary of our God and God himself reveil them to us See Notes on Isa 3.10 And we must go into the sanctuary of our God into the School of Christ into the house of Christ into his true Church and there he expounds all things to his Disciples Mark 4.34 Such a mystery is that of this kingdom which as an holy man told Edward the Confessor is Gods Kingdom Wherefore doth the Land perish A mystery this is and not known to all though all men see it doth perish and go to ruine and desolation yet few men know the true cause of it why the Kingdom perisheth and truly it is a gift of the great reveiler of mysteries that any man truly knoweth it for doth not every man lay it upon another or upon certain orders of men or do we not impute it to the stars and there is no doubt but there have been and are extream malignant Constellations in the Heavens which rule in the bodies of men which yield themselves to be ruled by the spirit of this world as the greater part of men do But Sapiens dominabitur astris And who is that wise man and who knoweth what to do now the Land perisheth It is the Prophets question Jer. 9.12 13 14. They have forsaken my Law which I set before their face a known Law a known way but they have not walked therein It is our case exactly we have forsaken the Law of our God and not obeyed his voice neither walked therein But let us put our selves in what estate we will fancy our selves whether under the Law or under the Grace of Christ Sure I am the Lord expects obedience from us the Law no doubt requires it And shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid So that wheresoever we are we must not forsake that Righteousness which is required in the Law That Righteousness of the Law must be fulfilled in us Who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Will we know then this mystery why the Land perisheth 'T is the very same we have forsaken the Law and what comes of it The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies c. Deut. 28.25 It is the last admonition we read in the last Prophet which the Lord sent unto his People and the last words of that Prophet which ought to be respected as the emortuate the speech of a dying man which most commonly is most serious Mal. 4.4 5 6. If we forsake the Lord it is but just that he forsakes us So the Prophet reasons 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while you are with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you verse 3-15 Because we have forsaken his Law therefore hath he forsaken us A fearful condition and such as made our Lord upon the Cross cry out Lamasabachthani Who knoweth what to do now the Land perisheth That is a secret mystery too which every man knoweth not for our Lord foretells that when there shall be distress of Nations upon the earth there shall be perplexity mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which were coming on the Earth Beloved these are the days when that must be fulfilled which is written by the Prophet Jeremiah Chap. 25.29 I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the Earth vers 31. A noise shall go forth even to the ends of the Earth He will plead with all flesh vers 32 33. That this concerns us with the rest it 's manifest enough in the general and the Prophet points more especially at the Isles vers 22. though they seem to be safer than others because of their situation They also must drink of the cup of the Lords Wrath He can divide them for he now riseth up as in Mount Perizim Isa 28.21.22 Now what is to be done Thou hast forsaken the Law of thy God and therefore the Lord hath forsaken the Land and the Land perisheth Return now and agree with the Law of thy God This is the advice which the Wisdom gives us Mat. 5.25 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Doth the Lord stoop to give us that advice which flesh and blood can easily do No. The Law that is thine Adversary that thwarts and contradicts thee so often as thou wouldest transgress it which commands many things contrary to thy flesh and blood yet agree with it So did the Apostle I consent to the Law that it is good endure the Chastisements of it and see what will come of it Psalm 94.12 13 14. That Law by the Chastisements of it will bring thee unto Christ Gal. 3.24 this is the drawing of the Father John 6.44 And Christ will teach thee that mystery which St. Paul learned the mystery of Contentation in all estates Phil. 4.11
take up his Cross daily and follow his Lord. What is the Cross or rather what is it not he who undertook to write a Clavis Scripturae a Key wherewith to open the Scripture saith the Cross is Omnis generis calamitas piorum praesertìm veritatis causa tolerata But if affliction and persecution such as he understands were the Cross of Christ then must the Church be alwayes in persecution and never out of it why so because the taking up and bearing the Cross is the Disciples daily exercise Luk. 14.26 Besides if afflictions which befall all men as well without as within the Church were the Cross of Christ then should all men bear the Cross and consequently all men should be Disciples both which are very absurd and therefore that from whence they follow But what is the Cross What else but the Christian patience which St. John calls the patience of Jesus Christ Rev. 1.9 Hebr. 12. This our Lord understands by the narrow way Mat. 7. by his yoke Mat. 11. figured by the Altar of burnt offering it is the power of Christ imparted unto the Disciples whereby they are enabled to crucifie and kill every sin and the temptations thereunto The death of Christ operative in us 2 Cor. 4.10 11 12. which we bear about in our bodies All what ever befalls us good evil or mixt all must be laid upon the Cross all must be cast into the fire upon the Altar 1. That which is truly good as spiritual joy love c. 2. Simply evil as carnal joy worldly sorrow 3. Mixt of both these for so good and evil are mingled together as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã divers kinds of metal whence they have their name But if the pure Gold be cast into the fire it comes out full weight only more bright all the good is saved yet so as by fire all the dross is consumed This was figured by Abraham offering up his Son Isaac spiritual joy he came off alive the Ram carnal joy that was consumed Joseph was in prison with two Malefactors one he restored to his place the other he hanged Gen. 41.13 Moses slew the Aegyptian but saved the Hebrew The true Joseph the true Moses condemned the evil thief and saved the good one All these had contracted some polution by mixture with evil and therefore the Gold must be cast into the fire Isaac must be laid upon the Altar the Butler must be imprisoned the Hebrew must be rebuked the good thief must suffer in the flesh that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. Observ 1. This shews the reason why there are so few true Disciples of Jesus Christ among the great crowd of those who pretend to follow him The Doctrine taught in Christ's School requires of the Disciple relinquishment forsaking denial of himself cutting off the hand of evil doing cutting off the foot of pride plucking out the eye of false vision abrenuntiation and detestation of all iniquity suffering daily the death of all and every sin daily bearing about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus to be humble meek patient obedient long-suffering merciful sober temperate holy just loving in these and such as these consists the essence of Christ's Disciples all of them things irksom horrible and abominable to flesh and blood And therefore 't is no wonder that there are so few true Disciples and Followers of Christ even among the great crowd of Christians Exhort To become Disciples of Christ that so we may know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God how can that be done what doth our Master require to make us Disciples Self-denial and taking up the Cross and following him through his death into his life in faith humility meekness patience love obedience But how shall I obey except first I know True thou art not utterly without all knowledge obey therefore what thou knowest To him that hath not denied the bruitish self the Scripture saith be sober let not your hearts be overcharged obey that precept which the very beasts obey neglect not the meanest precept Whatsoever he bids ye do that do fill the water-pots with water if thou hold that he will turn it into wine To him that hath shall more be given Depart from all known iniquity Dan. 9.13 Believe every Precept every command Oportet discentem credere add to your faith virtue and then followeth knowledge be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6.12 which promised inheritance the Lord vouchsafe unto us through Jesus Christ our Lord such self-deniers such cross-bearers and such as persevere in so doing and only such are the true Disciples of Jesus Christ and know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven Add to these two Lessons a third Continuance in the known Doctrine of Christ Joh. 8.32 If ye continue in my word then shall ye know the truth and the truth shall make you free 1. The Disciples know the mysteries they are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they are the only qualified men and fit for entrance into Christ's School of mysteries All Masters and Teachers require fear reverence humility meekness and love in their Disciples and such are in the Disciples of Christ for the fear of God is the beginning of his wisdom Psal 111.10 Psal 25.14 The secret or mystery of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. and his Covenant is with them that fear him to make them know it So Marg. We need not go beyond that Psalm for the second qualification vers 9. The meek he will teach his way This more distinctly we may conceive according to the dispensation of the three persons of the holy and blessed Trinity who are all Teachers and have their Disciples to whom they reveil the mysteries of the Kingdom of God Isa 30.20 Thy Teachers shall not be far from thee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but thine eyes shall see thy Teachers It is in the form plural but rendered in most Translations in the singular noting the Unity in Trinity but that it is understood of God the great Teacher the next words prove Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee 2. Every Teacher requires belief Oportet discentem credere God the Father hath his Disciples Isa 8.16 Seal the Law among my Disciples whom he brings up under the Paedagogie of the Law which is the Fathers Law Psal 40.8 Hereby he corrects us and instructs us and makes us partakers of his holiness hereby he reveils Christ unto us Gal. 3. who is the holy of holies as he is called Dan. 9. Holiness of holiness He is that other Teacher our Master Christ Observ 1. The great Mystagogus is the free dispenser of mysteries he reveils them to whom he will only unto Disciples and persons qualified and fit to receive them He taught Elisha at the plough and David at the sheepfold Amos among the herdsmen of Tekoa
unto the death of Christ who is content to become of no reputation for Christ who desires to be found in Christ in his death and in his life with the loss of all things who desires to be found in him not having his own righteousness which is by the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith who desires to find the power of his resurrection working in himself these and such as these are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the things of Christ Who rather minds not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the things of self self-interest his own opinions and tenents his own supposed excellencies O how men are puft up at this day one against another what animosity what swelling there is one against another and that either for some chosen opinions taken up upon trust or for greatness of place and dignity As for the selfness of opinion see Ezek. 13. he found it among the Jews and the Apostle found that self also among the Colossians 2.18 They intruded into the things which they had not seen vainly puft up by their earthly mind Men of all divided Judgements take up their Principles upon trust from their several Leaders of their own respective Parties and for these they strive and contend and according to these they will be reputed Orthodox and that before they have experimentally tryed and examined those things How immethodically and disorderly herein do men proceed how contrary to our Lords method Joh. 7.17 If any man will do his i. e. the fathers will that is his Law he shall know of the doctrine And indeed who is there of us all but knows more of Divine Truth than he hath lived and practised and so found to be true in the mean time he doth but believe it to be true he does but perswade himself it is so but when he has taken courage to live and do what he believes then and not till then he knows what now he believes therefore St. Peter directs us to add to our faith virtue or courage to do what be believe and then add saith he in your virtue knowledge Before we come to such a certainty of Gods Truth all is but self-perswasion no more than hear-say some ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some tradition received from some who have gone before us 2. Again what opinion is there of self-excellency what ambitious selfness how do men swell one against another and strive who should be the greatest such ye read of Luk. 22. yea in this Chapter after our Lord had taught this doctrine of Self-denial we read how little they had profited by this doctrine for in the 46. vers then there arose a reasoning among them who should be the greatest What tumours what swellings are there what ambition among us who should be the greatest I appeal to both Parties of them can they call those Christian actions can they sute with self-denial can they otherwise then condemn themselves in the things that they do O what extream need is there that the Lord should set a little Child among us as he there did that he would mind us of the child-like simplicity humility and innocency 3. Divine Axiom If any man will come after me let him deny himself After our Lord had premised a general invitation he descends to a particular yea as it may be understood a personal one if any man thou or I or he will come after Christ let him deny himself daily and take up his Cross c. 1. God who is most free and so made man after his own Image he would deal with man according to that free principle in him 2. As the man willingly and without any antecedent decree or coaction forsook the Lord so the Lord would by his invitation prevent the man that he might as willingly return unto him renounce and deny himself and so come after him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã if any man will follow me and is' t no more than so if any man will if any man will There hath been of late years a great decrying of man's Free-will both by some learned and many unlearned when yet God forgive them neither know what they do That we may be better informed let us inquire what is the true freedom 1. What it is not 2. What it is 1. What it is not it is not a power to will or not to will not a power to do or not to do this or that which they call Libertas contradictionis No nor is it a power to will or do this or the contrary which they call Libertas contrarietatis as a power to love or hate to do good or evil to save life or to kill If either of these were the true fredom then were he truly free who hath a power to will or do what is good or not to will or do it he that hath a power to will or do what is good or to will or do what is contrary i. e. evil as where Laban said Gen. 31.29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt and Joh. 9.10 knowest thou not that I have power to crucifie thee and have power to release thee if either of these were free then were they with whom they had to do not truly free or not so truly free as they then was Laban a more true free-man than Jacob yea Pilat should be a more free man than Christ Himself for Laban could have done Jacob hurt or not and Pilat could have crucified Christ or released Him Yea if this were to be free then could not God himself be said to be free who yet is Agens Liberrimus for God being ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he cannot but will good nor can he will or do that which is truly evil He cannot sin he cannot lye Were this true freedom then should not Christ be free Mar. 3.4 and he saith unto them Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath-day or to do evil to save life or to destroy This is not the true freedom 2. What then is the true free-will The true Liberty imports a releasing from a man 's own self-bondage the bondage of his own self-carnal reason which had enslaved him his own false and erroneous principles whereon his heart was bound the bondage of his own lusts whereunto he was a servant Joh. 8. the bondage of sin and the law of sin which hath enthrall'd him And being set free from all this bondage the true freedom is the addicting of ones whole self understanding reason will affections actions life unto God and his righteousness This freedom is brought by the Lord Jesus Christ his Word and his Spirit and Truth Joh. 8.32 36. Rom. 6.17 18. and 8 2. True power is a freedom to will and to do what is good without any hindrance without any resistance in him who wills or does it I know this is a paradox but surely the will of man being prone rather to evil than to
God wrought before their eyes in Aegypt that they might fear the evil the great evil of disobedience That fact of the Jews was a document and instruction to the Christians saith one of the pious Ancients The Jews fled out of Aegypt the Aegyptians following them and pursuing them that the Christians might understand that they must not only fly from the corporal Aegyptians but from the Spiritual also Mich. 7. For this reason Plato placed his University neer Athens in a Village subject to frequent Earthquakes and as others say in a very ill air that the daily fear of diseases and death might break the violence of their lusts and bring in a fear of doing ill and that fear bring in the filial fear of God and that filial fear the Love of God as the needle makes way for the thred when we sow any thing the Law works fear and was given with fear and terrour that we might fear to do evil The Lord would that we should believe in him love him and keep his Commandments the order of Gods works in the Soul requires this of us Hagar must bring forth before Sarah the first must be before the second Covenant Hagar signifieth Fear which is the beginning of wisdom Sarah is the Faith which is the process and going on of it The Apostle makes use of these examples to the same purpose Gal. 4. The Lord will not give his process in wisdom until the fear the beginning precede and go before but in malevolam animam non introibit sapientia the Lord will not pour his spirit of wisdom into unclean vessels 1. Pray to the Lord to put his holy fear into us to cleanse us 2 Cor. 7.1 to fasten in us his fear What we render I am afraid of thy judgements Psal 119.20 the Septuagint turn ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and Vulg. Lat. Confige timore tuo carnes meas fasten my flesh as it were with nails to the Cross with thy fear They who are fastned can stir neither hand nor foot how can they do evil They who are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Gal. 5. such were they Act. 2.37 They were pricked in their hearts Ecclus. 22.19 Psal 4.5 in cubilibus vestris compungimini in your chambers be ye pricked with the sense of your sin 2. Call home all thy vain fears Isa 51.12 13. thou fearest this and that pray to the Lord Psal 86.10 Teach me O Lord thy way and I will walk in thy truth Christ is the way and the truth unite my heart to fear thy Name when the scattered fears are all gathered in and united in our fear of God O how valiant is such a Soul Vis unita fortior fortissima It is said that of the Hebronites Jerijah was the chief and there were of them mighty men of valour 2 Chron. 26.12 And who were these Hebronites who was Jerijah the Hebronites were adjuncti adunati adjoyned and united unto God of these Jerijah was chief in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence Great men and Judges and Potentates shall be honoured but there is none greater than he that feareth the Lord Ecclus. 10.24 In this state Jehoshaphat obtained the victory over his enemies 2 Chron. 20. In the valley of the wilderness of Jemel in humility and the fear of God Faith in God the Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear Psal 27.1 In thee O Lord do I put my trust let me never be confounded Cahath Reproof How timerous we are how fearful to neglect the commandments of men yet how bold how audacious we are to transgress and violate the commands of our God This is that which the Lord often complains of Jer. 35.14 Mich. 6.16 the statutes of Omri are kept or rather kept See an instance of this 2 Sam. 13.28 Absolom commanded his Servants saying Mark ye now when Ammons heart is merry with wine and when I say unto you Smite Ammon then kill him fear not why so presently it followeth have not I commanded you be couragious and be valiant He thought it was just because he commanded them therefore against the Law of Nations and common humanity whereby hospes ab hospite tutus the Guest is preserved by him who entertains him against the Law of Nature whereby one brother is the keeper of the other against the express Law of God all which notwithstanding yet because he had commanded them they fell upon him and slew him Repreh Those who even in those services of God wherein they would seem most to love and honour God and Christ even in them they most dishonour him and cast off all fear and regard of God and good men St. Jude in his Prophetical Epistle of these last times tells us of spots in our feasts of Charity when men feed themselves without fear Such ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Agapae or Love-feasts the Christians of old time had as a representation of the Peace-offerings under the Law wherein the Primitive Christians met together to edifie one another and exercise those duties which St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians and us unto 1 Thess 5 14-23 These were used in Tertullians dayes as he mentions them in his Apologie and they continued long after him till excess and riot got in among them and then they were abolished by the Council of Laodicea A resemblance of these was in our Wakes and Feasts in the beginning of Christianity in this Nation which through the want of God's fear are corrupted And what shall we say of the frequent meetings among Christians who are called to perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 yea all things among them should be done in love 1 Cor. 16.14 What occasion so solemn as Thanksgiving unto God but it 's corrupted by want of the fear of God among us such spots there are in our feasts of Charity while men feast feeding themselves without fear Jude 14. Enoch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Exhort Jesus Christ our great friend he saith I say unto you fear not them that kill the body me vide look at me or put confidence in me as iron sharpens iron so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend saith Solomon Prov. 27.17 And we may understand it of this sharpening of Christs friends by whetting his commands upon them as by frequent inculcating the commands of Jesus Christ the commandment is made sharp like a two-edged-sword c. When our great friend will afford us his countenance when he saith Me vide the man Christ whets the countenance of his friend when he lifts up his countenance upon us The looking upon the brazen Serpent healed them This fear is all the man Eccles ult 3. From the opposition of the negative and affirmative precept fear not them that kill the body but fear him who hath power to cast body and soul into hell Exod. 20.20 Fear ye not their fears but sanctifie the Lord God in your heart that
Baptist is sent to prepare the Lords way lest he come and smite the earth with a Curse The Old Testament ends with a Curse the New with a Blessing Apoc. last and the last The Curse will lay hold upon us unless we lay hold upon the blessing But here it may be objected that if this way of the Lord be to be prepared before the coming of Christ then Righteousness shall be by the Law and by John Baptists Doctrine I answer the Law is our School-master to bring us to Christ Gal. 3.24 that we may be justified by faith For though there be divers stages or parts of the Lords way yet all of them make but one way distinguished secundum magis minus perfect and less perfect Act. 18.25 26. And albeit the Righteousness which John preacheth be Righteousness going before Christ and Psal 85.13 and John the Baptist be Christs forerunner yet is that Righteousness no other than the righteousness of Christ and the righteousness of the Gospel and the beginning of it as the Scripture speaks expresly Mar. 1.1 And though John be the forerunner of Christ yet was Christ before St. John as he himself confesseth Joh. 1.15 and preached the same Doctrine that St. John did Matth. 4.17 and appoints his Disciples so to do Mar. 6.12 For Christ is yesterday and to day and the same for ever Hebr. 13.8 Alpha and Omega the first and the last Rev. 1.8 So that what seems to be ascribed unto the Law or to John the Baptist or his Doctrine is but instrumental or by way of preparation unto Christ for by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in Gods sight Rom. 3.20 for Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10.4 1. Then to prepare the way of the Lord is to purge it and make it clean Observe then from hence that if the way of the Lord be to be purged and cleansed and so to be prepared That the nature of sin is filth and uncleanness nothing is said to be cleansed but from that which is unclean As sin is in it self uncleanness so with and by it we have defiled and corrupted our way as the Scriptures speak of the old world Gen. 6.12 all flesh had corrupted their way yea it defiles and corrupts others also as the Psalmist compares the life of ungodly men to a Snail Psal 58.8 which consumes it self and leaves a slime behind it even so ungodly men shall one day acknowledge saith the Wise Man Sap. 5. That they have wearied themselves in the way of wickedness and destruction yea we have gone through desarts where there lay no way but as for the way of the Lord we have not known it Thus they waste and consume themselves and leave a slime behind them of a wicked example unto others 3. Being thus defiled having thus corrupted our way we stand in great need of cleansing especially before we come to the Table of Shew-bread in the Holy It is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã bread of the face which we call Shew-bread that bread figured Christ himself Joh. 6.32 33 35. bread with frankincense upon it Eph. 5.2 such a Table the Lord prepares for us Psal 23.5 and most fit it is that we prepare and fit our selves that we may become fit guests at such a Table The guests at this Table were only Priests The way to this Holy Table lay by the Porch by the Laver and by the Altar 1. This is an Age in which every man undertakes to be a Priest because it is said that the whole Church is a Royal Priest-hood and I would to God that we were all such as Moses wished that all the people could prophesie that the Lord Jesus Christ would make us all Kings and Priests unto God his father that he would present us unto himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that we should be holy and without blemish Ephes 5.26 27. as the Saints are said to be without blemish before the Throne of God Apoc. 14.5 That we may come such Priests unto the Lords Table we must 1. Pass through the Porch i. e. the fear of God the beginning of wisdom whereby we depart from evil Then 2. We come to the Laver Exod. 25. where the Priests must alwayes wash before they enter into the Holy that laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.6 3. From this Laver they passed unto the Altar I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I come to thine Altar The Altar whereon 1. Christ offered up himself for us Hebr. 10. 2. The Altar whereon We offer up our selves unto God a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God 3. The Altar whereon We burn up and consume all our carnal lusts and affections and shew forth the Lords death until he come 1 Cor. 11.26 The Lord for his mercy sake so fit and prepare us for his heavenly Table Again Prepare the way of the Lord It is the Great Kings Charge by Proclamation The Metaphor is taken from Pioners ut supra Add Isa 45.2 where the Lord promiseth Cyrus a type of Christ I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight This the Lord doth before the true Cyrus the Sun of Righteousness by the Ministry of John the Baptist or else The Metaphor may be taken from the custom of preparing wayes to the City of Refuge Deut. 19.3 whither he was to fly who had slain a man by ignorance or unawares and so St. Peter tells the Jews that they had slain the Prince of Life but saith he I wote that through ignorance ye did it Act. 3.17 and Jam. 5.6 the Apostle tells the oppressors and voluptuous men that they had condemned and killed the just one i. e. the Lord Jesus Christ which he speaks as well to us who through our own lusts and pleasures have killed and crucified the Lord Jesus in us Gal. 3.1 I have spoken of the Duty shewn the reasons of it and answered an objection as also made some application to our selves It 's useful to us 1. generally as it treats of a preparation of the Lords way 2. especially according to the several wayes of preparing it 1. Generally so observe an Antichristian or wicked man is not made a Christian ex tempore See Notes in Matth. 16.17 It 's a business that concerns us all and every one of us yet quod omnibus dicitur id nulli dicitur quod omnes curant id omnes negligunt common duties are such Who goes about sadly and seriously to prepare the Lords way in his own heart yet who is not ready to check another for not preparing it who minds this his own greatest business who busieth not himself about others Master what shall this man do so Peter enquires concerning John Joh. 21.21 but our Lord checks him for that
our conformity thereto This is the narrow way Matth. 7.2 Esdr 7. I am the door Joh. 10.7 The new and the living way Heb. 10.20 Observ 2. This discovers a great deal of hypocrisie which with the blind world goes for righteousness and holiness Thou that art called by the name of Jacob answers not to that name Thou hast a name that thou livest Revel 3.1 and art dead Life entred in by righteousness This is the Apodosis and Reddition Here are four questions for explication 1. What is here meant by life 2. What by righteousness 3. What it is for life to enter 4. How did life enter in by righteousness Prov. 12.28 In the way of righteousness is life These two phrases are used promiscuously 1. That life enters in by righteousness And 2. That by righteousness we enter into life The former is here understood the other is express Matth. 18.8 9. to enter into life And 19.17 If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments So to be in Christ and Christ to be in us and many the like So we may be said to enter into peace Esay 57.2 and joy Matth. 25.21 and into glory Luk. 24.26 and into the kingdom of heaven Matth. 7.21 When yet all these are in us The Reason is from that through and intimate Union of spiritual things And accordingly I shall use the phrase promiscuously that life enters into us or we enter into life by righteousness 1. The life here must be opposite unto death As therefore the death is natural so is the life Prov. 16.31 2. As it is inward and spiritual a dying from the life of God in us So is the life also spiritual and inward ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a recovering of the life of God and living unto God 2 Cor. 5.15 3. As that is the whole curse following upon sin and death So is the life the whole blessing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Christ himself who is not the blessing only but plural ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou hast made him most blessed Psal 21.6 In all these respects we may understand the wise man Prov. 12.28 In the way of righteousness is life Rom. 5.18 The Apostle hath both parts of this similitude full 1 Cor. 15.21 22. Since by man came death by man came the resurrection from the dead Here are three things considerable 1. That whereinto entrance is made the world 2. That whereby it may be made righteousness 3. That which enters life 1. By righteousness is here understood both 1. That which the Apostle calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã justification which is by faith in the blood of Christ Rom. 3.22 26. Thus reconciliation is made by the death of Christ vers 10. And 2. That which he calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rom. 6.13 18. This is made ours by faith vers 1. being justified by faith That is made ours by conformity unto his death Rom. 6. 1 Pet. 2.24 By this righteousness life enters As by the real transgression and propagation of the sinful nature from Adam unto his seed and posterity Death followed upon his seed and posterity So by the real transfusion of the righteous Spirit from the second Adam unto his posterity and his seed as it is called Esay 53. righteousness and life followeth unto them So expresly Rom. 5.10 18. Reconciled unto God by the death of his Son we shall he saved by his life This we have also fully testified 2 Tim. 1.9 10. Take an illustration of this wrought in the less world by what the God of Nature works in the greater As by the cold condensing spirit the free passages of the water and the earth are stopped and a kind of deadness followeth unto them So by the spirit of iniquity the love grows cold and obstruction is made of the free Spirit of Life But as when the God of Nature sends out his word and melts them he causeth the wind to blow and the waters to flow Psal 147.18 So the God of all grace sends forth his essential word and causeth his Spirit to blow and dissolves that deadness in us So that the law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 How The same way that the first Adam brought death upon himself and posterity The same way the second brought righteousness and life Observ 1. Life natural spiritual and eternal are inward things eternal life abiding in him 1 Joh. 3.15 This is negative but what positive proof have we 1 Joh. 5.11 12. God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his son who is the way the truth and the life and he who hath the Son hath life c. Observ 2. Hence we may discern between the true heavenly life and that which is only a shew and semblance of it 1. The true heavenly life enters in by righteousness 2. It 's a life usher'd in by a precedent death If ye by the spirit shall mortifie ye shall live Observ 3. Here is a salve for the most deadly sin a remedy for the most extreme malady A cure even of death it self This was signified by those cures wrought by the Lord Jesus and his Apostles Most of the diseases were either almost or altogether incurable that blindness of the man Joh. 9. was not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Some blindness by casualty but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Leprosie is very hardly cured They say when the Fever and bloody Flux meet they are incurable they met in Publius Act. 28.8 The man was lame from his mothers womb whom Peter cured Act. 3.2 but because some lameness in children may be helped before the joynts be setled it 's noted Act. 4.22 that the man was above forty years old on whom this miracle of healing was shewed and therefore he was naturally incurable But the cure of a dead man mortuum curare 't is reckoned among the opera inania and labour in vain Hence ariseth the glory of the great Physician the Lord Jesus Christ the Physician of souls A strange cure of Death by Death Extinguunt ignibus ignes The fire of concupiscence by the fire of love O death I will be thy death By Theriaca the Vipers poyson is dispelled 1 Macch. 6.46 the great beast which Eleazar slew cost him his life and Sampson by his death overcame his enemies Heb. 2.14 Repreh Those who seek to enter into life bliss and happiness yet not by righteousness they live in their sins yet hope to enter into life These are without the door like the blind Sodomites they could not find the door Gen. 19. nor shall they find it Our Saviour tells of such Luk. 13.24 Others imagine themselves into the life and enter not in by righteousness these our Lord calls thieves and robbers Joh. 10. There is a night thief and a day thief The night thief doth evil and hates the light Joh. 3. The day thief the prophane person that rebels against the
a Prolepsis or answer to a tacite objection arising from the former words And may be framed thus If all men have sinned and death hath passed over all men in that all men have sinned Then it should follow that sin was in the world before the Law was given But that seems inconvenient for no man could sin before the law given because where there is no law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 Now for a long time after the Creation about 2450 years no Law was given Therefore for that time there was no sin the world The Apostle meets with this Objection denying the minor or assumption by opposing the contradictory to it in the words of the Text Vntil the law sin was in the world But how could that be when there was no law The Apostle answers by distinguishing between the being of sin and the knowledge and imputation of it Sin is not imputed or reputed sin where there is no law yet sin then was and had a being the world when there was no law In the words then we have these two Parts 1. A Position until the law sin was in the world 2. An Exposition of it But sin is not imputed while there is no law we may resolve both into the Truths contained in them 1. Sin was in the world before the law 2. It was in the world until the law 3. Sin is not imputed or reputed while there is no law 4. Though sin be in the world before and till the law yet it is not imputed or reputed while there is no law 1. Sin was in the world before the law Quaere 1. What sin is here meant 2. How is it in the world 3. What law is here meant 4. How was sin before the law 1. By sin we here understand principally the first sin which we call Original brought into the world by the first Adam as also all sin derived from that polluted fountain 1 Joh. 2.16 All that is in the world the lusts of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life 2. By the world all mankind is here meant So vers 12. What is first called the world the Apostle presently calls all men And because there is a twofold world in man's heart Ecclus. 3.11 wherein sin principally resides for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts c. Matth. 15.19 Sin may be said to have been in the world as in the proper seat 3. By the law some here understand the Law of Moses and it may be truly so understood in regard of those who take no notice of the Law of Nature which doubtless of the two is rather here meant and which hath the work before any written Law is made known See Notes in Rom. 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 4. How was sin in the world before the Law I answer sin before the law was in the world as dead as the Apostle speaks Rom. 7.8 Without the law sin was dead which is all one with the point in hand sin was in the world without the Law The Reason in regard of Sin and the Law 1. Sin as the malady and disease of the world must precede and be in the world before the remedy be prepared for it And the law given after sin was in the world supposeth this for the law was ordained and made for the lawless 1 Tim. 1.9 Sce Notes in Rom. 7.9 Object But here it may be doubted for if sin be the transgression of the law as 1 Joh. 3.4 Then must the law be before sin How otherwise can the law be transgressed by sin And therefore it seems that sin was not in the world before the Law I answer Sin was in the world before the law This may be two ways understood 1. Simply and absolutely Or 2. Comparatively and relatively 1. Simply and absolutely and so it is not true that sin was in the world before any law for we read of a Law-giver to Adam both 1. Affirmitive Of every tree c. And 2. Negative Of the tree of knowledge thou shalt not eat Both these are declared in legal terms Gen. 2. Besides sin generally is the transgression of a law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Joh. 3.4 whence it followeth undeniably That the law must be before it can be transgressed And therefore sin which is the transgression of the law was not in the world simply and absolutely before the Law 2. Relatively and comparatively in regard of a law afterward to be given And so it is true whether we understand 1. The natural Or 2. The Mosaical and Moral Law that sin was in the world before the law Thus we read that after the fall the Lord promiseth to put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent Gen. 3.15 that is the law to be a perpetual enmity against sin in him So Ephes 2.15 The enmity even the law of Commandments So Col. 2.14 Observ 1. Observe our natural estate and condition What it is until the Law come we are in our sin See the condition of thousands c. See Notes in Rom. 7.9 It is no good Argument that sin is mortified in us because it seems dead in us and the motions of it appear not in us Ibid. Observ 2. Antiquity is no good Argument of the only true Church and true Religion we see here that sin was before the Law And the Devil himself was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth Joh. 8.14 So it is no whit to their credit who call us of the Reformed Churches Novantes Novatores while they themselves are Veteratores 2. Sin was in the world until the law until the Law Yea and after the law was given much more How then do we understand this that sin was in the world until the law This point wants explication of this word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we turn until which like another of the same sence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both which answer to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All these ita pertinent ad tempus precedens ut de futuro non inferunt contrarium They so put a period and end unto the time past that they infer not the contrary fon the time to come Gen. 28.15 Heb. 13. Psal 11.2 8. 2 Sam. 6.23 Matth. 1. See Notes in Heb. 1. until I make Thus sin was in the world until the law That hnders not but that it was in the world after the law But so sin was in the world before the law that it seemed dead and appeared not but when the law came sin revived which is the Apostles exposition of the Text Rom. 7. Vntil the law sin was in the world There was some question of it then for then it appeared not there is no question of it afterward for when the law cometh sin reviveth c. And the Reason is 1. From the Antipathy of the law unto sin 2. The goodness and compassion of the Law-giver unto the sinners
