and Agility to f 1 K. 17.18,22,23 2 K. 4.32,34,35 8.5 Ps 104.29 30. Jo. 11.39,43,45 Acts 20.9,10,12 Ro. 4.19 8.11 Heb. 11.19,35 1 P. 3.18 Rev. 11.9,11 dead Bodies g Ez. 37.1 to 10. dry very dry Bones or h Mat. 3.9 L. 3.8 Stones who still and ever i Ro. 4.17 8.11 Eph. 2.1,5 qnickneth at least the spiritually dead and by a secret yet a certain and sometimes l Gen. 41.38 Num. 11.26 24 2,3,4 Judg. 3.10 1 S. 10.6,9,10,11 16.13,18 19 20,23,24 2 K. 2.15 2 Ch. 20.14 Neh. 9.30 Isa 11.2 48.16 Ez. 2.2 11.5 Dan. 4.8 Mat. 3.16 L. 4.18,21,22 Jo. 1.32,33 14.17 15.26 Acts 2.2 c. and 8.29 11.12 16.7 1 P. 4.14 1 Jo. 4.2 Rev. 1,10 4.2 a manifest Infusion m Eph. 1.23 Job 32.8 filleth all in all By the n 2 Co. 3.6 same Power I say are these Lines made lively and active and so justly in this sense called the o Ph. 2.16 L. 8.11 Word of Life It is said metaphorically and implicitly That the Word was made p Ps 118.22 Isa 28.16 Dan. 2.34,45 Mat. 21.42,44 L. 20.17,18 Acts 4.11 Eph. 2.20 1 P. 2.4,6,7 stone but expresly that it was made q Jo. 1.14 flesh and dwelt among us and that r 1 Jo. 1.1,2 we have seen With our eyes and our hands have handled of the Word of life Which Christ himself confirmed saying s Jo. 6.63 The words that I speak to you while now in my flesh they are spirit and they are life We hear himself likewise assuming to him the Metaphors of t Jo. 14.6 Way u Jo. 15.1,5 Vine x Jo. 10.7,9 Door y Jo. 6.35,41,51 Bread c. Now the same Word even Christ Jesus who made himself a Way Stone Vine c. yea Flesh to dwell among us for z Jo. 7.33 13.33 16.16 a little while was and is in the same sense and certainty made Letter and Scripture to remain with us a Mat. 28.20 unto the end We need seek no further for similitude then the naturall Bodies we bear about Which while united with soul or spirit cal'd b Gen. 2.7 6.17 7.15,22 Isa 42.5 Rev. 11.11 the Breath of life and sometime the c Job 27.3 spirit of God We see how able apt and agil they are especially some to d Jud. 20.16 1 S. 17.4,5 c. 2 S. 1.23 2.18 23.8 c. 1 Ch. 12.8 Lam. 4.19 Glory and Admiration But once e Job 34.14 Eccl. 12.7 severed how f Jos 5.1 1 S. 25.37 1 K. 10.5 senseless g Jud. 15.18,19 L. 8.53 Ja. 2.26 liveless h Gen. 3.19 18.27 Job 4.19 7.21 13.12 21.26 34.15 Ps 30.9 49.14 103.14 104.29 Eccl. 3.20 12.7 contemptible and i Jer. 9.22 16.4 25.33 Jo. 11.39 horrid Things are they And yet this Spirit of l Job 32.8 Prov. 18.14 20.27 25.28 Eccl. 3.21 Isa 26.9 57.16 Ez. 21.7 Zec. 12.1 Mal. 2.15 Ro. 8.16 1 Co. 2.11 ours as we may call it though the sole or chief Actor in us is 1 Co. 2.11 invisible to our carnall eye Also we measure and judge the strength or feebleness of our life by the fast or slow Beating as we term it of our Pulse the Motion of our animal Spirit Just thus is it with the written Word m Ez. 1.12,20 2 Co. 3.3 or Works and Spirit of God yet with this Difference That the Spirit of God unspeakably and inconceivably n Job 32.8 Isa 38.16 transcends the Spirit of Man in o 1 Co. 5.3,4 12.4,8 c. 2 Co. 11.4 12.18 Eph. 2.18 4.3,4 Ph. 1.27 Col. 2.5 Vnity and p Hab. 1.13 Jo. 4.24 Eph. 4.29,30 1 Jo. 3.3 Purity q Mic. 2.7 2 Co. 3.17 11.12 Liberty r 2 S. 14.19 2 K. 5.26 6.32 Acts 5.3 1 Co. 2.10,11,12,16 Gen. 44.15 Perspicacy s Jo. 6.63 Ro. 8.10 1 Co. 15.45 2 Co. 3.6 1 P. 3.18 Vivacity and t Jud. 16.28,29,30 2 K. 2.11 Job 32.18 Ps 39.3 Isa 6 6,7,8 E 7.3.14 37.1 Dan. 6.3 Mic. 3.8 M. 1.12 L. 1.17 2.40 4.14 21.15 24.32 Acts 2.4 4.20 6.10 8.39 18.5,25 20,22 23.9 Ro. 15.19 1 Co. 2.4 Eph. 3.16 2 Th. 2.8 Rev. 17.3 21.10 Isa 49.2 Vigour It also u Jo. 3.8 as the Wind bloweth where it lusteth and x Eccl. 11.5 None knoweth whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So then while this written VVord is but offered accepted and eyed as a dead Letter no mervail it be so much neglected and so little operative as it is And certainly till we feel some beating or motion of this Divine Pulse in or upon it we may sadly conclude our selves to be y Eph. 2.1,5 Jo 14.17 1 Co. 2.14 spiritually as dead as the Letter or z Jo. 11.39 Lazarus his Body For as our Spirit is the life of our Body so is the Spirit of Christ the a Job 32.8 Psalm 36.9 66.9 119.175 Isa 38.16 Jo. 14.17 Acts 17.24.25 Ro. 8. 