an Alms asked in the Name of Christ but above all the Eternal Father never will Joh. 14.13 14. and 15.16 and 16.23 24. But the Nature the Life the Power of Christianity is a Thing incomparable the highest communication of Divine Goodness issuing from the lowest condescension of infinite grace Christ the God of Wisdom dwelling in our Nature by the Holy Ghost the God of love and in our hearts by Faith to root and ground us in Love Oh the height depth length breadth of the love of Christ an Hyperbole to our knowledge infinitely surpassing shooting above it that we may be FILLED WITH ALL THE FULNESS OF GOD. Oh Mystery above all Mysteries Oh Grace above all Grace The Height of most incomprehensible Majesty in the deepest humility of boundless Mercy exalting poor degenerate man from the lowest Abyss of unspeakable misery to the utmost sublimity of celestial Glory in such an extensive amplitude and fullness of all the richest blessings spread abroad over the whole latitude of humane nature having their spring from that everliving fountain of Eternal Love and streaming in infinite varleties to the length of all eternity with such accommodation and suitableness to every of our particular necessities desires hopes as becomes a fruit of unparallel'd incomparable Wisdom and Grace Oh unfathomable Love thou hast even outdone thy self and undone me a man of an unclean heart and lips for how shall such a poor weak polluted worm be ever able to conceive aright of thy unconceivable plenitude be thankful for and speak well enough of thy unspeakable magnitude with a degree of Love and delight high enough entertain thy unmeasurable sufficiency sweetness and satisfactory Perfection or faithfully improve and walk worthy of thy unmatchably rich and glorious communications The unsuitableness the unanswerableness of my Spirit and practice will ruine me if by another astonishing Miracle of demission thou do not spread abroad thy quickening confirming thy sanctifying and actuating influences throughout all the powers of my Soul that in thine own strength I may rightly glorify thee That is Christianity in its causes the Wisdom Love and Grace of God in Jesus Christ and its general Notion an elevation of Fallen Man to God More particularly Christianity in the Theory is the Doctrine of Faith in Jesus Christ in the Practice 't is covenanting and keeping Covenant with God This is brief inlarge your Thoughts thus Christianity is an undissembled acknowledgement or owning and receiving Jesus Christ as the only Mediator betwixt God and man in a hearty Submission to the terms of the Covenant of Grace Repentance Faith and upright Obedience It supposes Natural Religion in an universal subjection to the Deity as Creator Governour and Owner of all For if God had nothing to do with us nor we with him there would be no need of a Mediator so neither if there were no Sin Hence it also supposes the Obligation of the Law of Nature which is the Rule of Natural Religion and the guide of man in his natural subjection to God It supposes also the Covenant of Nature commonly called Works with the violation of it which none could expiate but God-man And it includes as most essential the Covenant of Grace and in special the New Edition thereof for the old is Judaism i. e. the Gospel exhibiting Jesus Christ as already come God in our Flesh Teaching for our instruction Commanding for our direction Doing for our example and advantage and Suffering in our room and stead and for our Sin All things necessary for our Salvation hereby satisfying Divine Justice and meriting for us the Holy Ghost with his gifts grace pardon peace and eternal glory to be given us upon conditions and terms suitable to his own goodness and our present state viz. Repentance toward God for and from dead works that we might serve him the Living God and Faith in Jesus Christ accepting of submitting and committing our Souls to him in well doing with all the fruits hereof in Love Meekness Humility Self-denial Patience Heavenly-mindedness Watchfulness in Summ Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety to be wrought in us and exercised by us through the Grace and Might of Christ which only makes them sincere and sound and so acceptacle to God through Christ who alone intercedes with God on the behalf of Man for this end as a Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all perfection Heb. 7.25 This is the summ of Christianity owned by some Professionally only by others Really also But because the reality of the Heart is only known to God whereof he never made us the Judges We must proceed solely upon the external Profession as far as it renders the other real inward owning credible Now 't is in respect of this credible owning of Christianity manifested by Profession that a Man becomes a member of the Catholick Church Visible has a right to all Ordinances Baptism Fellowship with a particular Church the Lords Supper and consequently Ministry Ministerial and Fraternal Inspection c. 1. There 's no Vital Union betwixt Jesus Christ and any particular Person merely as a Member of a Particular Church and under that Formality but only as a Member of the Church Universal invisible For There 's no union of Life but by unfeigned Faith uncorrupt Love which are invisible things These make no Man a Member of a Particular Church actually and ipso facto though they give the first and truest right thereto but of the Catholick they actually do Nay the Visible profession of them though it give the right yet does not actually invest in a particular Church but does in the Universal Visible and after it has been own'd by the Church in Baptism we are not only Visible potentially but seen and actually acknowledged Members of the Catholick Church Visible yet not presently of a particular Church Though Baptism be in a particular Church yet 't is not into it but the Universal Consent without actual associating does not constitute any a Member actually but only potentially and virtually That which makes a Man a Member of a particular Church is only Actual Association with its consent explicit or implicit Every one that is truly a Member of the Catholick Church Visible and gives any credible evidence thereof either explicit or implicit as Mr. Tho. Hooker truly observes and essays to joyn himself to a particular Church upon that evidence ought to be receiv'd to a participation of all Ordinances and that particular Church cannot de jure deny its consent but it betrays its trust and sins greatly both against the man and Christ also But then no man is saved under that Formality as a member of a particular Church merely but only as he partakes of that common Christian Nature which constitutes the Members of the Catholick Church Though he sin Grievously and without Repentance general or particular may justly be damn'd for neglect of joining in the Ordinances with some particular Church or other if he have opportunity 2.
return to his place when by an experiment he was convinced of his Innocency chap. 24.22 and a second chap. 26.25 And since he foresaw that the LORD would cut of those Children of Men who stirr'd up Saul against him 1 Sam. 26.19 And here doubles the expression of his assurance thereof ver 23. 'T is madness to think that the aid he expected from Men was to usurp upon God and take the work out of his hands Therefore when the Amalekite told him he had kill'd Saul it cost him his Life 2 Sam. 1.14 15 16. The Psalmist then was a Man that made Conscience of his Allegiance to his Prince though wicked unjust and a Persecutor No Man can maintain together Disloyalty and Innocence The Office of Kings remains unvitiated under the viciousness of their Persons Nero was the Minister of God Rom. 13. in respect of Authority though the Devils Servant in his private Capacity Subjection and Loyalty is due to the Throne and the Man in it not to the Beast in the bottomless Pit of Immorality and Barbarousness Our Duty requires an owning him Politically rather than Ethically i. e. we must of necessity be subject to his Power acting as the Vicegerent of God and here obey him in every thing But we must not be actively subject to his Lusts acting as the Bondslave of Satan nor therein obey or imitate him Yet do not his Crimes to us devest him of his Right any more than a Father I find no exceptions or difference in the Precept Et ubi lex non distinguit non est distinguendum Where the Law limits not we must not Nothing that we suffer from Superiors can null the bond of the First Command The Gospel as well as the Law obliges to be subject for Conscience sake Rom. 13.5 Ye must needs be subject not only for Wrath i. e. for fear of Punishment but for Conscience sake i. e. out of obedience to God's Command and from sense of Duty In sum since the Powers that be are God's Ordinations we must obey all their lawful Commands submit to their just Censures and Punishments pay them all their dues both of Reverence and Maintenance But since there is an Authority paramount to theirs which has the first and supreme right over us and which we must obey rather than Men if we be commanded to do any thing forbidden or forbid to do any thing commanded by God we must not obey but be willing to suffer without resistance For whoever resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Judgment to Condemnation ver 2. Now this resistance consists not in a modest refusal to do or not do what these Powers may enjoyn contrary to the Injunctions of God but in a disorderly or forcible opposition to their Persons or Lawful Commands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being to set up an order contrary to their order which is here reported damnable i. e. when their order is not against the order of God their Laws not opposite to his I know not but that this is a sound Rule That the Higher Powers are to be disobey'd in nothing except it be as plainly forbidden in Scripture or Nature as disobedience to those Powers is I do not say expressly forbid for sometimes a Consequence may be as plain as a Proposition But if a Man be not as fully satisfied from clear Evidence that he cannot obey the Magistrate without disobeying God as he may be satisfy'd that he must obey the Magistrate in all things where God is not disobey'd he cannot disobey with a good and safe Conscience For 't is a Sin to disobey where God interposes not as well as a Sin to obey where he forbids Nothing can take off the obligation to obey but only Divine Authority which laid it on If you are not sure that you have God's Warrant to disoblige you from Obedience you cannot be sure that you do not sin For what can repeal God's Law to obey Cautissimi cujusque praeceptum est Quod dubitas ne feceris but only God And if you be not sure that you do not sin you certainly do sin i. e. act doubtingly not in Faith which is contrary to a good Conscience Rom. 14. ult Since then the Command to obey is indubitable what must I do when the matter commanded is not indubitably Lawful or Unlawful If the thing in reality be lawful I sin in disobeying the Power if unlawful I sin in disobeying God Suppose I have weighty reasons to induce me to believe the unlawfulness and but common to establish the lawfulness only they are enforc'd with the weight of Authority I am not satisfy'd beyond all scruple that I shall not sin against God in obeying Man yet the Arguments from God's Law in Scripture Nature and the Reason of the thing would ballance my Judgment did not that inartificial Argument interpose the Judgment of many Learned and Reverend Men the Judgment of the Publick Conscience as of late it loves to be call'd How shall I steer in this Case Ans 1. The highest deference is to be made to the Publick Judgment of Authority and the Private Judgment of the Learned and I am obliged to suspect my own Judgment and Reason when it runs counter to theirs and proceed with the greatest Caution and Impartiality in forming my Sentiments and Arguments and beware of Pride and Obstinacy give a full testimony of my Humility and willingness to be informed and use all possible means for that purpose 2. 'T is a very unsafe resolution of this Case which I find in the Reverend and Judicious Dr. Saunderson Better obey doubtingly than disobey doubtingly as allowing a less Sin to avoid a greater For the Apostle Rom. 14. ult determines that to act doubtingly is a Sin immediately against Conscience mediately against God For since Conscience suspects the Act to be a Sin against God yet admits it against its own sense 't is all one to it as if it were really a Sin against God though perhaps it be not The Act is against the supposed Authority of God which at present the Conscience takes to be real therefore this distemper of Conscience is as real Rebellion against God as if it acted against the clearest Light imaginable For apparent and real to Conscience are all one though not in themselves The Law of God in General makes Sin and Duty but not immediately to me in particular whilst I am inculpably ignorant of it Promulgation being essential to the obligatoriness of a Law Except it be so publish'd that none without their fault can be ignorant of it they are without fault in the violation of it The next and immediate ground of the binding of a Law is the apprehension and conviction of Conscience that it is imposed by just Authority with an intention to bind as a Law or that it is a Law obligatory in its own Nature Not that Laws