See Notes in Rom. 7.9 Sin is not imputed when and while there is no law Quaere 1. What is meant by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2. What to impute or not impute sin 3. What is meant by these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we turn while there is no law 1. The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is but twice used in all the Scriptures as in the Text and Philemon vers 18. it signifieth to account for and to account unto 1. To account for or to esteem such as it is 2. To account unto and so it is a Metaphorical word taken from Accomptants and so the word is plainly meant in Philemon vers 18. If he Onesimus hath wronged thee or oweth thee ought put that on mine account or charge me with it 2. Hence we understand what is meant by this phrase to impute or not to impute sin Either 1. In the first sence not to account or esteem sin for sin not to think it to be sin Or else 2. In the second sence to impute or not impute or charge sin upon the sinner And truly both may be here understood if we first consider what is meant by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is word for word non ente lege the law not being or there being no law and so the sence may be Either 1. That they who sin account not that to be sin which they commit when it is prohibited by no law And thus the Apostle speaks fitly to that purpose Rom. 7.7 I had not known sin but by the law for I had not known lust except the law had said Thou shalt not covet 2. Or else we may understand that what sin we commit and know it not to be a sin by any law that sin is not so deeply charged by God upon us See the case of Abimeleck Gen. 20. Understand the words whether of the two ways ye please the point is true And I see no Reason why we should so chuse the one that we should reject the other 1. Sin is not reputed c. Reason Why is sin not reputed sin while there is no law The Reason will appear if we consider the nature of the law and the nature of sin it 's necessary that if a law be obligatory it be published and made known This is required in all positive laws And if the Divine Law must be acknowledged such and observed it must be made known unto us 2. Sin is the transgression of the law and is made known unto us no otherwise than by the law Rom. 7.7 I had not known sin but by the law And therefore where there is no law there is no transgression whence it followeth that sin cannot be reputed sin while there is no law Observ 1. It is possible a man may live in sin and not know it In the dark all things we see are of one colour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã privation is homogeneal all the while then that men are in the dark they see no difference of colours so that there may be resplendent and orient colours and curious Pictures in a room yea there may be also ugly and deformed Monsters yet neither one nor other perceived while there is no light This room is the heart of man this light is the law when the light is brought in that makes all things known Ephes 5. That makes all things appear in their due colours In our sins we are in darkness ye were darkness Ephes 5.8 The commandment is a lamp Prov. 6.23 That makes known the righteousness of God that 's testified by the law Rom. 3.27 That also makes known our own unrighteousness Rom. 7.7 which till then remains unknown unto us Therefore David who can tell his errours O cleanse me from my secret sins Observ 2. Many a man who means well abstains from the pollutions of the world yet may live in some great sin or other which yet he takes no notice of nor thinks it sin but thinks he doth his duty and what he is bound to do Esay 66.5 Your brethren that hated you that cast you out for my names sake said let the Lord be glorified Our Saviour fore-tells Joh. 16.2 The time shall come that whosoever kills you shall think he doth God good service The Apostle himself was in this condition Act. 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth whence truly we may well take warning what we do and every man to prove his own work Observ 3. How ought we to love and esteem the Law of our God which makes sin known unto us Where there is no law sin is not accounted sin but by the law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 7.7 And therefore David breaks out into admiration O how I love thy law All the day long it is my meditation were we travelling in a way unknown and one should come and tell us ye are out of your way would we not then fear Thieves Murderers The Law tells us plainly A whore is a deep ditch And to take heed of judging another especially take heed of entring into God's Throne to judge of other mens hearts which we cannot know The Apostle gives us a serious admonition of this And I heartily wish they whom it concerns would consider well of it 1 Cor. 4.3 4 5. It is possible the whole Congregation may be in sin and yet be ignorant of it Numb 15.22 26. 2. Sin is not imputed while there is no law Sin is not charged upon us by God so deeply while there is no law The Reason is from the ignorance of the law which binds not till it be known the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and mercy of God is such that he is indulgent and favourable towards the ignorant and therefore the law makes such priests as have compassion on the ignorant Heb. 5.2 Dubium A doubt Here it may be enquired whether ignorance excuse yea or no Ignorance is either juris or facti The question here is as touching the ignorance of the law whether the will of God being not known may excuse yea or no Ignorance of the law is diversly distinguished by the School-men but that which best fits our purpose is that ignorance is either affected or invincible 1. Affected ignorance is that which the will is carried unto when a man will be ignorant of Gods will that he may not sin when he knows it such a kind of ignorance is that Psal 36.3 Noluit intelligere ut benè ageret he would not understand that he might do well Such prophane persons Job brings in saying Depart from us for we desire not the knowlege of thy wayes Job 21.14 This is so far an excusing that it aggravates sin 2. Invincible ignorance is that which followeth all possible and due diligence yet he who useth all means to know remains yet ignorant this ignorance if any such be excuseth à tanto à toto for if they
keep against the Devil our weak and vain thoughts which the Apostle compares to Eve 2 Cor. 11. they parle with the enemy and let him in Perversa sunt quae à sinistris sunt Prov. 4.2 3. The enemy casts his shield of unbelief upon her and so entred and took possession of the Soul Touching this Death consider 1. the term à quo from which from Adam 2. Ad quem to whom Moses 1. What by Adam supra 2. What by Moses 1. His Name Exod. 2.10 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã because I drew him out of the water By Moses we understand 1. The Law or rather the Law of God given by him so Luk. 16.29 They have Moses and the Prophets Joh. 5.45 Ye have one that accuseth you even Moses because the Law was given by Moses Joh. 1.16.3 Christ the end of the Law is understood by Moses A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you c. Deut. 18. Acts 3. Exhort Let the God of Life the living God let Christ the Life arise and reign in us O beloved the Devil with his first-born sin and the first-born of sin death these keep under his kingdom in us The kingdoms of the beast have ruled the Lord hath promised this unto David 2 Sam. 3.9 we all pray for it thy kingdom come we have all covenanted this according to the Word of God the government though the very best without the life and spirit of Christ is to little purpose See Notes in Hebr. 1. until he makes his enemies thy foot-stool Sign This life is inseparable from Charity Mercy and loving Kindness He that hateth his brother is a murderer mercy and truth meet together in the kingdom of life Psal 133. ult Means Before this can be done Satan Sin and Death must be dethroned for this end the Law is serviceable to discover sin Abner brought Israel to David See Notes in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Hebr. 1. The preposition ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã may imply a cause as well as a simple term 1. A cause and so it notes the efficient cause And thus Adam may be understood as a Common Parent or Nature 1. As a Common Parent Heb. 7.10 As Levi is said to have been in the loyns of Abraham so Abraham himself and every man may be said to have been in the loyns of Adam and thus its true that Death reigned from Adam to Moses i. e. from Adams transgression death entred and reigned 2. Adam as a common nature in us the reason is Sin and Death remains undiscovered until the Law make Sin appear 2. Nor is the misery known but by the Law Rom. 3.20 By the Law is the knowledge of sin Doubt 1. Did Sin and Death reign without mans knowledge before the Law was given Surely no for Cain Gen. 4.13 and Pharaoh Exod. 9.2 knew their sin which they could not but by the Law Rom. 3.20 and 7.7 I have sinned this time the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked Beside the Lord punished the sin of the Old World by the Sin-flood as it is called in the High and Low Dutch And Sodom and Gomorrah were over-whelmed with a rain of fire and brimstone from Heaven the Law of Nature therefore was known but not testified as yet outwardly by God as afterwards it was in Mount Sinai In which respect the Gentiles though they had the Law of Nature written in their hearts yet they are said not to have the knowledge of Gods Law Psal 147. ult Doubt 2. Did Death reign ever a whit the less after Moses's Law did it not reign so much the more surely yes for when the Law came Sin revived saith the Apostle Rom. 7.9 See Notes in locum Here I must remember you of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã here used when Christ came Herod was troubled when there came news of a King Adrian saw the Christians poor and therefore had no fear of a King among them It is worth the observing how the Apostle expresseth this Rom. 7. very warily sin taking occasion by the Law Doubt 3. Did Death reign from Adam to Moses what shall we then say of Abel of Seth of Enoch of Noah of Abraham of Isaac and Jacob c. all which lived before Moses of whom the Scripture gives honourable Testimony that one was Righteous another walked with God c. I doubt not to say of these and all other that Death sometime reigned over them and that all who were born into the world came of Adam the Transgressor and have in themselves the similitude of Adams sin in their Seed and in their institution for they are not only the Children of sinners but the Disciples also Whence the Apostle saith That the vain conversation is received by tradition from our fathers 1 Pet. 1.18 But when they come to Age and the Law written in their hearts is reveiled and they have attained to the discrimen honestorum turpium and can distinguish between good and evil then they discern of things that differ then some walk in the way of their Fathers as the Scripture speaks of some evil Kings or else they walk in the way of the Lord their God For instance it s said of Cain and Abel that after certain dayes they offered sacrifice Cain transgressed according to the similitude of his Father But what shall we say of Abel I know well that in after times they were wont to sacrifice at the end of the year when they had gathered their corn which was a Law in Israel Levit. 23.14 But why may we not say of Abel that Sin and Death at the first reigned even over him till after certain dayes he looked unto his Maker Sure I am it is said of Abraham the father of the faithfull that the Lord called him out of Vr of the Chaldees And Joshuah in his Oration to the twelve Tribes remembers them That their fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time even Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor and they served other Gods Josh 24.2 The like we may say of the rest that according to the transgression of Adam Death reigned over them till God the Father made them meet by faith to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light and delivered them from the kingdom and power of darkness and translated them into the kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 Observ 1. Sin and Death hath a kingdom in the world Amos 9.8 The eyes of the Lord are upon the kingdom of sin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ar. Mon. Regnum peccati Wisd 1.14 The kingdom of Death upon the earth Observ 2. Deaths kingdom had a beginning in the world from Adam Observ 3. The kingdom of Death is not from God Wisd 1.13 14. contrary to their profane tenent who say God contrived a way to bring sin into the world Observ 4. There is a time when Sin Death
and he that hath the power of Death i. e. the Devil reigns without disturbance The strong man keeps the house and all his goods are in peace I was alive without the Law once See Notes in locum Observ 5. Sin Death and he that hath the power of Death reigns without disturbance but till Moses The Law and Christ the end of the Law Moses and Christ the true Moses they make the trouble and disturbance Moses he draws men away from their obedience and subjection unto sin hence his name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Moses drew away the people from Pharaoh When the news of Christ the King was brought to Jerusalem Herod was troubled c. Matth. 2.3 The thirst of honour pride of life is troubled at the humility of Christ Luk. 23.2 We found him perverting the nation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and saying that he is Christ a King Act. 17.6 7. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã men that have turned the world upside down so they thought when that which was above is turned downward and that which was below turned upward such were the men that counted the proud happy Mal. 3.15 This is good news unto the humble when they see the fallow ground is broken up We have blessed the proud and covetous whom God hates Now we see blessed are the poor and blessed are the merciful This is the disturbance that Moses and Christ make in the world Demetrius Act. 19.23 had gone on quietly in his trade of Goddess-making till Paul taught that they were not Gods that were made with hands he could have thrived otherwise by making Medals and Crucifixes but this dangerous position could not be born with They are no Gods that are made with mens hands But because that would not take with all but only with those whose profit was concerned therefore he made choice of a more general motive that would take with all the honour of Diana their great Goddess And we may conclude assuredly that when men of corrupt minds however they seem religious oppose the Truth of God the sin that reigned in them is now disturbed by the Law whether it be pride or covetousness or whoredom or drunkenness for these and many more lye hid under a form of godliness when therefore such oppose the Truth it 's evident that Moses is come their reigning sin is disturbed So the Apostle speaks of Jannes and Jambres Magicians of Pharaoh c. 2 Tim. 3.8 Observ 5. Sin Death and he that hath the power of Death reigns from Adam i. e. causally he enstated them and they reign from him The carnal mind the spirit of opinion and the knowing knowledge as the Chaldy turns pissing against the wall was brought in by Adam and that reigns and that hath its favourites among men if any man be of our opinion what ever his life is O then he is good he is an honest man he is Orthodox a good Christian the carnal mind covers all their sins and imputes righteousness unto them A great man who was justly censured they say he was not of our side Blessed be ye of the Lord said Saul to the Ziphites 1 Sam. 23.21 Drunkards Whore-masters abominable lyars scoffers they are right in their opinions in their principles Is it not thus amongst those who would Monopolize and impropriate Religion unto themselves at this day Observ 6. The difference of reigns Death came to the Kingdom by succession unto sin and sin obtained it by the treason of Adam and such a Kingdom will not last it reign'd from Adam to Moses The Kingdom of life lasts from the second Adam who brings life and immortality to light through the Gospel this Kingdom hath no bounds or term or end of continuance it 's everlasting Repreh 1. This may give a check to the proud fleshly mind which is death Rom. 8. which puts forth and sets up it self and would gladly be a ruling in every man and over every man which because it is ugly and deformed it hath gotten a form of godliness under which it lurks a visour of life but under it lies death hidden a carnal mind which is death This was figured by Saul ambitious to reign though God was departed from him he persecuted David to whom God had promised the Kingdom Saul is a figure of Death and Hell which is ever arrogating and assuming to it self power and Dominion over the living And because God is not with him but an evil spirit Acheronta movebit He will raise up Samuel which the Witch calls Gods ascending out of the earth 1 Sam. 28.13 I meddle not now with that controversie only I make this use of it to our present purpose that the earthly spirit the proud carnal mind ambitious of Authority and Rule though God be not with it it will raise gods out of the earth out of the earthly mind out of the wisdom that descends not from above but is earthly sensual and devilish Jam. 3.15 For so the Apostle tells us that he is turned into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11.14 5. Who doth not easily discern this earthly mind through the mantle of hypocrisie What precedent hath the earthly mind for this James and John would sit c. Matth. 20. Luk. 9.46 There arose a reasoning among them who shoud be the greatest Look what the growth of the Corinthians was ye find 1 Cor. 3.3 yet 1 Cor. 4.8 ye are full c. full when yet ye are but babes and not able to bear strong meat 1 Cor. 3.2 ye are rich in all spiritual graces when yet they were but poor Rev. 3. ye reigned as kings as if made kings to God the father when yet ye never learned to obey ye reign when yet ye never suffered with Christ All this without us for look what manner of men the Apostles were vers 9. So 2 Cor. 11.16 The false Apostles had boasted of their Authority c. The Apostle makes Apologie for himself if he boasted a little c. Repreh 2. This reprehends those who would be ruling and reigning over others yet have not themselves gotten the rule of their own spirits who assume unto themselves Authority and Power which they say the Lord hath given them yet cannot shew any power of the Lords ruling and reigning in themselves Alas Quis custodiet ipsos custodes Who shall keep the keepers Where is that holy life where is that Spirit which rul'd the holy Apostles and Elders of the Church who challenge such Rule as Moses and Aaron had and apply that unto these envy us our authority ye take too much upon ye ye sons of Levi Men claim authority and power to themselves such as the Apostles and Ministers of Christ and the Elders had but where is the power of the Spirit Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me 2 Cor. 13. 2 Cor. 6.4 In all things approving our selves as the Ministers of Christ c. Ã quatenus ad omne Many expect the honour due and given
judge the quick and dead yet unless we believe every one of these every one for himself as Christ formed in me and born in me what advantageth it us Repreh 3. Those who flatter themselves with an opinion that he is present who is yet future unto them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I have found men commonly say too soon They embrace nubem pro Junone an airy imagination instead of the wisdom Repreh 4. Those who deride our hope and say Where is the promise of his coming 2 Pet. 3.4 Who slander the footsteps of his anointed Psal 89.51 Psal 9.18 hereby is seen the patient abiding of the meek Against these let me pray Arise O Lord put them in fear or set a master over them Selah Exhort Since Adam is the figure of him that is to come let us wait on him and expect him until he come good things are the things that are to come Heb. 10.1 Let not the present thought bewitch us Remember ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Crown of Righteousness and Life is promised to those who love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 9. They that love him not are accursed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Cor. 16.22 Sign Is the Law come is Elijah come Mal. 4. If these be not ye are yet in your sins so if yet ye be in your sins Christ is not yet come They who have this hope purifie themselves even as he is pure If Christ be come he is wisdom righteousness sanctification redemption humble c. How is it possible that the Bridegoom should be come to thee if foolish disobedient unrighteous unholy proud c. Mat. 9.15 Consol To those who wait long and Christ comes not they walk in the vain shadow ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Psal 39. See Notes in Matth. 8.25 But be assured that he shall appear to thy joy Isa 66.5 The patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for ever 1 Cor. 15.19 If we were in this life hopers only c. we were most miserable NOTES and OBSERVATIONS on LUKE III. ult Being a further Explanation of the foregoing NOTES ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Who was the Son of God I Shewed before that Adam is the type of him that was to come which that we may distinctly understand it is not enough to know in gross that the one is the type and figure the other the truth and thing typified by it but more particularly to shew wherein especially the Analogie and resemblance between them both consists And this I shall now endeavour to do comparing 1. the Original common to them both 2. the effects wherein they both agree and 3. the common adjuncts or accidents which befell them both 1. As for the first ye have it in the Text for as the first so the second Adam was the Son of God which is not to be understood of either 1. Adam in his person only but also 2. in his nature according to 1 Cor. 15.47 48. and first of the first Adam what therefore the first Adam is in name In handling of this I shall first clear my way to the Text and then come to the press handling of it The Text is part of the Genealogy of Joseph the husband of Mary vers 23. touching this Genealogy and that in Matth. 1. many doubts are moved Both these Evangelists in their Genealogy proceed divers wayes 1. St. Matthew leads up the Line of Joseph by Solomon unto David 2. St. Luke carries up the Line of Mary by Nathan to the same David 3. From thence they both agree in leading up their Line to Abraham what Adam is both in Name and Nature I have sufficiently shewn I am here only to shew how the first Adam is the Son of God The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is not expressed in the Text but is to be understood ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from vers 23. It is commonly conceived that the way of Filiation and Sonship is here different from that which we find vers 23. And therefore they commonly understand a Son or Child all the way to be begotten of the Father but here in the Text to be Created accordingly the Syriack and Arabick Texts having all the way throughout the whole Genealogy rendered the word which was the Son c. in this verse they render the words thus Adam which was of God The reason of this is to put the distinction between the several wayes of Production all the rest by Natural Generation as the Father communicates his Essence and Being to his Child this only by Creation That we may the better know the meaning of this and how the first Adam is the Son of God we must understand that a Father imparts to his Child his Nature his Name his Nourishment and his Education and is also provident for his Issue after him 1. He imparts his Nature a Son or Child is such an one as partakes of the Fathers Being and Life This we understand from the description of Generation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Now because the Sons of God are extreme different one from other God the Father ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã makes his Sons like unto himself after a different manner 1. Some by Creation and in the beginning of Time 2. Another by Generation and from Everlasting 1. By Creation unto these as he communicates his Nature Being and Life so likewise nourishment even evil Fathers they feed their Children Matth. 6. God preserves man and beast There are Two things in Nature whereof the whole Universe consists Being and Life 1. Being whereby a thing is extra nihil extra cogitationem whereby it is and needeth not our thought and imagination to make it to be 2. Life is that whereby that which is in Esse or hath Being is active Both these are in a most eminent manner in God and therefore both these he imparts unto his Son He gives them also Education instructing and correcting them 1. Instructing for he teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven saith Elihu Job 35.11 and who teacheth like him Job 36.22 And he hath shewn thee O Adam what is good c. Mich. 6.8 2. And as he teacheth Adam so he chastens him for what Son is there whom the Father chastens not 3. Yea and provides for him his inheritance 2 Sam. 7.19 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This is the Law of Adam But as there is a similitude in Nature between the great God and Father of all and earthly Fathers So is there a dissimilitude also whereby God differs by way of eminency from all other Fathers for whereas it is an natural act of Natural Parents to beget and bring forth their Children Both Creation and Regeneration is of the pure will of God 't is as true of one as the other of his own will begat he us Jam. 1. though the following words are proper to Regeneration 2. The Sons of Natural Parents after a certain time are commonly
the Saints shall rule all the world and hereupon many flatter themselves into a conceit that all the world shall be their own that they shall rule over their enemies as their enemies have ruled over them that they shall enjoy all pleasures and delights c. which fancy is indeed no other than a kind of gross Turcism The same errour which St. Paul blames in the Galatians having begun in the Spirit they would end in the flesh For surely the true Christian freedom consists not in immunity or exemption from outward Governours as the Apostle testifieth where he saith That he who is called a servant is the Lords free-man 1 Cor. 7. besides it is the saying of the Lord our righteousness if the Son make ye free then are ye free indeed otherwise exemption from an outward servitude maketh no man truly free Lastly if all the people in the Golden Age shall be righteous Isai 60.21 and all be made Kings and Priests unto God Revel 1. and all reign upon the earth Revel 5.10 Who shall they bear rule over surely their true freedom is over their affections and lusts when all their members are servants unto righteousness Dehort From this servitude of uncleanness and iniquity to call it servitude it 's argument enough to disswade us from it it 's the basest condition of all nay no condition Servi neque caput est neque status saith the Lawyer he is in nullo numero he is nullius censûs and shall we yield our members subject to such a condition such as is no condition but if the Master were good the servitude were not ill as was shewn before Some Masters may be found were so good that servants would yield their ears to be boared and become their servants for ever but this is a servitude and slavery to uncleanness To be a servant to unclean swine and a swineherd it 's an honest imployment but this servitude it 's a slavery and servitude unto the unclean spirits Justa servitus a just servitude either commends or allays and qualifieth the burden but this slavery 't is to a most unjust master for 't is to injustice it self he will have brick made but he will allow no straw These are great aggravations but there is yet a greater we are free-men Christ hath made us free we are wont to stand fast in our liberties and plead for them as indeed we may and ought and say they were obtained with much blood And may we not ought we not to stand upon our Christian Liberty which cost the Son of God his most precious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 O then let us yield our selves servants unto him he hath wrought the purging of our sins Hebr. 1.3 he hath paid the price of our redemption even himself that he might redeem us from the slavery both of uncleanness and iniquity Tit. 2.14 He hath given himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity there 's redemption from one and the other followeth that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works His service is pure and holy and just and equal so saith Zachary in his time That we being redeemed out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear Remember ye are bought with a price wherefore 't is the Apostles inference and a just one Glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods Which is implyed in this particle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a little word but as many other little words are of greater moment than parhaps at first sight we are aware of I am not ignorant that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã into and in are sometimes in the Original Greek as × in the Hebrew used promiscuously one for the other yet some places there are where the proper use of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã into is most significant It will be worth our labour to take notice of a place or two Mat. 13.52 Every Scribe taught ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unto the kingdom or into the kingdom of God the Syri ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã many a man hath hearsayes of God's kingdom but he is the learned Scribe indeed that hath so heard that he is taught into it and the words following prove this He brings forth of his treasury things new and old As the Lord promiseth his people under the Law Levit. 26.10 that they should eat the old store and bring forth the old because of the new and he maketh good his promise under Joshuah 5.11 They did eat of the old corn after the Passover and parched corn in the same day this promise is yet further fulfilled under the true Joshuah or Jesus The old and the new are the type and truth the letter and the spirit the figurative and the spiritual which whosoever brings forth out of his treasury must in reason have before in his treasury he must not bring it forth out of books only but out of the tables of his heart it must be in him he must enter into the kingdom of God and that in him Thus 1 Pet. 1.25 The word of the Lord abides for ever and this is the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is preached unto you he speaks not only of the audible word which passeth away but of that whereof the word we hear testifieth which is the eternal word the word which abides for ever and therefore St Paul calls the Gospel the testimony of God and Christ 1 Cor. 2.1 2. The Gospel then is preached to the purpose and we have heard to the purpose when the eternal word is preached ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã into us and hath a living form in us The like sence is of this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Text ye have yielded ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ye have incorporated your selves into iniquity and have been all one with it As the Apostle saith of the Ephesians Ye were sometimes not only dark or in darkness but darkness it self as we say of a notorious villain that he is scelus wickedness it self This appears also by the phrase in the Text opposite unto this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Now but why now it requires our present and instant service of righteousness the time present is all the time we have for howsoever the Lord may vouchsafe unto his Church a longer time yet to every one of us he allows but this present time 1. De tempore non habemus nisi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All the time we have is but the present what ever time is past it is as dead to us and that 's it that may suffice us 1 Pet. 4.3 what ever is to come it hath yet no life all we can make our own and be sure of is the present But more specially 2. Now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 the Apostle there alludes to the Jubilee the blowing of the Trumpet the time of Christ and his Spirit when
1 Cor. 6.9 Gal. 5.21 If we love our own Souls let us not spare one of them Saul spared those who to us might seem most fit to be spared the King of the Amalekites and the best of the cattle and these for sacrifice But the Lord will not have evil done that good may come thereby he hates robbery though for burnt offering Let us not therefore spare one of them though we pretend they shall be servants to us like the Gibeonites to draw water tears of contrition the sparing of these cost Saul his life 1 Chron. 10.13 and an Amalekite had an hand in his death 2 Sam. 8.9 10. Pray to the Lord for strength to subdue our iniquities to send the stronger one that may subdue them and to receive us graciously O Lord other Lords besides thee have had the dominion over us but in thy name we will trust Observe then who and what ought to rule us who else or what else but Christ and his Righteousness That 's the King that reigns in Righteousness Isai 32.1 He who shall judge the world in Righteousness Psal 9.8 The Prophet David foreseeing the coming of the Lord our Righteousness to rule and judge the world exults and rejoyceth exceedingly Psal 96.10 11 12 13. Say among the Heathen the Lord reigns c. for he cometh he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness Acts 17.31 To Judge in the Sacred Tongue is properly to Rule and Govern such were all the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Judges whom the Lord raised up to Rule his People throughout the Book called of that name And when they said to Samuel make us a King to judge us 1 Sam. 8.5 that is to rule and reign over us they chose unrighteousness to reign over them and rejected the Lord and his righteousness vers 7. They have rejected me saith the Lord that I should not reign over them When wicked men bear Rule then iniquity reigns and on the contrary where-ever the Governours are good there not the man but God himself and his righteousness bears rule So said Gideon when the People of Israel offered him the Government over them Judg. 8.22 Rule thou over us both thou and thy son and thy sons son also Gideon said unto them I will not rule over you neither shall my son rule over you the Lord shall rule over you O that there were such an heavenly moderation in all Governours Secular and Ecclesiastical that all and every one could be content that God and his Righteousness should rule over them O that every man in this place could and would truly say and endeavour to effect what he saith I will not rule over you the Lord shall rule over you It was the speech of King Agrippa as Philo reports it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So St. Peter exhorts the Elders that they should not Lord it over Gods heritage but be examples to the flock Christ is the Chief Shepherd the Lord and Master 1 Pet. 5. O that there were such an heart in all under Authority that they would resolve that the Lord should rule over them Children must honour their Parents in the Lord for that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ephes 6. Righteousness must rule them Fathers must bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord the Lord and his Righteousness must rule them Ephes 6.4 Masters give unto your servants that which is just and equal justice and equity must rule them knowing that you also have a master in heaven Coloss 4.1 The Lord governs in Righteousness and the same Righteous Master must rule the Servants Ephes 6.5 Servants be obedient to your Masters as unto Christ not with eye-service but as the servants of Christ and doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as unto the Lord knowing that what good soever any man doth the same he shall receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free The good Servants are not the Servants of men but of the Lord and his Righteousness O beloved did all orders of men and every man in his rank thus yield up themselves servants unto God and his Righteousness what a golden age would presently appear No man would oppress another no man would do violence to another no man would kill or steal or lye Isai 11. All the people would be righteous every man would be subject to every man for his good and God should be all in all As vers 2. we are by profession dead unto sin and shall we so contrary to our profession live in it we are baptized into Christs death we are wholly dead and buried with Christ and all this That the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we might not serve sin and shall we yet serve it Christ is raised up from the dead that we should walk in newness of life and shall we yet walk in our lusts in our lusts that by our profession should be dead ye are now alive unto God can ye be dead in sin yet alive unto God vers 12 13. God and his Righteousness ought to reign in you and therefore sin must not reign in you vers 14 15. There is a Prolepsis the motions unto sin are many stirred up by the Law Rom. 7.5 to which he answers that you mistake your condition Ye are not under the Law but under Grace Vers 16 17 18. No man can serve two Masters if therefore ye serve sin ye are servants of sin if righteousness then are ye the servants of righteousness But ye are free from the service of sin and therefore that hath no more power no more interest in you no more than a Master hath power over ye when ye are made free therefore ye are the servants of righteousness NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON ROMANS VII 9. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For I was alive without the Law once IN Chapter 6. our Apostle having discoursed touching the dismission or discharge of our sin from having any Rule or Authority in the Man In this 7th he discourseth concerning the cessation or ending of the Law and the discharge of it also from the Power and Dominion over the man vers 1 6. and both these through the Grace of Jesus Christ In the discharging of the Law from his Power and Dominion over the Man he had told us vers 5. That the motions of sins which were by the Law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death c. which is a ground for a main Objection For if the motions of sin be by the Law it should seem the Law it self should be sin or sinful and then what difference were there between the Law of Moses and the Laws of the Heathen which are sin and sinful for the statutes or customes of the people are vain Jer. 10.3 And if the Law were sin the Lawgiver must also sin in making such a Law and then what difference were there between
Moses to name only Moses and the Heathen Law-givers against whom the Prophet Isaiah denounceth a wo Chap. 10.1 Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees and write grievousness which they have prescribed And truly both these would follow were it so that the Law per se directly and properly were the cause of our passions and motions stirred up in us by the Law and of the fruits brought forth unto death The Apostle therefore wisely and timely distinguisheth between what the Law directly and properly doth and what sin doth by occasion of the Law 1. First he tells us what the Law directly and properly doth vers 7. What shall we say is the Law sin God forbid and he proves it For that which discovers sin to be sin is not it self sin But the Law discovers sin to be sin And therefore the Law it self is not sin Now that that which discovers sin to be sin is not it self sin appears from hence because no man on set purpose doth that which he knows to be sin but what he thinks good saith Dionysius Areop because either true or apparent good is that which all men naturally desire Seeing therefore the Law discovers sin to be sin yea forbids sin yea accuseth the sinner for sin it cannot be the cause of sin but rather indeed the cause why a man should not commit sin and therefore the Law is not sin no the Law is holy just and good vers 12. But how then comes it to pass that the motions of sin are stirred up by the Law This comes to pass by accident not causally but occasionally therefore 2. The Apostle shews what sin doth by occasion of the Law vers 8. Sin taking occasion by the Commandment it wrought in me saith he all manner of concupiscence and vers 11. sin taking occasion by the Commandment deceived me and vers 12. Sin by the Commandment became exceeding sinful For greater manifestation of this he transfers the business as to himself by a particular and personal instance which is the Text I was alive without the Law once wherein we have a two-fold estate of the man 1. Before the Law came 2. after the Law came 1. Before the Law came and herein for explication two things must be opened 1. Of whom the Apostle speaks this of himself or some other man when he saith I was alive without the Law 2. How he is to be understood when he saith he lived without the Law 1. Who is this I and of whom speaks the Apostle this Who this I in the Text is and of whom to be understood there hath been and yet is among some great disputation such a strife as was for Homer by the seven Cities My purpose is according to my profession and my engagement when I first entred upon this argument without taking part or siding with flesh and blood and without acrimony or bitterness which commonly attend on controversie to endeavour according to the irrefragable dictates of Gods everlasting truth to compose the differences among us concerning the Law And therefore I shall not name the Disputants lest I should revive their disputes They say Juvenal occasioned at least many to be lewd and vitious by too open and plain discovery of their vices Some of the Ancients that I say not also some of latter times who have presumed by their Authority to be Mallei haereticorum to beat down hereticks and their heresies have in the event proved Mallei haereticorum in a worse sence the forgers and contrivers of heresie And whereas they thought to beat down a few they have hammered out a many 1. There are who understand this man in his pure naturals But in what man can any one instance since the fall that was in his pure naturals that this Text may be understood of him 2. There are who understand this man to have been a rational man since the fall but was there ever any such rational man since the fall without a law to regulate his reason for surely he had either the written law or the law of nature born of him 3. Others conceived him to be a man under the Law but that he could not yet actually be as he saith himself I was without the law once and we now speak of him as such as without the Law for the avoiding therefore of further disputes we may understand That the man here mentioned is the earthly the natural man who although he have had some knowledge of the Law though the Law hath not hitherto wrought upon him it hath not yet made any discovery of his sin it hath not come home pressly to him like Nathan to David and said Thou art the man And if we understand the man in the Text thus It matters not much of what person definitly the Apostle speaks this of himself or of some other since he himself and all others have been in the very same condition But you 'l say he speaks of himself yea vers 25. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I my self what more plain Answer He doth so yet this may be docendi gratiâ as we speak as we are wont for instance sake to name our selves or some other Thus in the Civil Law Titius and Sempromus are the subjects of many Law Cases And we have persons also in our common Laws who are the subjects of many Cases But doth the Apostle use any such kind of Rhetorical Figure Answer You shall judge 1 Cor. 1. The Apostle reproving them for the contentions and divisions among them vers 11. It hath been declared unto me saith he that there are contentions among you Now this I say that every one of you saith I am of Paul and I am of Apollo and I of Cephas and I of Christ Were Paul and Apollo think you two of the persons whom the Corinthians strove for ye shall hear him speak for himself 1 Cor. 4.6 These things brethren I have in a figure transferred to my self and to Apollo for your sakes that ye may learn in us not to think of men above that which is written that no man be puffed up for one against another a sin too too usual among us and I fear more frequent than it was in Corinth However this may be true that the Apostle spake of himself in the Text or of another I contend not so we understand himself or some other to have been in this condition as most certain it is the Apostle and every man else hath been he lived without the law once But 2. How can this be understood that he lived once without the law What law is here to be understood Here is again a controversie what Law is here understood the Law Natural or the Law Moral It is not material whether Law we understand since the moral or written Law is founded in the Law of Nature But the question here is how the man could live without the Law since the Law followeth the sin close at the heels as Jacob did