2,10 1 Co. 2.4 Col 3.3 life both of our Spirit and of the Letter Much less may this written VVord avail any thing either to enliven enlighten or lead us whilst it lyeth by us unused neglected contemned as a Moth-eaten Clout not of so much account with many And therefore to the attaining of the spirituall-saving Knowledg here treated there belongs a serious studious and diligent search The b Heb. 2.10 Captain of our Salvation our most curious and faithfull c Num. 13.2,30 14.6,7,8,9 spy and discoverer of the holy Land sets us in the ready way d Jo. 5.39 Isa 8.20 2 P. 1.19 Search the Scriptures saith he which even yee Jewes yee Scribes and Pharisees account infallible impartiall Guides to your eternal life and felicity for they are they that testifie of me who alone am that most precious permanent Pearl and Possession worth Search and seeking after which they point at yea am their proper-inseparable Subject and Substance And for our Incitement and Example we see himself did e L. 4.16,17,21,22 customarily preach and practise out of them They were his own f Mat. 4.4,7,10 L. 4.4,8 chief-apparent Armour against Satan in any Assault and as they proved g Mat. 4.11 L. 4.13 successfull with him so he hath left them commended to our use and imitation To this end we often hear him and his Worthies the blessed Apostles and other Saints sometimes in a repugnant sometime in a perswasive way producing and alledging Scripture viz. h Mat. 2.5 L. 24.46 Thus i Mat. 4 7. Heb. 1.5 2.13 10.30 again l Ps 40.7 Mat. 21 13. L. 19.46 Jo. 8.17 Acts 23.5 Ro. 12.19 1 Co. 9 9. Gal. 4.22 27. it is written m M. 11.17
ordained those believing Husbands to be Instruments and perhaps even by plucking out of the Fire I presume there is not expected now a dayes any larger Measure of Faith or Fear of God then was in the Men before mentioned and yet where do we find any One of them especially afflicted or humbled in this Respect or that God expressly found fault with them for it much less read we that he allowed these VVomen their Wives any Rivality or Vicissitude of Command with them and least of all s 1 T. 2.12 any Authority over them in regard of their ill Choice 2. It is said That t Jer. 10.23 it is not in Man that walketh to direct his steps That u Jer. 17.9 Mat. 26.22 M. 14.19 The heart of Man is deceitfull above all things who can know it If then a Man be ignorant in his own steps of his own heart how shall he know hers who is yet as a stranger at a distance and distinct from him though very familiar with him 3. We read of Faith that 's able even to x Mat. 10.1 24.24 M. 6.7 13.22 Jo. 14.12 work Miracles to y Mat 17.20 21.21 M. 11.23 1 Co 13.2 remove Mountains c. Yet apt to z L. 8.6,13 22.32 Jo. 6.70 Acts 1.25 1 Co. 10.12 1 Th. 3.5,8 2 T. 4.10 Heb. 3.12,13,14 12.15 2 P. 3.17 1 Jo. 2.19 Mat. 7.22,23 fade and fall away Now although the Woman we wooe and upon good experience we hope espouse and wed may all this while carry fair and gain the Account of a Beleever yet it is possible shee may fall off and grow wanton wayward and insulse Or more plainly thus In case a Woman out of carnall or other by-Ends yet under specious Appearances of Religious Respect and Obedience shall marry a Man thinking afterward to enslave him to her Means or Humors Experto crede Roberto Is it in these cases more sinfull for the Husband to set her in the right Way then for her to persist in the wrong Answ 3. It is most gladly granted that Prayer Patience and Humiliation we need not part them here are prime and prevailing Means with God and full as much might be said of their Effects as of a See p. 22. h. c. Wisdom to which they are very neer of kinn if not incorporate But 1. Although the b Ia. 5.15,16 Prayer of Faith or of a righteous Man availeth much yet God doth not