Spiritual we should in like manner be dog'd and pursu'd with their implacable Malice in our separate and immortal State and be desperate of succour and deliverance from that Eternal Erynnis those innumerable Legions of ever torturing Furies that would be let loose upon us to lash and sting us with the utmost of their virulent Indignation For how should the Deity relieve us if he know nothing of us 'T is therefore the highest Interest of real goodness that there is a God of Vnlimitable Intelligence and Love to supervise and care for us that no Evils can be imagin'd against us in the most dark and secret recesses of Hell much less on Earth but are to him as visible as though Writ or Graven in the Roof of Heaven by the Finger of God in Letters formed all of Suns or Stars and he is replenish'd with that Wisdom and Graciousness which both knows how is perfectly willing and effectually engag'd to counteract them But as this and the other Three so all the Sins of the Wicked are a bitter Grief to a good Soul Whence David Psal 119.136 Rivers of Tears run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law Be their Sins only Omissions which in the Estimate of the World are of a lighter Nature though not in the account of God and an Illuminated Conscience yet will they be grievous to those that love the Lord and his Laws And 't is a good token of Integrity when the Sins of others are a burden Self may engage a Man against his own Sins but if the wickedness of those we have no concern with deeply affect our Hearts 't is an Evidence we are acted by the Interest of God Let this then Oh my Soul over-rule all thy Passions Live under some sense with God What dishonors him let it humble thee Be not so much troubled at the Mischiefs wherewith Men in the Triumphant Madness of their Prosperity indeavour to plague thee as at the Sin whereby they duel Heaven Where thy Father suffers most in his Glory do thou suffer with him Thy Irascibles never act more commendably than when they run upon the Errand of thy Maker Thou art angry and sinnest not when angry at Sin 'T is hard not to Sin in Sorrow if it be not Sorrow for Sin And if thou groan under the Wickedness of others sure thou wiltst not canst not darst not be so much a Hypocrite as to go light under the greater Load of thine own Thou art conscious to thy self of many Circumstances aggravating thine own which thou hast no reason to apply to the Crimes of any beside Where thou knowest of most Evil and that is in thy self there must thou spend Oceans since the little in comparison which thou knowest of other Mens faults requires thy Rivers Let thy Sorrows bear Proportion to thy Condition and Conscience Weep or at least mourn for and bemoan others but most thy self There must thou pay thy Drops here a Deluge To this place therefore appertains all Spiritual Trouble for Sin and the want and weakness and defectiveness of Grace with the effects thereof That Anguish of Mind which springs from the sense of Sin 's odiousness of God The Agonies and Anxieties of the New Birth and under Relapses whatever goes under the name of a Wounded Spirit or Troubled Conscience But 2. Not only the evil of Sin but other Evils in themselves or to him in effect did sadden the Holy Psalmist's Soul Two especially 1. The Prosperity of the Wicked their Joy but his smart Vers 3. How long shall the Wicked Oh LORD how long shall the wicked triumph A common Offence and Trouble to both the Religious and Rational World The Gracious Servants of God often bemoan it What a Multitude of Precepts and Comforts doth the 37. Psal present as an Antidote against fretting about it Habakkuk bewails it Hab. 1.2 3 4. Jer. Ch. 12.1 2 reasons and pleads with God concerning it In Job How many Discourses are there to this purpose And every where in the Psalms to instance in one more only Psal 73. Vers 3. I was envious at the foolish when I saw the Prosperity of the Wicked After a Description whereof he adds Vers 21. Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my Reins This also was a stumbling Block to the Philosophical World whereof the more Considerate and Vertuous made a good use others a bad reasoning from the unequal Distribution of Temporal Things against the Being of God and Providence into such Absurdities may those run who having but dark Apprehensions of Immortality and the Eternal Recompences of a Future State take their measures from sense and consider not the Unproportionableness of this present moment of Temporal Life to a vast Immense Eternity 2. The Unprosperous Afflicted Persecuted State of the People of God did excite in him sorrowful Reflections I doubt not but that with a broken Heart he Writ down that Complaint Vers 5. They break in pieces thy People O LORD and afflict thine Heritage They slay the Widow and the Stranger and murder the Fatherless Sure with a Soul melted into Sympathizing Commiserations doth he remember this So Asaph Psal 73.10 Therefore his People return hither and Waters of a full Cup are wrung out to them 21. Thus my Heart was grieved c. which refers to all before Discours'd concerning prosperous Wickedness and suffering Godliness And How can the Body in many parts of it suffer and the rest have no Fellow-feeling Thou art not vitally united as a Member to the Body of Christ Oh my Soul but may'st justly dread that he will cut thee off as a dead Libm and bury thee in Hell if thou be insensible of its Pains and Agonies Shew that the common Soul and Spirit Animates thee by a common sense with the rest of the Members that Communicate in it with thee If thou be not with them in Passion yet be in Compassion Why Persecutest thou me Says Christ to Saul Acts 9.4 The pain is in the Members the sense in the Head Christ disclaims thee thou art none of that me whereof he is so tender if thou suffer'st not by Commiseration when his Servants suffer Affliction Put on thy Bowels if thou desirest the Yernings of his when thy Condition shall be like theirs With the Prophet Jerem. 9.1 Say Oh that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night for the slain of the Daughter of my People My Bowels my Bowels I am pained at my very Heart the Walls of my Heart make a noise in me I cannot hold my Peace because thou hast heard Oh my Soul the sound of the Trumpet the alarm of War To this Head may be reduced all those Troubles which are Fruits of Publick Calamities to Church or State Persecutions Martyrdoms Massacres c. Wars and Violence Oppressions Injuries c. whatever may be the Effects of the Rage and Fury of Men and Malice of impure
Man shall see the Lord. Matth. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God So Isa 33.15 17. Sin therefore is the greatest Evil because it deprives mediately of the greatest Good natural or supernatural God and as it deprives immediately of the greatest good Moral Holiness As 't is contrary to the purity of the Creature it is but a finite evil but infinite as contrary to the Purity of the Creator As a violation of the Law and Principles of Nature and Reason in us 't is only of a limitted Malignity but of a boundless and unlimited Pestilency as a violation of the Law and Principles of Holiness in God 'T is a transgression of the Law of God therefore a contempt and scorn put upon his infinite Authority and Justice and Holiness and Power and Goodness and Glory and Happiness One would imagin it was but a light matter to eat the Fruit of a Tree in Paradise but 't was no light matter to do it against a great God against the express prohibition and in a slighting neglect of or vilifying disregard or despite to the severe Sanctions of an infinitely Wise Holy and Just Creator Therefore Infinitennss it self being concerned in Sin renders it exceeding sinful whence nothing in it more afflicts a good Soul than its contrariety and offensiveness to that glorious Majesty And indeed Sin as Sin is against none but God The Facts that are sinful as being against God may be hurtful or injurious as against Men but the formal nature of Sin lies not in that neither is the violation of Humane Laws therefore a Sin because against the Sanctions of Man but only because and as far as Violations of the Law of God immediately in the matter or remotely in the Transgression of the Fifth Command requiring subjection to Authority Therefore says David Psal 51.4 Against thee thee only have I sinned What Because being King he was by no Man Challengable to none accountable for any wrong but God alone Admit this true in Thesi yet in Hypothesi 't is absurd and ridiculous as part of an Address to God and an exercise of Repentance If it be not understood comparatively or with respect to the formality of Sin spoken absolutely 't is absolutely false In Sin there is a Fault and a Guilt so in David's Murther and Adultery Consider the former taking away Life is sometimes Justice When is it a Fault only when against Law What Law God's or Man's Not as against Man's further than as first against God's For Man's Law cannot make that Murther which is Justice by the Law of God nor the contrary That is Man cannot reverse what God hath established 'T is therefore the Divine Law in Nature or Scripture and that alone which determines concerning the Faultiness or Faultlessness of matters Originally and Architectonically Man 's Law only Secondarily and Subordinately The formal reason then of the faultiness is the contrariety to the Law of God And nothing is Sin meerly in respect of the matter but the Formality So the taking away Vriah's Life was not a fault merely as taking away Life for had he been a Criminal that would have been Justice But a Sin it was only under the notion as 't was taken away under such Circumstances as the Law of God dissallow'd The matter of the Sin therefore was against Vriah but the Form and Essence of the Sin did consist in nothing but only in its being against God a Transgression of the Law of God 1 Joh. 3.4 So then 't is not the Offence against Man simply and abstractly considered but the Offence against God that properly and formally constitutes Sin Every wrong that is in Sin to our selves to Men to our fellow Creatures that groan under their thraldom to our Lusts and fare worse for their sake should affect us but most of all the wrong we do to God as being the greatest injury against the greatest Majesty For even upon Earth Crimes advance in their heinousness according to the degree and dignity of Persons To call a mean Man Knave is a light matter scarce actionable to call a Nobleman Scandalum Magnatum deeply finable to call the King so Treason punishable with Death Oh then what is Blasphemy or any Sin against the King of Kings the infinitely glorious King of Heaven and Earth Common sense will assure us that the more mischief and hurt a Sin does or may do the greater it is and merits greater Punishments Now the more publick and useful any Persons are so much the more mischievous are any actings against them because Government is essential to the good of the whole Community and therefore those who make attempts against Men in Publick Place and Authority strike at and attempt the destruction of all subject to their Jurisdiction To kill a Judge upon the Bench is High Treason both as a vertual acting against the King and also as a murthering the Justice of the Nation a violence against the Right and Property and Life of all that are or may be in a capacity to receive Justice from him So to kill the King is vertually a killing the whole Kingdom with its Honour Authority Justice Right Property Government all that the King is entrusted with the Privileges Laws Liberties and Immunities of all Men. Sin therefore is an Evil transcendently great above all Expression above all Imagination as a horrid mischievous attempt against the Life the All of God himself 1. Vertually and Practically as far as in the Sinner lies it annihilates 1. The Being and Presence of God For to do that abominable Evil in his very Eye-sight which the presence even of a little Child would restrain from this makes nothing of him lays him lower than the sillyest most despicable of his Creatures makes him less and more contemptible than a very Baby and ranks him with Irrational and Non-intelligent Beings which is to un-God him 2. It Annihilates the Authority and Legislative Power of God For to transgress notwithstanding the impress hereof upon the Law is in effect to averr that there is no such thing that 't is but a Fable a Fancy nay 't is to despise and spurn it out of the World which is to kick out the Being of God For that which has no Authority cannot be God 2. 'T is a direct affront to the Holiness of God as perfectly and irreconcileably repugnant to it and Contraries as far as they can destroy each other By thy Impurities thou thrustest God out of thy Soul he departs when this Evil Spirit enters with allowance he bears an eternal Antipathy against it cannot live together it There can be no Communion betwixt God and Bolial If Idols be set up God is tumbled down If Sin must live within thee thou dost thy utmost to make God die stabbing him to the Heart in that which is the Heart of all his Perfections his Holiness He cannot live if that die 3. 'T is a Challenge to his Justice and