and the man were all one he saw it then needful to give a Law But for what end did he give the Law That the offence or sin might abound Rom. 5.20 A strange end a man would think Why is he delighted with sin yea with the abounding of sin God forbid that we should impute sin or delight in sin unto our God who is the righteousness it self yet may we say in a good sence that the Law came and was given of God the Law-giver that sin might abound As a Physician prescribes a preparative in a course of Physick to dissolve the malignant humours which were before united together and to make them flow and abound According to this we understand St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.56 The strength of sin is the law for by occcasion of the Law sin puts forth her whole power and strength to oppose it and so discovers it self to be what it is As when the Ark of God came into the Camp the Philistines cryed out Wo unto us 1 Sam. 4. That 's a second reason in regard of the Law A good Artist makes choice of the coursest and vilest ground to work upon his art is best seen in it And our God doth so He takes a Publican an Harlot a sinner to work upon by his Law such an one he takes as first lives his own life a sinful life and him he corrects and Disciples and teacheth by his Law and brings him unto Jesus Christ A Physician And even so the Lord works in Nature Observe the method of the God of order in bringing men to the Christian life he makes choice of him that lives a sinful life he proceeds ab imperfectioribus ad perfectiora the grain of Wheat must first fall into the ground and dye and then ariseth the green grass which seems to be the life of that that 's dead but that must bear many a cold blast ere it bring forth the blade and then the ear and then the full corn in the ear The first seed of the woman Eve the Mother of all living was Cain and she thought she had gotten the man from the Lord then Abel then Seth Abraham had first Ismael then Isaac and Isaac first Esau then Jacob. Jacob had first Ruben an incestuous person his first born then Simeon Levi and Judah Judah had Err and Onan both which the Lord slew Gen. 38. Then the Seed of Blessing breaks forth afterward in Pharez and Zarah i. e. the orient ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the day-spring from on high that visits us vers 29. Yea if we look into the divided stock of Esau we shall find that they were all inhabitants of Mount Sier which signifieth the Devil and they were all Horites or inhabitants of Mount Hor Gen. 36.8 9 20. they were all free-men libertines as the word signifieth such as lived freely in a false freedom without any curb or check from a Law And these had all possessions yea dignities and honours before Jacob returned from exile or had any possession in the Land of Canaan For we read of many Kings and Dukes who reigned in the Land of Edom and the Scripture would have us take notice of it that this was before there was any King of Israel Gen. 36.31 These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel And the very same is repeated 1 Chron. 1.43 And in perpetuam rei memoriam we have the names of the Kings and Dukes recorded Observ 2. What we are according to our first birth Beloved cast not your thoughts so many thousand years back he who hath spiritual eyes may discern these things near at hand which seemed to be afar off and what he looks upon only in another he may find and feel experimentally in his own soul For thus 1. Cain lives a proprietary and hath the birth-right in us of arrogance and self-love as Cain signifieth before Abel the breath of the Divine Spirit is born in us and breaths again towards God that gave it And 2. Ismael the bond-man yet wild and savage seeming a free-man is born in us before Isaac the seed of promise ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these things are an allegory saith St. Paul Gal. 4.24 and they seem if ye mark well as strange a ground for an allegory as any ye shall read of in Scripture 3. Reuben a son of sight videt meliora probatque deteriora sequitur He sees what good is but doth what evil is He sees and knows what the will of God is but lives according to his own lusts Such a Reuben is born in us before Simeon obedience before Levi adhering and cleaving unto God before Judah praising of God as the Scripture interprets these names Gen. 29.31 4. Er and Onan are born even wickedness which makes us naked to our shame as the words signifie before Pharez breaks forth or Zarah the day-star arise in our hearts 5. Nay we shall find Edom also the earthly man as his name signifieth and as St. Paul gives his Etymon 1 Cor. 15. he lives in us before the heavenly man And a race of Kings deduced from him before the true King of Israel reign in us Gen. 36. 1. Bela Destruction and perdition the son of Beor the beast and he dwells at Dinhabah he hath his judgement in himself Rom. 1.27 2. Jobab he succeeded him that 's grief and sorrow he was of Bozrah that is anguish and sorrow of heart 3. After him Husham sensuality and voluptuousness and all the other Kings and Dukes of Edom are of the very same disposition So true is that confession of the Prophet Esay 26.13 O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us The Kings and Dukes of Edom and mount Seir and these have perswaded us to live in Mount Hor and promised us freedom and that we are true Horites that is free-men as the Jews while they were servants of sin boasted of their freedom Joh. 8.33 All these have had their Dominion over us other Lords beside thee have had Dominion over us These have heretofore lived in us We did once live without the Law Nay beloved is the case any better with us yet may not many an one of us say I am yet alive without the law may not many one of us say truly that Cain the proprietor the murderer he that hates his brother is a murderer 1 Joh. 3.15 yet lives in us without the Law Ismael the wild fierce and savage nature lives yet in us without the Law Reuben incestuous and sensual Reuben lives yet in us without the law Er and Onan open profaness and wickedness that makes us naked and lays us open to our shame live yet in us without the law Edom the earthly man Belah perdition the son of Beor the beast lives in us without the Law Jobab grief sorrow and disquietness of heart live in us without a Law Husham sensuality and voluptuous lives in us
uncurbed and without a law and we are true Horites free to commit sin without the check of the Law Doubtless if so we are in a far worse condition than this man in the Text was we must confess we are alive selfness vitious selfness yet lives in us without the check without the instructions of the Law This man could say I was alive once now I am not I was alive once without the Law But we must confess to our own shame that we yet live without the Law Observ 3. See the condition of thousands who think themselves extreme happy men when yet of all other they are the most unhappy they think themselves the freest men when they are the most arrant slaves They have a name that they live when yet they are dead This hath been the errour of divers before our time and may be likewise our errour What an high opinion did the Corinthians conceive of themselves for whereas commonly we think highly of our selves out of a supposed worth in our selves which yet we refer not unto God the Author of it and all good but ascribe it to our own merit yea oftentimes we boast of a false gift which indeed we have not but imagine our selves to have and upon these groundless foundations despise others All these ye find together in the Corinthians 1 Cor. 4.7 8. who makes thee to differ from another and what hast thou which thou hast not received now ye are free ye reign as kings without us This was the estate of the Church of Sardis Revel 3.1 I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead And the like we read vers 17. of that Chapter of the Laodiceans Thou saidst thou art rich and encreased in goods and hast need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked These are dangerous mistakes which arise from our first birth from our earthly carnal and sensual life The Apostle tells us of two births which have proportionable lives Gal. 4.22 I am not ignorant what high thoughts the most of us entertain of our selves out of self-love we conceive our selves to be the children of the Promise and of the free-woman we live that life we should do we are rich and encreased with spiritual goods and have need of nothing we are alive Alas we consider not that the first birth must in every man precede the second Hagar must conceive before Sarah Ismael must be horn before Isaac the children of the bond-woman must be brought forth before the children of the free-woman Now because the Apostle speaking of himself who lived the true spiritual Christian life We saith he as Isaac was are the children of promise vers 28. and vers 31. We are not the children of the bond-women but of the free we oftentimes out of an overweening opinion of our selves and partial self-love put our selves into the number and name such Scriptures as are fitted to our mouths whereas indeed we are 't is to be feared many of us rather children of the Bond-woman as at this day that wild people who discend from Ismael call themselves Saracens as if they were the Progeny of Sarah Whereas indeed they are Ismaelites and Hagarens descending from Ismael and Hagar Would God Beloved it were not so But ye have seen that they of Corinth of Sardis and of Laodicea were deceived in their own estate and why may not we fear the like in our selves It is a dangerous thing to be deceived in a matter so nearly concerning us we presume that we are free and born of the free-woman and consider not that there is in us by corrupt nature a kind of wildness and loosness which we oftentimes mistake for the true freedom it is no shame for a man to acknowledge this for Zophar tells Job truth that this is the condition of all mankind Job 11.12 ye have for that purpose the description of the wild Ass Job 39.5 8. even such is the man by nature a free-born Ass This was typified by the first Child born to Abraham of the Bond-woman Hagar as soon as she conceived him she swell'd with pride her Mistris was despised in her eyes her Son proved accordingly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a wild man a wild-ass-man or a man like a wild Ass Gen. 16.12 This estate Beloved we are well pleased withal because it sutes very well with our corrupt nature and therefore Abraham in the type is said to have prayed to the Lord Ismael might live O that Ismael might live in thy sight Gen. 17.18 and this life they desire who know no better But mark what the answer of God is unto this prayer of Abraham vers 19. Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shalt call his name Isaac c. So when we have such a desire as Abraham had let us remember Gods answer unto Abraham That the free woman the belief signified by Sarah she shall bring forth and then we shall be truly the children not of the bond-woman but of the free Gal. 4. ult Was Paul or who ever it was that passed through this condition unto the Kingdom of God was he alive without the Law once let me then commend two duties unto you 1. Despair of no man 2. Despise no man 1. Despair of no man what greater sinners read we of then they were who afterward proved Converts Our first Parents who not like Jeroboam caused only Israel but all the world to sin they lived without the Law once They had the Law written in their heart but 't was silent 't was dead to them and they lived without it till they heard the voice of God in the cool of the day Gen. 3. and why may not he whom thou despairest of hear the voice of the same God in the cool of the day when the heat of his concupiscence is over David then whom no man more displayed the honour of the Law nor testified more his affection unto it even he sometime lived without the Law till Nathan And why may we not hope but the same good God may send a Nathan here from whom descends every good and perfect gift Nebuchadnezzar he lived and who but he Dan. 4.30 Is not this great Babylon which I have built great Babylon and I have built it by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty all was his and he was for himself While he spake thus there fell a voice from heaven saying Thy Kingdom is departed from thee and thou shalt be driven out untill thou know the most high ruleth And why may not he who lives now without the correction and chastening of the Law as proud as Nebuchadnezzar be brought down and humbled like him and be corrected and instructed by the Law and put in fear and made to know that he ought not to live and reign but the most High since all those who live in pride he is
Lord be no cause of evil yet he ministers occasion of doing evil He exposed his own Son to the power of darkness yet he who betrayed him had the greater sin and the greater punishment it had been better he had never been born This is the more to be heeded because some think that when providence offers an occasion to do otherwise than the Law commands we may embrace the occasion though contrary to the Law of God Davids men were of this mind 1 Sam. 24. When David had Saul at a great advantage his men said to him Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee Behold I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou mayst do to him as shall seem good unto thee And by this they stirred up David âo kill Saul Yea Saul himself was of the same mind vers 18.19 But did David himself embrace this occasion which God put into his hand No David did not examine the Will of the Lord by the providence which he put into his hand but by the commandment of God which forbad him to stretch forth his hand against the Lord 's Anointed And therefore I shall propound this necessary Rule to your consideration whereof we shall have manifold use in this life especially in these times Examine not the Commandment of God by the providence and occasion put into in thine hand but examine the providence and occasion put into thine hands by the Commandment of God and act thou accordingly Observ 2. Observe it is no good Argument that sin is mortified in us and that we live as we ought the Christian life because the motions of sin appears not in us Sin may be asleep and not dead or like one in Lipothymia in a swoon When the commandment comes then 't will discover its self that it was not dead but only in a dead sleep like the Snake in the Fable benumb'd with cold but gathered heat from the fire so doth the sin which seems dead but when the fiery law cometh it revives like the water that appears clear till it be stirred and then it discovers it self all mudd at the bottom As the wakening of a sleepy dog As the stirring of a Wasps nest They are quiet enough till they be moved Observ 3. See the truth of that which the Psalmist tells us Psal 143.2 That in the sight of the Lord no man living can be justified which our Apostle expounding Rom. 3.20 saith by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in Gods sight which he repeats Gal. 2.16 where the Emphasis is to be set not only upon the sight of God because no man can be justified in his sight but also upon no man living which is not to be understood as we do in in our common speech when we would express our selves more vehemently we say No man living but in such a sence as our Apostle useth it in this Chap. 7. vers 1.2 The law hath dominion over the man so long as he liveth c. Ainsw in Levit. 13.13 14 15. Thus no man living that is while the man lives and God and Christ lives not in the man its impossible that any man living should be justified But when God lives in the man when Christ lives in the man then he justifieth the man It is God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 And therefore what the Psalmist saith no man living the Apostle turns no flesh no carnal no earthly man it is impossible that any living man that any flesh should be justified by the works of the Law Observ 4. Learn then from hence the absolute necessity of a strong mighty and powerful Saviour The Law discovers the sin but it cannot take it away yea sin revives by the coming of the Law and is made more powerful more violent than before it was As when Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh with a message from God about the deliverance of the people Pharaoh laid a greater and a more unreasonable heavy task upon them Exod. 5.20 So deals the spiritual Pharaoh when the Law-giver sends his Law unto us he lays load upon us such as no man living is able to bear And therefore the Lord he graciously promiseth to his people oppressed in the Spiritual Egypt Revel 11. That when they cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors he shall send them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we turn a Saviour and a great one Esay 19.20 The words are a Saviour and a Prince So ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth and so Christ is called Act. 5.31 A prince and a Saviour whom God hath exalted with his right hand to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins And by him all that believe are justified ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from all things what things are they The most Ancient English Manuscript hath it from all those sins from which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 When the sin is now by the force of the Law spread abroad in the man and become exceeding sinful like a leprosie then the high Priest Jesus Christ he cleanseth the Leper Levit. 13.12 13. we turn it he shall pronounce him clean The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. mundificabit he shall make him clean as Arias Montanus turns it well But on the contrary vers 14.15 if he see ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. living flesh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he shall make him unclean not pronounce him only If we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 Joh. 1.9 But if there be any living flesh any flesh that would live by the law the Lord makes that unclean he stains the pride of all glory because by the works of the law no man living no flesh can be justified But here the poor disconsolate soul complains I was alive without the law once I found nothing amiss in my self no regreeting no remorse of conscience But now when I see a better a greater light I find my self in a greater darkness the motions of sin were quiet before now the Law comes they are stirred up in me violently As he who in a fight reeceives many a wound yet then feels them not nor thinks himself to be wounded at all till he cools and then he feels them In the pursuing of the heat of our concupiscence we receive many a fiery dart of the Devil which yet as then we perceive not but afterwards in cool blood I was whole and sound once but now I find wounds and bruises and putrifying sores mine iniquities are gone over mine head and are an heavy burden too heavy for me to bear my wounds stink and are corrupt through my foolishness and there is no soundness in my flesh wretched man that I am Till now indeed thou wert a wretched man thou livest frolickly without curb without
as the Prophet David complains I am as a dead man out of mind Of such dead men as these the Wise Man speaks Wisd 3.2 In the sight of the unwise they seem to dye and their departure is taken for misery for though they be afflicted in the sight of men yet their hope is full of immortality These Righteous have hope in their death Prov. 14.31 They walk with God as Enoch and Noah did and are not they are in no account at all among men but God takes them to himself Psal 65.34 These these are the dead these blessed dead ones who dye in the Lord Revel 14.13 Exhort That they who live would dye An hard task it is to perswade one to dye no man need to be perswaded to live because life is one of the things which pro se appetuntur which are desired for themselves and therefore death one of those things quae pro se vitantur which are abhorred for themselves But beloved if this life be such as we ought not to live an assumed life then surely to this life we ought to dye but such is this life in sin it 's none of ours it hath no right at all unto us we have nothing to do with it nor it with us Rom. 8.12 Brethren we are debtors but not to the flesh to live after the flesh for if ye live after the flesh which would have a life in ye ye shall dye but if ye through the spirit shall mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live This life cannot be lived but we must be estranged from the life of our God Ephes 4.18 19 20. for when the Law of this life comes lasciviousness and all uncleanness revives and appears in us which if we give our selves over unto we are estranged and alienated from the life of our God Yea when we live this life we dye unto and put to death the Author of Life Rom. 5.8 While we were yet sinners Christ died for us We cannot entertain such a guest but it will cost us so much When the Traveller came to the rich man he entertained him not with any of his own flocks and herds but with the poor mans Lamb. When we receive and entertain our lusts that are strangers to our nature the flocks and herds of Satan they die not no the innocent Lamb that that must die in us Besides there 's a double necessity lies on us both Precepti and Medii There 's a command lies upon us and that one of the first that ever was given by God to man Gen. 2. Where having set man in the Paradise He gives him a Command to eat of all the Trees in the Garden i. e. the trees of Righteousness and forbad them all unrighteousness as the Wise Man speaking of the same Argument saith The Lord said unto them beware of all unrighteousness But in case they sinned he provided a Remedy to die unto the sin for so the words may be understood so that he now begins to be obedient unto one of the first Precepts to die in his affections unto sin according to that Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death For so I had rather read the words as a Command than as a commination or threatning for there 's much trouble to reconcile that speech of the Lord unto the Truth and to make it agree with that which follow In the day wherein thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die the death when yet Adam lived above eight hundred years after that day There is besides Necessitas Medii No man shall see me and live Means That they live not in us stop them at their entrance yield thy self to be killed by the Law and Prophets The Law is a killing letter The Prophets they hew us as Solomon's workmen hewed the stones before they were joyned unto the Temple Hos 6.5 I have bewed them by my Prophets slain them by the word of my mouth Arise Peter kill and eat It 's said to all the Ministers of God So understand that of the Prophet Him shall Elisha slay Sign He that is dead hath ceased from sin Corporis vitam ex motu dignoscimus Bern. Let us examine our motions our walkings if we walk in lusts we live in them it 's the argument Col. 3.7 having reckoned up certain fleshly lusts fornication uncleanness c. in which ye also walked sometimes while ye lived in them We do not walk when we are dead 2. Breathing Joshua put to death every thing that breathed the first motions unto sin 3. Try thy self by the objects of sin which when sin revives by the Law continually present themselves unto thee Thy neighbour thrives in the world or in the gifts and graces of the Spirit now envy offers it self Thou art vilified and despised wrath and fierceness offers it self to thee Thou hast done some notable exploit done some good service to God now pride comes and offers it self to thee These all these and many more arise up in the best of us Nunc specimen specitur nunc certamen cernitur Sisne necne ut esse oportet bonus malus cujusmodi Now is the tryal whether thou be dead or alive if thou consent and agree to the motion thou art alive they are thy life or rather the true death thou art one with them If thou be dead to them they move thee no more than if they were propounded to a dead man NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON ROMANS VII 12. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wherefore the Law is holy and the Commandment holy and just and good THese words are the conclusion of the Apostles Answer to the Doubt and Objection vers 7. Is the Law sin so it seemed from vers 5. for there he saith that there are passions and motions of sin by the Law which bring forth fruit unto death This Objection he answers 1. By shewing the proper effect or the effect per se of the Law it discovers and prohibits sin therefore it is not sin vers 7. 2. By shewing the events or effects by accident of the Law and they are the reviving of sin increase of all manner of concupiscence 3. Deceiving the man and killing him These are the events of the Law coming to the Man as the Apostle speaks warily not proper effects of it for the Law was by the Law-giver and according to the nature of the Law ordained to life ex fine agentis rei But whereas the Law comes to the Man and finds him living another life a life contrary to the Law it proves a death unto him convincing him of transgression and condemning him as guilty of death and so terrifies the man that it mortifies and kills his desires and affections unto sin Thus the Sun enlightens rejoyceth and enlivens as it were the sight of a sound man but it extreamly offends blear and blood-shot eyes Wine makes glad the heart of all healthful men but it 's deadly wine unto
the Law of God according to the inward man I consent unto the Law that it is good so good that it contains in it the whole nature of goodness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã what ever things are honest c. Phil. 4.8 the Law is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Tim. 1.8 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these things are good and profitable unto men Tit. 3.8 The Law of the Lord is more to be desired than Gold than thousands of Gold and Silver sweet yea sweeter than the honey or the honey comb Psal 19.9 And because tastes are exceeding various so that the Spanish Proverb is Non est disputandum de gustibus The Manna figuring the Commandment was able to content every mans delight and agreeing unto every taste Wisd 16.20 The Reason why the Commandment is said to be good is considerable in regard of the Law-giver and Author of it the chief the only good ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God himself ostendam tibi omne bonum Exod. 34. both Agentis and Rei 1. Agentis i. e. Legislatoris the intention of the Law-giver is to make his Subjects good Ethic. 1. and Ethic. 2. the end of the Law-giver is to induce and perswade his Subjects unto virtue and goodness the end of the great Law-giver is to make God and Man friends and men friends and loving among themselves Now similitude and likeness being the ground of love it is impossible to reconcile man to God or God to man but by making the man good and like unto his God and this he doth by propounding unto all men a good Commandment Deut. 30.15 I have set before thee life and good and death and evil 2. Rei i. e. Legis 1. Vltimate the summum bonum the chief good is to be found in Jesus Christ and therefore the Law and Prophets pointed unto him and prepared for him they pointed unto him as the fulfiller and accomplisher Luk. 24. All things c. Jer. 33.14 15. I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel the branch of righteousness shall flourish Joh. 5. If ye believed Moses ye would believe me for he wrote of me He is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Act. 13.13.34 Hos 3.5 fear the Lord and his goodness 2. Subordinate thereunto is bonum Commune Civitatis privatum as the Architechtonick prescribes to all inferiour Arts and Trades and every one aiming at the common good advanceth his particular good The Venetian Ambassador says Every mans private interest swayes him Self-love is like the Sphere The Law and Prophets prepare and fit the people of God to be partakers of the chief good a people prepared for the Lord Luk. 1.17 Gal. 3.23 before faith came we were kept under the Law shut up unto the faith c. Let no man stumble at this ye see plainly it is the express word of God and all we speak of preparation is contained in him the Sphere of Divine Operation yea Christ himself he fits and prepares the Church for himself Ephes 5.25 26 27. As the Soul builds it self an house in the body and then dwells in it the Silk-worm makes it self an house so Christ the worm and no man It renders the Subject good in all respects a good Husband a good Wife Father Son Master Servant a good Governour Citizen And this goodness of the Moral Law is the same with Legal Justice aimed at both in the Ceremonial and Judicial Lawes The end of the Law is the Common Good of the whole Common-weal at which while every good man aims he advanceth his own private good and the good Commandment is the rule of all Doubt The Commandment is good but whether is it good for all alike without distinction The Apostle implyes an answer to this doubt 1 Tim. 1.8 The Law is good if a man use it lawfully by which words he intimates that a man may use the good Law well or ill lawfully or unlawfully For our better understanding how a man may use the Law well or ill lawfully or unlawfully he tells what the true and proper end is unto which the Law is ordained and distinguisheth it from an end for which happily to some it might seem to be ordained but indeed is not for it was not made or it lies not upon the righteous man ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but upon whom then lies it or for whom was it ordained The Apostle tells us for the lawless c. But why not for the righteous man and why for the lawless Not for the righteous man because the Law hath had the due effect upon him already it hath brought him to Jesus Christ and by Jesus Christ the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in him so that he doth righteousness and is righteous as 1 Joh. 3.7 But why was it ordained for the lawless Why do ye put the unruly Colt to the Horse-breaker is it not to manage him to tame him to curb his unruly motions The like we may say why is the Law ordained for the lawless is it not that he may be tamed and made loyal that he may yield his members servants unto righteousness ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rom. 6.19 it 's a Metaphor taken from a well-managed horse Why do ye put an untowardly Child to a severe and austere Schoolmaster is it not that he may correct him and chastise him The Law is our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ wherefore do ye send for the Physitian to the sick and languishing man is it not that he may purge him and empty him of his ill humours by sound or as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth healing doctrine bring him to health and salvation Physick is good but if the patient be recovered Physick is not good to him The whole and sound have no need of the Physitian but the sick Ye will not let your Child be alwayes under a Schoolmaster but only till he hath learned his rudiments of Grammar and is fit for greater employment Gal. 3.23 24 25. Some Schoolmasters detain their Scholars longer than were fit for their own gain And for like reason Physitians sometimes prolong their cure other Mountebanks and Quack-salvers there are who delay the cure for want of skill by misapplication Into such Physitians hands Job fell and deals plainly with them Job 13.4 Ye are saith he forgers of lies ye are all physitians of no value Many such there are in these dayes Now because qui medicè vivit miserè vivit the greatest danger is when sick men conceive themselves sound and in health and so neglect all rules of Physick and diet despise the healing doctrine of the Law when yet they are lawless and as I have known by long experience that the greatest danger of young Scholars miscarriage is they are weary of being under the ferula and under the rod weary of their severe School-master and therefore while they are yet unripe they desire licence instead of true liberty and freedom I have known
of it that 's affectus unionis that 's the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.10 that 's the end of the Law The end of the Law is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 When we obey out of fear we have but half our strength and therefore Homer saith Jupiter took away from Arminta half the strength beside fear hath torment 1 Joh. 4.18 we read of obedience of faith Rom. 1. and 16. but faith works not but by love We read also of an obedience of Charity Deut. 30.20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God that thou mayest obey his voice and cleave unto him the like ye read 1 Pet. 1.24 Castificantes animas vestras sub obedientia charitatis When the Commandment is propounded unto us as good it stirs up Love in us and Love makes all easie Mandata non sunt gravia 1 Joh. 4.18 Reproves Us who quarrel or contend about the Law which yet neither of us observe the good Law and Commandment of our God if we did it would make us good in our selves good to men and one to another kind gentle c. good to all ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã A good man is a common good he is a good man he is not such an one who only doth no hurt though would God we all arrived unto that degree of goodness but doth good like to the Law-giver Psal 119.68 Thou art good and doest good We may discern this better in others than in our selves Jobson in his Relation of the River Gamboa in Africk tells us that the people on both sides the River extreamly hate one another and that for difference in some niceties of their Religion but saith he I saw no difference at all in their lives who differed among themselves May it not be as truly spoken of our selves Observ 1. Observe how reasonable a service the service of our God is his Commandment is good Yes happily good for God the Law-giver Nay my goodness extends not to thee Psal 16.2 But Moses speaks expresly Deut. 10.23 Now Israel what doth the Lord require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God to walk in all his wayes and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul to keep the Commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee for thy good Consol Alas I know that but though the Commandment be good it makes not me good for since it came I am evil and worse than ever I was The light is good saith Solomon and is it ever the worse is it not rather the better for discovering the darkness the Law doth not make thee to be evil thou wert evil before but discovers thee to be so Thou consentest to the Law that it is good that 's a beginning of goodness it so begins to make thee good time was when thou thoughtest that the Commandment was evil time was when thou thoughtest it thine own enemy So Ahab said to Eliah hast thou found me O mine enemy and Michajah never prophesied good to him but evil The dictates of the Law were such to thee thou entertainedst them as evil as the words of an enemy and long time it was with thee e're thou couldest be perswaded to agree with thine adversary to think well of the Law that 's the adversary if now thou consent unto it if now thou canst think that the Commandment is good thank and bless thy God be sure he hath begun a good work in thee Phil. 1. yea such as he will take notice of in these times of calamity ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 King 14.13 When the new wine is found in the cluster one saith destroy it not cast it not away there is a blessing in it so will I do for my servants sake that I may not destroy them all Isai 65.8 But alas thou wilt say my sins the Law hath made powerful and to prevail against me and they multiply themselves and like degenerate friends such sometime they were to me they now prove my greatest enemies The Law commands me this and forbids me that I comply with it but have no power to obey it hence it is that my conscience accuseth me condemns me torments me and judgeth me to death and hell Yet despair not poor Soul The Lord leads down to hell and brings back again he looks with gracious eyes upon the willing the loving though as yet weak and impotent man Vnto him do I look who is of a poor and a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word Isai 66.1 Yea though thy Conscience judge thee to death yet is thy God more gracious more merciful to thee than thine own evil Conscience he reveils unto thee the Law of the spirit of life Rom. 8.2 which is Christ Jesus which will make thee free from the Law of sin and death Yea unto such a broken and wounded spirit the beloved Disciple pours in oyl of gladness 1 Joh. 3.20 if our heart condemn us God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things He knoweth thy good will there toward his good Commandment though thou be not yet able to perform though as yet the good that thou wouldest do thou doest not and the evil thou wouldest not that doest thou yet continue in that good will and he that hath begun this good work in thee will perfect the same He who hath wrought a Will will give power also that thou mayest not only be willing but be able also so that thou shalt overcome the evil with the good Exhort 2. To love the good Commandment It 's a most reasonable Exhortation that that which is good be loved Thou lovest that which thou thinkest good 't is the object of love Is it not more reasonable that thou shouldest love that which the only wise God and the LOVE it self propounds to thee for good When the Physitian forbids thee such or such meats though thou lovest them yet thou abstainest he knows better what is good for thee Charior est superis homo quam sibi Man is dearer to God than to himself Datum est paucis cognoscere quaenam sunt vera bona It is given to few to know what things are truly good Yet truly even a very fool may know negatively what are not the true good things Surely Riches are not the true good things though men call them so these have wings true good things are permanent The Merchant now must seek such as will swim out with him after a wrack Paul was in perils of waters yet these swam out with him in perils of robbers yet they robbed him not of these It is easie to know whether we do love the Law or no if so what we love we think on often Lord how I love thy Law all the day long is my study in it the righteous man exerciseth himself in Gods Law day and night what we love we practise we