ever infallibly answer it in the Thing petitioned for Miracles are ceased Not always according to their c 2 Co. 12.8.9 present perchance d Ja. 4.3 peccant wishes or Ease but his own gracious e Isa 55.8 64.5 ways and Ends. This I am induced to believe from my own Tast and Triall I say not in the fulness of others but in a Measure of sweetness and Relish fitted and suited to my self How oft hath he seemed to turn a f Ps 13.1 c. 22,1,2 44.24 88.14 Jer. 7.16 14.12 Ez. 8.18 deaf Ear to David and other his dearest Children whose desires have thereby been sore disappointed and their Souls deeply dejected The most faithfull Man alive is not sure nor like to obtain his very Petition without a conscionable use of concurrent Means As in a Body politick where the people are not Slaves but Subjects Have their Governours no more to do though especially that then pray that God will incline the people to observe their Edicts and so expect their actuall Obedience at Pleasure 2. If the Tongue of a Clamorous Woman be allowed to walke at large a Man may be g â—…no absurdo dato c. brought to such an Exigent that he shall not have a h Pr. 19.13 21.9,19 27.15 quiet Corner in his own House or i Ps 120.5 Pr. 18.14 Heart to retire himself unto for Prayer or any Exercise of Piety but be forced out into the l Jer. 9.2,3 Fields Woods or Caves a seemly sight for a Man to over-run his own House and Wife is this the Wifes reverencing her Husband Eph. 5.33 m Ps 69.10 least his humiliation as Davids be both interrupted and reproached there being some Women a sad Thing to consider who though n Ps 50.16,17 conversant in Scripture do yet abhorr their Husbands under the o 2 S. 6.20 Job 2.9 Acts 28.22 Notion of Piety or as they say Preciseness and would be apt to insult the more fiercely upon any damp or visible dejection of spirit in them 3. A Man of tender heart and weak Constitution by frequent Fasting or humiliation for which he shall seldom want Cause may p Ps 6.7 31.9,10 119.83 Jer. 45.3 consume his own Body Many an harmless true-hearted Husband I say may by these means be baffled not onely out of his Power and Repute but his Liberty and Life before any sensible Reformation be wrought in his froward Wife And shall we dare to think God so q Ps 103.9,14 Mal. 3.6 Isa 1.18 merciless or r 1 Jo. 1.9 unjust as for one inconsiderate or sinfull Act repented of to destroy his s Ps 8.4 c. 139.14 Heb. 2.6 so noble Creature or perpetuate his Punishment for whose Ease and redemption t Isa 53.5 63.3 Ps 103.4 Hos 13.14 Ro. 5.8 1 P. 3.18 Heb. 2.9 he died Or if not repented of to annull or inver this own u Gen. 3.16 1 Co. 11.3 Eph. 5.23 Sacred Institution yea to embase or rase out his own Image and Impress by stripping the Man of his innated soveraignâ—… and transferring it to his Subject by depraving and degrading him from better then a Woman to worse then a Beast God forbid Yea he hath fixed on him so firm a Character of Dominion over x 1 Co. 11.7 Her and all y Ps 8.5,6 c. other Creatures whatsoever whom he is to Govern by Power or Prudence as must not be violated defaced or vilipended while the World endures In some Cases there is indeed both Conquest and Comfort in yeilding in others it is clean contrary and doubtless he was no Christian that did iniquam Pacem justo Bello anteferre If God z Ex. 17.16 will his People must have incessant Warr with Amalek We may not be at a Isa 28.15 Agreement or so much as Truce with hell In a Word hath God provided wholsom and seasonable Salves for all Sores in Church or State but this and is this onely Malady remediless except with a Medicin more grievous then the Disease Answ 4. For Abrahams yeilding to Sarah I have heard the like story merrily not seriously told but expected not to have found it in Print from the Pen of any professed Divine as a Patern of yeilding nor yet do I with submission to found judgements conceive it altogether though in some degree imitable We read indeed of 3. Yeildings such as they were of