in the full latitude of its sence and readily acknowledge that Rom. 14. follows after it but must not deny that the one as well as the other is part of Canonical Scripture of the Christian Law of perpetual Obligation nor affirm that one is inconsistent with and abrogates the other The chief Exercise of Conscience towards Men is towards the chief of Men. God's Vicegerents on Earth may claim the first respect from his Vicegerent in our Souls but must not engross all entirely We in Conscience are obliged to a further Duty to Inferiours and Equals nay even Enemies in all things to seek their good that 's Righteousness in nothing to do them hurt that 's Innocency In every thing to please them for their good to Edification Rom. 15.1 2 3. that's Perfection 'T is true I am a Devil if I humour Men in their Lusts indulge them in their Impieties and Sensualities A Dog if I fawn upon and flatter them in their Extravagances for my own ends A senceless unprofitable Block if I be altogether unconcern'd My first care must be not to lead them into Sin or Temptation my next to induce them to love and practise Goodness alway having an Eye at their Temporal Good as well as Spiritual though this mainly else shall I violate a Divine Law Gal. 6.10 and therefore violate my Innocency and Conscience and therefore my Comfort I am obliged to give no offence to Jew Gentile nor the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.32 Not to put a stumbling-block or occasion of falling in my Brother's way Rom. 14.13 and a most dreadfully severe Sanction urges and enforces this Law against Offences Matth. 18.7 By Scandal or Offence to Men I do not mean what meerly tends to displease but to defile Words or Deeds or Omissions inducing others to Sin either by acting against the Law of God and Conscience or forbearing to do their Duty The World is at such a pass that a Man can do nothing but 't will displease and even Professors of the highest form in their own Imaginations who therefore should be more candid and aequanimous bitterly storm and censure others who will not both against their Reason and Conscience please them in their unreasonable humours This is not to be valued at all Mine own Light and Reason must be the Principle to guide my Conscience according to the Rules of God's Word in the choice of such Methods of pleasing Men for their good to Edification Rom. 15.1 which by God's Grace I will endeavour that I may not be one of the branded Men-pleasers Gal. 1.10 and plague my own Soul for ever by pleasing another for his hurt and to his Damnation If any Man think to impose his Judgment Fancy or Humour upon me as the guide of my Conscience herein he really scandalizes me If he do not convince me out of the Will of God which is the sole Rule of Conscience he lays a stumbling-block before me to induce me to sin meerly that I may gratifie his Imperiousness Pride and Capriciousness I will keep my way and follow my Light and my Rule if any be displeased with it let them bark on and bite too it hurts me not I 'll give away my Goods and my Labours and my Liberty yea and even my Life as far as I can with a good Conscience to please so as spiritually to profit but give away my Light my Rule my Conscience I will not I dare not I cannot 'T is a double scandal giv'n first to me when Men would thus Biass me to a blind Servitude unto their Wills another to them when in a fond assentatiousness I become a Pander to their lascivient Humours and imperious Imaginations My Soul is of a more noble Extraction and Temper than to debase it self to the turn-skin trade of a Parasite like a Serpent with the same Tongue to lick and kill or Great Alexander's Miss who was fed with nothing but Poysons that her kisses might be deleterious and Murder him No lighter would my Crime be should I violate my Conscience in being a pleaser of Man rather than God Neither therefore in this nor any other way will I scandalize my Brother knowingly nor must he exercise that Tyranny over my Conscience as to give other Law to it besides what God hath prescribed in Nature or Scripture My Practice shall be at his Devotion as far as it doth not intrench upon my duly regulated Judgment and wary will I be that no unweighed Sentiments arrest my Mind and misguide my Conscience I 'll have an Eye and an Ear and a Heart open to receive all Truth freely without Prejudice or Partiality and this from any hands whatever examining and proving all things as fully as the infirmity of my intellect will permit But a slavery to the Opinions of Men against the balance of mine own clear and distinct Reasonings I abhor 1. I will not do any thing which is every way indifferent if it be likely in it self or be found by experience of a tempting Nature and Tendency If any Man either through the quality of my Act or the power of my Example in matters of that nature be drawn into Sin or if it be very probable that he will upon such inducements either transgress the Law of God or imitate me with a doubting Conscience here will I freely forbear the use of my Liberty to prevent his Sin that I may not make it my own by Participation but then I must not omit any known Duty nor commit any known Sin my self though possibly it might prevent his Sin For I must not venture my own Soul by dishonouring God to preserve ano Do Evil that Good may come Rom. 3.8 2. But if in indifferent things my Liberty be determined as by the command of a Lawful Superiour I am in a greater strait For not to obey the Magistrate in Lawful things is a Sin and by my Practice to induce my weak Brother to Sin in imitating me is also a Sin What Rule has my Conscience in this Perplexity It must be considered 1. That my weak Brother's forbearance to obey in a lawful thing is a Sin against God though not his Conscience and therefore my forbearance will edifie him in Sin against the Law of God that commands Obedience although it prevent the Sin against his Conscience and the error of this cannot null the Sin against that So that forbear or not forbear I scandalize him in the one really in the other putatively when he acts against his Conscience he thinks he sins against God in the matter done but does not in disobeying Authority he sins against God yet thinks it not In this he sins immediately against God because he disobeys God's civil Vicegerent in Publick in the other he sins mediately against God because he disobeys his Spiritual Vicegerent in Private Now I conceive that my way here is to do my Duty in obeying the Magistrate wherein I sin not whereas I doubly sin if I do
not 1. Against the Law of Subjection and Obedience ingaging me to the Magistrate 2. The Law of Charity that requires me not to scandalize my Brother If to gratifie his scrupulosity I forbear I do certainly know that he sins in disobeying But 't is only an accidental scandal may or may not happen that he should be emboldned by my Example to act against his Conscience To throw this off the Stage enter Christian Liberty which to restrain is Sin though by a Person in Authority having Laws under him Ans True but then be sure that it be indeed Christian Liberty least asserting it forfeit and lose your civil and corporal Liberty Now because a right understanding and use of Christian Liberty hath a special influence into Comfort and Peace of Conscience Let 's a little consider it Let it be heedfully observed that true Christian Liberty doth not consist meerly in the indifferent use or omission of things not commanded nor forbidden but in the release of Conscience from an obligation to do or omit some things under pain of Damnation Thus are we set at Liberty from the rigour of the Law or Covenant of Works which required perfect personal and perpetual Obedience upon peril of Death The Covenant of Grace doth not disoblige from such obedience but from the peril of Death though we come short provided we act sincerely This is the main of our Christian Liberty Not a freedom to do or not do but a freedom from Penalty upon an easter Condition And this is all our Hope Comfort and Salvation Under the Jewish Law were included many Ceremonials things in their own nature neither Good nor Evil yet that Law made the omission of them Sin exposing to Damnation Christ by his Gospel hath set us at Liberty How What to do or omit them at Pleasure No such matters For then 't were lawful to Sacrifice to keep the Passover to Circumcise c. as well as forbear No the Liberty granted us must be doubly distinguish'd 1. Into Natural and Adventitious The Indifferency of the use or omission of Lawful things is a part of Natural not Adventitious Liberty which understand thus Some things which were in their own Nature lawful to be used or not used God determined on one side by positive Law under the Mosaical Dispensation But over and above there were things made the matter of positive Laws which would never have entred into the Imaginations of Men had not the first notices thereof come from God Who could ever have thought of such a thing as Circumcision c. had not the first Injunction thereof proceeded from Heaven Our Natural Liberty did consist in a freedom from that and like Yoaks But not in an indifferency to use or not use them So then by the Law of our Native Liberty we may use or not use some things without Sin there 's an indifferency on both sides as to take up a Straw or let it alone c. Yet also the indifferency does naturally lie only on one side in other things as to continue the Body in its Natural State without Circumcision But God for wise and holy purposes having abridged the Jews of this Natural Liberty for a season when the reason of those Laws ceased was pleas'd to abolish them whereby by we became reinstated in our natural Right and Freedom which otherwise those Laws when devulged to us would have taken from us Now the reason of imposing those Laws was to succour the infirmity of the Jews in two things 1. In Faith of which nature are all the things impos'd which have a Typical significancy as Sacrifices c. 2. In Manners of which sort are all that have a moral significancy as Meats Washings c. But now Jesus the substance of those Typical Shadows being come in the Flesh the Laws concerning them were ipso facto vacated and by the more plentiful effusion of his Spirit of Truth and Grace thorowly furnishing Men for exact Moral Goodness he took away the necessity both of remembring us thereof and eeking it out by Washings Circumcision c. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as a compleat Law from the Spirit of Truth doing the one more sufficiently than a few dumb signs and the New Nature communicated by the Spirit of Grace together with Christ's Merit all-sufficiently doing the other This is the Liberty I call Adventitious not that 't is new but newly given not that we never had it but had it restor'd after an interruption During the restraint 't was sin to use it To Christ we owe that now we may again use it without sin as at first before God abridged it and this is that we call Christian Liberty in things indifferent as contradistinct to Natural For Christ as Redeemer did not parchase our Natural Liberty but gave it as Creator 'T is only the Adventitious that we enjoy by vertue of his Merit 't is only this that we are entrusted with the Preservation and Vindication of by the New Testament 2. Liberty is either Positive or Negative The former consists in an indifferency to act this or that or the other way at pleasure The latter in being loos'd from the obligation to act That which Christ the Redeemer bestows is chiefly of this latter sort We are disobliged loosed from the Ceremonial Bands wherewith the Jews were tyed so as we need not to act as they under that Oeconomy 'T is no sin to us to omit incurrs no Penalty And this freedom from the guilt and punishment due for Omission is indeed a privilege which constitutes the very essence of the Covenant of Grace in one part of it The tenor thereof in its Negative part being this viz. Thy Imperfections Failures Omissions shall not be imputed as Sins effecting thy Damnation This for want of a better Word I call Negative Liberty Although thou do not Circumcise do not Sacrifice do not Eat a Paschal Lamb do not Wash c. thou dost not sin thou shalt not be cut off from thy People from my Heaven This and none other in these indifferent Matters is Christian Liberty the Purchase and Gift of Jesus Christ our Lord. So that except Magistrates do again introduce the Ceremonial Law in whole or part they do not at all touch upon Christian Liberty but Natural only which they are allow'd to restrain in civil things upon just occasions as is evident from not only Scripture and Reason but the practice of all Nations and Ages and Families For would it not be sweet to hear a Child or Servant reply to their Superiours commanding them to light a Candle c. 'T is not lawful for you to restrain my Liberty Had you not commanded I might have obey'd but your imposing has made it unlawfal Oh dainty delicate Reasoning Yet such as some fob off their Consciences withal 'T is the same thing when they command in the Circumstantials of Divine Worship c. I charge you to be present at
Eight of the Clock Morning and Evening to joyn in Family Prayer c. No had you not impos'd a time 't would have been lawful now 't is not Away with this Foolery In Civils then and Circumstantials of Spirituals the Magistrate hath a Power not meerly directive but legislative to whose Laws all are obliged to be subject in Conscience of the Divine Law the Fifth Command Now suppose the Magistrate by a settled Law have enjoyned some things in their own nature indifferent which 1. Induce some to act against their doubting Consciences for fear of Penalty whereas 2. Others are well satisfied in the lawfulness of their Obedience and accordingly do actually obey but some may be induc'd by their example to obey with a hesitant Conscience What is advisable 1. Though the greatest tenderness ought to be exercised towards Mens Consciences and singular Prudence be requisite in Governors to direct them in the choice of Laws that they may obtain with the greatest inoffensiveness yet will not Mens being scandaliz'd be a sufficient evidence of the sinfulness of a Law or ground to reverse it unless the scandal be very general among the best and wisest or something in the matter or sanction of the Law be at least a moral cause thereof For what can so politickly or wisely be devis'd which Men of soft Heads and hot Hearts may not make occasion of Sin that there would never be an end of making and repealing Laws if Men can but pretend scandal and who beside God knows what is pretence meerly what not 2. If fear of the Penalty occasion the Scandal from a Law about Indifferents those are not faultless who have not proportion'd the Penalty to the Crime an indifferent tolerable pain to an indifferent fault 3. Yet to be scandaliz'd or act against my Conscience for fear of suffering is a Sin the cause or inducement whereof will not excuse though it may extenuate it Will it avail a Man to say I violated my Conscience through Fear any more than I vitiated my Neighbours Wife through Lust when the Fear and Lust themselves are Sins as well as those they introduce Therefore the Rule is Suffer rather than Sin 4. Either 't is evident de facto that some are scandaliz'd through a Law or Example or 't is morally certain 't will follow or probable or only possible This last and probability except the presumption be strong are not to be regarded 1. If the Law cannot be revers'd without prejudice to publick order nor a dispensation obtain'd Men must not defame Laws but submit For the Law does not necessitate Sin there 's an outgate by suffering Yet if the Law be needless 't is the first duty in the use of lawful means to endeavour its Abrogation or get a Dispensation which if not feisible I say with Calvin Instit lib. ult câ—ult §. 231. med No other Mandate is given us but of obeying and suffering 2. To obey the Magistrate is a duty upon an affirmative Precept which not binding ad semper if my obeying induce my Brother to Sin out of tenderness I will suspend for a season though I suffer in the interim endeavouring 1. To give him satisfaction in the lawfulness of my Practice and the necessity of my Duty which if it convince not 2. To demonstrate that my Practice enforces not his Imitation since he may forbear and undergo the Penalty as I have been willing to do for his sake 3. To let him understand that there may be danger of scandalizing my Superiors i. e. irritating them to wrath and to exercise greater severities both against me as a Sinner against my own Conscience which is satisfy'd of my duty to obey even whilst I suspend and also against him and others as obstinate and unsatisfiable Wranglers and disobedient to just Authority without just Reason the matter of the Law being indifferent ex hypothesi This Consideration has weight we both hear and feel it and may at least balance the alledgement that my compliance will edifie the Magistrate in the sin of Persecution Lastly If notwithstanding he continue obstinate since to me 't is clear that only Fancy not Reason bottoms his disobedience I will protest against his Pertinacy earnestly dehort him from acting against his pretended Conscience which indeed is only blind Opinion return to my Duty and leave him to the Law For although my Charity may induce me for a season to be willing to suffer for his sake yet my Conscience will not permit me to do it always Not that I pretend Conscience to prevent suffering but because active Obedience where I can is the primary intention of God in the Law that subjects me to the Magistrate and therefore the first and main office of Conscience Passive Obedience is not the intention of the Law giver at all in the Law as a Law as being not enjoyn'd therein 't is only the enforcement of it as a remedy against its violation the hedge about it 'T will be no plea before God to justifie my breach of his Laws that I was willing to be damn'd but an aggravation of my sin that I chose so great an Evil as the Punishment rather than submission to so great a Good as the Duty I am bound to suspend my Obedience if I can to prevent my Brothers Sin but not sinally to deny my Obedience and therein sin my self to prevent his suffering that is damn my Soul to save his Skin Wilt thou then O my Soul herein follow Christ and perfectly subjugate thy self to that noble Law of Vniversal Love to thy Brother whom thou hast seen that the immortal God whom thou hast not seen may not charge thee with Hypocrifie in thy pretensions of Love to himself Live thou must thou shalt in true Love to thy Neighbour or renounce all Love to thy self Profess and practise as thou lovest thy Purity thy Peace thy Salvation a sincere and cordial not only Subjection and Honour but Affection to thy Prince Benevolence Charity Beneficence to all Men out of Conscience to God as thou wilt answer it before his Judgment-seat Whatever thou wouldst have others to do to thee do thou to them what thou wouldst not have them to do to thee do not to them Make their case thine and act toward them as thy self Do good to all but ospecially the Houshold of Faith Seek their Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Welfare as thine own and do not think to patronize thy regardlessness of them by a careless sluggish unconcernedness in thine own nearest concerns but elevate thine affectionate care for thy self to the utmost degree of Perfection on purpose that according to the second great Command thou mayst have a more excellent measure and rule whereby to square thy affectionate regard of others But 't is not enough O my Soul to partake of a Moral thou must aspire after a Divine Nature as well as escape or fly from the Corruption in the World in Lust or Concupiscence 2
Tables and bleed a little over poor Sufferers not as accusing Laws of Government but personal darkness and short sightedness Infirmity and Iniquity especially as the meritorious cause whose Intellects and Consciences may seem to be formed under an inauspicious Star not Mercurial enough to be born before the Wind but of a genius too set and Saturnine which exposes to the censure of being morose obstinate Melancholists c. But let 's see whether any place be left for Pity and Commiseration It is acknowledged just and reasonable that all publick Constitutions should be garded with strong impregnable Sanctions that the honour of the Publick Magistrate which must necessarily and in Conscience be upheld and is as highly concerned in his Laws as any thing may not be at the mercy of every wanton Head or waspish Heart 'T is the general and acknowledged sence of all Nations and has been of all Ages and I think of all Persons that Religion must and ought to be established by Law So is the Protestant Profession with us and our Neighbours And there is not a People upon Earth nor ever was but would have Religious Concerns kept sacred and inviolable Travel through the Protestant World alone and you shall experimentally find that the Church of no Nation no not of New England it self will endure that its Constitution should be disgrac'd its Fellowship disown'd its Worship disavow'd its Ministry disannul'd its Discipline contemn'd its Government condemn'd but will entertain all affronts of this Nature with a severe Indignation No wonder therefore that the like obtains amongst our selves and even those that are most sharp upon the Church of England in that very thing give a Testimony how patient a reception any thing must have that shall depreciate their own particular Models and therefore may in Justice grant liberty to every Mother to be fondest of her own Children For my part I profess ingenuously I like something in all Faces but all in none yet will not spit in any If Men will so far forget their Reason and Religion not to say common Sense as to speak evil of Rulers though unjust Jude 8. Acts 23.5 Despise Dominion Blaspheme Glories or Dignities I will not justifie them but the Law that condemns them Yet there is a Chancery to moderate the rigours which otherwise may be just and reasonable in some cases and this will with a sweet and decorous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and temper distinguish of Persons and Causes No Man is all Devil no Party all God The Heaven of Heavens only is all Sun The void spaces in the Firmament are larger than those fill'd with Stars Even those that out of a larger Sphere or Church form to themselves a little Epicycle have dark as well as bright matter in it The Sun it self hath spots We therefore must make a difference betwixt the Religious and their mimical Apes the Persons that are in good earnest in their way and such as do but act a part and personate those they are not Men that have throughly imbibed the tincture and others that are but lightly smutted with it 1. Then it shall not be dissembled but bewailed that amongst the Dissenters there are some Venal Souls that upon base Principles and for sinister Ends fall in here as being disgusted by or having a peck against some conformable Man or hoping for a plentiful Trade or bountiful Contributions or to piece again a crack'd Reputation c. Others owe their intromission to the Principles of their Education or customary Converse with others particular Employment amongst such the persuasions of Company c. Some astonish'd by the seeming imminency of Death or awak'd by some dreadful Calamity bring hither an akeing Conscience to be stroak'd with a gentle Hand into a secure