Law for them yea he loved the people The Lord came from Sinai that saith the Apostle is Agar and gendereth to bondage it is a type of the earthly man Seir is the Mount of Edom a type of the carnal Man flesh and blood or the animalish or natural Man which two are sometime confounded and most what taken promiscuously because the Law hath not the due effect upon them neither indeed can saith the Apostle for the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be But as swallows rats and mice and other vermin seem to be tame because they live in the house but they can never be tamed so doth the earthly and carnal man seem to be subject to the Law because he is of the same houshold with the spiritual man but he can never be tamed and brought under the Law because the earthly and carnal wisdom and holiness seem so excellent and amiable in his eyes that the Law of God is poorly esteemed by him and therefore the fiery Law comes from the right hand of God unto the true Israelites and true Jews who worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 This is that which some of the Jews deliver Doubt But if the Law be Spiritual and that imply power and strength how comes it to pass that they are weak that are under the Law as Gal. 4. For our better understanding of this we must distinguish between the divers Subjects of the Law and the divers Teachers of it 1. As for the first I pray ye give me lieve to add to that which I delivered lately more at large Viz. That there are three parts in the man unto which the Law holds proportion for although our peripatetick Philosophers make but two parts of a man Soul and Body and too many Divines have followed that tenent not considering c. See Notes on Hebr. 1.3 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã When therefore the Law is said to be weak and they weaklings that are brought up under it it is not simply and absolutely to be understood but in regard of the flesh so the Apostle speaks expresly Rom. 8. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh 2. If we consider the divers Teachers of the Law they are in proportion to the divers parts and receptivities in the man some earthly others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or animalish and others spiritual of all these Moses speaks Deut. 33.2 Now according as the Teacher of the Law is whether earthly natural or spiritual such is his doctrine and the extent of it as aqua tantùm ascendit quantùm descendit When the Law is taught carnally as a carnal Commandment it reacheth no further than to the flesh Sinai When it is taught Naturally or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it reacheth to the Soul when taught Spiritually it reacheth to the Spirit As the Child is so is his strengh as it is said in the story of Gideon and as arrows in the hand of a Giant so are young men Psal 127.4 1 Joh. 2.14 Prov. 20.29 3. When the Law comes out of Sion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 when it is administred by them in whom it hath the due effect when it is taught by spiritual men then it reacheth unto the spirit when the Law comes out of the midst of the fire Deut. 5.22 it self is fiery Deut. 33.2 and hath the effect of fire in those to whom it comes his word was in my heart as burning fire Jer. 20.9 This was figured 2 Kings 22. by Hilkiah the Priests finding the Law and Josiah the King reading the Law in the ears of all the people 2 King 23. whence follows the greatest Reformation that we read of in the whole Old Testament Hilkiah is the portion of the Lord his own spiritual people who live according to that supreme and highest portion of God in their spirits these are the Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2. When Josiah reads the book of the Law when the Law comes from the fire of the Lord so Josiah signifieth needs must follow a notable reformation Thus when our Lord begun at Moses and the Prophets and expounded in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself Luk. 24.27 their hearts burned within them vers 27. and when the Law went out of Sion Act. 2. and kindled upon the Apostles in fiery tongues as the interpreters of Gods Law what a reformation was then wrought the same day were added unto them about three thousand souls and Act. 4.4 five thousand And what 's the reason that the Law works not as powerfully in these dayes the Promise is made unto these times as I have shewed the reason is because we are earthly we are yet carnal we are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sensual men having not the spirit The Law makes us Edomites and Ismaelites few Israelites the Law comes out of Sinai and Seir not out of Sion and Jerusalem the arrows are not in the hands of the Giant whence it is as the Child is so is his strength 1. See the great extent of the Law it reacheth from the ear to the heart from the outward to the inward from the body to the soul and spirit whence saith the Psalmist I have seen an end of all perfection but thy Commandment is exceeding broad Though in regard of the body it be within narrow limits yet so it extends it self to every action of the outward life and every circumstance even ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but in respect of the soul and spirit Hebr. 4.12 See Notes on Psal 94.12 2. Hence appears the falshood and vanity of that Rule well known and taken for granted by the School-men Lex cohibet manum tantum the Law restrains the hand only Evangelium manum animum the Gospel both hand and mind for neither hath the Law so much power in it self to restrain the hand without the finger of God assisting it nor hath it so little power being spiritual and assisted by the spirit of God as to restrain the hand only but it restrains the mind and heart the soul and spirit also 3. This discovers the excellency of the Christian Righteousness it reacheth even unto the spirit the Spouse of Christ who is unmarried to this world is holy both in body and in spirit 1 Cor. 7.34 Note hence also the defective Righteousness of the Pharisees of old and of our times which consists wholly in cleansing the outside of the cup and platter See the story of the Pharisaical young man c. See Matth. 19. and Mark 10. 4. There is a spiritual sence of the Law See Notes on Matth. 5. This reproves those who confine the Law of God unto the letter only such as think if they perform an outward obedience thereunto they do their whole duty required out of the Law This was the opinion of
in it Psal 40.8 Rom. 13.9 with Ephes 1.10 The consideration of Gods preventing Love draws us from all partiality and multiplicity the Love of Christ constrains us Now the Lord cuts his Word short in Righteousness In that day there is One Lord and his Name One Zach. 14.6 9. Now the Soul enflamed with Christ's preventing Love and Mercy is no more conformed unto this partial world but is renewed in the Spirit and approves what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God Motives The Lord will be worshipped alone therefore was not received by the Roman Senate who would not part with their Pantheon for the only God the Ark and Dagon cannot stand together Return and hasten to the Unity Quo contractior eo beatior In the waters there was no rest for the sole of the Doves feet Exhort Let us duly observe and sutably regard these great things of the Law they are our Wisdom our Life our Counsellors the way of our God they are the great effects of converting enlightning and saving the soul so great things Such are the titles of honour whereby the Lord commends these great things unto us He hath shewed us these great things and what else doth the Lord require of us they are the necessary requisites both under the time of the Law and now under the time of the Gospel Mich. 6.8 Matth. 23.23 I hope there needs no motives hereunto we rather need helps When we would do those great things when we would build upon that firm rock Matth. 7. three things especially draws us from our work as mark it when ye will ye shall find that when ye would set apart some time to seek the Lord ye shall then at that very time meet with most temptations 1. These three are either the seducing Spirit with us who knows well his Kingdom is going to wrack if we go about such great things as these are and this is meant by the winds that blow upon the house to make it fall 2. The second is partial Election and choice of what seems good in our own eyes Deut. 12. which men do when there is no King in Israel and this is like a flood like a torrent that violently beats upon the house to make it fall Isai 8.6 fears of ungodliness 3. The third is false doctrine which is compared to rain it is the same word in the Original ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã These are the same impediments which Nehemiah met with all Nehem. 6.1 1. Sanballat the evil Spirit the hidden enemy as the word signifieth the Wind or Spirit 2. Tobiah the goodness of the Lord for so that will seem to us which sutes with our own partial Election 3. Geshemi the rain of false doctrine so the word signifieth which for the conveniency of it hath some mixture of truth with it otherwise how could it be swallowed and therefore Geshemi is an Arabian a mixture of good and evil These tempted Nehemiah and tempt I doubt not every one of us when we are busie about the great things of the Law What should we now do Remember they are all enemies Satan is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Matth. 13. Sanballat They all tempt us to draw us from the City of our God The City on a hill to the plain of Ono from one City to many Villages to cast them down headlong and whither would they draw us into the Villages in the plain of Ono Ono what 's that Labour Vanity Iniquity and Sorrow And therefore Nehemiah might well say they thought to do him mischief vers 2. And there are many of these Villages into which Sanballat Tobiah and Geshem would seduce and draw us Consider this well and thou will soon find what to answer to their importunate messages Why what shall I say to them tell them as Nehemiah did I am doing a great work so thou art indeed the great things of the Law I cannot come down a Child of God cannot how can I do this great wickedness and sin against my God Why should the work cease and cease it will if thou give it over the work will not go on alone Why should the work the great work I am doing cease whiles I leave it and come down to you I shall leave the great work of my God the great things of his Law the Wisdom Life Righteousness Holiness nay the Covenant of my God to come down to you Can you tell me of any greater good than these are O no ye seek to do me mischief to bring me into the Valley of Ono labour and vexation and vanity and iniquity and sorrow this is the Valley of Ono not far from nor unlike unto the Valley of Gihinnom or Gehenna hell it self from which the Lord for his Mercy sake deliver us and bring us to the mountain of his holiness The way of the wise is above to depart from hell beneath 2. The Lord hath written to his people the great things or multitudes of his Laws That there are great honourable excellent things and that there are multitudes of Gods Laws what the reason of both is and how usefull unto us hath been already shewn I now proceed unto the second That the Lord hath written these great things these multitudes of his Laws wherein only ye have to enquire two things 1. God writes and 2. How he is said to write unto his people 1. The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the LXX V. L. Vatab and Reformed Churches Scribam which in the Original Tongue denotes a continued act 2. The Lord is said to write 1. immediately he wrote the Moral Law once and again 2. mediately by Moses and his Prophets And thus he wrote the Ceremonial and Judicial Laws the Hagiographa or holy writings as they are called as the Book of Job Psalms Proverbs c. and because the word notes a continuation of the Act being future it extends it self to all the writings under the New Testament as the Gospels Acts Epistles Revelation so that general speech of the Apostle implyes 2 Tim. 3.16 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All Scripture is by inspiration from God or written by the finger or spirit of God as the great things of the Law were though not immediately yet mediately men being used in the penning of it which if well understood might put an end to the Controversie who wrote such or such a Book of holy Scripture which all men grant to be Canonical written by Gods Finger or Spirit and therefore the Controversie is to no more purpose than if Men were agreed who wrote such or such a Book but differed about the Pen Prov. 22.20 Have not I written unto thee excellent things ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã three things three Principal Books 1. Of Creation In thy Book were all my members written Psal 138.16 2. Of Commandments 3. Of Providence which is called the Book of the Living Psal 68.29 These are they which the wise Man calls excellent things Prov. 22.20 1.
without a prey but when occasion is offered then then 's the tryal hoc specimen specitur c. When a man is sleighted when he is provoked when he is injured is he then peaceable and quiet or doth he then cast up mire and dirt out of the abundance of his unclean and corrupt heart Surely beloved he who is so unpeaceable so often as he hath occasion and provocation to be so he is alwayes unpeaceable for scarce any man is unpeaceable without occasion unless the devil drive him But this this is the honour of a peaceable man to the honour of the God of Peace Potuit transgredi non est transgressus potuit mala facere non fecit Ecclus. 31.10 He might have offended and did not offend he might have done evil and did it not 1 Sam. 24.18 19. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã As much as lies in you that that is in you MS. as much as in you is Coverdale Quod ex vobis est that which is on your part All these phrases are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and sound to the same effect and purpose that however difficult the business be how unpeaceable soever others may be yet the fail the defect the fault the breach be not caused by us nor be on our part ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as much as lies in you live c. And how much I pray lies in you I know that in me i. e. in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 Nor are we sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 Nay we are not only unable but disposed to unquietness and unpeaceableness for Man according to his first birth is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as Zophar saith truly Job 11.12 He is like a wild Ass as the Angel foretels that Ismael should be Gen. 16.12 like a wild Ass among men as the Chaldee Paraphrast there unpeaceable untractable unsociable so that there is nothing in us by nature disposing us to a quiet and peaceable life but much in us disposing us against it and therefore the Apostle here is to be understood to speak to believers and so I hope to us all to us who are born again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as much as lies in you and that 's a great deal as much as may be as may appear both by the words neighbouring to the Text c. If we enquire into a Reason why as much as lies in us we should live peaceably with all men it may appear 1. Partly in respect of God it 's his command for as his will is be ye holy be ye merciful because I am merciful so be ye peaceable because I am so 2. The Saints of God whose Graces he would exercise in regard of others they are God's witnesses unto them the salt of the earth the light of the world Mat. 5.13 14. It is the Saints duty to love the Lord their God with all their heart c. and that great wheel being turned about easily moves all inferiour unpeaceable men But whereas peace may be broken many wayes but more notably and specially two wayes either by sutes at Law or by Wars Doubts may be made concerning both As 1. Whether the Saints may go to Law yea or no 2. Whether they may go to War yea or no 1. Of the first Certain it is that while we are in the body and have to do with Bonum Commutabile as they call it offences will come and differences will arise concerning what 's Right or Wrong Meum Tuum Mine and Thine which are wont to be tryed by Law or Arbitration and as differences arise so Truth and Equity hide themselves For Answer therefore to this Doubt whether the Saints and peaceable ones may make use of this means yea or no we must consider the Saints and peaceable ones either 1. As having difference one with other or else 2. Having difference with unpeaceable men and unbelievers 1. As we consider them as having difference one with other there are degrees of them whereof some such as our Lord calls Sons of peace Luk. 10.6 i. e. worthy or fit for peace so è contra a Son of death is one worthy to die 2 Sam. 12.5 such as are fit to have the way of peace which God and men made known unto them Or 2. Such as are grown up and are old travellers in the way of peace such as are fit to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Ambassadors of peace and preach the Gospel of peace to others The former have sometimes differences among themselves as there was a strife among Christ's Disciples who should be accounted the greatest Luk. 22.24 And here the more peaceable Saints must be the Judges as in the Common-wealth of Israel Exod. 18.21 22. it was Jethro's counsel to Moses to provide out of all the people able men such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness and let them judge the people at all seasons Deut. 1.12 And truly the Christian Church which is the true Israel of God Gal. 6. and the true Common-wealth of Israel Ephes 2. it ought to have as more excellent Ministers of the word 2 Cor. 3.6 so by Analogie more excellent temporal Judges Magistrates and Governours than they had under the Law if any thing can be added unto that qualification which we read of Exod. 18.21 For if Severus the Emperour so hated an unjust Judge that he could not but vomit when such an one was brought into his presence how much more loathsom shall we think unjust pretended Christian Judges shall be unto God who is the Judge of all the world And therefore our Apostle requires that they who judge of differences among the Sons of Peace be Saints and holy ones of God 2 Cor. 6.1 2 3 4. And our Lords Rule here ought to obtain dic Ecclesiae Matth. 18.17 As for such as are grown men and men of peace they make no differences no contentions either with the younger Sons of Peace nor among such as themselves nor with those that are without Abraham's example is remarkable Gen. 13. when he had taken with him his Nephew Lot to travel toward the Land of Canaan the bonum Commutabile their temporal substance endangered a difference between them for there was already a strife between their herd-men vers 5 6 7. Now Abraham prudently foreseeing that the beginning of strife is like the letting out of waters as Solomon speaks Prov. 18.14 he timely stops the current of these waters of Meribah Let there be no strife saith he between me and thee and between my herds-men and thy herds-men for we are brethren is not the whole land before thee separate thy self I pray thee from me if thou wilt take the left hand I will go to the right or if thou depart to the right hand I will go to the left A laudable example and worthy the Father of the Faithful he condescends and yields to Lot his Nephew and Inferiour and
measures or Ages Childhood Youth or old Age as hath been shewn which of these three would our Apostle have to be formed in the Galatians certainly not the childhood or infancy of Christ that 's implyed to be formed in them when he calls them Little Children No no it was the perfect growth and age of Christ as much as can be attained unto in this life that the Apostle longed for and travelled in birth till Christ was so formed in them But because ab extremo ad extremum non pervenitur nisi per medium and of necessity we must be young before we be old howsoever our Apostle here primarily intend the man-age or perfect age of Christ to be formed in the Galatians yet must the young mans age preceding that old age here also be necessarily implyed and understood We must know therefore wherein principally both these consist what it is for Christ to be formed in the Galatians according to Youth or Old Age. 1. According to the Youth or young age Christ is formed in believers when these Children of light receive a greater measure of light from the Father of Lights and these weaklings receive a greater measure of strength from the Father Almighty than they had before in their Childhood and these two light and strength ye have sometime separate and apart in Scripture and sometime joyntly set down 1. Separate and apart so in Isa 2. which all men understand of Christ's Kingdom vers 5. Christ is called the light of the Lord and Isa 9. our first lesson on his birth day the great light which place the Evangelist quotes to that purpose Matth. 4.13 and interprets it of Christ That it might be fulfilled saith he which was spoken by Isaias the Prophet the people which sate in darkness saw a great light The Law was a light Prov. 6.23 unto children brought up under it Gal. 4. but Christ a great light unto those that are past a child To them which sate in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up Light was sown before for the Righteous Psal 97. but now it was sprung up 2. They receive a greater measure of strength for those who were before but babes in Christ and weaklings with Christ as St. Paul speaks in these Christ liveth by the power of God 2 Cor. 13. beside many such like testimonies to be understood of Christ in this Age Psal 71 17-89 But the most pregnant that I know and fittest for this purpose is Psal 110. which our Saviour expounds of himself Matth. 22.44 There the Psalmist calls the time of Christ's youth the day of his power the words are remarkable and well turned by our Translators vers 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power thou hast the dew of thy youth 2. Because light and strength are Vertues issuing out of him at once into those in whom he is formed ye have them both also joyntly set down Thou art the God of my strength O send out thy light Psal 43.2 and the Lord is a sun and a shield Psal 84.11 the horn or strength of David and the lamp or light of Gods anointed Psal 132.17 which old Zachary understood of Christ Luk. 1.69 The Apostle makes all plain 1 Cor. 1.24 Jesus Christ saith he is the power of God and the wisdom of God This light and strength are sometimes contracted and artificially woven into one phrase so in Psal 19. which St. Paul quotes for the preaching of Christ Rom. 10. Christ is called the Sun which is likened to a Giant or strong man to run his course and he appears to John as the Sun shining in his strength Apoc. 1.16 St. Paul coucheth both as closely Rom. 13.12 Put on saith he the armour of light what 's that lest we should mistake him he tells us what he means vers 14. Put on saith he the Lord Jesus Christ Having brought this light and strength or the strength of this light into so narrow a room and as it were contracted the beams of the Sun of Righteousness unto a Cone ye may look for some effects of both in us This light therefore reproves and guides believers 1. It reproves them for whatsoever is reproved is reproved by the light wherefore Vbi clarum manè fenestras intrat when the light enters the sluggards windows it rouzeth him and saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light And it reproves them of a twofold darkness 1. of Errour 1 Pet. 2.25 2. of Ignorance and that 1. meerly privative as that of the two Disciples Luk. 24. 2. wayward and untoward as that of the Athenians Act. 17.27 2. It guides believers also into the wayes of life for this was that light which led the Israelites according to the flesh thorough the wilderness into the Land of Promise and the very same which God thereby typically promised should lead his Israel according to the Spirit through the wilderness of this world into the heavenly Canaan And in express terms He that hath mercy on them shall lead them and by the springs of water the water of life shall he guide them Isa 49.10 for the performance of the promise saith old Zachary and thorough the same tender mercies of our God Christ the day spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the wayes of peace Luk. 1.78 79. The power and strength of Christ in believers is seen both in the deliverance of them from enemies and enabling them to do the will of God as Nehemiah furnished his workmen both with swords to fight and with tools to build The power of Christ in the deliverance of them from enemies is exercised about the enemies of believers and about believers themselves The enemies of believers are Sin Condemnation Hell Death Satan set down in Scripture as Military Forces are in History sometimes their Captains sometimes his Army named and sometimes both all these the power of Christ the Captain of our Salvation overcomes binds disarms spoils and kills in us thus he breaks in us the Serpents head Gen. 3. Thus he treads Satan under the Saints feet Rom. 16. Thus the stronger man enters the strong mans house binds him and takes away his armour from him wherein he trusted Luk. 11.22 Thus he spoils principalities and powers and triumphs over them all Col. 2.15 Thus he becomes the death of death it self and all this is the power of Christs death in us for he triumphs over all his enemies in his Cross Col. 2.15 For whereas the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death that is the Devil This Divine Power is exercised about believers themselves loosing these children from the bands of Satan in whose hearts he had bound up foolishness
effect of Righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever Esa 32. And my joy shall no man take from you Joh. 16. Will you see these altogether ye have them Esa 66. where the Prophet hath spoken of the same forming and birth of Christ vers 7 8 9. presently annexeth the peace and the joy of it vers 10 11 12. Will ye see a brief discription of it It is Rom. 14.17 The kingdom of God is righteousness peace and joy And thus at length ye have heard wherein consists the forming of Christ in the Saints both according to youth and according to old age I will briefly name the causes of this forming and fashioning of Christ in the Saints and so end with application of all unto our selves The causes are considerable in regard of God and our selves 1. In respect of God as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã say some Divines but rather as faciamus hominem import that the whole Trinity was imployed in the making of the greater and lesser World Even so in the forming of Christ in the Saints which as the Apostle intimates was typified by the Creation of the World 2 Cor. 4.6 All the persons of the Trinity are taken up These are the Creators which the Wiseman bids us remember for the word is plural in the Original Eccles 12. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Remember thy Creators in the days of thy youth for according to the oeconomy and administration of these kingdoms observed by Irenaeus God the Father begets these Children Deut. 32.8 And having promised to send the Son unto them accordingly he sends him and by his Law draws them unto him Joh. 6. And thus my father worketh hitherto saith the Son unto him Joh. 5.17 Now the Son comes forth attended by these Children given and brought unto him by his Father and offering them again unto his Father saith Cyril with these words Behold I and the children which God hath given me Esa 8.18 which the Apostle quotes and applys expresly unto the Fathers bringing of Children unto the Son Heb. 2.13 And in these the Son perfects the work which his Father gave him to do Joh. 17.4 For they grow up unto him in all things from babes unto young men and so forth unto old and perfect men Eph. 4. This growth the Father and Son effect by the outward ministration of the Word and inward operation of the Spirit For as the Sun and a man beget a man as the Philosopher speaks so God and the Minister beget the form of the New Man in us whence the Minister is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gods Coworker or workman together with God and the Father also of the Saints begotten by his Ministry for as wicked men are the sons of Men and of the Devil for in so many words the sons of Eli were sons of Belial 1 Sam. 3. and our Saviour tells the ungodly Jews That he knew they were Abrahams seed Yet saith he ye are of your father the devil So on the contrary the Children of God are also Children of the Minister For St. Paul calls Onesimus Phil. 10. and Timothy his sons 1 Cor. 4.17 and saith he begat all the Corinthians through the Gospel That 's the seed whereof these Children are begotten for they are not born again of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever This holy Seed is enlivened and quickned by the inward operation of the Spirit of God Zach. 4.6 which moves upon the Seed in this New Creation and forming of Christ in us as it once moved upon the confused seed of the world in the Old Creation And like that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that formative power in the womb it forms and fashions Christ in these little Children And as in the forming of an Embryo in the Womb the first form is first abolished and then another introduced And as we put out of the wax the old impression of the seal before we seal it anew So also in the forming of Christ in these Children the precedent form is wrought out and they wrought unto an inconformity with the world Rom. 12.2 And as obedient children they do not form or fashion themselves according to the former lusts in their ignorance 1 Pet. 1.14 And as he is holy which calleth them So are they holy also in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 These are the causes of this information of this forming of Christ in us in respect of God The causes in respect of the Saints themselves are Faith in Christ and imitation of Christ 1. Faith in Christ is so necessary to the forming of him in the Saints that these two phrases the Saints to be in the Faith and Christ to be in the Saints are taken for one and the same Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your own selves know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 2. Nor is the imitation of Christ in all his Virtues and Graces less necessary to the forming of him in us for he is the example we must follow the pattern and copy which we must take out and draw to life in us For we all behold as in a mirrour or looking-glass the glory of the Lord with open face So the most ancient authorized English Translations have it and are changed into the same similitude or image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 Nay Beloved This imitation of Christ is of such absolute necessity that all the Faith in the world which worthily we highly prize yet all of it without the following of Christ in love and other graces it 's meerly vain and to no purpose Insomuch as he that could remove the highest mountains of his sins yet grew not up in Charity he is nothing 1 Cor. 13. Nay which may seem strange he that hath obtained like precious Faith with the Apostles themselves if he grow not up into Christ unto a perfect man in all other virtues and graces also all his Faith is dead no more a true faith than the carcase of a man 's a man He that lacketh these things saith the Apostle 2 Pet. 1. that is virtue knowledge temperance patience godliness brotherly kindness charity he that lacks these is blind manu tentans feeling with his hand of faith after Christ like the blind Sodomites at Lots door And this St. Peter speaks to those who had obtained like precious Faith with himself and the rest of the Apostles I beseech ye consider the place well 2 Pet. 1.1.9 And that this imitation hath a necessity upon it as well medii as praecepti appears by vers 11. of that Chapter If ye do these thing ye shall never fall for so an entrance shall be ministred abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I have done with the causes I promised you an application and I 'l be very brief
great and important duty may be done and is done by all those who are Christs for they crucifie the flesh The Apostles drift here is to put a distinction between those under the Law as the Galatians desired to be Gal. 4.21 And 2. those under the Gospel 1. They under the Law are liable to the works of the flesh whereof he propounds a Catalogue vers 19. and consequently to Condemnation But 2. They who are under the Gospel are led by the spirit of Christ and bring forth the fruits of the Spirit and crucifie the flesh with the affections and lusts 1. They crucifie the flesh that must be distinct from the effects of it which follow with the affections and lusts So that for our more distinct consideration of these words I shall take them asunder and propound unto you these three Divine Axioms 1. The Christians or Disciples of Christ are Christs and belong to Christ 2. They have crucified the flesh 3. They have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts 1. The Christians or Disciples of Christ are Christs ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They are such as belong unto Christ This is needful to be explained because it is the subject and foundation on which the following Divine Truths are built with this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Disciples of Christ or Christians are described Who then are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they that are Christs They who are Christs are considerable either in themselves or as compared with others 1. In themselves they who belonged to Christ were called by diverse names See Notes in Act. 11.26 Reason 1. They are correspondent to their Pattern Reason 2. In regard of the Father Col. 1.12 and the Son Joh. 17. Observ 1. The transcendent dignity of Christians Jam. 2.7 Observ 2. Christians and Disciples of Christ they are not their own they are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they are Christs Observ 3 As these words are comparatively taken learn hence O Christian man in what estate thou art c. See Notes in Act. 11.26 But how is it true that they who are Christs have crucified the flesh This is with similitude to Christ who is made sin for us and said to be put to death in the flesh 1 Pet. 3.18 and to have suffered for us in the flesh Chap. 4.1 And therefore in conformity unto his Crucifixion the Old Man of sin is to be put to a like death Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Thus the sinful flesh or flesh and body of sin answers to Christs flesh and our Patience unto his Cross whereby the body of sin is crucified The Reason why they who are Christs ought to crucifie the flesh See Notes in Luk. 9.23 Object But the Text seems not to impose this as a duty on us to be done but speaks of it as already supposed to be done They that are Christs have crucified the flesh c. Respon It 's well worth our notice that sometime Christ sometime they who are Christs are said to have done or suffered that which they are yet doing So 1. Christ is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he hath made the purging of our sins Heb. 1.3 When yet he continues to make the purging of them 1 Job 1. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness Thus Heb. 2.16 He took on him the seed of Abraham The word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the present tense as being the daily work of his providence to lay hold upon the seed of Abraham the faithful ones and to keep them from falling 2. Thus when they who are Christ's are said to be dead and buried with Christ by baptism Rom. 6.2 3 4. The words are in the Aorist ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which note their continued act of dying spiritually being baptized and being buried with Christ Thus the Colossians are said to be risen with Christ yet vers 5. they are exhorted to mortifie the earthly members And the word here also is in the Aorist And thus in the words of the Text They that are Christ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they have crucified the flesh c. they have so done it that they are still doing of it Observ 4. The subtilty of Satan who for preservation of his own Kingdom hath brought mis-interpretations upon the Cross c. See Notes on Phil. 2.8 They who are Christs have crucified the flesh We must here enquire 1. What 's meant by the flesh 2. What it is to crucifie the flesh 3. How it is true that they who are Christs have crucified the flesh 1. The flesh here signifieth the old man Rom. 6.6 2. The word we render a Cross is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which of old was nothing else but that the Latin calls palus or vallus a long spar of Timber sharpened at one end and driven into the ground it had the name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the erecting and setting it up into the air saith Eustathius and was used first for defence many such stakes being fixed into the earth about ones dwelling But afterward they fastned a transverse piece of Wood to the top of it and made it a Cross and used it for the execution of Malefactors Hence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to crucifie or to fasten a Malefactor to the Cross Thus the word is used Matth. 27. As for the kind of death it was very painful See Notes on Phil. 2.8 ad finem in additionibus 3. But what 's this to us And how is it true that they who are Christs have crucified the flesh Surely it 's a principal duty of Christianity See Notes on Psal 28. in addit It is not truly understood what is the true spiritual Cross which our Lord commands his Disciples to take up The most agree that by the Cross of Christ is to be understood all manner of afflictions and persecutions Omnis generis calamitates piorum presertim veritatis causâ toleratas saith Flace Illyricus c. We can be no otherwise Christ's Disciples Nisi ad multas aerumnas ferendas compositi simus saith one of greatest name And another not much inferiour to him Nequit absque Cruce persecutione praedicari in mundo regnum Dei I might name many more who interpret the Cross of Christ to be afflictions and persecutions But persecutions cannot be the Cross of Christ See Notes on Phil. 2.8 Besides persecutions and afflictions befal all men alike Eccles 9. Cruci suae non minus affixi sunt reprobi whereas the Cross is here directed to Christ's own Disciples Matth. 10.38 Luk. 9.23 Observ 1. Note here the Types and Figures of the old man crucified with his passions and lusts We read what a great execution there was done by Josuah soon after he came among the Malefactors in the Land of Canaan Chap. 8.29 He hang'd the
out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our life Of Israel according to the flesh this cannot be understood nor of enemies which are flesh and blood but both spiritual for the Israel according to the flesh hath been so far from being delivered from the hands of bodily enemies that they never so much before as since that time have served under a bodily slavery Besides such enemies they are as are opposed to holiness and righteousness in which we serve God all the dayes of our life And that is the power of doing the will of God for what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.3 4. Such a second kind of Omnipotency God hath given unto men such power unto men among whom St. Paul was one I am able to do all things saith he through Christ that inwardly enables me Phil. 4.13 How egregious then is their folly yea how execrable is their Idolatry who might be so strong in God yet repose their strength in the derived weak power of the Creature As the Ahitophels of the time in their deep reach and policy the rich Nabals and Labans the two Churles in Scripture who spell backward one the others Name who make their riches their strong Tower The glozing flatterers who trust in Princes or any child of man In a word all who trust in vain things which will not profit in the latter end To place our strength in a Creature is no less than Idolatry how great then how abominable is their Idolatry who place their strength in their sins who strengthen themselves in their wickedness Psal 52.7 as the Psalmist speaks the mighty Nimrods in evil of whom the Lord speaks in Amos 5.6 I know your manifold transgressions fortia peccata vestra your strong your mighty sins of such saith the Wise Man Potentes potentèr tormenta patientur such mighty men shall be mightily tormented These wage as it were an open war and march against the face of God and all Religion and like the Philistins encourage themselves against the Lord of Hosts Be strong and quit your selves like men 1 Sam. 4. But others there are cunning pioners cuniculos agunt they have a glorious pretence of holiness and under that colour undermine the power and strength of the Lord of Hosts What else I beseech you do they mean who would perswade us that we cannot be so strong in the Lord as to do the Lords will who teach us that the Commandments were given us not for this end that we should keep them No no that 's indeed an end reveiled and above-board but that there is another end aimed at that is that at the best we should acknowledge and bewail our own weakness and infirmity and so let us know that we cannot keep them nay that some might be condemned by not keeping them no though Christ himself say That all things are possible to him that believes though St. John say That they that are strong have overcome the evil one 1 Joh. 2.13 And though he be greater that is in us than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 Though St. Paul say That the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.4 But alas they complain they have no strength at all whence it comes to pass that they place the strength and power of Religion in meer weakness and impotency and in a devout kind of groaning and lamentable sighing because they say they cannot i. e. indeed they will not do the Lords will But perhaps they need not for the Law was not made for a righteous man but they believe at all adventures that they are righteous Or put case the Law were made for them yet it comes all to one purpose Christ hath fulfilled it for them long ago and hath left nothing for them to do but to believe that 't is done to their hand and to prattle of it But Christ hath enjoyned us many Duties as to love our enemies and to do good to them that hate us and despitefully use us c. Hath Christ fulfilled these for us or shall we look for another Christ to fulfil them for us Here they whine here they sigh here they groan and tell us they have no strength or at the best they say they strive and endeavour which were well in a degree but they think 't is enough nay all Nay they think that they are abundantly strong enough if they can but say that the evil which they do they allow not and the good which they would do they do not that they know they are carnal and sold under sin That they find a Law in their members warring against the Law of their mind and bringing them into captivity to the Law of sin c. If they can but find themselves in this temper as who may not that hath not silenced the check of natural conscience they think all is well and that St. Paul was no stronger than they are Thus they under-prop their voluntary weakness even with the Word of God it self and make it serve as a cloak and covering for their sins Thus the pretence of Rom. 7. shipwracks many a soul which the sixth and eighth might save Adulterers and Adulteresses they would be strong in Christ and Belial together and from this contrariety proceeds their grief their sighing and lamentable groaning and hence proceeds their weakness they are willing to transgress and therefore like harlots willing to be forced use but half their strength or like great lubbards strong enough yet are willing to be buffetted as the cowardly Ephraimites carried bows yet turned themselves backward in the day of battle See Notes first after Easter in 1 Joh. 5.4 This also is the reason that they cull and single but of the Word of God all the Histories and all the Promises which the Lord undertakes to do for his people and refuse what the Lord commands them to do To make this appear to be most true I beseech you observe some few Examples of many which might be named How often do you hear this most comfortable speech There 's no condemnation to those which are in Christ Jesus there they make a full period but of the next clause of the sentence essentially belonging unto this being the description of those which are in Christ Jesus namely who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit of this altum silentium not a word of it And in the same Chapter All things work together for good to them who love God 't is in every mans mouth but they never question what it is to love God which St.
Apostacy of it they delivered divers Ceremonies unto the Church Observ 2. Not only the open and known sin is destructive but also the counterfeit righteousness not only the manifest breach of Gods Law brings destruction with it but also the perverse and cross observation of it Observ 3. Outward Services of God may be abused as hearing the word when the heart goes after covetousness Ezek. 33. Prayer is abused when not used to obtain Grace for pardon of sin nor strength against sin Thanksgiving is abused when it ends in surfeiting and drunkenness The Sacrament of Baptism is abused when made an argument of quarreling The Lords Supper is abused when used only to cover sin not for the mortification of sin Fasting is abused when used for this end that men may smite with the fist of wickedness Esay 58. When under a pretence of a Fast Naboth i. e. the Spirit of Prophecy must be slain Axiom 2. All these things by abuse tend to destruction Namely of those who abuse them Herein we must enquire 1. What all these things are 2. What their abuse is 3. How by their abuse they are to destruction 1. By ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all which things we must understand those in the verse before mimically expressed Touch not taste not handle not in all which their objects are to be understood as touch not a dead Carcase or one that hath an Issue or a Leper c. Taste not Swines flesh or what ever by the Ceremonial Law was unclean Handle not or meddle not with a woman Now the question is whether these prohibitions proceeded from the Ceremonial Law of God now according to the Letter out of use or whether hereby be to be understood the opinions of the Philosophers as the Pythagoreans for these as many Hereticks after them taught their Disciples to abstain altogether from Wine and Women such were the Eucratitae a sort of old Hereticks Clem. Alexand. lib. 3. Strom. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Apostle foretold that such as these should be in the later time 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. Surely such Prohibitions might proceed out of the Ceremonial Law of God yet since the Philosophers whose Leaders at least had read the Writings of Moses delivered the same rules to their Disciples and that in order to the worship of Angels as hath been shewn and of such the Apostle speaks expresly v. 18. We may here understand those Prohibitions at large whether the Dictates of the Law or Opinions of the Philosophers The Reason of this Reproof I implyed before being one of the Apostles Arguments to convince them ab indecoro it no way beseemed them it was contrary to their Profession they were by Profession dead to the world and the elements of the world A like Reason the Apostle hath whereby he reproves the Galatians in like condition Gal. 4 9. After ye have known God how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements c. Observ 1. Hence it appears how forward men are in the observation of outward commands and prohibitions they are too free and need restraint here by the Apostle what 's the reason of this O Beloved these outward commands or prohibitions do not cross or thwart mens corruptions Besides hereby men make a fair shew in the flesh and have the face of a specious Sanctity and Holiness in the eyes of the world Observ 2. Note hence the Reason why such outward Commandments as these find so easie admittance by the unsanctified vulgar multitude they do not trouble them in their sins they can keep a Sabbath and hear the word and receive the Sacrament they can keep a fast and eat nothing all day hear the word and return home as good Christians as when they went out and think they have done God good Service in that they have not touched nor tasted meat nor drink all the day mean time their customary sin remains when yet the resting from sin is the true Sabbath the mortifying of sin is the end of the Holy Sacrament and the ceasing from sin is the true fast The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink nor abstaining from meats and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And he that in these things serveth Christ is accepted of God and approved of men Rom. 14. Observ 3. Note hence what mighty power Satan hath over this present evil world which lies in him 1 John 4. yea over those who were sometime as dead to the world such the Apostle reproves Gal. 4.9 After ye have known God c. and such he reproves in the Text Thus the Prince of the Air as the Ancients understand him to be figured by Belshazzar Esay 14.14 He will be like the most High St. John brings him in working miracles and giving life to his dead Image Revel 13.15 And what else doth he when he raiseth up those who were dead to the world and dead to his Image and makes them live again unto it Observ 4. See then in what rank and order of Duty a Fast is it is one of the outward and Ceremonial Services of God and so in order to that which is spiritual and by these and such as these the Lord nurtured and brought up his people Axiom 3. Touch not tast not handle not all which by abuse tend to destruction after the Commandments and Doctrines of men What men are these Who else but the false Teachers among the Christians who either did ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã coin opinions and tenents themselves or took them from the Philosophers as I shewed in the opening of the first point And what Reason can we alledge for this why the false Teachers should thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This proceeds from carnal wisdom which though most unfit as being enmity to and foolishness with God yet it 's always tampering with the things of God Thus the wisest Heathens Knowing God yet worshipped him not as God but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened Rom. 1.21 22 23. And in this their blindness and folly they intruded into the things that they had not seen vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind Thus we shall find how superstitious some of the wisest Philosophers have been as Xenophon Epimenides and among the Jews Jeroboam Jehu Solomon Vide Notes in Psalm 105.19 This cannot be construed of the Magistrate who is Custos utriusque Tabulae who seeing the ruine of the people to proceed from their disobedience towards God he may nay he ought to enjoyn such Laws as make for the welfare of the people and herein he ought to be obeyed as being of things lawful and possible and for peace and order sake But the Ordinances here mentioned proceeded from the superstitious Teachers either in part as Acts 15. or in whole as in all Pharasaical men Observ 1. Such men are apt to multiply Commands Observ 2. Such men though they would enlarge conscience as touching the necessity of
Israelites diverse things touching the Tabernacle and materials of it c. Exod. 25. Because they had sinned a great sin in making a Golden Calf Exod. 32. He repeats the same things verbatim which their fin had caused them to forget Exod. 35. The like we may observe Numb 28. where Moses repeats diverse of those Laws which he had before taught the people because their whoredom with the daughters of Moab Numb 25. had obliterated and abolished the knowledge of them Whence we learn not to bring with us to the hearing of Sermons or like discourses curious ears or dainty palates that cannot relish the same meat if more than once served up unto them How contrary are such men to the Primitive Christians Act. 13.1 2. who besought the Apostle that the same words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day and the next Sabbath day came almost the whole City together to hear the Word of God the same things that were before delivered vers 44. It is a Lesson for you Parents or in the place of Parents as Masters of Families that which Moses teacheth Deut. 6.7 Thou shalt teach these words diligently unto thy Children or thou shalt whet or sharpen them so 't is in the Margin The Hebrew word is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth to iterate to repeat over and over as in the whetting of a knife you move your hand this way and that way and all to set an edge upon the Word of God that it may be sharp and pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and discern the thoughts and intents of the heart Hebr. 4.12 How shameful a thing therefore it is for us to hear and receive the same things over and over to have the same Word of God whet and sharpned upon us once and again and yet mean time only fungi vice cotis to be like a whetstone or like an anvil not one jot the better Gutta cavit lapidem c. these are as the nether milstone hard-hearted men that will not admit the Word of God to take place in them The holy Apostle was not content once to have taught the Thessalonians but he repeats it again and here adds an entreaty exhortation that they would abound so we may joyn the fourth and fifth points together we intreat you in all their names nay in the great Name i. e. the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ An Argument that it 's a very difficult thing to obtain at the hands of men that they would abound go beyond others beyond themselves in walking and pleasing God But how reasonable this request and exhortation is will easily appear if we summarily recollect what hath been hitherto delivered 1. That they abound to please God which is the greatest and highest Duty of Man The best commendation of the best men as how great praise is recorded of Enoch and Noah and our Father Abraham Walk before me saith God unto him and be perfect Gen. 17. and I will make my Covenant between me and thee and I will multiply thee exceedingly and I will make thee exceeding fruitful this is the fruit of abounding and pleasing God 2. Thus to abound it is to draw near unto the Divine Nature it self 2 Pet. 1. 3. There 's a necessity laid upon us of so doing God hath commanded it our own duty requires it it 's the only means of pleasing God our own wants call for it it is for Gods honour and glory it adds to our own account 4. So necessary it is that the Apostle repeats it over and over 5. He intreats us so to do 6. He intreats us in the Name of the Lord Jesus which is 1. A terrible Name it commands with Authority He is the Lord 2. Yet dulce nomen the Lord Jesus which comprehends all these dulcia nominá those suppling oylie names of Saviour Deliverer Redeemer names of mercy goodness gentleness a name where God unfolds and layes open the treasuries of his bounty and goodness will not these supple us and bend us hereunto surely then these will 1. Without abounding in walking and pleasing God all our labour is utterly lost which we have formerly taken all the righteousness that we have done shall not be mentioned Ezech. 18.24 it 's a rule among Divines Bona opera subsequenti peccato mortificari eademque rursum per poenitentiam vivificari Estius in Gal. 3.4 That good works are made unfruitful and dead by sin following them and enlivened and quickned anew by repentance following sin let me therefore expostulate this Case with you shall we lose all our labour hitherto Have we suffered so many things in vain if it be yet in vain Gal. 3.4 for I hope better things of you and those that are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã such as touch upon and lay hold upon and are continued with Eternal Life O Beloved consider the danger of standing at a stay See Notes on Gal. 4.19 3. If ye give over your abounding in walking and pleasing God all your labour hath been spent in vain if ye go on and abound your labour is not in vain 'T is a Meiosis which the Apostle hath 1 Cor. 15. ult My beloved brethren be ye stable and immoveable alwayes abounding in every good work of the Lord. Estius in locum So many Translations have it and so it is Col. 1.10 and 2 Thess 2.17 knowing this that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. No all the reward of Life Eternal is suspended upon non-perseverance and abounding in walking and pleasing God This is too glorious a mirrour for the greatest part of those who call themselves Christian Men to behold themselves in for let us look I beseech you with an impartial eye into our own selves and compare our selves now with our selves some years agoe Let us examine our own hearts whether we are any whit better yea or no Is there not the same faith knowledge hope confidence love patience meekness and the same degree of all these in us which was perhaps many years ago If so how do we abound here 's no increase at all how do we walk and please God walking is a motion and going on here 's no such matter Let us instance if ye please is not our Love confined within a few of our own Sect and Religion whatever that is Doth it any whit extend it self beyond that Nay do we not love them only which love us and is this to abound except we seign some such wretch as is in every respect his own all in all but he loves some besides himself Nabal and Laban the two Churles that Anagrammatize one the others name loved their own they were good to their own blood their kindred and acquaintance The rich man in hell loved his brethren and yet if we be so good to these only we are in effect but good unto our selves we make our selves our own centre and circumference And this
9.35 vers 23. vel Angelorum or of the Angels Judg. 6.22 13.22 Vel Christi recede à me c. dixit Petrus or of Christ therefore said Peter depart from me 4. Respectu attributorum in Deo In respect of the attributes of God 1. Gods wisdom whereby he knoweth all things knowable what is fit to be imparted and to whom 2. His power whether potestas or potentia whereby he enables men to know and do Dan. 2.23 Amos 3.8 1. Observe the dignity and excellency of Gods Prophets God spake by them they are Gods Ambassadors Jam. 5.10 they are in the place of God 2 Cor. 5. Gods Truchmen and Interpreters they convey the mind of God unto us 2 Cor. 6. 2. This hath been alwayes the course of Gods Providence besides the standing Priesthood or Ministry to raise up such Prophets unto his people and to speak by such 2 Chron. 36.15 Jer. 6.17 I set watchmen over you and 25.3 2 King 17.13 The Lord testified against Israel and Judah by the hand of all the Prophets Hos 12.13 by a Prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Aegypt Amos 3.18 Zach. 1.4 5 6. 3. They who have the Law and a standing Priesthood may need extraordinary Prophets the Devil may bring in such corruptions in Doctrine Faith and Life into the Priests and People that they may have need of such to reprove rectifie and reform them without which no right reformation can be made Mat. 5.6 Observe the duty of Gods Prophets they speak as they are spoken unto therefore they are said to speak ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Oracles of God 1 Pet. 4.10 11. Vt homini sua manus they are to God as a mans hand is to him the hand is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a common organ guided by the understanding and will 2 Pet. 1.21 They were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã born up acti agunt Amos 3.8 so the word came ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Moses Jeremy Amos. 7. Act. 4.20 Thou shalt be as my mouth if thou separate between the precious and the vile Jer. 15.19 They are called Seers 1 Sam. 9.9 They speak what they have seen with their Fathers as the grand prophet speaks Joh. 8. Consider the Divinity of the Prophets Writings God spake by them This I note the rather because by many they are neglected as less pertinent unto Christian men as if the New Testament were only proper unto them St. Paul preached no other thing than what Moses and the prophets spake so said Abraham to Dives They have Moses and the Prophets Therefore Scrutamini Scripturas Search the Scriptures Repreh 1. Eos qui contemptu habent Prophetas Those who despise the Prophets 2 Chron. ult Qui vos despicit me despicit He that despiseth you despiseth me For this cause Corinthus eversa Corinth was over-turned and the Palatinate Repreh 2. Those who make themselves Prophets Jer. 29.26 2 King 22.13 14. Read the story of Ahad and Michaiah nay of Balaam who prophesied for preferment who steal the word and use their tongues Jer. 23.25 32. Exhort To read and heed with reverence the Prophecies Judg. 3.20 Eglon stood up at the name of the Lord 1. The Prophecies were dictated of God himself The Prophets were no other than Pen-men or the Pen wherewith they were written if we esteem the apprehensions or wise sayings of men c. how much more the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Spiritus Sancti The Apothegms or wise saying of the holy Spirit Act. 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Prophecy came ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Deborah to Eliezar till Rebecca was joyned to Isaac 2. That is that which St. Peter commended to the Primitive Christians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which was able to bring them to the Day-Star Christ Act. 8.29 They foretold the restitution of all things that universal peace upon earth Act. 3.21 23. 3. The neglect of the Prophets is an evident sign of destruction 2 Chron. 25.16 1 Sam. 2.25 Prov. 29.1 Ezech. 2.5 and 33.33 Act. 3.23 We come now to the measure and manner of Gods speaking by the Prophets under the Law 1. The measure ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 2. The manner ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I call it the measure though our English seems rather to refer it to times at sundry times as also doth the High and Low Dutch Beza multis vicibus oldest English many ways Dutch Diversly French Italian Sap. 7.22 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã see the place There is not any translation in any Language that I have yet met withal which fully expresseth this word Junius Tremellius come the nearest ad verbum say they omnibus partibus all the parts But they are out the word is to be rendered multis partibus many parts or word for word multipartitò in many parts This affords us these two points 1. That God spake to the Fathers by the Prophets particularly or by parts 2. In many parts 1. Particularly or by parts God revealed not all things to any one of his Prophets but part to Esay part to Jeremy part to Ezechiel c. Reason Ex parte Dei loqúentis on the part of God speaking Ex parte rei qua de loquitur on the part of the thing spoken Ex parte patrum quos alloquntus est on the part of the fathers to whom he spake 1. In regard of God himself He is infinite and therefore should he speak according to his own Essence there would be none to hear So in regard of his Wisdom Righteousness Holiness Power and Goodness which he desires to communicate unto men They are all infinite in him and therefore when he imparts them unto men it 's necessary that he so limit and qualifie them and so fit and prepare his Auditors for the receiving of them that they may be received of them 1 Cor. 13.9 Syriach Modicum ex multo cognoscimus of much we know but little This will appear more plainly if we consider the persons unto whom God spake under the Law Howbeit some were better grown than others yet the general state or condition was childhood Gal. 4. Now in a child there is commonly two things 1. Ignorance in the Understanding 2. Perverseness in the Will and Affections 1. Ignorance in the understanding God therefore so dealt with them as we do with children informing their understanding First with easie truths as to cease to do evil and learn to do well And this Doctrine he imparted unto them by little and little as we pour water into a narrow Vessel guttatim by drops by divers degrees and parts Thus Paul dealt with the Galatians Gal. 4.19 20. And therefore St. Paul having said We know in part and we prophesie in part Adds when I was a child c. 1 Cor. 13.9 10. Thus in that darkness under the Law every Star contributed a part of light unto the Heavens until the Sun of Righteousness arose So doth the prophetical word 2 Pet. 1. Vntil the day-star
prophets even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe Gal. 3.23 That hearing and obedience of faith gives the Spirit Gal. 3.2 3 5. and then that which is perfect is come 1 Cor. 13. This hath always been Gods method in bringing men unto Christ and his Spirit which will evidently appear if we consider who were Christs Disciples all of them were first Disciples of John the Baptist Peter was Bar-jona a Son or Disciple of John for so Disciples were called their Sons whose Disciples they were Thus Solomon every where speaks to his Disciples under the names of Sons and a greater than Solomon speaks so to his and S. Paul to the Corinthians and Galatians 4.19 Now all the Disciples of John the Baptist were brought up under the Disciples of the Law and Prophets for the Law and Prophets were until John for confirmation of this ye shall find the Law and Prophets preceding the Doctrine of Christ Mal. 4.2 5. Mark 6.12 Luke 10. Acts 13. after the reading of the Law Act. 2.38.39 Now I beseech you Brethren let us deal impartially with our own Souls we all hope that we believe and are in Christ and that we are all living stones built up a spiritual house 1 Pet. 2.5 The Metaphor is taken from Solomons Temple now Solomon when he built God an House appointed Hewers to hew and polish the stones and so made them fit if therefore we be living stones and part of that spiritual house Eph. 2.21 we must then be hewn and that 's the Prophets work Hos 6.5 Have the Prophets hewn us God killed men by his Prophets Hosea 6.5 Have the Prophets killed us That 's their work Arise Peter kill and eat it was Gods command to him when he was to admit the Gentiles into the Church Whether have the Prophets killed us or mortified us with the killing Letter of the Law That the old man is dead in us and the new man revived and quickened in us Whether are we pricked to the heart that the blood and life of sin may be shed and spilt upon the ground This was meant by that prohibition not to eat with the blood whether have we thus suffered unto Blood Add to these that sweet Harmony between the Old and New Testament Vide Notes in Matth. 16.17 The Prophecies are difficult 't is true see the truth of this and the reason of it Esay 29.10 to 14. Confer Apoc. 5. eum modo ratione intelligendi libri The darkness is in our selves lighten our darkness not in the Prophets they who take not this course to understand the Scriptures run into sundry Sects according to their different understandings and malign one another and kick even against the truth it self because it comes cross to their perceivings Prov. And because they meet not with such or such exposition as they have made in their few English Authors that they have read Sap. 2.21 Their own wickedness hath blinded them Observ 1. It was no new thing for God to speak to his people by the Prophets and Apostles he had dealt so with them now a long time many hundred years ago and it is his method still Moses must speak to Israel Deut. 5.28 and 18.16 Ananiah to Paul Acts 9.5 to 8. Philip to the Eunuch Acts 8.34 Peter to Cornelius Acts 10.4 5 6. And this method God will always observe to teach men by men till all be taught of God Esay 54.13 Jer. 31.34 Hosea 10.12 2 Pet. 1.19 2. The Lord spake of Christs incarnation many ages before Gen. 3. The Seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head This promise Eve conceived she should presently have received ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This the Lord did that Christ might be the more earnestly expected and longed for Vti non subitò veniens enarretur sed auditus expectaretur Austin As the Prince which the Embassador tells of long before 3. Hence observe the Grace and goodness of God unto his people and their preheminence above all other nations for whereas God spake to us Heathen in those days only by the voice of the Creation Psalm 19.23 Rom. 1.19 20 21. And by the works of his providence Acts 14 16 17. And by the Book of the Law written in our hearts Rom. 2.14 15. Besides all these the Lord gave to them his lively Oracles and Statutes and over and above raised them up Prophets among them for which peculiar benefits they are stirred up to praise God Psalm 147.19.20 words i. e. the ten words Deut. 10.4 the Moral Law his Statutes i. e. Ceremonial Laws and his Judgments i. e. his Judicial Laws Amos 2.11 I raised up your Sons for Prophets and your young men for Nazarites Vide Notes on Mich. 6.4 I brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt and redeemed thee out of the house of Servants and set before thee Moses and Aaron and Myriam O how much are we bound unto God who hath admitted us Gentiles into this Citizenship and sharing of these benefits with Israel since the Apostles days Eph. 2.19 20. yea that we are surrogatus Irael the Israel of God Gal. 6.16 Jews Rom. 2. Abrahams Seed who do the works of Abraham The true Circumcision 2. If we take the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for long time together as it is used for a continued space of time Mark 15.44 Wherein we have these three points answerable to the former First God spake to us Secondly He spake to us by his Son Thirdly God spake to us by his Son in these last times We have hitherto handled the first part of this triple Collation In the second the persons answer to the persons and time to time The persons are either auditors to whom or the Ministers by whom his Son spake 1. Auditors to whom ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Sons of the same Fathers God spake to us i. e. to us Hebrews But were not they wicked and rebellious Answer yes as appears Psalm 95.9 Your Fathers tempted me proved me though they saw my works and the third Chapter of this Epistle alledged also out of Matth. 33.20 they say we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets Acts 7.51 52. Whom have they not persecuted 1 Cor. 10.1 2 10. How came it then to pass that God sent his Son to such a people First for the performance of his truths sake Rom. 15.8 Luke 1.70 71. Secondly These had some worthy Ancestors as Abraham Isaac and Jacob for whose sakes they were remembred so God is prone to do 2 Kings 8.19 for David his Servants sake he would not destroy 2 Kings 20.6 confer Gen. 19.29 1. Observe Gods faithfulness God will perform what he hath promised even to the sending of his dearest Son to the children of unworthy Parents The promise is made to the obedient and performed to them let not men assume it to themselves in their disobedience such as will have
Observe we are Tenants unto Christ every one of us hold all we have of him some more some less every man all he hath Suppose thou hast no goods of fortune as they call them which some esteem so highly that they call them their substance yet mayest thou have the true riches and be rich towards God even those riches thou holdest of Christ Grace alone comes by Jesus Christ Joh. 1. Perhaps thou hast not the true Treasure but only common Graces these thou holdest of him and they are such as make even the abusers of them inexcusable Rom. 2. Nay hast thou but nature as who hath nor doest thou but breath in the common air thou holdest thy breath of Christ and owest rent of thanks to God for that Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord Psal 150. last how poor how miserable are they who are not mindful of this See Notes in Matth. 22.21 Repreh Those who not only detain the fruits of the Vineyard from the Lord of it nor only abuse them to the Lords dishonour but also abuse those who are sent unto them to demand the fruits of it such graceless ungrateful men we find described by our Saviour Matth. 21.34 are there not such among us May it not truly be said of this kingdom as an Hermite told Edward the Confessor that it is Gods Kingdom which hath appeared by his singular care of it and as truly may he say of this as he did of his own Land and People Jer. 2.21 so that we seem the Glory of all Lands God sends his Servants one after another when his Law Prophets Apostles c. are sent unto us but what fruit have we brought forth or sent him in this season The time is now come which the Apostle foretold that men should not endure found doctrine the message of God himself out of his express word unto them but should heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears Where shall we find the fruit of Gods Vineyard ye find the several kinds of fruits described Gal. 5.22 Col. 2.12 Where is that Love that livery of God whereby Gods Husbandmen Gods Disciples are known Joh. 13. doth it extend beyond the bounds of any Sect there is as much love among the Publicans c. where is the long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another when 't is held a principal fruit of the Spirit to make bate and set men together by the ears The best fruits the Lord shall find are either wild grapes Isai 5. or leaves only instead of fruit the leaves of an outward profession under which they shrowd themselves and cover a false hypocritical heart towards God and Men mean time the Devil hath his fruit sent him full measure and pressed down and running over envy pride covetousness wrath gluttony sloath lasciviousness Gal. 5.19 When Gods Vineyard brings forth such fruit can the Lords Servants hope for good fruits in their season Can men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles The Lord of the Vineyard sends his servants unto such and some they beat others they kill others they stone O Jerusalem Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest such us are sent unto thee yea the heir himself comes and requires fruit of his Vineyard and him they kill and crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame Heb. 6. What shall the Lord of the Vineyard do unto these husbandmen He appeals unto themselves Matth. 21.40 and they answer vers 41. he will miserably destroy them Beloved can we hope that God will be more indulgent unto us than he was to his own Ancient People Psal 78.56 62. Psal 106.38 39 40. Mark how the Apostle reasons Rom. 11.21 If God spared not the natural branches take heed that he also spare not thee and lest this should seem to us a scare-crow and vain fear let the wofull experience of other Churches and that imminent danger wherein we now are timely warn us Who knoweth not that those Regions wherein the Gospel was first planted and which were Gods inheritance then as we now are are now forsaken of God His Church first planted in Palestine was thence Translated into Asia Greece Aegypt Africk and other parts of the world which now are the feats of Turks and Infidels God hath destroyed those wicked men and let out his Vineyard unto others And to come nearer home to our selves there is a prophecy extant of these very times to this intent that by reason of our unthankfulness and injustice in detaining the fruits of holiness and righteousness from our God and abusing his Messengers and Servants who are sent unto us the kingdom of God shall be taken from us and given to the Turks and other Nations bringing forth the fruits of it Beloved whether our great Land-lord our Lord Paramount the Heir of all things will make good this prophecy against us yea or no he alone knoweth but we are but tenants and most certain it is we have broke our Covenant and the Lord hath a controversie with us and an action of waste against us for that we have abused his spiritual and temporal goods and the best of both his truth and peace and not rendered him the fruits of either but like Ephraim Hosea 10.1 Whereas we ought to bring forth fruit unto God Rom. 7. we prophane the Holiness of our God corrupt his Temple 1 Cor. 3. Exhort That we would yield Christ his inheritance in us Motives See Reasons of this in Matthew 22.21 and to the Exhortation following it Adde to these God hath given us all we have or are given us richly all things to enjoy so that of his own we give him 1 Chron. 29.11 Thus for this reason typically when Joshuah had divided the land of Canaan to the people of Israel the people gave Joshua an inheritance Johua 19.49 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the midst of them the true Joshua is Jesus so the LXX call that Book ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who is an exact type of Jesus the Heir of all things he hath divided us an inheritance even all we have and all we are let us therefore gratefully render unto Christ an inheritance in us Eph. 1.18 and 4.7 Vnto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure He will improve the Land and Inheritance 't is a great commendation of a Tenant that he will improve our inheritance Thus will the true Joshuah do this was typified Josh 19.49 50. The inheritance they gave Joshuah was called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a defaced corrupted and foul image it is his own image although much defaced His Visage was so marred more than any man and his form more than the Sons of men Esay 52.14 This may be understood of Gods Image in us Let them measure the Pattern Ezek. 43.10 This we must give up to him and he will build it up for us Thus Cantic 8.8 What shall we do for our Sister in the day
no sin to be ignorant of what God will have us ignorant Secret things belong to God c. but sin is throughly to be purged out yet that must be only in part inchoatè this is from the Devil ye shall know all things like God no ye shall be purified as God is pure Sign Christ where he works he doth it throughly Acts 13.33 M. S. There are who plead for a spot and say his people must have a spot as if it were the mark of Christs people to be spotted as Jacob's Lambs were I deny not but the young Lambs of Christ have their spots which are forgiven them through his name 1 John 2. but those spots are not only forgiven but when they grow up to ripe age they wear away and are not as the Lamb new yeaned hath spots but they wear out when they grow elder Christ shall throughly purge his floor and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire Cant. 4. Macula non est in te Ephes 1.4 and 5.27 Phil. 2.15 Col. 1.22 Rev. 14.5 Such let us endeavour to be 2 Pet. 3.14 Christs purging is a through purging I have set thee to pull down to destroy and throw down for the house wherein the Leprosie was the Priest was to take away the stones and cast them into an unclean place without the City and cause the house to be scraped within round about and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the City into an unclean place Levit. 14.40 What ever Soul Christ hath purged from sin in it he works righteousness it is the Lords Commission unto Jeremy to root out and to pull down to destroy and throw down and to build and to plant First to root out c. and then to plant c. There are who can root out and destroy but they cannot plant and build the Lord Jesus Christ out of what soul he hath rooted and purged out sin in it he plants righteousness Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out all evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witnesses blasphemies these are plants which are not of our Heavenly Fathers planting These are planted by the envious man these grow from within and defile the man hath Christ rooted out these Hath he cleansed thee from these Then he hath planted the contrary Graces if the unclean thoughts be purged out he hath planted in thee chaste ones if wrath be rooted out he hath planted meekness in thee if he hath rooted out pride he hath planted humility c. if the one be purged out the other is there contraria sunt circa idem Otherwise thy condition is dreadful for if the evil unclean spirit go out of a man and return and find his house empty swept and garnished and Gods good spirit not there he brings seven worse spirits along with him and they enter into the man and his last estate is worse than the first Observe this in the first sin we read of The woman gave to me of the tree and I did eat the woman the Serpent saith she beguiled me and I did eat In the second sin Cain had kill'd Abel and tells God he knew not what was become of him no acknowledgement that any sin is ours if it be possible to avoid it we lay that bastard brood at any mans door rather than own it our selves Consol Alas I find my corruptions many but there is no cleanser no purger of them though I have been a long time a hearer of the Word and that 's said to be a means of cleansing Hath it not cleansed thee at all An ancient Father resembles purging of sin to water washing a foul sieve the water runs through it the word runs through it it profits not because not mingled with faith Hebrew faith purifieth the heart 't is like a cordial which Physitians give in danger of infection of the Pox or Plague to divert the venome from the heart But alas I find my pollutions and uncleannesses more and more as the Leper Levit. 13.12 13. 1 Joh. 1.9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness They that came to St. John's Baptism they confessed their sins shewed their deeds Act. and then they were baptised Observe we have our sins this observation however it seems impertinent is exceeding necessary for men acknowledge not sin in themselves or else we are all sinners in confuso Ahab one of the greatest sinners we read of none like him of all the Kings of Israel yet though he had brought in not a false worship only but also a false God though he had at least by connivance killed Naboth and taken possession of his Inheritance and he stoned God sent a Famine yet we read of no remorse at all in Ahab A Famine he knew there was and he was sensible of it but he looked not at himself as any cause of it no he layes the blame where least of all it was to be laid upon Elias Art thou he that hast troubled Israel c. 1 King 18. Judah committed incest with his daughter Tamar Gen. 38. and we read of no remorse at all but when news was brought him that his daughter in Law had played the harlot O how impartial a Judge he was bring her forth and let her be burned vers 24. David having committed those two great sins Adultery and Murder we read of no remorse at all till Nathan came And the Prophet wisely foresaw that unless he couched his accusation in a parable and represented him unto himself in a third person he would hardly acknowledge it which done with much adoe then I have sinned against the Lord 2 Sam. 12.13 Isai 66.5 Your brethren that cast you out for my Names sake said let the Lord be glorified Jer. 50.7 their adversaries said we offend not because they have sinned against the Lord The time will come when they that kill you will think that they do God service Joh. 16.2.9 The reason is our nature is deeply died and rooted in sin so that sin seems to be our nature it self pride is the essence and nature of a proud man covetousness envy voluptuousness lying contention c. self-love idolizeth it self we see nothing amiss in it so that it is a very hard matter to convince almost any man of his sin 2 Chron. 28.5.10 therefore the Prophet must cry aloud Isai 58.1 Observ 1. This is the reason that he who reproves a man of his sin becomes his enemy Hast thou found me O mine enemy Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth Gal. 4.16 1. Is not truth then sweet and pleasant certainly most sweet it is yes as Solomon saith of the light surely the light is sweet c. yet every one that doth evil hates the light and comes not to the light lest his deeds should be reproved Joh. 3.20 Every man loves