but fallacious Peace and conjure down those Terrors which a a form of Godliness is able to deal with Some lastly in the simplicity of their Hearts having tender and scrupulous Consciences finding more of strictness and savour than where 't was their lot to converse before are pleas'd with the agreeableness thereof to their Spirit and Temper though they understand little of the way and might as well have been led by the Heart to the Church as to a Conventicle had it been their hap to have met with the like relish in their Entertainments and Company These are the most innocent of this rank For some of the rest are ordinarily the Hectors of the several Parties from whom all the Libels and Raileries except such as common Enemies forge in their Names have their Origin Better Men have better Work they are not taught the manners of the Court of Heaven who dare bring an Accusation or Judgment of Blasphemy against the Devil himself Jude 9. much less they who do it against Christian Churches and States But 2. There are also a number of serious sober Persons who have no greater design than to be truly good and promote the interest of real Christianity in the main substantials of Faith and Good Life who by their Modesty Gravity Harmlessness Honesty Simplicity Self-denial Loyalty Humility c. do sufficiently distinguish themselves from the other to the Eye of any prudent impartial Observer yet cannot in the use of such means as yet are administred receive satisfaction in the matters of difference therefore are exposed to the severities of Law These I am concern'd that a Court of equity should make relief for 1. They entertain a high Veneration for the Holy Scriptures as a lively Portraicture and Representation of that Eternal Truth and Goodness which is the Nature of God and the Schools make the Hypostasis of the Second and Third Persons in the ever blessed Trinity This with them is the Book of Books which they do not read as other Writings with a liberty to assent and consent as they please but with a full resignation of mind and will to its infallible Dictates intirely to subjugate all to its Doctrines Counsels Mandates as the most perfect indefective guide of Thoughts Words and Actions in the matters of Salvation and to receive from it a sentence of Life and Death This Word of God is their daily Companion Meditation Desire Joy Delight their all From these Divine Oracles they derive all their Sentiments by them regulate all their Worship in them seek their Comfort to them as an Instrument ascribe their Spiritual Life with them arm themselves against all their Spiritual Enemies and adverse Occurrents and for them are ready to sacrifice their Liberties Wealth Ease Honour yea their very Lives 2. From this reverence to the Bible and diligent frequent converses with it arises that awful feeling terrifying sence they have of the exceeding sinfulness of Sin as Paul Rom. 7.13 For being brought to the Scriptures with a mind to yield up all the Powers of their Souls to the Mind and Will of God therein revealed the Holy Ghost effectually sets home the Truths and Laws and Threatnings and Promises
second Command evinces and therefore calls the Sin there forbidden expressly by the foulest name Adultery the highest Violation of the Matrimonial Covenant a Man can bear any thing in his Wife better than that 'T is with allusion̄ to this that the Lord stiles himself a Jealous God This imports that he hath a peculiar and special enmity against the Violations of the Second Command beyond all other since this is affixed to no other And indeed Idolatry may well be set in the uppermost rank of Sins because the External Woship of Idols does imply the Internal together with the rejection of the true God which is a Violation of both the First and Third yea and Fourth Command as well as the Second For he that externally adores other Gods besides the true has them inwardly in his bea rt and therefore casts off the Creator of the World in that he gives him not the Honour of God which is Supreme takes his Name in vain seeing it has not that due effect upon his Mind and Heart and therefore cannot Remember the Sabbath as God's Rest from his Six days Labour nor keep it Holy to him because he owns him not in his Soveraign Excellency and Glory These Considerations with the terrible Executions upon the Israelites and others for Corruption in the Worship of God as warnings to us Rom. 10. are of mighty moment when duly applied and therefore no wonder that Men who have been in bitterness for other Sins do above all dread these against the Second Command which God above all abhors no wonder if they be jealous where God is of any thing that may seem to intrench so near upon the Honour God Let Men prate and droll what they will against serious Men this is certainly the bottom of all their Fears and that is not a vain Superstitious Fear which is rightly directed here but the very first principle and beginning of all Divine and Spiritual Wisdom and ought not to be discouraged and wrested from Men by the Power and Policy of Earth and Hell which combine to do this by exciting other Fears viz. of Temporal Punishments The Damnation of Mens Souls by acts so abominable to the Divine Majesty is infinitely more formidable in its self than any thing And therefore weak frail Flesh in which we are oft more sensible should not be tempted and terrified into a regardlesness of this greatest of all hazzards by any designs upon that most natural Instinct and Law of Self-preservation which indeed is madness when it cannot take place but in the Eternal Destruction of the Soul I said this Fear must be rightly directed that it may not be Superstition And 't is so when 't is graduated according to the nature of the thing and the Sentiments of the Divine Majesty so that what he most hates we most fear and proceed therein according to the Revelation of God and let fall our fear where he lets fall his loathing or reveals nothing of it for there begins Superstition So again 't is ill regulated though we dread to offend in lighter Matters possibly under Divine Prohibitions if yet we regard not the main For to fear where no fear is or to fear more where less fear is or fear less where more fear is these three are Superstition But to fear proportionably to the greatness of the Sin and clearness of the Light is not but a regular fear of God which he will accept own and reward It is not my Province or Design nor Proper to this place to recite and plead or refute and disprove the Allegations of either one Party or other only do heartily wish that I could see more of that true Christian Spirit of Love Moderation and Meekness on all sides which the Gospel so earnestly recommends for Comfort shall we find in nothing else when the Account is cast up at last Church-men of all others should be men of dispassionate soft and tender Hearts because entrusted with the Guidance of the tenderest Part of their People viz. their Consciences But truly I meet it not on any hand except amongst a very few The violent bitter irremediable Prejudices of the Laity in every Party have their Root in the Clergy 'T is rare to light on a man of a healing Spirit which is as a speckled Bird when found the Birds round about are against her every Man has an Arrow to shoot at her But Will the end and issue hereof be Peace No it will not it cannot Since then that fear to offend God in the Concerns of his Honour and Worship which would approve it self not to be Superstition must be a Branch of that general Awe and Fear which is the beginning of Wisdom 't is absolutely necessary that it have a sure and infallible Light and Guide For let not Men think that a fear of offending the Divine Majesty unprescribed by God in his Word either in express terms or by plain consequence can slip the halter and get out of the danger of that Scripture which condemns the Traditionary Man-created Fear of the Scribes and Pharisees prophesied of by Isa 29.13 applied by our Saviour Mat. 15.8 9. See then to your bottom that some plain Scripture teach you to be affraid of displeasing God by joyning in the Worship used by the Church else this very Scripture which you think makes for you does really condemn you For 't is evident that such a Fear is a part of that Internal Worship which you pay to God and if that be unprescribed by God Where are you But it never can be made evident I think that the Church prescribes any parts or means of Worship unprescribed by God although there be some things adjoined to the Worship which is in Circumstantials allowed by all Parties that are not commanded neither forbid by God On the other hand I doubt the Scriptures that are alledged by the Dissenters are not so thorowly weighed so calmly debated so unprejudicately examin'd so fully answer'd as they might be not such a Spirit of Love and Compassion manifested in the manage of Disputes against them 〈◊〉 is necessary to win them and win upon them For they generally conceive the Replies given do not reach the Case and so thought Mr. Jeans also a Man who hath writ something that I have in behalf of the Church Now let it be consider'd what Christian Equity and Moderation should be extended to Persons whose Understandings are not omniportant but Hearts and Consciences good for the main and in all the Essentials of Christianity and whether it does not highly become such a flourishing Christian Church such a noble well-regulated State to make a difference of Persons Jude 22. lest the Bowels of Christ be wounded through our want of Bowels to those whom the same Church might receive if some inferiour Matters were forborn and the same Heaven must receive or we are of all Creatures most miserable For the Mercies of God's sake for the Love of Christ's
rather than Nominatively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the mighty strong able lusty Man whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt or wilt Instruct Correct him a Pleonasm of the Pronoun and shalt or wilt teach him out of thy Law So Ver. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Teacher Chastizer of the Nations c. The Primary Signification of the Word is to Teach or Instruct which is very accommodate to the scope of the Place and the whole Paragraph may be rendred thus He that instructeth the Nations shall not be reason Isai 1.18 argue or dispute Job 23.7 plead Mic. 6.2 even He that teacheth man knowledge the LORD knowing the reasonings 1 Cor. 3.10 Luke 9.46 of man that they are vanity Oh the blessednesses of the mighty whom thou wilt instruct Oh Jah and teach him out of thy Law The Authority of the received Translation with the Targum and Syriack and some learned Interpreters is the only Argument against this reading of the words nothing in the Original or the tenour of the Psalmists Discourse but rather the contrary And even this sence will administer something toward the compleating the Character The Psalmist then was one that accounted it a singular happiness to be taught of God to be throughly instructed in Gods law by God himself that is to be effectually brought under the power and led into the practice of Holiness whereof the Law is the Rule for God's Teachings are not only notional and doctrinal but practical and effective of Obedience 'T is all one as if he had said Oh the blessednesses of the man in whose heart thou writest thy Law and thereby principlest for and impellest to a holy life This is the Covenant way to Peace Isai 54.13 All thy Children shall be taught of God and great shall be the peace of thy Children although at present thou beest afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted V. 11. Oh! this is happy indeed the very Basis and Foundation of all Blessedness without which 't is impossible for a Man not to be finally miserable No Felicity is attainable if God do not Make his Laws vital Principles in our Souls which is the tenour of the New Covenant recited Heb. 8.10 11. through the exceeding great and precious promises whereof 2 Pet. 1.4 We are made partakers of a divine nature viz. a living over-ruling Law within a transcript of the Law eternal upon our hearts Without Grace there can be no true Peace without truth no Grace truth in the light of it to gird up the loyns of our minds truth in the life of it the girdle of integrity in our hearts without Illumination no Comfort without Sincerity no Salvation They must combine and be undivorcedly espoused together or farewel all true Peace For to be taught true and sound Doctrine and to be led into the understanding of all the Divine Commands though Christ himself be the Schoolmaster Luk. 13.26 thou hast taught in our Streets will contribute nothing to the happiness but much to the misery of that Man who never feels the Power of those instructions renewing his Nature and reforming his Life But if by the gracious Influences of Heaven the Precepts of the Law and Gospel become efficacious to mould and form us into universal Goodness all the divided or joynt Confederations of the Wit Policy Power Virulence Rage Malice and Fury of both the Elements of Misery Earth and Hell to mischieve us can never make us really miserable Whereof not to insist upon our blessed Redeemer let Job be a Witness Never had Satan so large a Permission not to say Commission to spend all the Artillery of his Madness and Malice against any Man that ever we read of as against this incomparable Pattern of Patience never did such a whirlpool of Calamities suck in and swallow up in a Moment and at unawares any mortal Man so singled out before or after him All his external Comforts Shipwrack'd his whole body from top to toe an universal Ulcer and Mass of Rottenness except his Organs of Speech which the Devil reserv'd in soundness for a malicious purpose his end in all the rest Nothing lest him but an Eve the Serpent's Instrument to tempt and torture him Job 2.9 and 19.17 The very inward quiet of his mind ravisht way in such a degree that it did commit a Rape on his bodily rest and made all his Comforts and Comforters miserable Job 6.4 and 7.4 13 14 15. c. Yet for all this the Man was blessed and made a blessed End He was under the special regard of Heaven dear to God under his peculiar care and fatherly Discipline of Love and therefore not really although he imagin'd himself to be miserable but truly happy On the other hand take an Ahab in the affluence of all worldly Delights Riches Honours triumphing in Victory over the most potent Kings 1 King 20. Possessing his coveted Vineyard Ch. 21.16 dwelling in a Palace of Ivory Ch. 22.39 enjoying all imaginable carnal satisfactions Yet untaught untutor'd by Heaven destitute of that which would have been the fairest Jewel of his Crown the Grace of God the inward sanctifying and saving Illuminations of the divine Spirit therefore continuing an Enemy to God and Goodness and was this Man happy or blessed Was he not accursed of God and most miserable in the midst of all his external Felicities To have a Heaven in his House a Paradise in his Vineyard and a Hell in his Conscience a lamentable Happiness from which good Lord deliver us Be not thou envious O my Soul at the ensnaring prosperity of the one nor offended with the improsperous uprightness of the other but earnestly implore those Covenant-teachings of the Lord Joh. 6.45 Isai 54.13 Jer. 31.33 which being the first seminal Principles of the new nature will impower thee to live unto God Wilt thou be content with so faint and evanid a light in thy upper Regions as will make no reflection towards Heaven nor beget a greater warmth than will permit thee to freeze in the midst of Summer Oh! aspire after those divine Irradiations which convey an influence more extensive and efficacious than themselves which awakening or creating a central Fire in all the very drossiest or deepest ramifications or branchings of thy thoughts of thy affections also thy inclinations and imaginations may by a divine Projection convert and concoct them into Gold Rev. 3.18 i. e. give them a gracious tincture of moral vertues and motions make them spiritual Gifts and Graces and render them acceptable to God Be not satisfied till thou seest and knowest things as they are in their real nature being apprehensive that pure metaphysical Notions that are not affective nor lead to practice for all their tenuity and levity will never mount thee to Heaven without inward moral sensations spiritual touches and tasts of Truths in their internal Life Fine and thin speculations like cobwebs may take and take with Flies aery volatile Wits and Fancies but
of Grace that infinite Bowels will not permit any of his Creation to be finally Miserable see whether you can mock them into hopes of Salvation with so comfortable an Oration No there can be nothing but Despair where no interposal of God's Faithfulness Goodness and Love be they never so unmeasurable and free do but only contribute to the height of the Misery of those who having forfeited all the excellent Fruits of them cannot find or expect a return of their Embraces and Blessings in the hand of Veracity For the remembrance of lost Happiness does but only Torture and Crucifie with the more grievous and anguishful Reflections if there can be no retrieval and none can possibly be secure that Mercy once forfeited and lost shall again be presented to his choice and acceptance till Fidelity be engaged that his Faith and Hope may stand firm upon the bottom of a Promise But upon the intervention of this Attribute if there be a bond upon the Truth of God there 's one also upon every other Perfection of God Wisdom and Goodness and Justice and Power and all even the very Being of God is laid in pawn and every thing in God must subserve to the interest of Veracity all concur to observe and accomplish its Obligations all are responsible for it since 't is no more possible that God should be a Lyar than a Fool Wicked Unrighteous Impotent Nothing Fidelity therefore is in a more special manner every Attribute of God because every one is under a special voluntary bond to stand by it over and above the Natural For though 't is true that there is no real difference in God but all that is represented to our infirm Faculties under distinct Notions is in him one omnifarious single indivisible Excellency producing various Effects from whence it has its various Denominations the one uncompounded Divine Essence as wisely managing all things in Himself Heaven and Earth being call'd Wisdom the same undivided Essence as Loving being called Goodness the same also as distributing Right being call'd Justice and as Effecting all things call'd Power and immutably engaging in Promise Faithfulness one and the same Being in the most perfect simplicity of Nature is all which Unity of Attributes I call the Natural Bond that binds them and the Plurality being merely nominal not real is only instanc'd in accommodation and condescension to our imbecility and shallowness of Understanding yet to sublevate the same impotency in us and beget the firmer Confidence and stronger Consolation the Holy Ghost does associate Divine Perfections and Actions throughout all his inspired Writings in an Engagement for us As those two immutable things Heb. 6.17 18. both which viz. Counsel and Oath being mere spontaneous bonds yet are bottom'd upon and derive their Immutability from something in God that is of Natural Necessity i. e. his Unchangeable Nature but are combin'd in a strict voluntary Union I mean depending merely upon the Will of God to confirm our assurance of Mercy So here that Wisdom Goodness Justice and Power which no necessity of Nature did oblige to own sinful Man with any gracious Condescentions are all by the free act of God's Will which nothing but mere Grace mov'd him unto viz. by his Counsel and Oath the bonds upon his Veracity so immutably engag'd to act in subserviency to his purposes of Love that they cannot be themselves if those Counsels obtain not Thus those Perfections which are naturally one in Essence are voluntarily made to be one in Efficience as they are one in Nature so freely made one in Operation whilst by the gratuitous and unnecessitated Act of God all are ty'd to a concurrence in observing the designments and ends of Faithfulness this voluntary Bond he hath laid upon himself evidencing that to be his free choice which is the necessity of his Nature that as 't is absolutely impossible in it self that God should be a Lyar So there may not be the least imaginable shadow of a reason for us neither to make him one by our unbelief 1 Joh. 5.10 But our unbelief may be rendred utterly and eternally inexcusable nor to make him evil and unloving by our Disconsolateness but his boundless graciousness under the conduct of his trueness to his Promise may re-establish our Comfort upon an everlasting Foundation that as the matter of our Joy and Consolation is treasured up in that inexhaustible Magazine of all delectable Sweetness and Satisfaction the Goodness of God so his Veracity may be a most certain and infallible means to secure it for us and ascertain us that in Gods due time we shall enter upon the full and perpetual enjoyment of it § 6. The Presence of God is a wonderful Comfort That he who is all this Good insured to us is not a God afar off but at hand both in a general and special sence both as a God and as our God Here you see he is represented as Hearing and Seeing ver 9. which necessarily imply Presence For these Powers being attributed to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Figure after the manner of Men who are never admitted in Law as Eye and Ear witnesses of any thing unless present when we divest them of the Figure and interpret them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the Nature of God they here import That God is Present as a Witness of all the Cruelties of these savage Butchers of God's Servants But whether this will carry it or no 't is sure the special Presence of God does infer the General For if he be in a peculiar manner Present this cannot be in the exclusion of his Essence which is Immense circumscribed by no place yet in all Now this Gracious Presence is plainly implied in ver 14. Neither will he forsake his Inheritance The Negative infers the Affirmative not to forsake is to tarry to continue present with Neither is that ver 22. aliene from our purpose My God is the Rock of my Refuge It would be a strange Refuge in which we were not capable of being present and our being present in and unto and with God does clearly demonstrate his Presence with us The Presence is mutual When therefore a good Soul takes Sanctuary in God under the assurance of Propriety in him this imports the Gracious Presence of God That the Psalmist deriv'd comfortable Considerations from hence to compose and allay the Fluctuations of his turbulent unruly Thoughts I doubt not And it is a Theme very pregnant to think that where-ever I am I am with God infinite Wisdom Goodness Justice Power Faithfulness that there are more with me than can be against me Why should not this revive my troubled Heart under all the Machinations and Violence of Men and Devils As it did God's Servants of old 2 Chron. 32.6 7 8. And he Hezekiah set Captains of War over the People and gathered them together to him in the Street of the gate of the City and spake to their Heart