13. We must not be wise above the Law In odiosis in things odious as punishments the Letter is not to be exceeded but benignius interpretandum favores sunt ampliandi we find not any mention made at all of Father and Mother in that Law There is the same Relation brought in between God and the Church through Faith in Jesus Christ for ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3. Hence it is that the same Scripture that is spoken of Christ Jesus the Son of God is spoken also of the Church and Congregation of Believers Matth. 2.15 After the death of Herod the Lord admonished Joseph to come out of Aegypt and bring the Child Jesus thence That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet Out of Aegypt have I called my Son This is taken out of Hosea 11.1 When Israel was a Child I loved him and called my Son out of Aegypt My Son i. e. Israel for so he commands Moses to speak to Pharaoh Exod. 4.22 23. where it is observable that the punishment which the Lord first threatens he last executes Thus the Lord speaks to Jacob or Israel Isai 43.1 I have Created thee I have formed thee thou art mine and Isai 45.11 because he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one for this cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren Hebr. 2.11 If the Sons of God then none of our own 1 Cor. 6. ult and 7. The woman hath not power over her own body c. Is not he thy Father that begat thee Deut. 32. The Noble descent of Gods Children If we be his Sons then we interpret all what he doth good just wisely done The Father lops goodly trees he brings in grapes and bids his servants tread them this is Patris Imperium See Luk. 2.49 Here is a promise of Bonum Officii as Psal 81.9 Mich. 5.8.13 these seem to be threats but they are promises The Gospel Matth. 1. Isa 58.13 14. Check thy desires in these and thou shalt delight in the other These are all empty Contemplations unless they be brought home and centred in our selves The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the God and Father of us all by Adoption of Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ and we are all the Sons and Daughters of the Lord Almighty Exhort To demean and carry our selves worthy of our Father Adoption is not known in our Laws nor in use in this Kingdom but was frequent in the Roman Common-wealth in force here by the Civil Lawes in which our Apostle was very well seen According to it the Adopted Children were most observant of their Father by Adoption and Grace ingratiated themselves put on as much as they could the persons of their Fathers took their names upon them So observant was Augustus of Julius Caesar Tiberius of Augustus c. by whose bounty they obtained inheritance So observant ought we to be of our Adopting Father Estote imitatores Dei ut filii charissimi Eph. 5.1 See by what wayes the Saints of old became the Sons of God if ye call him Father who without respect of person c. in fear now love casts out this fear Jus reverentiale remitti non potest As obedient children not fashioning your selves unto your former lusts of your ignorance 1 Pet. 1.14 2 Cor. 6.14 Rom. 1.4 Rom. 8.14 led by his spirit Rev. 21.7 Phil. 2. Genuine Children will not endure their Father to be dishonoured they imitate their Father Ephes 5.1 God the Father judgeth all men without respect of persons Amos 9.7 Are ye not as the Children of the Aethiopians to me e. If the Lord said so to his own people the Jews might he not say so to us presume not of the means he now affords he can take them away and Surrogate and Adopt the Turks and Jews There is one at this day surely an extraordinary man who hath written to the Jews and Turks That by reason of the Christians Life unworthy of the Gospel the Lord is taking them to be his people We are too apt to pretend and alledge infirmities and weaknesses yet to lay hold on promises the Lord therefore in these words requires a Duty and makes a Promise both in one as Psal 81.1 Mich. 5.13 NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON HEBREWS I. 6. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And again when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him THese words are the third Allegation or Proof of the Apostles Conclusion vers 4. whereby both parts of the conclusion are proved Christ's transcendent Superiority and the Angels due subordination and inferiority out of one and the same Scripture Psal 97.7 This third Quotation is to the like effect with the two former Observ 1. The Scriptures which speak of Christ's Dignity and Excellency are not few search the Scriptures Joh. 5.39 Observ 2. It is safe lawful necessary and by the Apostles own practice warrantable to make full and clear proof of the things which we teach and affirm concerning Christ No Divinity ought to be taken upon trust much less that which is taught concerning the person of our Saviour or the only true way of salvation which is our Apostles main scope in this Epistle Observ 3. That we should not affirm any thing concerning God Christ and the Holy Ghost by tradition from men but only such as we inwardly know by Divine Illumination and confirm by clear Testimony of Scripture Observ 4. Whereas Paul a man not unread or unlearned cites nothing but the Scriptures quotes none of the Heathen Poets or Philosophers no not any of the Rabbins or Hebrew Fathers in matters of Faith and fundamentals of Salvation We ought to produce better Testimony and Authority than the writings and sayings of men be they Humane or Ecclesiastical writers therefore the Papists do God and us yea themselves great wrong to obtrude Articles of Faith upon us by Humane Authority without Divine The third Allegation is extant word for word in the LXX Deut. 32.43 but it hath neither the Original Hebrew nor Vulgar Latin to confirm it though diverse of the Fathers see LXX Editionem the more unquestionable Authority is Psal 97.7 though there the Angels are spoken unto here they are spoken of The Psalm is to be understood of Christ In this judgement agree both Jews and Christians Ancient and Modern but whether of his coming in the flesh or coming to judgement here they differ In the words are these two points 1. God the Father brought or brings or shall bring his first begotten Son into the world 2. When he so brings him he commands all the Angels of God to worship him 1. God the Father brought c. For the clearing of this we must enquire 1. What world is here meant and 2. How the Father brought the Son into the world 1. What world are there any more than one We believe
there are more worlds than one Hebr. 11. and vers 1. by whom also he made the worlds See Notes in vers 2. hujus cap. By all this ye perceive the question is not impertinent into what world the Father brought or brings or shall bring his Son To answer it 1. God the Father brought his Son into this outward corrupt world and shall come into this world to Reign a thousand years Revel 20. 2. He did enter into the Angelical world or Paradise after his suffering when he promised to the penitent Thief that he should be with him that day in Paradise Luk. 23.43 3. After his Ascension he went into the Godly of Divine World so it is to be understood which he speaks to Mary after his Resurrection when he had already been in Paradise for that was the third day I am not yet ascended to my Father i. e. into the Divine World Joh. 20.17 2. How did doth or shall God bring his Son into the world He hath brought doth and shall bring his Son into the world at diverse times and in different manners 1. As a Creator Joh. 1.3 Coloss 1.16 for so the Son as well as the Father is a Creator Eccles 12.1 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And God finished all his works upon this seventh day and thereupon rested in him Gen. 2.1 2 3. 2. God brought his Son into the world as an Avenger and a Judge in the destruction of Sodom Gen. 19.24 The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven which he made ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an example or type unto those who afterward should live ungodly 3. He brought his Son into the world in diverse apparitions to his Saints and People as in the burning bush to Moses Exod. 3. in a pillar of a cloud and fire by which he went before Israel Exod. 13.21 22. which is interpreted Exod. 23.20 21. Behold I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way and bring thee into the place which I have prepared my name is in him 4. In giving of the Law in Mount Sinai Exod. 19. 20. Psal 68.17 The Chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels and the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place 5. By bringing in his spiritual presence and kingdom into his Saints Psal 14.5 God is in the generation of the Righteous Isai 45.14 God is in you of a truth 1 Cor. 14.25 Matth. 1.23 6. By his Incarnation when the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us of this many understand this place 7. When after Christs Ascension he brought Christ in the Spirit into the Apostles and Disciples Act. 2 12-17 This is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel and it shall come to pass in the last dayes c. 8. By bringing his Son into the world to hold the general judgement Act. 17.31 But the Psalm out of which part of the Text is taken seems to be Prophetical of Christs general Kingdom when at the beginning of the thousand years he shall redeem the Creatures from vanity Of this Kingdom Isai 11.1 Hos 2.18 Rom. 8 19-23 Mar. 16.15 When Satan shall be bound for a thousand years Revel 20 1-7 Surely these things must have their accomplishment and fulfilling which yet they never had in the world but shall have when Christ shall come to Reign here in all the world not Corporally that was the conceit of the old Chiliasts God begins not his Kingdom in the Spirit to end in the Flesh but virtually and spiritually in the souls and spirits of Saints and holy Ones and of this we understand this Psalm and other Psalms as Psal 93. and 96. and 100. Now that the Father hath brought Christ into the world who sees not who knows not that can discern Christ in his Saints Shew me an humble man there Christ dwells Isa Shew me a patient man there is Christ c. We shall not need a proof of our sight our hearing our feeling Logicians account an Argument from Sense a demonstration 1 Joh. 1.2 For Reason of this why the Lord brings in his first begotten into the world his inward inducement inexpressible Joh. 3.16 Of all Arguments in Mans Reason and in the Word of God the ends of things are most various The ends of his bringing into the world render him most welcome to his people which were 1. For judgement am I come into this world 2. To fulfill all the Prophesies 3. To destroy or dissolve the works of the Devil 4. That by death he might destroy him who had the power of death and deliver those who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Hebr. 2.25 4. I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me c. Joh. 6.38 39 40. 6. To save sinners Joh. 3.17 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners 7. To this end was I born and for this cause came I into this world that I should bear witness unto the truth every one that is of the truth heareth my voice Joh. 18.37 8. To be a Ruler in Israel Mic. 5.2 Object How could the Father bring his Son into the world since he was in the world and the world was made by him Joh. 1. Resp See Notes on Joh. 1.12 He was in the world yea is yet how few take notice of him God was in this place and I was not aware of it said Jacob Gen. 28.16 17. Observe how deeply how infinitely we are all engaged unto God God who is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lord of the world Created us like himself in his own Image from which when we were fallen and so become his enemies he yet extended his Love towards us and that so far That he sent his first begotten Son into the world to suffer death upon the Cross for us and to reconcile us unto himself This engagement is the ground of Religion and whence it hath the name for when we consider so great so unspeakable Love of our God toward us we become Religati i. e. Religious bound to love him again with all our heart soul might and our neighbour as our selves Though Christ be according to the Eternal Generation an only begotten Son yet it hath pleased the Lord to vouchsafe us such a mercy and transcendent priviledge by Regeneration and Adoption in Christ That he is also called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the first begotten Son the first born among many brethren Christ the first begotten Son was brought he came not of himself Joh. 6.38 not to do mine own will c. and 8.42 I proceeded forth and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me So ought all they to do who come in the Lords Name who ever thus come they are known to all the Children of God as our
Saviour reasons John 8.43 If God were your Father ye would love me and why do ye not understand my speech Even because ye cannot hear my voice ye are of your Father the Devil An heavy aggravation unto those who are not come from God nor brought by him Vnto the ungodly said God what hast thou to do to preach my law c. It was the Father that sent and brought his Son into the world John 4.34 My meat is to do the will of my Father c. John 5.24 He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath the everlasting life c. He therefore who receiveth not the Son dishonoureth not the Son but the Father also He that heareth you heareth me and him that sent me John 5.23 All judgment is committed to the Son that all men should honour the Son as they honour the Father he that honoureth not the Son c. Christ is an Apostle who worthily receives me Matth. 10.40 receiveth him that sent me John 13.20 Reprov Reproves the world and us in special he came and yet comes into the world and among his own and his own receive him not John 1. The Evangelist upbraids them and us with egregious folly and unthankfulness by declaring the benefit redounding to those who receive him Verse 12. John 5.43 I am come in my Fathers name and ye receive me not if another shall come in his own name him ye will receive The Fathers name is that nature which Paul sets before men His delight is with the Sons of men but the Sons of men take no delight in him favours great favours of Superiours slighted are wont to putrifie into disdain wrath and indignation and so doth this rejection of the first born Son of the Supreme God and therefore this is the condemnation John 3. Exhort To receive and welcome the first begotten into the world Vide Motives in Notes on Joh. 1.12 This promise is we will come unto him Joh. 14 21-24 Were we to entertain a special friend a customer we will do it in the best room in our house for we gain by him but Christ's reward is with him He is come that we might have life and have it in more abundance Whether we have entertained him or no will appear easily to our selves or others Joh. 1.26 As the Father hath life in himself so he hath given to the Son to have life in himself So that appears true which ye read 1 Joh. 5.12 He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me Take heed of taking every one for Christ Try the Spirits many are gone out into the world Remove humane reasonings and imaginations the strong holds held against Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. These foxes have their holes in us Matth. 8.20 and birds of the air they have their nests which hinder the son of man from having where to lay his head Matth. 8.20 2 Cor. 11. I fear lest the serpent by his subtilty hath beguiled you He was not received into the Inn but in the Stable I was as a beast before thee Luk. 2.7 Psal 37.22 Prov. 30. Media I would receive him but where shall I find him Where wouldst thou think to find the Son but at his Fathers house Our Lord in the days of his flesh was lost by his Parents and at length finding him they find fault with him and say Why hast thou dealt thus with us Behold thy Father and I have sought thee sorrowing Our Lord answers How is it that ye sought me Wist ye not that I must be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. in my Fathers house So the words properly signifie It 's said they understood not the saying Luk. 2.48 49. I hope we do Dost thou seek Jesus knowest thou not that he must be in his Fathers house Where 's that Knowest thou not that Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3. his house ye are Heb. 3. There is much seeking of Christ Matth. 24.23 24 25 26. 2. And let all the Angels of God worship him In this second we must enquire 1. Concerning worship 2. Concerning the Angels of God who are here commanded to worship Christ Worship is considerable in the outward and inward Act. 1. The Original ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth to cast down ones self and humbly prostrate ones self It is rendred by the LXX most what by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word in the Text sometime by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is to adore or to kiss in token of love and obedience to Superiours which was used in the worship of false Gods 1 King 19.8 Hos 13.2 2. Inward worship is considerable ex parte Rei Deut. 6.4 5 13. and 10.20 Matth. 4.10 and Modi Marc. 7 6. But we have here to speak of that worship which the Angels perform common with men which must be accordingly a spiritual worship And because worship hath reference to a Temple wherein it is performed The Angels and Angelical mens Temple is the Spirit What question is made about the place of worship Joh. 4.23 24 Rom. 1.9 Phil. 3.3 It is the divine nature it self Psal 119.19 20. Open the gates Revel 11.1 and 21.22 That wherewith God and Christ is to be worshipped Rom. 14.17.18 This is to worship God in the beauty of holiness 1 Chron. 16.29 Psal 29.2 and 96.9 Mich. 6.6 7 8. The blessed Spirits are in regard of their office Angels and of their dignity Gods the sons of God Job 1.6 and 38.7 That which is in the Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gods is here turned Angels it 's a name common to Magistrates also Psal 82.6 And to Prophets for they are called Gods to whom the word of God came unless that speech be to be understood of Governours and Magistrates only unto whom the word of Wisdom comes By whom Kings reign so there are Gods many and Lords many 1 Cor. 8. But how many how great soever they must worship him who is the Son of God yea God himself there are divers degrees of humble gestures in shewing reverence and honour towards Superiours as bowing the head bending the knee bending the whole body prostration and falling down flat and prostrate which comprehends all the former the Scripture is full of these significations of honour which were of old and yet are used in the East they are all due unto God and given to him bending the body 2 Chron. 29.29 Worshipping falling down and kneeling before the Lord our maker Psalm 95. Now the signification of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word in the Text is explained by the Scripture the best interpreter of it self for what Matth. 8.2 hath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke 5.15 hath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1. The first reason from the worth of the object all worthiness in him In him dwells the fulness of the Godhead
The Lord is mindful of faln man 3. What is Enosh What is the faln man that the Lord should visit them c. 1. Faln man is Enosh Ye may remember it is not long since I spake of this name as it is a proper name the name of the fourth from Adam if we reckon Abel but if we leave him out as he is omitted 1 Chron. 1.1 He is the third from Adam counting Adam the first as the Scripture reckons when it counts Enoch the seventh from Adam Jude vers 4. This name is also appellative or common unto the whole race of Adam What then is Enosh What else but a weak man See Notes on Psal 144.3 2. The Lord is mindful of faln man or the Lord remembers him The word in the Psalm is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to remember ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that thou remembrest him which the Septuagint and the Apostle hear turn ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which being it self of a middle nature is specified by the objects and ends So that sometimes it is for evil sometimes for good Psal 9.12 When he maketh inquisition for blood he remembreth 1 Sam. 15.2 Nehem. 13.31 Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingd m Luk. 25.42 where we are not to understand a bare memory as the recollection of somewhat past but according to the rule Verba sensuum innuunt affectum effectum Words of sense put us upon a sutable affection and effect answerable unto them When therefore the Lord is said to be mindful of the miserable man it is for his good to the relief of his misery as Gen. 8.1 He remembred Noah c. Psalm 136.23 Who remembred us in our low estate Judg. 16.18 Sampson 1 Sam. 11. Hannah remember me Verse 19.28 The Lord remembred Hanna What reason is there that the Lord should remember the sinful weak miserable man 1. On the miserable mans part there 's none but his misery 't is true that God remembers his Saints and his works wrought in them as he remember'd Noah Gen. 8.1 and gracious Hannah and Nehemiah c. yea and they who are not so memorable for themselves the Lord remembers them for others sakes and for his promise and Covenant sake So he remembred to deliver Lot by remembring Abraham Gen. 1.29 Exod. 32.13 Remember Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Otherwise he remembers the miserable man that he is but dust Psalm 103.14 2. In regard of himself he is said to remember his Covenant his holy promise his mercy Amor facit objectum suum And this is the reason why he remembers the miserable man Psalm 136.23 For his mercy endures for ever Observ 1. The source and Fountain of Bliss See Notes on Psalm 144.3 Observ 2. It is not our knowledge or remembrance ibid. Observ 3. God's Gracious Condescent ibidem Observ 4. How much more is God mindful of him that remembreth him Observ 5. Gracelesness and mercilesness of one man to another Repreh 1. Who remember not the Lord who remembers them See Notes on Psalm 63.6 Repreh 2. Who remember not their God nor themselves their own feeble condition nor their own fall but pride and harden themselves against God and their Neighbuor yea and against their own Souls The Psalmist tells us their doom Psalm 9.17 2 Pet. 1.9 and Psalm 50.18 19. Repreh 3. Who oppose and malign the remembrance and remembrancers of God unto them whether outward or inward See Notes on Psalm 63.6 Repreh 4. Those who think it enough that God hath remembred them they remember not their God Calvisius a very rich Roman Citizen but a man of extreme weak parts both of nature and learning yet because he that 's rich thinks it fit he should be all things he was ambitious of being accounted a great Poet c. Seneca tells the story See Notes on Psalm 94.12 O how many monuments how many memorials hast thou how many tokens of Gods favour c. See Notes on Psalm 63.6 Exhort 1. Is the great God so mindful of us that he remember us O then let us be mindful of our selves and remember our selves that we are but miserable men but sinful men That we may do this consult with the Law that is our teacher Psalm 9. ult it will discover us to be miserable men when we have remembred our selves that memory through the mercy of God will bring us to remember our God Exhort 2. To remember our God this is the due effect of remembring our selves Psalm 22.28 And this is to be done in these last days remember what the Lord hath done for thee already Psalm 66.16 For my soul c. See Notes on Psalm 63.6 Remember what the Lord hath done for thee what he requires of thee 2. The second question What is the Son of man These words with the former contain the Psalmists reasoning a minori c. ut supra to discover how unworthy man is of any respect from his God either in his fallen or in his natural estate Christ ordinarily calls himself the Son of man which indeed signifieth the mean poor and contemptible condition of men so the Jews understood ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Judg. 16.7 11. I shall be weak and as another man Chald. As one of the Sons of men Psalm 82.7 Ye shall die like men so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are opposed Psalm 49.3 and the former are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ignobiles terrae filii so Gen. 6.2 The daughters of men are opposed to the Sons of God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ezechiel Daniel Zachary are called by this name to put them in mind of their frailty so Dan. 7.13 and 10. and 16. The Son of man understood of Christ as he often calls himself noting his ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Phil. 2.7 so Esay 53.3 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã See the difference between this question and the former The former was put concerning Enosh the fallen man This concerning Adam the natural man therein Gods Gracious respect is called remembrance herein visitation It is very ordinary in the Psalms and other parts of Scripture that the Holy Spirit expresseth the same thing in two members of the same sentence so that the latter part of it is an exegesis or explication of the former yet according to Divine art somewhat there is in the one which is not in the other if well looked into Psalm 114 1-8 and 117.1 In the words are three Divine truths 1. The Son of man according to his natural estate is earthly 2. God visits the earthly man 3. What is the Son of the earthly man that God should visit him The Son of man is here all one with man as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã filii Graecorum it is an Hebraism which the Greeks and Latines follow This is either collectively taken and it signifieth all men or more especially hereby Christ himself is to be understood who ordinarily calls himself the Son of man This Son of man is
and lowly For why is earth and ashes proud Eccles 10.9 See Notes on Psal 144.1 1. This end the Lord aimed at in man making him partaker of flesh and blood 2. As also at another great Artisans c. See Notes ut supra 3. Hence thirdly most appears the glory of the great God c. ibidem Observ 3. Take notice from hence how frail and weak our nature is Even the Children of God and Christ for a time have this common with all the generation of men they are flesh and blood as others are and therefore impotent and weak as others are Esay 31 3. The Egyptians are men and not God and their horses are flesh and not spirit yea all the beauty of the body and all the wisdom and righteousness which they cannot naturally attain unto are but as the grass and flowers of the field Esay 40.6 Only herein even in this estate the children of God differ from all other sons of Adam they are through the Law of God brought off to be willing toward God and his Righteousness Jam. 1.18 Of his own will he begat us 2. And there is in the children begotten of the Father a Character of their Father which is God the Fathers shape Joh. 5. This shape was in the Apostles and Disciples Matth. 26.41 The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak and therefore not able to resist temptation as our Lord there implys Observ 4. The children were partakers of flesh and blood yet were these children for signs and for wonders The Divine Power and Virtue is not hindred from it's operation though in an earthen vessel Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are yet c. Jam. 5.17 And Barnabas and Paul were men of like passions with us Act. 14.15 It 's evident therefore that their power is not their own but from another Even the mighty power of God by faith whereby of weakness they become strong Heb. 11.34 2. He took part of the same These words contain the Incarnarion of the Lord Jesus 1. His Incarnation where we must not omit ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which sometime is taken by way of eminency for one of the Names of God See Notes on Heb. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This eminent ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He hath taken part of flesh and blood i. e. He hath had mans nature common and together with man that 's ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã here used that he hath taken part of the same whole humane nature appears Psal 16.18 19 20. My flesh shall rest in hope Act. 2.25 26. Rom. 1.3 and 9.5 Made of the seed of David according to the flesh Heb. 5.7 The days of his flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Pet. 3.18 and 4.1 2. 2. By the parts of it 1. The body Matth. 27.58 59. He begged the body of Jesus 2. The soul Joh. 12.27 Now is my soul troubled 3. The spirit Luk. 23.46 Into thy hand I commit my spirit The reason in regard of 1. God 2. Children of God 3. Christ partaker of flesh and blood with these children 1. In regard of God who begot these children to a like good will with himself towards his Righteousness he would not that such a will should be in vain or lost or alone but that it be brought to act and power which cannot otherwise be than by imparting power unto them And that Power is Christ himself 1 Cor. 1.24 Therefore we read that Christ is given hominibus bonae voluntatis Luk. 2.14 And thus we understand that God works the will and the deed He is the Father of spirits and knows well what is in man that though in himself he be but flesh and blood yet is there some eminent thing in him which came out of God Joh. 32.8 There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding In regard of Christ himself his love to his brethren they are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Of one and the same father he knew them though willing yet too weak to grapple with and overcome sin and Satan And therefore while yet sin and Satan is stronger than they are and the flesh lusteth against the spirit He comes as the stronger man upon the strong Esay 40.9 Luk. 11.21 As Moses came to visit his brethren and seeing an Egyptian smite an Hebrew c. Exod. 3. In regard of the children that they might receive him and he partakers of the Divine Nature and become one with him Repreh Our pretence of infirmity and weakness in this day of Christs power He hath taken part of our flesh and blood if we be Christians if we be believers Joh. 1. Without him nothing was made that was made he enlightens every man that cometh into this world upon whom doth not his light arise Job The word was made flesh and dwelt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Joh. 4.1 Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world But thou pittiest thy sinful flesh and pleadest for it Alas I bear about me a mortal garment a body of clay 2 Cor. 4. Corpus carcer animae the body is the prison of the soul Sap. 9.15 Alas the flesh rebels against the spirit and therfore we cannot do the things that we should c. A false translation Here is offered unto us Beloved an Object of our joy great joy joy to all people Luk. 2.10.11 a joy to Angels who sang Carrols at his Birth It was foretold Zachary that he should have joy and many should rejoyce at the birth of the Baptist Luk. 1.14 who was the fore-runner only of our Lord Jesus Christ The object of this joy this great joy this joy to all people apprehended in this time of Apostacy only carnally fleshly and sensually produced no better than a carnal and a fleshly and a sensual joy a joy of wild asses all the Christian world over The water can ascend no higher than it descends Men neither could nor yet can bring forth any better than they conceive if the conception be carnal the birth also must be carnal For whatsoever is born of the flesh is flesh Joh. 3.6 Since therefore that great love of God to the world in giving his Son hath been no better accepted Since that great Grace of God hath been turned into wantonness by the unfaithful world it was just and reasonable to take away such sensual expressions of joy as are so unworthy of God and Christ and of those who call themselves Christians Yet I shall not now deal with you as many have done who have advised that the Feast of Christmas should be wholly taken away and left nothing in the room of it There is a generation of men that are wise to do evil know only how to destroy overthrow and cast down but how to do well to edifie raise up or build up they know not The Tabernacle of David which must be repaired in these last days will never be raised up by these men
Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities Observ 5. See the large territory of Satan how far and wide he Reigns even all the world over wherever there is death in sin wherever there is the carnal mind wherever there is disobedience Ephes 2.2 As the Word of God is operative in all those who believe 1 Thess 2.13 So on the contrary the Prince of the power of the air works powerfully in the children of disobedience which are far more numerous insomuch as he might seem to speak some truth when offering all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them to our Saviour he tells him it was delivered unto him Luk. 4.6 Observ 6. Satan hath no power at all over the life that 's out of his Jurisdiction Christ the Son of God and Captain of our Salvation is the Prince of Life Act. 3.15 Repreh The Plagiaries the men-stealers such as enslave the servants of God and bring them into captivity under the power of Satan 2 Pet. 2.18 19. Such are they who creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with divers lusts 2 Tim. 3. Repreh 2. Those who yield themselves captives under the power of sin and death and devil if we yield to his lusts he follows wrath is one of his lusts Ephes 4.27 so is pride especially spiritual pride 1 Tim. 3.6 7. Jam. 4.6 7. so is covetousness Joh. 12.5 whereupon Satan prevailed over Judas Joh. 13.2 by consenting more yet by hardening himself against our Lords admonitions vers 27. So that now he hath taken full possession of him as his own so he did of Ananias and Saphira Satan filled their heart Principiis obsta Consol To the children of Gods kingdom who are in continual heaviness and anguish by reason of manifold temptations 1 Pet. 1.6 To be tempted by Satan is no sin the Lord Jesus who took part of thy flesh and blood was tempted in all things like unto us yet without sin But alas the devil like a roaring Lion goes about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. But doth it not follow whom resist strong in the faith and hath not thy God set an hedge of his providence about thee 'T is true the Devil goes about that hedge he took notice of it and told the Lord Job 1.7 10. Now if thou break not the hedge if thou put not thy self out of protection if thou transgress not if thou keep thee within the hedge the Devil cannot hurt thee if thou yield not to the tempter his temptations cannot hurt thee Jam. 1.14 15. A man is tempted when he is drawn away with his own lusts Zophar gives Job good counsel Job 11.14.18 If iniquity be in thy hand put it away Prov. 28.4 They who keep the Law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Yea Zach. 2.5 the Lord promiseth that he himself will be a wall of fire round about Jerusalem 'T is true if thou have any thing of Satans if thou retain any of his lusts Joh. 8. he will prevail against thee Wherefore comes the Creditor but to demand his own and if thou cast not what is his out of doors he will have thee or thine with it How did the Creditor deal with the widow 2 King 4.1 The Creditor is come saith she to take my two Sons and make them bondmen if thou have nothing of his he cannot hurt thee Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator Mark what thy brother the Captain of thy Salvation saith Joh. 14.30 the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me Tarpeia See Notes on Rom. 5. Exhort Yield not to the suggestion of the evil one All the glory of the world and the kingdoms of it could not tempt our Lord. Ye are children of another kingdom of the kingdom of God and Christ children of the resurrection not of death But alas I am weak I am but a child Yea but thou art of God and his Kingdom and therefore 1 Joh. Ye are of God little children and have overcome them What ever is born of God overcometh the world Object The Devil is strong and he hath the power and kingdom of death thou belongest not to him or his kingdom Ye are of the day not of darkness ye are of another jurisdiction He is but a weak adversary who overcomes only those who are willing to be overcome and that 's the power of Satan and no greater for resist the devil and he will flee from thee 2. That by his death he might destroy him who hath the power death i. e. the devil This is the second end why our Lord the Captain of our Salvation took part of flesh and blood 1. That he might die 2. That by his death he might destroy him who hath the power of death i. e. the devil Herein two things must be enquired 1. What is meant by destroying him who hath the power of death 2. How Christ by his death effected this 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth to render unprofitable vain and of no effect from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth idle it answers to the Hebrew and Chaldee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is here used in the Syriack Ezra 4.21.23 24. then ceased the work of the house of God vers 5. and 6 8. Luk. 13.7 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rom. 3.3 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vers 31. to make void ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to make the Law of none effect Thus when the Law of Commandments which was against us is made void Eph. 2.15 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by other Laws of Faith and the Spirit when the Law that commands and giveth no strength is abrogated by the Law of Faith which brings power with it when the Ceremonial Law of Sabbath New Moons are taken away by the Law of the Spirit when the body of sin which was made exceeding sinful by the Law is made of none effect Rom. 6.5 6. when death is destroyed which is the wages of sin 2 Tim. 1.10 Then the devil himself who hath the power of death may be said to be destroyed for so the power of the devil increased by the peremptory Law meeting with weak flesh and blood and bringing no power with it whence sin breaks out more violently Nitimur in vetitum whence follows death whereof the devil hath power Thus the Jews tell us that Satan hath the power of death in that he suggests unto sin unto which flesh and blood yielding he becomes an adversary and accuser as Zach. 3.1 Psal 37.38 But the Lord Jesus taking away the sin withall takes away the ground of all Satans accusations so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 2. Thus whereas the devil was operative by the Law Sin and Death the stronger one spoiling the strong one of these weapons wherein he trusted He thus destroys him who hath the power of death for then a tyrant may be said to be destroyed when his Arms