alteration in himself or varying of his place make Heaven to be any where every where therefore the Joys and Comforts of Heaven For I reckon that Heaven does not import any difference in God but in us no change in his Being but our Vision no new Object except Christ's Flesh but new Eyes Every Spirit and therefore the Father of Spirits hath a Power to conceal its Presence as well as its Sentiments from all other Spirits except God Yet there 's a difference betwixt the Latency of other Spirits and the Deity A finite Spirit is hid through the suspence of its Agency Ad extra its acting upon things without it self so the Deity cannot be hid For if it wholly cease to act upon any Being that Being will wholly cease to be because all live move and have their Being in and from Him Acts 17.28 which Spirits that see not with Eyes but Intellects cannot but perceive only 't is unobserv'd by Man whose Mind looks through the Apertures of Sense which together with it self being darkned through Sin has but very obscure and weak Reflections upon that Being without which he cannot be 't is hid to him by a Veil of Flesh that envelops his Intellectual Eyes or else he shuts and will not open them to behold this invisible Nature which is in reality more conspicuous and evident that is knowable than any thing in the World whatever But the Deities concealment of it self is with respect to some more special Voluntary Operations which give Testimony to his presence and demonstrate the Finger of God which when suspended he is and therefore the Comfort of his presence is hid from our Eyes Such are either Miraculous or Gracious For although every thing in Nature both in respect of his Being and Agency be a sufficient Indication of the Existence Presence and Efficiency of God it being impossible that any Natural Powers should exert themselves in a suspence of the Influence of his the Concurrence whereof gives them to be what they are and do what they do Yet the Deity sometimes as being it self the Law of Laws does in its Actings vary from go beside nay contrary to the common and ordinary Laws of particular Natures and so invert the course and order of things as to give peculiar evidence of his Presence and Power by Effects wonderfull surprizing and astonishing As the Flood of Noah the first that falls within the Cognizance of History after the Creation I need not particularize more the Scripture is full nor balk that for all the ingenious attempts of a late Author to deduce it from Natural Causes it being demonstrable that some necessary parts of his Hypothesis stand in need of the violence of Miracle or the whole process will stick and produce nothing Yet the Manifestations of the Divine presence which constitute Heaven are not in the instances of Power but Goodness even as the Discoveries of it in Vindictive Justice form the Miseries of Hell That Goodness and Justice essentially considered which make Heaven and Hell are Omnipresent as being the Divine Nature But the Objects of them cannot aspire to an Ubiquity being of a limited Nature Should they circulate through all the Regions of Immensity the condition and sense they partake would present them still with the same unaltered unalterable Nature of God Heaven and Hell would be in every place where Souls so sensed reside the Discoveries of God importing no change in him but only in those to whom the Discovery is made Heaven and Hell not being more the alteration of our State than the awakening of our sense to discern and apprehend and feel that which before we did not though before it was the very same immutably and will continue so everlastingly This is the Natural State of Heaven but the Christian State is somewhat more For the choicest sweetest Discoveries of God are therein made in and through the Mediator God-Man and in special to Mankind through the Manhood of Christ which being of a limited presence settles the Divine Manifestations in a certain limited place sufficient to comprehend all Elect Angels and Men. This Divine Presence we enjoy by Faith here by Sight hereafter We have as much of God and Heaven now as we have of Faith Divine Manifestations are proportioned to our Believings All the Effects of Divine Goodness in and upon us depend upon this Christian Grace and the degree of them upon the degree of it Gain but this and thou hast God and all Nothing can pierce the Heavens but this Eye 'T is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 substance of things hoped for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evidence Eviction of things not seen Heb. 11.1 By it Moses saw him who is invisible vers 27. We never can be without a Heaven if we have but Faith it realizes to us that presence of God which through Christ is the sole and full ground of all Celestial Comforts Satisfactions and Joys Psal 16 11. In thy presence is fulness of Joy and at thy Right Hand are pleasures for evermore In Heaven thy presence Chamber where thou sit'st upon the Throne of Glory cloathed with Honour and Majesty as with a Garment and discoverest and displayest the Splendour of thy incomprehensible Excellency and Perfection And at thy Right Hand where thou hast said my Lord should sit till his Enemies be made his Footstool Psal 110.1 In and through this Jesus at thy Right hand are pleasures everlasting But these are chiefly the Comforts of a Future State Is there not something at present to stay and yet inflame the Appetite Yes vers 8. I would always possess that Saturity of Joys which is before thy face Therefore I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my Heart is gladed and my Glory Exults rejoyces my Flesh also inhabits in hope because thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor give thy merciful or excellent one to see the pit of Corruption but thou wilt make me to know the path of Lives He is at my right hand and therefore Gladness and Joy in my Heart and Soul But Oh what is there at His right Hand My Faith setting him now as present before me brings singular Satisfaction and Delight Oh then what will sense and sight be when I shall possess the reality of that which I now believe The result is That the presence of God apprehended by Faith or Vision is a thing which comprehends the substance and fulness of all Pleasure Joy and Consolation Indeed nothing Comforts but through some kind of presence It either is or is conceived to be and made indistant by our Cogitations Humane Infirmity requires something in hand or in hopes that are as secure and therefore as good as in hand Absence of a solacing good although only imaginary is tormenting God cannot but be near every one of us in Essence and we find him so to be by the effects of
vouchsafe Pardon Her Iniquity is pardoned because she hath received two-double c. Else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be here Translated that as in the two former Clauses Indeed in the New Covenant Oeconomy Satisfaction made Actually or Vertually as the Lamb of God was slain from the beginning of the World is Antecedent to Pardon and the meritorious Cause of it 3. By like Reason both from the Nature of the thing and the Contexture of these Clauses Warfare or appointed time for hostility is accomplished Remissâ culpâ remittitur poena when Sin is Pardoned The Fault being forgiven the Punishment Eternal at least is remitted and sometimes the Temporal wholly however in the nature of a satisfactory Penalty Guilt is pardoned but the Essence of Guilt consists in a binding over to Wrath or Punishment Therefore the punishment is remitted in this Notion that it shall not be inflicted in vertue of that Obligation to Wrath although the very same material Pains under another form viz. as Corrections ver 12. may be undergone nay must be in some degree and kind Acts 14.22 Psal 34.19 2 Tim. 3.12 c. I know no Declaration or Promise made by God that these and the like shall not continue part of Canonical Scripture and be true to the Worlds end Afflictions are formally Penal till Sin be remitted but afterward the Sting is taken out and they are not Conflicts of War but only Chastisements of Peace The Enmity of God is then terminated the Warfare betwixt him and the Soul issued in a serene perfect and everlasting Tranquility and Peace And therefore 4. These Foundations being laid the Word of Promise Proclaims and Crys Comfort ye Comfort ye your selves for I am your God who command and warrant you to do it There 's nothing now to debar you from assuming it and quieting your troubled Hearts with the application of it it is ready for you and you for it it invites you with its amiable aspect to run into its Embraces and solace your selves with all the Marrow and sweetness comprehended in the Covenant and Promises all is yours by right And consequently Lastly When God proclaims Peace and crys Comfort ye Comfort ye Conscience transgresses if it do not so likewise For being God's Viceroy and Judge in Man it hath no Commission to Act but deriv'd from God from which it must not cannot swerve an Hair's-breath without incurring the Penalty of its Presumption The Law of God in Nature and Scripture is the perfect and adequate Rule and Standard of all its Proceedings herein are all its Powers contain'd a counterpart whereof it retains after Illumination within it self which Copy is null if it do not perfectly agree with the Original To interline or rase out does wholly evacuate and destroy the validity of its proceedings Therefore whatever God says or does in the Concerns of his Government within us Conscience must not vary from in the least tittle it must speak when and what he does and be silent where he is so If God condemn Conscience must do so likewise if he absolve Conscience must justifie also neither adding to his Words nor diminishing nor yet concealing his Counsels If then he be at Peace Conscience is obliged no longer to proclaim War If he call to Comfort it must not contradict his Calls and so oppose and blaspheme his Grace it must harmonize with Heaven or else it abjures its Allegiance to God and acts by Commission from Satan and lyes against the Holy Ghost In summ all Spiritual Discomfort is finally resolvable into trouble 1. about a Man's 1 State Absolute Relative or 2 Frame of Soul or 3 Way of Walking or 4 Particular Acts of Sin or 5 Satan's Temptations or 6 Divine Derelictions under all which there is abundant Comfort in this MY GOD For if he be my State is good witness the Covenant My Ways and Frame shall be so Jer. 32.38 39 40 41 and 24.7 Deut. 30.1 to 10 Inclusive Ezek. 11.19 20. and 36. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 the latter part of 36 and beginning of 37. By these exceeding great and precious Promises not only Healing Sanctifying Stablishing but also Preventing and Pardoning Grace is given for particular Acts of Sin and assurance that God will not finally forsake us therefore not leave us to the Will and Power of the Old Serpent though he tempt to Sins as black as the Regions he Inhabits as foul as his own Face as malignant as his own venomous Heart The Fear of God which his everlasting Covenant engages to give will command urge and enforce thy dissent or the Love of God will oblige him to Pardon as he hath promised if thy Consent be ravish'd because his Covenant Grace the Law in the Heart will enable to Repent and Believe for Pardon Here 's all The Comfort of Sanctification we have in the forecited Psal 119.50 and Isa 12.1 O Lord I will praise thee though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away and thou comfortedst me Rom. 5.1 Being Justify'd by Faith we have Peace with God There 's the Comfort of Justification upon which two all Spiritual Comforts depend yea and Temporal also upon the latter as to their Substance and the former as its Evidence For we know not that we are pardoned but only by feeling our selves purified by God's Holy Spirit of Grace Whence Isa 32.24 The Inhabitant shall not say I am sick the People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their Iniquity Sickness the sharpest the nearest the most perilous of all Bodily Troubles by a Synecdoche put for all the rest the bitterness whereof is antidoted by the sweet of Pardon and Peace sense of Pardon will take away sense of Pain because it takes out the Poyson and Curse of it That is the comfort of forgiveness or exemption from eternal intolerable Pains does out-balance the trouble of any temporary tolerable Pains as joy for the birth of a Man-Child drowns the remembrance and sense of all preceeding Pangs and Sorrows Joh. 16.21 Lastly If to all these be superadded any plain and sensible Experiments of Divine Goodness in the special Fruits of it this doth abundantly satisfie and solace our Souls as compleating our evidence of right to the Comforts of God being as it were an immediate Testimony from Heaven that God is ours in Covenant and owns us as his peculiar Treasure Mal. 3.15 For 't is a confirmation of our Assurance of and Title to Comfort under the Hand and Seal of the Holy Spirit of Grace and Consolation This contributes to Comfort thus and thus only as corroborating our assured Perswasion and Evidence that our Peace is not self-flattery and deceit For 't is merely in vertue of Assurance that we are enabled to comfort our selves in God Assurance I say in both its parts both as referring to an external Object viz. Propriety in God all of God and as respecting those inward Qualifications and Dispositions which if I do not
your Hearts that you may know your own Vprightness and Righteousness for upon this depends all None of these Privileges appertain to Hypocrites or wicked Persons in State But no sincere Soul shall fail of obtaining them in one kind or other Let your thoughts therefore be much imploy'd within Reflect upon your selves and see what title you have to so rich Blessings If you can approve your selves in Integrity to God you shall have Comfort and Joy unspeakable and full of Glory even in and under your sorest Tryals from the experience of Divine Goodness in all these Particulars Busie therefore your Meditations mainly about this Dive into the bottom of your own Hearts to see whether any hid Treasure lie there Never give your Thoughts rest till they either find it or bring it You are undone if Afflictions meet you rotten at Heart Take no content in any thing lay out your Thoughts about nothing else till thy bring you in the assurance that there is a sound root of Grace planted in your Souls Let your Minds perpetually work this way All thoughts will be cannot but be troubling perplexing till they be sanctified by a Principle of Divine Life Therefore 2. Endeavour to gain Ability to give Law to your Thoughts and duly to govern them A Man can never enjoy Peace till he can command at home Unruly Rebel Thoughts will ever be creating new Broyls Master your Thoughts by Thoughts Nothing is more imperious or impotent Masculine generous Cogitations possess a kind of Omnipotency nothing can resist them Engage your Minds about important matters and engage them thorowly and those Meditations will obtain the Empire To think seriously of God his Attributes and Providence and dwell thereon to take a full view of the Love and Bloodshed of the Son of God his Covenant and the Provisions of it to consider and weigh thorowly the Cursedness and Offensiveness of Sin the Glory of a vertuous Heart and Life to take a due prospect of the Terrour of Death Judgment and Hell and the Blessedness and everlasting Joys of Heaven is the beginning of that Wisdom which alone will over-rule your Hearts for God Reflections upon these things will break in with such an Emphasis Energy and Awe upon your Consciences that vain and evil Cogitations cannot bear up against them but will be supprest and dash'd out of Countenance The Psalmist with one of these Considerations viz. that of the Divine all-penetrating Eye of Providence suppos'd himself an overmatch for and able as with a smooth Stone out of the Brook to strike dead the barbarous profligate Goliahs that rag'd in the devastation and slaughter of the Heritage of the Lord Ver. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. And what will not a multitude of such Thoughts effect upon an attentive and inclinable Mind and Conscience where they are made Familiar Domestick and Perpetual Companions If hereby thou attainest to victory over frothy vile corrupt Thoughts that they dare no more make Insurrections a foundation is laid for an entire conquest over disconsolate Thoughts which are their Off-spring acknowledging none other Original but live move and have their being in them For nothing hath power to discompose us till it first corrupt us Sin first pollutes then pains us Till our Consciences be wounded by it they do not cannot rationally worry us Prevent the offence against God and you bind Conscience to the Good-behaviour and so to the Peace Remove the Provocation to Heaven by true Repentance and you put an end to and non-suit the quarrels of Conscience Now this is done by nothing more effectually than by Thoughts Indeed nothing can do it but by the instrumentality of Thoughts When good Thoughts counter-work evil then will refreshing solacing Thoughts overcome and eject disquieting Make this then Oh my Soul thy first care to set up God in thy Thoughts to over-rule and guide them Erect a Throne in thy Mind for the Son of God give him there the sole power of the Militia of Peace and War and then amongst other Opposers every thought will be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 If thy Thoughts acknowledge no external Soveraign they will be ungovernable without foreign aid too hard for thee There is a Prince the Prince of the Power of the Air who hath already usurpt and rules in the corrupt part of thy Mind and leads thy Thoughts into rebellion against and disobedience to that which is the true Law of thy Mind the remaining Principles of the Light and Law of Nature within thee and also the Light and Law of the Spirit of Life in the Scriptures And these two Satan and the corruption of thy Mind are odds to the reliques of the Divine Image in thee 'T is therefore of absolute necessity that a higher Prince be admitted The King of Glory The Prince of Peace to expel that strong One and keep thy Mind stayed in himself that it may be kept in perfect Peace Isa 26.3 Let God have a Primacy of order as well as Supremacy in thy Thoughts Thus the Psalmist here the first thing in his Mind and Mouth is God Let him so be in all thy Thoughts Season and Sanctifie sweeten all thy other Meditations with thoughts of God So He likewise in this Psalm viz. God fills up all and is at every end and turn in the Holy Man's Memory and Contemplations That Thought which forgets and leaves out God may let in Satan Begin then proceed and end with God This all prescribe even Heathens In one thing delight and quiet thy self viz. to pass from one publick Action to another with remembrance of God Mark Ant. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marc. Antonin Lib. 6. §. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arrian Lib. 2. Cap. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theocr. Idyl 17. Ab Jove Principium Virg. Eccl. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gr. Naz. in Acrostic The conflict is great the work divine it concerns a Kingdom it concerns Liberty c. Be mindful of God c. Epictet Nazianzen more Christianly gives the sense of Theocritus and Virgil. Make God the beginning and end of all things I need no more Consideration then is the beginning of Consolation Meditation is the Medicine of the Mind to heal its sickly because disorderly turbulent unruly Passions If thou wilt not O my Soul oblige thy self to it thou stiflest thy Peace in the Birth or stranglest it in the Cradle and adoptest thy Disquiets a new as if in Love with thine own Woe But then if thou canst not guide and rule thy Thoughts if thou canst not direct them to proper Subjects and call them off from such as are unsuitable if they will be Lords and Masters and run without bidding in a licentious Imperiousness Primum argumentum compositae mentis existirpor posse consistere secum morari Seneca Ep. 2. from one thing to another and be no where fixt they will
the Victory over Original Corruption and evil Habits they apply themselves to God in the Name of Christ not only owning all Christian Doctrine and obeying all Christian Precepts which are remote conditions and helps of Mortification but in special considering that Christ by his merit procured power against Sin as well as Pardon which both are given upon no other account but only for the sake of Christ therefore they beg of God that according to his promise he would subdue Iniquities Mic. 7.19 He would graciously please to bestow upon them for Christ's sake that strength by his Spirit in their inner Man which may enable them to conquer and keep under their Concupiscence the Flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof and upon the help of his Spirit so beg'd they rely and depend and trust to it in every assault and motion of Sin lifting up their Hearts to God in Christ for renewed Power to resist and suppress it and keep themselves pure distrusting themselves that they may put their whole trust in the living God upon whom thus fixing their affiance they wait in patience and watchfulness and the use of his Ordinances for Christ to be made their Sanctification and Redemption from the Dominion and Tyranny or Rebellion of Sin which by degrees is granted them and this Exercise of Faith in Prayer and Prayer means is the immediate and next condition of the grant of power against Sin which is followed with the use both of Rational and Scriptural Considerations care to prevent all occasions or irritations of Concupiscence and other evil Dispositions an early endeavour to suppress the first Motions and Lustings c. but the power of these is not trusted to as sufficient but Gods alone in the use of these helps to overcome and crucifie the evil of their Natures and all that are rooted in it and flow from it Act then solely under God look after such an effectual Faith that carrying thee above all Visibles to the invisible God will under his Influence purifie thy Heart work by Love and reduce thy Will into Subjection to God and grow herein daily 'T was much that Philosophers should make it one of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Governing Prenotions Will nothing but what God Wills and that decantate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Follow God Arrian l. 3. c. 26. p. 362. and l. 2. c. 16. p. 217. Marc. Anton. l. 10. §. 11. Seneca de vita beat c. 15. Arrian l. 4. c. 12. p. 426. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Seneca subjoyns In regno nati sumus Deo parere libertas est In a Kingdom are we born to obey God is liberty Yea 't is Royal Liberty Arrianus I have one to be subject to to obey even God c. Oh! let not Infidels rise up in Judgment to condemn thee for a Rebel against the Will of God in his Precepts or Providences 'T is an ugly thing for a Christian to have a Will a Separate Will The Will of Man is a Bedlam except in Conjunction with and Subordination to God The liberty of the Will of Man consists in Servitude to God Excellently Arrianus I am Gods freeman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arr. l. 4. c 3. p. 380. and friend that I may voluntarily obey him I must set nothing in competition not my Body not my Possessions not Principality not Fame no nothing at all c. In Summ labour to form all thy Faculties after the best Paterns and imitate such in thine Actions Christianity is an Imitation of the Nature Life and Actions of Christ * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nys M. Antonin l. 10. 8. Cl Alex. Strom. l. 5. Marc. Anton. could say God wills that all Rational Beings should be like him not flatter him Clemens of Alexandria makes account that Plato thought similitude to God the end of Philosophy This the Philosopher may propose but the true Christian only attains The Exhortations to it in the Scriptures are many Eph. 5.1 2. 1 Cor. 11 1. consequentially 2 Cor. 3.18 Rom. 8.29 Luk. 6.36 1 Joh. 3.3 17. 1 Pet. 1.16 Matth. 5.48 A Christian unlike Christ is a contradiction as a godly Man not God-like When Christ dwells in the Heart by Faith he will transform it and the Life into the likeness of his own Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ says Paul nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the Flesh is by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me This is that living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit he after mentions Chap. 5.25 Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 2 Cor. 3.18 Wilt thou not then Oh my Soul aspire after this 'T is high above thee a strange Mystery to thy carnal part and so at first is every thing of God yet nothing is to be despaired of that is enjoyn'd by God whose Precepts are his Power whose Word his Work And if God who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness and it obeyed do also command the Light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ to shine into thine Heart 2 Cor. 4.6 That will much more obey the voice of his Almighty Grace and this Light is Life this Life Love this Love universal Conformity to God For God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him 1 Joh. 4.16 and Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13.8.10 Gal. 5.14 Oh thou Blessed Spirit God of Love descend into and shed abroad thy Nature in my Heart kindle Oh thou ever adorable Breath of God and blow up this Holy Ardour and Flame that as a Seraphim I may ascend in a transport of Delight and Joy to thy Throne and perpetually burn upon thine Altar and being like thee in Love I shall through Love be like thee in all things Am I a Professor am I a Believer am I a knowing a weeping a discoursing a practising a just a dispassionate a temperate a bountiful and liberal a condescending a friendly Person Yet if I have not if I am not Love I have I am nothing The reason of 1 Cor. 13.1 2 3. will carry this and more Neither extraordinary gifts of Tongues prophesie abstruse Speculation Miracles nor extraordinary Practices as beggering my self to give to the Poor receiving the Crown of Martyrdom under the most cruel Tortures voluntarily submitted to are at all available without Love therefore much less things of a common and ordinary Nature Love is all in all Thy Repentance thy Faith thy Hope thy Prayers thy Vows thy Obedience are good and acceptable if Spirited with Love without it they and all beside that thou canst possibly be and do are but all as a Sacrifice of Swines Blood and blessing an Idol there 's nothing of Life in them nothing of Soul because nothing of God because nothing of Love Oh