ãâã ãâã Wherefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus THe Authority of the Old Testament is upheld by those things especially whereof the Jews gloryed 1. The Ministry of Angels 2. The Embassy of Moses 3. The Priesthood of Aaron 1. The Ministry of Angels for the Law was given by the disposition of Angels Gal. and it 's called the word spoken by Angels Hebr. 2. 2. The Prophecy and Embassy of Moses therefore the Jews say they were Moses's Disciples and they knew that God spake by Moses John 9.28 29. 3. The Priesthood of Aaron for him they acknowledged as their Mediator unto God and as the Saint of the Lord Psalm 106.16 Whom the Lord had chosen Psalm 105.26 Against these three things our Apostle opposeth other three in behalf of the New Testament 1. That it was not delivered by Angels but by him who is their Lord. 2. Not by Moses but by him who is worthy of more Glory than Moses 3. Not by Aaron an High Priest made without an oath but by Christ a Priest for ever made by oath according to the order of Melchisedec Our Apostle therefore having compared the Lord Jesus with the Angels and preferred him before them in the two former Chapters he now proceeds to compare Jesus Christ 1. With Moses and then 2. With Aaron and to prefer him before them both 1. He compares Jesus Christ with Moses in this and the next Chapter 2. With Aaron chap. 5. 1. He compares Jesus Christ with Moses in this and the next Chapter Moses was Gods extraordinary Ambassadour and his Prophet And therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle or Ambassadour of our profession Christ Jesus 2. He compares Jesus Christ with Aaron the Priest of the Lord chap. 5.1 and therefore consider the High Priest of our Profession Christ Jesus This Chapter is inferred out of the former ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wherefore or from whence In this third Chapter we have 1. The Apostles Doctrine his comparison of Christ with Moses vers 1-6 2. The Apostles explication of his Doctrine to the Hebrews vers 7. to the end of chap. 4. In the first Verse we have the Apostles 1. Compellation twofold Holy Brethren Partakers of the heavenly calling 2. Exhortation to consider c. Which we may resolve 1. The compellation into these three Axioms 1. The Hebrews were brethren 2. They were holy brethren 3. They were partakers of the heavenly calling We may resolve the exhortation into other three Axioms 1. Jesus Christ is the Apostle of our profession 2. He is the High Priest of our profession 3. We ought to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession As this verse hath dependance on the former and is inferred from it since we know the excellency of Jesus Christ above all the Angels and his love unto us Consider the Apostle c. 1. Brethren is a large word and extends to them who have one common nature as Cain and Abel were brethren Gen. 4. and those who have a like depraved nature as Simeon and Levi were brethren in evil Gen. 49. and those who are renewed in the divine nature and such were the Hebrews in the Text yet the natural relation ceaseth not between them who are in different spiritual estates as the rich man in Hell calls those who survived him brethren upon earth and he not only calls Abraham father but Abraham also calls him son Luke The brethren here understood are 1. The Hebrews who had the same common father according to the flesh we have abraham to our father And Paul was an Hebrew 2 Cor. 12.22 and so calls them brethren 2. But besides their brotherhood they had another and a better according to which all believers are also called brethren They have one father even God and one mother even Jerusalem above the mother of us all Gal. St. Paul speaks to both in Act. 12.20 Observ Our near relation we have one to other whoever are believers in the Lord Jesus whoever are true Hebrews for they are the Spiritual Hebrews c. See Notes on the Preface of the Epistle such as these are brethren in near relation one to another and to the Lord Jesus Christ their brother 2. This is a ground of mutal love See Notes on Act. 37. Exhort If the true Hebrews the Christians be brethren let them love as brethren The Christians in the Primitive times See Notes on Heb. 12.14 2. The Hebrews were holy brethren Quaere what is meant by holiness They are called holy brethren Object How can the Hebrews be holy brethren if God alone be holy how can we be holy if God alone be so Revel 15.4 Respon See Notes on Heb. 12.14 2. They are holy brethren Sanctitas importat duo Separationem ab aliis applicationem ad aliquid this was figured in the old Law See Notes on Heb. 12.14 Ratio God the Father is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sanctus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whence they are holy 1 Pet. 2.14 15 16. Christ is the pattern Heb. 7.26 2. The Church their Mother is the holy Catholick Church It 's the end Eph. 1.4 Observ 1. Though all men be brethren yet the true Hebrews the Saints only are holy brethren Observ 2. Take notice here of a name whereby the people of God were called they were stiled ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã holy So Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 1.2 2 Cor. 1.1 Observ 3. Note we here that this compellation and name holy brethren is and may be deservedly given unto some it was justly given to the Hebrews here nor is there any doubt but some are truly such and it is their honour and crown that they are such yea there may be many such in one City 1 Thess 5.27 Observ 4. Note here what kind of Religion the Christian Religion is See Notes on Heb. 12.14 Observ 5. The Apostles did own the obedient Saints for such though of a younger age and stature than themselves Observ 6. The Lord did not reject or cast off the whole Nation of the Jews or Hebrews in the Primitive Church Here are many Saints and holy Brethren Repreh 1. This discovers the close hypocrite who walks in a vain shew in a vizard of made counterfeit holiness which some in all ages do c. See Notes on Heb. 12.14 If men so highly prize the shews and appearances of holiness how would they esteem the holiness it self if they knew it What an high honour would they account it to be numbred with the Saints What a glory must they needs think it to be to be like the most high God to be pure as he is pure 1 Joh. 3.3 holy as he is holy But they say they are justified by Faith and as for holiness that will follow Truly if it do not follow of it self I perceive but little zeal to follow it nor do men think it so necessary as indeed it
Pharaohs daughter c. 2. The thing 1. A servant hath nothing of his own what he gets he gets to his Lord 2. As they who were villains 3. What he hath is his Masters 4. What he hath or doth for his Master he is to give an account of 5. He knows not what his Masters mind is further than his work requires 6. He knoweth not what his Master doth Joh. 15.15 Servants have different employments as Davids and Solomons Every servant is not trusted with all his Masters goods Some servants are employed in all their Masters business so was Joseph so was Obadiah No servant is trusted by his Master with his wife 1. God's servant hath nothing of his own His servant David emptieth himself of all he might seem to have 1 Chron. 29.11 2. God's servant works not for himself 1 Cor. 10.31 cum Col. 3.17 3. What a servant gets he gets for his Master Thy pound hath gained c. 4. He knows not what his Master doth John 15.15 Jonathan shot his Arrows Herein Moses the Law-giver and figure of the Law differs from such servants as the Lord entertains into more intimacy under the Gospel such he calls his friends John 15. And unto these he imparts his mind 1 Cor. 2. his secrets and mysteries Now although Moses I believe was inferiour to few of God's servants yet by reason of the dispensation wherein he was as in order to the Gospel which had better promises he is said only to be a Servant Thus the Law brought up only servants under the spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 such an one acts all out of fear and Moses himself is described as an Hireling who doth all he doth for a reward 5. Some servants are entrusted with all their Masters goods so was Joseph and Moses faithful and trusty in all the house of God So Paul had the care of all the Churches 2 Cor. 11.28 No such Scripture concerning Peter 6. Of Servants some are admitted unto nearer intimacy than others are as Moses Numb 12. such a servant was John Baptist but withal a friend to the Lord Jesus Joh. 3. 7. A Servant abides not in the house always Ishmael and Hagar are cast out nor was Moses admitted for ever to stay in the house he must not go over Jordan to rule in God's house in the Holy Land this seems to be figured by Exod. 33.11 Moses though admitted to great intimacy with the Lord yet he departed out of the Tabernacle whereas Joshua departed not 2. Moses was faithful in all Gods house as a Servant These words bound the faithfulness of Moses he was faithful in all Gods house according to that wherein he was entrusted and that limitation is contained in these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as a Servant That we may know how Moses was faithful in all Gods house as a Servant we must remember that a complete house consists of three combinations 1. Husband and Wife 2. Father and children whether Son or Daughter 3. Master and Servant And there is between every one of these as a sutable relation so likewise a respective faithfulness as between the Husband and Wife Father and Child Master and Servant for between every one of these there is either an express or tacite Covenant which while either observes to other they are said to be faithful There are besides these manifold other relations in the Church and Common-wealth and between them Covenants either express or tacite which require mutual faithfulness between one and other as between the Magistrates and the people and between one man and another Observ 5. This opens a noysom sink of unfaithfulness among the Sons of men in hac faece Romuli in these dregs of time 1. The Husband toward his wife his covenant and promise to her was That with all his worldly goods he would endow her yet those his worldly goods and hers also he prodigally wasts with riotous living leaves his wife and children to poverty want and misery he covenanted to live with her and renounce all others he renounceth her and all women are to him as one On the other side the woman obliged by the like to her Husband proves unfaithful to him 2. There is a natural obligation and tye between Father and Child so that the Father is bound for that natural being he hath given his child to afford him likewise esse nutritivum instructivum to give him nourishment and education And the child is bound to honour his Father and Mother but what an universal breach of faithfulness is here The Parents are wanting in their Duty towards their children and by way of requital the children dishonour their Parents Ezech. 22.7 And 3. The like neglect of faithfulness is in the third relation betwen Master and Servant And private Families being the Seminaries and Seed-plots of Cities Common-wealths and Kingdoms from thence issues the breach of common trust and faithfulness among men which all complain of at this day and I believe not without just cause since the character of the iron age Non hospes ab hospite tutus Non socer a Genero fratrum quoque gratia rara est No Servant or nearest Friend is admitted to that degree of intimacy by his Lord that he should allow him familiarity with his wife Joseph preferred as highly in Potiphar's house Gen. 39.6 yet vers 9. He hath kept nothing back from me but thee because thou art his wife and John Baptist so highly preferred by our Lord saith He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom c. John 3.28 29. but the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth him S. Paul durst not appropriate 1 Cor. 1 14.15 but endeavours to present a chast Virgin to Christ 2 Cor. 11. Repreh 1. The unfaithful servant who is trusted by the Lord with all his house he will yet presume to be unfaithful towards his Spouse either 1. Arrogating her to himself Or 2. Forcing her against her will 1. Arrogating her to himself as calling her after his own name as his Church his people Repreh 2. Those who force the Spouse and commit a spiritual rape on the consciences of people Paul was a more faithful servant 2 Cor. 1.24 though 2 Cor. 11.28 He had care of all the Churches Observ Note here the Dignity of God's people they are his servants the servant receives his Dignity from the Honour and Dignity of his Master and he riseth with him We are the servants of the God of Heaven Ezra Moses rejected all Honours even the greatest among men to be the servant of the Lord Hebr. 11. See the high promotion of Christ's servant Rom. 6.19 Observ Note here the difference between Moses himself in his dispensation and the Apostles of Christ in theirs he is called as he was a servant the Law brought forth John Baptist as a friend John 3. the Apostles were friends of Christ the Gospel brings forth Friends yea Brethren Sisters Mothers Matth. 12. These are no legal Titles
he erects their minds and raiseth them unto good hope We saith he who have believed do enter into his Rest So the Apostle wisely balanceth the soul between presumption and despair and settles them in an holy fear mixt with hope We read in Deut. 24.6 Moses forbids to take the upper or nether milstone to pawn for he who so doth taketh the life to pledge the upper Milstone signifieth fear the nether Milstone signifieth hope Gregory hope raiseth the soul and endangers it now lest it rise to presumption there 's need therefore of fear and fear if it exceed endangers it also lest it sink into despair there 's need of hope Medio tutissimus ibis inter spem timorem Neither of these can be taken to pledge without hazard of the Christian life lest fear the upper Milstone sink into despair it 's supported by hope lest hope the nether Milstone arise to presumption it 's kept under by fear according to the Apostle Be not high-minded but fear Rom. 11.20 1. Then he fenceth the soul against presumption vers 2. wherein we have these Divine Sentences 1. The Gospel was preached to us 2. The Gospel was preached to them 3. The Gospel was preached alike to us as to them 4. The word preached did not profit them who heard 5. It did not profit them being not mixed with faith in those who heard 1. The Gospel was preached to us saith S. Paul to the Hebrews word for word we are Gospellized or Gospelled Now 1. What is the Gospel 2. How was it preached to the Hebrews 1. The Gospel ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is the Glad Tidings of Grace and Truth and Mercy and Love of God through Jesus Christ unto mankind promising in Christ remission of sin and repentance unto all penitent ones who turn from all our sins and enabling us through Faith and the Obedience of Faith in Christ to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope c. To this effect the Apostle writes to the Thessalonians 1 Thess 1.9 10. That they turned unto God from Idols c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Who delivereth us from the wrath to come 2. The Hebrews had received the Gospel not only by the inward word as all men at one time or other receive it Rom. 10.18 Their sound is gone into all the world c. but by the outward word also as Matth. 4.17 Act. 2.3 These at Jerusalem by Christ and his twelve Apostles others abroad had heard by those dispersed Disciples Act. 8.4 and 11.19 and 13.14 15. especially Paul and Barnabas What reason is there that either the Hebrews or we Gentiles have been Gospellized or had the Gospel preached unto us There is some difference between the Gospel being preached to them and us because the Hebrews were initiated and trained up and entred in the written Law of God which was not vouchsafed unto the Gentiles Psal 147. He hath not dealt so with every nation nor have the heathen knowledge of his law 2. God's design Matth. 10.6 Act. 3.26 and 13.46 Howbeit this is common to both that they who receive the Gospel be such as have been humbled by the terrours of the Law for their sins and so brought low and become abased and cast down whereby they are made fit to receive the Gospel according to that Matth. 11.5 unto the poor the Gospel is preached which comes to pass through the grace and mercy of God 1. Here then is the very best news that can be brought unto mankind the glad tidings of Christ come in the flesh and therefore the wisdom of God represented this unto us in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth flesh and glad tidings and the Gospel importing unto us that the most joyful message unto men was God manifest in the flesh which the Apostle calls the great mystery of godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 For howsoever there is a knowledge of Christ according to the Spirit yet there must first be a knowledge of him according to the flesh Isaac lived at the well ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet the passage of Rebecca lay by the Brook Besor and Psal 110. and 1 Sam. 30. But this seems otherwise for even the evil spirits confess that Christ is come in the flesh I know thee who thou art the holy One of God Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God 1 Joh. 4. which is not to be understood of Christs personal flesh but as there are many members of the body yet it is but one body So also is Christ Ghrist in his mystical body and in every member of it Christ in thee and me and so every spirit which confesseth that Christ is come in thy flesh and mine and every believers that Spirit is of God Gal. 4.19 Observ 2. This is an argument of Gods special Grace to receive the Gospel which only God himself can give us St. Paul labours to declare this Gal. 1.1 11 12. The Gospel preached of me was not of man nor was it man that taught it The word in the Text ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is found above forty times in an active signification but a passive form on purpose to shew that the news of mans Salvation was denyed to all mans wisdom as for like reason the Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is never read in the active whereby is implyed that our salvation yea all our fitness to receive it even to a thought is to be obtained of God alone 2 Cor. 3.5 Observ 3. Observe the word and promise of re-entry into Gods Rest and the recovery of his Kingdom is the true Gospel here implyed in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of this the Prophet Esay speaks chap. 52.9 and Nahum 1.15 how beautiful upon the mountains are those that bring glad tidings which the Apostle quotes Luk. 2.10 Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy c. So Eph. 1.13 In whom also ye trusted after ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation And Col. 1.5 The hope which is laid up for you in heaven the word of truth of the Gospel Observ 4. Observe the love of God to that people of the Jews in special Observ 5. God's faithfulness in his promise unto their fathers Act. 13.32 33. We declare unto you glad tidings that the promise which God made unto the fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children Observ 6. How happy had this people been had they known their own happiness had they known the time of their visitation Luke 19.44 How happy were they who knew their time and took the Gospel to heart Mal. 3.16 17. They that feared the Lord spake one to another c. and how happy might their posterity yet be were the Gospel preached unto them in truth and sincerity and power and they hardened not their hearts against it Hence then
in the City hubbubs and much prattle and talk He who finds this hidden treasure must yet hide it He lives not to the world to the world he is not as 't is said of Enoch that he walked with God and was not for God took him he sells all he hath and he buyes this field he parts with all he hath all his sins yea he prefers Jesus Christ before all things I preferred Wisdom before Scepters and Thrones and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her Wisd 7.8 saith the Wise man and he is the true Wise man indeed who does so But wisdom that is hid and treasure that is hoarded up what profit is there in them both Ecclus 20.30 And therefore that wise Scribe who is instructed unto the kingdom of God is like a man that is an housholder who brings out of his treasure vetera nova things new and old Matth. 13.52 i. e. the letter and the spirit saith Basil Christ hidden in the figure and reveiled by the Spirit Christ yesterday under the Law and to day under the Gospel This is that which the Lord promised Lev. 26.10 ye shall eat old store and ye shall bring forth the old because of the new ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vetus inveteratum that which is old and made and accounted old Such are the figurative Scriptures Jesus Christ yesterday which are brought forth for the soul to feed upon nothing must be left because of the new spiritual food Jesus Christ to day Thus Josuab 5.11 They did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover unleavened cakes and parched corn the self same day They did eat of the old corn the same spiritual meat 1 Cor. 10. Jesus Christ yesterday and parched new corn the same spiriritual food Jesus Christ to day 1. He then that will be a Minister of Jesus Christ must be paterfamilias a father who out of love must be careful and provident for his children 2. He must be a storer one who hath a treasure a little store will not be sufficient it will be soon spent it must be a treasure 3. And that treasure must be his own it shall be in him a well of water springing up into the everlasting life Joh. 4.14 A Cistern will be soon empty and it will afford no more than is put into it It must be his own not borrowed not taken upon trust there is too much of that comodity now-a-days many fail by this kind of trading much of this stuff vented out of the memory not out of the heart Whereas the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things the Spirit out of the letter the new out of the old Jesus Christ to day out of Christ yesterday Repreh 2. This may justly reprove us all that we are so supine and negligent not regarding the time Jesus Christ is to day even in these our days and in these our days all things that are written are to be fulfilled For all the Prophets from Samuel and those that follow after as many as have spoken have likewise foretold of these days Act. 3.24 They have emptied themselves into these times ut impleretur Joh. 1. Grace and truth Yet who of us Beloved regard the time who sadly thinks upon this hodie as he ought who considers that all the types and figures of Jesus Christ yesterday in the old Testament ought to be fulfilled in him hodiè under the New Testament We can take notice of all other times but these A Mart or a Fair or Exchange time c. pass not without our observance and for every thing there is a time times fit for such or such a comodity as will be for our advantage we are awake unto But how sharply yet how slowly doth our Lord reprove the Jews and many of us Ye hypocrites ye can discern the face of the skie and can ye not discern the signs of the time Matth. 16.3 How do we trifle away our precious hodiè our to day while as if we lived to an outward Christ not Christ Emmanuel with us or in us every man is a Novelant Act. 17.21 when we hear vers 31. we then commonly vers 32. O how justly may we fear that the Lord Jesus may truly say in this his day the same to us which he speaks to Jerusalem Luk. 19.42 O if thou hadst known c Exhort To take notice of the time and know our own day Christ is hodiè Among those who came to David to Hebron to make him King there are reckoned up the children of Issachar 1 Chron. 12.32 The Text saith of them That these were men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do And doubtless it 's a great point of prudency to know the times and what is fit for Israel to do in every time Jesus Christ the true David is hodiè to day it is his time and 't is our time The sons of Issachar knew well that was a fit time to make David King and to turn the Kingdom of Saul to him And therefore they went up to Hebron and there made him King And truly St. Paul had like understanding of these times and warned the Athenians of them times fit for a very like purpose to make the true David King over us and to turn the Kingdom from the house of Saul unto David Saul is a type of the Law reigning as David is a type of Christ in many places of the Prophets Paul therefore tells the Athenians Act. 17.30 That the times of their ignorance God winked at what then is fit to be done He now commands all men every where to repent Why so vers 31. Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained i. e. Christ Jesus David foretold of this long ago He cometh he cometh to judge the earth He shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth Psal 96.13 For this reason God commands all men every where to repent It is the day wherein the true David is to be made King to judge the world in righteousness And why then go we not up to him to Hebron why are we not joyned unto him by Faith Hebron is Conjunction to anoint him King over us Other Lords have ruled over us too long as I shewed ye the other day out of Esay 26.13 Since by the law the true Saul hath long reigned in our mortal body Mark what reasons the Israelites use 2 Sam. 5.1 2. 1. We are say they thy bone and thy flesh so Paul saith of the true David Eph. 5.30 2. Even then when Saul was King then David led out and brought in Israel David was yesterday even when the Law reigned he led the true Israel out and in he was the Minister of Circumcision 3. The Lord hath decreed this that his Son should be Captain of our
or rather the integrity of one and the same Both 1. From the loss and that which always attends upon the loss the shame they are deceived And 2. The danger of that deceit the more near and inward the more dangerous they are self-deceivers or as 't is in the Syriac deceivers of their own souls And this method I intend to follow considering the words 1. As one entire precept And 2. A reason of it 1. In the precept is considerable ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1. The operative word And 2. The operation or doing of that word unto which is opposed the sole hearing of it The word is either inward or out-outward 1. The inward word is that which was in the beginning the essential word of God whereby God hath done and spoken all things in the first and second creation whence it is that where God in the Old Testament is said to do or say any thing the Chaldee Paraphrast turns it thus God did or said so and so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by his word Examples are infinite According to which notion many places in the New Testament may be understood Thus where Moses tells Israel The word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thine heart Chald. O that we had one like Moses that might go up to Heaven for us But no man hath ascended up to Heaven but the Son of man who is in Heaven Joh. 3.13 Tharg The Law is not beyond the great Sea that thou should say O that we had one like Jonas the Prophet that might go down to the bottom of the Sea and bring it to us Things hidden are in Heaven or beyond the Sea in far places not so the word S. Paul understood him to speak as well of Christ as of the Law Rom. 10.6 Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ from the dead but what saith the Scripture The word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word which we preach the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the verse before the Text that inward word for if he had meant any other he had not satisfied the doubt Thus we may understand Hebr. 4.12 13. 1. Pet. 1.23 24 25. According to S. Austin S. Anselm Aquinas Hugo Cardinalis and others who interpret the word in the Text verbum increatum for this word preacheth to the inward ear as the other to the outward Ephes 2.17 Hebr. 12.25 and from the beginning God hath spoken so much unto all and every man that should they be written every one the world it self could not contain the Books that should be written Which yet may be understood of the outward word which gives testimony unto the inward which is the pattern and measure of the outward And thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word and commandment are all one For whereas God is the essential Truth Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness And the Son of God the engrafted inward Word the essential Image of God And man having been made according to that image and fall'n from it is to be renewed according to the outward Word The outward Word is the image of the inward a Word of Truth Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness for the whole outward word is either 1. In proportion to the understanding and so 't is a word of information containing testimonies of Divine Truths concerning things good and evil and Histories concerning persons Or 2. In proportion to the will and so 't is a word of reformation in Righteousness containing precepts 1. Affirmative commanding things to be done c. And 2. Negative prohibiting things which are to be left undone Or 3. In proportion to the affections containing the Sanctions of the Divine Preceps and Prohibitions And those either 1. Promises exciting Love Delight Hope Joy and the like Or 2. Threatnings exciting Fear Grief Carefulness Indignation and such like And unto these or some of these parts the whole outward word may be reduced Which word is the Sphere of the Christian's Activity the word whereof we must be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth inventors of figments and fables but there have been and are too many such who follow cunningly devised fables and prophesie out of their own heart and call it Gods word The Apostle would not have us fictores but factores as the vulgar hath it not players or prayers with the word but workers but doers of it This doing of the Word must be answerable to the Word it self inward and outward whence proceeds the inward and outward Righteousness For the trees of Righteousness being rooted and grounded in Love bring forth fruit upward the fruits of Righteousness which are in Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God And thus to do the word is opere adimplere saith Aquinas there is a vacuum where obedience is wanting such is before the new Creation as there was before the old And therefore when God Jer. 4. had complained that his people were wise to do evil but to do good they knew not he presently adds I beheld the earth and lo it was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without form and void The doing of the word fills up that vacuum which is done as well by passion as action by suffering according to the will of God as by doing as well by omitting what the word prohibites as by performing what the word commands Thus holy David concludes that Psal 15. which hath more negatives than affirmitives ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he that doth these things yea where there are more negatives or actions to be left undone than affirmative precepts The just man is said to do that which is lawful and right Ezech. 18. And the ten Commandments which are the ten words to be done are most of them negatives and contain things to be left undone So that to be doers of the Word is to be obedient unto the Word and so one Translation renders the Text Este ii qui sermoni pareatis such as obey the word and because his servant a man is whom he obeys be ye servants of the Word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã So the Syriach hath it which word signifieth as well to serve as to do And in this large sence hearers may be also doers of the Word whether by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we understand hearers or students as the word signifieth let them hear on in God's name benefacitis saith St. Peter such are not hearers only These are such as give the word the hearing but do what they list themselves such were they in Jer. 43. and Ezech. 33. Such are the Israelites which signifie the hearers of God and typifie a sect of our days as notable for hearing as they for their golden ear-rings of which Aaron and Gideon made idols as these do of their hearing
next words are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out So that Book which we call by the name of Ecclesiastes which is Solomons saith the Chaldee Paraphrast is in the Original ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Feminine which in the Hebrew is used for the Neuter Yea Christ himself who is the first born Son of God is often in Scripture understood by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wisdom or wisdoms and according to the same similitude he is called Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1. So when we read of him in the Old Testament under the name of Saviour or Salvation the Greek Interpreters have ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Latin Salutare in the Neuter according to which old Simeon in his nunc dimittis speaking unto the Father of Christ the Son Mine eyes saith he have seen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thy salvation meaning Christ Thus also the Angel saith unto the Mother of our Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. That holy thing that shall be born of thee or is born in thee shall be called the Son of God Luk. 1.35 And the Reason may be 1. partly because divine and spiritual things are not varied by Sexes as natural and bodily things are for in Christ there is neither Male nor Female Gal. 4. 2. Partly to comprehend more expresly all kinds sexes and conditions and states of men women old young rich poor Jew Gentile bond free be he what otherwise he can be a Saint of God is born of God And other places of Scripture agree hereunto so Rom. 9.26 They are called the children of God saith St. Paul to the Saints Gal. 3.26 and the children of light 1 Thess 5.5 that is of God 1 Joh. 1.5 and born of God 1 Joh. 2.29 and 3.9 I your father and you all my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Cor. 6. beside many the like places so that it will not be needfull to insist longer in the proof of so known and manifest a truth but rather to enquire into the causes of this spiritual birth which are considerable in regard of God and the Saints themselves 1. In regard of God as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã say some Divines but rather as faciamus hominem let us make man import that the whole Trinity was employed in the making of the greater and the lesser world Even so in the spiritual birth which as the Apostle intimates 2 Cor. 4.6 was typified by the Creation of the world all the persons of the Trinity are taken up These are the Creators which the Wise Man bids us Remember ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thy Creators in the dayes of thy youth for the word is plural in the Original Eccles 12.1 The Makers of Israel Psal 149.2 for there also and elsewhere the word is plural Confer Job 35.10 Isa 54.5 For according to the Oeconomy and administration of these three Kingdoms observed by Irenaeus God the Father begets his spiritual sons and daughters for is not he thy Father that bought thee and hath not he made thee Deut. 32.6 And hiving promised to send the Son unto them accordingly he sends him and by his Law draws them unto him Joh. 6. And thus my Father worketh hitherto saith the Son of him Joh. 5.17 Now the Son comes forth attended by these children born given and brought unto him of his Father and offering them again unto his Father saith St. Cyril with these words Behold I and the children which God hath given me Isai 8.18 which the Apostle quotes and applyes expresly unto God the Fathers bringing of those his children who are born of God unto his Son Hebr. 2.13 And in these the Son perfects the work which his Father gave him to do Joh. 17.4 for they grow up unto him in all things from new born babes 1 Pet. 2. unto perfect men Ephes 4. This growth the Father and Son effect by the outward ministration of the Word and inward operation of the Spirit For as the Sun and a Man beget a man as the Philosopher speaks so God and his Minister beget the new Man in us whence the Minister is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gods co-worker or workman together with God yea he is said to be the Father of those who are born of God and begotten by his Ministry For as wicked men are the Sons of Men and of the Devil for so in so many words the Sons of Eli were Sons of Belial 1 Sam. 3. and our Saviour tells the ungodly Jews that he knew they were Abraham's Seed yet saith he ye are of your Father the Devil So on the contrary the children who are born of God are also the children born of the Minister for so St. Paul calls Onesmus Phil. 10. and Timothy his Sons 1 Cor. 4.15 and saith he begat all the Corinthians through the Gospel That 's the Seed out of which the Saints of God are begotten and born for they are not born again of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever This holy Seed is enlivened and quickned by the operation of the Spirit of God Zach. 4.6 which moves upon this Seed in this new Creation and spiritual birth as once it moved upon the confused Seed of the world in the old Creation and like the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that formative power in the womb it forms and fashions the new man in those who are born of God And as in the forming of an Embrio in the womb the first form is abolished and then another introduced and as we put out of the wax the old impression of the seal before we seal it anew so also in the forming of the New Man in those that are born of God the precedent form is wrought out of them and they wrought unto an inconformity with this world Rom. 12.2 And as obedient children they do not form or fashion themselves according to the former lusts in their ignorance 1 Pet. 1.14 But are transformed by renewing of their mind Rom. 12.2 And as he who hath begotten them and called them is holy so are they holy also in all manner of conversation And these are the causes of this spiritual birth in regard of God 2. The causes in respect of the Saints themselves are Faith in Christ and imitation of Christ 1. By Faith in Christ we become born of God For as many as receive him to them he gives power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name who are born not of blood nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1.12 13. so that the Saints are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Galat. 3.26 Yea Faith in Christ is so necessary to the spiritual birth that these two phrases the Saints to be in the Faith and Christ the new birth to be in the Saints are taken
are a far off These thing were written for those that come after as he speaks elsewhere The Dove is the figure of the holy Ghost and that mourns and laments with an unutterable groaning for the opposition and fighting of the earthly man against it And therefore wickedness it self in the original hath the name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from trouble and unquietness Such anxiety such care such trouble our spiritual enemy stirs up in us And therefore the Devil our spiritual enemy is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Lords Prayer one who makes us work and labour a troublesome contentious and deadly enemy Do ye not find him so Beloved look I beseech you into your own souls and examine well the motions there Rom. 7.21 22.23 24. I find a law that when I would do good evil is present with me for I delight in the law of God after the inward man But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death 3. Such a fighting enemy is sin but an enemy cannot be said to fight unless it be sought withal and therefore that which is born of God fights with the world and all the Worthies Joshua and all the Judges David and all the Kings are types of him 4. The issue of this fight is prevailing that which is born of God let us observe this in a type or two Haman's wise man tells him Esth 6.13 That if Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shall not prevail against him but shall surely fall before him Haman was an Amalechite who turns away the people of God from his service and worship Mordecai was a true Jew one inwardly a true penitent his name signifieth repentance amara contritio bitter contrition and Esther the hidden invisible Church Amalech is to be overcome by an hidden hand the hand of God the power of Christ in the true Jews and the penitent ones Gaza endeavoured to suppress Sampson but in vain he escapes safely out of their hands and carrieth away the Gates and Bars of the City Judg. 16.1 2 3. Gaza signifieth strength the power and strength of our spiritual enemies with whom the true Sampson grapples and overcomes them For stronger is he that is in you than he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 And so that is verified of our Saviour in the type That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church of Christ thus he is said to overcome a Lion i. e. the roaring Lion the Devil thus he is said to have overcome more at his death than in all his life as Christ by his death overcomes all his spiritual enemies When we duly receive the Sacrament as now we are about to do we shew forth the Lord's death 1 Cor. 11.26 We are now conforming our selves unto the death of Christ and God grant that it may be as truly said of us that by this our conformity unto his death all our spiritual enemies may be subdued in us that by this death we may overcome more than in all our life before All those victories in Joshua Judges the two Books of Kings and Chronicles they all signifie the spiritual victories of Christ and his Church that which is born of God overcometh the world 5. This is a certain and infallible sign unto us that Christ is born in us the Apostle exhorts us to try the spirits whether they be of God or no 1 Joh. 4.1 Doth any Spirit in thee destroy the world in thee It is an evident proof that Christ is born in thee so the Apostle reasons 1 Joh. 4.4 Ye are of God little children ye have overcome the world because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world And therefore when any new Spirits are born and arise in our hearts enquire as Joshua did Art thou for us or for our enemies Josh 5.13 14. If he appear for us he will destroy our spiritual enemies in us O Beloved there are many Spirits gone into the world which are indeed for our enemies which tell us that our spiritual enemies cannot be overcome and so weaken the hearts and hands of God's people if we take Physick and it works not the cure 't is not good so a Plaister if it cure not nor Doctrine if it be not ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wholsome or sound This reproves those who take no notice of God's work in their own souls how quick-sighted are we in all things else He who should take our part and help us to conquer our outward enemy we should ever account our selves his friends his servants Christ is conquering our spiritual enemies in us who takes notice of it Nemo in sese tentat descendere nemo Who is there that enters into his own heart to discern what the Lord is working there Who considers the work of the Lord and the operation of his hands Let us search and try our hearts Beloved there is a world of iniquity in the heart of a man which the Lord would demolish and destroy out of it and therefore as the Devil casts his darts into our heart so doth the Lord his the inspirations and motions of his holy Spirit which he darts into our souls when he sends many a sad thought into our hearts by reason of our sins and fights against the Devil by the sword of the spirit which is the word of God But who takes notice of this work of the Lord There 's not any one such thought befalls us but proceeds from his holy spirit and how commonly are such thoughts entertained Tush man be chearful these are sad melancholly fancies thoughts wash them away in a cup of wine go into some merry company Psal 92.4 5 6. Mark I beseech ye what the Lord saith to such Esay 5.11 12. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue until night till the wine enflame them and the harp and the viol and the tabret and the pipe are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands Hence it comes to pass that the malignant party grows strong in us the Devil builds up his strong holds and the work of the Lord goes not on in us And what comes of it Psal 28.4 5. Give them according to the work of their hands pay them that they have deserved for they regard not the work of the Lord nor the operation of his hands therefore shall he break them down and not build them up Wisdom builds the house and folly pulls it down with her hands Yea the Lord gives up such wicked hearts to the spirit of errour Ahab will not believe Eliah 1 King 22.21 22. Who therefore shall perswade
obtained promises stopped the mouths of Lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens Hebr. 11.33 34. If we refer this victory over the world atchieved by those that are born of God unto superiour causes of it it 's to be ascribed unto God the Father through Christ the Son Ye are of God saith our Apostle therefore ye have overcome them 1 Joh. 4.4 and 1 Cor. 15. Blessed be God who giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ If we look at the motive and principle in God it is his Love in all these things we are more than conquerours through him that loved us Rom. 8.37 Through him indeed for having himself conquered the world he yields it over unto us as many as are born of God and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ for so Joshuah having himself trodden on the necks of those five Kings Josh 10. he called for all the men of Israel and said unto the Captains of the men of war which went with him Come near and put your feet upon the necks of these Kings c. fear nothing saith he nor be dismayed be strong and of a good courage for thus shall the Lord do unto all your enemies against whom ye fight And even so the true Joshuah Behold saith he unto his Brethren that are born of God I give you power to tread on Serpents and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you Luk. 10.19 And when the Lamb had overcome the Kings Apoc. 17.14 't is added that they who were with him were called and chosen and faithful and therefore the victory of those who are born of God is in the Text ascribed to Faith according to that of our Saviour the great Captain of our Salvation who thus heartens on his Soldiers Confidite ego vici mundum be strong and confident or faithful I have overcome the world And yet it may be doubted whether all that is born of God overcomes the world for that 's the work of a perfect man saith Aquinas whereas there are inferiour degrees of those who are born of God I answer 't is true indeed degrees there are of those that are born of God 1 Joh. 2.12 13. yet is there no degree so low but hath with it an ability of resisting and not yielding to and obeying the world So that the victory of the world may be considered either 1. In the real and perfect accomplishment of it or 2. In the sincere and thorough will purpose and endeavour of so doing as also 3. According to the divers degrees of Faith in the Soldier of Jesus Christ they were the Captains of the men of war who set their feet on the necks of the five Kings Josh 10. And it is the speech of Christ to his Apostles I give you power c. and of St. Paul now an old Soldier a perfect man in Christ Gal. 5.24 The world is crucified unto me and I unto the world and I am able to do all things in Christ that strengthens me He was yet but a young Soldier when whether in his own person or personating another I dispute not he thus complains Rom. 7.23 I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members such an one is as yet a child come to the birth but there is not so much strength as to bring forth yet will there is and purpose and endeavour as appears by his professed aversation and hatred of sin vers 15. and searching after ability to do it at vers 18. his heavy complaint for his disability and weakness vers 24. He was but a young Soldier in Christ when he cryed out Lord what wilt thou have me to do he was ready in will but weak Hercules strangled the Snakes yet in his cradle Christ is as yet infirm and weak 2 Cor. 13. What is Christ weak Yes as the Law is Rom. 8.3 by reason of our flesh like a lawful Monarch exhorting and commanding yet not able so fully as he would to effectuate his commands like David newly come to his Kingdom the Sons of Zerviah are too strong for him even tribulation and anguish God led them not through the way of the Land of the Philistines though that was near lest the people repent and return to Aegypt but God led them by the way of the wilderness Exod. 13.17 And yet even in this first and weakest age of Gods Child he may be said in some sort to overcome the world in that in will in purpose in resolution in holy endeavour he fights with it yea so effectually that he denies ungodliness and worldly lusts whiles he yields not but resâsts the Devil and he flees from him Jam. 4. even such a child is known by his doing Prov. 20.11 so that even such an one in a sort overcomes the world Our worldly lusts are our true enemies so the Apostle tells us that the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God Rom. 8.7 and the friendship of this world is enmity against God Jam. 4.4 And the Apostles reason is remarkable the wisdom of the flesh is enmity c. because it is not subject to the law nor indeed can be so that whatsoever is not subject to Gods Law nor can be is Gods enemy Of the same nature is our envy hatred and malice pride covetousness anger c. which we guild over with other names either 1. Good as calling envy hatred and malice by the names of zeal and religion and pride knowing of a mans self and his place and covetousness good husbandry or thriftiness c. Or else 2. call them by the names of things though not good yet pardonable as infirmities and frailties and weaknesses of the Saints and then all 's well so that it 's no marvel that the Apostle calls lusts deceitful and deceivableness of unrighteousness and a mystery of iniquity It is the grand imposture and the greatest deceit in the world when we do so dangerously couzen and cheat and mistake our selves taking our friends for our foes and our foes for our friends hating the things that we should love and loving the things that we should hate Thus we love our home-born fleshly lusts and embrace them as our dear and bosom friends which are indeed our greatest enemies the enemies of our own houshold Matth. 24. fleshly lusts war against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 they seem our friends as those which are born in us of our flesh and of our bone but they are indeed our enemies as being such as cannot be subject to the Law of God as swallowes and bats and rats and mice and other vermine because they are bred in our houses they seem to be tame but they can never be tamed so the wisdom and holiness and lusts of
the flesh because they are bred in us and agree well with our corrupt nature they seem to be our friends but they can never be made subject to the Law of God and therefore they are indeed enemies of God and our enemies Thus the water of the Fountain Styx differs neither in colour nor scent from other water but if it be drunk 't is deadly The like we may conceive of our dangerous and hurtful lusts how friendly and agreeable to our nature so ever they appear unto us Wisd 1.14 15 16. Thus on the contrary we take that for our enemy which is indeed our friend thus the Law of God is indeed our friend and we ought to consent and agree with it that it 's good and of this our Saviour speaks Matt. 5.25 Agree with thine adversary while thou art in the way with him And they are our true friends which reprove us and bring us to accord and agreement with the Law of God Levit. 19.17 And therefore the Saints of God because they further one another to such concord and bring one another into friendship with God they are called friends 1 Joh. Thus we hate the Law when it reproves us for our misdoings for howsoever veritas lucens amatur surely the light is good Eccles yet redarguens odio habetur a scorner hates him that reproves him Amos 5.10 Thus Gods Truth and the Preachers of it are taken for enemies Art thou he that troubles Israel 1 Kings 18.17 and hast thou found me O mine enemy saith Ahab to Elijah 1 Kings 21.20 and 22.8 I hate Michajah because he prophesieth not good concerning me but evil Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth But we need not seek Examples so ancient O the gross mistake of this otherwise most knowing age we are commanded to hate our inward enemies and these we love we are commanded to love our outward enemies and these we hate O but we have found out a devise to save our selves from that imputation of hating our outward enemies entitle them to God feign them but Gods enemies and then hate them persecute them c. See Notes on Matt. 8.25 The world is a troublesome and importunate and implacable enemy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Devil Beelzebub ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so the Devil a roaring Lion Yet the world is a weak enemy the flesh is weak if for us and as weak if against us for to be fleshly and to be weak they are all one The Aegyptians are men and not God their horses are flesh and not spirit Isai 31.3 Observ 1. The wonderful power imparted unto the Saints that are born of God they fight with the world and prevail Observ 2. It is no good argument then of a perfect regenerate man that the spirit lusts against the flesh c. that he would do good c. The Apostle applyes this measure to little children Gal. 4.19 and 5.17 Observ 3. This is a certain and infallible sign of a regenerate man and that Christ is born in us and that we are born of God when we overcome the world Observ 4. This is a certain proof and demonstration of our spiritual resurrection from the death of sin into the life of righteousness for as the first born Son of God approved himself to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 so the Saints by following him therein Consol But alas may the poor dejected soul say I find my self too weak to withstand so strong enemies yet despair not The Saints out of weakness it self were made strong and waxed valiant in fight But I am overcome by every vain desire Hast thou at least a desire not to be overcome Hast thou a desire to conquer persist and continue in that desire and good will and God will add power The people shall be willing in the day of thy power Psal 110. Christ the power of God is given ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luk. 2.14 yet even that good will is born of God 't is a Grace and God gives Grace for grace the grace of power and strength for the grace of good will But alas I have many enemies and now I revolt from them they are more exasperate more fierce against me As when the Jews revolted against the Chaldeans or Aegyptians they were the more eager to bring them under again And thus I find it in my soul I have Chaldeans and Aegyptians there devils and sins and their lusts which fight against my soul so that I may cry out as the Prophets servant did when he saw the Syrians or Aramites encompass the City 2 Kings 6.15 for even such Aramites encompass my soul What Aramites are they pride and haughtiness of spirit and deceit and the curse which attends these so Aram signifieth The Prophet David complains of these spiritual Aramites Psal 10.1 6 7. The ungodly is so proud that he cares not for God nor is God in all his thoughts his mouth is full of cursing deceit and fraud Against these he prayed and so do thou Let not the foot of pride come against me nor let the hand of the ungodly cast me down And then fear not the Aramites if thou be one of Elisha's servants Elisha's no I am a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ Why that 's the true Elisha God the Saviour so Elisha signifieth Art thou his servant The Lord open thine eyes and thou shalt see that there are more with thee than are against thee vers 17 18. Do thou also pray unto the Lord and thou shalt see thine helpers so the Prophet did Psal 55 11-18 You tell me of David David had his falls and foil'd he was by his spiritual enemies more than once True he was so but he was foil'd that thou mightest not be foil'd he sinned that thou mightest not sin And therefore St. John 1 Joh. 1.10 having said if we say we have not sinned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us he presently adds 1 Joh. 2.1 My little children these things write I unto you that you sin not The foils of David and others of Gods Saints they are left like Sea-marks that we might not shipwrack our Faith either on Sâylla or Charybdis presumption or despair Besides though it be true that we have all of us our weaknesses God help us yet is it not possible that we may attain to as great strength as David had Is it presumption to hope for it It is a promise to be performed in these last days Zach. 12.8 And he that is feeble among them shall be as David at that day and the house of David shall be as God c. But alas I find it not so Lean upon the Lord and thou shalt renew thy strength it is a promise Esay 40.31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint
related Histories of our Saviour's Death Resurrection and Ascension c. And that he by his Death and Resurrection hath overcome the world and to this purpose we understand our Saviours speech to his Disciples Joh. 16. ult Be of good cheer I have overcome the world And truly the words in our English sound no otherwise than to make us secure that the work is done to our hand and we need take no more thought of it or for it but Beloved the matter being of this great consequence 't is worth your attention and best consideration that this Scripture is so far from lulling us into security that it puts us upon the Duty of the Text and encourageth us to it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is confidite so the Vulg. Lat. And the Septuagint by this word render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to repose confidence in one as Prov. 31.11 to be bold so by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã fear not Exod. 14.13 and so it comes home to the Text be bold be confident hope in me I have overcome the world to this purpose the Greek Text the Vulgar Latine the Syriack Interpreter Most fitly to this purpose Deut. 33.27 The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath the arms of this world ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee and shall say destroy them Thus in our ordinary speech the victories and conquests of Armies are ascribed unto the Commander in Chief Alexander overcomes the world Julius Caesar conquered France c. because by their Example Counsel and Encouragement these victories were obtained Much more may we ascribe the victory of all our spiritual enemies unto Christ the Captain of our Salvation not only as he by whose example counsel and encouragement we overcome the world but also as he who is the very principle of wisdom power patience and fortitude c. by which we overcome the world Christ therefore the great Commander he hath overcome the world and animates and heartens us to overcome As if a man had conquered a wild beast he should now deliver it to his Son to conquer Thus all the Victories of all the Worthies prefigure unto us Christs conquests and victories of the world Thus he spoiled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in himself so as a Malefactor is by Law and sentence of the Prince a dead man and as the custome is in France and elsewhere he is set forth and hanged up in effigie Thus all those victories of Joshuah and the Judges of David and other Kings are all types and figures of our spiritual enemies overcome and hanged as it were in effigie and so to be crucified and mortified by us 4. So that this combate is not left unto us as an arbitrary business which may be done or not done and yet no harm done there 's a necessity lies upon us and wo be to us if we fight not all the happiness of that life which is to come depends upon the atchievement of this victory The kingdom of heaven is to be obtained upon no other terms if we suffer with him we shall reign with him Our neighbour kingdom of Ireland will not be recovered upon other conditions and shall we hope the kingdom of heaven will be obtained upon easier terms Sign 1. In a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or universal destruction such as the Lord enjoyned Saul and such as this must be great and small all must perish Whether have we gotten such an universal conquest over our spiritual enemies yea or no Saul being sent to destroy Amalek had commission to slay both men and women infant and suckling oxe and sheep camel and ass and had a charge to spare none 1 Sam. 15.3 yet vers 9. Saul and the people spared Agag the King of the Amalekites the Lord hath given the Faith a general commission and power to destroy Amaleck to overcome the world Do we not spare some reigning sin do we not spare Agag what thy Agag is thou best knowest and God who knows thy heart knows thou hast spared Agag what 's he a covering so Agag signifieth that which covers all other sins and rules and reigns over them is' t not a covering of lies and deceit in trading an over-reaching of our brother in any thing Remember the sparing of Agag cost Saul a Kingdom 1 Sam. 15.23 and so it will thee a better kingdom than his was for cursed is he who doth the work of the Lord negligently deceitfully and cursed is he who keepeth back his sword from blood Jer. 48.10 Cursed is he who spares the life and blood of sin I fear I may truly say with the Apostle Ye have not thus resisted unto blood striving against sin Hebr. 12.4 But Saul spared the fattest of the cattle for sacrifice that 's another spiritual Agag another covering of sin a fair pretence of Religion to cover iniquity And is not Religion and Godliness ordinarily pretended when thou principally intendest thine own gain O remember that the Lord hath threatned that he will destroy the face of the covering that is cast over all people Isa 25.7 he hath threatned that he will destroy Gog Ezec. 38. that is the covering and that nothing is covered that shall not be reveiled nor hid that shall not be known O take heed of covering thy wicked heart with so plausible a pretence and shew of Religion and remember the day will come when the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart 1 Cor. 4.5 O that the Lord would make me this day a Samuel to hew that spiritual Agag in pieces that reigns covertly in any soul here present 2. But in an universal destruction the least are destroyed as well as the greatest But alas is' t not a little one and my soul shall live is there a little one if thou sparest it wittingly or willingly thy soul shall die he that offends in one point is guilty of all 3. If the world be overcome then the Government is changed as the Romans gave their Laws to the conquered Nations and made them Provinces thus it is not lawful for us to put any man to death jus gladii Thus the Normans conquering us gave us their Laws And is the Government chang'd in thee are the Laws altered thou hadst many Lords that ruled over thee Isa 26. Is the Lord alone exalted over thee Is he the sole Governour in thee Is he all in all in thee Are the Laws altered heretofore the Law of Sin and Death ruled in thee doth now the Law of God rule in thee Heretofore the Law of thy Members warred against the Law of thy Mind and brought thee into captivity to the Law of Sin that was in thy members Hath now the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made thee free from the law of sin and death is the world turned upside down Isa 24.
said to be obedient 1. The first of these we may call serviceable instruments of God quae acta aguntur which are rather used and wrought by then work of themselves 2. The second are the enemies of God whom by his Power he over-rules that he makes them serve his ends when they most of all advance their own 3. The third are the vassals as it were and slaves of God which would not work unless they feared otherwise to be beaten 4. The fourth and last are as it were Gods mercenaries and hirelings which work meerly for wages and otherwise would do no good at all All these are as it were Gods mercenaries retainers and his servants at large because they do the Lords Will in some sort but those who are his own servants and truly such and in ordinary service are obedient unto the Lord. Now obedience unto the Lord according to St. Gregory is a willing and plyable inclination and humble submission of our will unto the known commands of the Lord as such This then is the sphere of our service the known will of the Lord This Will is one in God but being reveiled to us is manifold which Will because it is contained in many Precepts it will be too long in particular to recite and therefore it shall be sufficient at this time to express what it is in general and that with accommodation and fitting it unto the present Argument He that entertains one into his service who hath served his enemies will first of all have a care that he renounce them These enemies are the lusts of the Devil Joh. 8. The lusts of ungodly men 1 Pet. 4.2 our own self-love Luk. 9.23 If any man will come after me or be my follower let him deny himself Thus to obey the Truth Rom. 2.8 is to obey and serve Christ he is the Truth to obey Righteousness is to serve Christ Rom. 6.19 He is the Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. If any man saith the Lord will come after me or be my servant and follower let him deny himself and take up his Cross daily and follow me Luk. 9.23 And this is the will of God even your sanctification that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour 1 Thess 4.3 4 5. That we serve him in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the dayes of our life Luk. 1.74 75. That we serve Christ in Righteousness Peace and Joy Rom. 14.17 And this is the service of Christ And St. Jude in these things being obedient unto the will of God was a servant unto Jesus Christ Yet St. Jude was not only thus a servant for this is required of all and every Christian man St. Jude was an Apostle are all Apostles saith Saint Paul No God hath set some in the Church first Apostles then Prophets c. 1 Cor. 12. So that both wayes he was a servant of Jesus Christ both in general and special service The Reason in common of this will appear whether we consider the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ or the Lord Jesus Christ himself or our selves his servants 1. The Father by his Law which is his Testament gives us unto his Son As the Father according to the Civil Law may by his Will and Testament give and bequeath his servants unto his Heir Of this the Original will is extant Joh. 6. No man cometh unto me except the Father draw him which we must not understand violently as wicked men commit sin who draw iniquity with cart-ropes but the Father draws us to his Son by the cords of a man as the Prophet Hosea speaks preventing us by his Grace and Favour and furthering us with his continual help and promising rewards temporal and eternal And if these take not place with us by threatning temporal and eternal judgements and if these obtain not their due effect by fatherly chastisements both outward afflicting us in our bodies by sickness in our estates by poverty in our good names by infamy and disgrace and inwardly chastening us by his Law Psal 94. which brings us unto Christ Gal. 3. 2. And that is the second Reason in regard of the Son our Lord to whom his Father gives us Hebr. 2.13 Behold I and the children which God hath given me These children differ nothing from servants saith St. Paul Galat. 4.1 His then we are both 1. because bequeathed unto him by his Father and 2. because redeemed by him from the earth and from men Apoc. 14. and that at a dear rate even by the price of his blood 1 Pet. 1. 3. In respect of our selves the Reason may be our yielding and answering unto Gods call and setting our selves as servants unto Christ Rom. 6. But it may be objected what our Lord himself saith Joh. 15.14 15. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you henceforth I call ye not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you How then doth St. Jude call himself a servant Resp All the Saints of God are wont to undervalue themselves and stile themselves by inferiour Titles even unto those which God himself gives them yea by how much they are the greater in Gods eyes so much the less they are in their own eyes Abraham is a leading example of this kind whom God himself stiles the Father of many Nations him in whom all generations should be blessed or rather according to the Hebrew should bless themselves Many the like praises of Abraham ye shall find Gen. 12.15 17 18 22. and Ecclus. 44.19 Abraham was a great Father of many Nations in Glory was there none like unto him Insomuch that the Jews took it in high disdain that Christ himself should intimate he was greater than Abraham What! art thou greater than our Father Abraham Joh. 8.53 Greater than your Father Abraham how great was he Nay how little rather if you 'l hear himself speak hee 'l tell you I am saith he of himself but dust and ashes Gen. 18.27 How great was Jacob in Gods esteem whom God himself named Israel and added the reason for as a Prince thou hast power with God and with men and hast prevailed insomuch that all Gods People the whole Nation of the Jews were called by the name of Jacob and Israel Nay the Samaritans with whom the Jews had no dealing even they gloried in Jacob for so saith the woman of Samaria Art thou greater than our Father Jacob Joh. 4.12 How great was your Father Jacob Nay rather how little was your Father Jacob If you 'l believe himself I am less than all the Mercy and all the Truth that thou hast shewn unto thy servant Gen. 32.10 What shall I tell you of the glorious Titles wherewith the Lord honours David this one may be an abridgement of all the rest He was a principal type of Christ insomuch as Christ
Pharisees had their name from Separation so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifie to separate who for their great knowledge in the divine Rites and Ceremonies and glorious Profession and pretence of Holiness and Righteousness were separated from other men great Fatalists such as our Pharisees are great pretenders to Religion Others conceive they had their name from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is explicare to explain and expound the Scripture But that some think proper to the Scribes and Teachers only as I shewed before And that the Pharisees were only the religious people and hearers of the Scribes But happily some might extend their activity also to the teaching of others as the Pharisees did saith Drusius and if so we shall match them in our days for we have as great pretenders to Religion as ever the Pharisees were who for their opinion of their own Piety and Holiness separate themselves from all others And such as the Prophet mimically brings in Esay 65.5 Stand by thy self I am more holy than thou Thus they are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Separati Separatists they are also forward to teach others even before themselves have learned And so indeed we are all teachers at this day And so our Pharisees also have their name from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is to open and expoud the Scriptures But it seems they were such as said and did not for our Lord calls them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which properly signifieth Stage-players who act the persons and parts of such men which they are not And certainly we can fit them in this Age for never was the art of seeming improved to such height as it is at this day for most men since the Stage-players were put down have set up their trade under the vizours and plausible shews of Holiness and it is most what the new Reformation of Religion The Apostle describes them 2 Tim. 3.5 Having a form of Godliness but denying the power of it The Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites tyth'd Mint and Dill and Cummin The Reason seems to be 1. These were easie Duties and of small charge and such they loved extremely Judas was of the same Religion Why saith he is this waste which was spent upon Christ 2. The Natural man such as all these were maugre all the shews of Religion he is capable only of some outward service of God such as may be seen heard and felt And therefore ye read that the Pharisees were notable at washing of pots and cups brazen vessels and tables Mar. 7.4 and other such bodily exercises 3. These Duties might be performed without parting from their Lusts He that sacrificeth offers the flesh of Beasts he who is obedient his own will Hypocrites are industrious in all parts of Ceremonial holiness I fast twice in the week I pay tythes of all things that I possess They in Zach. 7. had kept a Fast 70 years and never to the Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they were toti in his Observ 1. Though payment of Tythes be not the Scope of this Text yet if we compare the latter part of it These things ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone with this former its evident that our Lord establisheth payment of Tythes by this Text. And we may hence infer That the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites were more just in paying them than many at this day are in detaining them though I never yet contended for them nor ever spake so much for them as now upon this just occasion which I could not wave Mysticé Why doth our Lord make choice of these three kinds of Herbs rather than others It seems there is some analogical resemblance between them and the great things of the Law They say that Mint by the scent and by the bitterness of it kills Lice and stays the Blood But Dill is of a lenitive nature asswaging pain ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã As for Cummin it dispels all kind of windiness These and the like effects the Herbalists tell us these Herbs have Mint therefore represents Judgment in the rigour of it whereby bloody men are suppressed Dill allays grief The Samaritane poured oyl into the wounds Cummin dispels windiness and so it answers to the living Faith which takes away all swellings and pride of heart as it is said of Abraham that he was strong in faith and gave glory to God Rom. 4.20 Now the Pharisees gave the tenth of these only to God whereas he requires all Let judgment run down like water and righteousness as a mighty stream Amos 5.24 That we be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful that we have ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the faith of God The Pharisees are content with some parts and degrees of Judgment Mercy and Faith as our Pharisees are content with Sanctification in part and yet think themselves very holy yea the holiest of men O beloved if these gave the tenth of these yet are called hypocrites what are they who pay not to God the twentieth part of these Observ 2. Men may be very industrious and exact in performance of many Duties yet may be accounted hypocrites Herod heard John Baptist gladly and did many things Axiom 2. They omitted the weightier things of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith 1. What are these Judgment Mercy and Faith 2. How are these called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the weighty things of the Law 1. Judgment Mercy and Faith these 3 are parallel to those 3 Mich. 6.8 See Notes on Hosea 8.12 2. These are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã i. e. the more honourable things of the Law for so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that signifieth honourable is rendred by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the word in the Text. The Reason seems to be because things that are light as dust and chaff are lightly esteemed and things which are weighty as gold and silver are highly prized So we understand ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Thes 2.6 we might have been burdensom unto you or rather as the Margin we might have used authority better than both we might have been in honour among you as it is evident by the Context neither of men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others when we might have been in honour or honourable among you as the Apostles of Christ who in order are the most honourable in the Church according to 1 Cor. 12. God hath set in his Church first Apostles c. And ye find the like order Eph. 4. According to this understanding of the phrase we read a proof Esay 42.21 He will magnifie the Law and make it honourable Thus Judgment Mercy and Faith are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the honourable things of the Law as Hos 8.12 they are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the honourable things of the Law Doubt Are these the only three weighty things of the Law Are all